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Peter Kaludjak of Arviat, Nunavut, caught a beluga whale in Hudson Bay this week, only to have a polar bear also take an interest in it.
Kaludjak and his hunting partner caught the beluga whale about 120 kilometres from the community.
A polar bear spotted them, swam over and began a tug of war over the whale.
The bear won.
"We got the rope and we were going backwards with the boat, trying to get it off the polar bear and the rope snapped on us, so we decided not to bother it," Kaludjak said.
Kaludjak says the bear got so close to his boat he could almost touch it. He said the bear had red eyes and was very skinny.
The hunters watched it take the carcass to a nearby island where it and four other bears ate it.
Kaludjak says he waited until the coast was clear to go and retrieve the harpoon and spear he had used to catch the whale, which were gifts his late brother had made for his son. |
Two rhino poachers have been killed during an anti-poaching operation by forest guards in Assam's Kaziranga National Park, officials said Thursday.
The incident took place late Wednesday near Diphalu anti-poaching camp located in the Burhapahar forest range of the park, the officials said.
"Five to six poachers in a group entered the park but our guards launched an operation immediately, killing two of them," said a park official.
"Other poachers managed to escape. Two .303 rifles and some live ammunitions were also recovered from the spot," the official said.
The park, a Unesco World Heritage Site, has been witnessing a spate in poaching of one-horned rhinos since past two years.
According to official statistics, a total of 18 one-horned rhinos have been killed in since January this year, while forest guards killed seven poachers in anti-poaching operations this year. |
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While there has been rumor of a new Superman video game, it's now confirmed a Suicide Squad video game is in development.
Word comes from DC Comics co-publisher and movie producer Geoff Johns.
"We're working onSuicide Squad; it's in development right now," Johns told Kotaku.
WB also has the Suicide Squad movie slated for next year.
"I'm really super excited about it," Johns offered about the Suicide Squad video game. "Because of the concept, you have a game where any of the lead characters can conceivably die and it's not a stunt. Some really cool story could come out of that."
Regarding a potential Superman video game, Johns offers that at least it's been talked about.
"We talk about it a lot, about how flipping up robots for four hours would get old," Johns said. "I think all games come down to gameplay and the right studio. I'm sure the right studio could crack it. Rocksteady has a real passion for Batman, and I think that's why they make a great game."
"Suicide Squad" has an August 5, 2016 release date directed by David Ayer starring Will Smith as Deadshot, Jared Leto as the Joker, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, Jai Courtney as Boomerang, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Adam Beach as Slipknot, Karen Fukuhara as Katana, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc, Jay Hernandez as El Diablo, and Scott Eastwood in an unknown role.
Suicide Squad Trailer: |
It was recently brought to my attention that it’s been ten years now since I started my first full-time job in the investment industry. More experienced investors might not think this is a very long time, but it feels like an eternity to me considering my current level of understanding compared to what I knew when I first started out.
Here a some observations about my time in the world of investments from the past decade:
Everything is getting faster. This includes information flow, trading, instant feedback and analysis and market cycles in general. I’ve also noticed that performance updates can no longer wait — investors want up-to-the-minute reporting and the ability to track their market value in real-time. Time frames continue to shorten.
What college you went to doesn’t matter. The only thing a top tier college is good for is getting you your first job through connections. But even that’s diminished these days to some degree because technology makes it easier than ever to network if you know what you’re doing. I went to a small private Division III school without much of a finance program. Right out of school I felt this was a disadvantage, but looking back on it now it was actually a huge benefit because I ended up basically being self-taught. I didn’t start out with any preconceived notions or biases about the way the markets work based on textbook theories that are more or less useless in the real world.
First impressions can be misleading. I’ve found that the people that absolutely wow you right off the bat are usually over-compensating. The ones that try to convince you that they have everything figured out are not the people you want to be listening to in this business.
Career risk is highly under-appreciated. I could come up with a laundry list of the reasons for poor market behavior from professional investors. Career risk would be at the top of that list. Incentives matter a great deal more in the decision-making process than most realize.
Everyone is conflicted in some way. It’s impossible to avoid conflicts of interest in the financial services industry. It is a business after all. The trick is to understand how incentives drive people’s actions and look for those firms and individuals that are up front and honest about any potential conflicts.
Always have a spare suit coat in your office. This one has saved me a few times with last minute (or forgotten) meetings. Also, never wear a blue shirt with a white collar. The Michael Douglas from Wall Street shirt just screams, “Would you like to buy an opaque annuity with ridiculously high fees?”
You get to know people better over dinner or drinks. I’ve always found the standard interview process to be fairly useless. You will always learn more about potential hires or employers by going out to eat or getting a drink together than you do from a formal, sit-down interview. HR-type interviews are too stuffy and rehearsed.
It’s good to have an outlet. Whenever I have the time, I try to workout at lunch. In finance you spend most of your time in front of a computer, in meetings or on conference calls. It’s helpful to stretch your legs and take the occasional break to re-charge. I find I get the majority of my best thinking done during this time. My other outlet is writing, which I wish I would have started sooner.
Communication is a highly under-rated skill. I always assumed my analytical skills would help set me apart in this business. While you have to have an analytical mind to succeed in finance, without the ability to communicate with a variety of audiences — clients, colleagues, bosses, potential employers, etc. — even top-notch analysis can get lost in the shuffle.
There’s always going to be someone smarter than you. While it’s easy to mock the financial industry for their poor forecasting abilities and potentially damaging advice, there are an insane amount of brilliant people working in finance. At first I was always in awe of the smartest person in the room. But it’s worth acknowledging that intelligence without the requisite common sense does you no good. Brilliance does not always translate into success in the markets, and in fact, it can be to your detriment if it leads to extreme levels of overconfidence.
The best people in this industry are often overlooked. Many great investors out there are overshadowed because they aren’t making a never-ending series of outlandish predictions, they don’t resort to scare tactics, and their main goal is not to push unnecessary products on unwitting clients.
Information is everywhere but people still choose to ignore the evidence. There are academic research papers and real world case studies on nearly every investment strategy known to man yet many investors still choose to wear blinders and only read that which agrees with the way they do things.
Self-awareness is essential for long-term success. I can’t remember exactly when it was that I had my aha moment, when I first really “got it.” But it’s made me a more clear-headed investor. When I say “got it” I don’t mean that I finally figured everything out that there is to know about the markets. Getting it to me meant that I understood that I would never truly have it all figured out. Learning would be a life-long pursuit but there was never going to be a time when I could say, “I’m finished. I’ve figured out everything there is to know about the financial markets and how to be the perfect investor.”
I think it was a combination of watching people much smarter than me fail at the game of investing over and over again and learning about the importance of human psychology on our actions and decision-making abilities. All of these cognitive biases I was reading about I had witnessed first-hand, either through my own actions or by watching other market participants.
The markets can be a very humbling place, but it’s not until you’re willing to show humility that you can start to see lasting improvements in your results over time. It can be extremely difficult for very intelligent people, with years of higher education and professional designations under their belt to be completely honest with themselves about the markets.
The markets are hard. Slowing down is important. A legitimate decision-making process that reduces the impact of your emotions is essential. But none of this is possible without the self-awareness to admit your own limitations.
Further Reading:
My Time on the Sell Side |
WASHINGTON—“The Court expresses no view on the merits of the cases.”
With that, the Supreme Court in Zubik v. Burwell (the official name for the various “Little Sisters of the Poor” cases) punted the latest Supreme Court fight over Obamacare to 2017 or beyond — but did so in a fashion that conservatives can be happy about for now, teeing up yet another issue that will be decided one way or the other by 2016’s presidential election.
The Obama administration adopted a regulation requiring employers to provide healthcare coverage for birth control and abortion-related matters, which the Supreme Court struck down in the Hobby Lobby case as applied to for-profit businesses owned by people with religious beliefs against contraception or abortion. The Court ruled 5-4 that this regulation violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
While churches were exempted from this Obamacare administrative rule, religious nonprofit organizations were offered only an “accommodation” that they could sign a form declaring their religious objection, which would transfer their legal obligation to pay for abortion to their secular insurance companies.
These nonprofits—mainly evangelical organizations like East Texas Baptist University and Catholic groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor—objected, saying that signing a form that obligated someone else to pay for abortion still made them complicit in sinful activities.
The Supreme Court consolidated several of these cases to consider whether the Obama administration’s “accommodation” still violates RFRA. Breitbart News previously reported on this case and covered oral arguments live from the courtroom.
Today, the Supreme Court declined to decide the legal merits of these faith-based challenges. The Court’s unanimous per curiam opinion states: “In particular, the Court does not decide whether petitioners’ religious exercise has been substantially burdened, whether the government has a compelling interest, or whether the current regulations are the least restrictive means of serving that interest.”
Those elements—substantially burdening religion, and whether the government’s regulation is the least restrictive means of achieving a compelling public interest—are the three parts of a RFRA challenge.
After argument, the Court requested supplemental beliefs to see if the parties may be able to find a compromise. In today’s short five-page opinion, the Court decided, “Although there may still be areas of disagreement between the parties on issues of implementation, the importance of those areas of potential concern is uncertain, as is the necessity of this Court’s involvement at this point to resolve them.”
All parties—both the religious groups and the Obama administration—agreed in their supplemental briefs that it might be feasible to create a new Obamacare procedure in which “contraceptive coverage could be provided to petitioners’ employees, through petitioners’ insurance companies, without any such notice from petitioners.”
Specifically, the government’s supplemental brief admitted that “for employers with insured plans,” these plans “could be modified to operate in the manner posited in the Court’s order while still ensuring that the affected women receive contraceptive coverage seamlessly, together with the rest of their health coverage.”
If the government would provide abortion-related products and services directly to employees without forcing faith-based employers to do anything, then the government would no longer be burdening those employers’ religious faith.
With today’s decision, the High Court vacated the lower courts’ decisions against these faith-based employers (striking those decisions from the books), sending all these cases back down to the various federal courts of appeals across the country for new briefs and arguments on the possible compromises. The justices could then decide at a later time whether to review any of the new decisions from those lower courts.
There was one small victory today with which conservatives and faith-based employers should be happy. The Court ordered the Obama administration not to impose fines on all the faith-based employers involved in these challenges up to this point, and while the litigation is ongoing. At minimum, this alleviates millions of dollars in crushing penalties, at least until the situation is finally resolved one way or the other.
But two liberal justices put a shot over the bow of the Little Sisters and other religious employers, warning them that they did not win their case today, and signaling that these justices were more than willing to rule against the faith-based employers if and when the time comes. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, wrote:
The opinion does not … endorse the petitioners’ position that the existing regulations substantially burden their religious exercise or that contraceptive coverage must be provided through a separate policy, with a separate enrollment process. Such separate contraceptive-only policies do not currently exist, and the Government has laid out a number of legal and practical obstacles to their creation.
It is not clear if the death of Justice Antonin Scalia changed the outcome of this case, but it is possible. The challengers sought a ruling that the “accommodation” is illegal under RFRA. It is possible (though unknown) that there were originally five votes to strike down the accommodation, but that without Scalia’s vote the Court could only issue a 4-4 tie decision in the case, leaving in place the lower-court rulings against faith-based employers.
Top Supreme Court lawyer Paul Clement—who argued part of this case—immediately after argument thought it likely that the justices would try to find some common ground to avoid a tie in this case.
Decisions from the lower courts should come late in 2016 or even in 2017, leaving any new arguments before the High Court unlikely to occur before fall 2017.
One thing that is unlikely to come from this case is an ultimate Supreme Court victory for the religious challengers to Obamacare. If Donald Trump wins the White House, it would likely not even matter in this case if he makes good on his pledge to appoint conservatives to the Supreme Court. Even if Trump doesn’t have the votes in Congress to repeal the Obamacare law, this abortion rule and the “accommodation” were created by administrative rules, and can be abolished by President Trump without congressional action. If so, this case will become moot, and never return to the Supreme Court.
If, on the other hand, Hillary Clinton wins, and fills the Supreme Court seat left vacant by Scalia, then conservatives may find out whether any of the liberal justices who did not join Sotomayor’s separate opinion were willing to side with the faith-based employers, or instead if the heavy hand of the federal government will force these employers to abandon all their employees’ healthcare to avoid being bankrupted by Obamacare’s massive penalties.
Ultimately, the fate of the Little Sisters likely will be decided by the 2016 presidential election, not the Supreme Court.
Ken Klukowski is legal editor for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @kenklukowski. |
Jeff Varner, the gay Survivor: Game Changers contestant who outed fellow contestant Zeke Smith as transgender at this week’s Tribal Council, has been fired from his job as a result of the fallout from the show.
The Greensboro News & Record reports:
Varner spent Thursday on often-emotional interviews with national news media, including ETonline and People magazine. He said he also faced another fallout: He was fired Thursday from his job as a real estate agent.
He said he was told that he is “in the middle of a news story that we don’t want anything to do with.” Efforts to reach his employer for comment were unsuccessful Thursday.
This season of “Survivor” had been filmed 10 months ago in the Mamanuca Islands of Fiji. But Varner couldn’t talk publicly about the episode until it aired.
CBS released a statement to The Hollywood Reporter standing by its decision to broadcast the episode:
“After the tribal council scene in last night’s Survivor was filmed, we consulted with Zeke Smith and with GLAAD in advance of the broadcast, including the issue of how Zeke would tell his story after the episode aired. This is his second consecutive season on Survivor. From his first season through the current edition, we have always been guided by the principle that this is his story to tell, and it remains so. We support how [host] Jeff Probst and the producers handled a very sensitive situation and marvel at the grace Zeke exhibited under extraordinary circumstances. We have also respect for how Jeff Varner has expressed remorse for his mistake, both in the episode and in his subsequent dialogue with the media. In the end, we believe this episode, accompanied by Zeke’s own remarkable writing and speaking on the subject, has provided an unexpected but important dialogue about acceptance and treating transgender people with respect.”
Smith told Julie Chen on The Talk that he had “unprecedented autonomy” in telling his story (as transcribed by Jezebel):
“I love Survivor and I was drawn to apply to Survivor because of the integrity in the storytelling. And when I first applied, I didn’t tell casting that I was trans. That was developed later in our relationship. And I had a chat with Jeff Probst in which we agreed if, how, and when I’m gonna talk about this part of my life—it’s gonna be up to me, as opposed to being outed by a fellow contestant being the exception.
“But in the aftermath of being outed, I’ve been granted unprecedented autonomy in how I wanted to tell my story. We started having conversations all the way back in Fiji nine months ago about the care with which this episode was going to be handled. I came to Jeff and asked if I could write a personal essay about what happened and he immediately said yes. And I was really proud of how I responded. And I wanted the world to see how much I’d grown and I also thought by showing what happened, maybe it wouldn’t happen to someone else and something good could come of it.”
GLAAD had worked with Smith and CBS “for several months” leading up to the airing of the episode.
Said GLAAD’s Transgender Media Program director Nick Adams:
“Zeke Smith, and transgender people like him, are not deceiving anyone by being their authentic selves, and it is dangerous and unacceptable to out a transgender person. It is heartening, however, to see the strong support for Zeke from the other people in his tribe. Moments like this prove that when people from all walks of life get to know a transgender person, they accept us for who we are.” |
Share. "This partnership represents the best in music and the best in gaming coming together." "This partnership represents the best in music and the best in gaming coming together."
Sony has confirmed that Spotify is coming to phones and consoles from Spring 2015.
The new music service - dubbed PlayStation Music - will partner with Spotify to bring the service to 41 territories, including North and South America, Europe, Asia and more.
PlayStation Music - purported to be "deeply integrated" and offer "exclusive benefits" to users - will bring more than 30 million songs and 1.5 billion playlists to your PlayStation 3 and 4 consoles, as well as Xperia smartphones and tablets.
PlayStation 4 players will also be able to simultaneously use Spotify and play games, enabling you to "soundtrack [your] gaming sessions".
Exit Theatre Mode
"Music is a core component of the entertainment offering that consumers expect from Sony," said Sony's Andrew House, "and our goal with PlayStation Music is to provide the most compelling music experiences to the millions of PlayStation Network users around the world."
"This partnership represents the best in music and the best in gaming coming together, which will benefit the vibrant and passionate communities of both Spotify and PlayStation Network. We're thrilled to make Spotify the foundation of our strategy with PlayStation Music."
As you'll be able to link directly to your Spotify account from your device, you'll also be able to subscribe to Spotify Premium via your PSN wallet.
As a consequence, Sony's present Music Unlimited service will cease operations across all 19 countries on March 29 2015, but "nearly all" of the countries served by Music Unlimited will be replaced by the new PlayStation Music. Those of you with an active Music Unlimited subscription on February 28 will receive up to 30 days of free access to Music Unlimited until it closes on March 29, after which you may be offered an introductory Spotify Premium trial.
As it's currently unclear if you'll need to be a Plus subscriber to access the service, we've reached out to Sony and will confirm just as soon as we know more.
Earlier today, Sony also unveiled plans to halt support for Maps, YouTube and elements of Near in the coming PS Vita updates. Be sure to keep an eye on IGN's PS4, PS Vita, and PS3 channels for all the very latest PlayStation news.
Vikki Blake is a games writer and bonafide - albeit slightly jumpy - survival horror survivalist. You can find her twittering over at @_vixx. |
The original release of our anthropomorphic avians was so incredibly popular that Four Horsemen Studios is doing it again! Next Friday, November 6th at 3pm EST thirteen new Mythic Legions characters will be going up for pre-order at the Four Horsemen’s online retail outlet, Store Horsemen.
We’re calling these feathered warriors Eathyron’s Dozen and the main character in this wave – Eathyron – will be a deluxe figure that will come with his own set of golden wings, and if all goes as planned, he’ll also be wielding the Heavensbrand sword! Eathyron will retail for $45.00 (plus shipping & handling).
All of the other characters in this wave will each come with their own character specific accessories (wings sold separately), and will retail for $35.00 (plus shipping & handling).
As with all of our other multi-character releases, if you want to pick up all 13 of these amazing action figures, we’re going to give you a discount on the overall price. You’ll be able to pick up Eathyron’s Dozen (including Eathyron himself) as a set for only $440.00 (plus shipping & handling). That’s $25.00 off!
A lot of people have been asking questions about this upcoming pre-order and we think they’re going to like the answers…
Will new wing colors be available for this wave? YES! Possibly some of the original colors as well. Available wing colors to be listed on Store Horsemen soon.
Will the Four Horsemen figure stands be made available again? YES! Those will go up for pre-order on Store Horsemen at the same time as the rest of the items.
Will any characters from the first release be made available again? YES! We’re going to pick the six most popular characters from the original release and make those available for pre-order at the same time as the rest of these figures. The Avian All-Stars will be available both individually for $35.00 each (plus shipping & handling) and as a set of six for $195.00 (plus shipping & handling), and character selection will be revealed on Store Horsemen soon.
Will Eagalus be made available again? YES! Eagalus is by far our most popular release of these guys to date, so he will be up for pre-order along with the rest of these figures, but he will not be part of the six figure Avian All-Stars set.
So you’ve got about a week and a half to prepare for the avian onslaught. Prepare your weapons and armor for the impending battle, and don’t say we didn’t warn you.
-FOUR HORSEMEN- |
References
1Duke, Alan. “Carradine’s Body to Return Home, While Questions Remain.” CNN. June 5, 2009. Accessed: June 23, 2009.
2Evans, Glen, et. al. The Encyclopedia of Suicide. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Facts on File, Inc., 2003.
3“Florida Teen Broadcasts Suicide on the Internet.” New York Post. November 21, 2008. Accessed: June 23, 2009.
4Goeschel, Christian. Suicide in Nazi Germany. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2009.
5Jamison, Kay Redfield. Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide. New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1999.
6Joiner, Thomas. Why People Die by Suicide. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005.
7Lieberman, Lisa. Leaving You: The Cultural Meaning of Suicide. Chicago, IL: Ivan R. Dee Publisher, 2003.
8“Military Suicide Rate.” ChicagoTribune. May 29, 2009. Accessed: June 23, 2009.
9Minois, Georges. History of Suicide: Voluntary Death in Western Culture. Trans. Lydia G. Cochrane. Baltimore, MD: The John Hopkins University Press, 1999.
10Murray, Alexander. Suicide in the Middle Ages: The Curse on Self-Murder. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2000. |
German authorities exasperated at the antisocial behaviour of a 16-year-old boy have sent him to a remote Siberian village for an "intensive educational experience", it emerged today.
The unusual measure by youth welfare officers in the central state of Hesse raised fresh questions about how to deal with delinquents who have been blamed for a series of ugly crimes.
The boy, who has not been identified, was dispatched east after behaving violently in school and at home and attacking his mother.
He is being forced to fend for himself in boot camp-style conditions in the forlorn village of Sedelnikovo, several-hours drive from the city of Omsk, in the western Siberian interior.
He has had to cope by collecting and chopping firewood to make his own fires, digging his own toilet and pumping water supplies from a well.
He will stay there for nine months, separated from family and friends, the internet and television, under a programme designed specifically for him.
Under the supervision of a German assistant who speaks Russian, the boy is also attending school. Once he returns to Germany, he will be monitored for a further two years.
"We deliberately sought a region that was particularly lacking in allure," said Stefan Becker, the head of the youth and social department in Giessen, calling it "the ultima ratio" in the attempt to re-educate the boy, for whom all other measures had failed.
"[The youth] spends most of his time trying to cope with his day-to-day existence, living in conditions like we had 30 or 40 years ago," he added. "If he doesn't chop the wood, his room is cold. If he doesn't fetch water, he can't wash himself."
The Hesse authorities have defended the move as an "educational adventure" and say an inspector who recently visited the boy believed the "treatment" was working. Hundreds of other youths have been sent on similar programmes in foreign countries as diverse as Greece and Kyrgyzstan.
The details have emerged in the midst of one of the most heated state election campaigns Germany has known for years, after the Christian Democratic state president of Hesse, Roland Koch, called for boot camps and "warning shot" arrests to be applied to young criminals, after a spate of violent crimes.
His election speeches have particularly focused on clamping down on immigrants, who are said to be responsible for half of all crimes committed by the under-21s in Germany.
The chancellor, Angela Merkel, has repeatedly backed Koch's campaign, saying that the discussion was long overdue.
But the decision to send the teenager to Siberia was a step too far for some, particularly as equally bleak regions are to be found in Germany.
One commentator called it "more akin to a reality TV show than a social welfare programme". Some have described it as a cost-cutting measure, which at 150 (£111) a day is around a third of the price of a similar programme in Germany. |
BP Fallon & Gloria Jones photographed in New York April 21st 2011 by Tony Mann.
BP Fallon and Gloria Jones had not seen each other since before the death of Marc Bolan in 1977. Their emotional meeting thirty-three years later at the Flamin’ Groovies show in New York was sensitively captured by drummer/pop culturist Tony Mann. Gloria, mother of Marc’s son Rolan, was Marc Bolan’s girlfriend from 1973 until Marc’s tragic death when the Mini that Gloria was driving skidded into a tree; Gloria nearly died too.
The last time BP Fallon and Gloria Jones saw The Flamin’ Groovies was with Marc Bolan – when the Groovies rolled into London from America on July 4th 1976 to play at The Roundhouse supported by this magnificent new noise out of New York called the Ramones… and the world was never the same again.
An exemplary musician and singer and song-writer, Gloria Jones played clavinet and sang backing vocals with T.Rex through five albums and recorded with Marc Bolan under her own name too. And way before meeting Marc, in 1964 in America Gloria had recorded the original of Tainted Love before signing to Motown where she produced and wrote songs for The Jackson 5, The Four Tops, The Surpemes, Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross – plus the classic Grammy-nominated If I Were Your Woman by Gladys Knight & The Pips. Additionally, she recorded with everyone from Ry Cooder to Joe Cocker and even sang on Neil Young’s first solo album. An astounding talent and a wonderful lady, both then and now.
Gloria Jones & Siouxsie And The Banshees manager Nils Stevenson & Marc Bolan & BP Fallon & Sex Pistol Paul Cook choogling to Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers at The Music Machine London 1976. Photography by Ray Stevenson.
Today Gloria Jones lives in West Africa where she runs The Light Of Love Foundation, dedicated to the memory of Marc Bolan. They already have a music school for children in Makeni, Sierra Leone – The Marc Bolan School Of Music & Film – in a community that is just getting electricity. The classrooms have been donated by a local church. They are now opening a second school in a neighbouring community – The Marc Bolan School Of The Arts – which will include fashion and fine art. Here’s a video of some of the students:
Gloria Jones – Tainted Love (1964). The song that launched 10,000 dances and had Gloria crowned The Queen Of Northern Soul…
Gloria Jones – Heartbeat (1965). Young Gloria testifies!
Video: Marc Bolan & Gloria Jones – To Know You In To Love You (1977). Marc camp and lazy-river miming, Gloria gorgeous. Pink smoke a go go and lovely Marc guitar solo. Very warm vibes.
Marc Bolan & Gloria Jones
Gloria
Time waits for no-one: BP Fallon – as Old Father Time –
and Marc Bolan, London 1970. Photography by Spud Murphy
The Marc Bolan School Of Music & Film in Makeni, Sierra Leone
With love xxx |
The company, the cash and the split Liberal Party
Updated
When it comes to bailouts, Denis Napthine and Tony Abbott are caught in the war between economic rationalism and political pragmatism, writes Barrie Cassidy.
On the face of it, the Victorian Government's decision to bail out SPC Ardmona with a $22 million grant surely leaves the electorate confused about what fundamental beliefs underpin the Liberal Party.
How can the Liberal Party, at the federal level, insist that taxpayers' money should not be used to prop up unsustainable industries, while the same party at the state level makes a virtue of the practice?
Same party. Same company. Two very different philosophies. One undermining the other.
The difference in approach comes down to a clash between economic rationalism and political pragmatism. And how close you are to the problem.
The Abbott Government is now on a crusade to tackle the structural deficit. An important part of that strategy is to put an end to welfare dependency across the board, and business welfare is a part of that.
As difficult as it is for the Federal Government to reject the demands of struggling companies and accept the job losses that go with that, it is far more difficult for state governments at the coalface.
SPC Ardmona is a classic case in point.
The decision has shaken the Goulburn Valley and disturbed many Victorians. The same goes for Toyota's decision to leave Australia. Just substitute Shepparton for Melbourne's west.
But the further you go from Victoria, the more likely it is that the Abbott Government's position is better understood and accepted.
Opinion polls demonstrate that just a third of Australians embrace the basic principles behind industry subsidies. That implies that outside the manufacturing states of Victoria and South Australia, support is probably less than 25 per cent.
Listen to George Christensen, the LNP member for the Queensland seat of Dawson. He told the ABC that people point at the car industry and say, "You guys have mooched off the taxpayer with corporate welfare for so long but when the going got tough you cut and run and you've left so many workers in the lurch."
As Christensen sees it, the car companies have a lot to answer for.
"Anything that's been handed to them over the last three to five years probably should come back to the taxpayer," he said.
"They won't because there's no obligation. I don't think they give a stuff about Australia. That's why they're leaving."
Now, Christensen has rarely come to national attention, apart from when he dressed up as Doctor Who and carted around a blown up Dalek to back his campaign for the BBC to film a program in Australia.
But his sentiments on industry subsidies - outside of Victoria and South Australia - will hit a nerve. Just as Treasurer Joe Hockey did with a new folksy approach to an old argument.
Hockey told a Canberra news conference that SPC Ardmona wanted $25 million from the Government to buy new equipment. Just imagine, he said, if "Abdul the kebab maker in Parramatta Mall" asked for a new oven because he wasn't making a quid?
The Victorian Liberals on the other hand cannot hide behind the different values in the non-manufacturing states. And they face an election in November.
So the Napthine Government has pledged $22 million "to transform and modernise" SPC Ardmona's operations. In return, according to the Premier, the company has pledged "to grow new markets and produce new products that better suit the modern lifestyle".
The Federal Government has lost some skin - and will probably lose even more in the short term - for trying to lay the blame for the some of the collapsing industries at the feet of the unions. The message has been exaggerated at best and not surprisingly, workers, as opposed to unions, have taken the criticisms of their pay and conditions personally.
But the Coalition now accepts that scare campaigns built around WorkChoices have made industrial reform almost impossible for governments.
Changes will have to take place from within.
To that end, the strategy is to place pressure on business everywhere to lead the way. The message is a simple one. Whether you're Qantas or Holden, don't come to us looking for help unless you are prepared to help yourselves. Do some of your own heavy lifting to reduce your overall costs.
That help won't run to subsidies any longer, but it can mean less regulation, tax breaks and an end to red and green tape.
We are about to see an example of that thinking as applied to Qantas. That company will demonstrate its industrial credentials and promise to do more. In return, the Government will try and free up some of the legislative restrictions holding it back.
And as part of the same strategy, the Government is trying to go over the heads of unions and persuade workers that at a time of growing anxiety about job security, they can do more to help themselves; essentially by eschewing some of the conditions that unions have imposed on employers.
It's a sophisticated if transparent strategy, and it can only work if the Government has the nerve to see it through longer term. And if it brings more consistency to the table.
The biggest fear for the Government must surely be that Bill Shorten and the Labor Opposition will be just as ruthless and just as shameless in prosecuting the case against the government on job losses as Tony Abbott was in prosecuting the case against Labor on the carbon tax.
At a time when all politicians were being marked down, Abbott appealed to the electorate to throw out the other lot; vote for anybody but that incompetent, big spending, high taxing rabble that runs the country.
Now Shorten is saying, vote for anybody but that cold-hearted, job-destroying mob on the other side.
Abbott introduced the disease. Now he'll need to find the antidote.
Barrie Cassidy is the presenter of ABC programs Insiders. View his full profile here.
Topics: federal-government, business-economics-and-finance, abbott-tony
First posted |
Drew Snider scored off a feed from Justin Pennington in the final minute, and the Denver Outlaws completed a rally from a four-goal deficit in the first quarter to defeat the Rochester Rattlers 12-11 and win the Major League Lacrosse championship Saturday night at Fifth Third Bank Stadium in Kennesaw, Ga.
John Grant Jr. had four points on a hat trick and an assist to lead the Outlaws to their first Steinfeld Cup trophy in five tries, including a loss to Rochester in 2008, when Outlaws coach B.J. O’Hara was coaching the Rattlers.
Chris Bocklet and former University of Denver Pioneers standout Eric Law had two goals for Denver, which got on the scoreboard first with an unassisted goal from Bocklet, then surrendered five straight tallies to Rochester and trailed 5-1 at the end of the first period.
Denver tightened its defense in the second quarter, allowing only one goal while getting scores from Domenic Sebatiani, Grant and a power-play goal from Bocklet, assisted by Law, to trail 6-4 at halftime.
Rochester scored the first two goals after the break, while Law and Jeremy Sieverts scored unassisted goals for Denver. Still, the Outlaws were outscored 4-2 in the third and trailed 10-6 entering the final quarter.
Grant scored two unassisted goals and assisted on a score by Law as the Outlaws drew within one, then, after a Rattlers’ score, Sieverts scored an unassisted two-pointer to tie the game, setting up Snider and Pennington’s heroics.
It was Denver’s fifth MLL Championship appearance in nine years as a franchise. The Outlaws are the only MLL franchise to make the playoffs in each year of existence. |
Pope Francis officiates a holy mass at the square of Christ the Redeemer in Santa Cruz, Bolivia on July 9, 2015 (AFP)
White supremacists have been calling for the assassination of Pope Francis over his calls on Europeans to house refugees fleeing Syria, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, an organization that monitors extremist organizations.
SITE reported Monday that the comments were posted to the infamous white supremacist blog Stormfront in response to a Washington Post article reporting the pontiff’s call for European Catholics to shelter asylum seekers who are streaming across Europe, mainly from Syria.
“This mofo needs a third eye, right in the middle of where his two existing eyes are,” wrote someone using the handle “Freedom lover.”
Another, using the handle “Peace through Stormfront,” wrote, “White people need to be protected from the genocidal anti-white Pope and the genocidal anti-white religion he pushes.”
The Post article was published on another white supremacist forum, Vanguard News Network, with user “John Adams” responding, “The pope deserves to be executed for crimes against the White race.”
According to SITE, members of these forums have been deadly in the past. Users have included Wade Michael Page, who killed six people in a Sikh temple shooting in 2012, Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 and injured 241 in 2011 in Norway, and Frazier Glenn Miller, who killed three at a Jewish community center in Kansas.
Both sites are frequented by Craig Cobb, a notorious white supremacist, who according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, is best known for trying to transform the town of Leith, North Dakota into an Aryan stronghold. |
BELLUM GAMES PRIVACY POLICY ×
Effective Date: 25th May 2018
Welcome to Bellum Games! Our privacy policy explains what info Bellum Games collects when you visit the Bellum services, as well as ways we might use or share it. We’re only describing our own practices – this policy doesn’t apply to third parties we don’t own or control, including other companies you might interact with on or through the Bellum services.
Bellum Games, Ltd. is a global gaming company headquartered in Hungary with operations around the world. When we say “Bellum Games”, we’re referring to the Bellum Games entity responsible for providing the Bellum services in your region.
When we reference “the Bellum services,” we mean all Bellum Games, websites, applications, and services that link to this policy, regardless of how you access or use them, including through mobile devices. Your use of the Bellum services is also subject to the Terms of Use in your region (including its provisions regarding limitations on damages, resolution of disputes, and application of governing law). Please read this entire policy to make sure you understand it. You should also read the Terms of Use carefully, and make sure you understand and agree to them before using the Bellum services.
We encourage you to use the policy’s interactive features to guide you. We’ve written summaries to identify the key issues discussed in many sections at a glance. However, these summaries are intended solely to simplify things and the full policy should be read as it takes priority in the event of any ambiguity or conflicts (so be sure to read the whole thing carefully!).
If you don’t understand any parts of the policy, Contact Us with questions at [email protected].
I. INFO WE COLLECT
Summary: We collect info in three main ways:
You provide some of it directly (such as by registering for an account).
We record some of it automatically (including with technologies like cookies).
We receive some of it from third parties (like social media companies).
The particular kinds of info we gather usually depend on how you interact with us, like which Bellum services you use and how you do so.
A. Info You Provide
Summary: We collect info you choose to provide or give to us in any manner. You don’t have to share info when we ask you for it, but if you decline, you might not be able to access certain Bellum services or take advantage of their full functionality.
We collect info you enter or otherwise provide on the Bellum services, including:
Your email address, date of birth, Summoner Name, and similar contact info like when you register for an account;
Your username, password, and other details that help us secure and provide access to the Bellum services (like when you login to our games or websites);
Your name, billing address, telephone number, payment method, and other details we collect to help process purchases you make (like when you buy Bellum Items or shop at our Merch Store (coming later);
Your support-related info, including the nature of your concern and your account or order details (like when you request help from us, such as by submitting a Player Support ticket);
Your preferences, interests, and general demographic info (such as your hobbies, favorite games, or other info you share, like when you respond to a survey);
Info you share with us in connection with contests or promotions (like to submit an entry, prove your eligibility, or claim a prize if you win); and
Your Bellum Games account info (like your preferred game settings, key bindings, friends list, and mastery and other pages).
The Bellum services also offer social features like forums and chat. When you use these features, the info you share is public info – this means we may collect and use the info you provide (including to enforce our Terms of Use, such as described in Anti-Cheat & Fraud Prevention and Chat & Player Behavior below), and in some cases it may also be collected or used by others without your knowledge (for example, if you’re chatting with another player while they stream a Bellum Games match).
When you play multiplayer games like Bellum Games, note that some info will be publicly accessible to others, such as your game statistics and performance. We may record gameplay and related info (such as Summoner Name, build order, and in-game actions), and replay or otherwise make it available to other players without further notice to you. For example, players can watch each other play Bellum Games using Spectator Mode, and we may use gameplay footage to help promote the Bellum services.
B. Info We Collect Automatically
Summary: We automatically collect some info about how you interact with and navigate the Bellum services, as well as the device and software you use to do so.
Common examples include info regarding:
Your use of the Bellum services (such as timestamps, clicks, scrolling, browsing times, searches, referral/exit pages, and in-game activity and interactions);
Your computer or device (such as IP addresses, unique device IDs, processing capabilities, manufacturer and model, language and other regional settings, geographic location, and screen resolution and similar settings);
Your connection to the Bellum services, including details about the network and software you’re using (such as browser type and version, operating system name and version, ISP, and your preference settings); and
How the Bellum services perform, including problems you may encounter (such as loading errors and response times).
We may use technologies like cookies and our own servers to help us collect and store this info, including in log files (see How We Collect Info).
C. Info We Collect From Third Parties
Summary: Sometimes we obtain info from third parties to use along with the info we collect. For example, if you link your Facebook account with your Bellum Games account, Facebook may share info with us in accordance with Facebook’s privacy policy and your privacy settings on it.
We may collect info from third parties to supplement the info you provide and the info we collect automatically. For example:
We obtain info from third parties if you use their services in connection with the Bellum services (such linking your Facebook account with the Bellum services via the Add Friends feature). Your privacy settings on the third party’s service control what info they share with us. Please make sure you’re comfortable with what they might share by reviewing their posted policies, and if applicable, modifying your privacy settings directly on their service.
We gather advertising and analytics info from third parties to help support our marketing initiatives, improve the Bellum services, and better manage our ad campaigns (like by displaying more personalized ads and measuring how effective they are).
We collect info from third parties to help us identify where you’re using the Bellum services from (like your approximate location based on your IP address). This helps us, for example, process purchases (like assessing tax obligations), prevent fraud or abuse of the Bellum services (such as identifying suspicious transactions or activity), and customize your visit (like displaying the Bellum services in your local language).
We’ll also receive info from third-party platforms (like iTunes or Google Play) if you download the Bellum services (such as the Bellum app (coming later)) on your mobile device. This might include, for example, technical details (like device IDs) and the fact that you’ve downloaded one of our apps.
II. HOW WE COLLECT INFO
Summary: In addition to info you provide, we and our partners automatically record some info about how you use and navigate the Bellum services. We may combine this info with other info we gather from or about you as described in this policy, including to enforce our Terms of Use and for analytics and advertising purposes.
A. Cookies & Related Technologies
Summary: We use our own servers and technologies like cookies to automatically collect and store info about how you interact with the Bellum services, as well as the device you use to do so.
“Cookies” are small pieces of data that online services you use place on your device for record-keeping and identification purposes. “Web beacons” are transparent pixel images that allow online services to collect info about the ways you interact with them (like whether you’ve opened an email or clicked on an ad). Similar common technologies include things like tags, scripts, local shared objects (e.g., Flash cookies), local storage (e.g., HTML5), and related tools.
The Bellum services use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to automatically collect, store, and read files on your device. They may be delivered in a first-party (i.e., by Bellum Games) or third-party (i.e., by other companies) context. These tools help the Bellum services work and operate more efficiently, as well as capture info about how you interact with us (see Info We Collect).
We also use our servers in connection with these technologies to collect info about the ways you interact with the Bellum services and store it in log files. This may include, for example, info that your device, browser, or operating system sends to us when you access the Bellum services (like device IDs, IP addresses, and hardware or software specifications) and details about how you use your Bellum Games account (like the particular features you use, your in-game interactions and statistics, and other similar info).
We use info gathered through technologies like cookies for several reasons, including:
To monitor, secure, and maintain the Bellum services (like preventing fraud);
To enhance your browsing experience (such as allowing you to log-in to your account);
To analyze and improve our operations (like aggregating traffic and usage patterns);
To control the display of ads (including providing you with targeted offers);
To support and gauge the effectiveness of our communications and marketing campaigns (like letting us know if you’ve clicked on our ads or opened our emails);
To better personalize your visit and store your preferences and settings (for example, displaying content in your local language); and
To otherwise manage our relationship with players and provide the Bellum services under the Terms of Use (including help prevent toxicity and ensure a fair gaming environment, such as described in Anti-Cheat & Fraud Prevention and Chat & Player Behavior below).
You can learn more about cookies and similar technologies, including details of how to manage or disable them, read our Cookies Policy, or by visiting http://aboutcookies.org/ or consulting your browser’s privacy features. Some ways of managing traditional cookies may not impact the use of other technologies, but certain browsers may offer their own tools for removing HTML5.
Please note that disabling technologies like cookies may prevent you from using the full functionality of the Bellum services and the Bellum services may not work as we intended.
B. Analytics & Interested-Based Ads
Summary: We partner with third parties (like content providers, analytics companies, and advertising networks) to help us improve the Bellum services and better understand how you interact with them, as well as support our marketing initiatives. These companies may collect info from you automatically in connection with your visit.
In addition to the technologies we place, other companies may set their own cookies or similar tools when you visit the Bellum services. This includes vendors we’ve engaged to provide services on our behalf (like website analytics), as well as third parties that deliver content (like videos from YouTube) or offers (like ads from ad networks) contained on the Bellum services. We may receive reports based on our partners’ use of these tools on an individual or aggregate basis.
For example, we use third-party analytics providers (like Google Analytics) to help evaluate and report on use of the Bellum services. We also partner with ad companies to support our marketing efforts, including by serving you ads better tailored to your likely interests (such as based on your browsing activity on the Bellum services and when visiting other online services). These companies may set and read their own cookies and similar technologies to gather info about your online activities across websites and services.
Some analytics providers and ad companies offer you choices about how they collect and use info directly on their websites. To learn more about opting out of Google Analytics, click here. You may also be able to opt-out in some cases by visiting http://www.aboutads.info or http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/, or if you’re located in the EU or Canada, http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/ or http://youradchoices.ca/ respectively.
Please note that opting-out of interest-based advertising won’t necessarily entirely prevent info from being collected automatically on the Bellum services, and it doesn’t mean you’ll receive fewer ads or stop them from being displayed. Instead, the ads you do receive won’t be interest-based any longer and therefore might be less relevant to your interests.
III. HOW WE USE AND SHARE INFO
Summary: We use and share your info in accordance with the legal bases set out below to help us provide, operate, improve, understand, customize, support and market the Bellum services.
A. Legal Basis
Summary: We use and share your info (i) to provide the services under the Terms, (ii) with your consent, (iii) in your and our legitimate interests (such as safety and security, and providing a tailored service), and (iv) for other legal reasons.
We rely on a number of legal bases to collect, use, share, and otherwise process the info we have about you for the purposes described in this Policy. These legal bases include:
as is necessary to perform the Terms of Use and to provide the Bellum services;
where you have consented to the processing, which you may revoke at any time;
for Bellum Games to comply with a legal obligation, a court order, or to exercise and defend legal claims;
occasionally to protect your vital interests, or those of others;
where necessary in the public interest; and
where necessary for the purposes of Bellum Games’ or a third party’s legitimate interests, such as those of visitors, users or partners.
B. Using Info
Summary: We use the info we collect (both individually and in combination with other info collected under this policy) to help us operate our business, provide and improve our products and services, communicate with you, and advertise effectively. The particular ways we use your info often depend on how you choose to use the Bellum services.
Some of the most common examples of how we use info include:
To respond to inquiries, fulfil requests, and process transactions (like helping you create an account, find a Bellum Games match, and resolve Player Support issues);
To deliver and tailor our communications with you, like by sending you important account-related announcements or promotional communications that we believe may interest you (for details about managing your communication options, check out Your Choices and Controls below);
To administer surveys, contests, sweepstakes, and similar offerings (such as confirming your eligibility or sending you a prize if you win);
To monitor, analyze, protect, test, and improve our services and operations (like measuring how the Bellum services perform, tracking usage patterns, and fixing bugs or errors);
To research and better understand the Bellum services and how they’re used (including by collaborating with third parties like universities);
To promote products and services and measure the effectiveness of those campaigns;
To personalize your Bellum experience, including by presenting content or features better tailored to your interests (see Analytics & Interest-Based Ads);
To improve and provide updates for the Bellum services (like patching our games and releasing new features);
To operate and expand our business; and
To facilitate use of or integration with the Bellum services, social sharing, and related functionality (such as supporting chat features and forums).
We may also use, disclose, and preserve info to:
Comply with applicable law or respond to legal process (like requests from law enforcement or other public or government authorities);
Securely operate the Bellum services (like stopping attacks on our systems);
Protect players and third parties (such as to help prevent serious injury or crime); and
Protect our own rights, property, and operations (like enforcing our contracts and terms -- including the Terms of Use -- and pursuing available remedies or limiting the damages we may sustain).
C. Sharing Info
Summary: We don’t share info that directly identifies you (such as your email or home address) with independent third parties without your knowledge except as described in this policy (like to enforce the Terms of Use, secure the Bellum services, or if we’re required to do so by law). We do share info that doesn’t directly identify you (like your Summoner Name, match history, game stats, and other aggregate or anonymous info).
If we ever stop providing Bellum services, we may share your info with the buyer. Lastly, remember the stuff you share in social features (like chat and forums) is public -- please be careful about how you use them!
We also share info with service providers that operate on our behalf for the purposes discussed in this policy. For example, when you buy something on the Bellum services, we’ll share your payment-related info with entities we’ve engaged to process payments and provide similar financial services (like fraud prevention). Other common examples include partners that help us store data, send marketing emails, and provide Player Support services.
If you share info publicly through interactive features we control, such as forums and chat, you should understand that this info is public not private. We reserve the right (but have no obligation) to monitor your use of them, including for purposes like enforcing our Terms of Use and applicable player behavior requirements (see Chat & Player Behavior and Anti-Cheat & Fraud Prevention. To request removal of your info from forums or similar features controlled by Bellum Games, Contact Us at [email protected].
We may disclose player info in the event of any reorganization, merger, sale, joint venture, assignment, transfer, or other disposition of all or any portion of our business, assets, or stock (including in connection with any bankruptcy or similar proceedings). This means your info may be one of the assets transferred to the acquiring entity in such situations.
Please note that your Summoner Name and gameplay statistics (like your match history, item builds, and average number of kills and deaths) are public info that may be shared in-game and out-of-game with players and other third parties. This includes info we share with the Bellum Games developer community, so they can help contribute to the player experience.
We may also use, disclose, and preserve info to:
Comply with applicable law or respond to legal process (like requests from law enforcement or other public or government authorities);
Securely operate the Bellum services (like stopping attacks on our systems);
Protect players and third parties (such as to help prevent serious injury or crime); and
Protect our own rights, property, and operations (like enforcing our contracts and terms -- including the Terms of Use -- and pursuing available remedies or limiting the damages we may sustain).> and this policy -- and pursuing available remedies or limiting the damages we may sustain).
D. Chat & Player Behavior
We’ve empowered our players to help police compliance with our policies related to certain in-game behavior. For example, Bellum Games players may report each other and submit descriptions of their in-game activity and actions to help us determine if the reported behavior constituted a violation of rules and procedures that apply to player conduct, as well as any potential repercussions (such as temporary or permanent account suspensions or chat restrictions).
We also record and store, and reserve the right (but have no obligation) to monitor, chat and similar details about in-game interactions for a period we determine in our sole discretion is appropriate to help us, among other things, detect and prevent toxicity, enforce our rules and policies, and foster a more positive gaming community for our players. We use both manual (like many Player Support tickets) and automated (such as machine learning) tools and techniques to support these efforts.
Please be kind to other players, observe our policies related to player behavior (including our Terms of Use), and always be careful what you share in chat!
E. Anti-Cheat & Fraud Prevention
We always seek to offer players a fair, fun, and competitive gaming experience on the Bellum services. Our Terms of Use strictly prohibit use of unauthorized third-party programs that interact with the Bellum services, including mods, hacks, cheats, scripts, bots, trainers, and automation programs. When you create or use a Bellum Games account, purchase things from us, play our games, or otherwise interact with the Bellum services, we may use anti-cheat and fraud prevention technologies that may make automated decisions (such as temporary or permanent account suspensions or chat restrictions) based on the info we collect from or about you (see Info We Collect). This primarily helps us enforce our rules and policies, secure the Bellum services, detect and prevent unauthorized activity, and maintain the competitive integrity of our games.
IV. THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES AND SERVICES
Summary: We work with third parties to make your experience better, but our policy doesn’t and can’t apply to entities we don’t own, control, or instruct. We’re unable to guarantee that independent third parties adhere to the same practices as us, so please be sure to read their policies and terms before sharing info with them.
There are several ways you might share info with third-party websites or services in connection with your visit, including:
External Links . If you click on links to external websites or services that are operated by third parties, they may collect, use, and share your info pursuant to their own policies (not ours). Including a link to or from third-party services doesn’t mean we’ve endorsed their practices.
Account Integrations . The Bellum services use interfaces that allow you interact with third-party websites, applications, or similar services during your visit, including on or through your Bellum Games account or an account you’ve created with such third parties. For example, we partner with social media companies to provide features that facilitate social sharing and connections (such as the Facebook “Like” button and other widgets). These features may collect info about your interactions with them and the Bellum services, and may use technologies like cookies to function properly. How third-party companies like Facebook process your info is controlled by their own privacy policies.
Cookies & Related Technologies . The Bellum services contain cookies, web beacons, and other common technologies that help us collect and analyze info in connection with your visit (see Info We Collect Automatically). Third parties (like analytics providers or ad networks) may set and read their own tracking technologies on the Bellum services. If they do, they’re responsible for using these tools as described in their respective privacy policies. For a representative list of third-party advertising and analytics partners that operate on the Bellum services, as well as information about how to opt-out to the extent applicable.
Please remember to contact third parties directly (and not Bellum Games) if you have any questions or concerns about their practices.
V. INTERNATIONAL DATA PROCESSING
Summary: We’re a global gaming company with operations around the world. When you use the Bellum services, your info may be processed anywhere we or our partners do business.
(1) OPERATING THE BELLUM SERVICES. Depending on your location, the Bellum services are controlled and operated by or on behalf of Bellum Games Ltd.
For important details regarding which laws apply to your use of the Bellum services and any disputes with Bellum Games, be sure to check out the Terms of Use. The controller of info we collect from you is the Bellum Games entity responsible for providing the Bellum services in your region (see Contact Us).
(2) CROSS-BORDER TRANSFERS AND STORAGE. We may process and store info we collect anywhere that we or our partners operate, including the U.S. These countries may not have the same level of data protection as where you live. We’ve implemented and maintain a framework consistent with applicable law and this policy for transfers of info outside the country of collection, including, for example, through the use of legal transfer mechanisms such as Standard Contractual Clauses when we transfer info outside of the European Economic Area (to learn more about EU Standard Contractual Clauses, click here). We may also need to transfer your info to provide the Bellum services to you in accordance with the Terms of Use. By using the Bellum services, you acknowledge that we may transfer your info to (and process it in) countries outside of your country of residence, each of which may have different privacy rules than your country.
VI. CHILDREN’S ONLINE PRIVACY
Summary: You’ve got to be at least 13 to use our stuff. No, seriously…13 and older only!
The Bellum services are general audience services not intended for children under the age of 13. We don’t direct content specifically at, and don’t knowingly collect personal info from, any such children. If you’re younger than 13, please don’t use the Bellum services or otherwise provide us any info . If you’re the legal guardian of a child younger than 13 and have reason to believe he or she has provided info to Bellum Games, please Contact Us immediately to request that we delete it at [email protected]
VII. YOUR CHOICES AND CONTROLS
Summary: You have choices regarding your use of the Bellum services and the ways we process info. Since you can interact with us in many different ways, the particular controls available to you often depend on the nature of our relationship.
You can use many parts of the Bellum services without ever creating an account, purchasing our products or services, or otherwise submitting info like your name or email address to us. If you do choose to share this info with us, we generally retain it as long as your account is active or as is otherwise necessary to provide the Bellum services and operate our business (including for purposes like complying with our legal obligations, managing internal books and records, preventing fraud, resolving disputes, and enforcing our contracts and terms, such as this policy and the Terms of Use), unless a longer retention period is permitted or required by law. You can also limit the info you share with third parties, such as by choosing not to link your Bellum Games account with third-party services (see Third-Party Websites and Services).
We offer players choices about the types of communications they receive from Bellum Games. If you choose to receive marketing and promotional emails from us but later change your mind, simply “unsubscribe” by following the instructions in the relevant email. These choices don’t apply to mandatory communications that are part of the Bellum services, like important account-related notices.
The Bellum services also have many built-in tools to help players exercise control over their info directly. For example, you can generally delete old forum posts, mute or disable voice chat functionality, and change other preferences from your account settings. If you need help with any of these options, be sure to Contact Us at [email protected].
Many Internet browsers allow you to reject, manage, and delete cookies. You may also be able to manage other similar technologies, like HTML5, by changing your browser settings (see Info We Collect Automatically).
If you don’t want to take advantage of the services that third-party analytics and advertising companies provide on the Bellum services, you may be able to opt-out of some of them by visitin http://www.aboutads.info or http://www.networkadvertising.org/choices/, or if you’re located in the EU or Canada, http://www.youronlinechoices.eu/ or http://youradchoices.ca/ respectively. For a representative list of third-party advertising and analytics partners that operate on the Bellum services, as well as details about how to opt-out to the extent applicable.
If you’re concerned with the way we’re handling your info, or would like to update or delete the personal info associated with your Bellum Games account, please Contact Us. Note that asking us to remove personal info or refrain from processing it may also result in account suspension or termination, in which case you’ll no longer be able to access many of the Bellum services. We may also retain certain info associated with your account for purposes like complying with our legal obligations, managing internal books and records, preventing fraud, resolving disputes, and enforcing our contracts and terms, such as this policy and the Terms of Use.
If we process your info based on our legitimate interests explained above, or in the public interest, you can object to this processing in certain circumstances. In such cases, we will stop processing your info unless we have compelling legitimate grounds to continue processing or where it is needed for legal reasons, such as to ensure compliance with the anti-cheat rules under our Terms of Use. Where we use your info for direct marketing purposes, you can always object using the unsubscribe link in such communications or by changing your account settings.
You can request access to the personal info we hold about you by contacting us at [email protected]. You can also submit any account-related questions or concerns you may have (including access requests) directly to our Player Support team, please Contact Us.
If you are based in the EU, without affecting any other rights you may have, you also have the right to file a complaint with a Data Protection Commission. Bellum Games Ltd’s lead supervisory authority is the Hungarian Data Protection Commission.
Before we process requests to access, update, delete, or otherwise process personal info in different ways, we may ask you to verify your identity (like by logging-in to your account or providing us with certain info to help us confirm ownership) and we may request payment where allowed by law.
VIII. SECURITY
Summary: We’re committed to securing player info, but can’t guarantee the security of any data we collect from you. By choosing to share info with us (or anybody else online these days), you’re acknowledging this risk.
We use appropriate physical, technical, and organizational security safeguards to help protect your info from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure both during transmission and in storage. For example, we use computer systems with limited access in controlled facilities to store info. We also use technologies like encryption and hashing to protect some of the info we collect.
However, please note that no server, communications network, or data transmission over the Internet is 100% secure. The Bellum services are no exception. We can’t guarantee the security of any info transmitted through the Bellum services and make no assurances about our ability to prevent any such loss or misuse.
It’s up to you whether you’d like to share info with us; if you do, you’re acknowledging that you’re doing so with this risk.
IX. UPDATES AND REVISIONS
Summary: We’ll make changes to this policy over time to keep you better informed about how we handle player info.
We’ll update our privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in technology, law, our business operations, or any other reason we determine is necessary or appropriate. When we do make changes, we’ll update the “Last Modified” date at the top of the policy and post it to the Bellum services. If we make material changes to the policy or the ways we process player info, we’ll provide you additional notice as well (such as by prominently posting a notice of the changes on the Bellum services before they take effect or sending you a notification directly).
We encourage you to check back periodically to review this policy for any changes since your last visit. This will help ensure you better understand your relationship with Bellum Games, including the ways we process your info.
X. CONTACT US
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Carina Driscoll, the step-daughter of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, talks about running for mayor of Burlington from her office at Vermont Woodworking School, which she founded, in Fairfax, Vt., Driscoll, a former city council member and ex-state legislator, announced Monday, Dec. 4, 2017, that she's running as an independent. (AP Photo/Lisa Rathke)
FAIRFAX, Vt. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’ stepdaughter announced Monday that she is running for mayor of Burlington, Vermont, following in the footsteps of the independent senator and former presidential candidate who launched his political career from the office.
Carina Driscoll, 43, said she will run as an independent in the March election against incumbent Mayor Miro Weinberger, a Democrat, saying she will work to bring Burlington “to again be that vibrant, forward-thinking city where we are all so proud to live.”
“I feel like we need to bring some new leadership into city hall and we need to change the trajectory we’re on,” Driscoll said from her office at the Vermont Woodworking School in Fairfax, which she founded. “And I really feel we need to bring people together again and have mutually respectful challenging conversations and consult with people throughout the city about the right direction for Burlington in a way that I think we’ve been failing to do.”
She cited the handling of the sale of the city’s Burlington Telecom utility, saying that there wasn’t enough opportunity for public input.
Sanders said he and his wife, Jane, are very proud of Carina and all her accomplishments and want to be respectful of her desire to do this on her own.
“So, today is Carina’s day and her words and her ideas should be the focus, not anyone else’s,” he said in a statement.
Driscoll, who volunteered for Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign, said Sanders has had a tremendous impact on her and her family but her decision to run was her own.
“I certainly am walking in his footsteps but I definitely am on my own path,” she said.
Weinberger, who is seeking his third term, said Monday that he welcomes Driscoll and another independent candidate, Infinite Culcleasure, to the mayor’s race and looks forward to discussing the progress the city has made under his tenure.
“We have shown again and again that it is possible to make Burlington better for the middle class and our most vulnerable while also keeping tax rates low and restoring the city’s finances,” he said.
Driscoll said she first met Sanders when she was a child and he was giving a speech just days after he was elected mayor of Burlington in 1981, upsetting the status quo.
“It had a tremendous impact in that it was clear to me that he was a very powerful individual and he certainly had the attention of everybody in the room. And it was an exciting moment,” she said.
She defended her mother when asked about an investigation into a real estate deal that Jane Sanders was involved with as president of the now-defunct Burlington College. The college closed last year after struggling under the weight of a $10 million purchase of property and buildings it made in 2010 during Sanders’ presidency.
“She was a great president of Burlington College and I think if you go back and look at what was going on with the college at the time of her departure, enrollment was increasing ... she was doing a good job. It’s unfortunate that when you’re related to a presidential candidate that you have to kind of go through the fire,” she said. |
Used by the Mayan Indians to embalm their dead and by the Aztecs in their chocolate drinks, Allspice ( Pimento dioica) was r eportedly discovered by Christopher Columbus in the late 15th Century, when he was searching for new sources of pepper. Its botanical name is derived from the words pimenta (Portuguese) and pimienta (Spanish), which mean pepper , due to i ts similarity in appearance to peppercorns. Allspice was so named because of its powerful aroma and flavour, which resembles cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon but with some peppery heat.
A llspice is the dried berry of the pimento tree, an evergreen indigenous to the West Indies, Central and South America. The green berries are harvested between July and September and change to purple and then brown as they are dried in the sun. Allspice is the only spice which, in the past, has been grown exclusively in the Western Hemisphere and t wo thirds of the world's supply is grown in Jamaica. Saplings which were taken to Ceylon and Singapore in the early 19th Century failed to flourish but it is now cultivated in parts of India and is quite a popular spice in North Indian cooking.
Medicinal Uses
The healing qualities of allspice are derived mainly from the oil of the berries and the leaves and in particular from the phenylpropene eugenol , found in its oil. Also present in cloves, this chemical has antiseptic, anaesthetic, analgesic and antioxidant properties. Consumed in the form of a tea as a tonic and used externally for the relief of aches and pains, this pungent spice and its leaves are also believed to help the following ailments :
colds and flu
toothache
rheumatism
arthritis
indigestion
neuralgia
nervous exhaustion
menstrual cramps
fatigue
Apparently, in the 19th Century, Russian soldiers used to keep their feet warm by sprinkling allspice in their boots!
It is not advised to consume allspice during pregnancy and if you are breast feeding. I've also come across some references which suggest that allspice should not be consumed by people with Ulcerative Colitis, stomach ulcers and Crohn's Disease but it is on the SCD legal list and the recommendation for its use is here
Nutritional Benefits
Allspice is a good source of :
calcium
manganese
vitamin C
iron
magnesium
potassium
copper
and contains traces of
vitamin A
folate
vitamin B6
niacin
phosphorous
Cooking with Allspice
Allspice is used widely in Europe as an ingredient in sweet recipes and festive baking as well as in mulled wine. A main ingredient in the Carribean jerk seasoning, it is also added in the production of Benedictine and Chartreuse. Try a small amount on cooked or roasted root vegetables or with spinach and sprinkle a small amount into vegetable soups. Ideally, allspice should be ground just before it is used but we don't seem to be able to buy the whole spice easily in the UK. There are some pictures of the whole spice here , if you're curious and some cooking tips below :
allspice can inhibit the activity if yeast in amounts over ¼ teaspoon per cup of flour
6 allspice berries = ¼ - ½ teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground allspice = ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon + ¼ teaspoon ground cloves + ¼ teaspoon ground ginger + a little ground black pepper
Hot Cross Buns GF SCD
I tried several variations of the recipe below before I was satisfied, including using flax eggs instead of eggs. One flax egg is made by mixing 1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds with 3 tablespoons of boiling water, whisk well with a fork and allow to cool. The texture was slightly chewier but we still enjoyed them. I also tried them without oil and there was only a small difference so you could try them without oil if you wish. Please bear in mind that grain-free breads will never have the same texture as those made with grains.
Even though the SCD legal list states that allspice is legal in cooking, you may wish to replace the allspice and cloves with cinnamon, mace or nutmeg and ginger or just reduce the amount in the recipe.
320g ground almonds
50-80g organic sultanas or other dried fruit
60ml honey (or other liquid sweetener -
not for SCD)
2 eggs
(or 2 flax eggs and 1 tblsp organic cider vinegar - not for SCD)
2 tblsps extra virgin olive oil
grated rind of 1 unwaxed lemon
grated rind of 1 unwaxed
orange
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp
mace (or nutmeg if you don't have mace)
¼ tsp ground ginger
⅛ tsp ground cloves
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
large pinch of salt
Set the oven to 180°C. Measure the ground almonds, spices, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.
Whisk together with a balloon whisk. Add the sultanas or other dried fruit. Wash the lemon and orange, then had the zest to the bowl and mix together well. Choose unwaxed lemons and oranges if you can since it's very difficult to wash the wax off the fruit and choose organic if possible to avoid adding unwanted pesticides.
Whisk the eggs (or flax eggs), honey (or other sweetener) and extra virgin olive oil until light and fluffy, preferably with an electric hand whisk.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix well together with a spoon. |
Legendary Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden is disclosing a secret he kept hidden from everyone but his family for four years, acknowledging that he underwent treatment for prostate cancer in the spring of 2007.
Bowden is going public about the treatment in conjunction with his role as a compensated spokesperson for On The Line, a national prostate cancer education initiative. He initially guarded his medical history for fear opponents would try to use the knowledge against FSU in recruiting.
"I did not understand the significance of prostate cancer back then," Bowden said in an interview with USA TODAY . "What I knew was when something like that happens to a coach and your opponents find out about it, the first thing they say is 'Don't go to Florida State, Coach Bowden is about to die.'
"If I knew then what I know now, I would have considered it my moral duty to bring it out in the open. I thought it was the right thing to do then, but that's not the message now."
Bowden had 377 wins, including national championships at Florida State in 1993 and '99, over a 44-year career before being forced into retirement in 2009. He was 77 years old when his cancer was discovered during a routine physical. He underwent brachytherapy, which means implanting low-dose radioactive seeds in the prostate. Bowden has been cancer-free since his procedure, which was performed by urologist Joe Camps, who also was captain of Bowden's first team at Florida State in 1976.
"There's a saying in my business that there are two kinds of coaches -- those who have been fired and those who haven't been fired yet," Bowden said. "That's kind of like prostate cancer. Every man will have it if he lives long enough."
While one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime, one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, which is the second leading cause of death among American men behind lung cancer.
"Women don't mind talking about their problems but men are macho, they cover it up," Bowden said. "Men need to be more aware of this and I'm more than happy to get the word out."
Bowden talked about his cancer in an appearance Tuesday on Good Morning America.
The physical Bowden took early in 2007 seemed just as uneventful as all the others in his 77 years. But this time there was a follow-up phone call from Florida State team physician Kris Stowers, who was also Bowden's personal physician.
"Kris said they had some taken some blood tests that raised some suspicions, and he wanted me to see Dr. Camps," Bowden said. "And he said to be sure to bring your wife, which scares you to death."
Camps, a defensive back turned urologist and surgical oncologist, took a biopsy that revealed the cancer.
"Bobby is not real big on sharing things that are wrong with him, he doesn't want to admit he isn't perfect," said his wife, Ann, who lost her father and a sister to cancer. "But Bobby has always been so healthy and active. This was not expected."
Camps thought Bowden would choose to travel to a national medical center, such as the Mayo Clinic, for treatment. But the coach said he was staying right there. The men forged a bond during their one season together, a connection strengthened with the support the coach gave when Camps' 5-year-old son was diagnosed with leukemia.
"I believe in Joe Camps," Bowden said. "I never expected this to happen to me, but once they told me the problem and what they wanted to do, I said let's get going and do this."
But how do you perform a cancer procedure on arguably the most recognizable figure in Tallahassee without anyone knowing?
"We made up a fictitious name, brought him into the hospital at midnight, went right into the operating room, and then rolled him into a secure part of the hospital for his recovery," Camps said. "The procedure lasted about 45 minutes and we discharged him by five in the morning. But I am absolutely stunned this has remained secret for so long."
Bowden knows he was lucky.
"One of six men is going to have this thing," he said. "They may not seem like much, but if you were flying to Los Angeles and were told that there was one out of six chances the plane would crash, would you get on that plane?
"I felt good, I was active, I never have done anything if my doctor hadn't called after my blood tests. The big thing I learned was, don't ignore it and don't be afraid to talk about it." |
Throw it up, and let DeVante Paker go get it.
That’s what the Miami Dolphins expected when they picked the 6-3, 210-pound Parker out of Louisville with the 14th overall selection in the 2015 NFL Draft.
Foot injuries, which began to plague him in college, kept Parker to just four catches and 49 yards in his first 10 games.
But Sunday, in a 20-10 win over the New England Patriots, Parker had the first 100-yard game of his career — the first of many to come, according to his quarterback.
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SHARE COPY LINK Miami Herald sportswriter Adam H. Beasley recaps the Miami Dolphins' 20-10 win against the New England Patriots on Sunday, Jan. 3, 2015.
“He’s got a really bright future,” Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill said of Parker, who made five catches on six targets for 106 yards and one touchdown.
“He’s going to be one of the best players in the league. I believe that wholeheartedly. He’s just scratching the surface.”
With a 10-10 score midway through the fourth quarter, Parker caught a 46-yard pass — the type Dolphins fans have seen in their dreams.
Parker reached over a Patriots defensive back, tipped the ball up and grabbed it for a highlight-reel catch.
“Once it was in the air, I thought [the pass] was mine,” Parker said. “I thought no one could get it but me.”
Parker had put the Dolphins on top 10-3 in the second quarter, catching a 15-yard touchdown pass from Tannehill. On that play, Parker showed a different skill set, splitting two defenders in a Patriots zone defense.
Tannehill seemed to develop a good connection with Parker down the stretch this season. Parker finished the season with three straight games in which he gained over 85 yards.
For the year, Parker had 26 catches for 494 yards and three touchdowns. But it’s more than just those numbers.
Consider that he missed all of training camp due to the foot injury. He missed the opener, played two games and then got hurt again, costing him six games.
Once he finally got healthy — it also helped him that Rishard Matthews got hurt, opening up playing time — Parker averaged 74.2 yards over the final six games.
Could it be that the Dolphins have a young receiving tandem with a bright future in Jarvis Landry, 23, and Parker, who turns 23 on Jan. 20?
Parker thinks so.
“I think we’re going to be a pretty good combo,” Parker said.
“It will be pretty hard to stop both of us. We just have to continue to get better.” |
My husband and I really don’t bicker much. I mean, sure, there’s the whole “tone” thing which often gets misheard in a “you’re being snippy” or “no, you’re being snippy” or “well, you were snippy first” sort of way, but mostly, mostly there’s been just one argument of late and it goes exactly like this:
“But you’ve never even been to Forest Hills! How can you say that you could never live there?”
So Sunday, I did my part for marital harmony. We wandered about this corner of Queens where my husband once lived and where the two-bedrooms are slightly more affordable, and yes, I will agree that especially in that tudor part, this neighborhood is the absolute height of lovely. Fortunately, we do not intend to make any moving decisions any time soon, but that doesn’t mean that nothing good came of this excursion. You see, I bought not one but two (!) new cookbooks, completely blowing my less-than-one-per-year average out of the water.
How does someone who cooks as much as I do own so few cookbooks? Well, I stick to the basic, larger volumes and rely on my beloved magazines, food sites and your blogs for the rest. But, when I fished back through my rainbow-bookmarked Gourmet on Sunday morning to pick a recipe for dinner, upon reconsideration, few were as exciting as they’d seemed when I first opened it. The root vegetable gratin had about two cups of cream, and the brussels with wild mushrooms and shallots, on top of a deep-frying step, had nearly a stick of butter. Mon dieu! The hips! I mean, I’m not exactly fearful of butter or olive oil, but I eat something that involves any part of almost two cups of fat, it’s not going to be brussels and turnips, okay?
Which leads me to the need for some fresh sources; I’ve had the first America’s Test Kitchen cookbook on my Amazon wish list for so many years, it’s growing roots, and the other, well, I’ve tried again and again to get past my fixation with Ina Garten’s cooking, and let’s just say the with the purchase of her most recent book, it’s not looking likely that this will abate very soon. The entire subway ride home, we thumbed through the glossy, picture-book pages, both landing fixated on the stewed lentils with tomatoes. After a quick trip to the grocery store – oh beloved grocery stores, just two blocks from home! – we were set, and less than an hour later, the most delightful smell wafted through our small and not-tudored apartment. This recipe is an undeniable hit; thick, hearty, healthy, unboring and perfect for the first of many cold and frightfully windy days to come. An outing, two cookbooks, a belly full of stew, a glass of Bordeaux, an episode of the Wire and fingers crossed for no housing angst on the horizon, I’d say it was not bad at all for a Sunday. |
“All the bankers gettin' sweaty beneath their white collars /
As the pound in our pocket turns into a dollar.”
Margaret Thatcher was arguably at her most powerful in 1986, and there was a sense at the time that her indomitable grip on the nation would last forever. During the seven years she’d been in power she’d defeated the miners, retained the Malvinas and allowed Irish hunger strikers like Bobby Sands to starve to death. She’d abolished the GLC, set about privatising public utilities like British Telecom and British Gas and assisted Reagan’s bombing of Libya. The ‘special relationship’ was now a euphemism for the UK acting in accordance with US foreign policy come what may. What's more, Thatcher was on the cusp of winning a third term in 1987, with only a slightly reduced majority, a feat that hadn’t been achieved by another administration since 1820. Nobody could have foreseen her being “stabbed in the back” by her own ministers four years later, but Thatcherism has endured beyond her political career, and its legacy perpetuates, transmogrifying into the spectre of Neoliberalism.
Perhaps most significant to our times - and to little fanfare back then - was the passing of the Financial Services Act on October 27 1986, incidentally three weeks ahead of the release of The The’s Infected. Dubbed the financial “Big Bang”, the London Stock Exchange was finally able to throw off the shackles of regulation, soon ensuring the English capital would become the global cynosure of big business. This “radical Thatcherite reshaping of the City” - said The Guardian in 2011 - was “a period in which the Americans arrived to snap up ancient City institutions for huge premiums, leading to the clubby atmosphere of the Square Mile being replaced with the rapacious, bonus-grabbing culture of the investment bank.”
The music community's opposition to the incumbent Conservative government was strident but ultimately ineffectual. Opprobrium came in various forms: frustration at three million unemployed on The Specials’ ‘Ghost Town’ (“Government leaving the youth on the shelf”); anger at the Falklands War on Crass’ ‘How Does It Feel?’ (“How does it feel to be the mother of a thousand dead?”), and plenty of spite (focused and unfocused) on ‘Tramp Down The Dirt’ by Elvis Costello and ‘Margaret On The Guillotine’ by Morrissey.
Red Wedge also came into being in 1985, formed by Billy Bragg, Paul Weller and Jimmy Somerville, with a Live Aid-style assemblage of pop luminaries championing the Labour Party with concerts and plenty of vocal support in the media. The The actually went on tour during Red Wedge’s second wave of shows in 1987 alongside Captain Sensible and the Blow Monkeys. But - as Beyoncé, Jay Z and Katy Perry’s championing of Hillary Clinton in the United States recently proved - celebrity political endorsements from high profile musicians will only get you so far.
Infected might have been steeped in foreign and domestic affairs, but Matt Johnson’s previous album, Soul Mining, had been more personal than political, earning The The its own genre tag: the existential blues. Where so much synthpop was icy on the exterior, Johnson’s felt visceral but familiar, looped repetitively while he burrowed into the sonic melange of his own anxieties. Back then he was often accused of “psychobabble” in the music press, but time has been kind. Retrospectively hailed as a “hidden masterpiece” by Garry Mulholland in his 2006 book Fear Of Music, Guardian critic Alexis Petridis expressed incredulity that Soul Mining had nevertheless dropped out of public view and off the critical radar when it was reissued in 2014. He did concede however that Johnson’s legacy was safe in the hands of dance music: “If no hip young band or singer-songwriter drops his name, there's been a plethora of unofficial re-edits of Soul Mining's closing track, Giant, in recent years.”
Despite its lack of frontline attention, Soul Mining is a recherché treasure trove of impassioned songwriting, spoken about in hushed whispers, usually by men in their early forties in Nitzer Ebb t-shirts. What makes it even more remarkable is how world-weary the lyrics are coming from the pen of a 22-year-old. “You could have done anything if you wanted,” Matt Johnson sings on ‘This Is The Day, “and all your friends and family think that you're lucky / But the side of you they'll never see / Is when you're left alone with your memories." The song expresses some hope in the chorus, but the disenchantment in the verses is almost too much to bear.
On ‘The Sinking Feeling’ it gets even bleaker still: “My memory my fond deceiver / Is turning all my past into pain / While I'm being raped by progress / Tomorrow's world is here to stay." Then he asks “How can anybody know me when I don’t even know myself?” over and over at the outro of the aforementioned ‘Giant’. On Infected he would mitigate the navel-gazing, and deflect his censure towards external sources, namely the British and US governments.
I was blown away the first time I was exposed to Infected in 1986. As a 13-year-old Marillion fan, I had to concede it sounded like nothing I’d ever heard before. My older brother, who was going through his Patrick Bateman phase, was playing it in his car on a dynamic set of speakers. He would usually be listening to Squeeze or Japan, so this new confrontational cacophony made me sit up and take notice. It had an intensity that wasn’t altogether pleasurable. The crisp, emphatic percussion on the title track transfixed me, while the invective throughout scared me a little bit if I’m honest. Then there was the bold seediness of ‘Out Of The Blue (Into The Fire)’ that graphically recounts an encounter with a prostitute. I wasn’t even sure if I was old enough to be listening to this stuff.
I lost touch with the album for a long time, but then a few years ago, I was in a record shop in Dublin where it was playing loudly on the PA once again. I remember feeling that same tingle of excitement that I’d experienced all those years ago, and I was agog at the fact it still sounded so peerless after all this time. A lot of music from the mid-80s hasn’t aged well, but Infected is fresh and magnificent still, and the production - by Johnson and Warne Livesey - is breathtaking. I had the very vinyl that was playing in the shop taken off the turntable there and then. I whisked it home and we rekindled our awkward relationship. I’d changed but Infected hadn’t. Or maybe the dystopian mise-en-scene of May’s Britain is just a creepy simulation of Thatcher’s Britain 30 years on, rendering the record’s modus operandi as applicable now as it was then. Have we come full circle then?
“We have, with the situation in the Middle East, the continuing Americanisation of Britain, a right wing government in power,” Matt Johnson told The Crack earlier this year, “so there are a lot of parallels between 1986 and 2016.”
In September, the ICA celebrated 30 years of the album by screening Infected: The Movie, an innovative video collection made at the time to enable promotion of the record without The The having to tour. It preceded Beyoncé’s visual album - despite claims to the contrary about uniqueness - by roughly 27 years. Stevo from Some Bizarre somehow managed to convince Sony to part with £350,000 - a lot of money in those days - to make a promo for each song of the record; impressive considering The The was regarded as a cult act at best. Films for each song were hitherto shot in exotic locations such as Peru, Bolivia, New York and (the not quite as glamorous) Greenwich Power Station with four directors, including long-term Cure promo director Tim Pope and the late Peter ‘Sleazy’ Christopherson. Tom Wilcox, associate director at the ICA, had initially spoken to Johnson about putting on a politics in music exhibition. The The The frontman thought a 30th anniversary showing would be appropriate, as the film hadn’t been shown elsewhere in all that time, and Infected was without doubt his most political offering.
“Matt’s prescience in terms of his political analysis, where he’s talking about radical Islam and American foreign policy,” said Wilcox, “you could be saying the same thing today, and in fact not many people were saying that in 1986”.
Indeed while Sting was offering up woolly rhetoric about Russians loving their children, Johnson was anticipating American involvement and the bloodletting that was to follow in the Middle East. To the repetitive chant of Arabia, Johnson navigates the skies in the guise of a GI Joe, giving us a visionary take on a geopolitical situation that was to get truly ugly. “This is your captain calling,” he sings on the mighty ‘Sweet Bird of Truth’, “with an early warning”. In the verse he crows about “all the money I’ve made / bodies I’ve maimed” and it’s difficult to ascertain if its a boast or a lament. It’s fair to say he was way ahead of the curve. (‘Armageddon Days Are Here (Again)’ in 1989 could be regarded as the sequel to ‘Sweet Bird Of Truth’. With its “Islam is rising, Christian’s mobilising’ line, it was held back as the first single from Mind Bomb with the Salman Rushdie affair still very much all over the news.)
Uncle Sam is cast as “the devil” on ‘Angel Of Deception’, who’s “stuck his missiles in your garden and his theories down your throat”. Johnson maintains he was never anti-US but anti-US foreign policy, and as a resident of New York these days, that certainly seems likely. The iconic “This is the 51st state of the USA” refrain on ‘Heartland’ still resonates, and is quoted by people who’ve never heard of The The. On ‘Heartland’, Johnson is at his most withering, describing “piss stinking shopping centres” and a “land of red buses and blue blooded babies”.
Then there are the lines: “So many people can’t express what’s on their minds / Nobody knows them and nobody ever will / Until their backs are broken and their dreams are stolen / And if they can’t get what they want then they’re gonna get angry!” It might have been written about the disconnect between politicians and the public in 1986, but it could just as easily have been written this year about Britain leaving the EU. Johnny Rotten once told Matt Johnson that Infected was the most spiteful record he’d heard in a long time; high praise indeed!
Infected isn’t just about politics; being The The, the human condition and all its frailties are exposed with admirable candour. If musically there’s a lustre, then the underbelly is riven with lust, and in keeping with the times, it’s all consumptive. From the feverish opener and title track to the final words of ‘Mercy Beat’ (“I was just another western guy with desires that couldn’t be satisfied”), insatiability and often squalid desire run through its very core. “From my scrotum to your womb, your cradle to my tomb” Johnson roars on ‘Infected’, with the chorus undoubtedly referencing the HIV epidemic that was at the forefront of most people's minds at the time (“I can’t give you up til I’ve got more than enough / So infect me with your love”). “She was lying on her back with her lips parted / squealing like a stuck pig” on ‘Out Of The Blue (Into The Fire)’ is as brutal and as evocative as any image on the album, and whether a roman-à-clef or the assumption of a character, it’s worthy of the most celebrated of Beat writers.
But final word should go to ‘Heartland’, that feels more pertinent to our times than it did on its release 30 years ago. The frustration, the hopelessness, the despair... it’s all captured in its elegant and erudite five minutes. One thing doesn’t hold true. “The cranes are moving on the skyline” [my italics], though only to erect endless phallic monuments to capitalism rather than knocking the town down. But the bankers - with infinitely more power and cash - are still getting sweaty, and the pound in our pockets may yet turn into a dollar (or worse) when Article 50 is finally triggered next year.
“Here comes another winter of long shadows and high hopes /
Here comes another winter waiting for utopia /
Waiting for hell to freeze over." |
Parents' horror as new $35 device lets you INHALE alcohol goes on sale in U.S.
New device allows the user to directly inhale alcohol - increasing the effects on the body
Experts have warned that the Vaportini - which is available to buy online - could be used by impressionable and inexperienced teenagers
Parents have been warned of the dangers of a simple new device freely available online which heats alcohol and allows it to be inhaled - reportedly giving the user an instant but intense high.
Released in December, the $35 Vaportini acts in a manner similar to a traditional vaporizer, heating and releasing intoxicating vapors which are breathed through a straw after being heated by a candle to 140 Fahreneheit.
Bypassing the digestive system, the Vaportini causes alcohol to be ingested directly to the bloodstream through the lungs, potentially causing dangerous levels of intoxication - especially if abused.
The Vaportini is available to buy all across the United States and is legal according to its creators
'It is ill advised for experimentation among those under 21,' said Dr. Thomas Greenfield, Center Director at the National Alcohol Research Center in Emeryville, California.
'There could be inexperienced people at parties under peer pressure who may find themselves using this method of alcohol consumption.
'It might not be possible to self-regulate their consumption and teenagers just like adults can be drunk drivers too.'
Indicating that in research laboratory's rats have been known to be more perceptible to alcohol addiction through inhalation, Dr. Greenfield warned of the dangers of this particular method of consumption.
'To my knowledge there have been no human studies on the effects inhaling alcohol,' said Dr. Greenfield.
'Certainly in lab rats they have experimented with vapor chambers and the animals experimented upon have high levels of intoxication and addiction.'
The Vaportini was created by Julie Palmer back in 2009, but it went on sale on her website for $34.50 each in December
As with any excessive use of alcohol, Greenfield said that teens especially risked harming their own mental development with abuse.
'In early adolescence, the brain is not as formed and too much alcohol risks affecting its formation,' explained Dr. Greenfield.'
The device which its creators say is legal, bares striking similarities to the notorious Alcohol without Liquid device (AWOL) which mechanically vaporizes alcohol shots over the course of 20 minutes and is banned in 22 states.
Invented by Chicago resident Julie Palmer in 2009, the simple glass and metal device is offered as a novelty method to consume drinks at the bar she owns in the Windy City, Red Kiva.
The Vaportini works differently to the more traditional consumption of alcohol.
The Vaportini transfers alcohol directly from the lungs to the bloodstream - increasing the levels of intoxication
Normally, when a drink is taken, alcohol is absorbed 10 percent through the stomach and 85 percent in the small intestine.
The presence of food slows this process further, but when alcohol is inhaled, however, alcohol enters the lungs and goes directly into the bloodstream, causing a much more rapid and stronger buzz.
However, unlike the AWOL device which retails online in the U.S. for around $250, the Vaportini does not promise zero side effects and explicitly tells users that 'alcohol consumed through a Vaportini will be detected by a blood alcohol test.'
Over 20 states banned the AWOL device, which was first introduced into the United States in 2004/5, amid much concern and controversy.
Alcohol that goes almost straight to you head - Freebasing alcohol through the Vaportini The glass globe of the Vaportini is filled with a shot of liquor and put on top of a pint glass.
The heat from a tea-light candle in the bottom of the pint glass turns the alcohol gaseous inside the globe.
One reviewer from Time Out Chicago said: 'I stick the straw through a small hole in the globe and suck in a drag of invisible Knob Creek bourbon fumes. It’s warm, retains its flavor and gives an instant, though brief, buzz.'
Palmer herself says: 'The intention is not to replace drinking.'
However, she says, 'If the Vaportini doesn’t take off, we should market it to stoners as the Vodka Bong.'
'When you inhale alcohol right into the lung tissue, that gets drawn right into the blood supply immediately, so it's a very rapid onset of the intoxicating effect, and so has obviously very high abuse potential,' said Robert Walker of the University of Kentucky Center on Drugs and Alcohol Research at the time to the New York Times.
Kevin Morse, president of Spirit Partners in Greensboro, N.C., which markets the devices, known as Alcohol Without Liquid, or AWOL, said they were harmless.
'At the end of the day, it’s just a new way for adults to enjoy alcohol in a different manner,' said Mr. Morse.
The danger of vaporized alcohol entering the bloodstream directly as opposed to the digestive system means that protective impulses - such as vomiting - are bypassed.
In fact, it is the swift infusion of alcohol to the brain that makes inhalation more addictive than regular drinking according to scientists.
Robert Swift, a professor of psychiatry at Brown Medical School told Slate.com that when researchers want to model alcohol addiction in rats they often expose them to air mixed with vaporized alcohol.
When the AWOL device was released in the United States, it was banned by 22 states concerned that it would encourage reckless drinking
The AWOL claims to vaporize a single measure of liquor over the course of 20 minutes and the makes say it should not be used more than twice in 24 hours
This is a standard test because it is hard to get rats to drink alcohol, but the desired dependence they seek for their results comes within a matter of days using vapor. |
Muslim women should delete their Facebook accounts, not wear trousers or leave the house without their husband's permission under controversial rules published by British Islamic associations.
Online advice on the conduct of Muslim women has been published by the Green Lane Masjid in Birmingham which says women should not wear trousers as they "show off the detail of their bodies", even in front of their husbands, according to the Times.
It comes after the Blackburn Muslim Association, which is an affiliate of the Muslim Council of Britain, stated women should not be able to travel further than 48 miles without a male chaperone.
Justine Greening, the International Development Secretary, criticised the advice from Blackburn Muslim Association as "disgraceful" and said that such views had "no place" in modern Britain. |
Vice President Mike Pence (far right, seated at table) sits at the head of the table on Sunday in the White House Situation Room as senior officials discussed Hurricane Harvey. President Donald Trump was at Camp David, and is pictured on the right video screen. (White House photo)
Vice President Mike Pence said Monday the federal government has adequate funding on hand to deal with the historic flooding and damage done by Hurricane Harvey, possibly looking to tamp down concerns that Congress could get into a spending fight over the cost of the storm’s aftermath.
Lawmakers from hard-hit Texas and Louisiana say they expect Congress will have to add a Hurricane Harvey aid bill to its packed autumn agenda. But Pence told a Houston television station that could be unnecessary.
“In speaking with FEMA officials, we truly believe that we have the reserves to address the financial burden of this crisis,” he said.
[Trump Official ‘100 Percent Confident’ in Avoiding Debt Default]
But the VP left open the door that the administration might have to ask lawmakers for more aid dollars.
“Before I was vice president, I was a governor,” the former Indiana chief executive said. “Before that, I was in the Congress. And we’re very confident that the Congress of the United States is going to be there to provide the resources necessary.”
The federal bill will only grow as the flood waters subside and residents assess the damage.
“We actually anticipate that as many as a half a million people in Texas will be eligible for and applying for financial disaster assistance,” Pence said, “and we remain very confident that with the reserves and with the support in the Congress, we’ll have the resources that we need.”
[Dreamers Face Uncertainty as Trump Mulls Immigration Program]
Back when then-Rep. Mike Pence was chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee and Hurricane Katrina spawned deadly flooding in New Orleans, he argued against a massive aid package.
“We simply can’t allow a catastrophe of nature to become a catastrophe of debt for our children and grandchildren,” Pence said in 2005 as the RSC proposed offsets — other federal cuts — to the proposed Katrina aid package.
When then-President George W. Bush pressured many Republicans, the Katrina measure passed — but Pence’s push for offsets took root.
In 2012, Republicans objected to then-President Barack Obama’s proposed $60 billion Hurricane Sandy relief package, which walloped New Jersey and nearby states. The party’s demands held up that package for several months before former Speaker John A. Boehner gave in to pressure and brought it to the House floor. Even with the pressure, 157 House GOP members voted against it. |
Cliff Kincaid, the director of the conservative media “watchdog” group Accuracy in Media, has had enough of people like Hillary Clinton attacking the racist, sexist alt-right movement.
In a column for Matt Barber’s BarbWire website today, Kincaid defends “pro-white” groups, asking, “Is it objectionable for white people to defend their interests and even be proud of their race?” He cites as a “good source of information” American Renaissance, the white nationalist journal led by Jared Taylor and laments that Taylor has been banished from the mainstream media because he “dared to talk about whites as people with special interests of their own, separate from various minority groups.”
One of the big new issues they are using against Trump is his alleged support for what [Michael] Gerson calls “white nationalism” and [Jennifer] Rubin calls the “white supremacist movement.” Rubin refers to the hiring of Stephen K. Bannon as the campaign chief executive as a “wink-wink” to the white nationalists.
I frankly don’t know who or what she is talking about. Is it objectionable for white people to defend their interests and even be proud of their race? Is that “white nationalism?”
This overkill attack from the media was sparked by Hillary Clinton’s speech on Trump and the “alt-right,” whatever that is.
It would be nice if these columnists would let the pro-white groups speak for themselves. It would also be nice to have a few facts in place of their vitriol.
One good source of information on all of this is the website of American Renaissance, a self-described “white advocacy organization.”
American Renaissance declares, “The United States is not a territory that is up for grabs, and that belongs to whoever manages—legally or illegally—to get here. It was founded by Europeans, who gave it its culture and institutions, and America’s European core has every right to resist dispossession.”
Is there some doubt that European Americans founded this country?
American Renaissance goes on to say, “American Renaissance is a voice for all white people whose hopes for preserving their people and culture are being sacrificed under the delusion that diversity is a strength. Diversity of race, language or religion is a source of weakness and tension for a country. To ask whites—anywhere in the world—to ‘celebrate diversity’ is to ask them to celebrate their declining numbers and dwindling influence. It is to ask them to welcome oblivion.”
One can disagree with Trump on this or that issue. But the idea that it’s wrong to appeal to or attract white voters is simply ludicrous. Is it objectionable for whites to advocate policies advantageous to their race?
…
We commented four years ago that Jared Taylor, author of the book, White Identity, had been banned from most programs because he dared to talk about whites as people with special interests of their own, separate from various minority groups. Taylor runs American Renaissance. |
A Congressional Budget Office report says President Barack Obama’s executive order to raise the minimum wage for new federal contract workers "will cost the economy 500,000 jobs."
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office re-entered the spotlight this week with a report that offered a little something for everyone on the effects of raising the federal minimum wage for workers.
For those pushing for a $10.10 an hour wage, the CBO concluded 16.5 million low-wage earners would make more money a week under the proposal.
For people opposing the increased federal wage, the report found that raising it to $10.10 an hour would cost the country 500,000 jobs.
On American Public Media's Marketplace, host Kai Ryssdal tried to explain the developments to listeners. Marketplace is a business and economic affairs program that airs on NPR stations in many U.S. markets.
"From the Congressional Budget Office today, this little tidbit: You remember President Obama's plan to raise the minimum wage for new federal contract workers to $10.10 an hour? He signed the executive order just the other day, right? Well, the CBO said today that will cost the economy 500,000 jobs by the second half of 2016. Me? I figure the partisan bickering over that starts right about ... now."
A PunditFact reader flagged Ryssdal's comments and asked us if they were accurate. (You can hear them about 5 minutes into this podcast .)
In this case, Ryssdal wrongly linked President Barack Obama's executive order for federal contract workers to what the CBO studied, which was the proposal to raise the minimum wage for workers nationwide.
The CBO concluded if the federal government gradually increased the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour for all workers, and tied future increases to inflation, the economy would shed 500,000 jobs by the second half of 2016 (all things constant under current law). That’s about 0.3 percent of the workforce.
For the record, CBO analysts also said the number of lost jobs could vary depending on a number of factors. Overall, the effect could be anywhere from a "very slight" decrease in employment to a reduction of 1 million workers, CBO found.
The White House objected to CBO's findings, with economic adviser Jason Furman telling reporters the report "goes outside of the consensus view" of economists who study the effect of higher minimum wages on employment.
The CBO analysis did contain good news for the White House, however. It concluded an additional 900,000 families would be pulled out of poverty and 16.5 million workers would get a raise if the minimum wage is increased to $10.10 an hour.
Marketplace senior producer Sitara Nieves acknowledged the mistake in an email to PunditFact and said it would be corrected on air.
Our ruling
Ryssdal said a Congressional Budget Office report found that an executive order raising the minimum wage for new federal contract workers "will cost the economy 500,000 jobs."
A CBO analysis did conclude that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour could cost the country 500,000 jobs by the second half of 2016. But the analysis was looking at raising the minimum wage for all American workers, not just federal contract workers as Ryssdal said.
We rate his claim False. |
At an Oct. 15 campaign rally, Donald Trump said the election was being rigged by "corrupt media" pushing "false allegations" and "lies." (The Washington Post)
The chart below represents the actual stated beliefs of the Republican Party’s nominee for President of the United States.
It is now clear that as a loss looms, Donald Trump will only escalate his rolling claims that the election is rigged against him. The conspiracy now includes the media, numerous women who allege inappropriate sexual advances, their friends and relatives, immigration officials, international bankers, and elections officials across the country.
Yesterday, Trump tweeted that “the election is absolutely being rigged” on Hillary Clinton’s behalf, not just by the news media, but also “at many polling places.” Trump had called on his supporters to monitor the polls in “certain areas” (wink, wink) where “bad things happen.”
The New York Times reports today that elections officials in both parties are rushing to reassure voters that the election won’t be “rigged,” and some fear violence. Anecdotal reporting and polling suggest many Trump voters believe his claims.
[I read Hillary Clinton’s speeches to Goldman Sachs. Here’s what surprised me.]
If Trump loses, he’ll likely continue to tell millions of supporters that the election was stolen from them, perhaps to maintain or monetize his following. Imagine Trump as a conspiracy merchant in the mold of Glenn Beck, who famously sketched out hallucinatory conspiratorial charts only he could understand.
In that spirit, I have created this chart, to help you keep track of the evolving global conspiracy to stop Trump. Details about each group of conspirators are below:
Here’s a larger version of this chart. Here’s an explanation for each numbered group of conspirators:
(1) Half dozen female accusers and (2) The news media. At least half a dozen women have now come forward to allege unwanted sexual advances from Trump. He has angrily denied it all. Yesterday he upped the ante, explicitly charging that the media is coordinating with the Clinton campaign to broadcast these stories, even though they’re known to be false, to swing the election against him.
But the reporting indicates that many of the women told friends or relatives of these advances at the time or years ago, and these confidantes confirmed this to news outlets. That means either Trump’s female accusers told friends and relatives these false tales years in advance, in anticipation of a Trump run deep in the future, or that these confidantes are now falsely claiming to have been told of them, as part of the plot to stop him.
[Many women may divorce the GOP]
(3) Elections officials across the country. Trump has told largely white audiences that due to the possibility of a rigged election, they should monitor the voting in “certain areas” where “bad things happen,” adding: “you know what I’m talking about.” This sounds a lot like code for saying elections officials will permit voter fraud in nonwhite areas.
But in a tweet yesterday, Trump went even further, seeming to suggest that the news media is somehow complicit in this broad scheme, which is in keeping with previous suggestions that the media won’t report on efforts to defraud him.
(4) International bankers. Trump recently charged that Clinton “meets in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty.” His spokesman confirmed that this was meant as a reference to something that actually happened: a Clinton speech to a bank revealed by Wikileaks.
Though the spokesman denied any anti-Semitic overtones to Trump’s remarks, the Anti-Defamation League found them impossible to ignore, and the broader tale Trump is telling here smacks of globalist conspiracy rhetoric.
(5) The FBI. Trump has repeatedly castigated the FBI for not recommending criminal charges against Clinton over her email arrangement. But he has gone further, citing this failure as evidence that the Department of Justice “rigged” the probe explicitly to help Clinton win the election.
(6) Debate organizers. Trump has charged that at the first debate his microphone was faulty, strongly insinuating that this was done deliberately, as if to hamper his performance. During the second debate, Trump repeatedly insinuated in conspiratorial tones that the moderators were going soft on Clinton in various ways.
Trump has since explicitly said that the Commission on Presidential Debates is rigging the contests against him on Clinton’s behalf.
(7) Immigration officials. Trump recently suggested that the Obama administration is deliberately allowing undocumented immigrants to “pour” over the southern border so they can vote in the presidential election. For good measure, he added that the media would not report this fact, once again suggesting the media is complicit in the broader conspiracy against him.
Just to repeat: These are the actual stated views of the Republican Party’s nominee for President of the United States. |
Two retired veterans have strong opinions of Friday’s National Day of Honour — and they aren’t keeping quiet about it.
On their drive home to the GTA Saturday afternoon, Sgt. John Tescione and Capt. Wayne Johnston spoke to the Sun to explain what the day meant to them. Both suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and now advocate for more help for veterans.
Johnston’s favourite quote is “Honour the fallen and help the living.” Both feel the second part, a crucial one, is being tossed aside.
“You want to honour them? Don’t give me an airplane flying over me,” said Tescione. “Honour the living so we never have to have this conversation again.”
“Yeah, I’ll say this, and you can write it if you want,” said Johnston. “The last refuge of a scoundrel is patriotism.
“Right now, I’m sorry, I view this prime minister and this government as scoundrels,” he added.
Both Johnston and Tescione say they appreciate the idea behind the day, but it doesn’t do much in terms of honouring Canada’s returning soldiers, who still need a lot of help, whether it be financial or health related.
Johnston believes giving returning soldiers financial security will help their mental state by giving them dignity. Tescione, on the other hand, wants more money put into giving veterans the mental health help they need.
Either way, one thing is clear. Both want veterans to receive the respect they deserve after fighting for their country.
During his speech on Friday, Prime Minister Stephen Harper made a promise. “And we have also come together as Canadians to make a collective promise,” he said. “And it is simply this; we will remember.”
“It’s a punchline,” said Johnston.
Tescione’s fear is that May 9 marks closure on the Afghan mission, which makes it too easy for the public and government to forget about those who still need help.
That help should be the priority – not just a day of honour.
“They think a f—ing parade is going to change my mind?” asked Johnston. “Not a f—ing chance.” |
At the very peak of this year’s Christmas shopping season (during which most Americans do a quarter of their yearly shopping) Chip Bergh, the CEO of Levi Strauss & Co., asked his customers to turn his stores into gun-free zones:
As CEO … I feel a tremendous responsibility to share our position on the issue [of gun rights and gun safety], now, at a time when clarity is paramount…. So, while we understand the heartfelt and strongly-held opinions on both sides of the gun debate, it is with the safety and security of our employees and customers in mind that we respectfully ask people not to bring firearms into our stores…. It boils down to this: you shouldn’t have to be concerned about your safety while shopping for clothes or trying on a pair of jeans. Simply put, firearms don’t belong in either of those settings.
Since many of his stores are located in shopping malls, what Bergh is asking is that people who have firearms leave them at home, or in their vehicles — turning those malls, as well as his stores, into gun-free zones.
Gun-free zones are just what unhinged criminals are looking for: places with lots of people present who are unable to defend themselves. John Lott’s Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) published a report two years ago showing that 94 percent of mass public shootings between January 2009 and 2014 took place in gun-free zones.
That report was followed by a similar study, this time from Stanford University, that confirmed the CPRC study: Going back to the beginning of 2002, of the 54 mass shootings (involving a shooter targeting people at random), the shooter chose gun-free zones 37 times. Of the 17 times a shooter choose a location where guns were legally allowed, a third of the attacks were ended when the shooter was confronted by an individual legally carrying a firearm.
Perhaps Bergh can be forgiven for his ideological, knee-jerk reaction to the single incident he referred to in his letter where someone in one of his stores injured himself when his firearm accidentally discharged. That same reaction occurred earlier this month when the shooter in the Ohio State University attack was assumed to be using a firearm. This included Senator Tim Kaine (Hillary Clinton’s running mate) and Shannon Watts with Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown for Gun Safety. It was later learned, of course, that the attacker used a vehicle and a knife during the attack.
If Bergh wants “clarity” and is sincere about his employees’ and customers’ safety, perhaps his letter should have read:
Dear Customers:
As studies have continued to show, our customers and employees are safer working where responsible citizens are exercising their Second Amendment-protected rights. Rather than turn our 2,800 stores into high-risk “gun-free” zones, putting at risk our 15,000 valued employees and our millions of loyal customers, we publicly ask those customers responsibly carrying concealed to feel free to shop and try on a new pair of jeans.
Merry Christmas!
Chip Bergh,
President and CEO, Levi Strauss & Co.
An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American magazine and blogs frequently at LightFromTheRight.com, primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . |
Have your say on what's happening in the news, current affairs and policy debates around the country.
Each fortnight, ABC Open and The Drum will nominate a subject for discussion, asking everyday Australians to share their personal story.
If you've lived it, we want to hear your story and your considered thoughts on the issue of the day. Our next call out is:
Homelessness
While many Australians have a place to call home, there are over 100,000 people who are facing the hardship of being homeless.
Have you been touched by homelessness? Perhaps you or someone close to you is homeless. You may be a social worker helping to place someone in accommodation, have a loved one who is homeless, or have stopped to help a person in the street.
Share with us your thoughts and opinions on homelessness and how it affects you personally or your views on how it affects society.
All contributions that meet the Dos and Don'ts will be published here on ABC Open. We may edit your contribution to make it suitable for publishing across different mediums and to give it context. The most compelling will be featured on The Drum, the ABC's popular platform for debate and discussion featuring some of Australia's best journalists, thinkers and opinion-makers. Contributors may also be invited to record their piece or become a live guest for ABC Radio.
The deadline for consideration for selection for The Drum is midday - Monday 8th August 2016
You can contribute with text
days left.
Project ends on Aug 18 2016 |
Copyright by WNCN - All rights reserved In this Aug. 4, 2011 photo, cars are parked at the Cargill Inc., turkey processing plant in Springdale, Ark. Cargill has recalled 40 of 130 workers who were laid off last summer following two recalls of ground turkey. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
Copyright by WNCN - All rights reserved In this Aug. 4, 2011 photo, cars are parked at the Cargill Inc., turkey processing plant in Springdale, Ark. Cargill has recalled 40 of 130 workers who were laid off last summer following two recalls of ground turkey. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston)
By Jareen Imam, CNN - FORT MORGAN, Colo. (CNN) - About 150 Muslims were fired from their jobs at a beef processing plant in Colorado for failing to show up for work over a prayer dispute.
Last month, a group of 11 workers at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan wanted to go pray at the same time in a room in the plant that is set aside for prayer and reflection. Their supervisor asked that the group break up into smaller numbers to not affect production, according to CNN affiliate KCNC.
The workers complied with the supervisor's request and went in smaller groups to pray. But after their shift ended, 10 of the 11 workers resigned, turning in their badges and hard hats, Cargill spokesman Michael Martin told CNN.
News of the dispute spread to other plant employees, and about 150 Somali workers missed work for three days in protest.
Based on Cargill's attendance policy, the company fired those who failed to come to work for three consecutive days without giving any form of notice, Martin said.
Many are now applying for unemployment as the company looks for new hires, KCNC reported.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslims workers who were fired after the prayer dispute said that accommodation requests were handled in a discriminatory manner by plant managers, according to a press release.
Although some circumstances surrounding the prayer dispute remain vague, Jaylani Hussein, a spokesman and executive director of CAIR, told The Denver Post that a plant policy allowing short prayer breaks at various times during the day was changed, and Muslim workers were told to "go home" if they wanted to pray.
Cargill released a statement saying that the company has policies specific to attendance and religious accommodations and makes reasonable attempts to provide religious accommodations for its employees. Martin said the company's policies have not changed.
The plant has two reflection rooms for all of its 2,100 employees to use for prayer. "There are times where we have to sequence how many people are allowed to go [to pray] so that production is not slowed down," Martin said.
Martin said the company tried to work toward a solution with the workers, without success.
Although the company is in the process of hiring new employees, it is possible those who were fired may be able to reapply for their old jobs. The company has a six-month waiting period before reapplying, but Martin said that waiting time may be reduced.
More than 500 Somalis continue to work at the plant, Martin said.
CAIR did not immediately respond to a request from CNN for comment.
Cargill Meat Solutions, with headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, is a division of Cargill Inc., which employees 155,000 people in 68 countries. |
Nathan Fillion says that he may have a cameo in the upcoming Marvel film Guardians of the Galaxy.
This past weekend, Wizard World Comic Con descended on St. Louis and boasted big stars such as Doctor Who’s Matt Smith and Karen Gillan, the original Batman’s Adam West and Burt Ward, Lord of the Rings’ Sean Astin, and numerous others.
In addition, the con held a mini Firefly reunion where Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, and Alan Tudyk sat down together for a panel. The three reminisced about Firefly, jokes they played on set, and more. The crowd was riled up by general hilarity.
Toward the end of the panel, St. Louis fans were treated to a huge surprise. A fan asked Fillion if he was wanting to get a part in Guardians of the Galaxy.
The actor replied, “Wanting to get a part… or maybe did.” He paused as the crowd went crazy then continued, “I’m just saying maybe. Maybe you’ll be surprised. Maybe. Check the credits.”
For proof check out this video of the Firefly panel. The Guardians of the Galaxy question occurs around 38 minutes, 30 seconds in.
Article Continues Below
So there you have it, Marvel fans. Maybe Fillion wasn’t too busy filming Castle to drop in on Guardians of the Galaxy. Where do you think he might appear in the film? Hopefully we won’t have to wait until August 1, 2014 to find out for sure! |
Another great Gundam manga gets an English language release, and it's a biggie. Thunderbolt is a very gritty war story about one particular sector of action during the One Year War, and it's good. The story is tightly told and the art is fantastic. I don't want to say much about the story itself because spoilers are a disservice to it. Oh and much like Gundam The Origin this manga is really not for kids.
The presentation Viz has go with is pretty much exactly the same as the Japanese Tankōbon, right down to retaining the color pages! The paper stock is pretty good, not as good as The Origin's which used high quality gloss stock throughout, which Thunderbolt only uses in the color sections. The tactile feeling of the cover of the volume is also quite pleasant and feels like it will last. |
1.The raven is the largest bird of the crow family: it is twice heavier than a common crow at 1.3 kg (3 pounds), being 60 cm (two feet) long, with a wingspan of almost 1 m (3.3 ft). Ravens can live 40 years in the wild and 70 in captivity.
2.Ravens can soar high above the trees, unlike crows, which rely on active flight. Ravens are capable of aerial stunts similar to those executed by the birds of prey.
3.Like in many other birds, when a raven is on a branch, the feet's muscles and tendons constrict automatically the toes, so that the birds waste little energy on this.
4.Ravens live from deserts to coniferous forests and coastal cliffs. In forests, they nest in stick-made nests on trees, on deserts in rock cavities.
5.They feed on fruits, seeds, nuts, fish, carrion, small animals, food remains and garbage. They even dig on snow to inspect plastic bags with waste. They also follow for days fishers and hunters. Ravens are known to steal the food of many birds and mammals, even from dogs. They can act in pairs: one individual captures dog's attention, while the other steals its food. They also follow wolf packs for picking remains from their preys.
6.The Chinese, Egyptian, Greek, Semitic and Siberian legends depict the raven as a messenger of storms or bad weather. In African, Asian and European legends, the raven forecasts death. Shakespeare presents ravens as messengers or exponents of evil (like in "Julius Caesar", "Macbeth" and "Othello"), while in "Titus Andronicus" they are described as benefactors feeding abandoned children. In his poem "The Raven", Edgar Allan Poe associates this bird with lost love and despair.
7.Raven's calls can express tenderness, happiness, surprise, emotion or rage. Ravens can imitate birds with the same vocal note, mimicking perfectly the crows. The penetrating loud croak signals that something has disturbed the raven. Some say they can be even taught to learn the human speech.
8.Ravens are considered the most intelligent birds, displaying high learning ability and use of logic for solving problems, in some tests bypassing the chimpanzees. In one experiment, a raven had to reach a piece of meat dangling from strings bound to perches. To get to the food, a raven had to follow a series of actions: pull up a string stretch, hold a loop of it on the perch with a claw, then pull up another stretch and hold that loop. The birds had to repeat the action 6 times till getting the meat, while even after 30 trial crows did not succeed.
Ravens could perform this complex sequence of actions straight away and they have never seen string before or encountered meat hanging this way. These birds pass very well complex tests, including "no tests" or "trial and error" ones that involve logic.
Ravens put other animals to do tasks for them. Their beak cannot open tough skins of the carcasses, that's why when they encounter a big corpse, they make calls that attract wolves and foxes to the site and the large carnivores can break the carcass to expose the meat for the birds.
The raven's developed intelligence is connected to their complex social lives and scavenging lifestyles. The birds must find out very rapidly how to locate themselves far enough from a wolf or fox not to be exposed to an attack when sharing a dead animal but close enough to get food.
Ravens have been even taught to count.
9.Due to their intelligence, ravens are very playful. They prank with the wolves. Once a raven headed towards a sleeping wolf and pinched it by its tail. When the wolf dashed to bite the raven, the bird jumped out. When the wolf approached tiptoe to the raven, the bird let it approach till 30 cm and flew away, landing a few meters of the wolf's back and repeating the prank.
Another raven played with wolf cubs. When the cubs had enough of playing, the raven croaked till they started playing again. In Yellowknife (northwestern Canada) ravens perched on the roofs of supermarkets waited for people to pass so that they could push snow on them.
10.Ravens like to drug themselves. They practice myrmecomany (from Old Greek "myrmex" ant, "mania" obsession). The bird sits on the soil or on an ant nest, opens its wings stretched forward, while it curbs its tail toward its belly. In the first step, the bird lets itself be invaded by angry ants and sometimes it picks ants one by one, squashing them a little bit, to introduce them inside the plumage.
Once fully covered by insects, the bird starts executing some bizarre contortions, coiled movements and spins of the body, keeping the head always risen, the feathers extended and saliva over the bill, with an absolutely delighted face. This step lasts roughly 30 minutes. After that, the bird shakes itself to get rid of the ants. |
Available at no additional cost to their membership, Amazon Prime members can now binge watch Amazon Original Series including the sophomore season of fan-favorite Alpha House, the critically-acclaimed Writers Guild of America nominated series Transparent, and children’s series Gortimer Gibbon’s Life on Normal Street in high-quality 4K picture resolution exclusively on Amazon Prime Instant Video. In addition, Prime Instant Video is the exclusive online-only subscription home for streaming the hit BBC thriller Orphan Black, which is now available in Ultra HD. The highly-anticipated upcoming new line-up from Amazon Studios including primetime series Mozart in the Jungle,Bosch, Hand of God, The After and Red Oaks will be available for streaming in Ultra HD on Prime Instant Video later this year and next year. The seven new pilots from Amazon Studios–Cocked, Down Dog, Mad Dogs, Man in the High Castle, Point of Honor, Salem Rogers and The New Yorker Presents–will also be offered in Ultra HD for all customers to watch and provide feedback on, when they debut early next year.
On top of the selection of TV series now available in Ultra HD, select movie titles on Prime Instant Video from Sony Pictures Entertainment–Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Funny Girl, Hitch and Philadelphia–are available for Prime members to watch and enjoy in the high-quality 4K picture resolution.
“We want to deliver the best entertainment experience, and offering Ultra HD movies and TV shows raises the bar on quality and innovation that customers have come to expect from Amazon,” said Michael Paull, Vice President, Amazon Digital Video. “We’re also excited that Ultra HD is the latest benefit of the Amazon Prime membership, giving members instant access to great movies and TV shows in a premium picture resolution at no additional cost.”
In addition to all the great Ultra HD movies and TV shows on Amazon Prime Instant Video, all Amazon customers can enjoy the previously announced special musical performance, Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga: Cheek to Cheek LIVE! in Ultra HD. The concert, sponsored by LG Electronics, is now available in Ultra HD on Amazon Instant Video.
All Amazon customers will also have access to purchase a selection of movies, with some starting at $19.99, in the high-quality 4K picture resolution of Ultra HD from Sony Pictures Entertainment on Amazon Instant Video includingAfter Earth, American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Elysium, Godzilla, Hancock, Moneyball, The Mask of Zorro, The Monuments Men, The Amazing Spider-Man, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Da Vinci Code, The Patriot, Think Like a Man Too, This Is the End, and many more.
Already used in film production and movie theaters, Ultra HD is the next step in high-definition resolution, utilizing displays with an aspect ratio of at least 16:9 and showcasing video at a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels or 8.3 million pixels. With Ultra HD, movies and TV shows can be viewed in unprecedented picture clarity and detail, so even up-close images appear clearer, less pixelated and extremely lifelike.
Amazon Ultra HD movies and TV shows can be accessed on compatible Ultra HD smart TVs, including models from LG, Samsung and Sony, with more added next year. Customers who are not already Prime members can sign up for a free trial at www.amazon.com/prime. For information about Ultra HD and the latest Ultra HD compatible televisions and devices, visit www.amazon.com/ultrahd. |
Image copyright EPA
Around 3,000 migrants are camped around Calais in northern France. Many of them think life will be better in the UK than France - or many other EU countries - but are they right?
Scenes of immigrants trying to storm the Channel Tunnel, or climbing aboard lorries, show how desperate those who have fled to Europe are to get to the UK from France. One a migrant died on a freight shuttle through the tunnel.
Many want to claim asylum in the UK. Others want to enter the country incognito to remain as illegal workers. But what do migrants say is drawing them to the UK - and is the risk of prolonging their journey really worth it?
Image copyright Getty Images
Benefits
"I heard good news about England. They give you a house and some money to spend and live. And then they give them the opportunity to study, to have a good life."
Hamzei, from Afghanistan
Both France and the UK offer cost-of-living benefits, for food, clothing, toiletries and so on, for those awaiting an asylum decision.
In the UK the system is known as Section 95 support, and is given to those unable to feed themselves. Its entitlements are £72.52 a week for a married couple or a couple in a civil partnership. Lone parents over 18 get £43.94 and single people of this age £36.95. Those aged 16 to 18 get £39.80 and under-16s get £52.96.
The French system is more simple. As of January this year, the allowance for adults was 11.45 euros (£8.13) a day. This equates to 80.15 euros (£56.82) a week.
This is higher than any adult rate in the UK. However, the French state provides no money for children. So, those with children would be better off in the UK.
People can look for work in the UK if their asylum claims have taken more than a year to process. This can only happen in areas of work where there's a shortage of personnel. They can also work in France after a year waiting and are subject to a labour market test along similar lines to that in the UK.
Image copyright Getty Images
Housing
"In England I can get a house very quickly. England is a very good place to have a good life."
Fadi, from Syria
In the UK, asylum seekers will be given accommodation, either in a flat, house, hostel or bed and breakfast. "You can't choose where you live," is the government's advice. "It's unlikely you'll get to live in London or south-east England."
In France, asylum seekers awaiting decisions are also entitled to accommodation. But, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the authorities "claim there are not enough places and priority should be given to families with small children".
For those given refugee status and renting properties afterwards, costs can be substantially higher in the UK than France. According to the comparison website Expatistan, accommodation is 25% cheaper in Paris than London.
Average rents for central London were £2,561 per month in the first quarter of this year, according to the estate agent Countrywide. In south-east England they were £1,097, expensive for someone not on a medium-to-high income.
Image copyright Getty Images
Healthcare and education
"I speak the language and I respect the education system in England. It's a civilised country."
Alaa, from Syria
In the UK, asylum seekers can get free National Health Service healthcare, enabling them to see a doctor or access hospital treatment. They also receive free prescriptions, dental care, eyesight tests and help paying for glasses.
Asylum seekers in France have access to healthcare thanks to the universal healthcare insurance system, as long as their incomes are proved to be low.
Illegal migrants in the UK, including failed asylum seekers liable to removal, illegal entrants and people who have overstayed their visas, will be chargeable for NHS hospital care, with exemptions for some groups, such as victims of violence. Treatment in accident and emergency departments and at GP surgeries remains free for all.
Children aged five to 17 of asylum-seekers in the UK must attend school. This is free, while children may be eligible for free school meals.
Similarly in France, children aged six to 16 are subject to compulsory education.
Image copyright AFP
Illegal work
"Britain says, 'We don't want immigrants,' but does nothing to prevent the black economy."
Philippe Mignonet, Deputy Mayor of Calais
The main aim of those entering the country but not seeking asylum is presumed to be economic - they want to find work.
A 2009 study carried out for London Mayor Boris Johnson estimated that the UK had 618,000 "irregular" residents, with London accounting for about 70% of this. The campaign group Migration Watch says a figure of 1.1 million is "more plausible".
The size of black economies is hard to gauge, making the demand for unregistered, untaxed workers difficult to know. But it's thought those of France and the UK are very similar. In 2013, the management consultancy firm AT Kearney estimated that the black economy was the equivalent of 10% of GDP in both countries.
But the OECD, in 2012, put the UK's "non-observed economy" at 2.3% of GDP. That of France was 6.7%, arguably implying more opportunity for illegal workers there.
Despite this, the OECD estimated in 2011 that the use of illegal immigrants represented 1% of total employment in the UK - higher than the 0.75% in France.
It would be hard for a migrant to make an informed judgement of work prospects in the two countries based on these figures.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image copyright Getty Images
Existing communities
"I want to go to England because I have relatives and my father in England."
Abdul, from Pakistan
The European Union states that, among the factors drawing people to specific countries are "historical ties between countries of origin and destination (former colonies for instance), a certain knowledge of the language used in the host country, the presence of established ethnic communities".
The popularity of the UK among asylum-seekers from Pakistan, a member of the Commonwealth, could be explained in this way. The number of people in the UK identifying as Pakistani increased by about 0.4 million between 2001 and 2011, when they accounted for 2% of the population, according to censuses.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, contributing the largest number of asylum seekers in France last year, is a former Belgian colony. As a result, the official language is French.
A 2012 study found that the "likely higher proficiency" in English among migrants made them more likely to choose an English-speaking country. For instance, English is widely understood in Eritrea, one of the main countries producing asylum seekers at the moment.
Image copyright Getty Images
Image copyright Getty Images
The economy
What about the situation that awaits those who are eventually granted refugee status?
According to the EU's own figures, the unemployment rate in France in May was 10.3%.
In the UK it was 5.5% for the period from February to April, according to the Office for National Statistics.
The figures are not directly comparable, but it is clear that there is a better likelihood of getting work in the UK once settled. However, recent figures show the French economy growing faster than the UK's.
Image copyright EPA
Likelihood of gaining refugee status
"EU member states have a shared responsibility to welcome asylum seekers in a dignified manner, ensuring they are treated fairly and that their case is examined to uniform standards so that, no matter where an applicant applies, the outcome will be similar."
European Union
Those choosing to claim asylum once they reach the UK have a better chance of this being granted than in France.
Last year, 38.8% of UK decisions ended in a grant of asylum or an alternative form of protection. For France the rate was 21.7%.
But, while the rate of approval differed between France and the UK, the overall number of people allowed to stay was 10,050 in the UK, for France it was 14,905, because France had more than twice as many applicants.
The top five countries of origin for UK asylum seekers in 2014 were Pakistan, Eritrea, Iran, Syria and Albania. For France, they were the Democratic Republic of Congo, Russia, Bangladesh, Albania and Syria.
In 2013, Matthieu Tardis, of France Terre D'Asile, which provides legal and social services to asylum-seekers and refugees, said the country's government did not consider many of the applications to come from those from "'good' countries, for example countries ravaged by war like Syria or Afghanistan". This, he added, helped to explain the lower rate of approval.
There was a wide variance between acceptance rates for asylum-seekers within the UK. Last year, of Eritrean applicants 87% were granted asylum, but just 20% of Pakistanis.
Detection
"There are no ID cards. They can easily find work outside the formal economy, which is not really controlled."
Natacha Bouchart, Mayor of Calais
It is reported that some illegal migrants want to come to the UK because there is no national system of identity cards and police cannot stop people in the street to ask for their papers. This would make it easier to go about their business, as detection is difficult.
In 2008, the Labour government started to introduce biometric compulsory identity cards for foreign nationals from outside the European Economic Area (EEA). The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition of 2010 to 2015 did not scrap this.
UK Immigration Enforcement officers arrested 139 suspected immigration offenders at locations including London, Durham, Manchester, Wales and Somerset in a single day in 2013 following raids.
The 2014 Immigration Act introduced a requirement for private landlords to check whether new tenants have the right to rent in the UK, or face a fine of up to £3,000. A pilot scheme in the West Midlands is due to be extended across England in the autumn.
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From RationalWiki
"Creep shaming" is a term used to defend against claims that certain actions/behaviors, often towards women and often sexual in nature, are "creepy" (unacceptable behavior). The term is derived from "slut shaming" and is used predominantly by MRAs and other denizens of the manosphere. The logic in the term's use is that the man in question is made to feel ashamed solely for being male rather than the specific context of how he has behaved, and that the women shaming him are saying that they don't want men to flirt with women at all. Needless to say, this is (almost always) bullshit, since the implication is ultimately that there are few/no acceptable restrictions on seeking sex.
What some call "creep shaming" is actually pointing out a variety of inappropriate behaviors, including, but not limited to: persistent and/or disrespectful sexual propositioning (including cold-propositioning),[2] assuming that women are seeking their attention, failing to read obvious body language that expresses a lack of interest on the part of the targeted woman, and failing to take "no" for an answer. It's possibly rather revealing that, whereas some women are reappropriating the term "slut", MRAs aren't lining up to "own" the designation of "creep".
Making women vulnerable [ edit ]
The "anti-creep shaming campaign" is about discouraging people from protecting themselves from harm. A person sometimes intuitively feels they are not safe with another, but is made to feel guilty about acting on this feeling. Astute readers may recognize that as a tactic often used by anyone seeking to take advantage of another.
“ ” [I]t's a really freaking dangerous idea to twist a woman's open, honest communication about her boundaries/expectations into ‘creep shaming' that victimizes men. —Jessica Wakeman[3]
An example which had some impact in the blogosphere in 2012 occurred when blogger Jessica Wakeman posted an "open letter" about a bad dating experience which had culminated in her being called "mean and bitchy" as well as "crazy."[4] In the comments thread, one reader posted a lengthy comment very much taking the man's side and explaining his behaviour as a response to feeling "creep shamed."[5] Wakemen responded to this comment in her next blog, entitled "Why 'Creep Shaming' Is Total BS", again prompting hostile comments from MRA supporters.[3] Other bloggers picked up on this issue, exploring the phenomenon of creep shaming as well as connotations of the word "creep" itself.[6]
Who complains [ edit ]
According to the men's rights activists who coined the phrase, creep shaming is a weapon that people (feminists in particular) use to "persecute" men, and an example of female "privilege."
An example of this worldview can be seen in this comment posted on Reddit in 2011,[7] which has since become a popular talking point in both MRA and feminist circles:
“ ” Creep shaming is probably one of the most insidious and anti-equality things you can do. The ability to label men as "creepy" is just one privilege that women enjoy, and a constant source of fear of ostracizing that all men must fear in our society.
The people who like to throw the term around tend to be bitter misogynists with a near-total lack of self-awareness, and therefore avoid paying attention to the whole context of what "creepiness" is. The term 'creep' describes effectively when someone has overstepped someone else's boundaries and may make it hard to avoid reflecting on the impact of this behavior. A person can only stop being a creep by genuinely respecting others and their boundaries more.
Lucas Werner claimed that the word "creep" is analogous to racist and homophobic slurs, and that it is ageist because it is often applied to older men who pursue younger women.[8]
Some uses of the creep shaming meme also tie in with other common ideas among misogynists, such as a disdain for women having agency and the pick-up artist view that if your attempts at seducing a chick don't work, there must be something wrong with her and not you. These misogynists also appear to believe that a woman trying to avoid a man she considers a possible threat is worse than the prospect of a guy not being able to pursue a woman. The subtext is that these guys don't want to acknowledge that they may actually have some personality issues to work out before most women will show interest in them, so instead they attack women for, essentially, having standards and an instinct for self-preservation. It's essentially entitled NiceGuyism turned into a debating point.
People who complain about creep-shaming tend to make the common assumption that equality equals fairness. Equality in the dating sphere is a goal both men and women should work towards but fairness has nothing to do with how one feels about someone else and it is entirely a judgement call made by someone else.
Another common criticism by men is that there is no equivalent of "creep" that can be applied to a woman.[9] There are many adjectives and nouns that are used to describe similar behaviour in women, from "bunny boiler" and "stalker" to "needy", "clingy", and "desperate".
Relationship with slut shaming [ edit ]
Practitioners of slut shaming and the anti-creep-shaming crowd are making the same fundamental assumption about human sexuality. Both are essentially arguments from biological determinism. Slut shaming operates under the assumption that women are not supposed to be sexually active and/or have sexual desires. Some versions of decrying creep shaming are taking the related traditionalist argument, that the male sex drive is all-powerful and therefore it is inappropriate to criticize "creeps" for being slaves to their genitalia: a concept which might itself be called creepy.
Creeps and flirting [ edit ]
There's a difference between "creepy" behaviour and flirting. The women who protest against actual creeps do not want to prevent men from ever trying to sexually or romantically pursue women, but draw awareness to the fact that there are respectful and appropriate ways of doing so.
See also [ edit ] |
Square Enix Giving Away an Island in Just Cause 3 Contest
Square Enix Giving Away an Island in Just Cause 3 Contest
Share. Or take $50,000 in cash. Or take $50,000 in cash.
Just Cause 3 developer Avalanche Studios and Square Enix have announced a contest for Just Cause 3 in which the grand prize is a real-life island.
According to the official website, players must come out on top of the Chaos Points leaderboard 90 days after the release of Just Cause 3 for a chance to win an island valued at $50,000 USD or a cash prize for the same amount. Chaos Points are acquired by creatively destroying anything and everything in Just Cause 3.
Square Enix does specify a location for the island, nor does it guarantee the island to be inhabitable or accessible via means other than a boat.
"Location of Island to be determined by Sponsor," said Square Enix. "All taxes and fees associated with purchasing and obtaining of Island (including but not limited to attorney's fees, escrow, and closing costs) are the responsibility of the Winner. Sponsor does not guarantee the Island to be inhabitable, developed or reachable by any means other than a boat."
Square Enix also notes that the grand prize is subject to change if necessary.
"Sponsor reserves the right to change and/or substitute any components of the Grand Prize at any time, in its sole discretion."
Exit Theatre Mode
To participate in the contest, players will need to purchase the day one edition of Just Cause 3, register an account on the Square Enix site, and link their PlayStation Network or Xbox Live profile to the account. It does not appear PC users will be eligible for the contest. More details on the contest, including official rules, can be found on the contest website.
Recently, IGN went hands-on with Just Cause 3 at Gamescom, and we were given a look at two of the game's outrageous new challenge modes.
Just Cause 3 launches on December 1 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Michael Martin is a full-time freelance writer with way too many pop culture mash-up t-shirts to count. Follow him on Twitter @Bizarro_Mike. |
The dark houses in West Vancouver are so prevalent on some streets that Mayor Michael Smith worries about how his community is functioning.
He would like to see a heavy tax on houses that are used as investments or secondary residences, just like the $20,000 a year he pays in taxes for his vacation house in Kauai, Hawaii.
"As a society, we need to decide whether homes are for people and families or whether they're investments," Mr. Smith said. "If it's not your principal residence, you should pay more in tax. The best way to stop this is to make it punitive."
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In Coquitlam, residents are also noticing dark condos in the new high-rises around the city centre. But Mayor Richard Stewart said it is not seen as such a bad thing.
"We raise taxes to pay for city services and, if someone is paying taxes but not consuming services, most people don't have a problem with that," he said.
The white-hot issue of housing affordability has been mostly focused on the west side of Vancouver, but the issue of vacant houses and foreign capital is bubbling up in municipalities across the Lower Mainland, and as in Vancouver, few people agree on what, if anything, to do about it.
A map generated by the local company Mountain Math Software using 2011 census data shows pockets around the region with relatively high rates of what are labelled "dwellings not occupied by usual residents."
That means they were vacant or someone other than the owner, but not a long-term renter, occupied them when the census was done in May, 2011.
It was at 24 per cent in central Surrey, where high-rises are being developed around the SkyTrain station.
That is higher than the 22-per-cent rate in Vancouver's Coal Harbour, which was pegged in news reports two years ago as a prime example of a neighbourhood dominated by investor or vacation homes.
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One small area of Port Moody shows up at 20 per cent; the central part of West Vancouver above Highway 1 is at 14 per cent; a few parts of central Burnaby along Kingsway, which has seen a lot of high-rise building in the past decade, are at 11 per cent.
The average rate in other large Canadian cities is around 5 per cent, which accounts for people on vacation or places sitting empty between owners.
A debate on that topic broke out at Metro Vancouver last week as council delegates grappled with their other housing problem: a shortage of places for low-income people, which are not being produced in anywhere near the quantities needed.
Mr. Smith said he would like to see a tax on vacant homes – something the city of West Vancouver's lawyers have told him only the province can create – used to build some of that low-cost housing.
Like everyone in Vancouver, he has no exact count of what is owned by a foreign investor and what is being left vacant by a long-time homeowner, recent immigrant or temporary resident.
Statistics from the Greater Vancouver Real Estate Board say foreign investors account for 0.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent of residential real estate in various Lower Mainland municipalities, a number that is much lower than the census data on unoccupied dwellings.
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Other mayors around the region say they are also hearing stories about vacant homes and residential property being used for only investment purposes, to a greater or lesser degree, but they are not sure a tax would be workable.
In the District of North Vancouver, Mayor Richard Walton said there has been a spate of tear-downs of 1950s houses, and one street near him appears to have few year-round residents.
"We know it's an emerging issue." But he said it would be complicated to charge a tax. He said some wealthy long-time owners in North and West Vancouver leave their houses empty while they travel extensively.
In Surrey, Mayor Linda Hepner said the topic has bubbled up because of people complaining that investor-owners dominate their strata councils (And the debate is over those investors' desire to rent out the units, so dark condos are not the problem.)
But Ms. Hepner sees the investments as an overall positive.
"That just propels the construction of high-rises and helps us build our downtown."
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In Richmond, Mayor Malcolm Brodie has been hearing the complaints about vacant houses for 30 years, since the city was transformed from a largely white community to an immigration hot spot.
"People are feeling the neighbourhoods are eroding to a certain extent," he said. "But I don't know of an effective way to deal with it." |
If the upcoming projects they announced at the Television Critics Association’s summer press tour over the weekend are any indication, AMC is leaning heavy on the horror in 2018 and beyond. And that doesn’t exactly surprise us, as they’ve had great success with both “The Walking Dead” and its spinoff.
In addition to several new fiction series’ that fall into the horror genre, AMC also announced forthcoming non-fiction project “Wicked West.“
Produced by Blumhouse Television, the horror anthology uncovers the most frightening and disturbing tales from the Wild West.
And they’re all true.
“Wicked West” utilizes Blumhouse’s chilling cinematic style on this weekly series, telling stories of sadistic serial killers, murderous black widows, bloodthirsty family clans, and local legends laced with the supernatural. With a tense horror, modern cinematic style, “Wicked West” brings a haunting approach to the untold stories of the bloodbath known as the American West.
Jason Blum, Jeremy Gold and Marci Wiseman will produce for Blumhouse Television. |
by Darcy Payne
It’s early June. A bright blue dumpster is reflecting the setting sun on a scorching summer evening. Flies are swarming to feast on garbage piled high, thought to be forgotten. This garbage, though, is far from forgotten—for some, it’s a treasure.
Every day at University Gables, a 65-year-old Hispanic man rifles through three dirty dumpsters. His eyes are bright, but his wrinkles make them droop close to the middle of his cheeks. Hoping to find goodies and knickknacks, this dumpster-dig has been Luis’ routine for four years. Today, he made out with a plastic storage bin, a mini-fridge and a few pencils.
After previously being homeless for six years of his life as a Californian, Luis has learned to appreciate the smallest things, even his new pencils. Today he is retired and living off his prior success in the furniture business. He had a shop in California, but he hopes to create a furniture store in Murfreesboro. His vision is to create a store in the building that used to be Rose’s on Mercury Boulevard.
“Oooo-ah!” Luis gasps in fright as I approach him digging through the dump. “In all my years digging through these dumpsters, not one person has come to say hello.”
Minding his own business, Luis ransacks a dumpster full of unloved items. He calls this his hobby. Luis has lived in the University Gables for four years in hopes to keep “under the radar.” He believes attention isn’t the way to live. Although, he says one day we will see his face on television.
“I will give you an autograph,” says Luis, “You better frame it. It’ll be worth something soon.”
Luis is very adamant about appreciating what he has. He has great advice about spending money and life in general.
“There is a difference between loving money and respecting the money you have,” says Luis.
He believes all he needs is pennies. After hearing a story on the radio about a little girl who was satisfied with just 57 cents when she died at a young age, he couldn’t help but be satisfied with the little he has. Luis said he had $100,000 in the bank at one point while living in California, but then he blew it all and became homeless.
One day, after blowing the money, he asked God for just 57 cents. Upon his arrival to a bank, three people gave him money. It all added up to 57 cents, just like he asked. Soon after this circumstance, Luis lost 11 cents.
“When I lost 11 cents,” says Luis, “I felt like I lost a million dollars.”
Now, Luis gets blessed with money often.
“I find at least seven dollars in coins on the ground,” says Luis, “but next, I’m going to ask God for a dollar. Just a paper dollar.”
He’s sure he will be given that dollar. Luis has a jar in his room full of pennies. He believes that if he has 1,000 pennies, they will later be rewarded to him as $1,000 from God. When asked when “later” is, he says God decides the time. Luis believes God provides him with everything he needs.
He is wearing a navy blue sweatshirt and grey sweatpants. It’s 90 degrees outside today. Actually, all the clothes that he is wearing today were acquired from previous dumpster dives. He is also wearing a flat-billed hat featuring a pink Muppet; Luis calls the Muppet “Nemo.”
“A lady told me that’s what this Muppet’s name is,” says Luis: “Nemo!”
His favorite book is The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. The book features secrets from successful people. Luis has a very big heart and a special love for success. Previously, Luis was married to a beautiful blond-haired woman.
“I shouldn’t have ruined that marriage,” says Luis seriously. “I ruined it . . . I brought a skunk home. She got mad at me, and then she kept the skunk and kicked me out!”
When asked why his past wife didn’t just kick out the skunk instead, Luis merely says, “Women are crazy like that.” Although he is no longer married, he has very successful step-grandchildren who have gone to school and made great lives for themselves. He couldn’t be more proud.
Although he has pride in his family, one of his step-grandchildren messed up. His said his step-grandson was one of the top wrestlers in the state, but he quit high school after hanging around the wrong crowd. He stole $7,000 from Luis’ now ex-wife and got into trouble.
Now, Luis has a new life. He has a car that has been parked in the same spot for over two years. He chooses to ride the bus or walk for exercise, so his car hasn’t moved. He says it’s just easier that way. No insurance to pay, no responsibilities. While Luis was walking alongside a road one day, a car hit him. Luis was in a coma for 30 days. He now has brain damage and a damaged leg, but his spirit is still strong.
He recently started attending church at The Experience Community. At first, Luis seemed puzzled by the offering plate system. Traditionally, a plate is passed around. Not at The Experience. Getting used to the stationary offering jar was a struggle for Luis. Today, he put pennies into the offering jar.
“Wow,” said Sarah Josovitz, the collector of this day’s offering money. “Someone put a lot of pennies in here.”
Luis is still standing near the jar. He confesses, “That was me.” Sarah winks kindly at him. At The Experience Community, connection cards are offered for new attendees. Luis fills out a card and asks Sarah where to put it.
“Oh,” says Sarah, “You can put it in this.”
She holds the pouch of money towards Luis so he can put the card in. She had already collected the offering jar that he was supposed to store it in. Luis slides the card into the pouch and pretends to take the pouch out of Sarah’s hands. Sarah was worried for a few seconds that he was trying to steal the money, but Luis let it go with a chuckle. Hopefully Sarah has a good sense of humor. . . .
“I like to make people laugh,” says Luis, “If I can make one person laugh every day, I’ve done my job.”
Although he dumpster-dives, Luis is content. Every day, Luis says to himself, “I will find a penny.” This morning he found 26 cents. He still has a goal to find a dollar bill. Luis writes down all the goals he has set for himself to reach. He accomplishes every goal he writes down and sticks them onto the bulletin board in his office.
“For the rest of your life, you might not be broke,” says Luis, “but you can be broken in spirit. Broken in drive. Right now, I am happy. I am content.”
Sometimes, pennies are all you’ve got. Luis gave all he had to the Lord today in church, even if it was just a lot of pennies. If you or someone you know is in need of some money today, it could be enough to give them a lucky penny.
“I want to give people 100 times more than what God gave me,” says Luis, “and I’m rich. Not with money, but in love.”
Luis waddles along the road with his cane, heading back to his apartment, one step closer to his next goal. One step closer to his next penny. |
In 1937, the world-famous African American performer and activist Paul Robeson was holidaying in the Soviet Union when he received a plea to support an anti-fascist fundraiser in London’s Royal Albert Hall. By then, much of the British intelligentsia was backing the Spanish Republic’s struggle, so that the event was endorsed not only by the labour movement but also by writers, artists and musicians: WH Auden, Cecil Day-Lewis, Stephen Spender, Rebecca West, HG Wells, Virginia Woolf and many, many others.
Everyone recognised why Spain mattered. Franco’s fascists relied on Hitler and Mussolini for supplies and modern equipment. While the Soviet Union aided (to some extent) the Republic, the neutrality of Western powers signified, for progressives, flagrant appeasement. After all, the Nazi support for the Nationalists represented more than mere ideological affinity: Spain possessed resources crucial for German rearmament, and the fight against the Republic allowed Hitler to perfect new weapons and new tactics. The war was thus an obvious precursor to something much worse.
Every artist, every scientist, every writer must decide now where he stands. There is no standing above the conflict on Olympian heights. There are no impartial observers … The battlefront is everywhere
For that reason, it also offered a last chance to halt fascism’s advance. Much to the surprise of the Spanish generals, popular resistance had pushed back the coup in Barcelona and Madrid, forcing the Nationalist armies to regroup in the provinces. And when Dolores Ibárruri, the Republic’s famous La Pasionaria (“the Passionflower”), shouted, “No pasarán!” (“They shall not pass!”), she was understood as urging a stand against fascism not just on behalf of the Spanish but also for everyone threatened by Hitler and Mussolini and all the imitative fascist movements across Europe.
In fact, Paul Robeson flew from Moscow to speak in person at the fundraising event
The most dramatic response came in the shape of the International Brigades. In 1936, the Comintern, the Moscow-based leadership of the communist movement, proposed an anti-fascist volunteer army. Eventually, more than 40,000 people enlisted in the Brigades: soldiers drawn from some 50 nations, in the most diverse army in history. The vast majority were ordinary workers – usually, but not always, communists.
For progressives, the Spanish Civil War represented almost a generational test: a chance to fight not for the “old lie” of 1914 but for democracy, freedom, and fraternity. As the Irish poet Louis MacNeice explained, Spain was where “our blunt ideals would find their whetstone”. That was Paul’s sense, too. His discovery of the working class rekindled his optimism after his illusions in respectable Britain had been shattered. But Spain, where revolution and reaction contested openly, raised the stakes higher. In Spain, the battle had been joined; in Spain, Europe’s fate would be settled.
Here was a cause worthy of Paul’s mighty talents.
For the Albert Hall rally, he had at first intended to record in a Moscow studio and broadcast the message to London via radio. But Nazi Germany threatened to jam the transmission, while the Albert Hall management expressed a disinclination to receive communications from Red Russia. That joint opposition – so redolent of the tacit alliance between fascism and liberal democracy – infuriated him. He made the recording anyway, conscious of the huge audience the airwaves could reach – and then caught a special flight back to England. “Nothing,” he said later, “was going to stop me from sending or giving my message to the British public on the subject of Spain.”
That evening, the stage was studded with celebrities. For the British artist William Townsend, sitting in the audience, there was no question as to who left the biggest impression. Robeson, he said, “was the great man of the evening … his personality eclipsed all others as his speech overwhelmed theirs”.
Fascism fights to destroy the culture which society has created; created through pain and suffering, through desperate toil, but with unconquerable will and lofty vision
By then, Paul’s formal study of oratory had been honed by years of theatrical and concert stages. When he spoke, people listened. “Fascism,” he told the massive crowd, “fights to destroy the culture which society has created; created through pain and suffering, through desperate toil, but with unconquerable will and lofty vision.” The argument possessed particular force because of the man making it. Paul’s people knew about desperate toil, yes, and they knew about pain and suffering. If anyone had the right to scoff at the civilising pretensions of European culture, it was the son of a slave, a man denied basic rights in the most advanced of democracies. Yet here was Paul urging a defence of those achievements, not so much for what they were but for what they might become.
“Every artist, every scientist, every writer must decide now where he stands. He has no alternative. There is no standing above the conflict on Olympian heights. There are no impartial observers … The battlefront is everywhere.”
It was another of the moments that Paul produced so regularly, an occasion that the men and women in attendance remembered for the rest of their lives. His speech, delivered with characteristic sincerity, embodied what they took to be at stake in Spain: all that was good and decent and honest pitched against all that was barbaric and cruel and backward.
The applause went on and on and on.
This is an extract from No Way But This: In Search of Paul Robeson by Jeff Sparrow ( Scribe), which Peter Murphy reviews in The Irish Times on August 19th |
With Windows Phone 8, Microsoft has found a firm foothold in the mobile space, the likes of which it hasn’t had in recent memory.
This is no small feat, given blistering competition from innovative and quality market leaders. Microsoft was late. And yet, from the first taste of Windows Phone, through its 7.1 upgrade issues, Nokia’s entrance, the much awaited 7.5 firmware bump, and most recently the relaunch of the platform as Windows Phone 8 sporting a shared core with Windows itself, the slope for the mobile platform has been inexorably up and to the right.
The grind appears to be over, in the initial sense, for Microsoft however, as its recent mix of new software – Windows Phone 8 itself – new hardware – the Nokia Lumia 920, 820, and the HTC 8X – and new developer tools have come together to propel Windows Phone forward from junior status and into the big leagues.
Several key statistics point to a single conclusion: Windows Phone cannot match iOS or Android in terms of scale, but the platform is no longer a piece of potential, and is instead a full, mature player in the modern smartphone game.
Certainly, that claim requires evidence. There are three elements that we need discuss.
SDK
The Windows Phone 8 software development kit has been a hit for Microsoft, demonstrating new, and larger developer interest in the platform. As TNW reported previously, slightly more than a week after the most recent BUILD event, at which the SDK was generally released:
Windows Phone 8′s developer SDK, made available at BUILD, is Microsoft’s most “rapidly downloaded” SDK that the firm has released this year. [I]it has seen twice the number of downloads in the last eight days – PB – that the Windows Phone 7.1 SDK received in its first week and a day of life. [T]he total number of developers registered to build for Windows Phone has risen a total of 17% in the last 8 days. […] Microsoft is averaging around 1,500 new developers registrations daily since BUILD, for Windows Phone.
All told, the new tools that Microsoft provided have found wide interest, as the company made it simpler to create applications that can run both on Windows and Windows 8. This means that a key pillar of any mobile platform, developer support, is something that Windows Phone is currently enjoying as never before.
Hardware Sales
We now turn to hardware. Microsoft claims that its new set of devices – the best yet, in TNW’s view, which we have yet to see any real disagreement with – is selling at four times the rate of last year’s crop. That fact was true as of the very end of November, making it a fresh statistic.
According to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the new phones are “off to a great start,” and are “getting rave reviews and have initially sold out in many countries.” We have made much progress since the days of the Samsung Focus, in other words.
Critically, HTC has staked claim to a fair chunk of Windows Phone market share, meaning that Nokia has meaningful competition in its selected platform niche. This will only lead to better phones and lower prices, not to mention increased sales.
Now, if we are seeing improved developer interest, and greatly increased sales, that would naturally lead to better app download figures, correct? Let’s take a look.
App Downloads
According to Tod Brix, Senior Director of the Windows Phone Apps Team, things are looking quite strong for the Windows Phone Store:
That fact caps the former two data sets in that it is their natural conclusion. Call it corroboration, if you want.
With rising developer interest, greatly improved sales, and doubled app downloads and revenues, we can graduate Windows Phone from the minors to the majors.
Now what, Microsoft? How about some hard sales numbers? Only Amazon likes to report in ratios.
Top Image Credit: Vernon Chan
Read next: Apple finally brings its iTunes Store to Indonesia and India, and 54 other countries |
(Newser) – President Obama told the chief executives of America's biggest companies today that the US has to end its "endless cycles of bubbles and busts," Bloomberg reports. "Instead, we must build this recovery on a foundation that lasts," Obama said in an address to the Business Roundtable. That's why his administration's focus isn't solely on the economy, he said, but also on health care, energy, and education.
“I’m not choosing to address these additional challenges just because I feel like it, or because I’m a glutton for punishment,” he said. “I’m doing so because they are fundamental to our economic growth and to ensuring that we don’t have more crises like this in the future.” Still, he said his team's "top" priorities are dealing with banks' toxic assets and unfreezing the credit markets. (Read more President Obama stories.) |
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In a sign that David Cameron, and his fellow Europhiles of the various “remain” campaigns, are having their feathers ruffled by the so-called “Norway option” that some campaigners – including me – advocate as means of transitioning out of the European Union, he has sought to warn against it.
Backed up by his slippery allies such as Espen Barth Eide, and on the back of a smear campaign by Stronger In, the PM has trotted out the usual lies about Norway having “no say” on “EU rules” but still having to pay. One just needs to scratch the surface for a moment to break through the deceit.
The European Free Trade Association makes a financial contribution of behalf of its members for their participation in the single market. In 2014 Norway’s 55% share of that contribution amounted to approximately £8.1 million. Accounting for its rebate, the United Kingdom transfers £12 billion a year or around £33 million a day to the European Union for the dubious privileges of subjugation.
This may strike you as odd, as you will be used to the Europhile argument that Norway pays “almost as much as us” but has “no say”. This is because the dishonest Europhile figure is grossly inflated by the inclusion of voluntary contributions Norway makes that have nothing to do with the single market, most of which does not go to the EU.
They include voluntary grants made to post-Communist countries, a form of aid for economic rehabilitation, amounting to around €804 million, and money paid into the EEA grant system – again nothing to do with the single market, and it does not go to the EU – which, totalled with the grants, comes to a total €1.7 billion from 2009-2014.
To top the lie off, they include voluntary contributions to EU programmes from Erasmus+ to Copernicus, which again are nothing to do with the single market, with countries who do not participate in the market also contributing. An independent Britain would likely choose to voluntarily contribute to the programmes where there are mutual benefits in cooperation.
Why do Europhiles have to lie? Because they are shaken and they have no proper, robust and honest arguments. Coming from the mouth of the prime minister, with all the prestige that lends to the dishonesty, their guff is polished like a turd and believed by the uninformed.
As for having no “say” or influence on the “EU rules”. Well, it’s another lie. For a start, we should be suspicious of Europhile absolutes; the Norwegian government – as an EEA member – is very much involved in the complex process of consultation before “EU rules” are implemented. More significantly, Norway has an independent trade policy and not only can it pursue and sign its own trade agreements, it is involved at an international level influencing the standards of trade and industry.
This is the point. The majority of EU law does not originate from the EU, but from global bodies – a staggering array of them that are not exactly household names – from UNECE, to Codex, and WP .29, these are what you might pithily call the “top tables” if you like, where Britain can be compelled to adopt the common EU position, and the EU seeks to steadily marginalise and eventually replace nation states – a severe risk we will take if we choose to remain.
Norway meanwhile – and its related industry and corporate interests, NGO’s, and numerous non-state actors – are influencing the development and design of these so-called “rules” directly before they are drafted and handed down to the EU. They pay far less than us, and they have their say.
The regulation of trade and industry is becoming globalised and we mustn’t get left behind and become irrelevant. Governance and regulation has moved on from the 50’s, but the EU hasn’t. We need agility, the ability to form dynamic coalitions and alliances according to the situation, the independence to protect our interests, and we need to take our seat at the “top tables”.
Norway does.
Crucially, this “option” is not a permanent alternative, but a pragmatic transitional arrangement that can be negotiated in the two year period stipulated by Article 50. Advocates of this method – such as I and the Referendum Planning Group – acknowledge its imperfection, but Brexit will necessarily have to work in stages, and this will be stage one. Brexit is a process not a one off event.
As it allays economic fears and neutralises so much Europhile fear mongering at once, it’s obvious why they are making a concerted effort to smear it in lies.
While Cameron smears the so-called “Norway option”, he is preparing to offer us second class status as an “associate member”. This, I contend, is a poorer offer and considering the changing nature of the EU, and its lust for power, more uncertain and a far greater risk.
Ben is a writer, editor and Brexit campaigner. He advocates a counter-revolution to achieve the restoration of constitutional liberty and national independence. He blogs at The Sceptic Isle. Follow him on Twitter: @TheScepticIsle
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The views expressed in this article are that of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Conservatives for Liberty |
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Fun Fact:Though the Keck Observatory is more than 15 years old, it has essentially the same design and setup of the more monstrous telescopes under planning or construction, says Caltech’s Chuck Steidel, one of the designers of the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope. “Keck Observatory is the prototype of the next generation,” he told PM.
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Evolution in extreme environments has produced life forms with amazing abilities and traits. Beneath the waves, many creatures sport iridescent structures that rival any materials scientists can create in the laboratory.
A team of researchers from UC Santa Barbara and the University of Pennsylvania has now shown how giant clams use these structures to thrive, operating as exceedingly efficient, living greenhouses that grow symbiotic algae as a source of food. The findings appear today in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
In related research published last year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and featured in The Scientist, members of the same team discovered the mechanism by which “reflectin” proteins quickly tune the flashing colors in the skin of squids for camouflage and underwater signaling. These same colorless proteins form the reflective nanostructures responsible for the brilliant, neonlike reflectance in the giant clam.
“Many mollusks, like squid, octopuses, snails and cuttlefish, have iridescent structures, but almost all use them for camouflage or for signaling to mates,” said co-author Alison Sweeney, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in Penn’s School of Arts & Sciences. “We knew giant clams weren’t doing either of those things so wanted to know what they were using them for.”
Giant clams are uniquely recognized by the brilliant neonlike reflectance from cells in their epithelium, which creates striking patterns in colors from deep azure blues or turquoises to greens, golds and reds. Scientists have long thought these reflective cells acted as a kind of sunscreen, protecting the animal’s tissues from damage by the intense solar irradiation to which they are exposed in the shallow tropical seas.
“We discovered a second function of the biophotonic behavior of these cells in which they redirect solar photons deeper and laterally into the clam tissue, providing gentle but uniform illumination to the millions of symbiotic unicellular algae that supply nutrients to their animal host by photosynthesis,” said Daniel Morse, professor emeritus in UCSB’s Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and director of the campus’s Marine Biotechnology Center. “This discovery might even provide a blueprint for improving the design of low-cost, flexible, polymer-based solar cells in which efficiency can paradoxically be reduced by excessive sunlight.”
While the true purpose of the giant clams’ iridescent structures, cells known as iridocytes, was not known, the team had a strong hypothesis. Like their coral neighbors, giant clams are home to symbiotic algae that grow within their flesh. These algae convert the abundant sunlight of the clams’ equatorial home into a source of nutrition but are not particularly efficient in the intense sunlight found on tropical reefs. Sunlight at the latitude where these clams live is so intense that it can disrupt the algae’s photosynthesis, producing potentially fatal concentrations of reactive oxygen rather than energy for growth.
The researchers began their study hypothesizing that the clams’ iridocytes were being used to maximize the usefulness of the light that reaches the algae inside. Originally they were confounded by the relationship between the iridocytes and the algae, until they realized that they had an incomplete picture of their geometry. More precise cross-sections of the clams showed that the algae were organized into pillars, with a layer of iridocytes at the top.
“When we saw the complete picture, we understood that the pillars are oriented exactly the wrong way if you want to catch sunlight,” said Sweeney. “That’s where the iridocytes come into play.”
The team relied on Amanda Holt, a postdoctoral optical physicist formerly at UCSB and now at Penn, and Sanaz Vahidinia of NASA’s Ames Research Center to model exactly what was happening to the light once it passed through the iridocytes. The degree of disorder within these cells bore a resemblance to structures Vahidinia studies at NASA: the dust of Saturn’s rings.
Their analysis suggested that the iridocytes would scatter many wavelengths of light in a conelike distribution pointing deeper into the clam. Red and blue wavelengths, the most useful to the algae, spread the widest, impacting the sides of the pillars in which the single-celled plants were stacked.
To test this model, the team constructed fiber-optic probes with spherical tips the size of an individual alga. Threaded through a section of clam flesh alongside the native algae, this spherical probe was able to detect the angled light scattered by the iridocytes, whereas a flat-tipped probe, able to sense light only shining straight down, detected nothing.
“At any vertical position within the clam tissue the light comes in at just about the highest rate at which these algae can make use of photons most efficiently,” Sweeney said. “The entire system is scaled so the algae absorb light exactly at the rate where they are happiest.”
“This provides a gentle, uniform illumination to the vertical pillars consisting of the millions of symbiotic algae that provide nutrients to their animal host by photosynthesis,” Morse added. “The combined effect of the deeper penetration of sunlight (reaching more algae that grow densely in the three-dimensional volume of tissue) and the ‘step-down’ reduction in light intensity (preventing the inhibition of photosynthesis from excessive irradiation) enables the host to support a much larger population of active algae producing food than possible without the reflective cells.”
Mimicking the micron-scale structures within the clam’s iridocytes and algal pillars could lead to new approaches for boosting the efficiency of photovoltaic cells without having to precisely engineer structures on the nanoscale. Other alternative energy strategies might adopt lessons from the clams in a more direct way: Current bioreactors are inefficient because they must constantly stir the algae to keep them exposed to light as they grow and take up more and more space; adopting the geometry of the iridocytes and algal pillars within the clams would be a way of circumventing that issue.
“All of our alternative energy sources are expensive when it comes to surface area, just like a clam,” Sweeney said, “so it makes sense to try to solve that problem the way evolution has.”
The research team also included Yakir Luc Gagnon of Duke University.
The research was supported by the Army Research Office and the Office of Naval Research. |
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We’ve looked at a couple of religious based distributions such as Ubuntu: Christian Edition and Ubuntu: Muslim Edition. But there’s another version of Ubuntu…a dark and evil one. A version so hideous and so terrible that it’s name is only spoken in whispers among Linux users…
Ubuntu Satanic Edition 666.6 (Jesus’ Jugular)
Yep! There really is a satanic version of Ubuntu and we’ll take a look at it in this review.
Please note as always that ExtremeTech endorses no particular religion or any religion at all. Nor do we endorse no religion. We respect people of all faiths and people of no faith and people who aren’t sure if they have any faith as well as people who don’t care about faith one way or the other.
Just wanted to clarify that for those who get upset about these kinds of things.
OMG, Satanic Hooters!
Before I go any further into this review I should note here that when you boot up the Live CD there is a pic of a semi-naked woman and you can see her boobies. I want to note it here in case there’s anybody out there that is offended at such things. Don’t download this distribution if satanic type hooters bother you okay? You’ve been warned!
And a note to the Ubuntu Satanic Edition developers…please give the woman in the photo a sandwich. I don’t think seeing somebody’s ribs is particularly attractive. She looks like she just escaped from some kind of famine somewhere. Thin is one thing but ribs sticking out is quite another.
If you need a voluptuous model for your distro’s wallpaper please find one that eats regularly and perhaps you might want to try to find one that doesn’t look like she has an adam’s apple.
Just my two cents, take it as you will. Continued… |
Dr. Sebastian Gorka made his final appearance as national security editor for Breitbart News on Tuesday’s Breitbart News Daily–and his first as deputy assistant to President Donald Trump.
In his new capacity, Dr. Gorka naturally addressed the biggest news of the day, President Trump’s executive order on immigration and refugees. SiriusXM host Alex Marlow pointed to a Rasmussen poll that found 57 percent public support for the supposedly outrageous order.
“It’s quite remarkable, Alex, how the media elite – what we call the ‘chattering classes,’ or what Ben Rhodes, the former deputy national security adviser, called the ‘echo chamber’ or the ‘sounding box’ – they really still don’t understand what happened on November the 8th, and how the backbone of America, the common man, the average voter simply wants to see a return to common sense,” Gorka said.
“We are at war with global jihadism,” he continued. “We’ve arrested or killed more than 125 ISIS terrorists in America since the Caliphate was redeclared two-and-a-half years ago, from Mosul. They want things like the Berlin attack, the Nice attack, the double Paris attacks, not to happen on U.S. soil. So they understand that we need to review all our immigration policies and build a wall. It’s really that simple, Alex.”
“Your critics on the Left would say this is about seizing the moral high ground for the next terror attack. What is your response to that?” Marlow asked.
“I would say playing politics with the safety of American citizens is reprehensible,” Gorka replied. “The fact is, we know that ISIS has declared in English, in its publications, in its videos, ‘We will use the refugee streams and mass migrations to insert our jihadis into your cultures.’ We know at least one of the attacks in Europe involved an individual with refugee status, traveling on a false Syrian passport. These are not matters of opinion. These are the cold, hard facts.”
“What we need to recall is, we’ve had here, even in the United States, the Boston attack,” he said when Marlow asked about terrorist actions carried out by refugees. “I worked on the Boston attack for the Department of Justice as an expert. Remember, these individuals came from the former Soviet Union. They came as refugees or asylum seekers. They went through the system and were approved.”
“Likewise, you look at San Bernardino, another individual who went through the system and was approved. And at the time – just think about this – the federal authorities looking into her visa application couldn’t look at her public Facebook pages! That was deemed an intrusion of privacy. That by itself tells you we have to review the system,” he said.
Gorka strenuously denied allegations that Trump’s immigration policies are rooted in xenophobia.
“There’s just one argument that destroys this accusation of any kind of xenophobic intent behind this executive order,” he said. “If this had anything to do with a specific religion, if this had anything to do with Islam, how is it that the most populous Muslim nation in the world, Indonesia, is not one of the seven nations affected? How is it that the largest Arab Muslim nation in the world, Egypt, is not on the list? Surely they would have been included. No, this is about real threats from nations where groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS are active. It’s about national security, Alex.”
Marlow asked if there was “any potential for more countries to get added to the list.”
“Well, the irony is, we are using the list that was developed by the last administration because the last administration realized that these are the primary nations of concern,” Gorka replied. “Why? Because if you look at Syria, Iraq, Libya, that’s where ISIS was created. If you look at al-Qaeda that people forget is still out there, they are incredibly active in countries like Yemen and Somalia.”
“Strategy is the art of prioritization,” he explained. “We have prioritized. That’s why we started with this seven. And it is the President’s prerogative to add or remove countries from this list because the 1950s act says it is the President who decides who comes into this country, based on which standards. That is his mandate.”
Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
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The Padres were all set to add two big new pieces to their outfield with Wil Myers and Matt Kemp both coming in via semi-blockbuster trades, but the Kemp deal has hit a last-minute snag, thanks to the 30-year-old's arthritic hips.
USA Today's Bob Nightengale has the scoop:
The Padres and Dodgers agreed to a trade a week ago that would send Kemp, catcher Tim Federowicz and $32 million to San Diego for catcher Yasmani Grandal and pitching prospects Joe Wieland and Zach Eflin. Yet, Kemp's physical that was taken Tuesday revealed the arthritis, which caught him by surprise. The Padres' physicians now are discussing whether the arthritis would impact his career.
If the Padres decide that they no longer want Kemp, the Dodgers would then have to re-work their trade with the Phillies, which had them sending one of the pieces from the Kemp trade, Zach Eflin, in a package to Philly in exchange for Jimmy Rollins.
The more likely outcome will be the Padres demanding that the Dodgers eat a bigger chunk of Kemp's salary. The original trade had L.A. covering $32 million of the remaining $107 million in Kemp's contract, and a little extra cash is probably all the grease this trade would need. The Padres were surely already well aware that Kemp is a huge injury risk, and using this new information to squeeze a few more dollars out of the Dodgers—who have mounds and mounds of money and are probably willing to spend a lot of it just to rid themselves of Kemp—would just be a nice bonus on top of a deal they were already happy to make.
[USA Today] |
Two Upstate New York men were booked on misdemeanor sexual misconduct charges last Friday after a suspicious local farmer claimed to have caught them on video trying to engage in intercourse with his dairy cows.
The farmer outside Utica "noticed his cows appeared anxious and failed to produce milk," according to an Associated Press report. "He installed video surveillance equipment to try to determine why."
What the farmer later found on that video was Michael H. Jones, 35, agreeing to record Reid A. Fontaine, 31, "as he attempted to have sexual contact with several cows."
Both men were reportedly released on their own recognizance and given a date to appear in court to answer for the charges.
It's unclear how common human sex with livestock is in the modern day. In a high-profile case last month, a 61-year-old married British man was convicted of attempting to violate a sheep and a cow in broad daylight near a sports facility used by the Tottenham Hotspur soccer team.
A picnicking couple reportedly spotted the man with his pants down, "clutching a can of Skol and a Sainsbury's bag with his clothes," thrusting his hips near the cow's mouth.
[Photo credits: New York State Police] |
Show Notes
Brittany talks to a man who dresses and cooks like his enslaved ancestors. And Eric drags Brittany to see a famous pit.
Michael Twitty's Twitter. To learn more about his "Southern Discomfort Tour," check out his blog, Afroculinaria, or read his book, "The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South."
Learn more about Howard Conyers via his website.
CREDITS
The Nod is produced by Eric Eddings, with Brittany Luse, Kate Parkinson-Morgan, and James T. Green. Our senior producer is Sarah Abdurrahman. We are edited by Annie-Rose Strasser. Engineering from Cedric Wilson. Our theme music is by Calid B.
Additional music in the show by Takstar and Bobby Lord.
Special thanks to Zella Palmer and the Dillard University Ray Charles Program in African American Material Culture. |
” The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of sugarplums danced in their heads.” ~The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore
I’ve been busy preparing all sorts of confections for our upcoming Christmas party, and this was at the top of my list. There’s something so magical about making sugarplums while the snow falls gently outside my kitchen window and “Scrooge,” starring Albert Finney, plays on the little kitchen DVD player.
Sugarplums are such a pretty addition to a holiday sideboard. Make them with or without the spirits. Either way, they’re wonderful…
1 cup finely chopped, pitted dates OR 1/2 cup dates + 1/2 cup prunes
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds or pistachios
1/2 cup finely chopped, dried cherries or cranberries
1/2 cup finely chopped, dried figs (stems removed)
1/2 cup finely chopped, dried apricots
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brandy or whiskey (I used “Revel Stoke Roasted Pecan Whiskey”)
1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
14 drops natural, purple food coloring (optional)
1/3 cup sugar (for coating sugarplums)
In the bowl of a large food processor, mix all dried fruits, nuts, honey, brandy/whiskey, spices, and food coloring. Blend on high until mixture starts to clump together. Stir with a spoon and keep blending and pulsing the mixture until it is very well blended and all of the ingredients look uniform. Transfer to a bowl, and using your hands, moosh the mixture to evenly distribute the food coloring (if using.)
Using your hands, roll out approximately 30 sugarplums. Roll in sugar. Place in air-tight containers and refrigerate until ready to eat (these will keep in your refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Enjoy!
~Melissa |
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Half of Wisconsin residents support a very large increase in Wisconsin’s minimum wage that would more than double what the lowest-paid workers earn, according to a new Marquette University poll. Yet Wisconsin lawmakers have yet to show any inclination they consider it a priority to make sure the lowest-paid workers in Wisconsin get a raise.
This isn’t the first time that Wisconsin residents have shown their support for increasing the minimum wage. In 2014, voters in 13 Wisconsin counties and cities had the opportunity to vote on a referendum asking lawmakers to raise the minimum wage – and every one of the referendums passed. Past polls by Marquette University have also shown that large majorities want the minimum wage raised.
What’s different about this poll is that it gauged support for raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, more than double Wisconsin’s current minimum wage of $7.25. Past Marquette University polls asked about increasing the minimum to $10.10 per hour or did not identify a specific increase in the minimum wage.
The poll shows that just over half of respondents favor doubling the minimum wage in Wisconsin, and just under half oppose such an increase. That is a striking amount of support considering that respondents were asked about a very large increase in the minimum wage.
Support for a $15 minimum wage breaks along party lines, according to the poll results. About one-quarter of Republicans in Wisconsin favor a $15 minimum wage, with three-quarters opposed. Democrats’ support for a $15 minimum wage is a mirror image to that of Republicans, with three-quarters of respondents favoring and one-quarter opposing. An increase to $15 also has the support of most independents, who favor it by a margin of 8 percentage points.
Twenty-nine states, including our neighboring states of Michigan, Illinois, and Minnesota have set their minimum wages higher than the federal minimum wage, which was last increased in 2009.
Unfortunately, raising the state’s minimum wage doesn’t appear to be a high priority for Wisconsin lawmakers, despite the strong support for such a move shown by Wisconsin residents. The refusal to increase the minimum wage hurts the prospects of families who are working hard to climb the economic ladder. It also harms the state’s economy, depriving it of the extra money those families would spend at local businesses. |
Item number two on our list—the ability of major financial intermediaries to conceal risk taking—threatened the global financial system in 2008. The largest intermediaries in the world are highly interconnected: they can topple like dominoes when the failure of one renders its counterparties (and its counterparties’ counterparties) insolvent or even just illiquid. While clients and regulators have an incentive to monitor their own counterparties to prevent such a collapse, monitoring doesn’t work when intermediaries use complex instruments (like over-the-counter derivatives) to conceal their risk taking.
The classic example in the crisis of 2007-2009 was AIG, an insurer that had concentrated risk in an opaque fashion by selling nearly half a trillion dollars of insurance against losses on real estate-related loans. Had the Federal Reserve not lent over $90 billion to AIG to meet its surging obligations in September 2008, the firm’s failure—coming just days after the collapse of Lehman—could have brought many of the largest global intermediaries down. (Following the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the Fed no longer has the authority to lend, even in an emergency, to an individual nonbank like AIG.)
Now, we are fans of what has been called “atomistic finance.” That is, the ability to separate payment streams and risk into its most fundamental pieces. The associated practices can clearly improve efficiency, allowing risk to go to those who are most able to bear it, making us all better off. But atomistic finance has a dark side. With the ability to sell risk easily and cheaply comes the ability to accumulate it in almost arbitrarily large amounts. And, as we discovered much to our collective chagrin, not only could individuals and institutions take on massive risk, they could hide the fact that they were doing it in plain sight—within the confines of the law.
The third item on our list—the Rube Goldberg regulatory framework that is (fortunately) unique to the United States—makes it extraordinarily difficult, if not impossible, for anyone to view the financial system as a whole and to detect its vulnerabilities. As the Volcker Alliance recently put it, “The system for regulating financial institutions in the United States is highly fragmented, outdated, and ineffective. A multitude of federal agencies, self-regulatory organizations, and state authorities share oversight of the financial system under a framework riddled with regulatory gaps, loopholes, and inefficiencies.”
Imagine if, instead of the Federal Aviation Administration, we had a range of federal and state agencies and industry associations governing air transport, and that we divided their areas of activity and supervision based on the legal form of the firms that provided the transportation services, rather than on the functions that the firms perform. In such a world, owners of private jets might file their flight plans with one agency, while commercial carriers would file their flight plans with another that didn’t even speak to the first. Would you really want to fly in such a world? (Financial regulation is even worse than that, as firms can change their legal form in order to select the regulator they view as least rigorous.)
Now, we don’t suffer from any illusion that regulators—even in a streamlined framework—would be able to stay ahead of financial innovators, who have a powerful profit incentive to find the next big thing (whatever the risk to the system). But authorities need not fall as far behind as they did in the years before the financial crisis.
So, whether or not you’ve seen The Big Short, if you’re disturbed by the tragedies resulting from the financial crisis, you should be asking where we now stand on all three fronts: (1) on ensuring adequacy of capital and liquidity for banks and shadow banks; (2) on increasing the transparency and reducing the concentration of intermediaries’ risk-taking; and (3) on streamlining our regulatory structure.
The good news is that on (1) and (2) we’ve made progress, but making the financial system safe requires that we do much more. And, on (3), we’ve done virtually nothing.
Bank capital requirements have risen substantially since the crisis (see, for example, here). But we believe standards should be much higher—at least double the current level (see here). With regard to liquidity requirements, there are now (or soon will be) common standards—the liquidity coverage and net stable funding ratios—that apply to internationally active banks. But there remain fragilities in key funding markets—like the markets for repo and securities lending—that have not been sufficiently addressed. And there are new sources of concern about liquidity risk—such as the expanded reliance on exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds that hold relatively illiquid assets like corporate bonds and emerging market debt.
In addressing risk concentration and concealment, the most important progress has been in requiring central clearing for straight-vanilla derivatives. A single clearing party, like an exchange, has both the ability and incentive to monitor its counterparties for the kind of risk concentration that made AIG infamous, and to charge an appropriate risk premium. To see our point, consider the case of Amaranth Advisors. Today, even well-informed financial market observers are unlikely to recall this case. But in September 2006, this U.S.-based hedge fund specializing in trading energy futures lost roughly $6 billion of its $9 billion in assets under management and was liquidated. Fortunately, because futures contracts are traded on an exchange and centrally cleared, Amaranth had posted significant margin, so most people could afford to watch with bemused detachment.
The challenge today, and one of the biggest sources of systemic risk remaining, arises from the fact that trillions of dollars of customized derivatives are still arranged over the counter (OTC). The most recent BIS statistics for the first half of 2015 show the gross notional amount of OTC derivatives outstanding at $550 trillion. Granted, this is down from a peak of $711 trillion in 2013 (probably as a result of the multilateral netting that has come with the increase in central clearing of interest rate swaps), but the potential for unobserved risk concentration clearly remains. (For a discussion of central clearing, see here.)
Finally, perhaps the greatest outrage is Congress’s failure to streamline the U.S. regulatory system. This inaction has nothing to do with financial efficiency, fairness or safety. It is all about power. In some cases, congressional committees retain the powers (and the sources of campaign funding) that are associated with control over specific federal agencies and their regulatees. In others, like insurance, it is the states who guard their authority. And, of course, in many instances, the regulatees welcome a complex system full of loopholes, turf conflict and competition among regulators that allows the industry to conceal efforts to bend and shape the rules themselves.
To say that this is a scandal that makes the system less safe is to dramatically understate the case.
Now, we could go on. There are plenty of other problems that policymakers have ignored and are allowing to fester (how about the government-sponsored enterprises?). But we focused on our top three: the need for financial intermediaries to have more capital and liquid assets; the need to improve the ability of both financial market participants and authorities to assess and control risk concentrations through a combination of central clearing and better information collection; and the need to simplify the structure and organization of the U.S. regulatory system itself.
Only if people learn how far the financial system remains from these ideals, only if they understand that the scandal is almost always what is legal, will there be much chance of making the next crisis less severe. Hopefully, by focusing popular attention, The Big Short can make a difference. |
Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei says increasing rights for renters is good for landlords too.
A push to give renters longer tenancies and stop them from paying leasing fees is about providing stability to increasing numbers of people who don't own their home, Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei says.
Turei's Residential Tenancies (Safe and Secure Rentals) Amendment Bill was one of three member's bills drawn from a ballot on Thursday to go before Parliament.
The bill would strengthen rights for tenants in a number of areas, including allowing them a right of first refusal when their lease expired.
Landlords would have to put calculations for rent rises in tenancy contracts, while they would be banned from increasing rents more than once a year and leasing fees for tenants would be scrapped.
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The default lease term for rental would become three years, with the ability to choose a shorter period, while the legislation would restore the 90-day notice periods for tenants when a landlord wanted to sell their property.
Turei said the bill was about "shifting the balance a little bit more in favour of renters", given the considerable increase in the number of Kiwis who didn't own their homes - up from nearly 390,000 households in 2006 to more than 450,000 households in 2013.
"The original [tenancies] act was written when renting was quite low and home ownership was much more common so there was a tendency towards landlords' rights rather than tenants' rights.
"Families need to have safe, secure housing whether they're renters or homeowners, and this bill moves the law further in favour of families."
Turei said giving tenants more security would also benefit landlords, as it led to longer and more stable tenancies.
Opposition bills drawn from the ballot rarely become law, but Turei's bill will now be debated by MPs in Parliament and go through a first reading to decide whether it should be considered further. |
CP+ 2017 Pentax Interview: Part 2
11 more questions answered by Ricoh Imaging
By PF Staff in CP+ 2017 on Feb 27, 2017
Below is the second and final part of our 2017 CP+ Pentax interview.
In case you missed it, be sure to check out part 1 of the interview.
12. Do you plan to continue the GR line as a fixed lens offering, or are you open to considering premium compacts with zoom?
One of the GR series' consistent product concepts is the coexistence of high image quality and portability. In order to realize this, we think a fixed single focal length design is best at the moment.
13. Are there plans to continue the Q line, and if so, do you know the general design direction you will take?
There is no new product information on the Q line at the moment. We will continue to manufacture and sell Q-S1 and Q-mount lenses. We are currently focusing our resources on K-mount lenses.
(paraphrased) Although the macro for the Q has been removed from the map, it is not a terminated project. It's still pending, but no date anymore. All resources are being focused on K-mount lenses. The Q series is still an active line and the Q-S1 and lenses are still being made and marketed for Asian markets. The US market is not actively marketing the Q line as it's concentrating on pushing the K-1 and other K-mount products; essentially the Q line is "frozen" in the US market.
14. What makes the PLM motor so quick and how does it differ from DC?
The PLM design can quickly activate and allow for faster focusing, but the lens element must be low weight due to limited power (torque).
The DC motor can generate high power (torque) with deceleration mechanisms, which is better for lenses with larger focusing elements. A DC motor can be driven at high speed, but there is an issue that a little sound is generated.
Generally, we use the what we feel is the best focusing mechanism for each specific lens design.
15. Are there plans to integrate PLM technology into premium lenses? Would it be possible on a technical level?
Normally, the larger the lens diameter is, the heavier the focusing element inside can be. We think at the present moment PLM is not powerful enough to be incorporated in large diameter high performance lenses. Adoption of a different fast and silent actuator is required for such lenses.
16. What are your next steps for improving focusing/autofocus, looking at technology both in camera bodies and lenses?
Various research and development is under way to improve focusing performance in areas such as algorithms and new actuator technology.
17. Pentax has historically focused on compactness, and the D FA 28-105mm delivers this within the full frame format. Do you feel that there is a demand for more such compact full frame lenses?
There is a substantial demand for compact lenses. We will both study the possibility to produce compact and light weight lenses as well as fast lenses that bring out the best imaging performance for the full-frame format.
Editorial note: a presumably-compact telephoto zoom has been added to the full-frame roadmap.
18. Now that Pentax/Ricoh cameras have so many advanced features (pixel shift, astrotracer, etc.), do you have any plans to create online/print tutorials, workshops, etc. to better inform users?
We agree that in order to fully utilize the performance of PENTAX/RICOH cameras, providing useful tips for advanced features is important. We will look at ways to share that information in the future.
19. Is automatic lens focus calibration (using live view) something that you have considered developing?
We have been recently receiving user requests for this and are currently studying how to realize this feature.
20. Have you considered adding a 645 mount Tilt/Shift lens?
We recognize that there is a demand for a Tilt/Shift lens. For the 645 system, we continue to expand the product lineup by carefully monitoring user demand and market trends.
21. Are you looking at ways for cameras to have both on-board GPS and a built-in flash?
Possibilities to build a DSLR that is compact while implementing various devices are constantly studied by the development team. In the meantime, we will decide what device to incorporate based on each model's product concept.
22. When do you expect to launch the new D FA* 50mm and 85mm lenses? Can you tell us more about the design philosophy?
(paraphrased) The D FA* 50 1.4 will be released during the fiscal year 2017. There is no set date for the 85mm. These lenses are designed with a similar philosophy to the DA* 55, meaning that the focus is on the best possible rendering with the highest possible resolution on full-frame. |
volatile sig_atomic_t . With the advent of C11, atomics are now a better choice for accessing shared objects in signal handlers. Robert C. Seacord, author of Secure Coding in C and C++, Second Edition , describes how accessing shared objects in signal handlers can result in race conditions that can leave data in an inconsistent state. Historically, the only conforming way to access a shared object from a signal handler was to read from or write to variables of type. With the advent of C11, atomics are now a better choice for accessing shared objects in signal handlers.
The CERT® C Coding Standard, Second Edition: 98 Rules for Developing Safe, Reliable, and Secure Systems, Second Edition [1] will be published shortly. It has been updated for the C11 standard and for compatibility with the ISO/IEC TS 17961 C Secure Coding Rules. [2] The rule that gave me the most difficulty in this edition of the book was SIG31-C: "Do not access shared objects in signal handlers." This rule exists because accessing shared objects in signal handlers can result in race conditions that can leave data in an inconsistent state. In this article, I provide some additional background on accessing atomic objects from within a signal handler; I'll go beyond the description of the rule and the examples in the book.
This rule was present in the first edition of The CERT C Secure Coding Standard, but because the scope of that book was C99 and atomic objects were not yet defined, the only conforming way to access a shared object from a signal handler was to read from or write to variables of type volatile sig_atomic_t . The following conforming program installs a SIGINT handler that sets the volatile sig_atomic_t variable e_flag and then tests whether the handler was called before exiting:
#include <signal.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <stdio.h> volatile sig_atomic_t e_flag = 0; void handler(int signum) { e_flag = 1; } int main(void) { if (signal(SIGINT, handler) == SIG_ERR) { return EXIT_FAILURE; } /* Main code loop */ if (e_flag) { puts("SIGINT received."); } else { puts("SIGINT not received."); } return EXIT_SUCCESS; }
C11, 5.1.2.3, paragraph 5 also allows for signal handlers to read from and write to lock-free atomic objects. [3] Following is a simple (but nonconforming) example of accessing an atomic flag. The atomic_flag type provides the classic test-and-set functionality. It has two states, set and clear, and the C Standard guarantees that operations on an object of type atomic_flag are lock-free.
#include <signal.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <stdio.h> #if __STDC_NO_ATOMICS__ != 1 #include <stdatomic.h> #endif atomic_flag e_flag = ATOMIC_FLAG_INIT; void handler(int signum) { (void)atomic_flag_test_and_set(&e_flag); } int main(void) { if (signal(SIGINT, handler) == SIG_ERR) { return EXIT_FAILURE; } /* Main code loop */ if (atomic_flag_test_and_set(&e_flag)) { puts("SIGINT received."); } else { puts("SIGINT not received."); } return EXIT_SUCCESS; }
The atomic_flag type is the only type that is guaranteed to be lock-free, provided that atomics are supported. The atomic_flag type is also the only type that is guaranteed to be accessible from a signal handler. However, objects of this type can be meaningfully accessed only by calls to atomic functions, and such calls are not permitted. According to the C Standard 7.14.1.1, paragraph 5, undefined behavior exists if the signal handler calls any function in the standard library other than the abort function; the _Exit function; the quick_exit function; or the signal function, with the first argument equal to the signal number corresponding to the signal that caused the invocation of the handler.
This limitation exists because most C library functions need not be asynchronous-safe. (See SIG30-C: "Call only asynchronous-safe functions within signal handlers" in The CERT® C Coding Standard, Second Edition.) To solve this problem without a change to the standard, we need to rewrite the example using a different atomic type, such as atomic_int :
#include <signal.h> #include <stdlib.h> #if __STDC_NO_ATOMICS__ != 1 #include <stdatomic.h> #endif atomic_int e_flag = ATOMIC_VAR_INIT(0); void handler(int signum) { e_flag = 1; } int main(void) { if (signal(SIGINT, handler) == SIG_ERR) { return EXIT_FAILURE; } /* Main code loop */ if (e_flag) { puts("SIGINT received."); } else { puts("SIGINT not received."); } return EXIT_SUCCESS; }
This solution succeeds on platforms where the atomic_int type is always lock-free. The following code will cause the compiler to produce a diagnostic message if atomics are not supported or the atomic_int type is never lock-free:
#if __STDC_NO_ATOMICS__ == 1 #error "Atomics is not supported" #elif ATOMIC_INT_LOCK_FREE == 0 #error "int is never lock-free" #endif
The ATOMIC_INT_LOCK_FREE macro may have a value of 0 , indicating that the type is never lock-free; a value of 1 , indicating that the type is sometimes lock-free; or a value of 2 , indicating that the type is always lock-free. If the type is sometimes lock-free, the atomic_is_lock_free function must be called at runtime to determine whether the type is lock-free:
#if ATOMIC_INT_LOCK_FREE == 1 if (!atomic_is_lock_free(&e_flag)) { return EXIT_FAILURE; } #endif
Atomic types are sometimes lock-free because, for some architectures, some processor variants support lock-free compare-and-swap, while others don't (for example, 80386 vs. 80486). Depending on the processor variant, the application may be bound to a different dynamic library. Consequently, it is necessary to include a runtime check for implementations where ATOMIC_INT_LOCK_FREE == 1 . This conforming program will work on implementations where the atomic_int type is lock-free:
#include <signal.h> #include <stdlib.h> #if __STDC_NO_ATOMICS__ != 1 #include <stdatomic.h> #endif #if __STDC_NO_ATOMICS__ == 1 #error "Atomics is not supported" #elif ATOMIC_INT_LOCK_FREE == 0 #error "int is never lock-free" #endif atomic_int e_flag = ATOMIC_VAR_INIT(0); void handler(int signum) { e_flag = 1; } int main(void) { #if ATOMIC_INT_LOCK_FREE == 1 if (!atomic_is_lock_free(&e_flag)) { return EXIT_FAILURE; } #endif if (signal(SIGINT, handler) == SIG_ERR) { return EXIT_FAILURE; } /* Main code loop */ if (e_flag) { puts("SIGINT received."); } else { puts("SIGINT not received."); } return EXIT_SUCCESS; }
One remaining question is why the e_flag variable is not declared volatile. Unlike the first example that used volatile sig_atomic_t , loads and stores of objects with atomic types are performed with memory_order_seq_cst semantics. Sequentially consistent programs behave as though the operations executed by their constituent threads are simply interleaved, with each value computation of an object being the last value stored in that interleaving. The arguments to the atomic operations are specified as volatile A * to allow atomic objects to be declared volatile , not to require it.
The C Standards Committee (WG14) has generally followed the lead of the C++ Standards Committee (WG21) in defining support for concurrency. The intent of the WG21 committee was to make lock-free atomics usable in signal handlers in C++11. [4] Unfortunately, some mistakes were made that WG21 is now trying to fix in C++14. The latest proposal to specify the behavior of signal handlers in C++ is WG21/N3910, [5] which resulted in the following text being added to the C++14 Draft International Standard:
A signal handler that is executed as a result of a call to the raise function belongs to the same thread of execution as the call to the raise function. Otherwise it is unspecified which thread of execution contains a signal handler invocation.
POSIX® [6] requires that a determination be made if a signal has been generated for the process or for a specific thread within the process. Signals that are generated by some action attributable to a particular thread, such as a hardware fault, are generated for the thread that caused the signal to be generated. Signals that are generated in association with a process ID, a process group ID, or an asynchronous event such as terminal activity, are generated for the process.
Accesses to volatile objects are evaluated strictly according to the rules of the abstract machine. Actions on volatile objects cannot be optimized out by an implementation. Before atomic objects were available, volatile provided the closest approximation to the semantics required for an object shared by a signal handler. Atomics are now a better choice for accessing shared objects in signal handlers because volatile does not enforce visibility ordering with respect to other threads, making it exceedingly hard to specify how it works across threads. Consequently, volatile sig_atomic_t can be used to communicate only with a handler running in the same thread.
The C Standard does not allow signal handlers to be installed in multithreaded programs. Specifically, C11 states that the use of the signal function in a multithreaded program is undefined behavior, so much of the discussion of handling signals in multithreaded programs is moot for conforming C programs.
The following example is the most portable version of this program. Because type substitution is used in this example, everything must be known at compile time. The example uses atomics when the availability of a lock-free atomic type can be determined at compile time; otherwise, it uses volatile sig_atomic_t . Consequently, if ATOMIC_INT_LOCK_FREE == 1 , it is treated the same as if it were zero.
#include <signal.h> #include <stdlib.h> #include <stdio.h> #if __STDC_NO_ATOMICS__ != 1 #include <stdatomic.h> #endif #if __STDC_NO_ATOMICS__ == 1 typedef volatile sig_atomic_t flag_type; #elif ATOMIC_INT_LOCK_FREE == 0 || ATOMIC_INT_LOCK_FREE == 1 typedef volatile sig_atomic_t flag_type; #else typedef atomic_int flag_type; #endif flag_type e_flag; void handler(int signum) { e_flag = 1; } int main(void) { if (signal(SIGINT, handler) == SIG_ERR) { return EXIT_FAILURE; } /* Main code loop */ if (e_flag) { puts("SIGINT received."); } else { puts("SIGINT not received."); } return EXIT_SUCCESS; }
According to the C Standard, "[T]he default (zero) initialization for objects with static or thread-local storage duration is guaranteed to produce a valid state," meaning that the e_flag object does not need to be initialized explicitly in this or any of the other examples.
Conclusions |
Fall 2015: Top Rated Bitcoin Exchanges
Welcome to our Fall 2015 edition of the top rated and reviewed bitcoin exchanges, where we highlight the best ranked bitcoin exchanges on the market according to community reviews.
For those unfamiliar with our website, we have the largest database of bitcoin exchanges where we monitor every exchange and provide tools to the bitcoin community to rate and review each one.
Through our ranking system, bitcoin exchanges can rank high or low, and for the Fall 2015 report we are taking the top three highest ranking exchanges to feature. Since our rankings are in real-time, there is a opportunity that after the publishing of this report, the exchange rankings may change based on community feedback and exchange rankings may fluctuate, which is to be expected, and overtime we expect the rankings to normalize. We encourage more community members to participate by rating and commenting on their favorite bitcoin exchanges.
On to the top three ranked bitcoin exchanges for Fall 2015
Ranked #1: LocalBitcoins
The best ranked bitcoin exchange according to community ratings is LocalBitcoins. At the time of publishing, the LocalBitcoins exchange listing is ranked 3.25 out of 5. LocalBitcoins may be the most unique exchange though of the group, as it’s formula to success has been the community of traders that use the the exchange which creates a decentralized way in which people can buy and sell bitcoins with each other.
LocalBitcoins isn’t a matching engine platform, it’s a place where members can find others to buy or sell bitcoins with each other locally. Since the exchange service is available to everyone, anyone across the world can setup a LocalBitcoins account and begin to buy or sell bitcoins locally. The exchange offers important features such as their escrow service.
LocalBitcoins started in 2012 in Finland, and according to their website they haven’t raised any venture capital to date, and appears to be privately funded.
Ranked# 2: Cryptonit
The second best ranked bitcoin exchange this year according to community ratings is Cryptonit. At the time of publishing, the Cryptonit exchange listing is ranked 3.24 out of 5, ranking second out of all bitcoin exchanges on the market. Launched in August 2012, Cryptonit is a bitcoin exchange and a registered money service business based in the UK which is focused on the European bitcoin market.
Cryptonit is a gateway for users to buy or sell bitcoins in exchange for fiat currencies, and they allow many different payment methods to on-board new users. Cryptonit also has a public API for developers. One lacking feature is the exchange doesn’t have any advanced trading functions such as market, limit, or stop orders for example. Overall, the exchange is a good starter exchange for bitcoin users to buy and sell bitcoins which may be one of the reasons for it’s popularity.
Ranked #3: Kraken
The third best ranked bitcoin exchange according to community ratings is Kraken. At the time of publishing, the Kraken exchange listing is ranked 3.22 out of 5, coming in a close third and out ranking the rest of the bitcoin exchanges on the market. Kraken is a US based bitcoin exchange, which has grown a lot over the years.
Kraken, like all exchanges, allows users to buy and sell bitcoins. However, earlier this year they expanded to allow margin trading, advancing their platform and user base with a feature rich trading experience. Kraken has also done many non-conventional things in the bitcoin space that has set them apart from others, for example taking over the Mt.Gox liquidation to help former Mt.Gox users get back some money they may have lost.
Kraken has also expanded to Japan and Canada most recently, and surprisingly left New York in a stand against the BitLicense. Just last year Kraken raised $5 million in new capital as part of a Series A fundraising round.
The Bitcoin Exchange Ecosystem
If there is one thing that we have learned over the past two years, it has been that the sheer number of bitcoin exchanges has exploded. From just a handful of exchanges, now there are new exchanges popping up every week. It’s become an extremely profitable business model, which venture capitalists see the profit margins and the possibilities with bitcoin and blockchain tech, and are jumping in feet first to help get these startups going. This is both exciting and worrisome at the same time, because the ecosystem is now becoming overly saturated with exchanges, brokers, trading platforms, and so on which creates additional hurdles for new users to overcome when entering into bitcoin because of the complex environment.
In the most recent CoinDesk State of Bitcoin report, the bitcoin exchange venture capital raised in just Q2-2015 was $35 million, well above bitcoin wallet companies. In total in 2015, there has been $52.94 million in venture capital raised for bitcoin exchanges so far, not including private funding, crowd funding, and funding we’re unaware of.
FinTech is the new buzzword this year, mainly due to the new blockchain phenomenon and banks working with bitcoin companies in attempts to learn more about it, which has garnered a tremendous amount of interest in financial services which is helping to lay the ground work for many new exchange startups in the U.S. and in the United Kingdom. Other regions seeing large booms of infrastructure and interest in exchanges and FinTech are in Asia.
In the U.S. this year, we saw a major divide in bitcoin exchanges when it came down to the NYDFS BitLicense. When the license was introduced, it was clear that many were against any sort of regulation that would stifle startups and innovation. However, that didn’t stop several bitcoin exchanges from applying for the BitLicense in efforts to dominate the market through regulation. Other bitcoin exchanges decided to leave New York or stop servicing New York all together in a stance opposing the license.
Unfortunately for exchanges in Australia, they have seen the tide turn against them. Recently some of Australia’s biggest banks decided to end financial support for several bitcoin companies. This has forced some exchanges to move out of Australia or to close down completely. Some haven’t communicated anything publicly yet, as they are still trying to find new banking partners in Australia, before deciding how to proceed.
Final Thoughts
In total, we are tracking and monitoring 150+ bitcoin exchanges across 59 different countries, and the number is rising as more venture capital being poured into bitcoin and blockchain technology. However as mentioned earlier, there won’t be all winners in this, as there is only room for so many bitcoin exchanges. Who is successful remains to be seen, but those with venture capital backing, a strong suite of tools, and in the right emerging market with the most favorable regulations stand to have the best chance. |
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SPANISH FORK, Utah -- The Spanish Fork community is reeling after a murder-suicide left an entire family of five dead.
Authorities said a Lindon police officer killed his wife, two children, and mother-in-law before taking his own life.
Nearly 24 hours after officers made the gruesome discovery, there are still lots of unanswered questions. The main question on everyone's mind - why did this happen and what caused it?
The unfolding of Thursday's tragic discovery began when 34-year-old Joshua Boren, an officer with the Lindon Police Department, failed to show up for his shift Thursday night. After an hour with no sign of him, officers went to his house. Spanish Fork Police Chief Steve Adams described the scene.
"Found that there was some activity there that was of a suspicious nature, specifically they found - upon looking through a window and door - that there was some blood and some bullet casings and I believe even a slug that was noticed by the officers,” he said.
When officers went inside, they found Boren's mother-in-law, 55-year-old Marie King, Boren's wife, 32-year-old Kelly Boren, and his two children, 7-year-old Joshua "Jaden" and 5-year-old Haley all dead along with Boren himself.
"We hope to gain an understanding at some time of all the things that was going through Josh's mind, but I'm certain that we're not going to be able to do that,” Adams said.
Authorities believe the rocky, on-again, off-again marriage between Boren and his wife may have led to the quadruple murder-suicide, though they did not find a suicide note inside the house.
Neighbors who knew the family are in disbelief.
"All I know is that there had to be something going on with him and his wife because I knew how much he loved those kids - so something wasn't right with him when it all happened," said one neighbor who did not want to be identified.
Lindon Police Chief Cody Cullimore said - in the three months Boren has been on the force - that his behavior has not raised any concern within the department.
"There were no red flags, everything about him was outstanding,” he said. “His performance since that time has been outstanding."
Authorities believe the last contact anyone had with Boren was Thursday at about 4:30 p.m. on a phone call, but they are not releasing any details related to the nature of that call.
The bodies are at the Utah State Medical Examiner's Office. Authorities are waiting for preliminary results of the autopsies.
Chief Cullimore also issued a statement regarding the incident. Read the statement below:
The Lindon City Police Department is saddened to learn of the tragic events which occurred at the Spanish Fork home of Officer Joshua Boren on Thursday, January 16, 2014.
Officer Boren was hired by the Police Department on October 14, 2013 and has worked as a patrol officer since that time. Prior to coming to the Lindon Police Department, Officer Boren worked as a Deputy with the Utah County Sheriff’s office for over seven years.
Officer Boren was selected for hire in October from a field of over 70 highly qualified applicants and had performed admirably as a patrol officer. His conduct, behavior and professionalism were exemplary.
We are shocked and saddened by the events as they appear to have occurred. We are working closely with the Spanish Fork Police Department to investigate and hopefully come to an understanding of this tragic occurrence.
Officers said the bodies will be transferred to the State Medical Examiner’s Office where autopsies will be performed.
Continue to watch FOX 13 and fox13now.com for updates. |
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — DNA evidence links Jesse Matthew, a suspect in this month's disappearance of University of Virginia student Hannah Graham, to the death of Virginia Tech student Morgan Harrington, who disappeared in 2009, a law enforcement source told CNN Monday.
Virginia State Police had said earlier that the two cases were connected by a "forensic link" but did not elaborate.
"For the past five years, the Virginia State Police has been aggressively pursuing the investigation into the disappearance and death of 20-year-old Morgan D. Harrington of Roanoke, Va. Last week, the arrest of Jesse L. Matthew Jr., 32, of Charlottesville, Va., provided a significant break in this case with a new forensic link for state police investigators to pursue. There is a still a great deal of work to be done in regards to this investigation and we appreciate the public’s patience as we move forward.
Anyone with new information concerning the Harrington investigation is encouraged to contact the Virginia State Police at 434-352-3467 or the Jefferson Area Crime Stoppers at 434-977-4000.
Meanwhile, state police continues to dedicate the necessary resources to assist the Charlottesville Police Department through the course of its investigation and with their efforts to locate Hannah Graham. In fact, right now, the public’s focus needs to remain on helping Charlottesville Police locate and bring Hannah Graham home."
Almost from the start, speculation was raised about the possibility of a connection between Graham's disappearance and Harrington's death.
"Certainly the question has arisen. It's certainly a legitimate question," Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo told reporters last week.
In a statement, James L. Camblos III, Matthew's lawyer, said he met with his client for 2½ hours Monday but declined further comment.
"Because everything is under seal, I have not been provided with any evidence that links him to either of these cases," he said, referring to Graham and Harrington.
Matthew will have a bond hearing on Thursday.
According to WTVR, their sources would not indicate what Matthew may or may not have done with Harrington, however the sources indicated that the forensic evidence match showed Harrington had some sort of contact with Matthew the night she disappeared outside John Paul Jones arena on October 17, 2009. Her remains were found in January 2010 on an Albemarle County farm.
“We worked five years to get to this point, so we are relieved,” Morgan Harrington’s mother Gil said. Harrington added it was now time for her to take a step back and let investigators do their job and find Hannah.
“We are heartbroken for her family. We know what they’re going through,” Harrington told WTVR.com in the days after Graham disappeared. “Police need information. They need to process tips. Please reach out to police and do not be the filter. Even if you think it does not make sense, let police be the filter.”
Two years after Morgan Harrington’s remains were found, the FBI released a sketch of the man they said had contact with the Virginia Tech student. The sketch was released after investigators found forensic evidence that linked a 2005 sex assault in Fairfax to Harrington’s disappearance.
Where is Hannah?
Hannah Graham was officially reported missing on September 14, though she was last seen the early hours of September 13.
Jesse Matthew’s car and apartment were searched five days later, on September 19, after police reviewed video and spoke with witnesses. The next day Matthew was reported to have sped away from the overt surveillance Virginia State Police had on him.
He was next named a suspect, after police received more forensic evidence.
On September 24, police in Texas were alerted to a suspicious man camping on the beach in Gilchrist on the Bolivar Peninsula, approximately 1,300 miles from Charlottesville. When they ran his license plate number around 3:30 p.m., they found out he was wanted in Virginia.
Matthew was charged with giving false information to a police officer. A federal law enforcement source confirmed a phone call made from a borrowed cell phone in Louisiana, to Virginia, is how police first discovered Jesse Matthew was out of the state and on the run.
Matthew was flown back to Virginia on September 26 and taken to Albemarle County Jail. He is expected to make an initial court appearance on Thursday where he will face an abduction with intent defile charge.
Anyone with information regarding Graham’s whereabouts should call (434) 295-3851 or 1-800-THE-LOST.
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Police: Missing UVa. student Hannah Graham seen running past gas station, entering Downtown Mall |
No, not the latest Matt Damon film. The ‘Badgertown Exception’ is a debating technique which employs the following logic.*
Cycling infrastructure requires x amount of space.
Here is Badger Street, Badgertown. It has many competing demands, and cycling infrastructure won’t fit.
Because cycling infrastructure won’t fit on Badger Street, cycling infrastructure is pointless/won’t work, anywhere, and we should employ other techniques, everywhere.
This kind of logic is actually employed by Hackney Councillor Vincent Stops – calling it the ‘Hackney Cycling Test’.
In response to someone suggesting that ‘dedicated space on main roads‘ has to form part of the answer to making cycling more attractive in Hackney, Stops suggests
You should take the @hackney_cycling test. How would you put segregation through Dalston Kingsland?
The implication being that because cycle tracks ‘won’t fit’ on Kingsland Road, by Dalston Kingsland station, the strategy of cycle tracks on main roads is entirely flawed, anywhere in Hackney.
This section of the A10 is undoubtedly a busy area, with competing demands for the space between the buildings. It’s a through route for motor traffic, there are bus stops, the footways are busy with pedestrians, and loading needs to take place.
Creating cycle tracks here would not be straightforward (although certainly not impossible). But even if it were impossible to do so, that doesn’t tell us anything about anywhere else in Hackney, nor should it. Failing a ‘test’ on one particular road shouldn’t rule out that design intervention everywhere else, any more than a failure to fit bus lanes on Dalston Kingsland means that bus lanes should be ruled out everywhere in Hackney.
It might be the case that Dalston Kingsland remains a ‘gap’ for the foreseeable future; one of those bits that are just difficult to get right. Dutch cities have these kinds of roads and streets too, places they haven’t really got around to sorting out yet, because of similar competing demands. Mixed use streets where children have to cycle outside parking and loading bays, on a route shared with buses, for instance.
Importantly, however, these are the gaps, not the model itself. These gaps are only really tolerable because the rest of the network is so good – good enough to keep large numbers of people flowing through these low quality areas. The city of Utrecht did not look at the street above and think – ‘well, it’s quite hard to fit in decent cycling infrastructure here, so that rules out the principle entirely – let’s give up.’
Utrecht got on with creating good conditions everywhere else, and at some point in the future will presumably revisit this street and come up with a decent solution.
By the same token, Dalston Kingsland tells us nothing about the kind of treatments that are available, and could be employed, on other main roads in Hackney. Difficulty on one section of road should not rule out attempts to improve other parts of that road, or indeed other major roads.
Equally, it would be silly to suggest that the current arrangement on Dalston Kingsland is ideal, or even ‘perfect’. It really isn’t. It’s unpleasant, and hostile, even for someone used to cycling on London’s roads.
Yet Stops is presenting this road as a perfect cycling scheme.
It’s true that putting cycle tracks here would require compromises; delaying motor traffic while making buses stop in the carriageway, for instance, or trimming some of that (wasted) footway space you can see in the picture above. But in acknowledging these compromises, we shouldn’t go so far as to suggest that the current scheme – which does very little to take cycling into consideration – is ‘perfect’ – or indeed that it should teach us anything about any other road or street.
Credit for the Badger Street, Badger Town formulation goes to Jim Davis |
More men are raped in the U.S. than woman, according to figures that include sexual abuse in prisons.
In 2008, it was estimated 216,000 inmates were sexually assaulted while serving time, according to the Department of Justice figures.
That is compared to 90,479 rape cases outside of prison.
Some 91 per cent of the victims were women and 99 per cent of the perpetrators were men.
The Department for Justice has now begun implementing new regulations to tackle the high rates of rape in federal prisons.
In recent studies 4.5 per cent of 16 and 17-year-olds in adult prison and 4.7 per cent of those in jail reported being the victims of sexual abuse.
The new Department of Justice rape regulations include separating under 18s from adult prisoners.
However, some critics say that will leave many youngsters in virtual solitary confinement.
The new regulations also include banning male prison staff from doing pat-downs in women’s prisons.
The rule changes have been brought in ten years after Congress passed the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
Under the terms of the act, all detention facilities are required to take a zero-tolerance approach to rape behind bars.
Procedures also must be put in place to investigate allegations of sexual assault and improve care for victims.
The report found incidents of women prison staff assaulting male prisoners.
States that do not implement the regulations will lose five per cent of their federal funding for prisons, US News reported.
They have also been warned they could face civil court cases from victims.
Separate figures produced by the Bureau of Justice Statistics found that sexual abuse rates in juvenile detention were as high as 9.5 per cent in 2011 to 2012.
In the same year, four per cent of state and federal prisoners and 3.2 per cent of all people in jail surveyed said they had been a victim.
Study author Allen J. Beck told New York Review of Books that the work shows almost 200,000 were sexually abused in detention in 2011.
He said the figures are lower than those recorded in 2008 because fewer people are in prison.
High rates of abuse were found among gay, lesbian and mentally ill inmates and inmates who had been abused before incarceration.
[Editor’s Note: Studies indicate prison rape is an almost exclusively black-on-white phenomenon and is probably racially motivated.]
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Danny Chew loves numbers, and one of his most important numbers is 1 million. That’s how many miles he plans to ride his bicycle in his lifetime.
“I’ve kept track of my miles going all way back to 1978, in high school,” he said. “I have a book for every year. That’s almost 40 years’ worth of books now.”
With 783,000 miles already behind him, the plan was to ride about 20,000 miles a year until he reached his goal. But on Sept. 4, everything changed.
“I was getting ready for 100-plus mile ride that I had done thousands of times before,” Chew recalled. “I had my normal huge breakfast. I was riding with a female friend and 40 miles into the ride we were going down a slight hill and I must have gotten dizzy and blacked out. I thought I blew a front tire out.”
Chew veered off the road and crashed. When he came to, he couldn’t move below the chest. Now a paraplegic, he’s spent the last two months at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. The man who once biked across the entire country in a little over a week is now working to master the task of dressing himself.
“Things that most people take for granted, like putting on a pair of pants, takes you one minute, takes me 25 minutes,” he said.
Chew’s gotten a lot faster. He can now get dressed in less than a half hour. In his wheelchair, he can do a lap around the hospital floor in two minutes, down from four. But he still has a long road ahead of him.
“This is nearly as hard for me in my current state as climbing a dirty dozen hill back before the accident,” he said.
Chew created the Dirty Dozen with his brother and a friend in 1983. The race is held every year on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and challenges cyclists to ride the 13 steepest hills in the city, along a 50-plus mile route that takes about eight hours to complete.
Five people attempted the race that first year, and just three finished. But in recent years, hundreds of people have turned out to compete, whether against the field or just themselves.
“It’s freakin’ hard. These hills are the steepest hills in Pittsburgh, they’re insane,” said Patty George, a fellow ultra-cyclist and protégé of Chew’s. “People will be going up these climbs … they may just get to the point where they can’t go forward anymore, it’s too late, you can’t clip out, you’re done. It’s like boom, you’re going over, slow motion fall.”
George used to live in Pittsburgh before she moved to Denver, but she came back to town for a fundraiser benefitting Chew at Over The Bar Bicycle Café on the South Side last weekend. George said Chew would make up a unique mantra for each one of the cyclists he mentored.
“I always think of what he would say which is ‘You love to ride your bike immensely,’” she said. “Sometimes he’d even text me ‘immensely’ and I knew exactly what he meant.”
Chew said the first few weeks after his accident were hard; he even contemplated suicide. But now, with less than two weeks until he leaves the hospital, his focus has once again turned to his million-mile goal.
“The hand cycle is going to be twice as hard. Fifty miles on a hand cycle is like 100 miles on a regular bike,” he said. “The plan is to start doing 10,000 miles a year on a hand cycle. I’ll have to live into my 80s, originally I was going to get it by the time I’m 70.”
Chew won’t be able to make it to the Dirty Dozen this year, but he’ll be livestreamed to call the beginning of the race. He said he expects as many as 340 riders this year, which would set a new record – another number he’s not likely to forget. |
Steve Bonano, who rose up through the ranks of the NYPD to become a Deputy Chief, has died after a two-year battle with a rare, lethal cancer that doctors say was a direct result of his work at Ground Zero in the weeks and months after the attacks of September 11, 2001. He was 53 years old.
Steve was near and dear to many of us here at APB, and he will be missed greatly. We honor him here the best way we know how: by sharing his story and saluting his unwavering dedication to serve and protect.
I think continually of those who were truly great…
The names of those who in their lives fought for life
Who wore at their hearts the fire’s center.
Born of the sun they traveled a short while towards the sun,
And left the vivid air signed with their honor.
—Stephen Spender
Ed. Note: In 2009 Steve took a leave from the NYPD to pursue a master’s degree in Public Administration at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. When he was unable to attend a class reunion his fellow students made this video for him.
Steve Bonano’s career is filled with so many accomplishments that it is a bit of a surprise when he talks about what he still feels is the most memorable moment in his career.
“A call came in for shots fired with the possibility of multiple victims,” Steve remembered. He had just turned twenty-one and had only been on the job for a year.
“You could tell this was going to be a bad one,” he said. “As we drove to the location, you could see a caravan of red police lights. Every one of the officers was rushing toward the unknown. While they raced toward danger, not one of them was thinking about the risk to themselves or the possibility of a bad outcome. Looking at all those police cars and those brave cops, I began to understand that law enforcement is not a job, it’s a calling. It’s a profession where we take an oath to protect the innocent and apprehend those who hurt them. It made me so proud to be a police officer. That was my first year on the job. Thirty years later, I still feel the same way.”
It wasn’t long before Officer Bonano’s bosses began to notice that he was unusually observant and especially good at figuring out who had an illegal firearm. “I grew up in a bad neighborhood,” Steve said. “I wasn’t a bad kid, but there were a lot of kids who were, and I knew how they acted. If you’re doing something illegal, you don’t feel comfortable around cops. Once I became a police officer, I picked up immediately if someone was nervous when I was around.”
One night Steve was working with Dave Erosa, his best friend since kindergarten, at the Holy Cross Grammar School in the Bronx. It was a Wednesday evening, and they were working the four to midnight shift in the 46th Precinct.
They had just gone out on patrol when they saw a car ahead of them go through a stop sign. The officers pulled the vehicle over and kept their hands over their holsters as they approached. “I went to talk to the driver in the front seat, and Dave opened the back door of the car on the passenger’s side,” Steve remembered. “Within seconds, Dave and the guy in the back seat were fighting. Dave yelled, ‘He has a gun.’” A simple stop for not heeding a stop sign had escalated.
“I grabbed the driver in the front seat by the collar and pulled him out of the car, all the while keeping my weapon aimed at the passenger. I called for backup. I knew they could tell by my voice we were in trouble. All I had to say was, ‘6-Adam, 182 and Creston,’ and help was on its way. I barely got the words out of my mouth before I heard the sirens. When you’re in trouble, there is no greater sound than that one. The cavalry was on its way.”
“You couldn’t have a better experience than working with Steve,” Dave said. “He’s a great leader and really good at getting guns off the street. He is a great cop with a big heart.”
One night when Steve was on patrol with Tommy Crowe, they heard a barrage of gunfire. They headed in the direction of the shots. Tommy was driving. He made a left turn, and both officers saw a man standing on the corner, randomly shooting a firearm.
“Another cruiser pulled up at the same time, and we almost ran into each other,” Steve said. “Once we got closer, we could see the man was shot up pretty bad, but he still had a gun in his hand.”
The cops pulled their weapons and ordered him to drop the gun. The suspect was incoherent. The police could tell he could not hear them. One of the officers, Joe Zallo, tackled the man and got him face down on the street. Steve said despite the fact he was riddled with bullets, but the man put up a fight to keep hold of his gun. “A few seconds passed before Joe was able to get hold of the weapon and put the cuffs on,” Steve recalled. “When Joe stood up, he was covered with blood.”
When someone who’s had little or no contact with criminals witnesses a police officer acting aggressively toward someone on the street, they often get the impression that cops are violent people who enjoy preying on victims. But the reality is just the opposite. Bystanders at the scene, unaware the man was armed, must have wondered why it was necessary for a police officer to tackle someone who was so badly wounded.
As Steve was reporting the incident over his radio, several people ran up and pointed to a Jeep that was stuck in traffic. “The people in that Jeep shot this guy,” they said, pointing to the man who was still lying in the street in a rapidly growing pool of blood. If they were right, Steve knew the people inside the Jeep would be heavily armed.
Zallo and his partner stayed with the handcuffed suspect while Tommy and Steve ran toward the Jeep. Three men were inside. The cops ordered them out of the car and told them to keep their hands high in the air. When they searched the vehicle, they found two machine guns, an AR-15, and a semiautomatic handgun. These were heavily armed criminal suspects even by New York City standards. They were only two-and-a-half hours into their shift, and they had four suspects, two machine guns, and a semiautomatic.
Tommy Crowe has known Steve Bonano for more than twenty years. The two men were partners for much of that time. “If I had to describe Steve,” Crowe says, “ I would say the quality that impresses everyone the most is his intelligence. He’s extremely smart and can quickly size up a situation.”
“One time a cop in a neighboring precinct was shot,” Tommy said. “They rushed him to the hospital, and Steve and I were the first people there. Most people would be surprised at the chaos that goes on at a hospital when the doctors are operating on a high-profile shooting victim. Reporters and photographers are everywhere. They’ll barge right into the operating room if they can in order to get their story. When Inspector Louis Anemone showed up and saw Steve, he asked him to take control of the scene.
“When Steve was put in charge, a reporter tried to push his way past him to get into the ER,” Tommy continued. “Steve stood there with his arms folded, blocking the reporter’s way. He told the reporter he didn’t care what credentials he had. There was a police officer in there, and most likely he was dying. There was no way a reporter was going to get by him. When he has to be, Steve is very intimidating.”
In the late 1980s active cops in the Bronx were averaging several arrests each year for possessing illegal firearms. Known in the NYPD as “gun collars,” Steve Bonano was making several every month. People started to call him “The Gun Man.”
One night Steve was working with Jimmy Gildae, a newly promoted sergeant who had just been assigned to the precinct. Like Steve, Jimmy had been very active in the 4-6, and the men shared a strong work ethic. Steve said Jimmy was a cop who was first on the scene and first through the door. “He was the guy you could count on to watch your back,” he said.
It was the start of their shift. Steve and Jimmy were sitting in the car, sipping coffees, and watching the street when they heard shots. Seconds later a limousine with shaded windows drove by. “We knew right away there was something wrong with that limo,” Steve said.
They turned on the lights and pulled the limousine over. Contrary to what most people believe, when the cops approach a vehicle, they do not unholster their firearms. “We approach cautiously with our hands on the grips in case we need to pull our weapons,” Steve explained. “In most situations like this, you never pull your firearm. There’s always the chance you’ll end up wrestling with the suspect, and that can be bad if you have your gun out of its holster.”
This time they were lucky. The suspects, young kids in their early twenties, followed orders. They got out of the car with their hands in the air. Once they were cuffed, Steve watched the suspects while Jimmy used his flashlight to search the vehicle. That’s when they found the guns—an Uzi machine gun, a Tech-9, and a semiautomatic.
When people outside of law enforcement ask cops like Steve and Jimmy how they have the courage to run toward a car whose occupants are heavily armed or shooting, they shrug. “I am not sure,” Steve says. “Maybe you don’t get scared because it’s all happening so fast. And thank God most people are good people and will not shoot a cop. I’ve always believed that I am not going to get shot.”
The Quota Sergeant? No way!
The dictionary defines a “glass ceiling” as an unacknowledged discriminatory barrier that prevents minorities and women from rising to positions of power. While Steve readily acknowledges there has never been a door yet that shut on him because he’s Hispanic, he has not been immune from wisecracks about his ethnic background.
“To some guys, I know I’ll always be the ‘quota sergeant’ even though affirmative action had nothing to do with my promotions. It doesn’t matter how well I do. A few people will always believe I moved ahead because the NYPD was being forced to promote minorities.
During the 1980s an anti-discrimination lawsuit forced the Department to hire a percentage of minorities for every non-minority who was promoted. If you were black or Hispanic or a woman and you took a promotional exam, you had an advantage over a white male candidate. As a result of the lawsuit, minorities who got promotions were stigmatized. It caused problems for people like me who passed the exam and got promoted without the benefit of a quota system. I remember this one guy who kept getting in my face after I was promoted to lieutenant. He’d say, ‘I know you, you’re the quota sergeant.’ It didn’t matter to him that I had gotten one of the highest marks on the lieutenant’s exam and had made over three hundred arrests before I even made sergeant. I knew that no matter what I did, to him I’d always be the quota guy. When I became a police officer, I was naive about how some white guys would feel about me, but I don’t worry about it any more. I’ve learned to accept that there’s a small group who will always think I got where I did because I’m a minority.”
If there is a glass ceiling in the NYPD, Bonano rocketed right up through it. He scored high on the sergeant’s and lieutenant’s tests. Several years later he decided to take on the captain’s exam, a test considered by many as being more difficult than the New York State bar exam. Steve took six weeks off to study, and he worked at it twelve hours every day. When the marks got posted, he was crushed: He’d barely passed. Even after taking a one-year leave to earn a master’s degree at Harvard University in 2009, he still says the captain’s exam was the most challenging test he ever took.
The doors kept opening for Steve, and he kept marching through them. He became the first Hispanic officer in the history of the NYPD to command one of the agency’s most elite divisions, the Emergency Service Unit. “Ever since I joined the Department, I always felt I was the poster child for all the possibilities available to anyone who joins the New York City Police Department.”
Drugs, Guns, and Prostitutes
After two years in the 4-2 Precinct, followed by another two in the 4-6, Steve went to the Vice Unit in 1986. Working as an undercover investigator, he spent almost four years investigating prostitutes, people running illegal gambling operations, and employees of social clubs, after-hours bars with no operating licenses and a lot of crime. Steve is still amazed that his friends outside law enforcement were envious about the fun they imagined he was having on the prostitution detail.
“People have no idea what these women were like,” he said. “Every arrest requires the arresting officer to inventory and voucher the contents of their purses. You can’t imagine how disgusting it was to have to do that. They had bottles of creams and lotions for sexually transmitted diseases. Everything was filthy, and it smelled really bad. I’d tell my friends, there’s no way anyone would want to have sex with these women. You didn’t even want to touch them.”
While dealing with the prostitutes was unpleasant, shutting down social clubs was dangerous. “These places are really bad,” Steve said. “They sell liquor without a license, which on the face of it doesn’t sound dangerous, but there are usually a lot of drugs and guns being bought and sold, and they attract a serious criminal element. It’s extremely dangerous for the undercover cops to go in and get enough evidence to make the arrests and shut the places down.”
Once Steve was sent into a club in a particularly bad section of the Bronx. He had a small gun hidden in his crotch. “If they didn’t know you, you’d get searched before they let you in,” he said. “I had been searched hundreds of times before, and no one had ever discovered the gun. I never thought they’d find it, but they did.”
The bouncers quickly surrounded him. Steve knew he had to talk fast. “I told them, ‘Look, this neighborhood is rough, and I have a gun to protect myself.’ I figured they would beat me or maybe something worse, but they decided to just physically throw me out.”
Back on the street, his relief soon gave way to frustration. The way Steve saw it, he had a job to do, and he had been interrupted. He returned to his lieutenant at a predetermined location and told him what happened. Steve gave the lieutenant his gun and told him he was going back inside. The lieutenant looked stunned as Steve walked back toward the club.
When he got to the front door, Steve told the bouncer he’d gotten rid of his gun. “I told the guy I didn’t want any trouble. I just wanted to have a drink and hang out.”
They let him in. After sitting at the bar for two hours posing as a regular patron, Bonano established a rapport. From that night on, he was able to come and go when he pleased. Eventually he witnessed enough criminal activity to get a search warrant. When Vice detectives and uniformed cops from the precinct raided the club, Bonano was handcuffed and removed from the scene along with the other patrons and employees. The arresting officers read them their rights and put them under arrest, and the club was closed.
From Vice, Steve Bonano was transferred to the 52nd Precinct. From there it was on to the Aviation Unit. Not many people knew he had been flying since his dad took him up in an airplane for a surprise ride on his tenth birthday. He’d had a passion for it ever since. Soon after he was promoted to sergeant, a memo went out that the Department was looking for pilots. Steve decided to do everything he could to become a pilot for the New York City Police Department.
As he began to talk to people about getting a transfer, he got some negative feedback. “I was surprised that some people were not impressed with Aviation,” he said. “I knew that helicopters are great at certain kinds of patrol. They’ve got infrared equipment and can light up a really large area. If officers on the ground are chasing someone on foot and lose their suspect, the helicopter can light up the neighborhood, pinpoint a criminal suspect, and pass his location on to the cops.”
Not everyone saw it that way. When Steve approached one inspector about transferring to the unit, his reaction was hostile. “He told me that in his opinion, a helicopter is like a flying radio car that can’t make stops. In his view, for law enforcement, aircraft are pretty much worthless. He seemed to think the Aviation Unit was just a bunch of good old boys up in the air screwing around. He told me I belonged on the street, that if I went to Aviation, I would be wasting my training and my talents.”
In New York City, where most of the cityscape is dense and decidedly vertical, helicopters don’t play as significant a role as they do, say, in Southern California, with its endless freeways and one- and two-story structures spread over a vast area. Air support units in the Big Apple can’t follow fleeing suspects like they can in other areas because of the tall buildings and narrow streets.
Still, Steve believed helicopters were effective tools in the law enforcement arsenal, and he was determined to achieve his goal. To apply, he found out that he needed a commercial pilot’s license, which required a major investment of time and money. When the flight school told him the cost for the training, he almost gave up. There was no way he had that amount of cash. But when Steve’s father learned his son had put his plans on hold, he made the decision to help him out.
Four years into his eight-year stint with Aviation, Steve Bonano made history. He and his copilot, Matt Rowley, had been up for over an hour when the dispatcher’s voice came blaring. A highway unit had attempted to stop a stolen vehicle, and a chase ensued.
“Matt and I picked up the chase,” Steve said. “We followed the cars with the helicopter. The vehicles finally came to a stop in a shopping center. The next thing we knew, the officer was fighting with the driver. The suspect managed to break free and run toward the supermarket. The officer took off after him. I think that’s when the adrenaline kicked in, and we made the decision to land.”
As they brought the helicopter down in the shopping center parking lot, they could see they had a problem. An elderly woman sitting in her car was right in the middle of the only space big enough for them to land. The officers signaled her to move. “She was staring at the chopper,” Steve remembered. “She looked frozen with fear. Finally she got her car going and drove it out of the way.”
Steve jumped out, and Matt stayed with the bird. “When I got into the store, I saw the officer chasing the guy through the aisles,” he said. “They were coming right toward me.” Steve ran toward the suspect and tackled him. He pulled the suspect’s arms behind his back, forced his wrists together, and got the handcuffs on. It was only at that moment that it hit him that landing the helicopter might have been a very bad idea.
After making sure the officer who began the chase was okay, Steve raced back to the chopper, desperately trying to tuck his shirt back into his trousers as he ran. He was completely out of breath when he got back to the helicopter. Matt was ready to go, and they lifted off.
They were feeling pretty good. The cop was okay, and they had nabbed a bad guy. They took a moment to enjoy the calm before the storm. The moment turned out to be a short one. Just a few seconds after they lifted off, a call came in on the radio.
“I can still hear it now,” Steve said. “‘Base to number six.’ Matt and I looked at each other. It was the Commanding Officer of the Aviation Unit. I knew the same thing was going through Matt’s mind. He’s never on the radio, and we know why he’s calling.”
“Did you just land a helicopter in a shopping center and engage in a foot pursuit?” the Commanding Officer asked.
Steve thought for a quick minute about lying but decided that would probably be his second bad idea that day. It was clear the boss knew something. “That’s affirmative, sir.”
“I’ve got the Mayor’s office on the phone,” the commander bellowed into the radio. “They called to tell me someone from Aviation landed a Department helicopter in a shopping center parking lot.”
The Commander told them to land the chopper and call him immediately from a landline. He wanted the conversation out of earshot of the police scanners. Matt and Steve knew that whatever the boss had to say, he wasn’t interested in having anyone hear it. Matt, who would be facing the wrath of the boss as well, had an idea. “No sense both of us getting transferred,’ he joked. “Why don’t you say you ordered me to do it? Tell them all I was doing was following your orders.”
In the end, Steve and Matt never faced disciplinary action, and the people who had doubted that Aviation had a legitimate role in law enforcement were impressed. Chief Anemone, now the Chief of Patrol, said, “That’s what they should be doing up there—apprehending criminals.”
The commanders who disparaged Steve’s ambition to go to the Aviation Unit realized it didn’t matter where a guy like Steve works or on what assignment. He’s a street cop, whether he’s flying a helicopter or walking a beat. If he sees an officer in need of assistance, that’s it.
The Guys Who Made Steve Want to be a Cop
For Steve Bonano, pursuing a career in law enforcement was a long shot. No one in his family had been a cop, and he had never had much personal exposure to the police. But when he turned fifteen and got a summer job as a lifeguard at a public pool in the Bronx, an older cop, Al Vazquez, took an interest in Steve. Vazquez and another officer, Harry Gonzalez, were both assigned to the pool for the summer. They enjoyed telling the young lifeguard stories about their adventures working as cops. They encouraged him to think about joining the force.
“One experience I had at the pool made a big impression,” Steve said. “It was hot and sunny, and the pool was filled with young kids and lots of teenagers. It was around one in the afternoon when I heard a strange noise. It was like a rattling, rumbling sound. All of a sudden I see this huge number of guys, bigger and older than me, climbing over the fence that surrounded the pool. It seemed like there were hundreds of them. I knew by the colors of their clothing that they were all in the same gang, the Savage Skulls. We had a lot of gangs in the Bronx in those days, and the Savage Skulls was one of the worst. Within seconds, they circled the pool. They started chanting at the swimmers. I was the only lifeguard on duty, I was fifteen years old, and I was scared. I was afraid to turn my back on them, so I backed up slowly toward the pool house. I was praying they wouldn’t notice me. I found Officer Vazquez in the locker room. I told him the Savage Skulls had circled the pool and I was worried what they were going to do to the kids. I’ll never forget what happened then. Vazquez jumped out of his chair and pulled his gun belt off of a hook on the wall. I remember his face turned beet red. He looked furious. He growled, ‘What in the hell are they doing here?’ On his way out to the pool, he called it in on his radio. Vazquez knew that with one cop against dozens of gang members, he might need help.”
When the officer got out to the pool, he looked around and sized up the scene. He yelled out, “Which one of you is the leader? Step forward.”
“I thought you could probably hear his voice from miles away. He was clutching his nightstick, holding it low on one side. When one of the gang members stepped forward and announced he was the leader, Vazquez grabbed his arm and did some kind of jujitsu move. The next thing I see is the so-called leader down on the ground and scared to death, just like that. By the time Officer Vazquez got him in cuffs, everyone else had scattered. I looked around. I couldn’t believe they were all gone. We found out later that there were probably forty of them, not the hundreds I’d thought at the beginning. Yet that one cop took on all those tough guys by himself. A couple of minutes after he called it in, the first police car showed up. By then Vazquez had everything under control. The gang was gone, and the kids went back to swimming. To me he seemed like Superman. I decided right then that when I grew up, I wanted to be just like him. Al Vazquez and Harry Gonzalez made me want to be a police officer.”
Over his three decades with the NYPD, everywhere Steve was assigned, morale went up. Within months, most cops under his command found they had new enthusiasm for the job. They took on more work and did it with pride. He was especially good at advising rookies about the crucial sets of skills they had to master before they would be effective street cops. “I tell them, ‘You’ve got to be nosy, you’ve got to engage people, and you’ve got to shake things up if you want to find something. Go out and ask them what they’re doing. Find out if there’s anything going on. Don’t be shy.’ Nine times out of ten, it’s nothing. When there is something, I tell them that’s when they have to be ready for things to escalate. I warn them over and over. Be ready for the unexpected. When it happens, you will have only a second to react.”
Steve knows that enforcing the laws and protecting innocent people from harm is hard work. A lot of police officers burn out. “I never stop trying to motivate the burned-out cops whose views have become negative,” he says, “but I like to give more attention to the ones who are still into the job. I like to focus on those who, with a little encouragement, will get out there and try their best to be great law enforcement officers despite the enormous frustrations of the job.
People who go into law enforcement must work hard to overcome burnout. The signs are unmistakable. Everyone and everything becomes aggravating. Negativity and cynicism seem to overwhelm everything. The tendency to isolate oneself from friends and neighbors who are not in law enforcement accelerates. With burnout, the jokes that have always been the police officer’s best defense mechanism against the constant exposure to rage, violence, and man’s inhumanity to man don’t seem funny anymore. In Steve’s case, after close to three decades on the job, he is relieved that his sense of humor is still intact.
Humor is a double-edged sword for law enforcement. The sick jokes, pranks, and endless hazing that go on between cops are their best defense against the brutal world they are thrust into. It is part of life in every police station in the United States. Law enforcement officers try to keep laughing so they can tolerate the horror they witness, from abused children to car wrecks and all manner of violence and death.
But what most police officers find hilarious, civilians find strange. While their jokes help officers stay sane, they are also a wedge between cops and the rest of the world, which has trouble understanding how normal people can joke about events that are tragic.
While Steve may be able to able to joke about sad things he sees on the street, he admits that the constant exposure to rapists, muggers, drug dealers, prostitutes, thieves, and all the other unsavory people police deal with daily can change one’s own view of human beings. “A lot of these people you encounter are really horrible,” he says. “If you let it get to you, you can lose your faith in the human race.”
And now Steve Bonano—this remarkable man who did so much good work for his Department and the people of the City of New York—has gone to a better place. But rest assured, his profound impact on everyone who had the fortune of working with him or knowing him, will continue on forever.
You can read more about Steve in the book Brave Hearts: Extraordinary Stories of Price, Pain and Courage, available at Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and at www.braveheartsbook.com. |
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak concedes the team he put together this season didn't make it easy for Kobe Bryant on the court, and that a player of Bryant's caliber deserves to keep playing as long as he can at a high level. (1:23)
LOS ANGELES -- On Sunday, Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak talked to reporters about Kobe Bryant's decision to retire at the end of the season. Here is his exchange with the media:
Reaction [to the news]?
Kupchak:I'm not surprised. The surprising part of this is that he made the announcement today. My understanding all along was that this was going to be his last year. Certainly there's been speculation and this puts an end to any speculation that he may come back for another year. But it was my understanding all along.
Kobe Bryant's Farewell Season Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant will retire after this season. We have all of the news, reaction and analysis covered, and we'll break down what 20 years of the Mamba has meant to the NBA.
Complete Coverage
Right time?
Kupchak: We didn't make it any easier for him with the group we have on the court. And that's not to say that they're not a talented group of players, but they're certainly young and unaccomplished.
Awkward having Kobe and the young players -- that balance?
Kupchak:It is awkward. It's awkward, but there was really no other way to go about it. When you have a player of Kobe's caliber that wants to continue to play, and you think he can play at a high level, you're going to let him play until he no longer wants to play. Yet it's clear that we had to begin the process to rebuild the team. Now we were hopeful that we would get off to a better start this year. We think we added a couple veterans, along with a bunch of young players, and I thought we'd be better than two wins into the season. That's not to say that we'd be on pace to win 50 or 60 games. But I thought we'd be a little bit better. But clearly we're not playing at the kind of level that a player of Kobe's age and experience finds challenging.
[It's] kind of like, there's no light at the end of the tunnel. I'm not surprised that he would make the announcement now. I think the game will be easier for him now. I think he'll be able to enjoy the rest of the season. We haven't had a chance to huddle up to see if we'll use him any differently in terms of minutes. I don't think that's something that's going to be decided today. But since he has made it clear [that] this is the last season for him, I think it will be more enjoyable. I think people will appreciate what he's accomplished, not only in our building, which has always been [filled] with loads of love, but I think more so on the road.
Mitch Kupchak hopes fans in road arenas will salute Kobe Bryant now that they know this is his final season. Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images
Want him to change his approach and not be so shot-heavy?
Kupchak: I gave up hoping he would change his approach like 15, 18 years ago. He is what he is, and I'm thankful for it.
[When did you] find out the news?
Kupchak: This afternoon. My son is a freshman in college right now. He's going to be 20 and he was born on the night of Kobe's first game. So I did not see Kobe's first game. So that kind of puts it in perspective. Twenty years. I have a son who's a freshman in college, and that's how long he's been playing.
What has he meant to the Lakers?
Kupchak: It is impossible for me to sit here and describe what he's meant. Five championships, 20 years, 17 All-Star Games. MVP trophy. I've watched him get hurt, play hurt. We've watched the last three years with serious injuries [and] having to come back. Most players would not come back. So it's hard to describe in two or three minutes. But he's a winner. And he came into this league with an unprecedented desire to compete and get better and be the best, and he remains that exact same person today, and that's with the good and the bad that come with it. But he remains that exact same person.
Did you think it would be this hard?
Kupchak: When he tore his Achilles, it took me completely by surprise. In fact, I thought it was a sprained ankle. ... Until John Black came to me and he's walking to the locker room, I thought it was a sprained ankle. And he was 35, 34 years old then. So it's not that surprising to think after a serious injury at 35 years old. Your body has a way of compensating or under-compensating -- if you hurt this leg, then you lean more that way and now that leg gets hurt and so forth and so on ... at least this is what [Lakers trainer] Gary Vitti tells me. So it's not that surprising that one injury would lead to another. Inactivity for half a year, then come back -- there's no way to duplicate an NBA game. And he's 36, 37. How surprising can it be?
Watching him over the past 15 games?
Kupchak: Like everybody else, I go back and forth. I talk to Kobe about it and he says it's timing and getting my legs under me and conditioning, getting used to playing with different players. And I buy in. Then I watch the games on TV and I read the paper and I remind myself that he's 37 years old, and maybe it's more than that. So I go back and forth on it.
What's his role for the rest of the season?
Kupchak: Not sure yet. Once again, this is something that was brought to my attention late this afternoon, and I have not discussed it with ownership or our coaches yet. I would hope that he has more fun and appears less frustrated and also gets more appreciation. He'll get it at home, but on the road as well, because people will now have to recognize that this is the last year [of] watching one of the all-time greats.
Is it just common for athletes to have difficult endings?
Kupchak: I played 10 years and I was injured an awful lot. It was really, really hard to play even after 10 years. You've got to deal with nagging injuries or ice packs or treatments and aches or your body, [which] doesn't allow you to do what it once did. It's hard enough to do it after 10 years. It drove me, with a relatively average NBA career, to retire. After 20 years, it's just something that I can't comprehend. It's twice as long as most people play. I just can't imagine. In college, you pay 25-28 games. When he should have been a freshman in college, he played 90 games. When he should've been a sophomore in college, he played over 90 games. So not only has he played 20 years, but he's played a lot of minutes and an awful lot of games. And on top of that, you probably have to add at least two or three more seasons, or at least a season or two, due to playoffs and preseason games.
Was there a point when you realized that you couldn't put the team together like you want to send him out?
Kupchak: I'm not going to say I thought we could win 50 games this year; even 45 would be something on the upper end. If we got to the point where I felt we could win half our games, that would be a good season, and that was our expectation going into the season. This is a process with the roles as they are today and us drafting players who are 19 years old. It's a process. And you really can't hurry the process. We're trying to push it along. You really can't make it happen by snapping your fingers anymore, not that we ever did. I was hoping at least -- and I still am -- that we can reel off some games and make this season pretty competitive, but there were never expectations that this was going to be a season where, hey, we can win 50-55 games, Kobe, and you can play a small part.
What's Kobe's relationship with other players?
Kupchak: He is a mentor and he'll push. He leads by example. He always has. He may change, but he's never been the guy to put his arm around a player and slowly walk to the locker room. He's always been the guy that's barking a little bit more than putting his arm around [a player], kind of pushing behind, little bit more demonstrative. Everybody leads in their own way. But I know for a fact that every player in our locker room looks up to this guy and respects [him]. And who could not after 19 seasons of what he's accomplished? |
Listening to defensive coaches discuss the outbreak of Bear maulings west of the Mississippi, you get the sense that something awful is happening to the men of their profession.
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"You have to think differently when you face Baylor," TCU head coach and defensive guru Gary Patterson has said.
"Baylor was the best team we played [in 2012]," said UCLA head coach Jim Mora, a former defensive coordinator whose Bruins also faced Rose Bowl champion Stanford twice.
Asked after shutting down Oregon State in last year's Alamo Bowl how Pac-12 offenses compare to Baylor's, former Texas defensive coordinator Manny Diaz's face dropped. "We play a different sport in the Big 12."
These are signs that something historic is taking place. Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty. (Getty Images)
Watch the press conferences. Read the transcripts. Talk to the coaches. You'll find defensive coordinators talk about "containing" or "limiting" Baylor. Coaches are trying to temper fan and media expectations. These are signs that something historic is taking place.
Baylor is scoring 63.9 points through more than half of its season, putting the Bears on pace to break the NCAA Divison I scoring record set by Mississippi Valley State during Jerry Rice's senior year. Baylor ranks both No. 1 in passing yardage and No. 8 in rushing yardage out of 125 teams; Oregon is the only other team to even rank in the top 20 in both, and the Ducks rank 20th in passing. Baylor has five more 60-yard plays than the entire Big Ten Legends division has and at least twice as many as all but two teams in the country. If the Bears can survive a tough November schedule, they could reach the BCS National Championship just three years removed from 14 straight losing seasons.
And it's not the air raid. It's not the run ‘n' shoot. It's not just a spread offense. It's a blend head coach Art Briles has been cooking up for decades now.
"It started with my first football job, coaching in Hamlin [a Texas 2A high school] in '84-'85," Briles told SB Nation in June. "My first year there, we had a great football team, ran the split-back veer, went 13-0-1. In the second year, I saw that if you got deep in the playoffs, you're gonna face people with talent just as good or better than yours. So what I looked for was an edge, something different; so in '85 we went to the one-back, four wides and went 14-1.
When we got to Stephenville [a 4A school that hadn't made the state playoffs in 36 years], we definitely had to do something that gave ourselves a chance to get the opportunity to win football games. We weren't just gonna line up and beat people. We had to be a little unconventional, which we were. In 1990 we had a guy throw for over 3,000 yards, and then had a 3,000-yard passer every year over the next 10 years. In '98 we actually set a national record for total offense."
Briles joined Mike Leach's hell-raising Texas Tech program in 2000, then got his first college head job in 2003 at Houston. His top two quarterbacks there, Case Keenum and Kevin Kolb, rank first and tenth on the all-time FBS career passing yardage list. Briles left for Baylor in 2008, bringing Robert Griffin III along, and Big 12 defensive coordinators have been losing sleep ever since. (And they likely will be for years to come, if Briles stays: Baylor's building a $260 million, on-campus stadium; Nike nearly gives the Bears the Oregon treatment; and the offense that's helped make national names of three-star receiver recruits like Tevin Reese, Antwan Goodley, and the Dallas Cowboys' Terrance Williams just landed a commitment from 2014 five-star KD Cannon, the top receiver in Texas.)
* * * What makes an offense great? In short, the ability to efficiently attack multiple parts of the field and overstress any defense. Good offenses can do something so well that defenses have to adjust their systems to stop it. Great offenses can punish defenses for that adjustment. Many teams can't even figure out what Baylor's most threatening components are. Some coaches have had marginal success by attempting to take away the quick screens and passing game. Others have sought to prevent deep passes, yet Baylor's Reese and Goodley still manage to rank first and second nationally in yards per target with 17.7 and 17.5, about a full yard better than No. 3, Mike Evans of Texas A&M. And still others have done all they can to stop the running game, currently producing 303 yards per outing, from coming to life. It may be that Briles has now found the players to ensure that every choice by the defense will be wrong. Baylor's hybrid offensive approach essentially combines many of the greatest tactics in offensive football into one cohesive and simple package. First is Baylor's employment of the spread offense. Baylor's spread is more intense than most, with even the inside receivers lining up outside of the hash marks. Most every team in college football utilizes some aspect of spread tactics, but everything Baylor does is built around spacing out defenses so that individual matchups can be hammered. On the outside, speed is king. Baylor sends every receiver vertical early and often in every game. In particular, they love that most defensive schemes match safeties or linebackers in coverage against their slot receivers, so they make a habit of using play action or vertical routes. That makes safeties have to turn and run with 4.4 sprinters like Reese. Who supports a safety in that task? By definition they are already the support players, the last lines of defense, the reinforcements. Briles attacks them first. The Bear attack to the middle of the field is all about power. Right guard Desmine Hilliard weighs 330 pounds. Preseason All-American left guard Cyril Richardson weighs about 340. Baylor's run game is primarily based in inside zone and power-O blocking. Meaning, defensive linemen are constantly getting blocked at an angle or by double teams coming straight at them. Baylor then pairs these running concepts with quarterback reads. Bryce Petty can either throw a perimeter screen or quick pass or keep the ball himself, based on his read of "overhang" defenders. These are the players who are being stressed to choose whether they'll align outside to run down a screen pass or inside to fill an interior running play. Read-option concepts guarantee those defenders are always wrong. Of course, Baylor also has some of the best play-action as well. Old school, new school, it's all there in Waco.
While they are known for their big plays, Baylor has the ability to work its way down the field the hard way with a quick passing game and power runs. Most of their running backs have been bigger, powerful runners such as the 240-pound Terrence Ganaway or current senior and 220-pound bowling ball, Glasco Martin.
This year, they have an extra element to the run game thanks to the diverse skills of their main back, Lache Seastrunk, who's averaging 9.05 yards per carry. "Lache Superior" combines the ability to fall forward for tough yardage with elite shake and enough breakaway speed to house runs through a crack of daylight.
Everything your heart could possibly desire about Bears athletics, all in one place. More: Football Study Hall | SBNation.com
When the Bears get their offense humming they love to go fast, snapping the ball within 15 seconds of the whistle. Imagine being a 300-pound defensive tackle against this offense. In 10 minutes of real time, you have had to fight double teams and down blocks from human beings bigger than you nine times and been asked to drive those same people backwards while rushing the quarterback four times (and you're not likely to get much pass-rushing help, since those receivers being out so wide limit what your defensive backs can do). After successfully beating a double team, your coaches screamed at you to chase down Reese ... turns out Petty made a pass read. Before the drive is done, you don't have much breath left for a goal line stand. If you last that long. Of Baylor's 55 offensive touchdowns, 29 have come from outside the red zone anyway.
Perhaps most astonishing is the play of this dastardly conspiracy's triggermen. Griffin III was a Heisman-winner and terrifying revelation, and crafty Nick Florence managed to match and even exceed some of his numbers in 2012.
Bryce Petty seems to have been fashioned in a Waco lab for the express purpose of running this offense. His deep throws, screens, and quick passes that comprise the bulk of the Baylor passing game are generally perfect both in accuracy and timing. He can throw on the run or scramble and would probably clock around 4.6 or 4.7 in the 40. At 230 pounds, he also has the strength to handle Baylor's inside run demands and survive the hits that come with being a spread quarterback.
Baylor achieves its insanely high level of proficiency at quarterback thanks to the practice routine that also makes its in-game tempo so quick. They line up and run their plays in practice even faster than they do on Saturdays, resulting in endless reps and enabling their timing and muscle memory to approach perfection.
Most of their plays are packaged together, so that Petty is making quick reads of individual defensive players after most snaps. Suffice to say, he almost always makes the defense wrong with his choices.
Thanks to the tremendous speed of their three featured offensive players, all of their concepts can turn into touchdowns if the defense makes a mistake.
Inside runs by Lache Seastrunk ...
.... a quick throw to Antwan Goodley ...
... or a deep bomb over the top of your helpless safeties to Tevin Reese ...
... they can all make you pay from anywhere on the field with any concept. In this play, Petty has the choice to throw a screen pass, hand off for an inside run, or hit Reese on the boundary for a harmless-looking hitch pass. The most innocent option still proves deadly:
* * * Baylor has scored from its own side of the field (50 or more yards away) 17 times in seven games this year. Only Utah State topped that last year, and that took 13 games. The defense isn't safe anywhere. Has there ever been an offense more capable of scoring from any point on the field? For that reason, most Big 12 defenses have tried simple approaches. Most have attempted to force Baylor to win with quick passes, possibly the lowest-percentage play in the Bears' arsenal. However, it's becoming increasingly difficult to do even that. The last two years, Texas tried to combine a cautious Cover-2 with zone-blitzing, only to allow 48 and 50 points. Kansas State approached the 2013 Bears even more cautiously and gave up passing plays of 93, 72, and 54 yards. Backing your safeties 12 or 15 yards off the ball still doesn't ensure that Reese won't race past them, remarkable as that may be. Or he could take advantage of all that open grass and do his racing after receiving the ball. West Virginia used 3-4 fronts to try and control the middle of the field with their stout defensive line, and they spread their linebackers wide to handle the stress points along the perimeter. Their safeties were then allowed to stay deep and keep everything in front of them. They gave up 73 points and 872 yards. The 'Eers surrendered three touchdowns of more than 45 yards — in the first 10 minutes. What more can a defense do against Baylor? As it happens, the Bears' remaining schedule may help us answer this question. There is one approach that many teams have not dared to attempt: playing with a single deep safety and tighter outside coverage, in order to eliminate Baylor's ability to isolate defenders along the perimeter with runs and quick throws. This approach, of course, dares Baylor to destroy the defense by throwing downfield against one-on-one matchups. Oklahoma attempted this tactic last season, and its secondary, playing mostly dime personnel, held the Bears to only 5.2 yards per pass. Perhaps the greatest advantage of the single-deep-safety approach is it allows the defense to keep six defenders in the box even against Baylor's spread-out, four-receiver formations. However, OU's dime package meant these six players were four DL, a young linebacker, and a 205-pound safety. Despite it being a fair fight in the middle with even numbers, Baylor's players ran over Oklahoma for 252 yards on the ground. In their 2013 matchup, Oklahoma is sure to try this approach again. They've modified their defense to include greater speed, with 3-4 fronts and late-dropping safeties to help the run game and keep linebackers in the box:
Due to OU's injuries to nose tackle Jordan Phillips and top linebacker Corey Nelson and their overall youth on the defensive line, it's nearly certain that they will again be unable to stop Baylor's run game in this fair-fight scenario. A Baylor victory seems nearly inevitable.
However, Baylor could make a statement if it shreds Oklahoma's pass defense as well. Otherwise you could speculate, "what if another team with both a great secondary and a great run front challenged Baylor receivers with the Oklahoma strategy?"
What happens when they play a defense loaded with NFL prospects, particularly on the defensive line?
Then there's the final challenge for the Bears to answer before they'll convince the skeptics: What happens when they play a defense loaded with NFL prospects, particularly on the defensive line? If the Big 12 has a weakness as a conference, it's a lack of difference-makers in the trenches on defense.
What would happen if Baylor faced a team with the depth and size up front to survive the Bears' pace and run game? What if that team also had the speed and athleticism on the edge to try and take on Baylor's receivers?
Stanford could fit the bill, as might Michigan State, but Alabama is the clearest example of such a team. The Tide have a powerful enough line to play a five-man box and enough athletes to play dime-personnel packages. Those allow the safeties to play in a two-deep shell and keep the ball in front of them.
In this clip, Alabama's in dime personnel trying to cover the screens and inside runs at the same time, which is made possible by the lateral speed of their back seven and their impenetrable defensive line:
Before a potential title game matchup against an athletic squad like the ones in Tuscaloosa, Eugene, or Tallahasse, the Bears have another premier program on their schedule. That game could decide the Big 12 and then some.
After being obliterated early in the year by BYU and Ole Miss, the Texas Longhorns have shockingly managed to turn their defense around. Texas has two strengths Baylor hasn't yet faced.
The Longhorns have the athletes in the secondary to play aggressive, single-deep safety coverages as Oklahoma does, but they also have arguably the best defensive line in college football. Starting defensive ends Jackson Jeffcoat (six sacks) and Cedric Reed (five sacks) are likely to give Baylor's offensive tackles more trouble than they are accustomed to. More importantly, Texas has future NFL Draft choices Chris Whaley and Malcom Brown on the inside, backed by more young and elite talent.
The Longhorns also struggle at linebacker and safety against the run, making them less than the ideal test for the Bears' offense, but they will ask Briles' boys some questions that need answers.
Meanwhile, there's a lingering question for the rest of us: Might the greatest offense college football's ever seen have been birthed two decades ago by a Texas high school coach named Art Briles?
Sooner or later, we should all learn the answer to that question on the field.
Producer: Chris Mottram | Editor: Jason Kirk | Title Photo: USA Today Images USA Today Images |
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FOr your eyes only, john. Terrible time 4warding. 1 more time. .. the due process is harder
From:[email protected] To: [email protected] CC: [email protected], [email protected] Date: 2012-08-30 03:27 Subject: FOr your eyes only, john. Terrible time 4warding. 1 more time. .. the due process is harder
Good to hear you today, John. Here is letter. -- nancy ----- I am happy to talk to them. I can talk to them any time. better to call late in the day. There are two lawsuits and I want to do both in one law suit. I have to convince others that this is the right thing to do because it was so much more work. The due process claims are egregious but they have already screwed all the recipients. If there are 100 horses in the barn, 98 or 99 are out of the barn and they have been shot in the meadow. For the second and most important law suit there is a smoking gun. I want to do both of together. But it is killing me. The state is intentionally using the wrong standard in screening the exemption cases. They state is using a standard that is stringent and which has not been in effect since 2000. Unfortunately they have special judges hearing these cases and DHCS ha convinced them to review these cases with the wrong standard. This is not incompetence but a purposeful and illegal plan that has hurt a lot of people but the second lawsuit will put them all back on fee for service Medi-cal just as the court did in Lopez v. Heckler in the early 1980’s. Javier Portela, courtney Nakayama and Jane Ogle know what they are doing is wrong and they did not care. Jane Ogle like Javier claim they do not have to obey the new law regarding aid paid pending. This is intentional wrongdoing. You asked me what you could do to protect yourself. One is to get the provision repealed that DHCS can make changes without going through the regulatory process. It says they just have to go to the legislative budget committees and the stakeholders but this is not enough protection. Of course they have not done that her because everyone just wrote letters and did nothing. That time is over. These people all have to be fired because they knew what they were doing was illegal. They also purposely underfunded the HCO and ombudsman office and changed their duties to be hatchet men for DHCS rather than a source of help for the victims Nancy this is totally wearing me out. But it is the worst thing I have seen in my 40 years as an attorney. These people in DHCS are very bad people. Something should have been done on the front end and not leave it to the old folks like me to clean this up at the back end. Also the DHCS are so full of themselves and think they are above observing the law and have tried to crush the clients I have represented. I came late to the party because we did not start to get people with good facts until April of this year and that was the total end of things. We have told them once, twice and three times and their solution is a work group which is totally ridiculous.. So now that I have figured out the nature of the widespread abuse, they have screwed all the disabled people seeking exemptions. While I will talk to the press, this is not a one or two day story. They will have to read a lot of information to figure out the extent of the wrongdoing. But it is easy to explain that DHCS has purposely applied a far more stringent standard than allowed by law or regulations so they could deny more claims. Also I am too jaded at this point to believe that than any of their figures or data are valid. I do not know when the lawsuit will be filed. It will be filed next month. It will be filed later if the “wrong standard’ issue is added to the suit but I think this is essential. WE can give you a heads up several days to a week before we file. I am extremely disappointed in LA care because they just subcontracted with other plan and are not a public option. People shoved into these plans have their medicines discontinued without warning or notice even when all the other alternatives have been tried. A patient who had 70% of the cancer removed from her brain had her pain medications denied without no notice. The cancer patients and those that have been disabled since children are having the hardest time. Also the folks cannot get timely appoints with the primary physician even if the enrollment has disrupted one’s cancer therapy. Another stage 4 cancer patient was defaulted into a plan without any written notice her exemption was denied right before she was scheduled to have her breast removed. So we are not talking about moral people. I am for capital punishment or at least putting people in stocks for transgressions like this. Carol Liu, Holly Mitchell and Rod Wright are interested. Carol Liu is the most interested. Her chief of staff in sacto is very good and the director of the local office is very emphathetic. Elena Ackel5228 Whittier BlvdLos Angeles, Ca. 90022213-640-3927213-640-3911 fax |
Jaywalking and texting could soon net you a hefty fine in the Bay State.A bill in the legislature is proposing a fine of $50 for the first offense, $100 for the second and $200 for a third offense. “If you are distracted, if you're on your phone, listening to music, you're not paying attention to what’s going on, you're part of the problem,” said Rep. Colleen Garry, who is pushing for increased fines for jaywalking.Garry said she got the idea after seeing many young people jaywalking and texting.“Especially this generation feels like, ‘Oh well. It’s the driver. The driver's responsible.’ But I think both people are responsible. Accidents happen because of two people,” she said. Currently, jaywalking carries a $1 fine. “People just laugh it off now that it’s a dollar and I think that we need to make them realize it’s substantial,” she said. The proposal is in response to an increase in pedestrian and cycling fatalities that often happen outside of crosswalks.Earbuds and hand-held devices are also included in the bill.
Jaywalking and texting could soon net you a hefty fine in the Bay State.
A bill in the legislature is proposing a fine of $50 for the first offense, $100 for the second and $200 for a third offense.
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“If you are distracted, if you're on your phone, listening to music, you're not paying attention to what’s going on, you're part of the problem,” said Rep. Colleen Garry, who is pushing for increased fines for jaywalking.
Garry said she got the idea after seeing many young people jaywalking and texting.
“Especially this generation feels like, ‘Oh well. It’s the driver. The driver's responsible.’ But I think both people are responsible. Accidents happen because of two people,” she said.
Currently, jaywalking carries a $1 fine.
“People just laugh it off now that it’s a dollar and I think that we need to make them realize it’s substantial,” she said.
The proposal is in response to an increase in pedestrian and cycling fatalities that often happen outside of crosswalks.
Earbuds and hand-held devices are also included in the bill.
AlertMe |
VANCOUVER, B.C. — Acumen Law Corporation, based in Vancouver, says it has proof that the B.C. government has rigged appeal process for accused drunk drivers.
Lawyer Paul Doroshenko says a freedom of information request by his firm returned documents showing the government instructing an adjudicator how to decide a case.
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Doroshenko devotes his practice exclusively to criminal defence and drunk driving law. He calls what the documents reveal ‘disgusting,’ arguing it calls into question the provincial government’s DUI legislation, the appeal process, and every related decision ever made.
He says the province took his firm to court to try and quash the documents, but lost that challenge last week. Now, the government has 30 days to appeal before the paperwork can be made public.
However, Kyla Lee, another attorney at Acumen, says there’s no question there are innocent people who have been convicted of drunk driving, lost an appeal, paid a fine, and now have a criminal record.
She says the fallout from this will be absolutely huge putting into question the tribunal process itself, advising anyone who believes he or she was wrongly convicted to dig out all the behind the scenes documents of their case.
She adds the government should not have the right to violate the charter, create a system of law that’s unfair, apply it in an unfair manner, and then hide what it’s done from the public. |
A shadow of a man using his mobile phone is cast near Microsoft logo at the 2014 Computex exhibition in Taipei June 4, 2014. REUTERS/Pichi Chuang
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp expects to have its new Windows 10 operating system on the market by autumn 2015, slightly later than previous comments had suggested.
Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner told Japanese news service Nikkei on Wednesday that the new system would be released “early next fall.”
Microsoft has not publicly set a firm timetable for the release of Windows 10, but only last week suggested the possibility of an earlier release.
“By next late summer and early fall we’ll be able to bring out this particular OS (operating system). That’s the current plan of record,” Turner told the Credit Suisse Technology Conference last Thursday.
An autumn release would put Windows 10 on track for launch three years after Windows 8, which got a mixed reception as it confused many traditional PC users with a design more suited to tablets.
Microsoft unveiled the name Windows 10 in late September, saying the jump in numbers from 8 to 10 marked a leap as it looks to unify the way people work on tablets, phones and traditional computers.
An early test version of Windows 10 - which blends the traditional look and much-loved start menu with newer features - has been available for download from Microsoft’s website for more than two months.
Windows is still a core part of Microsoft’s business and dominates the desktop computing market with 1.5 billion users. But the growth of smartphones and tablets means Windows now runs on only about 14 percent of computing devices worldwide, according to tech research firm Gartner. |
One day, after we'd lived here a few years, my son asked me what I missed the most from our former life in Oregon
Aricara aka Cusinga
I guess that's a question every expat harbors in the back of their mind, the comparison to what was to what is now, although I could not at that moment think of anything in particular I yearned for. But it got me thinking.
Life here is different in so many ways and I still enjoy most of the differences I find here so I don't often feel I'm missing much. It also feels as if it's a waste of time to fret over comparisons to the "old life" that much anyway.
Be here now, right?
His personal longing at that moment was for Dr Pepper, by the way, which we've since found.
Anyway, as a result of our musings of missed things, I thought I'd instead focus on a quick list of those things I enjoy about living in Costa Rica. Despite the numbering, the ordering is pretty arbitrary as it's tough to say which features are qualitatively more important than others. It's really the synergy of these and other points taken together that makes me smile, relax, and want to share the positive goodness we've all found living here.
10. The lower cost of living , which allowed me to retire early. True, C.R. is not the cheapest place to retire, but certainly much less expensive overall than the States.
9. Knowing there are several affordable health care options available for our family, whether it be public or private.
8. Beautiful, awe-inspiring, scenery in almost any corner of the country, such as the view from our balcony!
7. The exquisite friendliness of the Ticos (and most expats). E.g., clerks, who generally work 55 hours a week, are ready with a quick smile and a warm attitude. People I barely know in my neighborhood are always ready with a smile and a wave.
6. The diversity of flora and fauna with so many shapes, colors, and interesting behaviors.
5. Warm ocean water. No more freezing my you-know-whats off. The Pacific side harbors endless favorite beaches. The Caribbean, with its calmer, clearer water is only a 6 hour drive away with plenty to see along the way.
4. My morning, home-grown Costa Rica coffee on the balcony in shorts and T-shirt any day of the year.
3. Country living I could not afford in the U.S. I enjoy immensely our 7 acres of coffee, bananas, oranges, pejibaye, guanabana, etc. plus forest. We relish an abundance of fresh air, fresh eggs, cheese and milk from the neighbors.
2. Freedom from the U.S. 24/7 marketing machine and constant political drama. We can't ignore it totally, but here it is literally ... a dull roar.
1. Life here is not without its challenges, but even most of those (such as perfecting your Spanish) are fulfilling and keep you on your toes.
So, what do you think of this list? What would be on your list for where you live now or where you might want to live later? |
A little something I was holding onto. The breakdown on the Ferrous Corp and Galactic Authority ships were featured on another site. Today, I feature the ships of The Mikkei Combine with helpful overviews from design artist James Robbins and VFX supervisor Lawren Bancroft-Wilson.
James Robbins: [Dark Matter Production Designer] Ian Brock forwarded me the notion of a Japanese design based on the Samurai and suggested the exterior plating be reminiscent of plated Japanese armor.
Below is the earliest pencil version with a side ortho and a ½ top view which will be mirrored to provide the full view:
James Robbins: The general consensus was that the lower portion (the chin strap) of the side view wasn’t scaling properly – It gave the impression of a smaller ship. I refined those elements and did a little toning and mirrored the top view in Photoshop. (below)
James Robbins: This still felt too filigreed and it was decided to remove the “chin-strap”
James Robbins: I cleaned up the lines and added some strong contrasts. This (above) became the final version for VFX.
And then, we handed things off to VFX Supervisor Lawren Bancroft-Wilson…
Lawren Bancroft-Wilson: We first started approaching the build of a cruiser using the concept designs, but when the need turned to making a destroyer we were able to integrate the cruiser design along with reference of many of the more modern destroyers we’re seeing built today.
Lawren Bancroft-Wilson: There’s no doubt that this ship, more than any other, has a heavy nautical inspiration and we really used that to help differentiate it from the Ferrous Corp ships. Where the Ferrous Corp ships were bulky and straight edged, we followed the concept design in having the Mikkei lean more to flowing curves and a rounded exterior.
Lawren Bancroft-Wilson: Like the other destroyer we needed battlements that lined every side of the ship with the ability to launch an attack in any direction. We also helped to differentiate the Mikkei ships by giving them a light kit that is blue with a soft glow oppose to the painted red sections of the Ferrous Corp ships.
The design of the Mikkei shuttle, their surface to orbit transport vessel, went relatively quicker…
James Robbins: “The Mikkei shuttle was the only remaining ship and it went through with few notes.”
Today’s entry is dedicated to Gary and Paloosa.
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The budget smartphone segment in America seems to be a shrinking one of late (well, at least of good options), but we've rounded up the best we think the market has to offer consumers right now in the $250-and-under segment. The selected phones are presented in no particular order.
Moto G4 and G4 Plus
This one should be obvious. We called the G4 and G4 Plus the best budget phones you could buy (in the US) when we reviewed them, and while we're not naming a "#1" in this post, it's easy to see why the G4 siblings could win things in a real showdown. An unadulterated Android (with Nougat updates already starting to roll out), a great fingerprint scanner, big and beautiful display, great performance for the money, and solid battery life.
The G4 and G4 Plus are also the only phones in Moto's lineup to really inherit the spirit of the Moto Maker personalization system, allowing you the choice of dozens of potential color combinations and even a real bamboo rear cover. Pricing for the G4 starts at $199, with the G4 Plus edging in at $249 for the base 16GB model. We recommend the G4 Plus 16GB most strongly out of the bunch - it packs a better camera (with laser autofocus) than the standard G4 and adds a fingerprint scanner, TurboPower charger, and NFC (correction: no model of the G4 or G4 Plus offers NFC). For just $50 more, those features are a no-brainer.
The G series of Motorola phones have received extensive praise through each of their iterations, and the generation-four Gs still show that Moto knows how to make a budget phone that kicks ass.
Moto G4 Play
Yes, this will technically be the third Motorola phone on this list. But it's easy to see why: the Moto G4 Play is stupid cheap. But, for the money, you're getting Motorola's Android (a real plus) and a battery that, for a 5" device, is quite large, at 2800mAh. Combined with the Snapdragon 410, that should make the G4 Play a real power-sipper. It even has a microSD card slot.
But with a $150 MSRP (often less on sale, though), the perks do kind of end there. You get a cheap 720p IPS display, a middling 8MP rear camera, 16GB of storage, and other luxuries like... a headphone jack. That's really it. No NFC, no fancy camera features, no fingerprint scanner. Which, at this price, is all to be expected.
The Moto G4 Play is the base model of the base model. But that's what it's all about, isn't it?
LeEco S3
You have probably read me rail against LeEco on more than one occasion, and I think the $250 they're asking for the S3 is too much money for too much grief in return. But here's the thing: it has never actually cost that much money. You can go pick up an S3 right now for $170. Given the specification sheet, that is insane. A Snapdragon 652 is completely unheard of at this price. As much as I abhor LeEco's interface modifications, they're also not the worst I've seen - and a new launcher can at least mask some of the most glaring defects.
The 16MP rear camera is reasonably capable (and, if you're getting it for $170, very good for the money), and that mid-end Snapdragon chipset nets you features more rarely seen in this segment like Wi-Fi ac and Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0. It also has 32GB of storage and 3GB of RAM, again, easily outclassing any phone sold in the US for this kind of money. The 5.5" 1080p IPS panel gets very bright, and while not the best screen I've laid eyes on, is still pretty good.
There's no headphone jack, but LeEco does include a pair of USB Type C headphones and a Type C to 3.5mm adapter in the box. They even include the Quick Charge 3.0 charger.
LeEco says this phone will get Android 7.0. I don't know that I believe them. Even if it doesn't, though, it's still an insane value for money, a value so insane that we'd be remiss to leave it off our list. The asterisk is that while I can heartily recommend it at $170 or perhaps even $200, at $250, while it still does provide a ton of phone for the dollar, I start to think more about future support and the quality of the software. At that point, the weaker-on-paper but vastly UX-superior Moto G4 Plus has real appeal.
Oh, and the fingerprint scanner on this phone? It sucks. Badly. Just thought I should let you know.
Honorable small phone mention: Sony Xperia XA
Sony's Xperia XA is a phone that, frankly, I barely noticed - until I really began digging around in this price bracket for potential picks (and admittedly, pickings are slim). And you know what? This is a decent small phone, and that size is an important part of it. It's getting harder and harder to find a screen that's 5" or under on a phone that isn't kind of garbage. The XA isn't amazing, but it's also better than I expected.
When it was released, the Xperia XA retailed for $280 - way too much money for far too little phone. Today, it's easily had for $199 (or even less - B&H has the white version for $180), which is a much more palatable price point. No, the XA doesn't have a fingerprint scanner, and its screen doesn't compare favorably on quality against the also-$200 Moto G4. Nor does its camera, frankly (it's OK at best). Performance is passable, but not exceptional.
But Sony's Android skin is largely inoffensive, and its worse failings are remedied by a few apps. Once you've replaced Sony's god-awful keyboard and annoyingly cluttered launcher, the XA comes into its own as a simple, small smartphone that looks really, really nice. I've often critiqued Sony's design as more drab than daring, but the XA's extremely narrow bezels and soft-touch rear cover make this phone a pleasure to both hold and behold.
The big downside is the battery - at 2300mAh, it's not an all-day device. It does have NFC, though, which is far from a given in this price bracket. So, yes, the Xperia XA does have some real caveats to consider, and there's no way we'd recommend it at its full retail price, or even the $250 it was lowered to shortly after launch. But if you can pick one up for $200 or less (preferably less) and you're looking for a phone that is compact above all else, the XA does fill an important niche in a market that seems to be disappearing. |
The Douglas County School District in Castle Rock, Colorado takes school security very seriously. So much so that their security team will soon be equipped with 10 Bushmaster semi-automatic long rifles for its officers in addition to their handguns.
CBS Denver reports:
According to Douglas County schools spokesperson Paula Hans, all district security officers are former law enforcement officers, which is a part of the job requirement. They train side-by-side with law enforcement and go through the same training as law enforcement. But unlike SROs (school resource officers), who are public law enforcement officers (LEOs) but partially funded by the district, they are school district employees. SROs are actual law enforcement and are stationed at high schools. School security officers are more mobile and patrol the entire district. Some coverage areas are larger than others and are patrolled during school hours and some other times. “We believe in a layered approach,” Hans said. The Douglas County School District also has school marshals. They are also LEOs and rotate among elementary and middle schools with multiple visits per school per day. There are currently eight security officers for Douglas County Schools. They have previously been armed with handguns and will continue to carry them.
Douglas County Schools director of security Richard Payne, said he made the decision to purchase the weapons in January after he observed the security officers training “hand to hand” with the sheriff’s office who also utilized long guns.
“We want to make sure they have the same tools as law enforcement,” Payne said Monday.
Payne says although all eight of his security officers are former law enforcement, they will still be required to complete the same 20-hour training course commissioned police officers take. Once the long guns arrive, he says they will be locked inside security officer’s patrol cars.
“They will not be in the schools,” Payne said of the weapons.
Unless they’re needed, of course.
Payne also confirmed he personally made the decision to purchase the Bushmaster long rifles, which cost a little more than $12,000, to protect the 67,000 students enrolled throughout the Douglas County School District.
Hats off to you, sir! |
Somebody put it nicely on Twitter the other day. When the world moved to cars from the good old horse-and-buggy, there were teething problems. Roads were no good, cars got bogged.
Roads soon improved however, as did cars, and despite the efforts of some to enforce 19th century traditions – such as former PM Tony Abbott with his knights and dames caper – the world is moving on.
Australia, with its failure of energy policy, is being left behind. Stunts such as Scott Morrison waving a lump of coal about in parliament, and “policy” such as flinging a billion dollars in taxpayers’ money at an Indian billionaire trying to build the world’s largest new thermal coal mine, only entrench the rising disaffection in the community with politics – and the perception that our political leaders are in hock to the fossil fuel industry.
Accusations that South Australia’s outages and price rises were caused by renewables have thankfully been debunked in recent days by the simple fact that Queensland power prices have run even higher, and Queensland is not big on renewables like SA.
Amid the blame-fest then, amid the rancorous debate now raging about renewables and coal it is worth considering who operates Australia’s power networks. It is the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO).
Being an obscure acronym, AEMO has escaped public attention yet AEMO has been woeful in its energy forecasts, and AEMO is a company which 40 per cent owned by big, mostly foreign-owned power companies. Its board is stacked with industry executives, consultants and directors from Big Law and Big Four accounting, whose firms earn millions from advising the power giants.
The reason this is important is because AEMO’s forecasts for gas and electricity have been wildly over-inflated over the years, horribly wrong. And the reason this is important is that, the more power companies charge, the more they earn, and they get to spend more and charge more if AEMO’s forecasts for electricity and gas demand are higher.
Despite however the clear conflict of interest in AEMO having industry shareholders and directors, if you proceed to the Board and Governance section on its website and tap up “Conflict of Interest Guidelines – Director Interests Protocol”, you will find this: “Server Error. 404 -File of directory not found”.
It is hard to imagine that, if state electricity corporations still ran the show, prices for gas and electricity would have shot up 100 per cent over the past few years. Rather, somebody would have been held accountable; somebody would have had to trudge up to Senate Estimates each year to explain to the politicians why prices had risen by more than 2.9 per cent.
Instead, we have ten per cent price rises and rising “energy poverty”. We have a corporatised and privatised system where every entity has its own board, executive, HR, PR, you name it, dozens of them, all wanting a feed.
Then there are the lawyers, accountants and external consultants who earn their feed by advising industry, reinforcing extravagant spending claims by the power giants – spending which goes directly to our energy bills.
All this goes further to the abject failure in Australia’s energy policy. So, to run through the AEMO directors, we have: chair Tony Marxsen who is a consultant, Jon Hubbard, formerly PwC and an energy company director, Sibylle Krieger, who is ex-Clayton Utz, Stephen Orr “extensive senior management experience in the energy industry”, Jane Tongs, ex-PwC, Frank Calabria, presently CEO of Energy Markets for Origin Energy, Peter Davis, former CEO of Aurora Energy, and John Pittard, ex-Shell and chairman of RXP Services.
Surely, these directors ought to disclose their conflicts clearly on the AEMO website. Surely, AEMO should be in the spotlight as clearly as coal, and the scapegoat for recent power outages, renewables. |
We get the full story from Cakewalk CTO
After many years of rumours, Cakewalk have announced an alpha testing phase for Sonar OS X, marking the first time the DAW has been available on the Mac platform. Not only this, but Cakewalk have also announced a ‘Lifetime Updates' scheme for Sonar Platinum, and a new focus and commitment to creating the most stable audio programme on the market.
Clearly, the move to Mac is rather a momentous one for the makers of Sonar. The DAW has a long history of PC-only compatibility and deep, Windows integration, but according to Cakewalk CTO Noel Borthwick, it was "increasing interest in SONAR from the Mac music creation community” that really got the ball rolling.
Public testing on the Mac OS X platform is scheduled to start in Autumn 2016. This limited yet fully functioning free preview version of Sonar will run its own native plug-ins and work with any Core Audio interface. Along with the free download, users will be invited and encouraged to offer feedback on the program.
We got to ask Cakewalk CTO Noel Borthwick a few questions about the upcoming Mac version of Sonar.
How similar will it be to the PC version? Can you open the same projects? Will it come with the same bundle of plug-ins?
"It should work identically to the PC version of SONAR, because both the Mac and PC versions use the same code. This also means 100% project file compatibility. The first free alpha version will include a subset of Cakewalk plug-ins and modules for the ProChannel, our critically acclaimed, per-track proprietary modular channel strip. It resembles an analog console and includes effects like Console Emulation of three vintage consoles, QuadCurve EQ with four modes that simulate classic console strip EQs as well as a fly-out spectrum analyzer, tube distortion, and compression including a “4K” compressor on every bus. Other DAWs let you configure how a mixer looks; SONAR lets you configure the actual mixer architecture."
You say that the impetus for creating this software came from non-Sonar users. In what areas do you feel Sonar outperforms competitors on the Mac platform?
"The user feedback we’ve received in recent years is that SONAR Platinum combines the digital and analog worlds like no other DAW on the market. It’s not just about features like the ProChannel—Cakewalk was also the first company to offer a 64-bit, double-precision audio engine, which virtually eliminates the possibility of rounding errors in super-complex projects, and maintains audio clarity.
"Other areas where SONAR stands out include our streamlined workflow, editing tools, and award-winning Skylight user interface—the term we use for SONAR’s highly customizable layout. It’s comprised of a Browser, Inspector, Track View, Console View and Control Bar; you can “dock” many items, as well as move the modules around to your liking. Using shortcuts to show and hide modules can gain a lot of screen real estate fast, so Skylight really makes sense for those who like to work quickly. Some of our “all-in-one” composers say when they’re asked to do a job shootout, they’re able to deliver multiple options in the time that others deliver just one.
"We have also worked very closely with Celemony to integrate Melodyne seamlessly into SONAR Windows. Thanks to full ARA (Audio Random Access) integration, you can work on Melodyne in SONAR’s Track View in real-time, without having to render or transfer any data. SONAR also works with Melodyne’s new Tempo Detection engine, so you can do techniques like drag a clip that wasn’t recorded to a click to the timeline, and create a matching tempo map automatically. We're working very hard to bring this functionality to SONAR OS X as well.
"There are many other notable features, but another popular one is Mix Recall, which takes snapshots of a mix “scene” and saves the snapshots within the project, so you can select different mixes without having to save/load or export/import. It even lets you export different versions of a song in one go—great for clients. SONAR is also the first program to offer upsampling, which provides the benefits of recording at higher sample rates for plug-ins that don’t oversample internally. This can really help clean up a mix and improve its clarity.
"Those are some of the ways where SONAR outperforms other DAWs, and we are certainly excited to hear the feedback from all the new users in the testing Alpha phase. We’ve worked hard on making SONAR sound great too, and I think that’s where a lot of people who don’t know us will find a big difference."
Sonar has long been known for close integration with Microsoft. Will you be able to achieve the same things without having the same degree of co-operation from the OS manufacturer?
"While we integrate with the OS at a low level for certain operations, this is fairly well abstracted from SONAR so most of the code is OS agnostic. However, keep in mind that we are at an alpha stage so we still have a ways to go before we are fully satisfied with the performance."
In what way is the Alpha version limited?
"Although the first free alpha version will include a subset of Cakewalk plug-ins and ProChannel modules, it will not run third-party plug-ins. Also, SONAR for OS X will work with any Core Audio-compatible audio interface, but you won’t be able to use custom ASIO drivers. A few more “Windows-centric” features such as Media foundation Video support are not supported; support for third party plug-ins and video will be added later."
Other companies have tried to port DAWs to Mac in the past (and some have failed). What challenges have you faced and had to overcome?
"SONAR is a sophisticated, complex DAW with a Windows legacy. While most of the code is OS agnostic, there are pieces that have OS dependencies like video and 64-bit processor support. These are the more difficult areas to bridge."
Can you explain more about the plug-in system? Will it use VST or Audio Units? When will this be implemented?
"AU plug-ins are not supported at this time, so for now the Mac version supports the same plug-in standards that the SONAR Windows supports— VST2, VST3 and DX. Cakewalk plug-ins in these formats are supplied with the Alpha version, and are distributed as part of our installer, so users will be able to experiment with plug-ins in SONAR OS X.
"We’ll be updating our site with more information in the near future and people can go to www.Cakewalk.com to keep up on the latest developments with the new platform." |
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T-Mobile has already made a play for customers with an intriguing marketing stunt perhaps dreamed up during one of its recent drinking games.
Designed to showcase the waterproof capabilities of the Korean company’s new flagship phone, T-Mobile performed an unboxing of the Galaxy S7 underwater.
Product manager “Des” was kind enough to sling on a fetching pink snorkel and matching goggles to do the deed, supplying viewers with an inaudible commentary throughout (subtitles helpfully provided).
Both the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, which also shows up in Des’s unboxing video, come with an IP68 rating, so you can happily submerge the devices in up to a meter of water for 30 minutes without any concern. The Galaxy S5 was also waterproof but the capability was removed from the follow-up S6 handset. Reintroducing the feature is certainly a logical move by Samsung as it seeks to offer improved specs for its high-end phones.
Judging by Des’s pool-based presentation, Samsung’s S7 really does function with great ease in watery surroundings, meaning you can take it in the shower or make a call in a rainstorm without a worry in the world. It’ll also cope with an accidental toilet drop, though you might want to give it a good wash before you make your next call.
So apart from the smartphone itself, what else do you get for your money? Well, at the bottom of the pool, Des pulled from the box a presumably water-damaged SIM card, wall charger, micro-USB charging cable, and earphones. Order either the S7 or S7 Edge before March 18 and you’ll also score yourself a free Gear VR headset and six games.
Pre-order the Galaxy S7 at: Samsung, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon
The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge land at T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, and U.S. Cellular on March 11. Pre-orders start on February 23. Stores such as BestBuy.com, Car Toys, Sam’s Club, Staples, Target, and Walmart also start selling the devices from March 11. |
Fresh off the news that it's acquired the Palm brand, Alcatel has a new Pixi for us. It's not actually the first Pixi from the budget phone maker, but it is pretty unique in its own right: the phone is compatible with three operating systems, being able to run Windows Phone, Android, or Firefox OS. The OS-agnostic Pixi 3 comes in four variants, with a 3.5-inch display 3G model, and three larger versions adding LTE and coming in at 4, 4.5, and 5 inches in size.
The company says the smartphones let owners use the same operating systems at work, at home, and on the move. The "affordable" phones might not rival top tier smartphones in terms of features and power, and the smallest 3.5-inch phone can only use 3G connections, but Alcatel says its users "don't want complicated systems — they want something familiar from their work environment in the office."
The three larger Pixis have LTE and a choice of operating systems
By opening the phones up to three different systems, it might be tricky for Alcatel to ensure a good user experience for every Pixi 3 owner, but the company at least has experience with all three operating systems. Alcatel's previous Pixi phone uses Google's OS, its Fire phone from last year uses Mozilla's, and the company's POP 2 is a Windows Phone with a 64-bit processor. We'll know more about how they work when Alcatel shows the new phones off on the CES 2015 floor.
The Palm trademark was sold in November to a shell company run by Nicolas Zibell, the Alcatel One Touch executive in charge of the American market — a move that indicates that the company may be trying to increase its presence in Western markets. Palm's return was recently teased by a new website, but for now at least, Alcatel's upcoming Pixi 3s don't bear the venerable brand name. |
Stanford’s McCall picked by Indiana in 2nd round of WNBA draft
Stanford forward Erica McCall was picked by the Indiana Fever in the second round of the WNBA draft in New York on Thursday. She was the 17th player chosen and the only one from a Bay Area school.
McCall helped Stanford to two Final Four appearances. She led the Cardinal in scoring (14.4 points per game) and rebounding (9.0) this season.
She was the 25th Stanford player to be drafted into the WNBA and the 11th in the past 11 years. In Indiana, she’ll join ex-Cardinal guard Jeanette Pohlen-Mavunga.
McCall’s sister, DeWanna Bonner, is a two-time WNBA champion with the Phoenix Mercury who has played eight years in the league, though she announced last month she will miss the 2017 season because she is pregnant.
Washington guard Kelsey Plum, the top scorer in the history of women’s college basketball, was the top overall pick, by the San Antonio Stars.
Plum set NCAA women’s records for points in a career with 3,527 and points in a season with 1,109.
Stanford's Erica McCall (24) looks for an opening near the defense of Texas' Brianna Taylor (20) during a regional semifinal in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament in Lexington, Ky., Friday, March 24, 2017. Stanford won 77-66. (AP Photo/James Crisp) less Stanford's Erica McCall (24) looks for an opening near the defense of Texas' Brianna Taylor (20) during a regional semifinal in the NCAA women's college basketball tournament in Lexington, Ky., Friday, March ... more Photo: James Crisp, Associated Press Photo: James Crisp, Associated Press Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Stanford’s McCall picked by Indiana in 2nd round of WNBA draft 1 / 7 Back to Gallery
Two other Pac-12 players were drafted. Oregon State guard Sydney Wiese was taken by Los Angeles in the first round (11th overall), and Washington forward Chantel Osahor went to Chicago in the second (21st overall).
National champion South Carolina, which beat Stanford in the Final Four, had three players picked, all in the top 10.
Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald |
O'Donnell Releases Ad: "I Am Not a Witch... I'm You"
Republicans are hanging their midterm election prospects on voters' frustration with the Democratic Party, but a poll released by National Journal Tuesday indicates people are just as unhappy with Republicans.
Six in 10 Americans polled have a negative view of GOP leadership. Perhaps that's why Republicans have tried to efforts to frame Election Day as a referendum on the Democratic Party, not the GOP.
National Journal editorial director Ron Brownstein discussed the situation with CBS News chief Washington correspondent Bob Schieffer on Tuesday's "Washington Unplugged."
"What is striking, Bob, is that the level of dissatisfaction with Republican leaders in Congress is even higher now in this poll than among Democratic leaders in Congress. Only 24 percent said they approve of how Republican leaders in Congress are handling their job," Brownstein said.
Democratic leaders did only slightly better, with a 30/53 approval/disapproval split -- though it is significant to note that their numbers are unchanged since National Journal's polling in July. Republican disapproval figures have climbed seven points in the same amount of time, and they have the lowest performance rating in the poll's history.
"When you see this level of discontent [overall], historically voters tend to take it out on the party in power," Brownstein said. The unpopularity of Republicans, however, could complicate matters this year.
Despite enduring Tea Party and Republican enthusiasm, Democrats have lately had some reason for optimism, though the landscape still looks difficult.
"Democrats have seen some movement among partisan Democrats," Brownstein said. "In some cases Democratic incumbents are strengthening themselves, but more often they are still facing a turn out gap and an enthusiasm gap and also a lean against them among independents."
New York Times chief political correspondent Jeff Zeleny also joined Schieffer and Brownstein on "Washington Unplugged" to offer his take.
"The races that are on the margins, Democrats are still breathing out there," Zeleny said. "If an incumbent is locked in at 42 percent, say Governor Tom Strickland from Ohio, he is really fighting for his life. It is going to be harder for him to get five points more than his opponent."
National Journal also asked if voters would be more or less likely to support a candidate with an endorsement by President Obama or other leaders like Sarah Palin.
"If Barack Obama endorsed them - less likely - if Sarah Palin endorsed them - less likely - the Tea Party - less likely. There is no institution linked to the political system [that helps]," Brownstein said.
The poll, the Society for Human Resource Management/National Journal Congressional Poll, was conducted with the Pew Research Center and has a four percent margin of error.
Politico's Kiki Ryan was also a guest on Tuesday's "Washington Unplugged." Watch the full show above.
"Washington Unplugged," CBSNews.com's exclusive daily politics Webshow, appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 2 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes. |
Internet users have long known that spam emails - offering everything from cheap medicines and sex aids to get-rich-quick schemes - are an unwanted annoyance, but new research suggests that they are also hugely damaging to the environment.
More than 80% of the world's email traffic is now spam and the transmission and receipt of unwanted email gobbles up 33bn kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, according to anti-virus software specialist McAfee. That is the equivalent of the electricity used by 2.1m US homes.
The report follows research published yesterday by rival online security firm Symantec showing that cyber criminals are now trading stolen credit card details for as little as 4p, while a person's full identity can change hands between gangs for 50p.
Symantec's Internet Security Threat Report recorded a 192% increase in spam detected across the internet, from 119.6bn messages in 2007 to 349.6bn in 2008, with 90% of those messages generated by "bot networks".
Bot networks are collections of computers that have been hijacked - often without their owners realising - by malicious software found on websites or within spam. They can then be controlled by gangs to relay spam messages. Many internet security analysts fear that the Conficker internet worm, which has infected millions of PCs worldwide, could ultimately be intended to create a massive bot network.
McAfee estimates 62tn spam messages were sent globally last year. The greenhouse gases involved in providing enough electricity to generate, send and then delete this unwanted traffic was the same as the emissions from 3.1m cars, according to McAfee's Carbon Footprint of Spam report, published today.
"As the world faces the growing problem of climate change, this study highlights that spam has an immense financial, personal and environmental impact," said Jeff Green, a senior vice-president at McAfee. |
"Houdini" redirects here. For other uses, see Houdini (disambiguation)
"Erich Weiss" redirects here. For the baseball player, see Erich Weiss (baseball)
Harry Houdini (; born Erik Weisz, later Ehrich Weiss or Harry Weiss; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-born American illusionist and stunt performer, noted for his sensational escape acts. He first attracted notice in vaudeville in the US and then as "Harry Handcuff Houdini" on a tour of Europe, where he challenged police forces to keep him locked up. Soon he extended his repertoire to include chains, ropes slung from skyscrapers, straitjackets under water, and having to escape from and hold his breath inside a sealed milk can with water in it.
In 1904, thousands watched as he tried to escape from special handcuffs commissioned by London's Daily Mirror, keeping them in suspense for an hour. Another stunt saw him buried alive and only just able to claw himself to the surface, emerging in a state of near-breakdown. While many suspected that these escapes were faked, Houdini presented himself as the scourge of fake spiritualists. As President of the Society of American Magicians, he was keen to uphold professional standards and expose fraudulent artists. He was also quick to sue anyone who imitated his escape stunts.
Houdini made several movies, but quit acting when it failed to bring in money. He was also a keen aviator, and aimed to become the first man to fly a plane in Australia.
Early life
Erik Weisz was born in Budapest to a Jewish family.[3] His parents were Rabbi Mayer Sámuel Weisz (1829–1892) and Cecília Steiner (1841–1913). Houdini was one of seven children: Herman M. (1863–1885) who was Houdini's half-brother, by Rabbi Weisz's first marriage; Nathan J. (1870–1927); Gottfried William (1872–1925); Theodore (1876–1945);[4] Leopold D. (1879–1962); and Carrie Gladys (1882–1959),[5] who was left almost blind after a childhood accident.[6]
Weisz arrived in the United States on July 3, 1878, on the SS Fresia with his mother (who was pregnant) and his four brothers.[7] The family changed their name to the German spelling Weiss, and Erik became Ehrich. The family lived in Appleton, Wisconsin, where his father served as Rabbi of the Zion Reform Jewish Congregation.
According to the 1880 census, the family lived on Appleton Street.[8] On June 6, 1882, Rabbi Weiss became an American citizen. Losing his job at Zion in 1882, Rabbi Weiss and family moved to Milwaukee and fell into dire poverty.[9] In 1887, Rabbi Weiss moved with Ehrich to New York City, where they lived in a boarding house on East 79th Street. He was joined by the rest of the family once Rabbi Weiss found permanent housing. As a child, Ehrich Weiss took several jobs, making his public début as a 9-year-old trapeze artist, calling himself "Ehrich, the Prince of the Air". He was also a champion cross country runner in his youth. When Weiss became a professional magician he began calling himself "Harry Houdini", after the French magician Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, after reading Robert-Houdin's autobiography in 1890. Weiss incorrectly believed that an i at the end of a name meant "like" in French. In later life, Houdini claimed that the first part of his new name, Harry, was an homage to Harry Kellar, whom he also admired, though it was more likely adapted from "Ehri," a nickname for "Ehrich," which is how he was known to his family.[10] When he was a teenager, Houdini was coached by the magician Joseph Rinn at the Pastime Athletic Club.[11]
Houdini became an active Freemason and was a member of St. Cecile Lodge #568 in New York City.[12] In 1918, he registered for selective service as Harry Handcuff Houdini.[13]
Magic career
Houdini, c. 1900
Houdini began his magic career in 1891, but had little success.[14] He appeared in a tent act with strongman Emil Jarrow.[15] He performed in dime museums and sideshows, and even doubled as "The Wild Man" at a circus. Houdini focused initially on traditional card tricks. At one point, he billed himself as the "King of Cards".[16] Some - but not all - professional magicians would come to regard Houdini as a competent but not particularly skilled sleight-of-hand artist, lacking the grace and finesse required to achieve excellence in that craft.[17][18] He soon began experimenting with escape acts.
In 1893, while performing with his brother "Dash" (Theodore) at Coney Island as "The Brothers Houdini", Houdini met a fellow performer, Wilhelmina Beatrice "Bess" Rahner. Bess was initially courted by Dash, but she and Houdini married in 1894, with Bess replacing Dash in the act, which became known as "The Houdinis". For the rest of Houdini's performing career, Bess worked as his stage assistant.
Houdini's big break came in 1899 when he met manager Martin Beck in St. Paul, Minnesota. Impressed by Houdini's handcuffs act, Beck advised him to concentrate on escape acts and booked him on the Orpheum vaudeville circuit. Within months, he was performing at the top vaudeville houses in the country. In 1900, Beck arranged for Houdini to tour Europe. After some days of unsuccessful interviews in London, Houdini's British agent Harry Day helped him to get an interview with C. Dundas Slater, then manager of the Alhambra Theatre. He was introduced to William Melville and gave a demonstration of escape from handcuffs at Scotland Yard.[19] He succeeded in baffling the police so effectively that he was booked at the Alhambra for six months. His show was an immediate hit and his salary rose to $300 a week.[20]
c. 1907 "My Two Sweethearts"—Houdini with his mother and wife,1907
Houdini became widely known as "The Handcuff King." He toured England, Scotland, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Russia. In each city, Houdini challenged local police to restrain him with shackles and lock him in their jails. In many of these challenge escapes, he was first stripped nude and searched. In Moscow, he escaped from a Siberian prison transport van, claiming that, had he been unable to free himself, he would have had to travel to Siberia, where the only key was kept. In Cologne, he sued a police officer, Werner Graff, who alleged that he made his escapes via bribery.[21] Houdini won the case when he opened the judge's safe (he later said the judge had forgotten to lock it). With his new-found wealth, Houdini purchased a dress said to have been made for Queen Victoria. He then arranged a grand reception where he presented his mother in the dress to all their relatives. Houdini said it was the happiest day of his life. In 1904, Houdini returned to the U.S. and purchased a house for $25,000 (equivalent to $697,130 in 2018), a brownstone at 278 W. 113th Street in Harlem, New York City.[22]
Whilst on tour in Europe in 1902, Houdini visited Blois with the aim of meeting the widow of Emile Houdin, the son of Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin, for an interview and permission to visit his grave. He did not receive permission but still visited the grave.[23] Houdini believed that he had been treated unfairly and later wrote a negative account of the incident in his magazine, claiming he was "treated most discourteously by Madame W. Emile Robert-Houdin."[23] In 1906, he sent a letter to the French magazine L'Illusionniste stating: "You will certainly enjoy the article on Robert Houdin I am about to publish in my magazine. Yes, my dear friend, I think I can finally demolish your idol, who has so long been placed on a pedestal that he did not deserve."[24]
In 1906, Houdini created his own publication, the Conjurers' Monthly Magazine.[25] It was a competitor to The Sphinx, but was short-lived and only two volumes were released until August 1908. Magic historian Jim Steinmeyer has noted that: "Houdini couldn't resist using the journal for his own crusades, attacking his rivals, praising his own appearances, and subtly rewriting history to favor his view of magic."[26]
From 1907 and throughout the 1910s, Houdini performed with great success in the United States. He freed himself from jails, handcuffs, chains, ropes, and straitjackets, often while hanging from a rope in sight of street audiences. Because of imitators, Houdini put his "handcuff act" behind him on January 25, 1908, and began escaping from a locked, water-filled milk can. The possibility of failure and death thrilled his audiences. Houdini also expanded his repertoire with his escape challenge act, in which he invited the public to devise contraptions to hold him. These included nailed packing crates (sometimes lowered into water), riveted boilers, wet sheets, mail bags,[27] and even the belly of a whale that had washed ashore in Boston. Brewers in Scranton, Pennsylvania and other cities challenged Houdini to escape from a barrel after they filled it with beer.[28]
Many of these challenges were arranged with local merchants in one of the first uses of mass tie-in marketing. Rather than promote the idea that he was assisted by spirits, as did the Davenport Brothers and others, Houdini's advertisements showed him making his escapes via dematerializing, although Houdini himself never claimed to have supernatural powers.[29]
After much research, Houdini wrote a collection of articles on the history of magic, which were expanded into The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin published in 1908. In this book he attacked his former idol Robert-Houdin as liar and a fraud for having claimed the invention of automata and effects such as aerial suspension, which had been in existence for many years.[30][31] Many of the allegations in the book were dismissed by magicians and researchers who defended Robert-Houdin. Magician Jean Hugard would later write a full rebuttal to Houdini's book.[32][33][34]
Poster promoting Houdini taking up the challenge of escaping an "extra strong and large traveling basket"
In 1913, Houdini introduced the Chinese Water Torture Cell, in which he was suspended upside-down in a locked glass-and-steel cabinet full to overflowing with water, holding his breath for more than three minutes. He would go on performing this escape for the rest of his life.
During his career, Houdini explained some of his tricks in books written for the magic brotherhood. In Handcuff Secrets (1909), he revealed how many locks and handcuffs could be opened with properly applied force, others with shoestrings. Other times, he carried concealed lockpicks or keys. When tied down in ropes or straitjackets, he gained wiggle room by enlarging his shoulders and chest, moving his arms slightly away from his body.[29]
Houdini and Jennie, the Vanishing Elephant, January 7, 1918
Houdini in handcuffs, 1918
His straitjacket escape was originally performed behind curtains, with him popping out free at the end. Houdini's brother, (who was also an escape artist, billing himself as Theodore Hardeen), discovered that audiences were more impressed when the curtains were eliminated so they could watch him struggle to get out. On more than one occasion, they both performed straitjacket escapes while dangling upside-down from the roof of a building in the same city.[29]
For most of his career, Houdini was a headline act in vaudeville. For many years, he was the highest-paid performer in American vaudeville. One of Houdini's most notable non-escape stage illusions was performed at the New York Hippodrome, when he vanished a full-grown elephant from the stage.[35] He had purchased this trick from the magician Charles Morritt.[36][37][38] In 1923, Houdini became president of Martinka & Co., America's oldest magic company. The business is still in operation today.
He also served as President of the Society of American Magicians ( a.k.a. S.A.M.) from 1917 until his death in 1926. Founded on May 10, 1902, in the back room of Martinka's magic shop in New York, the Society expanded under the leadership of Harry Houdini during his term as National President from 1917 to 1926. Houdini was magic's greatest visionary. He sought to create a large, unified national network of professional and amateur magicians. Wherever he traveled, he gave a lengthy formal address to the local magic club, made speeches, and usually threw a banquet for the members at his own expense. He said "The Magicians Clubs as a rule are small: they are weak ... but if we were amalgamated into one big body the society would be stronger, and it would mean making the small clubs powerful and worthwhile. Members would find a welcome wherever they happened to be and, conversely, the safeguard of a city-to-city hotline to track exposers and other undesirables."
For most of 1916, while on his vaudeville tour, Houdini had been recruiting—at his own expense—local magic clubs to join the S.A.M. in an effort to revitalize what he felt was a weak organization. Houdini persuaded groups in Buffalo, Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City to join. As had happened in London, he persuaded magicians to join. The Buffalo club joined as the first branch, (later assembly) of the Society. Chicago Assembly No. 3 was, as the name implies, the third regional club to be established by the S.A.M., whose assemblies now number in the hundreds. In 1917, he signed Assembly Number Three's charter into existence, and that charter and this club continue to provide Chicago magicians with a connection to each other and to their past. Houdini dined with, addressed, and got pledges from similar clubs in Detroit, Rochester, Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Cincinnati and elsewhere. This was the biggest movement ever in the history of magic. In places where no clubs existed, he rounded up individual magicians, introduced them to each other, and urged them into the fold.
By the end of 1916, magicians' clubs in San Francisco and other cities that Houdini had not visited were offering to become assemblies. He had created the richest and longest-surviving organization of magicians in the world. It now embraces almost 6,000 dues-paying members and almost 300 assemblies worldwide. In July 1926, Houdini was elected for the ninth successive time President of the Society of American Magicians. Every other president has only served for one year. He also was President of the Magicians' Club of London.[39]
In the final years of his life (1925/26), Houdini launched his own full-evening show, which he billed as "Three Shows in One: Magic, Escapes, and Fraud Mediums Exposed".[40]
Notable escapes
Mirror challenge
"Handcuff" Harry Houdini, c. 1905
In 1904, the London Daily Mirror newspaper challenged Houdini to escape from special handcuffs that it claimed had taken Nathaniel Hart, a locksmith from Birmingham, five years to make. Houdini accepted the challenge for March 17 during a matinée performance at London's Hippodrome theater. It was reported that 4000 people and more than 100 journalists turned out for the much-hyped event. The escape attempt dragged on for over an hour, during which Houdini emerged from his "ghost house" (a small screen used to conceal the method of his escape) several times. On one occasion he asked if the cuffs could be removed so he could take off his coat. The Mirror representative, Frank Parker, refused, saying Houdini could gain an advantage if he saw how the cuffs were unlocked. Houdini promptly took out a pen-knife and, holding the knife in his teeth, used it to cut his coat from his body. Some 56 minutes later, Houdini's wife appeared on stage and gave him a kiss. Many thought that in her mouth was the key to unlock the special handcuffs. However, it has since been suggested that Bess did not in fact enter the stage at all, and that this theory is unlikely due to the size of the 6-inch key[41] Houdini then went back behind the curtain. After an hour and ten minutes, Houdini emerged free. As he was paraded on the shoulders of the cheering crowd, he broke down and wept. Houdini later said it was the most difficult escape of his career.[42]
After Houdini's death, his friend Martin Beck was quoted in Will Goldston's book, Sensational Tales of Mystery Men, as admitting that Houdini was bested that day and had appealed to his wife, Bess, for help. Goldston goes on to claim that Bess begged the key from the Mirror representative, then slipped it to Houdini in a glass of water. It was stated in the book The Secret Life of Houdini that the key required to open the specially designed Mirror handcuffs was 6 inches long, and could not have been smuggled to Houdini in a glass of water. Goldston offered no proof of his account, and many modern biographers have found evidence (notably in the custom design of the handcuffs) that the Mirror challenge may have been arranged by Houdini and that his long struggle to escape was pure showmanship.[43]
This escape was discussed in depth on the Travel Channel's Mysteries at the Museum in an interview with Houdini expert, magician and escape artist Dorothy Dietrich of Scranton's Houdini Museum.[44]
A full-sized design of the same Mirror Handcuffs, as well as a replica of the Bramah style key for it, is on display to the public at The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania.[45][46] This set of cuffs is believed to be one of only six in the world, some of which are not on display.[47]
Milk Can Escape
In 1908, Houdini introduced his own original act, the Milk Can Escape.[48] In this act, Houdini was handcuffed and sealed inside an oversized milk can filled with water and made his escape behind a curtain. As part of the effect, Houdini invited members of the audience to hold their breath along with him while he was inside the can. Advertised with dramatic posters that proclaimed "Failure Means A Drowning Death", the escape proved to be a sensation.[49] Houdini soon modified the escape to include the milk can being locked inside a wooden chest, being chained or padlocked. Houdini performed the milk can escape as a regular part of his act for only four years, but it has remained one of the acts most associated with him. Houdini's brother, Theodore Hardeen, continued to perform the milk can escape and its wooden chest variant[50] into the 1940s.
The American Museum of Magic has the milk can and overboard box used by Houdini.
Chinese water torture cell
Houdini performing the Chinese Water Torture Cell
Around 1912, the vast number of imitators prompted Houdini to replace his milk can act with the Chinese water torture cell. In this escape, Houdini's feet were locked in stocks, and he was lowered upside down into a tank filled with water. The mahogany and metal cell featured a glass front, through which audiences could clearly see Houdini. The stocks were locked to the top of the cell, and a curtain concealed his escape. In the earliest version of the torture cell, a metal cage was lowered into the cell, and Houdini was enclosed inside that. While making the escape more difficult – the cage prevented Houdini from turning – the cage bars also offered protection should the front glass break. The original cell was built in England, where Houdini first performed the escape for an audience of one person as part of a one-act play he called "Houdini Upside Down". This was so he could copyright the effect and have grounds to sue imitators, which he did. While the escape was advertised as "The Chinese Water Torture Cell" or "The Water Torture Cell", Houdini always referred to it as "the Upside Down" or "USD". The first public performance of the USD was at the Circus Busch in Berlin, on September 21, 1912. Houdini continued to perform the escape until his death in 1926.[29]
Suspended straitjacket escape
One of Houdini's most popular publicity stunts was to have himself strapped into a regulation straitjacket and suspended by his ankles from a tall building or crane. Houdini would then make his escape in full view of the assembled crowd. In many cases, Houdini drew tens of thousands of onlookers who brought city traffic to a halt. Houdini would sometimes ensure press coverage by performing the escape from the office building of a local newspaper. In New York City, Houdini performed the suspended straitjacket escape from a crane being used to build the subway. After flinging his body in the air, he escaped from the straitjacket. Starting from when he was hoisted up in the air by the crane, to when the straitjacket was completely off, it took him two minutes and thirty-seven seconds. There is film footage in the Library of Congress of Houdini performing the escape.[52] Films of his escapes are also shown at The Houdini Museum in Scranton, PA. After being battered against a building in high winds during one escape, Houdini performed the escape with a visible safety wire on his ankle so that he could be pulled away from the building if necessary. The idea for the upside-down escape was given to Houdini by a young boy named Randolph Osborne Douglas (March 31, 1895 – December 5, 1956), when the two met at a performance at Sheffield's Empire Theatre.[29]
Overboard box escape
Houdini prepares to do the overboard box escape c. 1912
Another of Houdini's most famous publicity stunts was to escape from a nailed and roped packing crate after it had been lowered into water. He first performed the escape in New York's East River on July 7, 1912. Police forbade him from using one of the piers, so he hired a tugboat and invited press on board. Houdini was locked in handcuffs and leg-irons, then nailed into the crate which was roped and weighed down with two hundred pounds of lead. The crate was then lowered into the water. He escaped in 57 seconds. The crate was pulled to the surface and found still to be intact, with the manacles inside.
Houdini performed this escape many times, and even performed a version on stage, first at Hamerstein's Roof Garden where a 5,500-US-gallon (21,000 l) tank was specially built, and later at the New York Hippodrome.[53]
Buried alive stunt
Houdini performed at least three variations on a buried alive stunt during his career. The first was near Santa Ana, California in 1915, and it almost cost Houdini his life. Houdini was buried, without a casket, in a pit of earth six feet deep. He became exhausted and panicked while trying to dig his way to the surface and called for help. When his hand finally broke the surface, he fell unconscious and had to be pulled from the grave by his assistants. Houdini wrote in his diary that the escape was "very dangerous" and that "the weight of the earth is killing."[54][55]
Houdini's second variation on buried alive was an endurance test designed to expose mystical Egyptian performer Rahman Bey, who had claimed to use supernatural powers to remain in a sealed casket for an hour. Houdini bettered Bey on August 5, 1926, by remaining in a sealed casket, or coffin, submerged in the swimming pool of New York's Hotel Shelton for one and a half hours. Houdini claimed he did not use any trickery or supernatural powers to accomplish this feat, just controlled breathing.[56] He repeated the feat at the YMCA in Worcester, Massachusetts on September 28, 1926, this time remaining sealed for one hour and eleven minutes.[57]
Houdini's final buried alive was an elaborate stage escape that featured in his full evening show. Houdini would escape after being strapped in a straitjacket, sealed in a casket, and then buried in a large tank filled with sand. While posters advertising the escape exist (playing off the Bey challenge by boasting "Egyptian Fakirs Outdone!"), it is unclear whether Houdini ever performed buried alive on stage. The stunt was to be the feature escape of his 1927 season, but Houdini died on October 31, 1926. The bronze casket Houdini created for buried alive was used to transport Houdini's body from Detroit to New York following his death on Halloween.[58]
Movie career
The Houdini Serial, 1919 movie poster The Grim Game, 1919 movie poster
The Master Mystery (1919). Running time: 09:39. Episode of a serial in fifteen episodes with magician and escape artist Houdini in the lead Silent movie(1919). Running time: 09:39. Episode of a serial in fifteen episodes with magician and escape artist Houdini in the lead
In 1906, Houdini started showing films of his outside escapes as part of his vaudeville act. In Boston, he presented a short film called Houdini Defeats Hackenschmidt. Georg Hackenschmidt was a famous wrestler of the day, but the nature of their contest is unknown as the film is lost.[59] In 1909, Houdini made a film in Paris for Cinema Lux titled Merveilleux Exploits du Célébre Houdini à Paris (Marvellous Exploits of the Famous Houdini in Paris).[60] It featured a loose narrative designed to showcase several of Houdini's famous escapes, including his straitjacket and underwater handcuff escapes. That same year Houdini got an offer to star as Captain Nemo in a silent version of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, but the project never made it into production.[61] It is often erroneously reported that Houdini served as special-effects consultant on the Wharton/International cliffhanger serial, The Mysteries of Myra, shot in Ithaca, New York, because Harry Grossman, director of The Master Mystery also filmed a serial in Ithaca at about the same time. The consultants on the serial were pioneering Hereward Carrington and Aleister Crowley.[62]
In 1918, Houdini signed a contract with film producer B. A. Rolfe to star in a 15-part serial, The Master Mystery (released in November 1918). As was common at the time, the film serial was released simultaneously with a novel. Financial difficulties resulted in B. A. Rolfe Productions going out of business, but The Master Mystery led to Houdini being signed by Famous Players-Lasky Corporation/Paramount Pictures, for whom he made two pictures, The Grim Game (1919) and Terror Island (1920).[63]
The Grim Game was Houdini's first full-length movie and is reputed to be his best. Because of the flammable nature of nitrate film and the inherent chemical instability of the acetate "safety" film that supplanted it, only 10 percent of old silent movies exist. Film historians considered the film lost. One copy did exist hidden in the collection of a private collector only known to a tiny group of magicians that saw it. Dick Brookz and Dorothy Dietrich of The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania had seen it twice on the invitation of the collector. After many years of trying, they finally got him to agree to sell the film to Turner Classic Movies[64] who restored the complete 71-minute film. The film, not seen by the general public for 96 years was shown by TCM on March 29, 2015, as a highlight of their yearly 4-day festival in Hollywood.[65]
While filming an aerial stunt for The Grim Game, two biplanes collided in mid-air with a stuntman doubling Houdini dangling by a rope from one of the planes. Publicity was geared heavily toward promoting this dramatic "caught on film" moment, claiming it was Houdini himself dangling from the plane. While filming these movies in Los Angeles, Houdini rented a home in Laurel Canyon. Following his two-picture stint in Hollywood, Houdini returned to New York and started his own film production company called the "Houdini Picture Corporation". He produced and starred in two films, The Man from Beyond (1921) and Haldane of the Secret Service (1923). He also founded his own film laboratory business called The Film Development Corporation (FDC), gambling on a new process for developing motion picture film. Houdini's brother, Theodore Hardeen, left his own career as a magician and escape artist to run the company. Magician Harry Kellar was a major investor.[66]
Neither Houdini's acting career nor FDC found success, and he gave up on the movie business in 1923, complaining that "the profits are too meager".
In April 2008, Kino International released a DVD box set of Houdini's surviving silent films, including The Master Mystery, Terror Island, The Man From Beyond, Haldane of the Secret Service, and five minutes from The Grim Game. The set also includes newsreel footage of Houdini's escapes from 1907 to 1923, and a section from Merveilleux Exploits du Célébre Houdini à Paris, although it is not identified as such.[67]
Aviator
In 1909, Houdini became fascinated with aviation. He purchased a French Voisin biplane for $5,000 and hired a full-time mechanic, Antonio Brassac. After crashing once, he made his first successful flight on November 26 in Hamburg, Germany. The following year, Houdini toured Australia. He brought along his Voisin biplane with the intention to be the first person in Australia to fly.
Falsely reported as pioneer
On March 18, 1910, he made three flights at Diggers Rest, Victoria, near Melbourne. It was reported at the time that this was the first aerial flight in Australia,[68][69][70] and a century later, some major news outlets still credit him with this feat.[71][72]
Wing Commander Harry Cobby wrote in Aircraft in March 1938 that "the first aeroplane flight in the Southern Hemisphere was made on December 9, 1909 by Mr Colin Defries, a Londoner, at Victoria Park Racecourse, Sydney, in a Wilbur Wright aeroplane".[73] Colin Defries was a trained pilot, having learnt to fly in Cannes, France. By modern standards his flight time was minimal, but in 1909 he had accumulated enough to become an instructor. On his first flight he took off, maintained straight and level flight, albeit briefly, and landed safely. His crash landing on his second flight, when he tried to retrieve his hat which was blown off, demonstrated what a momentary lack of attention could cause while flying a Wright Model A.
It is accepted by Australian historians[74] and the Aviation Historical Society of Australia that the definition of flight established by the Gorell Committee on behalf of the Aero Club of Great Britain dictates the acceptance of a flight or its rejection, giving Colin Defries credit as the first to make an aeroplane flight in Australia, and the Southern Hemisphere.
Additionally, aviation pioneer Richard Pearse is believed by many New Zealand historians to have undertaken his first flight as early as 1902, which would give him not only the Southern Hemisphere but the World record, although this is disputed.[75]
In 1965, aviation journalist Stanley Brogden formed the view that the first powered flight in Australia took place at Bolivar in South Australia; the aircraft was a Bleriot monoplane with Fred Custance as the pilot. The flight took place on March 17, 1910. The next day when Houdini took to the air, the Herald newspaper reported Custance's flight, stating it had lasted 5 minutes 25 seconds at a height of between 12 and 15 feet.[69]
In 2010, Australia Post issued stamps commemorating Colin Defries, Houdini and John Robertson Duigan, crediting only Defries and Duigan with historical firsts.[76] Duigan was an Australian pioneer aviator who built and flew the first Australian-made aircraft. Australia Post did acknowledge the part Houdini played (Harry Houdini can't escape being part of Australia's history) but did not attribute any record to him.
After Australia
After completing his Australia tour, Houdini put the Voisin into storage in England. He announced he would use it to fly from city to city during his next Music Hall tour, and even promised to leap from it handcuffed, but he never flew again.[77]
Debunking spiritualists
[78] Houdini demonstrates how a photographer could produce fraudulent "spirit photographs" that documented the apparition and social interaction of the dead
In the 1920s, Houdini turned his energies toward debunking psychics and mediums, a pursuit that inspired and was followed by latter-day stage magicians.[79]
Houdini's training in magic allowed him to expose frauds who had successfully fooled many scientists and academics. He was a member of a Scientific American committee that offered a cash prize to any medium who could successfully demonstrate supernatural abilities. None was able to do so, and the prize was never collected. The first to be tested was medium George Valiantine of Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania. As his fame as a "ghostbuster" grew, Houdini took to attending séances in disguise, accompanied by a reporter and police officer. Possibly the most famous medium whom he debunked was Mina Crandon, also known as "Margery".[80]
Joaquín Argamasilla known as the "Spaniard with X-ray Eyes" claimed to be able to read handwriting or numbers on dice through closed metal boxes. In 1924, he was exposed by Houdini as a fraud. Argamasilla peeked through his simple blindfold and lifted up the edge of the box so he could look inside it without others noticing.[81] Houdini also investigated the Italian medium Nino Pecoraro, whom he considered to be fraudulent.[82]
Houdini's exposing of phony mediums has inspired other magicians to follow suit, including The Amazing Randi, Dorothy Dietrich, Penn & Teller, and Dick Brookz.[83]
Houdini chronicled his debunking exploits in his book, A Magician Among the Spirits, co-authored with C. M. Eddy, Jr., who was not credited. These activities cost Houdini the friendship of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Doyle, a firm believer in spiritualism during his later years, refused to believe any of Houdini's exposés. Doyle came to believe that Houdini was a powerful spiritualist medium, and had performed many of his stunts by means of paranormal abilities and was using these abilities to block those of other mediums that he was "debunking".[84] This disagreement led to the two men becoming public antagonists, and Sir Arthur came to view Houdini as a dangerous enemy.[29]
Before Houdini died, he and his wife agreed that if Houdini found it possible to communicate after death, he would communicate the message "Rosabelle believe", a secret code which they agreed to use. Rosabelle was their favorite song. Bess held yearly séances on Halloween for ten years after Houdini's death. She did claim to have contact through Arthur Ford in 1929 when Ford conveyed the secret code, but Bess later said the incident had been faked. The code seems to have been such that it could be broken by Ford or his associates using existing clues.[29] Evidence to this effect was discovered by Ford's biographer after he died in 1971.[85] In 1936, after a last unsuccessful séance on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel, she put out the candle that she had kept burning beside a photograph of Houdini since his death. In 1943, Bess said that "ten years is long enough to wait for any man."
The tradition of holding a séance for Houdini continues, held by magicians throughout the world. The Official Houdini Séance was organized in the 1940s[86] by Sidney Hollis Radner, a Houdini aficionado from Holyoke, Massachusetts.[87] Yearly Houdini séances are also conducted in Chicago at the Excalibur nightclub by "necromancer" Neil Tobin on behalf of the Chicago Assembly of the Society of American Magicians;[88] and at the Houdini Museum in Scranton by magician Dorothy Dietrich, who previously held them at New York's Magic Towne House with such magical notables as Houdini biographers Walter B. Gibson and Milbourne Christopher. Gibson was asked by Bess Houdini to carry on the original seance tradition. After doing them for many years at New York's Magic Towne House, before he died, Walter passed on the tradition of conducting of the Original Seances to Dorothy Dietrich.[83]
In 1926, Harry Houdini hired H. P. Lovecraft and his friend C. M. Eddy, Jr., to write an entire book about debunking religious miracles, which was to be called The Cancer of Superstition. Houdini had earlier asked Lovecraft to write an article about astrology, for which he paid $75. The article does not survive. Lovecraft's detailed synopsis for Cancer does survive, as do three chapters of the treatise written by Eddy. Houdini's death derailed the plans, as his widow did not wish to pursue the project.[89]
Appearance and voice recordings
Unlike the image of the classic magician, Houdini was short and stocky and typically appeared on stage in a long frock coat and tie. Most biographers give his height as 5 ft 5 in, but descriptions vary. Houdini was also said to be slightly bow-legged, which aided in his ability to gain slack during his rope escapes. In the 1997 biography Houdini!!!: The Career of Ehrich Weiss, author Kenneth Silverman summarizes how reporters described Houdini's appearance during his early career:
They stressed his smallness—"somewhat undersized"—and angular, vivid features: "He is smooth-shaven with a keen, sharp-chinned, sharp-cheekboned face, bright blue eyes and thick, curly, black hair." Some sensed how much his complexly expressive smile was the outlet of his charismatic stage presence. It communicated to audiences at once warm amiability, pleasure in performing, and, more subtly, imperious self-assurance. Several reporters tried to capture the charming effect, describing him as "happy-looking", "pleasant-faced", "good natured at all times", "the young Hungarian magician with the pleasant smile and easy confidence".[90]
Harry Houdini's voice Recording of Harry Houdini's voice made on October 29, 1914 Problems playing this file? See media help.
Houdini made the only known recordings of his voice on Edison wax cylinders on October 29, 1914, in Flatbush, New York. On them, Houdini practices several different introductory speeches for his famous Chinese water torture cell. He also invites his sister, Gladys, to recite a poem. Houdini then recites the same poem in German. The six wax cylinders were discovered in the collection of magician John Mulholland after his death in 1970. They are part of the David Copperfield collection.[91]
Death
Houdini and his wife Bess
Harry Houdini died of peritonitis, secondary to a ruptured appendix, at 1:26 p.m. on October 31, 1926, in Room 401 at Detroit's Grace Hospital, aged 52. In his final days, he believed that he would recover, but his last words before dying were reportedly, "I'm tired of fighting."[29]
Witnesses to an incident at Houdini's dressing room in the Princess Theatre in Montreal speculated that Houdini's death was caused by a McGill University student, Jocelyn Gordon Whitehead (b. 1895 – d. 1954), who repeatedly struck Houdini's abdomen.[92]
The accounts of the witnesses, students named Jacques Price and Sam Smilovitz (sometimes called Jack Price and Sam Smiley), generally corroborated one another. Price said that Whitehead asked Houdini "if he believed in the miracles of the Bible" and "whether it was true that punches in the stomach did not hurt him". He then delivered "some very hammer-like blows below the belt". Houdini was reclining on a couch at the time, having broken his ankle while performing several days earlier. Price said that Houdini winced at each blow and stopped Whitehead suddenly in the midst of a punch, gesturing that he had had enough, and adding that he had had no opportunity to prepare himself against the blows, as he did not expect Whitehead to strike him so suddenly and forcefully. Had his ankle not been broken, he would have risen from the couch into a better position to brace himself.[92][93]
Throughout the evening, Houdini performed in great pain. He was unable to sleep and remained in constant pain for the next two days, but did not seek medical help. When he finally saw a doctor, he was found to have a fever of 102 °F (39 °C) and acute appendicitis, and was advised to have immediate surgery. He ignored the advice and decided to go on with the show.[94][95] When Houdini arrived at the Garrick Theater in Detroit, Michigan, on October 24, 1926, for what would be his last performance, he had a fever of 104 °F (40 °C). Despite the diagnosis, Houdini took the stage. He was reported to have passed out during the show, but was revived and continued. Afterwards, he was hospitalized at Detroit's Grace Hospital.[92]
It is unclear whether the dressing room incident caused Houdini's eventual death, as the relationship between blunt trauma and appendicitis is uncertain.[92] One theory suggests that Houdini was unaware that he was suffering from appendicitis, and might have been aware had he not received blows to the abdomen.[92]
After taking statements from Price and Smilovitz, Houdini's insurance company concluded that the death was due to the dressing-room incident and paid double indemnity.[94]
Houdini grave site
Houdini's funeral was held on November 4, 1926, in New York City, with more than 2,000 mourners in attendance.[96] He was interred in the Machpelah Cemetery in Glendale, Queens, with the crest of the Society of American Magicians inscribed on his grave site. A statuary bust was added to the exedra in 1927, a rarity, because graven images are forbidden in Jewish cemeteries. In 1975, the bust was destroyed by vandals. Temporary busts were placed at the grave until 2011 when a group who came to be called The Houdini Commandos from the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania placed a permanent bust with the permission of Houdini's family and of the cemetery.[97] The Society of American Magicians took responsibility for the upkeep of the site, as Houdini had willed a large sum of money to the organization he had grown from one club to 5,000-6,000 dues-paying membership worldwide. The payment of upkeep was abandoned by the society's dean George Schindler, who said "Houdini paid for perpetual care, but there's nobody at the cemetery to provide it", adding that the operator of the cemetery, David Jacobson, "sends us a bill for upkeep every year but we never pay it because he never provides any care." Members of the Society tidy the grave themselves.[98]
Machpelah Cemetery operator Jacobson said, they "never paid the cemetery for any restoration of the Houdini family plot in my tenure since 1988", claiming that the money came from the cemetery's dwindling funds. The granite monuments of Houdini's sister, Gladys, and brother, Leopold were also destroyed by vandals.[99] For many years, until recently, The Houdini grave site has been only cared for by Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz of the Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania.[100] The Society of American Magicians, at its National Council Meeting in Boca Raton, Florida, in 2013, under the prompting of The Houdini Museum's Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz, voted to assume the financial responsibilities for the care and maintenance of the Houdini Gravesite. In MUM Magazine, the Society's official magazine, President Dal Sanders announced "Harry Houdini is an icon as revered as Elvis Presley or Marilyn Monroe. He is not only a magical icon; his gravesite bears the seal of The Society of American Magicians. That seal is our brand and we should be proud to protect it. This gravesite is clearly our responsibility and I'm proud to report that the National Council unanimously voted to maintain Houdini's final resting place."[101]
The Houdini Gravesite Restoration Committee under the Chairmanship of National President David Bowers, is working closely with National President Kenrick "Ice" McDonald to see this project to completion. Bowers said it is a foregone conclusion that the Society will approve the funding request, because "Houdini is responsible for the Society of American Magicians being what it is today. We owe a debt of gratitude to him." Like Bowers, McDonald said the motivation behind the repairs is to properly honor the grave of the "Babe Ruth of magicians". "This is hallowed ground," he said. "When you ask people about magicians, the first thing they say is Harry Houdini." While the actual plot will remain under the control of Machpelah Cemetery management, the Society of American Magicians, with the help of the Houdini Museum in Pennsylvania, will be in charge of the restoration.[102]
Magicians Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz have been caring for the escape artist's Queens grave over the years. "This is a monument where people go and visit on a daily basis," said Dietrich who is spearheading restoration efforts. "The nearly 80-year-old popular plot at the Machpelah Cemetery has fallen into disrepair over the years." "The Houdini Museum has teamed with The Society of American Magicians, one of the oldest fraternal magic organizations in the world, to give the beloved site a facelift." The organization has a specific Houdini gravesite committee made up of nine members headed up by President elect David Bowers who brought this project to the Society's attention. Kenrick "Ice" McDonald, the current president of the Society of American Magicians said "You have to know the history. Houdini served as President from 1917 until his death in 1926. Houdini's burial site needs an infusion of cash to restore it to its former glory." Magician Dietrich said the repairs could cost "tens of thousands of dollars", after consulting with glass experts and grave artisans. "It's a wonderful project, but it's taken a lifetime to get people interested," she said. "It's long overdue, and it's great that it's happening." Houdini was a living superhero," Dietrich said. "He wasn't just a magician and escape artist, he was a great humanitarian." To this day, the Society holds a broken wand ceremony at the grave every November.
Houdini's widow, Bess, died of a heart attack on February 11, 1943, aged 67, in Needles, California while on a train en route from Los Angeles to New York City. She had expressed a wish to be buried next to her husband, but instead was interred 35 miles due north at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Westchester County, New York, as her Catholic family refused to allow her to be buried in a Jewish cemetery.[103]
The gravesite of Harry Houdini The grave marker at Harry Houdini's burial site Weiss Family Grave Memorial Site at Machpelah Cemetery
Proposed exhumation
On March 22, 2007, Houdini's grand-nephew (the grandson of his brother Theo), George Hardeen, announced that the courts would be asked to allow exhumation of Houdini's body, to investigate the possibility of Houdini being murdered by spiritualists, as suggested in the biography The Secret Life of Houdini.[104] In a statement given to the Houdini Museum in Scranton, the family of Bess Houdini opposed the application and suggested it was a publicity ploy for the book.[105] The Washington Post stated that the press conference was not arranged by the family of Houdini. Instead, the Post reported, it was orchestrated by authors Kalush and Sloman, who hired the PR firm Dan Klores Communications to promote their book.[106]
In 2008, it was revealed the parties involved never filed legal papers to perform an exhumation.[107]
Legacy
Houdini's brother, Theodore Hardeen, who returned to performing after Houdini's death, inherited his brother's effects and props. Houdini's will stipulated that all the effects should be "burned and destroyed" upon Hardeen's death. Hardeen sold much of the collection to magician and Houdini enthusiast Sidney Hollis Radner during the 1940s, including the water torture cell.[108] Radner allowed choice pieces of the collection to be displayed at The Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, Ontario. In 1995, a fire destroyed the museum. The water torture cell's metal frame remained, and it was restored by illusion builder John Gaughan.[109] Many of the props contained in the museum such as the mirror handcuffs, Houdini's original packing crate, a milk can, and a straitjacket, survived the fire and were auctioned in 1999 and 2008.
Radner loaned the bulk of his collection for archiving to the Outagamie Museum in Appleton, Wisconsin but reclaimed it in 2003 and auctioned it in Las Vegas, on October 30, 2004.[110]
Houdini was a "formidable collector", and bequeathed many of his holdings and paper archives on magic and spiritualism to the Library of Congress, which became the basis for the Houdini collection in cyberspace.[111]
In 1934, the bulk of Houdini's collection of American and British theatrical material, along with a significant portion of his business and personal papers, and some of his collections of other magicians were sold to pay off estate debts to theatre magnate Messmore Kendall. In 1958, Kendall donated his collection to the Hoblitzelle Theatre Library at the University of Texas at Austin.[112] In the 1960s, the Hoblitzelle Library became part of the Harry Ransom Center. The extensive Houdini collection includes a 1584 first edition of Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft and David Garrick's travel diary to Paris from 1751.[113][114] Some of the scrapbooks in the Houdini collection have been digitized.[115] The collection was exclusively paper-based until April 2016, when the Ransom Center acquired one of Houdini's ball weights with chain and ankle cuff. In October 2016, in conjunction with the 90th anniversary of the death of Houdini, the Ransom Center embarked on a major re-cataloging of the Houdini collection to make it more visible and accessible to researchers.[116] The collection reopened in 2018, with its finding aids posted online.[117]
A large portion of Houdini's estate holdings and memorabilia was willed to his fellow magician and friend, John Mulholland (1898–1970). In 1991, illusionist and television performer David Copperfield purchased all of Mulholland's Houdini holdings from Mulholland's estate. These are now archived and preserved in Copperfield's warehouse at his headquarters in Las Vegas. It contains the world's largest collection of Houdini memorabilia, and preserves approximately 80,000 items of memorabilia of Houdini and other magicians, including Houdini's stage props and material, his rebuilt water torture cabinet and his metamorphosis trunk. It is not open to the public, but tours are available by invitation to magicians, scholars, researchers, journalists and serious collectors.
In a posthumous ceremony on October 31, 1975, Houdini was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7001 Hollywood Blvd.[118]
The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, bills itself as "the only building in the world entirely dedicated to Houdini". It is open to the public year-round by reservation. It includes Houdini films, a guided tour about Houdini's life and a stage magic show. Magicians Dorothy Dietrich and Dick Brookz opened the facility in 1991.
The Magic Castle in Los Angeles, California, a nightclub for magicians and magic enthusiasts, as well as the clubhouse for the Academy of Magical Arts, features Houdini séances performed by magician Misty Lee.
The House of Houdini is a museum and performance venue located at 11, Dísz square in the Buda Castle in Budapest, Hungary. It claims to house the largest collection of original Houdini artifacts in Europe.[119]
The Houdini Museum of New York is located at Fantasma Magic, a retail magic manufacturer and seller located in Manhattan. The museum contains several hundred pieces of ephemera, most of which belonged to Harry Houdini.
In popular culture
Publications
Houdini published numerous books during his career (some of which were written by his good friend Walter B. Gibson, the creator of The Shadow)[122]
Filmography
See also
References
Biblography
Further reading |
Architect Adam Markowitz Average earnings for an architect: $83,105 a year (in 2014/15) How much Adam earns as an architect: Less than $80,000 a year. Architect and furniture maker Adam Markowitz Credit:Jason South Adam Markowitz is a very busy man. He divides his time between his own architecture business, contract work for other architecture firms, teaching the subject at Melbourne University and his furniture-making side business.
His studied architecture at Melbourne University and after five years of study and a one-year internship, he obtained his qualifications. He then worked for three years as a graduate architect before he got his official registration. His first architecture job was at a firm that specialised in medium density housing, but he did not find the work enriching. "Architecture seemed to me to be a profession that offered creativity and financial stability, but once you get into it you find it is a lot more complex," he said. "It is hard to keep up morale when you're working on a project you wouldn't want to live in yourself." When he graduated in 2010 he was earning about $50,000 a year, and said a lot of his colleagues would still not be earning more than $80,000. He decided to pursue his passion for making furniture as a side project, which took him to Tasmania and then to a design school in Denmark founded by Sydney Opera House architect Jan Utzon. In recent years, he has started his own architecture and furniture design firm in North Melbourne, Markowitz Design.
His design skills ended up leading to more opportunities in architecture, and he secured a teaching role at Melbourne University. Train driver Phillip Walden Average earnings for a train driver: $107,794 (in 2014/15)
How much Phillip earns: About $120,000 per year Train driver Phillip Walden Credit:Pat Scala Phillip Walden's first job after leaving school at the age of 17 was as a fireman on a diesel train. After five years of on-the-job training he became a qualified train driver, and he soon moved on to operating electric trains on Melbourne's metropolitan network. In 1994, he left to become a private investigator, but returned to train driving after a decade of gumshoe work.
"Our pay considers our working hours can be 24/7 and start at all hours of the day," he said. It's a complex and responsible job. Train drivers are responsible for ensuring hundreds of passengers stay safe and reach their destinations on time. It can also be stressful. Drivers sometimes have to cope with deaths on the track and near misses. At Metro Trains, qualified drivers earn a base salary of around $95,000 plus loadings for weekends, public holidays, and overtime. Becoming a train driver is a sought-after career, with more than 9000 people applying for one of 130 trainee-driver roles last year.
Average earnings for an osteopath: $59,882 (in 2014/15) How much Claire earns: Between $90 - $120,000 a year. Osteopath Claire Richardson Credit:Wayne Taylor An osteopath is a manual therapist who takes a whole-body approach to healing. "We treat the same injuries as a physiotherapist, but it's a slightly different treatment approach," Claire said.
"If someone came in with a wrist injury, we would consider how their shoulder or their arm was contributing rather than just treating the wrist." Claire's husband Shaun also works as an osteopath and the pair met during a five-year course at Victoria University. More than half of all Australia's osteopaths are based in Victoria, mostly in Melbourne, and typically work as contractors. This means competition is fierce, keeping prices low. Ms Richardson divides her time between two clinics, her own Chadstone Region Osteopathy practice and St Kilda Osteopathy, where she works as an associate. "I work more hours than a regular osteopath would, so comparative to my peers I earn a bit more," she says.
Osteopathy Australia says the area is the fastest growing health profession in Australia and almost all osteopathy graduates find work. Its chief executive Antony Nicholas says there are now more students than there were registered osteopaths and the size of the profession is expected to double in the next five years. |
AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi said his lawyers would study the FIR before taking any steps.
Akbaruddin Owaisi, a lawmaker from Telangana, faces arrest for allegedly making provocative remarks at a rally last week in poll-bound Bihar. At the rally, he had also allegedly made derogatory remarks about BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Mr Owaisi's party, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), is contesting six of the 20 seats in the Seemanchal region, which has a substantial Muslim population.On Sunday, Mr Owaisi had addressed a public meeting at a village in Kishanganj district. The leader of AIMIM state party unit, Akhtarul Iman, is contesting for the Kochadhaman seat - where Muslims form 70% of the electorate -- and Mr Owaisi was campaigning for him.The local police, which had booked Mr Owaisi under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, was ordered to arrest him today by senior officers.A senior police officer of Kishanganj, Rajiv Ranjan, had said Mr Owaisi's speech could be described as one promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion. The lawmaker has also used abusive language against all members of Parliament except his elder brother Asaduddin Owaisi -- a leader of his party and a lawmaker from Hyderabad -- the officer had said.Mr Owaisi, who is in Hyderabad, said they were getting a certified copy of the FIR and their team of lawyers will study it before deciding on the next course of action. "You are asking about language? What kind of language should be used after 3000 people in Gujarat were killed?" he said."It was the constitutional duty of the CM at the time to protect those lives. People are never going to forget that. They will remember it life-long." |
The Federal Supreme Court in Karlsruhe, south ruled that a 54-year-old arrested at the end of April must remain in custody, a spokesperson of the Attorney-General's Office told Swiss media.
"The arrest warrant is maintained and will be kept in place," the spokesperson told news agencies, confirming an online report by SRF.
German prosecutors arrested Daniel M. in a Frankfurt hotel on suspicion of carrying out espionage activities since 2012, and one week ago his lawyers had called for the arrest warrant to be lifted.
In a written statement submitted to the Karlsruhe court last week, the defence lawyers said Daniel M. had received "occasional small orders" from the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service (FIS) but that these were of "secondary" importance and the information gathered did not go against German interests.
The man was tasked with identifying German tax investigators who purchased CDs containing details of bank account holders in foreign tax havens such as Switzerland.
This information helped Swiss authorities file charges against three German tax inspectors for breaching Swiss banking laws and economic espionage.
However, Germany alleges that the 54-year-old also ran a mole in a state finance ministry office, something the suspect has denied.
A fortnight after the alleged spy's arrest, Germany and Switzerland reportedly signed an agreement to stop espionage. Media in both countries cited sources close to the government, though neither government officially confirmed the existence of such an agreement. |
At 93 years-old, Stan Lee hasn’t retired from creating new properties and has just announced a new project which would bring a brand new original superhero to comics, television, and movies.
‘Nitron’ will focus on a “highly intelligence and advanced” alien species called Nitronians who secretly live as part of modern Earth society. (They don’t sound that intelligent and advanced to me.) Lee is collaborating with Keya Morgan and Michael Benaroya. All three will work on the story and serve as producers through Benaroya Pictures, which has already secured $50 million as an initial investment.
Benaroya Publishing will launch the ‘Nitron’ comic book in January and is slated to run for six issues, monthly.
Lee expressed:
“It’s a pleasure to partner with Michael Benaroya and Keya Morgan on ‘Nitron’. I am excited for everyone to explore the amazing world of ‘Nitron’ with us.”
The hope is that after launching the comic book, that the property will then be adapted to film, television, and digital media.
It’s currently unclear if this will be a solo adventure series with one main protagonist or if this will follow in the pattern of prior Lee creations like ‘The X-Men’ and ‘Inhumans’ which showcase entire races of super beings with an emphasis on a core team.
Lee, of course, is possibly the greatest living icon in the world of comic books, having created the foundation of the Marvel Universe with his writing work on ‘Fantastic Four’, ‘Spider-Man’, ‘Iron Man’, ‘Doctor Strange’, ‘The Avengers’, and more. He served as the president and chairman of Marvel Comics, but in more recent years has explored his own creations, through his POW! Entertainment brand, founded in 2001. In 2014, he created Stan Lee Global Entertainment to further develop new properties.
Benaroya is an established producer, having worked on ‘Lawless’ and ‘Cell’ among many other credits. He and Morgan are currently producing the documentary ‘Marilyn Monroe: Murder On Fifth Helena Drive’, which Morgan is also directing.
More news as it develops. Are you excited by this new multimedia venture from Stan The Man?
Source: Variety |
Brack was pronounced dead at the scene and his passenger is listed in serious condition at Jackson County Hospital.
Buy Photo In this Florida Today file photo, Alex Brack (92) kicks during a preseason scrimmage at Florida Tech (Photo: Craig Bailey/FLORIDA TODAY )Buy Photo
Alex Brack loved hunting, fishing, country music, his Ford pickup and being a member of the Florida Tech football team.
The place-kicker for the Panthers died Sunday night when he lost control of that Ford F-150 while visiting friends and family in Jackson County on the northern part of the Panhandle.
According to a Florida Highway Patrol report, Brack, 21, and 18-year-old Cierra Brown were driving south on State Road 71 at 9:45p.m. Sunday when he hit a culvert. Brack was pronounced dead at the scene; Brown was listed in serious condition at Jackson County Hospital in Marianna.
The redshirt sophomore from Defuniak Springs helped Florida Tech beat Shorter University on Saturday afternoon, making all four PATs in the 34-30 victory.
But Monday, friends and his Florida Tech family remembered the kid who always had a smile on his face and was willing to do anything for his friends.
"His laugh — he made me laugh all the time," said Andrew Shipotofsky, Brack's best friend and roommate at Florida Tech for the past two years. "He just made my life easier every day. If I struggled with a test, he was there. If I had a bad day, he was there. He was that type of guy."
He was the type who made the new guys feel comfortable when they arrived at Florida Tech. When Tyler Bass transferred to Florida Tech in spring 2012, it was Brack who helped him get adjusted.
"When I first met him, he was that guy, no matter if you were in a bad mood or a good mood, he was going to get you in a good mood," Bass said. "He is the first one in meetings, the last one to leave."
That dedication and passion were not lost on the coaching staff, who would call him "GA Brack" during his first season with the team.
"Believe me, there were times in that first year when I would ask, why is he here? Alex Brack is always here," Florida Tech football coach Steve Englehart said. "I will remember his everyday presence. He loved this place. Loved the team. He would have done anything for the team. If it meant him not kicking, he would have done it if it was best for the team."
At no point was that clearer than during a spring practice. Englehart holds board drills — a one-on-one drill between players. And then he calls Alex Brack's name.
"He strapped it on and lined up in his 3-point stance and he was going to go against Ramsey (Sellers). He didn't care that Ramsey was 305 pounds and benches 500 and some pounds. He is a buck 10," Englehart said, cracking a smile for a moment. "He didn't care. He was in his stance and ready to go. I was about to blow the whistle, but said I can't do that, and we all got a good laugh. But if I blew that whistle, he would have fired off."
Brack also made the rest of the team better with his drive and determination.
"In sprints, he wanted to beat the DBs and wide receivers every time," Englehart recalled. "And he would call his dad and tell him, 'There were only three DBs that beat me today.' He just enjoyed the heck out of life and enjoyed the heck out of being on this team."
The Walton High graduate was studying civil engineering at Florida Tech and earned a spot on the Gulf South Conference Fall Honor Roll for earning a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher through the fall 2013 semester.
"The loss of this young man will be acutely felt by the Florida Tech family," president and CEO Anthony J. Catanese said in a news release. "His spirit, his energy, his ability to make better those around him were all key components of his character. We grieve with his family and offer them our heartfelt condolences."
Florida Tech will wear No. 92 helmet decals and is planning ways to remember their teammate.
"They will be able to lean on one another. They have a whole team to rally around and come together," Englehart said. "One thing I know will help them all get through it is remembering how Alex was on a daily basis. It's helped me, I know that. I was not in very good shape this morning. But I remember all these little things that have brought a smile to my face."
Brack was 7-for-8 in extra points for the 6-3 Panthers, and in his career was 10-for-12.
Funeral arrangements have not been finalized.
"Saturday (game at West Georgia) is going to be for Alex Brack," Bass said. |
Used Nissan Leaf Cheaper Than Used Toyota Prius
July 25th, 2015 by Zachary Shahan
By Brian Kent
I’ve personally been following the used Leaf market for a while and it’s astounding to see the cars available. To put it in perspective, I just now did a search and found a 2013 Nissan Leaf S (the base model) with 11,924 miles for only $11,450.
Care to do the numbers?
*at an average cost of about $0.12/kWhr in the U.S. and a realistic fuel economy of about 4.0 miles/kWhr, you’re paying about $0.03/mile for fuel
Contrast that with AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report–which today lists an average price of $2.759/gallon and you can see that even the vaunted Prius’s 50 mpg economy falls far short of the Leaf’s–at $0.05518/mile it’s 83.9% worse.
But it gets worse than that.
Checking the same site (cargurus) I found a 2013 Prius Two similarly listed as a “Good deal” with a fair market value which was almost the same ($14,736 vs. the Leaf’s $14,702.) The price listed was $13,499, however–$2,049, or 17.89% higher than the Leaf’s offering price.
But it gets worse.
The Prius already had 51,068 miles–39,144 or a staggering 328.3% more miles.
Now let’s assume for a moment that the buyer intends the car as a short-distance commuter vehicle. After all, it’s as sensible to assume that a person will buy a vehicle for a specific purpose in the case of a commuter vehicle as it is to assume that a person will buy a truck when they will need to haul things. In other words, let’s not enter into the tempting non sequitur which analyzes the car based on whether it can take us to California on a moment’s notice from our home in rural New York.
If we can reasonably expect to get 125,000 miles out of either vehicle before wear and tear starts “catching up on it,” what has our money bought?
[WARNING: Don’t read further if you’re a Prius fan.]
Here’s a per mile analysis:
Miles remaining to 125,000:
Prius: 73,932
Leaf: 113,076
Fuel cost for remaining miles:
Prius: $4,079.57
Leaf: $3,392.28 (16.85% cheaper for 52.95% more miles!)
Oil changes (at $20/3000 miles):
Prius: $492.88
Leaf: $0
Initial price:
Prius: $13,499
Leaf: $11,450
Total costs:
Prius: $18,071.45 (or $0.2444/mile)
Leaf: $14,842.28 (or $0.1313/mile)
Verdict? The Prius costs 86.22% more than the Leaf.
…
Now I hear some of you saying, “Well, that’s not fair, because you’re amortizing the purchase price of the Prius over a shorter number of miles, so you ought to expect that it will be higher per mile.”
I have two responses to that:
a. Unless you assume that the Prius will remain reliable to a higher mileage, you have to assume something along those lines.
b. Even if you assume that the Prius will remain reliable to a much higher mileage, it cannot best the operating cost of the Leaf.
(Graph below for those interested.)
As you can see, no matter what distance you ultimately travel, the Leaf will be far cheaper than the Prius. In fact, even if you completely ignore the difference in the odometer readings, and as a purchaser you assume you’ll get 100,000 miles out of either car from the moment you buy it, it turns out that the Leaf still beats the Prius handily, with an amortized cost per mile of $0.1445 vs. the Prius’s $0.1968.
The Prius is a staggering 36.22% more expensive to operate as a commuter car. At a total difference of over $5,200 for the distance driven, you could arguably replace the entire battery pack of the Leaf and essentially get yourself another 100,000 miles and still be cheaper than the Prius.
You can go back to your argument that the Prius has more range if you like, but as we’ve already discussed that we’re making the comparison of commuter cars, that makes no more sense than comparing the two based on cargo capacity.
Oops. The Leaf beats the Prius there, too. 24 ft^3 to 21.6 ft^3. |
Adelaide has recruited five country-based footballers as the first development players for its new SANFL team.
Tyson Davis-Neale (Encounter Bay), Simon Muster (Birdwood), Matthew Thompson (Murray Bridge Ramblers), Matthew Wilson (Yankalilla) and Tom Kluvanek (Uraidla Districts) will train with Adelaide’s SANFL group under coach Heath Younie, starting next Wednesday.
They will play country football if not required by the Crows during the 2014 season.
Davis-Neale, a 185cm utility, and running half-back Thompson were both prominent junior footballers who were members of the AIS/AFL Academy in 2008. Current Crows Tom Lynch and Lewis Johnston were in the same Academy group.
Former South Adelaide junior Davis-Neale played in a premiership with Encounter Bay this year, alongside former Crows Scott Welsh and Ian Perrie. Thompson, who played juniors with Sturt, has been a runner-up in the Mail Medal count.
Muster is a key position forward or defender who played juniors and some reserves football with Norwood.
Kluvanek, a 190cm defender or wingman, played in a premiership with Uraidla Districts this year and Wilson, a quick small defender, has captained Yankalilla and represented Great Southern.
Younie said it was an exciting time for all these players and for the Club.
“This development system provides great opportunities for some players to attempt to get back into the SANFL system and play league footy,” he said.
“These players will get a chance to train together and push for selection at league level and for some it could just be the break they need to chase their AFL dreams.”
Crows General Manager Football Administration Phil Harper said more players would soon be confirmed.
“We have five players committed from regional areas at the moment and expect that number to be closer to ten when our squad is finalised.
“We also will have five to ten from the Amateur League clubs, who have been very supportive of the concept. Add in the SANFL players from the six participating clubs and our development squad will round out at 20-25 players.” |
James Foley may have volunteered to be murdered to spare the lives of fellow hostages, his family said, as it emerged that his kidnappers had emailed them last week to say they were about to “execute” him.
Mr Foley’s younger brother Michael said he had “no doubt” the American journalist would have sacrificed himself, adding: “He’s always been that way.”
Michael, 38, said: “[He] truly cares more about others than himself. I think he was probably the strongest and most prepared for it. God forbid there's others. But you can see just from the clips, from the video, he wasn't afraid.
The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isil) told the Foley family in an email on Aug 12 that the US would “pay the price” for air strikes on Isil targets in Iraq, “the first of which being the blood of the American citizen James Foley”.
The email, which also said “We will not stop until we quench our thirst for your blood”, may have been written by “John”, the British jihadist who beheaded Mr Foley, according to experts who have analysed it.
Mr Foley’s parents John and Diane said that despite the grim warning contained in the email, it had given them hope, because it was the first time the kidnappers had been in contact with them since December.
Isil had demanded £80 million for Mr Foley’s release, and his parents had been trying to raise £3m as a compromise. They hoped the renewed contact would give them a chance to negotiate.
Speaking to NBC television, Mr Foley said: “I actually was excited to see an email despite the conclusion that they would execute Jim.
“We underestimated that point, I did not realise how brutal they were, and I actually hoped we could engage in negotiations with them if they were willing to send us any sort of communication.”
Mr Foley’s sister Katie, 26, told Yahoo News: “I don't even know how a human being can even have that fierce and intense hate for someone else. I don't even understand where that type of hate comes from."
Her brother said: “It was just chilling, it was full of so much hate.”
The email had several spelling mistakes but showed a good grasp of English grammar, suggesting it was written by a native, but poorly-eduated, English speaker, according to Dr Claire Hardaker, a language expert at Lancaster University.
It said: “HOW LONG WILL THE SHEEP FOLLOW THE BLIND SHEPPARD?...As for the scum of your society who are held prisoner by us, THEY DARED TO ENTER THE LION’S DEN AND WHERE EATEN!”
The email, written to “the American government and their sheep like citizens”, refers to the failure to pay the previous ransom demand or to free Islamist terrorist prisoners, and contains a rant against the “cowardly” US bombing of Isil targets.
“Today our swords are unsheathed towards you,” it continues. “GOVERNMENT AND CITIZENS ALIKE! AND WE WILL NOT STOP UNTIL WE QUENCH OUR THIRST FOR YOUR BLOOD.
It ends by saying that 40-year-old Mr Foley “will be executed as a DIRECT result of your transgressions towards us!”.
Dr Hardaker said: “There is a lot in the letter to suggest it came from a native speaker of English. Some of the spelling mistakes are very common in native speakers."
As the hunt continued for “John” and two other British captors nicknamed Paul and Ringo by hostages, who knew the men as “The Beatles”, a Washington source claimed the FBI is now “99 per cent certain” it knows John’s identity, and has begun a formal criminal investigation into the murder. Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, warned the kidnappers that the US has “a long memory”.
Michael Foley said there was “more that could have been done” by the US to secure his brother’s release, adding: “We are sitting on prisoners for example in Guantanamo. It doesn’t have to be financial. There’s ways to do it... I just feel strongly that more can be done.
John and Diane Foley disclosed that they had watched the horrific video of their son's final moments, because "we just needed to know".
Pope Francis phoned the devout Catholic Foley family to comfort them, and, John Foley said: “He offered us his personal prayer and we felt very comforted and supported in that regard.” |
Missing: Alex Song wishes he was back at Arsenal (Picture: Getty)
Alex Song is eyeing up a return to Arsenal after growing frustrated with his bench role at Barcelona, according to his cousin Rigobert.
Song moved to Barcelona from the Gunners last year for a £17million fee, but has been limited to a bench role in Spain, making just 15 appearances.
And speaking amid growing talk that the 25-year-old is desperate to return to north London, his cousin Rigobert Song has revealed that the player is unhappy with life at Barca, and is missing being a part of Arsene Wenger’s side.
‘Barcelona put so much effort into signing him last summer, and Alex turned down many great teams in order to sign with them,’ he said.
Key man: Song was a crucial player for the Gunners (Picture: Getty)
‘But this season he has only been a substitute. He is not happy.’
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‘At Arsenal he was a leader on and off the field – he doesn’t feel like this in Spain and it makes him feel bad.’
Manchester City and Inter Milan have been linked with moves for Song in recent months, but it’s thought that he would only consider returning to England with Arsenal.
Song’s miserable start to life at Barca was summed up when he was recently voted the ‘flop of the season’ by a Catalan newspaper.
MORE: Arsenal to anger Barcelona again by pinching starlet Julio Pleguezuelo Selva
MORE: Battle for third and fourth: Bale’s fitness and relegation scrapes hold key to Arsenal, Spurs, Chelsea and Everton hopes |
Available now on Steam!
Hegemony Rome: The Rise of Caesar takes you to the plains and forests of ancient Gaul where the proconsul Julius Caesar wages a decade long war to subjugate the barbarian hordes. Sequel to the critically acclaimed Hegemony Gold, Hegemony Rome will immerse you in the history like no other real time strategy game on the market, forcing you to pay close attention to the changing seasons and rapidly changing military situation.
Unfolding across an epic satellite-accurate map stretching from the Mediterranean coast to the British Isles, Hegemony Rome utilizes the series' trademark zoom to seamlessly take you from a grand strategic view of your empire right down to the battlefield at any time. Explore an immersive new world from the dark forests of Germania across the mighty Rhine to the marshlands of the Seine. A larger scale map tests your tactics with more manoeuvring room on the battlefield and visualizes the details of ancient life with garrisons standing guard along the city walls and workers tending their crops in the fields.
Capturing the ingenuity of Caesar and his engineers, all-new construction options and a new wood resource let you build bridges, forts and supply camps at thousands of points across the map. And a significantly expanded upgrade system gives you new options to promote officers, assign governors and construct buildings to specialize your units and cities. Plus, new improvements to Hegemony's celebrated logistics model makes managing your supplies more intuitive and more important than ever. |
The Cheonan sank after an as-yet unexplained blast on 26 March
South Korea's navy has fired warning shots at a patrol boat from the North, the most serious skirmish since a Southern ship was sunk on 26 March.
Two vessels had violated a disputed border known as the Northern Limit Line, South Korea's military said.
"Two patrol boats crossed on two separate occasions and warning shots were fired," an official said.
Tensions have been high since a South Korean warship mysteriously sank on March 26, killing 46 sailors.
A North Korean patrol boat sailed 2.8km (1.6 miles) into South-controlled waters on Saturday, said Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff.
It retreated after a South Korean ship broadcast a warning, reports say.
Less than an hour later, another North Korean patrol boat violated the border, but returned to its waters after another warning was broadcast.
Two shots were fired from the South Korean vessel, a Joint Chiefs of Staff official said. There were no injuries, he said.
The border skirmish took place close to where the Cheonan, a Southern warship, sank in March, apparently struck by a torpedo. That incident left 46 sailors dead.
South Korea has not officially blamed the North, but Pyongyang has come under suspicion over the suspected attack.
An international team of investigators is expected to release its findings this week.
The area was also the scene of fatal naval clashes in 1999 and 2002, and a North Korean patrol boat was set ablaze in a firefight last November. |
After Seattle Sounders academy standout and Stanford University sophomore Jordan Morris made the US Men’s National Team roster for its Sept. 3 friendly against the Czech Republic, speculation arose that his accelerated development could mean he has the option to skip a stint with the Sounders' first team and shoot overseas right away.
As it turns out, Sounders fans may get to see Morris in a Seattle uniform after all.
In an interview on Tuesday night’s episode of Seattle Soccer Talk on SportsRadio KJR, Seattle Sporting Director Chris Henderson said it’s at least possible that Morris could be suiting up for the Sounders in the not-so-distant future.
“I expect to see him in a Sounders uniform pretty soon,” Henderson said. “But we’ll see how that plays out. We’re excited that he’s one of our players and that he’s done so well.”
Morris achieved the rare distinction of making a national team roster while still in college. Although he didn’t see the field in the USMNT’s 1-0 victory over the Czech Republic, his presence on the roster was evidence of a raw talent level advanced beyond his years.
So, what makes Morris such an intriguing prospect? In a scouting report given to reporters shortly after the young forward’s USMNT selection, Seattle head coach Sigi Schmid said Morris’ greatest assets are his aggressive playing style and versatility.
“He’s a slasher. He’s a player that can play wide, he can play up top, he can play as one of the two strikers in a two-man formation,” Schmid said. “He’s comfortable on both sides of the field and keeps pressure on defenses because he’s willing to make those runs in behind…He’ll go at you. He’s not a passive player on the field.”
Get more Seattle news at SoundersFC.com
Henderson compared Morris’ path to that of DeAndre Yedlin, another Sounders academy product who has already played in a World Cup and earned a transfer to English Premier League outfit Tottenham Hotspur at the tender age of 21.
“It’s a little bit like DeAndre’s story where things have come really fast for him from a couple years ago being an academy player for the Sounders,” Henderson said. “I think there’s more of that to come.” |
Why you should take everything Jason Fried writes with a pound of salt.
Dmitry Davydov Blocked Unblock Follow Following Dec 24, 2016
Let me get a few things out of the way. I’ve never met Jason Fried, but he seems like a decent human being. As you’ll see, this is not a Jason Fried hit piece. Most of my criticism won’t be with Jason, Basecamp or 37Signals, but with something else.
But let’s start with the beginning. Jason Fried is a prolific and extremely popular writer and blogger. His ideas don’t resonate with me personally and probably most people outside US, because they are, well, self evident. For example, where I live (Kaliningrad, which is a Russian enclave squeezed in between Poland and Lithuania), in a city of approximately half a million people, there are four large tech companies (defined as 100+ developers). None has raised VC capital EVER. None is preparing for an IPO. In every company, developers have 28 days of vacation, 8 hour workdays, 1.5 year maternity leave, etc. I can drive two hour to Gdansk or to Vilnus (a bit longer) and it’s the same story there, both for established companies and startups. Just so you know where I come from.
Anyway, Jason’s books and blog post are widely reprinted in other countries, and this blog post was reprinted as well, starting a small discussion. The post itself is not controversial in any way, rather my comments that Basecamp is seen by its peers as a failure is what was surprising to most readers. Really? Basecamp? THAT Basecamp? A failure?
So, let me explain. First, by peers I mean Basecamp competitors — other online task and project management solutions that were launched after Basecamp (2004). Bitrix24 is obviously one (launched in 2012), but you are probably more familiar with Trello (2011) and Asana (founded in 2008 and launched in 2011). If you are a hard core project management geek, then the name for you is Wrike.
OK, by failure I mean that those solutions (launched after Basecamp) offer more features, have larger user base and/or are growing faster. So, let’s talk the numbers. Old Basecamp front page actually displayed the number of weekly registrations (7K-10K). It used to look like that. The new page conveniently displays the number of total registrations since 2004 — just under 2.2 million this year (scroll to the very bottom). You can deduce growth rate on your own.
So let’s look at Basecamp competitors. We’ve passed 1.5 million mark earlier this year, but are still a bit under 2 million. Again, Bitrix24 was launched in 2012, so we are only four years old as a service but our signup numbers are very close. Trello has 14+ million signups in five years. Clearly more popular than Basecamp. Asana doesn’t disclose any numbers (I wasn’t able to find any), but they are bigger than us and smaller than Trello. Don’t ask me how I know. Finally, Wrike quoted 30 thousand registrations a month in 2015, so I’ll put my bet at 40+K registrations a month, which is what Basecamp is now at.
We can also look at Google Play stats for Basecamp, Asana, Bitrix24, Trello and Wrike to make sure that this is indeed the case — we are all just as or more popular than Basecamp, despite their early head start.
As you know, Basecamp wasn’t 37Signals only product. Campfire was released much, much earlier than Slack. Highrise was released in 2007, a few years ahead of Insightly, Pipedrive and Base CRM. And they all (I am referring to 37Signal products here) flopped, including Backpack.
To me, this shows that very, very intelligent people work (or used to work) there, since they’ve identified two big trends (simple CRM and chat collaboration) very early on. But it also shows a real failure of execution, which is also true for Basecamp 2. Even Basecamp’s biggest fans were quite disappointed with a company that thought they’ve got project management all figured out and refused to release new features for years.
Now, as promised, this is not going to be anti-Jason Fried rant. I just wanted to established a few facts. First, that Basecamp has fallen behind competition, which is still news to some. Second, I am not just a nobody, but rather a nobody who worked hard at beating Basecamp and there are others who’ve succeed at that as well — we just don’t write NYTimes bestsellers and you’ll never hear our names. And third, while ‘civilians’ may view 37Signals and Basecamp as a success story, ‘insiders’ are far less forgiving.
I’ve said that my criticism is going to be with ‘something else’ — let’s get to it.
Problem 1 — Cult of personality is always a bad thing.
When the Soviet Union fell, there was a period of time when we’ve got a bunch of new age gurus and sects with pseudo-Hindu background flocked to Russia. Maharishi, Sri Chinmoy, Sathya Sai Baba and other guys that you’ve got in 60s and 70s. These gurus had a few good ideas and even more nonsense, but the surprising thing was how uncritical anyone who got interested in their ideas would quickly become.
I frequently have this feeling of déjà vu, when I read tech media and blog post. Thank god we are still sane enough not to take Ray Kurzweil seriously (except Google), but given how many ‘bot revolution’ articles were written by publications that are not The Onion, sometimes I wonder if we are intelligent human beings or the only difference is that our chants aren’t “Hare Krishna, Hare Rama” but rather “Heroku, Agile, Kanban”.
I personally hold the opinion that charismatic leaders, like Elon Mask, are capable of manipulating public to their own advantage and, therefore, potentially inflicting tremendous damage on those who trust them (in this case, investors). It never seizes to amuse me, how quickly uncritical people become simply because they read something that was written by Jason Calacanis or Paul Graham or insert your favorite tech authority here.
I think it’s a bad thing. Maharishi had no downside to telling stories that anyone can learn to fly. Those who believed him — did. Many wasted years doing really silly things.
Problem 2 — Bias toward success.
I’ve had my share of successes and failures as a marketer. I mostly talk about successes. I’ll mention a few failures, especially if I can find a way to spin those to my advantage. Most people do the same. If you blog, if you work as a journalist, if you write books, you are looking for success stories. Success sells. If you want to learn, you need to analyze both success and failures. If it’s your own failure — that’s easy enough. But almost everyone else is hiding or spinning theirs.
I think the story of 37Signals would be tremendously interesting to read. Since I’ve never had access to insiders, I have no idea if Jason’s own ideas are at least partially to blame for what happened or rather didn’t happen to Basecamp and other products. But there’s obviously a huge disincentive to writing a book that has a real potential to hurt your company and people you work with.
I know of only one tech publication (Pando.com) that takes a critical view. Everybody else is a cheerleader. Sure they’ll write about Theranos or Zenefits AFTER shit hits the fan, but Techcrunch or Mashable haven’t exactly been known for asking hard questions when the company is on the rise or maintains the appearance thereof.
With everyone writing motivational posts and patting themselves on the back, most people eventually start believing their own bullshit.
Problem 3 — The distorted worldview.
Do you know what American truck driver, Mexican plumber and Hungarian dentist have in common? None of them have ever heard of Slack and don’t have any use for it. Yes, I know, this sounds shocking, but there are people who don’t Slack or HipChat. But seriously, Slack has a rather small user base and the only reason why you’ve heard of it is because you are a technophile. You work in the industry, have friends in the industry, you know who Joel Spolsky is.
Want to hear a name that you won’t recognize? Andrew Filev. He’s the guy who founded Wrike. He’s no less accomplished than Jason or Joel, and probably smarter in his own technical way. He has 200 people working for him now. Wrike is much more powerful than either Basecamp or Trello. But we live in one giant echo chamber. Scratch that — we live in a bunch of small echo chambers — and the one you and I are in repeat the same names. You’ll recognize John Butterfield’s picture but not the guy’s who founded WeChat — which is much bigger, much more technically advanced, have 700+ million users and worth a lot more than $3.8 billion.
Think about this — there are a lot of smart people out there who you can learn from but probably won’t (unless you want to put a lot of effort into it), simply because those people don’t have public speaking or writing skills, aren’t good at self promotion, live in a country you’ve never been to or don’t speak English.
Think if you were raised strictly on Bollywood movies. You’ve never seen an American action movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger, or a British comedy with Rowan Atkinson, or Scandinavian art house films. What I am saying is that you ARE that person, even if you live in Palo Alto or Menlo Park. Heck, especially if you live in Palo Alto, because a person in Bangalore knows all those names AND local ones, and you probably have zero idea about India’s incredible tech scene.
I have no idea if Jason Fried ever ends up reading this post. But if he does, I hope that it doesn’t come across as arrogant or hurtful. But than again, since I personally find little value in reading his posts, him finding little value in mine would be more than appropriate.
P.S. The post made it to the front page of the Hacker News one hour after I published it. Then it got shut down in another hour, just as discussion has started. I am not sure what flagged means, but I have only two guesses. Either mods thought that it was a click bait or a self promotion piece for Bitrix24. Regardless, the comments on on Hacker News made me realize that I should have spelled out two points more clearly.
First, I am not trying to push my values or definition of success on Jason and people who share his ideas. I think that it’s perfectly reasonable to ask questions why Asana or Trello is now more popular than Basecamp regardless of what values their owners hold, what their sexual orientation is and what gods they believe or don’t believe. This is a discussion strictly about products and companies — not values. We can argue if having Gantt chart inside your solution is a good or a bad idea on its own.
Second, and more important, I think some of those ideas that Jason Fried expresses should be examined critically PRECISELY because his values tend to shelter him from the criticism. Nobody wants to attack mother Theresa (you’ve got to be Christopher Hitchens for that). I personally hold Fried’s ideas about remote work as extremely naive. Had I been a journalist (I’ve actually worked as a TV reporter 10 years ago) my first question to him if he has re-evaluated any of earlier ideas expressed in Remote or Rework. I would have pressed hard about why Campfire and Highrise have flopped. I don’t think that Jason Fried has to be given credit for early Basecamp success , but free pass on Campfire and Highrise failures today (you can add Basecamp 3 to the list if you share my views), since he has been the centerpiece of 37Signals. It’s called privatizing profits and socializing losses on theWall Street, so why use other standards for software development simply because we aren’t talking about money but rather public perceptions?
I believe this all can be done in a civil manner, without personality attacks or mob mentality, but nobody’s doing it. I hope this makes things more clear. |
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - A grassroots group seeking to end rigged voting districts, better known as gerrymandering, is putting pressure on the state of Michigan for a petition review process organizers said is simply not acceptable.
The group held a pair of public meetings in west Michigan on Saturday.
Voters not Politicians hoped to start collecting signature several weeks ago for a potential ballot proposal, creating an independent commission of citizens to draw political boundaries instead of state lawmakers.
But, the review process with state officials stalled, and it could take several more weeks.
The group gathered to update supporters and local officials on the initiative.
The draft proposal was submitted to the Board of State Canvassers for review on June 28. The group expected action within days, but the proposal is still under review.
At Saturday's meeting, citizens and local politicians were encouraged to urge state leaders to finish the review.
According to an Associated Press analysis, Michigan's State House and Congressional districts were redrawn by Republicans after the 2010 census report and resulted in one of the most lopsided advantages in the country.
“When we live in state where the vote splits about 50/50 and we see our state representatives lobsided to one party or another, that's simply unjust,” said Jen Strebs, a member of ProKzoo. “And, it leaves a large portion of our population inadequately represented.”
Once the petition language is approved, the group has six months to collect nearly 318,000 voter signatures to place the proposal on the 2018 ballot. |
Three new shops to 'transform' Washington St. in downtown Naperville
hello
The first of three new businesses coming to one block of Washington Street in downtown Naperville has opened and is inviting customers to eat frozen yogurt and "be happy."
B Happy Cafe, owned by Michael Prince of Aurora, is offering self-serve frozen yogurt and create-your-own smoothies from a pastel painted storefront at 206 S. Washington St.
Soon to be joining Prince's new fro-yo shop on Washington between Jefferson and Jackson avenues are Naperville General Store and Eggs, Inc. Cafe.
"The east side of Washington is really going to transform," said Katie Wood, executive director of Downtown Naperville Alliance.
The transformation began when B Happy Cafe opened July 13. The shop sells cupcakes and pies along with its frozen yogurt, which customers can personalize with chocolate, candy and fruit toppings -- without a scale for pricing the creations based on weight.
"We took the fun and took away the unknown, the surprise at the end, and people really like that," Prince said.
So far, new customers are enjoying the ability to be creative with a yogurt that Prince said is gluten free and safe for most diabetics and people who are lactose intolerant.
"People really seem to be happy about making their own smoothie," Prince said. "They love to make their own masterpiece creation."
Just north of B Happy Cafe, Naperville General Store aims to open in mid-September at the southeast corner of Washington and Jefferson, said Debra Anton of Naperville, who owns the shop with her husband, Glenn.
Candles, home scents, bath and body products, gourmet food mixes, toys and games and so-called penny candy will be among the nostalgic items the Antons will sell in a country-themed shop at 204 S. Washington.
"Since Naperville is an older town, a historical town, we thought that something with an old-time feeling would work as long as it sold current merchandise," Anton said.
The general store will open at Washington and Jefferson a few months after Roseland Draperies and Interiors moved to 222 S. Main St. Anton said she was excited when the space became available because "the building itself definitely looks like a general store."
Staff at Eggs, Inc. Cafe said they hope to open their breakfast and lunch restaurant a few doors south of B Happy Cafe within the next few weeks. Gus, Peter and Bill Vassos, who own the first Eggs, Inc. location at 278 S. Weber Road in Bolingbrook, will operate their Naperville location 24 hours on Fridays and Saturdays, Wood said. The cafe's website says it combines "old-school service and professionalism with newer trends in food, while providing a hip ambience." |
On Friday, Pepsi announced that it would remove the artificial sweetener aspartame from all diet sodas sold in the US and replace it with sucralose.
The reason? Flagging sales. According to the Wall Street Journal, consumer surveys had showed "the presence of aspartame to be the number one reason that Americans are scaling back on diet colas."
Yet this trend appears to be driven by a widespread — and largely unfounded — fear the public has about the dangers of aspartame. This move might be good for Pepsi's business. But it probably won't help dispel any of the myths about artificial sweeteners as carcinogens that have persisted for decades.
Aspartame does not appear to cause cancer
Aspartame has been studied for more than 30 years, and there's no good evidence suggesting it causes cancer in humans. The European Food Safety Authority recently completed one of the most thorough risk assessments of aspartame ever done, looking at all the available research evidence.
Its conclusion? "Following a thorough review of evidence provided both by animal and human studies, experts have ruled out a potential risk of aspartame causing damage to genes and inducing cancer." The researchers found that aspartame does not harm the brain or nervous system, or affect behavior or cognitive function in children or adults.
Similarly, the National Cancer Institute found that artificial sweeteners, including aspartame, don't appear to cause cancer. Whatever fears people might have of the chemicals, the NCI noted, likely come from early rat studies that uncovered links between artificial sweeteners and bladder cancer. Yet subsequent studies determined that these results apply only to rats, and large-scale human studies have never found good evidence of an association.
Aaron Carroll, an evidence-based pediatrician and health commentator, had a nice summary of some of the science and hype behind aspartame over at CNN.
Aspartame was first approved for use in 1981, but it wasn't until 15 years later that health concerns showed up. In 1996, a research paper showed that there had been a recent increase in brain tumors and hypothesized that this might be due to aspartame. Mind you, it didn't prove that was so. But the potential link was all the media needed to go crazy. TV shows, magazine articles, and newspapers all questioned whether the artificial sweetener was safe. Further work using data from the National Cancer Institute showed that the increase in brain tumors really began in 1973, long before aspartame was introduced. Moreover, the increases in incidence of cancer were seen primarily in the elderly, which as a group, was not the major consumer of diet soda. And there's more. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial showed that aspartame didn't affect memory, behavior or mood. And a study published in 2006 followed more than 285,000 men and almost 190,000 women and couldn't detect any relationship between aspartame and brain or blood cancer.
There have been studies suggesting that artificial sweeteners may disrupt the microflora in the gut, and that suggests drinking diet sodas is correlated with weight gain. (Update: Read more about that here.) But that research certainly doesn't single out aspartame as being any better or worse than any other sweetener.
Susan Swithers, a professor at Purdue University who has studied artificial sweeteners, told Vox, "My take on the human data is that you can find a paper that said anything you want it say."
Pepsi is responding to consumer demand — not science
In light of the evidence, Swithers suggested people take a common-sense approach to all sweeteners — artificial and "natural" — and consume them in moderation.
"Our food supply has become hyper-sweetened," she said. "We saw a huge increase in use of caloric sweeteners emerge 30 years ago in response to fact that we thought fat was going to kill us. Now, manufacturers have tried to replace that with artificial sweeteners to deal with the way our palates have been adjusted.
"The advice I give: we need to cut back on all the sweeteners we’re using."
WATCH: 'What's wrong with food in America' |
This month, James Estrin met with Alison Nordstrom, the curator of a major retrospective of more than 150 Lewis Wickes Hine photographs that opens Sept. 7 in Paris at the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation. Ms. Nordstrom is also the curator of photographs at George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, where the two talked. Their conversation has been edited.
Q.
Tell me about your interest in Lewis Hine.
A.
I am fascinated by the role of the photograph in affecting social change. Hine was one of the first to do that in a systematic, politically informed way. I also just personally respond to the work. The more I looked at Hine, it became clear that while everyone knows two or three or five of his pictures, they have been taken out of context. They run the risk of being seen with a degree of sentimentality that Hine never intended.
There has been a lot of work done on Hine, but it has mainly been subject-orientated. It hasn’t dealt with his career as a whole, which is really very interesting. So there was a lot to sink my teeth into. I feel good when I see pictures by Lewis Hine and I feel good when I am working with that material. I genuinely think he was one of the good guys.
He became a photographer in order to further his political and social ends. It was only very, very late in his career that he began to understand himself as an artist and it was only very late in his career that the arts establishments paid any attention to him at all. Hine was not discovered truly until the 1930s. He was famous in the teens and ’20s, but not in art circles.
Eastman House has the contents of his house at the time of his death — negatives, prints, publications and correspondence. Because we have so much of the material, not just the greatest hits or just one element of the career, it seemed possible to do something comprehensive.
Lewis W. Hine, courtesy of George Eastman House
Q.
You came to Eastman House attracted by the Lewis Hine collection. What did you discover when you delved into his work?
A.
There was a much greater variety of work than most of us know. In his child labor work, most of us are familiar with the kids in the coal mine and the wan little girl standing in the mill. When he was working on child labor for the National Child Labor Committee, he covered 50,000 miles a year. He went as far west as Chicago and to Florida. It was fascinating to see how comprehensive he was.
Since our material is vintage material, there are sometimes these amazing annotations on the backs of these prints. I often say the back of a photo can tell you more than the front. In that period, he is really gathering evidence, and so the notations have the name of the child and the height of the child. He measured the height of his buttons on his vest. He always wore a suit and tie to the ground so that he could ascertain the heights of these little children by measuring them against the buttons on his jacket.
Obviously the employers of these children were not too pleased with a muckraking journalist visiting these factories. In many cases, he would sneak his way in. He was a skilled amateur actor and he would often pretend to be something other than he what he was.
There were photographs that surprised me. But what came to me from looking hard at him was a sense of a real personality, the sense of a real human being — almost a Horatio Alger character himself.
Q.
How so?
A.
He was from the Midwest. He was poor and hard-working. His father died when he was a teenager and he ended up being the sole support for his mother before he got an education. He had a lot of different jobs. He sold things door-to-door. He actually worked in a factory briefly, a furniture factory in Wisconsin.
He fell under the influence of a strong mentor, Frank Manny, who recognized him as a bright, promising boy and encouraged him to get an education. When Manny was hired as the head of the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York, he brought the young Lewis Hine with him to teach. He asked him to take up photography so that the activities of the school could be documented.
There is evidence that it was Frank Manny who said, “Let’s go to Ellis Island and photograph immigrants.” I find it fascinating that the rhetoric around immigration in 1900 is so familiar to us today. It was: “These people aren’t like us. They don’t speak English, they have different customs and religions, and they’re going to destroy the fabric of America.”
Hine was a genuine progressive. His letters are full of puns and wordplay and clever jokes. You get a sense of a clever guy who comes to the big city and feels his way. He put a human face on these people in a way that really made a difference. I think in doing that, he realized that photography would let him further his efforts for social change. He became a freelance photographer in 1910 but always considered himself an educator — someone who used photography and wasn’t in a classroom.
Q.
What did you find out that you didn’t expect?
A.
Hine went to Europe at the very end of the First World War for the American Red Cross. He was there to document the efforts of Red Cross workers with refugees across Europe, but especially in Croatia, Bosnia, northern Greece, Macedonia and France.
You get this sense of a still-youngish man who is delighted by these new places. He is taking a lot of photographs that don’t tell you anything about the Red Cross. They tell you about an old lady with a great face holding a baby pig [Slide 13]. There is this sense of delight and wonder about being in a new culture. I see that as a real turning point for him.
Before his experience in Europe, his work mostly focuses on the negative: it’s child labor, it’s slum housing. He said, “I had to show the things that needed to be changed and I had to show the things that needed to be celebrated.” But until this trip to Europe, he focused on the things that needed to be changed.
When he comes back, he is definitely a changed person. The work becomes much more focused on positive aspects of labor. He is not opposed to labor. He thinks labor is enriching and the thing that connects us to the planet. He is opposed to child labor because he thinks it strips them of their natural childish gifts and enthusiasm and turns them into oxen too early.
The work he does after his World War I experience is really a celebration of labor, the powerhouse mechanic, the building of the Empire State Building , candy makers, wig makers, linotype operators. In a way, he reminds me of Walt Whitman. Hine was interested in everything and his work is enthusiastically encyclopedic in the way that Whitman’s poetry is. And very American.
Lewis W. Hine, courtesy of George Eastman House
Q.
And Hine started thinking of himself as more as an artist?
A.
There are photographs that are very romantic and pictorialist. He was certainly aware of painting and he talked about the influence of a Raphael Madonna on some of his “Madonna of the Tenement” pictures. It’s later, with “Men at Work,” that it seems quite clear — both from his writing and the work itself — that he is beginning to think of himself as a modernist artist.
One of the things that made him quite different from photographers of the time is that he insisted on a byline. He referred to his own photographs as “Hineographs” and expressed that they were different from other kinds of photographs. He insisted on keeping his negatives and he was basically attempting to use them as stock. He is a really interesting character.
He always had to make a living and he wasn’t very good at it. He died in poverty with his house foreclosed on and taking food from welfare. It’s really a very sad story.
Q.
Toward the end of his life, many of his concerns had been addressed. He was successful in bringing attention to a lot of these problems — and, as you said, the world had changed. There was less child labor.
A.
I would argue that what we have done in America is we’ve moved our child labor to Vietnam. But that’s another story entirely.
The world did change. Some of his photographs were used to persuade legislators to pass new laws. The milieu that Hine comes out of was called “social work” at the time but it was morphing into what we would now call “sociology.” In the 19th century, philanthropy had this kind of Lady Bountiful aspect to it — reaching a hand down to the poor; the worthy poor. Widows and orphans.
What changed around the time of the last century was the idea that social ills could be scientifically studied and that if you document these social ills, if you shone a light on them, they would go away. Now it can seem like a sad, pathetic belief.
One of the characteristics of Hine’s work is that he’s not seeing his subjects as victims. I just think he cared about people. We are taught you have to be very cautious about trying to infer the feelings of either the photographer or the subject by looking at an image. They can mislead. But I have looked at a lot of Lewis Hine photographs and I think he cares deeply and respectfully for the people he photographs. He says that at the end of the day, it’s about the people. He doesn’t mean the people, in a Marxist class sense; he means individual humans. And that’s something we can respond to.
Q.
What did you want to do with this exhibit?
A.
I wanted to do justice to the man. I’m pretty sure it’s the biggest exhibition of Lewis Hine photographs that’s ever been held. 213 objects and 179 photographs, and I think that’s necessary to show the breadth and depth of this image maker. The other thing we do is show a lot of ancillary material, trying to give context so people can recognize that the act of looking at a photograph in 1910 is different from looking at a photograph now.
One of my objectives has been to link us more directly with the international photographic community. This show is done by Eastman House in collaboration with the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation in Paris; the Mapfre Foundation and its exhibition space in Madrid; and Nederlands Fotomuseum, which is the National Museum of Photography in Rotterdam.
Lewis W. Hine, courtesy of George Eastman House
Follow Lens and James Estrin on Facebook. On Twitter, follow @nytimesphoto, @JamesEstrin and @RocEastmanHouse. |
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