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Sony has started rolling out the Android 5.1 Lollipop update for smartphone and tablet variants of the Xperia Z2 and the Xperia Z3.
According to the official post from Sony Mobile, the Xperia Z3 Xperia Z3 Compact, Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact, Xperia Z2 and Xperia Z2 Tablet are the first batch of devices to receive the Android 5.1 Lollipop update. The Japanese tech giant has tweaked the Android 5.1 update to include features of its own software.
Sony Mobile states that with new customization options, users will have more control over notifications and volume. The update comes with support for LinkedIn integration that will allow users to easily synchronize contacts from the social networking site with the calendar.
After the update, the camera app will function faster and it will be able to shoot accurate images through the Superior Auto Mode, irrespective of unfriendly shooting conditions. The Xperia in Business feature has been added to provide improved enterprise support to the user. The update also comes with SmartWear integration that will make it possible for users to use the SmartWatch 3 like a remote shutter button for snapping selfies easily.
The owners of the Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z2 smartphones and tablets will soon see a notification on the arrival of Android 5.1 Lollipop OTA update. If the notification does not show up, users will have to manually check the availability of the update. This can be done by going to Menu > Settings > About device > Software update > Update.
Sony Mobile’s blog post has not revealed the specific dates on the arrival of the update for users of aforementioned devices in different countries. The arrival of Android 5.1 Lollipop will vary across different carriers and regions.
The second batch of Xperia devices that are soon to get the update are the Xperia T2 Ultra and the Xperia C3. The update will then hit all the devices that belong to the Xperia Z series. Finally, it will also arrive for the Xperia M2 and the Xperia M2 Aqua
Have you updated your Xperia Z3 or Z2 to Android 5.1? Do let us know on the performance of the device after installing it. |
One of my very first gigs when I started at PC Pro in 2007 was to interview Tristan Nitot, the president of Mozilla Europe. He was an affable chap, full of engaging answers to questions he’d no doubt heard a hundred times before. The interview practically wrote itself – though for the sake of appearances I held the pen.
Safari for Windows had just been released and I asked Tristan what he thought of it. “I want Safari to have a significant market share. We want choice, we want innovation, as a company that's what we stand for,” he told me.
I’ll be honest, at that moment Tristan was the software world’s Tom Jones and my knickers were mid-flight. Three years later and things are a little different. These days, standing for choice and innovation in the browser market is a bit like saying you stand for air and the colour blue. We have the browser ballot – Opera’s work, but Mozilla celebrated loudest – bookmark syncing across multiple machines, private browsing, hardware acceleration. The list goes on.
Standing for choice and innovation in the browser market is a bit like saying you stand for air and the colour blue
Internet Explorer is learning how to play nice with others, Safari gets prettier every iteration, Opera’s on feature steroids and Chrome goes whoosh. Do we still need Mozilla keeping everybody else honest? If not, then what is it that Firefox still offers? What is the outstanding feature? Add-ons are nice – I don’t use any because Chrome comes with all the ones I need preinstalled – but selling your browser on them, as Mozilla seems to be, is riskier than inviting Wayne Rooney to your nan’s birthday party.
Like the catalyst in a science experiment, I’m beginning to wonder if Firefox’s greatest contribution to browsers is not its continued existence, but that it existed at all. Put another way: Mozilla has won all its battles, is it time the company picked a new war?
My lord, if looks could kill I’d be stabbed, shot and dropped off a bridge by now. But bear with me, ferocious internet creature filled with malice and wrath. I’m not suggesting Mozilla give up on Firefox, or that the company’s rubbish at creating browsers. It’s not. However, given the resources available to rivals, and their renewed impetus, Mozilla’s beginning to look like a pantomime horse with a 100,000 people inside being asked to race in the Grand National.
Roaming troublemaker
I think Mozilla has a lot more to offer as a kind of roaming software troublemaker. The company has already proven itself brilliant at pulling a community together, offering it direction and spurring innovation in a lifeless market. Now that browsers are healthy, wouldn’t it be brilliant if Mozilla started a ruck elsewhere?
Now that browsers are healthy, wouldn't it be brilliant if Mozilla started a ruck elsewhere?
And in the finest traditions of “did you hear what that bloke just said about your mum” I’d like to suggest that it crash Microsoft’s cushy Office party. As it stands, Office 2010 and Office 2007 are brilliant, and all the rest are rubbish. I’m sure the community behind OpenOffice.org work very hard, but pretending the last seven years never happened is no way to make an office suite. Similarly, and I’m looking at you Google, pretending hard disks don’t exist isn’t exactly healthy, either.
In fact I’d rather carve words into my own flesh than ever use either again – a point rammed home every time to use Ubuntu for an extended period. (Just imagine how much more attractive Ubuntu 10.10 would be with a decent office suite pre-installed.)
This is a market that desperately needs somebody to be brave. Look at Scrivener on the Mac, an utterly brilliant piece of software chock full of ideas that deserve a bigger audience. I've written before about the implementation of tabbed documents in a word processor, and that’s only the beginning. There’s so many things that could be better.
I can feel the rope being slipped around my neck, but before you kick away the stool, give yourself over to wistfulness for just a moment. Imagine if Mozilla decided tomorrow to build an office suite. Imagine all those ideas. Imagine how brilliant that could be. Just imagine. Now imagine Firefox 4. Honestly, which one of those are you most excited by? |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Riley Dosh explains why she wants to defend her country
US President Donald Trump says transgender people cannot serve in "any capacity" in the military.
He tweeted that he had consulted with military experts and cited "tremendous medical costs and disruption".
The Obama administration decided last year to allow transgender people to serve openly in the military.
But in June, Defence Secretary James Mattis agreed to a six-month delay in the recruitment of transgender people.
How has Mr Trump justified his decision?
Image copyright Reuters
As is often the case, the announcement came in a series of tweets.
Mr Trump said: "After consultation with my Generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States Government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military.
"Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption that transgender in the military would entail."
But the measure will not go into effect immediately, as spokesperson Sarah Sanders told reporters at a White House press briefing.
The implementation policy has to be worked out, she said when asked if troops on battlefields would be immediately sent back to the United States.
This was "a military decision" said Mrs Sanders, adding that it is "not meant to be anything more than that".
'My stomach dropped': Transgender troops hit by ban
The secret life of a transgender airman
Why has the president decided on this now?
Anthony Zurcher, BBC North America Reporter
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Different stance - on the campaign trail last year
The timing of this transgender ban is almost as interesting as the move itself.
Why now? With the Trump administration being buffeted by the Jeff Sessions political death watch, the ongoing multi-prong investigation into the Trump campaign, the healthcare drama in the Senate and the impending Russian sanctions bill, perhaps the administration decided this was a good time to change the subject and rally conservative forces to his side.
Republicans have long used cultural issues as a wedge to divide Democrats and energise evangelicals. As one White House insider acknowledged, this is straight out of that playbook. While Mr Trump campaigned as sympathetic to LGBT rights, he needs the traditional religious conservatives to stay loyal to him now, more than ever.
Or perhaps, as Politico is reporting, the White House sought to resolve an intraparty dispute that threatened passage of a key military spending bill in the House of Representatives. That the president chose to do so suddenly, with little advanced notice, would not be out of the ordinary for this administration.
The president's action will create a furore among liberals and the media commentators whose disdain for the current administration is not a new development. This is a fight the White House will welcome.
What is the status of transgender service personnel?
The independent Rand Corporation estimated in 2016 that about 4,000 US active-duty and reserve service members are transgender, although some campaigners put the figure higher than 10,000.
Rand also predicted that the inclusion of transgender people in the military would cause a 0.13% increase in healthcare spending (approximately $8.4m).
A Military Times analysis found that the Department of Defense spends five times that figure just on erectile dysfunction drug Viagara alone.
The Obama administration's move to allow transgender people in the military to serve openly was announced in June 2016 by then Defence Secretary Ash Carter.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Being transgender in the US military - Jamie Ewing spoke to the BBC in 2016
The policy included a provision for the military to provide medical help for service members wanting to change gender.
Transgender people would be permitted to join the services, so long as they could demonstrate they had been stable in their new gender for at least 18 months.
This was meant to come into effect on 1 July 2017 but the Trump administration delayed it by a further six months. The Pentagon said the five branches of the military needed more time to "review their accession plans and provide input on the impact to the readiness and lethality of our forces".
While Mr Trump's decision concerns transgender military personnel, the US military's ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemen and women - known as "Don't ask don't tell" - was lifted in 2011.
Delays leave transgender military in limbo
UK chiefs praise transgender troops
What do critics of this say?
LGBTQ campaign group, GLAAD, called Mr Trump's move "a direct attack on transgender Americans".
Aaron Belkin, director of the Palm Centre, a leading think-tank which studies gender and sexuality in the military, told the BBC that Mr Trump's decision would force transgender troops to in effect live as gays and lesbians did under "Don't ask, don't tell".
Kristin Beck, a retired elite Navy SEAL, issued a challenge to President Trump in an interview with Business Insider: "Let's meet face to face and you tell me I'm not worthy."
She said that during her decorated military career, she had been "defending individual liberty".
"Being transgender doesn't affect anyone else," she said. "We are liberty's light. If you can't defend that for everyone that's an American citizen, that's not right."
Image copyright Twitter - MicahGrimes Image caption NBC's Micah Grimes tweeted this reaction
Former Defence Secretary Carter released a critical statement: "To choose service members on other grounds than military qualifications is social policy and has no place in our military. There are already transgender individuals who are serving capably and honourably."
Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Republican John McCain, said major policy announcements should not be made via Twitter and continued:
"The statement was unclear. The Department of Defense has already decided to allow currently-serving transgender individuals to stay in the military, and many are serving honorably today.
Any American who meets current medical and readiness standards should be allowed to continue serving."
Image copyright Twitter @xychelsea Image caption Chelsea Manning, a transgender former US soldier, tweeted her reaction to the news
Several British military generals have condemned Mr Trump's decision, including the commander of the UK Maritime Forces, Rear Admiral Alex Burton.
"As an @RoyalNavy_LGBT champion and senior warfighter I am so glad we are not going this way", he wrote on Twitter, later adding: "We have a justifiably rigorous selection process but it doesn't include discrimination and we're a better fighting force for it."
Trump revokes transgender toilet rules
What about those in favour?
Republican opponents of transgender people serving in the military include Vicky Hartzler, a congresswoman from Missouri, who wants transgender service members honourably discharged.
Some oppose the military having to bear medical costs associated with transgender recruits, such as gender reassignment.
Tony Perkins of the socially conservative Family Research council said: "Our troops shouldn't be forced to endure hours of transgender 'sensitivity' classes and politically correct distractions."
Trump supporter and political commentator Scott Presler is among those who disagree with the military carrying the cost of such interventions.
While disagreeing with the ban, he added that "generals know more about war than I do.
"I am cognisant that they understand what it takes to go to war... I don't think this is an attack on the LGBT community.
"I'm mixed, but I have confidence in the guidance that President Trump is receiving," he said. "I don't think for a second he's prejudiced." |
Articles and blog posts that attempt to answer this question appear on a regular basis. The explanation they provide for this phenomenon is usually an exercise in inanity of major proportions. Here is the most recent example:
The obvious question is why so few men are interested in dating women their own age. . . The reasons older men chase younger women have less to do with sex and everything to do with a profound desire to reassure ourselves that we’ve still got “it.” “It” isn’t just physical attractiveness; “it” is the whole masculine package of youth, vitality, and, above all else,possibility. It’s not that women our own age are less attractive, it’s that they lack the culturally-based power to reassure our fragile, aging egos that we are still hot and hip and filled with potential. Inspiring desire in women young enough to be our daughters becomes the most potent of all anti-aging remedies, particularly when we can show off our much younger dates to our peers.
Leave it to somebody born and raised in a Puritanical society to get into a rush to reassure everybody that relationships between men and women cannot possibly be based on anything related to human sexuality.
So let us cut through this pseudo-psychological blabber about peers and egos and look for the real reasons behind this phenomenon that Hugo Schwyzer, the author of this article, chose to ignore.
The sad truth about sexual desire is that, in terms of age, it does not develop equally in men and women. Men normally experience the peak of their sexuality in their twenties, at the latest. In the meanwhile, their 20-year-old female peers are not all that interested in sex. For a variety of cultural and physiological reasons, female sexuality awakens and reaches its peak much later. Forty and fifty-year old women are significantly more interested in sex than 20-year-olds.
Male sexuality, however, begins to fade in men’s late forties and fifties. The reasons for that are also socially constructed to a great degree, and we can discuss that later if people are interested. So where does a man go when he realizes that he cannot satisfy the sexual demands of his female peers? Obviously, he often turns to 20-year-old women who don’t need or want a lot of sex. Relationships with much younger women are simply a way for many men to conceal from themselves and women of their age the waning sexual potency they often experience as they move into their 50s and 60s.
P.S. I hope it’s clear from the post that I’m not talking about situations when a man falls in love with a woman who happens to be younger. I’m talking specifically about cases where a man chases after women (plural) and a defining criterion of his search for a partner is that the partner should be younger.
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A U.S. drone strike killed at least seven Islamic militants Wednesday in Yemen, security sources said.
The strikes hit two cars carrying armed individuals in al-Bayda province.
U.S. forces repeatedly have launched drone strikes and airstrikes in al-Bayda and southeastern Shabwa province, where dozens of al-Qaida and Islamic State members are thought to be based.
Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East.
Yemen's al-Qaida branch, Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), emerged in January 2009 and has claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks against Yemen's army and government institutions.
The AQAP- and IS-linked terrorists have taken advantage of the security vacuum to expand their influence and seize more territory in southern Yemen.
Security in Yemen has further deteriorated since 2015, when Iran-aligned Houthi forces loyal to Yemen's former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, began clashing with President Abd Rabu Mansour Hadi's Saudi-backed government.
More than 10,000 people have been killed in ground battles and airstrikes since then, many of them civilians. |
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VMware has recently released VMware vSphere APIs for I/O Filtering (VAIO), a handy document that highlights the VAIO I/O Filtering technology operational principles. Here, we shed light on them briefly and discuss how VAIO can be implemented in a production environment.
VAIO is a technology and an API providing the direct access to the virtual machines’ guest OS I/O Stream. VAIO is already employed in partner products for maintaining various tasks (i.e., caching write-back and write-through). VAIO is based on the Storage Policy Based Management framework, dedicated to managing virtual machines storages and set the storage rules.
Technically, this framework is implemented by VAIO filter driver that is installed on a VMware ESXi host as a VIB package. The filter eliminates the need for the dedicated software installation on the virtual machine guest OS.
Let’s take a look at the screenshot above which describes data transfer from a virtual machine to the physical storage device. According to the image, there are two VAIO-related components of data transfer. The first one, VAIO framework, works on VMkernel level. This component determines the filter policies. The second component, I/O Filter, represents the software working whithin the User World level of the ESXi host. This filter, once it has performed its function (i.e., data caching or replication), sends data to a physical storage device for its writing.
The architecture described above provides I/O Filter driver with an access to the I/O Stream without significant impact on the speed of SCSI commands execution. Additionally, the I/O Filter provides access to the I/O Stream for both writing (data transfer from the OS to the storage) and reading (when a storage acknowledges receipt of the data). This feature comes in handy in replication where it is essential to get acknowledgments for data storing to the disk.
By the way, SCSI commands get to the I/O Filter right after they pass SCSI-emulation layer, vSCSI. This feature makes VAIO compatible with any storage type: VMFS, NFS, SCSI, and vSAN. Commands interception before their sending to the network storage stack ensures data consistency and integrity.
After having a careful look at the architecture of I/O Stream, it becomes obvious that I/O Filter driver exists on the User World level, thus, the filter does not impact the ESXi server functioning. The main SCSI commands stack, which is located in the kernel, keeps on working even though VAIO components fail.
I/O Filter works on the basis of specific VM’s VMDK. This provides various features for Storage Policy Based Management framework that, in its turn, can be applied to specific virtual machines and services.
All the mentioned above VMware VAIO advantages make the framework suitable for accomplishing the following tasks:
Encryption enables the third-party software to encrypt and decipher the data streams from a virtual machine on the fly. As a result, the storage receives the already encrypted data. The inherent flexibility of VAIO enables the solution to process the data stream going from not only the entire virtual machine but also a single application.
enables the third-party software to encrypt and decipher the data streams from a virtual machine on the fly. As a result, the storage receives the already encrypted data. The inherent flexibility of VAIO enables the solution to process the data stream going from not only the entire virtual machine but also a single application. De-duplication is already employed in VMware Virtual SAN. Data that passes through the driver is deduplicated in real time and then sent to storage, allowing to reduce the occupied disk space. This technique is already available for VMware partners.
is already employed in VMware Virtual SAN. Data that passes through the driver is deduplicated in real time and then sent to storage, allowing to reduce the occupied disk space. This technique is already available for VMware partners. Tiering allows multi-level data storing based on its importance. Data is kept on storages with different availability and performance characteristics. VAIO enables to analyze data and determine its destination storage.
allows multi-level data storing based on its importance. Data is kept on storages with different availability and performance characteristics. VAIO enables to analyze data and determine its destination storage. Analytics enables to inspect data stream from a particular virtual machine directly and build different solutions including, for example, caching systems (i.e., such solutions as PrimaryIO which can be connected to the hypervisor directly). It also allows detecting data from particular applications in the stream or using write-back caching.
VAIO framework is compatible with VMware vSphere 6.0 Update 1 and higher supports vMotion and VMware DRS clusters. In order to enable live migration, VAIO should be available on the target host, while to support VMware DRS clusters the framework should be accessible to all hosts.
StarWind Virtual SAN eliminates any need for physical shared storage just by mirroring internal flash and storage resources between hypervisor servers. Furthermore, the solution can be run on the off-the-shelf hardware. Such design allows StarWind Virtual SAN to not only achieve high performance and efficient hardware utilization but also reduce operational and capital expenses. Learn more about ➡ StarWind Virtual SAN .
Let’s take a closer look at real-life VAIO implementation. To start working with VAIO, you should install I/O Filter as a VIB package that, in its turn, presents functioning of a partner’s product for VMware vSphere.
The filter is usually supplied with SPBM policy example (similar to the ones for vSAN and VVols). The policy can be assigned to virtual machines on the VMDK level.
This policy can be assigned during the virtual machine creation in the Select storage section as it is shown in the image below (SSD caching policy in this case):
The policy that comes with the filter usually includes Common Rule, the set of rules implementing Data Services (filter core functionality). Common Rules are set by adding an object in Storage Policy Components (Common Rules section).
Here, we can set either the Write Through or Write Back caching type in the Common Rules Section while creating a new Storage Policy:
By default, these components are installed together with the integral vSphere filters and other products, which, in their turn, supplement I/O Filters’ and components’ lists. Thankfully to the Storage Policy Components, new I/O Filter features can be included in any of the already assigned VM Storage Policies.
We find it pretty convenient because a virtual machine or VMDK can have different filters components added regardless of having only one storage policy assigned to them.
The list of I/O Filters from different vendors can be found in VMware Compatibility Guide tab on the following page: https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=vaio.
According to the image above, there are very few partners utilizing VAIO framework for their solutions so far. Mainly, the framework is applied for replication and caching. In the meantime, VMware promotes VAIO actively, hence, there may appear new I/O-Filters-based products for solving different tasks.
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I Hate the Sea and Everything in it, but I have a soft spot for Ferries (see the MS Tempelhof) and other obscure modes of transportation. When I heard that the BVG wanted to scuttle the obscurest ferry in all of Germany at the end of the year, I knew that I had to take a ride with the Paule III, Germany’s only rowboat ferry line.
The Ferry Line 24 operates on the Müggelspree between Spreewiesen and Rahnsdorf (Berlins most eastern district), and is the smallest of the BVGs six Ferry Lines. Not only is it the smallest ferry line, it is also Germany’s only rowboat ferry line. The origins of the rowboat go all the way back 1911, back when Rahnsdorf wasn’t even part of Berlin (it was incorporated to the Greater Berlin area in 1920), when Richard Hilliges set up the first ferry service.
Richard Hilliges was a trained hatmaker, but his father was a Ferryman in the Oderbruch region. Following in his footsteps, Richard Hiliges decided to set up his own ferry service (irregular at first and without a timetable) after more and more people kept on asking him how they could cross over to the other (river/lake) side.
Hilliges operated the Rowboat Service on his own and paddled people across himself until 1942, when he had to stop due to health reasons. His wife then took over the service for a few years. Since then several people have taken up the task of getting people across to the other side. Richard Hörnke took over from 1947 to 1978, from 1978 to 2000 Paul Rahn, and since 2000 Ronald Kebelmann has been taking care of the rowing business.
While the offical BVG line designation is F24, the ferry is known As Paule III. The boat is 3 meters long and can seat a maximum of 8 people (and it even transports bikes!) There is an official timetable, but when the ferryman spots someone standing on the pier on the other side, hell generally hop in his boat and make the journey across.
Despite providing the service for over 100 years, the BVG didn’t want to continue the service of the Paule III once the contract ran out at the end of 2013, which would also save the BVG €60,000 every year. Instead it wanted to integrate the service into the route of the F23 Ferry (operated by the Weißen Flotte Stralsund). This would mean have meant the death of another Berlin tradition, and had caused an uproar among the locals who were vehemently campaigning to keep the tradition alive. And they were successful – as of 2017, Paule III still continues to operate.
The Pier itself is spectacularly unspectacular regardless on which end you find yourself. A simple BVG Sign and Timetable, a Bench and a small hut for the Captain of the Paule III is all that you will find. If you are lucky and like fish, the fish vendor will have opened up his shop next the cafe and will sell you some smoked fish and eel. Be warned though – you will stink of smoked fish if you end up buying something.
When the ferryman spotted us waiting, he started rowing over with a huff and a puff and welcomed us aboard. Less than 2 minutes later we found ourselves on the other side, wondering what we were supposed to do there. The Ferryman took a 5 minute break and welcomed us aboard again and brought us back to our starting point. Exhilarating. We did feel somewhat bad for having made him row across just for us – but he seemed in good spirits. No harm, no foul.
Rahnsdorf is a picturesque fishing village, and while there isn’t tremendously much to see its worth passing by here. Take a ride with the historic ferry while you still can, have a quick glance in the small church and its graveyard and soak in the beauty of the place. The F24 runs (in theory) once an hour from 11am to 6pm and operates only during the Summer Season, from Good Friday until the 3rd of October. Seeing as its only 1 stop you can use a “Kurzstrecke” BVG Ticket (€1.70) which you can directly buy from the Ferryman.
For more Pictures of the Rowboat Ferry – check out the Flickr Album: Paule III
F24 – Paule III
Zur Fähre / Dorfstraße (depending on which end you want to start off with)
12559 Berlin Müggelheim
Operation Hours: 30th of March – 3rd October.
11AM – 6PM
Public Transport: To the Kruggasse Stop: Take the S3 to Rahnsdorf and then X69 Bus to Odernheimer straße. From there its just a 10 minute walk to the pier.
Besten Dank an Ralf Drescher vom Heimatverein Köpenick e.V. für die Archiv Fotos |
Note: The following contains “spoilers” for the novel A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. Some of these spoilers are based on details that did not make it into the HBO television show (possible not yet, possibly not ever). However, there are no spoilers for Martin’s subsequent novels in his A Song of Ice and Fire series. There is also a lot of information about The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway, but that book came out a long time ago.
If you are not familiar with The Sun Also Rises, the narrator is Jake Barnes, an impotent American expatriate living in Paris in the 1920s. Jake Barnes is, for our purposes, both the Ned Stark and Jon Snow of his story. Like Ned Stark, he holds unfortunate secrets, and like Jon Snow, he is held back by forces beyond his power.
What Hemingway does in TSAR is something that Martin does in A Game of Thrones: he gives us unclear inner monologues, in which a truth is hinted but not revealed. In TSAR, we get it was a rotten way to be wounded and a flashback scene in which a commanding officer assures Jake that he gave more than his life, but without ever specifying what exactly it was that he gave. As the novel goes on, and if you read the Wikipedia page or discuss it in class (or, sometimes, if you just read the back cover), you realize that Jake suffered a wound that resulted in impotence. The details are unclear. Is he a eunuch? Is he simply impotent? What exactly happened? This stuff is never explained, but there is one thing everyone can agree on: there is no other explanation for the novel, and a bunch of those scenes, other than Jake not being at 100% as far as his genitalia is concerned. But that Hemingway decided to just allude to this as heavily as possible without every actually saying it.
In AGOT, we watch Ned fever-dream about his sister dying in “a bed of blood and roses” while not explaining how she died, why, or, really, anything, other than that she repeatedly said promise me, Ned, on her way out. I will not exhaustively explain the R+L=J theory, aka that Ned Stark’s supposed bastard son is actually his nephew, born of a love affair (and likely secret polygamous marriage) between Rhaegar Targaryen (the son of the Mad King, killed by Robert during Robert’s Rebellion) and Lyanna Stark, the sister of Ned. If you need more explanations of R+L=J, some good ones can be found here and here and here.
The evidence is not only abundant, but there is no other explanation. Sure, there are other explanations for Jon Snow’s mother, based on what we saw in the television series, and based on a very simplistic reading of A Game of Thrones. But read Ned’s chapters in AGOT: there is no other explanation for his confusing inner monologues, including why there were three King’s Guards at the Tower of Joy, what his sister died of, etc. And he has a promise me, Ned moment in every chapter, up until that part where he gets decapitated.
What did he promise? What could he have promised? The only answer is that he said yes, I promise, I will protect your infant son. I will raise him as my own.
Of course, nothing I had said so far is new. It’s been rehashed and repeated across the internet for nearly two decades.
What this comes down to is a question. The question is not who is the mother of Jon Snow but rather should we consider A Song of Ice and Fire to be literature? If the answer is yes, it is literature, then Martin should never “reveal” the true identity of Jon Snow’s mother. Why? Because he already has. He has to give his readers enough credit to read between the lines, to discuss his work, and to settle on the only possible (and obvious) explanation to Ned’s inner monologues, Jon’s lineage, and what was promised to Lyanna.
If the answer is no, it is not literature, then get ready for the crazy twist when all is revealed at the end of the sixth book. If Martin decides to go the route of The Chapter Where Exposition Finally Explains What the Deal is With Jon’s Mom, he is relegating his novels to the same territory as Dan Brown and The Sixth Sense.
Yes, R+L=J is a theory. That’s exactly what it is. A theory, in the same realm as the theories of gravity and evolution. It is a theory, but it is also canon. For it to be revealed within the text, (or without, as your current blogging author also believe strongly in Death of the Author), is to weaken every other aspect of Martin’s epic series.
If he chooses to take the high road, the road of Hemingway and Jake Barnes, then it is on him to never reveal Jon Snow’s parentage. Why? Because he already has, just as Hemingway revealed Jake Barnes’s impotency. Jon Snow’s parentage should as be like his name and his wolf: white, like a hill that looks like an elephant.
EDIT: One question that was asked by a friend (and fellow ASOIAF fan) was “what is your definition of literature”? In this case, the easiest way to explain it is that Literature: Books:: Film: Movies. If Martin decides to take path described above, the one he should not travel, he is taking a hacky, cheap, unfortunate route.
Final Note: This may become very relevant, as the news has it that season five will contain flashbacks. Let’s hope they keep the flashbacks tasteful and don’t go revealing any twists.
Interested in more thoughts on this? Try The Snow Also Rises 2: Jon Snows of Kilimanjaro
Enjoy this? Check out Hemingway Against the Oxford Comma or Why Bale Should Be in the Fast Five Sequel
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Bryan Cranston denies Man of Steel 2 Rumors. Following the announcement that Ben Affleck will be the next Bruce Willis / Batman in Superman vs. Batman (2015), rumors began about Lex Luthor and Bryan Cranston. The flames were fanned by a fan trailer for the upcoming sequel film depicting the actor as Lex Luthor. Cranston recently announced that all the conjecture is false.
From a recent interview:
Asked whether there was truth to the claims he had signed up for as many as six DC movies, Cranston replied: “Six? This is all news to me. I think that maybe my name is bandied about because I’m known to be bald. ‘What bald guy can we get?’ The reality is they can take any actor and shave his head or put a bald cap on him.”
If Lex Luthor is in the film, that role has yet to be cast. Cranston might still portray the bald bad guy.
Batman vs. Superman stars Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Diane Lane, and Laurence Fishburne.
Watch the Superman vs. Batman fan-made movie trailer and leave your thoughts on it and Bryan Cranston’s Lex Luthor denial below in the comments section. For more Superman vs. Batman photos, videos, and information, visit our Man of Steel Page, subscribe to us by Email, “follow” us on Twitter, Tumblr, or “like” us on Facebook. Man of Steel 2 will be released in US theater through Warner Bros. on July 17, 2015.
Source: Imdb, Boston, Uk.movies.yahoo |
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The search for new directions for Israel and Palestine is on. Apartheid? One state? Israeli unilateral withdrawal? Tortuous negotiations? The reality is that it may be time to look at things in a new way in Israel and Palestine: two states, and one (necessary) extra step.
The lessons for the future may come from an unusual place: current reality. The "facts on the ground" in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (over half a million settlers), the impossible Israeli political system, the deep demands of the Palestinians, and the unravelling of the Arab world may all have something to tell us.
Putting it simply, matters are much more "mixed up" today in the Middle East than was originally intended by the nation-state arrangements of the early 20th century. Dysfunctions plague the whole Levant: minority/majority group conflicts, the rush for central power and control, and oppression of one ethnicity by another.
"Carving up the land" through borders, and the consequent ardent defence of those borders, has been the answer of choice until now. But, in all these invented states we see ethnic conflict, oppression, and state systems that are "bipolar": either too weak, or too strong - all symptoms that something is fundamentally wrong with the inherited structures.
In the case of Mandate Palestine, the division into two states was never completed and, instead, the matter settled into chronic conflict. However, this political geography suffers from similar afflictions as its neighbours, as do the negotiations to settle the matter once and for all.
Brain-numbing puzzles
Many are coming to the realisation that dismantling Jewish settlements is too gigantesque a task; fantasies of transferring the Palestinians, an impossibility; Jerusalem, practically, if not politically, indivisible; and the refugees - well, no one quite knows what to do with the refugees. Yet, despite these brain-numbing puzzles, the two sides are, ultimately and against all wishes, going to have to find a way to live together.
Imagine if Israelis and Palestinians don't aim only for the very difficult two states, or the turmoil of one state, but for a confederation of some kind, where the two peoples live in different rooms, but under one roof.
One idea that one hears increasingly about is the "one-state" solution based on equal rights for all. Except for the rights, the current condition is already that problem (not solution) for all to see. Israel is the effective sovereign from the sea to the river and the Palestinian Authority is highly circumscribed. It takes little more than a sleight of hand to provide a minimum of control for Palestinians, and rationalise and mitigate the occupation.
The idea of one state also ignores the reality that Israeli Jews will be the most powerful in this state for a long time to come, and the fight for Palestinian rights, long and weary. Furthermore, many Israelis want nothing to do with an answer that ultimately threatens Jewish demography.
As a result, both polities are still mostly contemplating the elusive two-state solution. Palestinians need independence, and Israelis, security and a Jewish state. Therefore, the separation that two states provide seems necessary. However, achieving two states may need one further step from the start.
Imagine if Israelis and Palestinians don't aim only for the very difficult two states, or the turmoil of one state, but for a confederation of some kind, where the two peoples live in different rooms, but under one roof. This is not a new idea, forms of federation or confederation have been advocated before, including in the excellent article by Chibli Mallat, where none other than David Ben Gurion is quoted as saying in 1930, "The regime [Palestine] must foster the rapprochement, accord and cooperation of the Jewish people and the Arabs in Palestine… [in] a federal state, comprising an alliance of cantons [autonomous districts], some with Jews in the majority, and some with Arabs."
It may be time to begin to take this idea more seriously.
Gaddafi's proposal?
A confederation would involve the two states, Israel and Palestine, living under one agreed-upon common political structure: Israel-Palestine (not the one-state Israetine that the late Muammar Gaddafi once proposed in The New York Times). This idea would involve a shared economic zone, and require an open border to work properly. But, it also provides each people with key needs met, independence for the Palestinians, and preservation of a Jewish state for Israelis. Some may reflexively balk at this "extra step", but there is another silver lining: It also helps resolve some of the toughest issues in the two-state negotiations.
Palestinian refugees can have the right of return to the Israeli-Palestinian confederation while residing in the Palestinian state. Jewish settlers in the West Bank would have the option of being resident in the Palestinian side of the confederation, given they are already there. Political franchise would be separate: Israelis vote in Israel and Palestinians in Palestine, but there would be free movement between the two sides of the entity. This would encourage economic links, but also free refugees to visit their ancestral homes, settlers to go to Israel fluidly, and Palestinians today blocked by the wall to go to the beach that is only 40km away.
Jerusalem can be an open undivided city, with the unique status of belonging to both the Israeli and the Palestinian portions of the confederation, and the capital of both. All the security arrangements being mooted today for the city under a two state solution, such as a hard border between the highly intertwined Jewish and Arab neighbourhoods, or a ring of checkpoints around the whole city, would be unnecessary. The division of powers between the states and the confederal structure will be complex, but maybe not as difficult as today's endless arguments over territorial sovereignty.
Given current political fixations, the two sides can phase the process and build trust: a) agree on the borders of two states, or even a partial solution to calm the situation, meet immediate needs and demonstrate progress, b) proceed to the confederative dimensions. Why not stop at two states in that case?
Ultimate goal of confederation
The two-state deal may not be agreed to properly and fully without the ultimate goal of confederation. Without the overarching vision, the agreement on the toughest issues, Jerusalem, the refugees and settlements, will remain partial and problematic. If this idea were ever to occur, it may also be that Jordan would be keen to join this potential economic and cultural powerhouse with Jerusalem as its common centre.
The time is right so start to think forward along these lines because it may be the only sustainable answer for the 70-year-old quandary. Those who shirk at the notion should compare it with the other available options: apartheid state, conflict, opprobrium, occupation and even war.
Palestinians would likely be more open to the idea, and Israelis less so, fearing for their security and dissolution in a lake of local Arabs. But, the confederation will permit Israelis to preserve their state through a separate political franchise and control over residency, while Palestinians' political and economic needs will be met, which will mean the end of conflict.
The vestiges of Sykes-Picot are withering in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq. The classic two state negotiations are as stale as dry bread, and new arrangements will have to be found. Instead of being the problem par excellence, the Israelis and Palestinians can transform themselves into a paragon for others, using what is now their terrible problem for common benefit. The idea may even spur Lebanese, Syrians and Iraqis to seek innovative solutions of their own.
In the future, Israel and Palestine will most likely drift into this space of "living together" anyway. The only question is whether they will do so half asleep and resistant to the idea, botching the moves and violently bumping into each other along the way, or through a conscious and bold move into their inevitable future. It is time to consider the benefits of an Israeli-Palestinian confederation.
John Bell is Director of the Middle East Programme at the Toledo International Centre for Peace in Madrid. He is a former United Nations and Canadian diplomat, and served as Political Adviser to the Personal Representative of the UN Secretary-General for southern Lebanon and adviser to the Canadian Government during the Iraq crisis in 2002-03. |
Dive Brief:
Anchorage, AK, lawmakers have proposed a package of land use ordinances that will update the city's recently adopted regulations in an attempt to clarify existing laws and spur redevelopment in the city, the Alaska Dispatch News reported.
Developers and architects have complained, the News reported, that the recent changes to regulations concerning new apartments, townhouses and condos are too burdensome and expensive.
The updated regulations would allow apartment buildings up to 70 ft, change a rule that limits construction of tall buildings next to shorter ones and ease building parking and landscaping requirements.
Dive Insight:
Not everyone in Anchorage is on board with the updated regulations, and their gripe is one that might only occur to someone living in Alaska. Anchorage residents receive, on average, about seven hours of sun a day during the winter months, so the prospect of a building blocking that precious commodity has some residents concerned.
"It's premature to put six-story buildings in two-story residential neighborhoods," Cheryl Richardson, director of the Anchorage Citizens Coalition, told the News.
Nevertheless, most developers support the changes, and city officials are excited about the development they could bring.
In a statement introducing the ordinance last month Mayor Ethan Berkowitz said, "The proposed ordinance provides clarity and certainty for builders, while maintaining the standards that make our neighborhoods great places to live." |
The best thing to do is never to form bad habits in the first place. However if you didn't have any bad habits, you wouldn't be reading this blog post. Here's what has worked for me.
Make a Note of It
One of my bad habits was using the arrow keys for navigation in emacs. It's inefficient. Emacs already has keybindings for next / previous and back / forward -- and I don't have to pick up my hands for those. The first thing I did was start keeping a short list of bad emacs habits.
Don't think about fixing every bad habit immediately. Just note them and move on with real work. These also don't have to be bad habits per say. They can be inefficiencies as well. Is there a better way to do that thing you do all the time, but you've been putting off putting in the time to build it?
Fix One Bad Habit
After years of using the arrow keys in emacs, I decided it was time for that to stop. Because my emacs config is versioned. I can see that I decided to stop on Fri Sep 16 10:53:49 2011 -0400 . Work on fixing this one habit until its completely fixed. My fix was pretty simple.
commit 11dce2502c111ff9ae73f95dde89f27d0f84416a Author: Eric Himmelreich <[email protected]> Date: Fri Sep 16 10:53:49 2011 -0400 break arrow keys habit, I already know the emacs bindings for moving Modified eric/bindings.el diff --git a/eric/bindings.el b/eric/bindings.el index 9915c7e..bb9d4fc 100644 --- a/eric/bindings.el +++ b/eric/bindings.el @@ -8,3 +8,9 @@ (global-set-key (kbd "C-w") 'backward-kill-word) (global-set-key (kbd "C-x C-k") 'kill-region) + +;; stop using the arrow keys +(global-unset-key [left]) +(global-unset-key [up]) +(global-unset-key [right]) +(global-unset-key [down]) [back]
Unbind the arrow keys and it becomes pretty tough to use them. I don't use the arrow keys any more. Maybe your fix is more complicated. Maybe it's writing an emacs macro for something you do frequently.
Schedule Time for This
Its a bad idea to try to fix emacs problems while on a tight deadline for a project. However you will find yourself with a spare 30 minutes or an hour here and there. Make that your emacs improvement time.
Almost a year ago I found myself with an ever growing emacs problem. My config files had grown out of control. They were a huge mess and impossible to manage. Even though I was using version control my config still had lots of local changes and files that weren't tracked at all. And my github repo was never up to date. I was in need of a fresh emacs config. I needed organization and simplicity.
When would I ever have time to rewrite my entire emacs config? |
The NYPD shot and killed a CD vendor in Times Square this morning who was not only scamming tourists, but also packing a Mac-10, for chrissake. The reaction of tourists: Awesome!
The 25 year-old victim was hanging around Times Square, who "would approach the tourists, ask them their names, write their names on the CDs and then demand payment of $10." (Tourists: "Fuck are you fucking kidding me? Fuck away from me with that" is the proper response in this situation). Cops chased the guy, and whoa, he whipped out a god damn Mac-10 and started shooting, and then got shot to death.
Emer Rooney, 33, a visitor from Ireland on the last day of a trip to New York, walked with a friend from a nearby hotel to take pictures of the scene...She cited the shooting, in fact, as one of the more exciting moments of her trip, including recovering lost luggage at the Port Authority Bus Terminal and getting tickets to the musical "Wicked."
So all things considered here, most people in New York City still favor robbing tourists. Give em the memory of a lifetime! |
GNYTA
A Taxi of Tomorrow glass skyroof shattered on Monday night, sending shards of glass onto the passengers inside of it.
The Observer got a copy of an email from a Greater New York Taxi Association executive to Deputy TLC Commissioner Raymond Scanlon, which describes the incident:
“According to the driver, he heard a cracking noise - shortly thereafter two of the three passengers started complaining that glass was falling onto them from the roof of the car. The third passenger, a small child, was terrified. Fortunately and amazingly, no one was seriously injured.” The vehicle had been serviced by Nissan staff that same morning. No issues were found at that time.
The Greater New York Taxi Association (GNYTA) has been a major opponent of the Taxi Of Tomorrow program—Nissan won a 10-year contract with the city worth an estimated $1 billion to produce redesigned city taxis—filing three different lawsuits against the Taxi of Tomorrow program and successfully delaying production (which was supposed to have started in 2012).
GNYTA director Ethan Gerber railed against the glass ceilings to The Observer: "It was entirely foreseeable that putting glass roofs on cabs would put passengers and drivers at risk...Glass roofs are absurd in these conditions. Taxis are not tour busses. They are essential transportation that millions of New Yorkers rely on every day to get to where they need to go."
This isn't the only functionality problem to face the program: Nissan has been roundly criticized for not making the cabs more wheelchair-friendly, which led to Mayor de Blasio proposing a 30-cent taxi surcharge to help fund a smaller line of new handicap-friendly cabs.
Update: You can read the full email from Gerber to TLC Deputy Commissioner Raymond Scanlon below:
Dear Deputy Commissioner Scanlon: I’m writing to you in your capacity as head of the Safety & Emissions division of the Uniform Service Bureau. As I informed Chairperson Yoshi yesterday, there is an extremely troubling , dangerous and urgent situation presented by the Nissan NV200 - the TLC mandated “taxi of tomorrow”. Monday night, a glass panoramic roof on one of the vehicles began raining glass shards on passengers heads and ultimately collapsed.
Our investigation of this matter shows the following: this vehicle, (Medallion 2H47) is one of the test Nissan NV200 that Nissan is monitoring at the 521 West 21st Street, Inc. garage. It is closely monitored by Nissan - indeed, I am informed by the chief mechanic of the garage that Nissan engineers or representatives had recently examined the vehicle and were the last people to be involved in servicing it - indeed they did so that very day. The vehicle was driven by a TLC licensed driver, Mr. Pereira. According to the driver, he heard a cracking noise - shortly thereafter two of the three passengers started complaining that glass was falling from the roof of the car. The third passenger, a small child, was terrified. Fortunately and amazingly, no one was seriously injured. As you can see from the attached photographs it resulted in almost total collapse raining dangerous shards onto the passenger seats.
As you will recall, I and others predicted that the panoramic roof would present such issues. As a tort defense lawyer who has handled thousands of automobile cases, I was particularly concerned that the wear and tear on New York City Streets would pose problems with the integrity of a glass ceiling above passengers heads. These vehicles were mandated without a pilot program or proof that they would withstand the harsh New York City conditions, Now it appears that this fear is a reality that endangers the lives of drivers and passengers. This situation demands immediate remedy before a passenger or driver is seriously injured or killed.
I read that just this week both Nissan and Honda recalled many thousands of vehicles for faulty airbags - a problem that has resulted in deaths and which became increasingly apparent and catastrophic over several years. No passenger should have to die before the TLC takes action. This urgent situation must be addressed now. The Nissan NV200 cannot be allowed on the streets with glass roofs that can fall on passengers. It is beyond a safety issue - it is a moral issue. We cannot allow our drivers and passengers to be at risk or wait until a tragedy to take action.
As a fellow attorney, I know that the TLC has a very difficult situation here - having executed ten year agreements with Nissan before the vehicle was properly vetted. I know you will agree, however, that safety of passengers and drivers must trump that difficulty. |
The UCI responded Sunday to an investigation by a French television programme and an Italian newspaper that suggested mechanical doping is taking place in the professional peloton and the UCI checks are not reliable. Related Articles Cookson to mechanical dopers: We will find you
Van den Driessche stops defence against mechanical doping charge
UCI check ten teams for mechanical doping at Paris-Roubaix
Mechanical doping used in Strade Bianche and Coppi e Bartali, claims investigation
Bugno calls on UCI to use heat cameras to detect mechanical doping
In a statement sent Cyclingnews via email Sunday evening, the governing body said it is confident it currently uses a method of detection that is "extremely efficient."
"The UCI has been testing for technological fraud for many years, and with the objective of increasing the efficiency of these tests, we have been trialling new methods of detection over the last year," the UCI said.
"We have looked at thermal imaging, x-ray and ultrasonic testing but by far the most cost effective, reliable and accurate method has proved to be magnetic resonance testing using software we have created in partnership with a company of specialist developers. The scanning is done with a tablet and enables an operator to test the frame and wheels of a bike in less than a minute."
The magnetic resonance testing was used to detect a hidden motor at the UCI Cyclo-cross World Championships in January at Heusden Zolder, where the UCI says it tested more than 100 bikes.
"We have tested bikes at many races this year (for example 216 at Tour of Flanders, 224 at Paris-Roubaix) and will continue to test heavily in all disciplines throughout the year. Co-operation from teams and riders as we have deployed these extensive tests has been excellent."
In a report broadcast Sunday evening on France's Stade 2 and published earlier in the day in the Corriere della Sera newspaper in Italy, Thierry Vildary and Marco Bonarrigo said they used an expensive heat detector to spot heat produced by hidden motors at both the Strade Bianche race in Tuscany and the Coppi e Bartali stage race.
The two-page article in Corriere della Sera claimed that the heat detector – which was disguised to look a video camera, managed to spot seven different motors being used at Strade Bianche and Coppi e Bartali thanks to the thermal camera. Five were hidden in the seat tube, with two hidden in the rear hub and cassette. The newspaper report and Stade 2 video report did not name any riders involved.
Over the winter, the UCI introduced strict rules against what it describes as technological fraud and has carried out regular bike checks at the start of races using a blue tablet teslameter device that apparently detects magnetic fields.
However, the Corriere della Sera article describes the UCI tablet has "not very reliable".
The UCI disagreed with that claim, however, saying "we are confident that we now have a method of detection that is extremely efficient and easy to deploy." |
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent the views of Townhall.com.
Enough is enough. It's epidemic. It's dangerous. And the time has come to demand its end.
In the aftermath of the horrific massacre in Las Vegas, America needs fallacy control. Yes, we must declare war on fallaciousness. Now more than ever, the nation is suffering from an outbreak of illogical thinking. In response to senseless violence, clearheaded citizens deserve a safe space from the 24/7 barrage of rhetorical nonsense. Let's break down the collective cognitive breakdown.
Argumentum ad celebritum. Empty talking points don't become persuasive arguments when uttered by Hollywood stars. But in the bizarre land of the celebrity cult, late-night comedian Jimmy Kimmel has been suddenly anointed "America's conscience" and "voice of reason."
Kimmel railed "intensely" on TV Monday night against politicians doing "nothing" to stop mass gun violence. Sobbing and emotional, he insisted, "there's a lot of things we can do about it." Yet, Kimmel acknowledged that Mandalay Bay gunman Stephen Paddock had passed multiple, mandated background checks and had no criminal history. Moreover, Paddock bought his guns legally from Nevada and Utah gun shops subject to a thicket of local, state and federal rules -- and reportedly carried 23 of his weapons into a casino/hotel that already operates as a gun-free zone.
Federal studies show that a measly 1 to 3 percent of all guns are purchased at gun shows, but that didn't stop Kimmel from tossing around non sequiturs attacking the "gun show loophole." It's a mythical exemption in federal law for private weapons sales at gun shows or online intended to drum up hysteria about unregulated gun sales. In reality, firearms purchased through federally licensed firearms dealers at gun shops, shows, garage sales or anywhere else are subject to all the usual checks and restrictions. Only a narrow category of same-state transactions between private individuals not engaged in the commercial business of selling firearms (family members or collectors, for example) are unaffected by those regulations.
There is zero empirical evidence that banning these types of transactions would do anything to prevent gun crimes or mass shootings. But who needs evidence when Jimmy Kimmel is bawling on stage "intensely"? The tears of a clown outweigh the sobriety of facts.
Argumentum ad populum and argumentum ad hashtag. Actor Billy Baldwin unloaded a fallacy two-fer with his assertion that "the overwhelming majority of Dems, Reps & NRA members endorse #GunSafety," so "how can we let the #NRA hold us hostage like this? #NRATerrorists." Claiming that an "overwhelming majority" of people agree with you doesn't make your argument sound. Nor does citing polls showing support for "gun show loopholes" that those surveyed don't fully understand. Nor does attacking the character of your political opponents and hashtag-smearing them as "NRATerrorists" for holding political viewpoints different than your own.
Straw men and red herrings. Grossly oversimplifying support of ineffective or superfluous gun control measures as "#GunSafety" allows celebrities, politicians and activists to prop up their favorite hollow debating tactic: asserting that gun owners, NRA members, and Republicans don't care about gun safety and want more innocent people to die.
Democrat Rep. Ted Lieu illustrated a similar diversionary tactic by waving the red herring of a "gun silencer bill" and demanding that GOP "COWARDS" vote against deregulating such suppressors. Hillary Clinton also demagogued the issue, ghoulishly tweeting: "Imagine the deaths if the shooter had a silencer, which the NRA wants to make easier to get." Her running mate and Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine parroted the propaganda, claiming that Paddock "was only stopped because he didn't have a silencer on his firearm, and the sound drew people to the place where he was ultimately stopped."
Police, however, took 72 minutes to locate Paddock; it was the sound of hotel fire alarms set off by all the gun smoke that led them to the shooter. But let's not let pesky facts in the way.
Think of the children. Invoking kids to support one's public policy preferences is not an argument. It's a timeworn appeal to emotion. Without it, however, gun control advocates are all out of ammunition.
"We as a society owe it to our children" to pass "common sense" gun control, New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton pleaded.
"Thoughts & prayers are NOT enough. Not when more moms & dads will bury kids this week, & more sons & daughters will grow up without parents," Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., fumed on Twitter.
And actor Boris Kodjoe tweeted: "My 10 year old asked me how the shooter was able to get his machine gun. I told him that pretty much anyone in the US can. 'But why daddy'?"
Too bad Kodjoe's kid will never know that daddy didn't tell him the truth about fully automatic firearms (aka "machine guns"), which have been effectively banned from private civilian ownership in the U.S. as a result of federal gun legislation dating back to 1934. Nor will the children of the "Think about the children!" brigade be taught the truth about defensive gun use or Second Amendment history and jurisprudence.
We owe our children critical thinking skills and evidence-based public policy, not knee-jerk slogans and tear-jerking treacle. |
Do you, like much of the Internet, turn to Imgur for your one-off image hosting needs? Want the features that come with an Imgur Pro account, but don’t want to… you know, pay for it?
Good news! Imgur Pro doesn’t exist anymore. The company has ditched the $3 per month (or $24 per year if you pay in advance) subscription offering, and opened up (most of) the Pro-only features to all.
The not-so-good news: if you were paying for Imgur Pro to support the company without having to look at ads… yeah, that’s not an option anymore. The site is now fully ad-supported, regardless of how much money you’re willing to throw at the screen.
They’re also killing off at least one feature all together.
Here’s what’s changing:
Free accounts were previously limited to 225 images at a time; after that, your oldest photos would disappear. All accounts can now store unlimited images.
Everyone gets access to imgur’s analytics tools, which show how many people have viewed your image over time and where they’re coming from
Everyone will see ads.
Pro users were able to host images up to 10MB in filesize before Imgur would compress them down to something more manageable; free users, meanwhile, were capped at 5MB. Now everyone is capped at 5MB. (The exception here is animated GIFs; those can be up to 200MB.)
If you purchased an account in the last 30 days, you should receive a refund from the company automatically.
Some once-Pro users are complaining about the lack of an ad-free option, and the company says they’ll “take [that] feedback into account” — which, of course, tends to be the nice way of saying “We’re probably not going to do that.” |
ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Yes, I am mad as hell again. Wall Street's soulless, immoral, greedy bankers really believe that the vast majority of America's 95 million investors are not only "predictably irrational" but "stupid," as J.P. Morgan Chase's chief investment officer put it in Forbes a while back.
Worse, Main Street investors are losers for continuing to trust Wall Street after they lost 20% of our retirement money the last decade. Now, worst of all, Wall Street's traders have profiled Main Street investors in their algorithms: Yes, investors are "predictably stupid losers," what Vegas croupiers call a mark, a dumb gambler that can be easily conned out of his money.
Why so blunt? Listen: Recently I explained why the Wall Street banks must kill financial reform, to preserve their multibillion dollar bonus pool. One reader commented: "I worked at the Bear Sterns ... every word written here is true. Fact is, bankers regard themselves as wolves and the public as prey, and speak about it openly, among themselves." Then he added a sucker punch: "What is extraordinary to me is how willingly the sheep submit to this."
Yes, folks, Wall Street is certain that America's 95 million investors are clueless sheep headed for the slaughterhouse.
But wait, that's not news. Twenty years ago former bond trader Michael Lewis' "Liar's Poker" described the insanity of our addiction to gambling in a few memorable lines: "Men on the trading floor may not have been to school but they have Ph.D.s in man's ignorance." They know that "in any market, as in any poker game, there is a fool. The astute investor Warren Buffett is fond of saying that any player unaware of the fool in the market probably is the fool in the market."
And as we now know, in the stock market the vast majority of America's 95 million investors are fools -- predictably stupid losers.
Lewis says traders instinctively know that "the larger the number of people" chasing a trend, "the easier it was for them to delude themselves that what they were doing must be smart. The first thing you learn on the trading floor is that when large numbers of people are after the same commodity, be it a stock, a bond, or a job, the commodity quickly becomes overvalued," making it easy for traders to generate hundred-million-dollar-profit days.
Too blunt? Sorry but that's exactly how Wall Street sees you
Are we too harsh, folks? Sorry for lumping you readers in with the rest of Main Street's 95 million predictably stupid losers. But what else could a rational person conclude?
So you ask: What triggered this rant? Simple: A new book, "The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defining Logic at Work and at Home," by Dan Ariely, the brilliant Duke University behavioral economist who earlier wrote the one book whose title alone tells you all you'll ever need to know about behavioral economics. Answer: You are "Predictably Irrational." Period.
I feel sorry for all books on behavioral economics. Why? Because most are written by brilliant academicians and top journalists, not callous, greedy Wall Street traders who'd never divulge their secrets. But that's no excuse: These books are all filled with misleading pop-psychology nonsense based on a simple premise: That if you just buy these books and apply their advice, you can change the way you think, become less irrational and be a better investor, even beat Wall Street. Wrong.
Never read another behavioral economics book ... ever
Here's a partial list of popular behavioral economics books you should never waste time reading. They're also based on that same misleading assumption that you can make your brain less irrational and win at Wall Street's casino. Never happen in a million years. Never.
Wall Street's already programmed your psychological profile into their trading algorithms. They're light-years ahead of you, misleading you into their slaughterhouses and casinos. Here's the list of the popular books no investor should ever read:
"Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Markets and Why It Matters for Global Capitalism"
"Beyond Greed and Fear: Understanding Behavioral Finance & the Psychology of Investing"
"Blind Spots: Why Smart People Do Dumb Things"
"Blunder: Why Smart People Make Bad Decisions"
"Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives"
"Logic of Life: Rational Economics in an Irrational World"
"Mind Over Money: Matching Your Personality to a Winning Financial Strategy"
"Myth of the Rational Market: A History of Risk Reward & Delusion on Wall Street"
"Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth & Happiness"
"Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior"
"Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves"
"Your Money & Your Brain: How the New Science of Neuroeconomics can Help Make You Rich"
"Why Smart People Make Big Money Mistakes, And How to Correct Them: Lessons From the New Science of Behavioral Economics"
Why such a strong warning? Remember, all these books were built on the original research of Daniel Kahneman who won the 2002 Nobel Economics Prize for his work in behavioral economics. Moreover, all of them were published before Wall Street's meltdown a couple years ago. And still Main Street investors lost trillions of retirement money.
Get it? Reading books on behavioral economics not only didn't help, it probably gave you a false sense of security that made you even more vulnerable to Wall Street's deceptive con game ... and given their current $400 million lobbying efforts to kill reforms, you can bet another meltdown is destined to happen again, soon.
Admit it, investors are sheep, fools, predictably stupid losers
So what's the only thing you need to know about behavioral economics? Begin with the fact that you are predictably irrational. Your brain is not only irrational, your behavior is easily predicted. You can be manipulated without ever knowing it. Wall Street knows your brain is your worst enemy, that 88% of your behavior is driven by the subconscious, biases you cannot change. The fact is, Wall Street does not want intelligent investors who think.
So read all you want, see all the shrinks you want, trade all you want, nothing will save you. Wall Street already has your profile in their trading algorithms. They'll always be light-years ahead of you.
And finally, in spite of all their claims of professionalism, neuroeconomists, perhaps more than other economists, are political animals. As Bloomberg BusinessWeek put it, "the rap on economists, only somewhat exaggerated, is that they are overconfident, unrealistic and political. They claim a precision that neither their raw material nor their skill warrants. Too many assume that people behave like the mythical homo economicus, who is hyperrational and omniscient."
The fact is, neuroeconomists are political mercenaries-for-hire who can "prove" any scenario, neoKeynesian or Reaganomics.
Worse, our political leaders are becoming predictably stupid losers
Political animals? You bet. Reminds me of Alan Greenspan's congressional testimony admitting that the Reaganomics free market trickle-down economics failed America: Greenspan admitted he made a "mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and equity."
There was "a flaw in the model ... that defines how the world works," said Greenspan. "Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholders' equity, myself included, are in a state of shocked disbelief," he told Congress. Unregulated markets "held sway for decades" ... then "the whole intellectual edifice, however, collapsed."
And it'll get worse, thanks to Bernanke, Obama and Goldman's lobbyists. Greenspan's deeply flawed Reaganomics remains anchored deep in America's brain and DNA. So every promise made in every behavioral-economics book ever written about the principles originally defined by Kahneman will continue to mislead America's 95 million Main Street investors ... and fail.
Why? Because the insatiable greed driving the Goldman Conspiracy of Wall Street banks is so addictive, so powerful, so overwhelming, so much in control of the political process that nothing, absolutely nothing, can change the next inevitable mega-crash dead ahead. |
George Galloway said he believes the reunification of Ireland will take place during his life-time and has branded the DUP-Tory coalition “grotesque”.
The political giant told the ‘Journal’ during his visit to Derry this week that Brexit had proved an “important driver towards unification”.
George Galloway, politician, broadcaster, writer, pictured in Pilots Row Centre on Wednesday evening last, during his wide ranging conversation with Raymond McCartney MLA, as part of the Gasyard Feile. DER3217GS074
“It’s kind of a no-brainer if the majority of people in the north want to remain in the EU, they have a ready-made door through which they can pass and achieve that objective. So, in so far that Brexit can be Britain’s difficulty, it can be Ireland’s opportunity, and I hope that people will do that.”
Mr Galloway was a guest at a packed discussion in Pilot’s Row on Wednesday night hosted by Sinn Fein Foyle MLA Raymond McCartney as part of the Gasyard Feile.
Mr Galloway said that as a disciple of the late Tony Benn, he himself was against the European Union and believed it was “anti-democratic and unreformable,” but added:
“Ireland should never have been partitioned in the first place and this would seem an obvious place to start with that demolition of that partition, and I have a feeling it will.
“I’m quite good at predictions, I predicted Brexit, I predicted Trump, and I predict this: if I have a normal life-span then I will see a united Ireland. I believe that.”
Speaking about the Tory-DUP pact, he claimed: “It’s a grotesque coalition I must say.
“Of course, I know that many decent people feel they have to vote for the DUP. I regret that they do, but I know that they do because I have met with them. Since the departure of its leader the late Ian Paisley it’s been all downhill in terms of character.”
He added that he believed Sinn Fein had been left with no option but to pull the plug at Stormont, citing the renewable heating incentive scheme revelations and equality issues.
He claimed the DUP were “keeping in power a party which is responsible for misery and suffering of working class people of all kinds, and in all parts, of the United Kingdom, including the people that vote for them”.
“Ten years of austerity has savagely reduced the quality of life and standard of life of workers in every part of the country.”
Regarding the coalition government, he claimed that people in Britain were “finding the whole thing increasingly repugnant”, adding that the Good Friday Agreement was also being “brazenly and openly breached” by the British government in going into government with the DUP.
“If the British government doesn’t want people so to conclude, well it better tell the DUP- its coalition partners - to get back to business in the Assembly. And the only way to get back to business is by accepting the equality of all the people here in the six counties,” he said. |
LOS ANGELES -- Before the Los Angeles Kings are publicly recognized for winning the Stanley Cup with a downtown parade Thursday, the organization’s governor, Tim Leiweke, took time to recognize Terry Murray and Dave Taylor, two men who helped guide the organization to where it is today, but weren't around to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Murray coached the Kings for 3 1/2 seasons before he was fired in mid-December. Using the offensive and defensive systems Murray put in place, Darryl Sutter took over behind the bench and led L.A. to its first Stanley Cup title in franchise history.
“To me, we're not here without Terry,” Leiweke said Wednesday afternoon on the Mason & Ireland show on 710 ESPN radio. “He did a great job of teaching us a system that allowed us to win a Cup.”
Leiweke had similar praise for Taylor, the longest-tenured member of the Kings who served as general manager from 1997 to 2006. It was Taylor who drafted current Kings’ stars Jonathan Quick, Anze Kopitar and Dustin Brown. After the Kings qualified for the playoffs only four times in that span, winning just one series, Leiweke decided it was time for a change and brought in Dean Lombardi.
“I hated that decision to this day,” Leiweke said. “I probably don't have a very good relationship with Dave, but I've sent him an e-mail and told him we wouldn't be here without you. You have as much to do with this as anybody.”
Leiweke said members of the Kings organization, including owner Philip Anschutz, have also reached out to Murray, who kept busy scouting potential Eastern Conference playoff opponents for the Kings. He said Murray will be awarded a championship ring and the team is lobbying to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup.
To hear the complete interview, click this link. |
Taber MacCallum and Jane Poynter witnessed the most affecting solar eclipse of their lives in 1992. That's because as they watched the Sun disappear behind the Moon’s shadow, they were also watching their oxygen supplies slipping away.
At the time, they and their six teammates were sealed inside Biosphere 2, a 91-foot-tall, 3.14-acre experimental complex outside Tucson, Arizona. “We were all just glued to the monitors,” MacCallum recalls, “because you can see when the Sun was hidden away by the Moon, for that half hour period, the CO2 started going up. The oxygen started going down. You could see the actual, palpable effect.”
Without the Sun, the plants around them had stopped photosynthesizing and producing oxygen. Earth’s atmosphere is so huge that half an hour of this during a solar eclipse doesn’t have a noticeable effect. But inside an atmosphere 19 trillion times smaller than Earth’s, MacCallum and Poynter noticed.
“It's very hard on the Earth to get that tight a visceral connection between your behavior and the environment,” MacCallum says.
Today, the imposing white dome of Biosphere 2 still rises above the Arizona desert like a cross between a greenhouse and the Taj Mahal. Now, it’s a research station maintained by the University of Arizona where researchers study Earth processes, global environmental change, weathering, landscape evolution, and the effect of drought on rainforests, among many projects. Because of its systems and size, scientists can do controlled experimentation at an unprecedented scale in Biosphere 2.
Another view of Biosphere 2. Image credit: © CDO courtesy of the University of Arizona
MacCallum and Poynter returned to Biosphere 2 in May 2016 for the One Young World Environmental Summit to speak to young environmental leaders from around the world. But in the early 1990s, they and six others were sealed inside it for two years and 20 minutes, from September 26, 1991 to September 26, 1993, in a life-changing experiment that was equal parts humility and hubris—both shortsighted and ahead of its time.
“The big questions of the two-year mission,” says MacCallum, were, “Can we build artificial biospheres? Can these be objects of science? Can we learn from them?”
We could and did. As a result of their voluntary containment, we learned how to seal a giant building so that it loses less air than the International Space Station, manage damaged coral reefs, feed eight people on a half-acre of land, and recycle water and human waste in a closed system, among other things.
The structure itself, built from 1987 to 1991, is a technological marvel even today. The idea was to build a miniaturized biosphere completely separated from Earth, see if humans could live inside it, and see how they affected the animals and plants around them and vice versa. (Why call it Biosphere 2? Because Earth is Biosphere 1.) It’s roughly as tightly sealed as the space station and separated from the soil around it by a 500-ton steel liner.
In the early '90s, when the mission started, the ideas that humans were causing climate change or even that Earth was a biosphere at all were much less accepted than they are today. “When we started this project, I was spelling the word ‘biosphere’ down the phone,” says MacCallum.
Much the way a botanical garden's conservatory is, Biosphere 2’s glass-walled domes and pyramids were filled with different biomes: rainforest, ocean (with a coral reef), savannah, desert, mangrove swamp, and agricultural fields in which the team grew all their crops. They ate so many sweet potatoes that Poynter turned orange, but their world also included domestic animals: goats (their only dairy source), chickens, pigs, and tilapia. They had only enough coffee plants to make one cup of coffee per person every few weeks.
The desert biome in Biosphere 2. Image credit: © CDO courtesy of the University of Arizona
Problems quickly developed. The coral reef became overgrown with algae. Most of the pollinating insects died. A bush baby in the rainforest biome got into the wiring and was electrocuted. Each of the crew members had a primary job: Poynter was in charge of the farm and farm equipment, and MacCallum was in charge of the analytical chemistry lab inside Biosphere 2. The crew had to do all their research, farming, and experiments while hungry because they weren’t getting enough calories.
More dangerous was the decline in oxygen. That night in 1992, their oxygen levels dipped temporarily, but overall their oxygen levels declined from 20.9 percent to 14.5 percent. (Any environment below 19.5 percent oxygen is defined as oxygen-deficient by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, or OSHA.) The low oxygen made them lethargic. For months they couldn’t sleep properly because it gave them sleep apnea. Scientists were monitoring them and communicating with them from the outside, and finally in August 1993, just a month before the crew left Biosphere 2, they decided to start pumping in oxygen.
Taber MacCallum tests air conditions in Biosphere 2. Image credit: © CDO courtesy of the University of Arizona
Later, scientists figured out that the culprits were microbes proliferating in the Biosphere’s compost-rich soil, combined with the building’s concrete. The microbes themselves were not harmful, but they converted oxygen into carbon dioxide, which then reacted with the building’s concrete to form calcium carbonate and irreversibly remove oxygen molecules from the Biosphere's atmosphere.
Still, looking back more than two decades years later, MacCallum and Poynter view the experiment as a success. Its initial science findings have been developed on in the years since—the University of Arizona has owned the facility since 2007—and its research focus remains as big picture as it ever was: global environmental change.
Beyond the science, even just seeing Biosphere 2 could change people’s perspectives. Poynter recalls getting an email while she was inside Biosphere 2 from a man who walked around the perimeter of the structure as part of the monitoring effort, who said, “'I get it now, because I walked around Biosphere 2, this miniature version of planet Earth, and it smacked me in the face: you guys only have what you have in there, and you have nothing else.'”
“That is fundamentally the message: that it's finite,” Poynter says. “And also very resilient.”
When after two years they finally emerged, Poynter had lost virtually all the enzymes to digest meat from eating so little of it. Nevertheless, she says, “Physically, we were in pretty decent shape. I had spent every day farming, so I was pretty strong.”
Jane Poynter checks on the goats in Biosphere 2. Image credit: © CDO courtesy of the University of Arizona
Still, it was a huge change. “The experience of coming out of Biosphere 2 was amazing in that it was like being reborn into this world and seeing it with fresh eyes,” she recalls. That night they had a big party with friends they hadn’t seen in two years. “And then the next morning there was this giant pile of garbage. It was this stark reminder of this consumable world that we live in.”
Poynter and MacCallum, who were dating when they entered Biosphere 2, married nine months after leaving it. Together with three others, they formed Paragon Space Development Corporation. Over the years, they developed a range of aerospace technology, including temperature control and life support systems for NASA and SpaceX that could be used to support people on the Moon or on Mars.
Their current company, World View Enterprises, spun out of Paragon in 2013. Key staff include chief scientist Alan Stern, head of the New Horizons mission to Pluto, and astronaut Mark Kelly (twin brother of astronaut Scott Kelly), who is the director of flight crew operations. World View sends uncrewed vehicles high up in the near-space stratosphere to research weather and other phenomena, and aims to one day bring people up to where the sky is black, the Earth looks curved, and it’s visibly clear that Earth is the home we share.
The curvature of the Earth as captured by a World View craft. Image credit: World View
It's that big-picture view that Poynter and MacCallum want to share with others. After talking with astronauts, they think that the “overview effect” astronauts feel when seeing the Earth from space is not unlike what they felt in Biosphere 2. Like Poynter and MacCallum, astronauts describe feeling deeply moved by the experience to do something to help Earth and its people.
Poynter says the company’s technology is proprietary and has to do with buoyancy control. “The basis of it is our ability to do very accurate altitude control,” she says, which allows their vehicles to take advantage of prevailing winds at different altitudes to travel exactly where they want.
World View Enterprises is particularly interested in taking leaders and influencers up to the stratosphere. Because you can’t just lock world leaders inside a biosphere in the desert for two years to give them the insight that Poynter and MacCallum know so deeply: We, as humans, are fully connected to and dependent on our environment.
“In the biosphere," Poynter says, "I really fell in love with the Earth." |
There are growing concerns large-scale war games planned next month by Russia with its neighbor Belarus could be a cover for something very sinister by Vladimir Putin — perhaps another Crimea.
There is alarm in Europe that the Russian president could use the military exercises as a sort of Trojan horse or pretext for an annexation of Belarus, a former Soviet republic. Putin has had an increasingly acrimonious relationship with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, particularly since Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory of Crimea.
"Russia is billing it as modest exercises under 13,000 troops, but everything points to probably the largest military exercise in post-Soviet history," said Leon Aron, resident scholar and the director of Russian studies at the American Enterprise Institute, a Washington think tank.
According to Aron, these types of exercises preceded Russia's invasion and later conflict with Georgia, a former Soviet republic that before the war was getting closer to Washington. Similarly, Russia used military exercises as a cover for its assault on the former Soviet republic of Ukraine.
Russia insists its quadrennial Zapad (or Russian for west) joint military drills scheduled Sept. 14-20 will include 12,700 troops and are designed to "test military coordination." However, the New York Times reported last month the entire exercise could involve up to 100,000 people when also including "security personnel and civilian officials."
"We urge Russia to share information regarding its exercises and operations in NATO's vicinity to clearly convey its intentions and minimize any misunderstandings," Pentagon spokesman Johnny Michael told CNBC.
Playing out in the background, though, are concerns from Estonia and its other Baltic NATO neighbors that the Russian 2017 Zapad military exercises have a hidden agenda.
Indeed, Vice President Mike Pence during a recent visit to Estonian capital of Tallinn said: "Russia seeks to redraw international borders by force, undermine democracies of sovereign nations and divide the free nations of Europe."
In April, Reuters quoted then-Estonian Defense Minister Margus Tsahkna as saying his country and other members of NATO obtained intelligence that Russia planned to send troops and resources to Belarus and that when they leave, they will not remove all the equipment and leave some permanent forces behind.
"For Russian troops going to Belarus, it is a one-way ticket," Tsahkna told Reuters. "This is not my personal opinion, we are analyzing very deeply how Russia is preparing for the Zapad exercises."
Tsahkna also was quoted as saying Moscow asked for about 4,000 rail cars to Belarus to transport tanks and other military hardware for the war games. German reports have indicated that is 1,000 more rail cars than the 2013 Zapad.
"Unfortunately, the Russians have a big habit of actually doing operational activities under the guise of war games," said James Carafano, vice president of foreign and defense policy studies at the Heritage Foundation, the Washington think tank. "This goes back to the days of the Soviet Union. So it definitely makes people nervous."
Carafano, who advised the Trump transition team on foreign policy, said the upcoming Zapad military maneuvers also are drawing attention because Russia is getting out from having to invite outside observer nations by claiming it will have less than 13,000 soldiers in the drills. Also, by holding several smaller drills at once Moscow skirts the international treaty known as the Vienna Document and could potentially have the 100,000 people.
"We defer to Russia obviously for anything specific to their military exercises and posture," the Pentagon official said. He also indicated Russia has "conducted several large-scale snap exercises along NATO's eastern flank with little to no notice and in a non-transparent manner."
Then again, Russian media claim Baltic states of Lithuania and Latvia — two former Soviet Republics now part of NATO — are sending observers to the upcoming drills. CNBC reached out to NATO for comment. |
A bomb blast in Iraq left Army Sgt. Brian Beck with severe brain injuries and crippling PTSD.
Then last summer this wounded warrior suffered another blow.
We found Sgt. Beck and his girlfriend, Debra, living in a gutted house with no kitchen and no bathroom.
They accuse the contractor they hired, Mike Fabiano, of taking nearly $30,000 and abandoning a remodel job.
Sgt. Beck and his girlfriend Debra showered in their back yard. A strip of bamboo fencing served as their shield from the neighbors.
We called in NARI, the National Association of the Remodeling Industry and its President Doug King for help.
30 contractors and suppliers from various trades donated their time, talents and materials to remodel the home.
Last week some of them returned to see how it all turned out.
The transformation surpassed this soldier’s hopes. He expressed gratitude to each and every person who took part in restoring his home.
Porcelain tile replaced the bare cement floors. Sleek granite, modern fixtures and state-of-the-art appliances take up what use to be cement block walls.
Best of all, no more showering in the back yard.
For Sgt. Brian Beck the renovation restored much more than this home-- It restored his faith in society. |
The Marine Corps is testing a robotic version of its micro-truck, the Internally Transportable Vehicle (ITV), that can autonomously drive itself across rough terrain to carry supplies and ammunition for Marines in the field and evacuate the wounded. Called the Ground Unmanned Support Surrogate, or GUSS, the vehicle was developed in a collaboration between the US Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division, Virginia Tech University, and TORC Robotics.
As part of the ongoing Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) international naval exercise, the Marine Corps tested GUSS on Oahu at the US Army’s Kahuku Training Area. The vehicle can follow someone wearing a beacon at a predetermined distance or be dispatched to a waypoint by remote control. If it gets stuck, a human can either use a robotic controller to take direct control of the vehicle or jump into its driver’s seat and throw a switch to take control. According to a report from Fox, the Naval Surface Warfare Center and Marine Corps both rated the vehicle’s performance as good, particularly in simulations of casualty evacuations, as demonstrated in the following video:
This isn’t the GUSS system’s first RIMPAC appearance. A different version of the system, based on a six-wheeled off-road vehicle, was tested during the 2010 RIMPAC exercise. GUSS and the ITV it is based on are small enough to be carried on a Marine Corps Chinook helicopter or Osprey tilt-rotor. More development work is required on the GUSS robotics system, which could be used on other vehicle “platforms,” but the Navy and Marine Corps believe that a version of it could be deployed within the next five years. |
A look back at the biggest games and emerging story lines of the NHL weekend.
Theme of the Week: Taking a Moment to Celebrate Mediocrity
Every week of the regular season, we’ve made sure to take a look at the league’s very best teams and its very worst. We’ll do it again this week. But first, what about the teams that don’t stand a chance of making either list? What about the ones that are firmly stuck in the dreaded middle of the pack?
These teams aren’t all that good, nor are they especially bad. They win about as often as they lose. They score about as often as they’re scored on. They don’t seem like a threat to win the Cup, and right now they have no chance of being Connor McDavid’s next home. They’re just … there.
Through the first six weeks, here are the league’s five most mediocre teams.
5. Ottawa Senators (8-5-4, plus-2 goals differential) They’ve won eight and lost nine, and are also well over .500 because the loser point is stupid.
4. Winnipeg Jets (9-7-3, minus-5) They’re just on the outside of the wild-card race. That’s either an accurate description of the standings, or the team’s new marketing slogan.
3. San Jose Sharks (10-8-2, plus-3) Going into the season we had no idea what the Sharks would be, but we knew they wouldn’t be boring. Twenty games in: 10 wins, 10 losses, 56 goals for, 53 goals against, and 49 percent possession. That’s … kind of boring, no?
2. Philadelphia Flyers (7-7-2, minus-2) They’re painfully mediocre, and yet somehow not even the most mediocre team in their own division. The Metro: Feel the excitement!
1. Washington Capitals (7-7-3, plus-1) They’ve got 17 points in 17 games, and the most even goals differential in the league. Mostly out of force of habit, I blame Alexander Ovechkin.
Now let’s never speak of these teams again. On to the good and the bad.
Cup Watch: The League’s Five Best
The five teams that seem most likely to earn the league’s top prize: The Stanley Cup.
5. Anaheim Ducks (11-4-4, plus-5) This week, they found themselves dealing with two things I didn’t think existed anymore in North American society: an outbreak of the mumps, and a blowout loss to the Florida Panthers.
4. Montreal Canadiens (14-4-1, plus-8) These guys again? Wasn’t it just last week that we’d all agreed they weren’t actually good? Six straight wins later, they’re back on top of the league.
3. Tampa Bay Lightning (12-4-2, plus-18) They keep a spot on the list despite a pair of one-goal midweek losses to the Sharks and Hawks. And yes, I still think they’re better than the Habs. I’m sure Montreal fans will be cool about that.
2. St. Louis Blues (12-4-1, plus-16) They racked up three straight home wins, including one over the Predators on Thursday that keeps them in the Central’s top spot and saves me from having to come up with another flimsy excuse for not putting Nashville on this list.
1. Pittsburgh Penguins (12-3-1, plus-25) What’s the deal with Evgeni Malkin? First he tries to fight Dion Phaneuf, and now he’s throwing Hit of the Year candidates. Settle down, Geno. Stick to what you know: putting up MVP-caliber numbers and starring in the league’s best Instagram account.
The ongoing absence of the Kings, Blackhawks, and Bruins from this list continues to surprise. Boston seemed to be on the way, but back-to-back blowout losses to the Leafs and Habs dropped them out of the running. Meanwhile, the Blackhawks continue to struggle just to hold down a playoff spot despite owning one of the conference’s best goal differentials.
And then there are the Kings. They haven’t been bad; in fact, with an upcoming schedule that serves up the Panthers, Hurricanes, and Stars, they could be sitting on top of the Pacific by this time next week. But they certainly haven’t been themselves. After being one of the league’s best possession teams for years, they’re sitting at just 50 percent this season, behind Carolina and Florida and barely ahead of Edmonton. And they’re giving up 32.0 shots/60 at 5v5, ranking 25th in the league.
With the offense struggling, it’s been the goaltending of Jonathan Quick and Martin Jones that’s kept Los Angeles in the hunt. For years, there was a line of thinking that said the Kings were a great defensive team that made its goalies look better than they actually were. This year, the netminders are returning the favor.
Connor Watch: The League’s Five Worst
The five teams that seem most likely to earn the league’s other top prize: franchise prospect Connor McDavid.
5. Dallas Stars (6-8-4, minus-12) Yeah. Trust me, I’m as surprised as you are. But they’ve won just once in nine tries at home.
4. Columbus Blue Jackets (6-10-1, minus-15) They beat the Flyers and Sharks over the weekend, and now Sergei Bobrovsky is back. They should be off this list soon. Please get off this list, Columbus, because you’re depressing everyone.
3. Carolina Hurricanes (5-9-3, minus-14) They finally cooled off, losing three straight, although they’re still playing teams tight. Next up is a five-game road trip, including a big showdown with the Stars on Tuesday.
2. Edmonton Oilers (6-10-2, minus-16) Sunday night, the Oilers lost to Devan Dubnyk and the Coyotes. Of course they did. I’m actually kind of amazed he didn’t hold on for the shutout.
1. Buffalo Sabres (4-13-2, minus-38) The Sabres looked great on Saturday, steamrolling the Leafs 6-2. That leads to this question: How many games like that in a row would they need to move out of the no. 1 spot on our list? Does six sound right? I think six sounds about right.
The hockey gods threw a wrinkle into our Connor Watch this week when McDavid broke his hand in a fight. Predictably, that touched off another round of the ongoing debate over the role of fighting in the game, and specifically whether it should be allowed in junior hockey.
The fight was just the second of McDavid’s OHL career, and the injury will keep him out of action until late December. That puts his participation for Team Canada in the World Junior Championships in doubt, although the current timeline for recovery would have him ready just in time.
Does any of this affect his status as the presumptive no. 1 overall pick in next summer’s draft? Nope. Broken bones heal, and at this point scouts have already seen enough to know what McDavid can do. Barring some sort of long-term injury that would linger into his pro career, missing time won’t hurt his stock.
Quick Shifts
• Strangest game of the weekend: the Penguins’ shootout win over the Rangers, which New York thought it had won on Dan Boyle’s attempt, only to have the play eventually reviewed and overturned on a rare “double hit” ruling. The Pens took the decision in the next round.
• The weekend’s best game may have been Saturday’s Ducks/Kings contest, won by L.A. on Jarret Stoll’s overtime goal. It’s too early to start looking at potential playoff matchups, but let’s all agree to rig the standings to make sure these two teams meet in a best-of-seven.
• Brad Richards reached the 1,000-game mark in Chicago’s 6-2 win over the Stars on Sunday night. He marked the occasion by being adorable.
• San Jose Sharks goaltender Troy Grosenick had a nice NHL debut on Sunday night, making 45 saves and earning the shutout in a 2-0 win over the Hurricanes while making his dad cry. The Sharks are in Buffalo tomorrow before starting a six-game homestand; they’ve played 15 of 20 on the road.
• Zach Parise returned to the Wild lineup on Sunday and scored two goals to help Minnesota earn a 4-3 win over Winnipeg. The Wild have won three straight. The Jets did come back from down 3-0 in the third to force overtime and earn a point.
• The surprising Flames keep winning, including a 4-2 decision over Ottawa on Saturday. They get a tough test over their next two, as they’ll face the Ducks and Blackhawks.
• Friday’s matchup between the Penguins and Leafs in Toronto served as the annual Hall of Fame game, in which the year’s inductees are honored. The undisputed highlight of the ceremony: Lynn Burns doing her late husband Pat’s patented fist pump.
• Finally, it was a tough week for the hockey world. We lost Sergeant Michael Cathcart, got a sobering look inside Ottawa GM Bryan Murray’s battle with stage IV cancer, and received a difficult update on Gordie Howe. But we did get a nice moment over the weekend: the return of legendary Sabres’ play-by-play man Rick Jeanneret, who is now cancer-free and was back in the booth Saturday. Welcome back, Rick. |
If art, therefore, is capable of making a body inclined to perpetual motion, why should we not believe that nature can do it? It is the same with the other shapes: ones like a square seek a state of perpetual repose, others a sideways motion, others quiver in a partial movement: and when one of the round ones, whose essence is to move, comes into conjunction with one of the pyramidal ones, it may well be that they produce what we call “fire,” because fire not only moves restlessly, it also pierces and penetrates easily. Apart from this, the flame behaves differently, according to the type and size of the angles made between the pyramid and the sphere: so the flame produced by pepper, for example, is quite a different thing from a sugar flame: sugar produces a different one from cinnamon, cinnamon from cloves, and this last differs from the flame of a burning faggot
Cyrano de Bergerac ~ From Other Worlds
From Science Fiction: A Historical Anthology by Eric S. Rabkin |
A simple explanation for this shift is that misperceptions often focus on the president and are most commonly held by members of the other party. Just as Republicans disproportionately endorsed prominent misperceptions during the Obama years (like the birther and death panel myths), Democrats are now the opposition partisans especially likely to fall victim to dubious claims about the Trump administration. In other words, losing the presidential election made Democrats more likely to blame secret conspiracies for the state of the world, while making Republicans less willing to indulge these sorts of claims. If you don’t believe me, just compare your social media news feeds with what you saw during the campaign—or ask yourself who you think is behind the news you are seeing.
It’s true to an extent that, “pure independents” notwithstanding, partisanship drives conspiracy-mongering on both ends of the political spectrum. But it’s also the case that the two tribes are very different. There are no easy parallels between Democrats’ and Republicans’ propensity for believing conspiracy theories. The anti-Trump theories haven’t traveled nearly as far as anti-Obama and anti-Clinton ones have because the left and right are not symmetrical political tendencies in America.
Democrats are much more heterogeneous than Republicans, which makes it harder to spread conspiracy theories among their ranks. While the Republican Party is solidly a party of the right, with some variation between the Tea Party wing and conventional conservatives, but within a narrow spectrum. Democrats are divided into factions that run from Bernie Sanders leftists to Hillary Clinton liberals to Heidi Heitkamp centrists, and even have earned temporary support from a smattering of Never Trump conservatives like David Frum, who voted for Hillary Clinton.
The ideological mishmash of the Democratic Party helps explain an interesting fact about the Russia conspiracy theorists themselves: They often aren’t from the left at all.
Beauchamp’s article focuses on three major conspiracy theorists: Mensch, the Observer’s John Schindler, and photographer Claude Taylor, who tweets under the handle @TrueFactsStated. Of the three, only Taylor is anything close to a liberal Democrat. Mensch was a Conservative member of Parliament and until recently led Heat Street, Rupert Murdoch’s attempted Breitbart imitation. Schindler is a former National Security Agency analyst with hawkish foreign policy views. In 2015, National Review wrote, “Schindler has amassed a loyal following, particularly among conservatives, for his blunt missives on cyber-security, foreign policy, and intelligence.... Conservative pundits and scholars alike have made Schindler their go-to authority on national-security matters. He’s featured regularly on conservative talker Hugh Hewitt’s popular radio show, and his blog posts are often cited in top Republican consultant Rick Wilson’s commentary.” Wilson, as it happens, is another member of the Russiasphere cited in Beauchamp’s article, along with the anonymous Twitter account @counterchekist, whose author identifies as Republican.
The Russiasphere is not particularly liberal—nor are liberals especially fond of the Russiasphere.
In other words, the Russiasphere is not particularly liberal—nor are liberals especially fond of the Russiasphere. Debunkings of Mensch and company have become standard fare in left-wing, liberal, and centrist publications (Beauchamp’s own article is an example of the genre). Current Affairs describes Mensch as “legitimately paranoid and deluded.” BuzzFeed has counted 210 people and organizations that Mench has accused of being under Russian influence, dryly remarking that “in many cases, she lacks strong, or any, evidence connecting her targets” to Russia’s campaign to influence the 2016 election. Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi described Mensch as “a noted loon.” And the former Obama aides who host the podcast Pod Save America have warned their listeners to avoid these conspiracy theorists.
“Luckily for the Democratic Party,” Beauchamp correctly pointed out, “there isn’t really a pre-built media ecosystem for amplifying this like there was for Republicans. In the absence of left-wing Limbaughs and Breitbarts, media outlets totally unconcerned with factual rigor, it’s much harder for this stuff to become mainstream. But hard doesn’t mean impossible.” The most “worrying sign,” he added, “is that some mainstream figures and publications are starting to validate Russiasphere claims.” As evidence, he cited scattered cases of prominent liberals briefly giving credence to the conspiracy theorists. The New York Times published a Mensch op-ed column, one that was criticized by the Times’ own reporters. Donna Brazile, former chair of the Democratic National Committee, tweeted Mensch’s article and thanked her on Twitter “for good journalism.” And Markey, the Massachusetts senator, parroted the grand jury lie while on CNN.
But Markey’s mistake illustrates the difference between Democrats and Republicans: He apologized. There still exists a feedback loop on the left, so when a prominent person falls for a conspiracy theory, they are challenged by the media and willing to correct themselves. Conversely, conservatives tend to adhere to a “no apologies” ethos that makes admitting error verboten.
The few scattered cases of liberals echoing the Russiasphere are minuscule compared to the vast infrastructure that’s spreading conspiracy theories on the right. First and foremost there is Trump, the erstwhile birther who has continued to promote conspiracy theories from the White House, like his claim in March that he was wiretapped by Obama. That lie, which originated from right-wing radio hosts Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh, gained currency thanks to Trump’s pulpit and the power of partisanship: A CBS poll in late March found that 74 percent of Republicans believed it was “very” or “somewhat” likely that Trump’s campaign was wiretapped or otherwise surveilled by the government.
Beyond Trump, major conservative figures like Newt Gingrich, the former Republican speaker of the House, and Fox News’ Sean Hannity are spreading the most dishonest smears imaginable. Gingrich and Hannity have both recently pushed the lie that Seth Rich, the slain Democratic National Committee staffer, was murdered because he provided DNC emails to Wikileaks.
Congress, investigate Seth Rich Murder! @JulianAssange made comments u need to listen to! If Seth was wiki source, no Trump/Russia collusion https://t.co/QPHZwypU34 — Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) May 22, 2017
“We have this very strange story now of this young man who worked for the Democratic National Committee, who apparently was assassinated at 4 in the morning, having given WikiLeaks something like 53,000 emails and 17,000 attachments,” Gingrich said Sunday on Fox and Friends. “Nobody’s investigating that, and what does that tell you about what’s going on? Because it turns out, it wasn’t the Russians. It was this young guy who, I suspect, was disgusted by the corruption of the Democratic National Committee. He’s been killed, and apparently nothing serious has been done to investigative his murder.” Neither Gingrich nor Hannity have apologized.
Whereas left-of-center publications have criticized Mensch, most conservative outlets have been silent about the Rich conspiracy theory (National Review, The Weekly Standard) or have given voice to it (The Federalist); The Daily Caller, in a rare exception, refers to the Rich conspiracy theory as “debunked.” Conservative media tends to be strongly tribalist and self-pitying, adhering to the idea that liberal bias is the biggest problem in news coverage. Such ideological tunnel vision disinclines these outlets right to counter conspiratorial thinking in their own ranks. It doesn’t suit their narrative about the “lamestream media,” and it’s bad for business.
Figures like Mensch are pests, but they will almost certainly not gain the same audience on the left that Alex Jones and Hannity command on the right. The key members of the Russiasphere have Twitter followings in the hundreds of thousands, at most. Hannity hosts a primetime show on what was, until recently, the most watched cable news network in the country; he has millions of viewers. The real lesson to learn from Mensch and company is not that the left is suddenly falling for conspiracy theories with the same fervor as the right has for decades. It’s that these theories can be largely smothered if you have a vibrant and diverse political party that is open to debate and beholden to a fact-based press. The tragedy of modern American politics is that only one of the two major parties fits that bill. |
Politico’s Mike Allen reportedly allowed a top Hillary Clinton aide at the State Department to write an item for his morning newsletter Playbook, according to emails obtained and published by Gawker Friday.
In the November 2010 email exchange, Clinton adviser Philippe Reines sent Allen the text of a promotional blurb for a “behind-the-scenes” National Geographic documentary about the State Department.
Allen responded: “sweet – thanks and congrats.” Shortly after, Allen replied again with a slightly edited version of the promo item. The copy concluded with a cheeky shout out to Reines and Caroline Adler, the former State Department communications director: “If your Cabinet-level boss wonder why they ‘can’t get something like this done,’ blame Caroline and Philippe.”
Reines responded “Tytyty” to express his gratitude for the edits. He later responded again, asking Allen to pull the “Cabinet-level boss” line.
The “VIEWER ALERT” item appeared without Reines’ quip in the Nov. 8, 2010 edition of Playbook.
It’s not the first time Allen has run into ethically murky territory with his inside-the-Beltway newsletter. Late last year, he came under fire for emails to Reines offering Chelsea Clinton a “no risk” interview as part of his Playbook-branded breakfast speaking series. He later apologized, writing “MY BAD!” in the newsletter. Days later, Gawker published a round of emails that showed Allen offered an unnamed senior Democratic lawmaker a similar arrangement in exchange for an interview.
Allen, whose Playbook has long been a lucrative Politico product, is slated to leave the site later this year.
In response to a request for comment by Gawker, Allen deferred to a Politico spokesperson, who said in a statement:
This National Geographic television special was worth flagging for Playbook readers and as such the information was condensed into our signature, bite-sized format with a link to the outside source.
A TPM request for comment from Allen was not immediately returned Friday. |
So I had a very successful tweet last night:
What's extra creepy about the Hyundai ad is that the daughter seemed to actually want to kiss the guy, but Daddy said no… #NotBuyingIt — Elizabeth (@MissCherryPi) February 7, 2016
The #NotBuyingIt hashtag was started in 2012 by the Representation Project as a way to call out sexist commercials during the Superbowl. It’s since continued, growing every year. And I believe this year we have reached a threshold, because to my dismay the #NotBuying hashtag was overrun with trolls to the point where it was mostly sexist bullying and trolling rather than media criticism. I am STILL getting angry responses to the above tweet over 15 hours later. How long will people be butt hurt? Start an over/under betting pool in the comments.
I’ve been on the internet long enough to expect trolls. What I am surprised about (and maybe I shouldn’t be) is that so many people will watch this ad and think “Yes! *That’s* responsible fatherhood.” And not “I feel sorry for that girl.”
The “over protective father being played for comedy meme” is pervasive in our culture as this ad shows. And it’s incredibly sexist, perpetuating ideas of women as property and alienating teenage girls them from a healthy relationship with their own fathers and boys their own age.
What gets me is they hypocrisy of at least some of my detractors. It seems like I got two flavors – general MRA and Christian Patriarchy. The MRAs are giant hypocrites on this one. Men who sling around “incel” and “kissless virgin” as fates worse than death are excited by a commercial where a Dad constantly prevents his daughter from kissing her suitor. This seems counter productive. Unless they really do think that kissing is bad. If that’s the case, then a change of rhetoric is needed. Stop pretending a lack of intimate contact is a bad thing. Isn’t it a badge of honor that you didn’t sully some young woman with your filthy mouth?
As for the Christian Patriarchy types, I suppose that it’s exciting to see a famous comedian and a major corporation expressing their worldview on such a big platform. But they dropped the ball when they started annoying people on Twitter. No one has ever changed religions because some stranger disagreed with their tweet. Maybe take out your own ad next time. It’s what the Scientologists did. |
Fed-up Knicks fans plan to protest outside Madison Square Garden before the March 19 game against the Pacers. The visibility will be big—every person on their way into the Garden for that game will get a loud, ugly reminder that this team has gone and is going nowhere.
The Knicks have so far had no comment on the protest. But this morning, season-ticket holders received the following email:
With the Knicks back from their west coast tour, we wanted to celebrate in a big way, with you! If you plan to attend the Knicks game on Wednesday, March 19th, we'd love for you to attend the Knicks Happy Hour, courtesy of Chase. At this event, you'll meet some Alumni, receive vouchers for merchandise and concessions and be able to watch shoot-around from a great spot. The event starts at 6PM, which is an hour before doors open to the general public [and two hours before game time], so you'll be a VIP! If you and your guests would like to attend, please let me know and print the invite for admission. Let me know if you have any questions. I hope you are able to join us. Thanks! [Redacted]| Madison Square Garden MSG Sports Sales 2 Penn Plaza -14th Floor New York, NY 10121
So if all goes well for the Knicks, while the protest rages outside, the fans pumping the most cash into James Dolan's pockets will already be inside getting free stuff. No unsightly picketing to block season-ticket holders' ways, no giant reminder that the thousands of dollars they've spent on this team haven't returned a quality roster or a consistent plan.
A protest seems noble, even if the group's name, "Knicks Fans 4 Life," sounds less like a rallying cry and more like a curse an old gypsy woman would lay on you. But it's impotent. No owner, especially Dolan, cares much about fan discontent as long as TV ratings are strong and games continue to sell out. Knicks fandom is a money pit that seems incapable of bottoming out. If you really want to protest, put down the sign and don't go to MSG at all. |
Michelle Cook bought her first bike on something of a dare. Around six years ago, she was living in Needham, a hilly town on the outskirts of Boston, and a friend of her challenged her to take on the steep streets on a bike. She was around 40 at the time, and hadn’t been on a bike since she was a child growing up on Cape Cod, but she found an old bicycle at a garage sale for $25, cleaned it up, and took it out on the road.
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She didn’t expect to get hooked, but she did, and began biking every day. “As I started biking, I realized that as a woman–particularly as a black woman–there weren’t many of us that bike,” she says. “Biking is one of the things that I do that people consider something that we don’t do.” The more she rode, the less she understood why that is. “It’s a great form of exercise, it’s fun, it’s way faster to get somewhere than waiting for a bus or a train,” she says. And biking, Cook adds, just made her feel good. She’s dealt with depression for much of her adult life, but on a bike, she says, she feels strong. A couple years ago, she founded the organization Roxbury Rides to encourage women of color to bike more, and to advocate for better infrastructure and education around active transit and public space. I’m a woman cyclist myself–I bike every day in New York City–and for this article, I spoke to women in cities across the country. All have different experiences, different commutes, different bikes, different stories about how they first got into it, but what I heard described over and over again, and have sensed every day myself since I started riding, was the feeling of empowerment that cycling produces. It’s something about being able to independently transport yourself around your city on the strength of your own body. Something about learning the streets and routes and neighborhoods with an intimacy inaccessible to those passing by in a car. And something about being a part of a small minority of people who are doing a thing we’ve all been told we shouldn’t, or couldn’t, do. Across the U.S., cycling as a valid form of sustainable transit is experiencing something of a renaissance. As cities face down issues of growing traffic congestion and systemic public transit failures, advocates and environmentalists are pointing to the bicycle–a mode of transit that originated in the late 19th century–as a zero-carbon, efficient way of making trips around a city, particularly trips under three miles long, of which around 72% are currently made by car. As cities across the world scramble for ways to limit their carbon footprint in the face of rampant climate change, interventions like the shift to electric vehicles and improvements to public-transit infrastructure will be crucial. But with another 2.5 billion people slated to move into urban environments by 2050, we can’t overlook the issue of street congestion–and the fact that approximately six bikes can fit into the space taken up by a single car. In order for cycling to become a truly competitive mode of urban transit, we also need to address its issue of gender inequity. Fewer than one in four trips on a bike are currently made by women. In recent years, data from ever-more-popular bike share programs has backed this up: Motivate, the company that oversees bike-share programs in New York, Boston, Chicago, and the Bay Area has found that just 34% of annual bike-share members are women, and together, they take only 24% of trips made on the systems. And even though the bike share boom has undoubtedly helped increase the sheer number of cyclists on city streets–Transportation Alternatives, New York City’s main bike and pedestrian advocacy nonprofit, has found that the number of daily cyclists in New York has risen from 15,000 in 2000 to 45,000 in 2015– the gender gap has held steady. In recent years, advocacy organizations like the New York City-based Women’s Empowerment Through Bicycles (WE Bike NYC), Women Bike Chicago, and Cook’s Roxbury Rides have sprung up to address this gap by encouraging more women to bike. Motivate has been working with cities in which it operates bike-share programs to provide data around ridership. “One of the big benefits bike-share programs offer cities and policymakers and to the cycling community is insights into who is biking, where they’re biking, and when, which has traditionally been hard information to come by,” says Julie Wood, VP of communications at Motivate. Now that the data is accessible and incontrovertible, cities, advocates, the bike community, and individuals alike have some work to do to figure out why the gender gap exists–and how to close it. The Cycling Gender Gap: A History There are very real reasons that all people–not just women–may be reluctant to bike in a city, and the main one is the built environment of the city itself. In the majority of U.S cities, the street design prioritizes cars over cyclists and pedestrians. Places like Copenhagen and Amsterdam, considered the gold standard for safe and user-friendly bike infrastructure, can point to a centuries-long history of public-space usage before the advent of the car. While both places, and many other European cities, briefly swung toward car culture in the post-World War II years, building parking lots and consigning their streets to automobiles, they have, since the 1970s, worked to correct that brief deviation by spearheading car-free weekend days and other cyclist and pedestrian-friendly measures. Today, they’re home to a robust cycling infrastructure that places the bike on equal–or sometimes higher–footing than the car.
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The boom of U.S. cities like New York, however, co-originated with the invention of the car. “American cities came to be built almost exclusively for the automobile,” says James Longhurst, associate professor at University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, and author of Bike Battles: A History of Sharing the American Road. When cars started becoming popular in the early 1900s, the layout and design of U.S. cities was still in flux. Around that time, Fifth Avenue in New York was but a glimmer of the commercial corridor it is today, and it was relatively easy for the city, in 1908, to gut pedestrian space and widen the street for cars. By the time the environmentalists of the 1960s and ’70s began to warn about the automobile and the pollution it produces, Longhurst says, there was virtually no space on urban roads for bicycles, which, he adds, had been relegated in the American consciousness to something of a toy, rather than a mode of transit. Those same environmentalists, Longhurst says, originated in the late ’60s what became known as the “bike boom,” where they began to push for cycling as a practical way of getting around cities. But that boom, he adds, “really didn’t do much to transform American streets.” While a handful of advocates rallied for new infrastructure–mainly bike lanes–to support the growing number of cyclists, the bike boom tactic that won out in the end was something called “vehicular cycling“–the idea that cyclists should integrate themselves into urban traffic by essentially acting like cars. “What they were proposing didn’t cost cities anything,” Longhurst says. Almost all that changed was the addition of those little rectangular signs that say “bike route,” but do not correspond to any relevant infrastructure. “So from the 1970s on, in most American cities, to ride your bicycle means to be confident enough and self-possessed enough and privileged enough to ride out into the road and demand your space,” Longhurst says. If You Build It, They Will Bike Around a decade ago, cities across the U.S. began to resuscitate the logic of the bike-lane advocates who were drowned out by the vehicular cyclists of the 1970s. New York City, for instance, has added around 54 miles of bike lanes to its 6,000 miles of roads every year since 2007; Chicago has added 27 miles to its 4,000 miles of road each year since 2011. There’s clearly room to do more, and the benefits of the new lanes are already apparent. In both cities–and in many other cities that have advanced similar infrastructure–death and injury rates have dropped by around half. While these improvements are a step in the right direction, TransAlt has found that “the growth in cycling has leapfrogged the infrastructure.” In essence, bike infrastructure networks are still neither robust enough nor connected enough to ensure that commuters can feel safe along the length of their ride. “In order for cycling to feel safe in this city, and in all cities, there need to be serious changes in how we build and develop bike infrastructure,” says Rosemary Bolich, a New York-based cyclist. And when there’s a notable lack of quality infrastructure, it’s reflected most clearly in the number of female cyclists traversing the area. In Midtown Manhattan, for instance, there is a noticeable lack of crosstown bike lanes on the streets north of 23rd all the way up to Central Park at 59th, and the handful of bike lanes on the north-south avenues are often clogged with cars or other obstructions. The New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) worked with Motivate to map data on Citi Bike usage in Midtown, and found that the vast majority of Citi Bike stations in that swath of the city draw less than the average 24% of female usage. Stations south of 23rd, where bike lanes are more plentiful, see rates of female usage at equal to or over 24%–and are generally less congested with car and truck traffic. “If you see high numbers of women cycling, you are doing something right,” says Mikael Colville-Andersen, urban design expert and CEO of Copenhagenize Design Co., a Danish consultancy specializing in bike infrastructure. So significant is the percent of women ridership, he adds, that the gender split is something his firm measures in the Copenhagenize Index, which tracks the progress of cities on developing bike infrastructure.
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Polly Trottenberg, NYC DOT commissioner, has watched the cycling boom take off and spread rapidly across New York, and across cities in the U.S. “We’re looking for ways to make the city more accessible and more sustainable, and that means switching to sustainable modes of transit: bikes, buses, pedestrians,” Trottenberg tells Fast Company, though she acknowledges that New York and other American cities have a long way to go before they reach “full Copenhagen status” in terms of both bike safety and gender equity–in the Danish city, over 50% of people commute by bike, and 55% of regular cyclists are women. The key to Copenhagen’s success in both raising the number of overall bike commuting and closing the gender gap, Colville-Andersen says, “is infrastructure. There is no chicken or egg.” A robust network of interconnected bike lanes all across a city will lay the necessary groundwork to get more people cycling–and by adding bike lanes to lower-income neighborhoods, often underserved by public transportation, cities have a real opportunity to advance socioeconomic equity by increasing mobility and access. From there, there are a number of smaller interventions cities can adopt to make cycling safer, and the most efficient way to get around, he adds. Design tweaks like “the green wave”–which ensures that on most major arteries into the city center, cyclists never hit a red light and can bike continuously without putting a foot down–increase both speed and safety. Small additions like trash cans tilted toward cyclists along bike lanes, and railings or footrests for cyclists, send the signal that cities are concerned with designing for bikers, Colville-Andersen adds. The Stigma of Biking Copenhagenize Design Co. is working closely with cities around the world to develop these infrastructural adjustments to support cycling. But we have yet to truly shake the hypermasculine association with biking that coalesced around the advent of vehicular cycling in the 1970s. Vehicular cycling, as Longhurst says, essentially necessitates being unafraid to take up space; to cut people (in this case, drivers) off; to get vocal and at times get angry. These are all things that women are taught not to do, and the consequences of deviating from these expectations ramify–as the backlash against women speaking out about harassment, for instance, reminds us–across a multitude of public and cultural spaces. There’s an ambient sense that cycling, even safely contained in a network of bike lanes, is antithetical to femininity. In 2014, the writer and bike advocate Elly Blue ignited a Twitter firestorm when she asked the question: “What does “feminine” mean? I’m serious. It keeps coming up in the context of things women can do to feel that way on a bike, + I’m confused.” For one, as cyclist Melody Hoffman commented in a CityLab article in response to Blue’s question: “Women are expected to show up to places already presentable.” In the summer, as a cyclist, you often arrive places dripping in sweat. In the winter, you have to peel off what feels like more layers than an onion. The aesthetics of cycling alone pose a formidable barrier to women’s participation. Angela Azzolino, a lifelong New York City cyclist and founder of the nonprofit Get Women Cycling, whose mission is evident in the name, runs an annual campaign, #ShowMeHelmetHair, in which women cyclists and hairstylists shared tips for how to prep your hair to survive a long ride under a helmet–or just to rock the slightly feral mess that emerges once you take the helmet off. “It’s a way to start dialogues and get people engaged in this conversation,” Azzolino says.
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Because, she adds, “there’s a lot to address in this space.” Breaking down the stigma around being a woman cyclist goes hand-in-hand with the much larger societal project of breaking down the idea of what it means to be an “ideal” woman. And perhaps, when talking about biking, nowhere is the need to do so more evident than in the different ways our society–whether consciously or not–talks to men and women cyclists. At least once a week, I will pull up to a red light on my bike and someone–usually an older man–will say to me: “I hope you’re being careful,” accompanied by some shake of the head. If not that, it’s someone asking me: “Aren’t you scared?” I have yet to meet a male cyclist who’s subject to the same constant questioning; most of the women I spoke with share my experience. Last year in the New York Times, Caroline Paul, a retired firefighter, wrote a piece called “Why Do We Teach Girls That It’s Cute To Be Scared?” in which she describes facing the exact same questions and notes of caution about her choice of profession (just around 5% of firefighters are women). Conditioning girls to be scared, to avoid activities deemed challenging or intimidating, Paul says, is something that begins in childhood, and carries through to adulthood. Watching a woman do something that she is not supposed to do–to echo Cook’s sentiment– or something that is unusual, that is daring or risky, sets off our collective alarm bells: Someone has slipped through the safety net, has stepped out of line. Is it not our job to usher her back to safety? If “safety” in this sense means encouraging women to stick with the status quo–to refuse an activity because it has been categorized as one that requires a certain amount of guts–then that is absolutely not our job. As Paul writes: “By cautioning girls away from these experiences, we are not protecting them. We are failing to prepare them for life.” But that is not to say that we should just toss a helmet or a pair of cycling shorts at women and say, “Time to get on a bike!” There needs to be a concerted reckoning with why we caution women cyclists and encourage men. Moreover, there needs to be a concerted effort to build citywide bike systems that are less a cause for caution than the ones we currently have. Creating a Culture Shift As cities and designers tackle the infrastructure, advocates within the bike community are working to close the gender gap in urban cycling from the inside out.
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In addition to launching campaigns like #ShowMeHelmetHair, Azzolino’s organization, Get Women Cycling, is working close the gender gap in the bike retail and repair sectors, which are historically male-dominated. Azzolino, who has spent some time as a service floor mechanic at a Brooklyn bike shop, has witnessed both surprise at her presence, and the larger discrepancies between the way men and women are treated in shops. “Women tend to go into shops with a preconception of how things are going to be, and the preconception is that they are not going to be heard, or I’m not going to be able to find what I need,” Azzolino says. “And bike shops aren’t savvy enough to turn that around.” Get Women Cycling, Azzolino says, is growing a network of partnerships with New York-based bike shops to “act as the interpreter” between female clients and predominantly male mechanics and salespeople by educating the latter on how to better target their services to women, and to create an overall more welcoming environment. A recent uptick in the number of female and gender-nonconforming-focused bike repair classes also feeds into Azzolino’s work. But really, “the thing that makes biking better for women is more women biking,” Wood says. Bolich agrees: “There is safety and strength in numbers,” she says. Bolich is a volunteer with WE Bike NYC, an organization that hosts rides and events for women and gender nonconforming people. “What we hear from a lot of people who participate in our rides is it makes them feel better,” Bolich says. “In some ways, for people who are new to riding in a city, it helps to sort of practice in a group, before setting out alone.” The cycling world, like the rest of the world, she adds, is very male-dominated, and there’s a part of it that’s dismissive toward people–especially new cyclists–who may be nervous about riding in traffic, or on unprotected bike lanes. That attitude–layered on top of incomplete infrastructural systems–sets the barrier for entry into the urban cycling world way too high. Bike-share programs, Wood says, have been an effective way to lower that bar by enabling people to take shorter trips and not have to worry about maintaining and caring for their own bike. “It’s sort of a stepping stone that makes biking more accessible,” she says. But still, Motivate recognizes that just planting bike-share stations around the city is not enough to close the gender gap. Every September, the bike-share company hosts Women’s Bike Month, in which it highlights female bike commuters in various cities, offers free bike share passes, and hosts group rides. “It’s all about putting a spotlight on the need to break down these barriers to entry and encourage more women to bike,” Wood says. It’s not a thing that can be forced, and it’s not for everybody. If someone truly does not want to ride and doesn’t feel comfortable doing so, Bolich says, they shouldn’t be pressured to do so. But for many people, like Cook, who just decide to try it, it might click. “I can’t even describe the feeling–when you bike, it’s like you go into it thinking you can’t do something, but then you can,” she says. In October, Cook rode in a 25-mile fundraiser for her organization. It was the longest ride she had ever tackled, and it was hilly. “I hate hills and inclines, and by mile 11, I was ready to quit,” she says. Instead, she pedaled through. “The fact that I know I found something–biking–that’s good for my mind, and gives me this indescribable feeling of happiness and euphoria, that did it for me,” she says. Instead of asking women cyclists, “Aren’t you scared?” what if what we asked them was: “How does biking make you feel?” |
Registration for the summer of 2016 will be through the linked site. The portal is open for individuals to register. Please note the following (and reach out to me if you cannot navigate your way through things):
I have not linked a payment portal for credit and debit cards, but LeagueApps will take users through initial steps to pay online – Please ignore those prompts. You will appear as owing the amount until I receive a check or cash from you (then update the site myself). The current cost of $45 is a jump from prior years because of some underlying increases in expenses for a league designed to break even event to event. Payment of the league fee does not in part or in full represent USA Ultimate membership at the youth, collegiate or open player level.
– Please ignore those prompts. You will appear as owing the amount until I receive a check or cash from you (then update the site myself). The current cost of $45 is a jump from prior years because of some underlying increases in expenses for a league designed to break even event to event. Payment of the league fee does not in part or in full represent USA Ultimate membership at the youth, collegiate or open player level. Even though the registration site has its own default ‘waiver’ I will need a completed USA Ultimate waiver from everyone. If you are an active USA Ultimate member with an up to date waiver, then I will accept documentation of that status. However the easiest thing is to simply provide me with a freshly signed one for the summer league.
Players register individually and will be assigned to teams in an effort to balance gender ratios, expected attendance and skill levels. I have added a pairing request text option for spouses, siblings, newbies to be linked to another person. This is not intended to be a mechanism to shape entire teams. Remember that everyone will be at the same general location at the same time … plus expanding one’s social circle is a valuable exercise.
Games will be on Wednesday evenings starting approximately 6:30PM at the Williamsville ECC field space beginning June 1st through August 17th.
The aim of the Buffalo Ultimate Summer League is to provide a fun, inclusive, spirit-of-the-game focused environment. While scores and standings are kept, experienced players are strongly encouraged to share their skills and knowledge of the game with new or beginning players to grow the overall interest and love of the game.
I look forward to seeing you out on the fields! |
Currently number one on the US Billboard Hot 100. All I know about this song is that apparently she’s nude on a wrecking ball in the film clip. Curious as to how it sounds.
Written by Lukasz Gottwald, Maureen Anne McDonald, Stephan Moccio, Sacha Skarbek, Henry Walter.
Produced by Dr. Luke (Gottwald) and Cirkut (Walter), the same team behind Katy Perry’s Roar (minus Max Martin).
Well, fancy that. I wasn’t expecting a power ballad, and I certainly wasn’t expecting Miley to deliver the first review in a long time with more than four chords in it. Granted, she had nothing to do with writing the song but with all the (negative) publicity lately, I was expecting a shitty will.i.am circa 2012 nightmare.
Seeing as the chorus is in F major, I’m going to transcribe the song as if it’s in F major, rather than the verse key of Dm.
Verse: vi (Dm), I (F), V ©, ii sus2 (Gm sus2)
Pre chorus: IV (Bb), vi (Dm), I (F), IV (Bb)
Chorus: I (F), V ©, vi (Dm), IV (Bb)
Bridge: IV (Bb), vi (Dm), I (F), iii (Am)
Look at all those pretty chord changes! They’ve used chords I, ii, iii, IV, V, vi and one of those was a suspended chord. This makes me happy.
One thing I learned recently was the power of using the words “we” or “us” towards the start of the song rather it being all “me” or “I” - it drags the listener, sometimes kicking and screaming, in to following the narrative of the song. “We” are part of it, she’s talking about “us” so it would be rude to switch radio stations, right?
We clawed, we chained, our hearts in vain
We jumped, never asking why
We kissed, I fell under your spell
A love no one could deny
Don’t you ever say I just walked away
I will always want you
I can’t live a lie, running for my life
I will always want you
First verse is “we”, pre chorus is “you” and “I”. Straight away we have a story developing, one of togetherness morphing in to separation. All very quickly, within the first 40 seconds of the song. Followed by the chorus:
I came in like a wrecking ball
I never hit so hard in love
All I wanted was to break your walls
All you ever did was wreck me
Yeah, you, you wreck me
With that, the story is complete. I loved you, I walked away but still want more, probably because I fell so hard and want to change you, but deep down you’re an asshole. From there, the rest of the lyrics are pretty irrelevant. We have our story and we’re sticking to it.
Oh, wait. The bridge. Way to go and ruin everything.
I never meant to start a war
I just wanted you to let me in
And instead of using force
I guess I should’ve let you win
We have a new moral to the story - Mr. Asshole is okay to be an asshole and instead of pulling him up on his dickishness, just go with it and don’t cause a fuss. Maybe develop some healthy self esteem issues with that and wait until One Direction or Ne-Yo come along to love you for your low self-esteem and self worth. The words “hit” and “force” also conjure up images of domestic violence and I’m going to assume it’s intended in a metaphorical sense otherwise that opens up a whole new can of worms.
Would this work as an acoustic number, stripped bare of the bombastic post-dubstep chorus production?
Yes, yes it would. Good work, you multiple songwriters you.
Four balls out of five.
Okay, now to watch the video.
PUT SOME MORE CLOTHES ON YOU SILLY GIRL. STOP LICKING A HAMMER. OH, NOW YOU’RE FULLY NUDE. WRITHING ON A STEEL BALL. LICKING A HAMMER. REALLY SUBTLE.
Who in their right mind would direct such a ridiculous video to take away from the spectacle of a decent song? Prime example of why I review the songs without watching their video.
Oh, it was Terry Richardson, creep of creeps.
Now all the young girls know that not only do you not try to better a person that’s closed off and an asshole, you should probably take all your clothes off to express your anguish and fully celebrate your lack of self-worth.
Granted, it was dusty in there and she probably didn’t want to get her tidy whities all dirty. |
Attorney General Eric Holder says he is "prepared" to dismantle the Ferguson, Mo., police department "if that's what's necessary."
"We are prepared to use all the powers that we have, all the power that we have, to ensure that the situation changes there," he said on Friday. "That means everything from working with them to coming up with an entirely new structure."
The comments by the Attorney General, who has already announced his resignation from the post, came just days after a voluminous report finding fault with the city's department and alleging widespread racial bias.
But the report cleared Ofc. Darren Wilson, who killed 6-foot-5, 290-pound black teenager Michael Brown after he weas attacked.
According to the report, the small city's police force, mostly white, stopped blacks in a disproportionate way. Cops and court officials also made racist jokes, including some targeting President Obama.
While the Justice Department said it work work with the city to implement suggested fixes, Holder said the department could still sue the city or dismantle the police force. |
The statue shows the young Barack Obama holding a butterfly
A statue of US President Barack Obama will be removed from a park in Indonesia's capital Jakarta because of public opposition, officials say.
They say the bronze statue of Mr Obama as a 10-year-old boy will be moved from the Menteng Park to the school he attended while living in the city.
The move comes after more than 56,000 people joined a campaign on Facebook calling for the statue to be removed.
They argue that - although popular - Mr Obama is not Indonesia's national hero.
'No contribution'
"The Jakarta administration has decided to remove the Obama statue from Menteng Park and take it to his former school," city spokesman Cucu Ahmad Kurnia told AFP news agency.
"We follow the aspirations of the people, who think that the removal of the statue to his former school is more appropriate," he added.
City officials said they wanted to move the two-metre (7ft) statue before Mr Obama's planned visit to Indonesia in March.
Heru Nugroho, initiator of the Facebook campaign to remove the statue from the park, welcomed the decision.
"It's good - a little too late. But I appreciate it," Mr Nugroho was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
He added that statues in Indonesia should be reserved for those who have made significant contributions to the country.
"Obama is a very good man, he's a good dreamer. But he has no contribution for Indonesia," Mr Nugroho said.
Mr Obama spent four years of his childhood in Indonesia with his American mother and Indonesian stepfather.
He went to school in Jakarta and is a local hero of sorts to young Indonesians, the BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Indonesia says.
The statue - depicting Mr Obama as a boy in shorts and a T-shirt with a butterfly perched on his hand - was erected in the park last December. |
Metallica: Through the Never is a 2013 American thriller concert film featuring American heavy metal band Metallica. Its title is derived from the song "Through the Never", from the band's self-titled 1991 album. It follows young roadie Trip's (Dane DeHaan) surreal misadventures, intercut with concert footage shot in Vancouver and Edmonton in August 2012.
The movie features no dialogue, bar that of Trip's supervisor and the band – a concept similar to Pink Floyd's movie The Wall. "We've obviously been influenced by some of the great music films of the past – The Song Remains the Same, or what Pink Floyd did with The Wall," said Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo. "But this is pretty unique. It's like a cross between Mad Max and The Twilight Zone."[7]
It was the first feature released by the revived incarnation of the Picturehouse marquee, which had been shut down since 2008.
Plot [ edit ]
Amid aerial footage of Vancouver and BC Place stadium, a radio DJ publicizes Metallica's concert. An overweight heavy-metal fan drives into the empty parking lot, and climbs on the car's hood, whooping and laughing. Trip (Dane DeHaan), a roadie for Metallica, skateboards past the fan and wipes out. He skates into the underground parking lot and down the dressing-room halls, encountering each of the band members. When he gives a brown paper bag to his supervisor, Trip is told to stick around. After standing in the arena, he walks away as the audience files in to Metallica's traditional opener, "Ecstasy of Gold".
The band begins performing, and during "Creeping Death" Trip's boss tells him to bring gas to a stranded truck carrying "something very important". Before driving his van, Trip takes a blue-and-red capsule, before the band begins "For Whom the Bell Tolls".
As Metallica begins "Fuel", Trip drives down deserted streets. Distracted by his map, he runs a red light and sees a bloody hand print on an illuminated sign. He is T-boned, and his van flips, lightning flashing as he leaves, which leads into Ride the Lightning (alongside a steel electric chair surrounded by two Tesla coils reminiscent of the album's artwork.)
Trip crawls out of the van, peers into the other car and calls to the driver (who is standing with his back to him). The driver glances at Trip, and runs past him down the street, One beginning to be played. Trip retrieves the gas tank, the map and a doll with a noose around its neck from the van, which The Memory Remains is played to. He wanders down a street, and a police horse drags a dead officer across his path. People run past him, ignoring him, followed by police cruisers (one of which is ablaze). Emerging in the middle of a street, Trip realizes he is between a motionless group of rioters and riot police. The rioters then become rowdy, and when the police throw tear gas they swarm over them. Stunned by the violence, Trip stands in front of a window (which then shatters).
A rider in a gas mask on an armored horse charges, wielding a sledgehammer. He lassos a rioter, hanging him from a streetlamp. Trip throws a brick at the rider, who gives chase. Trip loses the doll, but escapes through a wall of rioters, surging into Cyanide.
He walks down a deserted, littered street, under a dozen bodies hanging from a pedestrian bridge, leading into ...And Justice for All. Trip finds the truck he is looking for in a deserted parking-garage corridor, but the driver (a middle-aged man) is traumatized and does not notice him. The back of the truck contains a leather bag, which Trip opens; he slumps, speechless, as the band breaks into Master of Puppets
He sees a figure waving at him from a distance. The rider approaches the figure, and a group of rioters surge past them. Trip grabs the bag and the can of gas, jumps out of the truck and flees.
He is cornered at the end of an alley by the rioters. Trip ties a black bandanna around his mouth, puts up his hood and drops the bag. He douses himself with the gas, sets himself ablaze and charges the rioters, who eventually overwhelm him, beginning Battery.
After the band finishes Nothing Else Matters, Trip wakes up (to "Enter Sandman") on the roof of a building; his lost doll, now animated, approaches the leather bag. As Trip gets up, he is lassoed and pulled onto the rider's horse. He grabs the rider's hammer to free himself and slams the roof with it. Shock waves rumble across the city, shattering glass and the exteriors of surrounding buildings and disintegrating the rider and his horse. The reverberation affects Metallica's concert, cutting the power and knocking down lighting trusses. With a backup generator, the band continues the concert without pyrotechnics and a light show, playing Hit the Lights.
Trip returns to the deserted stadium with the doll and the bag under his arm. The credits roll to scenes of the band performing "Orion" to the empty stadium. Trip takes a seat; the final shot is of the still-closed leather bag which belonged to Cliff Burton on the Master of Puppets tour.
Cast [ edit ]
Release [ edit ]
The band made a surprise appearance in Detroit at the Orion Music + More Festival under the name Dehaan, after lead actor Dane DeHaan, to promote the film by playing their debut album, Kill 'Em All, in its entirety.[8]
Through the Never made its world premiere at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival.[9]
The film was released in IMAX theaters across the United States on September 27, 2013,[10] the 27th anniversary of former Metallica bassist Cliff Burton's death, before being rolled out to normal cinemas in 3D the week after (October 4). Hetfield attended the San Francisco premiere at The Metreon.[11]
Reception [ edit ]
Reviews of the film were positive. The film has a 78% "fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes; the consensus states: "Imaginatively shot and edited, Metallica Through the Never is an electrifying, immersive concert film, though its fictional sequences are slightly less assured."[12]
Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called the film "a full-throttle expression of rock & roll anarchy", and encouraged readers not to understand the plot, but to "live" it.[13]
Peter Rugg of The Village Voice writes that the film is "the most immersive concert film ever."[14]
Tristan Peterson of Metal Obsession gave a mixed review, citing "[The story] may be, in the end, irrelevant but it does deliver on some excellent visuals and atmosphere". However praised the individual qualities of both. [15]
Chris Tilly of IGN delivered a positive review as well, stating that it "features several truly incredible live performances that are worth the price of admission alone. Metallica fans will love the music, while everyone else can enjoy the amazing visuals in this unique concert movie."[16]
The film was nominated for a Grammy for Best Music Film and won a distinguished achievement award from the International 3D & Advanced Imaging Society in the "Motion Picture Documentary" category.[17][18]
Despite widespread praise from critics and the huge popularity of the band, the film was a flop, grossing only $3.4 million domestically.[19]
Music [ edit ]
The film's official soundtrack was released on September 24, 2013, via Blackened Recordings.[20] It charted in several countries and was nominated for a Best Recording Package Grammy.[citation needed]
References [ edit ] |
Zvezda Module statistics Launch date July 12, 2000 Launch vehicle Proton-K Docked July 26, 2000 Undocked Permanently docked Mass 20,320 kg (44,800 lb)[1]
At launch: 22,776 kg (50,212 lb)[1] Length 13.1 m (43 ft) Width 29.7 m (97 ft) Diameter 4.35 m[2] Living volume 75.0 m3 (2,650 cu ft)
Habitable: 46.7 m3 (1,650 cu ft) References: [3][4][5] Configuration
On-orbit configuration of the Zvezda service module
Zvezda heads into orbit aboard a Proton rocket on July 12, 2000
Zvezda (Russian: Звезда́, meaning "star"), DOS-8, also known as the Zvezda Service Module, is a component of the International Space Station (ISS). It was the third module launched to the station, and provides all of the station's life support systems, some of which are supplemented in the USOS, as well as living quarters for two crew members. It is the structural and functional center of the Russian portion of the station - the Russian Orbital Segment.
The module was manufactured by RKK Energia, with major sub-contracting work by GKNPTs Khrunichev.[6] Zvezda was launched on a Proton rocket on July 12, 2000 and docked with the Zarya module on July 26.
Origins [ edit ]
The basic structural frame of Zvezda, known as "DOS-8", was initially built in the mid-1980s to be the core of the Mir-2 space station. This means that Zvezda is similar in layout to the core module (DOS-7) of the Mir space station. It was in fact labeled as "Mir-2" for quite some time in the factory. Its design lineage thus extends back to the original Salyut stations. The space frame was completed in February 1985 and major internal equipment was installed by October 1986.
The MIR-2 space station was redesigned after the failure of the Polyus orbital weapons platform core module to reach orbit. Zvezda is around 1/4 the size of Polyus, and has no armaments.
Design [ edit ]
Zvezda consists of the cylindrical "Work Compartment" where the crews work and live (and which makes up the bulk of the modules volume), the small spherical "Transfer Compartment" located at the front (with three docking ports), and at the aft end the cylindrical "Transfer Chamber" (with one docking port) which is surrounded by the unpressurized "Assembly Compartment" – this gives Zvezda four docking ports in total.[6] The component weighs about 18,051 kg (39,796 lb) and had a length of 13.1 metres (43 ft). The solar panels extend 29.7 metres (97 ft).
The "Transfer Compartment" attaches to the Zarya module, and has docking ports intended for the Science Power Platform and the Universal Docking Module. As in the early days of Mir, the transfer compartment provides a suitable EVA airlock where spacewalkers in Orlan suits removed a hatch after closing a few that connected the compartment to the rest of the station. It was used only during Expedition 2, where two men put a docking cone on the nadir port. The lower port connects to Pirs and the top port connects to Poisk. Eventually, the plan for Pirs is for it to be deorbited and replaced by Nauka(Multipurpose Laboratory Module).
[7] Sprouts in the BIO-5 Rasteniya-2/Lada-2 (Plants-2) experiment aboard Zvezda.
The "Assembly Compartment" holds external equipment such as thrusters, thermometers, antennas, and propellant tanks. The "Transfer Chamber" is equipped with automatic docking equipment and is used to service Soyuz and Progress spacecraft.
Zvezda can support up to six crew[6] including separate sleeping quarters for two cosmonauts at a time.[6] It also has a NASA-provided Treadmill with Vibration Isolation System and a bicycle for exercise, a toilet and other hygiene facilities and a galley with a refrigerator and freezer. The module contains the primary Russian computers for guidance and navigation.
Zvezda has 14 windows[6]— There are two 9-inch-diameter (230 mm) windows, one in each of the two crew sleep compartments (windows No. 1 and 2). Six 9-inch-diameter (230 mm) windows (No. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8) on the forward Transfer Compartment earth facing floor. As well a 16-inch-diameter (410 mm) window in the main Working Compartment (No. 9) and one 3-inch-diameter (76 mm) window in the aft transfer compartment (No. 10). There are a further three 9-inch-diameter (230 mm) windows in the forward end of the forward transfer compartment (No. 12, 13 and 14), for observing approaching craft. Note: Window No. 11 is unaccounted for in all available sources.
Zvezda also contains the Elektron system that electrolyzes condensed humidity and waste water to provide hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen is expelled into space and the oxygen is used for breathing air. The condensed water and the waste water can be used for drinking in an emergency, but ordinarily fresh water from Earth is used. There are 16 small thrusters and two large S5.79 thrusters for propulsion. The oxidizer used for the propulsion system is dinitrogen tetroxide and the fuel is UDMH, the supply tanks being pressurised with nitrogen.[8] Additionally, it has eight batteries for storing power. The Elektron system has required significant maintenance work, having failed several times and requiring the crew to use the Solid Fuel Oxygen Generator canisters (also called "Oxygen Candles", which were the cause of a fire on Mir) when it has been broken for extended amounts of time. It also contains the Vozdukh, a system which removes carbon dioxide from the air based on the use of regenerable absorbers of carbon dioxide gas. Zvezda has been criticized for being excessively noisy and the crew has been observed wearing earplugs inside it.
Zvezda contains the ESA's Digital Management System, a computer that controls ISS.[9]
Zvezda is also the home of the Lada Greenhouse, which is a test for growing plants in space.[10]
Connection to the ISS [ edit ]
aft view) Progress docked to Zvezda (
The rocket used for launch to the ISS carried advertising; it was emblazoned with the logo of Pizza Hut restaurants,[11][12][13] for which they are reported to have paid more than US$1 million.[14] The money helped support Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and the Russian advertising agencies that orchestrated the event.[15]
On July 26, 2000, Zvezda became the third component of the ISS when it docked at the aft port of Zarya. (U.S. Unity module had already been attached to the Zarya.) Later in July, the computers aboard Zarya handed over ISS commanding functions to computers on Zvezda.[16]
On September 11, 2000, two members of the STS-106 Space Shuttle crew completed final connections between Zvezda and Zarya; during a 6-hour, 14 minute EVA, astronaut Ed Lu and cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko connected nine cables between Zvezda and Zarya, including four power cables, four video and data cables and a fiber-optic telemetry cable.[17] The next day, STS-106 crew members floated into Zvezda for the first time, at 05:20 UTC on September 12, 2000.[18]
Zvezda provided early living quarters, a life support system, a communication system (Zvezda introduced a 10 Mbit/s Ethernet network to the ISS[19]), electrical power distribution, a data processing system, a flight control system, and a propulsion system. These quarters and some, but not all, systems have since been supplemented by additional ISS components.
The two main engines on Zvezda can be used to raise the station's altitude. This was done on April 25, 2007. This was the first time the engines had been fired since Zvezda arrived in 2000.[20]
Launch risks [ edit ]
Due to Russian financial problems, Zvezda was launched with no backup and no insurance. Due to this risk, NASA had constructed an Interim Control Module in case it was delayed significantly or destroyed on launch.
Interior [ edit ]
Zvezda's space toilet
Forward view of interior of Zvezda
Part of the Galley
Crew [ edit ]
Crewmembers celebrating Christmas in Zvezda
View of one of the Zvezda crew quarters
Cosmonaut in Zvezda, November 2000.
Expedition 37 crew in Zvezda
Exterior [ edit ]
Dockings [ edit ]
Edoardo Amaldi approaching ATV-3approaching
Aft Port
Pirs and Zarya Soyuz TMA-7 arrives at ISS. It was docked with Zvezda in 2006, but also spent time docked withand
Nadir
Zenith
Forward |
Soumya Jain's appointment as the head of mohalla clinics is being slammed by critics
Highlights AAP Health Minister's daughter placed in charge of free clinics Political opponents allege nepotism She's not getting paid, gave up IIM for this: Health Minister
The mohalla clinics were announced by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal last year.
26-year-old Soumya Jain has no experience in Public Health - she trained as an architect. Yet, she is now in charge of Delhi's epochal project - the management of nearly 100 mohalla or neighbourhood clinics, which provide free treatment to walk-ins.The mohalla clinics - wildly popular and written up internationally - were announced last year by Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has ambitiously pledged 1,000 of them will be operational by the end of March.But the appointment of Ms Jain is being hauled up by critics as a distinctly unhealthy practice - her father, Satyendra Jain, is the Health Minister."This exposes the real face of Kejriwal, and this is not the first time Aam Aadmi Party or AAP volunteers and workers have been given cozy positions in the government," said Harish Khurana of the BJP."It's illegal and absolute double speak from the party which kept targeting others for family links," seconded Sandeep Dikshit of the Congress.The BJP has three members in the Delhi Assembly. The Congress has none. That makes for flimsy opposition, but a lofty job for a minister's offspring, especially one without concomitant qualifications, does come across as an audacious deviation from the meritocracy it often belligerently preaches.The Health Minister says his daughter could have opted for more lucrative prospects. "She has secured admission in IIM Indore, but she is leaving all that to serve the people of Delhi. Soumya is involved with the Delhi Health mission as a volunteer. She has not been provided with any vehicle, house or money by the government," he clarified.Ms Jain will report to the Health Secretary who in turn reports to her father. Not the degrees of separation from dynastic and VIP culture that Mr Kejriwal and his ministers have pronounced as the founding principle of their young party. |
SawÂ
ComRes has them splitting 52%-39% for IN
It is a fact that all but one of the telephone polls carried out on the referendum since the General Election has shown more Conservative voters wanting to remain than leave.
The exception was last week’s ComRes poll for ITV that had the IN lead down from 18% to 8%. This morning, as covered in the last thread, Â the Mail is reporting a shift back to IN.
The detailed data is now available and one key set of figures is how Conservative voters say they will vote on June 23rd. This shows a break of 52% for REMAIN Â and 39% for LEAVE.
This is the same pattern seen in the weekend Survation poll, Ipsos-MORI, and every other ComRes referendum poll since GE2015.
If the phone pollster view of the referendum is correct then those who vote for the party have a different position than not just the many CON MPs now declaring for REMAIN but the party membership. This is from the latest survey of Conservative members by CONHome.
This picture of the party activists having a different view on a key issue is very similar to what is happening within LAB on Trident and other issues. The big difference is that while Corbyn is in tune with party members Cameron is more in tune with party voters.
It is true, as had been widely covered, that online polls have had very different view of the referendum outcome than the phone polls.
Mike Smithson
Follow @MSmithsonPB
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Budget Bytes and Feeding America
Hey guys! I want to take a few minutes this Friday afternoon to share with you an organization that I’ve become more involved with lately. That organization is Feeding America. I first found out about Feeding America back in 2014 when I was doing the SNAP Challenge, and the more I learned about what this organization does, the more I realized that they are working towards the same goals as I am here at Budget Bytes. This amazing organization works to end hunger in America, reduce food waste (on both a commercial and consumer level), and eliminate stigmas surrounding food insecurity. So, now that I’ve achieved a little bit of security in my life, I want to use my resources to give back to those who are still struggling.
Why Feeding America?
When I did the SNAP challenge back in 2014 it was an eye opening experience. To make a long story short, it helped me realize how even a small amount of hunger can have a major impact on every aspect of your life. After reading the comments from the Budget Bytes community about their experiences with hunger, it was even more evident how hunger can strike anyone at any time, is often unexpected, and it knows no stereotypes. With a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries, Feeding America works to fight hunger in communities across America.
We work to get nourishing food – from farmers, manufacturers, and retailers – to people in need. At the same time, we also seek to help the people we serve build a path to a brighter, food-secure future.
I’m so impressed with the multi-faceted approach that Feeding America takes to reduce food waste, while putting nutritious meals on the table for millions of Americans. They do far more than I could ever outline here, so I encourage you to read more about the wide scope of work that Feeding America accomplishes here.
Getting Involved
While Feeding America has been on my roster of charities for a while, I wanted to do more. You’ll probably see me sharing statistics and personal stories from people impacted by hunger on social media, but be sure to follow Feeding America for even more hunger related headlines and heart-warming stories (follow Feeding America on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram). Feeding America also has a great blog, where I’ll be occasionally contributing (read my first article about The Most Nutritious Foods for Your Money). ;)
Budget Bytes Community Drive
Since we have such a large and supportive group of readers here at Budget Bytes, I wanted to create a place where we as a group can get involved. I’ve created a fundraiser through Feeding America’s Set the Table program where we, as a group, can raise funds to help our fellow community members. Every dollar donated is equal to 11 meals on the table, so any amount that you can give makes a BIG difference! I’m so excited to see how much of an impact we can make as a group. I’ll be sharing the fundraiser’s progress on social media, but you can always go back to the Budget Bytes Community Drive Page to check out how much of an impact we’re making.
While I did set a “goal” dollar amount for this drive, I plan to keep it open and running indefinitely. If we smash through that goal, we’ll just keep going! There’s no stopping the impact that we can make as a group. :)
CLICK HERE to go to donate!
Volunteer – Even if you don’t have any dollars to give, you can still make a difference! Volunteer work is a crucial piece of the puzzle. Volunteering offers the added benefit of helping you connect on a personal level with people in your community—something that is becoming more and more difficult to do in our digital society. To explore more ways that you can get involved and take action in your community, click here.
Thank you for letting me share this with you today! I hope I’ve inspired you to learn more about food insecurity and perhaps how you can get involved and give back. The Feeding America website has oodles of information, so I encourage you to go have a look around! And while you’re at it, stop by the Budget Bytes Community Drive page. :)
Need Assistance? If you or anyone you knows needs assistance, Feeding America provides a fast, easy way to find your local food bank. Don’t be afraid or ashamed to ask for help. We’re here for you.
This post may contain affiliate links which won’t change your price but will share some commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. |
A hypothetical heterosexual couple living in the US or UK takes tests to learn if they are carriers of the more prevalent recessive diseases. They’re relieved to find out that cystic fibrosis (CF) isn’t something they need worry about passing to their children – neither has any of the few dozen mutations the test panel includes.
The couple do not carry the most common 32, 106, or even 139 disease-causing mutations in the CFTR gene, the number depending upon the testing lab. But that could be a problem – a false negative – if the woman and man are anything other than non-Hispanic whites.
More than 2,000 variants (alleles) of CFTR are known, and their prevalence varies in different populations. That’s not because DNA recognizes the race or nationality of the person whose cells it’s in, but because of how we choose our partners.
CF Among Asians
For people of Asian ancestry, the available CF test panels are pretty much useless, according to an article (“Ethnicity impacts the cystic fibrosis diagnosis: A note of caution”) and an accompanying editorial (“Don’t judge a book by its cover: the emerging challenge of diagnosing CF in non-Caucasians”), in the latest issue of the Journal of Cystic Fibrosis (both unfortunately behind a paywall).
Barbara Bosch, from the University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium and colleagues, compared CF symptoms among 234 Asians represented in the international CFTR2 database to 53 patients in the UK CF database.
In European whites, CF tends to cause lung congestion (often with Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection), pancreatic insufficiency, salty sweat, and likely one or two copies of the mutation F508del, which deletes one of the protein’s 1480 amino acids. Asians had been thought to have more severe lung disease than the classic European cases, but it turns out that they have poorer lung function overall, making CF seem worse. Asians also have less salty sweat, much better pancreatic function, and fewer cases of CF-associated male infertility. It isn’t surprising that CF cases among Asians can be missed or misdiagnosed.
The most important distinction between European white and Asian populations, for treatment purposes, is the CFTR mutations. While 73% of people recognized to have CF worldwide have at least one copy of F508del and 70% of Europeans with CF have two copies, the mutation accounts for only 12-31% of CF alleles among Asians, and none (so far noted) in Korea, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam. Last year researchers discovered a CFTR mutation in the Chinese not yet found in other populations. Having F508del or a handful of other specific mutations is a prerequisite for the targeted treatment ivacaftor (Kalydeco) and only F508del for ivacaftor combined with lumacaftor (Orkambi).
“Asian roots impact on all 3 CF diagnostic pillars,” the researchers conclude, referring to the lung and pancreas symptoms, the salty sweat, and the mutations. To avoid misdiagnosis as something like tuberculosis, which has happened to Chinese children with CF, the investigators suggest a more personalized approach to diagnosing the condition that considers ancestry. But parsing populations to better target genetic tests is running up against genetic admixture – diversity at the DNA level when parents are from different backgrounds.
Interrogating CFTR
In this age of ancestry.com ads everywhere and even dog breed DNA tests available at Wal-Mart, shouldn’t we gear genetic disease tests to ancestry, restricting the mutations? But there’s a catch-22. Returning to the example of CF, if Asians (and presumably other non-whites) are misdiagnosed when their clinical presentations don’t match the classic “white” phenotype, then their mutations won’t enter the databases that guide test development.
A better approach than meticulously cataloging ancestors and testing for the few identified mutations in prospective parents, especially given faster and cheaper DNA sequencing, is what the company GenePeeks is pioneering: mining as much information about a gene as possible, and applying it to all patient samples. That means deducing every way that a gene can vary, with extra, missing, and substituted DNA bases. So far they’ve interrogated more than 1,000 genes.
For CF, GenePeeks’ curation process predicts changes in the 188,702 DNA base sequence of CFTR that alter the encoded protein’s structure or function in ways that could affect health. F508del entraps CFTR protein in the twists and turns of the cell’s secretory network, so it can’t reach the surface where it should monitor ion (salt) transport. A different mutation might slow the protein’s journey to the cell membrane, and another close the ion channels too quickly. For some genotypes, symptoms might be so mild that a clinician not familiar with the diverse guises of CF wouldn’t make the diagnosis. Chronic sinusitis or male infertility may be the lone manifestations.
GenePeek’s analysis extends to interactions of mutations. For example, their algorithms can pick up when two people have mutations in different parts of the gene that complement, so that together in their child, the protein functions well enough to support lung health. A lab just cataloging mutations without considering how a pair of them might theoretically interact (based on biochemistry) might conclude that the risk of the child inheriting CF is 25%, when it’s not. In the future, analysis will ideally include gene-gene interactions.
Several recently announced collaborations are bringing GenePeeks’ expertise to parts of the world where populations are young and more global genetic testing needed: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Egypt, Ghana, and Kenya. “The desire to protect a future child from serious disease is universal. We’re trying to meet that need with better screening tools in markets that have been underserved historically,” GenePeeks CEO Anne Morriss recently told me. Whenever the company becomes aware of a clinically important variant of any gene, they add it to their list for anyone – not just a member of the population in which the mutation was discovered.
Genetic Testing for All
While genetic testing companies are expanding their offerings, some of them are still not keeping up with admixture. Even recent recommendations to increase the roster of genes in preconception carrier screens require that a disease have a carrier frequency of at least 1 in 100. But where? Among whom? That criterion might miss a disease that’s rare in a larger population yet concentrated in a subgroup.
That’s the case for Steel syndrome, which causes joint pain, hip dislocation, pinching of the spinal cord in the neck, short stature, and characteristic facial features, due to a mutation in a collagen gene. It’s much more common among residents of East Harlem in New York City who are of Puerto Rican ancestry than among other groups. Hip surgery, which is done for the same symptoms arising from an injury, could harm a person with Steel syndrome. Because some people who identify as Hispanic may not be aware of Puerto Rican ancestry, adding the Steel syndrome mutation to orthopedic genetic testing panels or collagen panels makes sense. The 1 in 100 carrier frequency rule would miss the disease in East Harlem. (I told the Steel syndrome story here.)
GenePeeks’ approach celebrates the dynamic complexity of the human gene pool. “The protocol recognizes the realities of global migration and diversity. People move – they always have and always will. A couple with Middle Eastern ancestry can just as easily walk into a doctor’s office in LA as Dubai,” says Morriss.
Direct-to-consumer genetic testing websites can oversimplify the situation, presenting carrier testing as a yes/no situation: you have a mutation or you don’t. “If you are starting a family, find out if you are a carrier for certain inherited conditions,” advertises 23andme. “A carrier” can actually mean hundreds if not thousands of different things! We have two copies of each gene (except the X in males), and each gene, because it has thousands of building blocks, comes in many flavors.
So before we all load our genome sequences onto our smartphones and start doling out dough for analysis to the companies that are now planning this new addictive service, researchers need to learn all there is to know about specific genes – in us all.
Who ever knew genetics could be so complicated? |
Story highlights YouTube is encouraging the use of full names in its comment section
Users can comment anonymously but must explain why
Recent YouTube changes include video face-blurring tech to protect protesters
It may be a step towards making the Internet more civil, but will users comply?
Most of the time reading comments on the Internet is like attending a slightly dysfunctional family dinner, full of passionately argued, half-baked political theories and tasteless jokes.
Wandering into a YouTube comments section, however, can be like walking into a dive bar bathroom, walls and mirrors covered in graffiti as profane as it is pointless.
Last month at Google I/O, an audience member asked Dror Shimshowitz, a head of product at YouTube, what he could do about the terrible comments on his YouTube channel. According to Wired, Shimshowitz responded , "We're working on some improvements to the comment system, so hopefully we'll have an update on that in the next few months."
Apparently he wasn't lying. Try to comment on a video today and a window will pop up with the title "Start using your full name on YouTube," which will sign you in with your Google+ account. A YouTube spokesperson told BetaBeat that this option has been offered since June 29 and that users with a Google+ account will see the same thing if they try to upload a video.
If you don't want to use your Google+ account, you can refuse -- but then you're taken to a second prompt, which asks "Are you sure?" Then, like some kind of Internet degenerate, you must explain why you don't want to use your full name.
Most of the reasons provided involve the user being a business or product, although you can choose the mysterious "My channel is for personal use, but I cannot use my real name," useful if you are cruising YouTube as a member of the witness protection program.
JUST WATCHED 2011: Social media & technology Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH 2011: Social media & technology 02:42
It would have been more honest if YouTube had included, "I'm a jerk and would like to troll comment sections anonymously," but sadly that's not an option. Still, it's important to remember that not everyone on the site is a bored troll looking to mock watchers of Justin Bieber videos.
Recently YouTube launched its own face-blurring tool, a valuable tool for protesters trying to protect themselves from government recrimination. That pretty much sums up why YouTube will (hopefully) never completely take away the option to comment anonymously.
Balancing the needs for free speech and civility is a tricky proposition that, quite frankly, no website has completely figured out. This is definitely a step in the right direction for YouTube; whether or not its users will actually start using their real names is another question. |
She clicked through every video available, from the currently reporting news, to shaky phone uploads by those present, and the static street cams of the fallout surrounding that nights the charity event.
The Joker was still at large.
Dr. Crane was still missing, among a few other non-kidnapped individuals.
Bruce Wayne was shone in a heroic light helping injured humans into ambulances, himself looking battered with a bandage covering half his face already soaked beyond use by his puss and blood.
As predicted, the protest had prevented the cops from reaching the gala at first, then panic had ensued once the protesters had also been attacked by drug maddened animals.
A half-seen shadowy figure (assumedly Batman) had swung through to gallantly kill many of the rampaging animals.
Harper felt clammy and claustrophobic. She continued opening more tabs, watching more clips and reading more reports, as if knowing more could help change the facts.
What was the point? She took a swig of her 'hacker juice,' officially ending the cleanse she'd been attempting that week. The Monster energy and Midori cocktail was making her feel queasy, but she was still too shocked to heat up any food.
An abrupt siren startled her, causing her to fumble and spill the hacker juice onto the floor. She checked her security monitor. A hooded man in obscuring clothing was marching straight up her private entrance.
She double checked that her security measures were on and running before tossing a stack of magazines off her desk to grab her gun. She tiptoed to the door and swiveled the screen next to it to see the figure hover a foot away, making no attempt yet to open the door.
It would be dangerous for him to touch the doorknob without her shutting off the electrical charge being fed into it. Apparently, whoever he was expected such a trap, or was simply lucky.
Harper found herself practically gasping when she attempted to call out to ask whoever it was to identify themselves. She licked her lips and braced her arm to shoot.
Don't be dumb. If that's a pig out there, they'll shoot on site if I have a gun. Also, if I shoot this one, there's likely more outside.
She hit the screen to view the street outside. It was vacant, save for one ratty old car with no visible person inside.
She turned up the comm directed at the man waiting outside the door.
"I'm catching my death out here. You gonna' let me in at some point?"
Harper froze. That voice. It couldn't be.
He'd never been to her house before, for obvious reasons. They'd also never met in person, for the same reason.
She opened the menu to shut off the doors current, then hesitated.
It would be bad if anyone knew he was here. But…
It could be worse to turn him away.
She shut off the security measures, unlatched the doors several locks, and unbolted the knob.
He helped himself in while Harper backed away to a safe distance. Her gun hung down but still in hand; she felt more comfortable holding it.
"Bluebird, it is truly an honor to make your acquaintance in the flesh." Joker pulled down the hood, lifting the shadow from his warm smile and haggard face. He removed a beanie off his head and placed it on a rack by the door. Despite how he'd slicked back his green hair to look smooth, it somehow gave an impression of the man being frazzled after a long night.
"Mr. Gwynplaine," she said, still calling him by the online alibi he'd originally introduced himself to her as. "Good to meet you in person." She rubbed her free hand down her face, even though her sweaty palm failed to alleviate any dampness on her brow. "What are you doing here?"
Joker held up a finger, motioning for her to sit on the questions. "Please; water?" He did sound painfully hoarse.
She led him to her kitchen where she was surprised by her idol taking over to help himself to a glass and poured from the tap. He finished her second largest cup in one gulp before refilling.
Setting it down, he sighed and said, voice still weaker than usual, "Thank you." He hung his head and brushed fingers through his hair. Before Harper could get any traction on her question, he looked back up. "Little girls room? I gotta' take a squirt."
She pointed him the way and watched him saunter off. Alone in her own cramped kitchen, she fluctuated between leaning on her counter, crossing her arms, contemplating grabbing some paper towels to clean her recent spill, or waiting on her couch for Joker to finish his business. She set the gun down on the counter by the sink.
Needing to do something, she shuffled over to the couch and brushed everything off it. Never before had she felt self-conscious about the 'unkempt' state of her house.
No need to put on heirs, right? A man like the Joker was above judging people through the lens of messy and organized. Wasn't he?
She heard a flush and the sink turn on and off. Joker entered the room and crashed on the opposite end of the couch from Harper. His head rested down on the back as he sprawled out his long body and closed his eyes.
"What a night," he said, tone exasperated.
Harper forced herself not to swallow before speaking. It was hard to say, as there were so many things she'd rather ask and was dying to know, but she had to say it. "What the fuck happened tonight?"
There were many ways he could have misconstrued what it was she had really asked, but he opened one eye toward her to consider the question and his answer before speaking. "You mean why I used the animals."
"I mean," Harper could feel something swelling in her throat. It's not a betrayal, she told herself. It's not. She paused to collect herself. "Ya, kind of. I guess. There's more, but, ya, why that?"
His one open eye lazily blinked. "Two of my men died tonight. Killed in front of me."
Harper couldn't help but look away. She felt her face flush.
"I'm not going to try and manipulate you by saying that, Bluebird. If I was, I would leave it at that, making you feel bad by offering you perspective. However, it was still my plan and my actions that lead the zoo animals to going crazy and being killed and hurt. While I'm guilty of taking actions I knew you'd disprove of, it's not the first time I've done so. Nor am I at fault for making you an accessory without forewarning, as it's been your stated desire for me to keep you out of the loop on specifics to my plans."
"You used me to get animals hurt." It sounded stupid, especially since Bluebird had always imagined her first in flesh meeting with Joker to go completely different. It felt wrong to be attacking and blaming him, instead of capitalizing on the opportunity to learn as much as possible from the once-in-a-millennia revolutionary.
"Zoo animals. Not that I think that'll convince you of much, but I know how much you hate Gotham Zoo in particular. Animal prisons, you've called them. The inhabitants were dying out a slogging half-life there."
"You're right," she felt a twinge of anger and defiance surge through her temple and drown out her second thoughts in what she was talking about. "That doesn't convince me of much. You're ignoring the implications this will lead to in the future. The people of Gotham now have etched into their minds the stereotype of animals being aggressive and bloodthirsty. Not to mention that them being butchered isn't better than living out their days like rejected seniors in a zoo."
"My mind devises plans that achieve specific goals," Joker licked his dry lips. "The more goals I set, the less likely I'll be able to devise a functional plan without resorting to massive displays of terror; which I think you'll agree isn't optimal.
"I chose between being effective over keeping you happy for this job. I won't apologize, because I'd do it again, and the act would only be serving the means of placating you. However, I do feel obligated in owing you a favor to make you happy. A small favor with the addendum that I can still turndown any request I find unreasonable. That's the best I can do."
The offer surprised Harper. Before she could chew on implications of an IOU from The Joker, a trembling in her fist distracted her. For some reason she still wanted to be mad.
Joker, picking up on this, leaned just his head to fully face Harper. "None of that changes that I'm a man that is, not only dismissive of harm to animals, but complicit in it. And you don't want that to be reality."
"I… I know what- who you are." Why am I stammering? "I know how you take things too far. You have a penchant for violence. We disagree on multiple levels…
"I help you, and not, say, Batman or something, because while being a destructive solution, you are a solution. You get things done and you change people's minds. You accomplish what people like me wish could eventually be addressed whenever we stand in a protest, sign a petition, or write a pithy blog entry.
"I know sometimes we demand too much of the world, even in full awareness of how fucked up and corrupt people are, from the anti-intellectual masses and bigots, to the money fueled, greedy, cataclysmically nature-destroying fat cats and their gimpy politicians spouting their fear mongering.
"I couldn't help believing that, somehow, we were fundamentally similar; that you stood for something… But I'm afraid that beneath it all, you have no greater plan; that there is no ideal you're striving for."
Joker had taken the veritable speech in stride. "You want me to convince you I'm not empty inside? That I'm more than, say, a random lightning strike that sometimes happens to kill someone you hate?"
Harper blinked. No, of course that's not what she wanted. What she'd asked for wasn't fair. How would she have responded to someone making a similar spiel about her? Sure, she would default to her doctrine of the need for humanity to adhere to the universally beneficial utility functions for humankind as a unit. But she knew Joker's rebuttal to that, the one he wasn't voicing now. That rationalizing morality and higher ideals was window setting for human's true directives: survival and happiness.
Ideals facilitated survival by… what would he pick? Darwinistic rhetoric about passing on genes? 'Ideals' being comforting dross allowing the plague of human's consciences to sleep at night?
Would he mention neuroscience? That altruism gave brains a dopamine hit? That selflessness was an illusion, at best?
"Sorry," she said. "That's not what I meant to ask. What I was trying to get at, is, what was the purpose of tonight? I watched your speech, I noticed your motifs… but it struck me as patently not you. You involved animals to make a message I both think is unimportant and potentially boring to you."
Joker rubbed his eyes with a thumb and forefinger. A glimmer of light caught Harper's attention. A small amount of precipitation on Joker's cheek. The hair on her arms stood on end to a degree she was afraid would be easily noticed. Did he just tear up?
"I do apologize for being… not quite myself," Joker's tone had a noticeably added thickness. "I got a bit high on my way over here. It's mostly out of my system now."
Harper nodded. That had done it. She was officially dumbfounded.
"You're not wrong, Bluebird," Joker almost whispered. "The message of tonight's demonstration wasn't important. It was just some shit to distract everyone from my personal aims. I tried divining my own future. You see, I thought it possible to discover what it is I desire. And then I'd just… force my will to manifest. And….." Joker trailed off for long enough with closed eyes to make Harper suspect he'd fallen asleep, until he leaned forward and half opened his lids to peer at nothing. "That's not what happened. What I saw was the future he wants. His plan to domesticate himself and neuter me."
"That' was a lot of violence and suffering for your own self-discovery."
Joker exposed his teeth, snarl like. His lips then curved slightly enough to transform the sneer into a grin. "Of course it is. That's just the boilerplate experience for human discovery. Facing the undercurrent of chaos in an effort to grow requires sacrifice.
"As the story goes, Adam and Eve ate fruit cursed to sentence the human race to death, just so they could know what good and evil were, rather than depend on the word of some higher being. Genghis Khan carved a bloody crest through Northeast Asia, all to prove life's meaning to himself. Guy Fawkes-"
"Alright," Harper interrupted. "I get your point. No need to mention Guy Fawkes just to try and tailor your speech to me."
Joker stood and stretched his back. "Anyways, think on what favor I could do for you. You'll have time while I'm out of town. Speaking of which, did you get the stuff I needed?"
Harper's knot of indistinguishable emotions in her stomach didn't untie, but the mention of the project she'd been slaving over for the past month shifted her focus to the present matters. "Oh, uh, ya. All the information should be in that briefcase. I'd been intending to drop it off at the usual place; hadn't expected you to show up here.
"Included in there are leads to other sources for info on infrastructure and stuff like that. There was a more severe limit on how much I could do from here than usual, so I left most of the actual leg work up to you."
Joker peaked at the briefcase without examining it as he withdrew a thick envelope. Harper accepted it, also opting to only eyeball the exterior it without pawing inside. It felt more appropriate to trust that they'd both held up their own ends of the bargain.
As Joker looked back up at her, she wasn't shocked at his red, capillary thick sclera, almost looking more like shattered windows than eyes. It was the baggy lids clothing those eyes. Harper couldn't remember ever hearing anyone describe Joker in terms other than how pronounced his monstrous features were, completely downplaying the inarguably human features making up the same person.
He looked to be thirty something, but also gave the air of appearing much younger than his age. How much sleep had he been missing lately? He looked tired; exhausted even. His hands had callouses. That oversized mouth had left a criminally few amount of permanent laugh lines, but, she could see from her proximity to him, that he had the tips of crows feet coming in.
"I'm sorry," Harper whispered. "I didn't mean to come at you like that. I hope that stuff I gathered for you will be helpful. You'll need as much good intel as is possible to break in." And probably a dose of massive displaying terror, she didn't say out loud. "Are you, I mean, do you plan on coming back?"
Joker stood up straight. He was at least a head taller than Harper. Their proximity was tightly pressing Harper's bubble of comfort, but she didn't move away as she usually did. A small friendly smile was on his face. It was familiar enough to be her brother's. It was happy to be around her as much as one on a boy meeting her on a date.
"My city, Gotham… I was born here you know. 'Goat Home' is what it means. Difficult to remember it was little more than that until more recently than you'd imagine. Gotham is both a very new city, yet in ways, older than cities predating it, due to how stuck in time most of it seems to be." He sighed, realizing he was rambling. "I'll have to return. I always do. But, I might not get back before we're either back to humbly being a home for goats again, or gentrified beyond recognition. Either way, whatever our fate, from now on it's completely up to-" Joker froze. Slow enough to almost be beyond detection, his head tilted around. "What is that?"
The wall behind the couch practically exploded. Dust poured in as it collapsed, half obscuring the dark figure flying in and straight toward Joker.
Harper collapsed onto the floor and rolled out of the way. A dull reverberation had been the only noise caused by the explosion, but a piercing and relentless light from the hole forced her to cover her eyes.
Once she realized the brightness wasn't vanishing anytime soon, she splayed her fingers and forced herself to peer around at what was happening through lids squeezed squinted as possible.
Joker kicked himself away and landed like a cat in front of Harper, as if to prevent Batman from getting at her.
It was also Harper's first time seeing the Dark Knight in real life. He cut an imposing figure, or, at least what she could make out of him was imposing. Batman had positioned himself directly in front of the searing light, making him painful to look at. Most of his features were enshrouded by the brilliance, Harper saw how dark his costume was. How impenetrable it appeared, yet the light agility it afforded the wearer. His cowl was his full face concealing version, rather than his alternate that gave the appearance one could see a man's lower face (which of course was a part of the mask, a false face to throw the scent off from the man's true identity).
Dark steam trailed off of a portion of Batman's armor near his clavicle. Joker had already managed to hit him with some sort of acid. It didn't look like it was doing any notable damage.
"I thought I heard you were at the Gala euthanizing Gotham zoo's primate exhibit," Joker's tone was halfway between teasing and being tensed with frustration.
"Wasn't me," Batman spoke with a heavier voice modulation than Harper had ever heard. It was loud and low, making her wish she could cover her ears as well as her eyes. If there was a man behind the voice, it was drowned out by the mechanism garbling out the words he growled. It was probably her imagination, but she felt the amplified voice rattle her fillings. "I didn't even stop by. Came straight here."
Joker began to rise up. His feet widened into a solid position, but his tight fists remained down around his hips. "I did't kill anyone, did I?"
"The fact that neither of us knows yet means you might as well have." Batman's outline stood rigid as a statue.
"If you think I reneged on the trifle pact you tried forcing me into, then shouldn't you be fucking-off from this whole ordeal?"
It took longer for Batman to reply than Harper was expecting. "Your attack tonight was different. You broke the rules. Or, you were proving to me, or maybe yourself, that you were willing to break the rules."
Rules? What the hell is he talking about? Harper assumed the Joker would have the same question, but instead he hunkered down more, coiling deeper into his defensive position.
"You've been attempting to manipulate me," Joker hissed.
"Yes," came the distant thunder forming Batman's words. "I thought I could help you. That's why I'm here now. We need to talk. I can't help you, not really. Not anymore than the amount you decide to work with me in helping yourself."
"Do you have any idea," Joker said, lacing the words with a barking laugh that sounded unhinged, even for him. "How pathetic you sound to me?"
A card appeared between Joker's fingers, the way a magician would reveal one. Its edges gleamed in the blinding light.
"I didn't come here to fight, Joker," Batman's altered voice gave no inflection, but somehow managed to sound more menacing than before. "That doesn't mean I'm not prepared to."
The light behind the Dark Knight silently increased in intensity as the man himself flew in to motion. His arms became invisible, engulfed by the light.
Harper could hear the click at his wrists and the air whooshing out from projectiles launched out at the Joker.
Joker leaned his body forward and into action.
From Harper's angle below and behind him, it gave Joker the appearance of a boulder being struck by a wave as his body splintered the light around him.
As he threw his card he contorted his body to dodge whatever Batman had thrown at him. Two guttural thunks resounded behind Harper's head as the heavy weapons sunk into her wall and showered debris on her.
Joker spun and danced around more of the same projectiles, making himself as difficult to lay hold of as water. He threw a second card he'd readied in his other hand.
Harper's wall was being decimated as she lost count of how many times Batman shot it. His visible migraine of a light blinked and then began to severely lose power until it was only a fraction of its initial strength, and began flickering on and out in no predictable pattern.
That's what the cards were aimed at.
As Harper's eyes adjusted to being able to see again, she saw Batman leap toward them while shooting more projectiles.
She finally saw what they were, as a bola struck home, latching Joker's two hands together. As quickly as his hands were bound, Joker's straight razor flicked open in his fingers and worked to cut the cord.
Before he could loosen himself free, Batman was in Joker's face, a fist aimed at the defenseless mouth.
Harper had felt paralyzed by the instant onslaught of high octane series of events, so it startled her to half passing out when she was yanked to her feet and forced in front of Batman by the Joker.
She'd seen the maneuver before in cam footage. She'd read about it in personal reports from civilians and cops. The first time, Joker had thrown a civilian between himself and Batman, affording himself the perfect amount of time to escape. The second time, Batman had bulled through the civilian to get to the Joker, hospitalizing the prior, and capturing the latter for Joker's first and only stint at Arkham.
Harper wanted to close her eyes, but couldn't. She watched as Batman's hefty gauntlet flew at her. She just hoped it wouldn't be causing brain damage.
Instead of the pain of a fist bursting through her chest cavity, a gloved hand grasped her own. She was pulled into Batman, before being flung away behind him. Her falling was only due to her zero anticipation of she wouldn't be flattened as if she'd stood in the way of a steam roller.
The entire experience had felt so fluid and graceful it was difficult to believe it wasn't planned. It had been more similar to being twirled between two elite dance professionals, than used and deflected by opposing monstrous testosterone freaks trying their hardest to bash each other's heads in.
Now Harper's vantage point was from behind Batman, watching as he tried pinning Joker against her already abused wall.
"So many restraining weapons tonight, Bats," Joker's voice was strained with exhaustion and fury, pitching it steaming-tea-kettle high. "Is there even room left in that suit for anything else?"
"No," Batman said, punching and further denting the wall where the Joker's head had just been.
Harper could see more steam rising from Batman, this time from dots on his face mask. She caught a glimpse of the dispenser at Joker's wrist as he dealt a glancing squirt at the Dark Knight before he weaseled his way out from the wall.
Even with the acid, the Joker had no real way of hurting the armored Batman. And now that Joker had already managed to worm his hands free from the bola, a weapon it seemed Batman had shot his entire wad of, it looked like Batman had no real way of capturing Joker. One was too strong, the other too fast.
Just as it looked like Joker was about to make a clean break from his back literally against the wall, Batman released his wings. Joker was blocked from Harper's view, and immediate escape.
Harper rolled herself away as Batman fell back towards her, toppling over, Joker grasping him in a bear hug and kicking off the wall. The also fallen wings created a massive whoosh throughout Harper's house, blasting every specifically placed paper into the air.
The two men wrestled and panted on the floor with Joker on top.
It was a myth purported by film that fights entirely took place standing up. In Harper's experience growing up in the Narrows, she'd seen this kind of graceless wrestling as the rule, rather than the exception.
It was still bizarre to see The Batman and The Joker resorting to that boyish sort of squirming reminiscent of preteen siblings.
But as long as Joker was piled on top as he was, he couldn't be punched or kicked by Batman's bone-shattering attacks.
Before Joker could get a half decent amount of his acid squirted out, Batman was firing grappling lines from all over his body. One pulled them toward one wall, before another began lifting Batman up to the ceiling by his arm.
The ceiling gave out first as a chunk of dry wall crashed down onto Joker's back. Joker grabbed the retreating cord with one hand before it had fully receded back into the Dark Knight's wrist-mount.
Joker caught a second cord just as it was shot out, preventing it from reaching a wall. A line of blood ran from his hand down the cord toward Batman.
The two were becoming grotesquely entangled in each other. It was hard to tell who was winning or losing, who was trying to do what, or which one was succeeding, if either of them were at all.
Batman's wings were swiftly drawn back in with enough force and wind he was able to sweep himself up, nearly succeeding to shift his weight on top of the Joker. Joker was too fast for that, and the two were again up on their feet facing each other. Their shoulders sagged and they both panted.
Joker let drop to the floor the two ends of the grappling cord he'd burned off. As he yanked his hand, causing Batman to shift his weight and lift his own arm, Harper noticed the pair of Batman's handcuffs now linking the two by their wrists.
Batman's free fist cocked to his side.
"Stand down," a hint of Batman's exhaustion bled into his filtered voice. "I can do significant damage to you at this range, but only if you make me."
Harper stared at Joker's sweat gleaming face. The wet streams flickered with the random strobing of the light he'd recently dismantled. His green hair was a mess, with the longest portions dripping thick globules off his head or sticking to his neck. Veins were sticking out of his forehead and neck as he gasped for breath. His face made him appear too tired to continue.
Until his mouth inched it's way into his biggest grin. As it grew wider than any other human's, Harper flinched, thinking the lips must be ripping apart. And they kept creeping wider. His large teeth shimmered in the broken light.
"You lying bitch," Joker said, voice clear and solid, despite his heavy breathing. "You were packing some heat after all."
Joker's free hand rose, revealing a weapon obviously pilfered off Batman's person. Harper couldn't tell what it was supposed to be. It looked like thick ring with a trigger against Joker's fingers.
"Haven't had the pleasure yet of taking your razor sword out for a whirl," Joker's smile was audible.
Batman's back went rigid. "Don't." Was all he said.
"Goodbye, old chum," Joker squeezed the trigger tight. A loud buzzing and a lightning fast wire snapped out of the ring, rotating around a protruding section to give the wire the rough shape of a sword.
Batman tried to make a move, but Joker was twice as fast.
With a wave of his arm and the loud weapon, an explosion of blood dashed out to the wall and ceiling. A steady flow billowed down and sunk into the carpet.
Batman slowly backed away and raised his shackled hand. Joker's hand dangled on the other end, a steady dribble of blood dripping from where it was severed above the wrist.
Joker's face and exposed teeth were spattered with his own blood.
"Joker-" Batman began.
Joker slashed his handless stump back and forth like it was a weapon, attacking Batman with his blood.
Joker bolted for the whole in Harper's wall.
As Batman stepped out to try and block the path, brief bright pops began shooting out of his mask, accompanied by the zapping noise of electricity. He covered his face with his hands, leaving the third hand to dangle and tap against his elbow.
Harper couldn't tell if she imagined it or not, but it looked like Joker darted one last furtive glance her way with his eyes buried beneath a face furrowed deep by animal survivalism, before he sprinted out the wall and disappeared.
She turned back to see Batman dealing with the acid damage to his mask and suit. The spots that had been burned off had been precise, exposing the wiring and electrical conduits in the suit. Joker's blood had been splashed in to exacerbate the raw currents.
Batman tapped something on his arm, dimming the pops, before removing a small capsule from his belt. He broke the capsule in two, releasing a white sand over the currents on the armor. The electricity began dying down.
Batman was silent, but some movement in his body language gave Harper the impression he was sighing.
He futzed with his mask as he sauntered to and half out the initial hole in the wall.
A portion of the mask seemed to have creaked open. Batman stopped and, without turning to face Harper, said, "Sorry," in a voice almost too muffled to make out. The mask clicked and locked back closed.
Then he too disappeared into the night; the red stained ivory hand still attached to him was the last visible image before the dark overtook him. |
There’s an obsession in art with making female characters “pretty” that frequently leaves cartoon women with facial features that would scare the crap out of us if they belonged to an actual human being. What makes it worse is that it tends to be the same face over and over again (tiny nose, giant eyes, and round), so Tumblr user TheNamelessDoll decided to see what they’d look like with more realistic features.
This is what Elsa from Frozen would look like—in motion—as a cartoon of an actual person instead of a cartoon of weird animated beauty standards:
The impressive alteration was achieved with After Effects, which took a lot of work (“Jumped from Photoshop to After Effects and it was MUUUUCH harder to do this edit while the character is moving! … I’m not doing that again any time soon!”) but TheNamelessDoll’s other Photoshop adjustments get the point across just as well:
You may have noticed that some of them also got slight body edits, and there’s even more where these came from. However, TheNamelessDoll is quick to point out on each that they’re just a bit of anatomy practice for art and not intended to be a judgment on the original work:
These edits were created simply to give me a chance to practice my manipulation/anatomy skills. Nothing more, nothing less. They are NOT meant to be ‘better than the original’ or ‘what it should have looked like’, or serve as a general negative critic on the respective movies’ animation styles!
But we can all certainly talk about whether they’re improvements. What do you think?
(via Boing Boing, image via TheNamelessDoll)
—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—
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To Quentin Tarantino, casting his films is an art in itself. And he loves to partner with huge movie stars, especially those willing to tackle roles that play against their glamorous public persona. Think of Brad Pitt in Inglorious Basterds and Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained. In The Hateful Eight, Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Daisy Domergue, the bruised and battered fugitive whose capture brings a swarm of dangerous men to Minnie’s Haberdashery mountain stopover in the midst of a whiteout blizzard. The 53-year-old actress might be the best thing in a film packed with fascinating, on the edge performances, but Tarantino was originally tempted to go in a very different direction. He was tempted to cast arguably the biggest star in the world right now: Jennifer Lawrence.
“I’m a huge Jennifer Lawrence fan,” he says. “I think I’ve been on record of saying that her and David O. Russell’s relationship is very William Wyler-Bette Davis like, and that’s a good thing to be like. And I can see her doing a good job with this role, so we went to talk about it and everything. She was just doing me a courtesy to see me, I think. She was doing Joy. She had to do all this publicity on the Hunger Games movies. There was just no f—ing way in the world that she was available. Having said that, I’m glad I didn’t cast somebody that young. I think I absolutely positively made the right choice, as far as the ages of the characters.”
Daisy was one of only two characters in the Western that Tarantino didn’t write for a specific actor. (The other is Bob, played by Demian Bichir.) But starting with a blank slate about who would play Daisy allowed her to evolve into a more vivid three-dimensional character, unshackled by the persona of a pre-ordained actress. “I’m not worrying about an actor’s limitations or their pluses [when I write this way] — it only is the character,” says Tarantino. “That character can really go and find itself any way it can, and hopefully, it completely exists on the page. Now you have to find somebody that can take it from the page and take it even further.”
The only problem with that kind of wide-open creative process is that sometimes the writer’s imagination eliminates scores of talented actresses. (WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS TO FOLLOW) “Daisy Domergue was almost an impossible role to cast in a conventional way — i.e., an actress coming in the room and knocking your socks off, and us saying, ‘Oh wow, that’s Daisy.’ Because if you’ve seen the movie, you know that the way she is in the last chapter is not necessarily the way she is in the chapters building up to it,” says Tarantino.
Though he flirted with the idea of Lawrence, Tarantino quickly zeroed in on actresses who’d made their bones around the same time Tarantino emerged as a cinematic force in the early 1990s. “There was a throwback to Reservoir Dogs quality to this whole [movie] so there was this kind of full circle quality going on,” says Tarantino. “So I was like, the actress should be from that same boat as the [other] actors, and there were about three actresses from that period that really kind of made an indelible mark on me. I started going on little film festivals of the three, and frankly, it was the Jennifer Jason Leigh film festival that I enjoyed the most.”
He watched everything: Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, Georgia, Miami Blues, The Hitcher, Heart of Midnight, The Men’s Club, eXistenZ, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and Single White Female (“I watched that one on my laser disc!”).
“Another big one that helped was a Paul Verhoeven movie she did, Flesh+Blood, with Rutger Hauer,” Tarantino says. “She’s terrific in it. So I literally was just having a ball with this Jennifer Jason Leigh film festival. It was a nice little reminder that in the ‘90s, she was like a female Sean Penn. You didn’t just cast her in girlfriend roles; you cast her in movies where the whole movie was about her performance. So it got me very, very excited about seeing a performance-dominated Jennifer Jason Leigh movie.”
RELATED: Quentin Tarantino and his Hateful Eight cast on creating bad guys worth rooting for
Reading that list of eclectic films with memorable performances, it’s difficult to believe that Leigh has never been nominated for an Academy Award. With Daisy, she’s in the hunt this year for Best Supporting Actress. Some prognosticators think she should be a double-threat: her performance as the voice of Lisa in Charlie Kaufman’s stop-motion comedy, Anomalisa, has sparked some buzz to reward her with the first-ever nomination for a voice-only role (similar to the 2013 campaign for Scarlett Johansson in Her).
The idea of Jennifer Lawrence playing Daisy isn’t ridiculous, especially if you’ve recently watched Winter’s Bone. There’s even a scene in The Hateful Eight where Channing Tatum shows up and you can almost imagine how the scene would play slightly different with him opposite Lawrence. But Leigh makes Daisy something else — something more — and when she sings a tune in the middle of the movie and shrieks like a Valkyrie at the end, she instills it with three decades of cinematic experience. It’s tender and delicious and terrifying and pure Jennifer Jason Leigh. |
Anderson Silva will compete at the official taekwondo tryouts for a spot at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, and he’s willing to get beat up in the process.
Alongside with Carlos Fernandes, president of the Brazilian Taekwondo Federation, "The Spider" announced in a press conference on Wednesday that he will indeed battle for a spot on the Brazilian Olympic team.
"I stopped training taekwondo when I was 17 so it’s going to be tough, because taekwondo is very different today," Silva said. "I’m not worried about being embarrassed by the other athletes. For everything sport gave to me, I will try to give it back. I don’t have anything to prove. I’m here to help the sport and make it stronger.
"I never stopped training and watching the sport. I always used taekwondo kicks in my MMA fights, but now I have to train taekwondo only and adapt myself. It’s another challenge I have to face, and I’m willing to get embarrassed for it."
The official tryouts start in January, and Silva will have only a few months to score points and earn a spot in the Olympics in the heavyweight division. According to Fernandes, that’s the only way "The Spider" will quality for the Olympics.
"The rules will be respected," Fernandes said. "The Brazilian Federation would never do that, and Anderson Silva would never accept that. He’s a champion, and he proved it inside the ring."
Silva explained that his lawyers and doctors asked the Nevada Athletic Commission to delay his hearing about the failed UFC 183 drug tests, and maintains his innocence. He doesn’t expect a possible suspension to keep him away from the Olympics, though, but he will stay out of the 2016 Games if NAC asks him to, like it tried with Chael Sonnen and Metamoris.
"About the commission trying to stop me from competing in the Games, I don’t know if that would happen because it’s completely different," Silva said. "But if they stop me, I would respect it.
"I respect the whole process that is happening. The hearing was delayed again, but I didn’t ask for it. My lawyers asked for it, and I don’t know what happened. I still don’t know what happened. People ask me why I don’t talk about it, but I can’t talk about something I don’t understand. My doctors and lawyers will wait for the commission and then we will see what happens."
Win or lose, the Brazilian Taekwondo Federation sees Silva coming to the sport as a golden ticket.
"Everybody knows that marketing is expensive, especially in Brazil, and having Anderson Silva is like winning the lottery," Fernandes said. "It’s great for taekwondo, for Anderson and for Brazil. On the technical side of it, we believe Anderson is like water. He’s like water, he adapts to everything. If you don’t believe it, you will see you’re wrong. Taekwondo is an intelligent sport and Anderson Silva is an intelligent fighter. He is in the best shape of his career, and we believe he will do fine." |
Story highlights US warns of potential attacks on US citizens in areas of Istanbul
Turkey has become more volatile with terrorist attacks and a coup attempt
(CNN) The US government has ordered all civilian family members of its Istanbul consulate staff to leave Turkey because of increasing threats from terrorist organizations, according to a travel warning issued Saturday by the US State Department.
"The Department of State made this decision based on security information indicating extremist groups are continuing aggressive efforts to attack US citizens in areas of Istanbul where they reside or frequent," the warning said.
The warning goes beyond the one issued Monday that urged Americans to avoid traveling to southeast Turkey, especially urban centers near the Turkish-Syrian border, because of recent terrorist attacks.
Turkey has become increasingly volatile in the past year because of terrorist attacks at home and its involvement in the Syrian civil war.
Updated #Turkey Travel Warning - we warn US citizens of increased threats from terrorist groups throughout Turkey. https://t.co/CQ6ycGujHR — Travel - State Dept (@TravelGov) October 29, 2016
Read More |
More than 350 million people in the world now have diabetes, an international study has revealed. The analysis, published online by the Lancet on Saturday, adds several tens of millions to the previous estimate of the number of diabetics and indicates that the disease has become a major global health problem.
Diabetics have inadequate blood sugar control, a condition that can lead to heart disease and strokes, as well as damage to kidneys, nerves and the retina. About three million deaths a year are attributed to diabetes and associated conditions in which blood sugar levels are disrupted.
The dramatic and disturbing increase is blamed by scientists on the spread of a western-style diet to developing nations, which is causing rising levels of obesity. Researchers also say that increased life expectancy is playing a major role.
Type 2 is the most common type of diabetes, accounting for about 85-95% of cases, and is often tied to obesity. It develops when the body fails to produce enough insulin to break down glucose, inflating blood sugar levels. Type 1 diabetes is a separate auto-immune disorder.
"Diabetes is one of the biggest causes of mortality worldwide, and our study has shown that it is becoming more common almost everywhere. It is set to become the single largest burden on world health care systems," one of the study's main authors, Professor Majid Ezzati, of Imperial College London, told the Observer. "Many nations are going to find it very difficult to cope with the consequences."
This point was backed by Martin Tobias of the ministry of health in New Zealand in an accompanying editorial for the Lancet. As he states, there is "no worldwide surveillance network for diabetes, as there is for communicable diseases such as influenza". Given the inexorable rise in case numbers that is now occurring, there was now "an urgent need" to establish proper monitoring of the disease, he added.
The study – funded by the World Health Organisation and the Gates Foundation – analysed blood from 2.7 million participants aged 25 and over from across the world over a three-year period. Doctors measured levels of glucose in their blood after they had fasted for 12 to 14 hours – blood sugar rises after a meal.
If their glucose level fell below 5.6 millimoles per litre, they were considered healthy. If their reading topped 7, they were diagnosed as having diabetes, while a result that ranged between 5.6 and 7 indicated that a person was in a pre-diabetic state. Crucially, the study found that the average global level of glucose measured this way had risen for men and women.
The team then used advanced statistical methods to estimate prevalence rates among the participants. It was estimated that the number of adults with diabetes was 347 million, more than double the 153 million estimated in 1980 and considerably higher even than a 2009 study that put the number at 285 million. "We are not saying the previous study was a bad one," said Ezzati. "It is just that we have refined our methods a little more."
In percentage terms, the prevalence of male adult diabetics worldwide rose from 8.3% to 9.8% in that period, with adult females increasing from 7.5% to 9.2%. As to the causes, the team attribute 70% to ageing and 30% to the increased prevalence of other factors, with obesity and body mass the most important.
It was found that in the US glucose levels had risen at more than twice the rate of western Europe over the past three decades. In wealthy nations, diabetes and glucose levels were highest in the US, Malta, New Zealand and Spain, and lowest in the Netherlands, Austria and France. Despite its obesity epidemic, the UK's diabetes prevalence was lower than that of most other high-income countries. In a league of 27 western high-income countries, British men had the fifth lowest diabetes rates, while British women were eighth lowest.
Other badly affected countries included many Pacific island nations. As Ezzati put it: "There has been an explosion of cases there." In the Marshall Islands, for example, one in three women and one in four men has diabetes. Saudi Arabia was also reported to have very high rates. Glucose levels were also particularly high in south Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, central Asia, north Africa and the Middle East. The region with the lowest glucose levels was sub-Saharan Africa, followed by east and south-east Asia. Eastern Europe's diabetes prevalence, while not low, also changed little over the three-decade period.
"Diabetes is a condition that is linked to long-term disability and we need to monitor how it is spreading very carefully or face the consequences."
The Lancet article comes after scientists said type 2 diabetes could be reversed in as little as seven days if sufferers went on a crash diet. Adherence to a strict 600 calorie-a-day diet causes fat levels in the pancreas to plummet, restoring normal function. Professor Roy Taylor, of Newcastle University, called the discovery a "radical change" in understanding type 2 diabetes.
• This article was amended on Saturday 25 June to make clear the distinction between type 2 diabetes, which accounts for between 85-95% of cases and has been linked to lifestyle, and type 1 diabetes, which is a separate auto-immune disorder. |
Preorder incentives have long be the way to win in the games industry, getting thousands of dollars worth of sales before your title is even released.
Cleverly, Ubisoft has decided to apply the same method to ticketing for its upcoming Assassin’s Creed movie. Keen fans can get their hands on various memorabilia costing between $15 and $1,200, depending on which pre-order package they choose.
The game developer has partnered with Kernel to offer its packages. So what will your $$$ get you? Well, for $15 you can get tickets to the movie, an LED watch and some fake tattoos. However, if you’re feeling a bit more flashy, you can get an Aguilar Premiere Scale Statue for $600, along with your tickets.
If you have lost your mind entirely, you can blow $1,200 and get an exact 1:1 replica of the Spanish crossbow from the game.
All packages include a digital copy of the movie’s script, which is one consolation.
The movie is set to be released in December 2016 but the offers are for a limited time so you’ll need to decide quick how much of a dedicated Assassin’s Creed fan you really are.
➤ Assassin’s Creed movie tickets and merch presale begins on Kernel [Ubisoft]
Read next: TP-Link is the first casualty in the FCC's war on open source router firmware |
Will Paul Feig’s streak of ruined childhoods and devastated kids never find its end? It’s bad enough that the Bridesmaids director had to go and make a fun, funny, female-led reboot of Ghostbusters. Now he’s going after the childhoods of today, too, by encouraging kids to buy an absolute crap-ton of toys based on his film.
That’s per Mattel, which says that its Ghostbusters line of toys has “exceeded expectations” for sales in the wake of the film’s July 15 release. That’s across both male and female demographics, apparently, which might owe in part to the company’s decision to ignore decades of cootie-prevention research and place action figures of Leslie Jones and Kristen Wiig—confirmed girls—in the “boy” action-figure aisles at stores.
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“We’re thrilled with the response to the new Ghostbusters toy line,” a company executive told Variety, before presumably darting into a bathroom to administer himself a life-saving dose of circle, circle, dot, dot. Meanwhile, we can only assume that some part of the internet is going into convulsions about, like, wearable proton packs that button on the opposite side right now—at least, until Feig’s deadly Childhood Erasure Wave finally reaches them, and wipes their pasts away. |
If you spent any time in front of the TV last week, you may believe a revolution is underway in America's classrooms. NBC dedicated a week of its programming to seed in-depth conversations about how to improve our schools. A new documentary about public education opened across the country to sold-out audiences. And a young billionaire -- Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg -- pledged $100 million of his own money (on Oprah no less!) to help the city of Newark transform its public schools.
I wish I could participate fully in the optimism, yet I keep thinking of the old adage that says there are three types of reform efforts: traditional, transitional, or transformational. And despite the high-powered pomp and circumstance of last week, two moments in particular convinced me our current path is likely, at best, to yield cosmetic changes to a system in need of an extreme makeover.
The first of these moments occurred on Tuesday, when I received an email from GreatSchools.org, a well-funded website that aspires to become "the go-to guide for parents aiming to make a smart school choice." It's a great idea, and done right, GreatSchools.org could be an invaluable resource for parents who want to make thoughtful decisions about which school will best serve the needs of their children.
The email announced the release of a "revolutionary new scorecard," so I eagerly clicked on the link. After all, if we're serious about transformational change, we must augment our traditional measures -- test scores and graduation rates -- with other indicators that paint a fuller picture of how well or poorly a school is helping children learn and grow.
What I found was a scorecard providing a detailed analysis of how any school in the country is doing vis a vis any other... on test scores and graduation rates. That's not revolutionary change -- that's just a fancier way of counting the same pile of beans. And that's a recipe for educating parents to keep choosing schools based on a single measure of success. Where's the revolution in that?
The second moment occurred on Friday, when I was watching NBC's Andrea Mitchell interview Finland's Minister of Education, Pasi Sahlberg, about his country's top-flight system of schools. As Sahlberg explained it, Finland's transformation came from investing deeply in the long-term creation of a highly competitive and well-trained teaching profession. "What we've been able to do, " said Sahlberg, "is systematically secure the profession so it remains interesting and attractive and morally purposeful. And in my country, we don't constantly test students or teachers like you do here. That keeps young people flowing into the profession because they want to be the ones that have the authority to assess and evaluate the learning of students."
Unfortunately, last week's media coverage exposed just how opposite our current reform path is from our Finnish counterparts: where Finland provides a balanced curriculum for all students, we overemphasize reading and math; where Finland tests kids locally, we test kids nationally; where Finland invests in teacher training and provides intense mentoring experiences for new teachers, we embrace drive-through models that place passionate, inexperienced teachers in front of the children with the greatest needs; where Finland builds a culture of learning that sparks intrinsic motivation in both its educators and students, we seek to incentivize performance with extrinsic motivators, despite the wealth of research to suggest that such a strategy offers a poor likelihood of success; and where Finland's leaders reinforce a culture of respect for teaching and learning, we assault what little dignity remains for teachers in the United States by repeatedly suggesting that the majority of them must be moved out of the classroom and into other lines of work. |
During a campaign event in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday, Hillary Clinton addressed the recent shootings of black men by police officers in Oklahoma and North Carolina, offering her condolences for the families.
“We are safer when communities respect the police and police respect communities,” Clinton said, telling the crowd that Americans need to work together to “build trust” and end violence.
Clinton, who was off the campaign trail Tuesday, used the Orlando speech to the put forward reforms to help this disabled. She proposed reforms to help people with disabilities. Clinton called for fair pay for people with disabilities and the elimination of the subminimum wage, and she said she would push to make colleges more accessible for students with disabilities. She also proposed a new effort to help people with autism in the workplace and called for the U.S. to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
But she opened the event with a nod toward the two new recent police shootings that have garnered national attention.
“There is still much we don’t know about what happened in both incidents, but we do know we have more two more names to add of a list of African-Americans killed by police officers in these encounters,” she said. “It’s unbearable and it needs to become intolerable.”
She also mentioned the police officers targeted in Philadelphia last week and protests in North Carolina that left several police officers injured. And she commended the efforts of police in responding to attacks in Minnesota and the New York-New Jersey area.
“Our police handled those terrorist attacks exactly right and they likely saved a lot of lives,” she said. |
The Dangerous Mistake of Organized Religions
A few weeks ago, my sixteen year-old cousin asked her Confirmation advisor whether people who don’t believe in Catholicism go to Heaven.
“No,” he replied. “They go to Hell.”
My cousin was deeply troubled. She went home and told my aunt, “I don’t know if I can believe in a God who would send friends of mine to Hell for not believing what I believe.”
Her reaction makes me happy. Who would want to believe in such a God?
Who would celebrate a supposedly all-knowing, infinitely benevolent Creator who casts the majority of His beloved children into an abyss of eternal fire and brimstone?
I would hope that no one would, but it seems that this isn’t the case. It seems that a man who purports to be a mentor for my impressionable cousin is happy to do so.
And there’s something very wrong with this.
Recognize That Some Doctrine is Antiquated
The words of my cousin’s supposed mentor sound like a scare tactic or a threat. He might as well have said, “Don’t even think about not believing in the one true God or you’ll sign your ticket to Satan’s endless torture chamber.”
Some people might tell me that I can’t blame this man because he was merely relaying the actual Catholic doctrine to my cousin. After all, it really does say that in the Bible.
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Well, Scripture also says you aren’t supposed to get a round haircut, tattoo your body, wear gold, or eat shellfish either. But don’t worry – you can keep slaves. Denying freedom to a fellow human being is a-okay.
With the exception of the most extreme adherents to the Bible, most Catholics (and Christians generally) nowadays accept that some ideas found in the Holy Book are outdated and misguided.
I know a whole lot of Catholics who don’t buy into such ludicrous restrictions and who wouldn’t drive them into the minds of youngsters.
But, this piece isn’t about lambasting the nuances of Catholic Church. I know many Catholics who possess a more modern perspective on the doctrine and are genuinely kind people.
The Notion of Exclusivity
What’s most important to notice about the anecdote — and what this article is about — is the notion of exclusivity implicit in the ideology of my cousin’s “mentor’s” beliefs.
I mean – when he dies, he’ll be rewarded with 72 virgins in cloud paradise while all the other poor schmucks get to watch the skin melt from their bodies for infinity. Contrasts don’t come much starker than that one.
It’s important to note that Christian faiths are examples of religions in which exclusivity is literally built into the fabric of the belief system. Do things our way, and you’ll be rewarded beyond measure. Choose not to follow our rules, and you will be punished.
Not all religions are based in such black-and-white principles. However, this certainly doesn’t mean that practitioners of any faith are immune to the effects of group self-centeredness and a mentality of exclusivity.
An interesting psychological study showed that narcissism tends to become more rampant in groups. This is because it is acceptable and even encouraged in many organizations to believe that “ours is the best one”.
Additionally, the study indicated that when a person feels that one group to which they belong (political party, gender, race, religion, sports team, etc.) is superior to all others, they are more likely to feel that way about all groups to which they belong.
And sadly, the study showed that a person’s belief that their social groups are superior tends to manifest itself in the form of negativity directed toward other groups.
So, exclusivity is built into the very fabric of groups. Groups encourage an attitude of superiority, and that attitude leads to discrimination against other groups.
It’s easy to find evidence from the past to support these findings. The history of our world is peppered with horrendous examples of war, genocide, and hate crimes that result from one group attempting to assert its superiority over another.
Unfortunately, many of these atrocities (think Islamic jihads, Salem witch trials, the inquisition, etc.) have been committed in the name of religion. And it isn’t just isolated incidents that happened hundreds of years ago. Murder, oppression, discrimination, and acts of brutality are still committed in the name of religion every day.
Why This Troubles Me So Much
I realize that many awful events of history are unrelated to religion, and I don’t think the ones that have religious associations are inherently worse than the others.
However, exclusivity (leading to intolerance and animosity) in religious organizations irks me even more than exclusivity in other groups and prompted me to write this post. Why? Because of this:
All religions have one thing in common: they tell us to love and be kind to one another.
This is what every religion is founded upon! Once you sift through the minutia of doctrine-baggage that also accompanies every organized religion, you find that the most central message of all of them is the same: be loving and compassionate first and foremost.
But somehow, when all of the rules and interpretations and descriptions of the divine are thrown into the mix, religious institutions and their practitioners lose sight of this overarching principle.
They set themselves against one another and against those who choose to be secular, atheist or agnostic because they are too caught up in the details.
They lose sight of the ultimate purpose of religion — to make the world a more loving, unified place — and instead get tied up in the inconsequential dogma.
So they miss the point entirely.
As a result, these organizations — these churches — that are supposed to exemplify love and acceptance become sources of exclusion and intolerance (which historically and inevitably lead to violence and hate-mongering).
And this only further reinforces the narrow-mindedness and bigotry that already infect so many of our societies and institutions.
I should stress again that religious organizations are absolutely not the sole culprit of perpetuating these types of attitudes in our society — many, many organizations do.
However, religions have always had and continue to have an opportunity to set a better example. They have the opportunity to shine as the beacons that they were meant to be — lighthouses celebrating something higher, more humane, more loving, and more understanding.
When organizations that are supposed to support love and humanity join the ranks of exclusive groups that promote discriminative attitudes, they’re missing that opportunity.
Common Mission
Therefore, it is imperative that people of organized religions remember that they are all bound together under a common mission — a mission to spread love and kindness.
When a religious zealot twists their beliefs into a reason to look down upon or berate or attack someone, they’re failing to uphold that common mission.
Furthermore, this mission is certainly not reserved only for practitioners of religion. It’s a mission shared by scientists, hard materialists, spiritualists, non-believers, and all kinds of caring folks worldwide.
Spreading love, kindness, and understanding is a mission that transcends the classification of any religion. It’s a way of life that anyone can practice at any time. It’s a universal religion.
The Biggest Obstacle
This post was about organized religion, but it was meant to use organized religion to relay a message about group membership.
We must be cautious about becoming arrogant about the groups we join. If we’re not careful, they become a reason to divide the world and make us all resentful of one another.
We become so swept up in our group identities — Republican, Chiefs fan, male, academic, Caucasian, hipster, upper class, bodybuilder, American, sorority sister, Mormon, etc. — that we begin to automatically exclude, antagonize, and hold animosity toward people who aren’t in those groups.
We end up completely forgetting about our human identity, and even beyond that, our identity as one of 9 million species on the planet.
This is why group membership is truly the biggest obstacle to the practice of universal compassion. It’s okay for us to be in groups, but we need to check ourselves and be conscientious of how our groups are making us view and treat other people.
We should aim to expand our consciousness to include and accept everyone and everything. We should make an effort to stop judging and condemning and instead embrace the diversity of our planet. We should focus on cultivating our individuality, rather than allowing our groups to define our identity for us.
If we can do that, we’ll find that the only real Hell is the prison of intolerance that we constructed.
We’ll discover that treating all people with kindness and respect isn’t just a golden ticket to Heaven. It’s an end in itself. It’s our liberation.
“Our true nationality is mankind.”
― H.G. Wells
P.S. If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe or connect to join the community. It’s as quick and simple as a game of tic-tac-toe, and you can always leave later if you decide it’s not meant to be. Thanks, friend.
(Clarification: A friend expressed concern that I had misrepresented the Catholic Church, so let me clarify: The modern Catholic Church does, in fact, believe that members of other Christian religions and even other faiths can go to Heaven, so long as they believe in God, are baptized, or desire to be baptized. Non-believers, however, cannot.) |
(CNN) One of the "probable masterminds" of the disappearance of 43 Mexican students was arrested Friday morning after being on the lam for more than two years , according to Mexican officials.
The announcement was made by Mexico's National Security Commission via Twitter.
"(We) have executed the arrest warrant against Felipe Flores, former Iguala police chief," the commission tweeted.
The attorney general offered a reward of up to $2.5 million pesos (about $134,392 dollars) last year for any information that led to his capture.
How the arrest happened
Felipe Flores Velázquez was captured as he was visiting his spouse in Guerrero, the state where the students went missing in 2014, National Security Commissioner Renato Sales Heredia said at a news conference.
Mexican federal authorities made the arrest in coordination with the attorney general's office, the country's navy and the Center of National Investigation and Security, an intelligence-gathering agency.
No shots were fired.
How did the students go missing?
Authorities say he wanted to prevent the students from disrupting an event by his wife the night they went missing.
The mayor then turned the students over to a gang who killed them, burned their bodies in a landfill and tossed some their remains into a nearby river, Karam added.
Tomás Zerón de Lucio, the head of Mexico's Criminal Investigations Agency, said two months later that the incident was a case of mistaken identity.
He said the criminal group accused of executing the students thought they belonged to a rival gang, also operating around the city of Iguala where the students were last seen.
"We can conclude that the motivation was consistent (with the theory that) the students were identified by the criminals as members of an organized crime rival group that operated in the region. That was the reason why they were deprived of their freedom, initially, and then of their lives," Zerón de Lucio said in early 2015.
There is no indication that the mayor wanted all of the students dead , authorities said, but the gang mistook them for a rival group and executed them.
What was the role of the former chief?
Flores Vasquez helped protect city's police officers who were connected with the students' disappearance, authorities said.
He also colluded with the city's mayor to persecute and attack the students and ordered local police to stop them from attending the protest.
The former chief is being charged with organized crime and kidnapping, officials said Friday.
Some 130 others have been arrested in connection with the case, Sales Heredia, added. |
The National Hockey League (NHL) is a men’s professional ice hockey league. Widely recognized as the world’s premier hockey league, it was established in Montréal, Québec, in 1917. The league currently includes 31 franchises: 7 in Canada and 24 in the United States. The Canadian teams are the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators, Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks. Teams compete annually for the Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America.
Formation and Early History of the NHL (1917–41)
The National Hockey League (NHL) was established in Montréal, Québec, on 26 November 1917. The league succeeded the National Hockey Association (NHA), which had folded due to a dispute between Eddie Livingstone, the owner of the Toronto Blueshirts, and the owners of the other teams in the league (see The Birth of the National Hockey League). The original NHL teams were the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators and Toronto Arenas (forerunner of the Toronto Maple Leafs); Québec City held a franchise, but decided not to operate that season. At the time, the NHL was one of the professional leagues (e.g., the Pacific Coast Hockey Association) that competed for the Stanley Cup.
In the next 25 years, the league underwent numerous changes in composition, scheduling and playoff format. In 1924, the Boston Bruins became the first American club to join; and by 1926, six of the 10 teams were from the United States. The Ottawa Senators dominated the 1920s, with six league titles and four Stanley Cup victories; however, the team folded in 1934.
Some early exploits live on in hockey history: Joe Malone scored seven goals in one game in 1920; George Hainsworth won the Vézina Trophy in its first three years; and in February 1923, Foster Hewitt broadcast a game on the radio for the first time. Outstanding players of the era included Frank “King” Clancy, Charlie Conacher, Bill Cook, Aurèle Joliat, Lester Patrick and Nels Stewart. Howie Morenz was the flashiest player, and Eddie Shore the premier defenceman.
The Original Six (1942–67)
In 1942, there were six teams left in the NHL: the Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins, Chicago Black Hawks, Detroit Red Wings and New York Rangers. The league remained unchanged in this arrangement for 25 years. When six expansion teams were added to the league in 1967, the existing franchises became known as the “Original Six.”
The Toronto Maple Leafs, led by Walter “Turk” Broda, Syl Apps, Ted Kennedy and Max Bentley, were the dominant team of the 1940s, winning the Stanley Cup six times in 10 years. However, Maurice “Rocket” Richard of the Canadiens was clearly the outstanding offensive player, scoring 50 goals in 50 games in the 1944–45 season, including five goals and three assists in one game. In 1948, the colour barrier was broken when Larry Kwong played for the New York Rangers. Ten years later, in 1958, Willie O’Ree would become the first Black player in the league, when he took to the ice for the Boston Bruins.
The outstanding team of the early 1950s was the Detroit Red Wings, led by Gordie Howe (who won the scoring championship five times and the Hart Trophy four times in the decade), Red Kelly, Ted Lindsay and Terry Sawchuk. In the mid-1950s, the Montreal Canadiens built possibly the most powerful team in NHL history, with Maurice and Henri Richard, Bernie Geoffrion, Jean Béliveau, Jacques Plante, Dickie Moore, Doug Harvey and others. The Canadiens won the Stanley Cup six times, including a record five straight (1955–56 to 1959–60).
The 1960s began with Chicago’s first Stanley Cup victory in 23 years (1960–61), led by the brilliant Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita and Glenn Hall. Toronto won the Stanley Cup four more times, and Montreal won two more times before the league expanded in 1967.
Expansion and Change in the NHL (1967–90)
In 1967, six new US-based teams were added to the NHL: California (later Oakland) Seals, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota North Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins and St Louis Blues. The Buffalo Sabres and the Vancouver Canucks joined in 1970, and the Atlanta Flames and New York Islanders in 1972. In 1974, with the addition of the Kansas City Scouts and Washington Capitals, the number of teams had reached 18, of which only three were based in Canada. Montreal remained the dominant team, winning eight championships between 1967 and 1979.
In 1979, the NHL expanded again when it merged with the World Hockey Association (WHA). The WHA had been founded in 1971, breaking the NHL’s monopoly on professional hockey. In its first season, there were many players in the league with NHL experience, including such stars as Bobby Hull, Bernie Parent, John McKenzie and Brian Conacher. Hockey legend Gordie Howe would join his sons, Marty and Mark, in Houston the following season. The WHA began with 12 teams and grew to 14 before rising expenses and dwindling crowds reduced it to seven in 1978–79. In 1979, the WHA folded. The Winnipeg Jets, Edmonton Oilers, Québec Nordiques and Hartford Whalers were assimilated by the NHL.
In 1980, the Atlanta franchise moved to Calgary (see Calgary Flames), bringing the number of NHL teams in Canada to seven. In 1983–84, Edmonton became the first of the ex-WHA teams to win the Stanley Cup, ending a four-year reign by the New York Islanders. The high-scoring Oilers (with such stars as Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky) captured the cup in four of the next six seasons. In the early 1990s, Mario Lemieux’s Pittsburgh Penguins became the dominant team, taking back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1990–91 and 1991–92, and winning a record-setting 17 games in a row in 1992–93 — a record that still stands today.
The sport increasingly emphasized scoring and offensive play. In the 1970s, Phil Esposito of the Boston Bruins set new records for goals (76) and points (152) in a season (1970–71), while defenceman Bobby Orr revolutionized his position, becoming the first defenceman to win the scoring championship (Orr won the Art Ross Trophy in 1970 and 1975). The offensive emphasis of the sport was typified in the 1980s by the incredible scoring feats of Mario Lemieux and of Wayne Gretzky, whose accomplishments are perhaps unmatched in any sport. Gretzky is the all-time leading scorer in the NHL with 2,857 points, and the only player to reach 2,000 career points; he holds or shares 61 NHL records, including most goals (894) and most assists (1963).
Expansion and Change in the NHL Since 1990
Further expansion in 1991 and 1992 increased the league to 26 teams, including another Canadian franchise, the Ottawa Senators. Franchises were also awarded to Tampa Bay (Lightning), Anaheim (Mighty Ducks), Miami (Florida Panthers) and San Jose (Sharks). The Quebec Nordiques, suffering financially from playing in the league’s smallest market, were sold in 1995 and relocated to Denver, where they became the Avalanche. The Winnipeg Jets were also relocated in 1996, after being sold to a group in Phoenix and renamed the Phoenix Coyotes (Arizona Coyotes since 2014); this left six franchises operating in Canada.
In the summer of 1997, the league announced that it would expand to four more American cities. By the year 2000, with the addition of the Nashville Predators (1998), Atlanta Thrashers (1999), Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets (2000), the NHL had expanded to 30 teams. In 2011, the Atlanta Thrashers relocated to Winnipeg, and the Jets name was reinstated. In 2016, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced that a new franchise in Las Vegas, the Golden Knights, would join the league for the 2017–18 season, bringing the total number of clubs to 31.
The NHL Market in Canada
By 2000, Canadian teams were increasingly pressured to compete financially with American markets, and Toronto was the only Canadian team that consistently played to sell-out crowds. The NHL’s Canadian Assistance Program offered aid only when teams could demonstrate their viability, and for most teams in Canada, viability was threatened by declining attendance. In 1999, Rod Bryden, owner of the Ottawa Senators, announced that unless the federal government was willing to offer financial support, the Senators would be the next Canadian team sold to the US. In January 2000, the federal government announced that it would consider offering annual aid to Canadian NHL hockey teams until 2004. However, widespread criticism of the proposal was so severe that it brought about an immediate retraction. The Senators remained in Ottawa, and since 2005 attendance has remained steady for most Canadian franchises.
Overall, Canadian franchises have proven to be more financially viable than a number of American teams. In 2012, the Toronto Maple Leafs was the most profitable franchise in the NHL at $81.9 million. Believing that Canada could support another NHL franchise, ambitious Canadian businessman Jim Balsillie, founder of the wireless technological firm Research In Motion, did his best to bring another franchise north of the border. Balsillie made several bids to move American teams to Hamilton (in southern Ontario), trying to purchase Pittsburgh in 2006 and Nashville in 2007. In 2009, Balsillie tried once more to bring the Phoenix Coyotes to Hamilton, but the NHL and Arizona bankruptcy judge Redfield T. Baum rejected the bid.
Southern Ontario was not the only region in Canada that tried to acquire an NHL franchise. In 2009, True North Sports and Entertainment (TNSE) made a serious pitch for the Phoenix Coyotes (the same franchise that moved from Winnipeg in 1996), but a last-minute settlement was reached between the NHL and the City of Glendale to keep the Coyotes in Arizona. However, the Atlanta Thrashers were also experiencing problems, and TNSE finalized a deal to move the Thrashers to Winnipeg on 31 May 2011. The team was renamed the Jets, the same name Winnipeg’s hockey team had during their glory years in the World Hockey Association from 1972 to 1979 and in the NHL from 1979 to 1996. The return of NHL hockey to Winnipeg was extremely popular with Winnipeggers. According to the Winnipeg Free Press, 5,800 season tickets sold out in 17 minutes.
Labour Disputes in the NHL
In 2004, team owners enforced a lockout banning members of the NHL Players’ Association (hockey players) from play. The lockout, a result of the players’ resistance to a salary cap, lasted 310 days, from 16 September 2004 to 13 July 2005. The result was a salary cap of $39 million (US) per team for the 2005–06 season and a significant reduction in players’ salaries. It was the first time a major North American sports league had lost an entire season due to a labour dispute. It also resulted in cancellation of the Stanley Cup playoffs; for the second time in its history, the cup was not awarded (the first was in 1919 due to the influenza epidemic).
When the 2005 collective bargaining agreement expired in 2012, teams and players once again found themselves arguing about money. The major issue this time was the percentage of hockey-related revenues the players would receive in a season. According to the existing contract, players received 57 per cent of all hockey-related revenues, but the NHL wanted the percentage dropped significantly. Neither the players nor the NHL would budge, and the resulting lockout cancelled 510 regular season games (34 games per team), the NHL All-Star Game, and the 2013 Winter Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and the Toronto Maple Leafs. An agreement was finally reached on 12 January 2013, with players and owners sharing hockey-related revenues 50–50, among other terms.
Canadians in the NHL
The spread of hockey and growing proficiency of players in Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the United States is reflected in the increasing number of players from these countries in the NHL, including many of the Russian, Swedish, Finnish, and Czech stars who emerged in the 1990s. In recent years, the number of NHL players recruited from Canadian junior hockey has dropped significantly. As of 2015, Canadians account for approximately half of the league’s players, a decrease of around 25 per cent from 1990. As in the past, Canadians continue to play crucial roles on and off the ice; for example, Jonathan Toews led the Chicago Blackhawks to victory in 2010, 2013 and 2015, while Sidney Crosby hoisted the Cup in 2009 and 2016 as captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins. |
NDP MP Ryan Cleary says he works hard for his money, and his pension.
In fact, the St. John’s South-Mount Pearl MP said Friday he deserves more.
The Globe and Mail is reporting that MPs’ pensions are in for a trimming.
The newspaper said Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently told Conservative MPs their pensions will be cut in the next budget.
When asked about his pension, Cleary defended his pay.
"I work my butt off," Cleary said. "Would I deserve a pension of $28,000 after six years? Probably not. It should be more than that."
According to the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, the current base pension for an MP after six years of service is $28,260.
Cleary said that for him, politics is a 24-seven job, 365 days a year.
"The MP pension plan has been criticized as being out of whack, as being gold plated, as being too rich. Is it? I don’t know. I have different thoughts on that ... Being an MP, from my perspective, this is not a job. This is a life. This is all-consuming."
Cleary said an independent review should determine the fate of MP pensions.
"If our pension plan is found to be gold-plated, well then change it so that it’s not," he noted.
An MP qualifies for a pension after six years, and can start collecting it at 55.
Cleary won his seat in the May 2011 federal election. MPs must be elected twice to qualify for a pension, meaning Cleary would not be eligible until 2017. |
Opposition lawmakers, journalists and businessmen in Venezuela have been angered by the government’s publication on Thursday of details on the opposition members’ travel plans for holiday vacations. El Universal reports that Delcy Rodríguez, Venezuela’s Minister of Communication and Information, posted a list of 27 names and their international vacation destinations on her Twitter account. Rodríguez noted that President Nicolás Maduro had rung in the new year “with the people” in a celebration in the center of Caracas, contrasting that with the international holidays of the “trio of evil” – the preferred Chavista term for opposition leaders Henrique Capriles, María Corina Machado and Leopoldo López.
The Latin American Herald-Tribune notes that aside from Capriles (a two-time presidential candidate and current governor of Miranda state), Machado (member of the Venezuelan National Assembly), and López (former mayor of Caracas’ Chacao municipality), who were headed to Aruba, Frankfurt, and Miami, respectively, the list includes Lorenzo Mendoza, the president of Polar – the nation’s largest privately-owned company – and two journalists who regularly criticize the Chavista-led government. One, Nelson Bocaranda, is a television commentator and columnist for newspaper El Universal; Alberto Ravell is the former president of the anti-Chavista news channel Globovisión and founder of the news site La Patilla.
Supporters of the opposition question how the information might have been obtained, and Animal Politico notes that some have pointed out possible errors with the list’s claims – for instance, the case of Henrique Capriles, who published photos on Twitter on Christmas Eve which depicted him ringing in Christmas with firefighters in Miranda. Rodríguez’s list puts his date of departure as Dec. 22nd. BBC correspondent Daniel Pardo points out that the episode comes only weeks after Maduro received opposition leaders at the presidential palace in Miraflores, where he asked for them to “turn a new page” and work with him on anti-poverty projects. |
Updated Saturday, June 3, 2017, 3:56 p.m. EDT: Ol’ Bill Maher has come out with an apology after calling himself a “house nigger” during the most recent installment of his Friday-night show.
Apparently, last night was a “particularly long night” for Maher because of his words, although it took him until almost 4 p.m. the following day to fix his mouth with an apology. But, hey, who’s counting?
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According to CNN, his apology statement reads as follows:
Friday nights are always my worst night of sleep because I’m up reflecting on the things I should or shouldn’t have said on my live show ... Last night was a particularly long night as I regret the word I used in the banter of a live moment. The word was offensive, and I regret saying it and am very sorry.
Updated Saturday, June 3, 2017, 12:50 p.m. EDT: For all those salivating to see messy Bill Maher use the word “nigger” on-screen, fuhgeddaboudit.
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If you were trying to catch the now-infamous episode where the comedian uttered the racial slur, you won’t be able to find it on iTunes. And as of Saturday morning, it also was not up on HBO Now.
This is no accident, according to the network. In a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, HBO called Maher’s (weird and egregious and, on top of that, not really topical) use of the n-word on Friday’s show “completely inexcusable and tasteless” and that it would be edited out of further airings.
Updated Friday, June 2, 2017, 11:51 p.m. EDT: This story previously incorrectly quoted Bill Maher as having said “nigga,” when, in fact, he said “nigger” with a HARD-ASS “Rrrrrrrrrruh,” so that makes this extra offensive. And before you start typing all fast in the comments on your racist burner accounts, I SAID WHAT I SAID. His show needs to be canceled.
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Earlier:
During a conversation with Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) on Friday’s installment of Real Time With Bill Maher, Maher told Sasse that he’s a “house nigger” and would never work in the fields.
Maher and Sasse were discussing Sasse’s book, The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance.
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The conversation with Sasse went like this:
“Adults dress up for Halloween, they don’t do that in Nebraska?” Maher asked. “It’s frowned upon,” Sasse replied. “We don’t do that quite as much.” “I gotta get to Nebraska more,” Maher said. “You’re welcome; we’d love to have you work in the fields with us,” Sasse joked. “Work in the fields,” Maher scoffed. “Senator, I’m a house nigger.” “You still working in the fields out there, huh?” Maher said. “Yeah,” Sasse said. “We want our kids to suffer.”
Sasse grinned when Maher called himself a house nigger, but held in his laugh.
This is not the first time Maher has crossed the line or shown himself to be a troll for ratings.
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In February he invited infamous alt-right troll Milo Yiannopoulos on his show along with Larry Wilmore. After Milo trolled his fellow guests for most of the show, Wilmore ended up telling him that he could “go fuck” himself.
As previously noted on The Root, Maher had Yiannopoulos on his show for ratings and nothing more. After Yiannopoulos was booked to appear on Real Time With Bill Maher, one of the other guests, Jeremy Scahill, dropped out of the show in protest. In a post detailing his reasoning, Scahill wrote that Yiannopoulos “has ample venues to spew his hateful diatribes” and noted that “there is no value in ‘debating’ him.”
Last month, Maher “used the black bodies of Terence Crutcher and Walter Scott—and all black people shot down by police—as political props. He used their black lives as ledes and their slayings as segues into what he really wanted to do: put their blood on Cornel West’s hands and on anyone’s who was critical of or didn’t vote for Clinton,” The Root’s Kirsten West Savali noted.
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Maher doesn’t get a pass just because he likes black women. In fact, that makes his racism disguised as comedy especially egregious. He proved once again on Friday night that he doesn’t care about black people or blackness; we are all just props to him, and co-opting our women, our language and our oppression is just a ploy to make himself seem edgy and hip.
The man is disgusting, and his time in the limelight is long over. Real Time With Bill Maher needs to be canceled immediately. |
Twitter is making it a lot easier for users to protect one another from abusive accounts: you can now share your blocklists.
To export your list or import someone else’s, you simply need to go to your blocked account settings on twitter.com, click on the advanced options menu on the top-right, and select import or export from the drop down menu.
It’s a particularly useful feature for communities on Twitter who may suffer from frequent harassment by the same Twitter accounts, as such the women who were targeted during Gamergate, for example.
This way, users can simply share a list of the misbehaving accounts with others who may be victimized by the same accounts. Of course, you could achieve the same effect manually, but this is much quicker, especially for people who have blocked dozens or even hundreds of accounts.
It’s the newest step in Twitter’s recent moves towards making its platform safer for all users. In December, it made it easier to report abusive comments, and introduced a revamped blocked-user page. In April, it gave its customer support team the power to temporarily lock unruly accounts.
➤ Sharing block lists to help make Twitter safer [Twitter Blog]
Read next: How to launch an app in China |
After initial reports that police had named 24-year-old Ryan Lanza the suspect in this morning's Connecticut elementary school shooting that left nearly 30 dead, including at least 18 children, dozens of media accounts (including Gawker) shared the above photo — from the Facebook profile of a 24-year-old man named Ryan Lanza, who was born in Connecticut and lives in New Jersey — many of them describing it a picture of the shooter.
But according to screen shots of his profile taken by former classmates who say they're Lanza's Facebook friends, this Ryan Lanza is alive, well, emphatically not the shooter, and freaking out about the fact that his face is on cable news. (Update: Multiple outlets are now reporting that Adam Lanza, Ryan's brother, was the shooter.)
Andrew Fletcher, who seems to have gone to Quinnippiac with Lanza, tweeted the first screenshot:
He later tweeted that he'd unfriended Lanza " because I was getting a ton of friend requests." Cartoonist Matt Bors, also apparently a Facebook friend of Lanza's, shared another screen shot in which Lanza curses at CNN (CNN emailed after this post went up to make it clear that they never ran his photo; Fox News apparently did).
I'm FB friends with the profile being sent around. This is a real screen grab. twitter.com/MattBors/statu… — Matt Bors (@MattBors) December 14, 2012
Police haven't officially announced the name of their suspect, but according to NBC three different law enforcement sources confirmed "Ryan Lanza" as the suspect. Which leaves us with a few, equally weird options: that police (or the media) have the wrong guy as a suspect; that there are two Ryan Lanzas, of the same age, splitting time between Connecticut and New Jersey; or that this is the right Ryan Lanza, and someone is perpetrating an elaborate, and very morbid, hoax. Until we figure out which one is right, let's stop sharing the guy's profile and ID'ing it as the killer.
Update: It seems as though the first option was the closest: multiple outlets are now reporting Ryan's brother Adam Lanza, 20, was the shooter, and that Ryan is in custody in Hoboken speaking with police.
This Ryan Lanza, by the way, isn't the only victim of social media speculation:
so aperently im getting spammed bc someone with the same name as me killed some ppl... wtf? — Ryan Lanza (@Ryan__Lanza) December 14, 2012
(Note: we also originally shared the photo, under the headline, "Is This Ryan Lanza, the Connecticut School Shooter?"; we didn't positively identify the profile as the shooter but did link to sources that did, and took it down to rewrite as soon as we saw evidence that it wasn't.) |
A lawyer who defended a Russian citizen accused in Ukraine of being a Russian terrorist has been killed. His body was found buried in a rural area three weeks after his disappearance in Kiev. The abductors allegedly used a bomb to keep him from escaping.
Aleksandr Aleksandrov and Evgeny Erofeev were detained last May in the rebel-controlled Lugansk Region in Eastern Ukraine. Kiev said they were agents for Russian military intelligence and charged them with a number of crimes, including waging an aggressive war against the country and terrorism, as it considers all rebels terrorists. Both the rebels and Moscow insist that the two Russian citizens were volunteers who joined the Ukrainian civil war after resigning from the Russian military.
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Aleksandrov was defended at the ongoing trial by lawyer Yury Grabovsky. He went missing on March 6 in Kiev and found dead on Friday. Investigators say he was kidnapped and later killed.
The lawyer’s body was found buried in an abandoned orchard near the town of Zhashkov about 100 km south of the Ukrainian capital, Ukraine’s chief military prosecutor, Anatoly Matios, told the media. Grabovsky’s grave was found after investigators followed a lead from one of his suspected killers.
The investigators say that Grabovsky was kidnapped in Kiev, transported to Odessa, a port city in southern Ukraine, and later to Zhashkov. The abductors said they used an ankle bracelet rigged with explosives to keep their victim compliant.
“If he tried to report his whereabouts or escape the criminals threatened to set off the explosive device and that he would be torn apart on the spot,” the prosecutor said.
The investigators also believe that the lawyer had been kept drugged by his abductors, which Grabovsky’s post mortem may prove.
The lawyer was last seen alive in Kiev. He missed an appointed court session on March 9. Later somebody posted a status on his Facebook page claiming that he had left Ukraine out of fear for his life, but would return soon. Investigators later confirmed that Grabovsky’s phone, which was used to post the update, never left Ukraine.
Matios was somewhat vague in describing how exactly Grabovsky died, saying that he “was killed violently and finished off with a firearm,” apparently implying that he was brutally beaten before being killed.
The military prosecutor stressed that his agency should be credited for solving the crime after taking jurisdiction from the national police.
“We took the case… and investigated the crime falling under police jurisdiction,” he said. “If we didn’t, it wouldn’t have been solved.”
The Ukrainian authorities arrested two people in connection with the murder, one last week and another on Thursday. One of them had fake ID of a law enforcement officer and a fake Ukrainian passport printed on a genuine blank form, Matios said. The second person arrested told investigators where the Grabovsky’s body was buried.
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Matios said several motives are being considered in the murder case, including robbery, personal conflict and a “deliberate operation” by a “secret service.” Grabovsky’s colleagues say his work as attorney for the Russian defendant is likely.
Osksana Sokolovskaya, the lawyer of the second Russian defendant Erofeev, who worked closely with Grabovsky to build their trial strategies, reported that case files disappeared from his office when he went missing. The files had evidence that the defense team would now need to collect again as the trial proceeding, she said.
The trial of Aleksandrov and Erofeev would not be postponed due to Grabovsky’s murder, Matios said.
“The next session is scheduled for April 5. It will happen regardless of any circumstances and with all means and mechanism in place to ensure the safety of the Russian citizens,” he said.
Commenting on the confirmation of Grabovsky’s death, the Russian foreign ministry blamed Kiev of failing to protect him.
“Apparently they are not going to stick to legal methods in Ukraine and tolerate anything not fitting the scheme, which the ruling circles have built on the foundation of an anti-Russian and occasionally overtly Russophobic hysterics,” the ministry said in a statement.
The ministry offered condolences to family and friends of the slain lawyer and said it hoped that the Ukrainian authorities would bring everyone responsible for the murder to justice. |
The Allwinner A31 processor is a quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor with PowerVR SGX 544 graphics. Like other Allwinner chips, it’s proven popular with budget tablet makers in China, as a low-cost quad-core processor that offers decent performance.
Allwinner also has a decent reputation with some folks in the Linux community, since the company’s earlier (and much slower) Allwinner A10 chip can easily run Ubuntu, Fedora, and other Linux-based operating systems.
Now Allwinner has released the kernel source for the Allwinner A31.
Unfortunately it will probably take more than the kernel source to get a full-blown desktop operating system like Ubuntu up and running on devices with A31 chips. That’s because the PowerVR SGX 544 graphics core still relies on proprietary binaries which Allwinner cannot distribute.
In other words, don’t count on hardware-accelerated graphics or video while running Linux anytime soon.
But now that the kernel source is available, it should help developers write custom kernels for tablets, set-top-boxes, and other devices with Allwinner’s quad-core chip. And that could improve performance of custom ROMs like the unofficial CyanogenMod builds for tablets with this chip.
via AndroidPC.es, SlateDroid, and TabletRepublic |
Unlike those lucky buggers in attendance at San Diego Comic Con 2017, we won't get to see the first episode of Netflix's The Defenders early. But, we can get a little sneak peek of our own thanks to a new clip posted to Twitter.
It looks like Madam Gao, who seemed to be a big bad on par with Wilson Fisk in Daredevil, was herself just an underling of Alexandra. Either that or she's a partner who is clearly unnerved at Alexandra's desire to accelerate her secret plans. Either way, it's not good news for our heroes.
Want to know more? Here's everything we learned about the show from the Defenders SDCC 2017 panel. And be sure to watch the new trailer - and read the reactions.
Stay tuned for more San Diego Comic Con 2017 news, and if you haven't already, check out our hub full of every SDCC 2017 movie and TV trailer. |
Oh, look, Hillary Clinton has presumed herself to be president with over two months before the election. In doing so, she has hired Ken Salazar as her White House transition team leader.
Salazar is a former U.S. senator from Colorado who was secretary of the interior under President Obama until 2013. Now, Salazar works for the WilmerHale Law Firm, which represents all of the bad boys of Wall Street — Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, JPMorganChase, Pfizer, Monsanto, GE and others.
The big-name client list is almost endless. Oh, I forgot to add BP, the oil spill giant, to this list. This more than confirms that Hillary Clinton would be a Wall Street president. If Clinton wins the presidency, Salazar will probably be appointed to an energy-related Cabinet post. Look out America; we will get fracked to death.
In last month's column, I left you hanging as whom to vote for now that Sen. Bernie Sanders is no longer running. Many Americans are currently stymied by the lesser-of-two-evils scenario. This quote from a recent Associated Press story tells it all: "WASHINGTON — The vast majority of Americans say they are afraid of the two major candidates — Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump — winning the White House, a remarkable finding that reflects an unsettled nation unhappy with its choice. Eighty-one percent of Americans say they would feel afraid following the election of one of the two polarizing politicians, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll. That includes a quarter who say it doesn't matter who wins: They're scared of both."
If Clinton doesn't get indicted and wins the election, she will have stolen what's left of our democratic republic. She has had lots of help in this political robbery from the DNC, MSNBC, CNN, The New York Times and probably a few others. It was visibly obvious during the primary season that the Democratic National Committee and these news media corporations were out to discredit Sanders and his campaign. This corporate media bias is without question the worst that I have ever seen. I can no longer trust what I see or read from most of the mainstream media today.
There are many reports of a major exodus from both the Democratic and Republican parties right now. It is apparent that the American people are disgusted with the corruption and the insider manipulation that goes with these two major political parties. Many voters are now turning to third-party presidential candidates.
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Many of these voter refugees will also land in the free world of independents. Nationally, 46 percent of the registered voters in America are now independent/unaffiliated. I have a hunch that number will increase.
Forgive me for not saying much about Donald Trump. Do I have to?
America, we have an election crisis. The whole election process is corrupt.
If Sen. Bernie Sanders cannot escape Clinton's tyrannical threatening grip to run as an independent, this Bernie or Buster is considering voting for Jill Stein, the Green Party's presidential candidate. Stein faces the same uphill challenges that Sanders did — mainly the biased corporate media.
Plus, Stein is facing the unfair challenge of getting on all of the state ballots, but she is slowly winning that battle. Stein promotes many of the same ideas as those of Sen. Sanders and more. Here are few examples of her ideas: ban fracking, 100 percent renewable energy economy by 2030, Medicare-for-all single-payer health insurance, $15 an hour federal minimum wage, break up Wall Street banks, cut the defense budget by 50 percent, and my ultimate wish list goes on.
Stein has some excellent approaches on ending racism and poverty in America, as well. I am very impressed by her knowledge of foreign affairs, plus she is anti-war. I find Stein to be very professional, gracious and humble. These are human qualities that you won't find in the other candidates. Stein has the best prescription for America to heal: peace, health and social justice for all. Stein could be the best thing that could happen to America right now.
Randy Fricke of New Castle is an environmental advocate and political activist. He is the author of "If I Were President/Saving Main Street America." His column appears on the first Friday of the month. |
A program that pays for “emergency rides home” for those who work in San Francisco will no longer provide rides on Uber or Lyft.
That’s after a vote of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority in late June disbursed $41,832 to the Department of the Environment for the emergency program with one new rule: Uber and Lyft rides are not allowed.
The Emergency Ride Home is a Department of the Environment program available to anyone who works in San Francisco and uses a “sustainable mode” to travel to work, like bicycling, carpooling, taking public transit or other transit that is not a single person driving a car.
The program aims make those “sustainable” modes easier than driving by providing a fund when emergency quick trips are needed.
Any San Francisco worker, regardless of where they live, can submit up to four annual reimbursement requests up to $150 for each “emergency” ride home from work by taxi or other transit, which the Department of Environment describes as a bicycle problem, like a flat tire, an illness or crisis of a family member, or required unexpected overtime, among other reasons.
However, now that Uber and Lyft rides are not allowed, use of the program may shift dramatically.
Data on the program sent to the San Francisco Examiner by the Department of the Environment show 78 percent of all emergency travel reimbursements were for ride-hails like Uber and Lyft in the last year.
That’s $1,300 disbursed for ride-hails, and only $312 for taxis, in fiscal year 2016-2017. In fiscal year 2015-2016, the split was about 50/50 between ride hails and taxis.
Data shows 57 reimbursements granted to date in fiscal year 2016-2017, with 42 of those uses for personal or family illnesses and crises.
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Updated August 2018, originally published July 2013
1. Regardless of where you are – shopping, the cinema, in a restaurant, even on a beach on holiday – you’ll almost always hear ‘Hi Miss/Sir’ or hear your name shouted out at you and instantly know that a student is standing in the immediate vicinity. The event of this happening is even more likely when you’re wearing your scruffy clothes and haven’t washed your hair.
2. You are called ‘Mum/Dad’ accidentally at least ten times a day.
3. You’ve learnt not to complain about your job to your non-teacher friends as this will always elicit a ‘but you get three months off a year, you have it so easy’ response from them and you don’t wish to get into yet another confrontation while you’re trying to drink your cocktail.
4. Excitement can be found in the discovery of attractive stationery, and hours of fun can be had purchasing supplies before the start of a new term – ring binders , Post-it notes , biros and multipacks of highlighters are some of the favourites. You also know which are the best whiteboard pens to use and are highly protective of lending them out to coworkers as you know you’ll never get them back.
5. A Teacher’s Lesson Planner is actually quite fun to fill in and you quickly develop your own style. Like Bullet Journalling. For teachers.
6. You’ve developed the art of almost inhaling a meal in less than fifteen minutes.
7. You desperately hope that the new, fresh faced Newly Qualified Teachers (NQT’s) don’t become as cynical as you are.
8. You’re capable of working an entire day without visiting the toilet.
9. You have come to terms with the fact that any physical flaw that you have will be highlighted to you at some point. ‘You look really rough, Miss. Are you feeling ill?’
10. Even in your 20’s you’ll be considered old and past it, except by a student’s parent or grandparent who will inform you that you’re far too young and inexperienced to have the job.
11. A child’s behaviour and personality is instantly explainable and understandable after meeting the parents.
12. You consider the work suitability of a garment when clothes shopping.
13. You are capable of correcting the behaviour of somebody else’s child simply by giving them your best ‘teacher face’ in public.
14. You almost consider not having children of your own as you know that the prospect of naming them will be virtually impossible, due to the association that names bring with certain ‘cherubs’ in your classes.
15. You spend Sunday nights on YouTube to find interesting resources for the next week.
16. You own your own Laminator , colour printer and shredder .
17. There is no question that can be asked that makes you blush – you’ve heard them all before. I actually wrote down all the random questions I was asked during a teaching day once.
18. You’ve stopped rolling your eyes when your students almost die from shock at the idea that you actually have a first name, or a family, or own an up-to-date piece of technology, or enjoy music created post 1960.
19. There are no names that could sound unusual anymore, and you know how to spell the same popular name in twenty different ways.
20. It is possible to develop Jedi mind powers and ‘sense’ the presence of a mobile phone in a room, even when you can’t physically see it.
21. The biggest laughs can be found on websites containing compilations of slightly too literal answers to questions on exam papers.
22. Your peripheral vision now extends to 360 degrees.
23. You teach an entire day’s timetable in your dreams.
24. You are capable of rephrasing all of your sentences to avoid any words that may be considered rude (unfortunately music terminology is rife with these sorts of words – I stopped using the words ‘pianist,’ ‘G String’ and flutter tonguing’ after my first week of being in a classroom).
25. A fantastic lesson with a wonderful class, or witnessing a child achieve something beyond what they thought capable, will provide you with a buzz for the rest of the day.
26. You’ve cried in private if you hear that one of your students have experienced something horrible in their personal lives.
27. You’re guaranteed to be ill at the beginning of every holiday.
28. You’re capable of answering four questions at once.
And finally (try not to vomit at this one, but it’s absolutely true)
29. A genuine ‘thank you’ from a child reminds you exactly why you do the job.
Are there any others that you could add to the list?
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Women ask this when they turn 30 or 35, well here is what happened to the nice guys
when they were in their early 20’s, you didn’t give a f~~~ about them, because they have this calm demeanor which doesn’t attract girls, girls are attracted to guys who crap all over them. Some of you married them and now you are divorced with 2-3 kids.
When the nice guys were in their late 20’s, they did ok, you started to give them a chance but you also messed up their mind, going from branch to branch, nice guys are not used to that character of you, as they didn’t date much, as I mentioned before.
Some nice guys are caught at that age because they didn’t know better, so you might have friends messing them up as we speak, they will not be nice guys by the end of it.
When nice guys are at their early 30’s, that’s when they started to not give a f~~~ about you, because they had few years of dating and they know how messed up you are, how self-entitled you are and more than everything, they know that they can manage by themselves.
In that point, you will not call them nice guys, because they decided not to give a f~~~ about you, they are sick of you, they are going their own way.
so to sum it up, nice guys are easily fetched in their 20’s when they are still ignorant with regards to your character, wait till they are in their 30’s and they are unreachable because women like you taught them better not to deal with you. |
In all these scenarios, the United States will be seen as undermining the deal and provoking Iran to walk away from its obligations. The sympathy of the rest of the world in this case will be with the Iranians.
It will be Mr. Trump, as president, who will have to deal with these repercussions. Because the international coalition that previously supported sanctions on Iran will not be put back together, America’s economic leverage on Iran will be much weaker, increasing the likelihood that Iran will ramp up its nuclear program, and in turn, increasing the risk of American military action.
On Nov. 14, 28 European leaders unanimously reiterated their “resolute commitment” to the deal regardless of the outcome of the American election. Heads of state from the other five countries that negotiated the agreement with Iran would undoubtedly feel personally betrayed by the American president’s withdrawal. This is likely to put the United States in a confrontation with Russia, China and Europe not just on Iran but on other issues where Mr. Trump will need their cooperation, like the Syrian war.
If the United States president or Congress is viewed as sabotaging the deal, the European Union, together with Russia and China, must attempt to salvage its key nuclear restrictions by offering meaningful sanctions relief to Iran. This will need to include the continued lifting of European banking sanctions and the oil embargo that was once imposed because of Iran’s nuclear program. It will also require bold, but not unprecedented actions to protect European companies against the enforcement of American sanctions by the Treasury Department aimed at prohibiting business with Iran.
There are steps that can be taken now to avoid the need to resort to such measures. International leaders should immediately convey to the incoming administration the importance of preserving the deal.
There is also a window before Mr. Trump’s inauguration during which world powers can cement the gains made under the agreement by resolving banking and regulatory hurdles now faced by companies seeking to execute major deals already made with Iran.
European countries, in particular, should work with Iran and the Obama administration to develop channels of communication between Tehran and Washington that will outlive President Obama’s tenure, and to send firm signals of their continued political commitment to the deal. Business leaders, too, must make clear that the nuclear deal serves both American and global security interests.
Mr. Trump’s immediate position on the Iran deal will be one of the first critical tests for his presidency. It will also test the legitimacy of the United Nations Security Council. The American public, like international leaders, should make clear to the president-elect that they do not want to become entangled in yet another military crisis in the Middle East, especially one that the world has already worked so hard to avoid. |
MONDAY, Oct. 16, 2017 -- Many college students who abuse ADHD drugs mistakenly believe that doing so will lead to better grades, a new survey suggests.
Past research has found that college students commonly misuse stimulant medications such as Ritalin and Adderall as "study aids." That's despite the fact that there is no evidence the drugs help kids who do not have attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
The new study said that roughly 29 percent of students at nine U.S. colleges thought that stimulant medications boost school performance. Many others -- 38 percent -- were "unsure."
And that misconception was especially common among students who admitted to abusing the drugs.
RELATED Parenting program shown to help improve ADHD in children
Just over 11 percent said they'd used stimulant medication for "non-medical" reasons in the past six months. And of that group, almost two-thirds believed the drugs would improve their grades.
The findings came as no surprise to Dr. Jess Shatkin, a professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center, in New York City.
But they do highlight an ongoing issue, according to Shatkin, who wasn't involved in the study.
"When kids do not actually have ADHD, these drugs are not helpful for their school performance," Shatkin said.
More concerning, he said, are the risks of misusing the medications -- such as altered heart rate and blood pressure, insomnia, heightened anxiety, and even hallucinations.
"So no, we do not want students abusing these drugs," Shatkin said.
How do you stop them? It's possible, according to Shatkin, that if more college kids are aware of the reality -- that their grades will not see a Ritalin-fueled rise -- then fewer will try the drugs.
But, he said, the medications are effective at one thing: Helping harried college students stay up later.
"So they'll at least finish that paper that's due tomorrow -- even if they won't get better grades," Shatkin said.
It all points to wider issues, according to Shatkin: Many college students need help with basics like time management, dealing with stress, and knowing how to generally take care of themselves.
Dr. Matthew Lorber is director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Lenox Hill Hospital, in New York City.
He said stimulant abuse is a common problem not just among college students, but high school kids as well.
When Lorber prescribes stimulants for children with ADHD, he encourages parents to "hold on" to the drugs themselves. That will limit the chances of their child sharing the drugs with their friends.
He also counsels teens on the risks of medication-sharing once they are on their own at college.
"We need to be discussing the dangers of these drugs for people who don't have ADHD," said Lorber, who wasn't part of the study team.
The findings are based on a survey of almost 7,300 college students. None had ever been diagnosed with ADHD.
Overall, students who believed that stimulants improve school performance were 2.5 times more likely to abuse the drugs, versus their peers who were "unsure." And students in that unsure group were about twice as likely to misuse stimulants as those who did not believe the medications helped with grades.
Like Shatkin, Lorber said that trying to disabuse kids of that notion is unlikely to be enough.
"But," he said, "it's information they should have -- along with information on the risks of misusing stimulants."
He encouraged parents to talk to their kids about those dangers, just as they would when it comes to alcohol or illegal drugs.
Shatkin recommended the discussions be even broader than that. "What do you do when you're depressed? What do you do when you're stressed? We often don't have these conversations with kids," he said.
Shatkin also suggested that parents be mindful about how much pressure they put on their kids to succeed at school. "We don't want them to catastrophize over every grade," he said.
The study was published earlier this year in the journal Addictive Behaviors.
The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse has more on misuse of prescription drugs.
Copyright © 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved. |
“Family is not an important thing. It’s everything. “-Michael J. Fox.
Has it really been two weeks since my last post? Thats considered a long while in the blogging world ! But I have never found it necessary to bind to any self imposed time tables. Besides I have just spent the holidays with family and had a luxuriously carefree few days (read as “no cooking-no dishes” few days) in my hometown , so not much could bother me right now.
I came back to the aftereffects of Diwali in the air, a tad dusty house and a fridge half full of stuff nearing expiration . Including a half can of condensed milk. Which brings us to these cookies.
Simple as can be , these are quick. And tasty . They need only a few ingredients . The chilling is optional but does make the dough easier to handle. You could add in a handful of nuts, chocolate chips or chopped candied fruit. Totally up to you.
The edges are crisp and the centres chewy. These are definitely worth trying! These condensed milk cookies are brilliant returns for little effort – my kind of cookie. Heck, my kind of anything ! I sensed a hint of the taste of condensed milk in these, but I am not entirely sure if thats bcoz my brain knows its in there. You will have to let me know !
If you have more condensed milk than you know what to do with , this oreo fudge is an excellent way to use up some ! Or maybe these Brazilian truffles ! Or homemade ice-cream ?
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Oscar Piastri takes third win of campaign after captivating race-long duel with Logan Sargeant.
Fortec Motorsports’ Hampus Ericsson claims maiden Ford F4 Challenge Cup win and best result of season.
30 JULY, 2017 – TRS Arden’s Oscar Piastri converted pole into victory for the second time this weekend at Snetterton in the F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost after a thrilling, race-long single-seater duel of the highest calibre with Carlin’s Logan Sargeant.
Piastri tried to break away from Sargeant in the opening laps, but to no avail as the American refused to let his fellow F4 UAE graduate escape his clutches. A captivating battle ensued between the two drivers who were never separated by much more than several tenths of a second for the majority of the race.
Sargeant put Piastri under immense pressure in his bid for a maiden Ford EcoBoost-powered victory. A pass looked most likely at Riches, but as his team-mate Ayrton Simmons had done to Sargeant in Round 16, Piastri defended resolutely. The Aussie soaked up the pressure with inch-perfect positioning of his car. The duo raced hard, but fair in an exemplary display of precision wheel-to-wheel racing which the F4 British Championship has become renowned for.
Said race winner Piastri: “I had to work so hard for that win. Logan kept me on my toes the whole time. I picked up my pace, but Logan was able to keep up with me so I’m glad to have held on to that win.
“Logan and I were quicker in different sectors of the track. I was quicker through the second sector, whereas Logan had the upper hand in the third sector. I just made sure I did everything I could to hold on to first place, positioning my car perfectly lap after lap.
“With Caroline finishing seventh I’ve managed to make up ground on him in the championship. So hopefully we can continue that at Knockhill and get even more wins.”
“I think I was the quickest driver on track and I pushed so hard for the win,” added Sargeant. “I put a lot of pressure on Oscar, but couldn’t quite find a way through.
“Oscar defended really well, but we’ll go away from here, analyse the race and work out what we can do better next time.
“I’m happy with car, happy with the team and happy with how I’m driving so I’m confident that at Knockhill we can make it onto the top step.
“We have been strong for many rounds now and I think it’s only a matter of time until I start winning races.”
Double R Racing’s Linus Lundqvist made a strong start to move up from fourth on the grid to third and looked on course to battle for the win along with Piastri and Lundqvist.
However, the Swedish single-seater champion encountered a technical problem several laps into the race which hampered his progress.
Like all top drivers do, Lundqvist found a way to manage the problem and adapted brilliantly to hold on to third. He was able to keep the squabbling duo ahead within his sights and even recorded the fastest lap of the race on the eighth tour of the Norfolk circuit.
“The start was a bit messy,” commented Lundqvist. “I made a bit of contact with Logan, but he managed to get out ahead so I don’t think it really had an impact on the race.
“On lap three or four I started encountering a technical problem. It’s hard to say whether if that hadn’t happened I could have challenged the two guys at the front. I guess we’ll never know!
“Nevertheless, I think I did very well to drive around the problem. Obviously I’m only ever satisfied when I win, but given the circumstances I’m pleased with this podium.
“Towards the end of the race I was able to adapt to the problem and actually record some very quick lap times.
“Looking ahead to Knockhill, it’s a track that Double R Racing did very well at last year so I think we can repeat that form in 2017. To finish on the podium and ahead of Caroline in two races this weekend is also positive for my title bid.”
Ayrton Simmons was forced down the order after contact at the start, but fought back brilliantly. The TRS Arden racer was a man on a mission, working his way up from seventh to fourth. The pick of his overtakes a daring move around the outside of team-mate Alex Quinn at Riches in the closing stages.
Behind the TRS Arden duo was Hampus Ericsson who recorded his best result in British F4 in sixth and in doing so claimed his first Ford F4 Challenge Cup win after passing rival Olli Caldwell.
“To get my first Ford F4 Challenge Cup win and stand on the top step feels great,“ said an ecstatic Ericsson. “It was a great race. I made a really good start and then had really good pace.
“I tried to stay calm at the start. The overtakes came when I became more aggressive as the race progressed and I could see that I could get the Challenge Cup win.
“I’m really happy to get my best result in British F4 with sixth and hopefully I can use it as a platform to get even better results during the rest of the season.”
Championship leader Jamie Caroline was unable to make the kind of progress he would have envisaged through the field from ninth on the grid and had to settle for seventh. Crucially passing Caldwell on the penultimate lap to bring home an additional two points which could make all the difference in the title fight.
Manuel Sulaiman brought home his second points finish of the weekend for JHR Developments in ninth, picking up several places having started 12th.
Meanwhile Johnathan Hoggard claimed the final point paying position and with it his first top 10 finish on what has been a frustrating debut weekend for the talented Fortec Motorsports racer. He just denied fellow British F4 debutant Sam Smelt a maiden point score in 11th.
The 2017 F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost title race heads to Knockhill in a fortnight’s time (12/13 August) in what will be a blockbuster weekend for the series. Four races are scheduled to take place due to the Round 12 of the Championship being moved to Knockhill due to delays in the schedule at Oulton Park earlier in the year.
F4 British Championship certified by FIA – powered by Ford EcoBoost
Provisional results Round 18 Snetterton 30 July 2017
11 laps / 32.65 miles
1 Oscar PIASTRI / AUS / Arden 20m 56.075s / 93.60mph
2 Logan SARGEANT / USA / Carlin +0.198s
3 Linus LUNDQVIST / SWE / Double R +2.414s
4 Ayrton SIMMONS / GBR / Arden +9.358s
5 Alex QUINN / GBR / Arden +11.028s
6 Hampus ERICSSON / SWE / Fortec +11.366s
7 Jamie CAROLINE / GBR / Carlin +11.508s
8 Olli CALDWELL / GBR / Arden +12.284s
9 Manuel SULAIMAN / MEX / JHR +16.130s
10 Johnathan HOGGARD / GBR / Fortec +17.153s
Fastest lap: Linus Lundqvist 1m 52.949s / 94.62mph
Ford F4 Challenge Cup: 1 Ericsson; 2 Caldwell, 3 Allen
Provisional championship standings
1 Caroline 273 points; 2 Piastri 226.5; 3 Lundqvist 192.5; 4 Sargeant 176; 5 Quinn 174; 6 York 124.5; 7 Simmons 119.5; 8 Pasma 110.5; 9 Webb 52; 10 Massaad 47 etc.
Provisional Ford F4 Challenge Cup standings
1 York 279.5 points; 2 Webb 239.5; 3 Ericsson 116.5; 4 Monger 100; 5 Caldwell 92; 6 Allen 48
Full times |
Obsidian Entertainment and My.com are proud to present the Gold Bundle Bonus event! Here's your chance to get some extra Gold with your regular purchase!
From the 6th of May to the 13th of May 2016 (9:00 AM CEST, 00:01 PDT), players will receive a 1100 Gold bonus when purchasing any Gold bundle. Please note that the bonus can only be received once, with the first purchase.
Don't forget the other events running this weekend:
Road to Tier 10 - Part 1 - purchase Tier 7, 8 and 9 vehicles with a discount
- purchase Tier 7, 8 and 9 vehicles with a discount Victory Weekend - 300% Reputation bonus for the first victory of the day
Please note that the Total Gold count for each bundle on the Website already includes the 1100 Gold bonus.
We hope you will enjoy this bonus and will see you on the battlefield! |
There was widespread criticism in the Pakistani press on Wednesday of Mr. Zardari’s performance at his first presidential news conference, during which he refused to condemn the raid by American Special Operations forces into Pakistan’s tribal areas on Sept. 3.
That raid involved commandos, based in Afghanistan, attacking a compound in South Waziristan where Taliban and Qaeda forces were believed to be.
After the attack, American officials said it was the first of what was likely to be a stepped-up campaign by the United States against the Taliban fighters who have been using Pakistan’s tribal areas to stage attacks against American and NATO soldiers in southern Afghanistan.
A senior Pakistani official with responsibility for national security said the Pakistani Army was told of the commando raid only after it happened. The official said the army was fully aware of a new American policy to inform the Pakistanis about American plans but not to seek their approval.
In a rejection of those plans, General Kayani said, “There is no question of any agreement or understanding with the coalition forces whereby they are allowed to conduct operations on our side of the border.”
General Kayani met last month with top American military commanders, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, and Gen. David H. Petraeus, who will soon take over as head of the United States military’s Central Command, on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln. Alluding to that session, General Kayani said he had told the Americans of the “complexity” of the situation with the militants.
In another jibe at the Americans, General Kayani said public support was necessary in finding a solution. He called the commando action “reckless.”
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The no-nonsense tone by General Kayani brought into the open the increasing mistrust between the Americans and the Pakistanis over how to handle the Taliban and Qaeda forces in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
American military officers have said for months that they could no longer tolerate the increasing attacks against their forces in Afghanistan by the Taliban from Pakistan. They said they had concluded that the Pakistani military was unable or unwilling to deal with the militants.
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While Mr. Zardari has said he understands the scourge of terrorism and wants to defeat it, most Pakistanis are opposed to American raids in their territory.
Moreover, General Kayani’s statement made clear the tentativeness of his relations with Mr. Zardari, whose political party has traditionally had a difficult relationship with the army.
A senior Pakistani politician, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of getting in the middle of a divisive political battle, said General Kayani’s statement amounted to an opening salvo against Mr. Zardari. The general was also responding to unease in the ranks of the Pakistani military after the session on the American carrier, the official said.
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“He is reflecting massive internal pressure,” the politician said of General Kayani’s statement. “He had a jarring meeting with the Yanks who told him that attacks are going to increase manifold. He doesn’t want to take the blame for these attacks. The statement is saying, ‘Watch out, trouble ahead, and I am not part of it.’ ”
Describing the anger in the Pakistani Army over the American raid, a senior Pakistani official with responsibility for national security said in an interview on Wednesday that the raid was particularly “stupid” because it lacked a serious target.
Four “foot soldiers” in the nexus of Taliban and Qaeda forces and an estimated 16 civilians, including women and children were killed, said the official, who declined to be named because of the delicate relationship between Pakistan and the United States.
The political impact of the ground raid was compounded by airstrikes by American remotely piloted drones in the tribal area on three subsequent days.
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So far, there have not been huge demonstrations in Pakistan against the American attacks.
This is in part, political analysts said, because the main Islamic religious party, Jamia Ulema-e-Islam, led by Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman, was no longer in the opposition but was now part of the governing coalition with the Pakistan Peoples Party. Further, Pakistanis are observing Ramadan, a time of few rallies.
But the Pakistani elite have begun to object. An influential figure in the North-West Frontier Province, Khalid Aziz, wrote in the newspaper The News on Wednesday that “there is something quite bizarre about what is happening between two nations which consider themselves friends.”
Mr. Aziz, who is considered pro-American, was among a select group of Pakistanis invited to meet Adm. Eric T. Olson, head of Special Operations Command, when he visited last year.
Mr. Aziz, a former chief secretary of the province, said it was time for the United States and Pakistan to “re-examine” what had become a “brittle alliance.”
On Wednesday, Mr. Aziz said the American attacks in the tribal belt were counterproductive because they could end up pushing out most of the civilians and leaving the area a free zone for the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Most of the questions at Mr. Zardari’s news conference dealt with the American-Pakistani relationship. “Isn’t America a terrorist, will you declare America a terrorist?” one reporter asked the new president.
Mr. Zardari avoided answering that and most other questions directly.
After the raid last week, the Pakistani government sent a stiff protest to the Bush administration, saying that the event was damaging to Pakistan’s military because it created morale problems, the Pakistani official said.
The message was, “You’ve taken a retrograde step, and don’t do this, it creates problems with our troops,” the Pakistani official said. The raid was based on “bad intelligence,” he said. “It was not a smart thing.”
So far, there had been no response from Washington to the Pakistani protest, he said. |
Jason Holmes will play his first official game for St Kilda after a year with VFL team Sandringham
PADDY McCartin has been included in St Kilda’s squad to take on Brisbane this weekend following an impressive performance in last Saturday’s intra club game.
The number one draft pick booted a goal and looked lively on Saturday, taking two marks in the first minute of the match to set the tone for the rest of the morning.
VIDEO: Intra club 1/3
VIDEO: Intra club 2/3
VIDEO: Intra club 3/3
McCartin isn’t the only feel-good story, with US recruit Jason Holmes set to play his first competitive match in Saints colours and Ahmed Saad welcomed back into the fray as well.
Holmes will be the first American born player to pull on a Saints jumper in a pre-season game, just 15 months after arriving at Linen House Centre.
Become a Saints member TODAY! Click HERE or call 1300 467 246.
For Saad, it is another step in the right direction following a year on the sidelines in 2014. Like McCartin, the forward was lively on the weekend and finished the game with one goal and four tackles.
Ex-Sydney Swan Tim Membrey will also make the trip to Moreton Bay, while Eli Templeton and Jarryn Geary are poised to front up against an AFL team for the first time since early last year following long-term arm injuries in 2014.
After sitting out the intra club, Jack Steven will also return to action in a positive sign for St Kilda’s engine room.
First-year players Hugh Goddard and Jack Sinclair have also been named in the squad.
The Saints are yet to name a captain in the absence of Nick Riewoldt.
SQUAD vs Brisbane Lions:
Saturday Feb 28, 3.10pm
Moreton Bay Central Sports Complex
3 Jack STEVEN 24 Sean DEMPSTER 4 Eli TEMPLETON 25 Sam FISHER 5 Shane SAVAGE 26 Tom CURREN 6 Sebastian ROSS 27 Josh BRUCE 8 Blake ACRES 28 Tim MEMBREY 9 Tommy LEE 32 Paddy McCARTIN 11 Leigh MONTAGNA 33 Hugh GODDARD 14 Jarryn GEARY 35 Josh SAUNDERS 15 Jack BILLINGS 37 Jack LONIE 16 Jack NEWNES 38 Ahmed SAAD 17 Dylan Roberton 39 Cameron SHENTON 18 Billy LONGER 40 Jack SINCLAIR 20 David ARMITAGE 44 Maverick WELLER 21 Luke DELANEY 45 Jason HOLMES 22 Farren RAY
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You’re going to love the new Germany…
Angry migrants burned down their refugee centers in Dusseldorf after the complex ran out of Nutella and Gummy Bears.
It is claimed that the fire was started as migrants reacted furiously to not having chocolate spread and sweets. (Daily Mail)
The Daily Mail reported:
A hall which was being used as a refugee centre was burned down because angry migrants were furious about the lack of Nutella and gummibears, it has been claimed.
The building was completely destroyed in the fire, which caused an estimated €10 million in damage.
Two men have been charged with setting fire to the centre in Düsseldorf on June 7, prompting an emergency which left 26 people injured.
German newspaper Das Bild has revealed that groups were angry when chocolate spread and confectionery were not available after dark, despite it being available during the day.
Meals at the centre had been cancelled because of Ramadan, when Muslims do not eat during daylight hours.
Protesters shouted: ‘There isn’t enough Nutella, Gummibears and chocolate’, the newspaper reports. |
Adidas bosses were staggered by the demand from United fans
Sales of Manchester United's new adidas jerseys broke the existing megastore record by almost 50 per cent.
The German sportswear giant's chief executive Herbert Hainer revealed the staggering detail during a conference call following an announcement of their Q2 results to the stock exchange.
Adidas signed a 10-year world record £750m deal to take over as United's kit manufacturers from Nike.
(L-R) Ashley Young, Juan Mata and Danny Blind model the new adidas strips after a world-record £750m deal
New signing Bastian Schweinsteiger (centre) also helped unveil the new adidas number for the Red Devils
Daley Blind impales glass wearing the new Manchester United home strip which has proved popular
They launched the club's new home kit on August 1 and the contract would appear to be paying dividends already - with Hainer admitting bosses were staggered by demand.
'Last Saturday we reunited with Manchester United, one of the most popular and successful football teams in the world, and unveiled their new home jersey,' he said.
'The initial response has really blown us away as it has exceeded all expectations in both the club's and our own brand channels.
'The Old Trafford Megastore saw a record demand for a non-match day, almost 50% up on the previous record.'
Adidas are supplying Manchester United's strips for the first time in the Premier League era
The new Manchester United kit was launched last Saturday and sales have been up almost 50 per cent
Hainer added that online orders were up four times on the previous record.
'The Man U e-com channels formed United Direct, so equally high demand, 4 times up on the previous record kit launch,' he revealed.
A delighted Hainer hailed the 'unprecedented demand' and added that adidas's wholesale partners had 'experienced the biggest-ever launch day on Saturday'.
'This success confirms again that Man United is not just a football club,' he added.
'With more than 650 million fans globally, it is, without doubt, one of the world's most supported sports symbols. This special club has not only a rich history, but also a reputation for success and the unexpected.'
Adidas are expected to reveal United's two away kits on August 11. |
This short post will be about creating a back-door to your app, giving you the option to provide more information or actions than you want end users to have. This will be using the Secret Code feature.
I came across some articles with list of codes in order to access some phone’s data (i.e. Camera’s firmware spec.), run some tests (i.e. Vibration test) or even perform actions such as reset to factory settings. Some examples can be found here and here and even as an app that indexes all that information.
Create your own
Creating your own secret doorway for your app can help you get more information from users of your app in a time of need. Getting crash reports from end users can be done by several services such as ACRA or BugSense, but how about errors that are not crashes? How many times did your Mom/Spouse/Friend/Mailman showed you their phone, running your app, and said something like: “Why do I see duplicates on the list here?! Why can’t I sync??”. You probably can’t do anything without debugging the app or at least take a look at the app’s SharedPrefs/SQLiteDB. Using a backdoor can help you get more internal information that will help you find the cause for the problem, no computer is necessary!
Another cool thing is providing more actions to do with your app. You want to keep the app clean for your users, but you might want more power to yourself. You can tweak your internal settings, whether for testing purposes or just to try out new features on your everyday use. Not needing to compile a new version after each change of internal setting, can help a lot in the task of identifying tricky problems.
Examples
Before learning how you can create your own secret code to do some cool stuff, let’s review some use cases that you can use it for:
Diagnose information - Presenting technical details of you app, such as generated UUID that can be used to find relevant server data.
Send internal data outside - You can dump app information, such as the SharedPrefs/DB data, and send it to you via email. Since this code runs on the same process as your app - you have access to everything!
Change settings - You can change the internal settings of your app. Showing more debug logs, communicating with a different server or even change the sorting order of the list you present the user. Anything that can help you understand more about the current situation of the app.
Demo mode - Need to show your app to investors? Showoff to your Friends? You can create shortcuts to some app features that are relatively difficult to simulate. For example: Notification that triggers every morning or when the phone is idle for more than 30mins. Maybe a SMS/phone-call triggered action, QR code scan or a sensor’s incoming data. You can create a demo screen to start everything you want to show on the app, and with sample data to make a neat presentation.
How?
Let’s see how to create one of our own secret code:
<receiver android:name= ".receiver.DiagnoserReceiver" > <intent-filter> <action android:name= "android.provider.Telephony.SECRET_CODE" /> <data android:scheme= "android_secret_code" android:host= "111222" /> </intent-filter> </receiver>
That’s what you put on your manifest. Looks simple right? All we do is provide a listener to a secret code, defined in a <data> tag as the “android:host” attribute, and declare a receiver for it. On the receiver, we can just run some code, open an Activity, run a Service etc. Here’s an example of a receiver that starts a new Activity:
public class DiagnoserReceiver extends BroadcastReceiver { public void onReceive ( Context context , Intent intent ) { if ( "android.provider.Telephony.SECRET_CODE" . equals ( intent . getAction ())) { Intent i = new Intent ( Intent . ACTION_MAIN ); i . setClass ( context , Diagnoser . class ); i . setFlags ( Intent . FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK ); context . startActivity ( i ); } } }
We create an intent with the Activity class, Diagnoser, and start it. That activity will run on the same process as our app, allowing us to access all the data that our app has, using all the permissions that our app has been granted with.
Use it
To start our diagnose screen, all you need to do is go to the phone’s stock dialer (third party dialers not always work with secret codes) and dial the secret code you defined in the “android:host” attribute on the manifest, in the following pattern: “## #*#*. In our example, you'll need to dial *#*#111222#*#*, the DiagnoserReceiver will receive the intent and start the Diagnoser activity.
That’s it. I hope this post helped you get more from your app. If you have more ideas for use cases for this feature - write them on the comments to help us all exploit this nice feature. |
Update: Until the official Famitsu info comes, this should be treated as a rumor. Until then, don’t take it as a official confirmation.
Update 2: The official Famitsu magazine is out for most of the readers and there is no mention of this rumor, likely confirming that it was a hoax to break the hearts of all those Valkyria Chronicles fans. We apologize for getting your hopes up. Although, this doesn’t mean that SEGA won’t ever do such a trilogy in the future, as it is likely possible that they might do it.
It appears that Valkyria Chronicles might be coming to a new platform after all, according to the latest info from Famitsu Japan.
Valkyira Chronicles was a cult classic strategy RPG from SEGA, that was released exclusively for the PS3. It wasn’t financially a success though but managed to gain quite a devoted set of fans and achieved a cult hit status. SEGA then proceeded to divide the fanbase further by releasing the sequel on the PSP.
Both the original and the sequel were not exactly a financial hit but still SEGA followed the sequel with another entry in the series, this time going back to the classic Valkyria Chronicles gameplay and setting. The new entry was again released on the PSP. While the West managed to get Valkyria Chronicles 1 and 2, it never got the localization of Valkyria Chronicles 3. It was later translated by the fans and made available in the form of a patch on the PSP.
Famitsu Japan lists Valkyria Chronicles Trilogy coming to the PS4 with enhanced graphics and new features as follow:
-Releasing this summer
-1 has visual upgrade
-2 and 3 are remake with grahics based on 1’s visual style
-includes every DLC
-lots of balance adjustments
This info was leaked from the latest issue of Famitsu Japan and it lists the trilogy coming to the PS4. This is a good news for all the Valkyira Chronicles fans as this means that we can finally play these games on a single platform.
Source
What do you think about this news? Let us know in the comments below. |
It began in a trailer in the shadows of one of Florida's most elegant malls, a brazen plan by two small police agencies to take on the hemisphere's most dangerous drug cartels. Forming their own task force, members of the Bal Harbour police and Glades County Sheriff's Office struck deals with criminal organizations across the country in what grew into the largest state undercover money-laundering investigation in years.
Posing as launderers, the task force took in $55.6 million from the criminal groups, keeping thousands each week for themselves for laundering the money. They spent lavishly on first-class flights and five-star hotel stays. They bought Mac computers and submachine guns.
In the end, they made no arrests of their own, and ended up returning all the money they laundered to the criminal groups. They also withdrew $1 million in cash with no records to show where the money went – and struck millions in additional money-laundering deals that were never disclosed. |
A $3.6-billion expansion of LRT includes previously unbudgeted infrastructure work and will force the O-Train Trillium Line to shut down for at least 16 months, the Citizen has learned.
This is the first major public reveal of plans for the second phase of LRT since summer 2015. Information trickling down from the Stage 2 office ahead of a presentation at city hall on Friday indicates the rail expansion will be completed in three stages.
Extending the Trillium Line south to Bowesville Road in Riverside South and building a spur to the Ottawa International Airport would be first, with a target completion date of 2021.
The eastern arm to Trim Road would be completed by 2022.
And the western extensions to Bayshore Shopping Centre and Algonquin College would be finished by 2023.
Prioritizing the southern extension of the Trillium Line to reach the fast-growing communities of Riverside South, Findlay Creek and Leitrim, which some hope will reduce congestion on the Airport Parkway and lessen the need for the city to widen that road, would be a big win for those communities.
A massive new park-and-ride lot at the Bowesville station, possibly with washrooms, will have enough space for 3,500 vehicles.
Rail service to the airport and the EY Centre would be provided by spur off the Trillium Line at South Keys.
That means arriving or departing airline passengers will have to change trains at South Keys, as opposed to having a seamless ride between the airport and stations in the core. People coming from or going to downtown would have to change trains twice — once to switch from the Confederation to Trillium Line at Bayview station and again at South Keys to catch the airport-bound trains.
But extending the Trillium Line won’t be possible without shutting it down for more than a year.
As soon as exams at Carleton University are over in April 2020, the eight-kilometre line that runs between Bayview and Greenboro stations would close until September 2021. The city will be adding stations at Gladstone, Walkley and South Keys, plus extending passing tracks. There is also some repair work expected in the train tunnel under Dow’s Lake.
The replacement Route 107 bus, which typically goes into service whenever the Trillium Line is closed, currently travels along Preston, Carling, Bronson and Heron. But traffic congestion on Preston may force it onto different north-south roads between Bayview station and Carling, such as Bayswater Avenue and Sherwood Drive.
Related
The second phase of LRT was initially estimated in 2013 to cost $3 billion, but the price is now estimated at $3.6 billion.
The cost includes laying track, building 22 new stations, buying new buses and trains, and widening the city-owned Highway 174.
The city is also looking at throwing in other infrastructure projects, such as rehabilitating a bridge over the Rideau River at Carleton University.
However, widening Highway 174 at the same time the city intends to run LRT down the median could generate some pushback from councillors who fear such a move could hurt transit ridership and push other road projects off the priority list.
How the city proposes to contract the next phase of LRT work while the Rideau Transit Group continues to build the first phase, due to open next year, is a key question to be answered Friday when the Stage 2 report is released.
RTG is poised to maintain the entire transit network once it’s fully built, but the consortium has apparently agreed to not bid on constructing either of the eastern or western LRT extensions. There will be nothing to restrict RTG from bidding on the Trillium Line extension.
The city believes there will be options in the market to use trains on the Trillium Line that are compatible with the existing Alstom Coradia Lint diesel trains.
The Stage 2 report is also expected to outline what detours buses may need to take once the Transitway west of Tunney’s Pasture closes for rail conversion.
It was a single line in a large staff report recommending the construction of the Confederation Line that revealed 2,500 buses would be redirected onto Scott and Albert streets, so it’s anticipated that councillors will go through this report with a fine-tooth comb in search of ways the massive project might affect their wards.
The finance and economic development committee will debate and vote on the plan on Feb. 24. A council vote on March 8 would kickstart the procurement process.
At the same time, the city is still waiting to hear from the federal government about funding the Stage 2 blueprint. The province has signalled its commitment to pay for one-third of the city’s base Stage 2 plan, plus half the cost of the connections to the airport and Trim Road.
The city isn’t likely to start a request for proposals process until it nails down the federal funding.
Stage 2 rail expansion by the numbers:
$3.6 billion: Projected cost for Stage 2 rail and related infrastructure work
2021: Trillium Line extension projected completion year
2022: Eastern LRT extension projected completion year
2023: Western LRT extension projected completion year
22: New stations in plan
36: New kilometres of rail to be built
16: Estimated months Trillium Line will need to close for upgrade
38: New vehicles to be purchased for expanded rail network
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I’ve been remiss in not covering this short book sooner. “Review Bryce Book” sat on a to-do list, un-administered to, for some months, even though I bought it and read it the day that it came out. This extended essay is certainly worth your time, if only for the extended argument that he makes for a patriarchal social structure, in a more thorough, direct, and concise way than most people are willing to.
Here’s Bryce:
The willingness and ability to put off present consumption in order to invest in higher future production is a necessary component of civilization. What is consumed now cannot be available in the future. It is impossible to set more aside for present consumption and to have more set aside for the future. Worse, a society which consumes the stock of capital necessary to maintain the present levels of production must have lower levels of production in the future. Such is a toxic nihilism that dooms future generations, and many in my generation are seeing now how our parents and grandparents ate out our own future. “Eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die! ‘was their morality. They were nihilists who treated their own genetic legacies as expendable in pursuit of their own pleasures.
And Laliberte later:
Support of a patriarchy is merely the contention that fathers ought to rule, and this because they would plan for the longer-run of society. Patriarchalism compared to feminism has low time-preference … Such a conclusion is the inescapable result of women trying to take on male roles and not taking on the noble female roles of wifely duties and motherhood.
And still later (on the conspiracy version of patriarchy vs. the observed history of it):
Whereas feminism explains the virtual entirety of all civilizations as being patriarchal as simple conspiratorial accident, the patriarchalist suggests that patriarchy is a key ingredient apart from which civilization fails.
This leads into the ‘feminist IQ shredder’ argument which you may or may not be familiar with already. To those of you not already familiar with it: feminism tends to discourage the smartest women from having large families, which leads to long term dysgenic impacts on populations. Because intelligence, beauty, and countless other factors have large genetic components, encouraging the childbearing half of the species to form their characters around high-strain education & labor in their most fertile years results in a rapid decrease in the quality of each ensuing generation of children.
Although some more bearing to the left might find this to be another instance of the he-man-woman-haters-club striking again, it’s really more of a call for encouragement to a more “noble and important” calling.
The work also weaves in a number of Catholic arguments which may or may not be persuasive to you depending on whether or not you’re Catholic and what opinion of the church you happen to hold.
He also takes the time to address libertarianism:
Neoreaction has been called a libertarian heresy. The distinction is cladistic rather than morphological; that is to say, it is a heresy in the sense that it was begun from a libertarian attitude in response to the inadequacies of libertarianism, as explored above, though now it no longer possesses libertarian tenets [ED: Like the NAP.] It is, rather, a deep and principled conservatism wedded to the principles of trenchant and thoroughgoing social analysis.
The prime distinction that Bryce draws here (which I think is correct) is that, unlike libertarians, neoreactionaries don’t see the value in creating a dichotomy between the economy and the rest of society, or the values which lead to good economics and the values which lead to a sound social structure. So, while many libertarians will be happy to say live-and-let-live with regard to social issues, even though in reality that attitude tends to result in distinctly non-libertarian economic and political orders, we aim to think about things from a more cohesive perspective.
There’s more in this than I can cover here without block quoting everything. If you’re worried about a lot of technical language or density, there’s not much of that here. It’s fairly straightforward from what you can see from the table of contents — it covers a lot of ground over the course of its short length.
WHAT IS NEOREACTION?
By Bryce Laliberte
90 pp. Kindle Direct Publishing. $3
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Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) are pictured in a scene from "Star Wars: The Force Awakens." (Photo: Lucasfilm / Disney)
If, somehow you were previously unaware that a new "Star Wars" film was on the way, you definitely know by now.
The final trailer for "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" premiered during "Monday Night Football," and advance tickets have already gone on sale for the film, which hits theaters Dec. 17.
While a few of the earliest screenings at Nashville's Regal Hollywood 27 have sold out, seats are still up for grabs throughout the Nashville area on fandango.com
But what if you feel like whetting your appetite for the seventh "Star Wars" film by watching the previous six all in a row? One Middle Tennessee theater has you covered.
The unbelievable "Star Wars Marathon" will take place at Carmike Thoroughbred 20 in Franklin. It starts at 3 a.m. Dec. 17 with "Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace" and will work its way through the entire saga, culminating with the premiere of "The Force Awakens" that evening. Without factoring in the breaks, that's a nearly 16 hour-long space opera.
Tickets for the marathon are $30 and on sale at www.fandango.com
Read or Share this story: http://tnne.ws/1RU8Ed2 |
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EXPECTATIONS GAME: WISCONSIN EDITION
Wisconsin Republicans have picked their party’s eventual presidential nominee in every primary since 1968.
That no doubt pleases Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who is riding a lead of almost 7 points in the Real Clear Politics average of polls for Tuesday’s Badger State contest. But as South Carolina Republicans proved in 2012 when they broke for Newt Gingrich, such streaks aren’t usually causal.
Every GOP nominee of the past 52 years has won Wisconsin (and the streak might go back 64 years if it hadn’t been for favorite son Rep. John Byrnes in 1964) because they looked inevitable when they got to Wisconsin, not because Wisconsin made them that way. There is no magic wheel of cheese in Wauwatosa that holds the Republican Excalibur.
In fact, late primary states usually fall to the eventual nominee because the contests are usually substantially over.
Party unity is particularly valuable in Wisconsin where the GOP was founded and where party loyalty and order are prized, but there is a premium on unity in every late-voting state. Even if the frontrunner isn’t your brand of brew, his argument that it’s time to close ranks and focus on the general election makes for a powerful message.
And by April, when most of the delegates have already been awarded, it gets harder for trailing candidates to get their voters to the polls. Rick Santorum grabbed a third of the vote in Wisconsin four years ago, but came up short and officially ended his campaign one week later. Santorum’s bid had been broken by his defeat in Illinois two weeks prior, and everybody knew it. As John Kerry might have said, “How do you ask a Republican to be the last one to vote for a lost cause?”
Those two forces – the high premium on unity and the demoralization of other candidates’ supporters – usually create powerful electoral currents. A candidate wins because he is inevitable; a candidate is inevitable because he wins. But this year, neither of those forces is intact as the race rolls into Wisconsin.
The frontrunner, Donald Trump, looks like a losing bet for the general election. He certainly can argue, as he did to the WaPo, that he will change the course of the contest before November, but right now the electoral roadmap looks like 31 weeks of bad road. Even Trump’s designated surrogates acknowledge some, er, deficiencies.
And neither can Trump rely on the despair of his rivals’ supporters. As Cruz demonstrated in Sunday’s Republican convention in North Dakota, his strength with party stalwarts gives him a stronger-than-usual claim to viability. And in states like Louisiana, Tennessee and now Arizona, the Texan’s superior organization continues to deprive Trump of much-needed delegates.
No one is more likely to be the Republican nominee than Trump, but his chances look worse, not better, than a month ago.
Money, the other major factor that usually shuts down contests at this point, isn’t a factor either. Trump doesn’t spend much and Cruz has more than enough to take this sucker all the way to Cleveland.
Denied of the chance to play their usual ratifying role, how will Wisconsin Republicans respond? And if they, in fact, choose Cruz what would it mean?
Despite the kvetching of many, the (reputable) polling this cycle has been pretty spot on. There’s no reason to believe that Cruz isn’t really ahead in Wisconsin. What’s in doubt is whether he can win by a large enough margin to turn a primary hat trick: get the momentum from a first-place finish, win an outright majority to get his sixth of eight majority wins needed to have his name entered into nomination and to win in all eight congressional districts to make the state truly winner-take-all.
For Cruz, if the polling proves correct, he would come up short of an outright majority and also probably lose at least a few delegates on the district level to Wisconsin spoiler, Ohio Gov. John Kasich. None of that particularly helps Trump since he is playing a zero sum-game: every delegate that either Cruz or Kasich wins increases Trump’s deficit.
What seems to be at stake is whether the nominating process just turns against Trump or really shifts towards Cruz. Polls suggest the national frontrunner will fall short Tuesday, and that will reinforce Trump’s mounting troubles, whatever the margins. But if Cruz wins with an overhead smash, the race will be reset if not in his favor, at least in a way that reinforces his status as the man to beat Trump.
[GOP delegate count: Trump 736; Cruz 463; Kasich 143 (1,237 needed to win)]
WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE…
As candidates on both sides gear up for a contentious primary in Wisconsin on Tuesday, many in the Badger State are also gearing up…for the return of fishing season and the traditional Friday Night Fish Fry. Travel Wisconsin has the story: “When Catholic immigrants such as the many Irish, Polish, and Germans, settled in Wisconsin, this practice came with them. During Prohibition, taverns – which could no longer sell the products that kept them in business, turned to serving food to keep the doors open (and perhaps sneak a few pints under the table). Fish was abundant and cheap, and frying didn’t exactly require cooking school.”
Got a TIP from the RIGHT or the LEFT? Email [email protected]
POLL CHECK
Real Clear Politics Averages
National GOP nomination: Trump 40.4 percent; Cruz 32.8 percent; Kasich 20.6 percent
National Dem nomination: Clinton 50.2 percent; Sanders 42.8 percent
General Election: Clinton vs. Trump: Clinton +10.8 points
Generic Congressional Vote: Republicans +0.5
DEMS HAVE THEIR CLAWS OUT IN THE BADGER STATE
Who would have thought the Democratic primary would still be simmering? Certainly not presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton, who is facing a possible loss in Tuesday’s Wisconsin primary.
Clinton had a strong lead in the state until recently when she fell 2 points behind Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Real Clear Politics average for Wisconsin. As evidenced in other contests, Sanders does well in young college towns, and the scent of patchouli hangs heavy in many precincts of Madison, but that doesn’t mean he’s got it in the bag.
With Sanders’ growing margin in the polls, Clinton might be having flashbacks to 2008 when she actually did lose the Badger State to then-Sen. Barack Obama by 18 points. So far though, this cycle’s primary doesn’t seem like a landslide for her opponent at all. Indeed, it will actually be more like a nail biter.
In 2008, Wisconsin voted in February when Clinton was mounting a comeback after early losses and dealt her campaign a stinging rebuke. In April 2016, however, Sanders’ severe delegate deficit might motive those Democrats on the fence towards a safe bet with Clinton.
If Clinton can deliver a comeback this cycle, it will be a sturdy nail in Sanders’ coffin. But if Sanders can pull out the win like the one he nabbed in neighboring Michigan, the Democratic contest will roll on and on and on…
[RCP breaks down how delegate math and momentum might decide voters’ preference in Wisconsin.]
Hillary says ‘unborn person’ doesn’t have rights - Weekly Standard: “On Sunday, Hillary Clinton told Chuck Todd that no unborn child has constitutional rights. ‘The unborn person doesn’t have constitutional rights,’ under our current laws, said Clinton. She also said that ‘the woman’s right to make decisions’ is most important when it comes to abortion. Most notable perhaps is Clinton’s use of ‘person.’ Oftentimes, when talking about a woman’s right to choose, pro-choicers will use terminology that suggests the unborn is not a person or human, but a ‘fetus.’”
Hillary, Bernie can’t agree on NY debate - WSJ: “Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders sounded hopeful that they could break an impasse and hold a debate before the New York primary on April 19, though their campaigns made clear Sunday that sticking points remain unresolved. ‘I want it. Look, I’m confident that there will be’ a debate, Mrs. Clinton said on NBC. But as the day wore on, a standoff continued. The Sanders campaign said Sunday afternoon that it had accepted an invitation to take part in a prime-time debate next Sunday on NBC. However, the Clinton campaign hasn’t agreed to show up.”
POWER PLAY: HOW TO DEFEAT THE REPUBLICANS
With a Donald Trump nomination the opposition research pretty much writes itself, but the Democrats are still getting their information together to defeat the Republicans this fall. President of the Democratic PAC American Bridge, Jessica Mackler, joins Chris Stirewalt to discuss the different tactics her group might use against a Trump verses another Republican nominee. WATCH HERE.
[Dem delegate count: Clinton 1712; Sanders 1011 (2,383 needed to win)]
HE’S HER KING CRAB AND SHE’S HIS QUEEN
NBC Connecticut: “Police in Connecticut arrested two people after an argument at Royal Buffet got out of hand Saturday night. Manchester police say they were called to 410 West Middle Turnpike for a dispute that started verbally over crab legs at the buffet table and escalated into a physical confrontation. During the scuffle, a 21-year-old man was punched in the face and lost a tooth. That man’s mother jumped in and deployed pepper spray at her son’s attackers. Her actions were in self-defense and she is not facing any charges, according to police. Police arrested two people, identified as Clifford Knight, 45, and Latoya Knight, 38, both of Windsor…Police say the suspects are husband and wife.”
Chris Stirewalt is digital politics editor for Fox News. Want FOX News First in your inbox every day? Sign up here. |
“The bad news is that racism still remains a much too real part of American life,” the Democratic presidential candidate told a crowd of about 2,700 people at the Medallion Center ballroom, according to The State
He noted the June shooting that killed nine at a historic black church in nearby Charleston, as well as a spate of police violence against blacks.
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"There is no one who will fight harder not only to end institutional racism, but to make fundamental changes in our broken criminal justice system," Sanders said, according to the Associated Press
The senator called for police officers to build closer relationships with the community.
"Most police officers are honest and trying to do their best," he said. "But as in the case with any other public official, when a police officer breaks the law, that officer must be held accountable."
Sanders is hoping to build momentum in South Carolina, the first Southern presidential primary state and the first with a large number of black voters.
Sanders has seen some recent issues with black activists. Twice this summer, he has had speeches interrupted by protesters affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement.
He tweeted earlier this week that he will seek a meeting with prominent leaders of the Black Lives Matter movement. He also intends to meet privately with black leaders during his trip to South Carolina.
"The senator realizes that racial inequality and economic inequality are parallel issues that must be addressed simultaneously, and I think he wants to make that clear," a campaign spokeswoman said. |
POULSBO, Wash. -- When a 22-year-old called 911 on Tuesday to report a violent confrontation with his girlfriend's father, he feared he was going to die.
"Oh, my God. He shot my car. Oh,my God. Please help me," yelled the 22-year-old, who is not being identified by KOMO News because he's not facing charges.
According to detectives, Vincent Badkin arrived at his Viking Way home in Poulsbo on Tuesday when he found the 22-year-old crawling out of a back window.
During the 911 call the 22-year-old told the dispatcher, "He's got a gun and he's pushing me." In the background Badkin could be heard saying, "That's right. You're on my property and broke into my house."
The 22-year-old said Badkin fired two shots at his feet then more at his car.
Detectives found four bullet holes in the hood of the 22-year-old's car and three in the driver's side. Badkin told detectives he was trying to stop the man from leaving the scene.
Badkin and the 22-year-old were both arrested after the incident but the 22-year-old was released from custody because the prosecutor's office is not filing any charges against him at this time.
"It does not appear the individual was a threat at the time he was firing shots," said Lt. Earl Smith of the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office. "We're going to continue following up with that."
"It went past the point of trying to protect his home," the 22-year-old said on Wednesday after he was released from the Kitsap County Jail.
He said Badkin's daughter invited him to the home but no one was there when he arrived. He said he knocked on the front door and when no one answered he went around back. He found a window that was open, removed the screen, and went inside.
The 22-year-old said Badkin confronted him on the back porch with a gun.
"He said 'Get your hands up, you're trespassing," he recalled.
He said Badkin told him to get down as he pointed the gun at him .
"I said 'My hands are up. I was here to talk to you. I wrote a letter for you it's in your house'. And he continues to threaten me," the 22-year-old said.
Detective's found the 22-year-old's note to Badkin under a pillow. He asked Badkin to call him so they could talk to about Badkin's daughter.
Detectives say nothing inside the home was damaged or removed.
During Badkin's first appearance in court on Wednesday, his attorney requested Badkin be released on his own personal recognizance but the judge declined and set bail at $500,000. |
Donald Trump is rebutting the political establishment and Hillary Clinton’s view of the American people, that they’re nothing more than racist, sexist, homophobic bigots, which she specifically called a “basket of deplorables.”
During a speech, Trump said he believed the exact opposite about the American people.
Real Clear Politics reports:
Trump: "While my opponent slanders you as deplorable and irredeemable, I call you hardworking American patriots" https://t.co/4fIrxQAECK — CNN (@CNN) September 13, 2016
Trending: CNN Told By South Korean Official: “Clearly Credit Goes To President Trump” (VIDEO)
While my opponent slanders you as deplorable and irredeemable, I call you hard-working American patriots who love your country and want a better future for all of our people.
Her comments displayed the same sense of arrogance and entitlement that led her to violate federal laws as Secretary of State, hide and delete her e-mails. I think 33,000 e-mails.
Still waiting for Hillary’s response after she makes it out of her hospital bed… |
Michelle Obama looked out at a St. Paul field house filled with supporters of her husband Monday afternoon and told them: "For me, this is not just politics. It's personal. It's personal for me, it's personal for all of us now."
And with that, Democrat Barack Obama's No. 1 campaign surrogate put the presidential race in the most personal terms possible.
During her appearance at Macalester College, and an earlier one in Rochester, Michelle Obama stuck closely to the campaign's tight focus on the economy, mostly filtering it through her experiences as a wife, daughter and mother.
With three weeks to go until Election Day, she steered far from the negative tone that has increasingly marked the campaign, never once mentioning Republican John McCain, her husband's opponent in the race for the White House.
The closest she came in her half-hour speech was at its beginning, when she asked the crowd of more than 4,000, "are you tired of that subprime leadership in the White House?"
Obama repeatedly boiled down her message to a simple formulation: "Don't we deserve leaders who get it? [I've been campaigning] for 20 months with the sole task of telling you Barack Obama gets it. That's all I know. I can't speak for anyone else."
Quickly going over her husband's positions on the economy, the Iraq war, education reform and energy policy, Obama sounded the more general themes of hope and change that imbued her husband's early stump speech months ago, instead of his blunter bullet-point approach in recent weeks.
At a time when her husband has been surging in the polls, she gave the type of speech that's used to close the deal in the waning days of a campaign, complete with expressions of affection. |
Last night's GOP presidential debate centered around economic policy and topics ranged wildly. Discussions jumped from Trump's wall to the runaway blimp. Energy policy was not in the mix.
Outside a quick mention of fracking in Ohio, the only other discussion of energy came from Republican presidential candidate and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.
He began, "We should be investing in all types of energy." Christie went on to say that New Jersey is ranked third in the country in solar installations thanks to the private sector.
Is that true?
According to GTM Research's latest U.S. Solar Market Insight report, New Jersey is in fact ranked third in cumulative solar installations.
Source: U.S. Solar Market Insight report
"Why?" continued Christie. "Because we work with the private sector to make solar energy affordable and available to businesses and individuals in our state."
That point is a little bit murkier. Is the private sector to thank for New Jersey's success in solar?
New Jersey's success has been driven largely by its SREC program -- which GTM Research's MJ Shiao notes is "technically market-based." Shiao also points to Christie signing what was known as the "resurrection bill" in 2012, which inserted the visible hand of government into a faltering program.
New Jersey's tenure as the nation's third-ranked solar state might be over soon. GTM Research forecasts North Carolina to surpass New Jersey in cumulative solar PV installations by the end of 2015.
***
Don't miss the U.S. Solar Market Insight Conference, featuring state-level data and policy discussions. |
Forza Motorsport 4 Gets Ten New Cars With April Alpinestars DLC
Giuseppe Nelva March 27, 2012 1:13:20 PM EST
Fans of Forza Motorsport 4 know that every month they’re in for a treat with a new DLC car pack, and April won’t be an exception with the upcoming Alpinestars DLC, to be released o April the 3rd on Xbox Live.
The package will cost 560 Microsoft Points and will include ten cars, between which there will be some classic rides like the 1985 Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE and a few bleeding edge recent ones like the 2012 Jaguar XKR-S.
You can speed past the cut for a full list.
2011 Mercedes-Benz #35 Black Falcon SLS AMG GT3 – Featuring a replica livery of a race-winning Mercedes from 40 years prior, the Black Falcon SLS AMG GT3 is itself no stranger to excellent track performance. The SLS’s distinctive gullwing doors are a welcome nod to classic Mercedes style, and the car’s deep carbon fiber splitter and low roofline keep it firmly planted in the present. With the GT3, Mercedes is poised for more racing success ahead.
– Featuring a replica livery of a race-winning Mercedes from 40 years prior, the Black Falcon SLS AMG GT3 is itself no stranger to excellent track performance. The SLS’s distinctive gullwing doors are a welcome nod to classic Mercedes style, and the car’s deep carbon fiber splitter and low roofline keep it firmly planted in the present. With the GT3, Mercedes is poised for more racing success ahead. 2011 Aston Martin #009 Aston Martin Racing AMR One – Engineered to take advantage of the FIA’s emergency efficiency-focused regulations, the Aston Martin AMR One employs an in-line, 2-liter, 6-cylinder turbo that produces upwards of 540 hp.
– Engineered to take advantage of the FIA’s emergency efficiency-focused regulations, the Aston Martin AMR One employs an in-line, 2-liter, 6-cylinder turbo that produces upwards of 540 hp. 2012 Jaguar XKR-S – The XKR-S is Jaguar’s first full production car to be a member of the elite 300 kmh (186 mph) club. It’s a strong road performer with a powerful engine and adaptive damping and stability control to keep the car stuck to the road. In all, the XKR-S is a potent mix of power, precision, and typical Jaguar beauty.
– The XKR-S is Jaguar’s first full production car to be a member of the elite 300 kmh (186 mph) club. It’s a strong road performer with a powerful engine and adaptive damping and stability control to keep the car stuck to the road. In all, the XKR-S is a potent mix of power, precision, and typical Jaguar beauty. 1995 BMW M5 – BMW’s M5 line has always represented a full-bodied combination of power and luxury and nowhere is that more evident than in the 1995 M5. The quick-revving, 3.8 liter, 24-valve straight-6 engine delivers north of 300 hp and the 6-speed transmission was one of the few available in the mid-1990s. One drive is all you’ll need to understand why so many BMW fans wish to lead the pack in this 4-door luxury sedan.
– BMW’s M5 line has always represented a full-bodied combination of power and luxury and nowhere is that more evident than in the 1995 M5. The quick-revving, 3.8 liter, 24-valve straight-6 engine delivers north of 300 hp and the 6-speed transmission was one of the few available in the mid-1990s. One drive is all you’ll need to understand why so many BMW fans wish to lead the pack in this 4-door luxury sedan. 2011 Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S – The Quattroporte Sport GT S is the automotive equivalent of an Italian opera. The Ferrari-built engine provides a concert of throaty rumblings whose volume and tone can be controlled via a valve-controlled exhaust. But this car can do more than produce an aria of exhaust notes; the Sport GT S is adept in the corners and no slouch on the straightaways too.
– The Quattroporte Sport GT S is the automotive equivalent of an Italian opera. The Ferrari-built engine provides a concert of throaty rumblings whose volume and tone can be controlled via a valve-controlled exhaust. But this car can do more than produce an aria of exhaust notes; the Sport GT S is adept in the corners and no slouch on the straightaways too. 1985 Mazda RX-7 GSL-SE – Innovation and affordability combine with this mid-80s rotary masterpiece from Mazda. The GSL-SE introduced the legendary 13B engine, the largest, most powerful RX-7 engine ever developed at the time. Combine that with a light frame and perfect weight distribution and you’ve got a serious performer on your hands.
– Innovation and affordability combine with this mid-80s rotary masterpiece from Mazda. The GSL-SE introduced the legendary 13B engine, the largest, most powerful RX-7 engine ever developed at the time. Combine that with a light frame and perfect weight distribution and you’ve got a serious performer on your hands. 1972 Mercedes-Benz 300 SEL 6.3 – A beautifully appointed luxury saloon, the 300 SEL 6.3 also features a big single overhead cam, pushing the car from 0-60 in just 6.5 seconds and making it the fastest sedan in the world at the time.
– A beautifully appointed luxury saloon, the 300 SEL 6.3 also features a big single overhead cam, pushing the car from 0-60 in just 6.5 seconds and making it the fastest sedan in the world at the time. 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz Convertible — Named after the sophisticated French resort town patronised by the likes of Napoleon and Queen Victoria, the Biarritz convertible defined elegance and grace in the late automotive world of the 1950s. It also had at least one very famous owner: “The King” Elvis Presley, whose “Pink Cadillac” has inspired numerous songs and movies.
— Named after the sophisticated French resort town patronised by the likes of Napoleon and Queen Victoria, the Biarritz convertible defined elegance and grace in the late automotive world of the 1950s. It also had at least one very famous owner: “The King” Elvis Presley, whose “Pink Cadillac” has inspired numerous songs and movies. 1997 Volvo 850 R – While the terms “sports” and “wagon” rarely come together, they fit nicely when describing the 850 R. It’s the perfect ride for hauling the kids, the dogs, and some groceries around, but it also sports a turbo-powered 5-cylinder engine that tops out north of 150 mph. You might not need all that power on your trip to the local hardware store but, in Forza 4, it will serve you well.
– While the terms “sports” and “wagon” rarely come together, they fit nicely when describing the 850 R. It’s the perfect ride for hauling the kids, the dogs, and some groceries around, but it also sports a turbo-powered 5-cylinder engine that tops out north of 150 mph. You might not need all that power on your trip to the local hardware store but, in Forza 4, it will serve you well. 2012 Scion tC — Functional, sporty, safe, and well-equipped, sum up the 2012 Scion tC. For 2012, the body received a much more chiseled look and, as with all Scion’s, the list of dealer options is very long. |
Eighty years ago, on February 6, 1934, the French Republic had a near-death experience. On that wintry evening, tens of thousands of protestors, mostly young and mostly male, massed along the boulevards of Paris.
Their aim was to bring down the Republic—or, as they called it, “la gueuse” or whore. In the eyes of contemporaries, they nearly succeeded: outside the National Assembly, a pitched battle between the police and demonstrators exploded and in the confusion of violent scrums and police charges, shouts and gunshots, the fate of the Republic seemed to hang in the balance.
Ultimately, the forces of disorder were beaten back, but at great cost. When Parisians woke the next day, they learned that more than a dozen protestors had been killed and more than 1,000 wounded. Among the casualties was the government of Edouard Daladier, which resigned and replaced by a government of national unity.
Perhaps the only winner to emerge from the bloodied streets was France’s past. In a history as old as its revolution, France found itself as divided as ever over the legacy of 1789. Did the enlightened and universal ideals of liberty and equality form the essence of the French nation? Or was the nation instead the property of a particular race sprung from what one conservative thinker, Maurice Barrès, called the soil and the dead?
The question, it appears, has yet to be answered. Events last week in Paris revealed that history, while it never repeats itself, it does hiccup. A large and violent demonstration in Paris, aptly named “Jour de colère,” or “Day of Anger,” not just marked the anniversary of “la crise du 6 fevrier,” but also seemed to recapitulate it.
Inevitably, there were important differences between the two demonstrations. While there was a great deal of vandalism and several hundred arrests, last week’s demonstration did not end with an assault against the National Assembly, much less corpses in the street. The Fifth Republic, unlike its ancestor, was never in immediate danger.
But no less inevitably, given the persistence with which France’s past washes into her present, unsettling continuities stretch between then and now. Many of these ties are ideological. Consider the presence of Action française, the reactionary and anti-Semitic movement born in the midst of the Dreyfus Affair. The movement’s founder, Charles Maurras, built an ideological time machine, turning the clock back to the Old Regime, when kings ruled, priests prayed, commoners knew their place and Jews had no place. In 1934, members of Action française—in particular, their organized ruffians known as the “camelots du roi”—were at the forefront of the riots. Eighty years later, Action française remains front and center on the far right: Under the guise of “French Spring,” Maurras’ spiritual descendants helped orchestrate the “Day of Anger” demonstration.
Yet other continuities are religious. While many Catholics had come to terms with the Republic by the interwar period, yet others still viewed it as the satanic spawn of modernity. Casting themselves as defenders not just of faith, but also of the family and traditional values. Though Pope Pius XI had excommunicated Action française in 1926, it retained its Catholic identity. No less important were the bonds between conservative Catholics and the Croix de feu. Originally a war veteran organization, the Croix de feu dwarfed the other interwar leagues, and their helmeted members dominated the street battles in 1934. Militant Catholics inside and outside the Croix de feu pinned the blame for the decline of the family—measured by the dropping birth rate—on the godless policies of the republican state.
Once again, little is new under the French sun. The leading movement involved in the “jour de colère” was Printemps français, a radicalized and largely Catholic spin-off from last year’s “Manif pour tous.” These were the massive anti-gay marriage demonstrations that, encouraged by the Church, morphed into anti-government protests. The movement’s goal, according to its leader, Beatrice Bourges, is to “safeguard our civilization.” When asked about her group’s decision to join the many anti-Semitic and anti-republican organizations participating in the demonstration, Bourges’ reply was Rumsfeldian: “When the house is on fire,” she observed, “you don’t ask for the firefighter’s resumé.”
Yet anti-Semitism links the resumés of the protesters in 1934 as in 2014. Virulent anti-Semitism marked nearly all the movements involved in the events of February 6 crisis; in the universe of Action française and fascist competitors like Jeunesses patriotes, the dark sun was international Jewry, around which spun French politics and the economy. Substitute “Zionist” for “Jew” and the script for “Day of Anger” remains largely unchanged from 1934. Along with supporters of the negationist Alain Soral and anti-Semitic writer Renaud Camus, there were hundreds of followers of the anti-Semitic comedian Dieudonné, happily displaying the “quenelle” and chanting slogans ranging from imperative (“Death to the Zionists!”) through the descriptive (“France does not belong to the Jews!”) to the suggestive (“Jews out of France!”)
In a recent interview, Robert Badinter expressed his shock over the demonstration. Having served as attorney general under François Mitterrand, and the figure responsible for the abolition of the death penalty, this remarkable individual represents the moral conscience of the political left. Badinter observed that this marked the first time since the Occupation that one heard in Paris cries of “Jews out of France!” As a French Jew growing up during the Occupation, Badinter said he understood all too well what such slogans meant. “These are lethal blows that challenge the Republic.”
To his dismay, Badinter noted there were no republican demonstrations to counter “this fascist provocation.” This is where the similarities between the two crises seem to end. The most significant consequence of February 6 was the creation of the Popular Front: the alliance of parties on the political center and left formed to combat the leagues. Though it was hardly a success as a government, the Popular Front at least succeeded in breaking the leagues. Yet the French Left today seems hardly capable of such generosity, imagination or energy. This time, the crisis seems to be the winner.
This story "Why All of France Should Shiver When Demonstrators Shout: 'Jews Out'" was written by Robert Zaretsky. |
Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, said as he campaigned in Indiana on Saturday that not acting could place the housing market in further distress. “These entities are so big and they are so tied into the housing market that it is probably true that we have to take steps to make sure they don’t just collapse,” Mr. Obama told an audience in Terre Haute, Ind. But he added that the government needed to take steps to guard against Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ultimately profiting from the government assistance.
The big question now is whether the federal government’s move to take over Fannie and Freddie will restore investor confidence in the nation’s credit markets, help stabilize the stock market and keep loans flowing to creditworthy borrowers.
Fannie and Freddie, by buying mortgages, provide banks and other financial institutions with fresh money to make new loans, a vital lubricant for the housing and credit markets.
As a result of the government’s intervention, the cost of borrowing for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should decline, because the government will be standing behind their debts. Equally important, because the government is backing the companies, their buying and selling of loans will continue.
But the plan to bail out the firms will probably do little to stop home prices from falling further. And foreclosures are almost certain to rise.
Just a week ago, Treasury officials were still considering a wide variety of options for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, ranging from doing nothing to taking over the companies completely, according to people with knowledge of those discussions.
The Treasury secretary, Henry M. Paulson Jr., who won authority from Congress last month to use taxpayer funds to bolster the companies, always maintained that he hoped never to use that power. But, as the companies’ stocks continued to languish, some within the Treasury Department began urging Mr. Paulson to intervene quickly.
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Then, last week, advisers from Morgan Stanley hired by the Treasury Department to scrutinize the companies came to a troubling conclusion: Freddie Mac’s capital position was worse than initially imagined, according to people briefed on those findings. The company had made decisions that, while not necessarily in violation of accounting rules, had the effect of overstating the firm’s capital resources and financial stability.
Indeed, one person briefed on the company’s finances said Freddie Mac had made accounting decisions that pushed losses into the future and postponed a capital shortfall until the fourth quarter of this year, which would not need to be disclosed until early 2009. Fannie Mae has used similar methods, but to a lesser degree, according to other people who have been briefed.
Representatives of both companies did not return calls or declined to comment.
On Friday, executives from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were ordered to appear in the offices of their regulator, James B. Lockhart, in separate meetings, and were told that the Treasury Department was exercising its authority to place the companies in conservatorship, which would allow for uninterrupted operation of the firms but would put them under the control of Mr. Lockhart.
The details of those plans continued to be worked out on Saturday, when the Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, Mr. Paulson, Mr. Lockhart and key company executives met in Washington.
While Freddie Mac’s accounting woes make it easier for regulators to force the company into conservatorship, there was more resistance from Fannie Mae, according to people familiar with the discussions. However, given Fannie Mae’s declining financial condition, and the fact that even a slightly pessimistic statement from Mr. Paulson about the company’s finances would be likely to send its stock price into a tailspin, the company has few options but to concede to the government’s demands.
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Both companies have the option of challenging the conservatorship and asking for a judicial review. Such a move, however, would probably be disastrous for their stock prices.
Accusations of improper accounting are not new for either company. Earlier this decade, both companies paid large fines and ousted their top executives after accounting scandals.
Freddie Mac’s current chief executive and chairman, Richard F. Syron, joined the company in 2003 after the former managers revealed they had manipulated earnings by almost $5 billion. The following year Fannie Mae’s chief executive, Daniel H. Mudd, was promoted to the top spot after that company was accused of accounting errors totaling $6.3 billion. People familiar with Treasury’s plan say that both men, as well as other top executives, will be forced to leave the companies.
The accounting issues that brought so much urgency to the bailout appear to center on Freddie Mac’s capital cushion, the assets that regulators require it to keep on hand to cover losses.
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The methods used to bolster that cushion have caused serious concerns among the companies’ regulator, outside auditors from Morgan Stanley brought in by the Treasury Department and some investors. For example, while Freddie Mac’s portfolio contains many securities backed by so-called subprime and alt-A loans, which are one step up from the riskier mortgages, the company has not written down those loans’ values to reflect current market prices.
Executives have argued that because they intend to hold the loans to maturity, they need not write down their value. But other banks and financial institutions have written down the value of those securities, even if they continue holding them, under “mark-to-market” accounting rules. Freddie Mac holds roughly double the securities that Fannie Mae does.
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have also inflated their financial positions by relying on deferred-tax assets — credits that the companies have built up over the years that can be used to offset future profits. Fannie maintains that its worth is increased by $36 billion through such credits, and Freddie argues that it has a $28 billion benefit.
But such credits have no value until the companies generate a profit — something they have failed to do over the last four quarters, and something that is increasingly unlikely within the next year. Moreover, even when the companies’ profits soared, such credits were often unusable because the companies also had large numbers of affordable housing tax credits, which themselves offset profits.
One analyst estimates the companies, in the future, would have to collect roughly double the profits of the past five years for the credits to become usable. Most financial institutions are not allowed to count such credits as assets in the manner used by Fannie and Freddie.
Regulators and auditors may question the companies’ use of deferred-tax credits because they cannot be sold to anyone else and they would disappear in a receivership. And, if those credits were not counted as assets, both companies would probably fall below the capital threshold they are required to hold.
Finally, regulators are said to be scrutinizing whether the companies were trying to manage their earnings by maneuvering the timing of reserves set aside to offset losses from defaulted loans. Each quarter, both companies have gradually increased their loss reserves — Fannie’s reserves today stand at $8.9 billion, and Freddie’s at $5.8 billion. However, regulators and auditors felt strongly that both companies should have identified larger potential losses immediately, and set aside much more from the beginning.
Other companies, like private mortgage insurers, have identified much larger losses and have set aside much larger amounts of capital. Fannie and Freddie, however, have delayed the recognition of such losses, dribbling out bad news with each quarterly announcement, suggesting a strategy to manage the recognition of losses.
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Finally, regulators are concerned that the companies have mischaracterized their financial health by relaxing their policies on when to recognize a loss on a defaulted loan, according to people familiar with the review. For years, both companies have effectively done that when a loan is 90 days past due. But, in recent months, both companies said they would extend that to two years.
As a result, tens of thousands of loans that previously would have been marked down have maintained their value. The companies have injected their own capital into pools of securities, arguing that new business policies are helping greater numbers of borrowers.
Under conservative accounting methods, such a change in policy should not have any impact on the companies’ books. However, people briefed on the accounting inquiry said that Freddie Mac may have been using their new policy to delay recognition of losses.
“We have just had to nationalize the two largest financial institutions in the world because of policy makers’ inaction,” said Josh Rosner, an analyst at Graham Fisher, an independent research firm in New York, and a longtime critic of the government-sponsored enterprises. “Since 2003, when these companies’ accounting came under question, policy makers have done nothing. Even though they had every reason to know that the housing market’s problems would not be contained to subprime and would bring down the houses of Fannie and Freddie.” |
This article is about the Stargate device. For other uses, see Stargate (disambiguation).
"That is how we're supposed to travel light years across the galaxy to other planets." ―Cameron Mitchell[src]
Stargates, also called Astria Porta in Ancient and Chappa'ai in Goa'uld, as well as various other names across the universe, are a series of devices built by the Ancients which create wormholes, allowing for near-instantaneous transportation between two distant points in space. The Stargates are often considered to be the Ancients' greatest creation and thus, the Ancients are often referred to as the Gate Builders. The Ancients, the Asurans, the Tollan with the help of the Nox, and the Ori are the only known races capable of constructing Stargates.
The original Stargate design was created by an Alteran named Amelius, from an idea he formulated the night before the Alterans left their home galaxy for the Milky Way. However, it is unknown if he actually established the first of the Stargate Network. They are among the oldest examples of Ancient technology found in the Milky Way galaxy; the Stargate found in Antarctica on Earth has been estimated to be over 50 million years old, while the Stargates used in the "Destiny mission" are even older. (SG1: "The Ark of Truth")
Contents show]
Names Edit
"If that's what you want to call it, Ring of the Gods is good." ―Jack O'Neill[src]
The Ancients placed Stargates on thousands of worlds across several galaxies. They have long since reached Ascension, but the network remains accessible to any with the knowledge of how it works, and continues to be a convenient form of travel for many races. Some races, such as the Goa'uld, grew their ways of life around the gates, which became integral to the functioning of their culture.
In turn, most races developed their own names for the Stargates. The Ancients called them "Astria Porta". The English word "Stargate" is a calque of the Goa'uld word "Chappa'ai" (𓋴𓇼𓃀𓊀 𓈖𓏥𓋴𓃀𓅃𓇼𓇳𓏥𓆑), courtesy of a direct translation by Dr. Daniel Jackson, and "Chappa'ai" is itself a calque of "Astria Porta". The K'Tau call their Stargate "the annulus," which means ring in Latin. In the Pegasus galaxy, villagers know them as Rings of the Ancestors and variations thereof. They are also commonly referred to as simply "the ring" or "the gate". The Wraith call it the Portal. The inhabitants of M7G-677 call it the Wraith Well. (SGA: "Childhood's End")
Although Stargates are present on many planets, most of the races which use them are relatively primitive, and view the technology as divine in nature, as evidenced by such names as "Ring of the Gods" and "Circle of Darkness". In many cases the references to gods or evil in the names come from the Goa'uld, or in the Pegasus galaxy, legends of the Ancients or their present use by the Wraith. (SG1: "The First Commandment", "Demons", "Memento")
Technical specifications Edit
"Kind of a ring thing, comes with a dialer, you hit the symbols, it spins around and lights come on, it kind of flushes sideways..." ―Jack O'Neill[src]
The Stargate creates a stable, artificial wormhole between itself and another Stargate, allowing near-instantaneous travel from the dialing gate to the destination gate, but not vice versa. When a given address is inputted, the dialing gate connects to the receiving gate over a subspace link and quickly exchanges precise locational details, then establishes a stable wormhole between them. When activated, a Stargate produces a violent burst of energy known as an unstable vortex or "kawoosh". This is due to the large amount of energy needed to form a stable wormhole, while keeping one open is much less power-intensive. This event will destroy any matter it comes into contact with; however, if the event horizon is blocked to within a few microns, the vortex will be suppressed. Technologies such as the Iris on Earth's Stargate can achieve this. The vortex settles into the event horizon, nicknamed the puddle for its liquid appearance. Travelers enter through the event horizon, which dematerializes them for transport through the wormhole, to be reassembled on the other side. The Stargate will remain open so long as matter or energy continues to pass through it, to a maximum of 38 minutes. Beyond this point, massive amounts of power are needed to sustain a wormhole, which ordinary sources cannot provide.
Travel through a Stargate is strictly one-way: from the dialing gate to the receiving gate. This is not a limitation of the wormhole, but of the technology; wormholes will transmit anything that enters them, but no solid matter could survive the process. Thus, each gate in the pair takes on a specific role: the dialing gate converts the traveler into its most basic components (sub-atomic particles) and transmits it, while the receiving gate reassembles the transmitted matter back into its original form. Doing the reverse is not only fatal for the traveler, but would just result in the dialing gate deconstructing the object upon arrival, converting it into energy much like the process of ascension. It was originally stated that the traveller would be very cold and covered with some frost when arriving through another gate, although this was apparently ignored/discarded shortly thereafter. It is unknown what would happen if someone entered the dialing Stargate via the 'back' (the opposite side of the gate from the one that generates the 'kawoosh') rather than the 'front' (the side generating the 'kawoosh'); Bra'tac apparently knew someone who attempted that on one occasion, but only stated that the man's subsequent death was "most unpleasant", although further details are unknown. (SG1: "A Hundred Days", "Survival of the Fittest")
The Stargate is an enormous superconductor composed almost entirely of Naquadah, and is capable of harnessing power from virtually any source, though some sources are apparently inferior to others. Its design renders it incredibly durable; direct meteor impacts have failed to destroy a gate, and they have also survived within a crashing vessel unharmed. The naquadah construction of a Stargate allows it to hold many times the necessary amount of power for a wormhole to form, but it does have a limit. Surpassing this limit will create an explosion of considerable size, enough to potentially kill all life on a planet the size of Earth. (SG1: "Heroes, Part 1", "Redemption, Part 1")
Though Stargates vary in design, they share several common elements. First, all Stargates have a group of glyphs spaced around the inner ring (39 for Milky Way gates, 36 for Pegasus and Destiny-style gates) and nine chevrons spaced equally around the outer edge. The glyphs on Milky Way and Pegasus gates represent constellations, while Destiny-style gates use a collection of abstract symbols for lack of consistent stellar landmarks. These two features are used as a coordinate system for the gate to target and form a connection with another gate; each chevron is locked to a specific glyph, thereby allowing the gate to connect to another. This is known as an address for a gate; gate addresses are described in terms of how many chevrons are needed to dial them, seven at the least and nine at the most.
For a standard seven-chevron address, the first six glyphs represent points in space, forming three-dimensional coordinates. The seventh represents the point of origin, a glyph which is unique to each gate. For Stargates to access a destination outside of their galaxy, eight chevrons are used; the first six target a destination as normal, while a seventh glyph prior to the point of origin adds a distance calculation to the address, targeting a gate outside the galaxy as opposed to a local one. A nine-chevron address is more of a code than a location, and this allows connection to specific Stargates - regardless of their location. So far, the only two known nine-chevron address connect to the Ancient ship Destiny, and from Destiny to Earth, but it is possible that more of these addresses exist. (SG1: "Children of the Gods", "The Fifth Race", SGA: "Rising", SGU: "Air, Part 2", "Earth")
The Stargates within a galaxy are linked to each other in a network, usually by means of a Dial Home Device (DHD for short). This network automatically compensates for stellar drift, allowing every gate with a functioning DHD to properly connect to other gates. In the absence of this, the gate will either fail to connect entirely or roughly eject the passengers due to unexpected deviations in the position of the gate. Known networks include those in the Milky Way, Pegasus, Ida, the Alteran Home Galaxy (through which Priors were sent to the Milky Way), as well as the more primitive gate networks set up by the Ancient Seed ships. (SG1: "Children of the Gods", "The Fifth Race", SGA: "Rising", SGU: "Air, Part 2")
Stargate networks Edit
Early gates Edit
"Rush figures that this gate predates all the others we know of, like a prototype." ―Eli Wallace[src]
The Stargate on the Destiny, and by extension those constructed by Seed ships, are suspected to be a prototype version on which all future gates are based.[1] Stargate glyphs do not represent local constellations as the later models do, since they are used in many different galaxies. The glyphs are also separated, as opposed to the Pegasus and the Milky Way gates, where they are on an inner ring. The chevrons are also different; the triangular part of the chevrons is smaller and more angular at the ends, and the three lines on either side of the triangle are more distinct as individual lights. The chevrons also stay lit constantly, with the glyphs themselves lighting up to indicate a lock. Unlike later gates, the platform in which these stargates are built is a part of the mechanism, and the entire Stargate spins when dialing, and locks its glyphs by moving them to the topmost position. The gate rotates clockwise for the first glyph, then changes direction for the next, alternating until the point of origin is locked. Planetary gate bases possess a large ramp, with lights on either side that activate whenever the gate is active, marking the path to the event horizon. Planetary gates and the one in Destiny have a chevron in front of the gate that lights up when the gate is active.
Destiny's specific gate has its own unique features. An orb-shaped bearing that hangs above the gate lights up in tandem with the locking glyphs, and once the wormhole forms it stays lit along with a final chevron in the floor. When the wormhole disengages, a short blast of CO 2 is emitted from vents on either side of the gate. This appears to be superfluous, given that planetary gates have no such attachments. (SGU: "Air, Part 1", "Air, Part 3")
Most likely because Destiny-style Stargates do not have an external power source, they have a limited range. Unlike Milky Way or Pegasus gates, Destiny-style Stargates cannot normally dial every gate in the galaxy, but instead can only dial gates in relatively close proximity. Still, if provided enough power, such as when connected to the ship's power source, the Stargate on board Destiny is capable of dialing Earth. This indicates that the range limitation is more of an efficiency issue, with either the older gates or their power source, rather than a physical limitation.
The gate on Destiny is reached from other galaxies through the use of the ninth chevron, the function of which was unknown until Destiny's address was discovered in the Atlantis database in 2007; otherwise, it is reachable through a normal seven-chevron address. However, they were unable to make a connection from the Milky Way until Eli Wallace discovered that the address, unlike normal addresses, is actually a code requiring nine specific symbols, rather than a set of coordinates and a point of origin. Due to how far Destiny is from the Milky Way, the power required to dial Destiny is immense, more than a single or even several Zero Point Modules could provide. The SGC tapped the Naquadria core of an Icarus-type planet for this purpose. Dialing the address causes Destiny to drop out of FTL to accept the connection. On the other hand, other Destiny-style Stargates are unable to dial Destiny while it is in FTL, which may be due to their older design, or indicate that the nine chevron address also functions as an override code of a sort. (SGU: "Air, Part 1", "Earth", "Lost")
Seed network Edit
The network formed by prototype Stargates functions differently than the full-fledged networks in the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies. The Stargates are seeded in a relatively straight line, from one end of a galaxy to the other, leaving a course for Destiny to follow. Over extended periods, these will drift out of alignment due to stellar motions. Destiny is either close enough behind the seed ships that the line is still straight when it passes through a seeded galaxy or they Ancients compensated for stellar drift and sent the seed ships to planets that would eventually be along the corridor by the time Destiny passes through.
These Stargates communicate with each other constantly and update their positions via short-range subspace transmitters, and then link up with Destiny once it comes into range. Because of the limited dialing range of the prototype Stargates, Destiny usually drops out of FTL near the area it wishes to dial, connecting to a few Stargates at a time. Though far away gates are normally out of range, any other gate in the chain within a single galaxy can be reached by leapfrogging through the gates in-between, though intergalactic dialing is not possible from a normal gate. However if Destiny has left a galaxy, a connection can still be made from a gate at the periphery of a galaxy, provided the ship is still in range and has dropped out of FTL.
The prototype network has no local Dial Home Device; instead, it links up with Destiny and other compatible devices, transmitting the relevant addresses within range for use by the crew. For planetary dialing, Destiny has numerous Ancient remote controls, multi-purpose devices which serve as hand-held DHDs among other things. Manual dialing has never been attempted, so it is unclear if the prototype Stargates can be dialed in this manner - the crew of Destiny does not appear to be aware of any such function. However, given that the gates spin, just like Milky Way gates, it is likely that this is possible, as the ancients explicitly removed the ability of the gates to spin when they wanted to lock out this dialing method.
It's possible that these Stargates are made up of materials other than Naquadah. The materials appear to be weaker as a single shot from a Berzerker drone was capable of destroying a large segment of the Stargate. Normally a Stargate would be capable of absorbing large amounts of energy, and this is the only time partial destruction of a gate has been confirmed. (SGU: "Common Descent")
Milky Way gates Edit
Milky Way Stargates are the second known model of Stargate designed by the Ancients. They are 6.7 meters in diameter and weigh roughly 29 metric tons. They are dark gray in appearance with red-orange colored chevrons. The triangular lower half of the Stargate's top chevron extends and retracts while locking a symbol. The glyphs are built into an inner ring. Most of the gates are built into a stone platform with a stairway for easy access. Those that aren't have often been moved from where they were first found. (SG1: "Redemption, Part 2")
The inner ring spins while dialing and can be moved, with some difficulty, by hand to dial the gate in the absence of external controls, if enough power is provided to unlock the ring. The dialing computer used by Stargate Command essentially employs this method to dial the gate; the system instructs the motors inside the gate to move the ring to the relevant position. A Dial Home Device bypasses the need for the inner ring to spin, simply allowing the user to enter the relevant address. The gate on the Asgard homeworld in the Ida galaxy appears to be of the same model as the Milky Way; it may have been gifted to the Asgard or brought there from the Milky Way by them to give them access to the gate network. (SG1: "The Fifth Race")
Pegasus gates Edit
Pegasus Stargates are the latest model of Stargate and are quite different from their Milky Way counterparts, much like digital versions to the Milky Way's analog versions. They are primarily silver in appearance, with a blue inner ring and blue chevrons (larger than those of a Milky Way Stargate). They possess no moving parts; instead, each glyph lights up in a circular pattern, staying lit when locked. Unlike Milky Way Stargates, Pegasus Stargates are not built into a platform but are instead just buried in the ground at about the same level.
Because they have no moving parts, Pegasus Stargates cannot be manually dialed. Pegasus Stargates also have a security feature which renders them incapable of dialing intergalactic addresses without the use of a specific control crystal installed on Atlantis. This crystal can be removed and installed on other Dial Home Devices if necessary. Due to their newer design, Pegasus Stargates also automatically become the dominant gate if placed in the same region as an older model, which caused some problems on the Midway space station until Dr. Rodney McKay developed a bypass. (SGA: "Enemy at the Gate")
Pegasus also has the unique use of "Spacegates", Stargates which have been placed in orbit above a planet, rather than on the surface. Spacegates have no local DHD, and thus must be dialed remotely by a craft equipped with one, such as Puddle Jumpers or Wraith Darts. They are powered by three power nodes that also serve as stabilizers, keeping the gate in orbit and correcting for sudden impacts. Because of this, the residents of the Pegasus Galaxy consider randomly dialing a gate to be suicidal, and will do so only if given no other option. Thus, despite gate travel having long been a part of their civilization, travel has been restricted to historically known addresses for all of their recorded history.
Complexities of function Edit
Matter transmission Edit
"We're going to be demolecularized, transmitted over two thousand light years through subspace, and then, uh, rematerialized on the other side." ―Samantha Carter[src]
Matter transmission is a three-step process: dematerialization, transmission, and reintegration. When an object passes through the event horizon, it is dematerialized and held in a "hyperspatial buffer". The event horizon will only dematerialize objects in discrete units (one person, one ship, etc.), so any object which has not fully entered the event horizon can be removed without trouble. The gate does not begin transmitting an object until it has entirely passed through the event horizon. This ensures that only complete objects are transferred. In the case of larger objects such as Puddle Jumpers, the vessel itself counts as a complete object of higher priority than its smaller occupants, preventing transmission until the entire vessel has entered the event horizon. This applies to both the dialing and receiving gates. (SG1: "The Enemy Within", "Shades of Grey", SGA: "Thirty-Eight Minutes")
Once an object is dematerialized, it is transmitted in the form of energy to the destination gate. Power is supplied by the dialing gate. If the power supply is interrupted the wormhole can disconnect prematurely, which may prevent the energy from being reassembled into the original object, or simply release the energy in its original form of matter (but in the form of atomic scale dust) into space well short of its destination. In cases where the power from the transmitting gate terminates and the receiving gate has a complete object in the buffer and a DHD, the DHD of the receiving gate will provide the power necessary to rematerialize the object prior to the gate shutting down. If there is any matter in the buffer on either side when the wormhole shuts down, it is stored until the next use, at which point the buffer is erased. (SG1: "Red Sky", "48 Hours", SGA: "Thirty-Eight Minutes")
The event horizon on the receiving gate rematerializes the transmitted matter. The matter is first stored in the buffer to make sure the entire object has been retrieved, after which it is reassembled. Each time the gate is activated the buffer is wiped clean to receive new information, preventing any possible overlap that could be dangerous to reintegration. If the control crystal of a connected Dial Home Device is removed then an event horizon will form without establishing a wormhole, allowing any memory stored in the Stargate to be reintegrated. (SG1: "48 Hours")
Several facets of the Stargate are necessary for it to function as a useful personnel transporter. Matter emerging from a Stargate retains any kinetic energy it had while entering; a person running into one Stargate will hit the ground running upon emerging from another, and weapons fired into the gate will retain their harmful properties on the other side. (SG1: "Dominion")
The event horizon is able to determine the difference between passive and active contact of nearby matter in order to prevent unwanted transmission. This process keeps things such as air and water, which naturally exert pressure on their surroundings, from passing through the gate while allowing people and anything deliberately sent through the gate to pass freely. In one case, water that mostly submerged a gate (but did not completely cover it) applied constant pressure to the event horizon and to Atlantis' Stargate shield, keeping the wormhole active for the maximum amount of time. In another instance, the gate is knocked over into a pool of lava, and the lava appears to briefly enter the event horizon before the gate shuts down. (SG1: "Watergate",SGA: "Inferno", "The Shrine")
Gate obstruction Edit
"We have in place an impenetrable shield called an iris." ―George S. Hammond[src]
A wormhole is prevented from forming if a significant obstruction is present inside the Stargate's ring. Consequently, it is fairly common for Stargates to be semi- or permanently sealed by burying them.
Another means of controlling travel through a Stargate is by placing a barrier a minuscule distance (less than three millimeters) from the event horizon, which allows the wormhole to form but prevents the reconstitution of matter upon arrival through the gate. In other words, a connection can be made but any matter trying to exit the gate will not regain its original structure, and hence will be annihilated. The iris on the Earth Stargate and the shield on the Atlantis Stargate perform this function, and have been seen to be used as an effective defensive precaution, while still allowing radio communication through the open wormhole. The Goa'uld have also been seen to utilize shields to create the same effect, though their shields typically cover the entire gate, rather than blocking the event horizon itself.
Iris-type barriers also suppress the formation of an unstable vortex by not allowing the matter to form. Such barriers, however, are not the only way to prevent the vortex. Several races, including the Asgard and the Nox, have demonstrated the ability to open a wormhole without the vortex forming, presumably through a more efficient form of energy transmission. (SG1: "Enigma", "Small Victories")
Power source Edit
"The Stargate just got a huge power boost. It's drawing ten times more power than normal." ―Samantha Carter[src]
Power is always required to establish an outgoing wormhole, and is usually supplied wirelessly by a Dial Home Device, but any Stargate can receive a wormhole whether it has a power supply or not; the dialing gate is the one that supplies power to both. In a few cases, Stargates have been dialed "manually" when more sophisticated means were not available. This was accomplished by providing sufficient raw power to the gate and then rotating the symbol ring by hand to lock each chevron. Power can be fed directly into the Naquadah that comprises the gate; power harnessed from lightning strikes has been shown to be sufficient for several seconds of transmission. Stargates also possess the means to harness the energy of nearby (in relative terms) quantum singularities, though it is unknown what methods it uses to accomplish this. The Stargate that establishes an outgoing wormhole determines how long the wormhole is held open, and can generally close the wormhole "at will". Under some conditions, a gate only needs enough power to connect briefly, then the receiving gate can provide enough power to maintain the connection. The same is true if the outgoing gate loses power while transmitting; if the incoming gate has a DHD, it will take over powering the gate until reintegration is complete. (SG1: "The Torment of Tantalus", "Prisoners", SGA: "Home")
Secondary Stargates Edit
If a planet possesses a second Stargate, the second gate is normally inactive, with the primary Stargate, defined by the presence of a functioning Dial Home Device, receiving all incoming wormholes. If a Stargate experiences a power surge while an outgoing wormhole is open, the other end of the wormhole has been observed to "jump" to the next closest gate in the network. The effect can also be used as a defensive measure or to close a connection with the receiving Stargate. In the case of a planet with two gates, the closest is the inactive secondary gate. This scenario resulted in the discovery of the Beta Gate in Antarctica by SG-1. (SG1: "Solitudes", "A Matter of Time", "Watergate", "Prototype")
The Antarctic gate was later revealed to have originally been the primary Stargate on Earth, built by the Ancients. The Alpha Gate, found in Giza and originally used in Stargate Command, was brought to Earth, by Ra, from another planet. Since Stargate addresses correspond to planetary locations and not individual gates, the new gate inherited the same address as the one in Antarctica. Because the Antarctic gate had been abandoned millennia earlier by the Ancients and the DHD had become inactive and disconnected, Ra's gate became the primary as it had a DHD with it. (SG1: "Frozen") However, the Goa'uld were aware of the second gate, though possibly not its location, as evidenced when they demanded the surrender of both gates during negotiations for Earth's inclusion in the Protected Planets Treaty. (SG-1:Fair Game)
It has been revealed that the Stargates of the Pegasus galaxy superseded the older, more outdated Stargates, such as the one on Earth. Earth was unable to dial out from Stargate Command when the Wraith Super-hive was in orbit with its own Pegasus Stargate; the programming of the newer gates force it to take precedence over incoming wormholes to the older outdated Stargates, and thus disabled the Earth gate at the SGC from dialing out. A similar situation was encountered at the Midway space station with the Milky Way and the Pegasus gates. (SGA: "Enemy at the Gate")
Durability and susceptibility Edit
"It could be as much as 50 million years old." ―Samantha Carter[src]
Stargates are very durable; the Beta Gate from Antarctica is estimated to be roughly 50 million years old and the gate on Destiny around ten million years its senior, yet both still function perfectly. Stargates of the second and third generations are extremely resistant to damage or destruction, while first generation ones can be damaged by spacecraft energy weapons to the point of being unusable. (SGU: "Common Descent")
They have survived direct hits from meteors, the gravitational forces of black holes, the heat of a Star (this particular gate was protected by a portable forcefield for a portion of its journey, and was expected to melt eventually), and even a Naquadah bomb sent by Stargate Command that destroyed an entire planet left its Stargate intact. (SG1: "A Matter of Time", "Chain Reaction", "A Hundred Days", "Frozen", "Exodus")
Eventually, the United States of America developed a Naquadria-enhanced Nuclear warhead that was theoretically capable of destroying a Stargate (the "Mark IX"). However, when it was first used, it failed to destroy the intended Stargate, as an Ori shield defending the gate was actually feeding off the weapon's supposedly destructive yield. A later attempt against a Pegasus Stargate, however, succeeded by placing the bomb behind the gate, so that the energy would not be absorbed by the open wormhole. (SG1: "Beachhead", "The Shroud")
Stargates are susceptible to subspace interference caused by the Attero device, which causes energy to build up in the event horizon, overloading the capacity of the gate within minutes. The resulting explosion can be seen from space. Two Stargates that were known to have been destroyed from this overload are Atlantis' Stargate and a Stargate on the Traveler settlement. (SGA: "The Lost Tribe")
The first-generation Stargates are far less durable than the later models. During an emergency evacuation of the Novus colony a single Berzerker drone hit the gate with a relatively weak energy weapon, but managed to blast a hole through the ring and disable the gate's ability to create a wormhole. This was the first time that a Stargate has been seen to be damaged by such a weapon, though the Berzerker drones' weapons may simply have properties that Stargates are vulnerable to. Another first-generation Stargate was able to survive a rockslide and later a C-4 detonation to unbury it, so it still requires a relatively powerful blast to damage the gate. (SGU: "Common Descent", "Aftermath")
Exceptions Edit
"There is one exception to that rule. We've discovered that if you pump enough energy into it, a Stargate can remain active indefinitely." ―Rodney McKay[src]
Under normal circumstances, a wormhole can only be maintained for slightly more than 38 minutes. This can be circumvented by various means, most commonly through the addition of a massive power supply. A race of energy-rich liquid beings were able to provide enough power for a gate to remain open for several days, in conjunction with a Russian MALP transmitting a continuous radio signal through the event horizon. The Stargate destroyer used by Anubis was also able to hold a gate open by transmitting a continuous stream of energy into the event horizon, which was absorbed by the gate on the other side. The power eventually exceeded the gate's capacity, causing it to explode. The Asurans were able to keep a Stargate open indefinitely by firing an immensely powerful laser through it. The gate drew power from the laser, staying active beyond the limit, and the Asurans had a limitless supply of Zero Point Modules to keep it running as long as necessary. (SG1: "Watergate", "Redemption, Part 1", SGA: "First Strike")
In addition to massive amounts of power, black holes have been shown to keep a Stargate open beyond the 38 minute window. When Earth's gate connected to a planet in the proximity of a black hole, relativity kept the gate open well beyond the time limit - as only mere moments had passed on the other side, while conversely the Earth gate stayed open for barely a second when dialed to from that location. Ori Supergates use an artificial singularity as a power source, enabling them to stay open indefinitely if need be, though they are usually left inactive. SG-1 used a normal black hole in conjunction with a regular Stargate to exploit this, creating a permanent connection between the two different gates until the dialing gate was destroyed. (SG1: "A Matter of Time", "Beachhead", "The Pegasus Project")
Other uses Edit
"I was asked to research alternative applications for the Gate, including time travel." ―Samantha Carter[src]
Several times, the Stargate network was used for a purpose other than interplanetary travel, although these extra features were almost always discovered by accident, and were not intended in the design of the Stargates. Two such occurrences regard the Stargate's interaction with time, first discovered by SG-1 when they accidentally traveled backward in time to the year 1969, as a result of the matter transmission stream passing through a solar flare. In the year 2010, in an alternate timeline, Samantha Carter intentionally used this phenomenon to send a message back in time. A time loop machine created by the Ancients utilized 14 Stargates to create a bubble enclosed from the rest of the space-time continuum, in which the same day looped continuously. (SG1: "1969", "Window of Opportunity", "2010")
A Stargate can also be used as a weapon capable of destroying an entire solar system. By dialing to a planet with a black hole and then launching the gate into a star, Major Samantha Carter was able to make it go supernova by removing some of the sun's mass. The supernova destroyed the solar system and Apophis's fleet, which was orbiting the star at the time. (SG1: "Exodus")
The dialing computer utilized by Stargate Command, an imperfect replacement for a Dial Home Device, is sometimes the cause of such malfunctions. Once, the bypassing of a system error (that was put there by the Ancients to prevent such a problem) caused a Stargate to introduce atoms of plutonium into the center of a star, causing the star to become unstable. Later, an alternate version of SG-1 dialed Earth from the other side of a black hole and caused the wormhole to arc to the closest Stargate, which is the same gate in our universe. This caused Stargates in different realities from the other side of the black hole to connect to our reality, but only from one reality for the same point of origin. This was reversed by use of an Asgard directed energy weapon causing the wormhole to arc while dialing all Stargates, whose alternate-reality-counterparts had send matter into our reality, causing the wormhole to arc to the universe in which the same gate address linked to our universe. (SG1: "Red Sky", "Ripple Effect")
Later still, it was revealed that one Stargate could be used to dial multiple other gates simultaneously. This allowed a blast wave such as that of the Dakara superweapon to extend almost indefinitely throughout the galaxy. But it is still unknown what happens if an object passes the event horizon of a Stargate, linked to multiple destinations. (SG1: "Reckoning, Part 2")
Glyphs Edit
Main article: Glyph
Glyphs are symbols on Stargates which chevrons lock onto when a Stargate is being dialed. The basis for glyphs are star constellations. There are several differences between the Milky Way, Pegasus Galaxy, and Destiny glyphs.
A Milky Way Stargate has 39 inscribed symbols on the inner ring. When dialing, this inner ring rotates until the dialed symbol is aligned with the seventh chevron, at which point the ring pauses, the seventh chevron moves down and up, and the appropriate chevron in the sequence engages and glows red. Unlike the Milky Way gates, Pegasus gates are depicted with 36 symbols. Seven symbols are still required to dial an interplanetary address, adhering to the same constraints as a Milky Way gate. Destiny's Stargate contains 36 symbols like Pegasus Stargates. The symbols are fixed on the Stargate and the entire Gate spins to dial an address. When dialing, the symbols light up to indicate they have been encoded. The glyphs are not based on star constellations as with Milky Way and Pegasus Gates since the gate must be able to dial addresses from a moving point of origin in many different galaxies, but rather are some mathematical or conceptual representation yet to be discovered by the people aboard.
Chevrons Edit
Main article: Chevron
"The legend surrounding the ninth chevron has been floating around our galaxy for some time now. We found that it meant various things to different cultures. Some said it was a key to the universe itself and, once unlocked, you could gain untold power." ―Nicholas Rush commenting on the ninth chevron.[src]
All known Stargates have nine chevrons used to lock in coordinates. The top chevron 'scans' each co-ordinate and the corresponding chevron lights up. Only seven of these chevrons are normally used. The eighth chevron allows for the establishment of a wormhole to other galaxies. The ninth chevron enables the connection to a specific Stargate; the only two known addresses using nine chevrons connect to Destiny, and from Destiny to Earth.
Dialing devices Edit
Main article: Dial Home Device
"On most planets, found along with the ring, is what we call a DHD. It's a dialing device." ―Daniel Jackson[src]
Dial Home Devices (or DHD's) are large, pedestal-shaped computers placed on almost every planet in the Stargate Network. They establish a link with the nearby Stargate and act as a control device and power source, allowing any intelligent corporeal species to dial it without having to rotate the gate manually or develop their own computer interface. Similar to a telephone dial or touch pad (although much larger), the DHD is used to specify which other Stargate to connect to when opening a gate or wormhole to another location. The external symbols on the DHD represent star constellations, surrounding the central activation button. The DHD's are composed of control crystals, used to store memory and information. Despite the apparent simplicity of function, the DHD performs incredibly complex calculations within seconds every time it is dialed to account for stellar drift and other potential problems, assisted by information from its automatic update command. (SG1: "Children of the Gods", "Solitudes", "Avenger 2.0")
Destiny-style Stargates do not have dialing devices. Instead, an Ancient remote control is used to dial the gates. The remote provides a list of available addresses for dialing. On Destiny, the control panels in the gate room serve as a dialing computer in addition to their other functions. (SGU: "Air, Part 3", "Time", "Lost")
Other variants Edit
Ori Supergates Edit
Main article: Supergate
A Supergate is a massive Stargate developed by the Ori, spanning three to four hundred meters across. All known Supergates have been used for the specific purpose of establishing permanent footholds in distant locations in the universe, permitting the rapid passage of the Ori Army's enormous motherships across intergalactic distances.
In addition to the Supergates, the Ori must have their own version of a regular Stargate since they sent Priors to the Milky Way via Stargate on numerous occasions.(SG1: "Beachhead", "Camelot")
Orlin's Stargate Edit
Main article: Mini Stargate
The descended outcast Ancient, Orlin built a miniature Stargate in Major Samantha Carter's basement. Its components included 100 pounds of pure raw titanium, 200 feet of fiber optic cable, seven 100,000 watt industrial strength capacitors, and a toaster. This gate was hooked up to the main power supply of the house and only connected once, to Velona, before it burnt out. (SG1: "Ascension")
Tollan Stargate Edit
Main article: Tollan Stargate
The Tollan were an advanced human civilization. Among their most impressive technological accomplishments was the construction of a new Stargate, built mainly with knowledge provided by the Nox.
With the destruction of the original Tollan homeworld, the Tollan's Stargate was lost. Their new homeworld, Tollana, had no original Stargate, and with the assistance of the Nox, a new gate was built.
The Tollan gate was smaller and slimmer than the Ancient's Stargates, and has a pale white color. However, it seemed to lack a Dial Home Device, or even an inner track for manual dialing, suggesting the control of it was inside a nearby building using remote dialing. Eventually the Tollan Stargate was hit by a Goa'uld Ha'tak's weapons and was presumably destroyed by the attack, as reported by Narim to Stargate Command. (SG1: "Pretense", "Between Two Fires")
McKay/Carter Intergalactic Gate Bridge Edit
The McKay/Carter Intergalactic Gate Bridge was a project to place a chain of Stargates in the void between the Milky Way and Pegasus galaxies; it was initiated to allow rapid transit between Atlantis and Stargate Command without the need of a Zero Point Module to power the Stargate. At the time, only the Atlantis gate had a ZPM available, meaning that the return trip from Earth required an eighteen-day journey in a hyperspace-capable Daedalus-class battlecruiser. To this end, Stargates were "harvested" from the surface or orbit of uninhabited planets and deposited accordingly on both ends. When Atlantis' ZPM was depleted, the project took on an added urgency and was made operational shortly afterward.
The bridge (named as such by its co-creator Dr. Rodney McKay, recognizing Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter for the original idea) consists of seventeen Stargates from the Pegasus network and another seventeen from the Milky Way network. A macro program written by McKay and uploaded to the gates' operating systems before dialing causes them to store incoming matter in their buffers, forwarding travelers from one gate to the next along the bridge, rather than emerging from the gate that is initially dialed.
Travelers will then exit at the Midway space station, halfway between galaxies, which serves as a transfer point. There, they will then use the other gate network (and a second macro program designed for that network) to continue on to their ultimate destination: travelers from Atlantis would use a Milky Way gate to travel on to Earth and similarly, travelers from Earth would use a Pegasus gate to travel to Atlantis. Even with this, the travel time between galaxies is just slightly over thirty minutes, making it far more efficient than traveling by hyperdrive.
When the first test of the gate bridge was conducted, only the framework of the station had been completed, so a Puddle Jumper was used. The test was a complete success, and the bridge was declared operational. It was later revealed that, since the last gate in the bridge must dial the exit gate, normally either Atlantis or Earth, the macro can be rewritten to dial a different exit gate in the destination galaxy. The Midway station has since then been destroyed by the Wraith. (SGA: "Irresistible", "McKay and Mrs. Miller", "The Return, Part 1", "Midway")
Asuran Stargate Satellite Edit
Main article: Asuran Stargate satellite
The Asurans had developed an eight-chevron variant of a Stargate that was created as a satellite weapon. Its components included a shield generator, sensors and a hyperdrive, allowing it to orbit its intended target. Once this was accomplished, a wormhole was to be activated, after which an intense red energy beam reaches out and strikes the target which, in this case, was the city of Atlantis. The beam would originate from an Asuran stronghold, which simultaneously powers the satellite's defenses while also maintaining an ongoing wormhole.
The satellite also had the added effect of preventing Stargate travel through the Atlantis Stargate as long as the satellite maintained its connection to the dialing Stargate, as both gates would be attempting to use the Atlantis coordinates. The satellite was able to receive the incoming wormhole from the Asurans, indicating that it could override the Atlantis Stargate, the dominant Stargate on the planet due to its being connected to a DHD. It appeared as a satellite with a Stargate in the center of its form which allowed it to manoeuvre and, thus, direct the energy weapon. (SGA: "First Strike")
Behind the scenes Edit
Differences in the Film Edit
When dialing, the noise was quieter.
The glyphs moved to each chevron in clockwise order rather than just the seventh.
When a chevron locked, it made a high pitched chirp.
The Stargate's wormhole had a bulge on the back known as a 'strudle.'
When emerging from a Stargate, travelers were covered with small ice crystals. This actually happens in the first couple of Stargate SG-1 episodes as well and is explained by the gate being badly configured by the Stargate Command personnel.
Each Stargate had a unique set of glyphs.
When activating, the Stargate first vibrated, emitted radio waves, and caused all electrical objects in the area to spark. This is also explained by the gate being badly configured by the Stargate Command personnel.
Production Edit
The prop of the prototype network Stargate located in the Destiny Gate room set does not actually spin, only the front of it does.[2]
Goofs Edit
In several episodes of Stargate: Atlantis , the Spacegates portrayed possess only eight chevrons compared to the nine that all Stargates are considered to have. Most fans (and this wiki) put this down to an oversight on the part of the SFX team and consider them to have nine chevrons as far as Stargate canon is concerned. Because of this goof, fans disagree over whether the Asuran Stargate satellite (which also appeared to have only eight chevrons) actually possesses eight or nine chevrons in canon. Despite the goof being seen in other episodes, this particular gate was manufactured by the Asurans and was able to override Atlantis' Stargate as the primary gate, so it is possible that the eight chevrons seen were actually intended by the producers - or at least can be integrated into canon by fans more easily than in the cases of the other gates. However, due to the ninth chevron's purpose being to dial Destiny, the ninth chevron being left out seems to fit, to prevent a ship such as a puddle jumper, dart, etc. from crashing into Destiny's walls when emerging on the other side, or damaging the gate on Destiny, because it is smaller and might not react well to an object larger than itself trying to get through. We don't know if the ninth chevron's purpose is only to dial Destiny. Earth has a nine-chevron address, too, but unlike Destiny's nine-chevron-address it's not related to a specific Stargate. As far as we know all Stargates might be reachable with two addresses like Destiny's and Earth's gate. They never really addressed this in the series but regardless of its purpose, it would be pointless to build gates with eight chevrons if all two previous versions have nine and these ones can't even use more than seven without a DHD and that specific control crystal from Atlantis. Also in the beginning of the SGA episode "The Return" the Milky Way Stargate at the Midway Station has only eight chevrons as well. This only reinforces the assumption that the Spacegates with eight chevrons are simply mistakes, probably an error in the template they used to animate them.
, the Spacegates portrayed possess only eight chevrons compared to the nine that all Stargates are considered to have. Most fans (and this wiki) put this down to an oversight on the part of the SFX team and consider them to have nine chevrons as far as Stargate canon is concerned. Because of this goof, fans disagree over whether the Asuran Stargate satellite (which also appeared to have only eight chevrons) actually possesses eight or nine chevrons in canon. Despite the goof being seen in other episodes, this particular gate was manufactured by the Asurans and was able to override Atlantis' Stargate as the primary gate, so it is possible that the eight chevrons seen were actually intended by the producers - or at least can be integrated into canon by fans more easily than in the cases of the other gates. In Amelius's notebook, seen before the Alterans leave the Alteran Home Galaxy, the Stargate design is clearly shown to be Milky Way-type, using glyphs similar to those seen from Earth. However, as shown in Stargate Universe , Destiny -type gates pre-date the Milky Way-type. The out-of-universe explanation, of course, is that the Stargates seen in SGU had not been designed at the time of filming Stargate: The Ark of Truth , although various in-universe explanations can also be formulated. Such as the designs seen in Amelius's notebook were just concept drawings of how the gates were to be designed and the Alterans were forced to build the less advanced Destiny -type gates until their technology developed enough to build the Milky Way-type gates. Or, they used a cheaper design so that they did not have to send millions of tons of Naquadah out to build the gates.
, -type gates pre-date the Milky Way-type. The out-of-universe explanation, of course, is that the Stargates seen in SGU had not been designed at the time of filming , although various in-universe explanations can also be formulated. Such as the designs seen in Amelius's notebook were just concept drawings of how the gates were to be designed and the Alterans were forced to build the less advanced -type gates until their technology developed enough to build the Milky Way-type gates. Or, they used a cheaper design so that they did not have to send millions of tons of Naquadah out to build the gates. During the episode "Midway," when the Wraith dial the Earth gate, the SFX of a Pegasus gate activation can be heard instead but it is a Milky Way gate that activates.
Similarities in other media Edit
The "stargate" concept appears to be quite old in speculative fiction, likely evolved from ideas of magic "portals" in fantasy literature and the folk tales it sprang from. One of the most notable renditions of it can be found in the Hyperion Cantos series of novels by Dan Simmons (Book 1, Hyperion , published 1989). There, the Hegemony of Man consists of hundreds of planets, the more important of which are linked by portals, called Farcasters , allowing instantaneous (bi-directional) travel. Many Farcaster portals (millions) can exist on a single planet, any of which may connect to any other planet (for example, there is a river, Thetys , which flows through Farcasters across all the connected planets and loops upon itself). Farcaster portals are always open, and function basically as short-range terminals to a "singularity sphere" placed in orbit of the connected world, which performs the actual interstellar transportation. The concept was first published in Simmons' short story Remembering Siri (later included as part of Hyperion the novel) published in Asimov's SF Magazine in 1983.
series of novels by Dan Simmons (Book 1, , published 1989). There, the Hegemony of Man consists of hundreds of planets, the more important of which are linked by portals, called , allowing instantaneous (bi-directional) travel. Many Farcaster portals (millions) can exist on a single planet, any of which may connect to any other planet (for example, there is a river, , which flows through Farcasters across all the connected planets and loops upon itself). Farcaster portals are always open, and function basically as short-range terminals to a "singularity sphere" placed in orbit of the connected world, which performs the actual interstellar transportation. The Gateway Command from the series ReBoot is based on the design of the Stargate.
is based on the design of the Stargate. The Time Portal featured in TimeSplitters 2 , from the TimeSplitters franchise, closely resembles the concept of a Stargate; although its primary function is time travel as opposed to transportation.
, from the TimeSplitters franchise, closely resembles the concept of a Stargate; although its primary function is time travel as opposed to transportation. The transporter from the Jak & Daxter game series is similar to the Stargate, but over more localized transport.
game series is similar to the Stargate, but over more localized transport. The Plutonians from Aqua Teen Hunger Force built a "Fargate" which has nothing to do with the movie Stargate which they had never seen.
built a "Fargate" which has nothing to do with the movie Stargate which they had never seen. The original movie was parodied in an episode of South Park in which the real Kurt Russell (who played Jack O'Neill in that film) was sent through an identical looking device to imaginationland by the United States Army.
in which the real Kurt Russell (who played Jack O'Neill in that film) was sent through an identical looking device to imaginationland by the United States Army. In the videogame Guild Wars , a race called the Asura have also built a gate network. These gates are used to travel locally between places.
, a race called the Asura have also built a gate network. These gates are used to travel locally between places. In the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey , the second monolith, with advanced cosmic powers, is known as the "Star Gate".
, the second monolith, with advanced cosmic powers, is known as the "Star Gate". In the German sci-fi series Perry Rhodan, a race called the Akons abandoned conventional spacecrafts in favor of matter transporters.
In the computer game franchise Starcraft, the Protoss use structures known as Stargates to warp in spaceships constructed on their home planet. These stargates are ringlike structures as well.
In the MMORPG EVE Online , Jump Gates are used to hurl starships between the massive distances between systems. These gates apparently operate in a similar manner, using wormholes for transport of an object.
, Jump Gates are used to hurl starships between the massive distances between systems. These gates apparently operate in a similar manner, using wormholes for transport of an object. The Iconian Gateways of Star Trek TNG and DS9, functioned similarly to the stargate system, except that they did not require a second gate to connect to.
TNG and DS9, functioned similarly to the stargate system, except that they did not require a second gate to connect to. In AdventureQuest Worlds the main villain, Drakath, is usually seen in front of a stargate-like circle which has 13 glyphs and each glyph lights up each time a chaos beast is slain. Its purpose is to bring forth the queen of all monsters, which being contained in another dimension or realm only adds to the similarities between the circle and the stargate.
the main villain, Drakath, is usually seen in front of a stargate-like circle which has 13 glyphs and each glyph lights up each time a chaos beast is slain. Its purpose is to bring forth the queen of all monsters, which being contained in another dimension or realm only adds to the similarities between the circle and the stargate. In Cartoon Network's Total Drama World Tour , the main characters go to Area 51. An active Stargate is seen when one of the characters looks inside the wormhole, however, the character is pulled out just before the Stargate deactivated.
, the main characters go to Area 51. An active Stargate is seen when one of the characters looks inside the wormhole, however, the character is pulled out just before the Stargate deactivated. The Emerald Dream Portals in the game World of Warcraft look like Stargates, parodied in this Complex Actions strip.
look like Stargates, parodied in this Complex Actions strip. The Forgotten Realms supplement for the Dungeons and Dragons PRG in its third edition makes passing mention of a series of mystical portals linking various kingdoms of Faerun that are functionally similar to a Stargate network.
supplement for the in its third edition makes passing mention of a series of mystical portals linking various kingdoms of Faerun that are functionally similar to a Stargate network. In the MMORPG named Dofus there is a similar device called a Zaap which allows the user to travel to other Zaaps. This device holds 12 Glyphs.
there is a similar device called a Zaap which allows the user to travel to other Zaaps. This device holds 12 Glyphs. In the X game series from Egosoft, there is a space jump gate network created by an ancient alien race. They are bi-directional, and linked to gates in neighboring sectors of space indicated by cardinal directions (i.e. a north gate in one sector will link to the south gate of another, there are rarely more than four gates in one sector). There is also a Jump Drive that allows a capable ship to do an FTL jump and exit at a specified destination gate. In the game X3 Terran Conflict there is a gigantic structure called "The Hub" that can reassign gate destinations so that they go to the gates within The Hub instead of their original intended destinations (as many as six gates at once when fully repaired).
from Egosoft, there is a space jump gate network created by an ancient alien race. They are bi-directional, and linked to gates in neighboring sectors of space indicated by cardinal directions (i.e. a north gate in one sector will link to the south gate of another, there are rarely more than four gates in one sector). There is also a Jump Drive that allows a capable ship to do an FTL jump and exit at a specified destination gate. In the game there is a gigantic structure called "The Hub" that can reassign gate destinations so that they go to the gates within The Hub instead of their original intended destinations (as many as six gates at once when fully repaired). The Facebook game Redshift have warpgates that look and act very similarly to the spacegates
The IPhone/IPad game Galaxy on Fire-2 has portals called Jumpgates. However, instead of transporting the dialer to a Jumpgate in another solar system, it transports the dialer to any random space within that system.
In Wing Commander Prophecy, the enemy race Nephilim creates wormholes to travel instantly between galaxy's. Once the wormhole is opened, they reinforce it using a "wormhole-gate".
An episode of Sonic X features a circular portal capable of enabling travel between Earth and Sonic's World through Chaos Control which closely resembles a Stargate in appearance and function, though doesn't require a second similar device to connect with.
features a circular portal capable of enabling travel between Earth and Sonic's World through Chaos Control which closely resembles a Stargate in appearance and function, though doesn't require a second similar device to connect with. There is also similar device called simply as "The Gate" in Shadow Hearts: From the New World role playing videogame for the PlayStation 2 video game console. This particular game is full of pop-culture references, it could as well be an intended parody of and/or homage/tribute to stargate, rather than coincidental similarity (the device is circular, has glyphs on it and is spinning while "dialing" in a similar manner to stargate. However, it doesn't lead to another planet, rather to a different dimension referred to as "world of malice" and is much bigger than a stargate - but not as big as supergate).
role playing videogame for the video game console. This particular game is full of pop-culture references, it could as well be an intended parody of and/or homage/tribute to stargate, rather than coincidental similarity (the device is circular, has glyphs on it and is spinning while "dialing" in a similar manner to stargate. However, it doesn't lead to another planet, rather to a different dimension referred to as "world of malice" and is much bigger than a stargate - but not as big as supergate). In the Galactic Civilizations game series the Drengin and Arcean races manage to build two stargates in space for spaceships to travel between their home planets. In a video it can be seen that they are fabricated from asteroids, having an almost circular shape, including rectangular parts all around them.
In the PC game Starbound, a similar gate (with similarities like an external control system, a blue vortex creating when the player is in place and symbols all around the gate) is used to transport the player to the "Outpost".
In Saints Row 4, there is a mission where you must throw rival gang members through a portal that looks similar to a stargate.
In the Guild Wars MMORPG series, a magically and technologically advanced race called the Asura build teleportation gates similar in appearance and function to the Stargate but between cities rather than planets and the portal works each way. However each gate typically only has one destination, changing the destination takes significant time and skill, as such the central city Lion's Arch has a gate hub with five separate gates, one linked to each races capital city.
A skin used by the League of Legends (PC MOBA game) champion Azir references Stargate. "Galactic Azir" can be seen appearing out of a device in his splash art that looks similar to a stargate.
In Star Fox Adventures, the central chamber of the Krazoa Shrines feature an object bearing a striking resemblance to a stargate affixed to the rear wall.
See also Edit
Stargate Wiki has a collection of images related to Stargate. |
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European Union lawmakers have overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution that calls on the bloc to slap an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, which is leading a brutal military campaign against Yemen.
The non-binding resolution, which was adopted in a nearly unanimous 539-13 vote on Thursday, condemned attacks against Yemeni civilians as “war crimes,” and slammed EU members for authorizing weapons sales to Saudi Arabia in breach of EU laws on arms export control.
The parliament “condemns in the strongest terms the ongoing violence in Yemen and all attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, which constitute war crimes,” the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) said in their statement.
Referring to a similar resolution from February last year, the lawmakers called on EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini to launch an initiative to impose an EU arms embargo against the Riyadh regime “given the serious allegations of breaches of international humanitarian law by Saudi Arabia in Yemen.”
Baking on September, the European Parliament had adopted a resolution urging EU Member States to improve the implementation of the EU Common Position on Arms Export. The resolution calls for more transparency, a supervisory body and a sanctions mechanism for those Member States not following minimum requirements. It re-iterates the urgent need to impose an arms embargo on Saudi Arabia, European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights reported. The resolution, titled “Resolution on arms export: implementation of Common Position 2008/944/CFSP”, was adopted on Sptember by 386 votes to 107, overcoming opposition from the conservatives.
The MEPs also expressed “grave concern at the alarming deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Yemen,” referring to civilian deaths resulting from the years-long Saudi war and an outbreak of deadly diseases such as cholera and diphtheria.
In their statement, the European lawmakers blasted the blockade and called for its “immediate” removal.
“The aerial and naval blockade imposed on Yemen by the coalition forces has been one of the main causes of the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe; whereas this blockade has restricted and disrupted the import and export of food, fuel and medical supplies, as well as humanitarian aid,” the statement added.
The motion was proposed by the Greens/EFA calling on the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Federica Mogherini, to launch an initiative in the Foreign Affairs Council to impose an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia.
Bodil Valero was rapporteur for the European Parliament’s report on Arms Exports, which previously called on High Representative Mogherini to launch an embargo. She comments:
"It is a scandal that EU member states continue to provide arms and expertise to Saudi Arabia in the war against Yemen. High Representative Mogherini should urgently launch an initiative to impose an EU arms embargo against Saudi Arabia. As chairwomen of the Foreign Affairs Council, we urge Mogherini to formally put the item of an embargo on the agenda of their next meeting. EU countries cannot continue to be party to the horrible suffering being caused in Yemen. "Saudi Arabia should immediately stop the sea, land and air blockade of Yemen and allow full access for humanitarian aid to all parts of Yemen."
The Saudi-led coalition which is launching attacks on Yemen and has imposed a blockade on the country is threatening peace, security and stability in Yemen, UN observers have reported.
Since the beginning of the Saudi assault on Yemen in 2015, more than 10 thousand civilians have been killed and around 40 thousand have been injured. Air strikes have on several occasions hit hospitals and other vital civilian infrastructure.
Moreover, with seven million people facing famine and 17 million—60 percent of the country—who live in food insecurity, the World Food Program said last week: “Yemen is on the brink of famine. Cholera is compounding a dramatic food crisis. Food is being used a weapon of war.”
More than 2 million children are already malnourished, and of those, nearly half-million children required medical assistance to stay alive. Yemen is staring down the “largest famine the world has seen for many decades,” said UN aid chief Mark Lowcock.
*(Bodil Valero, former rapporteur for the European Parliament’s report on Arms Exports. Image credit: Fredrik Hjerling/ Miljöpartiet de gröna/ flickr) |
Dave Holland's debut as a leader, Conference of the Birds, doesn't seem to get its proper due outside of avant-garde circles; perhaps, when discussing the greats, Holland's name simply doesn't spring to mind as immediately. Whatever the case, Conference of the Birds is one of the all-time avant-garde jazz classics, incorporating a wide spectrum of '60s innovations. Part of the reason it works so well is the one-time-only team-up of two avant-garde legends: the fiery, passionate Sam Rivers and the cerebral Anthony Braxton; they complement and contrast one another in energizing fashion throughout. But much credit is due to Holland; make no mistake, even though he throws the spotlight to Rivers and Braxton, this is his date. The repertoire consists entirely of Holland originals, and his work here established him as easily the most advanced bassist/composer since Charles Mingus. His compositions show an impressive range: twisting, unpredictable themes accompanied by storming solos (the classic "Four Winds," "Interception"); free improvisation in group-dialogue form ("Q&A"); inside/outside avant-bop ("See Saw"); and surprisingly lovely, meditative flute showcases (the classic title track, "Now Here (Nowhere)"). No matter how free things get, Holland's pieces always set up logical frameworks with a clear-minded focus, which makes it easier to get a handle on the advanced musicianship of Holland's quartet (which also includes drummer Barry Altschul, who played in Chick Corea's Circle with Braxton and Holland). The absence of a piano frees up Rivers and Braxton to play off of one another, but the task of driving the ensemble then falls to Holland, and his prominent, muscular lines manage to really push his front line all by themselves. This album is a basic requirement for any avant-garde jazz collection, and it's also one of the most varied and accessible introductions to the style one could hope for. |
If the statement of eccentric character Mr. Poopybutthole of the American adult animated TV series “Rick and Morty” made during the credits sequence of the Season 2 finale is the basis, the earliest that Season 3 of the popular show would hit Adult Swim again is on March 5, 2017.
The expected long gap between Season 2 and Season 3 of “Rick and Morty” has a good leg to stand on too. Season 1 premiered on December 2, 2013, and ended on April 14, 2014. Season 2, however, happened on July 26, 2015, or a gap of about one year and three months.
Fans of TV series would love nothing but a regular schedule of their favorite shows year in and year out so it was no different from what avid viewers of “Rick and Morty” like. But Mr. Poopybutthole shot that dream to smithereens when he said that fans should tune in to Season 3 of the show in like a year and a half or longer to see how they unravel the mess, details iDigital Times.
When he spoke about the mess, Mr. Poopybutthole was referring to a couple of cliffhangers that were left hanging during the Season 2 finale of “Rick and Morty” that was aired on October 4.
But since showrunners Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon or Adult Swim has yet to make a statement regarding the premiere date of Season 3 of “Rick and Morty,” everything is speculation at this point in time.
Unlike Season 1 though which has 11 episodes, Season 2 only had 10 episodes with the finale titled “The Wedding Sqaunchers,” which had the least number of American viewers at 1.84 million in all of the second season.
Early confirmation
Adult Swim actually confirmed the renewal of “Rick and Morty” early last month, which means that even before Season 2 drew to a close early this month, it was already greenlit for Season 3.
The network has already ordered more intergalactic adventures of “Rick and Morty” for Season 3, which is expected to continue bringing in the laughs, the viewers, and the impressive ratings.
Co-executive producer Dan Harmon says that he felt honored to see “Rick and Morty” join the exclusive club of TV shows with over 19 episodes. He said that it is about time for them to demand that the network allow them to draw the characters going to Hawaii.
Justin Roiland, the other co-creator and co-executive producer of “Rick and Morty,” who also lends the voice to both Rick and Morty, says that he is kind of blown away with the instant success of the TV series and he really looks forward to continuing the adventures of the two in the animated TV show.
Jokes per minute
As an obvious fan of the animated show, the Den of Geek has always made it a point to calculate the jokes per minute (JPM) rate of “Rick and Morty” to see how does it fare not from any possible competition but more against itself. The outlet describes its joke counting effort as an initiative of not leaving any joke behind.
Based on its computation, “Rick and Morty” averaged 5.96 jokes per minute for its Season 2, which is an improvement over the 5.40 jokes per minute it registered in Season 1.
At an average running time of 22 minutes, that’s about over 130 jokes per episode during Season 2. No wonder, viewers are glued to their TV sets on “Rick and Morty” because aside from wanting a good laugh, a good number of them also do not want to miss a joke or two.
Because of its remarkable jokes per minute rate, “Rick and Morty” is actually considered as one of TV’s best-animated comedies. It also proves that comedy is and should not be subjective and that “Rick and Morty” is as perfect and as beautiful as the “Fibonacci Spiral,” some critics say.
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The "Project to Pierce the Moon With the Spear of Longinus" crowdfunding campaign failed to meet its 100-million-yen (about US$825,000) goal by its deadline on Sunday. The project had raised 54,695,000 yen (about US$455,000), or 54% of its goal, from 1,384 contributors on the crowdfunding website Readyfor.
Project Longinus aimed to recreate (with real-world contraints) the scene in the anime where the Evangelion Unit-00 hurls the Spear of Longinus, which eventually lands on the lunar surface. Had the campaign met its goal, a 240-millimeter (9.4-inch) spear would have launched aboard a spacecraft from America between the end of 2015 and the end of 2016. The project would have celebrated the 20th anniversary since the broadcasting of the Neon Genesis Evangelion television anime.
Since the project did not meet its goal, all backers will have their money refunded. The future of the project has not been made public. However, in a message posted on Monday, the project's executive committee expressed their hope that it raised awareness and support for private space ventures in the future.
Hakuto, Japan's first civilian team that aims to send an unmanned lunar expedition, was assisting "Project Longinus" as the only team from Japan competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE. Hakuto posted a message on Monday to say that the team members would like this project to eventually lead to various projects in the future development of space.
The project began accepting pledges from international backers late last month.
[Via Minna no Evangelion Fan] |
This has got to be perhaps the biggest crux of importing from China. Ensuring that the goods you buy are up to the market standards you require. On paper it sounds easy but in practice it’s a little more complicated. I guess this is why goods from China and Asia as a whole seem to get a bit of a bad reputation. I have seen a lot of hardened exporters here make a mistake just as easily as a rookie, if you don’t concentrate it’s easy to slip up in a dynamic world where stock prices and material availability changes day by day.
On a whole there is perhaps justification on the bad rep people give Chinese products. I will be the first to stand up and say that some great quality products come out of China, but in the same breath I can tell you that there is so much utter rubbish here too.
Before I came to China I, Like most of you, Wished to import from here but had been set back by so many horror story’s. It seems that China gets the worst reputation for product quality from Asia and it is certainly daunting for a first time importer. That coupled with the risks of being a victim of a scam seller can lead to many endless nights pondering over your next move but I will leave that particular “scam” topic for another article.
I had previously dipped my foot in the Chinese water so to speak. As some of my readers will already know I have imported from quite a few places in the past. I spent a lot of time importing from Taiwan with very very few product quality issues, strangely enough I imported a lot of very high quality issue items from the USA and Canada. You can buy rubbish goods from anywhere if you don’t keep your eye on the ball and play to your strengths. With China though I saw something different, perhaps a different opportunity which made me want to look closer and eventually lead to me moving here.
I recall an instance from when I was still working in the UK. I was buying and selling stock and assets from bankrupt companies and exporting them to countries where the value was higher. I had a good friend in Tanzania, Africa who was constantly asking me for laptops and computers. The numbers he needed were so large that I could not keep up and I talked with him about sending laptops from China to meet the volumes. He went on to tell me that a few years ago a lot of Chinese electronics entered the market there and failed very quickly, the product he said was very poor quality and the consumers there now had no faith in Chinese goods. I found this pretty strange as we all know that China produces some great electronics and if bought correctly there should be no issues. I wondered if perhaps they could not cope with the intense heat or if perhaps sand was getting into the internals, Its pretty sandy there right……
I have since found out that it is not the product that was entirely to blame it was perhaps the buyer. What I mean by this is that the buyer was not necessarily out of his product knowledge depth but was perhaps so determined to get the cheapest price he was not too concerned with the overall quality.
You have to remember that in China they can make things very very cheap if you want them to, scarily cheap infact. They can cut corners where I didn’t think corners could be cut. 9 times out of 10 this however leads to a very sub standard product but if the buyer is solely focused on the cheapest possible price then that is what the supplier will in turn focus on. I have seen products so cheap that once out of the box they just fail. As an example here are some samples of an Apple Data/Charger cable from 3 different factories. Now when I come to buy these things I make it pretty clear that I have an office in Guangzhou and I will return any faulty products myself if a problem arises, this levels the playing field for me a little and I find that then they don’t lie to you, they’re pretty straight and will say “This is our cheapest cable, it looks OK but will not last very long” they’re not stupid and know that there cheap products will break, it is down to you the buyer to decide if you want to be the one importing a cheap products into your country and facing the problems that will arise from that. Personally I think it stupid to buy something that’s just going to lead to a dissatisfied customer, it makes no sense for a long term business but many still do it.
Some buyers I know here are pretty happy to buy low quality items, perhaps because in turn their customers outside of China are not too fussed about the quality or satisfaction of the end user. I know for a fact that in some countries there is a real market for “throw away” items that the end user may only get a few weeks out of simply because there is no way they could afford a more expensive quality version. This is typical of south America where, for example, I see a lot of low quality mobile phones being exported to that buyers here know will only have a usage life of around a month. These $20 USD phones are still popular there as the end users can just get a new one as they are cheap enough. There are ofcourse some buyers here who only focus on the mid to upper quality items as these are the only type I believe are worth exporting, especially to European markets where the consumer demands quality and is willing to pay a little more for it. I suppose this proves that all spectrum of quality variations from China have a home and hence why there are so many different standards here.
Another point I will touch on here is authenticity of the product. Im not talking about fake Levi jeans from China here, If you think you can buy genuine brand name goods from China direct from the factory then you are really missing something. What I mean is things like SD memory cards branded as a certain memory size when they are really no where close to that size. Most of the cheap sellers on eBay selling SD cards at crazy prices are selling fake capacity cards. I am currently putting together my own brand for SD cards, USB drives and external hard drives so I have a little bit of experience looking for factories supplying the real deal. I suppose my advantage is that if i ask them if its genuine capacity there is little point in them lying to me as i will be back there the next day, but that doesnt stop them trying. Shown below are three 32 GB Mini SD Cards. All look good and all come nicely packaged but only one is genuine capacity, can you guess which one?
I would say the entire process of buying from anywhere is down to trust, you need to trust the person you are buying from and if you don’t trust them you need to be there to watch everything they are doing. You can quite easily be scammed in your home country if you let yourself be subjected to it just as easily as you could fall victim to it here. There are so many turns in the trail here which could catch you out which is why I decided to move here to ensure I would minimise my risk. It is not easy living here and I do miss the UK very much but essentially for the type of business I want to do this is the only way I can work, any other way would increase my risk and thus lower my potential profit.
I would love to give you a bullet point list here of my guide to ensuring that all your goods are up to standard but I think for smaller importers who are not tied into legal contract with suppliers for multi million pound deals this is just not possible. I have read so many stories on forums of suppliers taking Advantage of the 4000 miles or so between them and the customer. Too often a spec can change and by the time you receive it it may be too late. Legally here there are so many loop holes that good old fashioned trust is worth its weight in gold. I trust most of the people I deal with, for those I don’t really trust I make sure they realise that I will be knocking on there door with any issues that may arise.
Personally speaking the type of product testing and quality control I do is pretty hands on. I really am only interested in buying items that i myself would buy or use as a consumer. This allows me to take an interest in each venture and be hands on with the actual product. An example, below is is a bluetooth headphone set that I currently export to Europe and the US. This is a headphone set that I actually owned myself in the UK and I was keen to work with it as its a popular selling model in the European market. It’s an attractive and functional wireless bluetooth headset that can be used with your iPhone or any other device that has bluetooth, you can listen to music on it or make phone calls, a pretty adaptable piece of kit that looks pretty good too. There are a lot of variations out there, I currently buy 2 models based on sales numbers I have researched combined with personal preference. When I moved to china I bought a “Beats by Dre” style headphone set from a market here. they retail for about 240.00 GBP in the UK. The one I bought was obviously not genuine but it was for personal use in the gym so that’s fine by me. This headphone lasted about 4 gym sessions and then it was game over. I’d been here about 2 weeks and the learning curve had begun. I then decided to find a more reliable sports style headphone that I could also look to export. I found the one I mentioned earlier on eBay UK selling well at around £19.99 and decided that I should find a factory here making them. I infact found several and ended up with 6 different samples to test before making an order.
I run most days so this gives me a good chance to get these things through some vigorous testing conditions and I spent a couple of weeks using each headphone out on my run, in the gym and in the car traveling to factories. The quality of each unit varied as did the pricing, a fluctuation of as much as 5.00 GBP could be seen across the units so I knew I had to find a suitable middle ground. It is worth noting that the most expensive product price here does not necessarily mean the best, often a factory with its game really tight can produce a top quality product at a mid range price point due to efficient costing an management. It has nothing to do with the size of the factory, number of staff or there long trading history, its down to there business model on a whole. I have seen this on several occasions so don’t be fooled.
Out of these 6 sample units 2 units failed within a few days, both would not hold charge and one had terrible sound quality. The 3rd unit snapped at the join where it meets the ear bud after maybe 5 days, it looks like the plastic used for the joint was too brittle. The 4th unit didnt break and still works now but the sound quality was not as good as the remaining 2 and the finish of the materials used began to age after it became wet from running in the rain. The 2 units I was happy with came from seperate suppliers, one was the most expensive and the other was a fraction cheaper.
I decided to give the slightly cheaper one another week of use and was impressed. No issues and I’m still using it now 4 months on. I decided to take a sample order of 500 units on each and see how they sold. I ordered 500 of each sample from the 2 seperate suppliers and about a week later had them in my office. To my bemusement the more expensive supplier had kindly sent me a lower quality item, i could tell straight away as the materials used looked a lot cheaper and the logo print was terrible. I was pretty quick to head straight back with the samples in tow and see what they were playing at. Turns out they had decided without telling me that that price point was now too low and the quality had to be cheaper. I was not impressed and demanded a refund, which I eventually received. Had I been on the other side of the pond 4000 miles away I’m pretty sure I would not have heard from them again. Unfortunately this is not the first time this has happened and I’m pretty sure it wont be the last, thankfully I am here and able to nip it in the bud. I decided to go with the slightly cheaper supplier and this is the sample I have gone forwards with for my bulk orders. I’m more than happy with it and I’m actually ordering 2 models from this factory now on a regular basis. I have a good relationship with them as they are about 30 mins from me and I hope in the future to do some OEM work with them.
This is a pretty good example of how you need to think on your feet and be sharp to ensure you get the best possible quality at a pricepoint suitable to your market. You can’t pitch up here and say you need the best quality possible for the cheapest price they can do it for, those two things wont mean anything to most Chinese factories, you need to do a lot of the leg work yourself or you won’t get anywhere.
China likes to think of itself as the factory of the world. It is easy to see why as you simply would not believe the amount of factories here, quite often making some very similar products. If a factory sees somewhere close to them doing well from a product chances are they will start making that product too. Its pretty funny sometimes. With this in mind it is easy too see why the quality can vary so much and why on sites like Alibaba you might see an item for 20 USD and someone selling a very similar item for 6 USD. Do you really think they are exactly the same item?
China has been exporting on a big global scale for decades, perhaps longer than some of the other giant exporters in Asia but it’s a wonder why they seem to have shaken off that cheap quality label while China still struggles. When I first started importing bicycles from Taiwan in 2002 I would exhibit them at trade shows and receive a constant barrage of “Yeah it looks great but it’s made in the far east so will last 5 minutes”. These were high end 3-5000 GBP bikes that had to struggle against the “cool factor” of Canadian and American made rigs. It wasnt until I sponsored a team of riders and we posted videos and pictures online of us really hammering this kit that sales started to come through. The truth was that it was great stuff and a lot of the big brand names in the US, which were dominating this market at this time, were “secretly” getting their stuff made in Taiwan too. Now pretty much all major brands have their bicycles made in Taiwan and the consumer consensus seems happy with this. Unfortunately this jacked up the pricing meaning that it was not so lucrative to export niche brands from Taiwan anymore as the big boys began to dominate the market. Interesting enough this lower production cost has not lowered the retail prices of these bikes, they have actually risen in the last 5 years.
I wonder if it’s the buyers fault then that the lower price products taint the image of chinese goods, specifying cheaper materials and components to increase their bottom line? Or is it those chinese factories that have a short term gain mentality (“the world is full of customers, if they are not happy there are plenty more out there”) that are damaging the image? It is important to note that a lot of factories and suppliers here pride themselves on great products and customer satisfaction, they really don’t want to be making cheap rubbish and I have been impressed with what they can do. Unfortunately there are those mentioned before that are in it for the quick buck. Its fair to say there are a number of reasons for this and while there is still cheap stuff being produced here this country may always have the image of a cheap product market. What is important is that you as a buyer are vigilant enough to cut through the crap and get exactly what you require from your buying experience here.
Since I have been here I have bought hundreds upon hundreds of samples, my apartment looks like something from the movie “Big” with things all over the place that I’m half way though playing with. The security guards here must think I’m insane as boxes of products constantly litter my hallway waiting for me to mess around with them before deciding if they are worth exporting or not.
I would say that most times I get a sample I’m not happy with it, maybe I’m a bit picky but then I think this is a good way to be. I want to minimise any returns or customer issues and a good way to do this in my eyes is make sure the product is as good as it can be. |
A China-made tram powered by hydrogen fuel cells is put into commercial operation in Tangshan, North China's Hebei province, Oct 26, 2017. [Photo/Chinanews.com]
SHIJIAZHUANG -- A China-made tram powered by hydrogen fuel cells was put into commercial operation Thursday in Tangshan, North China's Hebei province.
It is the first commercial hydrogen-powered tram in the world and made by China Railway Rolling Corporation (CRRC) Tangshan Co Ltd.
With water being its only emission, the tram emits no pollutants. No nitrogen oxides will be produced as the temperature of the reaction inside hydrogen fuel cells is controlled under 100 degrees Celsius.
The distance between carriage floor of the tram and the rail is only 35 centimeters thanks to the latest low-floor technology, which can remove station platforms and thus making boarding easy for passengers.
It can be refilled with hydrogen in 15 minutes and can run for 40 km at a maximum speed of 70 km per hour.
The tram operates on a 136-year-old railway in Tangshan city, one of China's earliest industrial cities, and links several of its industrial heritage sites. |
If you're an affluent car enthusiast who has always desired a vintage Volvo station wagon that has no problem embarrassing a new Ferrari in a straight line (who hasn't), you're in luck. The car you see here, which may be the only one in the world that fits this description, is currently for sale.
Ever since this amazing 788 horsepower 1967 Volvo Amazon station wagon made its debut at SEMA in 2006 (it was producing a still impressive 600 horsepower at that point) we've been in awe of how unbelievably well built and simply awesome this wagon is.
Mattias Vöcks—who spends his days working as an engineer for Koenigsegg—is the mad scientist responsible for this Swedish hot rod. Although the car is obviously heavily modified, it's still all Volvo under the hood—a 2.8 liter turbocharged inline six hooked up to a Getrag six-speed transmission are responsible for the wagons unbelievable straight line performance.
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Equally unbelievable is the fact that Vöcks is now ready to part with this oddly beautiful monster. According to Carscoop.com there is an asking price of $109,000 attached to the car, but the price is negotiable. We have not yet received a response to our offer of several non-essential organs and a well worn Toyota 4runner.
Hat tip to #1785935 - Mikeado!
(Engine Photo Credit: SwedeSpeed.com) |
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