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From Maggie Mahar at Health Beat...
You may have seen the headline: “DIRE FORECAST SPARKS NEW MEDICARE DEBATE TRUSTEES' REPORT USED AS FODDER FOR POLITICAL SALVOS BY BOTH SIDES,” but the date may come as a surprise: June 6, 1996.
At the time, the Chicago Tribune warned its readers: “Medicare trustees reported Wednesday that the program's financial outlook is getting worse, touching off a new round of debate over the future of the federal health insurance system for the elderly and disabled. According to the trustees, who give the program a fiscal checkup every year, the fund that pays Medicare hospital bills dipped into the red last year and will go broke in early 2001. That's a year earlier than they predicted in 1995.”
Sound familiar? How about these warnings:
Chicago Tribune July 2, 1969: “The Medicare hospital trust fund faces bankruptcy by 1976 and taxes must either be raised or benefits reduced the senate finance committee was told today.”
Washington Post, April 1, 1986: “The Medicare hospital insurance program faces bankruptcy by 1996, two years earlier than projected last year.”
New York Times, January 20, 1985: In the last few years, when it appeared that the Medicare trust fund would run out of money in 1987-89... But the need seemed less urgent after the Congressional Budget Office issued new estimates last September indicating that the Medicare trust fund would not go bankrupt until 1994.
(Hat tip to Chicago Tribune columnist Eric Zorn who culled eighteen stories from the Tribune, the Washington Post and the New York Times over a period of four decades, each predicting that the Medicare Hospital Insurance Fund was teetering on the brink of disaster.)
But of course Medicare didn’t “run out of money” in 1994, and it won’t go belly-up now, in large part thanks to health care reform legislation. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the Affordable Care Act (ACA) raises and saves over $950 billion. (Below, I spell out how the legislation generates those dollars). In the process, as the Medicare Trustees’ Report 2011 points out, the ACA reduces Medicare spending “by 25 percent”—without cutting health benefits, or shifting costs to seniors. |
During Operation Cast Lead in Gaza in late 2008, the Israelis often used telephone calls and leaflets to tell occupants to leave before striking. In some cases, the Israelis fired missiles without explosive warheads onto the roof to get Palestinians who had gathered there to leave. The Israelis called it “the knock on the roof.” But often, as in the Khan Younis case on Tuesday, people die in any case, because they ignore or defy the warnings, or try to leave after it is too late.
And, of course, sometimes bombs and missiles do not hit the building at which they are aimed.
The Israelis also regularly drop leaflets over Gaza urging citizens not to cooperate with terrorism and to stay away from border zones, an injunction that has been criticized by human rights advocates, like the Palestinian organization Al-Haq, which argue that such leaflets do not protect Israel from allegations of the indiscriminate killing of civilians.
Groups like Human Rights Watch have regularly said that Israel’s efforts to warn civilians with phone calls and leaflets do not absolve the armed forces, which “still need to ensure that the warnings are effective and do not allow attacks otherwise prohibited under international law,” the group said in 2009, even as it welcomed “new procedures to improve its early warning to civilians during armed conflict.”
Israel also uses leaflets in Arabic, some of them intended as warnings and others as propaganda. On Tuesday, many were dropped over northern Gaza near Israel. One said that “the terrorist elements, tunnel owners and arms smugglers know very well that the continuation of the terror operations, the smuggling of arms and the digging of tunnels constitute a lasting target for the operations of the Israel Defense Forces.”
“However,” it said, “they continue working from the areas you live in and take you as cover.”
The leaflet urged residents not to allow their houses to be used as cover for digging tunnels or smuggling weapons, and provided an email address and phone number for people to report on such activities around them, saying, “Don’t stand idle as the terrorist elements use you.” |
Reese McGuire Born: 03/02/1995 (Age: 19) Bats: Left Throws: Right Height: 5' 11" Weight: 215 Primary Position: C Physical/Health Compact, six-foot frame; ideal catcher's body; good present strength through his torso; athletic and light on his feet; built to withstand the rigors of the position. Evaluator Ethan Purser Report Date 08/07/2014 Dates Seen 7/27-7/29 Affiliate West Virginia Power (Low A, Pirates) Makeup Leader behind the plate; displays the intangibles to be a top-tier signal caller and act as a coach on the field; impressive feel for the game on both sides of the ball; situational awareness is a major asset; plus makeup should allow his overall skill set to continually improve as he climbs the ladder. MLB ETA Risk Factor OFP Realistic Role Video 2017 Moderate 55 50; average regular No Tool Future Grade Report Hit 50 Mechanics: Begins in a slightly open, crouched stance with his hands just off his ear; moderate leg kick to gather weight; consistently gets foot down in time; thrusts hips well with plenty of strength throughout his core; hands remain in a good position near rear shoulder during load; short, compact entry into the zone; bat stays on plane through the zone with a touch of lift at the end; line-drive oriented swing; above-average bat speed; effortless, loose stroke; hands work very well throughout; can get the barrel to pitches in all quadrants of the zone; shows the ability to hit in the .270 range at the highest level.
Approach: Contact-oriented approach; not afraid to attack fastballs early in counts; hard contact to all fields; shows an advanced ability to pepper left field with line drives on pitches on the outer half; stays within himself and knows the situation, catering his approach accordingly; will never be a walk machine but will make plenty of contact. Power 40 Swing is linear and built for the gaps at present, creating abundant topspin; flashes average raw power in BP; lifted an impressive foul ball to the pull side in game action; gets foot down in time to create proper leverage and generates some torque with the lower half; swing shows good incorporation of hips and hands and should allow player to generate low-teens home run power at maturity with good gap-to-gap pop. Baserunning/Speed 40 4.3 seconds to first base on a dig; below-average runner; despite 40-grade speed, McGuire displays good instincts on the bases and shouldn't be a major liability; could lose a step as he continues filling out and the rigors of the position take hold, but his solid athleticism should limit the ill effects. Glove 60 Athletic behind the dish; set position is low and flexible; quiet receiver; strong wrists/hands allow player to receive the ball with little lateral or vertical movement; receiving skills are refined for age; lateral agility is plus; drops down quickly and blocks balls well on both sides; shows ability to square balls up and keep them in front of him; footwork is plus; controls the area around the plate; wants to be a brick wall and instills confidence in his pitchers; has moxie behind the plate; defensive chops will drive him to the highest level; receiving, blocking, and overall game-calling ability should all be plus attributes. Arm 60 Glove-to-hand transfer is efficient, reducing unnecessary movement; arm action is short/compact; clean, precise, and lightning-fast footwork leads to quick release and plus accuracy; replaces feet exceptionally; plus raw arm strength; throws appear to be on a downhill plane to second base; displays confidence in his arm; 1.87-second pop on a pitch high and to his glove side; will cut down the running game at the highest level. Overall McGuire will be a big leaguer at the behest of his defensive chops behind the plate, making his overall profile attractive. He has the skills to be a legitimate plus defender behind the plate who can handle a staff and limit the run game with a plus arm. The offensive profile vaults his overall potential into the above-average range. He possesses solid bat-to-ball ability and can barrel balls up to all fields, projecting to have an average hit tool. A contact-heavy approach and a line-drive swing plane limit the future over-the-fence power, though he should still be able to accumulate low double-digit home run totals at his peak.
McGuire presents with a smaller amount of risk than most players in Low-A due to his advanced defensive profile behind the plate. His raw OFP averages to 50, but a half-grade bump is given due to plus makeup and the aforementioned skills at a premium position. This is a player that any organization would love to acquire. Baseball Prospectus Home | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Customer Service | Newsletter | Masthead | Contact Us Major League Baseball trademarks and copyrights are used with permission of MLB Advanced Media, L.P. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 1996-2019 Baseball Prospectus, LLC. |
We Tested Bic Camera’s Bitcoin Payment System in Tokyo, How Did it Work?
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It’s only day two of bitFlyer’s bitcoin point-of-sale trial at Bic Camera in Tokyo, but we decided to go in there and see how well it worked. Could the system — and more importantly, the staff — handle bitcoin payments on a busy Saturday?
Also read: How Big is Bitcoin in Japan? Hype Versus Reality
Bic Camera is trialling bitcoin payments in two physical multi-level department stores: Yurakucho (near Tokyo station and Ginza) and Shinjuku. Those are two of Tokyo’s major shopping districts, and Bic is actually putting a lot of effort into promoting it. There are signs encouraging customers to use bitcoin just inside the major entrance, and others next to every door and escalator.
Bic’s trial is in co-operation with Japanese bitcoin exchange bitFlyer. The two companies held a press release on Friday (Japan time), attracting nearly 30 representatives from mainstream and online media.
Testing the Bic Camera Bitcoin POS – Success!
We were a bit nervous about testing the system on a busy Saturday afternoon. Would the staff know what to do? Would they be annoyed with us for taking up their time? Would they even know what bitcoin was, or understand what we were asking for? Memories of unsuccessfully trying to use bitcoin at random small businesses popped into our heads.
The results couldn’t have been any more different to that. One of the registers we lined up for had a clear Bitcoin logo sign, and the helpful staff member pointed us straight to it. Even though he said it was his first time using the system, it was fast and easy. Payment was finalized the moment our wallet broadcast it to the Bitcoin network — no waiting ten minutes (or more) for block confirmations.
The staff member said he’d heard the store had received lots of inquiries about bitcoin. It appears most of the interest comes from non-Japanese though, as many questions were about tax-free sales. Bic Camera does duty-free sales for anyone who can prove they’re a foreign citizen in Japan for a short stay.
Trial Will Hopefully Lead to More
Many eyes will be on Bic Camera in the coming weeks. It’s the first significant test for Bitcoin at a large physical retailer, where staff need to process sales and clear crowded lines with minimal fuss. Even if only a small percentage of customers pay with bitcoin, that’s still a challenge.
The current trial will end at some point, but Bic Camera has certainly put a lot of effort into training its staff and making its customers aware. With new laws that recognize Bitcoin as a legal form of payment in the country, other businesses will be curious to hear the results.
Do you think bitcoin can be a viable point-of-sale option in a large department store? Let’s hear your thoughts.
Images via Jon Southurst, bitFlyer
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Cookson became UCI president in September 2013, beating Pat McQuaid in a vote
Protecting cycling's integrity is an "absolute priority" for 2017 says UCI president Brian Cookson.
The use of therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) in the sport has been questioned, while Femke van den Driessche became the first rider to be caught "mechanical doping" in April.
"The biggest threat in 2016 was to the credibility of our sport," said Cookson.
"Our anti-doping programme is rightly regarded as one of the leaders."
There were 22,652 samples from cyclists tested in World Anti-Doping Agency accredited laboratories in 2015, with 244, or 1.1%, returning adverse results.
In addition, thousands of bicycles, including 3773 at the Tour de France, have been scanned for hidden motors.
However the Fancy Bears' computer hack in September published confidential details of athletes' TUEs, which allow temporary use of prohibited substance on medical grounds, and questioned whether the system was being abused.
Media playback is not supported on this device Bradley Wiggins: 'This was about putting myself back on a level playing field'
British cycling legend Sir Bradley Wiggins defended his use of powerful anti-inflammatory drug triamcinolone before the 2011 and 2012 Tour de France races saying the medication "put him back on a level playing field" as he suffered from allergies and respiratory problems and it did not give him any "unfair advantage".
Cookson defended the system saying the levels of scrutiny on each TUE application was "a higher standard than required by international norms".
"The UCI strengthened its TUE assessment process in June 2014 during the first year of my presidency," said Cookson.
"This change put in place a more robust, independent three-person TUE Committee made up of independent experts that requires unanimity before sanctioning any TUE request.
"The number of TUEs the UCI has sanctioned in recent years is declining - from 31 in 2013 to 13 last year."
"Perfect parity" in track cycling
Laura Trott competes on the flying lap at Rio 2016
Cookson welcomed the changes to the track cycling disciplines with the introduction of a women's madison "bringing perfect parity between men's and women's track cycling events".
The omnium - the discipline in which Britain's Laura Trott is world and Olympic champion - will be cut from six to four events.
The timed elements - individual pursuit, time trial, flying lap - have been dropped with a tempo race added to the scratch race, elimination race and points race to condense the event into a one-day competition focused on endurance. |
For the past four months, the fate of a Qatari hunting party including members of the royal family held hostage in Iraq has been secretly negotiated between officials in Doha and tribes in Basra.
The Iraqi government in Baghdad has not been a part of the process, and, according to Gulf officials, it has no capacity to deliver an outcome, even if it wanted to. Qatar and other Gulf states, including Kuwait, who are leading efforts to rescue the group are feeling increasingly frustrated at the lack of ways to resolve the situation.
“There is no point even contacting [Haider al-]Abadi, or his people,” said a prominent member of a neighbouring Gulf state of the Iraqi prime minister. “This is the tribes and the militias, in particular Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq. They laugh at the government. They control Iraq, particularly the Shia areas.”
As Iraq’s parliament this week again blocked efforts by Abadi to introduce reforms, legislators and protesters in Baghdad itself said they feared the government was now powerless to impose its will in the lawless south or the rest of the war-ravaged country.
Across the region, there is a growing belief that the beleaguered Iraqi leader can bring no influence to multiple crises, including the withering siege of Fallujah, which is led by Shia militias and the Iraqi army (which nominally answers to Abadi) or the fight against Islamic State.
Shia leaders in two countries struggle for control over Iraqi state Read more
In both cases, state control has been ceded to militias. The Qatari hunters, who included members of the ruling al-Thani family, had entered Iraq with government-issued permits, to capture falcons and hunt bustards prized as game by the Gulf elite.
They were rounded up by more than 100 armed men, driving in a large convoy, and have since been held in small towns near Basra. Ransoms have been demanded for their release.
In Anbar province, which is the epicentre of the war against Isis, military gains, aided by US airstrikes and advisors on the ground, have done nothing to quell festering resentment between Sunni civilians who dominate the region and Shia militias who now lord over it.
Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, is one of the most important frontlines in the war against Isis. It has been surrounded by Iraqi forces, among them a large, and disproportionately influential number of Shia militias.
Iraqi army commanders and militia leaders say they regard the city’s remaining residents as being loyal to Isis. Since December, they have steadily tightened a siege that has seen food prices soar. The siege has become ever more effective since US-backed Iraqi forces have ousted Isis from the town of Heet and cut off supply lines that ran towards Fallujah.
“I am coming here today to protest about Fallujah,” said Fadhil al-Dulaimi, a resident of the city who was forced to flee two years ago when it was overrun by Isis. Ever since, he has stayed with family in Baghdad, who sponsored his entry to the capital – a right that many thousands of others fleeing the chaos have been denied.
“It is dangerous for me to come here to the gates of the Green Zone,” he said. “Every guard can see my name on my identity card, and I could be disappeared at any point. But Fallujah cannot sink into the sand. They cannot just starve to death everyone who stayed behind.”
A former Fallujah resident who fled the city one year ago and now squats in abandoned farmland outside nearby Abu Ghraib said Shia militia were cutting off the city’s supply lines.
“We ran a truck business in Fallujah. My brother and my cousins stayed behind despite [Isis]. But that does not mean that we are with them. Most of those who stayed had no other option. But everyone who didn’t flee is being called terrorists by the militias, and the government can do nothing about it.”
Aid officials in Baghdad estimate that around 30,000 civilians remain in Fallujah, a city whose population had recovered to an estimated 200,000 of the pre-war population of 300,000 by the time Isis seized it.
“The humanitarian picture in Fallujah is bleak and getting bleaker,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director of Human Rights Watch, earlier this year. “Greater international attention to the besieged towns and cities of the region is needed or the results for civilians could be calamitous.”
In Basra, meanwhile, locals say that the fate of the Qataris will depend on the will of the hostages’ governments, not their own.
“What can Iraq do, even if it wanted,” said one 23-year-old local businessman, who identified himself as Mehdi Mudher. “Even if they wanted to, they couldn’t help. It is embarrassing for a government to be as weak as this.
“I tell you the tribes and Asa’ib have never been stronger. It is impossible to tell which is which. All these black cars with black windows, posters of [Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah] Khamenei. It is lawless here.
“There is support for [Ayatollah] Sistani, but no one even talks about the government. They simply are not relevant.” |
The past 6 months have gone extremely well for my wife and me. My job has remained stable through the tough times, I received an unexpected bonus and my blog income has been steadily increasing. Making ends meet is no longer a huge issue.
We first started seriously doing a budget last year because we were enrolled in Financial Peace University. It was required for the class that we come up with a working budget. Once we did our budget, we discovered that it really worked. We found problem areas in our budget, and were able to cut those areas significantly to save hundreds of dollars every month. We were finally telling our money where to go, not trying to figure out where it had all gone.
Over the past year we've been pretty good about staying within the constraints of our budget, but over time we gave in to a slow creep of allowing ourselves to go outside the budget every once in a while. After all, we're doing pretty well, right?
Getting Off Track
In a post that he wrote a while back, Larry at GatherLittleByLittle.com talked about the top reasons that people don't budget. One of the reasons struck home for me. Many people don't do a budget because their spending is already less than their income, and they don't think that they need to budget:
“I don’t need a budget, I have plenty of money left over each month” or “I already spend less than I earn and save the difference, I don’t need a budget“. First off, if you are saying either of these, kudos to you! Both of these statements are keys to wealth. Now, with that being said I ask, if you were on a budget, how much more would you have to save or invest? Don’t know? A budget would tell you.
This is the trap that my wife and I have been falling into the last few months. We've been doing well, our spending is less than our income, and we're able to save a little bit every month. At the same time, we've been falling away from doing our budget because we've been feeling secure in where we were. Without our budget and the accountability that goes along with it, we've actually re-started some old bad habits. We've started eating out more than we should, and spending money on things we haven't really budgeted for. We like being able to spend what we want, when we want.
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The problem is, if we were on a budget, how much more could we be giving, saving or investing?
A biblical look at this subject can be found in Genesis 41 (thanks Miranda!) where it talks about Joseph. Joseph had become very powerful in Egypt, and times were good. They had 7 years of good harvests, but instead of resting on his laurels, Joseph planned ahead (budgeted) for the lean times he knew would be coming. Because he had planned when times were good, many people were saved. By the same token, if we plan ahead when times are good, we'll be able to ride out many tough situations that others might not be able to.
Getting Back To Budgeting Basics
Now that we've realized that our spending is starting to get out of whack, it's time to re-examine our budget, look at our spending priorities, and start focusing on our future goals again. How will we do that?
I'll look at our spending for the last couple of months, and compare it to our old budget. By doing that I can figure out where our problem areas are. I'm guessing they're going to be in the same old spots – eating out and discretionary “blow money”. I'll update our zero based budget to account for our current income level. That way we can make sure that we're saving and giving enough. Also, we'll re-adjust the money allocated to certain categories in case we've under or over allocated money in the past. Once the budget is updated we'll have a family budget meeting to talk about our new revised budget, and talk about how much we'll be spending/saving in the important categories. Communication is key!
Doing a budget isn't always a pleasant process, but it is an important one. I believe it is one of the more important factors in being financially successful. Besides the financial success, it has some other pleasant unintended consequences including peace of mind, and creating unity in a marriage. That's something money can't buy!
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you've stopped working on your budget because you're doing well and felt like you didn't need it any more? Once you stopped budgeting did the bad money habits start creeping back in? Tell us about it in the comments. |
A grieving father is demanding Harrisonburg Police release body camera footage of his son's deadly shooting.
The standoff between Harrisonburg Police and Michael Pierce Jr was all captured on camera last fall. Pierce's father accuses HPD of withholding some of the video. HPD insists it's been as transparent as possible.
"I heard them say, 'get back away from the weapon. If you don't back away I'll kill you, I'll kill you!'" Michael Pierce Sr describes what he heard in police footage.
"And then I heard pow, pow, pow, pow, pow," he explained.
Pierce Sr stares at a TV with Harrisonburg Police. They were playing for him the body camera footage of an officer present the day his son was killed.
"I saw his body on the ground, and I told them I don't want to see anymore," Pierce breaks down recounting the footage.
As Pierce was starting to learn more about what happened so too was the media.
Harrisonburg Police Chief, Stephen Monticelli, held a new conference five days after the shooting.
"I want to remind the community that our officers and their families are also deeply affected by these circumstances. They too need our support," he said.
This is how Harrisonburg Police described what unfolded on September 20, 2015:
Pierce Jr. placed a gun to the chest of a neighbor. When officers arrived, they found him sitting on that neighbor's porch next to his gun. Then, he picked up the weapon. After police ordered him more than 40 times to drop the gun, he ran away and fired at officers. That's when they fired back. One of those shots killed him. The autopsy shows one bullet struck him through the chest also hitting his lungs and heart. His father says the video he was shown doesn't connect all the dots.
"I didn't hear a shotgun. A shotgun has a distinctive sound. Especially a .410," Pierce said.
Six months after the shooting, Pierce Sr. has doubts, because, he says, the footage he was shown was from the point of view of an officer standing away from the actual shooting. Pierce says he never saw his son on tape, until he was dead on the ground.
"The way it was portrayed was that he was just a crazy lunatic out there with a gun," Pierce added.
That's why Pierce asked officers to show him all of the body camera footage. He also wanted to see the officers' footage who actually shot at his son. Pierce says, the department denied that request claiming the shooting was still an active investigation and the footage, furthermore, is considered a personnel matter.
"Something just told me that something wasn't right, it just wasn't right," said Pierce.
HPD also denied WHSV's Freedom of Information Act request for the body camera footage. The department cited the same exclusions Virginia law allows-- an active investigation and a personnel matter.
Back in the September news conference, WHSV asked Chief Monticelli when he expected to release the names of the officers involved. He told us, "Once I'm very confident that the risk is over, then we'll go ahead and release those names."
Thirty days after the shooting, Commonwealth's Attorney Marsha Garst found the killing justifiable. She said officers acted to protect the community at great risk to themselves. She also said they used great restraint.
But Pierce Sr. doesn't buy it.
"If it was so clear cut and if it was so easy for them to go ahead and justify this as a justifiable homicide... They had the opportunity to show me that," Pierce said.
HPD's decision to not release the footage is raising questions about whether body cameras are being used as a tool of transparency or surveillance.
The investigation into this shooting has two sides. The criminal side is closed and ruled justifiable. The internal side, however, is still open. More than 43 days after the shooting. HPD reached out to the FBI to only review the tapes. To this day, the shooting itself has not been investigated by a third party. Virginia State Police was never called in to investigate.That's something HPD Lt. Kurt Boshart calls a "department preference."
And VSP agrees.
Some agencies don't ask for their help, and it's not required under law. However, it is a common practice. Just this weekend, there were four deadly shootings involving officers in Virginia. In three of them, state police was called in. This is fact is leaving Pierce's father to question the Harrisonburg Police Department's transparency.
"I want to just see my son do this. If that's what happened, then just show me, and I'll go away. I'll accept whatever happened that night. Like I said, I know Michael shouldn't have been out there with a gun to begin with," he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia is standing behind Pierce's request.
Bill Farrar, Director of Public Policy and Communications for the ACLU of Virginia, said, "I can't really think of a community event that's more significant than an individual member of the community being shot fatally by law enforcement, and I think the community has a right to expect to understand what happened." He added, "We call on the Harrisonburg Police Department to release the names of the officers involved as well as any video footage that is in their possession."
HPD refused an on-camera interview for this report, but during a phone call, Lt. Boshart told WHSV, they're discussing what information could be released to the community. However, Boshart said, "I can confidently tell you we will not be releasing the names of the officers."
His answer only adds to Pierce's doubt.
"Why? They released the name of my son. Why? Transparency. That's what we're wanting," said Pierce.
Meanwhile Boshart says, they are trying to be transparent and provide for the needs of family and community. HPD's own mission statement claims they value an open and accessible government. Pierce plans to challenge that statement in court if more footage is not released.
Right now, Pierce has kick-started a campaign called "Justice for Big Country." "Big Country" was his son's nickname. Pierce says the goal is to raise awareness on the questions the family still has for police.
WHSV's past coverage on this topic includes (year-month-day):
2015-10-20: Officers Who Shot, Killed Pierce Will Not Face Criminal Charges [ here ]
2015-09-25: Police Release Some Details in Park View Shooting [ here ]
2015-09-23: HPD Denies Request to Release Body Camera Footage [ here ]
2015-09-21: Investigation Continues After Harrisonburg Officers Kill Man [ here ]
2015-09-20: Police Shoot, Kill Armed Man in Harrisonburg [ here ]
Additional Resources
2016-03-24: Commonwealth's Attorney email reply to WHSV: [ image ]
2016-03-18: Harrisonburg City Attorney denies Washington Post FOIA request: [ image ]
2016-03-24: ACLU of Virginia email support of WHSV: [ image ]
Document: Policy, police body cams, Harrisonburg [ .pdf file ]
Document: Policy, police body cams, Staunton [ .pdf file ]
Document: Policy, police body cams, Waynesboro [ .pdf file ]
2016-03-28: HPD response to WHSV story: [ .pdf file ] |
Above: The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative received funding from Mercedes Benz Financial Services, which volunteer Mary Hughes is from, to help plant 200 fruit— apple, pear, plum and cherry — trees on vacant land. (Photo: Jose Juarez / Special to The Detroit News)
Detroit — If Matthew Wollack has his way, a desolate section of the city’s east side will get new life in the form of an 11-acre apple orchard.
The senior director of development and marketing for Wolverine Human Services said the social service agency has served the neighborhood for 30 years, endured its decline and is motivated to reverse it.
Its Core Orchards concept, complete with a farm-to-table restaurant, educational hub and grocery store, also envisions an urban agriculture education partnership with universities and school associations for bachelor’s and master’s degree programs.
“The entire project is based around a new centerpiece for the community that provides food resources, foot traffic, jobs, educational opportunities and brings attention to a community that may otherwise not receive those things,” Wollack said.
The proposal is among the latest in the growing number of urban farming initiatives sprouting up in Detroit. But as farm projects continue to flourish in Detroit, so does controversy over their land use.
Left: Core Orchards, to include food options and education hubs, is being pushed for the east side. (Photo: Wolverine Human Services)
The city has long been home to hundreds of community and school fruit and vegetable gardens and markets, operations that have grown from fewer than 100 in 2004 to about 1,400 today, based on figures cited by Keep Growing Detroit, a group that promotes locally grown foods.
In Wolverine’s case, the nonprofit already has more than $400,000 in funding commitments for its U-pick orchard proposal on land between Charlevoix and Vernor, next to the Wolverine Center Campus on Lenox. But moving the project ahead won’t be simple.
So far, it’s not welcomed by some neighbors in the Riverbend Community. And it will require the acquisition of more than nine acres that contain a mix of vacant homes and lots, as well as the defunct Carstens Elementary School.
Jay Henderson, president of the Riverbend Community Association, said most community members “turned it thumbs down” during a presentation hosted by the nonprofit a few weeks ago.
“It’s not something we want to deal with in the neighborhood,” he said. “We’re looking for activity in this community that can maybe employ some people. An apple orchard really does not employ anyone.”
Greg Hoffman, a spokesman for Wolverine, said organizers expect the orchard will generate a few full-time and about 20 seasonal jobs. Some community members have been resistant, he admits, but contends after learning more about the plan, some are coming around.
“Engaging the community in this project is our top priority in all of this,” he said.
The continued growth of urban farming prompted the city to adopt a zoning ordinance in 2013 to legalize the practice. A proposed urban livestock ordinance for residents who’ve been keeping farm animals — addressing zoning allowances, animal care and oversight — also has been crafted. The livestock ordinance, as well as proposed amendments to the urban agriculture law, are under review by the city’s law department.
Detroit is still lacking direction on where it does and doesn’t want urban farms, according to city officials.
“The city has not yet specifically designated areas where they do or do not want agriculture to happen,” City Planner Kathryn Lynch Underwood said. “That’s still — with all the vacant land — a challenge that the city has.”
Erin Kelly, a landscape architect in the city’s Planning and Development Department, said the industry has an important role in Detroit’s future for land use and the business sector. But in some spots, she said, officials are reluctant to allow it.
“In some areas until the highest and best use of land can be determined, we’re hesitant to proceed with that because of the need for that strategic work,” she said.
Strategy staff in January will begin holding community conversations on development in several city neighborhoods. They expect citywide discussions on land use, including urban farming, next year, Kelly said.
“We are aware of the real need for urban farmers in Detroit to have land security,” Kelly said. “We do understand this type of citywide land strategy can provide land security for existing farmers and for new ones. That’s one of the many benefits that a citywide plan would deliver.”
In Detroit’s north end, one nonprofit has been battling the city over ownership of some of the land it farms.
Michigan Urban Farming Initiative got its start under an adopt-a-lot program five years ago. Since then, it’s transformed a tiny community garden to an operation that’s supplied more than 50,000 pounds of food to more than 2,000 households within two square miles, said co-founder and president Tyson Gersh.
The group has about a dozen projects going on a 1.5-acre site off Brush between Horton and Custer in Detroit’s District 5, one of the city’s seven district locations. Earlier this month, Mercedes Benz Financial Services funded the planting of 200 cherry, plum, pear and apple trees on a previously vacant parcel of its agricultural campus.
The farming initiative works on about 20 parcels and has acquired some from private owners and county foreclosure auction. But Gersh said the group was unable to obtain the deed for one of its properties or buy several others from the Detroit Land Bank Authority.
“We know that the work we are doing is good,” he said. “There is no way to justify the strategy that the city has been employing onto its residents. We’re not going anywhere.”
Most city-owned parcels are in the inventory of the land bank. Buyers can acquire them through the auction, community partnerships, side lot sales and other programs. An individual offerer looking to obtain 10 or more parcels must get City Council approval and larger scale projects must undergo review by the city’s Jobs and Economy Team.
Vince Keenan, neighborhood manager for District 5, said officials have nothing against the agriculture efforts there.
The farming group, however, is operating in a zone close to the last stop of the QLine light rail system in an area prioritized for affordable housing.
“It’s one of the few places we would be able to target affordable housing that would have easy access to the train and that’s our priority,” he said. “We feel it’s our obligation to try to make sure people of all income levels have an opportunity to live near an amenity like that.”
Within the last 30 days, the farming initiative collected more than 1,500 petition signatures from area residents who support its efforts to obtain the remaining deeds for the land. Neighbors have also helped by circulating copies at churches and community meetings, Gersh said.
Earlier this month, District 5 Councilwoman Mary Sheffield submitted a letter of support for the group to the land bank, calling it "a steadfast leader in urban farming."
In the City Airport neighborhood in northeast Detroit, the Georgia Street Community Collective is having a similar challenge.
The neighborhood garden and vegetable farm, initiated by Mark Covington, spans 13 vacant formerly blighted lots. It’s been home to chickens, ducks, honey bees and goats since 2010.
Covington said he’s been trying to purchase the city-owned lots, not far from the Interstate 94 Industrial Park, since 2008. Last year, the farm worked out a three-year lease agreement. But Covington remains frustrated and wants to negotiate a deal to buy.
“It depends on what neighborhood you are in,” he said. “It’s not equitable.”
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The two tech investors tied to Peter Thiel met with president-elect Donald Trump on Thursday, and discussed, among other things, the possible future of the FDA.
Balaji Srinivasan, CEO of bitcoin start-up 21.co, and Jim O'Neill, the managing director of investment firm Mithril Capital Management, were both scheduled to meet with Trump Thursday afternoon. Both "are being considered for positions in the FDA," incoming White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on a daily briefing call.
Srinivasan, also a partner at venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, is an expert in the subjects of digital payments and computational biology, and teaches at Stanford University. Srinivasan's expertise in health regulation stems back to a start-up he co-founded, Counsyl, which offers DNA screening, especially for people considering having children.
Srinivasan has openly criticized the FDA, saying that "big bad pharma does exist, but is only half the story. FDA sets the incentives."
O'Neill, who has previously been mentioned as a potential FDA pick, formerly advised top players at Heath and Human Services on drug and research investments. He's also been outspoken about the state of healthcare regulation, speaking on the issue of aging at a conference in 2014. |
In Art Spotlight, we invite Sketchfab artists to talk about one of their designs.
Hi! My name is Dmitry and I’d like to share with you the process of creating my Caitlyn model for the Riot art contest on Polycount. Before we start I wanted to thank Riot and Polycount for that awesome contest and Sketchfab for giving an opportunity to show this model in 3d!
As a base for a model I used an official Riot Caitlyn wallpaper for a base skin. I like that illustration very much and my goal of this entry was to create a model of Caitlyn and come as close as I can to an illustration.
First thing I started is to make a body and head in Z brush. I wasn’t trying to push it too much, I needed a base for lowpoly because it is much faster to do a quick sketch of body and face, then made some fixes in lowpoly rather than creating lowpoly in maya from the beginning. Well, at least for me this is the fastest way.
Highpoly to lowpoly process
When I was happy with the result I started doing lowpoly over highpoly adding belts gloves and boots all details that are simple and easy to do right on the fly. Next step adding dress, belts and hat with it glasses system and hair. It is much easier for me to create all that details right in lowpoly to keep a control on all the verts and shapes. Next step was a weapon. I made a rough side projection concept and made a model in Maya.
Weapon concept and model
After receiving feedback on Polycount forum on my WIP thread I tuned up silhouette pushed belts and make legs longer cos it is a stylized model and long legs will work better from the ingame perspective. After that made a UV mapping, AO bake, gradient bake and headed over to painting texture.
For painting textures I use 3d Coat and Photoshop. I’m setting up a model for painting by making a full version and over it separated version where I break apart a model to have a easy access to all parts of a model. Best thing about 3d coat for me is the applink with Photoshop: by pressing Ctrl+P you send all layers in Photoshop and compose all maps right there. After importing all maps in file from 3d Coat I started to make flat colors to make layers by materials in order to have a good and easy to use system that later will help alot with adjustments and painting with “Lock Transparency” inside 3d coat. Also as a main tip for painting textured from me is to change color of AO map from black to color. When you setting AO to multiply it add black and all colors look dirty in shadows. To avoid that merge all flats in one layer, then using AO as a selection source and make a new color AO layer via copy. Set the result to multiply and there you have it cleaner shadows with some color in it that very good thing to have.
Separated model and color AO overlay
All that’s left to do is to paint all materials one by one jumping from 3d Coat to Photoshop and back to 3d Coat. In some cases the blending tools and brushes of 3d Coat is not enough so it is easy to send the snapshot of the model to Photoshop (Ctrl+Alt+P) and paint it right there with all the power of Photoshop brushes. And the best thing is you have same layer structure that you have in 3d Coat and you can use Lock Transparency in Photoshop to keep the layers clean. Amazing feature! And this is the moment when you will thank yourself for creating layers by color/material and naming them properly.
Final texture
After many tests and fixes the easy part was adding a skeleton, skinning and posing. And here is a final result.
Here is a 3d version:
Thank you for reading and I hope you found something useful here!
Thanks Dmitry!
You can find more of Dmitry’s works on his Artstation portfolio and on his Sketchfab portfolio. |
New details have emerged in the saga of Bitcoin’s mysterious creator Satoshi Nakamoto. Last night, the London Review of Books published an incredibly detailed, 35,000-word story about the recent turmoil of Craig Wright, an Australian businessman who claims to have invented Bitcoin. The story offers plenty of fascinating tidbits about the entire Wright saga, but fails to answer a question that’s fundamental to the story: How did a man so obsessed with security get hacked so damn badly?
Wright’s claims to Bitcoin fame aren’t new. Gizmodo and Wired last year published simultaneous investigations into a trove of apparently hacked documents that appeared to link Wright to the cryptocurrency’s creation. Wright disappeared for months following the ensuing circus, only to reappear and embark on a bizarre media tour wherein he offered up supposed cryptographic proof of his identity as Satoshi that was quickly debunked by experts.
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Andrew O’Hagan, who wrote the LRB story, appears to have had unfettered access to Wright, his wife Ramona, and Wright’s business associates. The author says he was contacted by an entertainment lawyer representing Wright—weeks before the Gizmodo and Wired stories were published—who wanted him to tell the story of Wright as Bitcoin’s creator. According to O’Hagan, Wright was always quick to credit others who were involved in Bitcoin’s creation.“One of the things I noticed was that Wright hated claiming outright to be Satoshi,” O’Hagan wrote. “And would spend hours giving credit to everyone who had ever contributed.” From the story:
I got an email from a Los Angeles lawyer called Jimmy Nguyen, from the firm Davis Wright Tremaine (self-described as ‘a one-stop shop for companies in entertainment, technology, advertising, sports and other industries’). Nguyen told me that they were looking to contract me to write the life of Satoshi Nakamoto. ‘My client has acquired life story rights … from the true person behind the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto – the creator of the bitcoin protocol,’ the lawyer wrote. ‘The story will be [of] great interest to the public and we expect the book project will generate significant publicity and media coverage once Satoshi’s true identity is revealed.’
O’Hagan agreed, and had multiple meetings where he says he discussed being paid for the story. “We talked about money, and negotiated a little, but after several meetings I decided I wouldn’t accept any,” O’Hagan wrote. “I would write the story as I had every other story under my name, by observing and interviewing, taking notes and making recordings, and sifting the evidence.”
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When it comes to the supposed hack of Wright’s personal emails that link him to Bitcoin’s creation, Wright says they were leaked from a hard drive stolen by a disgruntled employee. That seems dubious, considering Wright’s noted obsession with encryption and security (the story details Wright’s multiple encrypted computers and his history as a security specialist). It’s hard to imagine that someone who walked away with a hard drive belonging to Wright would be able to access the contents.
The story doesn’t delve much further than Wright’s claim into how his personal emails and documents were stolen. In fact, it seems that O’Hagan took Wright at his word that the hack occurred as it did. This was the only mention of how Wright’s emails and documents were supposedly stolen and leaked in the entire story, despite the fact that this was major point of contention in the Craig Wright saga—and especially because the allegedly hacked documents themselves kicked off the Gizmodo and Wired investigations in the first place.
Beyond that dubious hack, the story also details Wright’s plan to file patents on Bitcoin technology, and his claims that he was in talks with Google and Uber to sell the technology. An “IT expert,” Stefan Matthews, and a businessman, Robert MacGregor, had teamed up with Wright to execute this plan under a company they called nCrypt:
The plan was always clear to the men behind nCrypt. They would bring Wright to London and set up a research and development centre for him, with around thirty staff working under him. They would complete the work on his inventions and patent applications – he appeared to have hundreds of them – and the whole lot would be sold as the work of Satoshi Nakamoto, who would be unmasked as part of the project. Once packaged, Matthews and MacGregor planned to sell the intellectual property for upwards of a billion dollars. MacGregor later told me he was speaking to Google and Uber, as well as to a number of Swiss banks. ‘The plan was to package it all up and sell it,’ Matthews told me. ‘The plan was never to operate it.’
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The story is full of interesting details about Wright, but in the end, the author who spent six months with Wright still isn’t convinced that he’s the guy. “Either he’s one of the greatest computer scientists of his generation,” Andrew O’Hagan wrote. “Or he’s a reckless opportunist, or he’s both. We can’t be sure.”
[London Review of Books] |
It appears 'Hidden Singer 3' is receiving a lot of backlash following the elimination of Taeyeon during the second round of her appearance on the show on September 20. The complaint derives from the fact that the song used in the second round leading to her elimination was not her solo track, but Girls' Generation's "Gee." Furthermore, people are complaining that Taeyeon was not even given her own part in the song, but was given that of another member, Tiffany.
The production crew said that they could understand why the viewers were complaining, but asked for them to be understanding, as well. Producer Jo Seung Wook stated, "'Hidden Singer' is not a contest to distinguish who sings better, nor is it a program to distinguish the real from the fake. It is not a place for mechanical judgment based on synchronization. It is a time to enjoy the footsteps left in a singer's world of music. In Taeyeon's case, she released solo songs and promoted as TaeTiSeo, but she primarily promoted as the main vocalist in Girls' Generation. So we chose two of her solo songs, one of Girls' Generation's song, and one of TaeTiSeo's song," elaborating that following the footsteps of a singer's world of music involved exploring the representative tracks throughout that singer's career.
[SEEALSO]http://www.allkpop.com/article/2014/09/taeyeon-gets-eliminated-on-the-2nd-round-of-her-hidden-singer-special-performances[/SEEALSO]
"The first and second round are very difficult games for the original singer," he continued. "Even in the past, singers sometimes narrowly made it through without getting eliminated. It is that way because it is unfamiliar, the original singer's characteristic feature is indistinctive, and there is only a short measure to judge by. The people judging are not 5,000 Koreans but 100 people on site. However, it is not an unfair game. The production crew has no ulterior intention, so please understand."
The producer also brought up the fact that others, such as Jo Sung Mo and Shin Seung Hoon, were likewise eliminated at some point, saying that these cases should not be deemed dishonorable for the singers. He pointed out that in Jo Sung Mo's case, his voice had matured greatly, yet people still remembered his past sound with fondness. He also pointed out that Hwanhee sang Brian's part of "Missing You" during his appearance on the show.
The producer also stated, "From hereon, there will be no participant from an idol group on 'Hidden Singer 3,' so there will be no instance similar to Taeyeon's." |
Cooler weather, nuclear power plant outages and low levels of renewables generation pushed central European day ahead prompt prices higher on Wednesday as a large Hungarian spot premium persisted, traders said.
On regional exchanges, Czech and Slovak electricity for Thursday rose nearly 5 percent to 46.21 euros ($57.68) per megawatt hour, while day ahead on Hungary's HUPX jumped 50 percent to 67.38 euros.
Hungarian spot prices have traded well above their Czech and Slovak counterparts in recent months because of limited import capacity and power plant outages.
Czech electricity company CEZ said it had shut units three and four at its Dukovany nuclear power plant for an unplanned repair.
Data from Thomson Reuters Point Carbon showed forecasts for wind generation in Germany rising about 500 megawatts to 2.1 gigawatts with solar production expected to fall by about 400 megawatts to 1.4 gigawatts.
Further along the curve, the Czech Cal '15 contract held steady at 33.80 euros and the Hungarian front year fell 5 cents to 42.35 euros on the Prague-based Power Exchange Central Europe.
Around the region, the benchmark German Cal '15 contract ticked 3 cents higher to 34.27 euros in afternoon trade on Germany's EEX exchange.
Poland's largest gas distributor PGNiG has begun talks with Russia's Gazprom on cutting gas delivery prices, PGNiG said.
Day ahead prices on Poland's POLPX exchange rose to 255.92 zlotys ($75.53) from 188.95 zlotys after bourse data showed planned and unplanned outages would fall to 6.2 gigawatts from 7.1 gigawatts from a day earlier.
Brent oil touched a new four-year low, briefly sinking below $82 a barrel after weak Chinese and European data, but U.S. crude rose on strong employment figures and a surprise drop in inventories.
European carbon futures were up 1 cent to 6.59 6.38 euros a tonne in afternoon trading.
(1 US dollar = 0.8012 euro) (1 US dollar = 3.3884 Polish zloty)
(Reporting by Michael Kahn; Editing by David Goodman) |
This past week has brought to my in-box an unprecedented number of stories about how archaeology has not just moved into the 21st century but also blazed a trail for other disciplines. Using drones, satellites, big data sets, and 3D, archaeologists are finding, recording, and saving antiquities around the world. Here are just three of the week's big stories:
Cyber-archaeology, Big Data, and Helium
The neologism cyber-archaeology is, according to UC San Diego anthropology professor Thomas Levy, "the marriage of archaeology with engineering, computer, and natural sciences." Levy and his research team work in the Middle East, which has the dubious distinction of housing over one-third of the in-danger World Heritage sites. At Petra, Jordan -- where Indiana Jones famously went in search of the Holy Grail in the movies -- Levy was asked to use helium balloon high-def photography to map the site in 3D.
But while this isn't exactly new in archaeology, Levy is going a step further and raising issues related to the maintenance of the data, in addition to the site itself. "Where do the data reside?" he asks. "It's early days for cyber-archaeology. We don't yet have a unified way of dealing with metadata like you find in a field like genetics."
Collaborating with other researchers at UC Berkeley, UC Merced, and UCLA, Levy is helping combine 3D data from drones and satellites from locations across the Mediterranean and Near East, covering nearly 10 millennia of human cultural existence. His part of the project will help share data on regional climate and demography far and wide, letting other anthropologists better understand how ancient humans interacted with their local environment.
The general public will see the benefit of Levy's work as well. “ Google Cardboard and Oculus Rift and other emerging 3-D technologies make it possible to enter and explore ancient monuments as they were the day they were scanned,” he says. And his group plans to put 3D kiosks into UC libraries so that students, researchers, and others can view digital objects the way that we've viewed books, films, and microfiche in the past.
3D Printing Historical and Archaeological Museum Exhibits for the Blind
But what about people who can't see the virtual world of Petra that Levy has created? Enter Bernard Means, an archaeologist at Virginia Commonwealth University, whose Virtual Curation Lab is creating museum exhibits for the visually challenged.
Means has been collaborating with the Virginia Historical Society in Richmond to create replicas of artifacts that can be touched. Vice president for programs at the museum, Andrew Talkov, said that he was "trying to figure out how we can use 3-D printing to make the experience better for everybody — because who doesn’t want to be able to handle the [artifact] that’s behind the glass, even if it’s just a reproduction — but specifically for the visually impaired." Means scanned and printed for them artifacts including a 1622 iron breastplate, a 1924 cigar store Indian, a wheel from a Conestoga wagon, and George Washington's signature on a letter regarding his command of the Continental Army.
"You can tell people that George Washington signed this document," Means says, "but even if you could hold the real thing, it's not going to mean anything to you if you're visually impaired. But by 3D printing, somebody could trace it and feel it. This is actually touching George Washington's signature."
The exhibit is already gaining traction. Kimmy Drudge, a local teenager who is visually impaired, was thrilled to "see" Washington's signature and other artifacts. When Means told her she could keep a copy of the 3D prints, she called him the "Jedi Master of 3D printing." Kimmy's mother, Dawn Peifer, said they couldn't wait to visit again and praised the "tremendous impact it will make for individuals who are blind/visually impaired to be able to explore replicas or samples."
Crowdsourcing Space Archaeology
And finally, archaeologist Sarah Parcak, who won the $1 million TED prize three months ago, has announced her plans for the money, and they include crowdsourcing. Her in-development online platform will let anyone scour satellite images and look for evidence of looting -- something she calls a "global alarm system."
In her announcement at TED, Parcak said that "the plan is for us to develop a massive online crowdsourced citizen science campaign to allow anyone in the world to use satellite imagery to discover archaeological heritage and protect against looting. If we don't do something in the next couple of years to engage the world, this will be gone. We're losing the battle against the looters."
Looting has gotten much worse after the recession of 2009, as people turn to selling antiquities on the black market. There is also politically- and religiously-motivated destruction, as in the case of ISIS at Palmyra. So while the new online experience will let anyone look for sites, Parcak makes it clear that her team "will not make mapping or GPS data available so as to protect sites. The last thing we want is for looters to log on and help find sites." When evidence of looting is found, the information will be given to archaeological or governmental officials in the area to deal with.
The gamification of satellite archaeology should, she hopes, encourage people around the world to help protect our cultural heritage. And it should help democratize archaeology as well. As she noted in her TED talk, "One hundred years ago archaeology was for the rich; 50 years ago it was for men; now it's for academics. Who is the next Howard Carter? It might be you."
The goal of all three of the profiled archaeologists -- Levy, Means, and Parcak -- is not only to share archaeology with the public but to get the public involved in archaeology. When we all feel we have a stake in our collective cultural heritage, we stand to gain important information about the past that can inform the present and affect the future. 21st century archaeology is an archaeology by, for, and of the people of the world. |
In pursuit of a better bang, two unlikely industries are working to develop greener, cleaner-burning pyrotechnics. Hollywood wants less smoke — and the military doesn't want to contaminate its training sites.
But the new formulations are pricy, and America’s commercial fireworks industry — which made $1.1 billion in revenue last year — is still a long way from changing their decades-old recipes. When the industry’s ready, or when environmental regulations become more stringent, fireworks manufacturers will at least know where to start, says Jesse Sabatini, a scientist with the US Army Research Laboratory who has worked extensively on pyrotechnics. “You’ve got formulations now that are out there, that the companies can take.”
Blowing smoke
The main ingredient in fireworks hasn’t changed for the last 1,000 years: black powder. Fireworks also contain a fuel (often a powdered metal), an oxidizer that helps that fuel burn, and metals and minerals that emit different colors of light when they’re heated. Copper compounds, for example, throw off blue light, strontium produces red fireworks, sodium makes yellow, and barium glows green.
All of these ingredients are spun or pressed together with a binding ingredient — creating pellets that are also known as stars. These are tightly packed around a black powder core into a papier-mâché or cardboard shell, on top of another compartment that’s filled with black powder only.
To launch the firework, you put it into a long tube called a mortar, and light the long fuse that leads to that bottom compartment. The first black powder explosion launches the firework into the air, and ignites a second, internal fuse. When the flame reaches the shell’s black powder core, another explosion propels the burning stars outward in a burst of color.
Black powder makes a mess when it burns. That can affect air quality, although it’s not completely clear how firework displays stack up against, say, vehicle emissions or wildfires. One recent study found a massive, 370-percent spike in airborne soot in the vicinity of a July 4th pyrotechnics show — and another found a 1,000-fold increase.
Despite the uncertainty about just how bad the emissions are, it’s not a good idea to inhale firework smoke. “Fireworks, cigarettes, woodfires, campfires — there’s no smoke that’s good for the human breathing system,” says John Conkling, professor emeritus of chemistry at Washington College and a former executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association industry group.
The entertainment industry is pushing to reduce the smoke in pyrotechnics used for film or during live performances. Black powder isn’t just bad for the lungs — it also stinks. That can turn any pyrotechnic event in a closed space — like concerts or sporting events — into an unpleasant experience. Mythbusters’ Kari Byron, who’s a black powder connoisseur, told The Verge in an October 2016 interview that the stuff, in fact, smells like a fart.
Plus, smoke is unattractive. “If the the air in the stadium is just filled with smoke, it’ll just look like hell on TV,” says Darren Naud, a former explosives chemist at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Naud spun off a company with another Los Alamos scientist called DMD Systems that engineers lower-smoke fireworks licensed by Ultratec Special Effects. He also patented a new kind of pyrotechnic device that combusts smaller amounts of black powder, or a smokeless propellant, more efficiently to launch fireworks into the sky.
“You could say that our fireworks are more environmentally friendly, but it’s not our first reason to do that ... we’re trying to find a niche market in an industry that requires it,” Naud says. “Am I doing that for Mother Nature? No, I’m trying to make a buck.”
Conkling says Naud is working in the right area for that — because cleaner, pricier ingredients matter for the entertainment industry. “For the special effects industry, that’s a higher ticket item — so you’re able to recoup the investment in the chemicals to get a clean burning material,” he says. Independence Day fireworks displays, by contrast, are more about cheap, awe-inspiring quantity than quality.
Toxic recipe
Another ingredient in fireworks, called perchlorate, helps the fuel combust and makes the colors shine more brightly. But it’s also thought to be toxic, which is why the Environmental Protection Agency regulates how much of the stuff can seep into drinking water.
As with air pollution, it’s not completely clear the extent to which fireworks displays contaminate water systems with perchlorate. But a 2007 study conducted by EPA scientists found that perchlorate levels in Oklahoma surface waters increased by between 24 to over 1,000 times baseline levels after an Independence Day display — and it took from 20 to 80 days to go back down.
Scientists with the US Army’s Armament Research, Development, and Engineering Center (ARDEC) are trying find a cheap, effective replacement for perchlorate. For the military, which uses pyrotechnics to mimic actual battlefield conditions in training simulations, perchlorate contamination of groundwater can shut down training operations. “When soldiers get deployed to real combat theaters, they are less prepared,” says Jared Moretti, a scientist with ARDEC who specializes in pyrotechnics.
That’s why he and his colleagues — including Jesse Sabatini — are working hard to develop compounds to replace perchlorates; some of them are now being used in red, green, and yellow signal flares. There’s also a push to find new coloring agents that still shine brightly without perchlorate’s added boost. These advances could eventually trickle down into commercial fireworks, Conkling says — especially if the military winds up needing a lot of perchlorate-free pyrotechnic material made.
“The industry wants to sell as much of it as they can, so they start looking at other customers. And it could very well evolve to the fireworks industry using their same materials to produce their colors in a greener fashion,” he says. “Many of the advances over the last hundred years have been things coming out from military research, to get brighter colors in the sky, to get safer colors in manufacturing.”
Still, the best perchlorate replacements are expensive to make — which is why these advances, like the entertainment industry’s smokeless fireworks, are still limited to niche markets. But they may not stay that way forever. Fireworks used to incorporate mercury, arsenic, and lead compounds for effects about 75 years ago, Conkling says. They’re gone now.
So while we might not see new recipes at this year’s July Fourth show, these new formulations may be the future of fireworks. As the military and entertainment industries begin using new compounds, and as we learn more about the environmental and health hazards of fireworks, other markets are likely to follow suit — including the one stocking your local firework display. |
Yesterday, we learned of the upcoming Batman/Detective Comics crossover Night Of The Owls from the official DC Source blog.
But also at the Superman Homepage, Matt Idleson talked about a Superman, Superboy and Supergirl crossover this summer. He wrote;
Many things that will be factors in ACTION this year are being established in issues #5-6, Frank. Grant (with the help of guest-artist Andy Kubert) has sprinkled an incredible amount of fun hints inside a really challenging story. Meanwhile, Keith and Dan are plotting some really star-spanning stuff for Supes, though before that we’ll be doing an event between SUPERMAN, SUPERGIRL and SUPERBOY in the summer. Superman hasn’t met Superboy yet, and his relationship with Supergirl isn’t exactly lovey dovey. Seeing how they function as a unit under those circumstances should be interesting, to say the least.
Also, it looks like Action Comics being set in the New DCU’s past may continue for some time.
As hinted in another answer, Action Comics #9 is likely to be focusing on an element of the Multiverse, whilst the current origin storyline in Action Comics #5 and #6 will be laying groundwork for the coming year’s worth of stories.
Finally, Matt also mentioned that we will be seeing Silver Banshee as a villain in one of the super-books, but not which one…
About Rich Johnston Chief writer and founder of Bleeding Cool. Father of two. Comic book clairvoyant. Political cartoonist.
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Appetizers & Beverages, Recipes, Yum-Yum Sweet Potato Chips Recipe By Amy Johnson
After all the junk I’ve had over the holidays I’m needing to take a few steps back and regroup in regards to my eating habits. Healthy snacks are at the top of the list. Did you see the post I did for Tasty Kitchen on how to open a pomegranate?
I’ve opened more than a few pomegranates over the past weeks, but have also made a few batches of healthy chips with this Sweet Potato Chips Recipe. They’re packed with flavor, and Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Potassium and Manganese.
Plus, they’re baked, not fried. And did you know the sweet potato is a strong anti-inflammatory food? I had no idea all that goodness was in the sweet potato. Sweet, indeed. If you’re participating in Weight Watchers, according to my calculations, one whole sweet potato, baked, is about 4 points, but a vitamin rich 4 points it is.
For the Sweet Potato Chips, begin with some basic seasonings and sweet potatoes.
This is a simple recipe that allows you to create your own flavor combination. I’ve listed a spicy combo below, but get creative and come up with what floats your boat.
Begin by peeling the sweet potatoes.
Next, it’s time to slice. I used a mandoline to slice the sweet potatoes, but you can easily use a sharp knife. Be careful! You’ll want them pretty thin, about 1/8″ thick.
In a bowl, combine the oil and herbs and spices. Then add the sliced sweet potatoes, and toss until they’re all coated with the spicy goodness.
Next, on ungreased baking sheets, line then all up, in a single layer and get ready to bake.
Bake in a 400°F oven for about 10-12 minutes. Then, turn all the potatoes over and return for more baking until golden brown and starting to get crispy. Should take around 10 more minutes. Be careful to watch for burning. Depending on your oven, you may need to decrease or increase cooking time for desired crispness.
They’re so yummy. And they make for the perfect snack or tasty partner to a burger or sandwich. Enjoy! |
What Are the Odds of Becoming a Black Belt?
The Beta Mode Blocked Unblock Follow Following Feb 24, 2017
By: Steve Pavlina
People often ask me to help them assess what their odds of success will be in some new endeavor: What are my odds of succeeding as a full-time blogger? What are my odds of succeeding as an indie game developer? What are my odds of succeeding as an entrepreneur?
On the surface it seems intelligent to assess your risks before embarking on a new venture. Unfortunately the way I’ve seen most people do this is rather silly.
Often such seekers will look for a certain statistic to help them assess the risk: What percentage of people who attempted a similar venture actually succeeded to the degree I’d like to experience? For example, if you want to earn $5000/month as a blogger, your question would be, “What percentage of bloggers who try to generate full-time income actually earn $5000/month or more?” Suppose it’s on the order of 1%. You then interpret your odds of success as the same figure.
What does such a statistic have to do with your personal chance of success? Nothing at all.
To me this is like asking, “What are my odds of success in kung fu?” If you’re committed to becoming a black belt in kung fu and are willing to put in the time and training, you’ll probably do just fine. But if you’ve never studied martial arts and are looking for a fast and easy road to success, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
In many fields you only see a 1% success ratio because the other 99% are merely taking up space. They’re just dabblers, not serious contenders. You’ll often see this 1% figure in fields with a low barrier to entry such as blogging, acting, or music. You’ll find a small percentage of people who are really committed to mastery, but the rest have virtually no hope of notable success.
Pulling away from the pack in any field is largely a matter of choice. That choice is a commitment to mastery. But very few will make this choice because it requires hard work, resolve, patience, self-discipline, and a long time perspective. A would-be actor who gives up within the first year clearly hasn’t made this choice. Nor has a blogger who quits after six months. If you want to succeed in a new field where you lack experience, you should be thinking of at least a 3–5 year commitment. If that scares you away, then save yourself the time you would have spent dabbling, and don’t bother.
When you start out in a brand new field with no experience, you’re going to suck… most likely really suck. But the worst part is you won’t even recognize how truly pathetic you are. There you are, setting off on a new venture, brimming with confidence, and you’re completely incompetent and don’t even know it.
So what happens? You’re going to screw up. If you’re lucky your results will just be bad instead of painfully bad. But screwing up is perfectly OK. That’s supposed to happen. Screwing up is how you learn. Every mistake helps you make new distinctions and increase your skill.
Consider a martial arts student who spars for the very first time. The student lacks timing, speed, coordination, balance, endurance, and flexibility… not to mention confidence. Sparring involves trying to avoid banging knees with your opponent. But everyone starts out this way. Even the most accomplished black belts began as white belts.
As you build skill, which normally takes years to achieve competency in any worthwhile field, you move out of the 99% and into the 1%. That 99% will continue churning away with high turnover. Dabblers will enter the field, try it for six months, and give up after concluding it’s too hard. A challenging field is good though because it means your long-term investment in skill-building will mean something, like a black belt. It wouldn’t be much of an accomplishment if it was too easy.
Imagine starting as a white belt in kung fu with no previous martial arts experience. You go to your instructor and say, “I want to compete in sparring tournaments at the black belt level.” Your instructor will probably laugh at you. If you were to spar a halfway decent black belt, you’d take a beating every single time. If you spar 100 matches, you’ll lose 100 matches. This is where the dabblers conclude that it’s impossible for them to succeed in kung fu. Those who are committed, however, know that they have a long road of skill-building ahead of them. Becoming a black belt is a choice, albeit certainly not an easy one.
What’s unfair about easy-entry fields like blogging, acting, or music is that white belts and black belts are thrown into the same pool. White belts are forced to compete against black belts who’ve been honing their skills for years. It’s totally unfair. But that unfairness is what provides the challenge and makes it fun.
When you start out as a white belt in an unfair playing field, you get creamed. The black belts beat you again and again. No matter what you do, nothing seems to work. But when you’re committed, you know that early success isn’t to be expected. This is the training phase. Your goal is to survive and to learn, not to win. That’s where you have the advantage because as a white belt, you can develop your skills much faster than a black belt.
So you train. And train. And train. And if you stick with it long enough, eventually you’ll find yourself a black belt in your field. At that level everything becomes easier because your skills have risen to the challenge. Consequently, you’re able to achieve and maintain positive results that are virtually impossible for those who are just now entering the field. Then you’ll have to figure out what to say when people begin asking you, “What are the odds of becoming a black belt?”
Your odds of success in your field of choice won’t be found in any statistics. Success is a choice, not a coin flip. You succeed by deciding what you want, knowing why you want it, and committing to it. |
“The goal is to help people who want to take a given step but may face some barriers,” said Maya Shankar, the Oxford-educated scientist who leads the team. “You can do everything to make sure that a program is well designed, but if it’s not getting into the hands of people who are supposed to be benefiting from it, everything up to that point was for naught.”
Governments generally operate on the assumption that people are rational. One of the basic implications of mainstream economic theory is that public policy works best when people are treated as rational decision makers.
Yet a growing body of research has found that people are not only irrational on occasion, but they tend to be irrational in some consistent and predictable ways. People tend to be influenced by the last thing they heard. They tend to fear losses more than they like profits. They tend to be a little lazy.
And researchers from this new school argue the government should account for these tendencies.
“Almost any domain that they let us go in, we could figure out some way of making at least modest improvements in what they’re doing,” said the University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler, one of the founders of behavioral economics and a leading advocate of governments making use of what he calls “nudges.”
Ms. Shankar and her team of 15 — including psychologists, economists and sociologists — conducted about a dozen experiments over the last year to prove the value of the approach, but so far the successes remain small. The rebate forms, for example, increased revenue by about 6 percent. |
Super PACs get so much attention these days because they are a novel and easy way for donors who can write large checks to influence elections. But there's another avenue for big money to enter politics that's ideal for donors who'd rather keep their identities cloaked and that, thanks to a recent court decision, may be about to get more popular.
So far in the 2012 election cycle, some $9 million has been spent to help elect or defeat candidates for federal office by entities that don't have to disclose where they got their money. About two thirds of the ads funded by these largely anonymous donors have been attack ads -- an even greater proportion than the super PACs' ads, 60 percent of which have been negative.
Spending by non-political committees has overwhelmingly leaned Democratic—73 percent has either opposed Republicans or helped Democrats. In contrast, overall spending by super PACs and other outside groups promoting Republicans have had the fundraising and spending advantage so far, and by some estimates, hope to spend $1 billion on the presidential and congressional races this November. They are all listed on a new page on Sunlight's Follow the Unlimited Money tracker. Donors have been reported for only about 10 percent of the $9 million.
Russian nesting dolls
But most of that 10 percent is simply funding from parent organizations--which in turn don't have to disclose their donors. For example, the anti-abortion rights Susan B Anthony List, which has spent more than $500,000 on independent expenditures, reported donations from its General Treasury Fund.
That leaves only 1.5 percent of the $9 million coming from non-parent organizations of the committee. This is perfectly legal, because of narrowly written regulations.
Any individual who can afford it can legally spend as much as he or she wants on political campaigns, as Foster Friess -- one of the names on our new page -- did for former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum. Any group that can demonstrate its "major purpose" is not campaign-related -- such as the League of Conservation Voters or a corporation or labor union -- can also spend money in unlimited amounts without ever opening their books or, in some cases, even registering with the Federal Election Commission.
Because of a remaining disclosure loophole, this kind of spending — some of it by groups that very little is known about—may become even more important as the election nears. A recent court decision called Van Hollen v. the FEC, has set off widespread speculation that some nonprofit groups, organized under section 501(c) of the U.S. tax code, will likely increase this independent expenditure spending.
"My belief is that we will see it (increase) because we have some groups and individuals that seem very determined to evade disclosure requirements," said Paul Ryan, an attorney at the Campaign Legal Center, which promotes stricter campaign finance regulations and greater transparency.
That's because the Van Hollen decision -- in a case brought by Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., to try to force third-party groups to disclose donors -- has made another popular type of election spending less attractive. Prior to the court's ruling, outside groups could avoid disclosing donors if they ran issue ads that raise questions about a candidate's policies but stop short of calling for his or her election or defeat. Under the court's ruling, groups likely would have to disclose their donors if those ads run close to an election.
That prompted the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has long mostly steered clear of directly supporting candidates, to announce that it will shift from issue ads to independent expenditures in the wake of the Van Hollen ruling. It plans to spend more than $50 million on the 2012 race. Another big-spending conservative group, American Future Fund, directly asked the FEC for an end around these disclosure rules in light of the ruling—largely to no avail.
Non-Political Committees
Much of these independent expenditures by unregistered, "non-political" committees directly was not allowed before Citizens United, a landmark 2010 Supreme Court ruling that opened the door to allow corporate and union spending directly on elections. It's not possible to say how much. However, a group like the Chamber of Commerce, which accepts money from business, would not have been able to make these expenditures before the ruling.
Neither would one of the groups that has spent the most so far—the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a union that has dropped $1.5 million on ads opposing the presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
Other 501(c)4 groups that were previously allowed to make independent expenditures so as long as they did not accept money from businesses or unions are now free to do so because of Citizens United. These groups include the Planned Parenthood Action Fund—the top spender of the non-political committees so far at over $1.6 million—and the League of Conservation Voters, which has spent over $800,000 backing and opposing candidates this election.
The LCV has changed its policy to accept corporate and union money and Planned Parenthood has done so with union money. LCV has received a "very little" amount from corporations, according to Mike Palamuso, LCV's vice president of communications. Its union donations have come in $5,000 table sponsorships at its annual dinner from AFSCME, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Building and Construction Trades Department of AFL-CIO, according to Palamuso. AFSCME also donated $20,000 to Planned Parenthood in October 2011. It's worth noting that both of these groups, like many other 501c4s, have also started super PACs.
There is another important outcome from Citizens United. Entirely new 501(c)4s have popped up, such as the center-right American Action Network, one of the top spenders of the non-political committees this year. Two other prominent new groups are the center-right Crossroads GPS and the pro Barack-Obama Priorities USA Action, which have not spent on independent expenditures but could do so. Watchdog groups have accused these groups of violating their status as tax-exempt social welfare nonprofits, arguing that their primary purpose is to influence elections.
Primary Purpose
It is worth noting that 501(c)4 groups do face legal limitations on just how much of their funds they can use to influence elections. Because their primary activity is supposed to further social welfare, most tax lawyers take that to mean that less than half of their money should be spent on elections, Ryan said.
If these groups shift from issue ads to independent expenditures that directly advocate for or against the election of a candidate, "they are even further undermining their argument that they are public welfare groups and not sham political committees," said Ryan, the Campaign Legal Center attorney.
These groups have faced allegations that they are breaking the law. The watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a complaint this month with the FEC that the American Action Network is spending 65 percent of its funds on political activity.
American Action Network did not return phone calls requesting comment for this article.
In some cases, individuals are making independent expenditures on their own—thus far, at very low levels. Most notable is Friess, who directly spent nearly $50,000, mostly on newspaper ads supporting former GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum. Friess also gave over $2 million to a super PAC backing Santorum.
Federal Election Commission rules say that non-political committees need only disclose a contributor if the donation was for the purpose of furthering that particular independent expenditure. In other words, the donor must say he or she is giving the money to a nonprofit group specifically to target one candidate. In rare cases, the group may simply disclose the donor out of an abundance of caution, Ryan said.
(Photo: Johnny Greig/iStockphoto.com) |
Fabian Cancellara was isolated when he needed to be surrounded and he had company when wanted to be alone at Paris-Roubaix. Yet even though his race didn’t follow the script verbatim, it still had the expected ending, as Cancellara claimed a third victory to follow those of 2006 and 2010. Related Articles Cancellara crashes during Paris-Roubaix reconnaissance
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With 50 kilometres to go, Cancellara’s RadioShack Leopard teammates had all been dropped from the main peloton and he was forced to take matters in hand himself to stay in contention across the cobbles. But when he entered the famous old velodrome in Roubaix at the finish, Cancellara still had Sep Vanmarcke (Blanco Pro Cycling) to contend with in the sprint.
Cancellara’s previous in such situations was not encouraging. He twice lost the race in sprints on the track, in 2004 and 2008, and those traumas must surely have been on his mind when he slowed almost to a standstill on the banking and manoeuvred Vanmarcke to the front.
“I tried to play the game on the track, the last thing I wanted to do was lose in a moment like that,” Cancellara said. “We did it like a track stand. The only moment I was a bit scared was when it went slow on the banking, but I tried just to do it. I had the full cramps all over and then I just pedalled as hard as I could.”
It was Vanmarcke who led out of the final bend and Cancellara did not overhaul him until the last 50 metres, after summoning up a desperate lunge to nip past him beneath the grandstand. “I was probably just happy that the race was finished and that the fight was finished,” Cancellara said. “I could just sit on the grass and breathe and come back to planet Earth. This last hour was just pure fighting and I damaged myself like never before.”
Beyond the limit
As Cancellara talked reporters through the finale in the press room afterwards, he sat slumped in his chair with his chin resting on his knee, even closing his eyes while his responses were translated from English to French. “I went over my limits like never before to cross the line first today,” he said of a final hour of racing ebbed and flowed as riders searched for different ways to counter the expected Cancellara tide.
With little more than 30km to race and just six sectors of cobbles to go, Cancellara found himself 20 seconds down on a determined eight-man group and it seemed as if the tactical gridlock that denied him in 2011 was about to repeat itself.
It appears that Cancellara draws from a deeper reservoir of brute force than most, however, and he somehow managed to extricate himself from the potential check-mate and sally back up to the leaders with startling ease.
“I know that somehow I was isolated quite early but things don’t always go as plan. I don’t know if I went on the offensive too early or not, but I just had to pick moments where I could go after them,” said Cancellara.
When Cancellara whittled down the lead group on sectors six and five, he looked set to land the telling blow at the Carrefour de l’Arbe, but while Omega Pharma-QuickStep duo Zdenek Stybar and Stijn Vandenbergh literally fell by the wayside, Vanmarcke put up stout resistance.
“My problem was that I felt I was going backwards on the cobblestones. I felt stronger on the normal roads and I had in mind to make the difference there,” said Cancellara, who was wary of his young breakaway companion over the final stretches of pavé. Ahead of the penultimate sector, the two exchanged words, with Cancellara shaking his head cagily.
“We didn’t speak much and in the end I tried to play the game as anyone would do it,” Cancellara explained. “I tried to make him pull as well to show him that I wouldn’t just bring him to the finish line. He told me before the second last sector that he would pull after that, but I said no way. I didn’t want to pull because you don’t know how other riders are.”
In the end, Cancellara proved the stronger – just – and completed the second Tour of Flanders/Paris-Roubaix double of his career, matching Tom Boonen, who achieved the feat last year. However, Cancellara was reluctant to compare his achievements over the past decade with those of his absent rival. “Personally, I don’t like to say he’s stronger or I’m stronger. I just think that we’re the greatest riders of the last few years in these races." |
(Also known as, “appreciation for those who read”)
I wanted to take a quick moment to celebrate the first subscriber to my science fiction readers club.
As you probably know from reading the news for any appreciable length of time, Amazon is engaging in some sketchy practices, from their “warehouses staffed by human robots” (note: humans are not robots) to employees tagged and tracked like human cattle (note: humans are not cattle, although they often think and act like sheep).
Rather than feed Amazon’s dystopian model of neofeudalism by gutting the publishing industry the same way that it has destroyed small retailers worldwide, I’ve decided to create an experiment in entrepreneurship.
—
The experiment: use readily available Web and Internet technology to raise a middle finger to Amazon and give people an ethical choice to support an independent artist.
I’m working on the honor system inspired in part by Stephen King’s ancient foray in self-publishing, embodied in the quote “my friends, we have the chance to become Big Publishing’s worst nightmare.”
My goal is to revise the nightmare scenario. The goal here is to give Jeff Bezos a reason to re-think his imperialistic attempts at destroying small entrepreneurs, as Amazon undercuts, undersells and centralizes anything that can be bought online (and eventually delivered by drone, no doubt “in partnership with the NSA”…)
Note that I might sell my work on Amazon as well [since their customers comprise a massive group of sci-fi fans, too]. The aim is always to break them away from the herd. The grail here is to guide them toward an awareness that they can support the individual artist rather than subsidize the worldwide hypercapitalist ambitions of yet another too-big-to-fail corporation.
Indie artists and writers would do well to step out of the shadowy Get Rich Quick illusion of “self-publishing” as the Next Big Thing. Once we walk toward the illumination of complete ownership, people will finally be able to see that piracy actually _is_ stealing. Useful information weighs nothing but it costs time to create, and life is short for all of us.
When your favorite writer isn’t backed by a parasitic multinational conglomerate retail monster, you realize that we all have only twenty-four hours in a day. If you want cool stuff, you have to help artists afford to live _their_ lives, too. That means paying for their work so that they can keep working on art, paying their own bills and enjoying their lives — just like you can because of your (hopefully) steady-paying job. The myth that artists should starve in noble silence is both insane and obviously unsustainable in reality. In fact, the dystopian cyberpunk world that we’re starting to see in the rise of companies like Amazon is largely because we are _all_ being treated like “starving artists”, also known as “unpaid interns” and “just-in-time consultants”. We’re seeing the consequences of that broken economic model accumulate every single day. It’s time to fix it, and at least as a writer, this is how I’m doing my part.
Anyway, I wanted to thank you for being a member of this community and for nurturing the kind of person who became my first paying subscriber. This is a symbolic turning point in my life as a writer, artist and entrepreneur, and hopefully as I succeed as an indie writer, I’ll be able to create a personally ethical, financially viable, socially responsible business model to help others with similar aspirations do the same.
P.S. The written works referred to in this entry can be found here (click here).
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Duncan Niederauer appeared as calm as could be. The CEO of the New York Stock Exchange Euronext spoke serenely about annual results, turnover and loss margins. He spoke of significant investments in 2010 and said that, "in short, we believe 2011 should provide a better environment for doing business."
Niederauer's telephone conference with nine market analysts on Tuesday morning lasted exactly one hour. But the most interesting item on the 50-year-old's agenda was kept under wraps. Niederauer and his team said nothing about it and the questions from the otherwise-excellently-informed analysts made it clear that they were in the dark.
It was only the next day that the NYSE made the sensational news public. The announcement came prematurely, the result of rumors flying around the trading floors in Manhattan and Frankfurt. Yes, the NYSE and its primary European rival the Deutsche Börse confirmed in identical statements, it is true that a fusion is in the works. It is a merger that would result in the largest stock exchange in the world.
Originally, the merger was to be announced next week as a fait accompli. The talks had been conducted in the strictest of secrecy, complete with codenames and highly confidential documents. Two earlier merger attempts, after all, had failed -- one in 2009 and another in 2009. And the size of the deal made the negotiations particularly sensitive.
Regulators Have the Final Say
But the whispering had become more audible in recent days, resulting in Wednesday's official confirmation of "advanced merger discussions." The statement noted that "no agreement has been reached" and warned that "there cannot be any assurance that an agreement will be reached or, if an agreement is reached, that a transaction will be completed." Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic will have the final say.
Such cautionary statements are, to be sure, routine, but very much appropriate. The deal, after all, would essentially involve a takeover of the NYSE by Deutsche Börse -- and would once again highlight the decline of the NYSE as a symbol of American economic might. "This is a heavy blow," remarked one trader on the floor.
Still, it seems unlikely that the fate can be avoided in the end. The planned market marriage between New York and Frankfurt is seen as an omen of a new international wave of consolidation which promises to exceed all earlier-such waves. Traditional national markets have an increasingly hard time competing with electronic trading platforms. The result is likely to be a future of larger, trans-national markets.
Since 2000, Bloomberg has calculated, there have been exchange mergers worth a total of almost $1 trillion. After a pause resulting from the global financial crisis, the trend has once again gained steam. "It's eat or be eaten," Ava Yaskiel, a mergers-and-acquisition lawyer with Ogilvy Renault LLP in Toronto, told the Wall Street Journal.
The London Stock Exchange (LSE) had hoped to dominate the headlines this week with its announcement of a merger with the Toronto Stock Exchange (TMX). Indeed, it was that merger which triggered the rumors of the NYSE-DAX marriage. The announcement by Niederauer and Deutsche Börse head Reto Francioni has now stolen the show.
'Unchallengable Position'
"There is a race toward exchanges becoming ever bigger," Elie Darwish, an analyst with BNP Paribas, told the New York Times. The fusion, she said, would give Deutsche Börse and the NYSE Euronext an "unchallengable position."
Should the fusion become reality, it would result in a company with a value of $25.7 billion (18.9 billion) -- one which would dominate both the stock and futures markets in Europe and North America, with markets in Frankfurt, New York, Amsterdam and London.
For Deutsche Börse head Francioni the merger would represent a significant success after a long wait. He has attempted international fusions several times, but so far nothing has panned out. His efforts to flirt with the NYSE in 2008 and 2009 -- the working paper was codenamed "Rudolf" -- ultimately came to nothing.
Elements of the 13-page memorandum, however, are likely to be found in the deal currently under discussion: Francioni would become the chairman of the new entity, and would remain in Frankfurt. Niederauer would become CEO and would operate out of New York. The new firm would have an American-style board of directors, half of which would come from each company.
Consternation in New York
The talks of 2009 are said to have failed due to German fears of becoming little more than a branch of the NYSE, as largely happened to Euronext. That problem, however, looks to have been solved: Deutsche Börse stockholders are to receive 59 to 60 percent of the stock in the new company.
That, however, has resulted in consternation in New York. "The US shareholders lose their majority control," complained CNBC on Wednesday. UBS trader Art Cashin, an institution on the NYSE trading floor, also seemed unsure of the deal on Wednesday. He said that Niederauer's position as CEO would indicate that the NYSE would still have substantial influence. But, he complained, details of the looming deal are in short supply.
Still, many feel that the NYSE has a dark future should it remain solo. It is losing market share and classic stock trading is becoming less important. The attractive trading floor, constantly polished to a glistening shine, is a relict of the past and will soon disappear entirely.
The NYSE earnings statistics that Niederauer made public on Tuesday were anything but exhilarating. In the fourth quarter of 2010, profit was 21 percent lower than in the same quarter of the previous year, a result of the strengthening dollar and weak trade volumes on both continents.
'Just Say No'
"The listed exchanges are losing market share dramatically," former NYSE director Ken Langone said on CNBC, calling the proposed deal a "big yawn." "With electronic trading that is now prevalent throughout the industry, it seems to me the only sense for the merger is to cut costs faster than their market share goes down."
It is hoped that the proposed merger would save up to 300 million ($410 million) for the two companies. It is also to result in a greater presence in the global options and derivatives markets, where more money is now to be earned. A similar justification propelled the 2007 NYSE takeover of Euronext.
Before any deal could be finalized, however, antitrust officials would have to grant approval. Opposition would likely be stiff in the US: The idea that the NYSE, an American icon, would be taken over from abroad is difficult for many to swallow. Furthermore, a trans-Atlantic exchange could raise red flags when it comes to competition.
The same is true in Canada when it comes to the merger of the LSE and the TMX. There are several hurdles facing the deal in provinces such as Quebec and Ontario, but perhaps also in Canadian parliament.
"Exchanges are already too powerful," wrote financial analyst Jon Ogg on his blog 24/7 Wall St. "The world of financial exchanges could literally consolidate down into few players" with even fewer rivals. "When is enough enough?" His post ends with an appeal to regulators: "Just say no!" |
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As 20th Century Fox’s X-Men: Apocalypse stormed theaters over the long weekend, critics took aim at billboards featuring Oscar Isaac’s Apocalypse choking Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique.
Among them was Rose McGowan, who elaborated on a May 25 Facebook post to THR: "There is a major problem when the men and women at 20th Century Fox think casual violence against women is the way to market a film. There is no context in the ad, just a woman getting strangled. The fact that no one flagged this is offensive and frankly, stupid. The geniuses behind this, and I use that term lightly, need to to take a long hard look at the mirror and see how they are contributing to society. Imagine if it were a black man being strangled by a white man, or a gay male being strangled by a hetero? The outcry would be enormous. So let’s right this wrong. 20th Century Fox, since you can’t manage to put any women directors on your slate for the next two years, how about you at least replace your ad?"
She continued: "I’ll close with a text my friend sent, a conversation with his daughter. It follows: ‘My daughter and I were just having a deep discussion on the brutality of that hideous X-Men poster yesterday. Her words: 'Dad, why is that monster man committing violence against a woman?' This from a 9-year-old. If she can see it, why can’t Fox?"
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Fox apologized for the billboard: "In our enthusiasm to show the villainy of the character Apocalypse we didn’t immediately recognize the upsetting connotation of this image in print form. Once we realized how insensitive it was, we quickly took steps to remove those materials. We apologize for our actions and would never condone violence against women."
The image has met with criticism on the East Coast as well. New York blogger EV Grieve posted a photo of the poster above a subway station in the city at First Avenue and 14th Street that had been covered with eight pieces of paper that connected to say, "This violence in my kid's face is not okay."
"I do see it as problematic," says Jennifer McCleary-Sills, director of gender violence and rights for the International Center for Research on Women, a global research institute that seeks to empower women, advance gender equality and fight poverty in the developing world. "I understand that some might not see it as an issue because it is a film about violence … with male and female characters who are warriors and fighting each other as equals."
She continued that even though the image depicts a fictitious scene in a fantasy film and features characters who are "mutants," it can still have an affect on anyone who sees it.
"Here's the thing: Where do we draw the line?" she asks. "They morph into humans and most of their interactions are similar to what humans would have while as mutants. … The fantasy life can involve violence against women, and that shows how normalized it is. The argument that it shouldn't be offensive because they are mutants doesn't hold any water, … and what really is the challenge here is the intentionality of it. You could have chosen any from the thousands of images, but you chose this one. Whose attention did you want to get and to what end?"
She adds that the "striking image" of Apocalypse choking Mystique is a reminder of how violence against women is used as a default and "seen as sexy for all the wrong reasons."
"There are no silver bullets," McCleary-Sills adds. "I'm glad that a bit of a stink has been raised about this and that people are being provoked to think about why this image isn't OK and why [the studio] could've done better."
Devin Faraci, editor-in-chief of the blog Birth.Movies.Death agrees, calling the billboard "tone deaf as hell."
"Images of violence against women are pretty common in the X-Men universe, which is a pretty violent universe. The problem is taking this one image out of context and having it be an image that is not fantastical in nature. Setting aside that Apocalypse and Mystique look like Smurfs, it's just an image of a big guy choking out a smaller woman. I have wracked my brains trying to come up with an example of a marketing image like this featuring two men, and I've come up empty," he tells THR.
Should the studio have picked another image? Writer and editor Jay Edidin, an X-Men expert who is one half of the podcast “Jay & Miles X-Plain the X-Men," says "unquestionably."
"It's gratuitous, it's offensive in completely useless ways. Offensive isn't always necessarily bad, but this is offensive in ways that serve absolutely no purpose, and while it does depict a scene from the actual film, it's also a terrible representation of the movie as a whole," Edidin notes.
June 3, 12 pm Updated with Fox statement.
A version of this story first appeared in the June 10 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To receive the magazine, click here to subscribe. |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ukraine authorities have arrested five individuals who allegedly directed a global cybercrime scheme that used a version of the Zeus Trojan computer virus to steal $70 million from U.S. bank accounts, FBI officials said on Friday.
They told a news briefing that Ukraine authorities took the five individuals into custody and conducted searches under eight warrants on Thursday as part of an international crackdown that dismantled the operation this week.
The officials said the scheme targeted small and medium-sized U.S. businesses. It involved the use of malware, a software code that captures passwords, account numbers and other data used to log into online banking accounts.
The crackdown had previously been disclosed with some arrests announced in New York on Thursday and in London on Wednesday.
The FBI officials declined to identify any of the U.S. banks that had been victims or to say how many banks had suffered losses in the scheme.
They said the investigation began in May of last year after a complaint from a company in Omaha, Nebraska, and quickly spread to New York and New Jersey.
The U.S. cases involved more than 300 victims. In the United States, 92 people have been charged and 39 have been arrested, the officials said.
The scheme involved the use of foreigners who entered the United States on student visas and who were recruited as “mules” to open bank accounts under fake names. The accounts were then used to receive and transfer the stolen funds overseas.
“During this investigation, the FBI worked closely with our overseas counterparts to identify subjects who were instrumental in the development and control of the malicious software, those who facilitated the use of malware, and those who saw a means to make quick, easy money — the mules,” said Gordon Snow, assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division. |
The online hacktivist collective Anonymous has just lost its verified badge on Facebook, and no one knows why
Last year Facebook in a controversial move, had verified two of the Anonymous pages Anonymous and Anonymous Brasil and granted them the prestigious Facebook badge.
An act which really made people point fingers out on Facebook’s ways of providing verified badges to pages or profiles.
Looking at the very definition of Anonymous; Anonymous is just an idea, no one leads them, however there exists several social media accounts of Anonymous, mostly of various spokespersons which are time to time being handed over to the next generation of Activists to carry on the revolution.
In Facebook’s own words, verified badges are provided to profiles or pages to help people know that these are authentic and genuine.
Some Pages and profiles are verified by Facebook to let people know that they’re authentic. You’ll see a blue badge next to a verified Page or profile’s name. These Pages and profiles may include, Celebrities and public figures Global brands and businesses Media
Not even Twitter which started the trend of verifying the accounts took the risk of facing controversy of providing verified badge to the globally acknowledged official spokesperson Twitter account of Anonymous “YourAnonNews“.
Though Facebook with what looked like provided a verified badge to the two pages looking at the popularity and followers these two pages have with them, not to forget mentioning there were several other pages of Anonymous too with more popularity and more followers at that time but Facebook just did the two at that time.
Facebook seems to have removed the verified badge form one of these pages “Anonymous” without any statement for the same.
The page has always been in controversy after it received the verified badge from Facebook back in June 2014, with most of the Anonymous activists blaming that the page does not follow the principles of Anonymous.
Can Facebook really take out verified badges whenever they want so, Can an account or page loose its authenticity as time goes by. or does Facebook really know what and who Anonymous really are about.
Or is the Facebook who can choose to decide who or what Anonymous is really about!!!
Update: We reached out to Anonymous for their comments and this is what they had to say,
“Not even the very close of the closest claims to be the official” |
They did it again.
For the second time in less than two months, FC Edmonton can claim a victory over a Major League Soccer side.
Trialist Cristian Raudales and veteran midfielder Horace James scored as the Eddies defeated the host Seattle Sounders FC 2-0 at StarFire Sports Complex on Sunday, to finish 3-0 in pre-season friendlies on their West Coast trip in preparation for the opening of the fall season, next weekend at home against Ottawa Fury FC.
Granted, this was not nearly the same lineup Seattle would field for an ordinary league match, but a win is a win is a win, especially for the underdog NASL side taking on their big brothers in the MLS.
“It was a mixture of first-team and reserve team players, not their strongest team that they could have possibly put out – I’m as usual Mr. Humble here – but it was a good side,” said Eddies manager Colin Miller. “There were some experienced players and there were some young players and we finished up with our young guys all playing, so we had our young guys on as well.”
Raudales, a midfielder who recently played in the German fourth division, opened the scoring the 25th minute, and James notched the insurance goal in the 85th minute for the Eddies, who started John Smits in goal.
Playing for the third time in a week, the Eddies , who were traveling to Seattle from B.C. on Sunday, were late for kick-off after being caught in multiple traffic snarls on what turned out to be a six-hour bus trip. Upon arrival, they literally went straight from the bus and on to the pitch.
“Straight away” said Miller. “It’s all good. It didn’t give the guys a chance to make any excuses up, we just warmed them up and they’re you go, get them playing, so it went really well.”
In May, the Eddies got past the Montreal Impact 2-1 in a Canadian Club Championship semi-final match to earn their first victory over an MLS side. Their previous win on this road trip were over the Victoria Highlanders of the PDL and against a squad of club and collegiate players in Kamloops.
Miller said after the match the Eddies will sign Raudales for the fall season. |
Twelve-year-old Mumpy Sarkar ended her own life in an attempt to donate organs to her father and brother, but was cremated before her suicide note detailing her wishes was found.
The young girl from eastern India decided that suicide was the only way she could help her family, who couldn't afford eye surgery to save her father's vision and a kidney transplant to save her brother's life, reports The Times of India.
Mumpy killed herself on June 27 but her wishes were not able to be carried out. Adding to the tragedy, the suicide note explaining her plan was found the day after she was cremated.
According to the paper, the pre-teen told her older sister about her plan and urged her to join her for the "cause," but her sister "laughed it off" and left for school. Mumpy then drank Thioden, a pesticide and ran to tell her father that "she had dreamt that someone had poured poison into her mouth and her stomach ached." The girl was rushed to hospital as her conditioned worsened and she died later that day.
A local state council representative visited the family's home and promised financial assistance for medical treatment for both Mumpy's father and brother, reports The Daily Mail. |
You thought that pregnancy was the most difficult time of your life, didn’t you? Well, now that the baby is here, you will have some more areas of concern. One that we will talk about today is Baby Separation Anxiety.
Let’s get in to this article then, shall we:
Your baby is special just like all mothers consider their babies to be special. Everyone tries their best to ensure that the baby is safe, drinks milk, and grows up well. The most joyous moments for parents are when babies laugh and smile. However, you need to pay attention to the fact that toddlers do suffer from anxiety too. Parents world-over are worried about baby separation anxiety.
What is separation anxiety in babies?
You know that your toddler suffers from separation anxiety when they react in an uncontrollable manner if you do not appear in front of them. The way it manifests is worrying:
You may be playing with your child, one fine day, and everything is rosy. You need to make a quick call and decide to step out of your child’s view. Your baby who no longer sees you, will start crying and howling. The only way to comfort the baby is to hold and walk with her.
Babies experience separation anxiety when they are separated from their mum, or the one person that usually takes care of them.
There is nothing wrong with separation anxiety in babies. It is just a normal development stage in babies as they begin to grow and experience their world. It also validates the bond that develops between a parent and a child.
A baby has just begun to understand how people or things are around them. The small kid can get restless when they see that the one who cares from them is not present. It may also be the case that babies may get upset with the prospect of not having the parent present.
How do I know if my baby has separation anxiety?
The most common of the separation anxiety baby symptoms are uncontrollable crying when you leave. Some of the babies even develop the fear when you start saying goodbye. They do not behave well with other caregivers and only stop crying when you come back and hold them.
How long does separation anxiety last in babies?
Some of the babies experience anxiety as early as 6 months. The peak time for this is around 8 to 10 months. It is most common when the baby’s caregiver (either parent) leave the child to go to work. The good news is that it does not last forever. Babies grow up and as they begin to experience the world and connect with others, they will develop a bond with others apart from their mum or caregiver.
This is also driven a lot by culture. In the western world, it is common to leave the child at an earlier stage. In most parts of the world, a child is not separated from their main caregiver for at least 1 year. It is not proven if this has a great impact on how babies react to separation anxiety.
Babies can also experience separation anxiety at night, if they do not sense the parent with them or in the same room.
Whilst it does go away at the age of 2 years, it can reoccur when a kid is about to go to a nursery.
Lets now discuss how to deal with baby separation anxiety:
11 easy ways to deal with baby separation anxiety
Need to know how to overcome separation anxiety in babies. I have collected some of these tips from my friends and family members. I also reached out to a Google+ Community for their ideas. Lets go through some ways in which we can deal with this.
Stay Calm and Confident – As a parent, you have to remain in control of your emotions. Do not be too stressed, as this will reflect in your actions and may further aggravate the problem. Delay the Separation – Essentially, you are trying to wait for the baby to outgrown of this situation and grow older. As mentioned earlier, in some cultures, at least 1 parent is always with the baby. This may not always be possible, but its worth a shot. Help the Child Associate with someone else – Leave the baby with someone that he or she already knows. Be it the other parent (most likely the dad), or a family member. If its a baby sitter, get them introduced to the baby much early. The baby may still cry, but it might make adjusting to the separation easier. Get the Baby accustomed to a Song – This tip came in from a friend of mine. She used to sing a song for the baby and the baby recognised the tune. When she went away, the baby sitter would sign the same song and it calmed the baby down. Make use of a Toy – Toys or something that the toddler can hold on to, like a blanket, is a good way for the baby to connect with something in your absence. Get the baby used to one toy and keep it with them even after you leave. Get your Schedule Right – The right time to leave the baby is when she is taking a nap or is fully fed. This might mean that you need to get your timing right, but it will prove to be beneficial. Play the Leaving Game – One way to get used to baby separation anxiety, is for you to let the baby play the leaving game. If the baby can crawl, let her go crawling away and you should avoid being seen. Follow the baby from a distance and give the baby some time, before you go and collect her. Play ‘Where’s the Baby’ – A slight variation of the above, is the most commonly played ‘Where’s the Baby’. When you either close your eyes or your baby’s eyes, you are out of their sight for a small moment. Slowly increase this time, so that the baby can get used to not seeing you. Say Goodbye in Style – Make the goodbyes mean something. The baby will treasure it if you kiss or hug your baby before you leave. Be firm, calm, casual and loving. Don’t Show up during your absence – Leaving your crying baby might be tougher on you than the baby. But making repeated trips to visit the baby will not help. Don’t sneak back, but only return when intended to. Else the baby will not get used to the new caregiver. Practice makes Perfect – Try out any new method for some time and see if the baby gets used to the pattern. Don’t feel bad to change the pattern to something that works for your baby.
Which of the above options work for you? Do share your ideas and tips in the comments section below. Also feel free to share this post with your friends who have to deal with baby separation anxiety.
Reference: https://www.nct.org.uk/parenting/separation-anxiety-0 |
Copyright by KRON - All rights reserved
Bay City News - SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)-- Three San Francisco landlords seeking to evict a 99-year-old woman from her Lower Haight home never wanted to evict her but were forced to when she allowed the apartment to fall into a state of disrepair, violating the terms of her lifetime lease, according to the landlords' attorney.
Iris Canada hadn't been living in the apartment at 670 Page St. since 2012 and left it neglected for so long it became uninhabitable, according to Mark Chernev, an attorney for landlords Stephen Owens, Peter Owens and Carolyne Radishe.
"The owners have known Iris Canada for 14 years and they've always been concerned for her welfare," Chernev said.
But he said Canada's recent assertions that she's been living there continuously is a ruse, and that she only recently returned there in an effort to fight her eviction.
Canada said at a news conference Tuesday that she has continually lived at the apartment, despite the landlords' claims, and is demanding that she be allowed to continue her lifetime lease.
In court filings, Canada said that she has no place to go if she moves out, will be unable to afford a new home in San Francisco, and needs a wheelchair or walker to move since suffering a stroke.
"If I've been away from the unit for extended periods of time, it's because I was at the hospital or visiting with family, but 670 Page St. is my home," Canada said.
"As I've gotten older, it has been increasingly difficult for me to go long periods of time without support. I rely on friends and family more, but I still consider 670 Page St. my home," Canada said. "My age has also made it difficult for me to understand the need for certain repairs, but I did not purposely fail to upkeep."
The landlords granted Canada, who has lived in the property since the 1950s, a lifetime lease in 2005, allowing her to pay $700 a month to continue to live there for as long as she lives, provided that she be the primary occupant and that she keep the property in good repair. According to Chernev, the landlords even agreed to lower her rent by $150 during that time.
But Chernev argues that she has been unable to care for herself since 2012, when she went to live with her niece in Oakland. The apartment fell into disrepair, becoming overrun with rats and covered in feces, according to Chernev.
She had her phone service cut off, stopped getting meals delivered and neighbors in the six-unit building haven't seen her for years, Chernev said.
The landlords first sought Canada's eviction in 2014 and filed a lawsuit. Canada failed to appear for a scheduled trial in March and Judge James Robertson ruled against her. Canada said she thought the hearing had been postponed and did not receive notice until the afternoon before it was scheduled.
She was to be evicted today, according to court records, but found new representation with the Homeless Advocacy Project last week. She has been granted a temporary stay of her eviction and will appear in court next week.
Supervisor London Breed joined Canada in a show of support Tuesday, saying that senior citizens should never be kicked out of their home.
Asked about the landlords' allegations against Canada today, Tommi Avicolli Mecca, director of counseling programs at the Housing Rights Committee of San Francisco, said, "They can say whatever they want, the reality is we have a case of a 99-year-old woman who is facing eviction and that is wrong."
"My concern is for her welfare, my concern is a 99-year-old woman not be evicted," Mecca said. |
A number of major media outlets report they were barred Friday from attending what was described as a "media briefing."
A full transcript of the briefing is available here.
CNN, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Politico were among the news operations who were blocked from the briefing.
On air, CNN correspondent Sara Murray said there was a sign-up sheet for media prior to gaggle -- which is non-standard.
President Donald Trump and chief strategist Steve Bannon have ratcheted up their criticism of the media in recent weeks.
Trump wrote on Twitter, "the FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!" ahead of his comments at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Reports from the White House suggested other organizations who were admitted to the meeting boycotted in protest.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer informed reporters Friday's briefing was meant for pool reports only -- a smaller group of reporters who would relay information to other outlets. Spicer said he would expand the group "as he saw fit," according to reports.
President of the White House Correspondents' Association Jeff Mason said there is some precedence of the White House limiting briefings to pool reports.
The Associated Press chose not to participate in the gaggle following the move by Spicer.
"The AP believes the public should have as much access to the president as possible," Lauren Easton, the AP's director of media relations, said in a statement.
News organizations that were allowed in included the conservative website Breitbart news, which was founded by Bannon.
This story will be updated.
---
The Associated Press contributed to this report. |
Anti-gay activist Bradlee Dean claimed that LGBT people “are not ruled by law” on Monday’s episode of his “Sons of Liberty” radio program. Dean criticized the media for spreading the “gay agenda,” and attempting to “pervert all comprehension” and “confuse the younger generations.”
Dean briefly touched on the recent Supreme Court marriage decision, advising listeners that “nothing is good enough” for the LGBT community. “You’re gonna be destroyed by those you tolerate,” Dean warned, before urging his followers to “hold these people responsible because they are sick in the mind.”
His rant also included his theory that society is “using the Bruce Jenners of the world” to distract Americans from God’s teaching. “We’re telling you to wake up!” Dean shouted, before continuing into a tirade against the LGBT community.
Though not a politician himself, Dean has regularly worked with fellow Minnesotan Michele Bachmann. Dean publicly advocates against LGBT rights, and has previously suggested that gay marriage would usher in another Holocaust. |
In 1843, shortly after his return from Afghanistan, an army chaplain, Reverend G R Gleig, wrote a memoir about the First Anglo-Afghan War, of which he was one of the very few survivors. It was, he wrote, "a war begun for no wise purpose, carried on with a strange mixture of rashness and timidity, brought to a close after suffering and disaster, without much glory attached either to the government which directed, or the great body of troops which waged it. Not one benefit, political or military, has Britain acquired with this war. Our eventual evacuation of the country resembled the retreat of an army defeated."
It is difficult to imagine the current military adventure in Afghanistan ending quite as badly as the First Afghan War, an abortive experiment in Great Game colonialism that slowly descended into what is arguably the greatest military humiliation ever suffered by the west in the Middle East: an entire army of what was then the most powerful military nation in the world utterly routed and destroyed by poorly equipped tribesmen, at the cost of £15m (well over £1bn in modern currency) and more than 40,000 lives. But nearly ten years on from Nato's invasion of Afghanistan, there are increasing signs that Britain's fourth war in the country could end with as few political gains as the first three and, like them, terminate in an embarrassing withdrawal after a humiliating defeat, with Afghanistan yet again left in tribal chaos and quite possibly ruled by the same government that the war was launched to overthrow.
Certainly it is becoming clearer than ever that the once-hated Taliban, far from being swept away by General Stanley McChrystal's surge, are instead regrouping, ready for the final act in the history of Hamid Karzai's western-installed puppet government. The Taliban have now advanced out of their borderland safe havens to the very gates of Kabul and are surrounding the capital, much as the US-backed mujahedin once did to the Soviet-installed regime in the late 1980s. Like a rerun of an old movie, all journeys by non-Afghans out of the capital are once again confined largely to tanks, military convoys and helicopters. The Taliban already control more than 70 per cent of the country, where they collect taxes, enforce the sharia and dispense their usual rough justice. Every month, their sphere of influence increases. According to a recent Pentagon report, Karzai's government has control of only 29 out of 121 key strategic districts.
Just recently, on 17 May, there was a suicide attack on a US convoy in the Dar-ul Aman quarter of Kabul, killing 12 civilians and six American soldiers; the following day, there was a daring five-hour-long grenade and machine-gun assault on the US military headquarters at Bagram Airbase, killing an American contractor and wounding nine soldiers, so bringing the death toll for US armed forces in the country to more than 1,000. Then, over the weekend of 22-23 May, there was a series of rocket, mortar and ground assaults on Kandahar Airbase just as the British ministerial delegation was about to visit it, forcing William Hague and Liam Fox to alter their schedule. Since then, a dozen top Afghan officials have been assassinated in Kandahar, including the city of Kandahar's deputy mayor. On 7 June, the deadliest day for Nato forces in months, ten soldiers were killed. Finally, it appears that the Taliban have regained control of the opium-growing centre of Marjah in Helmand Province, only three months after being driven out by McChrystal's forces amid much gung-ho cheerleading in the US media. Afghanistan is going down.
Already, despite the presence of huge numbers of foreign troops, it is now impossible – or at least extremely foolhardy – for any westerner to walk around the capital, Kabul, without armed guards; it is even more inadvisable to head out of town in any direction except north: the strongly anti-Taliban Panjshir Valley, along with the towns of Mazar-e-Sharif and Herat, are the only safe havens left for westerners in the entire country. In all other directions, travel is possible only in an armed convoy.
This is especially true of the Khord-Kabul and Tezeen passes, immediately to the south of Kabul, where as many as 18,000 British troops were lost in 1842, and which are today again a centre of resistance against perceived foreign occupiers. Aid workers familiar with Afghanistan over several decades say the security situation has never been worse. Ideas much touted only a few years ago that Afghanistan might become a popular tourist destination – a Switzerland of central Asia – now seem to be dreams from a distant age. Lonely Planet's guidebook to Afghanistan, optimistically published in 2005, has not been updated and is now once again out of print.
The present war is following a trajectory that is beginning to feel unsettlingly familiar to students of the Great Game. In 1839, the British invaded Afghanistan on the basis of sexed-up intelligence about a non-existent threat: information about a single Russian envoy to Kabul was manipulated by a group of ambitious and ideologically driven hawks to create a scare – in this case, about a phantom Russian invasion – thus bringing about an unnecessary, expensive and entirely avoidable war.
Initially, the hawks were triumphant – the British conquest proved remarkably easy and bloodless; Kabul was captured within a few weeks as the army of the previous regime melted into the hills, and a pliable monarch, Shah Shuja, was successfully placed on the throne. For a few months the British played cricket, went skating and put on amateur theatricals as if on summer leave in Simla; there were discussions about making Kabul the summer capital of the Raj. Then an insurgency began and that first heady success slowly unravelled, first among the Pashtuns of Kandahar and Helmand Provinces. It slowly gained momentum, moving northwards until it reached Kabul, so making the British occupation impossible to sustain.
What happened next is a warning of how bad things could yet become: a full-scale rebellion against the British broke out in Kabul, and the two most senior British envoys, Sir Alexander Burnes and Sir William Macnaghten, were assassinated, one hacked to death by a mob in the streets, the other stabbed and shot by the resistance leader Wazir Akbar Khan during negotiations. It was on the retreat that followed, on 6 January 1842, that the 18,000 East India Company troops, and maybe half that many again Indian camp followers, were slaughtered by Afghan marksmen waiting in ambush amid the high passes, shot down as they trudged through the icy depths of the Afghan winter. After eight days on the death march, the last 50 survivors made their final stand at the village of Gandamak. As late as the 1970s, fragments of Victorian weaponry and military equipment could be found lying in the screes above the village. Even today, the hill is said to be covered with the bleached bones of the British dead.
One Englishman lived to tell the tale of that last stand (if you discount the fictional survival of Flashman) – an ordinary foot soldier, Thomas Souter, wrapped his regimental colours around him to prevent them being captured, and was taken hostage by the Afghans who assumed that such a colourfully clothed individual must command a high ransom. It is a measure of the increasingly pertinent parallels between the 19th-century war and today's that one of the main Nato bases in Afghanistan was recently named Camp Souter after that survivor.
In the years that followed, the British defeat in Afghanistan became pregnant with symbolism. For the Victorian British, it was the country's greatest imperial disaster of the 19th century. It was exactly a century before another army would be lost, in Singapore in 1942. Yet the retreat from Kabul also became a symbol of gallantry against the odds: William Barnes Wollen's celebrated oil painting The Last Stand of the 44th Regiment at Gundamuck – showing a group of ragged but doggedly determined British soldiers standing encircled behind a porcupine of bayonets, as the Pashtun tribesmen close in – became one of the best-known images of the era, along with Remnants of an Army, Elizabeth Butler's image of the wounded and bleeding army surgeon William Brydon, who had made it through to the safety of Jalalabad, arriving before the city walls on his collapsing nag.
For the Afghans, the British defeat of 1842 became a symbol of freedom from foreign invasion. It is again no accident that the diplomatic quarter of Kabul is named after the general who oversaw the rout of the British in that year: Wazir Akbar Khan.
For south Asians, who provided most of the cannon fodder – the foot soldiers and followers killed on the retreat – the war ironically became a symbol of possibility: although thousands of Indians died on the march, it showed that the British army was not invincible and a well-planned insurgency could force them out. Thus, in 1857, the Indians launched their own anti-colonial uprising, the Great Mutiny (as it is known in Britain) or the first war of independence (as it is known in India), partly inspired by what the Afghans had achieved in 1842.
This destabilising effect on south Asia of the failed war in Afghanistan has a direct parallel in the blowback that is today destabilising Pakistan and the tribal territories of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata). Here the Pakistani Taliban are once more on the march, rebuilding their presence in Swat, and are now surrounding Peshawar, which is almost daily being rocked by bombs, while outlying groups of Taliban are again spreading their influence into the valleys leading towards Islamabad. Across much of the North-West Frontier Province – roughly a fifth of Pakistan's territory – women have now been forced into the burqa, music has been silenced, barbershops are forbidden to shave beards and more than 125 girls' schools have been blown up or burned down.
A significant proportion of the Peshawar elite, along with the city's musicians, have decamped to the relatively safe and tolerant confines of Lahore and Karachi, while tens of thousands of ordinary people from the surrounding hills of the semi-autonomous Fata tribal belt, and especially the Bajaur Agency (or tribal area), have fled from the conflict zones blasted by US Predator drones and strafed by Pakistani helicopter gunships to the tent camps ringing the provincial capital.
The Fata, it is true, have never been fully under the control of any Pakistani government, and have always been unruly, but the region has been radicalised as never before by the rain of shells and cluster bombs that have caused huge civilian casualties and daily add a stream of angry foot soldiers to the insurgency. Elsewhere in Pakistan, anti-western religious and political extremism continues to flourish, as ever larger numbers of ordinary Pakistanis are driven to fight by corruption, predatory politics and the abuse of power by Pakistan's feudal elite, as well as the military aggression of the drones. Indeed, the ripples of instability lapping out from Afghanistan and Pakistan have reached even New York. When CIA interrogators asked Faisal Shahzad why he tried to let off a car bomb last month in Times Square, he told them of his desire to avenge those "innocent people being hit by drones from above".
The route of the British retreat of 1842 backs on to the mountain range that leads to Tora Bora and the Pakistan border, an area that has always been a Taliban centre. I had been advised not to attempt to visit the area without local protection, and so last month I set off for the mountains in
the company of a regional tribal leader who was also a minister in Karzai's government. He is a mountain of a man named Anwar Khan Jegdalek, a former village wrestling champion who made his name as a Hezb-e-Islami mujahedin commander in the jihad against the Soviets in the 1980s.
It was Anwar Khan Jegdalek's ancestors who inflicted some of the worst casualties on the British army of 1842, something he proudly repeated several times as we drove through the same passes. "They forced us to pick up guns to defend our honour," he said. "So we killed every last one of those bastards." None of this, incidentally, has stopped Anwar Khan Jegdalek from sending his family away from Kabul to the greater safety of Northolt, Middlesex.
He drove himself in a huge 4x4, while a pick-up full of heavily armed Afghan bodyguards followed behind. We left Kabul – past the blast walls of the Nato barracks built on the very site of the British cantonment of 170 years ago – and headed down a corkscrewing road into the line of bleak mountain passes that links Kabul with the Khyber Pass.
It is a dramatic and violent landscape: fault lines of crushed and tortured strata groaned and twisted in the gunpowder-coloured rock walls rising on either side of us. Above, the jagged mountain tops were veiled in an ominous cloud of mist. As we drove, Anwar Khan Jegdalek complained bitterly of western treatment of his government. "In the 1980s when we were killing Russians for them, the Americans called us freedom fighters," he muttered, as we descended through the first pass. "Now they just dismiss us as warlords."
At Sorobi, where the mountains debouche into a high-altitude ochre desert dotted with encampments of nomads, we left the main road and headed into Taliban territory. A further five trucks full of Anwar Khan Jegdalek's old mujahedin fighters, all brandishing rocket-propelled grenades and with faces wrapped in keffiyehs, appeared from a side road to escort us.
At the crest of Jegdalek village, on 12 January 1842, 200 frostbitten British soldiers found themselves surrounded by several thousand Pashtun tribesmen. The two highest-ranking British soldiers, General Elphinstone and Brigadier Shelton, went off to negotiate but were taken hostage. Only 50 infantrymen managed to break out under cover of darkness. Our own welcome was, thankfully, somewhat warmer. It was my host's first visit to his home since he had become a minister, and the proud villagers took their old commander on a nostalgia trip through hills smelling of wild thyme and rosemary, and up on to mountainsides carpeted with hollyhocks, mulberries and white poplars. Here, at the top of the surrounding peaks, lay the remains of Anwar Khan Jegdalek's old mujahedin bunkers and entrenchments. Once the tour was completed, the villagers fed us, Mughal style, in an apricot orchard: we sat on carpets under a trellis of vine and pomegranate blossom as course after course of kebabs and mulberry pulao was laid in front of us.
During lunch, as my hosts casually pointed out the various places in the village where the British had been massacred in 1842, I asked them if they saw any parallels between that war and the present situation. "It is exactly the same," said Anwar Khan Jegdalek. "Both times the foreigners have come for their own interests, not for ours. They say, 'We are your friends, we want democracy, we want to help.' But they are lying."
“Whoever comes to Afghanistan, even now, they will face the fate of Burnes, Macnaghten and Dr Brydon," said Mohammad Khan, our host in the village and the owner of the orchard where we were sitting. The names of the fighters of 1842, long forgotten in their home country, were still known here.
“Since the British went, we've had the Russians," said an old man to my right. "We saw them off, too, but not before they bombed many of the houses in the village." He pointed at a ridge of ruined mud-brick houses.
“We are the roof of the world," said Mohammad Khan. "From here, you can control and watch everywhere."
“Afghanistan is like the crossroads for every nation that comes to power," agreed Anwar Khan Jegdalek. "But we do not have the strength to control our own destiny – our fate is always determined by our neighbours. Next, it will be China. This is the last days of the Americans."
I asked if they thought the Taliban would come back. "The Taliban?" said Mohammad Khan. "They are here already! At least after dark. Just over that pass." He pointed in the direction of Gandamak and Tora Bora. "That is where they are strongest."
It was nearly five in the afternoon before the final flaps of nan bread were cleared away, by which time it had become clear that it was too late to head on to the site of the British last stand at Gandamak. Instead, that evening we went to the relative safety of Jalalabad, where we discovered we'd had a narrow escape: it turned out there had been a huge battle at Gandamak that morning between government forces and a group of villagers supported by the Taliban. The sheer scale and length of the feast had saved us from walking straight into an ambush. The battle had taken place on exactly the site of the British last stand.
The following morning in Jalalabad, we went to a jirga, or assembly of tribal elders, to which the greybeards of Gandamak had come under a flag of truce to discuss what had happened the day before. The story was typical of many I heard about the current government, and revealed how a mixture of corruption, incompetence and insensitivity has helped give an opening for the return of the once-hated Taliban.
As Predator drones took off and landed incessantly at the nearby airfield, the elders related how the previous year government troops had turned up to destroy the opium harvest. The troops promised the villagers full compensation, and were allowed to burn the crops; but the money never turned up. Before the planting season, the villagers again went to Jalalabad and asked the government if they could be provided with assistance to grow other crops. Promises were made; again nothing was delivered. They planted poppy, informing the local authorities that if they again tried to burn the crop, the village would have no option but to resist. When the troops turned up, about the same time as we were arriving at nearby Jegdalek, the villagers were waiting for them, and had called in the local Taliban to assist. In the fighting that followed, nine policemen were killed, six vehicles destroyed and ten police hostages taken.
After the jirga was over, one of the tribal elders came over and we chatted for a while over a glass of green tea. "Last month," he said, "some American officers called us to a hotel in Jalalabad for a meeting. One of them asked me, 'Why do you hate us?' I replied, 'Because you blow down our doors, enter our houses, pull our women by the hair and kick our children. We cannot accept this. We will fight back, and we will break your teeth, and when your teeth are broken you will leave, just as the British left before you. It is just a matter of time.'"
What did he say to that? “He turned to his friend and said, 'If the old men are like this, what will the younger ones be like?' In truth, all the Americans here know that their game is over. It is just their politicians who deny this."
The defeat of the west's latest puppet government on the very same hill of Gandamak where the British came to grief in 1842 made me think, on the way back to Kabul, about the increasingly close parallels between the fix that Nato is in and the one faced by the British 170 years ago.
Now as then, the problem is not hatred of the west, so much as a dislike of foreign troops swaggering around and making themselves odious to the very people they are meant to be helping. On the return journey, as we crawled back up the passes towards Kabul, we got stuck behind a US military convoy of eight Humvees and two armoured personnel carriers in full camouflage, all travelling at less than 20 miles per hour. Despite the slow speed, the troops refused to let any Afghan drivers overtake them, for fear of suicide bombers, and they fired warning shots at any who attempted to do so. By the time we reached the top of the pass two hours later, there were 300 cars and trucks backed up behind the convoy, each one full of Afghans furious at being ordered around in their own country by a group of foreigners. Every day, small incidents of arrogance and insensitivity such as this make the anger grow.
There has always been an absolute refusal by the Afghans to be ruled by foreigners, or to accept any government perceived as being imposed on the country from abroad. Now as then, the puppet ruler installed by the west has proved inadequate to the job. Too weak, unpopular and corrupt to provide security or development, he has been forced to turn on his puppeteers in order to retain even a vestige of legitimacy in the eyes of his people. Recently, Karzai has accused the US, the UK and the UN of orchestrating a fraud in last year's elections, described Nato forces as "an army of occupation", and even threatened to join the Taliban if Washington kept putting pressure on him. Shah Shuja did much the same thing in 1842, towards the end of his rule, and was known to have offered his allegiance and assistance to the insurgents who eventually toppled and beheaded him.
Now as then, there have been few tangible signs of improvement under the western-backed regime. Despite the US pouring approximately $80bn into Afghanistan, the roads in Kabul are still more rutted than those in the smallest provincial towns of Pakistan. There is little health care; for any severe medical condition, patients still have to fly to India. A quarter of all teachers in Afghanistan are themselves illiterate. In many areas, district governance is almost non-existent: half the governors do not have an office, more than half have no electricity, and most receive only $6 a month in expenses. Civil servants lack the most basic education and skills.
This is largely because $76.5bn of the $80bn committed to the country has been spent on military and security, and most of the remaining $3.5bn on international consultants, some of whom are paid in excess of $1,000 a day, according to an Afghan government report. This, in turn, has had other negative effects. As in 1842, the presence of large numbers of well-paid foreign troops has caused the cost of food and provisions to rise, and living standards to fall. The Afghans feel they are getting poorer, not richer.
There are other similarities. Then as now, the war effort was partially privatised: it was not so much the British army as a corporation, the East India Company, that provided most of the troops who fought the war for Britain in 1842, just as today both the British and the Americans have subcontracted much of their security work to private companies. When I visited the British embassy, I found that many of the security guards at the gatehouse were not army or military police, but from Group 4 Security. The US security contracts offered to Blackwater/Xe and other private security forces under Dick Cheney's ideologically driven policy of privatising war are worth many millions of dollars.
Finally, now as then, there has been an attempt at a last show of force in order to save face before withdrawal. As happened in 1842, it has achieved little except civilian casualties and the further alienation of the Afghans. As one of the tribal elders from Jegdalek said to me: "How many times can they apologise for killing our innocent women and children and expect us to forgive them? They come, they bomb, they kill us and then they say, 'Oh, sorry, we got the wrong people.' And they keep doing that."
The British soldiers of 1842 found the same reaction in their day. In his diary of his time with the British army of retribution, which laid waste to great areas of southern Afghanistan as punishment for the massacres on the retreat from Kabul earlier in the year, the young Captain N Chamberlain reported how his troops inflicted horrible atrocities on any Afghan civilians they could find. One morning he met a wounded Afghan woman dragging herself towards a stream with a water pot. "I filled the vessel for her," he wrote, "but all she said was, 'Curses on the feringhees [foreigners]!' I continued on my way disgusted with myself, the world, above all with my cruel profession. In fact, we are nothing but licensed assassins."
However, there are some important differences between Britain's first defeat in Afghanistan and the current mess. In 1842, we were at least reinstalling a legitimate Afghan ruler and removing one who could genuinely be cast as an illegitimate usurper. Shah Shuja, the British puppet, was a former ruler of the Sadozai dynasty, from the leading Pashtun clan, and a grandson of the great Ahmed Shah Durrani, the first king of a united Afghanistan. As the traveller and pioneering archaeologist Charles Masson observed: "The Afghans had no objection to the match; they merely disliked the manner of the wooing."
This time, we have been clumsier, and Nato has helped instal a former CIA asset accused by a high-ranking UN diplomat of drug abuse and of having a history of mental instability, with little to recommend him other than that he was once run out of Langley. Although Karzai is a Pashtun of the Popalzai tribe, under his watch Nato has in effect installed the Northern Alliance in Kabul and driven the country's Pashtun majority out of power.
The reality of our present Afghan entanglement is that we took sides in a complex civil war, which has been running since the 1970s, siding with the north against the south, town against country, secularism against Islam, and the Tajiks against the Pashtuns. We have installed a government, and trained up an army, both of which in many ways have discriminated against the Pashtun majority, and whose top-down, highly centralised constitution allows for remarkably little federalism or regional representation. However much western liberals may dislike the Taliban – and they have very good reason for doing so – the truth remains that they are in many ways the authentic voice of rural Pashtun conservatism, whose views and wishes are ignored by the government in Kabul and who are still largely excluded from power. It is hardly surprising that the Pashtuns are determined to resist the regime and that the insurgency is widely supported, especially in the Pashtun heartlands of the south and east.
Yet it is not too late to learn some lessons from the mistakes of the British in 1842. Then, British officials in Kabul continued to send out despatches of delusional optimism as the insurgents moved ever closer to Kabul, believing that there was a straightforward military solution to the problem and that if only they could recruit enough Afghans to their army, they could eventually march out, leaving that regime in place – exactly the sentiments expressed by the Defence Secretary, Liam Fox, on his visit to Afghanistan last month.
In 1842, by the time they realised they had to negotiate a political solution, their power had ebbed too far, and the only thing the insurgents were willing to negotiate was an unconditional surrender. Today, too, there is no easy military solution to Afghanistan: even if we proceed with the plan to equip an army of half a million troops (at the cost of roughly $2bn a year, when the entire revenue of the Afghan government is $1.1bn – in other words, 180 per cent of revenue), that army will never be able to guarantee security or shore up such a discredited regime. Every day, despite the military power of the US and Nato and the $25bn so far ploughed into rebuilding the Afghan army, security gets worse, and the area under government control contracts week by week.
The only answer is to negotiate a political solution while we still have enough power to do so, which in some form or other involves talking to the Taliban. This is a course that Karzai, to his credit, is keen to pursue; he made it clear that his peace jirga at the start of this month was open to any Taliban leader willing to lay down arms, and that jobs and monetary incentives would be available to former Taliban who changed their allegiance and joined the government. It is still unclear whether the new Tory government supports this course; Barack Obama certainly opposes it. In this, he is supported by the notably undiplomatic US envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke, described by one senior British diplomat as "a bull who brings his own china shop wherever he goes".
There is something else we can still do before we pull out: leave some basic infrastructure behind, a goal we notably failed to achieve in the past nine years. Yet William Hague and Liam Fox oppose this policy – as Fox notoriously said in his 21 May interview with the Times, which infuriated his Afghan hosts: "We are not in Afghanistan for the sake of the education policy in a broken 13th-century country." The Tories could do much worse than consult their own newly elected backbencher Rory Stewart. He knows much more about Afghanistan than either Fox or Hague. As Stewart wrote shortly before he entered politics, targeted aid projects that employ Afghans can do a great deal of good, "and we should focus on meeting the Afghan government's request for more investment in agriculture, irrigation, energy and roads".
In the meantime, Obama has announced that he will begin withdrawing troops in July 2011. The start of the US withdrawal is likely to begin a rush to evacuate the other Nato forces located in pockets around the country: the Dutch have announced that they will be pulling out of Uruzgan this summer, and the Canadian and Danes won't be far behind them. Nor will the Brits, despite assurances from Hague and Fox. A recent poll showed that 72 per cent of Britons want their troops out of Afghanistan immediately, and there is only so long any government can hold out against such strong public opinion. Certainly, it is time to shed the idea that a pro-western puppet regime that excludes the Pashtuns can remain in place indefinitely. The Karzai government is crumbling before our eyes, and if we delude ourselves that this is not the case, we could yet face a replay of 1842.
George Lawrence, a veteran of that war, issued a prescient warning in the Times just before Britain blundered into the Second Anglo-Afghan War in the 1870s. "A new generation has arisen which, instead of profiting from the solemn lessons of the past, is willing and eager to embroil us in the affairs of that turbulent and unhappy country," he wrote. "Although military disasters may be avoided, an advance now, however successful in a military point of view, would not fail to turn out to be as politically useless."
William Dalrymple's latest book, "Nine Lives: in Search of the Sacred in Modern India", won the first Asia House Literary Award in May, and is newly published in paperback (Bloomsbury, £8.99). His book on the First Anglo-Afghan War is planned for release in autumn 2012 |
The DPMS Panther Arms Oracle 5.56 is one of premiere firearms on the market today. It is known for:
Superb firepower
Exquisite lightweight handling
Intuitive design
Ability to adapt to user preference
What you Get in the Box:
After ordering a DPMS Arms Oracle you will find a lightweight AR Platform rifle with Optic-Ready mounting to let you choose your optic. It sports a typical mil-standard A3 upper reciever, with a lightweight profile barrel and a Pardus stock for better user experience and balanced handling.
Specs for the DPMS Panther Arms Oracle 5.56:
Trigger style: Standard AR-15
5.56 NATO/.223 Rem Caliber
Weighs 6.4 Pounds
32.5"/36.5" Long
16" Lightweight 4140 Chrome Moly 1/9 Twist Barrel
Pardus with Commercial Tube Stock
What We Love About the DPMS Panther Arms Oracle 5.56
This is an incredible stripped down, just-the-basics rifle. It’s durable, a good weight, and truth be told, we have fun shooting it! The reason we can recommend it to anyone with so much confidence is that it is easily customizable. This makes it a great deal for its price, because you get such a complete range of functionality options out of a single firearm. It cycles reliably, and the stock is adjustable for increased comfort.
What Are Gun Owners Saying About This AR 15-Style Rifle?
Scan through other reviews of this firearm, and you will find no shortage of people who love it. They tend to describe this gun as the perfect entry-level AR 15 style rifle. You’ll see people pleased with the price point as well. Not only that, people appreciate the fact that you can use any AR-brand magazine with the DPMS Panther Oracle.
Great 5.56 NATO Ammo for the DPMS Panther Oracle
One of the convenient features of the Panther is the face that you can fire with either 5.56 NATO or .223 Rem Caliber rounds. Try Hornady American Gunner 5.56 NATO Ammunition for a premium ammo manufactured with rigorous, reliable consistency. The smooth brass cases virtually guarantee snag-free feeding every time. You get high-performance ammo at an incredible price point with these rounds.
.223 Rem Caliber Ammo for the DPMS Panther Arms Oracle
One of the simplest and cleanest options for getting premium Steel-Cased .223 Rem ammo is through TulAmmo. This manufacturer pumps out reliable, rugged 55 grain hollow point bullets. Grab a case of 50 boxes with 20 rounds per box at an incredible price.
How to Learn More about the DPMS Panther Oracle
DEGuns is a leading dealer of firearms, ammo and accessories, and outdoor adventure gear of all kinds. Our in-house firearm experts would be happy to help you figure out if the Panther Oracle is the right firearm for you. We can also advise you on the best magazines and ammo to go with it. Contact us online or call 402-875-6500 to learn more.
SKU 60531 |
The actor claims confidentiality clause prevented release of Apprentice outtakes that reportedly show president-elect using ‘offensive’ slurs and insulting his son
The actor Tom Arnold has claimed to have video of Donald Trump using racist language, obscenities and denigrating his own son in outtakes of The Apprentice.
“I have the outtakes to The Apprentice where he says every bad thing ever, every offensive, racist thing ever. It was him sitting in that chair saying the N-word, saying the C-word, calling his son a retard, just being so mean to his own children,” Arnold told the Seattle-based radio station KIRO.
The actor and comedian said a contact from the reality TV show passed him the material before last month’s election, but he did not release it because of a confidentiality clause and the expectation that Trump would lose.
“[When] the people sent it to me, it was funny. Hundreds of people have seen these. It was sort of a Christmas video they put together. He wasn’t going to be president of the United States.”
Arnold said that the Sunday before the election Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Hollywood agent asked him to release the material on behalf of Hillary Clinton.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tom Arnold. Photograph: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic
“I get a call from Arnold’s CAA agent, sitting next to Hillary Clinton. They said, ‘I need you to release him saying the N-word.’ I said, ‘Well, now these people – two editors and an associate producer – are scared to death. They’re scared of his people, they’re scared of they’ll never work again, there’s a $5m confidentiality agreement.”
There was no immediate way to verify the claims. Arnold’s representatives did not respond to an interview request to elaborate on the allegations. Nor did Trump or his representatives immediately respond.
The president-elect presented NBC’s The Apprentice from 2004-2015 before running for the White House. Rumours of damaging outtakes surfaced after outtakes from another show, Access Hollywood, leaked in October. They revealed Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women.
Bill Pruitt, a producer on the first two seasons of The Apprentice, tweeted that there were “far worse” behind-the-scenes tapes of Trump on the programme.
Bill Pruitt (@billpruitt) As a producer on seasons 1 & 2 of #theapprentice I assure you: when it comes to the #trumptapes there are far worse. #justthebegininng
The Emmy award-winning producer Chris Nee alleged that Trump used the N-word in the recordings.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, which owns the rights to the show, and its creator, Mark Burnett, resisted pressure to make public the footage, citing “various contractual and legal requirements”.
Arnold, who used to be married to Roseanne Barr, made his claims about receiving the footage in an interview with KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson last Friday. His comments begin after the 26-minute mark.
The actor said he believes the material will emerge publicly in part because Mark Cuban, a tycoon who has clashed with Trump, has offered to employ anyone who releases the tapes.
The actor said he doubted the material would have altered the election outcome. “I think if the people that like him saw him saying the N-word, he’s sitting matter-of-factly in front of, there has to be 30 people there, and he’s matter-of-factly saying all of this stuff. So I think they would have liked him more, the people. For being politically incorrect,” he said.
Challenged on Twitter for not releasing the material himself, Arnold replied: “Complicated. Just been my career or death threats.”
Tom Arnold (@TomArnold) Agre F-ME. Complicated. just been my career or death threats FO would've in Oct. I've Heard $ ruin death threats 4, 30 yr. Norm folks scared https://t.co/Kgi9TWTrFz |
Creating the Creative Child through Play
My students need an outdoor sensory table set for them to explore water, sand, and all things sensory related to help them build, create, and explore.
My Students
Carl Sagan said, "Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere." We're heading into a future that will go nowhere if we continue to place adult-like expectations on students. Help our kids lead us into the unknown by allowing them to use their imaginations!
Welcome to Pre-K!
Come on in! We ask that you be respectful to those around you as well as the materials you play with. Language isn't an issue here, we're confident you'll pick it up quickly. We learn through play and exploration so you're required to bring your curiosity and imagination. Have fun! Our kids are young, ambitious, and curious, but there's darkness lurking about that's much too serious. Pre-K is a time to explore and play, to imagine and create until the end of the day. But the trouble that's looming seems to be blooming. Academic rigor! Academic rigor! They're telling us to grow up much, much quicker. They want to prepare us to be college ready. We want to go to college, but at a pace that's steady. Our parents can't help us out of the troubles that are lurking; it's not their fault! They're too busy working! It's up to you to help us keep our childhood we're about to lose, you wonderful people, the people of DonorsChoose!
My Project
Imagination. There's a word children have not heard in a long time. We're hoping to expand our playground to meet the different needs of our students. It will allow them to use their imagination and think creatively. One of the biggest issues our students have is answering the question, "What do you think?" They freeze. Almost too hesitant to think what they actually think. They are afraid to be wrong. Using your imagination and thinking does not present a clear right or wrong answer. It's an unknown and they're afraid of it. The expanded blocks and sensory table will give them a new mode of thinking and building. It adds the different elements of our senses and motion. They will take risks, learn what works and doesn't work. They will learn how to be a kid in an environment that embraces who they are, no matter what an assessment or score says. They will learn to use their imagination and use it to their advantage.
Your donations will not improve a classroom.
It will improve an entire school. It will allow an entire generation of kids to learn to think and imagine. Play matters in a child's life and by supporting this project you'll be helping our kids use their imagination and creativity. Creativity is something kids are praised for showing but not given enough opportunities to explore. They're given adult-like expectations to meet and never allowed to be who they are...kids. |
Editor's Note: The following excerpted from The Prince of Evolution: Peter Kropotkin's Adventures in Science and Politics by Lee Alan Dugatkin. Copyright (c) 2011 by Lee Alan Dugatkin.
"…{He is} that beautiful white Christ which seems to be coming out of Russia… {one} of the most perfect lives I have come across in my own experience."
-Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde was not the sort of man prone to effusive compliments. Who could possibly have merited such glowing praise from Wilde's typically satirical, razor-edged pen? That perfect life, the White Christ, belonged to a quite remarkable Russian scientist, explorer, historian, political scientist, and former prince by the name of Peter Kropotkin.
Kropotkin was one of the world's first international celebrities. In England he was known primarily as a brilliant scientist, but Kropotkin's fame in continental Europe centered more on his role as a founder and vocal proponent of anarchism. In the United States, he pursued both passions. Tens of thousands of people followed "ex-Prince Peter"—and that is how he was often billed—during two speaking tours in America.
Kropotkin's path to fame was unexpected and labyrinthine, with asides in prison, breathtaking 50,000-mile journeys through the wastelands of Siberia, and banishment, for one reason or another, from most respectable Western countries of the day. In his homeland of Russia, Peter went from being Czar Alexander II's favored teenage page, to a young man enamored with the theory of evolution, to a convicted felon, jail-breaker and general agitator, eventually being chased halfway around the world by the Russian Secret police for his radical—some might (and did) say enlightened—political views.
Both while in jail, and while on the run when he was entertaining and enlightening huge crowds, Kropotkin found the energy and concentration to write books on a dazzling array of topics: evolution and behavior, ethics, the geography of Asia, anarchism, socialism and communism, penal systems, the coming industrial revolution in the East, the French Revolution, and the state of Russian literature. Though seemingly disparate topics, a common thread—the scientific law of mutual aid, which guided the evolution of all life on earth—tied these works together. This law boils down to Kropotkin's deep-seated conviction that what we today would call altruism and cooperation—but what the Prince called mutual aid—was the driving evolutionary force behind all social life, be it in microbes, animals or humans. Traveling around the world, and trying to elude the Secret Police, simply gave Kropotkin the time, material and experience to develop his ideas.
Peter's theory of mutual aid came to him in the most unlikely of places. To follow in the footsteps of his hero, Alexander von Humboldt, when he was twenty years old, Kropotkin began a series of expeditions in Siberia. At that point, he was already an avowed evolutionary biologist—one of the few in Russia—and a great admirer of Darwin and his theory of natural selection. Fifty thousand miles later, and five years the wiser, Kropotkin left Siberia a Darwinian. But he was a very different kind of evolutionary biologist: a new species of sort. For in Siberia, Kropotkin had not found what he had expected to find. Though still in its early gestation period when Kropotkin began his journey through Siberia, evolutionary theory of the day advanced that the natural world was a brutal place: competition was the driving force. And so, in the icy wilderness, Peter expected to witness nature red in tooth and claw. He searched for it. He studied flocks of migrating birds and mammals, fish schools, and insect societies.
What he found was that competition was virtually nonexistent. Instead, in every nook and cranny of the animal world, he encountered mutual aid. Individuals huddled for warmth, fed one another, and guarded their groups from danger, all seeming to be cogs in a larger cooperative society. "In all the scenes of animal lives which passed before my eyes," Kropotkin wrote, "I saw mutual aid and mutual support carried on to an extent which made me suspect in it a feature of the greatest importance for the maintenance of life, the preservation of each species and its further evolution."
Kropotkin didn't limit his studies to animals alone. He cherished his time in peasant villages, with their sense of community and cooperation: in these small Siberian villages, Kropotkin began to understand "the inner springs of the life of human society." There, by observing "the constructive work of the unknown masses," the young scientist witnessed human cooperation and altruism in its purest form.
The conflict then arose in trying to align his observations with Darwinian theory. While he might easily have abandoned evolutionary thinking altogether, joining many other Russian scientists in dismissing Darwin's ideas as nothing more than Victorian smoke and mirrors, Kropotkin understood that evolutionary thinking could explain the diversity of life he saw around him. And so he set up the tightrope on which he would balance for the rest of his life.
He advocated that natural selection was the driving force that shaped life, but that Darwin's ideas had been perverted and misrepresented by British scientists. Natural selection, Kropotkin argued, led to mutual aid, not competition, among individuals. Natural selection favored societies in which mutual aid thrived, and individuals in these societies had an innate predisposition to mutual aid because natural selection had favored such actions. Kropotkin even coined a new scientific term—progressive evolution—to describe how mutual aid became the sine qua non of all societal life—animal and human. Years later, with the help of others, Kropotkin would formalize the idea that mutual aid was a biological law, with many implications, but the seeds were first sown in Siberia.
From the Siberian tundra, Kropotkin's thinking turned to the political implications of mutual aid. The ants and termites, the birds, the fish and the mammals were cooperating in the absence of any formal organizational structure—that is without any form of "government." The same was true in the peasant villages, where mutual aid abounded, but a centralized government structure was nowhere to be seen.
Kropotkin sensed great similarities with the writings of anarchists, which he had taken to covertly as a teenager. Leave people with complete freedom and autonomy, Peter had read in the anarchist literature, and they will naturally cooperate. In Siberia, Kropotkin had discovered this to be true not only for humans, but for all species that lived in groups. What marked so much in the natural world could surely help in politics and society.
"I lost in Siberia," Kropotkin would write," whatever faith in State discipline I had cherished before: I was prepared to become an anarchist." Peter became so convinced that his scientific findings on mutual aid explained the biological underpinnings of political anarchy, that years after his trek through Siberia, he wrote in his obituary for Charles Darwin that, properly understood, Darwin's theories were "an excellent argument that animal societies are best organized in the communist-anarchist manner."
In time, Kropotkin's ideas on the science of mutual aid would lead to his rise as the most famous anarchist of his day. Kropotkin today retains his moniker as a key founder of anarchist principles. And for more than 80 years—until about the 1960s—Kropotkin's ideas on mutual aid played a prominent, critical role in the study of behavior and evolution. And during that same period, the Prince's book-length treatments on ethics, geology, history and literature had a huge impact not only on those fields, but on areas as diverse as city planning, communist ideology and the modern "green" movement.
In the late 1980s, while researching my own Ph.D. dissertation on animal behavior and the evolution of cooperation, I came across many citations to Peter Kropotkin's work on this same topic. Quickly I came to realize a few things. Either these citations were "throwaways"—that is, citations to books the authors themselves had never read—or they were about Kropotkin the anarchist, not Kropotkin the scientist. But, when I read Kropotkin's books, cover to cover—which I did many times, in part because they are so wonderfully written—I realized that his ideas were so much more important than indicated in the evolution and animal behavior literature.
In addition to Kropotkin being one of the most famous political anarchists in history, he was an extraordinarily important figure in terms of his science. He was the first person to propose that animal cooperation was crucial for understanding the evolutionary process. He challenged the prevailing Darwinian principle that evolution was strictly about survival of the strongest. It would have been remarkable enough if Kropotkin had done this in obscurity, but quite the contrary—in his day he was the public face of these ideas, and one of the most recognizable people on the planet, lecturing on an astonishing array of subjects all over the world.
There is currently an entire subdiscipline in biology devoted to the study of cooperation and altruism in animals. This is not a small enterprise. E.O. Wilson called understanding animal cooperation and altruism one of the fundamental problems in the study of animal behavior, and that emphasis can be seen in the laboratories of scores of researchers who specialize in this area today—laboratories
from UCLA to Princeton, from the University of Texas to the University of Helsinki. Kropotkin's work in the late 1800s marks the birthplace of this field.
Many of the ideas that are the focus of research in modern labs working on animal cooperation are based on permutations of ideas first raised to the surface by Peter Kropotkin. Literally hundreds of papers come out each year on animal cooperation—many in preeminent journals such as Nature and Science—and so many of these papers show Kropotkin to be a prophet. And Kropotkin was not only the first person who clearly demonstrated that cooperation was important among animals, he was the first person to forcefully argue that understanding cooperation in animals would shed light on human cooperation, and, indeed would permit science to help promote human cooperation, perhaps saving our species from destroying itself. Today, anthropologists, political scientists, economists and psychologists publish hundreds of studies each year on human cooperation, and researchers in these fields are just beginning to realize that so many of the topics they are investigating were first suggested and promulgated by Peter Kropotkin. |
Generics in Golang
In the article we will take the advantage of [generics] even that they are not first citizen in Go . We will explore gen and genny command line tools.
Gen
Gen is a code generation tool that brings some generic query functions. It uses annotations to add this functionality to any structure. The generated code is part of your package and does not have any external dependencies. This approach avoids any reflection and produces an efficient concrete implementation for any annotated type.
By default the package generates various query functions. They can be used to project, filter, sort and group slices of the annotated types.
Installation
We should use go get command to install gen :
$ go get clipperhouse.github.io/gen
Usage
As any other Go generation tool, Gen requires a specific annoation comment declared before the desired type declaration.
// +gen [*] tag:"Value, Value[T,T]" anothertag type AnnotatedType
It begins with the +gen directive. Optionally it is followed by a [*] , indicating that the generated type should be a pointer. Tags and values are interpreted by the available type writers. They are responsible for the actual code generation. We will learn more about them in the next section. For now we will use the default slice type writer.
Lets use it to generate functions for filtering, distincting, sorting and projecting a Company struct:
// filename: company.go package company // +gen slice:"Where,GroupBy[string],DistinctBy,SortBy,Select[string]" type Company struct { Name string Country string City string }
After declaring the type annoation, we should execute gen :
$ gen
It produces comapany_slice.go file that contains the concrete implementation for any listed function in the comment.
Lets use the generated functions with the following slice:
companies := company.CompanySlice{ company.Company{Name: "Microsoft", Country: "USA", City: "Redmond"}, company.Company{Name: "Google", Country: "USA", City: "Palo Alto"}, company.Company{Name: "Facebook", Country: "USA", City: "Palo Alto"}, company.Company{Name: "Uber", Country: "USA", City: "San Francisco"}, company.Company{Name: "Tweeter", Country: "USA", City: "San Francisco"}, company.Company{Name: "SoundCloud", Country: "Germany", City: "Berlin"}, }
Lets get all companies that are based on USA. For that you should use the Where function, which receives predicate function as an argument.
The clojure function receives a company object as argument and returns boolean value. It is executed for every item in the slice. It should retun true for all objects that meets our criteria:
allUSCompanies := companies.Where(func(comp company.Company) bool { return comp.Country == "USA" })
If we distinct all companies by their country of origin, we should use the DistinctBy function that uses a function that checks two company objects for equaty:
uniqueCompanies := companies.DistinctBy(func(compA company.Company, compB company.Company) bool { return compA.Country == compB.Country })
If we want to sort the companies by their name, we should use SortBy function that receives as an argument a function that determines whether its first argument is less that second one:
// In our case we can use strings.Compare to compare to strings. It returns -1 // the first string is less than the second. sortedCompanies := companies.SortBy(func(compA company.Company, compB company.Company) bool { return strings.Compare(compA.Name, compB.Name) == -1 })
If we want to group the companies by their country of residence, we can use GroupByString function that returns a map[string]company.CompanySlice object. The key of every entry is determined by its clojure function.
groupedCompanies := companies.GroupByString(func(comp company.Company) string { return comp.Country }) fmt.Println("US Companies: ", groupedCompanies["USA"]) fmt.Println("German Companies: ", groupedCompanies["Germany"])
The company slice can be projected as a string by using generated Select function. The following code snippet projects the list of companies as a list of company names:
companyNames := companies.SelectString(func(comp company.Company) string { return comp.Name }) fmt.Println(companyNames)
// This slice of strings is produced by the code snippet [Microsoft Google Facebook Uber Tweeter SoundCloud]
A great Gen feature is that most of the functions can be chained. Lets select all companies based in USA then order them by their name and format their name in the following format:
%COMPANY_NAME% is based in %CITY%
We can simply chain Where , SortBy and SelectString functions:
result := companies.Where(func(comp company.Company) bool { return comp.Country == "USA" }).SortBy(func(compA company.Company, compB company.Company) bool { return strings.Compare(compA.Name, compB.Name) == -1 }).SelectString(func(comp company.Company) string { return fmt.Sprintf("%s's is based in %s", comp.Name, comp.City) }) for _, text := range result { fmt.Println(text) }
You can read more about another auxiliary function in the official documentation.
Implementing a type writer
The type writers are responsible for interpreting the annotated tags and generating go code. They are implementing the following interface:
type Interface interface { Name() string Imports(t Type) []ImportSpec Write(w io.Writer, t Type) error }
Name returns the writer’s name
returns the writer’s name Imports function returns a slice of packages that are required and written as imports in the generated file
function returns a slice of packages that are required and written as imports in the generated file Write function writes the actual generated code
Lets implement a writer that generates the Stack data structure. Gen uses text/template as a templating format.
// A structure that represents a stack data structure // for {{.Name}} type // // Example: // stack := &stack.Stack{} // stack.Push(new(TValue)) // value, err := stack.Pop() type {{.Name}}Stack struct { data []{{.Pointer}}{{.Name}} } // Adds an element on top of the stack func (s *{{.Name}}Stack) Push(value {{.Pointer}}{{.Name}}) { s.data = append(s.data, value) } // Removes an element from top of the stack. // If the stack is empty, it returns an error. func (s *{{.Name}}Stack) Pop() ({{.Pointer}}{{.Name}}, error) { length := len(s.data) if length == 0 { return nil, errors.New("Stack is empty") } value := s.data[length-1] s.data = s.data[:length-1] return value, nil }
The template declared by typewriter.Template instance. The templateContent variable contains the actual text/template string:
// filename: templates.go package stack import "github.com/clipperhouse/typewriter" var templates = typewriter.TemplateSlice{ stackTmpl, } var stackTmpl = &typewriter.Template{ Name: "Stack", Text: templateContent, }
The following structure implements a type writer responsible for code generation of declared template:
// filename: stack.go package stack import ( "io" "github.com/clipperhouse/typewriter" ) func init() { if err := typewriter.Register(NewWriter()); err != nil { panic(err) } } type writer struct{} // Creates a new stack type writer func NewWriter() typewriter.Interface { return &writer{} } func (tw *writer) Name() string { return "stack" } func (tw *writer) Imports(t typewriter.Type) (result []typewriter.ImportSpec) { return } func (tw *writer) Write(w io.Writer, t typewriter.Type) error { // retrieve that for this type writer a tag is declared in the annoation // if it's not found the writer won't be generate anything tag, found := t.FindTag(tw) if !found { return nil } // Write a header commend in the generated file header := "// DO NOT MODIFY. Auto-generated code." if _, err := w.Write([]byte(header)); err != nil { return err } // A template for the exact tag is retrieved tmpl, err := templates.ByTag(t, tag) if err != nil { return err } // Write out the template substitution to the writer if err := tmpl.Execute(w, t); err != nil { return err } return nil }
In ored to use the template we should declare annotation. Lets annotate company.Company struct:
// +gen * stack type Company struct { Name string Country string City string }
After executing $ gen command a company_stack.go file is placed in the package directory. It contains an actual implementation of CompanyStack structure, which can be used in the following way:
stack := &StudentStack{} stack.Push(&Student{FirstName: "John", LastName: "Smith"}) student, err := stack.Pop()
A complete implementation of the custom type writer can be pulled from this repository.
Genny
Genny is a code-generation tool that replaces usage of generics. It allows to transform a Go source code into specific implementation by replacing its generic types.
Installation
Install by executing go get :
$ go get github.com/cheekybits/genny
Usage
The tool uses a similar approach as gotemplate . A special comment should be provided in order to be recognised by go generate :
//go:generate genny -in=$GOFILE -out=gen-$GOFILE gen "KeyType=string,int ValueType=string,int"
Parameters:
-in specifies the input file (template)
specifies the input file (template) -out specifies the output file
specifies the output file $GOFILE refers to the current file
refers to the current file KeyType and ValueType are the parameter names in the specified template
As the other tools, we should just call go generate to produce a file that is result of substition between the template and provided parameters.
Declaring generics
The template can contains as many as we require parameters. They should be defined using the special genny type generic.Type :
type KeyType generic.Type type ValueType generic.Type
Lets port the Stack data struct in genny :
//go:generate genny -in=$GOFILE -out=gen-$GOFILE gen "ValueType=*Student" type ValueType generic.Type type Stack struct { data []ValueType } func (s *Stack) Push(value TValueType) { s.data = append(s.data, value) } func (s *Stack) Pop() (TValueType, error) { length := len(s.data) if length == 0 { return nil, errors.New("Stack is empty") } value := s.data[length-1] s.data = s.data[:length-1] return value, nil }
Significant difference from gotemplate is that in genny the special go:generate comment should be placed in the actual template. This can be avoid by executing genny from the command line shell:
$ cat ./stack.go | genny gen "ValueType=*Student" > student_stack.go
Conclusion
Do you still complain that Go does not support generics?
Gen and genny are great tools for automating a common development tasks. Because of their template nature, we can focus on what should be generated instead of how to generate it.
Do you have the next big idea? Consult with the experts. Hire Phogo Labs to help you build brilliant software. Get your free consultation
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Image caption The study of RE and acts of collective worship are compulsory in NI schools but parents can withdraw their child from these on the grounds of conscience
The requirement for Northern Ireland schools to arrange daily acts of collective worship should end, a new report has said.
The Commission on Religion and Belief in Public Life said schools should hold instead "inclusive assemblies".
Its report said these should be "appropriate for pupils and staff of all religions and beliefs".
Religious Education (RE) and acts of collective worship are compulsory in Northern Ireland schools.
Parents do have the option to withdraw their child from these on the grounds of conscience.
The commission also called specifically for RE to be broadened to "include more religions, and non-religious worldviews on the same basis as religions".
It is chaired by Rt Hon Baroness Butler-Sloss, and includes 20 representatives from a range of religious and non-religious backgrounds across the UK.
It has spent two years looking at the place and role of religion and belief in contemporary Britain, and makes recommendations for public life and policy.
'Confessional instruction'
While it made a range of proposals across UK civic life, one chapter of the report is solely on education, and it contains comments specific to RE in Northern Ireland.
The commission said that education about religion and belief is essential in schools, but says it must reflect religious and non-religious traditions in the UK, and should not contain elements of "confessional instruction or indoctrination".
Schools in Northern Ireland have to teach RE for children up to the age of 16 on the basis of a core curriculum drawn up by the four main churches.
However, schools can teach aspects of religion beyond the curriculum to reflect the ethos of the school.
The commission's report was critical of the Northern Ireland syllabus, saying that study of world religions "is only available for Key Stage 3 pupils on the basis of the churches' argument that younger children would be confused".
It said: "Growing numbers of children and young people from other cultural and religious backgrounds are not well served by a churches-devised RE core syllabus that positions itself as having an essential Christian character."
The report also called for the subject of RE to be "renamed" and "given an explicitly educational rather than confessional focus".
The report was also critical of what it called the "divided" education system in Northern Ireland.
"Separate education means, intentionally or otherwise, that very few pupils experience any of their learning, including RE, in the company of children from a tradition other than their own," it said.
However, the report did not explicitly call for all schools in Northern Ireland to be integrated. |
LONDON—A year after their stunning referendum to leave the European Union, British voters tossed another political grenade at their system Thursday with a shocking general election result that may place the future of Brexit itself in doubt. Britain appears headed toward the drama and uncertainty of a weak Conservative minority government in one of the most surprising upsets in U.K. political history.
There is already considerable speculation that British PM Theresa May may be forced to resign after she squandered a Conservative majority. ( Alastair Grant / AP )
It was a stunning rebuke of Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May and an astonishing outcome for her left-wing Labour Party rival, Jeremy Corbyn. With 649 of 650 seats in the House of Commons declared, May’s bruised Conservatives had 318 seats — short of the 326 they needed for an outright majority and well down from the 330 seats they had before May’s roll of the electoral dice. Labour has 261. There is already considerable speculation that Prime Minister May will be pressured to resign by Conservative party colleagues angry at her performance.
Article Continued Below
Read more:British PM Theresa May’s majority slipping away, exit polls show In remarks to her constituency early Friday morning, May indicated she intended to stay on — “the country needs a period of stability,” she said — although there is a real possibility of another election if the Conservatives don’t get the support of the House of Commons. For his part, Labour’s Corbyn told his supporters that “it is time for Theresa May to go.” On Friday, May arrived at Buckingham Palace for a meeting with Queen to seek permission to form a government. In this election, the Labour Party gained more than 30 seats. Not unlike U.S. politician Bernie Sanders during last year’s presidential campaign, Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn brought his populist, anti-establishment message to enormous crowds every day, many of them filled with young and passionate supporters. Early indications are that the enthusiasm of young voters for Corbyn was one of the major breakthroughs in this campaign. Voter registration for young people was at an all-time high and it seemed they turned out. It was the fourth election in four years for British voters, and one that needn’t have happened. Theresa May was selected by her party last year to replace David Cameron as prime minister after Britain’s unexpected Brexit vote to leave the European Union. Repeatedly, she promised there would no election again until the next scheduled vote in 2020.
But the polls in April showed the Conservatives 20 points ahead of the fractured Labour Party led by Corbyn. And the temptation to call a sudden election, it seems, was too great. They wanted to exploit the apparent weakness of Corbyn and even imagined Theresa May emerging from this election with a landslide victory — as a 21st century Margaret Thatcher ushering in a generation of Tory rule.
Article Continued Below
The Conservative majority inherited by Prime Minister May from David Cameron was very slim, and she argued that Britain needed “strong and stable leadership” to confront the Europeans and shape a future outside of Europe. But voters didn’t share that enthusiasm. In terms of seats and popular vote, the Conservative lead over Labour this time was cut in half. In her first campaign as party leader, Prime Minister May faltered badly. Her biggest stumble was around the release of the Conservative party manifesto. It included a scheme that suggested senior citizens would have to pay for a portion of their social care, which critics called a “dementia tax.” After several days of ridicule, she announced it would be ditched as a pledge, but the outrage among elderly voters continued. For the Conservative side, this was an uninspiring campaign, marred by two terrorist incidents in three weeks that killed 30 people. It revealed the prime minister to be a weak campaigner, uncomfortable in unscripted settings, and a leader who never appeared to connect with voters. More ominously, it also seemed to reflect in stark terms a population still divided about the United Kingdom’s challenging road ahead. The election outcome will undoubtedly have consequences for the country’s divided politics as well as its uncertain role in the wider world. In ten days, Britain is scheduled to begin its crucial negotiations with Europe that are intended to work out the terms of Britain’s exit from the European Union. These talks are now in jeopardy because of the political chaos created by these election results. Nigel Farage, one of the leaders of the Brexit campaign that won last June’s referendum, told the BBC that he believed that Brexit “is in some trouble now. We may very well be looking down the barrel of a second referendum.” Farage expressed the view that the talks may be delayed. He also indicated that he may decide to reenter politics once again to help ensure that Brexit actually goes ahead. The wider British approach to the European Union in light of this election will take some time to work out. The differing demands of splinter parties regarding this issue will undoubtedly become a factor in minority government negotiations. — With files from the Associated Press
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I haven't done anything wrong, says @shamiwitness
India
oi-Oneindia
By Oneindia Staff Writer
Bengaluru, Dec 12: Even as the Indian agencies are trying to track down Mehdi Masroor Biswas the man said to have tweeted as shamiwitness, Channel 4 which broke the story has managed to speak to him once again.
Mehdi appears to be scared that he may be killed by the police who may then claim that he had tried to attack them. He says that he will not resist arrest when the time comes and does not have any weapons with him. "I get to read in the media now that there is a manhunt for me and they may get me in 24 hours", he says.
Have not waged any war:
Mehdi further states that he has done no wrong
"I haven't done anything wrong. I haven't harmed anybody, I haven't broken any laws of the country. I haven't raised any war or any violence against the public of India. I haven't waged war against any allies of India. They might try to bring that charge. I haven't waged war against anybody. I just said stuff, people followed me, then I followed them back and then we talked. I only knew what the IS fighters or sympathisers said in public tweets".
Read: Shami witness twitter account holder a resident of Kolkata
Thought it would die down:
"I thought it would die down in the first one or two hours but it's still raging. I can't believe this I think for the first time there's a Muslim who can actually enunciate in English and get the message across and which has really pissed off our enemies, enemies of Muslims", he also tells Channel 4s Simon Isreal.
Oneindia News |
× LATEST: NBC News anchor Brian Williams suspended without pay for six months
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Brian Williams has been suspended for six months without pay following revelations that he exaggerated tales from an Iraq War mission in 2003.
NBC News president Deborah Turness informed staffers of the network’s decision at a meeting shortly after Williams’ fill-in, Lester Holt, finished anchoring Tuesday’s “NBC Nightly News.”
“The suspension will be without pay and is effective immediately,” Turness wrote. “We let Brian know of our decision earlier today. Lester Holt will continue to substitute Anchor the NBC Nightly News.”
The announcement follows a morning meeting between Williams and the CEO of NBCUniversal, Steve Burke, at Burke’s apartment.
Burke said in a statement on Tuesday night, “By his actions, Brian has jeopardized the trust millions of Americans place in NBC News. His actions are inexcusable and this suspension is severe and appropriate.”
Burke added, “Brian’s life’s work is delivering the news. I know Brian loves his country, NBC News and his colleagues. He deserves a second chance and we are rooting for him. Brian has shared his deep remorse with me and he is committed to winning back everyone’s trust.”
For NBC News, the rolling calamity began last last month when Williams paid tribute on his newscast to a soldier who had provided security to the anchor and his NBC crew in the desert on that day in 2003.
“The story actually started with a terrible moment a dozen years back during the invasion of Iraq when the helicopter we were traveling in was forced down after being hit by an R.P.G,” Williams said on-air. “Our traveling NBC News team was rescued, surrounded and kept alive by an armor mechanized platoon from the U.S. Army 3rd Infantry.”
After a video of the segment was posted by the network on Facebook, several soldiers called out Williams for stretching the truth.
Williams, it turned out, had not been on the helicopter that was hit by an R.P.G.
Williams apologized last Wednesday, both on Facebook and on “Nightly News,” but what he said raised more questions than answers, and the controversy swelled over the next three days.
As skepticism mounted over Williams’ claims about other reporting assignments — namely his coverage of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — NBC News said Friday that it would conduct an internal investigation into the disputed accounts. Williams was once again in the anchor chair that night.
But on Saturday, Williams said he had become “too much a part of the news” and that he planned to step aside from the newscast for “the next several days.” Williams hunkered down even more on Sunday, canceling a scheduled appearance on the “Late Show with David Letterman.”
By Monday, his attorney was in crisis meetings at 30 Rockefeller Center, where Williams’ posters — celebrating his first-place status in the nightly news wars — hang on the walls.
—
Here is the full memo from Turness:
We have decided today to suspend Brian Williams as Managing Editor and Anchor of NBC Nightly News for six months. The suspension will be without pay and is effective immediately. We let Brian know of our decision earlier today. Lester Holt will continue to substitute Anchor the NBC Nightly News. Our review, which is being led by Richard Esposito working closely with NBCUniversal General Counsel Kim Harris, is ongoing, but I think it is important to take you through our thought process in coming to this decision. While on Nightly News on Friday, January 30, 2015, Brian misrepresented events which occurred while he was covering the Iraq War in 2003. It then became clear that on other occasions Brian had done the same while telling that story in other venues. This was wrong and completely inappropriate for someone in Brian’s position. In addition, we have concerns about comments that occurred outside NBC News while Brian was talking about his experiences in the field. As Managing Editor and Anchor of Nightly News, Brian has a responsibility to be truthful and to uphold the high standards of the news division at all times. Steve Burke, Pat Fili and I came to this decision together. We felt it would have been wrong to disregard the good work Brian has done and the special relationship he has forged with our viewers over 22 years. Millions of Americans have turned to him every day, and he has been an important and well-respected part of our organization. As I’m sure you understand, this was a very hard decision. Certainly there will be those who disagree. But we believe this suspension is the appropriate and proportionate action. This has been a difficult time. But NBC News is bigger than this moment. You work so hard and dedicate yourselves each and every day to the important work of bringing trusted, credible news to our audience. Because of you, your loyalty, your dedication, NBC News is an organization we can — and should – all be proud of. We will get through this together.
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(the game is 100% free: no addtional content with costs, item shop, subscription, Adware, ads etc.) Download Söldner: Secret Wars full game free:(the game is 100% free: no addtional content with costs, item shop, subscription, Adware, ads etc.) Söldner of the month of January 2019 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month January:
=AR=KIRILL_04
With a total score of 65997 points =AR=KIRILL_04 took the first place in this months ranking.
Ranking profile:
http://ranks.soldnersecretwars.de/main.php?period=118&lang=en&player=106405
Söldner of the month of December 2018 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month December:
=AR=KIRILL_04
With a total score of 65727 points =AR=KIRILL_04 took the first place in this months ranking.
Ranking profile:
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Söldner of the month of November 2018 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month November:
wetkin
With a total score of 60132 points wetkin took the first place in this months ranking.
Ranking profile:
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Söldner of the month of October 2018 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month October:
seba001
With a total score of 27506 points seba001 took the first place in this months ranking.
Ranking profile:
http://ranks.soldnersecretwars.de/main.php?period=115&lang=en&player=105118
Söldner of the month of September 2018 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month September:
SPN_ssccsscc
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Ranking profile:
http://ranks.soldnersecretwars.de/main.php?period=114&lang=en&player=104660
Söldner of the month of August 2018 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month August:
~Nemesis~
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Ranking profile:
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Söldner of the month of July 2018 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month July:
~Nemesis~
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Ranking profile:
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Söldner of the month of June 2018 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month June:
SPN_ssccsscc
With a total score of 41437 points SPN_ssccsscc took the first place in this months ranking.
Ranking profile:
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Söldner of the month of May 2018 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month May:
=]FX[=Skills
With a total score of 71392 points =]FX[=Skills took the first place in this months ranking.
Ranking profile:
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Söldner of the month of April 2018 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month April:
=]FX[=Seni
With a total score of 87183 points =]FX[=Seni took the first place in this months ranking.
Ranking profile:
http://ranks.soldnersecretwars.de/main.php?period=109&lang=en&player=102225
Status Update It has been quite for a long time around the development but now there is some news about the future of our game: A new development team is currently overhauling the game with the intent to make it available on digital distribution platforms to try to reach more players and to allow Söldner to live for a few more years. More details will follow in the next weeks once we can provide you with a rough timeline. Cheers,
Huffel Söldner of the month of March 2018 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month March:
S1iMpLe=H4rd)0(
With a total score of 86298 points S1iMpLe=H4rd)0( took the first place in this months ranking.
Ranking profile:
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Söldner of the month of February 2018 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month February:
KOJIRO_HYUGA
With a total score of 56783 points KOJIRO_HYUGA took the first place in this months ranking.
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Söldner of the month of January 2018 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month January:
SPN_ssccsscc
With a total score of 61336 points SPN_ssccsscc took the first place in this months ranking.
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http://ranks.soldnersecretwars.de/main.php?period=106&lang=en&player=100380
Söldner of the month of December 2017 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month December:
The(*.*)SPeCTRe
With a total score of 67780 points The(*.*)SPeCTRe took the first place in this months ranking.
Ranking profile:
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Söldner of the month of November 2017 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month November:
son.of.a.gun
With a total score of 74560 points son.of.a.gun took the first place in this months ranking.
Ranking profile:
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Söldner of the month of October 2017 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month October:
GORN-7519
With a total score of 55010 points GORN-7519 took the first place in this months ranking.
Ranking profile:
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Söldner of the month of September 2017 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month September:
~Nemesis~
With a total score of 86732 points ~Nemesis~ took the first place in this months ranking.
Ranking profile:
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sc774
With a total score of 145825 points sc774 took the first place in this months ranking.
Ranking profile:
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Söldner of the month of July 2017 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month July:
sc774
With a total score of 112892 points sc774 took the first place in this months ranking.
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Söldner of the month of June 2017 Congratulations to the Söldner of the month June:
Breizh2007
With a total score of 70297 points Breizh2007 took the first place in this months ranking.
Ranking profile:
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Archive... |
The FBI has released its files on Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder and icon of the business world, painting a picture of a complex man who is described both as "a deceptive individual" and one of "high moral character and integrity".
The documents, released in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, were compiled by the FBI when Jobs was being considered for political office in the president's export council under George Bush Sr's administration.
Some of the titbits revealed in the 191 pages of documents include that that he was a negligent father who would "twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals," according to documents released by the FBI.
The FBI interviewed Jobs and at least 29 people who knew him as part of a background check. Their investigations took place in the 1990s, after Jobs had been fired from Apple and before his triumphant return to the company.
"Several individuals questioned Mr Jobs' honesty stating that Mr Jobs will twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals. They also commented that, in the past, Mr Jobs was not supportive of [redacted] and their daughter; however, recently has become supportive," according to the documents.
Another source characterised Jobs as "a deceptive individual who is not completely forthright and honest".
The files paint a picture of a complicated man, full of contradictions. One man interviewed by the FBI, who identifies himself as a former "good friend" of Jobs, said that while the Apple boss was "basically an honest and trustworthy person, he is a very complex individual and his moral character is suspect." He said that Jobs "alienated a large number of people at Apple as a result of his ambition".
But none of the witnesses seem to have questioned Jobs' business abilities.
'A deceptive individual who is not completely forthright'
Two other witnesses said he was "strong-willed, stubborn, hard-working and driven, which is why they believe he is so successful." He was a man of "indefatigable energy" and "vision" according to others and would make "a positive contribution on the national scene." Another said he "believed the appointee has what it takes to assume a high level political position within the government, which in his opinion, honesty and integrity are not prerequisites to assume such a position".
Jobs travelled to India in the mid-1970s and became fascinated by Zen Buddhism, he practised mediation for the rest of his life. One FBI source said Jobs "had undergone a change in philosophy by participating in eastern and/or Indian mysticism and religion. This change apparently influenced the appointee's personal life for the better."
The portrait tallies with that given in Steve Jobs, Water Isaacson's recent biography of the Apple founder. Jobs had a "reality distortion field", according to Isaacson, that allowed him to believe, and convince others, that whatever he said was true. "Zen awareness was not accompanied by an excess of calm, peace of mind or interpersonal mellowness," Isaacson wrote.
At the time of the interview Jobs said he had not used any illegal drugs for five years. He said he had used marijuana, hashhish and LSD between 1970-1974.
Jobs told the FBI that he was not a member of the communist party or any organisation looking to overthrow the government. He said he belonged to no organisations other than the New York Athletic Club, an exclusive Manhattan gym, but that he knew nothing about their membership policies as he had never been there.
The documents also contain memos about a $1m bomb threat that was made against Apple on February 7, 1985, several months before Apple fired Jobs.
"An unidentified male caller made a series of telephone calls to [redacted] of Apple computer Inc […] and advised that 'devices' had been placed in homes of captioned individuals [redacted] and one million dollars must be paid," the FBI wrote. The caller said he had left instructions about how to defuse the bomns under a table "next to a candy machine" in the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco. No bombs or notes were found.
According to the source, Jobs' religious leanings led him to live "more of a spartanlike and at times even monastic existence" that had "apparently influenced the appointee's personal life for the better".
The FBI can make its records public after a person's death. Jobs died in October after a long battle with a rare form of cancer.
Apple, the maker of the iPhone, iPad, iPod and Mac, is now the world's most valuable company. After Jobs's death, fans flocked to Apple stores around the world, leaving "iShrines" to their hero. |
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It's the number one picture sharing platform in the UK and so if you're having a good pint in a Welsh pub, it's almost compulsory these days to put it on Instagram.
And new data released has given an idea of just what pubs in Wales people like to shout about on the social media site.
The app has become a mainstream essential of tourism life and snapping a picture of your latest escapade, in every location you visit, has become something of a must.
And if you want to visit some of the most-loved pubs in Wales this year, this list could help.
Here are the top 10 Welsh pubs which people have been posting most about...
1. Ty Coch Inn, Gwynedd
Number of posts: 2,625
Situated in the village of Porthdinllaen near Morfa Nefyn, Gwynedd, it's on the north coast of the Llyn Peninsula and with views across the Irish Sea to The Rivals AND a sandy beach on its doorstep it's not hard to see why it's first on the list.
2. Ten Mill Lane, Cardiff
Number of posts: 2,189
It's a quirky, relaxed basement bar in the centre of Cardiff which does some pretty impressive cocktails, like Grandpa's Medicine, which is made of Havana Club rum, Disaronno, Creme de Fique and topped with fresh lemon juice, raspberries and mint.
3. Brewdog, Cardiff
Number of posts: 691
(Image: robot81)
This Cardiff beer bohemia has 30 taps and several well stocked fridges full of international craft curios to drink in or take away.
It does lots of collaborations with other breweries all year round, so there's always lots to discover.
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4. Zinco Lounge, Swansea
Number of posts: 661
The surroundings are cool and comfortable and the all-day menu offers a good choice of dishes, along with a great choice of drinks.
5. The Cottage Loaf, Llandudno
Number of posts: 579
It's a traditional country pub nestled in the heart of the seaside town of Llandudno. It's got open fires, wooden beams, heavy old furniture, craft ales and homemade food.
6. The Hollybush, Newport
Number of posts: 569
A traditional pub with rooms, it's a 200-year-old inn on the picturesque crossroads in the village of Draethen, near Machen.
7. The Sloop Inn, Porthgain
Number of posts: 329
The Sloop is located between Fishguard and St Davids on the Pembrokeshire coast and dates back to the 18th century.
There is nearly always fresh fish listed in the specials, including lobster when it's in season.
8. The Live Lounge, Cardiff
Number of posts: 311
It's more of a lively city centre nightspot than a pub but the venue has proved popular for posting pics, usually of people with a drink in their hand!
9. The Harbourmaster, Aberaeron
Number of posts: 275
(Image: Harbourmaster Hotel)
verlooking the quayside in Aberaeron, the pub, restaurant and hotel fits in well with the equally colourful houses that surround the water. It's famous for its beautiful rooms and fantastic food.
10. The Bunch of Grapes, Pontypridd
Number of posts: 244
It has food, wine and beer awards.
It may look from the outside like a humble boozer but inside is a different story with its sizable bar area, the pub's deli and a restaurant.
* The data, supplied by Witter-Towbars , covers the period of January 3, 2016 until January 3, 2017. See more about the project here |
FOR 12 glorious hours, all American conservatives of good conscience were "Rand Paul Republicans" this week. So says the online army that is still in battle formation, long after the tea party-backed senator from Kentucky ended his talking filibuster of the new CIA head's confirmation. Mr Paul stood down after receiving a two-sentence assurance from Eric Holder, the attorney-general, that President Barack Obama does not have the authority to use a "weaponised drone" to kill an American citizen on American soil who is not engaged in combat.
The debate over whether Mr Paul was asking a silly question has been well covered. The Wall Street Journal said the senator "needs to do more than pull political stunts that fire up impressionable libertarian kids". But a raft of Senate colleagues insisted that the question cannot have been foolish, because it took the Obama administration so long to answer it. Marco Rubio of Florida, a man elected with tea-party help, said, "If it’s such a silly question, why couldn’t you just dismiss it quickly with a very straightforward answer?"
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As it happens, I think that Mr Paul's question, in its extreme narrowness (can the American president kill American citizens in America with a drone?) was something of a cheap stunt, embraced online by those already primed to think Mr Obama a tryant determined to trample on the rights of free-born Americans.
That is a shame, because the drone programme and the wider war on terror throw up more serious questions worthy of Senate scrutiny and (why not?) a dramatic talking filibuster.
There is the question of the desperately slender, and fraying, legal authority that underpins much of the war on terror. From drone strikes in Pakistan or Yemen to continued detentions in Guantánamo Bay, the legal base of too many American actions remains a short paragraph passed by a joint resolution of Congress three days after the September 11th attacks. That resolution, the Authorisation for Use of Military Force, is causing a growing number of headaches, as the Washington Post pointed out this week, because it grants sweeping powers to go after groups or individuals linked to the September 11th attacks, but says nothing about unrelated extremist groups that have popped up since then. Inside government, this threadbare legal basis causes real angst, as several senior officials have admitted to me in interviews.
Then there is the question of whether the new CIA chief, John Brennan, or the White House, will support the release of any part of a 6,000-page report by the Senate Intelligence Committee on the detention and interrogation policies of the past 12 years. Mr Brennan, during confirmation hearings, said that he had been surprised and disturbed by some of the contents of the report, which apparently says that the CIA's handling of terror suspects was mismanaged and that officials misled Congress about how much useful information was obtained from interrogations.
Those questions, surely, would have been worthier foundations on which to build a 12-hour filibuster.
But to me what is really dismaying about Mr Paul's filibuster is not how it sprang to life, but how it ended. The senator claimed that Mr Holder's letter amounted to a great "victory", though all it really said was: ok, we can confirm that your wild conspiracy theory is indeed wild and a conspiracy theory. The senator tried to suggest on Fox News that he had somehow succeeded in limiting presidential power, and certainly that is what many of his supporters are saying. In Mr Paul's words:
It's a great victory because we've been asking a question of the president, and this is a question that limits the presidential power. Presidents, Republican and Democrat, they don't want to limit their power, so this was the body of the Senate saying to the president, Are you going to obey the constitution?
But presidents already swear an oath to uphold the constitution. A senator who uses his power to show that a president has broken that oath has done a great and historic service to his country. But Mr Paul did not do that. His question to Mr Holder was, in effect: do you think the president has the right to flout the constitution? And the administration replied: no. That is not oversight, that's heckling.
Not content with that, Mr Paul raced around giving interviews hinting that the whole process had bolstered his claims to run for the Republican nomination in 2016, by showing how he could reach out from the traditional conservative base to more libertarian or plain ornery bits of the country (he cited New England, where it is true he has a strong following, notably in such leave-me-alone places as Maine and New Hampshire).
Mr Paul told Politico:
I think there is somehow a middle ground between what is maybe more pure libertarianism and what is more traditional, conservatism, and I think somewhere in between, there is a role as long as that person can somehow bring about an expansion of the party.
And that idea of Mr Paul as a unifier able to bring together libertarian and small-government fiscal conservatives has taken off.
The tea-party movement, which knows all about the trickiness of uniting social conservatives and libertarians under an anti-government banner, jumped on the chance to denounce Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham, two older-school national-security Republicans willing to do deals across party lines in the interest of governing. FreedomWorks, a group which has funded primary challenges against Republicans it thinks insufficiently flinty, urged activists to weigh in after Mr McCain and Mr Graham criticised the Paul filibuster (and compounded their sin by discussing possible budget deals with Mr Obama over dinner).
Here is Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee (who encouraged senators to help Mr Paul in the chamber during his marathon), praising the filibuster to the Des Moines Register and playing down the divisions Mr Paul had exposed:
I think it was completely awesome. I was excited about it myself. I couldn’t go to bed. I’m still excited about it... You know why I’m excited about it? I think our party needs some unity sometimes, and it’s not easy not having the White House, and sometimes you’ve got to scrap and claw for issues that can unify a party—now [it wasn’t] total unity. But this was a great issue in standing up against the president and asking some simple, important questions, and I was happy to see so many other senators support Mr. Paul.
Here is Nick Gillespie of Reason, a libertarian magazine:
[W]hat was most bracing and ultimately powerful thing about the filibuster was that none of the speakers exempted the Republican Party or former President George W. Bush, whose aggrandized view of executive power still roils the sleep of the Founding Fathers, from withering criticism and scrutiny. How else to explain that hard-left groups such as Code Pink were proud to #standwithrand yesterday on Twitter?... The filibuster succeeded precisely because it wasn't a cheap partisan ploy but because the substance under discussion—why won't the president of the United States, his attorney general, and his nominee to head the CIA explain their views on limits to their power?—transcends anything so banal or ephemeral as party affiliation or ideological score-settling
And here is the word from Iowa, via Politico:
“I don’t think you can underestimate how big of a moment this was. If the Iowa Caucuses were tomorrow, he would win in a landslide,” said conservative talk radio host Steve Deace, who lives in Iowa. “Imagine taking what Scott Walker did in Wisconsin and combining it with what Mike Huckabee did with Chick-fil-A, that’s how big this is.”
Big? The problem with Mr Paul's filibuster was that it was small. He is a man of tender conscience with some legitimate concerns about the legal mess that is the war on terror. But though he may claim, as here to Fox News, that he has clarified those questions, he has not. In Mr Paul's own words, this was why he set out to filibuster Mr Brennan:
The main reason for asking this question was, we have drone strikes overseas where people are being killed who are not actively engaged in combat. Now, they may be bad people, but they're not actively engaged in combat. I don't think in America, if you're in a cafe, if you're e-mailing somebody, even if you're conspiring, that you should be summarily killed. You should be arrested if they think you're guilty of something. You should get a trial and an attorney and all the due process. In America, we do have the Bill of Rights. In fact, that's what our soldiers are fighting for. So I don't think we should give that up to say, Oh, the whole world is a zone of war, and therefore, you can be named an enemy combatant and wafted off to prison somewhere.
In his own terms, then, he failed. He secured no answers at all about the legality of drone strikes overseas (which are, let us not forget, the only drone strikes to have ever happened, outside the feverish imaginations of the black-helicopters crowd). Nor did he extract any information from the government about the wider legality of that post September 11th assertion of world-wide war powers. Mr Paul's filibuster was a waste of his own fine conscience.
So why are conservatives from Mr Rubio to Mr Preibus to Mr Deace in Iowa so happy about the filibuster? Because they have spent the months since last November's election feeling sad, and he made them feel happier about themselves.
Just read the line from Mr Deace, the talk-show host, carefully. He compares Mr Paul's filibuster to a tangible policy victory (the legal curbs on trade unions passed by Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, despite ferocious local opposition), but also to a moment of meaningless feel-good navel-gazing for social conservatives (the online campaign by Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and failed presidential candidate, to rally support for the Chik-fil-A fast-food chain after its boss gave an interview setting out his objections, as a Christian, to gay marriage). Whether you agree with Mr Walker or Mr Huckabee, or with neither of them, it is an objective political fact that one of them achieved something important and one inspired social conservatives to queue for chicken sandwiches last August, a moment that cheered up lots of Republicans and made them feel united, but did precisely nothing to help win the White House or the Senate.
The frenzy around Rand Paul this week says less about Mr Paul than it does about the need of conservatives to reassure themselves that they are a mass movement, capable of attracting majority support from mainstream America. Alas for conservatives, Mr Paul did not really prove that.
When polled about the sort of drone strikes that take place in the real world, 64% of Americans told a WSJ/NBC poll last month that they support targeted assassinations of al-Qaeda suspects abroad—ie, they do not share Mr Paul's qualms. It was only when polled by Reason with a frankly leading question, about whether they feared the government abusing its power as it used drones to kill American citizens accused of being terrorists, that a majority said yes.
There is an urgent need for better oversight of America's war on terror. Conservatives are well placed to provide that oversight, because most Democrats are disinclined to criticise Mr Obama in public over his use of drones, secret detentions and intelligence sharing with legally dodgy foreign agencies. If done properly, such oversight would be hard work and politically risky, because many ordinary Americans seem not that fussed about vapourising suspected Islamic extremists in far-away countries. Ignore the praise for Mr Paul this week. He has proved nothing about the right's appetite for such hard, risky work, and shown instead a movement excited by any chance to rally round a popular cause, and feel good about itself.
(Photo credit: AFP) |
Another day dedicated to fixing performance regressions on stable40. Spent quite a few hours debugging with users, but after making little progress began to work on more visibility of diagnostic information when a stutter frame is encountered.
Since quite a few builds ago, the Cutting-Edge stream has had a performance.log file (along with many other varieties of logs found in the new “Logs” folder – how appropriate!). As of the latest release, each time a dropped frame is detected (indicated by a little square next to the FPS counter), a decent amount of statistics will be dumped to this file.
The FPS meter is quite liberal with what it considers dropped frames, so this file may get a bit busy over time. Fortunately, the format is quite easy to process and is fully timestamped.
If you are one of those people still encountering stuttering frame-rates on the new releases, now more than ever before can you give us what we need to help solve your problems. Note that this implementation isn’t complete yet; more statistics will be added over the coming days.
We are also building up a fairly comprehensive knowledge base of what hardware, software and drivers can possibly cause issues with osu!. Going forward, I hope to have osu! detect apps running which can negatively impact performance and alert the user.
While we have some very helpful people on public slack helping with testing (special thanks to DPL for his time), we could always do with more! Get on over and watch or participate! |
Apr 22, 2016; Houston, TX, USA; General view of Minute Maid Park before a game between the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Two junior senators are reaching across the aisle in an attempt to stop taxpayer-funded stadiums for professional sports teams. Could it work?
It is an open secret in professional sports in the United States that if you—likely a billionaire or executive heading a group of billionaires—would like to both inhabit a shiny new stadium as well as spend a minimal amount of your own money to do so, the U.S. taxpayer is your best friend.
Now it would seem, according to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, there is a renewed effort in the U.S. Congress to put a halt to Joe and Jane Sixpack financing largely private construction endeavors.
Cory Booker, D-N.J., and James Lankford, R-Okla., are sponsoring a bill that would prohibit teams from using municipal bonds, whose interest is exempt from federal taxes, to help finance stadium construction.
“Professional sports teams generate billions of dollars in revenue,” Booker said in a statement. “There’s no reason why we should give these multimillion-dollar businesses a federal tax break to build new stadiums. It’s not fair to finance these expensive projects on the backs of taxpayers, especially when wealthy teams end up reaping most of the benefits.”
Both senators, Booker and Lankford, are by Senate standards fresh meat: Both gentlemen are more than 10 years younger than the average age of Senators in the 114th Congress, and only one, Booker, is on his second term.
However, neither Senator will be seeking re-election until the next United States Congress begins in 2019, which diminishes the likelihood that this bipartisan bill is a mechanism to curry favor with constituents.
Major League Baseball reported earnings of nearly $10 billion in 2016, not counting team-specific profits from sponsorships, licensing and television network deals. Including all of those things, the league as a whole generates revenue well north of $10 billion a year. Yet the Atlanta Braves just opened their new SunTrust Park with almost $400 million worth of assistance from taxpayers. The Oakland Athletics and Tampa Bay Rays have also made noise to local governments about wanting public funds for new digs.
Time will tell if the two senators have the clout to push such a bill through their house of Congress—they likely do not—but this is a growing indication that the public, rightly, doesn’t want to be funding the playgrounds of billionaires for much longer. |
The thought that Planet of the Apes predicts a real life future has never worried us. We've always believed that primates were friends of humans rather than potential adversaries. We were wrong.
Scientists have discovered the first poisonous monkey, which only comes out at night. The nocturnal creature, which is a type of slow loris, has a bite so toxic it could kill a human.
It releases poison from glands at its elbows which it then takes into its mouth. Their bite can prove deadly because it can cause an anaphylactic shock.
Researchers believe the species, known as Nycticebus kayan, went undiscovered for so long because it's nocturnal. It's also more closely related to bushbabies and lemurs than monkeys and apes and is already on the endangered list.
Professor Anna Nekaris, of Oxford Brookes University, led the team of researchers who discovered the creature in Borneo and the Philippines.
She said: "The slow loris might look like a harmless, big-eyed Ewok from a scene in Star Wars, but the animal is actually one of the only poisonous mammals in the world."
(via news.sky.com)
(Image: Rex Features) |
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Polls show that Donald Trump is poised for another big win in South Carolina, which hosts the next Republican primary on Feb. 20.
The latest RealClearPolitics average of recent polls in the critical early-voting state show the bombastic billionaire with 36% support.
His next closest rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, has the support of only 19.7% Palmetto State Republicans.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wait for primary results in Manchester, N.H. on Tuesday.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush trail in third and fourth place, according to the RealClearPolitics average, with 12.7% and 10.0% support. Ben Carson came in fifth with 8.7%.
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Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who finished in a strong second-place in New Hampshire Tuesday night, has the support of only 2% of voters in the state.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Sen. Marco Rubio’s supporters crowd a campaign rally at the Marriott Hotel in Spartanburg, S.C. on Wednesday.
But despite his large anticipated margin of victory in South Carolina, as well as a “yuge” win in New Hampshire Tuesday, Trump still faces an uphill battle for the nomination.
Following the South Carolina contest, candidates face grueling contests on March 1, March 5, March 6, March 8 and March 15, during which more than 20 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, will head to the polls.
Several Republican establishment candidates, like Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, appear to fare better in polls in many of those states.
On the Democratic side, meanwhile, Hillary Clinton — despite only a razor-thin victory in the Iowa caucuses and a blowout loss in New Hampshire to Bernie Sanders — remains the front-runner in South Carolina, whose moderate Democrats have long been seen as a way to stop the bleeding in the former secretary of state’s campaign.
According to the latest RealClearPolitics average, Clinton is up over Sanders in the Palmetto State 62% to 32.5%. |
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2014 SPORTAGE
Stylish CUV Adds Premium Amenities and Convenience Features
-Kia's longest running nameplate offers an enhanced 2.4L powertrain for greater efficiency
-Award-winning CUV equips drivers with UVO eServices for advanced voice-activated telematics control
IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 13, 2013 –The 2014 Sportage advances Kia's brand to the next level with an array of design enhancements as well as a host of comfort and convenience features. Building upon the already award-winning platform, Sportage now offers – 2.4L GDI I4 (LX and EX) and 2.0L Turbo GDI (SX) powertrains – for enhanced efficiency.
Refined and Sophisticated Exterior
Available in three trims – LX, EX and SX – the 2014 Kia Sportage features a high beltline, sweeping angles and pronounced wheel flares, conveying an indomitable road presence with an aggressive, hunkered-down stance. The full-sectioned body, defined by a spearing shoulder line throughout the length of the car, helps to visually connect the available HID headlamps and LED tail lights. The crispness of this line, together with its lowered body, creates a distinct sense of precision while the pronounced C-pillar conveys an air of solidity and balance when viewed from the side. Sportage continues the evolution of Kia's design language with a new grille design and as well as new fog lamps on the EX trim.
Added Comfort and Convenience
The 2014 Sportage enhances ride quality and dynamic handling through standard high performance dampers across all trim levels (previously only on EX and SX). For added driver comfort, a tilt and telescopic steering column is now standard across all trims.
For enhanced passenger comfort, all trims feature standard rear ventilation and reclining outboard seats. Moving to the EX trim adds standard heated front seats, Infinity®[1] Premium Audio, auto-dimming mirror with Homelink®[2] and heated outside mirrors. Meanwhile, an available Premium package adds ventilated front seats, navigation with SiriusXM TrafficTM[3], leather-trimmed seats, panoramic sunroof, smart key with push button start, and power-folding outside mirrors.
Standard on the EX and SX models and available as a package on LX, the Sportage takes in-car connectivity to the next level with UVO eServices. The system represents an evolutionary leap from the original UVO system's capabilities, adding a new telematics suite ("eServices") enabled by an exclusive, free smartphone app[4] that provides drivers with an innovative in-vehicle connectivity experience including diagnostics capabilities[5] and added convenience features. UVO is short for "Your Voice" and through Advanced Voice Recognition technology, allows consumers to control music and mobile phone operations while keeping their hands on the steering wheel and their eyes on the road. When equipped with UVO eServices, the 2014 Sportage also features a Rear Camera Display with a Back-Up Warning System[6] and auto headlamp system.
Kia: One of the World's Fastest Moving Global Automotive Brands
Kia Motors America is one of only three auto brands to increase U.S. sales in each of the past four years, and in 2012 the company surpassed the 500,000 unit mark for the first time. With a full line of fun-to-drive cars and CUVs, Kia is advancing value to new levels of sophistication by combining European-influenced styling – under the guidance of chief design officer Peter Schreyer – with cutting-edge technologies, premium amenities, affordable pricing and the lowest cost of ownership in the industry. Kia recently joined the exclusive ranks of Interbrand's "Top 100 Best Global Brands," and is poised to continue its momentum with seven all-new or significantly redesigned vehicles scheduled to arrive in showrooms in 2013. Over the past decade Kia Motors has invested more than $1.4 billion in the U.S., including the company's first U.S. assembly plant in West Point, Georgia – Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia – which is responsible for the creation of more than 14,000 plant and supplier jobs. The success of the U.S.-built* Optima and Sorento in two of the industry's largest segments has fueled Kia's rapid growth and is complemented by Kia's comprehensive lineup which includes the Cadenza flagship sedan, Soul urban passenger vehicle, Sportage compact CUV, Optima Hybrid, the Forte sedan, 5-door and Koup compacts, Rio and Rio 5-door sub-compacts and the Sedona minivan.
About Kia Motors America
Kia Motors America is the marketing and distribution arm of Kia Motors Corporation based in Seoul, South Korea. KMA offers a complete line of vehicles through more than 765 dealers throughout the United States and serves as the "Official Automotive Partner" of the NBA and LPGA. In 2012, KMA recorded its best-ever annual sales total and gained U.S. market share for the 18th consecutive year. Kia is poised to continue its momentum and will continue to build the brand through design innovation, quality, value, advanced safety features and new technologies. |
Tonight at the D.I.C.E. Summit in Las Vegas, Electronic Arts chief creative officer Richard Hilleman spoke about how video games today are often too hard to learn for new players.
"Our games are actually still too hard to learn," Hilleman said during during an on-stage interview with other developers. "The average player probably spends two hours to learn how to play the most basic game."
"And asking for two hours of somebody's time--most of our customers, between their normal family lives...to find two contiguous hours to concentrate on learning how to play a video game is a big ask," he added.
Hilleman's comments came in response to a statement from interviewer Pete Holmes, the comedian, who said he would prefer that controller layouts and button maps stay the same for future installments in established series and even across franchises.
Also on-stage for the interview was Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor design director Michael de Plater, who said he thinks we'll see more and more games adopt RPG systems in the future.
"Every game is an RPG now," he said. "You wouldn't make a game without progression and levels and XP. And I think every game is going to be a social game...good ideas propagate."
What do you make of the comments from Hilleman and de Plater? Let us know in the comments below! |
ESPN Films' 30 for 30 is an unprecedented documentary series featuring today's finest storytellers from inside and outside of the sports world. What started as a celebration of ESPN's 30th anniversary has come to life as an eclectic and fascinating collection of passionate films about sports and culture. Individually, each of the films in this series is meant to tell an intimate, compelling story that stands on its own and brings to life the filmmaker's vision. Collectively, however, these creatively different films weave together a diverse tapestry of what sports has meant to culture. Ultimately, 30 For 30 strives to sit the viewer down and tell a story, employing many sources but giving a distinctive point of view, marshaling words and images to serve that particular perspective. In a sports universe of competing voices, these films offer a single, compelling one. Written by ESPN Films |
The All-Nite Images / Flickr)” width=”637″ height=”477″ />New York City rally to raise the minimum wage, Herald Square, Manhattan, October 24 2013. (Photo: The All-Nite Images / Flickr)
What prompted President Obama to up the ante on the minimum wage? In January 2013, in his State of the Union address, he proposed raising the minimum wage from the current $7.25 to $9 an hour. Then last week he announced that he supports hiking it to $10.10 an hour.
It is unlikely that his change of heart was the result of key economic advisers persuading him that a bigger wage boost was needed to reduce poverty and stimulate the economy. Both of those things are true, and surely entered into his thinking, but the major impetus was political. He was responding to the growing protest movement, public opinion polls and election outcomes that reflect widespread sentiment that people who work full time shouldn’t be mired in poverty. It is a heartening reminder that democracy – the messy mix of forces that typically pits organized people versus organized money – still can work.
Growing activism by low-wage workers around the country has put a public face and sense of urgency over the plight of America’s working poor. During the past year, workers across the country at fast-food chains such as McDonalds, Taco Bell and Burger King have gone on strike and demanded a base wage of at least $15 per hour. Walmart workers have engaged in one-day work stoppages and civil disobedience as part of an escalating grass-roots campaign to demand that the nation’s largest private employer pay its workers at least $25,000 a year, thousands more than a full-time worker making $10.10 per hour would earn.
These protests triggered increasing media coverage, including brilliant put-downs on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and “The Colbert Report” of the conservative arguments against the minimum wage.
In recent years, Americans have shown increasing support for boosting the minimum wage and for the idea that people who work full-time should not earn poverty-level wages. The most recent poll, conducted in July by Hart Research Associates, showed 80 percent of Americans back hiking the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and adjusting it for the cost of living in future years. Not surprisingly, 92 percent of Democrats voice support for this proposal, but so do 80 percent of independents, 62 percent of Republicans, 75 percent of Southern whites and 79 percent of people with incomes over $100,000.
Americans also have expressed their growing frustration with widening inequality, stagnant wages and persistent poverty at the ballot box.
Last week, even as New Jersey voters were giving conservative Republican Gov. Chris Christie a second term, they also overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to raise the state’s minimum wage by a dollar to $8.25 an hour. The new law includes an automatic cost-of-living increase each year. Last year, Christie vetoed a bill to raise the state’s minimum wage to $8.50 an hour, so the Democrats in the state Legislature pushed back by putting the question to the voters. Last week, the wage hike passed with 60 percent of the vote despite opposition from business groups, including the Chamber of Commerce, and Christie, who said that raising the wage is “just an irresponsible thing to do.”
On the same day, voters in the Seattle suburb of Seatac embraced the Good Jobs Initiative’ to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for workers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and at airport-related businesses, including hotels, car-rental agencies and parking lots. It won by a ratio of 54 percent to 46 percent. The new law, sponsored by labor unions and other progressives, applies to more than 6,000 workers. Even though Washington’s current minimum wage is $9.19, the highest in the nation, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn and challenger Ed Murray (who beat McGinn on Tuesday) both supported the Seatac initiative and raised the possibility of doing the same thing in Washington’s largest city.
In New York City, voters gave progressive Democrat Bill de Blasio a landslide victory over Republican Joe Lhota. One of de Blasio’s key policy plants was enacting a living wage of $11.75 per hour for workers employed by companies that get tax breaks and other subsidies from the city. Lhota and outgoing Mayor Michael Bloomberg, as well as the city’s business and real estate industry lobbies, opposed the plan, but the City Council is likely to endorse de Blasio’s idea.
A year ago, 66 percent of the voters in Albuquerque voted in favor of establishing an $8.50 citywide hourly wage that would automatically adjust in future years to keep up with the rising cost of living. That same day, 59 percent of voters in San Jose, California, approved a citywide $10 hourly wage that also would increase with the cost of living. They join San Francisco ($10.55) and Santa Fe, N.M. ($10.51), which also have citywide minimum-wage laws.
Last year, voters in Long Beach, California, passed a ballot measure that raised the minimum wage for hotel workers in that tourist city to $13 per hour and guarantees hotel workers five paid sick days per year. It is one of more than 150 cities that have adopted living- wage laws for employees of firms with municipal contracts and subsidies. At Los Angeles International Airport, for example, workers are guaranteed an hourly minimum of $10.91, or $15.67 without health benefits.
Nineteen states now have minimum wages over $7.25 an hour, 10 of which automatically increase their minimum wages with inflation. Washington’s will increase from $9.19 an hour to $9.32 in January. That wage soon will be eclipsed in California. In September, Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation raising the state’s minimum wage from $8 to $10 an hour – a bill he had vetoed a year earlier. Activists in Idaho, South Dakota and Alaska are gathering signatures to put minimum-wage hikes on the ballot next year. Their counterparts in Maryland, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota and Hawaii are pushing state legislators to raise the minimum wages in their states, too.
These local and state initiatives reflect voters’ increasing frustration with Congress’ intransigence. The last time Congress raised the federal minimum wage was in 2007, when President George W. Bush reluctantly signed the bill passed by the Democratic Congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 an hour (where it had stood for ten years) to $7.25 an hour (phased in over several years). It has remained at $7.25 since 2009.
In his 2013 State of the Union address in January, Obama proposed raising the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour. “Even with the tax relief we’ve put in place, a family with two kids that earns the minimum wage still lives below the poverty line. That’s wrong,” Obama said. “Tonight, let’s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full time should have to live in poverty.”
A full-time worker who earns the current minimum wage makes only $15,080 a year. According to “Out of Reach,” a report sponsored by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, in no state can an individual working full time at the minimum wage afford an apartment for his or her family.
In recent years, the nation’s job growth has been concentrated in low-wage sectors, led by Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, whose pay levels are so low that many employees are eligible for food stamps. More than one-quarter of all jobs pay poverty-level wages. According to a National Employment Law Project study, the majority of new jobs created since 2010 pays just $13.83 an hour or less. This has contributed to the nation’s widening economic inequality. Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz said, “Increasing inequality means a weaker economy” for everyone. As almost everyone from mainstream economists to Occupy Wall Street realize, America’s workers have not been sharing in the nation’s economic growth, the benefits of which have been concentrated among the country’s wealthiest 1%.
In fact, the minimum wage has fallen in value because Congress hasn’t raised it to keep up with inflation. At its peak in 1968, the minimum wage was equal to about $10.50 an hour in today’s dollars. That’s a 25 percent decline in buying power. And if the minimum wage kept pace with increases in worker productivity, it would now stand at $21.72 per hour.
Increasing the minimum to $10.10 would give the lowest-paid Americans $21,000 before taxes, if they work full time. The federal poverty threshold is $19,530 for a family of three and $23,550 for a family of four.
Obama is now embracing the bill filed by Senator Tom Harkin, a Democrat from Iowa, and Rep. George Miller, a California Democrat: the Fair Minimum Wage Act, which would hike the wage in three steps of 95 cents each over two years, reaching $10.10 in 2015, then raise it annually based on changes in the cost of living. The Harkin-Miller plan would raise the base wage for tipped employees to 70 percent of the wage for workers who don’t receive tips. Currently, the federally mandated base minimum wage for tipped workers is only $2.13, provided that they make at least $7.25 per hour when tips are factored in.
In March 2013, House Republicans unanimously voted down the Harkin-Miller bill. Six Democrats joined 227 Republicans in voting it down; 184 Democrats voted yes.
But now Democrats, unions and other progressives view the growing momentum for a minimum-wage hike as a way to pressure Congressional Republicans facing tough re-election campaigns next year, hoping to persuade them to support an increase.
The Hart Research Associates poll, conducted in July, found that when asked whether they would be more or less likely to support a candidate for Congress who favored the proposal raising the minimum wage to $10.10, roughly half (51 percent) of registered voters said they would be more likely, compared with just 15 percent who said less likely – an impressive net gain of 36 percentage points. The net advantage among independent voters is 32 percentage points (46 percent more likely to support, 13 percent less likely). And among non-college whites, the gain is 31 percentage points (44 percent more, 13 percent less). All demographic groups – including self-identified Republicans – have a higher percentage of respondents who say that position would increase the likelihood of their support rather than decrease it.
Business lobby groups and business-funded think tanks – including local chambers of commerce, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Employment Policies Institute (an advocacy group funded by the restaurant industry) and other industry trade associations – dust off studies funded by business groups warning that firms employing low‑wage workers will be forced to close, hurting the very people the measure was designed to help.
Of course, business groups and their political allies have been “crying wolf” about the minimum wage ever since President Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed it during the Depression to help stimulate the economy. Critics warned that enacting a minimum wage would destroy employees’ drive to work hard and would force many firms out of business. The minimum-wage law, warned the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) in 1937, “constitutes a step in the direction of communism, bolshevism, fascism, and Nazism.” Congressman Edward Cox, a Georgia Democrat, said that the law “will destroy small industry.” These ideas, Cox claimed, “are the product of those whose thinking is rooted in an alien philosophy and who are bent upon the destruction of our whole constitutional system and the setting up of a Red Labor communistic despotism upon the ruins of our Christian civilization.” Roosevelt and most members of Congress ignored these warnings and adopted the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, establishing the federal minimum wage of 25 cents an hour.
Since then, each time Congress has considered raising the minimum wage, business groups and conservatives have repackaged the same tired and misleading arguments. In 1945, NAM claimed that, “The proposed jump from an hourly minimum of 40 to 65 cents at once, and 70 and 75 cents in the following years, is a reckless jolt to the economic system. Living standards, instead of being improved, would fall – probably to record lows.” Instead, the next three decades saw the biggest increase in living standards in the nation’s history.
In 1975, economist Milton Friedman, a conservative guru, said: “The consequences of minimum wage laws have been almost wholly bad, to increase unemployment and to increase poverty. In my opinion there is absolutely no positive objective achieved by minimum wages.” While campaigning for president, Ronald Reagan said, “The minimum wage has caused more misery and unemployment than anything since the Great Depression.” In 2004, David Brandon, the CEO of Domino’s Pizza, declared: “From our perspective, raising the minimum wage is a job killer.” In 2013, Jason Riley, a Wall Street Journal editorial writer, called the minimum wage a “proven job killer” on the newspaper’s cable talk show.
Following Obama’s State of the Union address in January 2013, business representatives and conservative media pundits echoed the same talking points. Michael Saltsman, research director at the business-backed Employment Policies Institute, told Fox Business News that “minimum wage hikes lead to job losses.”
But such dire predictions have never materialized. That’s because they’re bogus. In fact, many economic studies show that raising the minimum wage is good for business and the overall economy. Why? Because when low-wage workers have more money to spend, they spend it, almost entirely in the local community, on basic necessities like housing, food, clothing and transportation. When consumer demand grows, businesses thrive, earn more profits, and create more jobs. Economists call this the “multiplier effect.”
Moreover, because most minimum-wage jobs are in “sticky” (immobile) industries – such as restaurants, hotels, hospitals and nursing homes and retail stores – that can’t flee overseas, raising the level doesn’t lead to job flight. Not surprisingly, the National Restaurant Association is, along with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the fiercest opponents of a minimum-wage hike.
These economic realities don’t stop corporate lobbyists from repeating the same misguided warnings, hoping to dampen support for raising wages. “Mandatory wage hikes price the lowest skilled workers out of jobs,” wrote U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Tom Donohue, who made $4.9 million in 2011. “A starting-wage increase will reduce hiring, weaken business growth and reduce opportunities for job seekers,” said Dawn Sweeney, CEO of the National Restaurant Association, who makes more than $1.5 million.
In addition to their lies and outworn arguments, the corporate lobbyists have a large treasure chest of campaign cash at their disposal. But as the grass-roots protests escalate, public opinion embraces a significant wage hike and Americans continue to voice their frustrations at the ballot box, members of Congress and candidates will have to answer voters’ basic question about raising the minimum wage: Which side are you on? |
Twitter allows users to post status updates in 140 charachters or less A tenant who used the micro-blogging service Twitter to complain about mould in her Chicago apartment is being sued. Horizon Group Management filed a lawsuit that has accused Amanda Bonnen of defaming the company with her tweet. She sent out a message that said "Who said sleeping in a mouldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay." "The statements are obviously false, and it's our intention to prove that," said Horizon's Jeffrey Michael. Mr Michael, whose family has run the company for the last quarter of a century, told the Chicago Sun-Times that while Ms Bonnen recently moved out, he never had a conversation about the post and never asked her to take it down. "We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organisation," Mr Michael told the paper. In a press statement the company later apologised for its "tongue in cheek comments" and stated that "no mould was ever found in her (Ms Bonnen's) unit and was one of several that experienced an overnight leak during roof repairs in late March 2009. "Ultimately, all tenant grievances were quickly and amicably resolved, except Ms Bonnen's," said the statement. Horizon has claimed the tweet was "published throughout the world" and has severely damaged its good name. The company's lawsuit is seeking damages of $50,000 (£30,900) for the tweet that was posted in May. Ms Bonnen, who had just 20 followers on Twitter at the time, has been unavailable to comment on the lawsuit. Her Twitter account has now been deleted. "Free speech" The blogosphere has been very vocal about the lawsuit. Marian Wang of ChicagoNow.com asked "What IS a tweet anyway? Is it really considered publishing? Is it a conversation between friends in a public forum, like the electronic version of a coffee shop, where you can gripe privately but have your gripes overheard?" The issue of the lawsuit was a major topic of discussion among users Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog wondered if what Ms Bonnen tweeted was "the shortest allegedly defamatory statement in history?" "There should be a television game show, we think, in which contestants vie to see who can defame someone, an audience member in fewer words. ("I can defame that man in seven words Alex!")" wrote the Journal's Ashby Jones. Other bloggers commented that by initiating a lawsuit, Horizon has given the issue the oxygen of publicity. "If the public didn't read Amanda Bonnen's Twitter feed before, they will now, thanks to a defamation lawsuit brought against her by Horizon Group Management in Chicago," said Meg Marco of the Consumerist.com. The social media blog Mashable agreed. "We're pretty sure Horizon Realty lost a lot more than $50,000 from this Twitter backlash," said associate editor Ben Parr. On Twitter the comments have ranged from "Oh shizzles!! Amanda Bonnen's page got deleted!! And I was going to follow her" to "I wanna FOLLOW Amanda Bonnen" and from "Twitter is free speech and that should be protected" to "We should donate a dollar to Amanda Bonnen for each tweet on this."
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To improve the quality of their rendering capabilities, the researchers plan to integrate their computing system with a social game that will permit competing teams to add images where they are most needed to improve the quality of the visual models.
The PhotoCity game is already being played by teams of students at the University of Washington and Cornell, and the researchers plan to open it to the public in an effort to collect three-dimensional renderings in cities like New York and San Francisco. Contestants will be able to use either an iPhone application that uses the phone’s camera, or upload collections of digital images.
In adopting what is known as a social computing or collective intelligence model, they are extending an earlier University of Washington research effort that combined computing and human skills to create a video game about protein folding.
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The game, Foldit, was released in May 2008, allowing users to augment computing algorithms, solving visual problems where humans could find better solutions than computers. The game quickly gained a loyal following of amateur protein folders who became addicted to the challenges that bore a similarity to solving a Rubik’s Cube puzzle.
The emergence of such collaborative systems has great promise for harnessing the creative abilities of people in tandem with networked computers, said Peter Lee, a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program manager who recently organized a team-based contest to use the Internet to quickly locate a series of red balloons hidden around the United States.
“The obvious thing to do is to try to mobilize a lot of people and get them to go out and take snapshots that contribute to this 3-D reconstruction,” he said. “But maybe if enough people are involved someone will come up with a better idea of how to go about doing this.”
Indeed, it was J. C. R. Licklider, a legendary official at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, who was a pioneer in proposing the idea of a “man-computer symbiosis.” While at Darpa, Dr. Licklider financed a series of research projects that led directly to the modern personal computer and today’s Internet.
To entice volunteers, the researchers have created a Web site: photocitygame.com. Anyone who wants to be a “custodian” of a particular building or place can begin by uploading pictures of the site. To maintain control they will need to be part of the group that contributes the most photos, in a capture-the-flag-like competition.
“One of the nice things for the players is they can own the points they create, whether it’s a building or a collection of buildings,” said Kathleen Tuite, a University of Washington graduate student and a computer graphics researcher who is one of the designers of PhotoCity. She said the researchers were considering the idea of offering real world prizes that would create incentives similar to Geocaching, the popular Internet GPS game.
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“Eventually, the goal is to create a game without boundaries, that expands to fill the world,” Dr. Snavely said. “ For now, we’re focused on the scale of a college campus, or the heart of a city.” |
ROLI, which makes the innovative Seaboard Grand, a completely new type of keyboard musical instrument, has acquired JUCE, a long-time C++ framework which has, over the last few years, come to be used by most of the leading audio companies such as Korg, Pioneer, Arturia, Akai Professional, and M-Audio. Terms were not disclosed.
The significance of this move may be lost on the average tech observer but I can assure you that anyone in the music production industry will be bowled over by this news. What it means is that ROLI now owns one of the fundamental music platforms existing today.
The acquisition will enable ROLI to both expand the Seaboard’s compatibility with existing 3rd party software, and develop JUCE as a toolkit for creating next generation interfaces for music. Julian (“Jules”) Storer, founder of Raw Materials Software which makes JUCE, will be joining the ROLI team as Head of Software Architecture and will continue as the Editor-in-Chief for all things JUCE.
Earlier this year ROLI, secured a $12.8m (£7.6m) Series A financing, led by Balderton Capital (investors in LOVEFiLM and Kobalt Music Group), alongside FirstMark Capital (investors in Pinterest and Shopify), Index Ventures (investors in Sonos and Soundcloud), as well as strategic investor Universal Music. It was one of the largest ever investments in a music hardware company.
The Seaboard GRAND has soft rubber keys which can bend a tune similarly to how you can bend the strings on a guitar. It’s a genuinely radical departure from normal keyboards and has been variously described as “the piano of the future” and won multiple awards.
ROLI CEO and Founder, Roland Lamb, made the announcement today at Slush in Helsinki, one of the largest gatherings for European startups and investors.
Lamb said: “At ROLI, our larger vision is to reshape interaction. To do that, we need to transform every technological link from where people create inputs, to where computers create outputs. That’s a tall order, but acquiring and investing in JUCE is our most significant step towards this challenging goal since we invented and developed the Seaboard.” |
In the mid-20th century the encyclopedic works of French mathematician Nicolas Bourbaki traced every mathematical concept back to the subject’s foundations in the theory of sets—the stuff of Venn diagrams—and changed the face of his field. Like many of his notions, Bourbaki existed only in the abstract: he was the pseudonym for a tight-knit group of young Parisian researchers. The Internet-age version could be D.H.J. Polymath, another collective pseudonym who could define a new style of mathematics.
Polymath began life on the blog of Timothy Gowers, a University of Cambridge winner of the Fields Medal, mathematics’ most coveted prize. In a blog post in January 2009, Gowers asked whether spontaneous online collaborations could crack hard mathematical problems—and if they could do so in the open, laying the creative process out for the world to see. Web-based scientific collaborations and even “crowdsourcing” are now common, but this one would be different. In typical online collaborations, scientists each perform a small amount of research that contributes to a larger project, Gowers pointed out. In some cases, citizen-scientists such as bird-watchers or amateur astronomers collectively can make significant contributions. “What about the solving of a problem that does not naturally split up into a vast number of subtasks?” he asked. Could such a problem be solved by the readers of his blog—simply by posting comments?
For a first experiment, Gowers chose the so-called density Hales-Jewett theorem. This problem, Gowers says, is akin to “playing a sort of solitaire tic-tac-toe and trying to lose.” The theorem states that if your tic-tac-toe board is multidimensional and has sufficiently many dimensions, after a short while it is impossible to avoid arranging X’s into a line—you cannot avoid winning no matter how hard you try. Mathematicians have known since 1991 that the theorem was true, but the existing proof used sophisticated tools from other branches of math. Gowers challenged his blog’s readers to help him find a more elementary proof, a problem generally considered quite hard.
The project took off a lot faster than Gowers expected. Within six weeks, he announced a solution. Turning the proof into a conventional paper took longer, especially because the argument was scattered across hundreds of comments (blogs may not be the ideal platform, and ad-hoc collaboration tools may turn out to be better suited for math). But last October the group posted a paper on the online repository arxiv.org under the name of D.H.J. Polymath, where the initials are a reference to the problem itself.
In another way, however, the project was a bit of a disappointment. Just six people—all professional mathematicians and “usual suspects” in the field—did most of the work. Among them was another Fields medalist and prolific blogger, Terence Tao of the University of California, Los Angeles.
Pooling talent has its advantages, Gowers says. When trying to solve a problem, mathematicians usually make many failed attempts, in which they try lines of reasoning that can turn out to be “blind alleys,” after weeks or months of work. Often those lines of reasoning that seem promising to one expert look obviously fruitless to another. So when every attempt is exposed to public feedback, the process can become much faster.
Tao describes the experience as “chaotic” but a lot of fun and “more addictive than traditional research.” Gowers has since kicked off a few more online collaboration projects, and so has Tao—and nonprofessionals have begun to contribute in ways that are “genuinely useful,” Gowers says. These high-brow amateurs included a teacher, a priest (albeit one who as a kid took part in the Mathematical Olympiads) and a math Ph.D. who now works in computing. But how widely the approach will be adopted is unclear. A number of hard problems may be suitable, Tao says, such as devising an algorithm for playing chess that is not based on the brute-force calculation of possible future moves. Famous mathematical conjectures may not be as amenable, because those problems tend to have a long history—and experts already know all the blind alleys.
Rafael Núñez, a cognitive scientist at the University of California, San Diego, who has studied the mental and social process of doing mathematics, points out that problem solving is just another human activity. When mathematicians work together in front of a blackboard, they communicate in subtle ways with their voice and body language, clues that will be lost in online collaborations. But mathematicians will adjust to the new medium, just like people have adjusted to doing all kinds of other things in a connected world, Núñez notes: “Anything we do online is different, not just mathematics.”
In the end, the open nature of the project may have been its most important feature. As Gowers wrote on his blog, Polymath may be “the first fully documented account of how a serious [math] research problem was solved, complete with false starts, dead ends, etcetera.” Or, as Tao puts it, the project was valuable because it showed “an example of how the sausage is made.”
Plagiarism was not a concern: when everyone’s most minute contribution is on the public record, it is hard for others to copy ideas and claim to be original, Tao points out. Established online repositories such as arxiv.org, he adds, have also reduced the risk of plagiarism and at the same time they have made it easier to catch mistakes before a paper is formally published. |
Warning: I am a very powerful Brahmin. If you copy my articles without acknowledgement and linkback, I curse that you will become impotent and your dick will shrivel up if you are a man. If you are a woman, you will become a Nun and never get laid.
To my knowledge Postcard News, Pgurus, Satyavijayi and many others have plagiarized and copied my content.
In this post I will talk about Homosexual Icon and Gay King Mahmud of Ghazni, who some allege was also a pedophile.
Who was Mahmud of Ghazni?
Yamīn-ud-Dawla Abul-Qāṣim Maḥmūd ibn Sebüktegīn also known as Yamīn-ud-Dawla Abul-Qāṣim Maḥmūd ibn Sebüktegīn also known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mehmood Ghaznavi (971 to 1030 AD) was a tyrant despot ruler who invaded India 17 times and butchered hundreds of thousands of people.
He was a Jihadi off the highest order and killed hundreds of thousands of Hindu and Buddhists including monks, women and innocent children. He is considered a heroic figure in the terrorist state of Pakistan for his destruction of Hindu temples and his general savagery against Hindus. He is also considered a Homosexual icon in the LGBT community of Pakistan. (7)
Mahmud utterly ruined the prosperity of the country, and performed there wonderful exploits, by which the Hindus became like atoms of dust.This is the reason, too, why Hindu sciences have retired far away from those parts of the country conquered by us. (10)
Mahmud of Ghazni and his boy-slave Malik Ayaz Al-Biruni writes about him:(10)
The love between the first Islamic Ruler in Indian sub-continent, Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni and his slave Malik Ayaz was such that it became an Islamic legend."
Malik Ayaz, son of Aymāq Abu'n-Najm, was a slave from Georgia who rose to the rank of officer and general in the army of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (also known as Mahmud Ghaznavi). Malik Ayaz's same-sex relationship with Mahmud inspired poems and stories. (5)
Ghazni’s love for his slave boy is Islamic legend. It is said that the two were each other’s slave- one a slave in deed, and another a slave in love. The sultan even raised Ayaz to kingship and made him the king of Lahore. (1)
Interested in a short 2-minute Video on Mahmud Ghazni's achievements?
Mahmud of Ghazni Same-Sex Love Stories Sultan Mahmud was famous for having a romance with a man (9). Mahmud of Ghazni fell in love with his Turkish slave Malik Ayaz . Their relationship became widely regarded as true love in Islamic literature. (2) As per Paklins (8), the most famous example was the love between Mahmoud of Ghazni and his slave, Ayaz. As per James Neill (6), "Malik Ayaz, son of Aymāq Abu'n-Najm, was a slave from Georgia who rose to the rank of officer and general in the army of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (also known as Mahmud Ghaznavi). Malik Ayaz's same-sex relationship with Mahmud inspired poems and stories. (5)Ghazni’s love for his slave boy is Islamic legend. It is said that the two were each other’s slave- one a slave in deed, and another a slave in love. The sultan even raised Ayaz to kingship and made him the king of Lahore. (1)Interested in a short 2-minute Video on Mahmud Ghazni's achievements?
As per a popular Islamic folklore,the following events record the deep gay love of Mahmud Ghazni and Ayaz.
Mahmud asked Ayaz "Who is the most powerful ruler in the world?"
Ayaz replied "I am the most powerful"
Mahmud said "Please explain wht you mean"
Ayaz replied "You, Mahmud, are the most powerful of all kings, But since I rule your heart, I am more powerful still."
As per another incident mentioned in Bustan by great Persian poet Sa’di:
Someone said: "Ayaz, his favorite slave possesses no beauty. It is strange that a nightingale should love a rose that has neither color nor perfume."
Mahmud Ghazni replied: "My love, O sir, is for virtue, not for form or stature". (1)
In another story the king was travelling with some of his men when an overturned chest of pearls is discovered; all except Ayaz go after the pearls. Questioned by Mahmud about the possibility of gaining riches, Ayaz explains he wants nothing. “I walked in haste behind thee, I do not occupy myself with riches away from thy service.” (14)
Mahmud of Ghazni Gay Love Poem
A paraphrase by Edwin Arnold of a poem by Sa’adi about the love between Mahmud and Malik Ayaz is given below. (4)
THEY mock’d the Sovereign of Ghaznin: one saith,
“Ayaz hath no great beauty, by my faith!
A Rose that ’s neither rosy-red nor fragrant,
The Bulbul’s love for such astonisheth!”
This went to Mahmud’s ears; ill-pleas’d he sate, 5
Bow’d on himself, reflecting; then to that
Replied: “My love is for his kindly nature,
Not for his stature, nor his face, nor state!”
And I did hear how, in a rocky dell,
Bursting a chest of gems a camel fell; 10
King Mahmud wav’d his sleeve, permitting plunder,
But spurr’d his own steed onward, as they tell.
His horsemen parted from their Lord amain,
Eager for pearls, and corals, and such gain:
Of all those neck-exalting courtiers 15
None except Ayaz near him did remain.
The King look’d back—“How many hast thou won,
Curl’d comfort of my heart?” He answer’d “None!
I gallop’d up the pass in rear of thee;
I quit thee for no pearls beneath the sun!” 20
Oh, if to God thou hast propinquity,
For no wealth heedless of His service be!
If Lovers true of God shall ask from God
Aught except God, that ’s infidelity.
If thine eyes fix on any gift of Friend, 25
Thy gain, not his, is thy desire’s end:
If thy mouth gape in avarice, Heaven’s message
Unto Heart’s ear by that road shall not wend.
It well-known that many Turkics from Mahmud of Ghazni to Babur and from Ottomans to Safavids practiced homosexuality. Here is a beautiful Indo-Islamic painting that depicts Mahmud of Ghazni with his male lover, Ayaz.
Please note that I have censored the image to ensure that no one's sentiment is hurt.
Image Courtesy (13)
As per noted myth-buster and history researcher, Captain Ajit Vadkayil (3):
Let me lay the bottomline right on top. Mahmud of Ghazni did NOT get any wealth in Somnath temple. In sheer frustration he kidnapped the most attractive of the nearly 400 dancing girls . Mahmud was a homosexual ( the receiving type ) and he had NO use for these girls. It was for proof. Below: DE DO YAAAR ! CHAL DENA YAAR !!"
As per LGBT Muslims (7),
"Their love story has been the subject of many poems, songs, and stories. Today, many people visit Malik Ayaz’s tomb in Lahore; remembering the city’s first Muslim ruler, who made the city a cultural center for the entire area. The relationship between these two remains a strong inspiration for gay people. This is because the Sultan brought Islam to the region, and therefore it reminds them that Islam is far less homophobic than what the new fundamentalist generations want people to believe."
Homoeroticity, Homosexuality and Pedophilia in Urdu and Persian Literature and Culture
Extant Urdu literary canon .. contained several examples of homoerotic desire, especially in case of ghazals where a male speaker often expressed his love and longing for a young male companion. (10)
As per James Neill, "Homosexuality continues to be prevalent among the Muslims of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, down to the present day. The widespread homosexuality of Islamic India, a contracts to the more restrained sexual mores of Hindu India, came as a shock to the British when they discovered the customs during their colonial rule. When in 1845, Sir Charles Napier conquered and annexed Sindh, the region around Karachi in modern day Pakistan, his forces discovered a number of male brothels featuring boys and eunuchs". (6)
As per Alice Albinia (9), Pashtuns - Afghan and Pakistani - are notorious for preferring male to female lovers.
As per paklinks (8):
Miranda Kennedy says that “Among the Pashtun majority, having a young, attractive boyfriend is a symbol of prestige and wealth for affluent middle-aged men. Indeed, Pashtun men often keep a young boy in their hujra, the male room of the house that the wife rarely enters.” She also says that sex is commonplace in Pakistan's gender-segregated madrassas, or religious schools. However, one of the problems of Western journalists’ reports of boy-marriage in this part of the world is that they often conflate this ancient custom with pedophilia and reduce what was often a love-match to a temporary commercial arrangement.
In a shocking article on pedophilia in Pakistan, Director Mohammed Naqvi and British producer Jamie Doran’s film Pakistan’s Hidden Shame was shown in UK on Channel 4, revealing the punishing reality of paedophilia occurring in the northern areas of Pakistan. The documentary, mainly set in the city of Peshawar, interviews homeless boys of different ages recalling their experiences of sexual abuse and male prostitution. The documentary claims that nine out of 10 children in Peshawar have been victims of paedophilia. It also includes interviews with the truck drivers who have committed such crimes. Unashamed, callous and remorseless, one of the drivers admits to having raped more than 10 boys. When confronted, PTI Chairman Imran Khan admitted, “It is one of the most sad and shameful aspects of our society. I am totally embarrassed by this and that we have not really been able to protect them.” (12) |
The only official release plans for ‘ Star Wars ’ so far include ‘ The Force Awakens ’ on December 18, and the first spinoff/standalone film, which will hit theaters on December 16, 2016. As for the rest of the new ‘Star Wars’ films: it’s been reported for a while that Disney plans on releasing a new film each year for the next several years, but the studio hasn’t made anything publicly official…until now.
Disney CEO Bob Iger confirmed release plans for both ‘ Episode 8 ’ and ‘ Episode 9 ’ in a Disney shareholder report (via Star Wars Underworld ), saying:
As one of the few people allowed to visit the set during filming….and one of the fewer who’s seen most of the footage…I can assure the millions of Star Wars fans who have spent the last decade hoping for a new movie this one will be worth the wait. And it’s only the beginning of a new era of exceptional Star Wars storytelling; next year we’ll release our first standalone movie based on these characters, followed by Star Wars: Episode VIII in 2017, and we’ll finish this trilogy with Episode IX in 2019.
If ‘Episode 8' hits in 2017 and ‘Episode 9' arrives in 2019, we can probably go ahead and assume that the second standalone film will hit theaters in between, in 2018. ‘ Fantastic Four ’ director Josh Trank has been hired for the second spinoff, although Disney has yet to release any further information. It’s also previously been reported that Rian Johnson is directing ‘Episode 8,’ which was confirmed by Johnson himself, but Disney has yet to make a formal announcement, which raises the question of how official Johnson’s commitment is at this time.
Iger also mentions that the first standalone movie will be “based on these characters,” which—in the context of this quote—seems to indicate that the standalone film involves new characters introduced in ‘The Force Awakens.’ If so, that runs counter to previous rumors indicating that Gareth Edwards ’ standalone project is either about young Han Solo, or a heist movie involving Boba Fett and other bounty hunters (or, according to another recent rumor, it involves both). Then again, Iger could just be referring to the ‘Star Wars’ universe in general. The statement isn’t specific.
The last thing to note from this report is Iger’s mention of finishing “this trilogy,” which could mean that Disney is already thinking about future ‘Star Wars’ trilogies, although it would be insanely early for them to do so.
Again, Iger’s statement isn’t specific, and the only real news here is the confirmation of release years (not even actual dates) for ‘Episode 8' and ‘Episode 9.’ It may still be a while before we learn anything else.
‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ hits theaters on December 18. |
"Slavery was our worst idea," says legendary documentarian Ken Burns. "I'm not sure that Prohibition was second, but it's really up there."
Burns talks to Reason.tv's Nick Gillespie about his new PBS film, an in-depth look at one of the most controversial episodes in U.S. history. "The Noble Experiment," notes Burns, left a legacy of organized crime, moral hypocrisy, single-issue politics, and unintended consequences from which we're still recovering.
About 13 minutes. Shot by Jim Epstein, Anthony Fisher, and Meredith Bragg, who also edited the piece.
Go here to watch Burns discuss his ardent support for public funding of the arts, the breakdown of mass audiences, and whether his self-description of being a "Yellow Dog Democrat" affects his creative work.
Scroll down for downloadable versions, and subscribe to our YouTube Channel to receive notifications when new material goes live. |
Ginger ninja! The springing squirrel: Photographer captures animal jumping 12ft into the air and leaping from tree to tree
Simon Phillpotts captured the tiny red squirrel leaping from trees
The series of shots are part of a project to track the creatures, which were until recently under threat from extinction
They can leap up to 12-feet in the air, high above the woodland floor
The pictures chart the growing population in the North Yorkshire Dales
Down in the forest, something stirs.
The tops of the pine trees sway a little in the chill, still air and from the ground, you can just hear the faint sound of rustling.
Then - as if from nowhere - he takes to the air. Not just with a little jump or a measured step from branch to branch, but an arcing, fully-fledged, death-defying leap into thin air.
The Ginger ninja leaps from a log, as photographer Simon Phillpotts is on hand to capture the giant jump Flying through the air, tiny red squirrel reaches heights of up to 12-feet, launching itself through the treetops
Springing high above the woodland floor, the little fella jumps through the trees high in the Yorkshire Dales
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it is an incredible flying red squirrel
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No. It’s the Ginger Ninja of the North Yorkshire Dales - a red squirrel who’s simply nuts about jumping.
His antics were captured by photographer Simon Phillpotts as part of a project to celebrate the area’s red squirrel population, slowly re-establishing itself after decades of absence under threat of extinction.
Even among fellow red squirrels, this particular one appears to be a champion.
The photographs capture him leaping up to 12ft from a standing start on the ground, and flying through the air with the greatest of ease as he jumps from tree to tree in the forests around Wensleydale.
Given that he’s only 18 inches long at full stretch, it’s quite a feat.
Were a human able to replicate it inch for inch, it would be the equivalent of jumping 40ft or hurdling a Transit van.
Photographer Simon Philpotts said: They have little fear but their secret is their hooked claws, which they can deploy to give as much grip as they need'
Mr Phillpotts captured the stunning series of images of the leaping red squirrel as part of a project to celebrate the area's red squirrel population
The population of red squirrels in the North Yorkshire Dales is slowly re-establishing itself after decades of absence under threat of extinction
Not to mention landing perfectly on the other side before taking off again.
‘Red squirrels are extremely agile,’ Mr Phillpotts said. ‘Most of my pictures are taken a few feet off the ground but they regularly jump around the tree canopy 70ft up in the air.
'They have little fear but their secret is their hooked claws, which they can deploy to give as much grip as they need.’
And the Ginger Ninja’s Olympic performance? ‘Different individuals have different characters and abilities,’ he said - other squirrels he filmed were less willing to jump so spectacularly.
Eurasian Red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) are native to the British Isles but were almost wiped out in large parts of the country after grey squirrels were introduced in 1876 from North America.
The greys carry a deadly squirrel pox virus but are immune to it; red squirrels are not.
Hence, there are currently an estimated three million greys in the UK compared to fewer than 135,000 reds, 75 per cent of which are in Scotland.
In North Yorkshire, a conservation partnership has been working to build up the still-fragile population and numbers are visibly increasing.
So could ginger Ninjas eventually take over the world? To be fair, that’s probably a jump too far. But Mr Dale and conservationists are hopeful they will be a more common sight in the future.
England's last red squirrels might be hemmed in by their grey cousins, but they are still leaping free in their own woodlands |
SLTV StarSeries Season XI LAN Finals Day 1 recap
Day 1 of the SLTV StarSeries LAN finals have concluded, with Team LDLC taking first seed in the grand finals.
Titan vs Epsilon eSports
Map One - de_dust2
The $27,000 tournament started with a battle between two French teams, Titan vs Epsilon eSports. This was the first time Christophe "SIXER" Xia played with the Epsilon lineup, after replacing former player Joey "fxy0" Schlosser earlier this week. In addition, Engin "MAJ3R" Kupeli stood-in for Gordon "Sf" Giry, who was unable to attend the event.
The first map was the classic de_dust2, where Titan started on the slightly less favored CT side of the map, but still managed the win the half in a close 8-7 scoreline. This was largely thanks to a very successful double AWP play by Kenny "kennyS" Schrub and Hovik "KQLY" Tovmassian. All was lost when Titan took the second pistol round, and eventually won the map 16-10.
Map Two - de_cache
The second map, de_cache started with Titan on the more favored CT side of the map. Titan came into an early lead with a 10-2 scoreline, but eventually lost three rounds in a row ending the first half 10-5. Epsilon eSports managed to take the second pistol round, but eventually fell short, losing the map and match 16-13. They will now have to fight through the lower bracket in order to secure a spot at the grand finals.
LDLC vs Na'Vi
Map One - de_overpass
Team LDLC started the second match of the tournament on the more favored CT side of de_overpass and were able to win six rounds in a row before Na'Vi finally won two, making the score 6-2. However, LDLC were able to quickly recover by winning their eco round and were able to add four more rounds to the scoreboard, making it 10-2. Na'Vi were able to win two rounds in a row and was also able to force a force buy on the last round of the half by LDLC, but the French team was still able to overcome, with Vincent "Happy" Cervoni getting an impressive 3k, ending the half 11-4. Na'Vi was able to win the pistol round as well as four rounds afterwards, but LDLC eventually took the win in a 16-8 scoreline.
Map Two- de_inferno
Team LDLC again started on the more favored CT side of de_inferno, where they were able to win the pistol round but only one round afterwards before Na'Vi forced a buy and won, making the score 2-1. However, that was the only victory Na'Vi would be able to get, as LDLC won the rest of the 12 rounds of the half in a row, ending the first half 14-1. Although Na'Vi were able to win the pistol round, the comeback was not real as team LDLC won the map and match 16-7. Na'Vi will now face Epsilon eSports in the lower bracket and will have to win two rounds in a row in order to secure a spot in the grand finals.
LDLC vs Titan
Map One - de_season
The upper bracket finals started with Team LDLC yet again on the more favored CT side of de_season, and started the map by winning the pistol round, where Nathan "NBK" Schmitt got an impressive 3k on the pistol round and a 4k on the anti-eco round. The team was then able to win four more rounds in a row before Titan got one, making the score 5-1. The victory was short lived as LDLC proceeded to take four more rounds, making the score 9-1 and eventually 12-3 for the half in favor of LDLC. LDLC proceeded to win the second pistol round making the score 14-3, and eventually the map 16-4.
Map Two - de_cache
The second map started with Titan winning the pistol round on the less favored T side of de_cache, but was only able to win one more anti-eco before losing to a force on the third round. LDLC then won four rounds in a row before Titan was able to win an eco buy, as well as four more rounds in their favor, making the score 4-6. However, this was the end of Titan's lead as LDLC again won a shocking 12 rounds in a row, ending the map and match 16-6. Team LDLC has now secured a spot in the grand finals while Titan will have to win one match in the lower bracket in order to advance to the finals. |
CBN's Pat Robertson (screen grab)
Christian televangelist Pat Robertson suggested on Thursday that the co-pilot’s decision to crash Germanwings Flight 9525 could be explained if he was a Muslim.
French prosecutors concluded on Thursday that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had locked the pilot out of the cockpit, and then deliberately crashed the plane into the French Alps, killing 150 people.
“What happened to that plane that crashed into the French Alps?” Robertson asked on Thursday’s edition of The 700 Club. “Well, they’ve begun to find out. The pilot went to the lavatory and was soon locked out of the cockpit. He pounded on the door, begging to come in. But the door was not opened.”
“The co-pilot then takes the plane, pushes it into a dive and crashes it. The passengers are screaming as the plane went down. The pilot is yelling.”
“What a terrible tragedy,” the TV preacher continued. “Was that co-pilot a Muslim? Was he suicidal? What was it about him?”
Robertson later allowed for the possibility that Lubitz could have been “just psychotic.”
“What was it?” he wondered. “Why would he want to kill all those people?”
French prosecutor Brice Robin on Thursday described Lubitz as a 28-year-old German who was “not listed as a terrorist.”
Robin told reporters that he did not know Lubitz’s religion or ethnicity, but said, “I don’t think that’s where the answer to this lies.”
Watch the video below from CBN, broadcast March 26, 2015. |
In the wake of Donald Trump’s election to the presidency, safety pins have emerged as a gesture of solidarity toward marginalized groups — women, immigrants, people of color, Muslims, and the LGBT community — who have pretty good reasons to be concerned about life in Trump’s America.
Over in the Shawnee Mission School District, though, this simple symbol of compassion has been deemed excessively political.
Last Friday, Stan Anderson, principal of Nieman Elementary School, in the Shawnee Mission School District, sent an email to staff and faculty of his school regarding employees wearing safety pins while at work. Anderson wrote the following:
SMSD employees must strive to create a ‘balanced and neutral’ educational environment. Our teachers and staff at Nieman continue to do a great job throughout a highly charged election season. We must remain ‘balanced and neutral’ moving forward after the election in all that we say and do. Many of our own students are bringing family concerns to school about potential changes that the elected administration is contemplating.
Parents and students across the district have expressed concerns about the ‘safety pin’ movement. Where our intentions may be to display our support for ALL of our students, others can interpret the safety pin as a political statement against our president elect. To protect the best interests of ALL kids, we need to remain balanced and neutral in all that we say and do to include conversations and/or email exchanges.
In our continued effort to support a ‘balanced and neutral’ educational environment, please do not wear a safety pin while you are working on campus or working with students at school events.
We called Anderson’s office on Friday for comment, but did not hear back. We also called the school district for comment over whether the policy is district-wide. Today, assistant superintendent of communications Leigh Anne Neal sent us the following response:
Recently a movement to wear safety pins has gained popularity across the nation and in our community. Individuals began wearing safety pins within our school communities resulting in concerns and complaints regarding political connotations associated with the wearing of safety pins. The Shawnee Mission School District is committed to creating and maintaining safe schools that foster a culture of respect for all. Key to this goal is ensuring that our classrooms and school learning environments remain free from disruption. To assist in clarifying district policies and procedures, a joint statement from the school district and NEA-SM was shared with all staff on Monday. The statement is written as follows:
"Recent events require us to remind our employees of their rights and responsibilities. As a staff member, you do not give up your first amendment right to free-speech on matters of public concern. However, your communication inside the classroom on school time is considered speech on behalf of the school district and there is a limitation on that speech.
The wearing of a safety pin as a political statement is the latest example of such political speech. Although wearing the safety pin as political speech is not the problem, any disruption the political statement causes in the classroom or school is a distraction in the education process. We ask staff members to refrain from wearing safety pins or other symbols of divisive and partisan political speech while on duty — unless such activity is specifically in conjunction with District curriculum."
So, expressing silent support for vulnerable members of the community is now considered "divisive and partisan" in the Shawnee Mission School District. Good to know. |
As Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand for the singing of the national anthem continues to raise tensions both on the field and on the internet, John Legend's take is possibly the most unifying opinion out there.
The GRAMMY winner posed a question on Monday to those criticizing the San Francisco 49ers quarterback's boycott of "The Star-Spangled Banner."
"For those defending the current anthem, do you really truly love that song?" Legend, 37, tweeted. "I don't and I'm very good at singing it. Like, one of the best."
Exhibit A: his rendition of the song during the NBA Finals earlier this year, which you can check out here
"My vote is for 'America the Beautiful,'" he continued. "'Star-Spangled Banner' is a weak song anyway."
Kaepernick's controversy began when he addressed NFL Media after what was at least his second time remaining seated during the national anthem before a game on Friday.
"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color," the 28-year-old athlete explained. "To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder."
His statements incensed fellow athletes and fans alike. NASCAR driver Tony Stewart called Kaepernick an "idiot" who "needs to learn the fact about police before running his dumba** mouth," while former NFL player and current NFL analyst Rodney Harrison criticized Kaepernick for his actions because, as Harrison put it, "he's not black."
Kaepernick is in fact biracial, having come from a biologically white mother and a black father, despite being adopted by white parents. Harrison later apologized for his statements.
The 49ers weighed in with their own statement, saying, "The national anthem is and always will be a special part of the pre-game ceremony. It is an opportunity to honor our country and reflect on the great liberties we are afforded as its citizens. In respecting such American principles as freedom of religion and freedom of expression, we recognize the right of an individual to choose and participate, or not, in our celebration of the national anthem."
Related Articles |
Elizabeth Brake and Simon May
Elizabeth Brake (left) and Simon May (right) on marriage.
As same-sex marriage gains acceptance, a greater number of caring relationships enjoy legal recognition. But what about polygamous and polyamorous relationships? What about non-romantic relationships, such as friendships? In this episode, Brake and May discuss Brake’s controversial view that individuals should be allowed to assign the rights and privileges of marriage to whomever they want, so long as the purpose is to support a caring relationship. They also discuss the case for same-sex marriage (4:30), whether legal marriage should be abolished (33:48), caring relationships as Rawlsian primary goods (45:40), and May’s objection to polygamy (54:49).
Read an excerpt from Brake’s forthcoming book, Minimizing Marriage: Morality, Marriage, and the Law .
Announcement: Jeremy Garrett, Elizabeth Brake, Martha Fineman, and Simon May will participate in a group session entitled “After Marriage” at the Eastern APA meeting, Group Session XIII, Fri., Dec. 30, 1:30pm.
Related works
by Brake:
Minimizing Marriage: Morality, Marriage, and the Law (forthcoming)
“Minimal Marriage: What Political Liberalism Implies for Marriage Law” (2010)
by May:
“Liberal Feminism and the Ethics of Polygamy” (forthcoming)
“Religious Democracy and the Liberal Principle of Legitimacy” (2009)
See also:
PEA Soup: Discussion of “Minimal Marriage,” with commentary by Cheshire Calhoun
[display_podcast] |
Islamic State supporters are calling upon jihadis in the West to launch more holiday attacks in an effort to seize momentum after last week’s truck attack in Berlin.
In a series of graphical images posted to an encrypted Telegram channel seen by The Foreign Desk, the Nashir Media Foundation, a pro-ISIS media group, urges potential ‘lone wolf’ attacks in public venues including cinemas, malls and even hospitals.
The posts, however, make a point to warn Muslims to stay safe, away from New Years’ celebrations.
One brutal image showing a knife-wielding jihadi chasing a ‘Santa on the run’ is captioned, “You disbelieving dogs which prepared for Christmas celebrations, be ready for shedding the blood scattering the shreds and funerals, for the eyes of caliphate lions are looking straight towards you and promise you with bitter deaths.”
In another image a jihadi stands next to a burning image of a numerical 2017 with an inscription that reads, “We will make your New Year mayhem with bombings and trampling attacks.”
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Another poster reads "Oh disbelievers, As you are preparing for Christmas celebrations, we advise you to prepare your coffins as well. Your celebrations have become a battlefield and a fighting area. So, wait for us.”
Intelligence agencies and law enforcement around the world are on a heightened state of alert following last week’s terror attack in Berlin, where Amri Anis, a ISIS jihadist, ploughed a truck into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in Berlin killing 12 and wounding 56.
Earlier today, French police thwarted an attack, arresting a man in Toulouse who planned an attack for New Years’ Eve. |
The Braves will sign free agent reliever Jason Frasor, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reports on Twitter. The Royals recently released the 37-year-old righty, who drew fairly wide interest upon hitting the market.
[RELATED: Jason Grilli Out For Season With Achilles Injury]
Frasor worked to a 1.54 ERA in his 23 1/3 innings on the season, and his fastball velocity is even up a shade over last year, but his bottom-line results were not quite supported by the peripherals. He walked 15 batters (against 18 strikeouts) over that span. And ERA estimators were down on his contributions, with SIERA valuing those innings at a decidedly negative 4.71 mark.
Of course, Frasor has had better overall numbers in the not-so-distant past. He was outstanding down the stretch and in the postseason for the Royals last year, and ended the 2014 campaign with a 2.66 ERA and 8.8 K/9 against 3.4 BB/9 to go with a 46.9% groundball rate.
Atlanta has experienced rather pronounced struggles in its pen this year, and currently carries the league’s second-worst bullpen ERA (just ahead of the Coors Field-challenged Rockies). And the second-half outlook is even worse, now that the team’s best reliever — closer Jason Grilli, who had been outstanding — is shelved for the season.
Frasor won’t replace, Grilli, of course, but he will offer some promise of quality innings for a shallow pen. It’s not a move intended to push the team over the top, but it does improve the outlook at a minimal cost: the remainder of the league minimum annual salary, per David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (on Twitter).
The addition will also provide the organization with flexibility in managing its younger arms. And it doesn’t hurt, of course, that Frasor fits the sturdy veteran mold that John Hart & Co. have relied upon in building out their roster. |
Team News:
- FC Barcelona: Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Javier Mascherano, Jeremy Mathieu, Andres Iniesta (injured); Andre Gomes (suspended); Neymar (international duty).
- Real Betis: Alex Martinez (injured).
FC Barcelona:
-Crowned LaLiga Santander champions for a second successive season in May, the Azulgranas will be looking to once again retain their title this time round, and Luis Enrique's charges will be intent on beginning their defence with a win here.
- The Blaugranas go into the new campaign with a raft of new faces in their ranks, including Sergi Samper, Denis Suarez and Samuel Umtiti. Summer signing Andre Gomes is however ruled out through injury.
Find out what Luis Enrique told the media before the start of the league campaign: https://t.co/oXNNXFkt0e pic.twitter.com/E5JSCFgOUb — FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) August 19, 2016
R. Betis:
- It's a new-look Verdiblancos side that head to the Camp Nou, with a host of new additions - who'll all be keen to make their mark -, and a footballing purist at the helm. Betis's game plan is sure to revolve around possession football, as the Sevillians look to try to beat the Catalan giants at their own game.
- Coach Gustavo Poyet and the whole Betis camp are fired up for a season opener which sees them play on one of the biggest stages in world football, with the Uruguayan defiantly stating in his pre-match press conference that, "There are no excuses."
Getting to the Camp Nou
Address: C/ Aristides Maillol (Main entrance at No. 15) or Av. De Joan XVIII (Access from Boulevard: No. 9), 08028 Barcelona.
Metro: Lines 3 (Palau Reial and Les Corts) and 5 (Collblanc and Badal).
Bus: 7, 15, 33, 43, 56, 63, 67, 68, 70, 72, 74, 75, 78, 113, 153, 157, 158 and 167.
Tram: T1, T2 and T3 (Maria Cristina, Pius XII, Palau Reial, Zona Universitaria, Avinguda de Xile and Sant Ramon).
Stadium location here
Time: 18:15 CET
Stadium: Camp Nou
Referee: Undiano Mallenco, Alberto
TV: Watch the game in your country.
Hashtag: #BarçaRealBetis
Preview in numbers |
A Muslim black nationalist and ISIS sympathizer was busted by the FBI last week in Washington DC buying an AK-47 to allegedly attack "white devils" and start a "race war."
I wonder why the national media is ignoring this story?
From NBC Washington:
A D.C. resident who sympathized with ISIS bought an automatic weapon that he wanted to use to start a "race war," federal prosecutors say.
Clark Calloway, 38, was arrested by FBI agents Thursday after he arranged to buy an AK-47 from an FBI informant, court documents say. He faces federal charges of possession of a firearm by a felon and transportation of a firearm with the intent to commit a felony.
"Soon the great killing will commence," Calloway wrote in a Facebook post April 20, prosecutors say.
Calloway, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, allegedly spoke about attacking police stations. He specifically referenced the First District station on M Street SW.
He was arrested in his apartment building on Webster Street in Northeast D.C., about a mile southwest of the Fort Totten Metro station.
Calloway is a construction worker who lived alone and served time in prison for stabbing someone, a 30-page affidavit says. He pleaded guilty in December 2002. After his release, he was ordered to receive mental health and substance abuse treatment. FOX 5 DC has more:
According to a court document, the FBI began investigating Calloway in 2016. The document says he posted "numerous violent and threatening statements," ''friended" several hundred Islamic State fighters and sympathizers, joined IS Facebook groups and posted pro-IS propaganda. An investigation revealed he maintains at least two active Facebook accounts, "one related to his extremist racial views and one related to his pro-ISIS views," the court document said, referring to the IS.
In 2016 Calloway, who is black, posted about "his desire to conduct a violent revolution against whites and conducting a race war," writing: "Let's put bullets in them."
The document shows that over the course of the investigation, Calloway came into contact with three FBI sources. In response to a question, he told the informant from whom he purchased the AK-47 that the best way to "do something" was to have simultaneous attacks on police stations "all over the country." One of his Facebook profiles shows he's a black nationalist and a Muslim with a deep hatred of white people and white cops. He was also obsessed with the narrative white cops are murdering black people for no reason.
Here's some pictures:
Rather ironic picture he posted on May 4th:
In between calls for violence, he shared a post from "Melanoid Nation" suggesting police are actually secretly carrying out the violence in Chicago to make black people look bad and "justify the violence and mistreatment of Melanoid people around the country."
NBC Washington reports: "Prosecutors say Calloway denied planning to carry out an attack, and characterized many of his Facebook posts as 'propaganda' and examples of 'talking trash' to followers."
Calloway was charged with possession of a firearm or ammunition by a felon and transportation of a firearm with the intent to commit a felony. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail.
Despite his call for "white devils" to be "exterminated like they were during the holocaust," prosecutors decided not to hit him with any terrorism-related charges.
Follow InformationLiberation on Twitter and Facebook. |
Powerex, the electricity trading subsidiary of BC Hydro, has reached a $750 million out of court settlement over claims it drove up electricity prices in California more than a decade ago.
Powerex will pay $273 million US in cash and offer California electric utilities a credit worth $477 million US to settle claims against it related to allegations that it helped inflate the California power market during that state's electricity market crisis of 2000 and 2001.
Of the more than 40 settlements the state has already received, Powerex is the largest.
The settlement, Powerex said, relieves it of a potential $3.2-billion liability from the ongoing actions of the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission against the 60 electricity trading companies that sold power into the California market during that period.
B.C.'s Minister of Energy and Mines Bill Bennett said Friday that the decision to settle was not a happy one but that it was the right thing to do in order to avoid a drawn-out court battle with California.
The potential $3.2 billion liability would go up $125 million every year in interest, he said, plus another $50 million in legal fees.
"I know there will be some folks over the next few days who say, well, if (Powerex) didn't do anything wrong they should just fight it out in the U.S. court system," he said. "That is a huge risk to the taxpayers of British Columbia."
Bennett said the money is on the books, with the largest share of the $750 million to be paid off using a credit that California owes B.C.
Powerex will run a net loss of $101 million this fiscal year as a result of the settlement, but Bennett insisted that will not mean an increase in rates.
There will be no impact on the taxpayer, he said.
The settlement stems from a legal battle in which the state of California attempted to recover billions of dollars it paid for expensive electricity in 2000 and 2001 after it bungled the deregulation of its wholesale power market.
Power companies went bankrupt and consumers suffered rolling blackouts and record-high electricity prices during the crisis in a market that FERC concluded had become dysfunctional.
The agency has since ordered refunds from the trading companies that sold power into that market and the province said the majority of its settlement will provide refunds as previously mandated.
In unveiling the settlement, Bennett said the agreement "expressly recognizes that Powerex admits to no wrongdoing," pointing to a 2003 review of Powerex by the regulatory body concluded there was no evidence Powerex engaged in illegal practices and were a reliable supplier during the crisis.
Bennett added that government does not want to risk a different outcome from a trial, and drew parallels to the province's softwood lumber dispute.
The settlement, which is subject to FERC's approval, was made with California utility companies, the California Attorney General and other parties to resolve the claims.
To date, 47 sellers have made separate settlements with parties in California, according to the provincial government. |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Refugee doctor: 'I hope to make the UK proud'
Doctors who have travelled to Scotland as refugees are being given the chance to start working for the NHS through a training scheme. The BBC's Victoria Derbyshire programme has been to meet those involved.
"When people say, 'I had a couple of beers', they don't mean two," jokes instructor Dr Patrick Grant, a retired A&E doctor training refugees to work for NHS Scotland - including in how to overcome cultural barriers.
One of his students is Fatema, who previously worked as a surgeon in the Middle East until she was forced to flee.
Having treated anti-government protesters in her home country, she herself had become a government target.
"I wish one day this country will be proud of me," she says.
Fatema is one of 38 refugees and asylum seekers on the course - a £160,000 programme funded by the Scottish government.
Based in Glasgow, it provides the doctors with advanced English lessons, medical classes and placements with GPs or hospitals.
The aim is to give the refugee doctors - who commit to working for NHS Scotland - the skills to get their UK medical registration approved.
'Like being handcuffed'
Fatema says coming to the UK and not being able to work as a surgeon had felt like being "handcuffed".
"I'm a qualified medical doctor. It's hard to start again from zero," she explains.
Maggie Lennon, founder of the Bridges Programmes which runs the scheme, says it is important for the UK to utilise its high-skilled refugees.
Image caption Maggie Lennon says the refugee doctors' clinical skills are very similar to those of doctors trained in the UK
"I always say to people, 'I imagine taking out an appendix in Peshawar is not that different to taking out an appendix in Paisley'.
"I don't think there's actually any difference in the clinical skills, I think where there is a huge difference is attitudes to patients and how medicine is performed," she explains.
The scheme is designed to overcome such hurdles, including the case of one surgeon who, Ms Lennon says, was unaware he would have to speak to patients, having previously only encountered them in his home country after they had been put to sleep.
Find out more
Watch Catrin Nye's full film on refugee doctors on the Victoria Derbyshire programme's website.
Laeth Al-Sadi, also on the course, used to be a doctor in the Iraqi army.
He came to Scotland to study but his life was threatened in Iraq and he was never able to go back.
One of the ways he has learned to work with patients in the UK is to use informal terms that might put them at ease - "How are the waterworks down there?" being one example.
Image caption Laeth Al-Sadi says being part of the scheme allows him to feel like he "belongs somewhere"
Language classes are an important part of the course, and placements with GPs and hospitals also allow the refugees to take note of local dialects.
Another doctor says he was confused by a patient who said they had a headache because of a "swally" - a term for an alcoholic drink.
Before refugees can even take their medical exams, they must pass tests to ensure they speak English at a high level.
They must pass a test called IELTS with a level of 7.5 - which even some doctors from the US and Australia have failed in the past.
Image caption Refugees take classes in "situational judgement"
All classes are taught in English. In one "situational judgement" lesson, the refugees are taught to assess what is wrong with a dummy patient based on its "symptoms".
Laeth says he feels lucky to be offered the possibility of a job in NHS Scotland.
"Lots of colleagues, or people who are doctors, are living here, and they are working other jobs.
"Some of them are even taxi drivers, which has [led to a loss of] hope for a lot of people."
Ms Lennon says this issue of under-employment among the refugee population "is as serious as unemployment".
"If someone's a qualified accountant and they're working pushing trolleys [in a supermarket], then there is an argument that they're taking a job from a poorly qualified person in this country," she adds.
Image caption Language classes are an important part of the scheme
Fatema says that despite having to leave the Middle East, she is glad she took the decision to treat anti-government protesters.
"My promise at medical graduation [was to] treat people equally, and try to do whatever is possible to help people. So I would do it again."
Dr Greg Jones, clinical lead at NHS Education Scotland, defended the use of government money on the scheme.
"As well as getting people back to their careers as doctors being the right thing to do from a humanitarian standpoint," he explains, "it's also the right thing to do financially.
"It would be a hugely wasted resource if people who'd already gone through medical training were not used as doctors."
Laeth says being part of the scheme allows him to feel like he "belongs somewhere".
"It means the world," he adds. |
Having a B Belly, also known as plus size pregnancy double belly, is something many pregnant women experience but it doesn’t get talked about very often. So we’re going to talk all about it!
Plus Size Pregnant Belly – What’s A B Belly?
When your belly has a “waistband” in the middle, so the belly gets “divided” between the top and the bottom – it’s a B Belly.
When you stand to the side your pregnancy bump looks like a B rather than a D. This belly shape is far more common during a plus size pregnancy. Women who have “muffin tops” usually get a B Belly during pregnancy.
If you start noticing any swelling, tenderness, or discomfort on the lower part of your belly, be sure to let your care provider know because it can be a sign of edema. Otherwise, know that carrying part of your bump high and part of your bump low is totally within the realm of “normal” and healthy.
What about maternity clothes and having a B Belly?
This can be a little challenging and as any form-fitting top or dress will show the shape of your belly. Belly bands are one of the best ways to conceal a B belly! Combine that item with plus size maternity dresses (that are flowy below the bust area) or plus size babydoll tops and you’re almost always guaranteed to look pregnant without emphasizing the B.
Does a B Belly ever become a D Belly?
Some women joke that they are ready to deliver when their B becomes a D.
With that said, some women never get to experience a complete D belly. This can be quite disappointing. Yet, there are countless women wouldn’t care about the shape of their body or how many stretch marks they got just for the opportunity to be pregnant.
Will my labor and birth be different because of my B Belly?
Having a B Belly doesn’t have an influence on labor or the type of birth you’ll have. Women with a larger lower abdominal area will need to take special care when recovering from a c-section. We have care instructions within this article, C-Section for Plus Size Women.
If you have a B Belly you’re not alone!
Let’s hear from women about their experiences having a B Belly…
“When I got pregnant not only did I learn to embrace my body but I owned it. I lost all sorts of modesty and showed it off like it was nothing. I even had my first ever professional photos of myself done. And if I say so myself I was proudly a plus-sized pregnant goddess.” – Courtney
“I always thought that I would have that cute little D belly that regular girls have until I realized I wasn’t regular, and that was okay. I was growing life inside me.” – Kayla
“Belly band and full panel pants worked wonders!” – Gabby
“Support bands are great for shaping. They also relieve a great deal of pelvic pain. I love Belevation support underwear and Bellybra tank tops.” – Betsy
“I had a b belly, but it wasn’t too noticeable in the clothes I wore. I only put 5 pounds on during my pregnancy so, besides not wearing maternity jeans, I practically just wore my normal clothes. Being pregnant totally changed how I view my body and that my body is able to do amazing things.” – Emily
“Wore a lot of babydoll styled tops and remembered that I was growing a miracle!” – Rachel
“Ladies embrace this beautiful time. I truly regret not embracing my plus size pregnancies and now that my girls are older they ask to see photos of me when they were in my belly and I have so very few to share. It breaks my heart.” – Jennifer
Remember that if you have a B Belly, it’s just a variation of normal.
Pregnancy bumps come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. See even more B Belly images below. |
How India influenced Nepal’s constitution: Lessons for Sri Lanka
Shenali D Waduge
India punishes any country that doesn’t take orders from India. Nepal experienced this in 2015. Nepal is a landlocked nation. Its petroleum supplies come from India (300 fuel trucks per day). When Nepal didn’t listen to India, India blocked all imports to Nepal and created a crisis when petroleum, medicines, earthquake relief material and even food were stopped from reaching Nepal. Some 2000 factories had to shut down. The blockade was because India wanted Nepal to make specific changes to Nepal’s constitution. India did the same in 1989 when it closed 19 of the 21 border crossing over a dispute regarding renegotiation of lapsed trade and transit treaties primarily due to Nepal’s increasing cooperation with China. The question is with India going to such extremes is it really safe for Sri Lanka’s leaders to pass all key requirements of the Sri Lankan public into the hands of India knowing what India is capable of doing and that India will not think twice about even denying humanitarian aid if India’s demands are not met?
It was the Indian Express that published the connection in the blockade and the constitution and despite the Indian government denying, the reporter stood by his original report stating that ‘these amendments/changes were communicated by New Delhi to Kathmandu’. The Economic Times ‘confirmed that at least till the third week of September they had orders from above to intercept fuel shipments to Nepal’. Nepali social media vehemently protested. There were even talk that Nepal was infiltrated with Indian protestors posing as Nepalis (a most likely scenario in Sri Lanka as well with Tamil Nadu Tamils posing as Tamils of Sri Lanka).
Nepal passed its new constitution on 20 September 2015 after 7 years working on it.
The supposed India-Nepal open border treaty means that citizens of both countries can move freely, work and live across borders without passports. It would be exactly the same if ETCA is signed leaving a flood of Indians crossing to Sri Lanka.
If India influences the Madheshis of Nepal is it not the same thing India is doing with the Sri Lankan Tamils and the Estate Tamils? If Nepal says the Madhesi movements have been backed by India, isnt what India did in creating armed militancy in Sri Lanka the same? When Nepali’s feel the Indian plan is to ultimately attempt to absorb Nepal into India in whole or in part citing the case of Nepali-dominated Sikkim, isnt the same happening to Sri Lanka?
Nepal’s old constitution did not allow children of Nepali women to obtain Nepali citizenship in order to stop trafficking of Nepali women as brides (both parents had to be Nepali for children to gain citizenship). However Indians made sure this clause was removed. (every child found in Nepal wherabouts of whose paternity and maternity is not known, shall until the mother or father is traced, be deemed a citizen of Nepal descent). (a very slow but definite demographic change of Nepal by India” / a person born to a Nepali citizen mother whose father is not traced shall be Nepali citizen by descent” ) You can bet that India will do the same if Sri Lanka addresses Indian illegal immigration to Sri Lanka in the new constitution.
Nepal borders Bihar and Uttar Pradesh which have a combined population of over 300million against Nepal’s population of just 28million. This again is no different to 76million Tamil Nadu Tamils against 20million Sri Lankans.
The overwhelming presence of Indian Oil in Sri Lanka should make people now think about how Nepal fell into trouble during the Indian blockade in 2015. Nepal Oil Corporation like Sri Lanka’s CPC was the only state owned company which distributed petroleum in Nepal. With India not allowing petrol, diesel, cooking gas, kerosene into Nepal it was the innocent Nepalese people who suffered. It will be the innocent Sri Lankan public who will end up suffering when India does the same in time to come because our leaders have simply sold us out. The price of petrol per litre was Rs.104 before the blockade, thereafter Nepalis had to buy it for Rs.300-450 per litre. The Nepali government had to even sell firewood to meet the shortage of cooking gas. This was in 2015 all sectors were hit – economy, tourism, transport, agriculture! India did not even care that 3m children under 5 years were at the risk of death/disease during the winter due to shortage of fuel, food, medicines and vaccines. Do we need any more lessons for Sri Lankans to open their eyes? In October 2015 the Nepali Oil Corporation and PetroChina signed an agreement to import fuel from China.
Madhesi movement in Nepal is said to be supported by India which again calls to mind how India clandestinely trained, armed and financially supported 35 militant groups from Sri Lanka including the LTTE to destabalize Sri Lanka. India’s support for the Madhesi’s and Tharus is because both form bulk of population of Terai, and Terai region constitutes 1/5 of Nepal’s landmass but accounts for over half of Nepal’s population. Link this to Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka’s North and East and India has a greater eelam extending from India to Sri Lanka. It is based on this that India is pushing for the rail, road bridge, the ETCA allowing Indians to live and work in Sri Lanka and Indians to own land in Sri Lanka as well.
The Madhesi’s have opposed the new constitution and this is a clear sign of the scenario likely to prevail in the LTTE-TNA camp. Madhesi’s in Nepal and the LTTE-TNA have been demanding the fulfillment of their ‘aspirations’.
If Madhesi’s have opposed the clause in the new constitution “religious and cultural freedom, with the protection of religion and culture practiced since ancient times” it is most likely that the foremost place to Buddhism in Sri Lanka’s constitution and the 2600 civilizational heritage and history will also be in for changes unless the public begin opposing.
Both movements in Nepal & Sri Lanka have sought Indian support. Isnt that a coincidence!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Madhesis-seek-Indias-support/articleshow/49307403.cms
India had even officially conveyed to Nepal of 7 amendments India wished Nepal to make in its constitution! Look at the extent of interference by India
The proposed amendments are:
Article 63 (3) of the Interim Constitution provided electoral constituencies based on population, geography and special characteristics, and in the case of Madhes on the basis of percentage of population”. Under this provision, Madhes, with more than 50 per cent of the population, got 50 per cent of seats in Parliament. The latter phrase has been omitted in Article 84 of the new Constitution. It needs to be re-inserted so that Madhes continues to have electoral constituencies in proportion to its population,” a government source told The Indian Express.
In Article 21 of the Interim Constitution, it was mentioned that various groups would have the right to participate in state structures on the basis of principles of proportional inclusion”. In the new Constitution (Article 42), the word proportional” has been dropped — Delhi wants it re-inserted.
Article 283 of the Constitution states that only citizens by descent will be entitled to hold the posts of President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Speaker of Parliament, Chairperson of National Assembly, Head of Province, Chief Minister, Speaker of Provincial Assembly and Chief of Security Bodies. This clause is seen as discriminatory for the large number of Madhesis who have acquired citizenship by birth or naturalisation. Delhi says this should be amended to include citizenship by birth or naturalisation.
Article 86 of the new Constitution states that National Assembly will comprise 8 members from each of 7 States and 3 nominated members. Madhesi parties want representation in National Assembly to be based on population of the Provinces. This, Delhi says, should be done to address concerns.
Five disputed districts of Kanchanpur, Kailali, Sunsari, Jhapa and Morang: Based on the majority of the population, these districts or parts of them may be included in the neighbouring Madhes Provinces.
Article 154 of the Interim Constitution provided for delineation of electoral constituencies every 10 years. This has been increased to 20 years in Article 281 of the new Constitution. Echoing the Madhesi parties, India wants this restored to 10 years.
Article 11(6) states that a foreign woman married to a Nepali citizen may acquire naturalised citizenship of Nepal as provided for in a federal law. Madhesi parties want acquisition of naturalised citizenship to be automatic on application. This also finds favour with Delhi.
The Indian Ministry of External Affairs denied the report as incorrect. However the Indian Express reporter stood by the report claiming that India did demand the changes.
http://indianexpress.com/article/world/neighbours/make-seven-changes-to-your-constitution-address-madhesi-concerns-india-to-nepal/
Has India violated UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/25/2625 declaring the principles on international law concerning friendly relations and cooperation among States?
Has India violated clause that stipulates all States to refrain from using threat or force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any State? Such a threat or use of force constitutes a violation of international law and the Charter of the UN. A war of aggression constitutes a crime against the peace, for which there is responsibility under international law. India’s neighbors will certainly have a long list of woes on India’s bullying
Duty not to intervene in matters within the domestic jurisdiction of any State”
Every state has the duty to refrain from organizing or encouraging the organization of irregular forces or armed bands including mercenaries for incursion into the territory of another State” (India did clandestinely train and arm Tamil militancy in Sri Lanka. Jain Commission report is evidence of this)
Every State has the duty to refrain from organizing, instigating, assisting or participating in acts of civil strife or terrorist acts in another State or acquiescing in organized activities within its territory directed towards the commission of such acts, when the acts referred to involve a threat or use of force”. Tamil Nadu used as a logistics hub for Sri Lankan militants and Tamil Nadu politicos encouraging & supporting eelam in Sri Lanka. http://www.tamilguardian.com/article.asp?articleid=7427
No State or group of States has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly for any reason, whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other State. Consequently, armed intervention and all other forms of interference or attempted threats against the personality of the State or against its political, economic and cultural elements are in violation of international law”
No State may use or encourage the use of economic political or any other type of measures to coerce another State in order to obtain from it the subordination of the exercise of its sovereign rights and to secure from it advantages of any kind. Also, no State shall organize, assist, foment, finance, incite or tolerate subversive, terrorist or armed activities directed towards the violent overthrow of the regime of another State, or interfere in civil strife in another State”
Every State has an inalienable right to choose its political, economic, social and cultural systems, without interference in any form by another State”
Sovereign equality including in the above Resolution
States are judicially equal; Each State enjoys the rights inherent in full sovereignty; Each State has the duty to respect the personality of other States; The territorial integrity and political independence of the State are inviolable; Each State has the right freely to choose and develop its political, social, economic and cultural systems; Each State has the duty to comply fully and in good faith with its international obligations and to live in peace with other States.
The extent of violations committed by India upon its neighbors can be drawn by listing the manner India has violated the UN Charter and international laws by interfering in the internal affairs of sovereign nations.
It would be a good time to present all violations committed by India upon its neighbours to the UN though we can but wonder whether anything constructive would come out of it because India is behaving no different to the manner the US, West and NATO functions in bulldozing their way forward.
Nepal’s constitution was definitely not of their own making. USAID and numerous other NGOs played a key role no different to how foreign-funded organizations are playing the same role in Sri Lanka. The monarchy rule of Nepal was changed into a secular state. The Hindu identity was also changed. In the meanwhile the British High Commissioner in Nepal has been accused of supporting Christian missionaries. He has even promoted the inclusion of the right to convert in the new constitution.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/british.ambassador.to.nepal.accused.of.supporting.christian.missionaries/44777.htm / http://therisingnepal.org.np/news/568
USAID too played a key role in Nepal Bar Association just like in Sri Lanka (strengthening rule of law). The changes to Nepal came having tapped its media, legal structure, youth, professional bodies, local NGOs under a US-Indian plan. If we cannot pick the similarities taking place in Sri Lanka we really are doomed.
None of what Nepal went through should surprise us as these developments are identical to what is now taking place in Sri Lanka. If we do not learn from these lessons and take appropriate counter measures/actions we deserve what we are likely to be dished out.
Shenali D Waduge |
The controversy over Bill 6 continues and on Wednesday farmers and ranchers fired up their trucks and tractors to take part in a convoy down a southern Alberta highway to protest the legislation.
The bill proposes worker’s compensation benefits and health and safety regulations for paid workers on farms and Alberta producers say the plan will hurt their lifestyle and livelihood.
The NDP government has made amendments to the bill to omit immediate family members and volunteers but those opposed say that’s not enough and they are calling on the province to kill the bill.
Farmers and ranchers have organized a number of rallies since the bill was introduced three weeks ago and are demanding the government pull the bill until more consultation can be done.
“Why do we not consult with the farmers? Perhaps go around and ask the wheat people or the Barley Commission or the Cattle Commission, please send us some people that you feel comfortable to represent you in this case and we can all sit together and work something out and then present that, instead of people that maybe never, ever made their living off the land deciding on how I should do my business,” said Wilhelm Vohs.
Dozens of protesters drove their farm vehicles down the highway to Olds on Wednesday morning for a meeting at the Cow Palace to talk about the proposed bill and amendments.
“We haven’t seen anything in amendments. I’ve been asking for several days to see the amendments, I think we have a right, it’s an omnibus of bills, you know, the Employment Standards Act, WCB, OHS, all being rushed into one, it’s very concerning. I mean, with my safety background, the amount of money it’s going to cost to implement this, are we going to be subsidized? Are we supposed to just trust? I need stuff in writing as does everybody else here I think. There’s a real lack of trust now and if this is a real consultation, I want some real feedback, some real conversation. “said Myrna Kalev-Kleppe from Eckville.
On Tuesday, house leader Brain Mason gave notice to limit debate on the bill saying that the opposition is trying to slow the process down.
"They try to slow things down, so the government has to invoke closure and then they point to the government and say, 'Look, the government is being very undemocratic and they don't want debate,' said Mason. "The people of Alberta expect us to be here and do our job and get the business of the house done."
The Wildrose tabled a petition on Wednesday saying it was signed by over 30,000 Albertans who are opposed to the bill.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. Unlike NDP MLAs, Wildrose believes it’s our job to make sure the voices of our constituents are heard at the legislature,” said Wildrose Shadow Agriculture Minister Rick Strankman. “Our entire Wildrose caucus is proud to present this petition and commends the work done by Albertans across the province to gather signatures.”
Alberta's Minister of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour, Lori Sigurdson, says the bill will go forward but that they will continue to work on the details.
“It’s about safety for farm workers and we want to make sure that farm workers have the same rights all other workers do in Alberta and across Canada and we are going ahead with this,” she said. “The details about the regulations are really, I think, what people are concerned about, and we’re going to continue for the next year, 18 months, two years if it takes, to go back and forth to make sure we get those regulations right and make sure the unique culture, the unique way of life of farming and ranching will continue, but we need to make sure that people are safe now.”
She says they are consulting with farmers and that the technical aspects of those safety regulations take time.
“I think we are consulting them and we are going to continue to for the next 18 months, longer if needed, and we’re going to make sure that we get it right for that sector and I think the amendments go a long way to show them that we are understanding the unique nature of the farming and ranching community and making sure that farm families, whether paid of unpaid, are exempt from this,“ she said.
Premier Notley has already said she plans to have the legislation in place by January 1, 2016. |
A 45-minute phone call by Texas booster Wallace Hall, former Rangers owner Tom Hicks and Nick Saban's agent highlights a chapter in Monte Burke's soon-to-be released biography of the Alabama head football coach that offers insight into the Saban-to-Texas push two years ago.
The Dallas Morning News was sent an advance copy of the unauthorized biography, "Saban: The Making of a Coach."
An 18-page chapter — appropriately called "Texas Hold 'Em" — begins with the phone call that occurred in December of 2012, one year before Mack Brown stepped down as the head coach of the Texas Longhorns.
Burke, a senior editor at ForbesLife and writer at Forbes, spoke with Texas regent Wallace Hall, who said a friend of his told Hall that "Saban wants to come to Texas."
The friend, who was not identified by Hall, was also close with Saban's agent, Jimmy Sexton. What followed, Burke writes, was a phone call between Sexton, Hall and Hicks.
Hicks is the brother of Texas regent and one of the board's athletic liaison's, Steve Hicks.
"Hall and Tom Hicks talked to Sexton for 45 minutes," Burke writes. "They say that Sexton told them that Saban felt 'special pressure' and a lack of appreciation at Alabama."
Said Hall: "Sexton said that the day after the championship, Alabama boosters were pounding the table, talking abut a three-peat."
Brown was still the head coach at this time, but Hicks believed they could get Saban to Austin by getting Brown to retire, according to the book.
"The only way to get Saban to come to Texas, Hicks believed, was to get Brown's approval and even make it look like the entire thing was the Texas coach's idea," writes Burke. "He agreed to broach the topic with Brown."
Hicks had lunch with Brown, but ultimately the coach "didn't want to retire," Hicks told Burke.
"I am completely convinced that Saban would have come to Texas had Mack approved of the idea or had DeLoss (Dodds) fired Mack," Hall said.
One year later, Brown resigned and Saban was the center of attention for the job, as the prior phone call between Sexton, Hicks and Hall became public, though the details remained secret, Burke writes.
Once Steve Patterson became the new Athletic Director at Texas, replacing Dodds, Saban's agent called him.
"I've known Jimmy for 30 years," Patterson says in the book. "I told him if he wanted to come here and drink bourbon and eat barbecue and talk about Saban, that'd be fine. But I told him not to come here if he just wanted to get Saban an extension and a raise at Alabama, which I thought was his intention all along.
"Of course, Jimmy took great affront to that, which is fine. He was just doing his job. But that was the end of the conversation. I never talked to Saban and we never made an offer."
In December of 2013, Saban and Alabama reached a new deal worth $6.9 million per year. Charlie Strong was hired at Texas in early January.
Burke's book goes on sale Aug. 4. |
- A Minnesota man, who Homeland Security identifies as a terror suspect who is on the “No Fly” list, now has his Class A commercial license, which will allow him to drive semi-trucks.
The FOX 9 Investigators revealed last May that Amir Meshal was attempting to get his Class A license from a Twin Cities truck driving school. The $4,000 tuition was paid for through the state workforce program.
The Minnesota Department of Public Safety confirms he was granted the license after passing a road test on August 8. A spokesperson said Meshal has also applied for a school bus endorsement, pending the outcome of a criminal background check.
In May 2014, Meshal was removed and trespassed from a Bloomington, Minn. mosque, Al Farooq, after he was suspected of radicalizing young people who would later travel to Syria. According to the police report, religious leaders said, “We have concerns about Meshal interacting with our youth.” Meshal had previously been asked to leave an Eden Prairie, Minn. mosque for similar reasons.
The ACLU recently sued TSA and Homeland Security to have Meshal removed from the “No Fly” list. But Homeland Security responded in a letter obtained by the FOX 9 Investigators that Meshal, “..may be a threat to civil aviation or national security,” adding that, “It has been determined that you (Amir Meshal) are an individual who represents a threat of engaging in or conducting a violent act of terrorism and who is operationally capable of doing so.”
In 2007, Meshal, a U.S. citizen of Egyptian descent, was arrested in Kenya by the FBI, suspected of leaving a terror training camp in Somalia. Meshal, via the ACLU, is also suing the U.S. government for detaining him overseas for three months. In the lawsuit, Meshal claims the FBI tried to convince him to become an informant -- an offer he says he declined.
The FOX 9 Investigators asked the Minnesota Department of Public Safety why they issued a Class A license for someone who Homeland Security believes has the “operational capacity” to carry out a terror attack. We have not heard back.
Statement from Hina Shamsi, ACLU attorney representing Amir Meshal
"Mr. Meshal has never been charged with a crime and has sued the government to obtain a fair process to challenge his wrongful inclusion on the No Fly List. Like many other unemployed Americans, he’s trying to obtain credentials for a job so he can build a life for his family, including a baby. Any suggestion that Mr. Meshal’s efforts to get a job somehow present a concern is shameful. On Mr. Meshal’s cases: his unlawful rendition and detention case is on appeal. The latest in the No Fly List case is described here." |
Liverpool's Raheem Sterling scored England's third goal against Lithuania but will miss Tuesday's trip to Italy
Arsenal forward Danny Welbeck has been ruled out of England's friendly against Italy in Turin on Tuesday.
Welbeck suffered a knee injury during the 4-0 win over Lithuania in the Euro 2016 qualifier on Friday.
Coach Roy Hodgson said Welbeck will join Raheem Sterling (toe), who also scored on Friday, Manchester City's James Milner (knee) and Everton's Leighton Baines.
Southampton's Ryan Bertrand has been called up as a replacement.
"We knew we were going to be losing Raheem Sterling who had an injection last night on an on-going injury and hopefully that will help him as we go forward.
"We have a problem with James Milner who had to leave, we decided to let Leighton Baines go home and of course we lost Danny Welbeck who unfortunately picked up a slight knee injury against Lithuania.
"So those four players won't be with us going forward but it means a chance for the other guys in the squad to show what they can do.
"We are going to bring Ryan Bertrand in because with Leighton Baines gone we are now left with only one recognised left-back which is Kieran Gibbs. We wanted two recognised left-backs for both games." |
Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) Spanish cyclist Oscar Pujol won the 2016 Taiwan KOM (King of the Mountains) Challenge and the race's NT$1 million (US$31,615) first prize on Friday, covering the mountainous 105-kilometer course in just under three and a half hours.
Fan Yung-yi (范永奕) was the top Taiwanese finisher, placing 13th in a time of 3 hours, 37 minutes, and 35.94 seconds, 7 minutes 52 seconds behind Pujol.
Emma Jane Pooley, a former British professional cyclist and a first timer in the challenge, won the woman's title and NT$200,000 first prize in 4:08:40.14.
Taiwanese cyclist Chen Tzu-yin (陳姿吟) finished third in 4:38:07.11 and countrywoman Huang Ting-ying (黃亭茵), who competed in the Rio Olympics, placed fourth, one minute 50 seconds behind Chen.
Now in its fifth year, the grueling one-day race takes cyclists on the Central Cross-Island Highway through mountains in eastern and central Taiwan.
Starting from Qixingtan beach in Hualien County, the course then goes on a steady 87-kilometer climb via the breathtaking Taroko Gorge to a 3,275-meter peak in Wuling near Hehuan Mountain in Nantou County, the highest point in Taiwan accessible by public roads.
In 2014, French magazine Le Cycle included the race on a list of the world's 10 toughest, calling the Taiwan KOM Challenge the only one in Asia comparable to classic routes through Europe's Alps and the Pyrenees.
This year's race, which offered NT$2.41 million in total prize money, drew 385 cyclists from 36 countries, according to the Tourism Bureau, one of the event's organizers.
(By Lee Chin-wei and Kuo Chung-han)
Enditem/ls |
At this year’s Tour de France I met an interesting gentleman named Jean-Louis Talo. He was carrying a set of these wacky looking chainrings that I had seen around so I struck up a conversation. I had seen them being used on most of the Team SKY bikes as well as knowing that a few other pros were using them which started to pique my curiosity. As it turns out Jean-Louis is the inventor of Osymetric and he was happy to explain them to me.
The Dead Spot
Jean-Louis Talo is a biomechanical engineer who created the Osymetric chainrings 21 years ago. He understood the theory of “the dead spot” and wanted to improve the efficiency and dynamics of the pedaling cycle. What is this mythical dead spot? The theory states that it is the weakest part of your peal stroke where the crankarms are in the 12 and 6 o’clock positions . Imagine a piston at the very top and bottom of its cycle. There is significantly less power being generated at this transitional point. The shape of the Osymetric rings attempts to concentrate your pedaling power where your force is at a maximum, while effectively reducing the load where your power input is at a minimum. This decreased chainring radius helps you go faster through the dead spot. For example, for a 56T (Osymetric) at the top position (the dead spot) it is not a 56t, it is equivalent to a 52t (easier to think of it being the same diameter as 52t at this position). So, where you are at your weakest, the chainrings are at their smallest to help you go through that quicker. Where you are strong is where the maximum diameter of the chainring is. At the end you have a constant speed of rotation.
Why Are Chainrings Circular Anyway?
Why have chainrings been circular for all these years? According to Jean-Louis, until 1980 the industry was unable to manufacture another shape. Simple as that. It was not a biomechanical decision. As manufacturing techniques progressed and laser cutting became economical, precision shapes were possible to be produced. Jean-Louis’ recognised that the rider has to adapt himself to the circular chainring and he began to experiment with different shapes. Osymetric attempts to adapt its shape to the person.
What about Biopace?
This is the first question that everyone will ask Jean-Louis. As he explains, Biopace was the exact opposite as Osymetric. It was totally wrong from a biomechanical perspective. First of all because it was oval. According to Jean-Louis, a shape needs to be created that is fitted to the pedal stroke – and that shape is not oval. Secondly, Biopace set the crank in line with the large edges of the chainring. With Bio-Pace you actually lost power.
Claimed Benefits
Osymetric claims to produce less lactic acid at your threshold power. On circular chainrings you produce more lactic acid because your vastus externus is employed for too long and being pushed too hard throughout the pedal stroke. Therefore the smaller muscles are used more than your larger muscles could be. With the adapted pedal stroke that Osymetric provides, all the muscles work proportionally to their strength. More muscle fibers are recruited by using the Osymetric shape throughout the pedal stroke which means that each has to work less. This is the theory.
Osymetric claims that you will increase your power 10% with their chainrings. Note that the power is not the speed however. The net result is claimed to be 1% faster and is slightly more efficient when you are climbing than when on the flat. The difference is 0.9 km/hr when climbing, and 0.7km/hr when on the flat.
According to Jean-Louis, he did some testing with Bradley Wiggins during this year. With circular chainrings he tested 450watts at a 20mins average. With Osymetric chainrings Wiggins generated 490watts average (20mins ave). I have not independently verified this, but it’s a point that Jean-Louis is eager to talk about.
My experience
Jean-Louis sent me a set of Osymetric chainrings a couple weeks ago. They came in some ghetto packaging with Ikea-like instructions. Even though these chainrings were just used by the winner and dominating team (SKY) of the Tour de France, I had to remind myself that this is no mass operation. It’s basically a one-man show. The first week I spent countless hours trying to fit them to my Dura-Ace cranks and running back and forth to my bike shop. Installation is not easy and there is no good manual out there that was able to help (Osymetric has this video, but they make it appear easy).
After speaking to the local distributor I was able to follow his advice and get the chainrings fitted. I was still unable to shift into the little chainring properly, so I adjusted the front derailleur so that it stayed on the big ring.
There’s no question that riding these chainrings for the first time feels weird. It’s the exact sensation you’d expect from the shape. However, after 30 minutes of peddling they began to feel perfectly normal. In fact, far better than normal. I couldn’t believe how good I felt while turning over the pedals. I was doing an SE interval up the 1 in 20 (outside of Melbourne) and managed to pull off a time of just over 15mins without even “going for it”. This is far from being scientific, but it wasn’t normal.
The next day I raced our Club Championships with the Osymetric chainrings. It was my first road race in months so all I wanted to do was finish. I felt like I could win it (same old story…I missed the break)
I could be just imagining it but riding these chainrings has felt undeniably awesome. You know those days where you’re pushing a bigger gear than normal and every time you go through a pedal stroke you think, “I can’t believe I’m pushing this”? I have this feeling only a couple times a year when I’ve trained my guts out and been on top form. I have nothing to gain by saying this: I feel like a completely new rider using these chainrings.
What the pros say
It seemed strange to me that if the reported benefits are so great why aren’t all the pros on them. Nobody is sponsored by Osymetric and nobody officially endorses them. In today’s world of multi-million dollar sponsorships, Osymetric stands alone on top of the podium with many victories – including the Tour de France.
I skyped with Richie Porte last night to ask him about what he thinks. Although Richie is able to hold back his enthusiasm towards Osymetric better than I can, he says that he’s definitely a fan. For comparison purposes, he rode Puig Major (a popular climb in Mallorca) on Osymetric rings at an average of 422 watts with a time of 23:59. It was 25watts more than he did this climb previously with normal chainrings. Again, not scientific, but something to consider.
The first professional user of Osymetric was Bobby Julich. Bobby got onto Osymetric by a series of chance events later in his career and won silver in the 2004 Olympic TT (he originally won bronze but Tyler Hamilton was stripped of his gold medal) and many other races in 2005 including Paris-Nice. Of course you don’t just get these chainrings and start winning races, but it’s a great outcome. Bradley Wiggins later got onto Osymetric in 2009 and subsequently finished 4th in the Tour de France. Shortly after Jean-Louis had a good contact within SKY. Now look at the growing list of riders:
Brad Wiggins
David Millar
Richie Porte
Jani Brajkovic
Chris Froome
Chris Sutton
Geraint Thomas
Greg Henderson
Lars Petter Nordhaug (just won Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal)
I gave Bobby Julich a call last night to get his thoughts and he was generous with his time. He spoke to me for an hour telling me about his past experiences with the Osymetric chainrings. When I asked him what convinced him that these work, he replied, “I was never interested in quantifying with numbers if they did or didn’t work. I heard all the numbers that sounded convincing but at first I just wanted to try them. When I put them on and it was like ice skating – it felt awkward. After half an hour though I thought that they felt so good and natural. Right then I was sold. It had nothing to do with the numbers.”
I also got in touch with Greg Henderson how has used Osymetric for a couple years now. He tells me that he definitely feels like he gets more power out of them, but they’re not as effective for explosive power in the sprints. That said, Hendo has won some pretty big sprints on these chainrings. This is consistent with what I’ve heard from others. The high-end kick seems to be missing.
What the research says
I had wanted to do some of my own testing to try to quantify the savings but after some thought this would take some Vo2 Max equipment, very accurate power meter calibration, lactate samples, and other resources. It’s not as simple as sitting on a stationary trainer and measuring speed at a certain wattage.
It’s difficult to find conclusive research but there are some studies which use mathematical modeling on a variety of elliptical chainrings worth looking at: http://www.noncircularchainring.be/
This study makes some reassuring statements about Osymetric, but it does also state that the orientation of the chainring on the cranks is slightly off (p.25). It also talks about how the rider’s position and geometry of the frame affects the orientation of various chainrings. However, Jean-Louis strongly denies this by saying, “This study was only a mathematical solution. They are not testing this in a physical lab – it is a mathematical model. I love mathematics but this also has to be tested in the physical world. Imagine, where is the dead spot is. It can only be in one place – When your legs are straight up and straight down – just like a piston in an engine. If you move forward or backwards on the saddle, or the geometry of the frame changes, it makes absolutely no difference to the variation of the Osymetric curve.”
Osymetric also have some studies on their website which obviously report significant benefits: http://www.osymetric.com/images/stories/etude.pdf
I’ve heard some sports scientists say that the shape of the chainrings fools the power meter readings into make the measurements appear higher than they really are.Update: I asked an SRM engineer about the possibility of this and he tells me that it would be impossible for the osymetric chainrings to affect the readings of an SRM powermeter. Speaking with other sports scientists, they say that it’s nearly extremely difficult to construct a test that measures the difference between oval chainrings and round chainrings. There are too many variables.
Rotor Q-Rings
I have no experience with the Q-rings and haven’t spoken with anyone from the company about them, but do know a few people who highly rate them. Garmin-Sharp have a sponsorship arrangement with them, however if you look closely you’ll notice that many of the Garmin riders will use the Rotor cranks with circular chainrings, not the oval ones.
The interesting thing about the Rotor crankset is it allows you to position the Q-rings however you want. I asked Jean-Louis about this and he told me that Osymetric is very different from Q-Rings. Jean-Louis believes that in order to eliminate the dead spot you need to create a shape that is biomechanically fitting. He claims that the oval shape does not fit to the legs.
As Jean Louis explains, “Imagine that one of your legs is in the dead spot position. Your strength is divided by 2. You have no strength in this dead spot area. For this reason you have to drastically decrease the radius as part of your chainring to help you go through that dead spot easily and quickly. When your crank is in the strongest position your strength of your legs has been multiplied by 2. For this reason you need a great variation in the radius. If the variation is small you have absolutely no effect”.
“The curve between the high dead spot and the low dead spot is not oval. It’s a creation in function of fitting to the static strength and dynamic strength. For this reason the shape of Osymetric is so particular. Between these two dead spots the radius varies proportionally to your strength. Its fit for each muscle of your legs. In studies, much more fibers in the muscles are working, but each fiber works less. This increases the rider’s lactic threshold is increased. This is important because competition is always decided at lactic threshold. “
You can read more about Rotor’s Q-Rings here: http://www.rotorbikeusa.com/science.html
I don’t have a contact within Rotor so if anybody from the company is reading this feel free to get in touch to better explain the science and benefits.
Shifting
The Osymetric chainrings are very basic when you look at them. They don’t have the chain catching mechanisms on the inside that enables quick, smooth and reliable shifting like Shimano, Campy or SRAM. They’re basically a thin piece of alloy which have been laser cut in its unique shape.
As I said before the Osymetric chainrings are very fiddly to install. There are a lot of derailleur and crank arm variations out there and the instructions included with the chainrings are very poor. However, after you understand how to configure the rings to your own bike it becomes much easier. The initial process was painstaking however.
Front shifting is far from being perfect on even the best of set-ups, but dropping the chain is a bit of worry with Osymetric. Careful consideration to which size differences between small and large chainring needs to be addressed. Bobby Julich explained, “The 52T or 42T/54T is a really good combination for flatter races and the 44T/56T is the bomb for time trialing. It’s the magic ring. But you have to be careful when using say a 42T/56T because the difference is so extreme and shifting might not be good”. Also, a brief pause in power while shifting needs to happen. Riders tell me that you’ll sometimes get flicked if you don’t think about your front changes. Time trial bikes seem to be more of a problem than road bikes when shifting. Bradley Wiggins has dropped the chain a fair few times in time trials (e.g. 2012 Tour of Romandie). However, he did use Osymetric throughout every stage of the tour which speaks volumes.
Pros who have experience with Osymetric have found the optimal place to shift. One pro told me, “You don’t want to shift when you’re in the dead spot. That’s when the derailleur has nothing to push against. It’s best to shift when you’re on the power stroke so the derailleur has something to push the chain against. I always had to shift in the beginning of the power phase of the stroke with my right foot (because I’m right footed) and slightly let-off the power. As long as you shift at that right time, it’ll work perfectly”.
Training
Jean-Louis says that it’s effective to go back to training on regular circular chainrings a week before competition and then put the Osymetric back on the day before competition. He calls this the “turbo boost”. I’ve asked around about this and this is what Bradley Wiggins does. However, most of the pros don’t do this because of practical reasons and not wanting to fiddle with the front shifting (most pros only have one training bike, but Wiggo would be well looked after).
Summary
People spend thousands of dollars on diminishing gains trying to improve aerodynamics and shed a few grams from their wheels and frames. Meanwhile there appears to be low hanging fruit right in front of us with optimising the dead spot in the pedal stroke. Many will pass this off as some cheap marketing gimmick, but after feeling them for myself I’m completely sold. I imagine if Osymetric had a marketing budget to shape people’s perceptions as much as they’ve shaped their chainrings, we’d all be sold. For the time being, they’ll just have to keep winning the Tour de France. |
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main.AsYouKnow
Richard: No, you know how today we're heading into the land of the Giants to offer them the Jewel of Valencia in exchange for joining our quest to save Princess Isabella?
Galavant: Yes, we discussed it last night in great detail. There's no need for your clunky exposition. Galavant No, you know how today we're heading into the land of the Giants to offer them the Jewel of Valencia in exchange for joining our quest to save Princess Isabella?Yes, we discussed it last night in great detail. There's no need for your clunky exposition.
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As you know, we are Describing the trope As You Know Here.
This is a form of exposition where one character explains to another something that they both know, but the audience doesn't or may have forgotten.
"As you know, Alice, my Death Ray depends on codfish balls."
"Damn it, Bob, you know full well that Alice hasn't been the same since that tragic codfish incident ."
In discussions of science fiction, this is often "As You Know, Bob" (abbreviated AYKB), or occasionally, "Tell me, Professor [about this marvelous invention we all use every day and have no reason to be talking about except to inform the audience]". Other common variations involve a newspaper reporter sent to cover events, or a conversation between two supporting characters — hence another name, "maid and butler dialogue". Terry Pratchett refers to the fantasy fiction version as the "As you know, your father, the king..." speech.
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This is also a common feature of pilot episodes, where characters' backgrounds and relationships need to be established for the first time. Likewise, when new characters are introduced or the writers believe a reminder is in order, characters will explicitly refer to each other by name during a regular conversation, when this is rarely done in real life: "Say, Alice, how are you enjoying your coffee?" "Why, it's delicious, Bob, thanks for asking. How are you coming along, Charlie?"
This is also quite common on medical drama shows like ER, Scrubs, and Grey's Anatomy, where common medical phenomena and simple procedures must be explained to the laymen in the audience. In most cases, this is achieved by explaining the disease or procedure to an intern or non-professional character.
On some shows, characters will "As You Know" in order to provide information that was already provided in a previous episode (that viewers might have missed) or even earlier in the show (for those who just tuned in), to the great annoyance of dedicated fans. (e.g. Just Tuned In: "Remember, Bob, you only have 20 minutes to defuse the bomb..." or Previous Episode: "Alice is really mad at you for running over her dog last week, isn't she?") Soap operas or adventure-type shows will often circumvent this with a "When we last left our heroes" recap at the beginning of each two-parter.
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This may also happen with solitary characters (in thought rather than in speech), who, apparently, have such bad memory problems that they have to constantly remind themselves what they're doing right now and what happened in the near past.
Not explaining anything sometimes results in the audience being too busy trying to figure out what's going on to enjoy the show, using this trope is not always a bad thing. In serialized works or plays, "as you know" is seen as a convenient workaround to save time or to spare readers returning to the series. For example, it's easier to say "as you know, Dr. Moriarty is the most feared criminal mastermind in the world" than showing to new readers to the Sherlock Holmes series just what kind of criminal the doctor is. Or, it often would be more advantageous to a play's length to say "as you know, the Montagues and Capulets have been feuding for 50 years" than to show a fifty-year-long feud. Notwithstanding, there are less obvious workarounds in use in modern writing.
Writers try to avoid this by using The Watson, and thus the most common alternative is to give the protagonist amnesia so he doesn't know, which isn't really considered a better option. The Idiot Hero and Fish out of Water are also acceptable tropes to employ to make this trope more believable, though shoehorning in such a character may be worse. A third form is to have two characters comparing information to each be sure that the other does in fact know. A fourth is to have the characters have an argument, since arguments are among the few real-life situations in which people remind each other of things they both already know.note "How could you do X? You know perfectly well that Y..." Breaking the Fourth Wall to have the characters know they are informing the audience is Older Than Feudalism in its own right, but obviously suitable only for broadly comic works.
It was ridiculously common in post-World War II literature, to the point that readers expected it and could become confused if the writer left it out. This might be the most universal trope found in postwar literature; you find it in works by everyone from George Orwell to Barbara Cartland to Rex Stout. (One wonders which one of the three would be most insulted by that grouping.)
Generally more acceptable when dealing with characters who are in situations where exposition is actually going on in-universe, e.g. military briefings or scientific lectures. In these cases, the phrase is less used to explain something and more to bring focus to a particular fact. ("As you know, we lost contact with Delta Squad this morning..." or "As you may know, the proton has a mass of...")
Specific variants:
See also: Mr. Exposition, The Watson, Captain's Log, Expospeak, Captain Obvious, Exact Eavesdropping, Viewers Are Morons. A subtrope of Show, Don't Tell.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
Audio Plays
The Audio Adaptation of The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents is, for much of the time, narrated by Maurice himself. Towards the end, it becomes apparent that he's telling the story to Dangerous Beans. Who a) was right there for most of it and b) is mostly dead
Comic Books
Comic Strips
Frequently turns up in Doonesbury's earliest days. "Well, here I am..."
Lampshaded in the newspaper comic Sally Forth: the title character asked her daughter what she was doing "for Earth Day next week", and was told that was the most obvious bit of exposition she had pitched since "As you know, Hilary, you are my daughter."
Fan Works
Films — Animation
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Rainbow Rocks: Although there is some debate as to how long exactly the Dazzlings have been banished in the human world, in the prologue Adagio's comment about how it is lacking Equestrian magic and Aria's discussion about their banishment are something they should know already. Likewise, Sunset Shimmer and the Humane Five discussing the events of the first movie is for the audience's benefit; you'd think Sunset especially wouldn't want to dwell so much on it. Pinkie Pie's intervention is then just rubbing it in, but that's in character for Pinkie. Sunset Shimmer: A demon. I turned into a raging she-demon.
Pinkie Pie: And tried to turn everyone here into teenage zombies for your own personal army! (smile)
Wreck-It Ralph has one when King Candy explains the nightly roster race. Lampshaded when he says "We all know this," with an Aside Glance, to boot.
The Rescuers: The viewers learn about the Rescue Aid Society's origin when their current head reminds the other members about it. He even starts with "As you know,".
Films — Live-Action
Literature
Radio
Frequent in radio drama, where characters not only have to detail the back-story, but frequently have to describe things everyone there can see.
Spoofed in the I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue spin-off The Doings of Hamish and Dougal: Dougal: Well, here we are on London's busy Oxford Street.
Hamish: Why did you say that?
Dougal: Well, it doesn't do any harm.
Warhorses of Letters used this extensively and knowingly. "You must remember that all horses are arbitrarily given the same birthday, January 4th. Oh wait... you do not have to remember, as you are also a horse."
That Mitchell and Webb Sound frequently plays the trope for laughs. In later series it becomes somewhat of a Running Gag to have one character sum up things that the others already know, and when called out on it claim that "it's realistic" for them to do it.
Theater
Video Games
Visual Novels
Ace Attorney: The first case in each game requires the player to get a quick introduction to the gameplay details. This makes perfect sense in the first game because Phoenix Wright has just come out of college, but not so much in the next two games, considering they still star him after a good number of trials. The second game features a bout of amnesia, whereas the third one is actually a flashback to the second case of Mia Fey, Phoenix's mentor (when you actually get to play her first case, though, she doesn't get any As You Know assistance). The fourth game introduces a new protagonist, Apollo Justice - but you can actually skip the tutorial here, as Apollo has watched Kristoph Gavin cross-examine several witnesses and is fully aware of the process. The Miles Edgeworth spin-off uses his partner, Clueless Detective Gumshoe, to handle this as The Watson. Still, several characters keep reminding Edgeworth how to use logic (a gameplay mechanic exclusive to the spinoff). The fifth game Dual Destinies has this as an option and it's justified. If the player opts to get an introduction on the mechanics of the game, Phoenix (a seasoned lawyer at this point) asks his rookie partner Athena Cykes to explain how the court system works in the game. However, it's done not so much for Phoenix's sake but for Athena's since she just suffered a Heroic BSoD moments before. Phoenix believes that having Athena explain the rules to him will bring her confidence back up. And, again, in Spirit of Justice. This time, however, the justification is that Phoenix has to explain the process of cross-examination to the judge, who hasn't had to preside over a cross-examination for a witness's testimony in over twenty years, and has forgotten the protocol for the process. This happens again in the third case, where Maya asks if Nick should be reminded of how to cross-examine Rayfa's insights for her divination séances, a new gameplay feature that was only shown for the first time two cases ago.
Web Animation
Parodied in the Homestar Runner cartoon "A Decemberween Pageant". It opens with Homestar talking to Marzipan about how the night of the titular pageant has arrived "After all the weeks and weeks of rehearsing and practicing and memorizing lines," when Marzipan tells him "Homestar, I don't think those are your lines." A Reveal Shot shows Homestar and Marzipan are standing on the stage, and Homestar has been delivering his exposition in the middle of the performance.
Red vs. Blue: Parodied somewhat, where the exposition is for another character's benefit rather than the audience. Church, Tucker and Tex are held at gunpoint by Wyoming. Church uses his radio to try and surreptitiously tell Caboose what's going on, but none of the other characters present know he's doing this and can only wonder why he's suddenly become "the narrator". Par for Caboose, he fails at figuring out the massive hints. Church: (deadpan) We're at Red Base. Wyoming. You found us and are holding us prisoner. At the Red Base. Wyoming.
Caboose: Uh, Red Base, no, I'm in the ship.
A variant occurs in The Misadventures of R2 and Miku, where Miku is enough of a ditz that she manages to forget an important part of R2's backstory, forcing him to irritably retell it to her (and thus explain it for the first time for the audience, of course).
Web Comics
Web Original
Western Animation
Real Life |
Now, Obama Has Rhetorical Tics. So ...
Now, don't get us wrong. President Obama sounds presidential.
He can be a keen and insightful public speaker. Occasionally his speeches, such as his famous address on racial issues in Philadelphia in 2008, are for-the-history-books inspirational. But some observers say that day-in and day-out, President Obama does not hold a candle, oratorically speaking, to Candidate Obama -- that what you heard before the election is not what you are getting after the election.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
Since Obama's election, a parade of critics has opined that as president he seems to be more of a professor and less of a poet when addressing the public. And they say that though he may be trying to explain the complicated issues of the day in a simple manner, the way he talks to his constituents may be creating more problems than solutions. After all, desperate times call for inspirational oratory.
You may have noticed that when Obama spoke recently in Florida of the recovery of the Gulf of Mexico's ecology and economy, and when he expressed his support for a mosque in Lower Manhattan at Friday night's Iftar dinner at the White House, he often began a thought with the words "now" or "so." This oratorical habit pops up in other speeches, too.
Take a look at his remarks at the Aug. 11 signing of the Manufacturing Enhancement Act of 2010. It's a no-big-deal 10-minute speech of 20 paragraphs. After welcoming people to the White House, Obama began seven of the next 11 paragraphs with the words "now" or "so." For example:
-- "Now, we knew from the beginning that reversing the damage done by the worst financial crisis and the deepest recession in generations would take some time -- more time than anyone would like … "
-- "Now, the challenges we face have been confirmed not just by the economic data that we've seen since last spring ... "
-- "So while we have fought back from the worst of this recession, we've still got a lot of work to do … "
According to the transcript of his Aug. 9 speech in Austin on higher education and the economy, Obama started paragraphs with the word "so" nine times and with the word "now" six times. Speaking on behalf of senatorial candidate Alexi Giannoulias at an Aug. 5 rally in Chicago, the president began paragraphs with "now" six times and "so" five times.
In a little more than a minute on Aug. 11, the president started four sentences with either "now" or "so."
And because many of the points that the president wants to make begin with "now" or "so" -- and the occasional "look" or "let's be clear" -- the listener does often feel like a student in Professor Obama's political science class. Plus, when a speaker begins sentences and paragraphs with a pedantic tone, it can make it very hard for him to achieve grand eloquence.
The words "now" and "so," says Elvin Lim, who teaches government at Wesleyan University, "are examples of rhetorical pivots necessary for governance in a partisan era. Obama likes to say, 'Now, there are those on the right who say ... ' because he knows the art of governance requires rhetorical pre-emption, especially in our partisan times."
Inevitable Or 'A Serious Weakness'?
Lim interviewed more than three dozen presidential speechwriters for his 2008 book, The Anti-Intellectual Presidency: The Decline of Presidential Rhetoric from George Washington to George W. Bush. He says Obama's professorial tone "is a serious attempt to address the other side of any argument."
Some of Obama's supporters prefer the president to remain in poetic/campaign mode, Lim says, "such as when he goes to, say, a car plant in Michigan and justifies his bail-out policies and mocks Republicans for preferring to do nothing." (Obama called bail-out opponents "the just-say-no crowd.") Such rhetoric buttresses the supporters' belief that Obama "has majorities big enough in Congress to not bother with the other side of the aisle."
The problem, Lim says, is that such a view "misunderstands the requirements of presidential leadership, as opposed to campaigning. There is no doubt that Obama has been less successful as a presidential speaker than as a candidate speaker, but this is a structural inevitability of American politics."
Earlier this year, Michael Gerson wrote in The Washington Post that "in the most unexpected development of his presidency, what was once universally recognized as Obama's greatest political strength -- his oratory -- now seems a serious weakness."
Poetry is of much less use to him as president.
Gerson, who was chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2006, spoke of Obama's "workmanlike utterances" and "explanatory rather than inspirational" speeches to Congress and the public.
Obama "doesn't seem to emote any real urgency or anger," Matthew Dowd, a former Republican strategist who has spoken favorably of the president, told The New York Times last year. "So at times it comes across as a bit distant and intellectual." And in the same article, Joe Trippi, a Democratic consultant, said of Obama that "sometimes his confidence makes him seem flat."
Sarah Palin has also weighed in on Obama's tweedy prose: "We need a commander in chief, not a law professor standing at the lectern," the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee and potential presidential contender told her supporters earlier this year.
Some Self-Awareness
The president seems to know about the professorial perception. In an interview with ABC-TV in January, he told Diane Sawyer that "when your poll numbers are high, you're a genius. If my poll numbers are low, then I'm cool and cerebral and cold and detached." Also that month, he conceded to ABC's George Stephanopoulos that "a mistake of mine" in 2009 was focusing too much on "this provision, or that law" and not enough on "speaking directly to the American people."
Perhaps bristling at the growing notion that he is too academic, Obama told NBC in June -- when he was questioned about his handling of the Gulf oil crisis -- that "I don't sit around just talking to experts because this is a college seminar. We talk to these folks because they, potentially, have the best answers, so I know whose ass to kick."
Obama's lack of inspirational oratory may partially explain why his approval numbers are down. According to a mid-August USA Today/Gallup poll, a majority of Americans disapprove of the way Obama is handling many key issues -- including health care, the situations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the deficit, the environment, the economy and immigration.
Perhaps he needs to invigorate the American people as well as inform. To exhilarate as well as explain. To touch as well as teach.
"There is no doubt that he has the capacity and capability to inspire," says Martin J. Medhurst, a professor of rhetoric and communication at Baylor University. "In my judgment, he has not yet found the right themes or focus. He should be talking far more about values and character and ethics and national self-understanding and less about policy details and the political process."
Obama, Medhurst says, is "one of the most skilled communicators we have had in the White House."
Medhurst adds that the president does sound professorial. "This is not, of course, unprecedented," Medhurst says. "Woodrow Wilson, who was a professor before going into politics, sounded much the same way. Speech is an index of thought. Obama speaks the way he does because he thinks the way he does. He thinks like a law professor, which is not surprising since he was trained in law and once taught law."
Candidates Just Need To Sound Good; Presidents Must Do More
As for the rhetorical tics of using "now" and "so," Medhurst points out that all presidents have their idiosyncrasies. "Reagan often started sentences with 'Well ... .' Nixon often said, 'and I want to make this particularly -- or perfectly -- clear ... .' Both Truman and Johnson spoke of themselves in the third person. Eisenhower could wax eloquent on the 'spiritual' strength of the American people."
As candidate, says Elvin Lim, Obama "only needed to sound good. The major product he was selling was himself, and eloquence was part of it. There was little need for details, and the only action his words attempted to inspire was the act of voting."
As president, Lim continues, Obama now has to sell not only himself, but a legislative program as well. He can no longer speak in generalities, such as "change," to sell specific legislative products. "And he can't just dive in for the median voter, because he's made promises to his liberal base while also using ambiguous language to get center-right voters on board with him during the election," Lim says. "So now he has to explain and justify his departure from his campaign positions and promises to his base, while also convincing those that didn't vote for him that now as president of all the people -- and not just the standard-bearer of one party -- what he is proposing legislatively is worthy of their support."
So, Lim concludes, while Obama only had to campaign before he was elected, now he has to govern. "And poetry is of much less use to him as president."
Unless, perhaps, the president is also a candidate for a second term. In that case, the public may again see the rhetorically inspirational man who won the election in 2008. |
MUMBAI: “Mumbai pays the highest tax (around 40% of the country's total), yet we were at the receiving end of a surgical strike. Businesses suffered a setback, jobs were axed, the poor died standing in queues...“You wouldn't be off the mark if you were to describe this as poll propaganda. This is from an ad put out last week in a morninger by the Shiv Sena against its biggest rival in the civic polls, the BJP.But that's just half the story. What makes the pitch interesting is that it was splashed all over the Urdu dailies on Friday. Call it desperation or stratagem, the Sena which fashioned an identity for itself by riling the minorities is now wooing them.Though a mere five of the 220-plus Sainiks in the fray are Muslims, the party is reaching out to the community like never before. Notices in Urdu newspapers is one of the indicators.Ever since Sena and BJP decided against an alliance for BMC polls, some of its leaders have warmed up to Muslims. “We are hoping to pick up a few more seats, especially in Govandi-Mankhurd area (a predominantly Muslim belt). Haji Arafat and I are aggressively campaigning and getting a huge response,“ said Sajid Soopariwala, vice-president, Maharashtra Shiv Vahtuk Sena (Haji Arafat is the president), a wing of the party active in the transport sector.Sena's efforts received a shot in the arm on Friday with sitting Congress corporator Shahana Rizwan Khan joining the party.Notorious for anti-Muslim tirades, especially in the 90's -the Srikrishna Commission which probed the 1992-1993 Mumbai riots blamed Sena founder late Bal Thackeray for stoking communal fires -the Sena has come a long way.Though it is not the first time it has sought to mend fences, the latest overture may soften perceptions that it is anti-minority. “Muslims enjoy the daily exchange of barbs between BJP and Sena leaders these days. That some Sena leaders are calling Narendra Modi a `feku' publicly is also a source of relief for us. If Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray walks his talk when he says that his party is not anti-Muslim but just concerned about Maharashtra's progress, a section of Muslim may support his candidates,“ said a community leader requesting anonymity. |
Who Are America's 'Homegrown Terrorists'?
CNN's Peter Bergen describes how the Internet and social media have been used to radicalize and recruit Americans to jihad — and how some new jihadists then use those same tools to draw in others.
TERRY GROSS, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. I'm Terry Gross. A lot of what you think you know about homegrown jihadists in America may be wrong. My guest, Peter Bergen, has been reporting on jihadists who were born in the U.S. or grew up here and how they were radicalized. He's compiled a database of people in the U.S. who have been charged with a jihadist crime to help understand how they were radicalized and how they might have been stopped. He's written a new book called "United States Of Jihad." It traces the history of how militant Islamic groups came to recruit lone wolfs in the U.S. Bergen describes how the Internet and social media have been used to radicalize and recruit Americans and how some Americans became innovators in the jihadi use of digital media. Bergen is CNN's national security analyst and is the author of four previous books about terrorism. He's also vice president of New America. In 1997, working as a producer for CNN, Bergen produced bin Laden's first TV interview in which he declared war against the U.S. A documentary called "Homegrown," based on Bergen's new book, will debut on HBO next Monday. Peter Bergen, welcome back to FRESH AIR.
PETER BERGEN: Thank you.
GROSS: Let's start with an interesting comparison. Compare the number of deaths in the U.S. by a militant Muslim terrorist with the number of deaths by right-wing extremists.
BERGEN: Well, since 9/11, the foundation that I work at, New America, we've been compiling deaths caused by jihadi terrorists. And at a certain point, we started thinking, hey, why don't we also - there are anti-government fanatics who've also killed people and violent neo-Nazis. And so since 9/11, 45 people have been killed in the United States by jihadi terrorists while 48 have been killed by people animated by, you know, anti-abortion, neo-Nazi, anti-government fanaticism.
GROSS: And compare the amount of investigative power that we have on each of those.
BERGEN: Well, I will say I think that the FBI is fairly concerned about the issue of anti-government violence. It's hard to make a direct comparison, but I know that the Department of Justice, for instance, has recently appointed a sort of additional senior official to really examine this problem because, you know, whether it's the attack in Charleston where the perpetrator wanted to start a race war or whether it's the standoff that we saw in Oregon, there are other forms of political violence than jihadi terrorism in the United States.
GROSS: But on the whole, Americans are much more preoccupied with jihadi terrorism on American soil, even though the number of deaths since 9/11 - there is more of them caused by right-wing and anti-government extremists.
BERGEN: Yeah, I mean - and some of that isn't surprising. I mean, 9/11 was a sort of hinge event in American history, and all jihadi terrorist plots or attacks are kind of filtered through that lens. But the fact is is that, you know, we had a neo-Nazi shout hail Hitler after he killed three people in Kansas City at a community center in 2014. If he shouted, Allah akbar, what was already a pretty big news story would've become an even bigger news story, I'm sure. So, you know, that's just kind of just the environment we live in.
GROSS: Let's look at another comparison, the number of Islamic extremists who have attacked Americans on American soil, the number who come from other countries and have come here for the attacks versus the number of attackers who are American-born or are American citizens and grew up here.
BERGEN: You know what's interesting, since 9/11, we tend to think that terrorist attacks against the United States must be conducted by foreigners because on 9/11, it was 19 foreign-born Arab hijackers recruited by al-Qaida. In fact, every lethal terrorist attack in the United States since 9/11, whether in Fort Hood or Boston or San Bernardino, has been conducted by American citizens or legal permanent residents. And so some of the hysteria about refugees coming into the country and performing acts of terrorism is very overblown. Certainly about 10 refugees have been involved in relatively minor jihadi terrorism crimes, like material support for a terrorist organization. And - but really, if you were concerned about lethal attacks, it's been American citizens or American residents.
GROSS: Now why are these two comparisons that we've discussed important in understanding and addressing the larger problem of Islamic extremism in the U.S.?
BERGEN: Well, I think some of what we've been discussing, Terry, is sort of - is obviously is good news. I mean, if we'd had this conversation in 2002 and some - you had somebody on your program who predicted that a decade and a half after 9/11 that only 45 people would be killed by people animated by Osama bin Laden's ideology, that would've seemed like a wildly optimistic claim. And of course, every one of these deaths is a tragedy, but they aren't national catastrophes on the scale of 9/11 or anything close or even on the scale of what we saw in Paris where 130 people were killed by - who had been trained by ISIS and Syria. So I mean, you know, I think terrorism isn't only about numbers because, of course, people react to terrorists, and we don't - our fears are not entirely rational. We're walking around with the same brain that we walked around the jungle in, you know, with 20,000, 30,000 years ago, and fear is a pretty dominant part of our sort of basic emotions. But, you know, that said, if you bring some rationality to the problem, terrorism is really a relatively minor issue, and we've done - the United States government has done a pretty good job of keeping us safe through their whole variety of measures. I - just to give you one example, you know, on 9/11, there were 16 people on the no-fly list. Today, there are 47,000, and there's a much larger list of a million and a half people that if you got on a flight to the United States, you'd be put into the first - secondary screening because you are deemed to have some kind of even relatively small association with a potential association with a terrorist group. So, you know, I think the good news is that we've really managed the threat, we, the United States. And also the American Muslim community is a largely - pretty well integrated in a way that is not the case in Europe. If you look at the perpetrators of the Paris attacks in November or you look at the Charlie Hebdo attack, I mean, these people who perpetrated these attacks grew up in these rather grim (unintelligible) suburbs, which are like the projects, the French projects. They are - many of them serve time in French prisons. One of the most astonishing statistics is less than 10 percent of the French population is Muslim, yet almost as much as 70 percent of their prison population is Muslim. So we're looking at a very different problem here in the United States than you're looking at in Europe.
GROSS: OK, so knowing what you know and having access to this data bank that you created on jihadis in the U.S., what are your impressions of the rhetoric we've been hearing about terrorism and about Muslims coming to America in this presidential campaign?
BERGEN: Well, the rhetoric is massively overblown, which is hardly surprising since it's a presidential campaign season. And the two, you know - and it's interesting. If you look at the data, Terry, on what are the main issues that the electorate is interested in in December, polling suggested that 24 percent of Republicans thought that terrorism was the number one issue facing the nation. Only 9 percent of Democrats felt the same way. But certainly, if you look at also polling data about fears and worries, about terrorism, you find that, you know, very large numbers of Americans are concerned about the possibility of another terrorist attack. So, you know, even if those fears are fundamentally, I think, somewhat irrational, I mean, obviously, there will be other terrorist attacks going forward but, I mean, nothing on - I'm talking about major terrorist attacks that kill, mass casualty attacks, so it's quite unlikely. So in the political season, which, of course, this has been a big issue, you know, you had Ted Cruz saying that we should bomb Syria, carpet bomb Syria to destroy ISIS, which makes no sense at all since ISIS is closely embedded in the civilian population of major cities in Iraq and Syria. We had Donald Trump, of course, saying we should ban all Muslim immigration. You know, I mean, this is - you know, neither of these responses make any sense.
GROSS: You've made a lot of comparisons based on the information in the database that you've compiled. Have you made comparisons to general gun violence and the number of people killed by that, by nonideological, nonjihadi, nonpolitical gun violence?
BERGEN: Well, one of the kind of conclusions in the book is, you know, terrorism is statistically a very minor problem in this country. Yet, you know, you're - in any given year, you're somewhere between 3,000 or 5,000 times more likely to be killed a fellow American with a gun than you are to be killed in the United States by a jihadi terrorist. I mean, those numbers speak for themselves.
GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is Peter Bergen, author of the new book "United States Of Jihad: Investigating America's Homegrown Terrorists." He's also CNN's national security analyst. We'll be back after we take a very brief break. This is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is Peter Bergen. He's national security analyst for CNN and author of the new book "United States Of Jihad." And it's about homegrown terrorism. And he's been writing about this for years. I mean, he interviewed bin Laden years ago. So the demographics of homegrown terrorism are not what you'd think. They certainly aren't what I would have thought. And you can say this with some authority 'cause you have a database that you're keeping about people who we now know are homegrown terrorists or would be terrorists. And so, you know, I would've thought that these are people who either came from the kind of background, either because of poverty or because of ethnic heritage, who felt very alienated from American culture and felt that they were shut out and they were angry as a result and wanted to express that anger or that they came from extremist families and were brought up that way. But those things just aren't true. Is there a typical profile that you've managed to find, any pattern that you've found in why an American-born person would become a jihadi?
BERGEN: Well, you know, that's sort of the big puzzle of the book. And, I, you know - I spent two and a half years researching it. And I don't claim to have a particularly brilliant answer to the why question because the more you look at each individual case, the more individual the case becomes. And there's a wonderful quote from the philosopher Immanuel Kant - from the crooked timber of humanity, not a straight thing is made. And I think it's almost the motto for this book because when you really look at why somebody, you know, decides to kill a number of his fellow American citizens - and of course the perpetrators are usually hes - you know, it often becomes a very complicated answer to that question. It's not, you know, yes, there is some sort of a bin Ladenist ideology in there. But often there's personal disappointments, a desire for recognition, seeking to belong to something, seeking a cause. But of this three - we looked at 300 cases plus of Americans convicted since 9/11 of some kind of jihadi terrorism crime ranging from the relatively minor to the major, such as murder. And the profile we found was average age 29, a third married, a third kids, as educated as normal Americans, mental problems actually at a lower incidence than the general population. And so you're looking at middle-class - these are not young hotheads of the popular imagination there. You're looking at kind of middle-class, married, you know, late 20s. And in fact, when we came to that conclusion, we didn't know that the San Bernardino attackers, one of them is 27, one is 28. They were married, they had a child. The male perpetrator had a job earning $70,000 a year. They were very much solidly part of the American middle class. And so why did they turn to violence and kill 14 people just arbitrarily? You know, that's a really big puzzle. I mean, you could try and explain it by they were influenced by al-Qaida's ideology and ISIS's ideology, that they objected to American foreign policy. But lots of people object to American foreign policy and don't go and just arbitrarily kill 14 people attending a Christmas office party. At the end of the day, that's fundamentally, I think, inexplicable. And it may get to the nature of evil itself, which is it's often pointless and often inexplicable no matter what the scale, you know - whether we're looking at the crimes of the 20th century or whether we're looking at the smaller crimes that we see in our own country.
GROSS: What's really just so hard to comprehend about the San Bernardino shooters is that they had an infant.
BERGEN: Yeah.
GROSS: Like, to imagine wanting to martyr yourself when you have an infant - it's just unimaginable to most people.
BERGEN: I agree. You know, and what is quite unusual is that the, you know, that the wife was involved in murdering other people. We are beginning to see some kind of a weird form of this Islamist extremist feminism in which these Islamist extremist groups are recruiting females. And I've also assembled - myself and my research team have assembled another database where we look at every named foreign fighter who's gone to Syria to participate with ISIS or one of the other jihadi groups. And we've found that about a fifth are women, which is unprecedented. When you look at the past jihads, whether it was the Afghan war against the Soviets in the '80s or the fighting - the Bosnian Muslims fighting against the Serbs in the '90s or (unintelligible) jihad, women were fundamentally not involved at all. But here, we're seeing women volunteering to go to Syria and sort of embed themselves with ISIS.
GROSS: You print in your book a couple of, like, recruiting photographs that ISIS has used. And one of them is a man with a beard and a white shirt and tie and a black flag - you know, an ISIS black flag is behind him. And he's with a woman who's totally shrouded head-to-foot in white, except you can almost kind of see two slits for her eyes. And the slogan on this is marriage in the land of jihad - till martyrdom do us part. And then there's another one in which there's, like, a group of women totally shrouded in black. And they're all carrying what looks to be automatic weapons. And this is from a social media Tweet trying to recruit women. And I kept thinking, who wants to be - who voluntarily wants to be the woman covered from head to foot to join an organization that sexually enslaves women?
BERGEN: Indeed. I mean, it's a puzzle. And in fact, I'm glad that you mentioned the photographs, Terry, because I think those are both pretty telling. The women with the AK-47s fully shrouded are sitting on top of a white BMW as well. And the message on the tweet is chilling in the Khilafa, i.e. chilling in the caliphate. And the message that they're trying to give - obviously with some success because we've had literally hundreds of women from the West leaving otherwise pretty comfortable middle-class backgrounds, including American citizens, who have traveled to Syria, to join what they think of is an Islamic utopia. And all the things that we find absolutely aberrant - the enslaving of the Yazidi women, the crucifixion of people who they think are sorcerers and, you know, beheadings of homosexuals - and the list goes on and on. You know, for some reason that may be seen as part of their appeal. The women who are going, who are from pretty much every Western country, are not turned off by this. And in fact, they often go there with a specific goal of getting married to some ISIS fighter that they regard as a very important holy warrior. And so you're seeing a lot of marriages taking place.
GROSS: And I can only imagine what happens in the marriage and what role the woman plays.
BERGEN: Well, I don't think it's very big outside the home.
GROSS: Yeah, no, exactly.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSS: But what about all the machine-gun posts - are women actually becoming warriors in the fight?
BERGEN: No. I mean, well, there is - in Raqqa, the de facto capital of ISIS and Syria, there is a women police force that is sort of being deployed to basically to enforce ISIS rule over the female population and probably do things like search women and stuff that men would not be allowed to do. But otherwise, ISIS is, you know, a highly misogynistic organization and women are not being educated or they're not having a role outside the home.
GROSS: So do you feel like you've been able to get into the mindset of any of the young women from the U.S. who have tried or succeeded in joining ISIS?
BERGEN: You know, probably not. Luckily, the scale of the problem for the United States is much, much smaller than what we're talking about in Europe. I do profile in the book a group of three Chicago-based teenagers - 19, 17 or 16 - who all decided to join ISIS - two boys and a girl. I was able to talk to their parents, and I was able to obviously read a fairly voluminous kind of court documentation about the case. And in this particular case, these kids are grown up in a Chicago suburb, Bolingbrook - all very bright. And they had become truly convinced through social media, through reading social media and then also they were in direct message contact over Twitter with people in ISIS - that ISIS had created this Islamic utopia. And I think that they really believed that the caliphate - that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared in 2014 - they believe that really was the case and that there was an obligation for them as servant Muslims to go to the caliphate and be part of this wondrous experiment. Luckily for them, they were arrested at an airport because one of the other findings of the database of western foreign fighters who've gone to Syria is half of them are dead. Six percent of the women are dead even though they're not on the front lines because the Syrian conflict is so dangerous. And, you know, it's a very violent war. And, you know, of course, these kids face, you know, major legal problems. And the older brother, whose name is public because he was 19 at the time, you know, faces up to 15 years in prison. I think that's a very, you know, a ridiculously long sentence for something that actually never happened, which is his attempt to join ISIS. But, you know, he will face several years in prison likely after some kind of plea deal with the government.
GROSS: Well, and the young woman you were mentioning, the sister in this group of three siblings, she was dreaming of martyrdom.
BERGEN: Yes. I mean, and she was also, you know - she expected to marry an ISIS fighter. And the, you know, the average age of these Western foreign fighters, the ones that are being recruited, whether they're female or male, is very low. The women - the average age is 19. And from the United States, we're seeing teenage women going. We had three from Colorado who went and they were arrested, luckily for them, again, at Frankfurt Airport and sent back. But some people are getting through. We've had a 20-year-old from Alabama who's playing a fairly prominent role in ISIS propaganda.
GROSS: My guest is Peter Bergen, CNN's national security analyst and author of the new book "United States Of Jihad" about homegrown terrorists. After we take a short break, he'll tell us about an American who joined the jihadi group al-Shabab in Somalia and was assassinated by them and live tweeted his own assassination. I'm Terry Gross, and this is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GROSS: I'm Terry Gross back with Peter Bergen, CNN's national security analyst and author of the new book "United States Of Jihad." It's about how Americans are radicalized and recruited to become jihadis. This is his fourth book about terrorism. He produced the first TV interview with Osama bin Laden in which bin Laden declared war on the U.S. That 1997 interview was for CNN. So you're focusing in your book on homegrown terrorists, terrorists who became jihadis living in the United States and mostly who are radicalized through the Internet and social media. It's no coincidence that this is happening. You trace it to a larger strategy, back to 2004, when Abu Musab al-Suri published his book on leaderless jihad called the "The Call For Global Islamic Resistance." So what was his strategy of leaderless jihad, and how does that connect to what we're seeing today?
BERGEN: Well, Abu Musab al-Suri is someone I got to know pretty well because he's a Syrian. Very bright guy, lived in London. He actually was the person who took myself and correspondent Peter Arnett and the cameraman, Peter Juvenal, to interview bin Laden for his first TV interview. And he presented himself at the time as sort of a journalist who was interested in jihadist topics. Well, of course, he was something quite other. I later found out that he was running a training camp in Afghanistan after - before 9/11, and then he wrote this 1,500-word magnum opus which you've just described.
And basically, the point of that magnum opus was, you know, we need to stop forming up these very big organizations with training camps that - of the kind that can be detected by the United States and bombed from the air as it happened in Afghanistan. We need to kind of socialize the idea that people should take their - the jihad into their own hands and form small groups or just act alone, and - because that way, the government can't detect the organization. It's much harder to detect a lone wolf than it is somebody who's associated with a larger organization who's having planning meetings and making phone calls to people in the organization. And so that is really how the jihad has really developed in the United States. So we're not seeing the formation of large groups anymore, probably because people are concerned about government informants. We're not seeing groups like al-Qaida or ISIS sending, you know, people into the United States in any large number as what had happened on 9/11. What we are seeing is people self-radicalizing.
GROSS: So there's a few Americans who have been key in English-language jihadi websites that have been very important in radicalizing Americans and other English speakers. And I'm thinking specifically of Anwar al-Awlaki, who is known in part because he was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, and Samir Khan, who was born in Saudi Arabia but moved to Queens, N.Y. when he was 7. So just tell us a little bit about each of their roles in using the Internet to radicalize English speakers.
BERGEN: Yeah, well, sure. It's of course, you know - in a sense, you know, there's a certain irony here, which is that the jihad became more Americanized because Americans began playing a bigger role in it. And it's perhaps also ironic - the Internet, of course, was, you know, essentially an American invention - that the English-language jihadism is really also an American invention. Anwar al-Awlaki was born in New Mexico. He rose to become the most important cleric in the English-speaking world of jihad. And, you know, what was new about him is he spoke in colloquial American English. And he wasn't a boring guy like many leaders of al-Qaida, who just would drone on. One of his great quotes was jihad is becoming as American as apple pie. He was able to talk to the English-speaking world in a way that was accessible. It wasn't in Arabic. And many of the cases of the West, you find Anwar al-Awlaki's lectures.
And then he recruited an acolyte called Samir Khan, who grew up in Charlotte, who founded, really, the first English-language jihadi website when he was living in Charlotte. Then he moved to Yemen, and then he founded the first English-language webzine called Inspire. And Inspire magazine, which is accessible to anybody who's listening to this, pretty much, is a - you know, it was a snazzy, well laid-out, good graphics kind of - even with a little bit of humor."How To Make A Bomb In The Kitchen Of Your Mom" was one of the lead articles in the first issue. That magazine has turned up in almost every terrorism case you can imagine, including in the Boston Marathon case where they used bombs that were partly derived from Inspire magazine.
And this was really kind of revolutionary because anybody or anywhere in the world could now have access to a lot of English-language material previously only accessible on password-protected forums in Arabic. And they also had access to bomb-making recipes, and the idea was to inspire jihad in the West. It was there basically to take Abu Musab al-Suri's ideas and really operationalize them.
GROSS: And you profile in your book someone who was inspired by them and by their organizing on the web, their use of the web to radicalize people and turn them into jihadis. So this person who was inspired by him, his name was Zachary Chesser. And what did he develop in terms of online jihadi organizing?
BERGEN: Well, he really - he did - I think that he was probably one of the first people to really see the promise of Twitter and social media in the English-speaking jihadi world. He's a very bright kid who, you know, in a different world might have become big in Silicon Valley. He grew up in Virginia, Civil War buff when he was 9 years old. Family very, you know - government lawyer and somebody worked for the government, so very solidly middle-class background. And converted to Islam as a result of dating a Somali girl, and became and more radicalized, and began to see himself as a leading ideologue on the Internet. And I was able to have a pretty extended correspondence with them. He's now in a supermax prison in Florence, Colo., but he sent me, like, a 100-page letter that laid out how he got to where he is today. And he - why he was imprisoned, in part, is because he was inciting violence against the creators of the "South Park" animated show.
On the show, the creators of "South Park" had labeled one the characters prophet Mohammed. They in fact dressed him in a bear costume, so it didn't really look like the prophet Mohammad, but that was sufficient enough to incite into rage Zachary Chesser and others in his circle. And he incited his readers, many of whom of course shared his jihadi views, to go and kill the creators of "South Park."
GROSS: And even in trying to go after the creators of "South Park," Trey Parker and Matt Stone, he used social media to, you know, incite acts of violence against them, which fortunately never succeeded. So in your book, you profile several people who, you know, who are Americans and became or at least tried to become jihadis, and one of them is an Alabama native named Omar Hammami.
BERGEN: Yeah.
GROSS: And he became a leader of al-Shabaab, which is the Somali branch of the jihadis, and then he became a target of al-Shabaab. And there's several things that are really interesting about this story. One is that his wife is Somali and she refused to go with him. I mean, her parents were Somali refugees and, like, she's like, I'm not going back - I'm not going to Somalia. I know what it's like there.
BERGEN: Right.
GROSS: So he just leaves his family behind and tries to go, and succeeds in going. And you have a photo of him with a deputy leader of al-Shabaab during a press conference in 2011 in Mogadishu. And you have a photo from 1999 of him on a high school date, and it looks like one of those studio photographs where everybody gets to be in the same backdrop. He's wearing white pants and a blue blazer, she's wearing a corsage on her wrist. They're posed holding hands and facing the camera. Behind them is, like, a hazy purple backdrop and what looks like stardust. (Laughter) You know, it looks like it's, like, a prom photo or something...
BERGEN: ...And she's one of those - yeah, it is a prom photo. And she's - she was one of the most, you know attractive, popular girls in the class, and he was also one of the cool guys until he converted to Islam. You can imagine converting to Islam and making a very public show of it in rural Alabama - particularly after 9/11, but even before that. And Omar Hammami is a very - was a very bright kid. And he and another very bright kid, his best friend, Bernie Culveyhouse, they both went down this road of radicalization. And what's fascinating they're both the same age, they both got married to Somali women in Canada, they then moved from Canada to Egypt, and they all - they did everything together for years, and they radicalized together. But Bernie Culveyhouse, when the moment came to go to Somalia, he said no. You know what? I have a wife and kid. I'm going to go back. And now he works in Silicon Valley and he's got, you know, three kids, and he's living a very, you know, normal life.
Omar Hammami went to Somalia, became a leader of Shabaab, got involved in some kind of dispute with them about their tactics, and ended up being assassinated by Shabaab. And it gets back to this why question, which is, you know, you can kind of explain how people radicalize and what happened along the road, but, you know, why people make this decision ultimately is a little bit hard to disentangle exactly. It's, you know, it's a - fundamentally, it's a - you know, if you go to Somalia, it's the most dangerous - at the time that Omar made this decision, it was the most dangerous country in the world.
GROSS: And then he basically picks a fight with al-Shabaab's leaders. He's criticizing them on social media, which is a dangerous thing to do, and they shoot him and he live-tweets his own shooting. Do you want to read a couple of those posts from your book?
BERGEN: Oh, sure. So this is what I describe in the book as probably the first live-tweeting of an assassination attempt in history. And he, Omar Hammami, who tweets as Abu American - first tweet says (reading) just been shot in the neck by Shabaab assassin. Not critical yet. Second tweet says (reading) sitting in tea place, then three shots behind to left. Pistol, I think. They ran. And then finally, (reading) no windpipe or artery. Peroxide, gauze and pressure. A perimeter has been made. And then a little bit later in the day, (reading) they're sending forces from multiple directions. We are few, but we might get back up. Abu Zabair - who's the head of Shabaab - has gone mad. He's starting a civil war. And then finally, after the failed assassination attempt -(reading) I awoke in the morning to hear that I was surrounded. We ran to a hall behind the house and waited. And shortly thereafter, Shabaab killed him.
GROSS: That's amazing, live-tweeting your own assassination.
BERGEN: It really is.
GROSS: I mean, if you want talk about social media and jihad - that's just so...
BERGEN: (Laughter) And you - I mean, Terri, one of the interesting things about this book is that this was the first book I had where social - you know, a lot of these people that I wanted to interview are either dead or in prison. And of course, social media is a tremendous - and imprison in such a way that they can't talk to the media - and social media, of course, is a tremendous boon for me as a reporter because, you know, it allows - you know, Omar tweeted, like, 1,700 times before he died. He also published a 127-page biography on the web. And both of those were vital to get inside his head. I couldn't talk to him. I did speak to his family, to his father, but social media has been a real boon for this kind of reporting project because it allows you to kind of get, you know, to some degree, a real-time sense of what somebody is like.
GROSS: If you're just joining us, my guest is Peter Bergen, author of the new book "United States Of Jihad," investigating America's homegrown terrorists. Let's take a short break, and we'll talk some more. This is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
GROSS: This is FRESH AIR. And if you're just joining us, my guest is Peter Bergen. He's CNN's national security analyst and author of the new book "United States Of Jihad: Investigating America's Homegrown Terrorists." He's been writing about jihad for decades. He interviewed bin Laden in 1997. You write about the impossible choice that some parents who know that their child is being radicalized have to make, you know.
BERGEN: Yeah.
GROSS: Why don't you describe that choice?
BERGEN: Well, if a parent knows that their kid is suddenly becoming infatuated with ISIS, they face a very difficult choice, which is, you know, do I - what do I do? If I go to the FBI and it turns out that, you know, my kid has developed a plan to join ISIS, that's a material support of a terrorist organization charge, where the charge is 15 years, and that's even without any indication at all of potential violence. And on the other hand, if I let this thing develop, you know, my kid really wants - decides that ISIS is the - sort of creating this perfect state in Syria, I run the risk of my kid suddenly disappearing and going to Syria, where they would very likely end up dead. And that is a very tough choice for parents. You know, when that choice represents itself - in the case of the three kids from Chicago that I profiled, the FBI didn't give - the parents didn't discover their kids were radicalizing, and the FBI didn't tell them, the parents, that their kids were radicalizing. And the parents' view, the Khan family, is that if the FBI told them about this, they would've talked to their kids and would've talked them off the ledge. So I mean, I think there is some beginning understanding in that the high levels of the U.S. government that when somebody is, you know, a teenager and is radicalizing but isn't necessarily thinking of violence, they probably should be some other kind of off-ramp that doesn't involve a potential 15-year prison sentence. Partly that is to encourage families to come forward and partly just because 15 years in prison from really having a bad set of ideas, you know, isn't really fair.
GROSS: So this way, parents would be able to inform the FBI and - without sending their child to prison.
BERGEN: Or, you know, that there would be a short prison sentence and supervised probation, you know...
GROSS: Right, OK.
BERGEN: ...If there was no allegation of violence. Because the Khan kids who I profiled in Chicago, there's no allegation permit - they'd never been involved in violence, and there's no allegation from the government that they were planning acts of violence. They really believed they were going to join this Islamic utopia. But material support for a terrorist organization, which is a frequently employed - we've had, you know, a couple hundred of these cases at least since 9/11. Material support can include yourself if you decide to go. Material support can also, of course, involve money, if you send money. But the, you know - it's regarded as a serious crime, and, you know, 15 years is a very serious sentence, particularly for somebody who's 19.
GROSS: But in that case, the parents didn't seem to even know their children were being radicalized.
BERGEN: No, they had no idea. They had no idea. They say that if the FBI had given them at least a heads up, saying, look, three of your kids are infatuated with ISIS that they would've been able to intervene, yeah.
GROSS: You have to wonder about that in the sense that, like, how many radicals of any persuasion are talked out of being radical by their parents (laughter). Doesn't...
BERGEN: Right.
GROSS: Yeah.
BERGEN: Or, well, but - yeah, I mean, or by anybody. I mean, I agree. I mean, that's, you know - it's a problem. I mean, there's a woman that I also met - discussed book in the book. Her name is Shannon Conley. Now, she was - she was a 19-year-old from Denver, Colo. She dreamed of joining ISIS. And the FBI went to her four times and said look, you know, this a bad idea. You're going to go over there, it's dangerous. You know, this is not good idea. She was not dissuaded. And I - you know, most people listening to this program, if you got a visit from the FBI on any issue, you'd be dissuaded, right? But a 19-year-old - you know, these are immature kids. And they - she was infatuated with ISIS. So I mean, I take your point. But the point - I mean, the fact is, is that it seems that there should be something better than just this binary choice, you know, you - if - you're going to get 15 years if you're going down this path. It seems that there should be some other kind of option.
GROSS: And just one more thing. You know, ISIS, as you point out in your book, like, Hitler tried to cover up his crimes against humanity.
BERGEN: Yeah.
GROSS: ISIS puts it on social media. They do videos of their beheadings. They're bragging about it, and they're using it as a recruitment tool...
BERGEN: Yeah.
GROSS: ...Effectively, oddly. So do you watch the beheading videos?
BERGEN: I have not, and I think ISIS is being kind of careful in some cases not to actually show the whole thing. But I haven't, and I don't plant to.
GROSS: Because...
BERGEN: Just because I don't want to. I mean, there's just no need for me to do so. But, you know, it gets to a larger point, Terry, you know, the reason ISIS has been successful hitherto is their big message is they're winning. And, you know, there's a million different ways they explain that. I actually think at this point they just lost Ramadi, that major Iraqi city. They've had to half their salaries because they're running low on money. U.S. attacks on their money supply, their oil supply have been fairly effective. And, you know, the one way really to defeat them is as their territory shrinks, their claim to control a caliphate, a geographical and theological entity - you know, that claim will decline over time. That's going to take, you know, some years I think. It's not going to happen, you know, even by the end of this year. They're still probably going to hold on to significant parts of territory, but I think the momentum is turning against them.
GROSS: Well, Peter Bergen, thank you so much for talking with us.
BERGEN: Well, Terry, thank you very much.
GROSS: Peter Bergen is the author of the new book "United States Of Jihad." A documentary called "Homegrown," based on his book, will debut on HBO next Monday. Coming up, Maureen Corrigan reviews "The Yid," a new novel set in Stalinist Russia, that she describes as a comedy about atrocity. That's after a break. This is FRESH AIR.
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I
Gauntleted hands shoved open the inn's front doors with a bang. Swirling ribbons of sand flowed into the common room. Reiter's broom went still. He stared. In the fading twilight, all the boy could see was a silhouette standing in the doorway.
For a long moment, only the unending drone of the sandstorm broke the silence.
The figure stepped forward. Heavy armor rattled. A white tunic spilled down his chestplate, bearing a strange symbol. But it was the weapon that held Reiter's eyes. A short length of black chain connected a handle with an evil-looking spiked weight. The man even carried a massive shield. It was taller than Reiter. The armor shook the inn's wooden floor with each step. The figure's head, encased in a thick helm, turned to look at the boy.
Reiter was too terrified to run. So he just stared. And waited.
The man raised a hand to his helm and removed it. Flowing brown hair fell to his shoulders—her shoulders. Reiter's mouth dropped open in shock. That's a woman! He had never seen such detailed, frightening battle armor in his life, not even among the elite merchant guards that passed through town, and those crews were always men. At least, that was what Reiter assumed. He hadn't actually met that many.
The woman coughed, and sand tumbled free from her armor. Had she been walking around in this sandstorm? Insanity. She turned her eyes toward Reiter and smiled. It was a gentle, kind expression. "Let me guess," she said. "You're the son of the innkeeper?"
Reiter swallowed and nodded. "Father?" he called, not looking away from her.
A grunt echoed from the inn's second floor. "Ya, boy? Yeh done sweeping?"
"We have a guest."
"Not'n this weather, we don't," he said, coming down the stairs. "What're you—oh." His gutter accent vanished in an instant, replaced with warm speech, the language he saved for guests. "My apologies, good sir—madam, I mean. I wasn't expecting any new arrivals. Not with this storm, anyway." His charming act was spoiled a bit by his nervous glances toward the woman's armor. "Welcome to the Oasis Inn. Are you two looking for a room?"
Two? Reiter shifted his gaze. He hadn't even noticed the woman's companion, a girl wearing simple clothes. She was younger. About Reiter's age, in fact. The lack of armor seemed to have left her a touch windblasted, though. Specks of sand clung to her hair. Reiter decided he could overlook that.
The woman gently rested her shield on the floor. "I hear you have a fondness for books and that you lend them out to your patrons. Is that true?"
Books? These two had trudged through a sandstorm for books?
"You heard true, madam," his father said. "Some say my inn has the finest library in Kehjistan. Outside of Caldeum itself, of course."
She smiled. "In that case, we would like to board here," she said. "On one condition: you don't need to call me madam. My name is Anajinn."
"Of course, ma—Anajinn! Plenty of room at the Oasis Inn today." Reiter's father spread his arms warmly. "Not too many people as brave as you two, to be traveling in this weather."
The second new arrival laughed. "Brave. Sure. Getting caught in a sandstorm. I can already hear the poets rushing to compose sonnets of our courage." Reiter smiled at her. She met his gaze and, after a moment, gave him a polite smile back.
The armored woman grinned. "Perhaps we were taken a bit by surprise. Perhaps we would have been here a few days earlier if a certain apprentice could keep up."
"Perhaps a certain apprentice wasn't the one who wanted to explore every cavern in the desert," the apprentice said.
"Perhaps." Anajinn removed one of her gauntlets and upended it. A small waterfall of sand cascaded to the wooden floor. Reiter frowned. He was going to have to sweep that up. "We managed to be productive, in any case," Anajinn added in a wry tone.
The innkeeper cocked his head, but no further explanation was forthcoming. "Well, I'm sure you two must be thirsty, and the Oasis Inn always has plenty of cool water stored," Reiter's father said. "Reiter? Can you bring two cups for our guests?" He paused, looking at the boy. "Reiter?" He snapped his fingers sharply.
Reiter jolted upright, pulling his gaze away from the apprentice. "Water. Yes, Father." He grabbed two cups and opened the hinged door on the floor, lowering dippers into the water casks.
He was glad to be hidden behind the counter for the moment. The armored woman's companion... Reiter struggled to keep a grin suppressed. The apprentice had lighter, almost blond hair, longer than her master's, and her eyes were radiant. The way her chin curved elegantly to her neck... She had even given him a smile. A cool smile, but a smile nonetheless.
She likes me, Reiter thought.
Reiter handed the two women their cups. They both downed their contents in single gulps. He watched the younger guest. She gave him a questioning glance. He looked away.
"Follow me upstairs, and I'll show you to your room," Reiter's father said.
"Actually, I'd like to see the library now," Anajinn said. "Do you have any books discussing the city of Ureh?"
In short order, the woman had shed her armor and followed Reiter's father to the library, while her apprentice stayed in the common room. "Can you spare a cloth and a small bowl of water? I might as well start cleaning," she said.
"Sure," Reiter said. He collected the items from behind the bar.
The apprentice called out, "On second thought, don't mind the cloth. I'll use a bit of my shirt."
"It's no problem. We have plenty."
"You won't get the cloth back. You won't want it back. I'll have to burn it when I'm done," the apprentice said.
"That's fine," Reiter said, returning with the bowl and the cloth. He gave her his most winning smile, the kind that made the daughter of the trade goods storekeeper down the road bat her eyelashes at him—Bea was her name. Reiter put the local girl out of his mind. "We have plenty."
"Thank you," the apprentice said. She had an odd cleaning technique. She dipped a couple fingers into the bowl and let only a few drops wet the fabric. She began scrubbing the chestplate, a thick slab of metal with intricate etchings and workings.
Reiter sat down next to her. "Need help?"
"No, thank you."
The boy nodded and leaned over. "What do those symbols mean? They look like Zakarum markings."
"They are."
Reiter was impressed. "Really? Your master is a paladin? I've seen lots of paladins come through town before. She's a lot prettier than most paladins." And then, feeling that the time was right, he added, "So are you."
She gave him another cool smile. "Anajinn is not a paladin."
Reiter nodded again. He didn't really care. "Staying in town long?" he asked.
The apprentice kept the cloth moving in tight circles on the armor. "Probably not. Up to her. Maybe a few days, at most." She scowled at a stubborn stain and splashed more drops of water on the cloth. Gingerly, she pressed the damp rag against the armor. After a moment, she seemed satisfied and renewed her scrubbing.
"I heard her say she's looking for Ureh. Is she a treasure hunter? We get all kinds of treasure hunters here," Reiter said. He carefully leaned back in his chair, slouching a bit, trying to appear relaxed and confident.
She considered him. "Treasure hunter? I've never thought of it that way before. The term almost fits." With one last look at Reiter—and his posture—she went back to work, shaking her head.
"My name is Reiter. What's yours?" he asked. She smiled but said nothing. He waited. The silence lengthened. Fine. Her name wasn't really important anyway. "If she's not a paladin, what is she?"
"A crusader," she said.
"Oh, right. A crusader. I knew that," Reiter said. She gave him a sideways glance. Reiter's smile slipped. She seemed to know he was lying.
Another period of quiet. Reiter fidgeted.
Still, she was talking to him. That was the first step, right?
A month ago, a group of guards had hired rooms in the inn and spent most of their time swilling the cheapest drinks they could find. Reiter had enjoyed their company. One of them, a swarthy, sweaty man with a stained tunic and patches of rosacea spattered amid his thinning hair, had taken it upon himself to teach Reiter "the ways of the world." Most of the conversation had focused on how to get "any little pretty"—his words—to agree to a night of companionship.
Get a girl to talk with you, and she's interested. Get her to smile, and you're halfway there, the guard had told him in loud, drunken whispers. His cloying breath had seemed to take up residence in Reiter's nose. Make her think you have a lot in common, keep her smiling, and you win. If she stops smiling, change the subject. Compliment her. Reiter had been amazed it could be so easy.
"What's your name?" Reiter asked the apprentice again. No response. "Do you do a lot of cleaning for your master? My father makes me clean all the time." Still no reply. Reiter continued. "My father always tells me that we need to have the cleanest inn in Caldeum's Rest."
"Interesting," she said. She scraped at another troublesome stain with her fingernail, then jerked her hand away as though it had been burned, muttering to herself. She pushed down hard on that spot with a dry section of the cloth.
Reiter watched her closely. She wasn't smiling anymore. He changed the subject. "If you've been walking around for a while, you could probably use a hot bath. We have plenty of tubs in the back, and I can heat some water for you. If you'd like."
"Maybe later," she said.
"It would be no trouble," he insisted, and then said, casually, "I wouldn't even mind joining you."
The apprentice set down the cloth and fixed Reiter with a glare. "Excuse me?" she said.
Reiter felt heat rush into his face. Desperately he racked his brain for an explanation. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I forgot some people don't consider that modest. It's not unusual here in the desert. Helps to have someone else help clean the sand out of hard-to-reach places." It only made things worse. The silence, once again, stretched...
"Here," he said, suddenly reaching for the cloth. "Let me help with that." He quickly dipped it into the water. His hand brushed her hair, and he felt a thrill run up his arm. Without hesitation, he placed the rag against the armor and began scrubbing.
The apprentice gasped. "Wait—"
When Reiter touched the wet cloth to the stain, everything seemed to happen at once. The apprentice yelled. The bowl of water flipped. The table underneath the bowl flipped. Smoke, vile smoke, smelling of sulfur and festering blood, filled the air. Reiter screamed and tumbled out of his chair. The apprentice took the chestplate and flung it out the door in one smooth motion. It arced over the balcony, into the sandstorm.
Just before Reiter landed on the floor, he saw a ball of green flame rapidly expanding over the chestplate, disappearing in a flash. Just after Reiter landed on the floor, the table fell on top of him, pinning him down, knocking the wind out of him.
Yelling, crying, Reiter struggled to push the table away. Strong arms pulled the weight off his chest. Anajinn, the crusader, stared down at him with concern.
Reiter's father stumbled into the common room, wide eyed. "What happened?"
"Excellent question," Anajinn said. The crusader turned her gaze from Reiter, to the chestplate lying outside in the sandstorm, to the apprentice. To the last, she gave a hard look.
To everyone's shock, the apprentice began laughing. Sobs of pure mirth shook her body, and she had to sit down to keep from collapsing on the floor. Reiter's father looked outraged. "What in the name of Akarat happened to my son?"
The apprentice wiped away tears and said exactly what Reiter hoped she wouldn't. "He offered to bathe with me. And then he tried to help clean the armor to apologize for it." More peals of laughter filled the common room. "I'm sorry, Anajinn. I wasn't expecting him to put water onto dried demon's blood."
"He did what?" Reiter's father's eyes darted between his son and Anajinn. Reiter shrank back. "Dried what?"
Anajinn was still looking at her apprentice. "Truly?" she asked. The apprentice stifled her laughter long enough to nod. "How much?" The apprentice made a gesture with her fingers the size of a large flea. "Good." Anajinn breathed a sigh of relief. "So no harm should have been done."
Reiter's father seemed caught between concern, anger, and fear. "What harm? What did my son do?"
"Nothing terrible, as it turns out," Anajinn said. "Do caravans heading to Caldeum sometimes disappear? Yes? I don't think they'll be having problems for at least a few years. Just before the sandstorm hit, we encountered a... nest. These creatures in particular don't enjoy the presence of water. For obvious reasons. The desert made for a happy home." Frowning, she picked up another piece of her armor, a leg guard, and examined it closely. "I had thought we cleaned off everything dangerous, but it's hard to be thorough when you're blinded by sand for three straight days." She bowed toward Reiter's father. "I humbly beg your forgiveness. Even if the danger was slight, the oversight was mine."
Reiter saw his father's mouth moving soundlessly. Finally, he cleared his throat. "I... see. No harm done. I also apologize. For the behavior of my son," he said, glaring down at Reiter.
"Oh, no apologies are necessary," Anajinn said immediately. "If my apprentice is taking a shine toward your son, it's fine with me."
The apprentice sighed. "That's not—"
"No need to explain," Anajinn interrupted her, grinning openly. "Young love. So beautiful. Flowers blooming in spring. Desert roses and such. You know, there's nothing in the crusaders' oath that prevents you from—"
"My oath? No," the apprentice grumbled. "My sense of good taste? Yes."
The uproarious laughter of his father chased Reiter back into the inn's main storeroom. He made it his personal mission to avoid the two women for the rest of their stay, which lasted about a week.
He was mostly successful. At one point, the apprentice sought him out and attempted to apologize for her last remark.
"Anajinn's sense of humor is rubbing off on me. We can be... biting... toward each other from time to time, but that's no excuse. I'm sorry for what I said."
Reiter mumbled and waved her off. She and her master seemed crazy anyway. Demon's blood. He shook his head. That must have been a lie. Unreasonable to think otherwise.
"Strange woman," Reiter's father remarked after they left. "Bett'n she has salt, though. Called herself a crusader. Interesting story. She's from the swamplands. Came ovah to the desert to search for some religious thing, I guess. Yeh should've asked her about it. Fast-natin' stuff."
"I suppose so," Reiter said. |
WWHD. That’s what I think whenever something crops up in the news that needs a contrarian perspective. What Would Hitchens Do?
Islam’s increasing dominance in international and domestic news is certainly worthy of a Hitchslap, the term Christopher Hitchens’ admirers used to explain how his great speaking skills left his opponents scrambling for words.
After years of hard living, this prolific British-born writer and most enthusiastic of happy warriors died on Dec. 15, 2011.
His last major Canadian appearance was debating Tony Blair in Toronto in late 2010 on the subject: “Has religion been a force for good in the world?”
Blair, argued yes. And though Hitchens was weak from chemotherapy, he still had no problem besting the former British PM.
But every year around this time I return to a lesser known event that I had the great fortune of attending in 2006 – Hitchens lecturing on free speech and Islam at Toronto’s Hart House. (It’s on YouTube. Check it out. Please.)
It’s his greatest of hits, which is saying a lot because he had many.
Perhaps the most regressive progress made by our politically correct culture, one that’s worsened since the author of God Is Not Great died, is how much we coddle religion today.
Hitchens nailed it when, almost a decade ago, he said: “The word Islamophobia in fact is beginning to acquire the opprobrium that was once reserved for racial prejudice. This is a subtle and very nasty insinuation that needs to be met head on.”
Religions are ideas. What good are ideas if we can’t debate them?
Beneath the shaming of Donald Trump, beneath the denunciations of Stephen Harper’s citizenship oath niqab law, is the implication that it’s not just wrong to indulge in excessive mistreatment of a religion, but that it’s wrong to publicly challenge it at all.
While we used to stress the importance of religious “tolerance” – articulated by philosopher John Locke in 1689 – that’s shape-shifted into mandating “respect” for religion. Even, apparently, its least respectable parts.
The freedom of religion mantra has expanded so wide it’s snuffing out the equally important freedom from religion.
“What is hate speech? It’s speech I hate!” goes the unspoken motto of the new left.
I hold what I consider to be the quite reasonable view that Muhammad did not in fact receive the last revelation of god from the archangel Gabriel while he was conveniently alone in the desert, without witnesses to corroborate his extraordinary claim.
Yet try saying this while in line for a latte and watch the fingers wag.
Hitchens’ other slam-dunk quotable from that evening: “Not all monotheisms are exactly the same at this moment. They’re all based on the same illusion, they’re all plagiarisms of each other. But there’s one in particular that’s posing a serious menace not just to freedom of speech and freedom of expression but to quite a lot of other freedoms too.” The culprit? You guessed it: Militant Islam.
The more religion’s inadequacies become apparent, the more we seek to shield the adherents from even hearing such criticisms.
Now this is selectively applied of course. It’s considered good sport to beat Christianity to a pulp in pop culture, which is fair game but more than a bit inconsistent when compared to how Islam in the West is enveloped in a “safe space”.
A bit rich considering that Wahhabi Islam — on which Hitchens’ honed his critique that evening — is the most supremacist and intolerant mainstream religious sect in the world today. That’s the one that could benefit from greater teasing.
It’s what I’m reminded of whenever I revisit that video: It’s OK to criticize religion more. In fact, we’d be better off for it. |
This morning, teams of federal, state, and local police fanned out across the Worcester area to execute nine arrest warrants following a long-term investigation into gun and narcotics trafficking. During the course of the joint investigation, police purchased nine guns, multiple rounds of ammunition, and a large quantity of narcotics from the nine targets.
Weapons purchased during the investigation included several handguns, two shotguns, and an assault rifle with a 100-round capacity drum magazine. Subsequent searches of target addresses resulted in the seizures of several more guns, including two assault rifles.
The investigation and this morning’s take downs were undertaken by Massachusetts State Troopers, Worcester and Auburn Police, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Deputy United States Marshals.
Eight of the defendants were arrested on state warrants and will be prosecuted by the office of Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. They are as follow, with charges as listed in the warrants:
DORAN A. BRYAN, 27, of Worcester, charged with trafficking of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm, and distribution of a Class B substance (cocaine); DOMINIQUE L. BRYAN, 26, of Worcester, charged with trafficking of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm, and distribution of a Class B substance (cocaine); CRUZ A. RIOS, 28, of Worcester, charged with trafficking of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and distribution of a Class B substance (cocaine); MARIO E. ROSARIO, 42, of Worcester, charged with trafficking in firearms and unlawful possession of firearms; JORGE L. LOPEZ-ROSARIO, 25, of Worcester, charged with trafficking of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, and distribution of a Class B substance (cocaine); THOMAS R. GENEVA, 25, of Auburn, charged with trafficking in firearms; AUSTIN W. ESPEY, 32, of Worcester, charged with trafficking of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, possession of a large capacity magazine, and distribution of a Class B substance (cocaine); and YEINNOR NIEVES-PIZZARO, 35, of Worcester, charged with distribution of cocaine.
Additionally, a ninth target of the operation will be prosecuted federally by the United States Attorney’s Office for Massachusetts.
During the execution of a search warrant subsequent to the arrests, an arrest team today found and seized two additional assault rifles and a pistol, along with a quantity of crack cocaine, inside defendant DOMINIQUE BRYAN’s residence on Raymond Street in Worcester. Another arrest team found and seized four additional pistols from defendant ESPEY’s residence on Thenius Street in Worcester. A third team searching GENEVA’s home on Linda Avenue in Auburn seized a quantity of drugs believed to be oxycodone and gun parts that, the investigation suggests, he was using to build guns for illegal sale. Additional charges will be added against those targets reflecting those seized items.
Numerous Massachusetts State Police units took part in the investigation and today’s take downs, including the Crime Gun Unit, Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section, Gang Unit, Worcester County Detective Unit, and Special Tactical Operations Team. As well, Worcester Police detectives, uniformed officers, Gang Unit, and SWAT participated in the investigation and arrests, as did ATF special agents. Deputy US Marshals and Auburn Police also served on the arrest teams.
“Guns and drugs are the biggest public safety threats facing our cities, and today’s operation struck a heavy blow against nine people who made a living off feeding those threats,” Massachusetts State Police Colonel Richard D. McKeon said. “Today’s arrests and the investigation that led to them are a shining example of the united front from which various law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts combat gun and drug traffickers.”
Worcester Police Chief Steven M. Sargent added: “This investigation demonstrates how effective our partnership is between the local, state, and federal agencies. When we work together, we effectively are able to target dangerous individuals and remove illegal firearms from our streets. We believe these arrests will have a long-term impact on reducing violent crime in our neighborhoods. I am thankful and proud of the hard work that went into this operation.”
ATF Boston Office Special Agent-in-Charge Mickey Leadingham said: “ATF’s primary focus is protecting the public by reducing violent crime. ATF continues to aggressively pursue violent offenders and will continue to protect and serve communities with our law enforcement partners.”
The eight defendants charged on state warrants will be arraigned by Worcester prosecutors today or tomorrow in Worcester Superior Court. Worcester District Attorney Early noted that the arrests will make the county’s cities and towns safer.
“Thank you to Col. McKeon, Chief Sargent, the ATF and all their men and women who worked together to get guns out of the hands of some of our worst offenders and off the street,” District Attorney Early said. “This is truly what public safety is all about – working together to make our communities safe.”
John Gibbons, the United States Marshal for the District of Massachusetts, stated: “The U.S. Marshals Service is committed to collaborating with our law enforcement partners to take these dangerous gun and drug traffickers off our streets. The arrests of these individuals today will have direct impact on the safety of our communities.”
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Devan Dubnyk’s wife and infant son are scheduled to arrive in the Twin Cities on Wednesday to join the new Wild goaltender in his new home. They seem safe in unpacking boxes this time.
The Wild traded for Dubnyk on Jan. 14 in a last-ditch Hail Mary to salvage this season. That transaction brought Dubnyk to his fifth organization in one calendar year.
Yep, five places of employment in one year, an absurd level of fluidity in a profession marked by turnover. He’s gone through change of address forms like a newborn does diapers.
“That’s a lot of movement, especially with a family,” Wild defenseman Ryan Suter said. “I couldn’t imagine it.”
The nomadic goalie looks comfy now and might get to enjoy an extended stay if he keeps stopping pucks with the ease of a man on a Sunday afternoon stroll.
Dubnyk posted his third shutout in eight starts Tuesday night as the Wild gained more steam with a 3-0 victory against the Chicago Blackhawks at Xcel Energy Center.
The Hawks represented Dubnyk’s first heavyweight test in a Wild uniform, but his performance became a relative breeze (24 saves) as his teammates pounced on the visitors to give their goalie a stress-free night.
Dubnyk is now 6-1-0 and has a .943 save percentage in Minnesota, and it is not a coincidence that the Wild has found renewed life with its new goalie.
The Wild looks like a different team because players trust their goaltending again. They’re not stepping onto the ice with a sense of dread, knowing they’re at a disadvantage at the game’s most important position.
They can play aggressively and confidently and with the proper focus because they believe in Dubnyk. He’s given them hope that a first-half disaster hasn’t ruined their playoff chances.
“It’s nice to be a part of the turnaround but I’m not going to sit here and say that I’m the reason that we’re playing well,” he said.
He’s absolutely the catalyst behind their four-game winning streak. Dubnyk’s story is pretty remarkable considering his odyssey the past year.
He drew paychecks from the Edmonton Oilers, Nashville Predators, Montreal Canadiens, Arizona Coyotes and Wild and was traded three times and signed a one-year free-agent contract in that span.
His career has needed a GPS.
“It feels right, and it feels great to be here,” he said.
The Wild offered Dubnyk an audition of sorts, a chance to show the team and other organizations that he can be a reliable starting goalie again. Whether this audition leads to something more permanent — here or elsewhere — will be determined by his performance the rest of the season.
“I think you’re always auditioning,” he said. “Going through last year and seeing how quickly you can have things taken away from you, I’ve just tried to grasp onto every 60 minutes that I get to play and not think too much about the big picture.”
In Edmonton, he lost his confidence, lost his job, lost his way. That got him traded to Nashville and then a stint with Montreal’s AHL affiliate.
The Coyotes signed him as a backup before this season, hoping for a revival. Dubnyk tried to remember the good times in his career and constantly reminded himself that “it was just a fluke that you played well for four years in a row and then had a tough year.”
He played well in Arizona and loved his time there, which helped land him another starting job with a team facing a goaltending crisis.
The Wild gave him a chance to re-establish himself after the Darcy Kuemper experiment blew up on the organization. Coach Mike Yeo laid out his expectations in his first conversation with Dubnyk.
“I told him, we’re not asking you to save the day here,” Yeo said.
Actually, that’s precisely what the Wild needed from him. Not by being a hero, but by being consistent, reliable. Make routine saves that give his team a chance to win and the occasional highlight save that swings momentum.
He’s been a rock so far.
“The guys are playing great,” Dubnyk said. “I don’t know if that’s [because of] me. I don’t know if it’s me or timing.”
It’s been both. Now, Dubnyk plans to use his day off Wednesday to exhale and welcome his family to town.
“I can’t wait,” he said.
He’s moved around enough. He’s ready to be settled. |
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
In the early 90s, the genre of the erotic thriller—with its glossy surfaces and seductive double-crosses—was king. The same slick provocation that made films like Basic Instinct popular enough that countless imitators lined the video store shelves also became a ripe target for parody. By definition, erotic thrillers are over-the-top and run on a surplus of horniness. Could the tropes of the genre translate to a feature length comedy? The ingeniously titled 1993 film Fatal Instinct (an obvious portmanteau of Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct), directed by none other than comedy legend Carl Reiner, sought to answer this question.
Reiner, creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show and a stalwart of the comedy world since the 50s, may have initially seemed an odd choice for spoofing a genre so intimately connected with the 80s and 90s—but he directed Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, the second of his fruitful quartet of Steve Martin–starring films, in 1982. If one can parody film noir, a genre that had an outsize influence on erotic thrillers, you're already halfway toward giving erotic thrillers the parody they deserve.
Every erotic thriller worth its salt has a twisty (and, often, convoluted) plot and a femme fatale.
Fatal Instinct pushes the genre to newly ridiculous levels by making the protagonist, Ned Ravine (Armand Assante), a police officer-slash-lawyer who defends the people he arrests. Sean Young, who elegantly channeled noir style in Blade Runner, is femme fatale Lola Cain, bringing both glamour and goofy physical humor (she parodies Sharon Stone's infamous Basic Instinct leg uncrossing by loudly announcing "I'm not wearing panties!" and inelegantly opening her legs as wide as possible); Ned's dutiful secretary, Laura Lingonberry, is played by none other than a post–Audrey Horne Sherilyn Fenn; the plot, with its seductions, murders, and trials, is largely incidental. Like the contemporary Naked Gun series, Fatal Instinct traffics in a brand of spoof-y humor that values visual and verbal gags over a strong narrative.
Critics dismissed the film upon release; Roger Ebert wrote that "it's a strange thing about the parody genre: Some of these movies work… and some don't. And you can't say why, except that sometimes you laugh, and sometimes you don't." But even as it's unlikely to earn a place in the comedic pantheon among Reiner's earlier works, Fatal Instinct deserves a second look. The film reminds us just how subjective Ebert's assessment of the parody genre is: I laughed many times, recognizing some of the jokes as delightfully dumb and others as surprisingly clever. It seems flippant to say the film simply doesn't work.
In fact, Fatal Instinct achieves most of what it sets out to do, using audience expectations associated with erotic thrillers to tee up laughs. It's inevitable that the bunny-boiling scene from Fatal Attraction will be parodied, but when the moment turns out to be Lola boiling a pot of spaghetti, it's oddly satisfying. There's also a strain of meta-humor running throughout the film; in one scene, the camera lens "shatters" as it knocks into a surface during an elaborate tracking shot, and later, the dramatic score gets turned on and off on a CD player.
Of course, dumb jokes figure heavily here, too: In a courtroom scene, a mention of a press room leads to people pressing clothes, and a mention of court recess leads to—you guessed it—jurors going outside for a grade-school-style recess. One's mileage may vary with this type of humor, and some may say there's a limit on the effectiveness of silly, literalizing jokes. While it's true that not every joke lands, enough of them do to make the film worth watching.
In his review, Ebert chided the cast for being too good for the material, an odd complaint if there ever was one—if they weren't good enough, wouldn't that just merit further criticism? Assante doesn't give the most compelling performance, which ironically places him in the erotic thriller tradition of leading men overshadowed by seductive women. Young, on the other hand, is delightful, whether she's stepping on toilet paper as she seductively sashays, getting mustard spritzed on her blouse (while holding a phallic hotdog), or riding a roller coaster with a skunk (don't ask).
In the 24 years since the release of Fatal Instinct, the erotic thriller has largely receded from its position of cultural prominence. The film couldn't be made today, and for that reason, and the fact that there's a scene featuring Fenn in a novelty beer can hat (again, don't ask), it deserves more attention. "Erotic thriller parody" is a glorious phrase that can't be used to define any other film.
Follow Abbey Bender on Twitter. |
WWE '13: All 21 DLC Characters revealed including Ryback, Tensai, Antonio Cesaro, The Usos, Rikishi, Too Cool and more (Kimura Lock) - 30 SCREENSHOTS!
Here all the 21 Downloadable Characters that will be included in WWE '13:
Current Era: AJ Lee and Damien Sandow (already announced), Antonio Cesaro, Drew McIntyre, Layla, Natalya, Ryback, Tensai, The Usos (Jimmy & Jey), Yoshi Tatsu.
Attitude Era: Mike Tyson (Pre-Order DLC), Brian Pillman, Chainsaw Charlie (Terry Funk), Diamond Dallas Page (Fan Axxess exclusive), Gangrel, Goldust (Fan Axxess exclusive), Rikishi, Too Cool (Scotty 2 Hotty & Grandmaster Sexay), Val Venis.
In addition, more content will be included as DLC such as Ministry Undertaker Attire, Brock Lesnar's Kimura Lock and John Cena's 2004 United States Spinner Title. More details about Downloadable Content and the yearly "Fan Axxess" coming soon. Meanwhile, enjoy these 30 screenshots! (click to enlarge)
Click here to leave a comment. |
FREMANTLE is facing one of the most intriguing AFL captaincy decisions in recent memory as the club prepares to decide whether to stick with incumbent David Mundy, or usher in a new era by installing superstar Nat Fyfe as skipper.
Looming large over the upcoming player vote is Fyfe’s contract status.
Out of contract and due to become a free agent at the end of the season, the 25-year-old midfielder has so far put off negotiations over an extension that could be the biggest player contract in the club’s history.
Having strongly signalled his desire to remain as skipper, it appears unlikely that Mundy will stand down to allow his younger teammate a smoother ascension to the top job.
It looks like a two-horse a race and, ironically, neither of the shaggy-haired on-ballers was considered future captaincy material by the club in the early stages of their careers.
Mundy, now a 31-year-old veteran of 251 games for the Dockers, was not thought of as a potential skipper for much of his career, probably not even by himself.
However, his leadership developed to the point that he emerged as a surprise successor to Matthew Pavlich last summer, after the club’s now-retired games record holder opted to stand down for the final season of his career.
Fyfe was thought to have little interest in a formal leadership role early in his time at the Dockers. Despite winning his first Doig Medal in 2013, he was left out of the leadership group until 2015.
But he has long been identified by coach Ross Lyon as a future club captain.
Mundy last year praised Fyfe’s “really great growth” in recent years as a leader behind closed doors.
Despite Fyfe being believed to have had the support of Lyon, Mundy emerged victorious from last summer’s player vote.
One year on as the players and coaches prepare to vote again, the landscape could hardly be more different at Fremantle after a shock slump to 16th and a string of axings in a youth-driven rebuild.
Camera Icon Picture: PerthNow
After a difficult off-season punctuated by Shane Yarran, Michael Johnson and Harley Bennell having run-ins with the law, the club’s “culture” has become a talking point.
However, it doesn’t seem fair to lay the blame for any perceived decline at the feet of Mundy, particularly given the high-risk, high-reward recruiting strategy of recent times under which the Dockers have opted for talent over character.
If Fyfe emerges this month as the new captain and can stay fit this season, it’s difficult to imagine a leader who could inspire more with on-field deeds.
And if Mundy, for so long a quiet achiever, loses the title after one season, it won’t be seen as a slap in the face.
Popular with players and fans, the Victorian would be remembered for his loyalty to the club and his consistent output rather than one ill-fated season as captain that produced just four wins.
The Dockers will face another difficult issue when they deal with defender Michael Johnson’s place in the leadership group. Johnson was voted back into the six-man team last summer after a six-year absence. But the 32-year-old has an assault charge hanging over his head.
Forward Michael Walters has strong claims to be included in the leadership group for the first time.
NAT FYFE v DAVID MUNDY
VOTE 1 FYFE
-When fully fit, the Brownlow medallist is clearly the club’s best player and can lead by example on the field.
-Installing a new, younger captain would help draw a line under the club’s disastrous 2016 season and strongly symbolise a new era.
-Appointing Fyfe, who is due to become a free agent at the end of the season, as skipper could help keep him at Fremantle long term.
VOTE 1 MUNDY
- The veteran onballer is popular with his teammates and is keen to retain the job.
- After list upheaval and the retirement of legend Matthew Pavlich, sticking with Mundy would provide some continuity amid all the change.
- It would be unfair to remove a captain after just one season, especially when 2016 was ruined by injury and became a rebuilding year. |
Download the latest Gender Inequality Index Data
View the GII Frequently Asked Questions
Gender inequality remains a major barrier to human development. Girls and women have made major strides since 1990, but they have not yet gained gender equity. The disadvantages facing women and girls are a major source of inequality. All too often, women and girls are discriminated against in health, education, political representation, labour market, etc.—with negative consequences for development of their capabilities and their freedom of choice.
The GII is an inequality index. It measures gender inequalities in three important aspects of human development—reproductive health, measured by maternal mortality ratio and adolescent birth rates; empowerment, measured by proportion of parliamentary seats occupied by females and proportion of adult females and males aged 25 years and older with at least some secondary education; and economic status, expressed as labour market participation and measured by labour force participation rate of female and male populations aged 15 years and older. The GII is built on the same framework as the IHDI—to better expose differences in the distribution of achievements between women and men. It measures the human development costs of gender inequality. Thus the higher the GII value the more disparities between females and males and the more loss to human development.
The GII sheds new light on the position of women in 160 countries; it yields insights in gender gaps in major areas of human development. The component indicators highlight areas in need of critical policy intervention and it stimulates proactive thinking and public policy to overcome systematic disadvantages of women.
More details on calculation of the GII are given in Technical Notes. |
“It should really be called Woke Up Happy,” suggests Frightened Rabbit guitarist Andy Monaghan of the band’s emotionally fraught new LP. A wry giggle passes round the room. With a deadpan monotone concealing his perverse glee, lead singer Scott Hutchison joins in: “Woke Up Happy, yeah. Woke Up Happy in a Park With a Picnic Right Next to Me.”
It’s a relief to hear Frightened Rabbit mocking their own cynicism again. On their four studio albums since debut LP Sing The Greys in 2006, they’ve developed a reputation for morose introspection—and made a habit of poking fun at the sincerity with bone-dry humor wherever possible. Take “The Oil Slick,” the final track on the band’s 2013 LP Pedestrian Verse, a track that bled reluctant optimism from each of its fresh cuts. It was musically bright and sardonic, full of playful guitars and rising, affirmative open chords to accompany the self-referential, mocking lyrics: “Only an idiot would swim through all the shit I write,” sang Hutchison, taking his own bleak outlook to task.
The track teetered on the edge of self-loathing until its conclusion when, for the first time, Hutchison broke the fourth wall and addressed his audience. First the optimism came with caveats—“There is light but there’s a tunnel to crawl through / There is love but misery loves you”—but eventually it boiled down to the closest they’d get to an affirmation. “We’ve still got hope, so I think we’ll be fine,” he sang, his voice in its upper reaches. The comedy didn’t just come from the song’s initial self-loathing; it ended with birds chirping.
“Yeah,” says Hutchison now in his thick Scottish drawl, a small smile breaking across his face. “That was a wee joke.”
But there are no birds chirping in the introduction to Frightened Rabbit’s new album. It is not called Woke Up Happy, and Hutchison spends no time telling the listener that everything’s going to be all right. Frightened Rabbit’s new album, out tomorrow, is called Painting of a Panic Attack and it opens with a track called “Death Dream” in which a distant organ and spare piano refuse every ounce of positivity that “The Oil Slick” drew from. At no point does Hutchison circle back round and laugh at the bleak picture.
Despite Hutchison’s initial efforts, it is, like Pedestrian Verse and 2008’s The Midnight Organ Fight before it, and album about a breakup. “Sometimes there's just a desire… to not be the guy who writes about relationships,” says Hutchison, who started the band as a solo project in 2003, “but for better or worse, actually, it's why I started writing songs.” Either way the last two years left Hutchison with little choice. In that time he left Scotland for Los Angeles to move in with his girlfriend, only to find himself in the midst of a crumbling relationship in a sunny city that he’d come to loathe.
That year and a half contained “some of the darkest and brightest moments of my life,” he says cheerily before focusing almost entirely on the darkness. “I was living in a place I didn’t want to be in. I felt extremely isolated… Myself and my girlfriend had kind of made a very unhealthy island for ourselves whereby we were just sort of this protected unit that was too close.” His life became claustrophobic, smaller within the sprawl of Los Angeles than it was back home. After 18 months, he called it quits: the relationship wound down, and he found himself back in Scotland with Panic Attack in its final stages.
Sitting in Atlantic Records’ midtown offices, midday sun blaring through the windows, the band are at complete ease with each other, turning answers into punchlines and finishing each other’s sentences. Hutchison—a four-day beard around his jaw—seems at odds with the anxious introvert that comes through on the record. Like his bandmates he’s engaging and thoughtful, keen to hear my take on the record before offering up his own. His brother Grant, the band’s drummer and next longest-serving member, leans forward while Scott falls back into the couch, considering every line that his bandmates offer up.
Nobody is afraid to talk about the fact that Painting of a Panic Attack is Frightened Rabbit’s darkest and most challenging record yet—no mean feat for a band that has prided itself on that aesthetic. Hutchison’s lyrics almost entirely do away with comedy, choosing instead to stare continuously at the discomfort he creates, inspecting each of its crooked corners and pulling it apart with tweezers.
“It’s a very different situation, perhaps, to how I’ve written albums before,” he says. “I was inside the turmoil, whereas if you write after the fact then it gives you a greater sense of perspective. Perhaps then you’re able to be amusing about it or more hopeful about it.”
When Hutchison says that he was inside the turmoil, he means it in its most literal sense. He wrote large chunks of the record while sitting in the home he shared with his girlfriend in Los Angeles, detailing the breakdown in real time. “It felt very sick,” he says of the writing process. He pulled back at first, passing his misery off onto semi-fictional characters. You can still hear their shadows on tracks like “Lump Street” and closer “Die Like a Rich Boy,” but the process wasn’t working. “When I first started writing the album, I was kind of staying away from it because I felt too close to it, I was trying to censor it or edit it out.” Eventually, his brother intervened. “Grant got in touch to say that he... didn’t think I was saying exactly what I needed to say in the demos that I’d written,” says Scott. “And he was correct.”
On “400 Bones,” this uncensored closeness is almost unbearable; it is the purest distillation of Painting of a Panic Attack’s world. It opens with Hutchison staring at the person that he’s come to rely on, realizing their mutual isolation while one hand plays simple keys. “Four hundred bones crumpled in bed / I’m the only one who knows that you’re still breathing,” he sings, carefully. It’s a portrait of intimacy at its most stark and contradictory. His home is “a sleeping mausoleum” and sex is “another French death.” He sings his co-dependence as if he has become it, treating every line like a blessing and a curse. Their home “is my safe house in the hurricane”—a protection from the raging LA outside, but a disquieting comfort on the inside.
“For such a warm place, it’s cold as fuck,” says Grant of LA, turning to his brother. Scott nods.
When Frightened Rabbit reconvened in Wales in late 2014 for their first writing session since the end of the Pedestrian Verse tour, they were ready to start fresh. The record had in many ways been a breakthrough for the band, their first since signing to Atlantic from Fat Cat and making the jump to the majors.
Since the very start, they’d seen more success in the US than back home in the UK, selling out American tours in a way that other British indie bands couldn’t imagine. Days after the the full release of debut LP Sing The Greys in 2007, they were in the US ready to embark on an extensive coast-to-coast tour. They were ubiquitous on message boards after a show South by Southwest. Something about the band resonated in America more fully than it did back home. “I guess in Manchester or London, Scottish music is slightly less exotic,” says Scott.
But these things tend to level out. By 2014, between the major label deal and the increased radio play back home, Frightened Rabbit had become a successful band able to sell out larger theaters just about wherever they wanted. And with that came the inevitable exhaustion of constant touring. The band talk about it in the most casual, off-hand manner imaginable now, but it had begun to get to them. After the tour finished, they knew they had to “regroup when we want[ed] to. Because otherwise, if it was before then, it could’ve just fallen on its arse.” It’s a very Scottish way of saying that increased pressure—either from their label or themselves—could have meant the end of the band.
More than that, they’d reached a natural creative endpoint. Pedestrian Verse had distilled the band’s sound and perfected something they’d been working on for years. The clattering, scattered Sing The Greys and 2008’s clever, troubled The Midnight Organ Fight had established the band’s peculiar brand of guitar-led indie and allowed them to mature. Then in 2010, they released the more pop-oriented The Winter of Mixed Drinks, a showcase for the band’s melodic tendencies. It was so radio-friendly that the album’s lead single, “Swim Until You Can’t See Land,” was picked up by a major soup brand for a TV commercial in the UK.
Pedestrian Verse combined these elements masterfully. It retained the bright sensibilities of Mixed Drinks’ chorus-heavy pop, but combined them with Organ Fight’s more obtuse pleasures. Pedestrian Verse contained some of the band’s best-rounded tracks to that point, melodic when it felt right, but still unquestionably theirs. Tracks like “Backyard Skulls” and “The Woodpile” had an uniquely untidy joy to them. At the same time, they pushed their isolated melancholy further than it had been before, with tracks like “State Hospital” coming off as a reimagined version of The Twilight Sad.
“To me it was the best representation of us as a band,” says Scott now. “And that doesn’t need to happen again… Those of us that have been around for the longest have been chasing something that sounded like that. And then once it was essentially achieved, a door’s closed. It gives you a lot of freedom.”
So Frightened Rabbit set about reinventing themselves sonically. First, they turned away from their traditional setup in the studio. Grant got a drum machine, Scott started learning how to use the production software Logic, and the band got familiar with synths. They consciously set up rules to stave off old habits: “Don't automatically reach for a guitar if you've got an idea,” says guitarist Simon Liddell. “Present it in another way,” says Scott.
The songwriting process was overhauled, too, with Hutchison, previously the principal songwriter, now collaborating in real time. “The previous way of writing would be Scott coming to us with a song that had maybe been written on an acoustic guitar,” says Grant. “It was harder to take it away from that if it's already there.”
The result is a sonically more diverse record, less guitar-driven and more prone to experimentation. “Lump Street”, with its shades of light and dark, falls squarely on its multiplied electrics and “Get Out”, the album’s lead single, fuzzes and swims along, turning to the clash of a guitar and the crash of a symbol only for the boldest punctuation. Most radical of all for Frightened Rabbit is “Woke Up Hurting,” a dancey, stomping track that takes the template of Organ Fight’s “Old Old Fashioned” and forces it through layers of buzz. Its expansive chorus sounds like something built for an outdoor festival, readymade singalongs at its core.
The lyrics were still Hutchison’s, though, so the light never fully pours in. “There are bright sounding songs on this album,” he says. “‘Woke Up Hurting’ may be the most disco-y, upbeat song Frightened Rabbit’s ever written. But yeah, sort of a dark subject matter.” That’s no accident, either; Hutchison is constantly searching for ways to draw his listener into the darkness with him. He says he’s “always enjoyed that contrast between twisted lyrics and something that’s a very open door. And then once you’re stepping into the song, hopefully other things reveal themselves as time goes by.”
There were “many happy accidents,” according to guitarist Andy Monaghan. “We have no idea how we did it,” says Grant. “We don't know how to get that sound back. But it’s on the record, so it's fine.”
While Frightened Rabbit liberated themselves musically, Scott was able to escape Los Angeles. He took trips to clear his mind occasionally, traveling to nearby Big Bear to organize his thoughts. The trip to Wales was a full month of writing music, no lyrics. Away from the “turmoil” of West Coast life, he could breathe. This, though, is Frightened Rabbit. Their disaster-laden tracks are not for show, and Hutchison finds it hard to switch his brain off.
“When I was starting out on this album, the doubts come in where it's like, ‘What is the point? Does the world need another Frightened Rabbit album? What does it need to contain?’” Even in the midst of this experimentation, he managed to doubt himself. This is the same man who said that only an idiot would swim through all the shit he writes.
In short, this shit keeps happening to Scott Hutchison. Over and over again. And he really wishes it would stop. He talks about a conversation he had last night in which he told someone that his relationship hadn’t worked out: “And he said, 'Oh, but you got some good songs out of it.' I was like... that's a little bit... I hate to feel like there's any kind of currency out of this. That's the part that I've almost felt like apologizing to people in the past about that. Because that is not what I'm trying to do. I’ve always said, yeah, absolutely, I would take…”
Grant cuts him off. He’s his brother; he’s heard this before. “A good life and a crap album. You’re due it.”
Cheney Orr is a photographer based in New York. Follow him on Instagram.
Alex Robert Ross woke up happy but loves feeling sad. Follow him on Twitter. |
A startled seal scrambled up on to the roof of a shed in Kaikoura.
In recent years, she's had a seal in her garden, a seal on her doormat, and now a seal on her roof.
Ann McCaw, property manager at Fyffe House in Kaikoura, said the latest sea mammal to visit the Heritage New Zealand home museum was the most unusual yet.
Arriving at the property "a couple of months ago", McCaw - a distant relative of Richie - said she startled a seal, which set off at a flippery sprint and suddenly leapt on to the roof of a shed.
Anne McCaw The seal then clambered over the roof to a better vantage point.
That's right - leapt onto the roof.
"He was in the front garden. We both startled each other. He took off along the side of the house, he took a left and jumped on to the roof. The roof is surprisingly not far from ground level [at one end]."
It was about a two foot jump up for the seal, McCaw said - impressed at its agility.
Anne McCaw "I thought to myself, my goodness, I've got a seal on the roof, this is unreal."
"He had picked a bit of speed. He was in a hurry. They sort of leap, sort of flop, a sort of clamber really."
McCaw had some prior experience of seals on the property, she said, having had a "large bull seal" in the side garden once time - which had to be herded out by a neighbour on a bike with a horn.
On another occasion she found a seal curled up having a nap on the door mat outside the property.
Anne McCaw "I was on the ground waving my arms trying to herd him back the other way. He really would have hurt himself if he'd fallen off."
But a seal on her shed roof was something else, she said.
"He was up there for about 20 minutes. I thought to myself, my goodness, I've got a seal on the roof, this is unreal. He looked very happy. He was just looking out to sea, just doing a classic seal pose."
McCaw was concerned for the seal's safety, however, and tried to usher him down - which eventually worked.
While the jump up to the roof may have been only a metre high, the seal clambered around to the front of the house which "is a long way from the ground. Had he jumped off he would've been seal pâté."
"I was keen to get him off. I was really concerned he would jump off.
"I was on the ground waving my arms trying to herd him back the other way. He really would have hurt himself if he'd fallen off."
She estimated the seal was about three-quarters grown, she said.
Seals in unusual places have made news throughout the country this year, including three in a row in a brief period in the south Auckland suburb of Papakura: the seal at the car wash, the seal in the driveway, and the baby seal in the creek.
In greater Wellington, there was a seal pup in Lower Hutt and another inside a house on the Kapiti Coast.
Fyffe House was built between 1844 and 1860, using whale bones as foundations, and originally served as a home for a cooper when Kaikoura was a whaling community. Now it is maintained by Heritage New Zealand as a home museum. |
Sunday's World Cup final may not have featured the US national team, but it still set viewership records in the US.
A total of 26.5 million people watched Germany defeat Argentina on ABC and Univision, numbers that make the game the most viewed soccer match in the history of the United States. The match beat out the USMNT's draw with Portugal earlier in the group stage by a half-million viewers.
While 17.3 million people watched the game on the English-language broadcast on ABC, 9.2 million watched it on Univision. Those numbers made it the most watched game ever on a Spanish-language network. (Two previous games, USA-Portugal and the 1999 Women's World Cup final, had more viewers in English.)
Betwen 5 and 5:30, when the match was in extratime, an average of 20.8 million viewers were tuned in on ABC. The game also had 1.8 million live unique viewers on ESPN's streaming platform, WatchESPN.
The World Cup Final logged 26.5 million total viewers; 17.3 million on ABC and 9.2 million on Univision. — John Ourand (@Ourand_SBJ) July 14, 2014 |
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The FabFitFun Box is a quarterly subscription from FabFitFun.com. Each season they send you a box of $100+ worth items in categories like beauty, fashion, and fitness.
As of today (3/9), this box is still available if you sign up now! Use coupon code MSA10 to save $10 off your first box!
Each season, FabFitFun features a different design for their box.
This box was sent to us for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
The Subscription Box: FabFitFun Box
The Cost: $49.99 a box sent every quarter
COUPON: $10 Off Your First Box! with coupon code MSA10
The Products: The hottest seasonal items (worth at least $200) selected by the FabFitFun team
Ships to: US and Canada
Check out all of my FabFitFun VIP Box reviews and the Women’s Subscription Box Directory!
FabFitFun sends out a mini mag in each box. It details the items included and also provides background on some of the featured makers and designers.
Every quarter, FabFitFun partners with a different charity, and for the Spring box, the charity is More Than Me.
This box features 7 female-founded brands!
Now, time for the items!
Gypsy05 Roundie – Value $50
This is the Blue Tie Dye Roundie. If you are an annual subscriber, you were able to select your roundie pattern. If you’re a quarterly subscriber, you’ll be surprised by which pattern you receive. Check out all the roundies here.
The roundie is made from 100% Cotton and it measures about 62.5 inches across. (Machine wash cold, hang dry.)
These roundies are a lightweight fabric, so they’re great for layering. We used this one to give basic bedding a new look:
They also work great for the beach, picnic blankets, etc. (Check out our spoiler review post to see other styling ideas, too!)
MILLY Zip Pouch – Value $45
(Dimensions: 10 1/4″ x 8″)
This pouch is water resistant inside, so it’s great for a bathing suit bag or a cosmetics bag.
And it has a wristlet strap, so it could double as a beach clutch.
Subscribers will receive one of four pastel patterns.
Emerald Duv Joshua Tree Cage Bracelet – Value $80
This season, FabFitFun introduced Choice – subscribers could pick between two jewelry brands/item descriptions, but the actual item would be a surprise!
This cuff is gold-plated brass, and fits my style well! Here it is on:
It’s made in the USA, too!
And FabFitFun sent us the other choice item to show you both options. (Subscribers will only receive ONE of these two jewelry items).
LUV AJ Diamond Kite Crawler Earring Set – Value $85
This set can be worn together or separately as just studs.
These are made from Brass with Swarovski Crystals, with rose gold plating.
And they are Hypoallergenic, too! Here are the cuffs on (pinched over my ear lobe):
No piercing needed to wear them this way!
Deborah Lippmann Nail Polish Set in Blue Orchid/Like a Virgin – Value $19
These polishes are minis – a little over half the size of the full-size versions.
Subscribers will either receive this set or the Shape of My Heart Duet set.
I love Deborah Lippmann polish, so I was thrilled to see this set in the box!
The white polish goes on sheer/cloudy, so you’ll need 3 coats to get a full coverage, 2 coats for full coverage in the blue polish. Here are the shades on:
This is one of the best nail polish formulas I’ve worn – I had no chipping for days!
Karuna Hydrating+ Face Mask Set – Value $28
This set includes 4 sheet masks:
These masks are all about hydration, and that’s exactly what my skin needed this week! You wear the mask for about 20 minutes, then remove and let any remaining serum absorb.
So, I got to continue my fun tradition of scaring my husband while wearing a sheet mask, and my skin felt great after wearing it, too!
REALHER Lip Kit in Deep Red – Value $48
Subscribers will receive either Deep Red (pictured here), Deep Nude, or Neutral Pink.
This set includes a Matte Liquid Lipstick, Lip Plumping Lip Gloss, and a Lip Liner.
The lip gloss provides excellent pigment and shine (and impressive staying power for a gloss), but it is a tad sticky.
The matte lip stick is also very impressive with staying power – it lasted all day for me. Same with the lip liner:
Here are all the lippies swatched:
Deep Red liquid lipstick, lipgloss, and liner, Deep nude liquid lipstick, and liner, and Neutral Pink liquid lipstick, lipgloss, and liner.
Dr. Brandt Microdermabrasion Age Defying Exfoliator – Value $79
I was thrilled to see this item in the box! (A $79 amazing beauty item that wasn’t one of the spoilers? Yes!)
If you aren’t familiar with this exfoliator, it’s a highly-rated cult favorite beauty product!
The formula is an ultra-fine scrub you can use 1-2 times a week. I love the minty fresh scent, and how smooth it makes my skin feel. (I’ve seen a lot of reviewers mention it helped them with whiteheads/acne, etc.)
Briogeo Rosarco Milk Reparative Leave-In Conditioning Spray – Value $20
The Briogeo haircare line is ingredient conscious (which I love), but I’ve had mixed results with their products, so I decided to use this spray very sparingly at first.
I love the scent, and I found giving my damp hair a light spray left it feeling softer, too. So, this one works well for me, but based on some reviews I’ve seen on Sephora, I definitely recommend using minimal sprays per use to see how it works with your hair.
And our fitness item for this box is FabFitFun TV!
All subscribers will get access to a variety of workout videos. (even if you haven’t received your Spring box yet, you have access to the videos now!)
Nature’s Bounty Hair Skin and Nails Vitamins (40 count) – Sponsored Item
(These gummies are an extra in the box that don’t count toward the total value of the box for subscribers.)
I take a collagen and biotin supplement daily, so I’m always happy to try out a new biotin vitamin – especially when it is in gummy form!
These strawberry gummies were good! (And they are free of lactose, gluten, and artificial flavors/sweeteners!)
Verdict: This box has a value of $369!!! (And that’s not counting any value for the FabFitFun TV channel access, or the bonus gummies.) As always, I find myself saying, “I don’t know how they do it!”
I’m so impressed with the high-end beauty brands they included. (And the Dr. Brandt, Karuna, Briogeo, and RealHer products are all paraben, sulfate, and phthalate free, too!)
The Roundie and Zip Pouch are great summer staples, and I was originally thinking they would make more sense in a Summer box, but considering the FabFitFun Summer box won’t ship until June, it’s great to have these items in advance for any warm Spring days!
And I love that FabFitFun let all subscribers pick between a bracelet or earrings. (Jewelry is one of those items in subscription boxes that can be pretty taste-specific!)
What do you think of the Spring 2017 FabFitFun box?
Use coupon code MSA10 to get this box for only $40!
Liz is the founder of My Subscription Addiction. She’s been hooked on subscription boxes since 2011 thanks to Birchbox , and she now subscribes to over 100 boxes. Her favorites include POPSUGAR Must Have FabFitFun , and any box that features natural beauty products! |
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