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A. Mr. Pence is right when he says there has been exaggeration of the likely effects of the law and misunderstanding of how it works. It does not create an unchecked new right for restaurant owners, for example, to refuse to serve gay men or lesbians. And those who invoke the law to avoid fines or lawsuits must go through a judicial process in which the burden on their beliefs is compared with the state’s interest in carrying out a mandate or imposing a fine.
Many of those who pushed for Indiana’s law have explicitly said that they hope it will protect vendors who refuse to participate in same-sex wedding ceremonies, helping them avoid actions that according to their beliefs are onerous and sinful. Less clear is how often that might occur, and how often those vendors might win in court.
To civil rights advocates, “religious freedom,” in this case, is code for simple discrimination and would not only inconvenience gay and lesbian couples, but also would relegate them to a form of second-class status. Those selling to the public should not be able to turn away customers because of their own private beliefs, these advocates say; the vendor is, after all, selling flowers, and is not required to embrace the beliefs of the customers. These critics ask: How would the public respond if businesses offered religious reasons for refusing to serve interracial couples?
Q. Are the new laws different from the original federal law and those in other states?
A. Mr. Pence has said that the Indiana law is identical to earlier renditions supported by Mr. Clinton when he was president and Barack Obama when he was a state senator in Illinois.
On Tuesday, Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, said that the Indiana law was a “significant expansion” of the religious protections in the federal law.
In fact, the bills in both Indiana and Arkansas include provisions that are not in the federal law or most other states’ laws, and that could broaden the scope of protection for religious businesses. Both of them say that for-profit corporations that are substantially owned by members of a faith can claim protections under the law. And both of the versions broaden the definition of “state action,” stating, in the Indiana legislation, for example, that a person who feels his religious rights are being violated may assert protection under the law “in a judicial or administrative proceeding, regardless of whether the state or any other governmental entity is a party to the proceeding.”
This latter clause, a version of which is also in the Arkansas bill, appears to be a response to events in New Mexico in 2013, when a photographer said she would not photograph a same-sex wedding because of her Christian beliefs. The couple sued the photographer under a state antidiscrimination law. |
Spanish language distribution in the United States by county as of 2000.
The United States has forty-one million people aged five or older that speak Spanish at home,[1] making Spanish the second most spoken language of the United States by far. Spanish is the most studied foreign language in United States,[2] with about six million students.[3] With over 50 million native speakers, heritage language speakers and second language speakers, the United States now has the second largest Spanish-speaking population in the world after Mexico,[4] although it is not an official language of the country.[5] About half of all American Spanish speakers also assessed themselves as speaking English "very well" in the 2000 U.S. Census.[6] This percentage increased to 57% in the 2013-2017 American Community Survey.[7] The United States is among the Spanish-speaking countries that has its own Academy of the Spanish Language.[8]
There are more Spanish-speakers in the United States than speakers of French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Hawaiian, varieties of Chinese and Native American languages combined. According to the 2012 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, Spanish is the primary language spoken at home by 38.3 million people aged five or older, more than twice that of 1990.[9][10]
The Spanish language has been present in what is now the United States since the 15th century, with the arrival of Spanish colonization in North America. Colonizers settled in areas that would later become the states of Florida, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California, as well as the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. The Spanish explorers explored areas of 42 future U.S. states leaving behind a varying range of Hispanic legacy in the North American continent. Western regions of the Louisiana Territory were also under Spanish rule between 1763 and 1800, after the French and Indian War, further extending the Spanish influence throughout the modern-day United States of America.
After the incorporation of these areas into the United States in the first half of the 19th century, the Spanish language was later reinforced in the country by the acquisition of Puerto Rico in 1898. Later waves of emigration from Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, El Salvador, Argentina, and elsewhere in Hispanic America to the United States beginning in the second half of the 19th century to the present-day have strengthened the role of the Spanish language in the country. Today, Hispanics are one of the fastest growing ethnic groups in the United States, thus increasing the use and importance of American Spanish in the United States.
History [ edit ]
Early Spanish settlements [ edit ]
Spanish was among the very first European languages spoken in North America, preceded only by Old Norse. Spanish arrived in the territory of the modern United States in 1493, with Columbus' arrival to Puerto Rico. Ponce de León explored what is now Florida in 1513. In 1565, the Spaniards founded St. Augustine, Florida, and as of the early 1800s, it became the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in what is now the United States. In 1898, San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, became the oldest city in all of the U.S. territory: Juan Ponce De León founded San Juan in 1508.
Historically, the Spanish-speaking population increased because of territorial annexation of lands claimed earlier by the Spanish Empire and by wars with Mexico and by land purchases, while modern factors continue increasing the size of this population.
In 1819 Florida was transferred by Spain to the United States via the Adams–Onís Treaty; many Spanish settlers, whose ancestors came from Cuba, Andalusia, and the Canary Islands, became U.S. citizens and continued to speak Spanish.
Louisiana Purchase (1803–1804) [ edit ]
In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, land claimed by Spain encompassed a large part of the contemporary U.S. territory, including the French colony of Louisiana that was under Spanish occupation from 1769 to 1800, and then part of the United States since 1803. When Louisiana was sold to the United States, its Spanish, Louisiana Creole people and Cajun French inhabitants became U.S. citizens, and continued to speak Spanish or French. In 1813, George Ticknor started a program of Spanish Studies at Harvard University.[11]
Annexation of Texas and the Mexican–American War [ edit ]
Spanish language heritage in Florida dates back to 1565, with the founding of Saint Augustine, Florida . Spanish was the first European language spoken in Florida.
In 1821,[12] after Mexico's War of Independence from Spain, Texas was part of the United Mexican States as the state of Coahuila y Tejas. A large influx of Americans soon followed, originally with the approval of Mexico's president. In 1836, the now largely "American" Texans fought a war of independence from the central government of Mexico and established the Republic of Texas. In 1846, the Republic dissolved when Texas entered the United States of America as a state. Per the 1850 U.S. census, fewer than 16,000 Texans were of Mexican descent, and nearly all were Spanish-speaking people (both Mexicans and non-Spanish European settlers who include German Texan) who were outnumbered (six-to-one) by English-speaking settlers (both Americans and other immigrant Europeans).[citation needed]
After the Mexican War of Independence from Spain, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, western Colorado and southwestern Wyoming also became part of the Mexican territory of Alta California. Most of New Mexico, western Texas, southern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, and the Oklahoma panhandle were part of the territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México. The geographical isolation and unique political history of this territory led to New Mexican Spanish differing notably from both Spanish spoken in other parts of the United States of America and Spanish spoken in the present-day United Mexican States.
Mexico lost almost half of the northern territory gained from Spain in 1821 to the United States in the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). This included parts of contemporary Texas, and Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Wyoming, California, Nevada, and Utah. Although the lost territory was sparsely populated, the thousands of Spanish-speaking Mexicans subsequently became U.S. citizens. The war-ending Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) does not explicitly address language. However, the English-speaking American settlers who entered the Southwest established their language, culture, and law as dominant, to the extent it fully displaced Spanish in the public sphere. In 1855, California declared that English would be the only medium of instruction in its schools; the newly admitted state of New Mexico followed suit in 1891 to mandate that all of its schools teach in English only.[11]
The first California constitutional convention in 1849 had eight Californio participants; the resulting state constitution was produced in English and Spanish, and it contained a clause requiring all published laws and regulations to be published in both languages.[13] One of the very first acts of the first California Legislature of 1850 was to authorize the appointment of a State Translator, who would be responsible for translating all state laws, decrees, documents, or orders into Spanish.[14][15] But the state's second constitutional convention in 1872 had no Spanish-speaking participants; the convention's English-speaking participants felt that the state's remaining minority of Spanish-speakers should simply learn English; and the convention ultimately voted 46-39 to revise the earlier clause so that all official proceedings would henceforth be published only in English.[13]
Spanish–American War (1898) [ edit ]
In 1898, consequent to the Spanish–American War, the United States took control of Cuba and Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Guam as American territories. In 1902, Cuba became independent from the United States, while Puerto Rico remained a U.S. territory. The American government required government services to be bilingual in Spanish and English, and attempted to introduce English-medium education to Puerto Rico, but the latter effort was unsuccessful.[16]
In 1917, the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese was founded, and the academic study of Spanish literature was helped by negative attitudes towards German due to World War I.[17]
From 1942 to 1962, the Bracero program would provide for mass Mexican migration to the United States.[11] Once Puerto Rico was granted autonomy in 1948, even mainlander officials who came to Puerto Rico were forced to learn Spanish. Only 20% of Puerto Rico's residents understand English, and although the island's government had a policy of official bilingualism, it was repealed in favor of a Spanish-only policy in 1991. This policy was reversed in 1993 when a pro-statehood party ousted a pro-independence party from the commonwealth government.[16]
Modern mass migration [ edit ]
The relatively recent but large influx of Spanish-speakers to the United States has increased the overall total of Spanish-speakers in the country. They form majorities and large minorities in many political districts, especially in California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, the American states bordering Mexico, and also in South Florida.
Mexicans first moved to the United States as refugees in the turmoil of the Mexican Revolution from 1910–1917, but many more emigrated later for economic reasons. The large majority of Mexicans are in the former Mexican-controlled areas in the Southwest.
At over 5 million, Puerto Ricans are easily the second largest Hispanic group. Of all major Hispanic groups, Puerto Ricans are the least likely to be proficient in Spanish, but millions of Puerto Rican Americans living in the U.S. mainland nonetheless are fluent in Spanish. Puerto Ricans are natural-born U.S. citizens, and many Puerto Ricans have migrated to New York City, Orlando, Philadelphia, and other areas of the Eastern United States, increasing the Spanish-speaking populations and in some areas being the majority of the Hispanophone population, especially in Central Florida. In Hawaii, where Puerto Rican farm laborers and Mexican ranchers have settled since the late 19th century, seven percent of the islands' people are either Hispanic or Hispanophone or both.
The Cuban Revolution of 1959 created a community of Cuban exiles who opposed the Communist revolution, many of whom left for the United States. In 1963, the Ford Foundation established the first bilingual education program in the United States for the children of Cuban exiles in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 boosted immigration from Latin American countries, and in 1968, Congress passed the Bilingual Education Act.[11] Most of these one million Cuban Americans settled in southern and central Florida, while other Cubans live in the Northeastern United States; most are fluent in Spanish. In the city of Miami today Spanish is the first language mostly due to Cuban immigration. Likewise, the Nicaraguan Revolution promoted a migration of Contras who were opposed to the socialist government in Nicaragua, to the United States in the late 1980s.[citation needed] Most of these Nicaraguans migrated to Florida, California and Texas.
The exodus of Salvadorans was a result of both economic and political problems. The largest immigration wave occurred as a result of the Salvadoran Civil War in the 1980s, in which 20 to 30 percent of El Salvador's population emigrated. About 50 percent, or up to 500,000 of those who escaped, headed to the United States, which was already home to over 10,000 Salvadorans, making Salvadoran Americans the fourth-largest Hispanic and Latino American group, after the Mexican-American majority, stateside Puerto Ricans, and Cubans.
As civil wars engulfed several Central American countries in the 1980s, hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans fled their country and came to the United States. Between 1980 and 1990, the Salvadoran immigrant population in the United States increased nearly fivefold from 94,000 to 465,000. The number of Salvadoran immigrants in the United States continued to grow in the 1990s and 2000s as a result of family reunification and new arrivals fleeing a series of natural disasters that hit El Salvador, including earthquakes and hurricanes. By 2008, there were about 1.1 million Salvadoran immigrants in the United States.
Until the 20th century, there was no clear record of the number of Venezuelans who emigrated to the United States. Between the 18th and early 19th centuries, there were many European immigrants who went to Venezuela, only to later migrate to the United States along with their children and grandchildren who were born and/or grew up in Venezuela speaking Spanish. From 1910 to 1930, it is estimated that over 4,000 South Americans each year emigrated to the United States; however, there are few specific figures indicating these statistics. Many Venezuelans settled in the United States with hopes of receiving a better education, only to remain there following graduation. They are frequently joined by relatives. However, since the early 1980s, the reasons for Venezuelan emigration have changed to include hopes of earning a higher salary and due to the economic fluctuations in Venezuela which also promoted an important migration of Venezuelan professionals to the US.[18] In the 2000s, dissident Venezuelans migrated to South Florida, especially the suburbs of Doral and Weston.[citation needed] Other main states with Venezuelan American populations are, according to the 1990 census, New York, California, Texas (adding to their existing Hispanic populations), New Jersey, Massachusetts and Maryland.[18]
Refugees from Spain also migrated to the U.S. due to the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939) and political instability under the regime of Francisco Franco that lasted until 1975. The majority of Spaniards settled in Florida, Texas, California, New Jersey, New York City, Chicago, and Puerto Rico.
The publication of data by the United States Census Bureau in 2003 revealed that Hispanics were the largest minority in the United States and caused a flurry of press speculation in Spain about the position of Spanish in the United States.[citation needed] That year, the Instituto Cervantes, an organization created by the Spanish government in 1991 to promote Spanish language around the globe, established a branch in New York.[19]
Geographic distribution [ edit ]
Spanish-speakers in the United States Year Number of native Spanish-speakers Percent of
US population 1980 11 million 5% 1990 17.3 million 7% 2000 28.1 million 10% 2010 37 million 13% 2015 41 million 13% Sources:[20][21][22][23]
In total, there were 36,995,602 people aged five or older in the United States who spoke Spanish at home (12.8% of the total U.S. population).[24]
Current status [ edit ]
Although the United States has no de jure official language, English is the dominant language of business, education, government, religion, media, culture, civil society, and the public sphere. Virtually all state and federal government agencies and large corporations use English as their internal working language, especially at the management level. Some states, such as New Mexico, provide bilingual legislated notices and official documents, in Spanish and English, and other commonly used languages. English is the home language of most Americans, including a growing proportion of Hispanic Americans; between 2000 and 2015, the proportion of Hispanics who spoke Spanish at home decreased from 78 to 73 percent.[25] As noted above, the only major exception is the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, where Spanish is the official and most commonly used language.
Throughout the history of the Southwest United States, the controversial issue of language as part of cultural rights and bilingual state government representation has caused socio-cultural friction between Anglophones and Hispanophones. Currently, Spanish is the most widely taught second language in the United States.[26]
California [ edit ]
California's first constitution recognized Spanish language rights:
All laws, decrees, regulations, and provisions emanating from any of the three supreme powers of this State, which from their nature require publication, shall be published in English and Spanish. California Constitution, 1849, Art. 11 Sec. 21.
By 1870, English-speaking Americans were a majority in California; in 1879, the state promulgated a new constitution under which all official proceedings were to be conducted exclusively in English, a clause that remained in effect until 1966. In 1986, California voters added a new constitutional clause, by referendum, stating that:
English is the official language of the State of California. — California Constitution, Art. 3, Sec. 6
Spanish remains widely spoken throughout the state, and many government forms, documents, and services are bilingual, in English and Spanish. And although all official proceedings are to be conducted in English:
A person unable to understand English who is charged with a crime has a right to an interpreter throughout the proceedings. — California Constitution, Art. 1. Sec. 14
Arizona [ edit ]
The state (like its southwestern neighbors) has had close linguistic and cultural ties with Mexico. The state outside the Gadsden Purchase of 1853 was part of the New Mexico Territory until 1863, when the western half was made into the Arizona Territory. The area of the former Gadsden Purchase contained a majority of Spanish-speakers until the 1940s, although the Tucson area had a higher ratio of anglophones (including Mexican Americans who were fluent in English); the continuous arrival of Mexican settlers increases the number of Spanish-speakers.
Florida [ edit ]
The majority of the residents of the Miami metropolitan area speak Spanish at home, and the influence of Spanish can even be seen in many features of the local dialect of English. Miami is considered the "capital of Latin America" for its many bilingual corporations, banks, and media outlets that cater to international business.
New Mexico [ edit ]
New Mexico is commonly thought to have Spanish as an official language alongside English because of its wide usage and legal promotion of Spanish in the state; however, the state has no official language. New Mexico's laws are promulgated bilingually in Spanish and English. Although English is the state government's paper working language, government business is often conducted in Spanish, particularly at the local level. Spanish has been spoken in the New Mexico-Colorado border and the contemporary U.S.–Mexico border since the 16th century.[citation needed]
Because of its relative isolation from other Spanish-speaking areas over most of its 400-year existence, New Mexico Spanish, and in particular the Spanish of northern New Mexico and Colorado has retained many elements of 16th- and 17th-century Spanish and has developed its own vocabulary.[27] In addition, it contains many words from Nahuatl, the language currently spoken by the Nahua people in Mexico. New Mexican Spanish also contains loan words from the Pueblo languages of the upper Rio Grande Valley, Mexican-Spanish words (mexicanismos), and borrowings from English.[27] Grammatical changes include the loss of the second person verb form, changes in verb endings, particularly in the preterite, and partial merging of the second and third conjugations.[28]
Texas [ edit ]
In Texas, English is the state's de facto official language (though it lacks de jure status) and is used in government. However, the continual influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants increased the import of Spanish in Texas. Although it is a part of the Southern United States, Texas's counties bordering Mexico are mostly Hispanic, and consequently, Spanish is commonly spoken in the region. The Government of Texas, through Section 2054.116 of the Government Code, mandates that state agencies provide information on their websites in Spanish to assist residents who have limited English proficiency.[29]
Puerto Rico [ edit ]
The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico recognizes Spanish and English as official languages; Spanish is the dominant first language.
Spanish place names [ edit ]
Learning trends in the United States [ edit ]
Spanish is currently the most widely taught non-English language in American secondary schools and higher education.[30] More than 790,000 university students were enrolled in Spanish courses in the autumn of 2013, with Spanish the most widely taught foreign language in American colleges and universities. Some 50.6 percent of the total number of U.S. students enrolled in foreign-language courses take Spanish, followed by French (12.7%), American Sign Language (7%), German (5.5%), Italian (4.6%), Japanese (4.3%), and Chinese (3.9%), although the totals remain relatively small in relation to the total U.S. population.[31]
Radio [ edit ]
Spanish language radio is the largest non-English broadcasting media.[32] While other foreign language broadcasting declined steadily, Spanish broadcasting grew steadily from the 1920s to the 1970s. The 1930s were boom years.[33] The early success depended on the concentrated geographical audience in Texas and the Southwest.[34] American stations were close to Mexico which enabled a steady circular flow of entertainers, executives and technicians, and stimulated the creative initiatives of Hispanic radio executives, brokers, and advertisers. Ownership was increasingly concentrated in the 1960s and 1970s. The industry sponsored the now-defunct trade publication Sponsor from the late 1940s to 1968.[35] Spanish-language radio has influenced American and Latino discourse on key current affairs issues such as citizenship and immigration.[36]
Variation [ edit ]
La Época is an upscale Miami department store, whose Spanish name comes from Cuba . La Época is an example of the many businesses started and owned by Spanish-speakers in the United States.
The influence of English on American Spanish is very important. In many Latino[37] (also called Hispanic) youth subcultures, it is common to mix Spanish and English, thereby producing Spanglish. Spanglish is the name for the admixture of English words and phrases to Spanish for effective communication.
The Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española (North American Academy of the Spanish Language) tracks the developments of the Spanish spoken in the United States, and the influences of English upon it.[citation needed]
Spanish sub-types [ edit ]
Language experts distinguish the following varieties of the Spanish spoken in the United States:
Mexican Spanish: the U.S.–Mexico border, throughout the US southwest from California to Texas, as well as the city of Chicago, but becoming ubiquitous throughout the continental United States as Mexican Spanish is used as the standardized dialect of Spanish in the continental United States.
Caribbean Spanish: Spanish as spoken by Puerto Ricans, Cubans, and Dominicans. Largely heard throughout the Northeastern United States and Florida, especially New York City and Miami, among other cities in the Eastern US.
Central American Spanish: Spanish as spoken by Hispanics with origins in Central American countries such as El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Largely heard in major cities throughout California and Texas, as well as Washington DC, New York, and Miami.
South American Spanish: Spanish as spoken by Hispanics with origins in South American countries such as Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Chile. Largely heard in major cities throughout New York, California, Texas, and Florida.
Colonial Spanish: Spanish as spoken by descendants of Spanish colonists and early Mexicans before United States expansion and annexion of the US southwest and other areas. Californian (1769–present): California, especially the Central Coast Isleño (Islander) (18th century–present): St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana New Mexican Spanish: Central and north-central New Mexico and south-central Colorado and the border regions of Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico, and southeastern Colorado
Most post-first generations of Spanish-speakers tend to speak the language with American English accents of the region they grew up in.
Common English words derived from Spanish [ edit ]
Analogously, many Spanish words are now standard American English.
Admiral
Avocado ( aguacate from Nahuatl aguacatl )
from Nahuatl ) Aficionado
Banana (originally from Wolof)
Buckaroo ( vaquero )
) Cafeteria ( cafetería )
) Chili (from Nahuatl chīlli )
) Chocolate (from Nahuatl xocolatl )
) Cigar ( cigarro )
) Corral
Coyote (from Nahuatl coyotl )
) Desperado ( desesperado )
) Guerrilla
Guitar ( guitarra )
) Hurricane ( huracán from the Taíno storm god Juracán)
from the Taíno storm god Juracán) Junta
Lasso ( lazo )
) Potato ( patata ; see Etymology of "potato")
; see Etymology of "potato") Ranch ( rancho )
) Rodeo
Siesta
Tomato ( tomate from Nahuatl tomatl )
from Nahuatl ) Tornado
Vanilla (vainilla)
[38] Univisión is the country's largest Spanish language network, followed by Telemundo . It is the country's fourth-largest network overall.
Phonetic features [ edit ]
First settled by the Spanish in the 16th century, today, 19% of Floridians speak Spanish, and is the most widely taught second language. In Miami , 67% of residents spoke Spanish as their first language in 2000.
Lexical features [ edit ]
The usage of Spanish words in American bilinguals shows a convergence of semantics between English and Spanish cognates. For example, the Spanish words atender ("to pay attention to") and éxito ("success") acquire a similar semantic range in American Spanish to the English words "attend" and "exit". In some cases, loanwords from English give existing Spanish words a homonymic meaning: so while coche has come to acquire the additional meaning of "coach" in the United States, it retains its older meaning of "car".[39]
Disappearance of de (of) in certain expressions, as is the case with the dialect of Spanish in the Canary Islands. Example: esposo Rosa instead of esposo de Rosa , gofio millo instead of gofio de millo , etc.
(of) in certain expressions, as is the case with the dialect of Spanish in the Canary Islands. Example: instead of , instead of , etc. Doublets of Arabic-Latinate synonyms with the Arabic form are more common in American Spanish, which derives from Latin American Spanish and so influenced by Andalusian Spanish like Andalusian and Latin American alcoba for standard habitación or dormitorio ('bedroom') or alhaja for standard joya ('jewel').
for standard or ('bedroom') or for standard ('jewel'). See List of words having different meanings in Spain and Hispanic America.
Future of Spanish in the United States [ edit ]
Spanish-speaking Americans are the fastest growing linguistic group in the United States. Continual immigration and prevalent Spanish-language mass media (such as Univisión, Telemundo, and Azteca América) support the Spanish-speaking populations. Moreover, because of the North American Free Trade Agreement, it is common for many American manufacturers to use multilingual product labeling using English, French and Spanish, three of the four official languages of the Organization of American States.
Besides the businesses that always have catered to Hispanophone immigrants, a small, but increasing, number of mainstream American retailers now advertise bilingually in Spanish-speaking areas and offer bilingual, English-Spanish customer services. One common indicator of such businesses is Se Habla Español which means "Spanish Is Spoken".
The State of the Union Addresses and other presidential speeches are translated into Spanish, following the precedent set by the Bill Clinton administration. Moreover, non-Hispanic American origin politicians fluent in Spanish speak in Spanish to Hispanic majority constituencies. There are 500 Spanish newspapers, 152 magazines, and 205 publishers in the United States; magazine and local television advertising expenditures for the Hispanic market have increased substantially from 1999 to 2003, with growth of 58 percent and 43 percent, respectively.
Historically, immigrants' languages tend to disappear or become reduced through generational assimilation. Spanish disappeared in several countries and U.S. territories during the 20th century, notably in the Philippines and in the Pacific Island countries of Guam, Micronesia, Palau, the Northern Marianas islands, and the Marshall Islands.
The English-only movement seeks to establish English as the sole official language of the United States. Generally, they exert political public pressure upon Hispanophone immigrants to learn English and speak it publicly; as universities, business, and the professions use English, there is much social pressure to learn English for upward socio-economic mobility.
Generally, Hispanic American origin US residents (13.4% of the 2002 population) are bilingual to a degree. A Simmons Market Research survey recorded that 19 percent of the Hispanic American origin population speak only Spanish, 9 percent speak only English, 55 percent have limited English proficiency, and 17 percent are fully English-Spanish bilingual.[40]
Intergenerational transmission of Spanish is a more accurate indicator of Spanish's future in the United States than raw statistical numbers of Hispanophone immigrants. Although Hispanic American origin immigrants hold varying English proficiency levels, almost all second-generation Hispanic American origin U.S. residents speak English, yet about 50 percent speak Spanish at home. Two-thirds of third-generation Mexican Americans speak only English at home. Calvin Veltman undertook in 1988, for the National Center for Education Statistics and for the Hispanic Policy Development Project, the most complete study of English language adoption by Hispanophone immigrants. Veltman's language shift studies document abandonment of Spanish at rates of 40 percent for immigrants who arrived in the U.S. before the age of 14, and 70 percent for immigrants who arrived before the age of 10.[41] The complete set of these studies' demographic projections postulates the near-complete assimilation of a given Hispanophone immigrant cohort within two generations. Although his study based itself upon a large 1976 sample from the Bureau of the Census (which has not been repeated), data from the 1990 Census tend to confirm the great Anglicization of the U.S. Hispanic American origin population.
American literature in Spanish [ edit ]
Southwest Colonial literature [ edit ]
In 1610, Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá published his Historia de Nuevo México (History of New Mexico).
19th century [ edit ]
In 1880, José Martí moved to New York City.
Eusebio Chacón published El hijo de la tempestad in 1892.
20th century [ edit ]
Federico García Lorca wrote his collection of poems, Poeta en Nueva York, and the two plays Así que pasen cinco años and El público while living in New York. Giannina Braschi wrote the Hispanic postmodern poetry classic El imperio de los sueños in Spanish in New York. José Vasconcelos and Juan Ramón Jiménez were both exiled to the United States.
In her autobiography When I was Puerto Rican (1993), Esmeralda Santiago recounts her childhood on the island during the 1950s and her family's subsequent move to New York City, when she was 13 years old. Originally written in English, the book is an example of New York Rican literature.
21st century [ edit ]
Contemporary classics are The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Crisis by Jorge Majfud, and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz.
See also [ edit ]
General:
References [ edit ]
Further reading [ edit ] |
If there’s anything to say about this record, I think the title does an adequate job. It’s alright. It’s not great- it’s not terrible. It’s just alright, and considering where Weezer’s been in the years since their first stumble, Make Believe, alright isn’t half-bad.
This is an album that’s a clear Throwback Thursday, where the garage is now a shack and the band looks back on past endeavors with a forced ironic detachment. We know Rivers is being honest about settling down with his girl and making up with his dad (chronicled during his interview on WTF with Marc Maron), but is he honestly sorry that he alienated his granted much-older thanks to collaborations with Lil Wayne and Chamillionare? Is he serious about forgetting that disco sucks, when only songs later we’re subjected to the dance-happy verses of “I’ve Had It Up To Here”.
I’m not sure so.
There is a lot Blue and Green on this album- simple chords progressions hidden underneath simple guitar and vocal harmonies..”Lonely Girl” and “Go Away” are perfect reproductions of the whole gestalt of the great SS2k and Songs from the Black Hole, and could easily be hidden gems recently rediscovered. “Lonely Girl” has more in common with “Paperface” than any songs on this album.
We can also find some Maladroit in melodic solos and chugging rhythms of “Cleopatra”, with it’s killer bridge, one of the highlights of the album. “Foolish Father” takes that dark, bittersweet vibe further, returning to overall ‘everything will be alright’ theme originally hinted at in the opening of the album.
While the hushed female tones of the album’s opening voice over certainly harkens back to the transition from “Pink Triangle” to “Falling for You,” I think there’s more at play here. We know Rivers loves the overarching story of the concept album, never on the nose, but in the background. And he seems to often play the archetype of the prodigal son, the returning outcast who disappears for periods of time and comes back wiser and more educated. I think there’s more to the story of the titular refrain of ‘everything will be alright in the end’ which is first heard from a mother to a son, then later in a song about a “Foolish Father”. Couple that with the beautiful and imaginative album art depicting a large, not fearsome monster in an autumnal dusk. There’s something to be said about the mildly operatic and autobiographical undercurrent that adds depth to the album. And that depth is delivered with a heavy dose of nostalgia, both for childhood and for earlier Weezer albums.
For the snobbiest of Weezer fans, the catalog really ends at Maladroit, and we’d like to hope that the album’s references ended there as well. Unfortunately, there’s still enough sappy pop ala Make Believe on tracks like “Eulogy for a Rock Band” with it’s Kelly Clarkson chorus. Then there’s the pop culture-reference laden sap in “Da Vinci” that takes what could’ve been a subtle goofball like “El Scorcho” and instead gives us a “Pork and Beans”.
They end with the three-song suite. This could’ve become another “Greatest Man in the World”, but it isn’t. It isn’t anything great, it doesn’t hit us with the raw emotional electricity of the second half of Pinkerton, nothing outside of Pinkerton does, and it’s probably not quite as complex or meaty as “Only in Dreams”, both of which are clearly referenced. Yet somehow you do come out feeling alright in the end. Not blown away, but impressed, grateful, and ready to hear what’s next. |
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Shinsuke Nakamura defeated John Cena on Smackdown Live this week. As a result, Nakamura will be moving on to face Jinder Mahal for the WWE Title at Summerslam.
The match result isn’t what fans are fully focused on. Instead, a lot of talk is going on about a nasty bump that Cena took during the match. Nakamura went for the exploder suplex and it ended with Cena landing on his neck.
This was a scary moment and certainly could have been a lot worse. Cena was able to finish the match and looks to be okay.
You might have noticed a pretty cool moment after the match (if you are keen at reading lips). Nakamura apologized to Cena prior to their handshake, saying “I’m Sorry”. Cena responded with: “Don’t Be Sorry”. You can watch the video here:
A pretty cool moment and glad to see Cena is okay. In case you missed it, here was Cena landing on his neck:
[irp posts=”28394″ name=”14 Things That We Learned From Smackdown Live (August 1, 2017)”]
Let us know what you think in the comment section below. |
'Without fear and without favour,” it says at the top of the leader page of the Financial Times . But now, spooked by the fact that voters are at last being allowed to decide whether Britain should leave the European Union, the paper contains a good deal of both. On Wednesday, its two-page spread on the subject ran three main stories. “Brexit would hit economy hard, BlackRock warns”, “Leave campaign pressed for Plan B” and “Threat of Brexit stokes concern over Ireland’s border blues” were the headlines.
A politician who cannot even focus upon a single job can scarcely be expected to think clearly about the destiny of a continent.
A politician who cannot even focus upon a single job can scarcely be expected to think clearly about the destiny of a continent. Sir Evelyn de Rothschild on Boris Johnson
On the leader page itself, the main editorial comment explicitly supported David Cameron’s “Project Fear”. What really caught my eye, however, was a very long letter sitting next to it, from Sir Evelyn de Rothschild.
Sir Evelyn is a genuinely distinguished figure. He was chairman of his family’s bank from 1976 to 2003. Unlike too many in the City, he has always been noted for acting in what he sees as the public interest. He deserves (and is used to receiving) respectful attention.
The headline over his letter said “Boris Johnson has put his own interests before Britain’s”. Calling Boris a “jack-of-all-trades”, Sir Evelyn attacked him for “moonlighting” as an MP while Editor of The Spectator early this century, writing “academically flimsy” books, and being Mayor of London, columnist for this great newspaper and Member of Parliament for Uxbridge all at the same time. This made him unfit for the referendum task: “A politician,” the great banker concluded, “who cannot even focus upon a single job can scarcely be expected to think clearly about the destiny of a continent.”
On the specific charges made by Sir Evelyn, one must declare Mr Johnson guilty. He does indeed do a great many different things at once. Speaking ruefully as his former Editor, I can testify to this. How often would I ring Boris at about 5.30pm, wondering why his copy was late, only to be told “Sorry, sorry, just been making a speech. Coming. Coming.” Further questioning would reveal that the column was not only not finished, but not started, and that he did not even know what its subject would be. It would arrive at about 8.30, 45 minutes after the final, final deadline.
But what of Sir Evelyn’s general charge – that such people cannot think clearly about the destiny of a continent? By chance, I am reading the brilliant new book by David Lough called No More Champagne. Subtitled “Churchill and his Money”, it describes how the most famous British leader of all time tried to make his way in the world.
What was Winston Churchill MP doing in the early hours of September 1 1939, as German tanks rolled into Poland? Dictating passages for his History of the English-Speaking Peoples, with which he was appallingly late. What was he up to, as First Lord of the Admiralty in April 1940 while, late at night, he was also supervising the dispositions of the British fleet off Norway? Revising his passages about King Edward the Confessor and the strategic position of the Normans in 1066.
In June 1940, by this time Prime Minister, Churchill was shuttling back and forth to France in a last desperate attempt to save our ally from Hitler. But at the same time, his overdraft was £5,602 (about £210,000 in modern terms) and his publishers wanted their advance for the unfinished book returned. With only 12 days to pay the interest, he had to be rescued by a private benefactor, Sir Henry Strakosch.
All through the war, Churchill used his prestige as prime minister to gain ever bigger book advances and film rights. As David Lough succinctly puts it: “Churchill had begun the war with a large hole in his finances; as it drew to a close his bank balance stood at £100,000” (£4 million today).
Some will think such behaviour deplorable (though, as someone who lives by the pen, I must admit that I think it was bloody marvellous). Few, I think, will dare claim that it prevented Churchill from thinking clearly about the destiny of his continent.
None of the above should be taken to mean that Boris is necessarily our new Churchill. I leave it to the Mayor himself to put that case with his customary eloquence, as he already has in his thinly-veiled, bestselling autobiography, The Churchill Factor. No, my point is about Sir Evelyn de Rothschild and the Financial Times and the Economist (of which for many years, Sir Evelyn was chairman) and the BBC and the Civil Service and the Foreign Office and the CBI and the big banks and BP and BMW and Lord Mandelson of Foy and Lord Rose of Marks & Spencer and all the other brilliant, well-connected, powerful, pompous people who are so sure that we should stay in the EU.
It is that they have not seriously thought about the case for leaving.
I do not mean that they do not know a lot about the subject – many of them do. Nor that they are not genuinely concerned for Britain’s future – most of them are. I mean that most have not, for one single second, imagined that life outside the EU might be a viable, even preferable alternative to life within it, so they do not understand the case they are opposing.
This is a form of bigotry, and it is less common on the Leave side – not because the Outers are necessarily deeper people, but because they have lived under the dominance of the pro-EU order, and so have been forced to think hard about it.
The bigotry of successful people is stronger than that of uneducated ones, because their life stories tell them they know best. So they stop thinking and instead merely disdain those who disagree with them. Years ago, Mr Cameron famously derided Ukip as “swivel-eyed loons”. Such people exist, perhaps, but the present danger is much more from the swivel-eyed moderates, who so resolutely refuse to look at the way the world is going.
They also do not see how much they have failed. In the 21st century, the world order and financial systems dominated by the free West have been shaken more profoundly than at any time since 1945, and the people in charge do not know how to correct their own errors, or even admit them. The euro is a major part of this new world disorder, as is the effort to deepen the European Union in the wake of it.
Lots of grand people wrote disapproving letters to the newspapers in the late Thirties about Winston Churchill. They genuinely wanted peace, but about how to achieve it they were wrong. Might their equivalents today not at least consider they could be wrong too?
In 1899, young Winston Churchill went off to the Boer war with £150 (£15,000 in modern values) in his pocket from Lord Rothschild, Sir Evelyn’s great-great uncle. It was a present, not a loan, but as an investment in a bold future it paid off. Go on, Sir Evelyn, recover your family spirit and send a cheque for £15,000 to the Leave campaign. |
Update on August 2 - Senate blocks Cybersecurity Act
U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday decided to write about hackers in an opinion editorial titled "Taking the Cyberattack Threat Seriously" which originally appeared on the official website for the White House and then subsequently published on the WSJ. This is huge.
You see, this isn't a defense expert talking about how the U.S. should hire more hackers , a cybersecurity advisor saying China has hacked every major U.S. company, or even the FBI saying the U.S. losing the hacker war. This is the president of the United States of America outlining his thoughts on the threat of a cyber attack against the world's most powerful country.
First Obama introduced the topic by discussing an experiment his administration ran to see the potential damage a cyber attack could inflict, without actually saying it was a test. Then he got more serious:
Fortunately, last month's scenario was just a simulation—an exercise to test how well federal, state and local governments and the private sector can work together in a crisis. But it was a sobering reminder that the cyber threat to our nation is one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face. So far, no one has managed to seriously damage or disrupt our critical infrastructure networks. But foreign governments, criminal syndicates and lone individuals are probing our financial, energy and public safety systems every day.
Obama went on to list a few worst-case scenarios:
It doesn't take much to imagine the consequences of a successful cyber attack. In a future conflict, an adversary unable to match our military supremacy on the battlefield might seek to exploit our computer vulnerabilities here at home. Taking down vital banking systems could trigger a financial crisis. The lack of clean water or functioning hospitals could spark a public health emergency. And as we've seen in past blackouts, the loss of electricity can bring businesses, cities and entire regions to a standstill. This is the future we have to avoid. That's why my administration has made cybersecurity a priority, including proposing legislation to strengthen our nation's digital defenses. It's why Congress must pass comprehensive cybersecurity legislation.
You might be wondering what legislation he's talking about. Obama is calling on Congress to pass a revised cyber security bill, introduced in the Senate on Thursday, to protect critical computing infrastructure from hackers. Expect to hear about it increasingly in the coming weeks.
The Cybersecurity Act of 2012 (PDF), first introduced in February 2012, set cyber security standards for critical infrastructure, and gave legal immunity to companies who would meet them. The new law would require the Department of Homeland Security to assess risks and vulnerabilities of computer systems running at critical infrastructure sites.
Security experts worry private companies won't make upgrades to protect their computer networks without enforceable regulations, but business lobbyists argued regulations would harm many firms. As such, the Thursday bill includes amendments that narrow the definition of what information about cyber threats can be shared between companies and the government. It also says companies will share cybersecurity information mainly with civilian agencies, as opposed to with military groups.
Obama concluded:
Today we can see the cyber threat to the networks upon which so much of our modern American lives depend. We have the opportunity—and the responsibility—to take action now and stay a step ahead of our adversaries. For the sake of our national and economic security, I urge the Senate to pass the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 and Congress to send me comprehensive legislation so I can sign it into law. It's time to strengthen our defenses against this growing danger.
Look out for what my colleague David Gerwitz will have to say come Monday as he's planning to discuss this topic in further depth. In the meantime, I encourage you read the full Op-ed by President Obama.
Update on July 23 - How cybersecurity is like Star Trek's transporter
Update on August 2 - Senate blocks Cybersecurity Act
See also: |
The Harried Life of the Working Mother
Women now make up almost half of the U.S. labor force, up from 38% in 1970. This nearly forty-year trend has been fueled by a broad public consensus about the changing role of women in society. A solid majority of Americans (75%) reject the idea that women should return to their traditional roles in society, and most believe that both husband and wife should contribute to the family income.
But in spite of these long-term changes in behaviors and attitudes, many women remain conflicted about the competing roles they play at work and at home. Working mothers in particular are ambivalent about whether full-time work is the best thing for them or their children; they feel the tug of family much more acutely than do working fathers. As a result, most working mothers find themselves in a situation that they say is less than ideal.
They’re also more likely than either at-home moms or working dads to feel as if there just isn’t enough time in the day. Four-in-ten say they always feel rushed, compared with a quarter of the other two groups. But despite these pressures and conflicts, working moms, overall, are as likely as at-home moms and working dads to say they’re happy with their lives.
Whether women work outside the home or not, family responsibilities have a clear impact on the key life choices they make. Roughly three-in-ten women who are not currently employed (27%) say family duties keep them from working. And family appears to be one of the key reasons that many do not break through the “glass ceiling” to the top ranks of management — that’s the view, anyway, of about a third of the public.
Working Mothers
According to data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 59% of women now work or are actively seeking employment. An even higher percentage of women with children ages 17 or younger (66%) work either full or part time. Among those working mothers, most (74%) work full time while 26% work part time.
A survey taken this summer by the Pew Research Center’s Social & Demographic Trends Project asked working mothers whether they would prefer to work full time or part time. A strong majority of all working mothers (62%) say they would prefer to work part time. Only 37% of working moms would prefer to work full time. Working fathers have a much different perspective. An overwhelming majority (79%) say they prefer full-time work. Only one-in-five say they would choose part-time work.
These findings echo the results of a 2007 Pew Research Center survey in which a majority of working mothers (60%) said the ideal situation for them would be to work part time. This represented a significant increase from 10 years earlier when only 48% of working mothers had said the same.
Women’s Growing Presence in the Workforce
The percentage of women working or actively seeking employment grew steadily from the 1950s onward, peaking in 2000. As an overall share of the labor force, women today comprise 47%. The growth in the share of women in the workforce has leveled off in recent years, just as women’s participation rate stopped climbing. Nonetheless, the fact remains that women have transformed the American workplace over the past 50 years, and in so doing have created a series of conflicts and challenges for today’s working women that have proven to be difficult to resolve.
Public Views on the Changing Role of Women
As women have taken a more active role in the labor force, public opinion has become increasingly supportive of this new reality. The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press has been tracking public attitudes on social and political values, including the changing role of women, for the past 20 years. In 1987, 30% of Americans said women should return to their traditional roles in society, while 66% disagreed with this statement. Today, only 19% agree that women should return to their traditional roles while 75% disagree.
Women and men are equally likely to reject the notion that women should return to their traditional roles. Young people are among the most progressive on this issue. Among those under age 30, 84% disagree with the idea that women should go back to a more traditional role.
Further evidence of the changing attitudes about family and the role of women can be seen in another item included in the Pew Research Center’s values surveys. Seven-in-ten Americans (71%) agree with the statement “I have old-fashioned values about family and marriage.” While still a strong majority, this is down significantly from 87% who held this view in 1987. Again men and women are in agreement on this issue, and young people express the least conservative views: 61% of those under age 30 say they have old-fashioned values about family and marriage.
Looking more specifically at the question of women and the workplace, data from the General Social Survey shows how attitudes changed from the late 1980s to the turn of the century. When asked whether they agreed or disagreed that both the husband and the wife should contribute to the household income, the percent of Americans who strongly agreed grew steadily from 1988 to 2002. In 1988 only 15% strongly agreed that both spouses should contribute to the household income, by 2002 29% strongly agreed (another 28% agreed but not strongly).
Even as society has become more accepting of women’s role in the workforce, attitudes about a special class of female workers — namely mothers of young children — have changed very little. In 1994 and again in 2002 the General Social Survey asked whether women should work outside the home under certain circumstances. In both years, strong majorities said a woman who is married but has not yet had children should work full time. However, only 10% in 1994 and 11% in 2002 said a woman with a young child should work full time. Respondents were more accepting of full-time work for a woman whose youngest child had started school. However, even then pluralities in 1994 and 2002 said part-time work would be preferable under those circumstances.
Pew Research Center data shows that strong concern over the impact of day care on the nation’s children has persisted over time. In 1987, 68% of the public agreed that too many children are being raised in day care centers these days. In 2003, 72% agreed with this statement.
Mothers themselves are particularly concerned about this issue. In the 2003 Pew Research Center survey 50% of mothers with children under age 5 completely agreed that too many children are being raised in day care centers today. This compared with 36% among the general public.
The Challenges of Today’s Reality
Herein lies the dilemma: women are a permanent part of the workforce, society has endorsed this historic change, but public opinion hasn’t yet fully come to terms with the tradeoffs inherent in working and raising young children. Large majorities of Americans believe that the ideal situation for both mother and child is that a mother with young children does not hold a full-time job. Only 12% of the public says what’s best for a young child is that their mother works full time. Four-in-ten say the ideal situation for a young child is a mother who works part time, and 42% say what’s best is if the mother doesn’t work at all.
When it comes to what’s best for the mother, the results are strikingly similar: 12% say the ideal situation for mothers with young children is to work full time, 44% say part-time work is ideal and 38% say it’s best if the mother doesn’t work at all. In perhaps the most powerful evidence of the cross-pressures that many working mothers feel every day, only 13% of moms who work full time say having a mother who works full time is the ideal situation for a young child.
Men and women agree that a full-time working mother is not what’s best for a young child. However, while most dads (54%) say the ideal situation for a child is to have a mom who doesn’t work at all, a plurality of moms (49%) say having a mom who works part time is what would benefit a child most.
Why Some Women Don’t Work?
Roughly four-in-ten women, including 34% of women with children age 17 or younger, do not work outside the home. According to a 2007 Pew Research Center survey, these at-home moms are slightly younger, on average, than moms who work full or part time. They have less formal education and lower household incomes than working mothers. Only 21% of at-home moms are college graduates, compared with 34% of working moms. And, while 37% of at-home moms report an annual household income of less than $30,000, only 20% of working moms fall into this income category.
In addition, at-home moms are more likely than working moms to be Hispanic. In the 2007 survey, 27% of the at-home moms surveyed were Hispanic. This compares with 13% of working moms. African American women are more heavily concentrated among working mothers: 18% of mothers who work full or part time are black, while only 9% of those who don’t work are black.
When asked about the impact the rise in working mothers has had on society, at-home moms have a more critical view than do working moms. A plurality of at-home moms (44%) say the increase in working mothers with young children has been bad for society. Only 22% think this trend has been good for society, and 31% say it hasn’t made much difference. Working mothers are more evenly split on this question: 34% say the trend toward more mothers with young children working has been good for society, 34% say it has been bad for society and 31% say it hasn’t had much of an impact.
At-home moms and working moms also differ in their self-evaluations. When asked to rate the job they are doing as parents on a scale of 0 to 10 (with 10 being the highest), 43% of at-home moms give themselves either a 9 or a 10. Moms who work either full time or part time are harder on themselves — only 33% give themselves a 9 or 10.
The reasons women don’t work are somewhat different from the reasons men don’t work, and for women family is a much more important factor. Among those who are not working and not retired, the most important reasons men give for being unemployed are that they’ve looked and can’t find a job (51% say this is a “big reason”) or that they’ve been laid off or lost their job (37%).
Women who are not working and are not retired are less likely than men to say that being unable to find a job or losing a job are major reasons why they are not working. While 34% of women who are not employed say they are not working because they can’t find a job, more than a quarter (27%) say family or childcare responsibilities is a major reason why they are not working. Only 3% of men who are not employed say this is a major reason they are not working. In addition, women are more than four times as likely as men to say they are not working because their spouse or family doesn’t want them to work (14% vs. 3%).
The Glass Ceiling: Is Family a Factor?
A 2008 Pew Research Center survey explored the reasons why, in spite of their growing presence in the labor force, so few women have risen to the top ranks of American business and politics. Respondents were asked to evaluate a series of potential reasons why there are not more women in top level business positions and high political offices. With regard to business, what’s holding women back, according to the public, are the “old-boy network” and the fact that women haven’t had access to corporate America long enough to rise to the top. Many respondents also said that women’s family responsibilities don’t leave time for running a major corporation. Women themselves were somewhat more likely than men to say this is a major reason why so few top level business positions are held by women (37% vs. 32%).
When asked why there are not more women in high political offices, more than a quarter of the public (27%) said a major reason for this is that women’s responsibilities to family don’t leave time for politics. Other important reasons included that Americans simply aren’t ready to elect a woman to higher office (51% said this is a major reason), women who are active in party politics are held back by men (43%), and women are discriminated against in all areas of life including politics (38%). It’s worth noting that for both business and politics, very few people said that a lack of ability, toughness or experience were major reasons why more women haven’t gotten ahead in these fields.
The Day-to-Day Lives of Working Moms and Dads
What sort of impact does working and raising a family have on the day-to-day lives of mothers? And do working fathers experience the same stresses and strains?
One thing is quite clear — working mothers feel rushed. In a 2005 Pew Research Center survey, respondents were asked how they felt about their time — did they always feel rushed, only sometimes feel rushed or almost never feel rushed. Overall, 24% of the public said they always feel rushed. But working mothers’ lives are much more harried than the average American’s. Four-in-ten working mothers with children under age 18 said they always feel rushed, and another 52% said they sometimes feel rushed. By comparison, 26% of mothers who don’t work outside of the home said they always feel rushed as did 25% of working fathers. Whether mothers worked part time or full time didn’t make a difference: 41% of moms who work full time and 40% of those who work part time said they are constantly feeling rushed.
The 2008 Pew Research Center survey cited above included a question about the level of stress people experience in their daily lives. Relatively few Americans are immune from stress. Nearly three quarters say they experience stress sometimes (36%) or frequently (36%). Another 21% rarely experience stress and 5% say they never do. Women report experiencing somewhat more stress than men, and mothers have higher stress levels than fathers. For mothers, working outside the home does not seem to be correlated with stress. Mothers who stay at home are about as likely to say they frequently feel stressed as those who work full or part time. Working fathers are less likely than working mothers to feel stressed. In fact, 26% of fathers who work either full or part time and have children under age 18 say they rarely or never feel stressed. This compares with only 14% of working mothers.
The good news for working moms is that, although their lives may be chaotic, they are just as happy overall as at-home moms and working dads. In the 2008 Pew Research Center survey, 36% of working moms said they were very happy with their lives. An equal proportion of at-home moms said they were very happy, and 38% of working dads said the same. Similarly, working moms are just as likely as moms who don’t work outside the home to say they are very satisfied with their family life (78% of working moms vs. 75% of at-home moms).
One group of women who are less happy and less satisfied with their family lives is single moms with children under age 18. Only 27% say they are very happy compared with 41% of married moms, and 63% are very satisfied with their family life vs. 85% of moms who are married.
Where Do We Go from Here?
Undoubtedly working mothers will continue to juggle their many responsibilities at work and at home. Most would prefer to work part time but the reality is that relatively few actually have the opportunity to do so. Furthermore, the demands of a tighter labor market may make it even more difficult for women to find jobs that allow for part-time work or flexible schedules.
Working fathers are also juggling more these days than they did in the past. As women have gone into the labor force in greater numbers, men have assumed more responsibilities at home. Research shows that married fathers now spend roughly twice as much time caring for children and doing housework as they did in the 1960s. Women are now spending less time on housework than they were in the 1960s, however they still bear much more of the burden for both housework and child care than do fathers.
For their part, most fathers are content to work full time and few seem to feel conflicted over their competing roles at work and at home. Working women are left to wrestle with the competing demands of work and family. |
For eyeliner, Ms. Dali suggests gently tapping a black eye shadow directly on the lash line (between the eyelashes) with an angled brush. This technique creates a line that opens up the eye without overwhelming it. The same can be said of spare mascara application. “One coat is enough to thicken lashes,” she said.
On the face, go translucent and dewy, not matte. Mattifying foundation can flatten the face because naturally bright places on the face, like the tops of cheekbones, lose their highlighting. Apply foundation only where needed — to red spots, discoloration or hyper-pigmentation.
“Both concealer and foundation should have a sheen to them,” Ms. Dali said. “Yves Saint Laurent Touche Éclat is a lightweight concealer that will attract light to where you apply it. If you have a line, say a smile line that you want to cover, light reflection will blur it.” Look for sheen, not glitter, which would draw more attention to the area.
Liner keeps lipstick in place when lips begin to crinkle. “Most people match their liner to their lipstick or go darker,” Ms. Dali said. “But I like liner to match the color of the lips. Otherwise, it will look like ’90s makeup.”
Intensify for Night
The nighttime face simply builds on the daytime basics. “You can afford to do much more blush at night,” Ms. Dali said. She likes cream blush, which gives the skin a natural flush. Stila Convertible Color goes on transparent but is easily buildable. “Start with two layers for night,” she said. Use your fingers to tap on a thin layer, then repeat. |
A little over 18 months ago I was talking to Stephen Toub (he of the Parallel Computing fame) about parallelism and the kinds of problems it could solve.
I said, naively, "could we solve the million monkey's problem?"
He said, "the what?"
"You know, if you have an infinite number of monkeys and an infinite number of keyboards they will eventually write Shakespeare."
We brainstormed some ideas (since Stephen is a smarter than I, this consisted mostly of him gazing thoughtfully into the air while I sat on my hands) and eventually settled on an genetic algorithm. We would breed thousands of generations of (hypothetical) monkeys a second and then choose which ones would be allowed to perpetuate the species based solely on their ability to write Shakespeare.
We used the .NET 4 Task Parallel Library to make it easier for the algorithm to scale to available hardware. I mean, anyone can foreach over a million monkeys. But loops like that in parallel over 12 processors takes talent, right? Well, kinda. A lot of it is done for you by the Parallelism Features in .NET and that's the point. It's Parallel Processing for the Masses.
We created a WinForms version of this application and I've used it on and off to demonstrate parallel computing on .NET. Then Paul Batum and I went to the Keeping It Realtime conference to demonstrate SignalR this last week. I didn't want to do the same "here's a real-time chat app" or "here's a map that shows its results in real-time" demos that one always does at these kinds of things. I suggested that we port our WinForms Shakespeare Monkey demo to ASP.NET and SignalR and that's what Paul proceeded to do.
When doing something that is crazy computationally intensive but also needs to return real-time results you might think to use node for the real-time notification part and perhaps spawn off another process and use C or something for the maths and then have them talk to each others. We like node and you can totally run node on IIS or even write node in WebMatrix. However, node is good at some things and .NET is good at some things.
For example, .NET is really good at CPU-bound computationally intensive stuff, like, I dunno, parallel matrix multiplication in F# or the like. ASP.NET is good at scaling web sites like Bing, or StackOverflow. You may not think IIS and ASP.NET when you think about real-time, but SignalR uses asynchronous handlers and smart techniques to get awesome scale when using long-polling and scales even more in our labs when using an efficient protocol like WebSockets with the new support for WebSockets in .NET 4.5.
So, we wanted to see if you combined asynchronous background work, use as many processors as you have, get real-time status updates via SignalR over long-polling or Web Sockets, using C#, .NET 4.5, ASP.NET and IIS.
It takes about 80,000 generations of monkeys at thousands of monkey generations a second (there's 200 monkeys per generation) to get the opening line of Hamlet. So that's ~16,000,000 monkeys just to get this much text. As they say, that's a lot of monkeys.
Here's the general idea of the app. The client is pretty lightweight and quite easy. There's two boxes, two buttons and a checkbox along side some text. There's some usual event wireup with started, cancelled, complete, and updateProgress, but see how those are on a monkey variable? That's from $.connection.monkeys. It could be $.connection.foo, of course, as long as it's hanging off $.connection.
Those functions are client side but we raise them from the server over the persistent connection then update some text.
The magic start with $.connection.hub.start. The hub client-side code is actually inside ~/signalr/hubs. See how that's include a the top? That client-side proxy is generated based on what hub or hubs are on the server side.
The server side is structured like this:
The StartTyping and StopTyping .NET methods are callable from the client-side via the monkeys JavaScript object. So you can call server-side C# from the client-side JavaScript and from the C# server you can call methods in JavaScript on the client. It'll make the most sense if you debug it and watch the traffic on the wire. The point is that C# and Json objects can flow back and forth which blurs the line nicely between client and server. It's all convention over configuration. That's how we talk between client and server. Now, what about those monkeys?
You can check out the code in full, but StartTyping is the kick off point. Note how it's reporting back to the Hub (calling back to the client) constantly. Paul is using Hub.GetClients to talk to all connected clients as broadcast. This current implementation allows just one monkey job at a time. Other clients that connect will see the job in progress.
If he wanted, he could use this.Caller to communicate with the specific client that called StartTyping. Inside ga.MoveNext we make the decision to go parallel or not based on that checkbox. This is where we pick two random high quality parent monkeys from our population for a potential future monkey. Hopefully one whose typing looks more like Shakespeare and less like a Regular Expression.
By simply changing from Enumerable.Range to ParallelEnumerable.Range we can start taking easily parallelizable things and using all the processors on our machine. Note the code is the same otherwise.
My 12 proc desktop does about 3800 generations a second in parallel.
Big thanks to Paul for the lovely port of this to SignalR and to Stephen Toub for the algorithm.
The code for the SignalR monkeys demo is on my BitBucket. Right now it needs .NET 4.5 and the Visual Studio Developer Preview, but you could remove a few lines and get it working on .NET 4, no problem.
Note that that SignalR works on .NET 4 and up and you can play with it today. You can even chat with the developers in the SignalR chat app in the 'aspnet' room at http://chatapp.apphb.com. Just /nick yourself then /join aspnet.
No monkeys were hurt in the writing of this blog post. |
Judge Richard Berman's ruling this morning in Brady v. NFL confirms NFL owners' greatest fears. Even though the league negotiated to have their own employee, Roger Goodell, resolve all internal disputes involving player discipline, Goodell's decision to suspend Tom Brady was overturned because Goodell failed to follow the basic rudiments of internal due process as proscribed by the NFL's own collective bargaining agreement. Among other things, Judge Berman found Goodell failed to provide Tom Brady with proper notice or the opportunity to cross-examine pertinent witnesses.
Today's ruling now marks four straight times that an outside arbitrator has overturned an attempt by Goodell to punish a player, even under the extremely deferential standard that Congress provides to arbitrators under the Federal Arbitration Act.
By ruling to overturn Brady's four-game suspension for his role in DeflateGate even under this highly deferential standard, the ruling necessarily indicates that the court found Goodell's decision in arbitrating the matter to be either arbitrary, capricious, or fundamentally unfair. It is rare that an arbitrator gets overturned once on these grounds. It's nearly unheard of when it happens on four straight occasions.
Indeed, the reversal of a players' discipline is not an isolated event for the NFL under Roger Goodell's leadership. It is a pattern that has become well-established, to the point that when Goodell attempts to implement discipline, one can only wonder how many minutes it will take before Jeffrey Kessler and the other lawyers from the NFLPA challenge the many missteps along the way.
Before today, three neutral arbitrators had already overturned NFL player discipline based on the overreaching conduct of the NFL Commissioner's office. In the case of running back Adrian Peterson, his definite suspension by the NFL was ultimately overturned by Judge David Doty of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota as being "arbitrary and capricious." There, Goodell sympathizers have already played off their reversal in Peterson as being symptomatic of a purportedly union friendly judge in David Doty.
In the Ray Rice case, his suspension was likewise overturned on much the same grounds by Barbara S. Jones -- a neutrally appointed arbitrator and a former federal judge. The NFL, however, played off that loss too as a unique set of circumstances.
Meanwhile in Bountygate even the former NFL commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, determined that Roger Goodell and his fellow league officers failed to follow a proper process in effectuating player discipline -- a reversal that Goodell simply treated as wrong.
However, today's ruling in Brady v. NFL represents the fourth consenting voice with respect to the argument that the NFL under Roger Goodell cannot even follow its own internal processes.
Today's ruling is not likely to lead to the termination of Roger Goodell as NFL commissioner -- the owners still seem to love him. But, to the public, it should consecrate his legacy as a failed 'personal conduct' czar.
For a league that purports to be in complete control of all football-related activities, this may feel just as bad.
__________________________
Marc Edelman is an Associate Professor of Law at the City University of New York’s Baruch College, Zicklin School of Business, where he has written 30 law review articles including, "Are Commissioner Suspensions Any Different from Illegal Group Boycotts." He also is an attorney and consultant for companies in the sports, online gaming, and social media industries. Nothing contained in this article should be construed as legal advice. Follow him on twitter @MarcEdelman |
Despite putting Iran "on notice" and generally promoting a hawkish line toward that country, President Donald Trump is reportedly engaged in an Azerbaijan business deal with an oligarchic family that has ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
According the financial filings submitted by Trump's presidential campaign to the Federal Election Commission, Trump is the president of two entities that were created as part of a project to build the Trump International Hotel & Tower Baku, which never opened. Their partner, Garant Holding, is controlled by Anar Mammadov, the son of the nation's billionaire oligarch and transportation minister Ziya Mammadov. The Mammadovs are so notorious for their corruption that Foreign Policy assigned them the nickname of "The Corleones of the Caspian."
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The Mammadovs also have close financial ties to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to a New Yorker report Monday. The Revolutionary Guard has been repeatedly accused by the American government of criminal activities ranging from sponsoring terrorism and drug trafficking to money laundering. The Trump administration even proposed last month that the Revolutionary Guard be designated as a terrorist organization.
The Mammadovs have multiple connections to the Revolutionary Guard.
In 2008, as transportation minister, Ziya Mammadov gave a number of multimillion-dollar contracts to an Iranian construction company that political scientist Mehrzad Boroujerdi of Syracuse University described as a "front organization for the Revolutionary Guard." In 2010 WikiLeaks released American diplomatic cables that included a reference to the links between the Mammadovs and the Revolutionary Guard. Ziya Mammadov has established close financial ties to an Iranian family known as the Darvishis, three of whose members are known to be associates of the Revolutionary Guard.
Multiple experts who spoke to The New Yorker insisted that any competent risk assessment would have noticed the Mammadov's connection to the Revolutionary Guard and brought it to the Trump Organization's attention. According to the 1977 Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, it is illegal for American companies to derive financial profit or preferential treatment by rewarding foreign government officials. Companies are required to take reasonable precautions like risk assessments so they can't plead ignorance if such corruption comes to light. |
More than a tenth of the City’s business is now bound to go, but how much worse could things get?
This opinion piece was also published in Prospect Magazine UK
“Just left Frankfurt. Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it. Good, because I’ll be spending a lot more time there. #Brexit.” Thus tweeted Lloyd Blankfein, chief executive of Goldman Sachs, on October 19. It was the first time a major US financial services firm had signalled a shift of its European operations away from London in this way: not as a decision conditional on future developments, but as an established fact of business life. It was the first, but presumably not the last.
Just left Frankfurt. Great meetings, great weather, really enjoyed it. Good, because I’ll be spending a lot more time there. #Brexit.
It is too late to hope that the City of London, by many measures the world’s leading financial centre and an economic engine for both the UK and Europe, could emerge unscathed from Brexit. The City, which generates tens of billions of pounds each year in tax revenues, will suffer relative both to its competitors and to how it would have performed without Brexit – and probably in absolute terms as well. Harm is now unavoidable. The UK is suffering from heightened risk, and the vagaries of its politics since the Brexit vote – including the unexpected outcome of this year’s election – have reinforced that perception. There is no status-quo scenario: even if the UK were somehow to remain in the European Union after all, that would be disruptive too.
By contrast, since June 2016, the perception of political risk has decreased sharply in the EU27, and the continent is also enjoying a robust economic recovery. The UK domino has fallen alone; no other member state wants to leave the EU. Emmanuel Macron’s presidential election victory in France has put an end to short-term worries about the integrity of the euro area. Other elections have yielded broadly reassuring results. Even the fiasco of former Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi’s lost referendum on constitutional reform last December has not been disastrous. None of the numerous political challenges of the moment, including in Catalonia, Greece, Italy, Hungary, Poland and elsewhere, are widely perceived as threatening for EU integration or the euro. The EU27 remains exposed to external hazards – geopolitics, the oil price, a surge of refugees – but its major risks are no longer home-grown.
More than that, the EU’s ability to weather the pressures of the euro crisis, the 2015 migration crisis, and the Brexit vote has left it stronger. As political philosopher Ivan Krastev notes in his 2017 book After Europe: “It’s quite possible that European publics will become more confident about the EU not because it’s become better but simply because it has survived.” Resilience confers legitimacy. In the euro area, the unfinished banking union adds to the sense of cohesiveness. Supervision by the European Central Bank was a reason cited by Nordea, the largest bank in the Nordic countries, when it announced in September that it would move its headquarters from Stockholm (outside the euro area) to Helsinki.
The balance of political risk has shifted. Moving business from the UK to the EU27 no longer implies an increase in uncertainty. When Liam Fox, the UK’s international trade secretary, responded to Blankfein’s tweet by asserting that “money will go where money can be made, money can be moved, and money can be removed—that is a function of law and that is why London will remain pre-eminent,” it sounded debatable rather than self-evident. Given the likelihood that the UK will leave the single market, the default plan for most international financial firms will be to serve EU27 clients from an EU27 location. The implications vary among firms, but an estimated 15-25% of the City’s business is tied to EU27 clients in a way that makes it likely to cross the Channel (or the Irish Sea).
Any countervailing effects, where Brexit helps the City to win business, will be considerably smaller. The bonfire of EU financial regulations will be smouldering at best – it is not clear which rules the UK will want to repeal in this area. Liberalising bankers’ bonuses could make sense, but would not go down well with the British public. It is equally doubtful that London could substitute new financial business for lost European trades. In past decades, the City has successfully wooed clients from Asia, Russia, the Middle East, the Americas and elsewhere. How could Brexit win more of that already high market share? Not through lower prices, which are not a driver of clients’ choices. Not through enhanced British soft power or international connectivity either, which have already been impaired since the referendum, and could deteriorate much further.
Some UK firms may stay, out of patriotism – but many home-grown firms and nearly all foreign-held ones will not be sentimental. If moving jobs and client relationships to the EU27 is what business logic suggests, it will happen. The US firms at the core of the City’s activity are also the most ruthlessly business-driven. Their employees’ fondness for London will count for little if clients are best served from Frankfurt, Dublin or Amsterdam. Blankfein made no mystery of the order of Goldman Sachs’s priorities.
The City’s Brexit-inflicted damage over the next decade or so will amount to a significant slice, certainly more than a 10% drop in business. But how much worse could it get? That will depend on three interrelated factors: the UK’s openness to foreigners, the actual sequence and outcome of Brexit, and the competition from outside.
First is whether the UK will embrace the world or retreat from it – Global Britain or Little England? The City is critically dependent on foreign talent. It will be asphyxiated if the UK closes itself off. But there is also little doubt that a desire to reduce inward migration played a major role in the Brexit vote. As for trade and the economy, Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, stated the obvious when he noted in a September speech at the International Monetary Fund that Brexit “will be, at least for a period of time, an example of de-globalisation not globalisation.”
Can the UK pivot from there to greater openness? Or is it condemned, as John le Carré put it, to become “England all alone, a citizen of nowhere”? Even in the very short term, can the freedom of movement inherent in the EU internal market be maintained during the post-Brexit transition period – if there is one – or would such a proposition trigger a major political crisis? At Mansion House on June 20, Philip Hammond, the UK Chancellor, bravely talked of Britain pushing “for a new phase of globalisation,” a Globalisation 2.0 that would be based on trade in services and not only goods. How Brexit could possibly catalyse this transformation is uncertain.
Second, the City’s future will depend on whether the UK crashes out of the EU without any agreement, leaves the single market in an orderly way, or doesn’t leave it at all. This in turn will be largely determined by Britain’s attitude to the outside world. A “no-deal” exit would be akin to a selective default, and immensely detrimental to the UK’s reputation as a safe place for doing business. Should that happen, the City will remain the hub for domestic finance in the UK, but most of its international activity will leave and not return.
If the exit from the single market happens smoothly and yields a relationship with the EU based on a new treaty – the stated aim of UK-EU negotiations – the framework for financial services is likely to be comparable to the current EU-US arrangements: a web of supervisory relationships, including mutual recognition of rules, but on a case-by-case basis. This implies the permanent loss of most of the City’s EU27-related business. Achieving a tighter, treaty-based relationship would entail improbably squaring a circle that trade negotiators have struggled with for decades. Financial regulation is largely driven by concerns about stability and systemic risk, which cannot be entrusted to a foreign jurisdiction, no matter how close and well-intentioned.
The most favourable Brexit scenarios for the City are those in which the UK never leaves the single market. These come in three varieties. The UK could remain in the EU, following a dramatic political shift. Time is now short for this, and it would probably be highly divisive. Even if there were a second referendum with a majority vote for “Remain,” Brexit would become the thwarted aspiration of a significant share of politicians and the public, which would bring yet more uncertainty. Alternatively, the UK could leave the EU and remain indefinitely outside it while still in the single market. A new government could decide, during a post-2019 transition period, with temporary single market membership, to make that status permanent, as it is with Iceland or Norway. Here too, uncertainty about a future change of status would persist, as it is unlikely that the UK would be satisfied with becoming a permanent subject of rules made in its absence in Brussels. Finally, the UK could leave the EU (though not the single market), and then re-enter it. In that case, the City may hope to recover some of the EU27-related business it would have lost in the intervening years. How much will depend on the political and economic conditions of the moment, which are evidently difficult to assess given that scenario’s current remoteness.
Third and finally, the City’s success could depend on its rivals. New York’s international activity may prosper from Trumpian deregulation, or shrink if there is another systemic crisis. Asia’s financial centres may cut their current dependency on the West, or fail to realise their full potential because of the region’s unresolved geopolitical and governance challenges. Closer to home, the EU27 may become a fierce competitor thanks to its ongoing supervisory integration and the critical mass of its internal market, or fall to its old demons of fragmentation and mercantilism.
To speak the language of financiers, Brexit has no net upside for the City, only net downsides. For the UK economy more broadly, things are more nuanced. Some re-balancing can be expected. As Charles Goodhart of the London School of Economics has noted, advanced manufacturing is unlikely to benefit, given its dependency on complex supply chains. Brexit, by erecting barriers, will negatively impact the UK’s position in those chains. But other services sectors could benefit from the spare capacity freed up by the City’s losses, in terms of available workforce and real estate, and from a devalued currency. If so, then London could grow ever-more dominant in the UK economy, even as it becomes less central to the European and global financial system. Given the political drivers of Brexit, and the geographical patterns of voting in the referendum, this would be somewhat ironic. |
This past weekend I spent a day in the Wrigley Field bleachers. The sun was beating down, the beer was flowing, and I was sitting next to my favorite person. Then a harsh realization hit me like a ton of bricks: I’ve peaked as a sports fan. No matter what happens in the future, whether I witness the Jayhawks cut the nets, the Blackhawks raise another cup, the Cubs win another World Series, or all of those things in the same year, it will never be as good as November 2nd, 2016.
As I sat in the bleachers that day a few beers deep, I watched the pump up video before the game started. There were highlights from the past century: big hits, big strikeouts, and big wins, all culminating in the last out of the 2016 World Series. Even though this was probably the 3076th time I’ve seen this moment, it still put a gigantic smile on my face. As I sat there with a shit eating grin on my face I wondered to myself, what could ever do this to me again? There is no drought to be ended, no championship I haven’t seen outside of a Super Bowl, but even that is nowhere near the magnitude of a 108 year absence from relevance.
(Photo Credit: Chicago Tribune)
No matter how hard I tried to ignore them, I always had to deal with jabs of, “how many years has it been since the Cubs won a World Series?” or “talk to me when the Cubs do anything.” These quips have haunted my life as long as I can remember and in an instant, they were all washed away. When Bryant threw the last out to Anthony Rizzo, it was more than just a championship, it was a new beginning. No longer would I have to deal with being the laughing stock of the MLB, now I have to deal with being the top dog. However, these things all come with a price. The Cubs have been off to a subpar start this year and I am constantly reminded of it. I cannot have a baseball discussion with anyone without them reminding me of how Kyle Schwarber is batting sub .200 or that the pitchers keep getting rocked early and the team has to play catch-up and usually falls short. If another person brings up their current record to me I am going to lose my shit. Overall, my finger is still comfortably far away from the panic button. There’s no need. I trust this team until they give me a reason not to.
Whether they win another World Series or fall short is a moot point though. Sure, I would obviously love another championship, but it will never come close to the sheer ecstasy of the first. When I dropped to my knees onto that beer soaked floor in a local Wrigleyville establishment, getting various alcoholic beverages poured on my head while simultaneously getting hugs from all my closest friends with tears in my eyes, I had no idea how this moment would affect me as a sports fan. I still consume sports everyday and root with my whole heart and I still feel absolutely crushed when a team falls short (I.E. Kansas losing to Oregon in the Elite 8). Therein lies the problem of the Cubs finally breaking the curse, the lows will be as low as they always have been, but the highs will never be the same. |
Despite the obstacles put in front of him, Rayo Vallecano manager Paco Jemez demonstrates year after year that if you are true to your ideas, you are likely to be recompensated for them eventually. This season, for the umpteenth time, the Canary Islander received a lot of critics at the start of the season because of his daring style of play. However, the statistics continue to back up a manager who has to start from zero at the start of each season.
Toni Juanmarti
Rayo Vallecano are on a seven game unbeaten run. It may not have anything to do with it, but the team has improved since it was eliminated from the Copa del Rey…
It’s not a coincidence. In football, those who believe in coincidences don’t have any idea. You have to keep in mind that we are a small team. It’s no harm to have two competitions, but we had injuries and it was a small problem trying to balance the two. Still, to progress in the Copa would have been a pleasure, but it’s true we may have suffered more in La Liga.
Each season your team seems to specialise in finishing strongly - what’s that down to?
Each year we have 15 or 16 new players. It’s as if we are starting from zero. We get going later than other clubs because we need a certain amount of time for the new players to adapt to the mechanics of the club. The club has to improve in this sense. It [would be more] normal to change four or five players and to maintain the majority of the squad, to have continuity…
Your team has conceded the most goals in La Liga, but no-one above ninth has scored more…
We play football. Our way of playing is to be happy and to try and score goals. That doesn’t have to mean that we receive more goals than others, but, yes, we are true to our idea and to to our fans.
Without doubt, your style of play is attractive for supporters.
Some people forget that, in the end, this [football] is a spectacle.
It’s tight at the bottom - would you sign now to have your future in play in the final game against Levante at home?
Our obligation is stay up. And my team is prepared for everything. We only got 15 points in the first half of the season - now we are OK. But the deficit of points means we need to go on another good run to save ourselves in advance [of the Levante game].
Barça play Sporting, Betis and Espanyol in the final weeks - would you prefer it that title race remains open?
Barça have the obligation to compete in all their games. If not, it would committing adultery on La Liga. But I don’t want to speculate.
Thursday’s game against Barça - is it an extra motivation to break their unbeaten run?
Hombre, all teams are going to try! They are the best team in the world and no-one’s able to get their hands on them. Hardly anyone counts on these three points, so to get them would be a plus.
This Barça is lethal on the counter. Is it best to wait for them further back?
I don’t know. But we are going to play like always. I don’t plan to change absolutely anything.
From distance, what do you make of Real Madrid’s delicate situation?
From outside it’s hard to know what’s going on. I don’t know the details, but it’s clear they’re not reaching their objectives.
Will it benefit them in the Champions League to be out of the title race?
I don’t think so. It’s a team that has to compete for everything and they’ve already left two trophies behind. I’m sure they’d want to be fighting for La Liga.
Messi said that the relationship between the players helps on the pitch. In exchange, Cristiano Ronaldo doesn’t agree…
Each person needs certain things, we are all different. There are some who need bond, go to dinners… others, maybe not, but on the pitch everyone wants the same things.
So you don’t want to stick your neck out…
It’s that there’s no absolute truth, each person has their own way.
Finally, will this Barça side win until Messi gets tired?
Uy! I’m a really bad fortune-teller [laughs]. Messi still has years ahead of him. And after him, I don’t know if there will be another Messi. For the moment, Barça have to enjoy the one that they have, even though it’s clear everything comes to an end. |
Druckenmiller is a legendary investor, and protégé of George Soros, who compounded capital ~30% annualized since 1986 before announcing in 2010 that his Duquesne fund would return all outside investor capital, and morph into a family office.
Many of our Readers reside in the House of Value, but I believe that value investors can learn from those with more trading-oriented or macro philosophies – especially in terms of volatility considerations, trade structuring, and capital preservation.
The following portfolio management highlights were extracted from an interview with Stanley Druckenmmiller in Jack D. Schwager’s book The New Market Wizards. Be sure to check out Part 2 & Part 3.
Trackrecord, Capital Preservation, Compounding, Exposure
“Q: Your long-term performance has far surpassed the industry average. To what do you attribute your superior track record?
A: George Soros has a philosophy that I have also adopted: he way to build long-term returns is through preservation of capital and home runs. You can be far more aggressive when you’re making good profits. Many managers, once they’re up 30 or 40 percents, will book their year [i.e., trade very cautiously for the remainder of the year so as not to jeopardize the very good return that has already been realized]. The way to attain truly superior long-term returns is to grind it out until you’re up 30 or 40 percent, and then if you have the convictions, go for a 100 percent year. If you can put together a few near-100 percent years and avoid down years, then you can achieve really outstanding long-term returns.”
“Many managers will book their profits when they’re up a lot early in the year. It’s my philosophy, which has been reinforced by Mr. Soros, that when you earn the right to be aggressive, you should be aggressive. The years that you start off with a large gain are the times that you should go for it. Since I was well ahead for the year, I felt that I could afford to fight the market for a while. I knew the bull market had to end, I just didn’t know when. Also, because of the market’s severe overvaluation, I thought that when the bull market did end, it was going to be dramatic.”
We’ve discussed the importance of capital preservation, and its complementary relationship to long-term compounding. Here is Drunkenmiller’s well-articulated version of the same concept…plus a fascinating twist.
As dictated by the Rules of the Game, the scorecard in the investment management world is your trackrecord in the form of calendar year returns. The concept of earning the “right to be aggressive” in certain calendar years echoes in my mind like a siren song, so dangerous yet utterly irresistible.
Most traditional value investors would not dare dream of enacting such a brazen act. But, if you keep an open mind to ponder and digest, it makes a lot of sense.
UPDATE: One Reader (and friend who is very very bright) suggested that the genius behind the “right to be aggressive” derives from its utter contradiction of traditional value doctrine. Buffett and Munger would say wait for an opportunity and then be aggressive. Druckenmiller’s effectively saying that he doesn’t think you can ever truly know when it’s a great time….so you wait until you know something for a fact: that you are having a good year.
Expected Return, Opportunity Cost
“…an attractive yield should be the last reason for buying bonds. In 1981 the public sold bonds heavily giving up a 15 percent return for thirty years because they couldn’t resist 21 percent short-term yields. They weren’t thinking about the long term. Now, because money market rates are only 4.5 percent, the same poor public is back buying bonds, effectively lending money at 7.5 percent for thirty years…”
Sadly the situation has deteriorated further. Today, money markets yield ~0% and thirty year bonds pay ~3%.
It’s important to remember that portfolio expected return should not be determined solely based upon returns available today, but also opportunities around the corner, not yet visible. This is what makes opportunity cost so difficult to determine – it’s often a gut judgment call that involves predicting the availability of future expected returns.
Team Management
On working with George Soros:
“The first six months of the relationship were fairly rocky. While we had similar trading philosophies, our strategies never meshed. When I started out, he was going to be the coach – and he was an aggressive coach. In my opinion, Gorge Soros is the greatest investor that ever lived. But even being coached by the worlds greatest investor is a hindrance rather than help if he’s engaging you actively enough to break your trading rhythm. You just can’t have two cooks in the kitchen; it doesn’t work. Part of it was my fault because he would make recommendations and I would be intimidated. After all, how do you disagree with a man with a track record like his?
Events came to a head in August 1989 when Soros old out a bond position that I had put on. He had never done that before. To make matters worse, I really had a strong conviction on the trade. Needless to say, I was fairly upset. At that point, we had our first let-it-all-out discussion…Basically, Soros decided that he was going to stay out of m hair for six months.” |
We intermarried Jews are breeding like crazy.
The Israel-born actress Natalie (Hershlag) Portman, who is engaged to French dancer Benjamin Millepied, apparently just gave birth to a boy.
Since Portman has said in previous interviews that she planned to raise her children as Jews, I’m assuming this one belongs to the Tribe. Who knows? Maybe she’ll even decide to invite over that Monster Mohel featured recently in the disturbingly anti-Semitic “Foreskin Man” comic circulated by California’s anti-circumcision “intactivists.”
Then there is Anthony Weiner. Among other tidbits to emerge from the past week and a half’s round-the-clock Weinergate is that the congressman’s Muslim wife, Huma Abedin, is in the early stages of pregnancy. And presumably he is the father, unless in some dramatic twist of the whole aggrieved/betrayed wife scenario, he is not.
I’m not expecting this child to be raised Jewish: from what I’ve read, Abedin is more religious than Weiner (he has been known to fast during Ramadan as a way of showing support for her). Plus, after publicly humiliating her with his Twitter antics, and facing the prospect of imminent unemployment, he doesn’t have a whole lot of “we must raise the children in my religion” bargaining power.
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I’ve found the intermarriage buzz that’s emerged from Weinergate to be somewhat interesting: a number of people speculating that his decision to marry a Muslim was a sign of Jewish self-hatred or at least Jewish woman hatred. While I have no great sympathy for Weiner, I think that’s a bit of a stretch. Yes, he made an offensive (and, post-Monica Lewinsky, not even particularly resonant) joke in a Twitter direct message implying he does not generally consider Jewish women to be talented practitioners of a certain sexual act. But I think it’s a mistake to read a great deal of meaning into the content of idle (and stupid) flirtatious chatter.
And there’s one other intermarried Jewish parent in the news: Village Voice film editor Allison Benedikt, whose “Life After Zionist Summer Camp” essay on The Awl is getting a lot of attention.
I’m not impressed by the piece — which seems to document her journey from brainwashed American Jewish Zionist (her Wisconsin camp is never named but looks to be Camp Young Judaea Midwest) to brainwashed American Jewish anti-Zionist. It feels more like an unthinking emptying-out of her diary than an actual essay. Some of the images and details she uses are evocative, and there are certainly plenty of troubling things about Israel that she could have grappled with. But the problem is that the piece strings together a lot of details without fully explaining, connecting or analyzing — the author hints at, but doesn’t elucidate or even intelligently articulate, her reasons for turning against Israel, and some segments/critiques don’t even make much sense. (Why is it bad that Israeli soldiers manning a checkpoint are friendly, telling her they are originally from Jersey?)
The funny thing is that while she describes her Young Judaea experience as mindlessly pro-Israel bordering on fascist, most Young Judaeans I’ve encountered over the years have actually emerged quite thoughtful about Israel, many choosing to support and work for progressive causes there.
This being a blog about intermarriage, I suppose it is worth noting that the catalyst for Benedikt’s transformation seems to be her anti-Israel and generally unpleasant-sounding non-Jewish boyfriend-turned-husband John, who picks fights with her parents and, while visiting Benedikt’s sister in Israel, berates her and her husband for the “morally bankrupt decision” to live there.
Indeed, the only positive things John will acknowledge about Israel is that the food is delicious and the women “hot.” (An interesting contrast to Anthony Weiner who is hawkishly pro-Israel yet doesn’t find Jewesses sexy.)
Benedikt says she and John now have two children who they are raising as Jews, but who will “never, ever” get sent to Zionist sleep-away camp.
Don’t worry, Young Judea. Maybe Natalie Portman’s son will come to your camp.
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Lyndy Redding is the managing director, part-owner and founder of Absolute Taste, a catering company that is majority-owned by the McLaren Group, which also owns the McLaren Mercedes Formula One team. Redding, who is British, graduated from the Tante Marie School of Cookery in England, of which she is now a part owner with the chef Gordon Ramsey. At the 1989 Monaco Grand Prix, she worked as a caterer on a yacht for the Leyton House team, which hired her as a chef the following year. She later worked as a caterer to McLaren, and in 1997 founded Absolute Taste with Ron Dennis, the McLaren owner, to cater to the team and in other areas. Absolute Taste has grown into a company of 320 employees, serving McLaren at races and the staff at the team factory. It also caters major events, such as serving corporate guests at the London Olympics in August, and services companies and private jets. The Monaco Grand Prix is Formula One’s biggest guest and VIP event, and Absolute Taste will cater not only to the McLaren team, but to six yachts and the VIPs at all team lodges above the garages. Redding spoke to Brad Spurgeon of the International Herald Tribune.
Q. What does the Monaco Grand Prix represent for you?
A. This is my 24th Monaco in a row, except for one, when I had a baby. Of all the Grands Prix, it is the one that has probably changed the least, because the security around the other races has changed. But Monaco, because it is still so accessible in between the track sessions and when the roads are open, is not hugely dissimilar to the early days, apart from the new pits. There is an experience, a feeling that I think everyone must feel, at the end of the race, when all the fog horns get blown on all the boats, and it’s over — it’s just a mega feeling. And I still get a bit of goose pimples — “Oh my goodness!”
We have the normal operation here, we look after the team, but it is even bigger because all of our partners, all their board members come, we have all of the CEOs of pretty much all of our partners. So everybody is on edge, everyone is there wanting to have fun but pretty much everybody has a job to do. The Singapore and Abu Dhabi races are right up there, but Monaco still has that extra pizzazz.
Q. How long is the work day for the catering staff?
A. Monaco is really long. It depends what day it is, but the longest day at most races is probably Friday. It starts at 6 a.m., doing breakfasts — we’re open from around 7 and we close near 11 p.m. or later, with a sponsor dinner. But in Monaco we do the lodges, we do the McLaren apartment, we are doing six boats this year. The boat crews and the way the boats are designed they are used to looking after 12 or 24 passengers, but for the Monaco Grand Prix they will have a party for 60, a lunch for 40, and with their kitchens and staff they just cannot do it, as well as doing the breakfast and rooms and general crew catering. From the U.K., we bring about 18 people for the team and 80 people to come to do other work.
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Q. For the team, you have a kitchen in the motor home, or Brand Center, but for the rest— the lodges and the boats — what do you do?
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A. The whole scenario of our world in Monaco is so bizarre. We have a kitchen on the Rascasse corner, so as you are coming around, underneath the lodge — just before the Rascasse — is the marquis, and that is our kitchen. So when you’ve got the cars going around, I’ve got 30 people in that kitchen chopping away. No one phones in because it is just so noisy. And when we do the deliveries to the boats, the food goes out the back, the tenders come up, a couple of guys go out with the food and go on the tenders to deliver to the boats.
Q. How does your operation differ from a normal catering service or restaurant?
A. When I am recruiting for the staff it has to be a certain kind of person. It can’t be that sort of, “This is the way I do it and no one will tell me otherwise.” We never say “no” to people. No one pays for their food here. Money doesn’t talk. It is just pretty much whatever anyone wants when they want it. |
Critics and film fans alike are wont to bandy the term auteur around, applying it to artists who don’t really deserve the accolade. Personally, I think Takashi Miike is one director who warrants the title. His idiosyncratic career, having taken in all manner of offbeat movies in a range of genres, shows us that, despite generally working from the scripts of others and also being something of a Journeyman in so far as he will tackle commercial projects, teen movies, mainstream horror and money spinning Yakuza yarns, Miike always turns the script in front of him into a Miike movie.
In Miike movies, Yakuzas are prone to being paranoid about small dogs to the point of violence and women give birth to fully grown men (both Gozu). Taboos are shattered, violence is extreme, often perverse and memorably unpleasant. Beautiful ingenues can be psychotic killers armed with foot removing cheesewire (Audition) and Zombies do song and dance numbers (Happiness of the Katakuris). I sometimes think that, unfairly, Western audiences come to his films looking for the shock, whether that be of the new or the repulsive, and forget about his skills as a storyteller and purveyor of onscreen action.
Many reviewers are rightly hailing Miike’s latest 13 Assassins as his most accessible and commercial venture to date. It’s certainly true that it’s a film you can put on for friends who maybe don’t share the same prediliction for Asian weirdness that you do without any nagging worries that a lactating middle aged women will pop up and starting flooding the kitchen (Visitor Q). The film is also a brilliant example, into it’s second half, of how to create a sustained action sequence that never lets up. Aside from those who stubbonly abstain from subtitles, anyone who enjoys cinematic escapism and sword based excitement will be in their oils here.
The problem is, the other side of the coin is the accusation that some kind of sell out has taken place. This is a nonsense. Miike has always tackled commercial projects, including family friendly fantasy movies, it’s just that 13 Assassins smoothes out the eccentricities and focuses on creating an exciting adventure film. There is one trademark shot towards the beginning that gives the director away to anyone with even a passing interest in Japanese movies, it’s almost a knowing wink to fans and I won’t give it away but it’s there (It reminded me a little of Imprint for any Miike fans on the look out). Aside from that, this is Takashi Miike as filmmaker with a tale to tell and he serves the story. Some old school fans will miss the wilder aspects of his catalogue but it also means other people will hear of an extraordinary director with a vast filmography to explore.
But wait a minute… This is Takashi Miike we’re talking about. Doubtless the pendulum will swing the other way and a new cross-dressing Yakuza Vampire musicial with Spaghetti Western overtones will be next. I hope so, but I also hope Miike gets more bigger budgets and continues to also create on a broader canvas.
AUTEUR THEORY EXPLAINED @WIKIPEDIA |
Khedira: "Playing for Juve is an honour"
DFB.de: You were at Real for a number of years. Did that make leaving easier or harder?
Khedira: The situation is similar to the one that faced me when I moved to Madrid. I don’t have much time to see the city but I’m looking forward to having a bit more freedom soon. The lads have given me a few tips already. It wasn’t too difficult to adapt to be honest – I already knew some of the guys and I played with Álvaro Morata at Real. There are plenty of parallels – the clubs are family oriented. Everyone helps each other, which I think helps contribute to success.
DFB.de: What are your first thoughts on Turin? And has settling in been easy?
Khedira: Juve is a fantastic club. There’s a lot of tradition here but also a promising future. They are among the best sides in Europe for a reason. I’m confident that we’ll be able to challenge for big titles here.
Sami Khedira: They’re both big clubs – just looking at past players and previous successes tells you that. Haller, Platini, Zidane, Nedved, Del Piero, Baggio and Pirlo have all been here. It’s an honour to be here. There are obviously some differences but they aren’t that big to be honest. It probably helps that I worked with Carlo Ancelotti in Madrid so I know how Italian coaches operate.
DFB.de: Mr. Khedira, what are the similarities and differences between Real Madrid and Juventus?
After five years with Real Madrid, World Cup winner Sami Khedira moved to Italy this summer to join Juventus. Having made his competitive debut for the club in the Champions League this week, he could feature in Serie A for the first time this evening (18:00 CEST). DFB.de spoke to the 28-year-old about leaving Spain, his new life in Italy and the future.
After five years with Real Madrid, World Cup winner Sami Khedira moved to Italy this summer to join Juventus. Having made his competitive debut for the club in the Champions League this week, he could feature in Serie A for the first time this evening (18:00 CEST). DFB.de spoke to the 28-year-old about leaving Spain, his new life in Italy and the future.
DFB.de: Mr. Khedira, what are the similarities and differences between Real Madrid and Juventus?
Sami Khedira: They’re both big clubs – just looking at past players and previous successes tells you that. Haller, Platini, Zidane, Nedved, Del Piero, Baggio and Pirlo have all been here. It’s an honour to be here. There are obviously some differences but they aren’t that big to be honest. It probably helps that I worked with Carlo Ancelotti in Madrid so I know how Italian coaches operate.
DFB.de: Why did you choose to join Juve?
Khedira: Juve is a fantastic club. There’s a lot of tradition here but also a promising future. They are among the best sides in Europe for a reason. I’m confident that we’ll be able to challenge for big titles here.
DFB.de: What are your first thoughts on Turin? And has settling in been easy?
Khedira: The situation is similar to the one that faced me when I moved to Madrid. I don’t have much time to see the city but I’m looking forward to having a bit more freedom soon. The lads have given me a few tips already. It wasn’t too difficult to adapt to be honest – I already knew some of the guys and I played with Álvaro Morata at Real. There are plenty of parallels – the clubs are family oriented. Everyone helps each other, which I think helps contribute to success.
DFB.de: You were at Real for a number of years. Did that make leaving easier or harder?
Khedira: Moving on is never easy, but at least the decision was in my own hands. Whilst I was injured I gave my future a lot of thought and I decided that I wanted to try something new as it would be good for me as a player, but also as a person. I wanted a new challenge.
DFB.de: How will you remember your time in Madrid?
Khedira: Obviously the titles will stay with me but I think I’ll remember the people the most. It was great to get know new people at the club but also away from it. I was able to life a different sort of life there and I’m happy that I was able to experience it.
DFB.de: And how will they remember you?
Khedira: As a professional and fair player. I liked it when I was called a Madridista – it made it feel like I belonged there. I was there for five years and it was a great time. Real Madrid will always have a place in my heart.
DFB.de: In terms of the national team, have things got trickier since the World Cup before of the changes?
Khedira: I wouldn’t say so as the majority of us have played together for a long time. The new lads, such as Antonio Rüdiger and Patrick Herrmann, have settled in well. There’s a great team spirit in the camp.
DFB.de: You’ve been part of the national team for six years now. How have you managed to maintain your spot in the squad for such a long time?
Khedira: I don’t really like to talk about myself to be honest. What I will say, is that I aim to give my all every day. I have always remained professional and made sure that I’ve lived my dream to the full – I always give 100%.
DFB.de: At the end of last season you organised a charity match in Stuttgart, which helped support a children’s hospice and a home. What made you decide to do that?
Khedira: I’ve had a lot of look during my life and have achieved what many kids can only dream about. I worked hard but also received a lot of support, so I want to give something back. I aim to give kids in the region the chance to develop and progress. |
The piano is one of those inventions that's hard to think of as an invention because it's just always been ... there. When you do think about someone actually inventing it, it's hard not to wonder: why haven't I heard of this person before? And why isn't his name plastered on every piano in existence?
Bartolomeo Cristofori, who would have celebrated his 360th birthday today, is generally credited with being the sole inventor of the piano. The fact that his name is largely forgotten is a reflection of his times, when a genius could be just another employee.
The piano eventually beat the harpsichord by solving its biggest problem
The first official record of the piano appears in 1700, though Cristofori may have been working on it for a couple of years before then. Cristofori's most recognizable piano dates later, to 1720. But more important than the date was the step forward the piano represented.
At the time, the harpsichord was the dominant keyboard instrument. The biggest problem was that it couldn't play notes with differing degrees of softness. To play a note, a tiny device called a plectrum plucked a string, and the note played. There wasn't an easy way to modify the sound and give it additional nuance. Though there were some hacks (and other instruments) that tried to fix the problem, they never worked well enough.
The piano was clearly indebted to the harpsichord — in early records, Cristofori called the piano an Arpicembalo, which means "harp-harpsichord," and he frequently worked on and invented other harpsichord-like devices. But the piano took one big step beyond that instrument by using a hammer instead of plucking a string. That allowed for a better modulation of volume thanks to its hammers and dampers, which could more artfully manipulate sound than the plucking motion of the harpsichord.
The earliest surviving piano is from 1721, and it's clear it was a transitional instrument: there are hints of the harpsichord in its sound. As the Metropolitan Museum of Art notes, it had a narrower range, thinner strings, and harder hammers than modern pianos, which are part of the reason it sounds a bit like a harpsichord.
But even then, it's obvious why the piano changed music forever:
Soon, the piano got its name. Cristofori also referred to his invention as "un cimbalo di cipresso di piano e forte" (a keyboard of cypress with soft and loud), and over time it was shortened to piano forte, and eventually just piano.
It's rare that such an old instrument has so clear an inventor and is so obviously a revelation. So why do we have to be reminded of Bartolomeo Cristofori's name? After all, there must be a reason pianos aren't called Cristoforis.
Court employment, centuries of improvement, and slow adoption all probably made Cristofori's name fade
We may know so little about Cristofori because he was just a hired hand (albeit a well-respected one). As an employee of Ferdinando de' Medici, an Italian prince and member of the famous Italian family, Cristofori was hired to serve the court, not music alone.
As an employee of the Medicis, Cristofori was a cog in a royal machine. Though he was earnestly recruited to work for the Medicis, he was initially shoved into a workspace with about 100 other artisans (he complained about how loud it was). Ferdinando de' Medici encouraged Cristofori to innovate, but the inventor was also tasked with tuning and moving instruments, as well as restoring some old ones. Unlike musicians, who circulated royal courts and could become famous far beyond their borders, Cristofori was a local commodity. He wasn't seen as a revolutionary genius — rather, he was a talented tinkerer.
At the same time, without the Medicis Cristofori may never have been able to invent the piano. The royal family gave him a house to work in, space to experiment, and, eventually, his own workshop and a couple of assistants. As the wealth of the Medicis declined, Cristofori did sell some pianos on his own, but he didn't possess anything like a modern patent — other people were free to sell their own improvements on the instrument. He remained in the court until his death in 1731.
The piano's relatively slow adoption may have stolen Cristofori's credit, as well. Even if an invention went "viral" in the 18th century, it still had to travel at a glacial 18th-century pace. Queen Maria Barbara de Braganza purchased five pianos of Cristofori's design, and after that the instrument slowly spread in elite circles. There were early objections to the piano — Johann Sebastian Bach thought it could use some tweaks — and even Mozart, born in 1756, played the harpsichord as a child. It probably lessened Cristofori's fame that his invention took 100 years to truly oust the harpsichord from elite musical circles.
Finally, there were a lot of improvements to the piano, and those improvements were crucial to its success. Organ builder Gottfried Silbermann added a sustain pedal, and he also boosted sales of the piano. Other inventors added materials better suited to the piano's unique abilities. Finally, composers eventually came around to the piano, which helped it replace the harpsichord as the premier musical instrument.
Though Cristofori was clearly the inventor of the piano, it's less clear exactly why he's forgotten outside of musical circles. It may be a combination of his employment, the piano's slow adoption, and the subsequent improvements. He wasn't famous when he was alive — that's the reason we only have one portrait of him — and he isn't particularly famous today. But in a way, that nuance is appropriate for an inventor who introduced new shades of sound to music. Cristofori's legacy isn't the sharp plucking of a harpsichord — it's a piano, playing still.
Watch: How Taylor Swift changed her "Style" |
Sen. Mark Warner said Nunes’ trip to the White House is “more than suspicious” as he had to have been escorted to meet a source on White House grounds. | AP Photo Warner: Nunes’ meeting on White House grounds 'more than suspicious'
Sen. Mark Warner, the leading Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Monday blasted Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes’ conduct as the leader of the House’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Nunes met a source on “White House grounds” before claiming last week that Trump transition aides were surveilled, a Nunes aide confirmed Monday.
Story Continued Below
Warner said Nunes’ trip to the White House is “more than suspicious” as he had to have been escorted to meet a source on White House grounds.
“Who is he meeting with?” Warner said. “Was it a source or was it somebody from the administration? And then he goes through this, what appears to be a charade, where he comes out the next day and briefs the president before he tells the Democrats.”
Warner said the Senate Intelligence Committee is not aware of what Nunes was talking about. He added that the committee has queried the intelligence community, which Warner said is also unaware of what Nunes was describing.
Although Republican Sen. John McCain has joined some Democrats in calling for an independent investigation, Warner said he was confident the Senate would be able to investigate in a bipartisan way.
To form an independent investigation, a law would have to be passed and signed by the president, Warner said. He added he was concerned both parties would try to stack an independent investigation with partisans.
“And that would push off this investigation for maybe close to a year,” Warner said. “I think the American people deserve answers a lot sooner.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee will announce its first public hearing later this week, Warner said, and has interviews scheduled. |
For the past week, Belarus, the ex-Soviet republic that everyone loves to hate (when they can be bothered to remember that it exists), has been rocked by anti-government protests. The impetus for the riots is the government’s new tax on the jobless: if you’re unemployed for more than six months, you have to cough up the equivalent of $230, no small amount of money in eastern Europe. According to the globalist fake news media, these protests represent the flowering of democracy in Belarus, the end of “Europe’s last dictatorship,” and a new era of freedom!
Wrong.
There’s likely some genuine sentiment behind the protests. Belarus is the only ex-Soviet republic that has largely continued using Soviet economics, and punishing the unemployed with a tax is the kind of regressive logic only a communist would come up with. But the protests are being fueled by George Soros and a slew of globalist vampires who are looking to sink their fangs into the one European country that has resisted them the longest.
And if the Belarusian government is overthrown, not only will the globalists destroy the country, they’ll be pushing us closer to World War III with Russia.
I can say this because the globalist game plan was already enacted in another ex-Soviet republic: Ukraine. Three years ago, the “Euromaidan” protests resulted in the ousting of Ukraine’s pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych and the installation of a pro-Western government… or at least that’s what the fake news media wants you to believe. In reality, Barack Obama, the State Department and George Soros took advantage of discontent in Ukraine to launch a coup and install a puppet government in order to weaken Russia and strip-mine the country of its resources.
The Euromaidan coup in Ukraine immediately worsened relations with Russia, due to Ukraine being part of Russia’s “near abroad,” Russia’s historic links with the country (Ukraine has a large Russian minority), and the presence of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, which led directly to Russia annexing the latter. Make no mistake: the globalists are licking their chops at the situation in Belarus. If they succeed in ousting Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko—a close Russian ally—and replacing him with a globalist junta, not only will they undermine President Donald Trump’s attempts to ameliorate Russian relations, they’ll be pushing us closer to a global crisis.
Belarus: A Brief History of Soviet Nostalgia
Alexander Lukashenko is an odd duck among ex-Soviet leaders in that he’s sought to preserve his country in amber, retaining Soviet-style economics and government policies when every other ex-communist state has reformed along capitalist lines. Under Lukashenko, much of Belarus’ economy remains state-run, democracy is purportedly suppressed, and freedom of movement is restricted. Up until a month ago, foreign nationals needed a visa to visit the country: now, citizens of 80 countries (including the U.S.) are allowed visa-free entry into Belarus provided they enter through Minsk International Airport, stay no more than five days, and have health insurance and at least €25 for each day of their stay.
I’m no fan of socialist economics, and I’ve heavily criticized alt-righters who claim that white people can make socialism magically work if we just get rid of all the blacks and Jews. But Lukashenko’s policies kept Belarus from being robbed blind by gangsters both foreign and domestic, the gangsters who cleaned out Russia in the nineties and are robbing everything in Ukraine right now.
Following the breakup of the Soviet Union, neoliberal bankers, NGOs and other assorted scum invaded Russia and raped the country economically, aided by feckless President Boris Yeltsin, a tool of the globalists. Given the anti-Russia hysteria coming out the fake news media right now, it’s astounding to think that the country was once so weak, during the 1998 financial collapse, Russians were committing mass suicide by laying down on railroad tracks. During that same period, Lukashenko enjoyed a 55 percent approval rating among Belarusians, and the country avoided being dragged into the worst of Russia’s recession.
Neocons and other globalists have tried to subvert or bring down Lukashenko’s regime for over twenty years with little success. All the jeremiads about Lukashenko being “Europe’s last dictator,” complaints about his “homophobia” (he once teased a homo German minister by saying “it’s better to be a dictator than gay“), and EU sanctions haven’t put so much as a chink in Belarus’ armor. Western-funded groups like FEMEN and Pussy Riot, designed as Trojan horses to infect Russia and Ukraine with the globalist virus, don’t dare set up in Belarus lest they get the wood shampoo. Belarus has also maintained a close relationship with Russia throughout the years.
Regardless of how you feel about Belarus, there’s zero reason for the U.S. to be meddling in their internal affairs. This crap about Lukashenko being “Europe’s last dictator” is a case in point. Who cares? Globalists and their useful idiots in the body politic can’t seem to get it through their skulls: not everyone wants to be like Americans. There are billions of people on this planet who have no desire to emulate our joke of a democratic system or our rapidly eroding “freedoms.”
How does this relate to Ukraine, President Trump and Russia? Well…
Ukraine: A Brief History of Globalist Lies
Ukraine is the test case for what happens when George Soros and his cronies take total control of your country. The Euromaidan revolution, in which Ukraine’s pro-Russian government was overthrown in favor of a pro-EU one, has been a disaster for the country.
The Euromaidan catastrophe also shows how globalists are not above manipulating nationalist sentiment for their own ends. Ukraine’s history since the breakup of the U.S.S.R. has been defined by conflict between ethnic Ukrainians, concentrated in the western half of the country, and ethnic Russians, concentrated in the eastern half. Elections are defined by the Ukrainians and Russians bloc voting for different candidates. Three years ago, the globalists took advantage of Ukrainians’ historic resentment against the Russians (see: the Holodomor) to manipulate nationalist groups such as Right Sector into supporting the overthrow of the pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.
Now there are gay pride parades in Kiev.
In a leaked phone call in February 2014, it was revealed that the State Department was behind the push to install a pro-globalist government in Ukraine. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland, in a conversation with Ukraine ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt, discussed which opposition figure they’d best like to replace Yanukovych, settling on Arseniy Yatsenyuk as their preferred candidate; Yatsenyuk was installed by the end of the month. While Nuland was an Obama appointee, her husband is notorious neocon Republican Robert Kagan. Following Donald Trump’s victory in the GOP presidential primary last year, Kagan endorsed Hillary Clinton and headlined several fundraisers for her campaign.
Since the Euromaidan revolution, Ukraine has slid into full-scale civilizational collapse. The hryvnia, Ukraine’s currency, has plummeted in value, to the point where you can rent whole apartments in the center of Lviv and other major cities for as little as $10 a night. The country’s industrial base is being dismantled wholesale and the Chinese are buying up all its farmland. Ukrainians are emigrating in droves, particularly skilled Ukrainians, creating a massive brain drain. According to men who’ve visited Ukraine, girls there are becoming increasingly desperate to get out.
The pro-globalist junta in Ukraine had hung its economic hopes on being admitted to the European Union. Thing is, Ukraine has effectively slipped into third-world status: its GDP has fallen from a peak of $183 billion in 2013 (pre-Euromaidan) to $91 billion in 2015, only slightly more than Sudan. Given that the EU has been reeling from Greece, Ireland and other basket-case economies imploding one after the other—as well as the Muslim migrant crisis—the last thing they want to do is take in a dirt-poor country full of people desperate to leave.
The Ukrainian government right now is a motley collection of criminals and thieves. In one particularly funny absurdity, the government decided to make former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili, a man so despised in his home country that he’s been stripped of his citizenship, the governor of the Odessa Oblast. The highlight (lowlight?) in the comedy of errors that is Saakashvili’s career was the Russo-Georgian War in 2008, in which he idiotically tried to fight a land war against Vladimir Putin over the enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, all while being egged on by American neocons.
As anyone who’s ever played Risk could have figured out, the Russians easily beat the shit out of the Georgians. Turns out that listening to neocons is always a bad move. The coup de grace was when John McCain, who was running for president at the time, urged the U.S. to intervene. There were even neocons who were screaming at McCain and George W. Bush to enter the war on Georgia’s side. Starting World War III over some obscure Caucasus country: a really wise move.
And imagine that this guy nearly became president.
But this wasn’t just a case of Old Man McCain submerging into his dotage. Mikheil Saakashvili is a regular participant in conferences set up by the German Marshall Fund, a globalist think tank that pushes left-wing policies and is associated with George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. If the German Marshall Fund sounds familiar, it’s because they recently held their Brussels Forum, where one of the speakers was a fellow by the name of… John McCain.
McCain has also been fingered as the source of sensitive intelligence leaks that are damaging the Trump administration.
Add in McCain’s connections to Evan McMullin—and McMullin’s CIA past and links to ISIS—and this already-tangled web gets even thicker.
Five Minutes to Midnight
The Euromaidan coup is the single biggest reason why relations between the U.S. and Russia have deteriorated in recent times. Beyond the fact that Ukraine is right on the Russian border—how would Americans react if the Russians instigated coups in Mexico and Canada and installed pro-Russian puppet governments?—close to half of Ukraine’s citizens are ethnic Russians. Euromaidan is what drove Russia’s annexation of Crimea, a region that is almost entirely ethnically Russian and is the home of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. It’s what’s driving Russian separatist movements in eastern Ukraine right now.
In a masterful propaganda campaign, the globalists have convinced the left, the same left that lost their minds over Dubya’s invasion of Iraq, that antagonizing Russia—a nuclear-armed superpower—to the brink of world war is a good idea. Aided by the traitorous CIA, the fake news media has ginned up hysteria over Russia’s “homophobic” laws and their supposed (and unproven) intervention in the presidential election. Even worse, they’ve somehow managed to convince the left that Ukraine is a hill worth dying on: see all the complaints about how Trump doesn’t care about Russia’s annexation of Crimea, a region that was part of Russia for centuries before its transfer to the Ukrainian SSR in the 1950’s.
I don’t know enough about the situation in Belarus to say how much of the uprising there is a Soros-directed effort, but it’s clear that the globalists are looking to take advantage of it in the same way they took advantage of upheaval in Ukraine. Ousting yet another pro-Russian government in an ex-Soviet state will further deteriorate relations with Russia, box Putin into a corner, and sabotage Trump’s efforts to rekindle relations with Putin. It could potentially lead to war.
Regardless of how you feel about Putin, Lukashenko and the like, there’s one thing we can all agree on: meddling in internal Russian and ex-Soviet state affairs benefits no one. The only people who won out in the Euromaidan crisis were the globalists and gangsters who are currently stealing everything in Ukraine that isn’t nailed down. A globalist coup in Belarus will just be a replay of what we’ve already seen.
For crying out loud, we elected Trump in part so the government would stop doing shit like this.
I’m going to keep monitoring the Ukrainian and Belarusian situations from my perch here in Hungary. Additionally, I’m looking to venture into Ukraine starting next week to report on the situation there. I’ll be posting more details later today.
Independent reporting costs money. If you enjoy my work and want to see more of it, click here to donate. I greatly appreciate any and all support you can provide.
Read Next: Bang Ukraine: How to Sleep with Ukrainian Women in Ukraine by Roosh V
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With NFL head coaching jobs available, Alabama's Nick Saban continues to be a popular subject of rumors.
Continue for updates.
Bucs Reportedly Will Discuss Saban
Tuesday, Jan. 12
Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times reported the Buccaneers "Will and have considered almost every [head coach], including Alabama's Nick Saban."
Colts Reportedly Were Interested in Hiring Saban
Sunday, Jan. 3
Prior to the decision to retain head coach Chuck Pagano, the Colts were expected to contact Saban, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com.
Rapoport also noted Saban "always says no" when professional and other college football teams attempt to hire him, so the Colts may just be joining this "long list."
Saban Would Be Leaving Massive College Legacy Behind to Chase Pro Success
Saban would be leaving a premier job at Alabama, where he's gone 105-18 with four national championships in nine seasons.
Saban spent two seasons in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins in 2005-06, going 15-17. But he reiterated before his team's College Football Playoff semifinal win over Michigan State that he was unlikely to leave the Crimson Tide.
"I don't see it ever happening, and I know every year somebody has me going somewhere else," Saban told Chris Low of ESPN.com. "I think a lot of it isn't just about the coaching part. What people don't understand is they forget you're a person. They forget you have a wife and two kids and a grandbaby, and they all live in Birmingham."
But given Saban's track record at the college level and the fact he would be a splashy hire, he remains appealing to NFL teams. And he may yet have an urge to prove he can coach in the NFL, as he said in an ESPN interview in September (via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk), "If we'd had Drew Brees, I might still be in Miami."
Saban has maintained that during his tenure with the Dolphins, he wanted to sign Brees in 2006, but team doctors nixed the deal due to Brees' shoulder injury. The team instead traded for Daunte Culpepper, who appeared in only four games for Miami. Saban's comments suggest he feels he could have succeeded in the NFL if he'd had the right quarterback.
The question for Saban, then, will be whether he's willing to consider leaving the program and the life he's built in Alabama for the challenge of the NFL. |
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Councils can now vote on changes to realm laws – or you can try to limit their power and influence
Revised education system for royal children, with new traits and events designed for childhood
New diplomatic system that prioritizes marital alliances and non-aggression pacts, as well as the possibility of coalitions
Improved military combat model with a greater emphasis on morale, as well as new rules for mercenary companies
Conclave , the latest major expansion for Crusader Kings II, will give your vassals some bite to go along with your bark, as the council that governs your realm will now demand some say in how you rule. Powerful dukes, regardless of competence, will require a seat at the table, and those left on the outside will be more likely to plot against you.Keep your council happy, and the mighty vassals will resist the pull of faction and civil war. Dismiss their interests, though, and you may find yourself trying to hold together a council at war with itself.Balance councilor skill and power to keep your dynasty safe and strong. Ignore powerful underlings at your peril, or simply buy their loyalty with favors. Conclave makes the royal council a force unto itself.Crusader Kings II appreciates the subtlety of court intrigue. Conclave will give you new avenues to test that skill. |
Warner Bros bought DC Comics in 1968. Disney bought Marvel in 2009. Today Netflix purchased Millarworld and I’m still blinking. This is only the third time in history a comic-book company purchase on this scale has ever happened.
I started Millarworld as a creator-owned comic-book company nearly 15 years ago, after talking some artist pals into being their own bosses. We’d all had success at DC and Marvel, but this was a chance to control the characters created and reap the rewards from any future movies, TV or merchandise that ever came from those characters and books. Over the years, Millarworld has amassed twenty different franchises working with the world’s greatest artists and now Millarworld has been bought by the hottest, most exciting entertainment company on the planet. To say this is the best thing that ever happened in our professional lives would be an understatement.
The moment Lucy and I walked into Netflix’s headquarters in California last Christmas we knew this was where we wanted to be. It instantly felt like home and the team around that table felt like people who would help us take Millarworld’s characters and turn them into global powerhouses. Netflix is the future and we couldn’t be more thrilled to sell the business to them and buckle up for all the amazing movies and television shows we plan to do together. This feels like joining the Justice League and I can’t wait to start working with them.
I’d like to take this moment to thank all the artists who were caught up in my enthusiasm over the years and who co-created these properties with Millarworld. Artists are often left out of news-stories, but trust me when I say that the only reason these books have looked so beautiful is because Millarworld worked with the greatest draughtsmen of their generation. I’d like to thank Frank Quitely, Stuart Immonen, Goran Parlov, Leinil Francis Yu, Rafael Albuquerque, Peter Gross, Steve McNiven, Greg Capullo, Sean Murphy, JG Jones, Duncan Fegredo, Tony Harris, Dave Gibbons and John Romita Jr for their belief in my crazy plan and their friendship during even the tightest of deadlines. Kingsman and Kick-Ass have unique Hollywood deals elsewhere and aren’t a part of this particular acquisition, but those two fine men are toasting us in spirit from London and California respectively.
In terms of this sale itself, I’d like to offer a huge thanks to Jon Miller, an amazing corporate legend who held our hands through the entire executive process, John Rose who provided invaluable counsel as we were going through this, the gang at Medialink, our accountants at Robertson Craig and our brilliant international legal teams Hughes Hubbard & Reed in the United States and Addleshaw Goddard in England. I’d also like to thank my great friend former Marvel President Bill Jemas for introducing me to Jon almost eighteen months ago. Bill changed my life once when he was running Marvel and he changed it again when he helped facilitate this.
But more than anyone I’d like to thank my wife, Lucy Millar. Everyone involved in this process knows she’s the genuine business brain at our company. She and I had flights from Scotland to LA for sometimes just three hours of meetings during this lengthy negotiation, scrabbling for baby-sitters and jet-lagged to Hell, but still she managed to always be smiling, keeping it all on-track for all our partners and keeping everyone in the loop seemingly 24/7. Nothing dulls my brain like a 96-page legal document, but so many nights ended with me falling asleep as she phone-conferenced with nine lawyers around the world and made this all happen. On behalf of this cross-continental gang of pals who have somehow pulled this off, she has our love and thanks for running this company so brilliantly in recent years and for helping us to make comic-book history today.
So what’s next? Well, we’ve been in these talks for many months and a lot of planning has been going on. We’re flying to LA to strategise the next steps and you’ll be hearing about each fascinating turn when I’m allowed to share it. Jupiter’s Legacy and Reborn both concluded in the last few weeks and I’m going undercover between now and Spring as I stockpile all the new projects we’re putting together, but you’ll hear about them very soon.
Keep an eye on our website, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages for details as they happen where Millarworld editor Rachael Fulton will be giving you daily updates. Also look for our news at the end of summer with details of the charitable foundation Lucy and I have started which will revitalize parts of my old hometown in Scotland. This is a five-year charity building project I’ve been quietly making plans for with local government behind the scenes and we can’t wait to go public with the idea. I’ve had an enormous amount of luck in my life - none more than today - and I look forward to explaining how I’m planning to use what this deal brings us to help improve an area I grew up in and owe everything to.
Comics have been my passion my entire life. I started working with them as a teenager and I’ve never been more excited about where we’re going next as Millarworld joins the Netflix team. These guys are going to take Millarworld to the next level and I feel like Richard Dreyfuss, wide-eyed and walking around the mothership at the end of Close Encounters when I see their global plans and it’s crazy-exciting to be a part of it.
This is going to be brilliant.
End of Part One.
To Be Continued.
Your Pal,
Mark Millar
www.millarworld.tv
Twitter @mrmarkmillar |
Over the coming weeks, I will be writing about this profound shift and the three major trends that are central to it. These trends will have an enormous impact on our economy and our society:
1) We don't actually know the true composition of the new workforce. After 2005, the government stopped counting independent workers in a meaningful and accurate way. Studies have shown that the independent workforce has grown and changed significantly since then, but the government hasn't substantiated those results with a new, official count. Washington can't fix what it can't count. Since policies and budget decisions are based on data, freelancers are not being taken into account as a viable, critical component of the U.S. workforce. We're not acknowledging their prevalence and economic contributions, let alone addressing the myriad challenges they face.
2) Jobs no longer provide the protections and security that workers used to expect. The basics such as health insurance, protection from unpaid wages, a retirement plan, and unemployment insurance are out of reach for one-third of working Americans. Independent workers are forced to seek them elsewhere, and if they can't find or afford them, then they go without. Our current support system is based on a traditional employment model, where one worker must be tethered to one employer to receive those benefits. Given that fewer and fewer of us are working this way, it's time to build a new support system that allows for the flexible and mobile way that people are working.
3) This new, changing workforce needs to build economic security in profoundly new ways. For the new workforce, the New Deal is irrelevant. When it was passed in the 1930s, the New Deal provided workers with important protections and benefits but those securities were built for a traditional employer-employee relationship. The New Deal has not evolved to include independent workers: no unemployment during lean times; no protections from age, race, and gender discrimination; no enforcement from the Department of Labor when employers don't pay; and the list goes on.
The solution will rest with our ability to form networks for exchange and to create political power. I call this "new mutualism ." You will be reading more about this idea in subsequent articles from me next week, as I believe that new mutualism will be at the core of the new social support system that we need to build for the new workforce.
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Tony Cartalucci, Contributor
Activist Post
Western corporate-financiers have plotted since at least 1991 to overturn not only Syria’s government, but to topple and co-opt the governments of every nation previously in the Soviet sphere of influence. US Army General Wesley Clark made it known during a 2007 speech given to the Commonwealth Club of California, that in 1991, then Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Paul Wolfowitz said the US had 5-10 years to clean up the old Soviet “client regimes” before the next super power rose up and challenged western hegemony.
Clark would go on to say that shortly after September 11, 2001, while at the Pentagon, a document handed down from the Office of the Secretary of Defense indicated plans to attack and destroy the governments of 7 countries; Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Somalia, Iran, Lebanon and Libya.
More recently, US State Department is on record stating that millions of dollars have been spent recruiting, training, networking, and equipping armies of “activists” from these targeted nations since at least 2008 to return home and sow the very unrest seen at the beginning of the “Arab Spring” – unrest that has served as the very foundation for the violence now plaguing Syria.
And even as the UN’s Kofi Annan disingenuously peddles his 6-point “peace plan,” the US, European Union, and their Arab League junior partners, are funding and arming the rebels to continue the fight even while attempting to hold the Syrian government accountable to the peace deal they themselves brazenly flaunt.
Never has it been so obvious that “international law” and “humanitarian concerns” are merely the latest contrived rhetorical devices, institutionalized as “the responsibility to protect,” to expand the financial, political, and tactical hegemony of today’s imperialists across the globe.
Image: Brookings Institution’s Middle East Memo #21 “Assessing Options for Regime Change (.pdf),” makes no secret that the humanitarian “responsibility to protect” is but a pretext for long-planned regime change.
Yet despite brazen admissions by US policy think-tanks like the Fortune 500 funded Brookings Institution, that the latest peace deal in Syria is nothing more than a ploy to buy time to continue eroding the Syrian government in pursuit of Western orchestrated regime change, and political “commentators” drawn from Fortune 500 funded institutions like the Henry Jackson Society admitting that “diplomatic options” are merely the West paying lip service ahead of unilateral military intervention, there are still throngs of brain-addled pundits parroting the latest US State Department talking-points regarding a brutal regime mass murdering its own people and how it is the moral imperative of the West to intervene.
The latest, and perhaps most depraved grandstanding yet, comes to us from United States President Obama, who stood in front of the Washington D.C. Holocaust Museum correlating Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad’s efforts to restore order to his nation to Adolf Hitler’s US and British eugenics-inspired, Bush-bankrolled, IBM facilitated racial superiority death cult. Worse than even the real history behind World War II, is the fact that since then, the United States has conducted a global campaign of systematic atrocities killing easily as many Vietnamese and Iraqis as Hitler did Jews. To this day, the United States maintains an unparalleled global network of torture chambers and hit teams as it combs the planet extra-judicially executing and imprisoning people with absolute impunity.
Image: A particularly relevant exhibit at the Washington D.C. Holocaust Museum. President Obama, using the museum as a backdrop, set the stage for the continuation of Wall Street and London’s own crimes against humanity. Students of history however, will understand that Hitler’s Nazis weren’t pioneers of genocide and global domination, but merely clumsy imitators inspired by what the Anglo-Americans were already in the process of perfecting.
In fact, the very personalities behind the sort of atrocities carried out by the United States over the last 20 years are still dictating US foreign policy today. Despite the charade carried on by Obama and his alleged “liberal” presidency, he has merely fronted for the continuation of a singular agenda meted out by Wall Street and London’s think-tanks with but the flimsiest veneer of “progressive liberalism” laid over it.
For those that take a few minutes to look into the details of what is presented to them by a serially compromised corporate-media, they will see yet another “Iraq-style” pack of lies being paraded before them to justify continued meddling in Syria. Just like in Libya before it, Syria will not face salvation by means of a NATO intervention, it will face total destruction. Sanctions of “luxury goods” announced just this week by the White House are aimed at peeling away the Syrian government’s supporters, hoping that, through basic game theory, the ruling elite across Syria will take the bait to “save themselves.” In reality, the collapse of the Syrian government will lead to the same perpetual instability, lawlessness, division, and murderous mayhem Libya has been plunged into – to the benefit of no one but the multinationals.
Imperialism throughout the ages has always been sold with rhetoric peddling a “higher cause.” Whether it was taming the barbarians outside the gates of Rome, spreading “superior” Anglo civilization to the four corners of the globe, the big-oil and banker expansionism during America’s manifest destiny, or today’s “humanitarian wars,” the underlying truth is one of megalomania, exploitation, and human depravity on an ever increasing scale.
It is peddled with simplistic rhetoric aimed at the most impressionable, weakest of minds. The support these gullible minds lend the powered elite results in catastrophic consequences not only for the victims of imperialism, but for the empires themselves – inevitably wrecked by insatiable, unchecked greed.
Syria is just one prize of many sought after by a long line of empires attempting to feed the world, its people, and resources into its ever-hungry maw. And Syria itself has been the subject of imperial ambitions many times in the past, including those of the Romans, Ottomans, the French, and now the Anglo-Americans. Unlike in the past, where information was difficult to come by for the average person, there is no excuse for ignorance, nor for believing the same tired lies told by the global elite in their quest to mobilize entire populations to sustain their own self-serving agenda. While the allure to “fit in” with what we think the rest of the world is thinking is persuasive, it is illogical, and in reality an illusion. What the TV tells us on a daily basis is not what the rest of the world thinks – it is what the rest of the world is told to think by an extremely small minority.
Image: Confessed liar Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi is proud that his politically motivated fabrications regarding Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction were eagerly used by the West as a convenient casus belli for their predetermined invasion and the subsequent death, maiming, and displacement of millions. There are “al-Janabis” in every nation waiting for the right climate in which to flourish – and an eager cadre of neo-imperialists seeking them out as they expand their corporate-financier empires across the planet. Libya’s Sliman Bouchuiguir was one of them. Syria’s human rights “Observatory” is another.
Syria’s government could not stand for as long as it has with only a military backing it. It has support across both the upper echelons of Syrian society, as well as across the myriad of minorities who all stand to lose should NATO’s terrorist proxies, drunk on extremist doctrine and promises of dominion over their fellow Syrians, come to power. This is precisely why NATO has adopted a two-prong strategy – terrorize Syria’s minorities into submission and penalize Syria’s elite until they defect.
More importantly, Syria has stood against insidious foreign meddling for over a year because the people see themselves, their nation, and their sovereignty, both personal and national, at risk. Whatever transgressions they face under the Syrian government, it is ultimately still a Syrian government. Whatever comes into being by NATO’s blood-soaked hands will be entirely divorced from anything “Syrian.” In Libya, it took the form of Abdurrahim el-Keib – a long time US resident, chairman of the BP, Shell, Total-funded Petroleum Institute who has swiftly moved to sell the nation out from under the Libyan people. Worst of all, he has done so as a first priority, even at the expense of Libya’s security and territorial integrity.
Image: The “fruits” of NATO’s regime change in Libya – a client state run by US resident, BP, Total, and Shell-funded Petroleum Institute chairman, Abdurrahim el-Keib whose policy is dictated by Wall Street and London, not the aspirations of the Libyan people. Neo-imperialists seek to turn Syria into a similar footstool of Western power.
The oligarchs of Wall Street and London will continue directing their vast propaganda networks to portray the violence they themselves are fueling as a one-sided atrocity carried out solely by the long-targeted Syrian government. They will continue to use the UN as a willing tool to develop their casus belli for military intervention on behalf of known terrorists. We will also see the West attempt various ploys to prod members of the Syrian government and military into defecting as Syria is slowly destroyed just as in Libya.
It is not enough for the world to simply ward off a military intervention by the Wall Street and London oligarchs. Regardless, Syria will still be picked apart. It must be made clear that as US President Obama stands before a memorial for victims of Nazi war crimes, he and the corporate-financiers he speaks on behalf of, are in the middle of carrying out their own vast crimes against humanity – on a scale far exceeding anything the Nazis could have hoped to accomplish – and they do so with UN and NATO complicity.
No matter how much power these self-proclaimed leaders garner, no matter how many people they succeed in turning to their cause, rationally, logically, historically, and morally, they are wrong. No amount of contrived institutional approval or signed resolutions makes what is being done in Syria, or what was done to Libya, Iraq, and Afghanistan right. This is modern day empire being propagated not by nation-states, but by corporate-financiers, fueled by our daily patronage of their goods and services, who see themselves as transcending the nation-state. And because even imperialism in its purest form is beyond the understanding of many people, it becomes doubly so in its new, stateless form.
Tony Cartalucci’s articles have appeared on many alternative media websites, including his own at Land Destroyer Report. Read other contributed articles by Tony Cartalucci here. |
Some virtual reality (VR) title can be intense experiences that require concentration and nerves of steel to complete. If you’re after something a little more casual and family friendly then indie developer ByteRockers, VRog might be just what you need.
Aimed towards the child friendly end of the VR market, VRog puts players in the role of a hungry frog who’s looking for its next meal. It’s a simple case of catch as many insects as possible in the allotted time, scoring as many points as possible. To aid some diversity not all the insects are simply food, as certain ones will affected the player both positively and negatively. Eat a wasp and things aren’t going to go well, while other flying bugs can slow down time allowing more to be eaten. Also if a player accidentally swallows the wrong insect, they’ll have to train their aim from an unusual perspective.
Supporting both the Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR, VRog includes two game modes. The first is Arcade, in which players have 90 seconds to catch as many insects as possible to achieve a highscore. While the second mode, Survival, isn’t just about eating bugs, there’s a big stork wandering around which isn’t too friendly towards the frog. If spotted players will need to hop away as quickly as possible to find a safe spot.
Located in the Gallery Apps section of the Oculus Store, VRog can be picked up for £2.29 GBP/€2.99 EUR. For all the latest releases for Oculus Rift and Gear VR, keep reading VRFocus. |
But those who see McConnell only as an obstructionist are overlooking another significant part of his profile: his record as a dealmaker. As the general election nears, McConnell has sought to emphasize this as well. “There have been three major bipartisan agreements during the Obama years between Republicans and Democrats,” he said in last week’s Kentucky Senate debate with his Democratic opponent, Alison Lundergan Grimes. “The vice president and I have negotiated every one of them.” McConnell was referring to the December 2010 deal to extend the Bush tax cuts, the last-minute 2011 deal to raise the debt ceiling, and last year's fiscal-cliff deal. This is the side of McConnell that drives conservatives crazy, putting him in the unique position of being ardently reviled by left and right alike. But as Alec MacGillis’s excellent new ebook on McConnell makes clear, the Kentucky senator’s top priority has always been not ideology but his own political advancement and survival. He made those deals because, much as his base hated to see him working with Democrats, the alternative would have been even worse for the GOP—and him—politically.
When and if they take control of the Senate, Republicans will have a big incentive not to simply create more gridlock: It would make them look terrible, worsening their image as the “party of no” and making it harder for their presidential nominee to win in 2016. The same goes for passing unpopular legislation like the Ryan budget or repealing Obamacare—which most voters do not favor, even though the law is also unpopular. As things stand today, neither party is to blame when Congress can’t get anything done, because each party controls half of the Capitol. (While the House’s dysfunction is well known, the Senate has also become a legislative graveyard, to the point that even Democratic senators publicly complain about it.) But with control of both houses of Congress, Republicans would be on the hook for Congress’s actions. They alone would get the blame if Congress remained dysfunctional—and they alone could claim credit if Congress actually passed bills with popular support. If Republicans passed such moderate, constructive legislation, Obama would be hard pressed to simply veto everything they put on his desk.
“The way I describe it is, we’re putting the guardrails on the Obama administration’s last two years,” Senator Rob Portman told me in a recent interview, explaining how he envisions a Republican-controlled Senate proceeding. Needing GOP approval for nominees, Obama would have to appoint moderates to judicial and executive positions, he said. But Portman, a fiscally focused Ohio Republican who is generally conservative but believes in bipartisan compromise, sees several areas of potential cooperation with the administration. He mentioned tax reform, a “grand bargain” on the budget, an energy bill—perhaps something that combines Keystone XL pipeline approval with reductions in carbon emissions—and new free-trade agreements, which Obama has supported but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has blocked. Portman, who voted against the bipartisan immigration-reform bill that passed the Senate last year, also believes a Republican-led immigration-reform bill could pass the House and Senate and potentially be approved by Obama. |
Union Features
In the early 1970s, African Americans in North Carolina coalesced around constructing a new community where the mission was black empowerment. And they were able to pull it off with financing from President Richard Nixon.
The hip-hop radio ads coming out of Ben Carson’s presidential campaign this week, to much laughter and derision, represent what Republican outreach to African Americans often looks like these days. But there was a time when Republicans took diversifying their base much more seriously. In the early 1970s, even President Richard Nixon’s administration, with its uniquely conservative, “law and order” bent, experienced what Ohio State University professor Devin Fergus calls “paroxysms of progressivism.” Such progressive spurts from the Nixon administration were responsible for producing the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Water Act—and Soul City. Soul City was a project dreamed up by the civil rights activist Floyd McKissick. The fact that it went forward with financial assistance from Nixon represented one of the disgraced president’s “lapsed moments of liberalism,” as Fergus calls it in his 2010 Journal of Policy History article, “Black Power, Soft Power.” The idea was a city built for African Americans (though not exclusively), steered by black interests, and funded upfront by the federal government. It was, in essence, a request for the federal government to make good on the unrealized 40 acres and a mule promise made to African Americans emancipated from slavery. And President Nixon was all for it.
Soul City still exists today in North Carolina, right near the Virginia border, but it never became the racial Xanadu McKissick sold it as. A number of problems contributed to its failures, many of them beyond city planners’ control. A look back at the rise and fall of Soul City offers a number of lessons useful today when considering what’s at stake when targeted federal funding is deployed to address problems that are racial or social in nature. (Soul City, North Carolina) The deal for a black city made between McKissick and Nixon was, by all appearances, political. McKissick switched parties in the late 1960s to support Nixon for president, which was a surprise given his civil rights and labor union credentials. As president of the Congress of Racial Equality throughout the ‘60s, McKissick shifted the civil rights organization’s mission from nonviolent tactics to Black Power doctrine. After the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., McKissick came to believe that even violent self-defense was inadequate for African Americans to realize real empowerment. He began pushing the idea that African Americans needed a strategy built squarely on capitalism to counter the entrenched racism that fueled urban neglect and the destitute conditions of black neighborhoods. To this end, McKissick began in 1969 drafting the plans for Soul City, which would be a place where African Americans would not be regularly subjected to racial discrimination, and where they could determine their own political and economic destinies. The city would grow through a regiment of intensive workforce training aimed at boosting the entrepreneurial zeal of its residents, a “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” strategy made popular in the early 20th century by Booker T. Washington.
McKissick had first taken his vision to outgoing President Lyndon B. Johnson, who gave it lip service, but candidate Nixon ate it up whole. When Nixon reached the White House in 1969, McKissick had a shovel-ready plan for Soul City that he’d created alongside black MIT grad Harvey Gantt, a giant in architecture and urban planning circles and the eventual first African-American mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina. The city would be developed over a few thousand acres of land in Warren County, North Carolina, a poor, rural region that was quickly growing poorer due to the steady hemorrhaging of residents fleeing the South in search of economic and social opportunity. (Timothy J. Minchin, The North Carolina Historical Review) For McKissick, the overstuffing of Northern urban enclaves was at the heart of the problem of racial tension and urban unrest. With Soul City, he touted the co-benefit of creating a place that could absorb African-American migration while keeping them in the South. As he once said at a press conference, “The roots of the urban crisis are in the migratory pattern of rural people seeking to leave areas of economic and racial oppression. … So in building a new city in a rural area, we help to solve this.” Cities are changing fast. Keep up with the CityLab Daily newsletter. The best way to follow issues you care about. Subscribe Loading... The Washington Post wrote in 1972 that Soul City was “perhaps the most vital experiment yet in this country’s halting struggle against the cancer of hectic urbanization.” That year, McKissick had wrangled $14 million from the Nixon administration to get the Soul City party started, making him officially the first African American to develop a new city with federal funding. The funds were awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, through a program designed to help build 14 new towns around the nation. The primary mission for these new towns was to help decongest cities. McKissick’s Soul City was chosen as one of those new towns, and he raised additional $6 million from other federal and state agencies that were interested in making it a success. (Black Enterprise) Given the for blacks, by blacks mission of Soul City, the public investment served essentially as reparations, or at least a security deposit for reparations. The political landscape of the time—sullen from the assassinations of King and Robert F. Kennedy—was more sympathetic to racial causes and conducive to making amends. Cities were still riding the federally subsidized waves of the New Deal and Great Society eras. Much of those federal windfalls skipped right past African Americans, though, and Nixon was willing to pick up some of that slack by handing out grants to enterprising African Americans, especially if it meant bringing the Republican Party more black votes.
Nixon aide Robert Brown referred to this strategy as “grantsmanship,” and it fell in line with the advice Nixon was receiving from people like Daniel Patrick Moynihan, whom Nixon had appointed his urban affairs counselor. While Nixon was concerned about the “Soul City” tag sounding perhaps too much like black militancy, McKissick was adamant about keeping the name, telling The Black Scholar journal in defense of his vision, “We need not justify any demands for ‘separatism’ to anybody white. … The real separatists moved to the suburbs long ago.” Soul City would not, in fact, become a racially segregated enclave. HUD officials reminded McKissick that it would be illegal to construct a city that excluded any other race than blacks, and also that the federal government could not fund such a project as it would violate the Civil Rights Act. So, McKissick did change his tune. As Fergus writes in his article, McKissick flipped it around when reporters asked him about Soul City’s separatist veneer, saying, “we do not intend on adopting the white man’s racism” by reverse-redlining other races away from municipal boundaries. McKissick’s team had spent time in planned cities like Columbia, Maryland, studying their playbooks. Now with funding in place, they were able to break ground on basic infrastructure: a wastewater treatment plant, a municipal utility company, a health center, and an “industrial incubator facility” called “Soul Tech I,” which was designed to train the laborers, manufacturers, and entrepreneurs that McKissick envisioned as the leaders of Soul City. (Roger Biles, “The Rise and Fall of Soul City,” Journal of Planning History) The city was also to include three residential villages and a recreational center, but what McKissick wasn’t able to swiftly produce were the people who would live and work there. Soul City had a population of less than 150 in 1979, despite plans that projected a population of 2,000 by then. Huge companies like General Motors and Perdue, which at one point considered building operations centers in Soul City, began pulling out. McKissick was unable to land a major corporation to anchor the city’s economic development.
There were a number of reasons why Soul City’s recruitment efforts fell short. The U.S. economy tanked in the 1970s amid the oil and energy crises. Soul City also had to weather a fusillade of scrutiny from new hard-right conservatives like Jesse Helms, whom North Carolina elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972. Helms immediately made Soul City his whipping post, casting it as a symbol of wasteful government spending. A series of articles from the Raleigh News & Observer surfaced accusations of financial malfeasance inside Soul City’s development team, which stymied investor confidence even more. McKissick’s crew was eventually cleared through an audit from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, but the damage was done. By the early 1980s, even HUD had begun winding its financial support down, citing Soul City’s lack of progress. (Jet, June 11, 1981) McKissick’s rejoinder to HUD was that the department was “taking a baby nine-months-old and asking why he is not a lawyer,” which failed to convince his benefactors. At this point, a new Republican Party had taken over, one that wanted nothing to do with any program that Nixon’s Watergate-scandal-plagued hands had touched. Not only that, but Ronald Reagan had fully embraced the “Southern Strategy” adopted by Republicans, which focused on disaffected white Southern voters—especially those angry about federal programs that benefited African Americans.
Not that most black Americans reaped much benefit from these programs, but the New Deal/Great Society eras were officially over, and Soul City would be drained away with the grantsmanship bathwater. Unable to attract adequate private capital and having lost federal funding, McKissick had to sell Soul City off to private interests. As Illinois State University professor Roger Biles wrote of the city’s short lifespan in the Journal of Planning History: Facing a hostile political environment and hampered by a foreboding economic climate, Floyd McKissick’s bold attempt to sustain a free-standing new town based on African American activism seemed doomed from the start. The uneasy marriage between black capitalism and the federal bureaucracy sundered at Soul City, a part of the larger failure of the new towns movement to solve the urban crisis of the late twentieth century. McKissick’s team was never able to lure major industry to Soul City, but two industries did end up landing there after McKissick left. One was hazardous waste: Warren County notoriously became the place where North Carolina decided to dump tons of untreated, PCB-tainted soil in a landfill near Soul City. Black residents protested this conversion of their homeland into dumping grounds, many of them laying in front of the trucks delivering the soil. Their resistance marked the birth of the civil-rights-based environmental justice movement, though these groups weren’t able to stop toxic soil waste from infiltrating the earth around Soul City.
The other industry that ended up there: prison. The “Soul Tech I” business incubator McKissick built was sold off and is now the Warren Correctional Institution, an 809-bed facility housing far more people than McKissick was ever able to recruit to Soul City. As Devin Fergus writes in “Black Power, Soft Power”: Like the nation at large, Soul City would not employ young black workers as much as warehouse them, as did rural communities and cities across America in the 1980s and 1990s, when prison corporations worked with local and state officials seeking to revitalize economically depressed areas by building prisons that incarcerated unprecedented numbers of nonviolent drug offenders, mostly men between the ages of eighteen and forty. The same able-bodied, young African American men whom McKissick had optimistically envisioned returning south to be gainfully employed in Soul City did return, but they did so, in the words of the state prisons director, as “out-of-state inmates back home, back home so they can be with families; back home where our employees can work with them in our facilities.” In that respect, it now seems like the $14 million Nixon granted McKissick for Soul City turned out less a security deposit on reparations, and more a down payment on mass incarceration. |
A property owner reached out on Friday to find someone to help him with a problem. He is building on an old farm, and when he opened the old well pit, there was a bunch of snakes inside. His problem wasn't with the snakes being there, rather than the well was about to be demolished, and he didn't want them to die. Through a short chain of communications, I got in contact with him to find out when the well was being filled in, and if there was any way to delay it until spring. Unfortunately, it could not be delayed.
Iowa's laws are a bit weird in places. As far as I know, there was nothing stopping the land owner from demolishing the well with all the snakes inside of it, but, it would be illegal to remove them without permits. I contacted a few people with the Iowa DNR to find out what could be done. Normally, permits take some time to get, and we did not have much time. Thankfully, it was decided that since my name is on Linn County Conservation permits, that I could be given permission to remove the snakes, and keep them for the winter.
I met the land owner on the property today around 10am. He told me a little about what was going on with the construction, and then showed me to the well pit. Three snakes were immediately visible.
That didn't seem so bad. He had mentioned seeing more though, and I suspected some others were hiding in the nooks. Sure enough, they were.
One was even down the small vertical pipe in the floor.
This still wasn't too many, and I was able to get them all out, even the one down in the floor. But... and there is always a but... when I was removing the ones from around a pipe, I saw another one up higher in a crevice, and it slipped away into the hallow part of the bricks. We found a heavy piece of metal and used it to break through the front of the brick. That's when things got interesting. There wasn't just one snake up in the hallow, there was three. Then I noticed even more up in the corners of those. So I started breaking open more bricks.
It seemed like every time I broken open a new brick there was another group of snakes.
It's a good thing the well was being demolished, and this wasn't just a case of a home owner wanting the snakes to be removed, because I feel like I got a good start on the demolition.
Fortunately, most of the snakes were restricted to that wall. I did some checks one the other three sides, and did find a few snakes, but no where near as many.
On interesting one, was a racer that was high up in the South wall, that looked to be in the process of crawling into the well through a hole that was drilled for a wire, but I am pretty sure it was stuck. I had broken into the brick below it, and reached up and felt it. Pretty much every other snake I had done that to, would start to flee into another cavity. This racer didn't move though. I very carefully broke out the brick around him, I got a better view, and he seemed pretty stuck.
I left it there for a little bit, while I dug out other snakes, hoping it would wiggle its way out, but it hadn't budged. When we felt we had found all the snakes we could out of the rest of the bricks, we talked about the options for the racer. Fortunately for the snake, it was in the top row of bricks, not far below the surface... but we didn't have a shovel. The land owner managed to find a flat piece of metal though, and it was enough to dig out along the outside of the wall. I dug down to a little above where I thought the snake was, then used my fingers to dig further, and eventually found it. I hoped he could possibly pull back out through the hole, but he was definitely stuck. I dug down to find the wire that was in the hole with it, and we were able to cut it, and pull it out. That gave the snake enough room to slip the rest of the way through.
In the end, we ended up pulling out 38 Western Fox Snakes (Pantherophis vulpinus), and 11 Racers (Coluber constrictor). I have no doubt we missed a few in the walls, but there was some places I just couldn't safely break into. The snakes are currently being kept in a cold place in my house, to keep them inactive for the winter. In the Spring, they will be released back on to the property where they came from. |
Harry Potter and Huck Finn never met in their adventures, but they'll share a shelf at libraries across America during Banned Books Week, Sept. 25 to Oct. 2. The weeklong celebration of our freedom to read began in 1982 in response to an increase in the number of books being challenged in the nation's libraries and schools.
From DePauw University, Greencastle, IN: Banned Books Week has continued annually, and its need has not diminished. According to the American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom, there were 460 recorded attempts to remove materials from libraries last year and many thousands more since the organization began counting in 1990.
Three books by Lauren Myracle -- ttyl, ttfn, and l8r, g8r -- topped the ALA's Top Ten List of the Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2009 (see article below). Written entirely in texting shorthand, Myracle's books were challenged for sexual content and drug references. Stephenie Meyer's popular Twilight series was challenged on religious grounds, evoking opposition to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels for promoting witchcraft. And it's not just new books that are being challenged. Classics such as Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye are perennial contenders for the distinction of being the most challenged book.
"Not every book is right for each reader, but we should have the right to think for ourselves and allow others to do the same," said ALA President Roberta Stevens in a press release on the organization's website. |
0 No charges for Volusia County deputy who shot, killed unarmed man
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. - The state attorney announced Wednesday that a grand jury has decided that a Volusia County deputy who shot and killed an unarmed suspect will not face charges.
Derek Cruice’s loved ones have been protesting since Deputy Todd Raible shot and killed him.
“After two days of testimony and in deliberation, the grand jury declined to indict Deputy Raible on a manslaughter by culpable negligence charge,” said State Attorney R.J. Larizza.
Investigators said Raible shot Derek Cruice in the face while serving a search warrant for drugs in March. Cruice was not armed.
“I want justice for him because he did not deserve to die so young, and not in this manner. Not in this manner,” said Sheila Cruice.
She had been waiting for more than six months to find out if the deputy who killed her son will face criminal charges.
“Why did they use so much force? But it’s just hard. It’s a struggle,” said Sheila Cruice.
Officials said Raible perceived a threat as he entered the home on Maybrook Drive in Deltona and fired one time, shooting Derek Cruice in the face.
Derek Cruice’s friends in the home at the time said they want to know what that threat was, and argue he could not have had a weapon, since he was only wearing shorts with no shirt.
Later, investigators said items they found in the home included 217 grams of marijuana, scales, baggies and $3,000 in cash, but no weapons.
“There was no history or reason in my son’s background, ever, to go in there with such force,” said Sheila Cruice.
“It was an incident nobody wanted to happen. It’s an incident where, if you could turn back the clock, we would. My heart goes out to the family,” Larizza said.
Raible is still working for the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, but an internal investigation is still underway.
Sheila Cruice has hired Orlando attorney Mark Nejame who is working on a wrongful death suit against the department.
They could settle with the city or take it to a civil jury, which may see the case differently.
“Volusia County has a $5 million insurance police for negligence matters and yet they refuse to tap into it,” NeJame said.
Derek Cruice was arrested twice in the past on misdemeanor drug charges, but was never convicted.
Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson released a statement which read, in part, “Law enforcement officers have a tremendous responsibility as well as a dangerous job that sometimes requires them to make split-second, life-and-death decisions. That Derek Cruice was unarmed makes the outcome of this incident truly tragic. But it in no way alters the facts and circumstances that caused Investigator Raible and the other deputies in that fateful moment to perceive that their lives were in danger.”
Previous Story: Group gathers to protest death of man killed by Volusia County deputy |
The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority is preparing to open 12 public flu shot clinics across the city on Wednesday.
The annual flu vaccine is recommended for pregnant women, children between six months and five-years-old, seniors over the age of 65, those with a chronic illness, health-care workers or first responders, individuals of aboriginal ancestry, and people who are severely overweight or obese.
“Although last year’s vaccine proved to be a weaker match to one of the strains that was circulating, it’s still important to receive the flu vaccine,” said Dr. Bunmi Fatoye, medical officer of health with the WRHA.
The WRHA says people can increase their odds of avoiding the flu by washing their hands as much as possible and avoiding touching their eyes or nose with unwashed hands.
A list of free clinic locations are available on the WRHA’s website or by calling (204) 956-SHOT. The clinics run until Saturday, October 24.
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I'm typically not a fan of using the exception to attempt to disprove a rule, and this especially applies to my interpretation of sabermetric principles. For instance, just because Mariano Rivera has showed an ability to sustain a low BABIP for years doesn't mean that BABIP is universally sustainable. And just because Tom Glavine consistently beat out his FIP year after year doesn't mean DIPS is broken. The rule remains relevant in these cases because players like Tom Glavine and Mariano Rivera are freaks of nature, and we can't expect the vast majority of players to be capable of the same superhuman abilities.
A similar issue was raised in a thread here at Beyond the Boxscore recently, during a discussion about strikeouts and pitching to contact. Spencer Schneier and I were arguing that any effort to induce a groundout comes with enormous risk of giving up a hit. While long-time BTBS frequenter "maddogisgod" countered that "the best outcome a pitcher can get is to induce a sawed-off three-hopper right back to him on the first pitch, not a strikeout" and that "Gregg Maddux made his career doing just that." This ideal outcome gets you the same desired result as a strikeout, obviously, with the added bonus of not damaging a pitcher's pitch count.
This is all wonderful of course, assuming your pitcher can in fact induce a sawed-off three-hopper on command. The problem is (and we know this from other studies) that a 0-0 count decidedly favors the batter. Yet, I certainly have no disagreement on Greg Maddux's capacity to perform in ways other pitchers cannot. He was a bonafide phenom. A genuine freak of nature.
But this idea of producing quick outs intrigued me, and I decided to run a few queries to determine which players in recent history have demonstrated the ability to induce the one-pitch out consistently.
First I looked at those pitcher-seasons with the most one-pitch outs, using retrosheet data since 1988:
Seasons with Most First-Pitch Outs since 1988
# Name Year 1POuts 1PO/PA H/1PBIP IP/GS P/PA 1 Rick Reuschel 1988 148 0.1480 0.327 6.8 3.11 2 Orel Hershiser 1988 145 0.1358 0.245 7.9 3.29 3 Greg Maddux 2000 142 0.1403 0.279 7.1 3.20 4 Danny Jackson 1988 142 0.1375 0.237 7.4 3.40 5 Ed Whitson 1990 138 0.1503 0.333 7.1 3.21 6 Greg Maddux 1996 137 0.1401 0.283 7.0 3.07 7 Tom Browning 1989 135 0.1309 0.290 6.7 3.24 8 Greg Maddux 1993 133 0.1250 0.269 7.4 3.35 9 Greg Maddux 1988 133 0.1270 0.257 7.3 3.42 10 Tom Browning 1990 131 0.1369 0.276 6.5 3.20
It's not so remarkable that Rick Reuschel's 1988 season is #1 on this list, but it is quite impressive that he was 39 years old at the time.
Orel Hershiser's 1988 at #2 was his famous Cy Young season in which he recorded 59 consecutive scoreless innings pitched. He also posted a surreal .239 BABIP that season, which in many ways contributed to both his scoreless streak and the record-setting first-pitch out total. Less than 25% of all first-pitch balls in play ended up as hits for Hershiser that season, which translates into an incredibly helpful .245 BABIP for that split.
But it should surprise none of us that Greg Maddux himself shows up four separate times in the top ten. In fact, 11 Maddux seasons showed up in the top 50. It should also not surprise anyone, then, that from 1988-2012 Maddux has posted one of the best First-Pitch Out rates amongst all pitchers with at least 5000 batters faced in that period.
Top 10 First-Pitch Out% Since 1988
# Name 1PO 1PO/PA H/1PBIP BFP 1 Tom Browning 617 12.7 .283 5081 2 Greg Maddux 2314 12.14 .302 19574 3 Bob Tewksbury 794 12.14 .332 6823 4 Bill Swift 640 11.16 .304 5753 5 Danny Jackson 654 11.12 .295 5896 6 Brian Anderson 720 11.04 .338 6532 7 Orel Hershiser 1022 11.02 .302 9307 8 Greg Swindell 922 10.74 .305 8606 9 Rheal Cormier 549 10.7 .331 5157 10 Kevin Tapani 1022 10.67 .318 9600
Immediately you'll notice that nearly all of these pitchers did most of their pitching in the late '80's and early 90's. And you may have also noticed in the single-season 1PO leaders table, that 4 of the top-ten seasons occurred in 1988, and just two seasons (Maddux's 1996 and 2000) occurred after 1993. We all know that the game went under significant changes after the strike in '94, and many historians choose to define 1993 as the milemarker between two eras.
As a consequence of these changes, it almost seemed as if overnight Baseball changed it's attitude towards the first-pitch. A look at first-pitch BABIP including HR, which we'll call BACON for BA on Contact, from 1988-2010 shows an incredibly sharp rise in batter success when swinging early.
This may seem hard to believe, that such a radical change occurred in such a short time, but the jump in BACON is basically in tune with the overall BABIP changes of that time period.
The first pitch-out has therefore been on a steady decline since the data has been available, falling from 10% of all PA's in 1988 to just 7.3% in 2012. In fact, we haven't seen a pitcher record more than 115 first-pitch outs since Tanyon Sturtze in his 2002 season with the Devil Rays. Since then we've seen a few seasons from Carlos Silva, Roy Halladay and Brandon Webb crack the 100 first-pitch outs threshold, but not again since 2005.
Greg Maddux was a freak of nature. Even as the era of the first-pitch out abandoned us, Maddux continued inducing "sawed-off three-hoppers" back to the mound well into the 2000's. How he did this exactly is the holy grail of pitching-- the fusion of performance and efficiency. We can (and will) speculate all we want about 'quality strikes' and 'late movement', but the truth is we'll just have to accept that we will never know how Maddux did what he did.
EDITED to change all "BABIP with HR" references to "BACON". All data courtesy of retrosheet.
Follow @JDGentile on twitter |
Originally published Friday, August 26, 2011 at 10:12 AM
FAA certification of the 787 clears the way for Boeing to deliver the first jet to All Nippon Airways of Japan in September, three years and four months later than originally planned.
July 2004: Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) becomes the 787's first buyer with a 50-plane order.
The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday certified Boeing's 787 Dreamliner to carry passengers, ending more than 20 months of flight testing and analysis.
The move clears the way for Boeing to deliver the first jet to All Nippon Airways (ANA) of Japan on Sept. 25, three years and four months later than originally planned.
"Despite the fact that this airplane might be a little late, this will be an airplane that changes the game," Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Jim Albaugh said at a Friday morning ceremony in Everett marking the FAA certification. He said he thinks customers will forgive Boeing for the delay once they receive the planes.
Boeing employees in blue polo shirts carried flags bearing the logos of the 787's 50-plus airline customers and sat on folding chairs at Paine Field to watch the ceremony. Behind them were two "Dreamlifters," which are modified 747s that carry 787 parts around the world.
A test 787 stood behind a small stage where the FAA officially handed Boeing officials their certification. The word "experimental" was painted above its door.
Another 787 bearing ANA's name flew over the ceremony as it began.
First delivery is only the beginning of a challenging period for Boeing as it attempts to ramp up production from two Dreamliners a month to 10 a month over the next two years.
Even as new 787s roll out, hundreds of mechanics and engineers in Everett will remain sidetracked from ongoing production as they slowly rework approximately 40 Dreamliners assembled earlier, but still in need of major modification before turning the keys over to customers.
Program chief Scott Fancher this month reiterated a previous estimate that the process of methodically working through all those jets parked at Paine Field will take about two years.
Boeing has not specified how many 787s it will deliver by the end of 2011. Earlier this year, it had indicated it might deliver between 12 and 20; the number is now expected to be considerably less than a dozen.
Wall Street analysts have estimated that the 787's delays and technical issues have swelled development costs to somewhere between $12 billion and $18 billion on top of the $5 billion Boeing originally budgeted.
Still, the FAA's formal thumbs-up — which was accompanied by certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency — is a relief. Even a few jets being delivered will free up space on the Everett flight line and allow Boeing to begin to see tangible progress.
Unexpected obstacles
Like every aspect of the 787 program, the flight-testing and certification process has been extended by unexpected obstacles.
The most serious was an in-flight electrical fire last November. Smoke and flames in the passenger-cabin area forced an emergency landing.
Analysis of the incident, later blamed on debris in an electrical-control panel, led to software changes in the electrical system and minor hardware changes in the panel. That added a six-month delay to the program.
Because the 787 has lots of new technology, the FAA laid down a series of "special conditions" requiring Boeing to demonstrate in each case that the plane is at least as safe as previous aircraft.
The outer skin of the airplane and much of the structure underneath are made from carbon-fiber-reinforced composite plastic, not aluminum.
In addition, many of the vital systems of the airplane are powered by electrical generators rather than by compressed air diverted from the engines, which is the norm on previous jets.
The change of structural material prompted the FAA to require that Boeing prove, among other things, that the airplane is safe in a lightning strike; that the 787's fuselage will protect passengers from the impact of a crash landing as well as a metal fuselage would; and that the fuel-holding wings can withstand a post-crash fire as long as metal wings.
Because of the heavy reliance on electric power, Boeing was also required to show "that the airplane is capable of continued safe flight and landing with all normal sources of ... electrical power inoperative."
By issuing the plane's certificate, the FAA has declared itself satisfied on all these points and affirmed that the Dreamliner is safe and ready to carry passengers.
"Our job is to embrace their innovations, but also to make sure it's safe," said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, who attended Boeing's ceremony Friday.
FAA officials flew about a quarter of the 4,700 test hours flown by six 787s. Altogether, the FAA logged more than 200,000 hours researching and testing the new plane, Babbitt said.
Long flights OK'd, too
Along with this general certification, the FAA also approved the twin-engine 787 to travel up to three hours away from the nearest airport — allowing it to fly across the Atlantic or Pacific oceans.
This part of the certification is known as ETOPS, which originally stood for "extended-range twin-engine operations," though in 2007 the agency redefined the regulations to apply to airplanes with any number of engines.
Boeing's 777 was the first airliner to be granted three-hour ETOPS approval immediately, without the previously required one-year track record of reliable flying.
To get the same "out of the box" rating for the Dreamliner, Boeing conducted ultra-long-distance flight tests on Dreamliner No. 9 this summer. The longest endurance flight, an indirect route from Guam to Everett on July 27, lasted 18 hours.
On the ETOPS flights, the pilots deliberately switched off multiple systems and shut down one engine to prove that the plane could still safely reach a distant airport.
Boeing expects early next year to extend the 787's ETOPS certification from 3 to 5.5 hours. Mohan Pandey, who directed Boeing's efforts on ETOPS regulations until his retirement last year, said this will allow the 787 to fly between virtually any two cities on earth.
During flight tests, Dreamliner No. 9 flew several times on just one engine for more than 5.5 hours. So the planned extension of ETOPS will require no further test flights, only a software change to accommodate a new low-fuel indicator regulation.
Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter said none of the early customers need this extra-range approval before next year. First customer ANA will fly its initial Dreamliners on short-haul domestic routes within Japan, starting Nov. 1. Its first 787 flight will be a charter on Oct. 26.
With the certification milestone passed, Boeing's focus shifts from proving the plane airworthy and safe to simply producing it reliably at a faster rate and getting it into service at airlines around the world.
To get to 10 jets a month by the end of 2013, Boeing has to increase the production rate in Everett to seven per month and begin rolling out three Dreamliners per month in Charleston, S.C.
The company's stock rose $1.70 to $62.80 a share Friday.
Information from Seattle Times reporter Melissa Allison, attending Friday's ceremony, is included in this report.
Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or [email protected] |
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) hasn’t been having a good time lately. It would be safe to say that the company famous for its golden arches is not ‘loving it,’ at least in the past few years. What is the problem? Declining sales? Declining same-store revenues?
In fact, regardless of the economic indicator or statistical factor you consider, McDonald’s is not looking good. Sure, it still racks up sales in the billions of dollars, but a company this big is assessed by its growth projections. The company is failing to grow. Worst of all, the company appears to lack direction.
It appears there is an internal blame game happening as Mcdonald’s stock gets hammered. Its recent quarterly earnings didn’t win it many friends. In fact, McDonald’s stock sank due to its disappointing sales quarter. This marks five straight quarters of declining sales. What is going on?
It is easy to blame former CEO Don Thompson, who was recently pushed out. After all, he was the head of the McDonald’s family and should have been on the ball as to where to take the company. At the very least, he should have had a clear vision that the company can work toward. However, simply heaping all of McDonald’s problems on one person isn’t going to cut it. What McDonald’s is facing is a deep and profound change in how American families look at fast food.
The whole idea of fast food, of course, is McDonald’s innovation. This is what put McDonald’s on the map. You go to a drive-thru, you place your order, and in a very short period of time, you have food ready and you can enjoy it on the go. This is what fueled America for several decades. Not surprisingly, McDonald’s stock and its shareholders were handsomely rewarded. It is one of the planet’s biggest corporations for a good reason.
Unfortunately, tastes do change. Instead of looking at a fast food restaurant as offering many different things on the menu and being a jack of all trades, consumers are expecting something different now. Consumers are looking for restaurants to focus on a tight range of menu items. Interestingly enough, consumers are also expecting to wait a little bit longer for those menu items. Why?
Consumers expect a higher level of quality and satisfaction from their food. This is not to say that people don’t enjoy Big Macs and McDonald’s fries. They do. The problem is McDonald’s has become so generic that the focus really is on the speed of service. Not surprisingly, specialized competitors like Chipotle and Five Guys are eating McDonald’s lunch literally by taking a little bit longer. People are looking for quality. People are looking for more control of the menu. In other words, people are looking for their expectations to be managed more closely. This is kind of weird, considering that we are talking about the United States here – the land of freedom of choice. However, based on McDonald’s recent fate, it seems that instead of freedom of choice, people are looking, in many cases, for freedom from choice.
People are looking for quality. People are looking for more control of the menu. In other words, people are looking for their expectations to be managed more closely. This is kind of weird, considering that we are talking about the United States here – the land of freedom of choice. However, based on McDonald’s recent fate, it seems that instead of freedom of choice, people are looking, in many cases, for freedom from choice. |
On the surface, owning 250,000 Lego pieces sounds awesome. But then you start to think about it: the late-night encounters with carpets in the brick; trying to find that one particular head; trying to explain things to your insurance broker. Clearly, you’re going to need one hell of a storage system.
That’s exactly what’s been installed in the basement of Jeffrey Pelletier, a Seattle architect, and owner of a quarter million Lego bricks. Houzz was lucky to get a tour of his ridiculously well-organized Lego labyrinth, a room under his house filled with Ikea drawers.
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The attention to detail is stupendous: not just a drawer full of Lego heads, but a drawer full of heads all attached together, to make the finding easier. Individual storage bins for regular red bricks, and skinny red bricks. Probably some red squares in there as well.
Best of all, the Lego room is also a media room, with a roll-down projector screen to hide the bricks when your grown-up friends come over. The full tour is worth a watch, although you may be overcome with a deep-seated desire to go cry (and then frantically organize your kitchen) afterwards. [Houzz] |
Apple has released the third iOS 9.3 public beta to non-developer testers today. iOS 9.3 public beta 3 follows this week’s third developer iOS 9.3 beta release as well. The latest beta cleans up issues introduced in the last version while adding some new features as well.
iOS 9.3, which is expected to be released to everyone next month, adds loads of new features for iPhones and iPads including Night Shift mode to change the display temperature for evening reading, Touch ID/secure passwords to protect Notes, new 3D Touch shortcuts on the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, enhancements to the Health and Activity apps, iCloud for iBooks PDF syncing, and much more.
Changes in iOS 9.3 beta 3 included:
Verizon Wi-Fi Calling
Fixed Control Center icons in landscape
Apple News settings in Sweden, possibly other countries (although no app)
Tweaked Night Shift explainer in Control Center
Tweaked Lock/Unlock toggle in Notes outside of the share sheet
Check out our initial hands-on video with the first iOS 9.3 beta below:
For CarPlay users, iOS 9.3 also adds the full Apple Music experience with For You and New sections as well as Nearby in Maps. iOS 9.3 also includes a major new education initiative with multi-user support and much more.
See our hands-on video of those new features below: |
If these words were people, I would embrace their genocide.
Lately I've been hearing a lot of stupid people parroting stupid buzz words. There are too many to list all of them here, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to try. I propose that we all agree, here and now, to strike these words and phrases from our collective for the betterment of humanity, and the improvement of my blood pressure. Thank you. Blog : The word "blog" is literally shorthand for "boring;" a vulgar, overused word that strikes your ear with the dull thud of a cudgel to the soft spot of a child's head. It's an abbreviation used by journalism drop outs to give legitimacy to their shallow opinions and amateur photography that seems to be permanently stuck in first draft hell. Looking in the archives of the blogs, one would expect someone who has been at it for years to slowly hone their craft and improve their writing and photographs, since it's usually safe to assume that if someone does something long enough, he or she will eventually not suck at it. Even with lowered expectations, you'll get a shotgun blast of disappointment in your face. It's an unspoken rule that every blog must use the same layout as every other blog: long, slender columns of annoyingly condensed text, thousands of links to other blogs, plugs for shitty political books, and more links to yet more blogs:
The problem with this layout is that there's too much shit to click on. Seriously, who's ever going to click on all those links? The worst blogs are the ones that make every other word a hyperlink to another website so by the time you finish reading this sentence, you've forgotten what you were reading, or why you were reading it in the first place. Hey, this article is great but you know what would make it better? If I could read another article in the middle of it. Great design, morons.
If the thousands of mid-sentence links don't annoy you, the long slender columns of text will. Most of the screen on a blog is blank for an imaginary populace of readers still using 640x480 resolution. I didn't buy a 19" monitor to have 50% of its screen realestate pissed away on firing white pixels, you assholes. They don't print books on receipt paper for a reason. Every time I see this layout, I want to choke the creator with my dry, crackled, and bleeding hands for making my fingers so calloused from having to keep scrolling the mouse wheel to read your dumb "blog."
Blogger : Term used to describe anyone with enough time or narcissism to document every tedious bit of minutia filling their uneventful lives. Possibly the most annoying thing about bloggers is the sense of self-importance they get after even the most modest of publicity. Sometimes it takes as little as a referral on a more popular blogger's website to set the lesser blogger's ego into orbit.
Then God forbid a blogger gets mentioned on CNN. If you thought it was impossible for a certain blogger to get more pious than he was, wait until you see the shit storm of self-righteous save-the-world bullshit after a network plug. Suddenly the boring, mild-mannered blogger you once knew will turn into Mother Theresa, and will single handedly take it upon himself to end world hunger with his stupid links to band websites and other smug blogger dipshits.
Blogging : If minds had anuses, blogging would be what your mind would do when it had to take a dump.
Blogged : What you call a trivial or largely inconsequential topic once bloggers have processed through every tired detail. For more on this, look into: every minor news story.
Blogosphere : The "blogosphere" is the new buzz word that has replaced "information super highway." It's what idiots like to call a collection of "blogs," otherwise known as a tragedy.
Blogomania : Like all other manias, except relating to the infatuation of blogs. It's one step above the more caustic phrase "blog-o-rama." Thankfully the latter hasn't caught on to the extent of its brethren, but that doesn't stop me from punching anyone who says it in the dick.
Blogroll : A long list of links that nobody will ever click on. Bloggers not only link to their friends and fellow bloggers, but their eventual goal is to link to every linkable document on the Internet. Most "blog rolls" are so full of links that it can bring even the mightiest of search engines to a crawl as they sort through all the frivolous bullshit bloggers link to.
Thankfully, since most blogs are shallow in content, it won't take you long to load, and in turn, to close the browser quickly if you're duped into clicking one of these links. If you shut down quickly enough, you may be able to avoid downloading the mandatory 2 gigs of political banners on every blogger's website.
Blogshare : An imaginary share of a blog's worth, which is ironic, since most blogs have an imaginary share of readers.
Blogstorm : A zany phrase news anchors like to use any time they think there's an abnormal amount of posts on blogs regarding any particular topic. Of course, they fail to consider any amount of posting to a blog is abnormal since people who are well adjusted usually have better things to do, i.e., work, or failing that, anything else.
Blog Swarm : Stupid.
Blogging community : Losers, goths, bedwetters, and journalism dropouts.
Blawg : Some prick thought it would be clever to spell "blog" phonetically using the word "law" in the title. It's a phrase used to describe blogs primarily dealing with the law and legal issues. Wow, real clever, dipshit. How did you come up with that one?
Blogumentary : There was recently a bit of a feud regarding this word among two bloggers. Apparently some guy decided that they had exclusive right to use the word, not realizing that similar words (docudrama, dramedy, rockumentary, etc) have been free to use for all people since you can't just copyright an entire genre, and more importantly, that it's stupid. Who cares? Blogumentary? Really? Eat shit you morons.
Blogebrity : Wow, guess what this one stands for? Too easy. Hey, anyone can do it: take a blogger who's a chef, and you get: BLEF. A blogger who's a dentist? BENTIST. A female blogger with an itch? You guessed it: a BITCH.
Photoblog : Photoblogs make me yearn for the day when cameras weren't digital, film cost money, and it took time to develop pictures. I remember back when it wasn't easy for any random asshole with a camera to go out take countless pictures of nothing. Nothing is exactly what these pictures are of. No focus, no theme, no message, no posturing. Just countless pictures of Denny's at 2 AM. We don't care that you went to Denny's. You're not an artist. You're not deep. Get a new hobby.
Podcast : Someone had the revolutionary idea of taking a compressed audio file and putting it online. Yeah, doesn't sound so sexy when I describe it for what it is, does it you morons? It would have been a great idea if streaming audio wasn't already around for over a decade before the word "podcast" entered the lexicon. Man, I can't stand the word "lexicon." Talking about all these shitty words has made me start using shitty words. I'm so pissed, I just slammed the door shut on some kid's nuts.
Podcasting : It's snob for "streaming audio."
Podcatcher : Any idiot with an iPod, web browser, or ears.
Warblog : A blog that primarily deals with war. Filled with whiny blow hards who are fixated on their stubborn ideas and conspiracy theories. For example, there are countless hours pissed away by conspiracy theorists who think the WTC towers were demolished by bombs planted by the government. These armchair engineers write endlessly about how the physics of the collapse was impossible, how the temperature wasn't hot enough to melt steel, and how the planes were carrying missiles. Of course, the one thing they don't postulate is a REASON.
My personal favorite warblog was one that had a flash animation with people who were quoted as saying "it didn't sound like a plane to me... it sounded like a missile." Thank you Joe Nobody for giving me your expert opinion on what missile sounds like, because gas station superintendents are usually the best people to ask about the sonic signature of ballistic missile thrust.
Warblogger : Like all other bloggers, an idiot. Usually a self-righteous prick with a political axe to grind. Tragically, these dullards fail to realize that nobody cares what they think. And no, the 2 comments per post you get on average doesn't count. Get some real opinions, then maybe you'll get some real feedback.
Warblogging : The act of writing amateur, unfounded, and borderline illiterate opinions about war and war strategy.
iPod : This is one of those inventions that makes people say: "why didn't I think of that?" On news shows anyway. One of the anchors on FOX News said "now the music industry is waiting for someone to come along and invent the next iPod." Wow, if only I had thought of the bright idea of putting an mp3 player on a portable hard drive. Damn that's brilliant. I had that idea years ago. I also have another idea: a car that can fly. I will sue anyone who makes it.
iPodder : A pompous ass who thinks he's eclectic. Wake up asshole: you're not living in an iPod commercial. You can't dance. Everything you listen to sucks. Get a job.
e-nable: E-nable? How about I e-nable my foot to your mouth?
URL (as pronounced "ERL") : Few things invoke more contempt for humanity than someone who pronounces URL as "erl." It's an acronym, not a word you douche! Between people who say "erl" and programmers who pronounce char (an abbreviation for character) as "ch�r" (with the "ch" pronounced like in "chart"), I get so pissed that I just want to saw my arms off.
The suffix "pundit:" Stupid.
The prefix "pundit:" Stupid.
Liberal media : Whiny, bitching, cry-baby conservatives love to prattle on and on about the "liberal media." To be fair, except for FOX News (Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, John Gibson, Neil Cavuto, Steve Doocy, E.D. Hill, Brian Kilmeade, Brit Hume), Clear Channel, Laura Ingraham, Dr. Laura, Rush Limbaugh, Hugh Hewitt, Ann Coulter, Newsmax, G. Gordon Liddy, Michael Reagan, Michael Savage, The New York Post, Sinclair Broadcast Group (WLOS13, Fox 45, WTTO21, WB49, KGAN, WICD, WICS, WCHS, WVAH, WTAT, WSTR, WSYX, WTTE, WKEF, WRGT, KDSM, WSMH, WXLV, WURN, KVWB, KFBT, WDKY, WMSN, WVTV, WEAR, WZTV, KOTH, WYZZ, WPGH, WGME, WLFL, WRLH, WUHF, KABB, WGGB, WSYT, WTTA), David Horowitz, Rupert Murdoch, PAX, and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough, they're right.
The suffix "gate" : Watergate, Filegate, Rathergate, eat shit already.
Xanga : The bottom of the barrel of blogs. It's incredible that the user base is able to write so much, yet say so little. I have to give a bit of kudos though, considering the fact that many of the users have the reading comprehension of a bowl full of pubes.
LiveJournal : Here's a little trick you can use to find out whether a link someone sends you is worth checking. If it contains the words "live, journal," or any combination thereof, you can safely ignore the link without missing out on anything.
Content Management System : A pretentious way of saying "text editor."
The acronym CMS : Man, it's like you guys create these words, then you turn them into acronyms to make this shit even cornier.
Killer App : I can't stand this phrase, mostly because it's applied so loosely. App is short for "application," but that doesn't stop people from using it every chance they get: "the fast food industry needs a killer app." What? What does that even mean? An application?
Webmistress : You're not a webmistress, shut up. It's a word used by uppity women who, in spite of a woman's inherent flaws, has been able to land a job as a webmaster. Then they have to go and piss all over years of civil rights they've wrestled away by calling themselves "webmistresses."
trackback : It's snob for "referrer."
travelblog : Guess.
Emo : An abbreviation for loser. Emo is the new goth, except goths are still around, so it's becoming almost unbearable.
Metrosexual : A gay guy still in the closet. This word is so contemptible that even the man who coined it has since apologized for being such a douche. I cringe every time I hear this word.
Retrosexual : This word wouldn't exist if "metro" didn't happen to rhyme with "retro." It's supposed to mean the opposite of a "metrosexual," which makes it another superfluous word since we already have a word for the opposite of a metrosexual called "straight."
Friendblog : None are known to exist since bloggers don't have friends.
Watchblog : Let's not.
Videoblog : Another idiot who had the bright idea of coining a term for posting a file online, except instead of music, it's crappy home videos.
Vlog : I don't even know if this is being used yet, but I suspect it will be used soon if it hasn't, so preemptive strike, bitches.
Vog : I
Vloggers : CAN'T
Vlogging : GO
Vlogged : ON
Moblog : ANYMORE.
In observation of all these shitty phrases and acronyms, I've decided to coin another phrase that can be used for "blog" called: comment-log or CLOG for short. What users do is labor over documenting their inconsequential lives, trivializing man's greatest invention, the microprocessor, until the Internet is so CLOGGED that commerce comes to a screeching halt. Anyone contributing to the congestion would be known as a CLOGGER. I hate blogs.
3,688,068 smarmy assholes coin new phrases to be more annoying.
© 1997-2017 by Maddox |
Despite the ongoing legal problems due to an FBI investigation into his wife’s dealings while she was running Burlington College, Bernie Sanders is a man on a mission.
The previously obscure Senate crank became a figure who will be more than a footnote in the history books when he dared to challenge Hillary Clinton for the Democrat presidential nomination last year.
The aging socialist who seems to see himself as an American Karl Marx is set to embark upon a tour to promote his own version of Das Kapital or the Anarchist’s Cookbook entitled Bernie Sanders: Guide to Political Revolution.
Crazy Bernie may have been cheated out of the nomination by Hillary Clinton’s lackeys at the DNC but he has managed to become an inspiration to both aging hippies with pipe dreams of the 1960’s as well as a younger generation of unsophisticated nincompoops wanting free stuff.
The 75-year-old closet commie likely understands that he will never get another shot at the brass ring, but like Marx he can only hope that his manifesto will be the inspiration for generations of future rebels without a clue.
Sanders will be hitting the road to promote his book, the latest from those political charlatans looking to cash in off of their opposition to the legitimately elected POTUS.
Sanders Plans Return to Iowa to Promote New Book https://t.co/owRCblytzR pic.twitter.com/3gllZkbM4t — Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) July 10, 2017
According to the Washington Free Beacon “Sanders Plans Return to Iowa to Promote New Book”:
Sen. Bernie Sander (I., Vt.) is scheduled to return to Iowa City, Iowa in August to promote his latest book, his first trip to the city since the end of his 2016 presidential campaign. The Prairie Lights bookstore in Iowa City announced in a news release that the Vermont senator will discuss his newest book, Bernie Sanders: Guide to Political Revolution, at 7 p.m. on Aug. 31, the Iowa City Press-Citizen reported Monday. Before Sanders launched his 2016 presidential bid, Prairie Lights hosted Sanders to read from his book, The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and The Decline of Our Middle Class, in February 2015. “We had three days to promote that event and we got 150 people to show up,” said Jan Weissmiller, co-owner of Prairie Lights. Sanders narrowly lost the 2016 Iowa Democratic caucuses to Hillary Clinton but won Johnson County by about 20 points. The senator’s coming trip to Iowa may raise speculation that he is mulling a presidential bid in 2020, when he would be 79 years old.
Alas, Crazy Bernie’s longshot run for the Democrat nomination will be the closest that he will ever come to actual political power.
Had he not sold out his followers by puckering up and planting his pursed lips solidly upon Queen Hillary’s ass at the Democratic National Convention in Philly he may have had a shot, but that capitulation cost him more than he can ever imagine.
His book will likely be taken as holy writ to the diehard progressives who are as delusional as the followers of the Reverend Jim Jones but the establishment will see to it that he never again is able to use the apparatus of a major party to spread his Commie-Lite message.
He should thank God that he lives in America where he will die peacefully of old age instead of having an axe embedded in his head by a shunned adversary with a grudge. |
It’s possible only a handful of people will watch
moving through Irvington on Sunday. Most years, the number of parade participants far exceeds the number of parade viewers.
That’s just how Steve Slavik likes it.
Slavik has greying hair and the lanky build of a former baseball star. Neighbors call him Coach Steve because he once coached T-ball. The waiters at
, where he has a table reserved daily for lunch, call him Coach Steve, too. The Coach Steve special includes an IPA, a hamburger and two pickles.
Which is to say Steve Slavik is a man of traditions.
None have lasted as long as his annual Northeast Portland St. Patrick’s Day Parade.
Slavik, whose family is Czechoslovakian, held the first parade 25 years ago on a whim.
For years, his Irish father-in-law had held a big St. Patrick’s Day Party in Michigan. But Tom Healy grew old, and in 1989 decided to cancel his party.
"Why don't you come to our house?" Slavik asked his wife's father.
Healy hesitated. The trip from Detroit is long.
"We're having a parade!" Slavik blurted.
Slavik had never held, nor planned to hold a parade. But that March, he threw his first with Tom Healy as the grand marshal. He's been holding them every year since.
The neighborhood has changed considerably since he held the first parade. Irvington meant something different when he, his wife Julie and their four children bought an old boarding home on Northeast Hancock Street in the late 1980s.
“The one thing that has stayed the same in this neighborhood is people know there is going to be a parade,” Slavik said.
Last month, Slavik and buddy Steve Turina hoisted a light-up parade countdown sign in front of Slavik’s home. His is the hundred-year-old house that hangs a holiday chandelier every Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Fourth of July. Slavik and Turina also hung a banner they repurposed from a 1988 Michael Dukakis rally. Instead of Dukakis, Portland now hearts the Irish.
Slavik is the parade’s organizer in that he announces the date and pays for the permits. But Sunday morning, there’s only one rule for the “O’Slavik parade.” Be at the
at 11:30 a.m.
“You come any earlier, you’re just going to see me, a kid on a bike and a dog with a bow,” Slavik said.
There are no registration fees. No pre-parade line-ups. If Slavik sees you watching the parade, he will likely beckon you to join the trail.
It’s grown from a block-long crew in 1989 to --- well, who knows how many people will show this year. Slavik says every parade is bigger than the last. But its official length will be determined sometime after the parade starts Sunday at noon.
Slavik knows the Oscar Meyer Wiener truck is going to be there this year. A fire engine from Northeast Broadway Street’s Station 13 will drive through. The Irish Wolfhound Society will walk, as will the Greyhound Rescue group. As a joke, Slavik invited the county dog catchers to build a float behind the dog troupes.
“What’re you going to see is the cutest stuff,” Slavik said. “There’s going to be a ‘Truck ‘o Pats.’ Any Pat -- Patricia, Patrick -- can ride in my old pickup truck.”
A few months ago, the New Horizons orchestra called Slavik at home -- “I’m the last man in the world without a cell phone.” -- and asked to participate.
“Just be at Fernwood at 11:30,” Slavik told them. “And we’ll head west from there.”
“But we’re not a marching band,” one of the members told him.
“Well how many of you are there?” Slavik asked.
The 20-piece orchestra will set up in Slavik’s yard and play as the parade goes by. They’ll pause when the
Marching Band or the River City Pipe Band passes.
The bagpipes drew writer Charity Egland out of her home a few years ago. On
, she reported seeing less than 20 people total watching what she dubbed “the ghost parade.”
“When I threw on some shoes and took my dog down to watch, there was exactly one other person on our block watching it go by,” Egland wrote. “So the people in this parade were essentially waving to no one. And still they paraded.”
Tom Healy died 15 years ago. But Slavik is still holding the parade to draw his family closer. His kids have moved away the last few years. Saturday, they’re flying in from New York and Arizona. A whole clan of Healys will join them from Detroit.
“That’s a real testament,” Slavik said Thursday, tearing up over his usual at the Columbia River Brewing Company. “It’s not like, ‘Ugh, it’s Christmas. I have to go home.’ They want to come back.”
The parade will travel west down Northeast Hancock Street then back east on Tillamook. If no one’s watching, that’s fine. Slavik will have everyone he needs marching alongside him.
-- Casey Parks |
A MINING company has put the call out for single and good looking females aged under 25 to apply for their receptionist position.
Not surprisingly, it's attracted zero applications.
The job advertisement posted on Australia InfoMine has shocked Aussies looking for work on the mining industry website.
Melbourne job seeker Bronte Maguire, 21, said she was browsing administrative positions on the site when she came across the ad.
"I actually couldn't believe it when I saw it," she said.
"I closed it as soon as I saw (the requirements) because I want to be hired for my skills, not my looks.
"It's quite common to see 'well presented' as a requirement but good looking was offensive.
"The only justification I have for them is that the job is in Indonesia, so whoever wrote that may not have had the best English skills and might not know that you can't say that."
Korean coal company Pt. Karya Bumi Baratama posted the controversial ad, for the position at its Jakarta head office, online last week.
InfoMine staff then sourced the job advertisement from another website and posted it on its own.
The advertisement states responsibilities include directing incoming calls, responding to inquiries, opening mail and providing clerical support - but the company seeks more than just a pretty face.
Applicants should also know how to use a computer and be able to multi-task.
Desirable attributes include being energetic, highly motivated and customer-service oriented.
When news.com.au alerted Australia InfoMine to the controversial advertisement it vowed to take it down.
General manager Johann Robertson said he was shocked it had been published on their site.
"I'm surprised this got past the screening process we have," he said.
"The fact that they're asking specifically for single (females) - I don't think that's something that you could ask for in any country.
"Different countries have different ways of looking at that (‘good looking' requirement). I don't have an issue when they say that - I mean I do ethically - but its not something I'm going to limit them being able to do business on because that's standard in some industries (overseas).
"But when they say someone must be single for secretary/receptionist type work, that seems a little below brow for me."
Mr Robertson said most South-East Asian companies sought applicants of a specific gender and age range.
"It's a part of their culture.
"From what my staff tell me about the South-East Asia job region, it really sounds like this receptionist ad in question is looking for the stereotypical demographic for the role that is unencumbered to work longer hours, rather than for any kind of inappropriate relationship.
"Sure does not translate well into Australian though."
Australia InfoMine's website says it provides focused, in-depth information on worldwide mining and mineral exploration activities considered to be of specific interest to Australians.
Mr Robertson said no one had applied for the position which was published on March 15.
"Typically we try to avoid this type of posting for ethical reasons but the issue is that different areas around the world, they really do cater towards this kind of thing," he said.
"It's a tough one.
"They're dealing with labour laws (overseas) that are a little bit different."
Email [email protected] or follow @itsKShort |
Klock JC, Boerner U, Becker CE. “Coma, Hyperthermia, and Bleeding Associated with Massive LSD Overdose, A Report of Eight Cases”. Clinical Toxicology. 1975;8(2):191-203. Klock JC, Boerner U, Becker CE. "Coma, Hyperthermia, and Bleeding Associated with Massive LSD Overdose, A Report of Eight Cases" Clinical Toxicology. 1975;8(2):191-203. Text Abstract (this page) Full Text - English (656 K) Show Articles by Klock JC Boerner U Becker CE Article IDs LSDID: 3017 Erowid RefID: 3266 PubMedID: unknown Collections Hofmann Collection MDMA Collection All References
Abstract Although there have been many reports of overdose with D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in humans, little toxicologic data are available. The physiologic effects of LSD in doses greater than 1 mg have not been studied in humans and the lethal dose must be interpolated from animal studies. We performed extensive toxicologic studies on eight people who took large doses of LSD; the results and clinical-toxicologic correlations are reported herein. REPORTS OF CASES On July 29, 1972 four women and four men ranging in age from 19 to 39 years were admitted to the emergency room at San Francisco General Hospital for drug overdose. Following a dinner party, they had "snorted" (inhaled through a straw placed in one nostril) a small amount of cocaine and a quantity of white powder believed to be cocaine. All eight were reported to have snorted at least two "lines" (rows of powder measuring approximately 3 x 4 x 30 mm) of the second substance. Within 5 min they experienced anxiety, restlessness, generalized parasthesias and muscle discomfort, vomiting, and physical collapse. Ten minutes later they were admitted to the emergency room in varying degrees of intoxication (Table 1 and Appendix). Five were comatose when first seen and most were extremely hyperactive with severe visual and auditory hallucinations at some point during their course. Three required endotracheal intubation. and assisted ventilation and three aspirated vomitus. All had sinus tachyeardia, widely dilated and fixed pupils, emesis, flushing, and sweating. Fever developed in four and diarrhea in two. Transient hypertension was present in three patients and no patient had convulsions. All had coagulopathy as manifested by the inability to form firm clots and absence of clot retraction in the blood specimen tubes. Seven had guaiac-positive vomitus and four showed evidence of mild generalized bleeding (microscopic hematuria in two, gross hematuria in two, oozing at venipuncture sites in three and small amounts of blood in the vomitus or stool in four patients). Laboratory data showed normal or negative values (see Appendix) for the following: blood glucose and serum sodium, potassium, and bicarbonate levels, hemoglobin (13.0 to 16.4 gm/dl), platelet Count (186,000 to 458,000/pl), prothrombin time (11.0 to 12.5 sec) and partial thromboplastin time (19.3 to 38.7 see), chest roentgenograms, and electrocardiograms. Results of liver and renal function tests were within normal limits in the three patients studied. Direct examination of the blood clots and results of clot retraction tests on several patients showed friable clots that fell apart easily without dissection, and absence of clot retraction (Fig. 1). Supportive care included respiratory assistance, use of hypothermic blankets, and administration of antibiotics and corticosteroids when indicated. Bleeding was mild and disappeared within 4 to 6 hr. Blood transfusions were unnecessary and all patients recovered completely within 12 hr. All were discharged or left the hospital within 48 hr of admission. No residua were observed in a year of direct follow-up of five patients. Submit Comment |
Webcomics are usually thought of as a free medium. Fans get to enjoy them as long as they have access to the internet. It’s also a medium that doesn’t have a lot of the same gatekeeping that traditional printed comics have. Because of that, webcomics are more diverse, more groundbreaking and more radical. I love webcomics. I read around thirty of them on a regular basis and then catch up on some others every now and then. They’re the best and they have some of the most talented and creative comics makers in the world behind them.
The proliferation of webcomics recently has allowed for an explosion of terrific comics by and about women of color, queer people, trans people, people with disabilities and people who live at the intersections of those identities. And because, like I said, they’re free, people belonging to those groups who previously didn’t have a chance to see themselves in any media at all, are now able to see themselves represented for the first time. This leads to an excellent increase in positive representation, but also it leads to a problem on the creator side of things.
This spread of free webcomics has also lead to, unfortunately, that reading these comics for free is an inalienable right. Many writers and artists who belong to those marginalized identities find freedom in webcomics; often, they also often find themselves not being able to make money from all the hours and hours of difficult work they put in. That’s where Patreon comes in — one of my favorite things on the internet right now.
Patreon is sort of like a virtual tip jar, or a Kickstarter that keeps on going each month. Instead of paying five dollars for stickers, $15 for a digital version of a book or $25 for a physical copy, you pay a few dollars each month, and even usually get some bonus content. Patreon isn’t only for comics creators, but that’s what I use it for. I like to support the people who make comics that make my life better, and to let them know that I value their work.
Even if you don’t make a lot of money, you can still support your favorite creators. You can pay as little as $1 a month to help make your favorite comics happen and help show your favorite creators that you appreciate the hard work they do. We really need to put our money where our mouths are if we want to support comics by trans people, queer people, women, poc and people other marginalized identities.
Here are all the people who I support and links to their Patreon pages — if you support other people or have your own page, feel free to please put them in the comments!
+ Nia King is a writer, cartoonist and podcaster who’s making a really terrific podcast where she interviews QTPOC artists. I’ve previously reviewed her book of interviews from that podcast.
+ Ariel Ries is a writer and artist who makes the brilliant and beautiful magic Asian fantasy webcomic Witchy. I couldn’t recommend Ariel’s comic more, seriously, go check it out.
+ Blue Delliquanti makes the really terrific sci-fi webcomic O Human Star about some gay and trans robots (and humans).
+ Chelsey Furedi makes the absolutely adorable and super funny Grease–inspired 50’s queer high school comic Rock and Riot.
+ Anna Bongiovanni makes the amazing comic here at Autostraddle, Grease Bats, about two queer bffs and their new trans gal friend who’s naturally my favorite character.
+ Melanie Gillman is the absolutely amazing artist who works with colored pencils to make the stunning and terrific comic As the Crow Flies about a queer Black girl and the trans girl she befriends at a very white Christian girl’s camp.
+ Mildred Louis is one of my favorite artists, and makes the stupendous and absolutely beautiful webcomic Agents of the Realm, about a bunch of girls (most of whom are woc and queer) who become magical girls in college.
+ Kate Leth is one of my favorite people and comics creators. She writes great comics like Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat and Vampirella and makes these really wonderful diary comics for her Patreon.
+ Cathy G. Johnson is a terrific writer and artist who I profiled and interviewed about her upcoming book, No Dogs Allowed, about an awesome misfit middle school soccer team.
+ Aatmaja Pandya makes my favorite calming webcomic, Travelogue, and also makes other comics. Her comics are like the most relaxing parts of beautiful fantasy rpgs.
+ Wendy Xu is the artist for another of my favorite webcomics, Mooncakes, which is written by Suzanne Walker. Mooncakes is about two Asian-American young adults, one a witch and one a non-binary werewolf. It’s great.
+ Mari Costa is the person behind not just one but two webcomics I love. She recently started the fun cat-starring fantasy quest comic Roji, and has been making Peritale, a fun, funny and cute fairy tale comic for a while now.
+ Victoria Grace Elliot is another creator who makes a webcomic about witches (surprise, surprise, I like a lot of webcomics about witches), the absolutely beautiful Balderdash!
+ E Jackson makes Pretty Heart Bouquet, a kind of new webcomic about a young trans girl who becomes a magical girl. It’s very very very cute.
+ Kylie Wu makes my all-time favorite webcomic about being trans, Trans Girl Next Door. She’s hilarious and sparkly and amazing. This one comic in particular is a little NSFW, but it’s, in my opinion, the pinnacle of trans comicdom.
+ Marguerite Bennett is my current favorite writer in all of comics. She writes terrific and brilliant characters (including trans women like Alysia Yeoh and Sera) in books like DC Comics Bombshells, Angela: Queen of Hel, InSEXts, and Red Sonja.
+ Valerie Halla is not only the colorist for Octopus Pie, but she also makes the super beautiful and really queernormative webcomic Goodbye to Halos.
New Releases (May 4)
Beasts of Burden: What the Cat Dragged In
Legend of Wonder Woman #5
New Suicide Squad #20
Supergirl Cosmic Adventures in the 8th Grade TP
Rat Queens #16
The Wicked + The Divine #19
A-Force #5
Black Widow #3
Empress #2
Gwenpool #0
Howard the Duck #7
Scarlet Witch #6
Spider-Gwen #8
Star Wars: Poe Dameron #2
Bob’s Burgers #11
Giant Days #14
Space Battle Lunchtime #1
Steven Universe & The Crystal Gems #2
Vampirella #3
Welcome to Drawn to Comics! From diary comics to superheroes, from webcomics to graphic novels – this is where we’ll be taking a look at comics by, featuring and for queer ladies. So whether you love to look at detailed personal accounts of other people’s lives, explore new and creative worlds, or you just love to see hot ladies in spandex, we’ve got something for you. |
A comedian tweets a political joke that some people don’t agree with: cue instant outrage!
We have seen this time and time again. To me, this is part of a war on comedy which has increased in intensity during the current hyper-partisan climate and I fear it will become even more lethal in the future. And in my experience, this war is being waged by the far right. Cue more faux outrage.
I was caught in the crosshairs of the war on comedy this past weekend when I tweeted a joke—okay, many jokes—about Ted Cruz. As a stand-up comic, when I tweet a joke, I usually expect people to respond in one of two ways: to find the joke funny or to not. That’s about it.
But the response to this 139-character joke was different. Within hours of releasing my quip into the Twittersphere, five different publications jumped on it. There was an article in Newsbusters, two different articles on Examiner.com, one in Mediaite, and one in a publication called Red Alert Politics, which I had never heard of prior to this, but the “Red” in title gives you a clue about their desired audience: communists. (Kidding, but still cue more outrage.)
So what was this horrifically shocking joke that caused such an outcry? It’s printed below but first a warning: If you are in the Tea Party, this joke could cause you to get angrier than you already are—if that’s even possible:
Oh, the horror! The sky is falling! Save yourselves and your family…I made a joke about a duel from 1804.
Why the uproar you ask? Was it because the tweet forced some on the right to Google “Aaron Burr” and “Alexander Hamilton” to see what I meant? Or did some Ted Cruz fans believe that I was seriously advocating that Ted Cruz and John McCain confront each other with .56 caliber dueling pistols in Weehawken, New Jersey to mimic the original duel?
Whatever their reason, the response was swift—almost as fast as a bullet shot from an antique dueling pistol. My favorite criticism was the one in which the author accused me of fantasizing about a duel between Cruz and McCain.
To be honest, on occasion I do fantasize. But I can assure you that my fantasies have never, ever featured John McCain or Ted Cruz.
But the real reason for the outcry to the joke was contained in the article written by Noel Sheppard of Newsbusters. Sheppard, who deserves an award for candor in this war on comedy, responded to my Tweet, “Is Tea Party shutting down comedy now?” as follows:
“No, I don’t think the Tea Party is shutting down comedy, but since we live in a world where any conservative criticism of President Obama is deemed racist, we on the right are just tired of liberals being able to say anything they want with total impunity.”
So there you have it. The right is “tired” of liberals being able to express themselves freely. It’s simply payback time. It’s a reckoning.
The outrage truly had nothing to do with my joke. It had to do with me having the audacity to mock their new savior Ted Cruz. And the right wants to make it clear that if you do that, they will come after you.
Look, if you want to go an eye for an eye with politicians and political pundits because you’re angry that Obama was re-elected, because of Obamacare, or gay marriage, or for any other reason, so be it. You’re sadly contributing to the destructive hyper partisan climate, but I get it: you’re angry because you feel you’ve been wronged.
But don’t drag comedians into your grotesque reindeer games. Comedians should be afforded great latitude in telling jokes about people in power, especially our elected officials. Of course, if a joke is truly hateful—racist, sexist, Anti-Semitic, etc.—then the comedian deserves the consequences.
And to be fair, people on far left can be awful with their responses to political jokes they don’t agree with. I can personally attest to that. What the far left and far right have in common is they both lack of sense of humor.
But let’s not make comedians a victim in the skirmishes between the right and the left that play out every day on cable news channels. Next time you read or hear a political joke, don’t analyze it like you’re a lab technician on CSI. How about you either laugh or don’t laugh? Your choice, of course. But I can assure you that you will enjoy life more if you simply choose to laugh. |
Public servants in Singapore will be barred from using the internet at work, under a new policy aimed at protecting the city-state from cyber attacks and espionage. As Reuters reports, computers in some Singaporean ministries are already disconnected, or "air-gapped," from the web, but security experts doubt that expanding the policy will do much to enhance cybersecurity.
David Koh, head of Singapore's Cyber Security Agency, tells Reuters that officials decided to air gap government computers after realizing that the threat of a cyber attack "is too real." Research has shown that countries in Southeast Asia face a higher risk of cyberattack, particularly those implicated in ongoing disputes over the South China Sea.
"a building with a zillion windows"
Koh said Singapore wants to limit web access "because the attack surface is like a building with a zillion windows, doors, fire escapes." Under the policy, which is due to go into effect in May, civil servants will still be allowed to access the internet from personal or government-issued devices.
But some say Singapore may be going too far. Ben Desjardins, of the security firm Radware, described the move to Reuters as "one of the more extreme measures I can recall by a large public organization to combat cyber security risks." Ramki Thurimella, chair of the computer science department at the University of Denver, described it as "unprecedented" and "a little excessive."
Although air-gapping is typically used in national security agencies and other sensitive fields, it is less common in broader government administrations. It doesn't always guarantee security, either. In 2015, Israeli researchers demonstrated how to hack an air-gapped computer using a GSM network, electromagnetic waves, and a feature phone. Other breaches have occurred due to policy oversights or human error.
There are also concerns that the measure may harm employee productivity. Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) says it is working with agencies "to ensure a smooth transition," and that it is "exploring innovative work solutions to ensure work processes remain efficient." |
Autumn in Japan is one of the most beautiful times of the year, with green leaves transforming into a collage of red, yellow, and orange.
Even if you live outside of Japan, though, you can still celebrate the fall season with these in-demand anime figurines (oh, and Racing Miku, of course) being released in Japan this autumn. Stretching from September to December, there’s at least one must-have figurine coming out every month, so let’s count down the top ten figurines you simply must get your hands on in fall 2015!
Palm Mate Series – Ace of Diamond: Ryosuke Kominato, Haruichi Kominato, Eijun Sawamura, and Kazuya Miyuki (Release: 9/15-12/15)
Autumn 2015 is a good time to be an Ace of Diamond fan. Megahouse is putting out not one, not two, not even three, but four anime figurines from the popular series, labeling them under the Palm Matte Series Line. The releases include Kazuya Miyuki (September), Eijun Sawamura (October), Haruichi Kominato (November), and Ryosuke Kominato (December), meaning that you can get one of the Seidou High School baseball players delivered to your door every month in the fall! Ryosuke Kominato seems to be especially in-demand right now, as he ranks high on Amazon Japan’s top selling list; Miyuki Kazuya figure searches are also on the rise. Each character is small enough to sit comfortably in the palm of your hand, so you can take your favorite team player everywhere you go.
ARTFX J – Tokyo Ghoul: Ken Kaneki AWAKENED ver. 1/8 Figure (Release: 9/15)
ARTFX’s much-anticipated Ken Kaneki figure is finally here! Easily the most impressive anime figurine from the Tokyo Ghoul series yet, it is also being offered in an exclusive “No Mask version,” available only to those who purchase it directly from Kotobukiya’s shop.
Figma – Racing Miku 2014 EV MIRAI ver. (Release: 9/15)
Hatsune Miku has joined focus with electric bike manufacturer, TEAM MIRAI, in order to complete her newest racing style. The Vocaloid star comes with three exchangeable faces, her helmet, and state-of-the-art articulation to guarantee detailed poses without compromising her feminine proportions. Don’t forget to purchase Miku’s TT-Zero 13: Kai motorbike so that she can tackle the Pikes Peak Hillclimb! Revving in to retailers starting in September 2015!
BRAVE-ACT – Attack on Titan: Erwin Smith 1/8 Figure (Release: 10/15)
Trailing just behind Levi Ackerman in the official Attack on Titan character popularity pole, Erwin (“Eyebrows”) Smith’s fan base has literally exploded this past year. If you’re a fan of the Commander of the Survey Corps, then you can’t afford to pass up this Erwin Smith figure: it’s incredibly detailed, comes with removable parts, and is the only full-sized figurine of Erwin Smith to date. Whether as a stand-alone sculpture, or a complement to your other Brave Act scouts, it’s a collector’s piece guaranteed to satisfy your titanic fandom (and freedom) cravings. Look for Erwin’s official release in October.
Nendoroid – Touken Ranbu Online: Kogitsunemaru, Kashu Kiyomitsu, and Tsurumaru Kuninaga (Release: 9/15-12/15)
Touken Ranbu Online is in season this fall, with three special figurine releases from Nendoroid: Kashu Kyomitsu (September), Kogitsunemaru (November), and Tsurumaru Kuninaga (December). Rendered in adorable chibi form as only Nendoroid can, each figurine comes with special, character-based items, such as their katanas or Kogitsunemaru’s Konnosuke. Pose your favorite characters any way you like with a variety of expressions—from silly, to fierce, to charming—to suit your taste.
Tales of Zestiria – Alisha 1/8 Complete Figure (Tales of Zestiria) (Release: 12/15)
If you loved the latest installment in the Tales series, then you’ll go head-over-heels for this 1/8-scale Alisha figure showcasing the Princess of the Highland empire in all her glory. Alisha is replicated with a serene smile, and depicted wielding her long, speared weapon. Standing about 8 inches tall, she’d look great alongside any other Tales anime figure you’d choose to put her next to. Whether in your cabinet or on your shelf, Alisha is a great addition—don’t miss out!
Statue Legend – Tokyo Ghoul: Uta (Release: 10/15)
Turns out Tokyo Ghoul fans have twice as many reasons to be excited for the fall. In addition to the release of the Ken Kaneki statuette by ARTFX J, we’re also getting a wickedly cool collector’s piece by master craftsman, Statue Legend. Even sitting down, this Tokyo Ghoul Uta figure is almost 8 inches tall, with all of his tattoos and clothing replicated with painstaking accuracy. Keep an eye out for the famed “No Face” and mask salesman to hit retailer shelves in late October.
Kantai Collection -Kan Colle- Kongo Kai Ni 1/7 Figure (Released 10/15)
Kan Colle’s fleet girls are always in demand, and Kongou is no exception. Based on a pre-WWI, British battlecruiser, this Kan Colle Kongou figure is sure to please fans to no end. She’s trending on Amazon Japan’s “most popular figurines” list, and likely to sell out fast—be sure to snatch her up before she sails away!
Excellent Model: Portrait of Pirates – ONE PIECE “Sailing Again” Sabo and Koala 1/8 Figure (Release: 9/15)
Megahouse’s high quality, 1/8 Portrait of Pirates line is releasing two figurines in mid-September that One Piece fans won’t want to miss—Sabo and Koala. Sabo has already closed preorders across many distributors’ websites, and Koala is expected to reach “sold out” status soon. Each figurine is replicated to accommodate their unique powers and character traits, such as Sabo’s Ryusoken hands and fiery elemental abilities.
Fate/Stay Night [Unlimited Blade Works] – Archer 1/8 Figure (Release: 12/15)
Altier’s fix-posed Archer figure is set to debut at the very end of the fall season. Alternative heads allow collectors to switch between Archer’s hair styles, as well as change his weapon from his duel sabers, to his bow and arrow.
Remember: these are some of the best-selling, most anticipated anime figurines of fall 2015, so put them on pre-order before they’re sold out for good! And if you’d like a blast from the past, be sure to browse our top picks for spring 2015 figurines and summer 2015 figurines. |
Team director Ravi Shastri will be the new India coach, BCCI sources have told HT. The Rs 7 crore-a-year-deal that will make the former skipper the highest paid cricket coach in the world is likely to be announced at the end of the Bangladesh tour.
The former all-rounder, who takes over from Zimbabwean Duncan Fletcher, will be the first Indian to hold the job after 2000 when John Wright of New Zealand ushered in the era of foreign coaches.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India, said sources, stopped looking for a new coach after Test captain Virat Kohli told them he wanted Shastri in the dressing room.
Credited with turning around the team’s fortunes ahead of the World Cup earlier this year after a winless three months in Australia, Shastri enjoys confidence of the squad. The overwhelming support pushed all other contenders out of the race, sources said.
There have been indications in recent days from Shastri as well and BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur that the 53-year-old could continue with the national team beyond the Bangladesh tour, for which he was retained as the director.
The “we will have another round of discussion after the tour of Bangladesh” line taken by Shastri and the board was in fact linked to his compensation package, having given up media commitments to take up the assignment, sources said.
Shastri, who had a Rs 4-crore a year contract with the BCCI as a TV commentator, will be the first cricket coach to be paid more than a $1 million (about rs 6.4 crore). He drew about Rs 6 crore annually as team director until the World Cup.
Fletcher, who joined Team India in 2011, was paid Rs 4.2 crore a year. His stint that ended with the World Cup in March was uninspiring. On his watch, India were whitewashed on tours of England and Australia. The performance was particularly bad in Test matches played abroad.
The BCCI was not willing to talk about the appointment, but Shastri made his intent clear before the Fatullah Test, saying there was no need for a separate coach as he could double up as one with three specialist coaches assisting him.
The board, source said, was planning to merge the role of team director and coach, appointing Shastri the head coach. Shastri will have a free run of team. On team’s performance, his word would be final. A plan to appoint a performance manager has been shelved, sources said.
Whether Shastri will have an annual contract or a fixed term would only be known before India leave for Zimbabwe in July, sources said.
Read: Ganguly, Ravi Shastri in race as BCCI seeks new Team India coach
Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly to find new India coach
First Published: Jun 11, 2015 00:45 IST |
To be honest, I didn’t prepare much for this blog post. I wrote it late last night, didn’t have much time to edit it, and it’s probably not going to be very good. I’ll try to get through it pretty fast so I don’t waste too much of your time.
Care to read more? Of course you wouldn’t.
Yet, I see this kind of resignation unfold in all kinds of presentations—from ones given to a small group of peers to ones given at conferences that people pay hundreds of dollars to attend. Perhaps it’s true what psychologists say: People fear public speaking even more than death. When handed the keys to everyone’s undivided attention, many impulsively wave the white flag.
Having given dozens of presentations to audiences ranging from two people to a few hundred, here are six key guideposts that I follow every time I give a talk, no matter who’s listening on the other end.
#1: Funny is good. Self-deprecation is bad.
Humor is a great way for your audience to get comfortable with a message. But, many speakers resort to self-deprecating humor when they give a talk. Here’s the problem: Self-deprecation dissolves the authority you inherit as a speaker. And, authority (even if you don’t believe you deserve it) is the one precious gift you must hold onto for dear life when giving a speech.
Self-deprecation offers a kind of emotional insurance. Your subconscience thinks, if you let the audience know that you’re a complete and utter fraud, you’re exempt from any stupid thing you might say going forward. The reality is, most people feel like they don’t belong when they’re “up on stage.” As Scott Hanselman says:
There are a thousand reasons why you are where you are and your self-confidence and ability are just one factor. It’s OK to feel like a phony sometimes. It’s healthy if it moves you forward.
Even if you feel like you don’t belong, never put yourself down when you’re speaking. Think of the last great talk you listened to, no matter how big the audience. I’d bet the speaker never admitted they didn’t belong there.
Besides, as laughs go, self-deprecation is a cheap one. Listen to a great comedian like Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Louis CK, or Eddie Murphy. Why are they such captivating standup comics? Despite the fact that some may make jokes about their own shortcomings, they never belittle the reason you’re watching them—to be funny. Even comics never lose their grasp on authority.
#2: Memorize the talking points, not the words
Years ago, I would practice a talk for days on end. I’d rehearse my presentation every evening for at least a week prior, getting every single word just right and the timing down to the second. When I got in front of the stage, I was certainly well-prepared—but my talks felt way too rigid. Besides, something I wasn’t prepared for would always happen during the course of a talk. Someone would ask a question in the middle of it or something would go wrong with the A/V equipment. I had a sign come crashing down from my podium during a presentation once. It’s never going to happen exactly the way you imagined it, so don’t script it.
In recent years, I’ve stopped rehearsing off of a script. Instead, I memorize the key points I want to make and time out when these points should unfold. At most, I have about 4 or 5 points to give—any more is too much for an audience to digest in one talk. I’ll go over the presentation a few times the night prior. Each time, I’ll try to say the same things differently.
This way, I give myself the practice I need to think on my toes while in the middle of a talk. Usually, I’ll recall a few sentences that felt right during my practice, and they’ll come out during the talk far more naturally than if I had scripted it from the beginning.
Going about it this way also helps build an essential skill of public speaking—the ability to think while you speak. When I practiced my talks word-for-word, I was so focused on memorizing my words that I stopped thinking about what I was saying. The audience will sense that. It’s another way to damage your inherent authority.
#3: Keep your slides short…really short.
Next time you read a book, turn on the news and try to listen to the next story at the same time. At the end of the segment, see if you can recall exactly what you read and what the news story was about. You’ll likely only have paid attention to one, or neither of the two.
The exact same problem occurs when we create text-heavy slides for our talk. The audience has to choose whether to read the slide or listen to you talk about the slide. You automatically lose half your audience. Instead, go for shorter slides. Throw up a single key word or graphic so that they can listen to you elaborate on that topic in detail. Your points will come across much stronger. In Seth Godin’s blog post, The 200 slide solution, he writes:
You’re used to putting three or four bullet points on a slide. That’s at least four distinct ideas, but more often, each of those ideas has three or four sub ideas to it. In other words, you’re cramming 32 ideas on a slide, and you’re sitting on that slide as you drone on and on.
With text-heavy slides, speakers also tend to simply read what’s on the slide. There’s two problems here. First, it’s redundant. You’re better off being quiet and giving the audience a minute to read what you’ve written. Second, reading off a slide is yet another way to lose authority with the audience. After all, any random audience member could just as easily get up there and read what you wrote out-loud.
If there are certain things you do want to say in a specific way (like a quote), only have it visible to you on a notecard or your monitor. Feel free to read it right off the card or screen. Your words will have a lot more impact because the audience is focused on listening to you.
#4: Mind your cadence. Monitor your time.
People are only interested in an activity for a limited amount of time. For years, Major League Baseball has been trying to figure out a way to speed up the pace of the game. Think of all the times you thought a good movie would’ve been better if they cut out the last thirty minutes. Consider why TED talks are limited to 18 minutes—max.
A key ingredient to a great talk is brevity. Get your point across, elaborate on it, and move on to the next one. Your audience will find comfort in a pace that is neither rushed nor laborious. The audience knows you’re respecting their time too.
While brevity is good, just as important is cadence. When you’ve got the floor, your heart races. The natural thing to do is speed up your rhythm, for fear that you might lose your audience with periods of silence. However, this is just the opposite of what actually happens.
When I speak in front of an audience, I remind myself to slow my pace down. However slow I think I’m talking, when I listen to the playback, it sounds twice as fast as I remember. So, when you’re speaking live, go twice as slow as you think. Pause. Silence is also an opportunity for your audience to digest their thoughts. Julian Treasure demonstrates how slowing down and silence can magnify your point.
If you master brevity and cadence, your talk will span the right amount of time without feeling rushed. A good talk is not about packing as much information as possible into a session, it’s about devoting the right amount of time to a focused set of points. Your audience will have learned something without feeling overwhelmed or exhausted from sitting around too long.
#5: Demo with care
Unless seeing something happen real-time is essential to a point I’m trying to make (which, for me, is almost never), I steer away from live code demos, particularly if it involves an internet connection. We probably should be past the point of worrying about weak internet signals or connection malfunctions, but they still happen. A lot. At the worst time. To companies you may have heard of.
If a demo is essential, I’ll make sure I can demo on my machine alone. I’ll run the database and app locally rather than rely on connecting to a remote host. If working through code in an IDE is essential, I’ll have my code snippets already prepared so I can copy and paste them in, then talk through what I would’ve typed. Typing from scratch is prone to errors and doesn’t make for a really compelling talk.
#6: Prepare well or prepare to abandon ship
My last guidepost may sound like an obvious piece of advice. But, if you haven’t prepared enough for a talk, don’t give it. I’ve been to plenty of conferences where a talk was cancelled at the very last minute. That gave me a chance to either spend an hour catching up on personal things, or go to another talk I may not have otherwise seen. I’ve also been to plenty of talks where the speaker was clearly unprepared, and I was left knowing my time had been wasted.
No one will spite you for a talk not given, but many will for one delivered without care. Though you certainly didn’t intend it, people will feel disrespected for the time you took from them that they could’ve used more productively. If you have any inkling of starting your talk the way I started this blog post, abort mission. You’re audience will be thankful for the hour of their time you didn’t waste.
Ka Wai Cheung is the original creator of DoneDone and author of The Developer’s Code. Follow him personally on Twitter via @developerscode and read more at Life Imitates Code. |
Some news on the Higgs particle from the ATLAS and CMS experiments, the two general purpose experiments at the Large Hadron Collider. I just mention a few highlights.
First, you may recall a tempest in a teapot that erupted in late 2012, when ATLAS’s two measurements of the Higgs particle’s mass disagreed with each other by more than one would normally expect. This generated some discussion over coffee breaks, and some silly articles in on-line science magazines, even in Scientific American. But many reasonable scientists presumed that this was likely a combination of a statistical fluke and a small measurement problem of some kind at ATLAS. The new results support this interpretation. ATLAS, through some hard work that will be described in papers that will appear within the next couple of days, has greatly improved their measurements, with the effect that now the discrepancy between the two measurements, now dominated by statistical uncertainties, has gone down from nearly 3 standard deviations to 2 standard deviations, which certainly isn’t anything to get excited about. Experts will be very impressed at the reduction in the ATLAS systematic uncertainties, arrived at through significantly improved energy calibrations for electrons, photons and muons.
Experts: More specifically, the measured mass of the Higgs in its decay to two photons decreased by 0.8 GeV/c², and the systematic uncertainty on the measurement dropped from 0.7 GeV/c2 to 0.28 GeV/c2. And by the way, the rate for this process is now only 1 standard deviation higher than predicted for the simplest possible type of Higgs (a “Standard Model Higgs“); it was once 2 standard deviations high, which got a lot of attention, but was apparently just a fluke.
Meanwhile, for the decays to two lepton/anti-lepton pairs, the systematic error has dropped by a factor of ten — truly remarkable — from 0.5 GeV/c2 to 0.05 GeV/c2. The Higgs mass measurement itself has increased by 0.2 GeV/c2.
Second, as reported by the CMS experiment a couple of months ago, the lifetime of the Higgs particle has been constrained, using a clever method developed in papers by Kauer and Passarino, by Campbell, Ellis and Williams, and by Caola and Melnikov. For a “Standard Model Higgs” (the simplest possible type of Higgs particle) that has a mass around 125 GeV/c², the lifetime of the Higgs is predicted to be about 150 trillionths of a trillionth of a second. According to CMS, the lifetime has now been measured to be at most 6 times that large [oops! at least 1/6th as long a lifetime as predicted — sorry] (though there’s still some debate about how precise that measurement really is.) [No, we don’t measure this lifetime with a stopwatch. The clever method involves noting that a Higgs particle with an unexpectedly short lifetime can lead, via a quantum uncertainty principle, to a big increase in the rate for the production of pairs of real Z particles. (Recall the Higgs particle itself can only decay to one real and one virtual Z particle.)]
Third, both experiments are trying to make measurements of the Higgs particle decaying to tau lepton/anti-lepton pairs and to bottom quark/anti-quark pairs. The measurements aren’t very precise yet, but there’s now strong evidence for the tau decays. And a rough measurement of the Higgs particle’s mass in its tau decays is within a few GeV/c² of the measurements made via the more precise methods mentioned above… so all seems consistent. |
KALAMAZOO, MI -- Kalamazoo's police chief is calling Saturday night's mass shootings in the area "random acts of violence."
Seven people were killed Saturday evening and Sunday morning when a man in his mid-40s from Kalamazoo shot people at random at three different scenes.
"It's totally unprovoked, random acts of violence," said Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety Chief Jeff Hadley. "We're still trying to figure out the motives."
Police arrested the man in a Chevrolet HHR in downtown Kalamazoo at 12:40 a.m., more than six hours after the first shooting occurred.
Hadley said after the arrest, police did wonder if there were perhaps other victims since the acts were so random, but at this point they are unaware of any other people who were shot during the murder spree.
The first shooting occurred at Meadows Townhomes, 5066 Meadows Blvd., in Richland Township, around 6 p.m. There, a woman was shot in the parking lot. She remains in serious condition at Borgess Medical Center.
A second shooting occurred at Seelye Ford, 4102 Stadium Drive in Kalamazoo, shortly before 10:30 p.m., where two men, believed to be a father and son who were looking at a vehicle, were shot and killed in the parking lot.
Around 10:30 p.m., four people were shot and killed in vehicles in the parking lot of Cracker Barrel, 5581 Cracker Barrel Blvd., off of 9th Street in Texas Township west of the city. A fifth person shot at that scene later died of her injuries. She was 14.
Hadley announced early Sunday morning he would hold a press conference at the Kalamazoo Department of Public Safety headquarters at 7 a.m.
In the press release announcing the news conference, Hadley said the suspect is in custody and "there is no danger or threat to the community."
Emily Monacelli is a reporter for MLive.com. Contact her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter |
A cortical homunculus is a distorted representation of the human body, based on a neurological "map" of the areas and proportions of the human brain dedicated to processing motor functions, or sensory functions, for different parts of the body. The word homunculus is Latin for "little man", and was a term used in alchemy and folklore long before scientific literature began using it. A cortical homunculus, or "cortex man", illustrates the concept of heuristically representing the body lying within the brain. Nerve fibres from the spinal cord terminate in various areas of the parietal lobe in the cerebral cortex, which forms a representational map of the body.
Types [ edit ]
A 2-D cortical motor homunculus
A motor homunculus represents a map of brain areas dedicated to motor processing for different anatomical divisions of the body. The primary motor cortex is located in the precentral gyrus, and handles signals coming from the premotor area of the frontal lobes.[1]
A sensory homunculus represents a map of brain areas dedicated to sensory processing for different anatomical divisions of the body. The primary sensory cortex is located in the postcentral gyrus, and handles signals coming from the thalamus.[1]
These signals are transmitted on from the gyri to the brain stem and spinal cord via corresponding nerves.
Arrangement [ edit ]
Along the length of the primary motor and sensory cortices, the areas specializing in different parts of the body are arranged in an orderly manner, although ordered differently than one might expect. The toes are represented at the top of the cerebral hemisphere (or more accurately, "the upper end", since the cortex curls inwards and down at the top), and then as one moves down the hemisphere, progressively higher parts of the body are represented, assuming a body that's faceless and has arms raised. Going further down the cortex, the different areas of the face are represented, in approximately top-to-bottom order, rather than bottom-to-top as before. The homunculus is split in half, with motor and sensory representations for the left side of the body on the right side of the brain, and vice versa.[2]
The amount of cortex devoted to any given body region is not proportional to that body region's surface area or volume, but rather to how richly innervated that region is. Areas of the body with more complex and/or more numerous sensory or motor connections are represented as larger in the homunculus, while those with less complex and/or less numerous connections are represented as smaller. The resulting image is that of a distorted human body, with disproportionately huge hands, lips, and face.
In the sensory homunculus, below the areas handling sensation for the teeth, gums, jaw, tongue, and pharynx lies an area for intra-abdominal sensation. At the very top end of the primary sensory cortex, beyond the area for the toes, it has traditionally been believed that the sensory neural networks for the genitals occur. However, more recent research has suggested that there may be two different cortical areas for the genitals, possibly differentiated by one dealing with erogenous stimulation and the other dealing with non-erogenous stimulation.[3][4][5]
Discovery [ edit ]
Dr. Wilder Penfield and his co-investigators Edwin Boldrey and Theodore Rasmussen are considered to be the originators of the sensory and motor homunculi. They were not the first scientists to attempt to objectify human brain function by means of a homunculus.[5] However, they were the first to differentiate between sensory and motor function and to map the two across the brain separately, resulting in two different homunculi. In addition, their drawings and later drawings derived from theirs became perhaps the most famous conceptual maps in modern neuroscience because they compellingly illustrated the data at a single glance.[5]
Penfield first conceived of his homunculi as a thought experiment, and went so far as to envision an imaginary world in which the homunculi lived, which he referred to as "if". He and his colleagues went on to experiment with electrical stimulation of different brain areas of patients undergoing open brain surgery to control epilepsy, and were thus able to produce the topographical brain maps and their corresponding homunculi.[5][6]
More recent studies have improved this understanding of somatotopic arrangement using techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).[7]
Representation [ edit ]
Penfield referred to his creations as "grotesque creatures" due to their strange-looking proportions. For example, the sensory nerves arriving from the hands terminate over large areas of the brain, resulting in the hands of the homunculus being correspondingly large. In contrast, the nerves emanating from the torso or arms cover a much smaller area, thus the torso and arms of the homunculus look comparatively small and weak.
Penfield's homunculi are usually shown as 2-D diagrams. This is an oversimplification, as it cannot fully show the data set Penfield collected from his brain surgery patients. Rather than the sharp delineation between different body areas shown in the drawings, there is actually significant overlap between neighboring regions. The simplification suggests that lesions of the motor cortex will give rise to specific deficits in specific muscles. However, this is a misconception, as lesions produce deficits in groups of synergistic muscles. This finding suggests that the motor cortex functions in terms of overall movements as coordinated groups of individual motions.
The sensorimotor homunculi can also be represented as 3-D figures (such as the sensory homunculus sculpted by Sharon Price-James shown from different angles below), which can make it easier for laymen to understand the ratios between the different body regions' levels of motor or sensory innervation. However, these 3-D models do not illustrate which areas of the brain are associated with which parts of the body.
See also [ edit ] |
In a group of young users of injection drugs, recent maintenance opioid agonist therapy with methadone or buprenorphine for opioid use disorders, such as heroin addiction, was associated with a lower incidence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and may be an effective strategy to reduce injection-drug use and the resulting spread of HCV, according to a study published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.
The use of injection drugs is a main route of transmission for HCV infection. Younger drug users are an important group to target because they are at the core of HCV infections. Interventions that can prevent HCV infections are vital. Previous studies have suggested that opioid agonist therapy may reduce the incidence of HCV infection but little was known about the effect of this therapy in young drug users.
Researchers Judith I. Tsui, M.D., M.P.H., of the Boston University School of Medicine, and colleagues examined the effects in a group of 552 young injection-drug users in San Francisco from January 2000 through August 2013. The median age of the drug users was 23 years; most of the drug users were male, white and homeless. The median duration of drug use was 3.6 years and 33.3 percent of participants were daily drug users. Nearly 60 percent of drug users reported heroin as the drug they had used most often in the past month. While most participants (82.4 percent) reported receiving no substance use treatment in the prior year, 4.2 percent reported having had maintenance opioid agonist treatment in the prior year.
During the study observation period, there were 171 cases of HCV for an incidence rate of 25.1 per 100 person-years. Participants who reported maintenance opioid agonist therapy in the past three months had a lower incidence of HCV infection compared with those participants who reported no therapy.
"Young injection drug users are a major driving force in the epidemic of HCV infection in the United States and Canada and therefore are an important target for prevention. … Our results suggest that treatment for opioid use disorders with maintenance opioid agonist therapy can reduce transmission of HCV in young adult injection drug users and should be offered as an important component of comprehensive strategies for prevention of primary HCV infection," the authors conclude. |
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ST. LOUIS - There is a warning from activists and clergy Monday calling for a guilty verdict in the murder trial of former St. Louis police officer Jason Stockley.
Activists, clergy members, and family members of Anthony Lamar Smith say they plan mass disruptions in the St. Louis area if Stockley is found not guilty in Smith's killing.
Protesters say they will shut down the airport, a Cardinals game, the downtown area, and other targets if Stockley is not convicted.
The protesters were joined by clergy at the rally on the steps of the Carnahan Courthouse.
Smith was fatally shot by Stockley after a police chase in December 2011. Prosecutors allege Stockley planted a handgun in Smith's car after shooting him five times.
The bench trial for Stockley ended on August 9, but St. Louis Circuit Judge Timothy Wilson has yet to issue his verdict
Organizers say they’re planning at least two more rallies this week calling for the judge in the Stockley trial to return a guilty verdict. |
Former world champion still defending his record to fans on social media networks
BOULDER, Colorado (VN) — Lance Armstrong maintains his champion’s attitude — at least on Strava.
While the disgraced Tour de France champion is reported to be mulling over a confession to doping throughout his career, on Strava, a popular endurance website that logs workouts and allows users to interact with each other, Armstrong recently updated his profile bio: “According to my rivals, peers, and teammates I won the Tour de France 7 times.”
Armstrong was stripped of those seven Tour wins in late 2012 after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency compiled a 1,000-page file on Armstrong’s performance enhancing drug use, citing several former teammates as sources.
The Union Cycliste Internationale declined to protest the report on Armstrong’s behalf, and the Tours de France from 1999 through 2005 have no official winner, though Armstrong continues to allude to being the champion of those Tours.
“Just updated my bio based on the facts,” the Texan posted on his Strava account on January 6.
Reaction on Strava was mixed.
After one critic left the comment, “I can sleep good knowing I have as many Tour de France Victories as Lance Armstrong,” Armstrong replied, “Ask Alex Zulle, Jan Ullrich, Joseba Beloki, Ivan Basso and Andreas Kloden how many Tours I have… and if that doesn’t please you then ask the 200 guys in those ‘7’ pelotons.”
Others expressed support for Armstrong, with one user writing, “Lance, I may not be a rival, peer, or teammate but I know I do not stand alone when I say you won the Tour de France 7 times.”
Armstrong’s impact on social media has been meteoric. With a few taps of a finger, he can enrage his critics and embolden his supporters. An early adopter of Twitter, Armstrong now has nearly four million followers. By comparison, he has over 9,000 followers on Strava.
This isn’t the first time since USADA issued Armstrong a lifetime ban that he’s raised eyebrows by altering his bio on a social media site.
Though he swiftly removed “seven-time Tour winner” from his Twitter bio after the UCI announced it would not contest USADA’s findings, Armstrong irritated his critics in early November by posting a snapshot of himself lounging underneath four of his seven (now-stripped) yellow jerseys, with the caption, “Back in Austin and just layin’ around.”
Armstrong also came the closest he’s come to admitting any use of performance enhancing drugs, on Twitter, when commenting on a January 1 blog post by cycling photographer Graham Watson.
In his article, Watson wrote that Armstrong “did what he had to do to win, and he clearly did it very well,” adding that, “if he cheated, he cheated the other cheats of that era, even if by doing so he also cheated an adoring public.”
Armstrong posted a link to Watson’s blog post with the comment, “It took a ‘photographer’ to ‘write’ the most balanced piece we’ve seen yet.” Armstrong made no attempt by to dispute Watson’s opinions over his “cheating.”
Armstrong’s latest remarks on social media indicate that, even if a doping admission is a consideration, he still views himself as the rightful winner of his record-setting Tour titles. |
HONG KONG — General Electric said on Friday that it had agreed to sell its appliances business to Qingdao Haier of China for $5.4 billion in cash.
The deal includes the stake of 48.4 percent that G.E. Appliances owns in Mabe, a Mexican appliances company.
The Chinese appliances company, which had revenue of about $32.6 billion in 2014, snapped up the appliances unit after a G.E. deal with Electrolux of Sweden worth $3.3 billion fell apart last year. General Electric abandoned that deal after the United States Justice Department sued to block it because of antitrust concerns. G.E. has tried to sell the unit twice before as part of its efforts to focus on its core industrial businesses.
“G.E. Appliances is performing well, and there was significant interest from potential buyers, helping drive a good deal which will benefit our investors, customers and employees,” Jeffrey R. Immelt, G.E.’s chairman and chief executive, said in a news release. “Haier has a stated focus to grow in the U.S., build their manufacturing presence here, and to invest further in the business,” Mr. Immelt added. |
A new commercial by Doug Jones, Roy Moore's Democratic opponent, highlights prominent Republican voices who have condemned the embattled Senate candidate.
Jones' advertisement included a quote by Ivanka Trump saying, "There's a special place in hell for people who prey on children." It also included her saying, "I have no reason to doubt the victims' accounts."
Advertisement:
The spot also quoted Attorney General Jeff Sessions — who used to occupy the Alabama Senate seat now being contested by Jones and Moore — saying, "I have no reason to doubt these young women." Finally it quoted Sen. Richard Shelby, a Republican who occupies Alabama's other Senate seat, as saying that he would "absolutely not" vote for Moore.
While the Trumps have remained mum on whether Moore should be elected to the Senate or not, other Alabama Republicans have made it clear that they cannot bring themselves to support the man. Young Republican Federation of Alabama Chairwoman Jackie Curtiss, for instance, made it clear that she could not endorse Moore in light of the accusations that he preyed upon teenage girls while he was in his 30s.
"Obviously, I would never vote for Doug Jones. At this point, I would probably not even go to vote on Dec. 12," Curtiss told NBC News. "I've never felt the inner turmoil I feel over this. At some point, decency comes before politics."
Moore has also been denounced by Alabama's largest newspapers. In an editorial published on Monday, the three papers declared that the accusations against Moore have discredited him from serving in public office.
"Do not let this conversation be muddled. This election has become a referendum on whether we will accept this kind of behavior from our leaders," the editorial argued. |
This is 'Sly Cooper and the Thievious Donutus', a short video of a racoon sneaking out of the ceiling at a donut shop to steal an orange flavored donut bar. Not the flavor I would have chosen, but it looks like time was of the essence. You know, sometimes I wish I was a racoon who lived in the attic of a donut shop. Doesn't seem like too bad a life. At least until the guys from the animal control company come. Then life gets shitty real quick.
Hit the jump for the video while I make a run to the donut shop for a couple jelly-filled and a few cartons of chocolate milk.
Thanks to me, for not being afraid to share my dream of being a racoon living in the attic above a donut shop. That was very brave of me. |
Former Alabama starting quarterback and five-star recruit Blake Barnett is heading to the Pac-12 after committing to Arizona State on Monday night.
Barnett, who was the starter for the Tide in their opener against USC, left the program after being benched for freshman Jalen Hurts. Barnett transferred to Palomar College in California right after leaving Alabama in September. He has now decided that his next home will be Tempe, Arizona, after agreeing to join the Sun Devils.
Barnett, who has three years of eligibility remaining, could be eligible to play for Arizona State as early as the fourth game of the season if he meets the NCAA's standards, as set aside by NCAA bylaw 14.5.6. Should Barnett complete 12 hours of credits with over a 2.5 GPA in each of his two semesters at junior college and graduate, he would be eligible to play in 2017 after sitting out for a full year -- which would be after the fourth game of the season.
Choosing the Sun Devils makes plenty of sense for Barnett, who left Alabama to find a starting job. Arizona State is in desperate need of an upgrade at quarterback after seeing its committee of signal callers complete 60.2 percent of their passes for 3,111 yards, 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. |
Image copyright PA
A measles outbreak has been declared at a school in Newport.
Public Health Wales said four people with links to Lliswerry High School had been diagnosed with the illness.
Vaccinations are being carried out at the school and parents have been sent letters to alert them to the risk.
Parents have been urged to ensure their children have received both doses of the MMR vaccine. The first dose is usually given at 12 months and the second at 40 months.
Symptoms include a fever, cough, runny nose, conjunctivitis and a distinctive red rash.
Heather Lewis, consultant in health protection for Public Health Wales, said: "While four cases of measles may not sound a lot, we know that there are other children attending the school who are unvaccinated and could easily catch and spread measles."
Adults who have never had measles or the MMR vaccine and who work in close contact with children have also been urged to speak to their GP about vaccination. |
[Cody Sumter] and [Jason Boggess] are students at the MIT Media Lab, and they just came up with Minecraft.Print(), an attempt to create a bridge between Minecraft and the real world via 3D Printers.
The print is first prepared by placing obsidian, diamond, gold, and iron blocks on opposite corners of the model in Minecraft. From there, a Python script takes over and parses the world map to generate an .STL file for a RepRap or MakerBot.
So far, [Cody] and [Jason] have printed a few Companion Cubes and the model of the Enterprise D. We’re pretty impressed with the resolution of the prints, especially considering the original model is voxelated. The prints look very nice, and right now we really want to print out all the cool stuff we’ve seen, like Isengard, gigantic CPU, or maybe a Minecraft 3D printer.
Minecraft.Print() sure is a nice program [Cody] and [Jason] have there. It would be a shame if anything happened to it. Check out a video demo after the break. |
Poison Arrow’s damage-over-time has been increased by 50% overall.
Snipe’s cast time will be reduced from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.
Snipe’s maximum range will be reduced from 40 meters to 35 meters.
Snipe’s minimum range will be reduced from 20 meters to 10 meters.
The damage for Flurry’s final hit will be increased by 10%.
With the Wind Walker passive, medium armor will reduce stamina costs by 2% per piece equipped.
Cleave’s damage-over-time will be increased by 25% overall, and scale as the ability ranks up.
Uppercut’s damage will be increased by 10%.
Uppercut’s global cooldown after use will be reduced by 50%.
Many of you have asked what we’re doing to make skills, passives, and builds based on stamina more viable and as attractive as the magicka-based options. Below is a first look at some of the improvements we’re making to stamina-based skills and passives. As with all our balance efforts, this is an ongoing process and there will be more to come. We look forward to hearing your thoughts! |
The younger crowd has always been one of the key demographics that has supported our wonderful community organizer. In fact, the so-called Millennials came out in droves during both of Obama’s presidential elections, with the vast majority casting their vote for ‘hope and change.’
Things may well be turning now. After the ObamaCare debacle, it’s pretty easy to see why the younger generation is not so enthusiastic about our Liar in Chief. I suppose the fact that he wanted to push them into a very poorly conceived national healthcare plan was part of it. Another fact was that they were going to be expected to pay through the nose for coverage that many (if not most) younger people would simply not use. Perhaps the fact that they had all kinds of ridiculous ads and PR campaigns aimed at their generation might have been just a bit offensive as well.
All of this anger and these sentiments were on display Wednesday when Obama was speaking at the Community College of Allegheny County in Oakdale, Pennsylvania. The community organizer in chief tried his hardest to reach the crowd of students, even touting his new spending program. Still, most of the audience seemed a bit, well, unresponsive. Listen to this report from The Daily Caller:
“At the end, when the president walked back from the podium to smile and wave at the roughly 60 people in the bleachers 20 feet behind him, he faced a unfriendly wall of faces. The White House video of the bleacher’s front rank shows three men with their hands crossed, one with his hands stuck in his pockets and one who let his arms fall by his sides.”
It seemed like Obama didn’t get the reception he was hoping for. This is clearly much different than things back in 2008, or even 2012. Even the main crowd was padded with a number of Obama political supporters in order to make it at least seem like the president was getting through to some of the people. Still, even the lines that were written in order to generate or solicit applause seemed to fall on deaf ears.
Not only that, but a number of Obama’s punch lines fell very flat as well. Take a look at the video on the linked page to see for yourself. You will find that what little response he received was very scattered and muted. Certainly a very, very disappointing result for a president going somewhere that he should have received a lot of love among his political base.
Here’s an idea: maybe the White House will consider adding a laugh track to future Obama speeches? It will certainly be better for him than just hearing silence as he talks.
Poor Obama, but this is what happens when you are a terrible president who continues destroying the economy and pushing through ill-conceived social programs like ObamaCare. This is just an early preview of what the Obama legacy will ultimately be.
What do YOU think? Is it surprising that Obama received such a cold response at a community college? Is it even more surprising that was in a state where he has received strong support in the past? If he is having this much trouble right now, what does this mean for his party in the fall midterms? |
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback.
Andrew Burton/Getty Images
I’m not sure if Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has spoken a word of Yiddish in his life, but holy heck did the man offer up a master class in chutzpah Thursday.
Brownback, of course, is the inept conservative governor who gave the words “bloody Kansas” new meaning with a set of massive, ill-conceived tax cuts that have been drowning his state in a sea of red ink ever since they were passed in 2012. The state Legislature is currently puzzling over how to patch a billion-dollar budget shortfall while also adequately funding the state’s public schools in order to comply with a recent court order.
Against this backdrop, a large coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans have been trying to do something sensible by finally adopting the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion in the state. While the move would cost Kansas some money over the coming years, it would bring in far more in federal funding while potentially extending health insurance to some 150,000 Kansans. Despite Brownback’s veto threats, the expansion bill passed the state Senate and House of Representatives by impressive margins, 25–14 and 81–44 respectively.
On Thursday, Brownback made good on his threat and rejected the expansion. Among the reasons cited in his accompanying message: Financial responsibility.
The cost of expanding Medicaid under ObamaCare is irresponsible and unsustainable. A recent third party study from Aon Hewitt estimates that expansion will cost Kansas taxpayers of $1.2 billion from the state general fund over the coming years. In fact, states that have expanded have seen cost overruns of 110 percent or more than double the projection of enrollees. This bill is not budget neutral, instead placing a burden on the budget of unrestrainable costs.
The horror. More people than projected might get health insurance. This guy blew his state’s budget on fairy dust and tax cuts that have yet to yield jack in terms of economic growth, but now he’s worried about fiscal rectitude. One interpretation is that this is just classic, 1980s-style starve-the-beast conservatism at work—ruthlessly slash revenue in the name of economic growth, then cry poverty when people want to spend on basic social welfare programs. But it’s really not clear to me that Brownback is even that forward-thinking.
Supporters of the expansion are apparently a few votes shy of a veto override in both houses of the Legislature, though advocates say they’ll work to flip a few more members. In the meantime, let us all pray that Brownback gets that ambassadorship with the Trump administration he’s supposedly in the running for. Poor Kansas has suffered enough. |
Some parents in Oregon are seeing red after their high school seniors were forced to complete an inappropriate, racially charged questionnaire.
Students at Aloha High School were given a “White Privilege Survey” to fill out in their literature composition class, containing statements such as “I can be in the company of people of my race most of the time,” “I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me,” and “I am never asked to speak for all the people in my racial group.” They were asked to score the statements on how often they felt the ideas were true.
One of the statements even read, "When I am told about our national heritage or about 'civilization,' I am shown that people of my race made it what it is."
Not on the survey: "I can walk through any big city neighborhood in America and be safe," or "I was the most qualified applicant for the job, but was passed over in favor of a marginally qualified applicant because the employer had a quota to fill," or "If I'm a criminal, I am more likely to be shot by police than my black counterparts in a similar circumstance," or "I am sometimes asked to fill out mortifying, racially charged surveys."
Maureen Wheeler, the Beaverton School District spokeswoman, told NWCN the survey was meant for students "to explore social issues, specifically in relation to race, class and sexuality, with the aim of having students gain empathy, understanding and to build bridges.”
Of course there are ways to do all that without bringing obnoxious and controversial left-wing theories into the classroom. Aloha High School is 47 percent white and 34 percent Hispanic, Fox News reported. The county is 79 percent white, according to a 2000 census report.
Jason Schmidt, whose son is in the class, said, “I think he should be learning actual education and not be a part of some social experiment or some teacher’s political agenda.” He added: “With the amount of money we pay for schools, they should be educating not indoctrinating our students about the latest political fad or political agenda a teacher wants to get across.”
Not surprisingly, some parents sided with the school district. “I want [my daughter] to have opinions. Whether it’s for or against, you have to create those, but you can’t without good information so I applaud teachers getting out that information,” parent Sarah Rios-Lopez said.
What information? Kids being asked to explore their "white privilege" is a completely one-sided endeavor unless they're allowed to say "what white privilege?", crumple up the survey, and throw it in the trashcan.
Check out the video on the next page! |
Image copyright Police Scotland Image caption Bailey Gwynne died in October
A teenager at an Aberdeen school was fatally stabbed after a row broke out over a biscuit, a murder trial has heard.
Bailey Gwynne, 16, died after being stabbed at Cults Academy in October last year.
A witness told the court the accused had pulled a knife or some kind of sharp object from a pocket and thrust it towards Bailey.
The 16-year-old accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murder.
On the first day of the trial, the jury at the High Court in Aberdeen was told in a joint minute it had been agreed that the accused became engaged in a fight with Bailey and the victim was struck with a knife and suffered a "penetrating stab wound to the heart".
The witness, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was asked how the argument between the accused and Bailey had begun.
He told the court that Bailey had some biscuits and another boy wanted one, then Bailey and the accused began name-calling and punching each other.
Image copyright PA Image caption Head teacher Anna Muirhead said a member of staff had come to her office to alert her to the fight
He said he did not remember who started it, and defence counsel Ian Duguid QC produced a statement which the witness gave to police after the incident.
A passage read to court said: "[The accused] said something like your mum's fat, then Bailey lashed out at him.
"Bailey grabbed hold of [the accused] and pushed him about. [The accused] started to defend himself and they've started grappling."
Asked by Mr Duguid: "Is this the way it was?", the witness said: "I think so."
Computing teacher Alasdair Sharp, 28, said he saw the two engaged in "what looked to be a scuffle".
He said: "I asked them what was going on. One of them said 'he called my mother fat'."
The teacher led the two along a communal area known as "the street" towards an office.
I knew immediately it was very, very serious Anna Muirhead, Head teacher
Mr Sharp said: "As I got to towards the end of the street I turned around and I saw Bailey staggering towards the wall.
"[The accused] was a wee bit behind him, was moving towards him looking like he was going to help him."
The teacher said Bailey made it to the wall and he noticed he was very pale.
He told the court: "At this point I noticed the trail of blood going along the street, where we'd come from."
Mr Sharp added: "To begin with he seemed fairly coherent but as events unfolded he began to lose consciousness."
Head teacher Anna Muirhead, 57, told the court that a staff member had come to her office during lunch break and told her there had been a fight and an ambulance had been called.
Ms Muirhead said she left her office and saw Bailey lying on the ground by the reception area, with staff members around him.
She said: "I knew immediately it was very, very serious."
Image caption The accused cannot be identified for legal reasons
A first responder started working on Bailey and he was then taken to hospital by ambulance.
Mrs Muirhead, 57, described seeing the accused sitting nearby, distraught, and that he had indicated what had happened was his fault.
Jason Parker, a police scene examiner, said a knife was found in a bin in the school after the incident.
The murder charge against the 16 year-old claims he did "engage in fighting" with Bailey and struck him on the body with a knife.
In addition, the accused is also alleged to have had knives or "bladed instruments" as well as two knuckledusters at school "without reasonable excuse or lawful authority" on various occasions between 1 August 2013 and the day of the alleged murder.
The trial, before judge Lady Stacey, is expected to last several days.
The law on media identification of children in criminal court cases changed in September last year.
The age at which the media are prohibited from identifying children who are involved in court proceedings, whether as a victim, witness or accused, was raised to apply to anyone under 18. |
It’s not always easy to fit our computing lifestyles within the bounds of our computing hardware. Photos, movies, music, games – you name it. All our digital media starts to add up after a while, and before you know it you’ve run out of room on your hard drive.
Which is why the news that Samsung has just unveiled the world’s biggest hard drive immediately piqued our interest. The Korean company revealed its new uber-mega-drive this week at the Flash Memory Summit currently underway in California. And this thing really is big, offering a whopping 16 terabytes of storage, which is a whole 6 terabytes larger than the previous record holder.
To put things in perspective, 16 terabytes would hold over 3 million MP3s, more than 4,000 movies, nearly 5 million digital photos… you get the picture. This sucker is huge. It’s 1,000 times bigger than an entry-level iPhone and 32 times bigger than the storage in the computer on which I’m writing these words.
Best of all, Samsung’s new drive is a solid state drive using NAND flash for storage, not a mechanical hard disk drive using platter technology. This means it’d be quick, lightweight and energy efficient, with no moving parts like the ones used in older hard drives and computers. (Admittedly, there’s still oodles of mechanical hard drives being released onto the market each year, although mostly for cheaper devices or desktop PCs.)
According to Sebastian Anthony at Ars Technica, Samsung had to increase the density of its flash chips in order to squeeze so much capacity into a conventional 2.5-inch SSD:
The secret sauce behind Samsung’s 16TB SSD is the company’s new 256Gbit (32GB) NAND flash die; twice the capacity of 128Gbit NAND dies that were commercialised by various chip makers last year. To reach such an astonishing density, Samsung has managed to cram 48 layers of 3-bits-per-cell (TLC) 3D V-NAND into a single die. This is up from 24 layers in 2013, and then 36 layers in 2014.
Sadly, there a few caveats to the PM1633a, the model number Samsung is using for the drive. First, it’s being targeted at enterprise markets, with no word on when (or if) we’ll ever see a consumer release. This actually makes perfect sense. As nice as it would be to enjoy so much digital head room, it’s unlikely there’d be much genuine consumer demand for such a capacious hard drive.
For example, it’s unlikely you know anybody who’s taken 5 million photos. (In fact, it’s quite possible nobody ever has.) Huge companies and government bodies do however need data capacity and lots of it. Scary amounts, in fact.
Then there’s the tiny matter of price. Anthony estimates the PM1633a will cost in the order of US$8,000 when it eventually hits the market. Now if you’ll be so kind, please excuse me while I remove it from my online cart. |
A move to new surroundings can often be the perfect remedy.
That's certainly been the case with several struggling players in the past. Just ask Joe Thornton, who won the NHL MVP with the San Jose Sharks after spending his first seven seasons with the Boston Bruins.
With a refresh in mind, here are seven players who could benefit from a similar change of scenery:
Sam Bennett
No player may be more in need of a shake up than Bennett, who has failed to find the scoresheet through 13 games this season. No doubt a disappointment, it's safe to say the Flames had high hopes for the 2014 fourth overall pick, who was drafted ahead of the likes of William Nylander and Nikolaj Ehlers.
Bennett tallied 36 points in his rookie campaign two years ago, but declined to just 26 points last season, despite averaging nearly identical ice time. To follow it up, Bennett and the Flames slogged through a difficult contract negotiation last offseason. Calgary ultimately bet on a two-year deal, but the likes of it paying off appear to be slim.
Mikkel Boedker
Boedker agreed to a four-year deal with the Sharks in 2016, but things havn't gone swimmingly since his arrival in San Jose.
Sharks bench boss Peter DeBoer - who coached Boedker in junior - is tasked with helping the Danish winger find some consistency, and has moved him throughout the lineup in search of his scoring touch. Playing alongside Joonas Donskoi and Chris Tierney on the team's third line, Boedker picked up two points in his last game after tallying just one point in his previous seven outings. If the Sharks would rather move on from Boedker, it'd be difficult to do so, given he's signed for $4 million through 2019-20.
Anthony Duclair
A frequent scratch by former coach Dave Tippett, it's been more of the same for Duclair with new bench boss Rick Tocchet. Despite chipping in three goals this season - only Coyotes rookie Clayton Keller has scored more - Duclair has been scratched for two of the past three games.
Duclair returned to the lineup for Thursday's 5-4 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, a contest in which he skated on the team's fourth line and finished last among forwards with just 10:49 in ice time. Originally acquired from the New York Rangers in 2015, Duclair could be a worthwhile trade chip to help right the last-place Coyotes.
Alex Galchenyuk
Montreal Canadiens GM Marc Bergevin sees forward Galchenyuk as a winger, a stance that coach Claude Julien agrees with, judging by his lineup. The point of confusion comes into play with where Galchenyuk has been slotted.
Skating on the team's fourth line, Galchenyuk has scored in three of the last five games, but has not been rewarded with a boost in the lineup. A third overall pick by the Canadiens in 2012, the hope was Galchenyuk would soon be the team's top center, a duty since filled by new recruit Jonathan Drouin. This offseason, the Canadiens committed to a three-year contract with Galchenyuk, but it may only be a matter of time before they move on.
Josh Leivo
The Toronto Maple Leafs winger is productive. The only problem is finding a regular roster spot. Depth at forward has seen Leivo scratched more often than not this season, as the 24-year-old sat out Toronto's first 10 games before drawing into the lineup for two of the past four contests. Leivo picked up a point in the process, but as of the team's last game, he was back to a familiar spot on the sidelines.
Leivo showed off his offensive chops last season when he picked up 10 points in 13 games, and that could pique the interest of rival GMs should the Maple Leafs wish to deal from an area of strength to shore up their defensive depth.
Sam Reinhart
The Buffalo Sabres center has made little progress over his first two seasons, and appears to be taking a step back in the early goings of this campaign as he's picked up just five points through 13 games.
While only three years removed from his draft class, it appears the Sabres made a devastating miss when they selected Reinhart one spot ahead of Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl. Reinhart is now in the final year of his entry-level contract, and first-year Sabres GM Jason Botterill has opted for a wait-and-see approach before locking in a big-ticket extension. Otherwise, he could elect to deal Reinhart to improve his roster elsewhere.
Jacob Trouba
Trouba and the Winnipeg Jets went through an ugly contract dispute in the lead-up to last season, so much so that the American-born blue-liner sat out the first 15 games. He eventually agreed to a two-year deal, a contract that expires at the end of 2017-18.
While Trouba will again be a restricted free agent - meaning the Jets still have more say in how his future plays out - the team could look to move on from a player who previously demanded a trade. Furthering those efforts could be Trouba's inability to live up to his offensive potential. With just four points through 12 games this season, his scoring game appears to have plateaued.
(Photos courtesy: Getty Images) |
1. There are 3,904 people in prison custody in Ireland (01 January 2019).
2. The rate of imprisonment in Ireland is approximately 78 per 100,000 of the general population (end of September 2018).
3. In 2017, the average cost of an “available, staffed prison space” was €68,635.
4. The prison population increased by 400% from 1970 to 2011.
5. In 2017 there were 4,900 prisoners committed serving sentences of less than 12 months.
6. The majority of Irish prisoners have never sat a State exam and over half left school before the age of 15.
7. Four in ten children (under 16 years) on custodial remand have a learning disability. (Anderson & Graham 2007)
8. From 1996 to 2017, the numbers in custody increased by 68% (2,191 to 3,680).
9. There are 58 people in prison slopping out, without in-cell sanitation (July 2018).
10. In 2017, there were 2,261 committals to prison for the non-payment of court-ordered fines, a decrease from 8,439 in 2016.
11. Committals under immigration decreased to 418 in 2017 from 421 in 2016.
12. In 2017 the number of committals under sentence of children aged 17 was 13.
13. The number of sentenced committals for road traffic offences decreased from 3,791 in 2016 to 982 in 2017.
14. The average number of females in custody was 144 in 2017, a 2.9% increase on the 2016 average of 140.
15. In 2015, the annual cost per child in child detention schools was €340,983 (This statistic relates specifically to Oberstown Children Detention Campus)
16. Dóchas women’s prison is operating at 150% of its recommended maximum capacity. (01 June 2018)
17. Prisoners are 23 times more likely to come from (and return to) a seriously deprived area, compared to the least deprived areas. (O'Donnell et al., 2007)
18. In July 2018, of 536 restricted regime prisoners: 37 were Rule 62; 477 were Rule 63 (voluntary); 12 were Rule 63 (involuntary); and 5 were Rule 64.
19. The overall daily average number of prisoners in custody in 2017 was 3,680 compared to 3,718 in 2016, a decrease of 1.1%.
20. 85% of fine defaulters are back in custody within four years.
21. The daily average number of female offenders in custody rose by 29% in the ten year period between 2006 and 2016.
22. As of July 2018, 1,781(45%) prisoners were required to use the toilet in the presence of another prisoner. This is an increase in overall numbers and percentage, as 1,610 (40%) prisoners were required to use the toilet in the presence of another in July 2014.
23. Committals under sentence of less than 3 months decreased by 69.3% (from 8,820 in 2016 to 2,704 in 2017).
24. On 30 November 2017, 736 prisoners were on remand.
25. In 2008, of the 520 prisoners who enrolled in the school at Mountjoy Prison, 20% could not read or write and 30% could only sign their names.
26. As of July 2018, 2,054 prisoners were accommodated in single cells. This is an increase on July 2014 figures of 1,978 (49%) prisoners.
27. As of July 2018,31 prisoners held on a restricted regime were aged 18-20.
28. As of July 2018, there were 423 sentenced prisoners aged 50+. As of August 2014, there were only 355 sentenced prisoners aged 50+ (11.4% of sentenced prison population).
29. A third (33.3%)of all persons committed to prison in 2017 declared Dublin as their county of residence.
30. Numbers committed with a life sentence increased from 16 in 2016 to 22 in 2017.
31. According to the July 2018 census of restricted regimes, there are 35 prisoners being held on 22+ lock-up. This is an increase from 12 in April 2018, but a decrease from 211since the commencement of the survey in July 2013..
32. In 2011, over 70% of prisoners were unemployed on committal and a similar percentage self-report as not having any particular trade or occupation. |
Aurora Australis replacement slammed as poor value for money by national auditor
Updated
The National Audit Office has slammed the Commonwealth Environment and Energy Department procurement process for Australia's next icebreaker.
In a damning report, the auditor found the replacement for the ageing Aurora Australis was poor value for money.
In April last year, Sydney-based DMS Maritime was awarded the $2 billion contract to operate and maintain the new ship over 30 years and oversee its construction in Romania.
The report showed the department's tender process was largely non-competitive and the delivery of the new ship was now due in 2020, years later than first envisaged.
Among several concerns was the department's decision to adopt a "design, build, operate and maintain" (DBOM) model, which resulted in just one tender.
Key findings of the report:
The procurement process was largely non-competitive resulting in costs exceeding benchmarks established by the department. The department, therefore, cannot demonstrate it provided value with public resources.
There was no consultation with the shipbuilding industry on its appetite for participating under a DBOM procurement approach.
The request for tender (RFT) process prevented industry from submitting any alternatives to the department's preferred DBOM. This resulted in two of the three shortlisted respondents withdrawing.
Substantial changes to contract provisions were made during negotiations. The initial operate and maintain contract term was reduced to 10 years and delivery was switched from Hobart to Europe.
Icebreaker delivery twice as long as expected
The report also noted that with icebreaker not due to become available until 2020, the whole process will have taken twice as long as originally expected.
The audit said the department presented design and build cost estimates to the Government that were up to four times higher than of a comparable vessel, the South African Agulhas II.
The price tag for the new ice breaker is $530 million, not including its operating costs, whereas the South African ship cost $150 million to build in 2012.
The audit also revealed criticism from P&O Cruises, which owns the existing icebreaker the Aurora Australis.
"As we have communicated previously, we believe there are substantial flaws in the procurement philosophy that will not allow P&O Maritime to deliver a competitive and value for money proposal," P&O Maritime said when it withdrew from the RFT stage in December 2014.
The Department has defended the cost, saying its process was robust and of a high standard.
"Department does not consider the process was largely non-competitive and the outcome was excessively higher than its benchmarks," the response said.
"Department would point to the comprehensive scrutiny and consideration given to the procurement and the cost modelling by Government agencies."
Waste of taxpayers' money: Greens
Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson accused the Government of wasting taxpayers' money.
"I'm very angry because this Government has done nothing but cut funding to Antarctic and Southern Ocean science," he said.
"And here we get an independent audit of the Government's replacement vessel showing that it's significantly over budget."
The Tasmanian senator said the audit raised serious questions about the Environment Department and its Minister Josh Frydenberg's ability to handle large projects.
"The Government's whole strategy and approach to Southern Ocean science has been chaotic to say the least and now we find that the centrepiece of their political strategy is itself in chaos," he said.
The Minister has been contacted for comment.
Topics: government-and-politics, public-sector
First posted |
Liquidity risk is the risk that you won't be able to sell an asset, or more generally unwind a trade, for an amount of cash close to its expected value at any given moment. So which assets carry the most liquidity risk? As a general rule, the greatest liquidity risk comes from assets in thinly traded markets. That is, the fewer times an asset is traded on any given day, the greater the liquidity risk. For example, stock in Coca Cola carries much less liquidity risk than a Victorian mansion for the simple reason that Coca Cola stock is heavily traded every business day all over the world. As a result, Coca Cola stock trades can be executed quickly through intermediaries who are willing to buy it from or sell it to you, since these intermediaries know that at some point in the near future, someone else will show up at their door asking to buy or sell some more. So these market-makers must be the greatest people on the Earth, willing to devote their time to make markets liquid, all for the greater good of humanity, right? No. You bought your lunch, even if you don't remember paying for it. In exchange for providing liquidity, market-makers get to pocket the difference between the prices at which they buy and sell.
A swap is a very common type of OTC derivative, which includes that destroyer of economies, the credit default swap (CDS). While industry folk commonly speak of a buy-side and a sell-side to the swap market, you can't really buy or sell a swap in the classic sense, since a swap is an instrument in which both sides have obligations to perform in the future. That is, if the underlying rate moves against either party, that party will have to pay up, much like a future or forward contract. This is in contrast to an option from the perspective of its holder. An option grants the right, not the obligation, to the option holder to buy a particular asset; and creates an obligation on the part of the option writer to sell that asset. You can sell a right and assume an obligation. You cannot sell an obligation. Well, there are probably a few bozos out there. But in any case, both parties to a swap could end up having an obligation to pay at some point in the future.
The Sell-Side
Swap dealers are market-makers for swaps: the sell-side of the market. But how do they create markets when you can't really buy or sell a swap? At all times except execution, swaps have positive value to one of the parties to the swap and negative value to the other. At execution, the market value of the swap to each side of the swap is zero. This is because the price of the swap will be based upon the value of some rate at execution. One party will be long on the rate (benefiting if the rate goes up) and the other will be short on the rate (benefiting if the rate goes down). After execution, that rate will move, up or down, which will create value to one of the parties. What swap dealers do to net their positions is offset their long positions with short positions; and offset their short positions with long positions. In reality, this process is not so simple. The face value of each trade, known as the notional amount, is not likely to match up so perfectly with the other trades, despite being executed by masters of the universe. As a result, they have to work pretty hard to make all of their trades match up. |
This email has also been verified by Google DKIM 2048-bit RSA key
Re: Politico (Karni) | Gay Marriage
From:[email protected] To: [email protected] CC: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Date: 2015-04-16 18:55 Subject: Re: Politico (Karni) | Gay Marriage
Christine Quinn had long convo w/ Annie Karni. Christine and I talked before, and she called me after to give me the rundown. I think her validation will help tremendously. Adrienne K. Elrod Spokesperson Hillary For America *www.hillaryclinton.com <http://www.hillaryclinton.com>* @adrienneelrod On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 9:32 AM, Nick Merrill <[email protected]> wrote: > Let's get technical with her and pick through the transcript from Terri > gross if we need to. To Tony's point yesterday, she refers to it as a > position she HAD in the context on evolving along with the rest of the > country. > > > > On Apr 16, 2015, at 11:10 AM, Adrienne Elrod <[email protected]> > wrote: > > FYI - had a good chat w/ Fred Sainz at HRC and Chad Griffin is going to > call Annie Karni. > > He will also call and validate reaffirm the fact that she hasn't "flip > flopped" on this issue to other reporters if need be. > > > > On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 8:07 AM, Karen Finney <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> He's already indicated he didn't see it as a change - Adrienne - let me >> know if you want help on this. >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >> On Apr 16, 2015, at 11:05 AM, Kristina Schake <[email protected]> >> wrote: >> >> I'm sure he would do it. His comms person is Fred Sainz - fred.sainz@ >> hrc.org. >> >> On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 9:53 AM, Karen Finney <[email protected] >> > wrote: >> >>> What about asking Chad Griffin to weigh in? He does not consider what >>> she said as an "evolution" >>> >>> On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 9:35 AM, Nick Merrill <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> Adrienne is working with Michael on points, not Hillary Clinton (or >>>> the Human Rights Campaign for that matter). iPhone autocorrect mishap. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Apr 16, 2015, at 8:30 AM, Nick Merrill <[email protected]> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>> HRC is working with Michael on the points, but separately we should >>>> get to Annie early on this. >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> Begin forwarded message: >>>> >>>> *Resent- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "HRCRapid" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. |
Twickenham has been selected to host the final of the inaugural European Rugby Champions’ Cup, the tournament which replaces the Heineken Cup, next May.
The London venue is understood to have been preferred to the Stade de France in Paris to host the showpiece event on the weekend of May 1-2, with an official confirmation expected to be announced later today.
The final of the European Rugby Challenge Cup, the second-tier competition, will also be held in London, with Harlequins’ Stoop stadium, which has a capacity of 15,000, likely to host the game.
ERC, the previous organiser of the Heineken Cup before a new European accord was signed in March, had scheduled the 2015 final to be held at the San Siro in Milan. However, it is thought that Twickenham and the Stade de France were the only two bids accepted to host the final of the new tournament.
Twickenham is understood to be regarded as the safe option, given that it has the largest capacity at 83,000 and can generate the most revenue as it is solely owned by the Rugby Football Union. The French Rugby Federation, in contrast, pays rent for the Stade de France.
Ticket sales for the final, which will be broadcast by both BT Sport and Sky Sports, are expected to go on sale next month. However, supporters who have previously purchased tickets for European club rugby finals or subscribers to the epcrugby.com “Ezine” will be able to purchase a “golden ticket” to secure seats for both the new finals from today.
The new-look Champions’ Cup has been reduced from 24 to 20 teams from the Heineken Cup with clubs qualifying for the first time on merit from their domestic leagues. European Professional Rugby, the company running the new competitions, will announce the fixtures for the pool stages of both on Thursday.
The tournaments begin on the weekend of Oct 17-19, while the quarter-finals will be played on the weekend of April 3-5 with the semi-finals on the weekend of April 17-19.
In the Champions’ Cup, Saracens are in Pool One alongside Munster, Clermont Auvergne and Sale Sharks. Northampton, the Premiership champions, have been drawn with Racing Métro, Ospreys and Treviso in Pool Five. Bath must face four-time Heineken Cup champions Toulouse, Montpellier and Glasgow Warriors in Pool Four while Harlequins are in Pool Two alongside Leinster, Castres and Wasps. Leicester are in arguably the toughest pool along with champions Toulon, Ulster and Scarlets. |
TAMARAC, Fla. - Two people were found dead inside a home Thursday afternoon after the Broward Sheriff's Office SWAT team and other deputies were called there in reference to a barricaded suspect.
The incident was reported at 5880 NW 57th Ave. in Tamarac.
Sky 10 was above the scene shortly after 3 p.m. as authorities had their guns drawn outside the home.
Local 10 News reporter Christian De La Rosa said the incident appeared to be over by 4:30 p.m.
BSO spokeswoman Joy Oglesby said deputies tried to make contact with the barricaded suspect.
"They were unsuccessful," she said.
Neighbors told De La Rosa that they were told to stay inside their homes while the suspect was barricaded. They said they heard several shots before the lockdown was lifted.
Oscar Perez said he was watching from his house.
"(They) threw some concussion grenades, blew out the windows," Perez said.
Oglesby said a death investigation is underway.
"No one from BSO fired their guns," she said.
Copyright 2017 by WPLG Local10.com - All rights reserved. |
The first round of the 2017 NCAA Tournament tips off this Thursday, thus starting the best two days in sports. The single-elimination format isn’t the best way to determine a champion, but it does heighten the drama and allow for Cinderella runs. Above all, it’s fun and makes good on the “March Madness” moniker.
It’s with those two things in mind that we pose the following question: Why let college hoops have all the fun?
Using our final rankings from the CBS Sports 128, we’ve seeded the top 68 teams and spread them across four regions for a March Madness tourney of the college football variety. We provided location preferences to the top seeds and aligned the others as appropriate, though we did not follow the Selection Committee’s charge of ensuring conference opponents do not play until later in the tournament.
In conjunction with the real tournament’s opening weekend, our staff predicted the winners of the play-in games along with the first and second rounds. Next week, we will predict the winners of the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight. Two weeks from now, we’ll cover the Final Four and national championship. Let’s get to it.
First Four
EAST: (16) Middle Tennessee def. (16) Eastern Michigan: It was an uneven season for both these teams, but MTSU hung with some tough competition in 2016, nearly knocking off Western Kentucky and taking down both Louisiana Tech and Missouri.
MIDWEST: (11) Kentucky def. (11) Ole Miss: Say goodnight to the Rebels. After a rough season in the SEC, Ole Miss checks out on its way to the offseason while the Wildcats are rolling into their first round matchup.
SOUTH: (16) Vanderbilt def (16) Arkansas State: As you’d expect with Vandy, it’s a low-scoring affair. The Commodores’ defense suffocates the Red Wolves, and a late interception seals the deal.
WEST: (11) Indiana def. (11) Boston College: There’s something about both of these teams that make it hard to avoid heart complications. The Eagles’ defense turns this game into a grinder, but they can’t muster enough points to take home the win.
Round of 64
EAST REGION by Adam Silverstein
Graphic illustration by Michael Meredith
(1) Clemson def. (16) Middle Tennessee: A cakewalk for the Tigers, which blow out the Blue Raiders in the first half and rest their starters to prepare for the Round of 32.
(8) Temple def. (9) Navy: A rematch of their Dec. 3 game, the Owls once again take down the Midshipmen, though the score is closer than the first 24-point defeat.
(5) Miami vs. (12) North Carolina: A second regular-season rematch in the first round, the Canes get revenge on the Tar Heels for a 20-13 defeat back on Oct. 15. UM closed the season with four straight double-digit wins (including a rout of Pitt), while the Tar Heels faltered down the stretch.
(4) Florida def. (13) Georgia: Let’s make it three regular-season rematches, this time a rivalry game. The Gators dispatched the Bulldogs 24-10 in their first meeting and not much would change here.
(11) Troy def. (6) West Virginia: While the Trojans may not have always played up to their opponents, the Mountaineers ended the season on a 4-3 stretch with double-digit losses to the three best teams they faced. A motivated Troy team knocks off WVU.
(3) Michigan def. (14) NC State: The WolfPack cannot take advantage of a Jabrill Peppers-less Wolverines the same way Florida State and Dalvin Cook did in the Orange Bowl.
(7) Tennessee def. (10) Appalachian State: A fourth regular-season rematch in this first round, the Volunteers needed a Jalen Hurd to recover Joshua Dobbs’ fumble in the end zone to beat the Mountaineers in overtime. Both teams surged late in the season, but Tennessee probably gets it done again.
(2) Penn State def. (15) Ohio: A breeze for the Nittany Lions, though the Bobcats were tough late in the year against Western Michigan and Troy.
MIDWEST REGION by Chip Patterson, Brandon Wise
Graphic illustration by Michael Meredith
(1) Oklahoma def. (16) Wake Forest: Defense be damned. Baker Mayfield, Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon run all over the Demon Deacons in this first round matchup.
(8) Tulsa def. (9) Iowa: Look out for the Hurricane! Tulsa ended the season on a roll and continued it with a 55-10 thumping of Central Michigan in its bowl game. Iowa, after getting crushed by Florida in its bowl game, is looking forward to its offseason.
(12) Memphis def. (5) Louisville: Who doesn’t love the 12-over-5 upsets? Memphis may have struggled against Western Kentucky in its bowl game, but the Tigers are fast and have the defense to contain Lamar Jackson’s speed.
(13) Louisiana Tech def. (4) Virginia Tech: Upset city! The Bulldogs are a team most didn’t watch this year but have one of the best passing attacks in the country. They will give a young Hokies secondary fits all night.
(6) Western Kentucky def. (11) Kentucky: Jeff Brohm’s farewell tour keeps on rolling as he prepares to head to Purdue. The Hilltoppers have the speed to keep up with Kentucky and their offense is second to none. Points will be scored.
(3) Oklahoma State def. (14) Colorado State: Sorry, Rams. You had a good run and that destruction of San Diego State to get in the tournament was nice, but Mason Rudolph is not playing any games as the Cowboys roll.
(10) Air Force def. (7) Boise State: A group of five battle in the first round. The Falcons end Boise State’s chance at a miracle run quickly after crushing the Broncos in a rematch from late in the season.
(2) Ohio State def. (15) Northwestern: Good ol’ Big Ten matchup here, but the Buckeyes are just too powerful for the Wildcats even at a neutral site. Ohio State gets by the Wildcats here, but it’s closer than you think -- especially given that Northwestern gave Ohio State fits at the Horseshoe earlier this year.
SOUTH REGION by Tom Fornelli
Graphic illustration by Michael Meredith
(1) Alabama def (16) Vanderbilt: Vandy hangs tight for a half, but the dam bursts in the second half as Alabama pulls away for a lopsided win.
(8) Kansas State def. (9) Georgia Tech: Georgia Tech jumps out to a 17-3 lead in the first quarter, but Kansas State makes some adjustments and stifles the flexbone attack. After cutting the lead to 17-13 at halftime, the Wildcats take the lead late in the third and never look back, winning by a touchdown.
(5) South Florida def. (12) Toledo: Defense optional! A back-and-forth affair that is the talk of Twitter sees the Bulls pull off a victory that goes into the 50s for both teams. Hope you took the over.
(4) LSU def (13) Arkansas: LSU won the regular season meeting 38-10, and the tournament wasn’t much kinder to the Hogs. Derrius Guice goes off for 176 yards and three scores as LSU pulls away.
(11) Texas A&M def (6) Auburn: The Aggies go into Jordan-Hare Stadium and beat the Tigers for the second time this season. Myles Garrett’s strip sack in the fourth quarter sets the Aggies up for the game-winning touchdown in the final minute.
(3) Western Michigan def. (14) New Mexico: New Mexico gives Western Michigan more than it bargained for early, but in the end, the Lobos just don’t have the answer for Corey Davis on defense.
(10) Pitt def. (7) Nebraska: The Pitt offense overwhelms Nebraska and the Cornhuskers fall into some turnover trouble in the second half. We’ll say the Panthers by two touchdowns as they pull away late.
(2) Florida State def. (15) Baylor: Florida State uses Dalvin Cook to control the clock, and this one is never really in doubt, though a couple of late touchdowns make it look closer than it really was.
WEST REGION by Ben Kercheval
Graphic illustration by Michael Meredith
(1) USC def. (16) TCU: You know by now that USC was considered the hottest team at the end of last season. TCU limps into the tourney losing four of its final six regular-season games. Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson is a giant killer, but the Trojans have too much firepower. No 16-seed upset here. USC by three tuddies. Next.
(9) Houston def. (8) Washington State: Who knows what to make of the Cougars … either of them. Seriously. Both teams experienced incredible highs and lows throughout the year. An 8-9 matchup is as appropriate as it gets for this one. Houston tends to get up for big games, though. That’s the difference.
(5) Stanford def. (12) BYU: Christian McCaffrey isn’t sitting this one out. He’s the difference-maker in a thrilling offensive showcase that goes down to the wire. The Cardinal avoids the dreaded 12-over-5 upset … barely.
(13) Old Dominion def. (4) Colorado: And we have our first lower-seed upset in the West region. Colorado’s magical turnaround season comes to a bitter end with quarterback Sefo Liufau once again unfortunately succumbing to injuries.
(6) Utah def. (11) Indiana: Hey! This game actually happened in the postseason! It’s not quite as close as the Utes’ 26-24 victory in the Foster Farms Bowl, but coach Kyle Whittingham gets it done again in a game decided by one score.
(3) Wisconsin def. (14) Wyoming: Surprise shootout! Wyoming quarterback Josh Allen carves up Wisconsin’s defense to take a surprising first-half lead. However, the Badgers’ ball-hawking defense stiffens up and Wyoming’s inability to stop the run proves costly. Wisconsin steals this one in the final minutes.
(7) San Diego State def. (10) Minnesota: The Aztecs rode Donnel Pumphrey all the way to 10 regular-season wins. They get one more in a tight one over the Golden Gophers.
(2) Washington def. (15) Idaho: The Huskies enter postseason play a little banged up on defense -- enough to make things interesting for a half against the Vandals, one of college football’s surprise teams. Then Jake Browning connects with John Ross a few times. Thanks for playing, Idaho.
Round of 32
EAST REGION
(1) Clemson def. (8) Temple: There were only a few times during the season that the Tigers struggled, but they were usually against high-octane offenses. The Owls would definitely be a test, but Clemson sails through.
(5) Miami def. (4) Florida: A treat for fans from the Sunshine State in the second round, but not the best news for the Gators. Though UF stood tough against LSU late in the season, Miami would ultimately have too many weapons for Florida to rely solely on its defense. A close, one-score game that gets decided late in the fourth quarter.
(3) Michigan def. (11) Troy: The Wolverines would overwhelm the Trojans defensively and snuff out a Cinderella run before it even really got started.
(2) Penn State def. (7) Tennessee: Too much talent, poise and motivation for the Nittany Lions for the Vols to get by as they did late in the season. It might get ugly.
MIDWEST REGION
(1) Oklahoma def. (8) Tulsa: So much for the miracle. Tulsa simply have no answer on defense for Mayfield and Dede Westbrook. Although the Golden Hurricane could score, they can’t stop the bleeding. This one borders on a classic opening-weekend game.
(12) Memphis def. (13) Louisiana Tech: A group of five team is into the Sweet 16. Although the Bulldogs are one of the hottest teams in the country, Memphis just has a few more athletes to overpower Louisiana Tech and move on.
(3) Oklahoma State def. (6) Western Kentucky: Man, defense be damned here. Mason Rudolph and Mike White are lighting up the scoreboard here, but the Cowboys have just a little more firepower to fall back on and advance.
(2) Ohio State def. (10) Air Force: Air Force might have a powerhouse rushing attack, but Ohio State’s defense is just stifling. J.T. Barrett will find a way to expose the Falcons’ passing defense, especially with Curtis Samuel and Noah Brown creating space.
SOUTH REGION
(1) Alabama def. (8) Kansas State: Bill Snyder may be magic, but he’s not magical enough to pull this one off. Alabama wins easily.
(4) LSU def. (5) South Florida: Much like when they played Florida State during the regular season, the Bulls come out firing against LSU, but they lose steam in the second half. Derrius Guice breaks free for a 69-yard touchdown to give LSU its first lead in the third quarter, and the Tigers hold on for a 34-28 win.
(11) Texas A&M def. (3) Western Michigan: PJ Fleck and Western Michigan may row their boat, but Kevin Sumlin’s got a swagged-out speed boat and it’s just too much for the Broncos.
(2) Florida State def. (10) Pitt: Pitt finds some success on offense, but the fact of the matter is its defense just can’t do anything to slow down Florida State. It’s a tight one, but the ‘Noles get the offense they need.
WEST REGION
(1) USC def. (9) Houston: Again, the Cougars are capable of playing up to their competition, but USC is simply too much. The Trojans’ defense makes life miserable for Houston quarterback Greg Ward Jr. as he tries to play from behind. This one isn’t a runaway victory, but it’s never in doubt, either.
(5) Stanford def. (13) Old Dominion: The Monarchs got their upset, but the idea of putting them against McCaffrey and Cardinal defensive end Solomon Thomas, two potential first-round picks, seems unfair. This one ends without a lot of drama.
(6) Utah def. (3) Wisconsin: If you enjoy three-hour games with fewer than 250 yards passing -- total -- then you’ll love this one. This was a tough pick, but I love the way Utes running back Joe Williams dominated down the stretch.
(2) Washington def. (7) San Diego State: The Huskies’ front four prevents Pumphrey from having a breakout game. The Aztecs are a quality team, but Washington has too much beef in the trenches.
Sweet 16 (next week)
Graphic illustration by Michael Meredith
Graphic illustration by Michael Meredith
Graphic illustration by Michael Meredith |
? Legislation funding most of Kansas’ state government for its next fiscal year began as a measure giving wildlife and parks officers more discretion in issuing citations and had two other, vastly different incarnations before becoming a bill containing the bulk of the budget.
Lawmakers’ handling of the measure from its introduction through its signing by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback this week shows how loose the rules for moving bills to passage have become over the past 25 years and how confusing the process can be to follow.
They strip out texts and titles of bills and dump the contents into other bills to speed up their legislating. They even have their own jargon for it. They do a “gut and go” to turn a bill into something completely different, and measures become “shells,” ”vehicles” or even “body donors” — so that the legislative process looks little like what’s taught to schoolchildren in lessons about government.
“We learn a lot after junior high as to how the real process works,” said Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, a Nickerson Republican. “It’s hard for legislators to follow, too.”
Here is a look at how the budget bill became law.
Early life
The bulk of the state budget is contained in a version of Senate Bill 112. It was introduced on Jan. 29 by the Senate Judiciary Committee, at the request of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism. The bill originally would have given department officers the discretion not to issue citations for misdemeanor violations of wildlife and parks rules.
The bill cleared the committee in late February and three days later, on Feb. 26, passed the Senate unanimously.
First ‘gut and go’
But House members had different plans. Their Judiciary Committee amended the wildlife and parks proposal into another bill, leaving SB 112 available as a “vehicle.” The House speaker sent the bill to the Veterans, Military and Homeland Security Committee.
The second committee did a “gut and go,” passing a substitute version that would have shortened the time for state regulatory boards to issue professional licenses to military spouses.
The committee endorsed the substitute, but the House didn’t debate it. It returned to committee as lawmakers started their annual spring break near the end of March.
A little history
The veterans committee’s action, stripping a bill of its text and title and replacing it with something new, is common now. But 25 years ago, the tactic provoked outrage, when the House Transportation Committee took a minor bill on that subject and turned it into a measure requiring girls under 18 to notify their parents before obtaining an abortion.
The anniversary of that event passed in February, with no one taking notice. But it changed how lawmakers do business.
“We all who spend too many hours in this building can track (bill) numbers,” said Democratic Rep. Jim Ward, of Wichita. “But if you’re at home, trying to find out where your particular issue is, it’s incredibly hard.”
Another change
The House approved the substitute version of SB 112, aimed at helping veterans’ spouses, 118-0, on May 7. The measure went to the Senate, which rejected the changes, so that three senators and three House members were appointed to draft a final version.
But the negotiators were from each chamber’s Judiciary Committee. They stripped the bill of its provisions to help veterans’ spouses and stuck them in another bill. Senate Bill 112 became the vehicle for a proposal to increase criminal penalties for scrap metal theft.
That version of the bill was ready May 21.
Vehicle for the budget
Republicans who control the Legislature felt increasing pressure after Memorial Day to wrap their work on the budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 and pass the tax increases necessary to balance it.
As of the end of May, the House hadn’t passed a complete budget, though three members and three senators were negotiating over the final version of spending recommendations for most of state government. They needed a vehicle, something that had passed each chamber.
The House and Senate on June 2 put Senate Bill 112 into the hands of their budget negotiators, and the scrap metal proposal went into another bill.
A day later, the bill contained funding for most of state government, and the House approved it. The Senate followed suit on June 7, sending it to Brownback. |
Changes:
- Now prefering similarly skilled players in matchmaking, even more so in Ranked
- Removed Global Chat - Use https://discord.gg/supraball instead- Changed welcome screen for first timers, old one was a bit misleading
Ranked Rules:
- Play the role you are assigned (Keeper, Defender, Midfielder); don't change it without the agreement of your team!
- Don't leave ranked matches before they are finished!
- Don't insult anyone!
- Don't ruin matches!
If you ruin the experience for others you will get banned for a couple of days or more.
How does Ranked work:
- At first you will have to play 10 placement matches until you get your rank.
- Your rank points increase when your team wins and decrease when your team loses.
- The rank order is, Paper 1, Paper 2, Paper 3, Wood 1, Wood 2, Wood 3, Bronze 1, Bronze 2, Bronze 3, Silver 1, Silver 2, Silver 3, Gold 1, Gold 2, Gold 3, Diamond 1, Diamond 2, Diamond 3, Kryptonite 1, Kryptonie 2, Kryptonite 3, Kryptonite Full
- We make sure that people that are more than 5 ranks apart cannot play together in the same match.
- There are no bots in ranked. |
Notion Ink Adam hands-on
We first told you about Notion Ink and their Adam tablet back in December, and since then they’ve captured plenty of attention at CES 2010 for including NVIDIA’s new Tegra 2 chipset and being the first use of a Pixel Qi display. We caught up with Notion Ink, company founder Rohan Shravan and the Adam prototype today for an extended discussion, not only about the hardware but exclusively about the company’s plans and expectations for content and usage models. Check out our exclusive photos and never-before-seen video after the cut.
Since it’s a prototype the Adam’s casing here is not what the final design will be; in fact this was hand-made especially for showing the tablet at CES. The eventual hardware will be 14mm thick (Rohan said they could even get it down to around 12mm) with a reasonably minimal bezel, packed with the 10.1-inch Pixel Qi transflective display, a capacitive touchscreen eventually capable of recognizing six simultaneous points of contact, integrated WiFi and 3G. Thanks to Tegra 2 the Adam is 1080p capable, with an HDMI port to output to an HDTV or projector, and while the OS they’re showing today is bare Android they’ve a new UI in the works complete with a replacement on-screen keyboard more ergonomically designed for large-touchscreen use.
Pixel Qi’s technology means you can operate the display in two different modes: as full color LCD for use indoors or in a low-power reflective mode that actually gets brighter the more direct sunlight falls upon it. This latter mode is comparable to E Ink in its appearance, but Pixel Qi can still show smooth, responsive video (and slightly muted colors). Users will be able to manually switch the backlighting on or off, or leave it set to automatic and have the Adam toggle it itself. Notion Ink also offered to take the Adam out into direct sunlight so SlashGear could exclusively see the screen performance there.
So far so good, but what other sites haven’t been able to show you is the digital magazine dynamic content that will be a centerpoint of the Notion Ink experience when the Adam tablet launches. Notion Ink are working with various content producers – including some big-name blogs – to “reinvent” magazines and newspapers, and while they wouldn’t share any partner names they did show us some initial concepts.
Bear in mind that what you see in here are the company’s earlier working concepts, some of which date back to 2007; Notion Ink will be showing off functional versions at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona come February 2010. As well as touch control the tablet will respond to accelerometer movement in all directions, whether that’s for navigating through pages or controlling movement in games. The Adam will work as a window on one huge desktop, a UI which Notion Ink codenamed Enigma (there’s a concept shot of it in the gallery below), with the view moving as you tilt, shake and flip the tablet around. They’ve also developed motion-based gestures for common tasks – often tricky on touchscreens – like selecting, cutting and copying text and images.
You may also have read that Notion Ink have a new 3-megapixel camera with a patented swivel action, and we’re excited to be able to show you the first live pictures of that. Where in other photos we’ve seen the company discretely covering the assembly with their hand, or even showing a second prototype without it installed, here you can see the rotating camera barrel which allows you to flip the camera from front to back. The design means you can both use the Adam for video calling and for regular photography, and saves the cost and bulk of two sets of optics. On the back there’s also a trackpad used – like we’ve seen in a far smaller way on the Motorola Backflip – to navigate without leaving smudges on the display. Initially the trackpad is 1:1 mapped to the screen, so you can tap and have the cursor show up exactly in the region you want it to; then it works as a regular trackpad, scrolling the cursor around and tapping to select.
The Pixel Qi display and the frugal Tegra 2 chipset mean that despite the HD video capabilities, the Adam should excel in battery life, too. NVIDIA are saying tablets with regular displays (consuming around 2W) using Tegra 2 will last for around 16 hours of Full HD video with a standard 3-cell battery; Rohan says that, because their display uses just 0.2W in its electrophoretic reflective mode, with that 3-cell battery you’ll potentially see up to 160 hours use. Remember, that’s not just 160 hours of static E Ink style text, but the potential for video playback and digital content reading in color. Rohan also threw out a quick teaser about some unannounced upcoming features: if Tegra 2 has 12-megapixel camera support, what might you use that support for on a tablet? We’re stumped right now, but we reckon SlashGear readers might have some suggestions.
If you can’t tell already, we’re really excited about what Notion Ink have achieved in the three years its taken them to develop the Adam. Right now, due to bandwidth constraints, the current video is lower-res than we’d like; we’ll replace it with an HD version as soon as we can. By Mobile World Congress they’re expecting to have optimized Android to shave boot-up time down to around three seconds, as well as making some announcements about pricing (“you’ll be very happy” was all a grinning Rohan would say) and availability; we’re already planning our meeting with them there.
Notion Ink Adam demo:
[vms 3dc27118a0f19a198571] |
The TTC's CEO Andy Byford is one of the few people in a senior management position in Toronto who knows what he's doing. Coming here in 2011 with experience in some "real" cities, Mr. Byford has tried to do what is essentially impossible – take the TTC from the 1970s to the 21st Century. The task was doable, with political support, but there are a few things that Mr. Byford needed to know before he took the job.
Toronto is not what it used to be. It was world class. It was once "like New York but run by the Swiss." These clichés no longer work. The TTC was once called "The Better Way" then it morphed into "The Kinder Way" and now it is something that is only slightly better than walking.
Basic travel times within the city are now longer than ever – year round. A friend from Europe once asked me if it was true that Toronto had really only two subway lines. I felt some shame and looked away. She is from Vienna and they have serious public transit and fewer people.
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Take a look at the ads on the subway and the message is clear. Alcohol, books and countless new opportunities (some real, some dubious) for further education – be a VET, be a Doctor or make music. That message is the same as that of the TTC: your trip would be better if you were drunk, if you had a book maybe you would survive, if you got more education you could get paid more and buy a car! When I was a kid, the TTC was the great leveler in Toronto – like Coca-Cola in a sense – everyone was on it and it is the same for everyone. Now, it is a last resort.
Since Toronto is so filled with newcomers and enriched by that fact, I need to give them context. Living here for 50 years on and off, I know that the transit debate is mere theatrics. Nothing will happen. No doubt Mr. Byford came here thinking something could happen but he was misled.
The province, the federal government and the city have been in talks for decades. The City grows, ridership grows and the TTC remains the same. Imagine for just a second what the platform of either Eglinton or Bloor will look like in five years given the condo developments.
Mayor Rob Ford and his "subways subways" mantra cannot help us. He is too disgraced to play any role. Globe columnist Marcus Gee was right when he said that he is now our amiable city mascot – much like the Abominable Snow Man in the classic Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer. We thought he was dangerous but Yukon Cornelius showed us that he can actually be trained to put the star on the tree.
The brother, Doug, is no help either, but in classic Canadian fashion, since he is so bad he will be booted upstairs. I would urge him to skip the provincial parliament and go federal to get him out of here. Ottawa is more his style. Toronto is becoming provincial, Ottawa already is.
That Mr. Ford remains the Mayor tells us much about the TTC, too. As one of my students explained, Canada is somehow unique in having an immensely educated population but extremely low levels of civic engagement. If we were engaged, the Mayor would have been run out of town after his antics and the TTC would be the way Mr. Byford envisioned it could be.
Mr. Byford cannot get a major transformation but he has tried to make our commute more bearable as it will take you longer and longer to get where you want.
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He has fixed the bathrooms, offered FREE wifi at some stations, remodeled here and there. He also gave us that crazy corralling system at Yonge and Bloor where you are shouted at and berated to get in line, stay to the right, keep your head down and use your shoulders.
We also have new boards that actually tell us when the next bus is due! There is nextbus.com too. The trains are better on the Yonge-University line and that have those nice nifty lite-brite map of routes. The stations are tidier and the staff less hostile.
These are major accomplishments given the lack of resources and serious support from anywhere. I admire Mr. Byford for not leaving and taking his very real skills to a city that really wants to change. Instead of doing nothing, he did his best to do make the classic silk purse out of sow's ear. Our elected leaders need to do a whole lot better and Torontonians need to be mindful that we are being scammed.
Robert C. Austin teaches at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto |
1/7/2016 Update: See the latest Matcha Reviews 2015 Showdown. Here’s the full list of matcha reviews.
I’ve been drinking matcha green tea for a while now, and purchase my matcha from Amazon. The problem? There are too many choices. What’s a matcha drinker to do? I purchased the top 5 matchas from Amazon search results and tasted each one. The results were surprising. See below for my detailed tasting notes and matcha reviews.
Matcha Reviews Key
I’ve sorted my reviews by price per ounce (#1 being most expensive, #5 being least expensive):
DoMatcha Green Tea, Organic Matcha (Japan) Premium Organic Matcha Green Tea Powder (Japan) MatchaDNA Certified Organic Matcha Tea (China) Tradition Pure Green Tea Powder Matcha (Taiwan) Vita Life Brand Matcha Green Tea Powder (Taiwan)
1. DoMatcha Green Tea, Organic Matcha
From : Kagoshima, Japan
Ounces : 1.06
: 1.06 Price : $26.61
: $26.61 Price per ounce : $26.61
: $26.61 Rating : 5 / 5
: 5 / 5 Get This Matcha
DoMatcha is packaged in a sealed tin can, inside is a sealed bag. The matcha is a beautiful bright green in color. This means the leaves were picked young and dried properly. It has a delicate fresh grass smell. After whisking, the matcha is full of bubbles and froth (as good matcha should be). The taste is smooth, creamy, and bittersweet. Like dark chocolate. DoMatcha isn’t cheap, but if you want the real deal, this is it.
2. Premium Organic Matcha Green Tea Powder
From : Uji, Kyoto, Japan
: Uji, Kyoto, Japan Ounces : 1.05
: 1.05 Price : $10.99
: $10.99 Price per ounce : $10.99
: $10.99 Rating : 4 / 5
: 4 / 5 Get This Matcha
This matcha from Kyoto comes in a small sealed bag. For storage, you’ll want to move it to a sealed can. The matcha is bright green in color and has a slight aroma of sweet fresh grass. After whisking, it has plenty of bubbles and froth. The texture is creamy and smooth. The taste is slightly sweet and not as bold as DoMatcha. Overall, it’s a great matcha for the price.
3. MatchaDNA Certified Organic Matcha Tea
From : China
: China Ounces : 3
: 3 Price : $19.71
: $19.71 Price per ounce : $6.57
: $6.57 Rating : 2 / 5
: 2 / 5 Get This Matcha
This green tea powder claims to be matcha, but is likely sencha. See Matcha versus Sencha. It comes in a sealed bag, and inside is 34 individually packed pouches. These seem useful if you are on the go but otherwise seem unnecessary. MatchaDNA has a dark / olive green color (good matcha should be bright green). It has an earthy smell to it. After whisking, there are very few bubbles and little froth. The taste is very bitter, chalky and has an astringent aftertaste.
4. Tradition Pure Green Tea Powder Matcha
From : Taiwan
: Taiwan Ounces : 8.8
: 8.8 Price : $13.49
: $13.49 Price per ounce : $1.54
: $1.54 Rating : 1 / 5
: 1 / 5 Get This Matcha
This green tea powder claims to be matcha, but is likely sencha. See Matcha versus Sencha. Additionally, on Amazon, it says it’s from Japan, but actual packaging says from Taiwan. It comes in a large, resealable bag. It has a dark green color and old grass smell. It has a strong vegetal flavor and a very bitter, astringent aftertaste.
5. Vita Life Brand Matcha Green Tea Powder
From : Taiwan
: Taiwan Ounces : 10.58
: 10.58 Price : $19.38
: $19.38 Price per ounce : $1.83
: $1.83 Rating : 2.5 / 5
: 2.5 / 5 Get This Matcha
This green tea powder claims to be matcha, but is likely sencha. See Matcha versus Sencha. It comes in a nice large container. Inside is a sealed matcha bag and plastic spoon. The matcha is dark green in color. It has a smooth grassy smell. It has a smooth vegetal taste an only slightly bitter aftertaste. For sencha, this is pretty good tasting. It’s also at a more affordable price than real matcha.
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A Channel 4 presenter has found himself at the centre of a race storm after making reference to American President Barack Obama "smiling like a split watermelon".
Matt Frei, Europe Editor for Channel 4 News, has apologised for using the expression during a report on the Pope's high-profile visit to the US tonight.
The phrase upset many as the watermelon is often considered a symbol of racism towards black people in the States.
(Image: Danny Martindale/Getty Images)
It dates back to a stereotype that African Americans are particularly fond of the fruit.
Many took to Twitter to express outrage at Mr Frei's use of the phrase.
The retired basketballer and campaigner John Amaechi wrote: "I'm sorry, did Channel 4 News just say Obama was "smiling like a split watermelon"? WTF. No. Just no. How does that get past editorial?!"
Columnist Giles Coren added: "Hang on. Did Matt Frei on Channel 4 News just say Obama was "smiling like a split watermelon"? He can't have. HE F*****G CAN'T HAVE!!!"
Another viewer Meredith Wheeler wrote: "Obama's smile like a split watermelon? To an American ear, this is racist."
Another tweeted Matt Frei asking: "why would you use the offensive 'smile like a split watermelon' when referring to any black man, let alone Obama?"
(Image: MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)
The Channel 4 presenter quickly apologised on Twitter after coming under fire.
He wrote: "I apologise to those upset by my description of President Obama’s smile on tonight’s programme.
"It was intended as an entirely innocent phrase that apparently has a history I simply wasn’t aware of. Honestly no offence intended."
Last year, a cartoonist for the Boston Herald apologised over an illustration which made reference to President Obama being offered watermelon-flavoured toothpaste by a White House intruder.
Artist Jerry Holbert said the racial undertone had not been intended.
Boris Johnson has previously been criticised for a similar remark.
In 2002 he wrote of Tony Blair visiting Africa: "The pangas will stop their hacking of human flesh and the tribal warriors will all break out in watermelon smiles to see the big white chief."
He later apologised but insisted the comments had been taken out of context. |
Image copyright Getty Images
Government borrowing fell by more than expected to £4.8bn in October, thanks to a record amount of tax income for that month, official figures show.
The amount borrowed was £1.6bn lower than for the same month last year.
From April to October, the financial year to date, borrowing, excluding state-owned banks, fell by £5.6bn to £48.6bn, the lowest for the first seven months of a tax year since 2008.
The figures come a day ahead of the Autumn Statement on Wednesday.
Economists had expected borrowing to come in at £6bn last month.
Overall tax income in October was the highest since records began, driven in part by a 23.6% jump in corporation tax receipts.
'Reset'
Despite the monthly improvement, on Wednesday the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, is expected to announce an extra £100bn of public borrowing for the next five years, compared with what was planned in March, largely because the economy is expected to grow less quickly than had been thought.
Public sector net debt - excluding the taxpayer-backed banks - was £1.6 trillion, equivalent to 83.8% of GDP and an increase of £50.9bn compared to October last year.
Image copyright AFP Image caption Chancellor Philip Hammond will present the Autumn Statement on Wednesday
Mr Hammond has already indicated that he will "reset" the UK's post-Brexit economic policy away from his predecessor George Osborne's aim of taking the government from a deficit to a surplus by 2020.
Instead, he plans to put more investment into areas such as infrastructure.
'Highly constrained'
Despite October's improvement, Samuel Tombs, of Pantheon Macroeconomics, says it doesn't compensate for the weak start to the year: "The higher-than-expected starting point for borrowing this year and weaker projections for GDP growth will compel the OBR to revise up sharply its forecast for borrowing in future years.
"The chancellor's warning at the weekend that he is 'highly constrained' suggests that there will be few sweeteners for the 'JAMs'—people 'just about managing'—in tomorrow's Autumn Statement."
British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) head of economics Suren Thiru also said the size of the UK's budget deficit could limit the scope for growth-boosting measures in the Autumn Statement.
"The chancellor faces a major fiscal headache over the next few years, with slower than expected growth likely to further restrict the UK's ability to generate sufficient tax revenue and achieve a substantial reduction in the deficit.
"It is therefore essential that the chancellor's new fiscal plan is flexible enough to adapt to changing economic conditions. The government must make a distinction between borrowing to cover the deficit and borrowing to invest, particularly in infrastructure, which will boost the economy's tax generating potential in the long-term," he added. |
A list of Easter themed hat pins and where to purchase them. Can anyone tell us why Stitch is such a huge Easter favorite?
Easter Stitch Pin
We weren't able to find a purchase link for this guy, but still wanted to share this awesome Easter pin.
We love this yoshi egg pin from Zupovitz Design Co. You can pick up your Yoshi egg here.
Made by PhatPinz and OrfinArt, these cannabunny pins are 1.5" and have a gem in the eye.
Click here to purchase this pin.
The Blue Lotus pin is 1.5", hard enamel, and double posted with metal clutches.
Click here to purchase this pin.
We really liked these small, single post rabbit pins, available for purchase here.
More Stitch! This Disney-produced hat pin can be purchased here.
This Easter Stitch pin can be purchased here. If you're really into Stitch, there are way more Easter Stitch pins out there.
Do you know of other Easter pins? Add yours in the comments! |
So with my theory that old man Hyrule died at a last stand in the Great Plateau, one question came to mind. HOW THE HELL CAN A MAN AS BIG AND OLD AS OLD MAN HYRULE CAN CLIMB THE CLIFFS OF THE GREAT PLATEAU? Well, he didn’t. The same will go for the Sheikah team who carried a half-dead Link all the way from Fort Hateno to the Great Plateau, they did not climb the cliffs.
If you look at you map you will see a town named “Gatepost town”…….with the word gate in it. But besides the name, you can also see that the road is actually an intersection. Now if you look at the structure, will see a pile of dirt that looks more like a cave in.
Now if you look back on you’re map you will see that there is a lake directly behind the wall……so I investigated that lake and how the structure looked more like a passageway……and I was right. At the bottom of that pond there is brick, an actual gate passage, and pillars that make it look more like a passageway. On the wall structure, there are two plaques that actually read “In this day the King of Hyrule opened this structure to the public”.
Another thing that I noticed where Guardian husks that looked like they were advancing on an assault through the passage, but more importantly they look like they are crawling out of the lake. |
Of course NVIDIA would wait until I physically left NVISION 08 to actually make an interesting announcement, but there’s no bitterness, I swear :)
The big, no, huge news from today? NVIDIA is enabling native support for 2 and 3-way SLI on Intel X58 based motherboards...without the use of any nForce 200 chips.
It’s not as simple as simply enabling SLI support on X58, NVIDIA wanted to both ensure compatibility and additional revenue, so there’s a certification program.
Any X58 motherboard maker can submit their board for certification, which will be done by NVIDIA. If the board passes, and the motherboard manufacturer agrees to pay a certification fee (NVIDIA would not reveal how much), then the board is certified and NVIDIA provides the board manufacturer with a key to place in its BIOS.
When you install the NVIDIA drivers, they check for the presence of this key in the BIOS - if it’s found, then you get the ability to enable SLI, natively, on X58. Note that this won’t work on any other Intel chipsets, just X58 for Nehalem owners this fall.
This is absolutely huge because it does mean that with the right motherboard you can now have both CrossFire and SLI support, without resorting to an OEM system or something more exotic like Skulltrail. Below are the supported configurations:
You can run X58/SLI with either two or three cards (a pair of GX2s will work but you can’t use four individual cards in SLI). 3-way SLI + 1 card PhysX acceleration is supported as well.
If you absolutely want the highest bandwidth possible, 3 PCIe x16 slots are only supported using nForce 200 chips, otherwise you’re stuck with two x16s or one x16 and two x8s.
The nForce 200 route seems quite silly due to the added cost and power consumption but the option is still on the table. |
UPDATE: New episodes of Star Wars Rebels now air at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Disney XD.
Star Wars Rebels returns for its fourth and final season beginning Monday, October 16, on Disney XD. Many episodes will be broadcast back-to-back through November 13, making for an hour of action and adventure courtesy of the Ghost crew. (Even Chopper is excited!)
You can mark your calendars for the following episodes:
Monday, 10/16 – “Heroes of Mandalore” Parts 1 & 2
Monday, 10/23 – “In the Name of the Rebellion” Parts 1 & 2
Monday, 10/30 – “The Occupation” and “Flight of the Defender”
Monday, 11/6 – “Kindred” and “Crawler Commandeers”
Monday, 11/13 – “Rebel Assault”
Following a holiday break, Star Wars Rebels will be back in early 2018 for its final run of episodes leading up to the top-secret series finale.
Look for new episodes every Monday with five airings throughout the day at 12:30 a.m. ET/PT, 3:00 a.m. ET/PT, 7:30 a.m. ET/PT, 5:30 p.m. ET/PT, and 9:00 p.m. ET/PT on Disney XD, the Disney XD App, and VOD. StarWars.com’s Rebels Recon behind-the-scenes series will be posted after the 9:00 p.m. ET/PT broadcast, and episode guides will be published on Tuesdays at 9:00 a.m. ET / 6:00 a.m. PT.
StarWars.com. All Star Wars, all the time. |
JERSEY CITY -- Shepard Fairey, the artist behind the iconic "Hope" poster touting Barack Obama's 2008 presidential bid, is at work on an enormous mural on Monmouth Street.
"Natural Springs," commissioned by Mana Contemporary, will run 147 feet long and top out at 47 feet high. It's the second largest mural Fairey has worked on, and is set to be completed two days before "On Our Hands," an exhibit of his new paintings, premieres at the Jacob Lewis Gallery in Chelsea on Friday.
Fairey, 45, created the Monmouth Street mural, the third one Mana has commissioned, free of charge, he told The Jersey Journal this morning just before he and his crew of four began today's work.
"I believe in people having access to art outside of galleries and museums," he said.
Fairey's piece is not part of Jersey City's municipal mural initiative.
PHOTOS: Jersey City's mural program
The crew began painting on Saturday and intends to finish up on Wednesday. They will also paint a mural on a billboard at Mana's Newark Avenue headquarters.
Fairey said he intends for the Monmouth Street mural, located just south of 13th Street, to "get the conversation started" on the destruction of the environment and lack of nationwide legislation combating climate change.
Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. |
Self-driving robotic health clinics that roll right up to patients on the street could one day become a reality.
A new concept dubbed Aim hopes to harness artificial intelligence to improve everyday healthcare, using smart devices in the home as well as a mobile app to keep track of patient data.
With a self-driving clinic, patients could have access to accessible diagnostics even if they can’t make it to the doctor, including thermography, imaging, and breath analysis – and, it could even provide emergency transport if necessary.
Aim, developed by Seattle-based firm Artefact, is designed to help overcome some of the challenges of healthcare, including the common lack of access to patient data as a result of fragmented sources.
‘To solve the interconnected problems in healthcare, we needed a system level approach,’ according to Artefact.
‘What is unique about the concept is less the individual components: a data platform, an autonomous vehicle, AI-powered diagnostics, some of which already exist, but how they connect and interact with each other in a system and experience that allows us to maximize value at the patient, provider, and social level.’
The system would integrate data from Internet of Things devices at home, such as smart watches or fitness trackers and smart mirrors.
It would also rely on self-reporting from the patient, which could be recorded in the mobile app.
In essence, Artefact explains, this creates a unified, ‘patient-owned health record.’
The system also relies on an autonomous clinic, which is equipped with a built-in pressure sensitive scale to measure weight, BMI, balance, and posture, according to the firm.
It also has a seat to conduct acoustic analysis of respiration and cardiac rhythm.
There are also real-time instructions displayed all around, and it allows for telemedicine consults.
In the self-driving clinic, patients can consult a specialist, or receive immediate transport to the emergency room to cut down on the time passed before they have access to treatment.
‘Aim delivers on demand healthcare via a self-driving clinic,’ Artefact explains.
‘This minimizes the logistical burden on the patients and makes them more likely to engage in their care, before conditions and costs escalate.
‘At the same time, Aim helps clinicians focus on the more complex cases, where higher value expertise is needed.’
The concept aims to make health care far more effective and efficient, the firm explains, by better bridging the gap between patients and doctors. |
The Leica rangefinder camera has over the years become as legendary as the famous photographers that have become synonymous with using it.
Cartier Bresson,Eve Arnold,Robert Capa,Robert Frank and Vivian Maier to name but a few, have all been associated with its name and the body of work created with this photographic tool has spanned over many decades.
In an era where photographic quality and longevity seem to be taking a back seat, in a world obsessed with the quick fix and inherent obsolescence and yearly upgrades, it seems the ubiquitous smartphone has dominated the requirements of the masses.Even internet service providers are struggling to cater for the deluge of every day images flooding the internet and it is allegedly rapidly running out of capacity in its current form.
Interestingly there appears to be a rekindling of interest by many in the younger generation that have read and learned about the photographic legends of the golden era of photojournalism and are kicking back against the digital world that cocoons them.Many are seeking to learn more about the old techniques of dark room printing and the power and minimalism of black and white photography.
Film appears to be making a come back and even the film industry is turning away from the current vogue to use video and returning to celluloid in a bid to recapture that classic 35mm look.Such is rumoured to be the case in that of the new Star Wars Film currently being filmed at Pinewood Studios in the UK.
The legendary Kodak film Tri-X, famous for use by such photographers as David Bailey,Don McCullin,Anton Corbijn and Sebastiao Salgado,is also gathering resurgence of interest,especially for those seeking that natural film grain and rich blacks and whites that add character and depth to an image,a complete contrast to the digital, rather clinical, grain free effects of todays digital offerings.
Indeed a close friend who had a fridge load of date expired film has found that it was purchased enthusiastically on ebay by fans of Lomography who love the psychedelic effects of the film in their Holga and Lomo cameras who cannot get enough of it.
Many are now stepping off the digital merry go round and seeking out classic film cameras to shoot their important pictures and memories, after all its easy to scan a negative for internet purposes and you can keep a negative for archive purposes for hundreds of years, but when your hard drive dies or becomes obsolete thats a big problem,who can remember zip disks?
A Leica 35mm Summicron f2 IV. A Leica M6 with a 35mm Summicron f2 IV,with a 90mm f2.8 Elmarit and a 50mm Elmar-M. A Leica 35mm Summicron f2 IV. A Leica 35mm Summicron f2 IV. A Leica 35mm Summicron f2 IV on an M6. A 35mm Summicron f2 IV on an M6 Body. An pop out 50mm Elmar.
Over the decades I have used many cameras,but one that I have a special fondness for is the Leica M6 with a 35mm F2 Summicron IV pre aspherical.
This lens has become known as the “King of Bokeh” among rangefinder aficionados.
A true jewel of a lens,this optic is possessed of a unique set of characteristics that almost give the lens a life of its own.
When shot wide open this lens gives an extraordinary creamy bokeh(Japanese Bo-ke),a term coined by the japanese to describe the out of focus or blurry background effect when a wide aperture is selected.It also gives a wonderful glow in the specular highlights and a full range of tones that really jump out of the picture giving an almost 3D quality frequently described as the Leica glow.It is almost as if the lens maker has dropped a tiny pipet of bottled nostalgia onto the front lens coating and all images suddenly seem in some way like a captured frame from a dream sequence.
Mechanically the optic really is a dream.It has beautiful click stops,silky smooth focus and a full array of depth of field settings,enabling a photographer to take full advantage of setting hyper focal distance and pre-setting the camera for street photography.
I also like the 90mm Elmarit f2.8 which is ideal when you need that extra little bit of reach or a tight portrait and the gorgeous Elmar 50mm f2.8 is a cracking pop out pancake lens in the old tradition and style for keeping in a discrete pocket.
In modern times the Leica M6 body may not seem the most ergonomically designed of film cameras and the loading procedure can be a little bit more time consuming than opening the back door of a typical 35mm film SLR, however in my opinion this is not what rangefinder photography is about.If you require a camera to rattle off 12fps and send the images directly online via a wifi connection to your laptop then you are looking in the wrong place.However if you are the kind of person for whom the internet is a mere after thought and you want a small discrete camera that can be hand held to stunningly low shutter speeds and which is whisper silent and doesn’t draw attention,and if you enjoy doing your own black and white prints or thrill when you get back your prints from a lab,then this could be for you.
The Leica rangefinder is for people who prefer to smell the roses and enjoy life at a more laid back pace while taking the scenic route.It is for those who may relish the pleasure of sitting in a cafe watching the world go by while enjoying the pleasure of winding on the gears of a classic precision photographic instrument,almost like a swiss watch,that instills you with confidence in its design and the quality of its build and optics.The enjoyment of following a classic ritual from an age of elegance that makes you feel that taking pictures with it should be more thoughtful and considered.
Images taken on a Leica M6 on a holiday to the Italian Lakes and Venice. Images taken on a Leica M6 on a holiday to the Italian Lakes and Venice. Images taken on a Leica M6 on a holiday to the Italian Lakes and Venice. Images taken on a Leica M6 on a holiday to the Italian Lakes and Venice. Images taken on a Leica M6 on a holiday to the Italian Lakes and Venice. Images taken on a Leica M6 on a holiday to the Italian Lakes and Venice. Images taken on a Leica M6 on a holiday to the Italian Lakes and Venice. Images taken on a Leica M6 on a holiday to the Italian Lakes and Venice. Images taken on a Leica M6 on a holiday to the Italian Lakes and Venice. Images taken on a Leica M6 on a holiday to the Italian Lakes and Venice. Italian Lakes leica 35mm Summicron F2 IV Italian Lakes Leica 90mm Elmarit f2.8. Leica Summicron 35mm F2 IV Leica Summicron 35mm f2 IV
In essence,shooting a Leica rangefinder eventually becomes an almost Zen like experience as one can see all the action prior to the subject entering the frame,preset the focus using hyper focal distance and use experienced judgement to set the light levels.Combining all these elements successfully creates an almost instantaneous extension of your mind and eye and culminates in a single understated whisper quiet click!
Summicron 35mm f2 IV Leica Summicron 35mm IV Leica Summicron 35mm f2 IV Leica Summicron 35mm f2 IV. Leica Summicron 35mm f2 IV. Leica Summicron 35mm f2 IV. Leica Summicron 35mm f2 IV. Leica Summicron 35mm f2 IV. Leica Summicron 35mm f2 IV.
They are such mechanical wonders that they do not even require batteries.In my opinion thats quite something in this modern age.
It takes practice and discipline to master this technique of course,but the reward is there for those patient enough.
Indeed Leica cameras and their lenses are not cheap and seeking out the classic lenses is a costly affair.However of all the cameras on the market they are clearly an investment and you will almost certainly find that the camera or lens you buy either holds its value or becomes more valuable as the years pass by,the problem is that you probably will not want to sell it anyway as it becomes very much a part of your life.
There is also something pleasing knowing that in all likelihood that rangefinder will still be shooting when those digital wonders are are long gone into the annals of upgrade history or are relegated to the status of expensive paperweights.Indeed a battered and bronzed Leica with years of usage,has a certain beauty and appeal to it that is quite frankly priceless.
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The design of the shopping center reminded some Far Northwest Side residents of Wrigley Field. [Clark Street Real Estate]
PORTAGE PARK — The empty Bank of America branch at the heart of the Six Corners Shopping District would be replaced by a massive shopping center anchored by an Aldi grocery store and Ross Dress for Less clothing store, according to plans unveiled Wednesday night
The shopping center at 4747 W. Irving Park Road — to be known as the Pointe at Six Corners — would include space for a dozen stores in total, according to the proposal unveiled by Clark Street Real Estate, which officials said was designed to restore Six Corners to its status as an "iconic" shopping designation in Chicago.
The proposal drew mostly positive feedback Wednesday night at a packed community meeting hosted by Ald. John Arena (45th), although some Portage Park and Old Irving Park residents said they were less than thrilled the center would not be anchored by more upscale retailers, like Trader Joe's.
The shopping center would be anchored by Aldi and Ross Dress for Less. [Clark Street Real Estate]
Clark Street Real Estate principal Peter Eisenberg said the retail businesses that are thriving are those — like Aldi and Ross — that offer "quality goods at reasonable prices."
Aldi and Ross — which have not yet signed leases for the property — would take up about 50 percent of the shopping center, while negotiations are underway with two other retailers that would lease another 30 percent of the center, Eisenberg said.
Eisenberg declined to say what businesses other than Aldi and Ross were interested in the center, but said fast-casual restaurants as well as locally owned small businesses would be a good fit.
[Clark Street Real Estate]
The design of the triangular shopping center, which is veiled with slotted metal bars, drew mixed reviews at the meeting.
While some complemented the north point of the one-story building as looking like Wrigley Field, others said they did not care for the varying height of the shopping center's façade along Milwaukee Avenue and Irving Park Road.
The design of the 100,000-square-foot shopping center has not yet been finalized, with Eisenberg saying discussions were underway about whether to add a second story to the north point of the building at Irving Park Road, Cicero and Milwaukee avenues.
[Clark Street Real Estate]
The one-story shopping center, which is not asking for any money from the Portage Park Tax Increment Financing District, requires a zoning change because of the size of the site and the developer's desire to build more shops and offer a "wider range of uses," than the current rules allow, officials said.
The alderman would need to OK the zoning change for the all-commercial development.
Arena said he was excited about project, saying it — along with the redevelopment of another vacant Six Corners Bank of America building — had the potential to reverse "more than two decades of stagnation" in the area once known as the city's premiere shopping destination outside the Loop.
"There is a lot of work to do to get Six Corners back to being the Six Corners," Arena said. "But we are making big strides."
[Clark Street Real Estate]
If approved quickly by city officials, construction on the center could start this summer, with the first stores opening a year later, Eisenberg said.
The center will incorporate "historic" elements from the bank into the shopping center, Eisenberg said. Other parts of the once-ornate building have been salvaged by the Six Corners Association and the Northwest Chicago Historical Society and will be reused, Eisenberg said.
"We recognize the rich history of Six Corners," Eisenberg said.
Once complete, it would generate $1.4 million a year in sales and property tax revenue for the City of Chicago.
In addition to a parking lot with between 265 and 275 spots, the shopping center's roof would feature a covered pedestrian walkway to allow shoppers to cut across the triangular property at the heart of Six Corners, Eisenberg said.
[Clark Street Real Estate]
The company paid more than $10 million in June 2014 for the four-acre triangular property at the corner of Milwaukee and Cicero avenues and Irving Park Road as well as a one-acre parking lot in the 3900 block of North Milwaukee Avenue. No plans have been proposed for the parking lot.
Work has begun to demolish the former Bank of America building, with scaffolding installed earlier this week.
The Bank of America branch closed in December 2014 and a smaller branch opened just east of the six-point intersection through which 70,000 cars flow every day, according to city traffic data.
Several people said they were concerned the development would snarl traffic in an already congested area, despite the developer's attempt to attract pedestrians and bicyclists by widening sidewalks and offering bicycle parking.
A Divvy bike-sharing station is set to be built just outside the planned shopping center at Irving Park Road and Milwaukee Avenue.
The site was identified in a 2012 city-crafted master plan as one of the keys to restoring Six Corners to a measure of its former glory, when it was the busiest shopping district outside the Loop.
The master plan recommended a four- or five-story building on the site, to match the height of the Sears store across Irving Park and the Klee Building, which is diagonally across Cicero Avenue.
There should be 24,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor of that building and between 50 and 75 residential units on the floors above, according to the master plan.
In addition, the development should include a 7,300-square-foot courtyard to allow a public gathering area as well as new streets to chop the massive city blocks into more walkable chunks, according to the master plan.
The project will not include condominiums or apartments or any new streets, as called for in the master plan.
But the development will include a plaza to be built at the six-corner intersection. In addition, plans call for the development's sidewalks to be extended in places to create permanent People Spots in order to provide gathering spaces.
[Clark Street Real Estate]
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: |
Image caption BBC Spotlight NI examined the way MLAs use public money to rent their offices.
The former chairman of a Westminster standards watchdog has called for an investigation into societies that receive public money in rent from MLAs for their constituency offices.
It follows a BBC investigation into how assembly members use their expenses.
Spotlight examined the way MLAs use public money to rent their offices.
It revealed that Sinn Féin paid office rent to three different cultural societies, including rent for Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Spotlight examined the way MLAs use public money to rent their offices
However, it was not clear what the societies were or who was behind them.
The former chairman of a Westminster standards watchdog, Sir Alistair Graham, said it needed to be investigated.
"It sounds to me that there is a real danger that these so-called cultural bodies are rather bogus organisations which is a way of channelling public money to political parties and there clearly should be some detail investigation," he said.
There were also questions about why the DUP's Arlene Foster used an office rent free from a businessman, she also bought property from.
Whilst not disputing this, the DUP said no rules were broken.
Proper inquiry
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Ian Paisley says there is no secret in the finances involved in a building in Ballymena that he shares with two MLAs
Justice Minister David Ford said it was "all about transparency".
"What last night did was raise a number of questions which need to be subjected to a proper inquiry," he said.
"The system may be dysfunctional, but that doesn't justify people pushing the boundaries to the edge of the system or possibly, as seemed to be alleged last night, beyond what is reasonable."
Sinn Féin's Francie Molloy described Tuesday night's BBC Spotlight NI as "a rubbish of a programme".
"I think it's a very good use of public money, because what has happened here is that Sinn Féin are renting accommodation for offices within a building that also serves the local community, provides resources for the local community and it's a not for profit organisation that the money's going to," he said.
"The money's used to actually deliver services."
The DUP's Peter Weir said the expenses system was "dysfunctional".
"There will be widespread concern, I think we need to restore public confidence, we need to actually look at a system in terms of funding similar to what we have at Westminster," he said.
"We have followed the rules, what we're saying it that the rules as provided I think will not satisfy public confidence and we need an Ipsa [Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority] type system."
Pat McCartan, the chair of the Independent Financial Review Panel (IFRP), which is examining MLAs' salaries and allowances, said: "There is a need now to really overhaul the system, that's what the Independent Financial Review Panel is currently doing."
However he added: "I think it's quite unfair for them to say that this is a system that is imposed on them and they can't be blamed for exploiting it - they certainly can." |
June: $2364.29
May: $3201.62
April: $16104.49
March: $4387.99
February: $1452.57
The Bay 12 Games Report, July 1st, 2010Mission Status (Threetoe):Tales of glory, untold no longer, echo in the halls of kings. The path fraught with danger is clear, now that your generosity lights the way. We arrive at one destination only to blast through to greater glory. Come along, and we will show you. What could possibly stop the juggernaut of truth?Programming Schedule (Toady One):Bugs are still the priority, but we'll also be starting up on some of the items in the new development page . Among the bugs, I'll probably continue to focus on the ones that are stickied on the bug tracker Fun with Numbers:Thanks to everybody that helped out this month! The fourth anniversary of DF's first public release is coming up in August, and it's great that you've supported the project for all this time. With the new dev page up, we can now more easily anticipate having multiple releases each month for the foreseeable future. |
Growing up I loved to watch horror movies. In hindsight, they scared the crap out of me probably because I was too young to watch them. One such movie was the 1986 movie Night of the Creeps. Alien slugs enter through peoples' mouths and eventually take over their bodies. A classic body snatchers style movie that had me worried for few days when talking to close to people. Process hollowing (aka process replacement) is a technique malware uses to overwrite a running process with a malicious code. To me it's the technical equivalent of those alien body snatchers. This post explores process hollowing techniques using the Cuckoo Sandbox.
Process Hollowing (aka Process Replacement)
In my post Prefetch File Meet Process Hollowing I walked through what process hollowing was but for completeness I’ll copied what I wrote below:
Malware uses various techniques to covertly execute code on systems. One such technique is process hollowing, which is also known as process replacement.
The book Practical Malware Analysis states the following in regards to this technique:
"Process replacement is used when a malware author wants to disguise malware as a legitimate process, without the risk of crashing a process through the use of process injection.
Key to process replacement is creating a process in a suspended state. This means that the process will be loaded into memory, but the primary thread of the process is suspended. The program will not do anything until an external program resumes the primary thread, causing the program to start running"
"A malicious process starts a new instance of a legitimate process (such as lsass.exe) in suspended mode. Before resuming it, the executable section( s) are freed and reallocated with malicious code."
In essence, process hollowing is when a process is started in the suspended state, code is injected into the process to overwrite the original data, and when the process is resumed the injected code is executed. Everything about the process initial appears to reflect the original process. Similar to how everything about the person initially appears to be the original person. Upon closer inspection it reveals that everything is not what it seems. The process behaves differently (such as network communications) and the code inside the process is not the original code. This is very similar to the person behaving differently (such as trying to eat you) and the biological material inside the person is not the original biological material.
A Common Process Hollowing Technique
Through observation, the characters in the In the Night of the Creeps figured out how people’s bodies were snatched. Slugs went from one person’s mouth to another person’s mouth. After observing this method the characters put tape over their mouths and were able to fight the zombies without becoming one themselves. By knowing what technique was used to snatch a body enabled the characters to defend themselves. The same can be said about process hollowing and knowing how the technique looks enables you to spot the zombified processes. One of the more publicize techniques was described in the Practical Malware Analysis book (lab 12-2 solution on page 590) as well as Trustwave SpiderLabs’s article Analyzing Malware Hollow Processes . The sequence of Windows functions, their descriptions, and how they appear during dynamic analysis of the Profoma Invoice.exe sample ( md5 ab30c5c81a9b3509d77d83a5d18091de ) with the Cuckoo sandbox is as follows:
-
CreateProcessA
: creates a new process and the
process creation flag 0x00000004
is used to create the process in the suspended state
-
GetThreadContext
: retrieves the context of the specified thread for the suspended process
-
ReadProcessMemory
: reads the image base of the suspended process
-
GetProcAddress
: according to Practical Malware Analysis this function “manually resolves the import UnMapViewofSection using GetProcAddress, the ImageBaseAddress is a parameter of UnMapViewofSection”. This removes the suspended process from memory.
-
VirtualAllocEx
: allocates memory within the suspended process’s address space
-
WriteProcessMemory
: writes data of the PE file into the memory just allocated within the suspended process
-
SetThreadContext
: according to Practical Malware Analysis this function sets the EAX register to the entry point of the executable just written into the suspended process’s memory space. This means the thread of the suspended process is pointing to the injected code so it will execute when the process is resumed
-
ResumeThread
: resumes the thread of the suspended process executing the injected code
Cuckoo Sandbox Showing the Common Process Hollowing Technique
Cuckoo Sandbox is an open source automated malware analysis system. In their own words "it simply means that you can throw any suspicious file at it and in a matter of seconds Cuckoo will provide you back some detailed results outlining what such file did when executed inside an isolated environment." Malwr is a free online malware analysis service that leverages the Cuckoo Sandbox. The Behavioral Analysis section outlines the function calls made during execution. The pictures below show the Profoma Invoice.exe sample’s ( md5 ab30c5c81a9b3509d77d83a5d18091de ) function calls that perform process hollowing.
The image below shows Profoma Invoice.exe creating a process in the suspended state. The suspended process’ handle is 0x00000088 and thread handle is 0x0000008c.
The next image shows Profoma Invoice.exe retrieving the context of the suspended process since it references the thread handle 0x0000008c.
The image below shows Profoma Invoice.exe reading the image base of the suspended process since it references the process handle 0x00000088.
The image below shows Profoma Invoice.exe getting the addresses of the UnMapViewofSection and VirtualAllocEx function calls.
The images below show Profoma Invoice.exe writing a PE file into the address space of the suspended process since it references the process handle 0x00000088. It takes multiple WriteProcessMemory function calls to write the entire PE file.
The image below shows Profoma Invoice.exe setting the thread context for the suspended process since it references the thread handle 0x0000008c.
The image below shows Profoma Invoice.exe resuming the suspended thread to execute the injected code.
Cuckoo Sandbox Detecting the Common Process Hollowing Technique
Cuckoo Sandbox detects malware functionality using signatures. The image below shows Malwr detecting the common process hollowing technique used by Profoma Invoice.exe ( md5 ab30c5c81a9b3509d77d83a5d18091de ).
The signature detecting process hollowing reports it as “executed a process and injected code into it, probably while unpacking.” The signature detecting the technique is named injection_runpe.py and is available in the Community Signatures . The signature is open allowing anyone to read it to see how it detects this behavior. However, the image below shows a portion of the signature that detects the sequence of function calls outlined earlier to perform process hollowing.
A Different Process Hollowing Technique
The process hollowing technique outlined above is well publicized and is the technique I normally expected to see. It was as if I had tape on my mouth waiting for a zombified friend to come strolling down the street. There are more than one ways to perform an action similar to there being more than one way to snatch a body. In the 1998 movie The Faculty an unknown creature snatched bodies by entering the body through the ear. Now imagine what would had happened to the characters from the Night of the Creeps movie encountering these body snatchers. The zombified bodies are harder to spot since they don’t look like zombies. Trying to defend themselves with tape on their mouths and baseball bats in hand would be short lived. The tape offers no protection since the creatures enter through the ear. It’s a different technique with the same result. Process hollowing is similar with different techniques ending with the same result.
I was a bit surprised back in December when I saw the behavior in the image below after I ran the sample Kroger_OrderID.exe ( md5 1de7834ba959e734ad701dc18ef0edfc ) through a sandbox.
The behavior clearly shows that Kroger_OrderID.exe is going to perform process hollowing since it started the svchost.exe process in a suspended state (creation flag 0x00000004.) However, the function calls afterwards are not the typical well publicized ones; this was a different technique. After a bit of searching I found the Lexsi article Overview of the Kronos banking malware rootkit , which breaks down how this technique works. (the article also shows how to use Volatility to analyze this as well.) I summarized below the Windows function sequence and their descriptions as outlined in the article:
-
CreateProcessA
: creates a new process and the
process creation flag 0x00000004
is used to create the process in the suspended state
-
ReadProcessMemory
: reads image base of the suspended process
-
NtCreateSection
: creates two read/write/execute sections
-
ZwMapViewOfSection
: maps the read/write/execute sections into the malware’s address space
-
ZwMapViewOfSection
: maps the second section into the suspended process’s address space (this section is therefore shared between both processes).
-
ReadProcessMemory
: reads image base of the suspended process’s image into section 1
-
ReadProcessMemory
: reads image base of the malware’s image into section 2
-
NtMapViewOfSection
: overwrites the suspended process's entry point code by mapping section 1 to the new process base address
-
ResumeThread
: resumes the thread of the suspended process executing the injected code
Cuckoo Sandbox Showing the Different Process Hollowing Technique
The Behavioral Analysis section outlines the function calls made during execution. The pictures below show the sample Kroger_OrderID.exe ( md5 1de7834ba959e734ad701dc18ef0edfc ) function calls performing the different process hollowing technique.
The image below shows the first three function calls. The sample Kroger_OrderID.exe creates a suspended process with the thread handle 0x00000608 and process handle 0x00000604. Next the ReadProcessMemory function reads the image base of the suspended process due to the reference to process handle 0x00000604. The NtCreateSection function then creates the second read/write/execute section with the section handle 0x000005f8.
The image below shows the next three function calls. The ZwMapViewOfSection function maps the read/write/execute sections into the malware’s address space due to the section handle 0x000005f8 being referenced. The next ZwMapViewOfSection maps the second section into the suspended process’s address space due to both the section handle 0x000005f8 and process handle 0x00000604 both being referenced. Then the ReadProcessMemory function reads malware’s image into the section. Not shown in the image is the ReadProcessMemory function referencing the process handle 0x00000604.
The image below shows the remaining four functions. The NtCreateSection function then creates the first read/write/execute section with the section handle 0x000005f4. The ZwMapViewOfSection functions maps the read/write/execute sections between the malware and suspended process due to section handle 0x000005f4 and process handle 0x00000604 both being referenced. This mapping overwrites the entry point code in the suspended process. Finally, the ResumeThread function resumes the thread of the suspended process executing the injected code.
Cuckoo Sandbox Detecting the Different Process Hollowing Technique
**** Updated on 02/04/15 *****
This section of the blog has been edited since it was published earlier today. In the original blog post I highlighted how the injection_run.py signature did not detect this injection technique and I shared a signature I put together to detect it.
sent me an email about what I was seeing. He mentioned that a change did not make it into the updated injection_run.py signature. Specifically, he mentioned the plugin is looking for NtMapViewOfSection which he uses in his Cuckoo Sandbox instead of looking for the older ZwMapViewOfSection. I modified the injection_run.py signature by renaming NtMapViewOfSection to ZwMapViewOfSection (on lines 45 and 51) and afterwards it did detect this technique. As a result, I updated this section of the blog to reflect this since this post’s purpose was to explore different injection techniques and how Cuckoo can help explore them.
**** Updated on 02/04/15 ***** Brad Spengler sent me an email about what I was seeing. He mentioned that a change did not make it into the updated injection_run.py signature. Specifically, he mentioned the plugin is looking for NtMapViewOfSection which he uses in his Cuckoo Sandbox instead of looking for the older ZwMapViewOfSection. I modified the injection_run.py signature by renaming NtMapViewOfSection to ZwMapViewOfSection (on lines 45 and 51) and afterwards it did detect this technique. As a result, I updated this section of the blog to reflect this since this post’s purpose was to explore different injection techniques and how Cuckoo can help explore them.
Cuckoo Sandbox is able to detect this different process hollowing technique (see update about change made to the injection_runpe.py signature.)
Executing the sample Kroger_OrderID.exe ( md5 1de7834ba959e734ad701dc18ef0edfc ) in Cuckoo results in the following behavior detection.
Wrapping Things Up
We don’t need to sit at our computers wearing headphones and tape on our mouths to hunt down zombified processes within our environments. Process hollowing is an interesting technique and it constantly reminds me about the various body snatcher horror movies I’ve seen. Leveraging the Cuckoo Sandbox makes exploring the various process hollowing techniques even more interesting since it allows for following the sequence of Windows function calls.
Happy hunting and if you come across any zombies in your travels don’t take any chances and just follow the rule from the movie Zombieland. Rule 2 Double Tap: when in doubt, don't get stingy with your bullets. |
After spending nearly six months in increasingly cramped quarters, relief is finally in sight for passengers on Metro's Expo Line.
According to a new timetable, the light rail line between Downtown Los Angeles and Santa Monica will begin running with six-minute headways effective Sunday, October 23. The Expo Line currently operates on a 12-minute timetable, as it has since it first opened to the Westside in 2012.
Metro will be able to run trains more frequently due to the delivery of its new Kinki Sharyo P3010 light rail vehicles, which were first introduced into service earlier this year. The agency has now placed enough of the vehicles into operation that it is able to run two-car sets at six-minute intervals between 7th Street/Metro Center Station and Downtown Santa Monica Station.
Though increased frequency will help to resolve croweded platforms at the Expo Line's 19 stations, other obstacles remain for nearly a half-year after its extension to Santa Monica. An August analysis by the Los Angeles Times found that Expo Line trains ran behind schedule more often than those on Metro's other light rail lines. The lack of timeliness is frequently attributed to a street-running segment on the eastern end of the route, where both Expo and Blue Line trains compete with pedestrian and automobile traffic.
A petition was circulated earlier this year calling on the Los Angeles Department of Transportation to grant signal preemption to Expo Line trains on its approach to Downtown Los Angeles. |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Nasdaq Inc plans to launch a futures contract based on bitcoin in 2018, making it the third exchange operator to plan U.S. derivatives contracts linked to the digital currency, a source with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.
FILE PHOTO: A copy of bitcoin standing on PC motherboard is seen in this illustration picture, October 26, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
The price of bitcoin topped $11,000 on Wednesday less than a day after passing the $10,000 mark and has increased more than 10-fold in value so far this year, prompting concerns of a bubble.
CME Group, the world’s largest derivatives exchange, and CBOE Holdings, have both said they plan to launch futures products based on bitcoin this year, pending regulatory approval, helping fuel the crypto-currency’s rally.
While Nasdaq does not have a hard date set for its product, the transatlantic exchange operator has offered an exchange-traded note based on bitcoin on its Stockholm exchange since 2015.
Nasdaq has teamed up with New York-based money manager VanEck to develop the futures contract, which will be cleared by the Options Clearing Corporation. The OCC clears all Nasdaq futures products, the source said.
VanEck had applied to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this year to launch a bitcoin-related exchange-traded fund, but withdrew the request in September after speaking with SEC staff, according to a regulatory filing.
The SEC requested that VanEck wait until the underlying instruments in which the ETF planned to primarily invest - bitcoin futures contracts - become available for investment, the filing said.
A representative for VanEck was not immediately available for comment.
One of the ways the Nasdaq futures product will differ from CME’s and CBOE’s is that it will be based on an index that takes in prices from more than 50 bitcoin exchanges, the source said.
CME has said it’s bitcoin future will be based on the CF Bitcoin Reference Rate (BRR), a once-a-day reference rate of the U.S. dollar price of bitcoin, that currently takes prices from four bitcoin exchanges. CBOE will price its bitcoin future off the Gemini Trust, the digital currency exchange founded by brothers Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.
The SEC in March denied a request for CBOE to list what would have been the first U.S. ETF built to track bitcoin. |
The biggest movie ever made on Irish shores is to begin filming here next year.
The biggest movie ever made on Irish shores is to begin filming here next year.
Boru – the big-budget biopic of Brian Boru – is due to get the sign-off for funding of €80m in the coming weeks.
The movie has been hailed as a massive coup for the Department of Arts and the Irish film industry, who mounted a high-profile campaign this year to bring more big-budget films to Ireland.
The production is due to be officially announced by Minister for Arts Jimmy Denihan in the coming weeks.
Epic battle scenes will be filmed at a number of landmark locations around Ireland, including the Cliffs of Moher. It is believed its depiction of Ireland's natural landscapes, along with the movie's €27m print and advertising budget, will "showcase" Ireland to the rest of the world and boost Irish tourism.
It is hoped Boru will match the success of Braveheart, which was filmed on the Curragh in 1994, starring and directed by Mel Gibson.
Corkman Mark Mahon, the writer, producer and director behind the epic, is launching the graphic novel Freedom Within The Heart this week – the book on which the movie will be based.
Mahon, who divides his time between Ireland and LA, where he is close friends and a former housemate of Vinnie Jones and Jason Statham, describes the Boru biopic as a story about, "bravery and human spirit".
"At the time, the country was being pillaged and destroyed, and it took one man with a vision – ultimately that's all it does take. It's a good comparison to what's happening today. And I believe if you look at our history we are a nation of people who will overcome."
The story will centre around Brian Boru, whose armies fought and defeated the Vikings at the Battle of Clontarf – but who was killed in the closing stages of the conflict.
"We have a couple of big names in mind for the lead but we do plan on using as much big Irish talent as possible for the main characters."
Mahon overcame adversity himself when at the age of 22 he was injured in an industrial accident while working in a pharmaceutical company.
"It was just one of those things that went wrong. It was a major shock to the system. Initially, it was like my whole world fell apart and it was a very difficult time as you can appreciate.
"I began to think about how I could still stay involved in my passion, so I started writing from the hospital bed.
"I spent several months in hospital and I was in a wheelchair for three-and-a-half years, but I was determined to get out of it.
"The one thing I took from my accident is that at times of adversity you either let the situation chew you up – or else you take a positive lesson from it, learn from it and use it to make you stronger."
Irish Independent |
Hey There Polished People!
Today I’m finally going to share with you a legit review of both ChG Glitter All The Way and OPI Black Spotted. Are you excited? I am. I really love both of these, although I’m not convinced I’ve found their ‘just right’ applications yet. They look cool together though. Shall we get started?
China Glaze Glitter All The Way
Color:
Glitter All The Way is a mixture of green, gold, purple and red small glitter in a clear base. The colors that are most prominent to me are green and purple. In real life the green particularly jumps out at you.
Formula/Application:
China Glaze can not go wrong with these small glitter polishes. The coverage is good- it can be a topcoat at one coat, it can be opaque at about 3, and they dry smooth for a glitter. This is my favorite glitter formula out of any polish. No dabbing, no super-gritty texture, no annoying bald spots. It’s great.
Yes, Please! or No Thank You:
Yes, PLEASE!! I am glad I got this glitter. It’s maybe less traditionally Christmas-y than other polishes because it has the purple in there but I like it! How many green and red and gold glitters do you possibly need?! People have said it will be perfect for Mardi Gras as well and they’re right. It’s a pretty color for the holidays, pretty for Mardi Gras, good formula, go get it!
Now what could make this pretty polish better? Well, possibly OPI Black Spotted!
OPI Black Spotted
Color:
This polish is a never-before-seen mix of red, blue, green and magenta. Just kidding- it’s black, people! OPI Black Spotted is a black topcoat that, as it dries, reveals holes that allow a base color of polish to show through. You paint your nails with the under-color, allow it to dry completely, brush on the Black Spotted and wait till that dries, revealing the holes or “spots” and then apply topcoat as usual. It creates a cool melty/spotty effect.
Formula/Application:
OPI Black Spotted is only to be used as a topcoat, of course, so it’s a little thin but goes on smooth. It’s not the consistency of regular polish; it seems much more watery. If you apply a thick layer you will only have a couple of larger “spots” where the polish separates leaving the under-color exposed, but if you apply it thinly you will have lots of smaller “spots,” or holes. For these nails I applied it quite thickly, and wish I’d done it a little more thin so I’d have more holes where the glitter polish would show through. An important note about this polish is that it doesn’t react the same as regular polish with acetone or nail polish remover so you want to be really careful to keep this off of your cuticles. The first time I used it (just playing around) I applied it really sloppily and it was HARD to get off my cuticles. I had to use a scratchier brush than usual and really rub at the polish to get it off my skin. It’s not impossible to remove if you act quickly, but it’s much more difficult than regular nail polish.
Yes, Please! or No, Thank You:
Well here’s the catch… I give this a Yes, Please! because it’s a cool revamp of the crackle phenomenon and looks pretty neat over a contrasting polish. However- unless you live in Europe or have a nice European friend who will send you this, you can’t get it in the US. I live in the US but won a contest on Sabrina’s blog, Polish In Paris and that’s how I was able to obtain it. I haven’t heard anything about them releasing this in the US (I do not know why) but I wouldn’t be surprised it we see this sooner rather than later. It’s a cool product and I wish I could tell you all to run out and grab it! If you have access, definitely do! 🙂
I actually get quite a few views from lots of other countries than the US so I hope some of you can find OPI Black Spotted! To everyone- do you have any of the ChG Holiday Joy collection? What is your favorite or most anticipated holiday collection this year? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and commenting and till next time- Happy Polishing!! 😀
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A new UC Davis study finds that California is not benefiting from participating in the National Flood Insurance Program and that the state may be better off running its own program.
California has received only a small fraction of economic benefits from participating in the National Flood Insurance Program compared to the premiums it has paid. Scientists at UC Davis examined NFIP databases and found that since 1994, damage payouts have totaled just 14 percent of premiums collected.
The state had some of its most damaging floods during the period. The study's author suggests California partner with private insurers and reinsurers to provide flood insurance.
"California would need to design such a program very very carefully, but the payoffs are obvious," says Nicholas Pinter, with the UC Davis Center For Watershed Sciences. "California has paid in more than $3 billion more than it’s received in payments over the last 21 years. That's a massive investment that could have been used for other higher priorities."
Pinter says the money saved could be invested in projects that reduce flood risk. The state currently has 290,000 National Flood Insurance Program policies. |
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