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Gosnell performed abortions after Pennsylvania state law bans them — 24 weeks. Staffers were trained to take ultrasounds so that the fetuses looked younger. And it appears Gosnell invented the procedure he used for killing the fetuses. He did so in disgusting conditions. Feral cats were allowed to walk around and poop on the floor. Women were given blood-stained blankets. Bizarrely, fetal feet were stored in plastic jugs. Not even the grossest restaurants are allowed to stay open in conditions like that. But Gosnell found it highly lucrative. The clinic took in between $10,000 and $15,000 a day.
Douthat hints that pro-abortion bias in the press might explain why Gosnell and abortion laws aren't being linked more explicitly. He says, "it seems like a genuinely fair-minded, ideologically disinterested press would at least tend to mention the link between the Gosnell case and the Texas bill as often as it mentions Wendy Davis’s footwear." But does linking Gosnell to these laws really strengthen the case?
As many people have pointed out, what the Gosnell case is really about is not abortion, but poverty. No wealthy women would have been subjected to such treatment or horrific conditions. Gosnell was able to take advantage of the fact that few poor women would report his clinic, and those who did were ignored. Sherry Thomas told The New York Times she couldn't afford her fourth child, but by the time she saved up enough money for an abortion, she was in her fifth month of pregnancy. She woke up covered in her own blood while being put in an ambulance. Her uterus had been punctured. So Gosnell offered her a discount, the Times reports:
“When I woke up I thought, ‘I might die today,’ ” Ms. Thomas said. Dr. Gosnell offered her $500, she said, possibly in an effort to avert a lawsuit. She had paid $800 for the abortion.
The grand jury report found that despite many warning signs — Gosnell's clinic was open past midnight, women were seen stumbling out in a daze — Pennsylvania regulators did nothing. Proseutors say the case shows "complete regulatory collapse." In fact, even though Gosnell had been sued for malpractice 15 times, what led his clinic to be raided was too many Oxycontin prescriptions.
The new anti-abortion bills make it harder for women to get abortions. Texas's bill — the new HB2 and SB9 are mirror images of the much debated SB5 — calls for "banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, requiring that the procedure be performed at ambulatory surgical centers, and mandating that doctors who perform abortions obtain admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles," the Houston Chronicle reports. These architectural changes are expensive, and some clinics say they can't afford them, meaning there might be fewer abortion clinics. Likewise, in Ohio, the new budget bans publicly-funded hospitals from entering emergency care transfer agreements with abortion clinics, meaning some clinics might close. |
A high intensity prescribed fire burning through juniper-invaded grassland. Dirac Twidwell
The Great Plains of the American West are becoming a great sea of shrubs—and wimpy manmade fires are at the heart of the problem. That's according to ecologist Dirac Twidwell, who believes controlled burns simply aren't hot enough to control the woody shrubs that are taking over the prairies. What's needed are "extreme fires," meaning fires that burn hot and are erratic and nonlinear in their movement, Twidwell wrote in a paper published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. And to help manage these extreme fires, Twidwell and a team of engineers from the University of Nebraska have created drones that can start extreme fires from the sky, a prototype of which we previously covered. "Nobody is really studying high intensity fire, because everyone would think you are crazy," Twidwell said in a press release. That's because high intensity controlled burns are considered too dangerous, he says, though they more closely mimic the natural fire conditions that shaped the ecology of the Great Plains.
Fire starting drone prototype. ESA
In the past, lightening regularly ignited fires in the plains, killing off tree seedlings and shrubs, and promoting the growth of fire-adapted grasses. But decades of fire-control by humans has altered that natural process, allowing woody shrubs to prosper and overtake the grassland. This is a problem for ranchers hoping to maintain quality grazing land for cattle and for wildlife managers seeking to maintain the native ecosystem. The low-intensity controlled burns they've employed have inhibited large-scale wild fires by restricting potential fuel, but in doing so have facilitated the march of the shrubs, which can survive low heat fires. "If we are going to understand the role of fire in nature, we need to study a bigger range of intensities, and we need new approaches to do it," Twidwell continued. "New approaches" such as drones that drop fire from the sky. The idea for the fire drones started as a joke between Twidwell and co-author Craig Allen, a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey. But they quickly realized it had real potential. Twidwell worked with a team of engineers at the University of Nebraska's NIMBUS Lab to develop drones that deploy ping-pong-ball-sized "dragon eggs" loaded with fire-starting chemicals to ignite controlled fires. They're safe and cheap, Twidwell says, taking on a dangerous job normally carried out by range crews and helicopter pilots.
This video shows how the two-pound hexacopters load, arm, and deploy the fire-igniting "dragon eggs": |
Primary Elections
What is a party primary election?
The Democratic and Republican Parties are required to use primary elections to choose their candidates for the general election. Although it is up to the parties to decide who may vote in their primaries, generally only registered voters affiliated with the Democratic or Republican Parties may vote in that party's primary election.
Can I vote in a party primary election?
Generally, you must be registered with either the Democratic or Republican Party to vote in the primary election. If there are non-partisan offices that are elected in a primary election (i.e., school board), any voter can vote for these offices. Contact your local board of elections.
May I change political parties?
Yes, except during the 21 days before a primary election. For the 2020 Primary Election, the deadline to change your party affiliation is April 7, 2020.
To change your party affiliation, use Maryland's Online Voter Registration System (OLVR) or submit a new voter registration application or a written request to your local board of elections. If you request a change in party affiliation after April 7, 2020, your party change will not be processed until registration reopens after the primary election.
Do I have to affiliate with a political party?
No, you do not. If you do not select a political party on your voter registration application, you will be "unaffiliated" with any political party. This means that you will generally not be able to vote in party primary elections, but you will be able to vote in any nonpartisan primary elections held in your jurisdiction, such as a primary election to select nominees for the board of education.
If I apply to register to vote before my 18th birthday and the primary election is before I turn 18, can I vote in the primary election?
Yes, if you will be 18 years old by the general election and you are registered to vote with the Democratic or Republican Party. |
President Trump signing the Keystone Pipeline promise less than a week after taking the oath to be President. Another promise kept!
Never a dull moment would be an excellent description of President Trump’s first eleven months in office. A significant portion of the lack of dullness, however, has not been so much the creation of the President, but those who are seeking to remove Trump from the Oval Office. Donald Trump has always been known for being a bit extravagant, flashy (he calls it branding), elegant and larger than life. He has always been known for being brash, very direct in his thoughts, and he is undoubtedly widely known for ‘telling you his thoughts whether you like them or not.’ This is most likely what caused him to become a lightning rod for so much disdain early on.
A campaign for the White House which began (what some were calling a circus act), quickly began picking up steam. Nearly all (not me, I endorsed him before he announced) of your political pundits, ‘so-called-political-wonks‘ for the networks, retired politicians, current elected officials, gave this New York real-estate tycoon “NO” chance of winning the nomination much less the Presidency. By the end of Super-Tuesday, the Republican Party and the all of your “Establishment” office-holders were in full panic mode that this ‘clown-act’ was actually beginning to look like he could win this thing.
What began as a ‘love-fest’ between the press and candidate Trump, quickly began turning into shark-infested waters for the candidate each time he stepped up to a microphone for a presser. It was rapidly becoming obvious that neither the media nor candidate Trump’s own party wanted him as the nominee. As the number of delegates began adding up for Trump, factions around the nation began forming “Never-Trump” gorilla warfare tactics in a failing effort to stop the Empire State’s most notable celebrity. We know the rest of the story, Trump won the nomination, Trump stomped a mudhole in Hillary Clinton’s political career, then the real attacks began. Fabricated stories of “Russian Interference” into our electoral process had to be the reason that Donald Trump defeated Hillary. There is no way on this gorgeous green earth that Hillary could have been a very flawed and despised candidate; it had to be Russia that caused this. If Russia was involved, then it had to be that Donald Trump aided and abetted this involvement, so we must have this investigated by a Special Prosecutor.
As the adage goes; with friends like you, who needs enemies has quickly become President Trump’s go-to philosophy in his first year. It became very apparent, very early on that nobody in the media was going to befriend this White House and report anything accurately, except for Fox News. It was almost as if; every morning the “Whores” in the media would call up their “Pimp-Daddies” at the Democrat National Committee and even the Republican National Committee to get their talking points for the day. And this is the way it has been for nearly a year. The left or the RNC would throw up controversy, and the White House would be on the defense. It has seemed almost as though the White House has spent the year addressing fake news and fake charges rather than governing this nation. Donald Trump could see the handwriting on the wall, and despite the ill intent and gorilla warfare tactics of the enemy, he has still managed to govern, get things done, fulfill some campaign promises and handle foreign affairs issues with precision.
It is, what it is and the President would have loved to have had his first 100-days of freedom to accomplish great things, he was not afforded that luxury that most President’s get. He had to fight a war with the left, fight a war within his own party, and yet he still managed to do some good. Because of his tenacity, his dogged work ethic, and determination, this President has turned the corner and is on the way to history-making events which will land him in the top-tier of the most popular and successful presidents in the history of our nation.
President Trump is finishing off his first year with some enormous achievements.
While it began with some turmoil, his willingness to protect America by shutting down the open door policy to those from enemy nations who were coming to our land has been upheld by the Supreme Court. This is something that Trump fans are now cheering, and we thank him for fighting the battle to be able to shut down Obama’s open-door policies.
Some (specifically Obama and his supporters) do not want to give President Trump credit for it, but the fact is, we have now had four-straight quarters with economic growth surpassing 3% each quarter. This hasn’t happened in over 12-years!
Donald Trump has re-established the United States as someone to be reckoned with pertaining to rogue nations. For the previous twenty-something years (under Clinton, Bush 41 & 43, and Barack Obama) the U. S. had become known as very passive. This passiveness gave birth to ISIS, larger terror groups such as Al Qaeda and rogue dictators. Not anymore, Donald Trump has put the world on notice, not to trifle with the United States. America is back, and we are flexing our muscle thanks to this President.
It is now appearing as though the President will get his tax proposal by the end of the year. The Senate approved it pretty much as the President asked for and there is now so much pressure on Speaker Ryan and the House that they are working feverishly to get it done so the President can give America tax-relief as a Christmas present.
President Trump has used the power of his Executive pen to strike down hundreds of burdensome regulations that Obama had implemented on both small and large businesses. This is one of the contributing factors to the economic growth we have seen over the past year.
The stock market just keeps climbing. We are now into numbers that this nation has never witnessed and no end to the growth is in sight. Well done Mr. President! The stock market is a crucial indicator as to how America feels about the future, and if it is accurate this time around, our future looks very bright indeed.
The WALL! While the wall hasn’t officially begun construction between Mexico and the United States, there has been movement to begin the process. Just recently models began showing up near San Diego where various construction companies set up their prototypes for the President to select one. He has indicated that he will do so shortly. Funding for the wall is being worked out, and the President has sworn to all our citizens over and over again that he will get it done for our safety.
While the wall hasn’t officially begun construction between Mexico and the United States, there has been movement to begin the process. Just recently models began showing up near San Diego where various construction companies set up their prototypes for the President to select one. He has indicated that he will do so shortly. Funding for the wall is being worked out, and the President has sworn to all our citizens over and over again that he will get it done for our safety. Early on in his administration, the President had the unique opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court Justice. True to his campaign word, he got a conservative justice with the appointment of Neil Gorsuch. With Gorsuch only being 49-years-young, we can look forward to many decades of conservative voting on matters presented to the court.
The Keystone Pipeline; this too was one of candidate Trump’s major campaign promises. True to his word, it was also one of the first items he signed off on when entering the Oval Office. America has less business and energy choking regulations because of President Trump, and our energy future is looking very bright also. Say goodbye to Saudi oil!
this too was one of candidate Trump’s major campaign promises. True to his word, it was also one of the first items he signed off on when entering the Oval Office. America has less business and energy choking regulations because of President Trump, and our energy future is looking very bright also. Say goodbye to Saudi oil! Jerusalem; Need I say more? By President Trump doing what no other President dared to do, we have cemented a lifelong relationship with the Jewish Nation. By acknowledging this holiest and most historic city as their Capital, Trump has laid the foundation for being one of the toughest and best leaders in American history.
While the President hasn’t been able to accomplish everything he wanted in his first year, what he has garnered is the respect of many who began the year as being ‘naysayers.’ He has risen to that “mysterious” President level in most Americans eyes, and he has achieved the respect of many who in the beginning wouldn’t even give him a chance. He has flushed all the Russia garbage out as just that “garbage,” and he has begun draining the swamp of corruption. Ironically, it now appears that much of the fraud and deceit was, in fact, coming from our law enforcement leadership.
Expect many arrests (for this corruption) in the coming year. With it, expect more and more respect for our President and many more achievements for the American people. Yes indeed America, the Tide has turned for Mogul (the Secret Service code name for President Trump), and it is looking very bright for our country.
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Feel free to email me anytime; ([email protected]) |
THE MORNING PLUM:
In his acceptance speech, Donald Trump vowed to fight for the “forgotten men and women” of this country, which was a direct, deliberate reference to the “forgotten Americans” that Richard Nixon featured in his own speech at the 1968 Republican convention. But if Trump set out to emulate Nixon, and to draw a link between our times and the tumultuous late 1960s, Trump ended up proving to be more divisive, demagogic, hateful, xenophobic, ethno-nationalist, and overtly authoritarian than Nixon ever was.
One key tell: Last night, Trump did not make a single explicit mention of those who have been killed by police, in a speech that was all about law and order, restoring public safety, and the recent killings of police officers. Trump had previously referenced those killed by police, but only tangentially, and last night they were entirely absent. Given the broad consensus that there are legitimate grievances on both sides of the debate over police-community violence, and that reform is needed to address disproportionate police lethal force directed at African Americans, that is a striking, provocative omission.
Trump vowed at the outset of the speech to “present the facts plainly and honestly.” Then he promptly launched a series of lies and distortions designed to portray a country physically falling apart, badly weakened militarily, humiliated by our international enemies, looted by corrupt elites, and under terrifying siege from crime, immigration, and terrorism. To paint that lurid, apocalyptic picture, he relied on cherry-picked and distorted statistics to create inflated or outright false impressions of skyrocketing murder rates, dark hordes surging across the border, and a refugee crisis that threatens “the west” (wink, wink) and our own shores. He portrayed a country hamstrung from dealing forcefully with our external and internal threats by a debilitating form of “political correctness” (double wink-wink).
Trump himself has explicitly said he is modeling his campaign on Nixon’s 1968 effort, and this speech was plainly the capstone of this effort and a template for more to come. As Trump recently put it: “I think what Nixon understood is that when the world is falling apart, people want a strong leader whose highest priority is protecting America first. The ’60s were bad, really bad. And it’s really bad now. Americans feel like it’s chaos again.”
I’ve already detailed the reasons the present moment is nothing like 1968. The social and racial tensions are not remotely equivalent. Crime is at historic lows. America was culturally torn in a very different and more profound way, in part over the hundreds of thousands of Americans fighting in Vietnam. Lone wolf terrorism is a new kind of threat. The Democratic Party relies on a very different coalition today that reflects a very different nation from 1968, demographically speaking, in which the “forgotten” Americans that both men referenced are not as numerous or politically consequential.
But it’s worth adding that with his “law and order” demagoguery, Trump is going farther than Nixon did. While Trump said nothing explicit about victims of police violence, Nixon’s 1968 acceptance speech offered rhetorical olive branches to the Civil Rights movement and explicitly sought to rebut the charge that “law and order is the code word for racism,” instead insisting on justice for “every American.” It’s true that Nixon had campaigned for Barry Goldwater four years earlier and did stoke fears of crime and disorder for political purposes. But as Michael Cohen recounts in his book on the 1968 campaign, Nixon also worked hard to project a unifying image.
Trump is not doing this to any meaningful extent. In the parts of the speech where he vowed to show compassion towards all Americans and to bring jobs and improve schools, the basic prescription on offer was that he would magically make the country so filthy rich that everyone will benefit. (A businessman-turned-strongman lifts all boats.) There was little in his speech that seemed genuinely designed to reassure those who might discern white nationalist appeals in his message.
There are too many egregious offenses in this speech to catalogue here. Just a few: Trump claimed “I alone can fix” our mess, an authoritarian appeal that implies only an unfettered strongman (never mind the role of Congress) can make you feel secure from all the inflated menaces Trump wants you to fear. Trump tweaked his Muslim ban, vowing to suspend immigration from “any nation that has been compromised by terrorism,” whatever that means, essentially replacing his religious test with an even more ludicrously inchoate form of demagoguery. The ad-libbed portions betrayed his most forcefully held ideals and values: During the stretch about suspending immigration, he hoarsely shouted: “we don’t want them in our country!“, and it was amid the discussions of immigration that Trump’s voice rose to its tinniest, angriest, most hysterical shriek.
Convention speeches are supposed to dramatize the stakes of elections. At this, Trump succeeded: His speech dramatically escalates the stakes for November. Now that the true nature of Trumpism is clear, a simple victory is not enough to hope for. We need a decisive, crushing one. Will we get it? I don’t know. Trump can of course still win the election. Maybe Trump is just putting on a big show, a WWE version of a political campaign, and he doesn’t really mean any of this. But that seems like a far more risky proposition than it felt like only 24 hours ago.
********************************************************************
* SPEECH WAS FILLED WITH LIES AND DISTORTIONS: The Post fact checking team does a demolition job on the speech, finding that Trump’s claims about immigration, crime, the Iran deal, Clinton’s emails, and the state of the economy were lies and distortions. Summary:
The dark portrait of America that…Trump sketched…is a compendium of doomsday stats that fall apart upon close scrutiny. Numbers are taken out of context, data is manipulated, and sometimes the facts are wrong. When facts are inconveniently positive — such as rising incomes and an unemployment rate under 5 percent — Trump simply declines to mention them. He describes an exceedingly violent nation, flooded with murders, when in reality, the violent-crime rate has been cut in half since the crack cocaine epidemic hit its peak in 1991.
And so, when Trump said last night that “here, at our convention, there will be no lies,” that was itself a big lie.
* TRUMP’S BIG MISSED OPPORTUNITY: The New York Times reports that people in both parties were surprised that Trump didn’t do more to humanize himself last night:
“It’s a lost opportunity,” said Matt Latimer, who wrote speeches for President George W. Bush. He said he had expected Mr. Trump to plumb his personal life and career for the kind of anecdotes that would turn him, in the eyes of his doubters, from a cartoon into a flesh-and-blood human being. “A little humanity and self-reflection,” Mr. Latimer said, “is usually very powerful in a speech.”
But Trump’s approach is “unconventional,” and it just has to work, because he says it will.
* CLINTON CAMP HITS TRUMP’S ‘HATE’: From the Clinton campaign’s statement responding to the speech:
“Tonight, Donald Trump painted a dark picture of an America in decline. And his answer — more fear, more division, more anger, more hate — was yet another reminder that he is temperamentally unfit and totally unqualified to be President of the United States.”
It’s good that the Clinton camp didn’t refrain from explicitly pointing out the hatemongering.
* THE WORLD REACTS: CNN takes stock of some international opinion:
On Twitter, many international observers reacted with shock to Trump’s speech, with some drawing parallels between it and foreign strongmen. Gary Kasparov, former World Chess Champion turned dissident Russian politician, said: “I’ve heard this sort of speech a lot in the last 15 years and trust me, it doesn’t sound any better in Russian.”…Jorge Guajardo, former Mexican ambassador to China, said: “Sorry, U.S. The world is looking tonight and you, you ain’t looking good.”…British historian Simon Schama said Trump’s speech was “protectionism added to isolationism — recipe for catastrophe. Plus big dose of Sinophobia.”
Shut up, weenies, America is now going to be First again.
* TRUMP, THE GOP, AND ‘PUTIN ENVY’: Paul Krugman’s column connects Trump’s weak commitment to our NATO allies and his admiration of dictators directly to the convention chants of “lock her up”:
Admiration for Putinism isn’t unusual in Mr. Trump’s party. Well before the Trump candidacy, Putin envy on the right was already widespread….He’s “what you call a leader,” declared Rudy Giuliani after Russia invaded Ukraine. It’s also clear that the people who gleefully chanted “Lock her up” — not to mention the Trump adviser who called for Hillary Clinton’s execution — find much to admire in the way Mr. Putin deals with his political opponents and critics.
Funny coincidence, that.
* AND WARREN RIPS TRUMP AS A ‘TWO-BIT DICTATOR’: Senator Warren, to Stephen Colbert last night:
“I thought it was the nastiest, most divisive convention that we’ve seen in half a century…people have good reasons to be angry…But let’s be really clear. Donald Trump does not have the answers…he sounded like some two-bit dictator of some country that you couldn’t find on a map….He sounded like a dictator of a small country, rather than a man who is running for the highest office of the strongest democracy on the face of this Earth.”
That’s the right tone — contempt and ridicule, with special care devoted to pointing out that Trump’s smallness. |
Episode 21: This week Tyson and I continue our chat about the awesomeness of networking! What is networking? It is the social tool to help further your career/business! It is a great skill to have and unfortunately one you are either born being good at (like Tyson…) or need to practice forever (like me!). This week we talk about the social aspects of networking like how to speak, dress, and act during a networking conversation. Hint: Listen when people speak!!
Notable links:
Power Stances http://blog.ted.com/10-examples-of-how-power-posing-can-work-to-boost-your-confidence/
Business card holder! https://www.amazon.com/Fashion-Stainless-Steel-Business-Holder/dp/B00ND1ZB3Y/ref=sr_1_10?s=office-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1491274863&sr=1-10&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_three_browse-bin%3A6149892011
Any questions or comments on today’s topic? Here is my contact info! I would love to hear from you!
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @LearnToAdult
Facebook: facebook.com/learntoadultpodcast
Also check out the website www.learntoadult.com for the podcast, updates, and general awesomeness!
Theme Music by Will Phillips |
Find out who just might be first known actor to audition for the role of Spider-Man in the MCU. This candidate would seemingly confirm that Kevin Feige and co. are definitely introducing Peter Parker, not Miles Morales (and no, it's not Dylan O'Brien). Continue on for details.
According to Badass Digest, Weeds actor Mateus Ward auditioned for the role of Peter Parker aka Spider-Man for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The auditon was reportedly so secret, Ward had to audition at someone's house, not at a casting office. Despite numerous rumous surrounding other young actors, Ward is the first to actually have his name mentioned for auditions. Badass Digest further reports that Marvel is potentially looking to lockdown the next Spider-Man very quickly in order to film a cameo for Captain America: Civil War. If this report is true, it would appear that Marvel may be looking to cast a relatively unkown for the role and someone young enough to continue playing Spider-Man for at least a decade. |
MONTREAL - The number of Quebecers heading down the 401 is on the rise, partial statistics for 2013 suggest.
Departures from Quebec to other provinces rose to their highest level this century in the first nine months of 2013, according to the Canadian Institute for Identities and Migration.
Statistics are not available yet for the final three months of the year.
A total of 28,439 people moved from Quebec to another province from January to September 2013 — the highest number of departures for that period in any year since 2000.
In most cases, Quebec’s loss was Ontario’s gain, with two out of three ex-Quebecers moving to Ontario, one in four to Alberta and just under one in ten to British Columbia, according to quarterly demographic estimates released by Statistics Canada in December.
Quebec had a net loss of 11,887 residents due to interprovincial migration (departures minus arrivals) in the 12 months from October 2012 to September 2013, compared to a loss of 7,700 people in the corresponding period of 2011-12 and a loss of 4,394 in 2010-11.
The rise in departures corresponds with the election of the Parti Québécois in September 2012 — but there is no evidence the political situation is a contributing factor, said Jack Jedwab, the institute’s executive vice-president.
“It’s too early to say,” he said.
“I would argue it’s more about our economy,” Jedwab said.
“These numbers have a very recessionary look to them, at a time when we’re not in a recession.”
Jedwab said the loss of residents sounds a warning signal. “Significant population losses have a negative effect on our economy,” he said.
The rise in out-migration is not related to the divisive debate over the PQ government’s proposed charter of values, Jedwab said, since the departures occurred before the charter was unveiled. A National Assembly committee will commence hearings on the charter Jan. 14.
But Jedwab said if the trend continues, the hypothesis that political angst is spurring departures would deserve a second look.
“If it persists into the next quarter, we’ve got to start thinking non-economic considerations are at work here,” he said.
The PQ government’s focus on identity issues has decreased the comfort level of some members of cultural minorities, particularly the values charter, which proposes to bar all public sector workers from wearing religious garb like the Muslim head scarf, Jewish skullcap or Sikh turban.
In September, an Ontario hospital published recruitment ads aimed to capitalize on the controversy. A photo of a female health worker wearing a hijab (head scarf) bore the caption: “We don’t care what’s on your head. We care what’s in it.”
Aaron Lazarus, director of communications at Lakeridge Health in Bowmanville, Ont., east of Toronto, said the hospital received several job applications from doctors, nurses and other health professionals from Quebec in response to the ads.
But Michel Leblanc, president and CEO of the Montreal Board of Trade, warned against jumping to the conclusion that the current political climate could be causing people to leave Quebec. |
In the Telegraph, Christopher Booker writes
“I would defy anyone unfortunate enough to hear the Today programme at 8.10 last Tuesday morning to have made head or tail of an interview in which our Business Secretary, Greg Clark, droned on for 10 minutes with Justin Webb about the Tories’ promise of a “cap” on energy bills. The essence of this flood of deathly jargon was that, thanks to something called the Competition and Markets Authority, this could save 17 million households a total of £1.4 billion a year.
“What Clark and Webb never mentioned, of course, were the figures recently published by the Office for Budget Responsibility, showing the soaring cost of those green subsidies and taxes we all pay for through our energy bills. These are officially projected to more than double by the end of this Parliament, from £7.3 billion last year to £14.7 billion, or from £292 a year for each household to £565.”
“In other words, even if Theresa May’s “cap” on energy saves £1.4 billion a year, this will be dwarfed by the additional £7.4 billion a year due to be added to our bills under the Climate Change Act.
“But if you ask any candidates in this make-believe election what they think of those figures, almost certainly they will never have heard of them. If they come to your door, try it.”
True of candidates of the legacy parties, who all but unanimously voted for the CCA in 2008, but UKIP candidates know their onions on this stuff, because it’s been part of UKIP energy policy for years. You can download and read the UKIP energy policy for yourselves and vote accordingly. |
Special-interest terrorism and single-issue terrorism[1] are forms of terrorism that, unlike other forms such as right-wing, left-wing and religious terrorism, tend to focus on a few or only one specific issue rather than on more widespread political, religious or other social change.[2]
Those pursuing special-interest terrorism conduct acts of violence in the belief that these will compel a society to change its attitudes toward, treatment of and/or priority given to their cause in their favour. They tend to occupy the extremist fringes of movements that address issues such as the environment, abortion and nuclear technology. Within these, it is some of the more extreme environmental and anti-abortion groups that have turned most toward vandalism and terrorist activities.[3]
One well-known form of special-issue terrorism is environmental or eco-terrorism, which in the 1980s was the only type of special-interest terrorism included in FBI statistics.[4] Another form of special-issue terrorism is anti-abortion violence. |
When reporters showed up at the Advocare Center for the 2016 NBA Draft on Thursday, they found the Chicago Bulls had covered the windows. The Bulls have long aimed to operate under a facade of secrecy, and that wasn't about to change with an avalanche of Jimmy Butler trade rumors leaking out all around them.
In the end, the only thing the Bulls were really able to conceal was the selection of a player that hardly registered as a surprise. In hindsight, we all should have seen this franchise's interest in Denzel Valentine coming a mile away.
Valentine fits the profile of a draft pick the Bulls constructed more than a decade ago. Like Kirk Hinrich and Joakim Noah, he played at a major college program that reached the Final Four. Like Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott, he's a four-year player who enters the NBA as one of the league's oldest rookies. Just about the only time the Bulls have really broken this mold is when they walked away with Tony Snell. Maybe they're right to self-impose such strict guidelines.
Valentine was either the best or second best player in college basketball this season by any standard. He set the tone for his senior season in the second game of the year, when he came to the United Center and beat No. 4 Kansas almost entirely by himself, finishing with 29 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists. I was in the building that night and remember thinking his complete and total offensive takeover was decidedly LeBron-like. There wasn't another player in the country who could have filled the box score like that against the eventual No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Valentine is a fascinating NBA prospect because his strengths and weaknesses are laid out so plainly to see. He's a great shooter, an amazing passer and plays with an advanced feel for the game. He's also slow. Really slow. The only players who finished with a slower three-quarter sprint time at the NBA Draft Combine were big men who either went in the second round or undrafted. Valentine was picked in the lottery and plays the position that houses the world's best pure runners and jumpers.
It's a philosophical question as much as anything: would you rather draft a basketball player and hope he can keep up with NBA athletes or draft an athlete and try to teach him how to play basketball? The selection of Valentine is an emphatic decision to go with the former.
I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. The Bulls needed another wing, another playmaker and more shooting. They also needed someone who could conceivably step in right away. We can point to Tyrus Thomas and Marquis Teague as evidence that this franchise doesn't do well with 19-year-olds who aren't Derrick Rose. It's usually a fool's errand to draft for the present instead of the future, but Valentine is a rare example of when I think that's a pretty good decision.
Let's start with shooting. Valentine didn't enter Michigan State as a good shooter, but he grew into a great one. The rise in both volume and efficiency behind the arc throughout his career college is truly impressive:
3PA 3P% True Shooting Percentage Freshman 1.6 28.1 51.9 Sophomore 3.0 37.7 51.2 Junior 6.3 41.6 58.4 Senior 7.5 44.4 60.8
To put Valentine's senior season shooting in perspective, consider that Buddy Hield shot 45.7 percent on 8.7 attempts per game from three. There wasn't much of a difference between Hield and Valentine from deep, and the rest of Valentine's game is a lot more complete.
The consistency of Valentine's stroke immediately jumps out. His footwork is exact, his release is high and his form is fluid. He can hit off the catch or the bounce, and also made a few shots that clearly demonstrates he has NBA range:
This isn't just a one dimensional shooter, though. He scored efficiently in almost every situation as a senior. Here's the play type numbers from Synergy Sports courtesy of DraftExpress:
Points Per Possession Off screens 1.16 Contested catch-and-shoot jumpers 1.24 Spot-ups 1.23 Pick-and-roll handler .95 Floaters .85 Pull-ups 1.1
The thing that jumped out to me watching Michigan State this year was his in-between game. A floater can be a major weapon and Valentine's is as good as any as player in this draft class. It's a great way to attack a closeout, and a trump card for a player who might struggle to get all the way to the rim in the league.
I put an alley-oop pass at the end of this clip because it showcases just how well-rounded his game is. He's a master at making the right decision on the fly, whether that's taking the three, going to the floater or finding a teammate.
Valentine acted as the de facto point guard for Michigan State after Tum Tum Nairn went down with an injury in January. When he was surrounded by shooters, MSU was nearly impossible to defend. He averaged 7.8 assists per game and posted an obscene 45.8 assist rate, second in the country behind only Kay Felder.
This dime sticks out from the Kansas game:
The flip side of everything is his defense. If you watch the DraftExpress video on Valentine's weaknesses, it seems like he won't have a prayer to defend NBA-level athletes. I think he can be better than that video would suggest for a few different reasons. While it's tough to overcome a lack of foot speed, Valentine is long (6'10 wingspan) and smart. Tom Izzo consistently credited his defense, and he isn't the type of coach that would lie about something like that:
Izzo says Valentine deserves to be in the race for national POY. Says Valentine doesn't get credit for his defense — Kyle Austin (@kylebaustin) February 14, 2016
McDermott entered the NBA with a reputation as a smart player as well, but it feels like his first two years have exposed that as a myth. He looks jittery and nervous at nearly all times on that end of the floor, often mistaking activity for achievement.
Valentine has gone up against great offensive players and played in big time games his entire college career. I don't think he'll be overwhelmed by the moment. He won't be a shutdown one-on-one defender, but he should be a good enough team defender because of his length and intelligence. If he does that, his offensive skill set should make him a really useful player.
There will be a tendency to compare Valentine to McDermott because both were prolific four-year players with limited athleticism, but the truth is that Valentine brings so much more to the table (McDermott had 194 assists in his four years at Creighton; Valentine had 241 assists as a senior). Fred Hoiberg would do well to split up Denzel and Doug, but I do think Valentine's game will be a great complement for Jimmy Butler's. That's what's really important.
The Bulls obviously need to get more athletic, but I don't fault them at all for taking Valentine. This franchise couldn't afford another swing and miss in the draft and I feel comfortable saying that's off the table now. Valentine probably won't be an All-Star, but he's definitely going to be solid while also filling so many of the team's needs. With the No. 14 pick in a purportedly weak draft, it's hard to ask for more than that. |
The Antiquary (1816) is a novel by Sir Walter Scott about several characters including an antiquary: an amateur historian, archaeologist and collector of items of dubious antiquity. He is the eponymous character and for all practical purposes the hero, though the characters of Lovel and Isabella Wardour provide the conventional love interest.[1] The Antiquary was Scott's own favourite of his novels,[2] and is one of his most critically well-regarded works; H. J. C. Grierson, for example, wrote that "Not many, apart from Shakespeare, could write scenes in which truth and poetry, realism and romance, are more wonderfully presented."[3]
Scott wrote in an advertisement to the novel that his purpose in writing it, similar to that of his novels Waverley and Guy Mannering, was to document Scottish life of a certain period, in this case the last decade of the 18th century.[4] It is, in short, a novel of manners, and its theme is the influence of the past on the present.[5] In tone it is predominantly comic, though the humour is offset with episodes of melodrama and pathos.[6]
Scott included a glossary of Scottish terms as an appendix to the novel.
Composition [ edit ]
Scott contracted to write The Antiquary in January 1815 with a publication date of 4 June, but a substantial part of the year was taken up with other commitments, social and literary, the most substantial being his expedition to Belgium and France which resulted in the poems The Field of Waterloo and 'The Dance of Death' and Paul's Letters to His Kinsfolk. Composition seems to have begun at the end of the year and was complete, apart from the glossary, by mid-April 1816.
Editions [ edit ]
The Antiquary appeared in three volumes in Edinburgh on 4 May 1816 and London on 8 May. As with all the Waverley novels before 1827 publication was anonymous. This first edition of 6000 copies was followed by a revised second edition some three months later. There is no clear evidence for authorial involvement in this, or in any of the novel's subsequent appearances except for the 18mo Novels and Tales (1823) and the 'Magnum' edition. Some of the small changes to the text in 1823 are attributable to Scott, but that edition was a textual dead end. In October 1828 he provided the novel with an introduction and notes, and revised the text, for the Magnum edition in which it appeared as Volumes 5 and 6 in October and November 1829. The standard modern edition, by David Hewitt, was published as Volume 3 of the Edinburgh Edition of the Waverley Novels in 1995: this is based on the first edition, corrected from the manuscript and incorporating verbal changes introduced in the second edition; the Magnum material appears in Volume 25a.
Plot summary [ edit ]
Oldbuck shows Lovel an historical landmark
At the opening of the story, Lovel meets Oldbuck while taking a coach from Edinburgh. Oldbuck, interested as he is in antiquities, has with him Gordon's Itinerarium, a book about Roman ruins. The book interests Lovel, to the surprise of Oldbuck and by their shared interest the two become friends. Oldbuck invites Lovel to come to Monkbarns and takes the opportunity of a willing listener to divulge his ancient knowledge. In the process of which, Oldbuck shows Lovel a plot of land he purchased at great cost where he found an inscription "A.D.L.L", which Oldbuck takes to mean "Agricola Dicavit Libens Lubens". Edie Ochiltree, the local beggar, disputes the antiquary's history, in one of the more amusing scenes of the story (see image at left).
Taking refuge on a cliff
Oldbuck decides to introduce Lovel to his good friend, Sir Arthur Wardour. When Sir Arthur arrives, Lovel meets Arthur's daughter, Isabella and the two realize they have seen each other before. Because Lovel is illegitimate, she knows her father would not approve of a marriage between them. When she sees Lovel standing in the road waiting to talk to her, she convinces her father to take the long way home, walking down to the beach. Luckily, Edie Ochiltree, having the insight that someone may be trapped on the beach not knowing that the tide was coming in, finds the Wardours and helps them escape the rising waters. Then, Lovel appears and gets them to relative safety, huddling on the side of a rocky cliff. Finally, Oldbuck arrives with men and ropes to pull the four up over the cliff to safety.
A while later, Oldbuck takes Lovel, the Wardours, his niece and nephew, Douster-swivel and a priest to the ancient ruins of Saint Ruth on Sir Arthur's property. While exploring the property, they discuss an ancient treasure that they believe to be buried at the ruins. Captain M'Intyre dominates Isabella's attention, which she leaves in favor of Lovel's to the dismay of M'Intyre. M'Intyre, angered at this slight, discovers that Lovel is in the military, but realizes he knows of no one named Lovel in his division and calls him out upon the topic. They agree to a duel and return to the scene to fight for their individual honor. Lovel's bullet strikes best and leaves M'Intyre bleeding on the ground, when Lovel flees with Edie to avoid a potential arrest. In their hiding, Edie and Lovel see Douster-swivel and Sir Arthur return to the ruins, looking for treasure. They see Douster-swivel attempting to convince Sir Arthur of his magical abilities to find gold and he does conveniently find a small bag under a stone. After they leave, Lovel boards a military ship and departs.
Sir Arthur and Dousterswivel Searching for the Treasure, the , the Dalziel Brothers , 1886.
Oldbuck, understanding Douster-swivel's knavery, confronts him about his cons and takes Sir Arthur back to the ruins to look for treasure without Douster-swivel's magical intervention. Digging further under the same stone under which Douster-swivel had previously found treasure, they discover a chest full of silver, which Sir Arthur promptly takes back home. Edie hangs behind and whispers for Douster-swivel to join him. Then, showing the con artist the lid to the chest, with the phrase "Search 1" written on it. Edie convinces the German mage that this phrase means there is a second chest nearby, this time full of gold. They return at night and dig, but cannot find another chest. Just as Douster-swivel is starting to realize that Edie is mocking him, Steenie Mucklebackit jumps from the shadows and knocks Douster-swivel unconscious.
Steenie and Edie flee to Steenie's house, where Steenie shows him Douster-swivel's pocketbook, accidentally picked up during the excitement. Edie makes him promise to return the pocketbook and then leaves. Alas, Steenie is not long for this world and dies in a fishing accident the next day. As the family is in mourning, Elspeth, Steenie's grandmother, comes out of a long senility to tell Edie to take a ring and a message to Lord Glenallan. Oldbuck, whose land the Mucklebackits occupy, comes to help carry the casket and pay his respects, to the awe and thanks of the family.
Edie meets Lord Glenallan and gives him the ring and tells him to go visit Elspeth. Glenallan does and learns from her his own history. He had married a woman named Eveline Neville, who his mother helped convince was his sister after she had already become pregnant. Eveline attempts to commit suicide by jumping into the sea. She is taken from the water barely alive and dies after giving birth. The child is taken by another maid named Theresa and is raised by Glenallen's younger brother as his own illegitimate son. Glenallen does not know this. Glenallan never recovers from believing that he committed a violation of nature. Elspeth tells him that Eveline was not his sister and that his marriage with her was perfectly legitimate. It relieves his mind and he desires to find his son.
Meanwhile, Edie is arrested for attacking Douster-swivel. Oldbuck proves that Douster-swivel is merely a thief and frees Edie, who immediately goes upon a mission. Oldbuck then receives word that Sir Arthur, who has been heavily in debt, is under arrest and has the valuables of his home being taken. Edie returns with money sent by Wardour's son and an order to stop the arrest.
Finally, a mistake causes the national warning system—a series of towers with fires that can be lit to warn of invasion—to be lit and everyone believes the French are invading. Oldbuck dons his sword and travels to town to help with defence along with his nephew, who promptly assumes the role of a commander. As they prepare for the defence, Lord Glenallan comes in with his highland troops. Finally, Lovel and Captain Wardour arrive to take command of the defence and it is revealed that Lovel is actually Major Neville. Further, Oldbuck realizes that Major Neville is Glenallan's son and the two are reunited. Major Neville becomes the next Lord Glenallen and is now free to marry Isabella Wardour.
Characters [ edit ]
Principal characters in bold
William Lovel, afterwards Lord Geraldin, Earl of Glenallan
Mrs Macleuchar, proprietress of the Edinburgh-Queensferry coach
Jonathan Oldbuck , of Monkbarns
, of Monkbarns Miss Griselda Oldbuck, his sister
Mary MacIntyre, his niece
Jenny Rintherout, his maid
Captain Hector MacIntyre , his nephew
, his nephew Mr Lesley, Hector's military friend
Jacob Caxon, a barber
Jenny Caxon, his daughter
Lieutenant Richard Taffril, her sweetheart
Edie Ochiltree , a licensed mendicant
, a licensed mendicant Sir Arthur Wardour , of Knockwinnock Castle
, of Knockwinnock Castle Captain Reginald Wardour, his son
Isabella Wardour , his daughter
, his daughter Ringan Aikwood, his estate officer
Herman Dousterswivel , a charlatan
, a charlatan Mrs Mailsetter, postmistress of Fairport
Davie Mailsetter, her son
Mrs Heukbane
Mrs Shortcake
Mr Blattergowl, minister of Trotcosey
Miss Rebecca Blattergo, his sister
Elspeth Mucklebackit , of the Craigburnfoot
, of the Craigburnfoot Saunders Mucklebackit, her son
Joscelind, Countess of Glenallan
William, Earl of Glenallan, her son
Eveline Neville, his late wife
Francie Macraw, his porter
Baillie Littlejohn
Chapter summary [ edit ]
Volume One
Ch. 1: Two gentlemen, one elderly the other young, travelling independently, take the coach from Edinburgh to South Queensferry.
Ch. 2: The narrator provides a sketch of the older man, Jonathan Oldbuck; Oldbuck and young Lovel dine at the Hawes inn and travel on to Fairport.
Ch. 3: Oldbuck introduces Lovel to his antiquarian 'sanctum sanctorum' at Monkbarns.
Ch. 4: Edie Ochiltree, a licensed beggar, indicates that what Oldbuck takes to be a Roman praetorium is of modern construction.
Ch. 5: Oldbuck (a Whig) invites his Tory neighbour Sir Arthur Wardour and his daughter Isabella to meet Lovel at dinner.
Ch. 6: After dinner, where Sir Arthur and Oldbuck have an antiquarian dispute, the Wardours choose to walk home by the sands to avoid meeting Lovel again, and Jacob Caxon the barber expresses his concern about their safety.
Ch. 7: On the sands Edie warns the Wardours, but it is too late and they are all cut off by the tide. Lovel climbs down the cliff to help them.
Ch. 8: The rescue is completed.
Ch. 9: Lovel is to be put up in the Green Room at Monkbarns, which Griselda Oldbuck indicates has a reputation for being haunted by the spirit of the printer Aldobrand Oldenbuck.
Ch. 10: In the Green Room Lovel's dreams of Aldobrand.
Ch. 11: At breakfast Oldbuck and Lovel discuss Aldobrand, after which they go to the beach to buy fish.
Ch. 12: Isabella offers Edie a place, but he declines, preferring his peripatetic existence. He indicates that he has seen her rebuffing Lovel at a recent secret meeting urges her to treat him well.
Ch. 13: Isabella tells Lovel that she can never return his love. Oldbuck tells him of the charlatan Dousterswivel's plans to take advantage of the impecunious Sir Arthur's gullibility.
Ch. 14: Lovel allows Oldbuck to believe that he is a budding poet.
Ch. 15: At the post office Mrs Mailsetter and her gossips examine the incoming mail, and an express letter to Lovel is entrusted to little Davie Mailsetter.
Volume Two
Ch. 1 (16): Oldbuck visits Lovel, who says he is in mourning for a friend.
Ch. 2 (17): On a general excursion to the ruins of St Ruth's priory, Dousterswivel finds water by divining.
Ch. 3 (18): Still at St Ruth's, Lovel reads to the company Isabella's version of the story of Martin Waldeck.
Ch. 4 (19): Hector MacIntyre arrives, pays attention to Isabella, and quarrels with Lovel.
Ch. 5 (20): Next morning, Mr Lesley makes arrangements with Lovel for a duel with Hector, his friend. Edie's attempts to prevent the encounter are ignored and Hector is wounded.
Ch. 6 (21): Edie conceals Lovell at St Ruth's, where they overhear Dousterswivel duping Sir Arthur. Lovel is taken off by Lieutenant Taffril, who had acted as his second.
Ch. 7 (22): Sir Arthur shows Oldbuck a cache of old coins, which he has witnessed Dousterswivel dig up at St Ruth's with the promise of more to come.
Ch. 8 (23): Oldbuck, Sir Arthur, and Dousterwivel find silver ingots by digging in a place indicated by Edie at St Ruth's.
Ch. 9 (24): Dousterswivel agrees to look for more treasure with Edie who assures him it is present.
Ch. 10 (25): Dousterwsivel digs, but he is beaten by a mysterious dark figure. He witnesses the Roman Catholic burial service for the Countess of Glenallan, and is offered accommodation by Sir Arthur's estate officer Ringan Aikwood.
Ch. 11 (26): Old Elspeth of the fishing family at Craigburnfoot is told of Countess' death and comments on her pride. Steenie and Edie arrive, having been chased by one of the funeral party: Steenie says he was Dousterswivel's assailant.
Ch. 12 (27): Elspeth sends Edie to Glenallan with a token ring to summon the Earl to come to her. He is admitted by Francie Macraw, the porter.
Ch. 13 (28): Edie delivers his message to Glenallan.
Ch. 14 (29): Edie hears that Steenie Mucklebackit has been drowned. He is arrested for the assault on Dousterswivel.
Volume Three
Ch. 1 (30): Oldbuck and Hector proceed light-heartedly to Steenie's funeral.
Ch. 2 (31): Steenie's funeral.
Ch. 3 (32): Glenallan arrives to speak to Elspeth.
Ch. 4 (33): Elspeth tells Glenallan of her part in bringing about the death in childbirth of his wife Eveline, hated by the late Countess and herself, and of the disappearance of his infant son.
Ch. 5 (34): Glenallan relays Elspeth's account to Oldbuck, who had unconsciously been his rival in seeking Eveline's affection.
Ch. 6 (35): At Monkbarns Glenallan and Oldbuck plan action to locate the Earl's son.
Ch. 7 (36): Caxon tells Oldbuck of reactions in the village to the unwonted appearance at Monkbarns of Glenallan, who bonds with the family at breakfast.
Ch. 8 (37): Edie is unresponsive before the unsympathetic Baillie Littlejohn, but Oldbuck arrives and persuades the magistrate to hand the examination over to him.
Ch. 9 (38): Oldbuck grants Edie bail after hearing his version of events.
Ch. 10 (39): Oldbuck takes Hector and Edie to see Elspeth.
Ch. 11 (40): Elspeth dies without imparting any further information. Oldbuck receives a summons to Knockwinnock.
Ch. 12 (41): Sir Arthur receives news of his financial ruin, the silver being exhausted. Isabella meets Edie, who seems to have a secret which will help the family.
Ch. 13 (42): At his request, and with Hector's help, Edie is provided with transport to Tannonburgh, the next post town. Sir Arthur is arrested.
Ch. 14 (43): Edie returns with a letter from Sir Arthur's son Reginald announcing that 'the generosity of a matchless friend' has enabled him to discharge his father's debts.
Ch. 15 (44): Edie and Oldbuck laugh together as the plot is further tied up: Lovel had arranged for the ingots to be buried at St Ruth's for Sir Arthur's benefit.
Ch. 16 (45): The local militia assemble when a beacon gives warning of a French invasion, but this turns out to be a false alarm on the arrival of Major Neville, who turns out to be Glenallan's lost son, and is married a month later to Isabella.
Reception [ edit ]
Most of the reviewers considered that The Antiquary maintained the high standards set by Waverley and Guy Mannering, especially in its insights into human nature and its delineation of manners, and in the big set scenes of the rescue from the tide and the fisherman's funeral.[7] The figure of Edie Ochiltree attracted particular praise, recalling Meg Merrilees from Guy Mannering but in a more natural mode. Oldbuck was also generally admired, though The European Magazine considered him tediously minute. Lovel's disappearance from the action and Isabella Wardour's ineffectiveness were seen as blemishes, and the plot as a whole was often judged ill-conducted, especially the abruptness of the winding up. The Monthly Review, The Quarterly Review, and The New Monthly Magazine all considered the author's claim to have followed an overall plan in the first three novels to be wisdom after the event.
References [ edit ]
This article incorporates text from the revised 1898 edition of Henry Grey's A Key to the Waverley Novels (1880), now in the public domain. |
With the help of some friends, a member of a local restaurant family is at it again.
Joe Kiatsuranon, who owns My Noodle & Bar in the Fan, plans to open a new Thai restaurant near Scott’s Addition next month with partners Brandon Pierce and Jason Lough.
The trio’s concept will be called Sabai, which is Thai for “chill” or “relaxed.” It is taking over the 2,600-square-foot space at 2727 W. Broad St. that was formerly home to Yummy Chinese Restaurant.
“We’re all hungry,” Kiatsuranon said. “This is big compared with My Noodle.”
Kiatsuranon, who opened My Noodle on Monument Avenue in 2013, comes from a prolific Richmond restaurant family. His mother, Sukanya Pala-art, owns two Mom’s Siam Thai restaurant locations. And his brother, Sonny Kiatsuranon, is the owner of Fan Noodle Bar.
Pierce, who lives in Thailand, is a former iron worker and will have a crew install reclaimed wood walls and doors and make custom steel tables and chairs for Sabai.
Lough is currently the bar manager at Rappahannock downtown. He plans to leave his post to manage the bar at Sabai once it opens.
Sabai’s menu will include ramen burgers, skewers, noodles and barbecue, or what Pierce called Thai street food.
“Our favorite things to eat in Thailand are on the street corner,” Pierce said.
Prices will range from $6 to $18. Sabai, which will initially be open for evening and late-night service, will eventually add lunch.
The space will also serve cocktails, draft beer and sell graffiti art and host live music.
Yummy Chinese left the space in November. Pierce would not say how much it will cost to get the space ready to open but said the three owners are financing it themselves.
“This area is up-and-coming,” Pierce said. “We saw a diamond in the rough.”
Sabai’s future neighbors include The Broadberry music venue, Jamaican restaurant The Jerk Pit and Gus’ Bar & Grill. There’s also a McDonald’s across the street.
Sabai won’t be Richmond’s first taste of Asian street food. Last year, Chris Tsui and his Eat Restaurant partners opened Foo Dog in the Fan, serving dishes inspired by Asian street cuisine.
The restaurateurs said Sabai will be a step away from the fare at My Noodle and other noodle shops around town.
“It’s not quite as noodle-centric,” Lough said. “This is (Kiatsuranon) doing his own thing.”
Plans for Sabai were first reported by Richmond.com. |
Drivers, Passengers Say Uber App Doesn't Always Yield Best Routes
Enlarge this image toggle caption Adam Berry/Getty Images Adam Berry/Getty Images
There are many things Uber customers love about the service; confusion surrounding the navigation process is not one of them.
Following complaints that Uber drivers didn't know the best routes to customers' destination, the company rolled out a new in-app navigation feature. It allows customers to plug in their destination before entering the car and provides turn-by-turn directions to drivers once the trip begins.
But some passengers and drivers say Uber's navigation system is not providing the results the company promised.
We asked NPR's Facebook followers why they use ride-sharing services like Uber. Customers say the service is convenient; the prices are low; the cars are generally clean; there's no need to call ahead or hail a car, as with traditional taxi cabs; the rating system keeps drivers accountable, and more. In short, people love Uber.
But navigation issues came up as a source of dissatisfaction even among those customers who sang Uber's praises.
Laura Hardwick, a Washington, D.C., resident who uses Uber and other ride-sharing apps, says the benefits of these services come at a cost: UberX drivers tend to be less familiar with a city than their traditional taxicab counterparts.
"A professional taxi driver has more time to get to know this city than 'citizen drivers' as I've dubbed the UberX drivers," Hardwick wrote in response to our call-out on Facebook.
Others users seem to agree.
"Uber drivers in my experience usually do not have the same sense of the city that taxi drivers have. You may even end up needing to give the drivers directions," wrote Nicole Calvino from Allston, Mass.
In fact, this is one of the reasons some prefer traditional taxis over Uber and other ride-sharing services.
Jessica Burden, who wrote to us from Sacramento, Calif., says she regularly prefers Co-op Cab, a California-based taxi company, instead of ride-sharing services.
"All of them are true cabbies," she wrote, referring to the company's drivers. "They know the best way to the destination, almost always remember me by name, and work tirelessly. ... They are real pros."
Some Uber drivers say they can join the company easily and that the loose requirements and regulations translate to an unseasoned pool of drivers, at least in comparison to traditional taxi drivers.
"The cab drivers know their zoning, they know their streets, they know their way," says Nono Girma, an UberX driver in the Washington, D.C., area. "It's something that they studied about and know about. ... They took a test for it and they got licensed for it. That's how they're driving. We're not licensed. ... We don't take a test."
She says that although she grew up in Washington and knows the area well, she needs a navigation system to get customers from point A to point B.
Instead of expecting drivers to use their own navigation system or rely on passengers for directions, Uber introduced its own built-in navigation system last month. According to the company's press release, Uber added the feature in order to "literally skip the step where you tell the driver where you're going" and eliminate the need to "juggle multiple apps or waste time typing in an address."
In the same release, Uber also promises that the in-app navigation system, which provides turn-by-turn directions to drivers, will get passengers to their destination "via the best possible route." But according to some drivers, Uber is not living up to that standard.
We asked Uber drivers on Facebook about their experiences and several of them complained about the company's app.
"The Uber navigation is quite poor. It often suggests a bad route. [Passengers] don't want to be taken the long way. ... I find it unsatisfactory," wrote Corey Tunip, who says he drives for Uber in Torrance, Calif.
Uber provides its drivers with smartphones with the app already downloaded. If they want to use another system, drivers say, they have to use their own phone, and pay for their own data.
Even with the new feature present, some drivers have turned to other navigation systems, including Google Maps and Waze, the Google-owned navigation system with live traffic information.
"I wish it allowed us to choose our own navigation app. I'm a huge fan of Waze," Uber driver Macie Bain said on the Facebook group.
Despite being dissatisfied with the app, some drivers say they feel they need to use it in order to avoid potential conflict with passengers.
Zachary DeVine, an Uber driver in the San Francisco area, said that although the Uber app "isn't as good as Waze," he still uses it for navigation in case a customer is unhappy with the route at the end of the ride. If the passenger "doesn't like the GPS route, I can let Uber know that it's their problem not mine," he wrote.
Some customers and drivers say the Uber app seems to take less-than-ideal routes.
Josh Barron is a business administration student at Northeastern University who drives for Uber in Boston and surrounding suburbs during his spare time. He told NPR that he stopped relying on the Uber app for navigation after one particular incident, and has been relying on Waze and his TomTom GPS, instead.
"I was giving this woman a ride and she said she was in a rush to go somewhere, so because she was in a rush I didn't take the time to put her address into Waze," Barron says. "I just left it right in the Uber navigation app and I noticed a little too late that it took me down a very traffic-oriented route. And not even the fastest route. It took me out of the way to go to Mass Ave ... one of the worst streets in Boston ... one of the slowest streets in all of Boston."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Uber Uber
Since then, Barron says he hasn't relied on Uber's navigation app, unless it's really late at night.
And he says this was not an isolated incident.
"It happens almost every ride. Uber's telling me to go one way but that's not the way I should be going. TomTom GPS knows, Waze knows it. It's pretty clear," says Barron, who grew up in a Boston suburb and is familiar enough with the area to know what streets and routes he should be avoiding.
We asked Uber about drivers' and customers' complaints about the app's navigation.
"There's no doubt that our in-app navigation feature has enhanced the Uber experience by enabling riders and drivers to more seamlessly and efficiently arrive at their destination," Uber spokesperson Kristin Carvell wrote in an e-mail. "That said, users always have the option to choose a different route."
Uber didn't specifically respond to our question about how the navigation is routed — whether it is programmed to take the shortest time or distance.
Although prices vary by location and fluctuate depending on demand, Uber charges a base fee as well as by the minute and the mile. In Washington, D.C., for example, UberX customers pay a $2 base fare as well as $0.25 per minute and $1.25 per mile.
UberX drivers get to keep 80 percent of the fare, while Uber pockets the remaining 20 percent (although the company has recently come under scrutiny for reportedly keeping more than it promised drivers).
A transportation expert says the app is still in its early stages and that Uber may improve its navigation system in the future.
"These are not trivial things to develop, and may have a lot of kinks [if not bugs] to straighten out. So is may be a simple 'work in progress' case," says Emilio Frazzoli, director of the Transportation@MIT initiative, adding that even established products like Google Maps, "while giving good recommendations most of the time, at times suggest routes through off-road trails, routes through heavy traffic, or long detours to avoid relatively light traffic."
And while Uber may have some kinks to work out, Uber drivers are the ones likely to be affected if a customer is dissatisfied with a trip, as customers are asked their drivers after every trip.
"The one time that I felt an Uber driver was taking me 'the long way' to make extra, I rated him 4 stars and left a comment stating that I felt that a shorter route could have been taken, and less than 24hrs later, I received an email from Uber thanking me for the comment and adjusting my fare to a lesser amount because they reviewed the route and agreed that a quicker one should have been taken," wrote Matt Rose in response to our Facebook call-out.
A few bad ratings can end up costing a driver his or her job.
"I know a lot of people that ... have been dropped by Uber. They can't drive no more because their rating is so bad," says Girma, adding that she hopes the perks that make customers love Uber extend to the drivers as well.
"It's full of customer service with Uber. Which is good for the customers, right? They get treated better. ... Everything is good, but I hope it's gonna be fair for everybody." |
Getty Images
During the offseason, the big health concern for Raiders defensive end Mario Edwards was the neck injury that forced him to injured reserve at the end of the 2015 season.
Edwards was eventually cleared to return to action, but his stay on the field this summer was a brief one. Edwards injured his hip in the team’s first preseason game on August 12 and was given a 4-6 week timeline to return to action. That may have been an overly optimistic read on his status.
Raiders coach Jack Del Rio told Vic Tafur of the San Francisco Chronicle that Edwards could go on injured reserve following the cut to 53 players on Saturday with the intent of bringing him back as the one player designated for return. A rule change this season allows teams to make that designation after the player has been on injured reserve for six weeks, at which point he’s eligible to return to practice although he can’t play until eight weeks have passed.
Edwards had 42 tackles, two sacks and three forced fumbles during his rookie season. |
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Women’s rights activists have accused the professional body representing lawyers in England and Wales of endorsing discrimination against women by refusing to withdraw its guidance on sharia wills.
The Law Society issued its guidance on ensuring that wills drawn up for Muslims comply with sharia in March, drawing criticism in the local press that it was effectively enshrining Islamic law in the British legal system for the first time.
In an open letter published on Thursday campaigners said the guidance, “a source of immense concern,” encourages legal services “to accommodate highly gender discriminatory religious laws that are being increasingly defined by religious fundamentalists in our society”.
The guidance informs lawyers that in general, under sharia, male heirs inherit twice the amount a female heir will receive and that illegitimate children are not heirs.
The letter said the Law Society’s failure to withdraw the guidance amounted to a “a gross derogation of duty”.
“Are we to assume that when the Law Society refers to equality, it does not include minority women’s right to equality?” the letter said.
“Are we to assume that minority women are only to be recognised as different but not equal, and that equality and diversity are mutually exclusive? Are we to assume that the Law Society does not consider minority women as members of the public whose rights and interests the Law Society must also promote through the legal profession?”
According to media reports, the solicitors’ watchdog deleted from its website references to professional guidance on drawing up sharia compliant wills in July.
Law Society officials were not immediately available for comment.
One of the campaigners who signed the letter said many women and girls from the Middle East, North Africa and Afghanistan - now living in Britain - had fled countries where sharia is practised. Sharia is based on the teachings of the Koran and the practices of the Prophet Mohammed.
“They too have experienced firsthand the discrimination of Sharia law. They have come to the UK in search of safety and to live in a country where women and men are treated as equals,” said Diana Nammi, the executive director of the Iranian & Kurdish Women’s Rights Organisation (IKWRO), at a protest outside the Law Society in April.
“Money is being put before women’s rights. There is a lot of money to be made by lawyers from drafting Sharia compliant wills. We cannot allow for women’s rights to be sacrificed so that lawyers can cash in,” she told protesters.
The last census in 2011 showed that Muslims made up the second largest religious group in Britain with 2.7 million people - compared with the 33.2 million Christians that account for 59 percent of the population of 63.2 million. |
The Toronto Ice Owls.
Blind Hockey.
Walk into any hockey arena in Canada.
What’s the first thing that catches your attention?
Chances are, it’s the noise. Before you catch the flash of a jersey or the jet trail of the puck, you’ll hear the scratch of blades on ice, the yells of the players, and the whistles of the ref.
Now. Walk into an Ice Owls game, and listen carefully.
You’ll hear one more sound…
Welcome to the Ice Owls, a Toronto hockey team of blind and visually impaired players. The team was started in the spring of 1972, making them just a few months senior to the Flames and the Oilers. That extra sound you’ll hear when they play is the sound of the puck. It’s a hollow plastic wheel filled with nuts and bolts and hardware. It rattles and hisses as it travels across the ice. That puck is the critical difference that allows a group of visually impaired hockey-loving Canadians to come out on Sundays in Agincourt all hockey season long to play our national game.
Interested in seeing the Toronto Ice Owls in action?
Come to Agincourt Recreation Centre, 31 Glen Watford Drive, any Sunday at 11:15 am after Thanksgiving ’til the end of March. |
In the summer of 2008, an op ed piece by Benny Morris, an Israeli historian of note, warned:
"Israel will almost surely attack Iran’s nuclear sites in the next four to seven months – and the leaders in Washington and even Tehran should hope that the attack will be successful enough to cause at least a significant delay in the Iranian production schedule, if not complete destruction, of that country’s nuclear program. Because if the attack fails, the Middle East will almost certainly face a nuclear war – either through a subsequent pre-emptive Israeli nuclear strike or a nuclear exchange shortly after Iran gets the bomb."
The Israeli government has been openly threatening Iran with attack for years, and we have learned not to take their outbreaks of war hysteria too seriously. During the last year of George W. Bush’s final term in office, there was heightened speculation that Tel Aviv was pressuring Washington to launch such an attack, and indeed it appears Vice President Dick Cheney argued for precisely that, albeit to no avail. Now the war talk has been revived by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, along with his defense minister, Ehud Barak, has not only been arguing within the Cabinet for such a strike, but has now supposedly moved into the implementation stage.
We are told by the Israeli media that there is a big debate going on, with two former top officials – Meir Dagan, recently retired as head of the Mossad, and Yuval Diskin, head of Shin Bet – going so far as to leak the specifics of Bibi’s scheme in order to torpedo the plan. Dagan is said to have remarked that the war plans are "the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard" – and he’s quite right.
The problem with this alleged plan is that Israel doesn’t have the military capacity to do the job and do it well: Iran’s nuclear facilities are enclosed within hardened sites, and are spread out to such a degree that Israeli war planes would have trouble reaching them. While the Israelis have recently tested a long-range missile that has the capacity to hit Iranian targets, the idea that they could take out all the intended targets in one fell swoop is simply a fantasy. Therefore, this alleged "debate" taking place within the Israeli leadership, complete with a phony "investigation" by Netanyahu into who leaked the nonexistent Israeli attack "plan," is a non-event. The whole thing, in short, is a bluff.
But who is being bluffed here? Not the Iranians, who are surely aware of Israel’s incapacity. The volume of the war hysteria is being turned up with one purpose in mind: the Israelis want the US to do their dirty work for them. This is a threat aimed not only – or even primarily – at Iran, but at us.
This has been their modus operandi throughout all the years of the "special relationship": it’s "special" because there is no reciprocity involved. Our unconditional support for the Israeli settler colony has always been an albatross hung ‘round our necks, and never more so than post-9/11, when the need for US allies within the Muslim world is vital. We support them financially, militarily, and politically, while getting absolutely nothing but grief – and more demands – in return.
Under the Bush administration, at least in the beginning, the Israelis had a free hand in Washington, at least as far as the White House was concerned. Their agents of influence permeated the national security bureaucracy and were in place when the 9/11 attacks occurred, ready and willing to carry out a policy that benefited Israel at America’s expense. This has always been Israel’s ace in the hole: the existence of a strong domestic lobby in America to push its interests to the exclusion of all else. While support for Israel is nearly reflexive in the GOP, in part due to the influence of Christian evangelicals of the dispensationalist persuasion, the lobby is also firmly entrenched in the Democratic party, especially in its Clintonian wing.
The lobby’s open hostility to the Obama administration – based on the mere possibility that there would be a more even-handed approach to the Middle East after Bush – culminated in Vice President Joe Biden’s disastrous visit to the Jewish state, where he was ambushed and humiliated by the Israelis.
However, the relationship soon jelled into a more traditional, less openly adversarial mode. Under the "team of rivals" rubric – pushed by plagiarist and court historian Doris Kearns Goodwin in her hagiographic book on Abraham Lincoln’s administration, and Bush idolator–turned–Obamaite Andrew Sullivan – the divisions in the winning Democratic coalition would be healed by replicating Lincoln’s historic compromise with his rivals, incorporating them into the Cabinet. This campaign was successful because it both flattered Obama, likening him to one of the giants of American history, and reduced his power in the key realm of foreign policy – the one area where he is perceived as "weakest," at least from the War Party’s perspective.
The ruling elite was prepared for "change" in all but one area, and so a bargain was struck: Obama would stick to domestic policy, where he would have his hands full anyway, and the Clinton gang would get to set the foreign policy agenda, with the ultimate authority – and responsibility – vested in the President.
With Hillary Clinton’s appointment as Secretary of State, the question of America’s relationship to Israel was turned over to the right-wing of the Democratic party, which has always been among the happiest hunting grounds of the Israel lobby. It was the Clinton administration, you’ll recall, that nearly freed convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, until a rebellion in the military-intelligence community made Bill back off: as a kind of compensation prize, the Israelis got a pardon for financier and reputed Mossad asset Marc Rich, Clinton’s last disgraceful act carried out in the Oval Office. Hillary’s record when it comes to the Palestinian question is down-the-line support for the official Israeli position, with only minor disagreements — such as occurred over the settlements issue — that are soon "resolved" in Israel’s favor.
The announcement of a "plot" by the Iranians to blow up a Washington restaurant with the Saudi ambassador in it was met by near universal skepticism, except where it counts – in Washington and the capitals of Europe. Yet this almost comical tall tale is just the first shot over the bow in the ongoing propaganda war: next week we’ll be hearing from that den of thieves known as the United Nations, whose nuclear watchdog agency will issue a new report on alleged Iranian nuclear weapons research, which promises to be more serious. The British, for their part, have announced their support for military action in advance, and the rest of the West, along with our Arab satraps, is bound to follow in their wake. It is left to the Americans, however, to give the command to strike – not the Israelis.
Israeli efforts to drag us into a war with Iran have so far been limited to provoking Tehran’s proxies in the region – Hamas, Hezbollah, the Syrian Ba’athists – into a direct confrontation with the US. The Netanyahu regime has abandoned this policy of indirection and gradualism, however, and instead opted for a direct assault on the problem: by constantly threatening to strike themselves, the Israelis are counting on their domestic lobby to push the Americans into acting preemptively.
This plan appears to be working. Although the last US intelligence assessment [.pdf] of Iran’s nuclear capabilities asserted with near certainty that Tehran had abandoned its weapons program in 2003, the War Party isn’t too concerned about making its case airtight: the Israel lobby has both parties, and Congress, in its hip pocket, and with Hillary leading the charge the "existential threat" to Israel’s very existence will be met with US force. It’s only a matter of timing.
The War Party, however, has another problem, and that is the objective factors which militate against another war at this time, number one being the imminent collapse of the world economic system, and specifically the instability of the banks. As the dominoes of the Euro-zone fall one upon the other, and the US banking system itself comes under threat, the question of how to finance this war, even while its economic consequences – starting with $200 a barrel oil prices – are visited upon our heads.
This problem can be solved, however, if the political consequences of this "perfect storm" of war and economic implosion line up with the stars. With America at war, the economic privations we will have endured anyway will be masked by the general numbness induced by the atmosphere of crisis. Your home has been foreclosed? You’ve lost your job, or you can’t get to your job because it costs $100 in gas to travel one way? Blame it on Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the "nuclear madman" of the Middle East.
The very real financial crisis of the West will be resolved by the introduction of yet another crisis, in this case a completely manufactured and ginned up one. Imbued with new authority, the Obama administration will take full advantage of the wartime atmosphere to impose "emergency" economic measures, commandeering the economy in the name of "national security" and getting the Republicans to go along with it on "patriotic" grounds. We’ll be subjected to endless demands for bipartisan "unity" in the face of a foreign "threat," with both "left" and "right" factions of the War Party inundating the air waves and the blogosphere with war propaganda.
Can it be stopped? Looming economic disaster can’t be forestalled much longer: no matter how many band-aids they put on the cancer, the only cure for the underlying illness is the shock of deflation – and a meteoric plunge in the standard of living. The social and political consequences of such a descent would threaten the very foundations of our political system, and tear the fabric of society apart: war, in such a circumstance, is a unifying factor, one that directs the energy and anger of the populace outward, at some fake foreign "enemy," rather than at the real enemy, which is right there in Washington, D.C.
In the face of this, the supposedly "anti-government" ideology of the Republican "tea party" would vanish overnight, and aside from criticizing the President for not prosecuting the war with sufficient militance, the GOP would line up behind the commander-in-chief. A new comity would come to Washington. Cut the budget? Not in wartime! The only way the Republicans are going to allow a tax hike, which the Obamaites have been yearning for – and which Occupy Wall Street supports in the form of a "transaction tax" – will be if they call it a "war tax," or a "kill the Muslims tax." Such a meeting of the minds is in the works.
As both parties march us off to war with Iran, the reality of who holds the power in this country comes ever clearer in focus: the "team of rivals" that binds the Obamaites to the Clintons also includes to the Republican party establishment when it comes to the question of war and peace. All these factions compete with each other in seeing how low they can kowtow to the Israel lobby: Pat Buchanan’s quip that Washington is "Israeli-occupied territory" is right on the mark.
The Zionist project of a "Greater Israel" faces two big obstacles: Hamas and Hezbollah, backed by Syria and Iran. The Syrians are being taken care of in other ways, but the Iranians are a harder nut to crack. The only hope is to drag the US into a military confrontation with Iran, and let our GIs fight and die for Israel. The question is how to sell this to the American people. Even if the Iranians were to be so foolish as to weaponize their nuclear capabilities – and there is no convincing evidence that they are doing so – this would hardly constitute a credible threat to the United States, or even to Israel. After all, the US faced off with a nuclear-armed Soviet Union, which had enough nukes to extinguish all life on the planet: and yet the stand off lasted throughout the cold war, which never did get hot enough to allow for a nuclear exchange. Both sides were deterred by the horrific consequences of their own weaponry, and the world escaped the worst case scenario.
Indeed, by this measure, a nuclear-armed Iran is hardly an "existential threat" to Israel. For the equalization of the military balance of power would result in a tense but lasting "peace," and eliminate the possibility that Israel – which does have nuclear weapons, and plenty of them – would use nukes against Iran or anyone else in the region, without fear of retaliation in kind.
Such logic, however, is alien to the Washington mindset, which cannot frame the question objectively and has lost all sight of American interests when it comes to the Middle East. This is the result of the distortion of the policymaking process, which has fallen under the undue influence of foreign lobbyists who serve Israel’s interests above all. This is why the issue of Israel’s nuclear arsenal – the single most destabilizing factor in the Middle East – never comes up in our discourse.
The Israel lobby is hell-bent on war, and is likely to get it: but they have to be careful. To launch such a project in the midst of a presidential election season is a risky business. They must do everything in their power to prevent the election from becoming a referendum on the war question, and the simplest way to do that is to make sure both major candidates are securely in the War Party’s camp. That’s the only way they can win: by rigging the outcome.
What’s needed is a mass mobilization against this administration’s war plans, but frankly I see little hope of such a movement arising. The left in this country is so tied to the Obama administration that such a development is highly unlikely to get off the ground, and the right – except for the Ron Paul brigades – is certain to line up in favor of military action in defense of Israel, which they love more than their own country.
In short, we are headed for disaster. As Bette Davis once put it: fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!
Read more by Justin Raimondo |
'Don't Sneak': Dad's Unexpected Advice To His Gay Son In The '50s
toggle caption Courtesy of Patrick Haggerty
This conversation was recorded as part of OutLoud — StoryCorps's initiative to collect LGBTQ stories across America.
In the 1950s in rural Washington, a teenage boy learned an important lesson about self-acceptance. Patrick Haggerty, now 70, didn't know he was gay at the time, but says his father knew what direction he was headed.
The conversation started because as a teenager Haggerty decided to perform in a school assembly. On their way there, he started covering his face with glitter — to his brother's horror. Haggerty says his brother dropped him off at school and then called their father.
"Dad, I think you better get up there," his brother said. "This is not going to look good."
Their father did come. Charles Edward Haggerty, a dairy farmer, showed up at the school in dirty farming jeans and boots. When Haggerty saw his dad in the halls, he hid.
"It wasn't because of what I was wearing," Haggerty says. "It was because of what he was wearing."
After the assembly, in the car ride home, Haggerty's father called him out on his attempt to hide.
"My father says to me, 'I was walking down the hall this morning, and I saw a kid that looked a lot like you ducking around the hall to avoid his dad. But I know it wasn't you, 'cause you would never do that to your dad,' " Haggerty recalls.
Haggerty squirmed in his seat and finally exclaimed, "Well, Dad, did you have to wear your cow-crap jeans to my assembly?"
"Look, everybody knows I'm a dairy farmer," his father replied. "This is who I am. Now, how 'bout you? When you're an adult, who are you gonna go out with at night?"
Then, he gave his son some advice:
"Now, I'm gonna tell you something today, and you might not know what to think of it now, but you're gonna remember when you're a full-grown man: Don't sneak. Because if you sneak, like you did today, it means you think you're doing the wrong thing. And if you run around spending your whole life thinking that you're doing the wrong thing, then you'll ruin your immortal soul."
"And out of all the things a father in 1959 could have told his gay son, my father tells me to be proud of myself and not sneak," Haggerty says.
"He knew where I was headed. And he knew that making me feel bad about it in any way was the wrong thing to do," he adds. "I had the patron saint of dads for sissies, and no, I didn't know at the time, but I know it now."
To hear Haggerty tell this story to his daughter, Robin Boland, click the audio link above. Audio produced for Morning Edition by Nadia Reiman. |
Fossils show ocean rise risk
AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY 15 JUL 2012
The researchers examined fossil corals around the world from the last interglacial period, and found sea level rise peaked at 5.5 to 9 metres when the poles were only 3-5 degrees higher than they are now. Image: Coldimages /iStockphoto
Sea levels may rise much higher than previously thought, according to scientists from The Australian National University, who have used fossil corals to understand how warmer temperatures in the past promoted dramatic melting of polar ice sheets.
Dr Andrea Dutton, formerly of the Research School of Earth Sciences (RSES) in the ANU College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, teamed up with Professor Kurt Lambeck of the RSES to analyse fossil corals around the world from the last interglacial period, 125,000 years ago.
They built an extensive database by compiling age and elevation data of fossil corals that live near the sea surface, and used a model to factor in the physics of how changing masses of ice sheets would affect regional sea level at the various fossil coral sites.
“In this way, we were able to account for the geographic variability in sea level observations from this time period and compute the highest point that average global sea level attained. The observations from the corals confirmed the sea level patterns that we predicted using the geophysical model,” she said.
They concluded that sea level during the last interglacial period peaked at 5.5 to 9 metres above present sea level.
“Sea level change – in the past, present, and future – is geographically variable and we must consider this variability to infer what the average global sea level was doing in the past. We observed 5.5 to 9 metres of sea level rise. To explain that, polar ice sheets must have melted: part of Greenland, most of the West Antarctic ice sheet, and perhaps some of the East Antarctic ice sheet. Our findings have important implications for future sea levels,” Dr Dutton said.
“For the period we studied, the poles were probably only 3 to 5 degrees warmer than present. That amount of polar warming is well within what we are predicted to reach this century. This implies that the polar ice sheets may be very sensitive to small increases in temperature.
“This magnitude of sea level rise – up to 9 metres – is obviously not going to happen overnight. But it could happen within a few centuries, so it is important to consider the long-term commitment we make in terms of total sea level rise when we talk about various targets and emission scenarios.
“Given the modest difference in temperature between our present climate and that of the last interglacial period, it is time to start thinking about the legacy we will leave for future generations with the choices we make today.”
The research is published in Science. A copy of the paper is available from the ANU media office.
Dr Andrea Dutton is currently based at University of Florida. The research was carried out at ANU, University of Florida and École Normale Supérieure in Paris. |
Renewable Energy Momentum Has Passed The Tipping Point
August 25th, 2014 by Daryl Elliott
By Daryl Elliott
SECTION I: Evidence of Advancing Renewables
This is a declaration that here in the ides of August, 2014, that there exists clear, overwhelmingly convincing evidence that we have passed the tipping point for change into the renewable energy era. This article discusses various aspects of evidence and metrics used for this conclusion plus some transition discussion.
From an article by Bob Wallace on CleanTechnica, renewable energy is starting to replace utility-sized fossil fuel and nuclear plants in the US as shown in this graph.
This is likely to accelerate over time because newly added renewables have a cumulative effect. This is to say that each new renewable installation will supplant the energy demand of the older model energy sources of oil, coal, gas and nuclear.
Let us investigate some of the aspects of this shift in momentum from historically traditional energy sources to renewable energy production.
Countries with High Electricity Production from Renewable Energy Sources
Iceland 100%: This is from hydroelectric and geothermal.
Norway 98%: Norway produces more energy than the country consumes. Much of this is due to hydroelectric power.
Paraguay 90%: This is from hydropower at Itaipu dam, which also provides 19% of Brazil’s electricity.
Canada 64%: Almost entirely hydropower.
Denmark 45%
Scotland 40%
Germany 31%: This is based on the first half of 2014.
Portugal 25%
Spain 22%
China 17%
United States 13%
Competing for Rich Revenue Streams
In the US, the most difficult first eighth is completed with many projects currently underway to get us closer to completing the 2nd eighth. We will then only need to repeat those accomplishments 3 more times to reach 100% renewable energy for our electricity demands. (Hydro is 2.8% in US.) In a very real sense, there is a rush to get a piece of this lucrative financial pie. The competition for these rich revenue streams has already begun.
7 Headlines that Point to the Future of Energy Production
Note: China’s insatiable appetite for oil might be drying up in the next decade or so due to this shift since their national energy plans includes EV. Its plan is to have roughly a third of its vehicles by 2020 EV and PHEV.
How Many Headlines Does it Take for a Convincing Argument?
How many headlines are needed to understand that the trend toward renewables is strong and sees no end in sight? If you need more evidence, no worries, as there are plenty more headlines out there, and more of them with further evidence seem to appear every week.
Renewables Represent a Better Model
All Renewables
Renewables are safe, domestically sourced, and virtually unlimited.
They offer energy independence from foreign cartels.
They keep our nation sovereign, surely a topic that conservatives in power would in principle support.
Renewables are based on market economy pricing, free from oligopolistic pricing schemes that manipulate historically traditional energy prices.
Reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases, bringing hope to future generations.
Reduce water use.
EV: The electric vehicle is a better automobile model. This is especially true as batteries improve to increase driving ranges. The reasons why it’s a better model is because:
EVs generate less pollution, even when their electrical energy is sourced from fossil fuel plants.
EVs are roughly $1,000 less per year to operate, reducing its cost of ownership.
EVs’ internal mechanics are simpler, which makes their maintenance easier and less expensive, again dropping the cost of ownership.
EVs reduce pollution in cities where vehicles are concentrated, improving air quality and reducing asthma and lung cancer heart disease
Wind Power:
Offers clean, inexpensive, domestic, renewable energy.
Highly efficient. One commercial wind turbine can equal 16,000 solar panels
Can be used for utility-scale generation or in small, democratic, commercial or residential units.
Typically doesn’t take up valuable space. The wind farms can be sited offshore or on farms where farmers can farm underneath the wind turbines.
On the webpage linked above, the state-by-state annual growth of wind power installations can be seen.
Solar Power:
Solar power is efficient, clean, renewable, cost competitive and domestic.
US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse claims that there are now more people working in the US solar industry than in the coal industry. Politifact.com substantiates his claim
Solar PV has had significant price reductions in the last half decade and installation soft costs are being reduced as well.
The historical lament by politicians about solar technology not being ready, intended to impede solar acceptance, is no longer working since solar power is a mature technology. This battle has been won.
Utility-scale plants are possible, and small democratic applications are springing up everywhere as is evidenced by the below map 12.
Geothermal: This is one of the easiest energy savers to implement. Residential and commercial building geothermal involves digging a well-designed hole in the ground, running some pipe through it, and hooking it up correctly to heat and cool buildings in winter and summer, respectively. This contributes to our ability to produce zero energy buildings. Geothermal also includes energy from hot springs and other earth heat sources.
LEED Building Standards (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design): Recently, I went on a private tour to see some zero-energy homes here in Las Vegas. Since the heat can get as high as 45C/115F, it’s not such an easy feat to claim zero-energy use here, but it’s being done without too much trouble. Prices have been gradually dropping for these energy-efficient building materials and they are being made more widely available.
Energy Star–certified windows have come down in price significantly from when they were first introduced. Their pricing is slightly higher than regular window pricing, but when taking into account the energy savings, they are less expensive in the long run.
In 2013, there were 4,642 total building projects certified globally by LEED. This represents 21.07 million square meters (226.8 million square feet). The significance of this is that newer buildings will require less energy per square meter. Appliances are becoming more efficient so that, as appliances wear out and are replaced, the efficiency increases in this arena as well.
Oil, Gas, Coal and Nuclear Represent an Inferior Model
Oil spills cause environmental devastation and can wreak havoc for decades.
Nuclear meltdown disasters endanger citizens, crops, oceans and the environment.
Fracking for gas produced an estimated 1.05992 trillion liters (280 billion gallons) waste water in 2012, much of it contained
Oil, coal and gas burn, which uses oxygen, causes air pollution, which is responsible for lung irritation ( asthma and lung cancer
Nuclear plants are built on waterways so they can use the water to cool the plants and this causes thermal pollution in our waterways and oceans, which may exacerbate melting ice caps (Ever put an ice cube in hot tea?).
Oil, gas, coal, and uranium are finite resources, not renewable, so they only provide short-term energy contributions.
Oil is partially imported, causing trade imbalance, national energy instability, and price manipulation risk.
Nuclear plants are designed to operate for only about 40 years and yet the site will take a very optimistic 60 years to decontaminate
Nuclear waste lasts 200 to 500 thousand years and there are no suitable, available repositories
Nuclear plant byproducts can be used for nuclear bombs causing a security threat.
Long ramp-up and construction costs.
Nuclear is extraordinarily highly capital intensive and uses enormous subsidies and loan guarantees, burdening the government unnecessarily.
Coal mining is dangerous to coal miners from cave-in dangers and lung disease risks.
Transporting nuclear waste causes risks to communities, plus there is terrorist interception danger.
Nuclear plants are terrorist targets adding to societal risk and added security costs.
Nuclear waste burdens placed on future generations are unfair and unnecessary.
This point is minor and was done mostly out of curiosity. We have long-existing energy industries and emerging renewable energy industries, so one might expect the historically traditional energy industries to have a significantly higher web search hit count, but renewable energies have roughly two-thirds as many search hits as the older energy industries.
Renewable Energy
Renewable Energy: 57.2 million hits
Solar Power: 140 million hits
Wind Power: 265 million hits
Electric Vehicles: 32 million hits
Hybrid Cars: 38.9 million hits
Fuel Cells: 21.4 million hits
Geothermal Energy: 2.8 million hits
LEED Building 19.6 million hits
Wave Energy: 25 million hits
Total: 601 million hits
Old Energy
Oil Energy: 72.9 million hits
Coal Energy: 114 million hits
Gas Energy: 659 million hits*
Nuclear Energy: 35.5 million hits
Total: 881 million hits
*There may be some methodologically unreliable skew associated with gas energy hits (might individual accounts somehow be counted for example).
Three Biggest Reasons Why There is a Shift to Renewables
1. People are making money with renewables. There is capitalist opportunity here.
2. These unlimited, renewable energy models make more sense than burning finite materials that pose many undue risks including energy instability, price volatility, price inflation, and pollution of the earth’s waters, ambient air, and upper atmosphere.
3. People are making money with renewables. There is capitalist opportunity here.
The Key Motivating Determinant
Interestingly, the reason why this trend will continue is simple. Capitalists want to make money. Sure, everyone wants to help the environment in the process, but if it weren’t profitable, it wouldn’t be happening. Here’s a capitalist metric that might be a bit surprising. The market cap for Tesla, which only sells EVs, is already $30.8 billion, while Ford, a 112-year-old blue chip stock firm, is $68 billion; and GM, also over a century old, is $54 billion. Tesla’s market cap is referred to as “market acceptance.” People are investing in this company because they believe it will provide a nice financial return.
Displacement March
The simple fact that there is a ton of money being poured into the renewable energy sector will continue to drive this growth. How far will it drive it? As far as it can be driven, which is to say until there is complete replacement of oil, coal, gas, and nuclear energy. This won’t happen overnight, but the march is inexorable. The writing is on the wall.
SECTION II: Tipping Point
How is the tipping point discovered? In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Tipping Point, he gives many examples of change from one modality or system to another. It’s not always obvious, but there are vegan bread crumbs to lead the way. Some, not all, of those indicators have been outlined in Section I. There is overwhelming evidence that we have passed the tipping point.
The Science of Tipping Points
According to the science of tipping points, yes, there is such a thing, the tipping points can be reached very quickly. Scientists at RPI claim that the tipping point can be as little as 10% adoption in the population. Polls show a high renewable energy favorability rating in the US population (and likewise in Europe). In the US, the rate is ~70% favorable over several polls.
The Favorability Percentage Doesn’t Matter
There is a key reason why this favorability percentage, while very high, is truly not that important. The reason is that capitalism is leading the way. People are making money with renewables. There is capitalist opportunity and companies are going after it in a big way.
Bringing People to Action
Bringing people in the state legislatures; Congress; and oil, coal, gas, and nuclear companies to take action on the evidence is another story. Climate disruption is an appropriate example to cite since the evidence is overwhelming yet the action has been little to date. For this to be an effective energy transition, it will take state and federal political will, and for corporations to take action.
SECTION III: Transition
Is there a way to make the transition velvet smooth? This section addresses a few ideas to reduce job disruption for workers, and to reduce revenue disruption for the oil, coal, gas and nuclear industries.
Tobacco Industry Lessons?
The tobacco industry has gone through significant change in the last 40 years; its response to its shrinking market has been defensive. Companies have consolidated for market position and have looked toward exports where there is reduced regulation. However, their case is different than this energy sector shift, so making any comparisons would be inappropriate, since tobacco’s US market is shrinking and the energy market is growing, but changing.
Redefinition, and Opportunity
In the energy world, no business is being lost, it is changing. The energy sector keeps growing. In other words, profits and jobs may be maintained in the historically traditional energy industries if there is awareness and leadership to embrace renewable energy models. Renewables are after all in the same market sector, with the only difference being the energy generation model.
Will segments of energy production shrink? Yes, oil and coal are seeing modest reductions now. This needn’t be a problem. The traditional energy firms have tremendous talent, leadership, cash reserves, and other resources in this arena, their arena, of energy production. To this extent, they have a huge head start over the emerging renewable energy firms. Will they capitalize on their strengths?
Some movement has already been made by historically traditional energy companies into the renewables field and more would be welcomed. Some of the wind energy is owned by oil money. Texas is the wind production leader by a factor exceeding 2 times over California and a significant portion of that is due to the oil industry. Another traditional energy firm that has become a wind energy leader, and a shining success in this transition, is General Electric.
Nuclear to Wind Turbines, Case Study
General Electric built the first commercial nuclear plant 55 years ago and has built about 100 of them in 13 countries. GE has been one of the largest nuclear construction companies. It has also been building wind turbines, lots of them. With over 16,500 of them in operation, GE has the most widely-deployed wind turbine count in the industry.
General Electric gets an A for embracing renewables. Its shareholders should be proud of its leadership. It has not abandoned the nuclear industry opportunity, it have expanded into renewables. Are you a shareholder of an oil, coal, gas, or other nuclear company? What are its executives doing to take advantage of the renewables opportunity? Are they embracing the future, or clinging to the past?
Coal Mines to Utility-scale Solar, Case Study
Three coal mine sites have been converted to utility-scale solar plants in the UK. It has been done in this instance and it can be done more easily the second time since a successful model is already in place.
Transition to Preserve Jobs and Revenue Streams
It is my hope that oil, coal, gas, and nuclear companies will partner with solar and wind companies or create independent spin-offs to bring jobs to coal and oil states. There is no need for retracting business segments to lose revenue for the firms in those segments or for jobs to be lost for the loyal employees… if renewable energy projects are started. The time to prepare is now to shift orientation to renewables.
Coal States — Jobs and Corporate and Tax Revenue
It’s time for the governors and other legislators in the big coal mine states of WV, PA, OH, KY, IN, IL, TN, and AL to start working to transition workers into clean energy jobs. Leadership is needed to forge the way. Attracting green jobs or working with existing energy companies to maintain jobs in states may require some transition to renewables. Politicians assisting traditional energy firms to transition to renewables with existing incentives would protect jobs and thus tax revenues.
What Can Readers Do to Facilitate this Transition?
Readers could, if you think it makes sense, contact legislators, governors and members of Congress. Political leadership is needed to avert any disruption of jobs or corporate or tax revenue. If you are a shareholder of a traditional energy company, you can bring up these topics at shareholder meetings. For firms that do not transition, you can divest their stock over time as transitions do take time.
Conclusion: Disruptive Technology Provides Opportunity
The disruptive technology of renewable energy is changing the planet, one project at a time, one EV at a time, one wind turbine at a time, one rooftop PV project at a time. This offers a streams-of-cash-flow opportunity stretching into the future. Jobs and revenue can be added, not lost. The time to act is now. |
The final week of October marked a major step forward in Austin’s quest to find a new city manager, as City Council began interviewing candidates recommended by its hired search firm.
It has been over a year since former City Manager Marc Ott moved to Washington, D.C., for a new job after eight years as Austin’s top executive. Although officials anticipated the process of finding a new city manager would take six months, city leaders now say they are confident Austin will operate under a permanent city manager by the start of 2018.
This follows a long process that began with an unexpected two-month delay in hiring a search firm after disagreements on the council dais. Along the way the city decided to keep the process confidential from the public, formed a citizen-led task force to weigh in on the candidate’s profile and relied on a third-party firm to bring forth qualified candidates.
Soon after Ott announced his tenure would end, the city brought on Austin Chief Financial Officer Elaine Hart as an interim replacement. Since her term as City Hall’s top executive began in September 2016, Hart has overseen an entire management cycle, which has included fulfilling several council directives and passing the fiscal year 2017-18 budget.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler said although instability at the city manager position could have a negative impact, Hart’s performance in the role has helped maintain the city’s path forward. However, Adler said he looks forward to hiring a permanent city manager.
“[A permanent city manager] will provide long-term, stable leadership,” Adler said, “especially as far as personnel and policy recommendations go.”
The city has delayed several executive hires until a permanent city manager is in place. This has resulted in a long list of vacancies, highlighted by the chief of police, which has been filled in the interim by Assistant Chief Brian Manley since former Chief Art Acevedo took over as Houston’s chief in November.
“It is vital that the city manager and the police chief have a strong relationship,” Hart said. “I believe it is in the best interest of the city to leave the hiring of a police chief to our next city manager.”
Although Hart initially said she did not want to be considered for the permanent role, her reputation as a capable leader has grown within City Hall. Earlier in October the city employees union—American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees—sent a letter to Adler endorsing Hart as the pick for permanent city manager.
“Despite the vacancy, the city’s workforce has continued to thrive under the leadership of Ms. Hart,” wrote Carol Guthrie, business manager of AFSCME Local 1624. “We believe this is, in large part, due to the fact that Ms. Hart is an established member of the Austin community as well as a trusted and familiar presence at City Hall. For the sake of continuity and stability, which this workforce and community desperately need, we urge you to consider Ms. Hart for the permanent position of city manager.” RELATED ‘Déjà vu’ as Austin City Council approves major Red River Street realignment to make way for new UT arena, potentially preserve Lions Municipal Golf Course Red River Street will revert back to its pre-1974 alignment, by shifting east between 12th and 15th streets, and shifting... >
Since the process will remain under wraps, no one at the city would confirm or deny whether Hart was being considered for the position. According to an official timeline released by search firm Russell Reynolds & Associates, City Council will conduct candidate interviews through mid-November with a final selection expected by the end of the month. The council will vote on the hire by mid-December. |
It’s a bizarre scourge afflicting editors and writers, casual readers, and pretty much anyone pondering a word for any length of time. Consider the word flower. F-l-o-w-e-r. Flowers. The flower in the field. The flower in the grass. Flower. Flower. Flower.
… F-l-o-w-e-r?!
Did the word just kind of disintegrate before your eyes? Become strange, incomprehensible, or a meaningless string of letters? If so, what just happened to you is nothing new. The phenomenon was first described in The American Journal of Psychology in 1907:
If a printed word is looked at steadily for some little time, it will be found to take on a curiously strange and foreign aspect. This loss of familiarity in its appearance sometimes makes it look like a word in another language, sometimes proceeds further until the word is a mere collection of letters, and occasionally reaches the extreme where the letters themselves look like meaningless marks on the paper.
Or, as Urban Dictionary succinctly describes the situation: “When you say a word so much it starts to sound fu**ing weird.”
Over the years, this mental literary fail has gone by many names: work decrement, extinction, reminiscence, verbal transformation. But the best known and recognized term is "semantic satiation."
Leon James, a professor of psychology at the University of Hawaii’s College of Social Sciences, coined the term in 1962. In James’ doctoral thesis on the subject at McGill University, he conducted a variety of experiments to explore how the concept affects thinking.
“It’s a kind of a fatigue,” James, now 77, says. “It’s called reactive inhibition: When a brain cell fires, it takes more energy to fire the second time, and still more the third time, and finally the fourth time it won’t even respond unless you wait a few seconds. So that kind of reactive inhibition that was known as an effect on brain cells is what attracted me to an idea that if you repeat a word, the meaning in the word keeps being repeated, and then it becomes refractory, or more resistant to being elicited again and again.”
According to James, any word can fall prey to semantic satiation, but the amount of time before words begin to lose meaning can vary. For example, words that elicit strong dramatic connotations or emotions—think explosion—can seem to lack the satiation effect because your brain focuses on and cycles through other associations with the word, lessening an otherwise speedy pathway to bewilderment. And as the stimulus is presented again and again, you get more resistant to the stimuli. James recalled an early study that presented a sleeping cat with a tone. The cat immediately woke up. But as they played the tone again and again, the cat took a little longer to wake up each time, until it just kept on sleeping. But when the tone was varied slightly, the cat immediately sprung into action.
Over the years, James’s work has also showed that semantic satiation is more than just a perplexing plight for readers. One experiment he conducted sought to explore whether semantic satiation could be used to lessen stuttering. James had an assistant call on the phone a study participant who stuttered—creating a situation designed to increase anxiety for the subject because verbal cues and other in-person elements can’t be used to assist communication—and speak for one minute. Ten minutes later, the assistant called again for another minute. The assistant repeated the cycle a total of 10 times throughout the day. James says the goal was to induce semantic satiation in the stuttering participant related to the emotion of the stress-inducing phone call. And he says it worked.
James also explored music. He studied pop charts, and found that the songs that came onto the charts fastest—and thus received the most concentrated amount of airtime—were the ones that left the charts altogether the fastest. The songs that slowly climbed the charts to the top position went out just as slowly, fading away versus burning out.
But why do we even like to listen to a song more than once? To take a deeper dive into the notion of semantic satiation in music, consider the chorus. As Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, director of the Music Cognition Lab at the University of Arkansas, writes on Aeon, semantic satiation plays a key role in song lyrics. Due to the repetition of choruses, the words and phrases become “satiated” and lose their meaning—and no longer really register as words.
“The simple act of repetition makes a new way of listening possible, a more direct confrontation with the sensory attributes of the word itself," Margulis writes. "This is precisely the way that repetition in music works to make the nuanced, expressive elements of the sound increasingly available, and to make a participatory tendency—a tendency to move or sing along—more irresistible.”
While James has since turned his attention to such topics as road rage, semantic satiation is still analyzed today across a variety of disciplines. Artists have explored the concept. The curious (but sadly defunct) Semantic Satiation Twitter bot tweeted about it. Marketers are rethinking their sales ploys thanks to the concept. One timely example is “Black Friday Malady.” Thanks to overuse, “Black Friday” is no longer the valuable hook it once was. We’ve repeated it so much that it is now as indistinct as the packages of generic Wal-Mart string cheese that you storm past on your way to brawl over a half-price vegetable steamer at 3 a.m.
Yes, the phenomenon is odd. But stranger things have happened. After all, consider that this is a real, grammatically correct sentence: “Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo.” Just say it before the semantic satiation kicks in. |
Bed bugs are a type of insect that feed on human blood, usually at night.[7] Their bites can result in a number of health effects including skin rashes, psychological effects and allergic symptoms.[5] Bed bug bites may lead to skin changes ranging from invisible to prominent blisters.[1] Symptoms may take between minutes to days to appear.[2] Itchiness is common, while some may feel tired or have a fever.[2] Typically, uncovered areas of the body are affected and three bites occur in a row.[2] Bed bugs bites are not known to transmit any infectious disease.[5][7]
Bed bug bites are caused primarily by two species of the insect Cimex: Cimex lectularius (the common bed bug) and Cimex hemipterus.[3] Their size ranges between 1 and 7 mm.[7] They spread by crawling between nearby locations or by being carried within personal items.[2] Infestation is rarely due to a lack of hygiene but is more common in high-density areas.[8][2] Diagnosis involves both finding the bugs and the occurrence of compatible symptoms.[5] Bed bugs spend much of their time in dark, hidden locations like mattress seams or cracks in the wall.[2]
Treatment is symptomatic.[2] Eliminating bed bugs from the home is often difficult, partly because bed bugs can survive up to a year without feeding.[2] Repeated treatments of a home may be required.[2] These treatments may include heating the room to 50 °C (122 °F) for more than 90 minutes, frequent vacuuming, washing clothing at high temperatures, and the use of various pesticides.[2]
Bed bugs occur in all regions of the globe.[7] Rates of infestations are relatively common, following an increase since the 1990s.[3][4][6] The exact causes of this increase is unclear; with proposals including greater travel, more frequent exchange of second-hand furnishings, a greater focus on control of other pests, and increasing resistance to pesticides.[4] Bed bugs have been known human parasites for thousands of years.[2]
Signs and symptoms [ edit ]
Bedbug bites
Bedbug bites
Skin [ edit ]
Individual responses to bites vary, ranging from no visible effect (in about 20–70%),[5][3] to small macular spots, to prominent wheals and bullae formations along with intense itching that may last several days.[5] The bites often occur in a line. A central spot of bleeding may also occur due to the release of anticoagulants in the bug's saliva.[4]
Symptoms may not appear until some days after the bites have occurred.[5] Reactions often become more brisk after multiple bites due to possible sensitization to the salivary proteins of the bed bug.[3] The skin reaction usually occurs in the area of the bite which is most commonly the arms, shoulders and legs as they are more frequently exposed at night.[5] Numerous bites may lead to an erythematous rash or urticaria.[5]
Psychological [ edit ]
Serious infestations and chronic attacks can cause anxiety, stress, and insomnia.[5] Development of refractory delusional parasitosis is possible, as a person develops an overwhelming obsession with bed bugs.[9]
Other [ edit ]
A number of other symptoms may occur from either the bite of the bed bugs or from their exposure. Anaphylaxis from the injection of serum and other nonspecific proteins has been rarely documented.[5][10] Due to each bite taking a tiny amount of blood, chronic or severe infestation may lead to anemia.[5] Bacterial skin infection may occur due to skin break down from scratching.[5][11] Systemic poisoning may occur if the bites are numerous.[12] Exposure to bed bugs may trigger an asthma attack via the effects of airborne allergens although evidence of this association is limited.[5] There is no evidence that bed bugs transmit infectious diseases[5][7] even though they appear physically capable of carrying pathogens and this possibility has been investigated.[5][3] The bite itself may be painful thus resulting in poor sleep and worse work performance.[5]
Similar to humans, pets can also be bitten by bed bugs. The signs left by the bites are the same as in case of people and cause identical symptoms (skin irritation, scratching etc).[citation needed]
Insect [ edit ]
An adult bed bug is about 4 to 5 mm long
Bed bug infestations are primarily the result of two species of insects from genus Cimex: Cimex lectularius (the common bed bug) and Cimex hemipterus.[3] These insects feed exclusively on blood and may survive a year without eating.[3] Adult Cimex are light brown to reddish-brown, flat, oval, and have no hind wings. The front wings are vestigial and reduced to pad-like structures. Adults grow to 4–5 mm (0.16–0.20 in) long and 1.5–3 mm (0.059–0.118 in) wide.
Bed bugs have five immature nymph life stages and a final sexually mature adult stage.[13] They shed their skins through ecdysis at each stage, discarding their outer exoskeleton.[14] Newly hatched nymphs are translucent, lighter in color, and become browner as they moult and reach maturity. Bed bugs may be mistaken for other insects, such as booklice, small cockroaches, or carpet beetles; however, when warm and active, their movements are more ant-like, and like most other true bugs, they emit a characteristic disagreeable odor when crushed.
Bed bugs are obligatory bloodsuckers. They have mouth parts that saw through the skin, and inject saliva with anticoagulants and painkillers. Sensitivity of humans varies from extreme allergic reaction to no reaction at all (about 20%). The bite usually produces a swelling with no red spot, but when many bugs feed on a small area, reddish spots may appear after the swelling subsides.[15] Bedbugs prefer exposed skin, preferably the face, neck, and arms of a sleeping person.
Bed bugs are attracted to their hosts primarily by carbon dioxide, secondarily by warmth, and also by certain chemicals.[4][16][17][18] Cimex lectularius only feeds every five to seven days, which suggests that it does not spend the majority of its life searching for a host. When a bed bug is starved, it leaves its shelter and searches for a host. It returns to its shelter after successful feeding or if it encounters exposure to light.[19] Cimex lectularius aggregate under all life stages and mating conditions. Bed bugs may choose to aggregate because of predation, resistance to desiccation, and more opportunities to find a mate. Airborne pheromones are responsible for aggregations.[20]
Spread [ edit ]
Infestation is rarely caused by a lack of hygiene.[8] Transfer to new places is usually in the personal items of the human they feed upon.[3] Dwellings can become infested with bed bugs in a variety of ways, such as:
Bugs and eggs inadvertently brought in from other infested dwellings on a visiting person's clothing or luggage;
Infested items (such as furniture especially beds or couches, clothing, or backpacks) brought in a home or business;
Proximity of infested dwellings or items, if easy routes are available for travel, e.g. through ducts or false ceilings;
Wild animals (such as bats or birds) [21] [22] that may also harbour bed bugs or related species such as the bat bug;
that may also harbour bed bugs or related species such as the bat bug; People visiting an infested area (e.g. dwelling, means of transport, entertainment venue, or lodging) and carrying the bugs to another area on their clothing, luggage, or bodies. Bedbugs are increasingly found in air travel.[23]
Though bed bugs will opportunistically feed on pets, they do not live or travel on the skin of their hosts, and pets are not believed to be a factor in their spread.[24]
Diagnosis [ edit ]
A definitive diagnosis of health effects due to bed bugs requires a search for and finding of the insect in the sleeping environment as symptoms are not sufficiently specific.[5] Bed bugs classically form a line of bites colloquially referred to as "breakfast, lunch, and dinner" and rarely feed in the armpit or behind the knee which may help differentiate it from other biting insects.[4] If the number in a house is large a pungent sweet odor may be described.[4] There are specially trained dogs that can detect this smell.[2]
Detection [ edit ]
Bed bugs can exist singly, but tend to congregate once established. Although strictly parasitic, they spend only a tiny fraction of their lifecycles physically attached to hosts. Once a bed bug finishes feeding, it relocates to a place close to a known host, commonly in or near beds or couches in clusters of adults, juveniles, and eggs—which entomologists call harborage areas or simply harborages to which the insect returns after future feedings by following chemical trails. These places can vary greatly in format, including luggage, inside of vehicles, within furniture, among bedside clutter—even inside electrical sockets and nearby laptop computers. Bed bugs may also nest near animals that have nested within a dwelling, such as bats, birds,[22] or rodents. They are also capable of surviving on domestic cats and dogs, though humans are the preferred host of C. lectularius.[25]
Bed bugs can also be detected by their characteristic smell of rotting raspberries.[26] Bed bug detection dogs are trained to pinpoint infestations, with a possible accuracy rate between 11% and 83%.[6] Homemade detectors have been developed.[27][28]
Differential diagnosis [ edit ]
Other possible conditions with which these conditions can be confused include scabies, gamasoidosis, allergic reactions, mosquito bites, spider bites, chicken pox and bacterial skin infections.[5]
Prevention [ edit ]
To prevent bringing bed bugs to one's own home, travelers are advised to take precautions after visiting an infested site: generally, these include checking shoes on leaving the site, changing clothes in a garage before returning to their home, and putting the used clothes in a clothes dryer outside the house. When visiting a new lodging, it is advised to check the bed before taking suitcases into the sleeping area and putting the suitcase on a raised stand to make bedbugs less able to crawl in. "An extreme measure would be putting the suitcase in the tub." Clothes should be hung up or left in the suitcase, and never left on the floor.[29] The founder of a company dedicated to bedbug extermination said that 5% of hotel rooms he books into were infested. He advised people never to sit down on public transport; check office chairs, plane seats and hotel mattresses, and monitor and vacuum home beds once a month.[30]
Management [ edit ]
Treatment requires keeping the person from being repeatedly bitten and possible symptomatic use of antihistamines and corticosteroids (either topically or systemically).[5] There however is no evidence that medications improve outcomes and symptoms usually resolve without treatment in 1–2 weeks.[3][4]
Avoiding repeated bites can be difficult, since it usually requires eradicating bed bugs from a home or workplace; eradication frequently requires a combination of pesticide and non-pesticide approaches.[3] Pesticides that have historically been found to be effective include pyrethroids, dichlorvos and malathion.[4] Resistance to pesticides has increased significantly over time and there are concerns of negative health effects from their usage.[3] Mechanical approaches such as vacuuming up the insects and heat-treating or wrapping mattresses have been recommended.[3]
Once established, bed bugs are extremely difficult to get rid of.[3] This frequently requires a combination of nonpesticide approaches and the use of insecticides.[3][4]
Mechanical approaches, such as vacuuming up the insects and heat-treating or wrapping mattresses, are effective.[3][6] An hour at a temperature of 45 °C (113 °F) or over, or two hours at less than −17 °C (1 °F) kills them.[6] This may include a domestic clothes drier for fabric or a commercial steamer. Bed bugs and their eggs will die on contact when exposed to surface temperatures above 180 °F (82 °C) and a steamer can reach well above 230 °F (110 °C).[31][15] A study found 100% mortality rates for bed bugs exposed to temperatures greater than 50 °C (122 °F) for more than 2 minutes. The study recommended maintaining temperatures of above 48 °C (118 °F) for more than 20 min to effectively kill all life stages of bed bugs, and because in practice treatment times of 6 to 8 hours are used to account for cracks and indoor clutter.[32] This method is expensive and has caused fires.[6][15] Starving them is not effective as they can survive without eating for 100 to 300 days, depending on temperature.[6] One expert recommends not trying to get rid of bed bugs exclusively on one's own.[29]
It was stated in 2012 that no truly effective insecticides were available.[6] Insecticides that have historically been found effective include pyrethroids, dichlorvos, and malathion.[4] Resistance to pesticides has increased significantly over time, and harm to health from their use is of concern.[3] The carbamate insecticide propoxur is highly toxic to bed bugs, but it has potential toxicity to children exposed to it, and the US Environmental Protection Agency has been reluctant to approve it for indoor use.[33] Boric acid, occasionally applied as a safe indoor insecticide, is not effective against bed bugs[34] because they do not groom.[35]
Epidemiology [ edit ]
Bed bugs occur around the world.[36] Before the 1950s about 30% of houses in the United States had bedbugs.[2] Rates of infestations in developed countries, while decreasing from the 1930s to the 1980s, have increased dramatically since the 1980s.[3][4][36] Before the 1980s they were common in the developing world but rare in the developed world.[4] The increase in the developed world may have been caused by increased international travel, resistance to insecticides, and the use of new pest-control methods that do not affect bed bugs.[37]
The exact causes of this resurgence remain unclear; it is variously ascribed to greater foreign travel, increased immigration from the developing world to the developed world, more frequent exchange of second-hand furnishings among homes, a greater focus on control of other pests, resulting in neglect of bed bug countermeasures, and increasing resistance to pesticides.[4][38] Declines in household cockroach populations that have resulted from the use of insecticides effective against this major bed bug predator have aided the bed bugs' resurgence, as have bans on DDT and other potent pesticides.[39][medical citation needed]
The fall in bed bug populations after the 1930s in the developed world is believed to be partly due to the use of DDT to kill cockroaches.[40] The invention of the vacuum cleaner and simplification of furniture design may have also played a role.[40] Others believe it might simply be the cyclical nature of the organism.[41]
The common bed bug (C. lectularius) is the species best adapted to human environments. It is found in temperate climates throughout the world. Other species include Cimex hemipterus, found in tropical regions, which also infests poultry and bats, and Leptocimex boueti, found in the tropics of West Africa and South America, which infests bats and humans. Cimex pilosellus and Cimex pipistrella primarily infest bats, while Haematosiphon inodora, a species of North America, primarily infests poultry.[42]
Resurgence [ edit ]
Bed bug infestations have resurged since the 1980s[43] for reasons that are not clear, but contributing factors may be complacency, increased resistance, bans on pesticides, and increased international travel.[44] The U.S. National Pest Management Association reported a 71% increase in bed bug calls between 2000 and 2005.[45] The number of reported incidents in New York City alone rose from 500 in 2004 to 10,000 in 2009.[46] In 2013, Chicago was listed as the number 1 city in the United States with the worst bed bug infestation.[47] As a result, the Chicago City Council passed a bed bug control ordinance to limit their spread. Additionally, bed bugs are reaching places in which they never established before, such as southern South America.[48][49]
History [ edit ]
1870s–1890s advertisement for a bed bug exterminator. It reads "Use Getz cockroach and bed bug exterminators, sold by all druggists."
A. Intestines – B. Antenna of the male – C. Eye – D. Haustellum, or sucker, closed – E. Side view of sucker – F. Under part of head – G. Under lip – GG. Hair of the tube, and outside cases – H. Egg-bag – I. Larva emerging from the eggs 1860 engraving of bed bug parts:. Intestines –. Antenna of the male –. Eye –. Haustellum, or sucker, closed –. Side view of sucker –. Under part of head –. Under lip –. Hair of the tube, and outside cases –. Egg-bag –. Larva emerging from the eggs
Cimex lectularius may have originated in the Middle East in caves inhabited by bats and humans.[50]
Bed bugs were mentioned in ancient Greece as early as 400 BC, and were later mentioned by Aristotle. Pliny's Natural History, first published circa AD 77 in Rome, claimed bed bugs had medicinal value in treating ailments such as snake bites and ear infections. (Belief in the medicinal use of bed bugs persisted until at least the 18th century, when Guettard recommended their use in the treatment of hysteria.[51])
Bed bugs were first mentioned in Germany in the 11th century, in France in the 13th century, and in England in 1583,[50] though they remained rare in England until 1670. Some in the 18th century believed bed bugs had been brought to London with supplies of wood to rebuild the city after the Great Fire of London (1666). Giovanni Antonio Scopoli noted their presence in Carniola (roughly equivalent to present-day Slovenia) in the 18th century.[52][53]
Traditional methods of repelling and/or killing bed bugs include the use of plants, fungi, and insects (or their extracts), such as black pepper;[54] black cohosh (Actaea racemosa); Pseudarthria hookeri; Laggera alata (Chinese yángmáo cǎo | 羊毛草);[15] Eucalyptus saligna oil;[55][56] henna (Lawsonia inermis or camphire);[57] "infused oil of Melolontha vulgaris" (presumably cockchafer); fly agaric (Amanita muscaria); tobacco; "heated oil of Terebinthina" (i.e. true turpentine); wild mint (Mentha arvensis); narrow-leaved pepperwort (Lepidium ruderale); Myrica spp. (e.g. bayberry); Robert geranium (Geranium robertianum); bugbane (Cimicifuga spp.); "herb and seeds of Cannabis"; "opulus" berries (possibly maple or European cranberrybush); masked hunter bugs (Reduvius personatus), "and many others".[58]
In the mid-19th century, smoke from peat fires was recommended as an indoor domestic fumigant against bed bugs.[59]
Dusts have been used to ward off insects from grain storage for centuries, including plant ash, lime, dolomite, certain types of soil, and diatomaceous earth or Kieselguhr.[60] Of these, diatomaceous earth in particular has seen a revival as a nontoxic (when in amorphous form) residual pesticide for bed bug abatement. While diatomaceous earth performed poorly, silica gel may be effective.[61][62]
Basket-work panels were put around beds and shaken out in the morning in the UK and in France in the 19th century. Scattering leaves of plants with microscopic hooked hairs around a bed at night, then sweeping them up in the morning and burning them, was a technique reportedly used in Southern Rhodesia and in the Balkans.[63]
Bean leaves have been used historically to trap bedbugs in houses in Eastern Europe. The trichomes on the bean leaves capture the insects by impaling the feet (tarsi) of the insects. The leaves are then destroyed.[64]
20th century [ edit ]
Prior to the mid-20th century, bed bugs were very common. According to a report by the UK Ministry of Health, in 1933, all the houses in many areas had some degree of bed bug infestation.[65] The increase in bed bug populations in the early 20th century has been attributed to the advent of electric heating, which allowed bed bugs to thrive year-round instead of only in warm weather.[66]
Bed bugs were a serious problem at US military bases during World War II.[67] Initially, the problem was solved by fumigation, using Zyklon Discoids that released hydrogen cyanide gas, a rather dangerous procedure.[67] Later, DDT was used to good effect.[67]
The decline of bed bug populations in the 20th century is often credited to potent pesticides that had not previously been widely available.[44] Other contributing factors that are less frequently mentioned in news reports are increased public awareness and slum clearance programs that combined pesticide use with steam disinfection, relocation of slum dwellers to new housing, and in some cases also follow-up inspections for several months after relocated tenants moved into their new housing.[66]
Society and culture [ edit ]
The rise in infestations has been hard to track because bed bugs are not an easily identifiable problem and is one that people prefer not to discuss. Most of the reports are collected from pest-control companies, local authorities, and hotel chains.[65] Therefore, the problem may be more severe than is currently believed.[68]
Bed bugs are an increasing cause for litigation.[69] Courts have, in some cases, exacted large punitive damage judgments on some hotels.[70][71][72] Many of New York City's Upper East Side home owners have been afflicted, but they tend to be silent publicly in order not to ruin their property values and be seen as suffering a blight typically associated with the lower classes.[73]
"Good night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite", is a saying some people recite before they go to sleep. [74]
Bed bug secretions can inhibit the growth of some bacteria and fungi; antibacterial components from the bed bug could be used against human pathogens, and be a source of pharmacologically active molecules as a resource for the discovery of new drugs. [75]
The Bedbug (Russian: Клоп, Klop) is a play by Vladimir Mayakovsky written in 1928-1929.
References [ edit ] |
LONDON, October 2, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --
London-based Nebeus.com – a crypto-currency platform enabling customers to buy, sell, store, remit, lend and borrow crypto-currency funds – is launching a pre-ICO campaign to fund its ambitious plans.
Developed over the last three years, the company currently operates as a crypto-currency wallet, allowing consumers to buy, remit, loan, borrow and exchange. They are also proud to have recently joined LEVEL39 – the world's most connected community for finance, cybersecurity, retail and smart-city technology businesses.
Nebeus' strategic goal? To develop an open eco-system allowing the consumption and creation of financial services and products based on blockchain and smart contracts, in a secure, transparent and convenient environment.
Having raised over £1.5M GBP in private funding in previous years, the company wants to open up its platform to third-party developers; creating a 'supermarket' of financial products and services based on blockchain and smart contracts, while providing full transparency and security as it serves individual, corporate and developer communities.
Nebeus' co-founder, Konstantin Zaripov, says:
"We will open our API, create an SDK and a library of smart contracts; enabling creation of value-added services, based on blockchain and smart contracts".
Adding, of the ICO itself:
"One of the key features will be a peer-to-peer lending platform where those choosing to invest in crypto-currency will be able to use it as collateral against, say, a loan. Thus minimising lender risk and costs. Both consumer and corporate clients will be able to benefit from this feature."
Nebeus' ultimate vision is to create a financial eco-system where those who add value are rewarded, and those who consume services and products, can do so in a competitive and secure environment, based on technology and financial regulations.
Find more about the Nebeus ICO: www.nebeus.com/ico
Download the Whitepaper: www.nebeus.com/ico/whitepaper
About Nebeus:
Nebeus is a crypto-currency platform bringing together crypto-currency opportunities with a standard bank service.
It enables customers to buy, sell, store, remit, lend and borrow crypto-currency funds.
Work on the Nebeus Platform began in 2014, and has gone from strength to strength, with offices in both London and Barcelona .
The Nebeus team strives to deliver a convenient, client-oriented service that can continue to meet the demands and challenges of the ever-evolving crypto-currency market – all while being low-cost and highly efficient.
The Nebeus vision
develop an open eco-system that allows for the creation and adoption of financial services and products
facilitate a secure, transparent and convenient environment
simplify the adoption and development of financial products based on blockchain and smart contracts technology
Media Contact:
Oliver Johnson
Nebeus.com
Level 39
One Canada Square
London E14 5AB
United Kingdom
Tel: + 44-(0)-203-948-6052
Email: [email protected]
View original content with multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/london-based-fin-tech-platform-nebeus-championing-banks-as-public-utilities-launches-pre-ico-campaign-300528431.html
SOURCE Nebeus |
In 1987, Apple created a program called HyperCard. If you haven’t heard of it, all you need to know is that tens of millions of end user programmers adopted it. HyperCard was the easiest and most popular end user programming environment ever created.
LiveCode is like a next generation version of HyperCard. It is used to create simple one-off apps and utilities to solve day-to-day problems. As a production-quality, natural language hypermedia environment, LiveCode runs on all major operating systems (Linux, Mac, and Windows) and can generate code for all major desktop platforms, as well as all major mobile platforms (Android, iOS). They even got it up and running on the Raspberry Pi recently.
I want LiveCode in my classroom. More importantly, I want the tool to be free, and to ship on every single copy of Ubuntu and Fedora that goes out the door. Countless millions of kids have access to computers, but the fact is, the programming environments they have access to are difficult from a teaching and learning perspective.
Find out more and help make it free at the LiveCode Kickstarter page.
The ghost of HyperCard's past
HyperCard was a pioneering hypermedia system, full stop. Running on the Apple ][ GS (16-bit, 246K RAM, 2.8MHz, an Arduino Mega will win on most benchmarks, for reference), HyperCard gave students and professionals alike the opportunity to build rich, interactive media applications, personal databases, and all manner of interactive, card-based systems.
HyperTalk, the programming language of HyperCard, was an object-oriented language with an English-like syntax. You could say things like:
put a copy of MattJadud in CryoStorage
And a copy of the MattJadud object would be made and inserted into the CryoStorage object. Year 3000, here I come!
The ghost of HyperCard's present
Today, you'd be hard pressed to use HyperCard. Despite being a powerful multimedia authoring system, it only runs on Apple's OS9, and even then, only under the open source SheepShaver PowerMac emulator. Although I have experience writing software, teaching computer science at the college level, and am incredibly good looking, I have to admit: setting up and maintaining a PowerPC emulator so I can use HyperCard sounds like work, and worse, it isn't something I can use for teaching. That is, I cannot use a stack like that for teaching my students introductory programming.
So, while HyperCard can live (kinda like a head in a jar), it isn't a piece of software I'm prepared to call alive.
Enter LiveCode.
The possibility of HyperCard's future
RunRev is a software house based in Edinburgh, Scotland. (A beautiful city, by the way.) They're looking to rearchitect and release their flagship product, LiveCode, as a free and open application. They launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund this effort, and are close, but not close enough, to clear the hurdle.
Now, you can moan about how you think they should just fund all the effort out of their own pocket, and you can wibble about whether or not all the platforms they're targeting are truly free and open, but here's the bottom line from a computing educator's point of view:
LiveCode is a far more capable and interesting programming environment than everything else out there. (OK, that's flamebait. Scratch is amazing.) I want this tool to be free, so every copy of Ubuntu out there can run LiveCode. Fedora, obviously, should beat them to the punch, and be shipping it in the next release. Every kid in every school around the world should have access to this.
Please don't try and tell me that IDLE is amazing, or that PyGame is great for teaching people how to program: I do it for a living. And don't waste your time telling me how Processing or the Arduino environments are the bee's knees: Java and C are extremely difficult languages to teach to first-time programmers. Scratch is the bomb, but it only takes you so far. LiveCode is an environment that students could graduate to, from Scratch, and go on to do some really amazing things. |
The collection covers a range of topics from the city’s historical development to the nearest public barbecue spot.
Regularly updated and practically exhaustive, Amsterdam’s visual data archive is the sort of resource many other cities would love to have. Need to locate your nearest disabled parking space, public barbecue spot, or gay bar? The city has some maps for you. If you’re curious as to where in the city has the highest soil quality, the most vacant offices, or the ideal breeding grounds for certain types of bird, you’ll find the graphics to help you out. Put together over the last four years by mapper and geographer Klaas-Bindert de Haan,* the archive is a constant work-in-progress. The latest map, showing waste disposal points for paper, glass, plastic, and textiles, was uploaded earlier this summer. But while much information is practical (and largely in Dutch), the archive is also a fascinating resource for history buffs and urbanists. Below are four maps that show the breadth of topics covered in the archive. While we can only provide screenshots in this post because the maps cannot be embedded, a link is provided to the actual maps so that you can explore the city’s various dimensions on your own.
Amsterdam’s historical development (City of Amsterdam) This map visualizes the city’s historical development and is a good example of the level of detail the archives offers. Charting the city’s development from 1600 onwards, it shows Amsterdam staying almost completely within the limits reached during its 17th-century Golden Age until the late 19th century, when it finally busts out of its inner canal ring and starts to gobble up the surrounding land. The map also makes clear on close inspection how much more spaced-out later buildings were compared to those in the historic core. How big is Amsterdam, really? (City of Amsterdam) Another addictive map tool in the archive shows the extent to which little Amsterdam punches above its weight. While it is known as one of Europe’s great economic, cultural, and historic centers, it’s considerably smaller than many other cities in its league. This tool helps you to gauge exactly how large Amsterdam is compared with other cities by allowing you to drag its silhouette across the world and superimpose it on top of other locations. We can thus see that compared to sprawling London, Amsterdam is tiny—its footprint fits comfortably into less than one-sixth of the space within the M25 motorway. Drag Amsterdam all the way across the Atlantic and you find that, if you reshaped the city, it would fit comfortably within the borough of Brooklyn. Property taxes (City of Amsterdam) Other maps in the archive unlock some of Amsterdam’s distinctive characteristics. This property tax map, for example, shows evidence of both Amsterdam’s high housing standards and the city’s relatively narrow (but nonetheless growing) wealth gap. The map shows variations in how much tax is charged per square meter of land. The deepest red lines show areas where taxes are over €5,000 per square meter, then runs down the scale to the deepest blue, where property taxes are lower than €1,500 per square meter.
The most consistently expensive streets in the inner city face the canals or flank the area’s only major green space, the Vondel Park. The densest cluster of streets in the top tax band, however, is in the Apollobuurt, an area that offers large single family homes and (for cramped Holland) well-sized gardens, but is also very near the city centre. To find inner Amsterdam’s cheapest property taxes, you have to go to the other side of the city, across the IJ River, to the working class streets beyond the docks. The homes here are spaciously laid out and attractive, with plenty of green space and not much traffic. Residents may be more tightly packed here than elsewhere in the city and struggle daily with a smaller budget, but the housing in which they live still looks generous and well-built, both in person and on Google Street View. Certainly the space between these highest and lowest tax areas is less of a ravine than you might expect. Cities are changing fast. Keep up with the CityLab Daily newsletter. The best way to follow issues you care about. Subscribe Loading... The practical side of the archive (City of Amsterdam) The archive can also help locals make key decisions about where they live. The green-conscious, for example, might turn to maps detailing the city’s main concentrations of solar panels, green roofs, and wind turbines. But let’s focus on this map which shows the homes that are heated by district heating: it shows the existing district heating network in red, with outlying city blocks connected up to the the network in yellow. The main plants where district heating is created through waste incineration, meanwhile, are highlighted with orange blobs. Unsurprisingly, this network concentrates most intensely in areas with new construction. In the bottom-righthand corner of the screenshot above, the main red clusters are in the public housing-filled Bijlmermeer area, and further up to the right, the IJburg, where Amsterdam is still building new housing on artificial islands created in the IJmeer lake. Given that the infrastructure necessary for district heating is easier to install in undeveloped land, the map showing its uptake is also simultaneously a map of Amsterdam’s recent expansion. *CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post misspelled the name Klaas-Bindert de Haan. |
People often ask who gets paid what in Formula 1. It is a very difficult question because the total is based on the annual earnings of the Formula 1 group (the EBIDTA), but it is not 100 percent clear what is included and excluded in reaching this figure. The basics of how this is divided up are understood, however, with five percent of the money going straight to Ferrari, two and half percent from the teams’ share and two and half percent from the commercial rights holder (CRH). This is justified on the basis that Ferrari is “The Longest Standing Team. There is then the prize fund, which is divided in half to create two smaller funds (known as Columns). Column 1 is divided equally between all the qualifying teams (in order to qualify they must be in the top 10 for two of the three previous seasons), and Column 2 is divided up on the basis of their performance with the World Champions getting 19 percent of the fund, with the other nine teams getting the following percentages: 16-13-11-10-9-7-6-5-4. There are then various bonus schemes, the most importnt one being the Constructor Champions’ Bonus (CCB) scheme, which rewards the three teams that have scored the most race wins in the previous four seasons. Thus 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. This is an odd way of calculating the cash as Mercedes have won 54 victories, Red Bull 18 and Ferrari five, but the CCB does not take into account the actual number of wins, but rather the position in the hierarchy. The current breakdown is $37 million for Mercedes, $33 million for Red Bull and $30 million for Ferrari. In other words, Mercedes gets $685,000 for each win, Red Bull $1,830,000 per win, but Ferrari get a whopping $6 million per win.
If a team wins two consecutive Constructors’ Championships, it gets a one-off payment per year of $30 million, which has helped Mercedes a great deal in recent seasons, having won three of them (to date). When you add it all up, it is very clear that Ferrari gets a fantastic deal from the sport. And if you add in sponsorship, merchandising. licensing and so on, it is clear that the Italian team is not spending a great deal on F1 – if anything. Thus the suggestion that pulling out of F1 will provide savings for the organisation are wrong, and it will need a pile of money to advertise its products, as the sport is doing that at the moment – and Ferrari has no other marketing, beyond a couple of theme parks and a lot of people walking around wearing Ferrari merchandising…
To help understand the structure, here is a chart showing the flows of money and some estimations of the money being paid out. |
In recent weeks, as the McCain-Palin campaign has increasingly been called out for leveraging —- at rallies and in its notorious robocalls —- words of division, suspicion, and contempt, the emotions and tempers of McCain-Palin supporters have been heated beyond the boiling point. The language of the McCain-Palin campaign now goes far beyond the divisive language typical of modern American political campaigns. John McCain and Sarah Palin are actively promoting a perception of Barack Obama as an enemy, not as an opponent.
Civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) create and foster disunity, hostility, and even violence. The resulting societal tensions may be more lasting and severe than John McCain and Sarah Palin realize. Civil rights leader Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) said that John McCain and Sarah Palin are “sowing the seeds of hatred and division” through hostile rhetoric. Indeed scientific research by psychologists has shown that the type of framing used by McCain, Palin, and their surrogates cancreate and fosterdisunity, hostility, and even violence. The resulting societal tensions may be more lasting and severe than John McCain and Sarah Palin realize.
In The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil , famous psychologist and researcher Philip Zimbardo discusses his lifelong research into the psyche of good people who engage in evil acts. He warns first about the dangers of psychological constructions that imbue people with “otherness” and then issues even stronger warnings about the dangers of psychological constructions that transform “others” into “the enemy.” In, famous psychologist and researcher Philip Zimbardo discusses his lifelong research into the psyche of good people who engage in evil acts. He warns first about the dangers of psychological constructions that imbue people with “otherness” and then issues even stronger warnings about the dangers of psychological constructions that transform “others” into “the enemy.”
The process begins with creating stereotyped conceptions of the other , dehumanized perceptions of the other , the other as worthless, the other as all-powerful, the other as demonic, the other as an abstract monster, the other as a fundamental threat to our cherished values and beliefs. With public fear notched up and the enemy threat imminent, reasonable people act irrationally, independent people act in mindless conformity, and peaceful people act as warriors.
When Sarah Palin says, in her stump speech, “Obama does not see America the way you see America,” she is separating Obama from what social psychologists call the “ingroup.” Both Palin and McCain suggest that Obama does not share the goals of ordinary Americans, that he and his associates are somehow anti-American, that he is a socialist, and that he pals around with terrorists.
Through this rhetoric they aim to separate Obama from patriotic Americans —- to make Obama the other , to make him one of them , to characterize him with the property of otherness . Then, Sarah Palin escalates the rhetoric by adding, “He sees America as so imperfect that he pals around with terrorists,” effectively transforming the other into the enemy .
Psychologists Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks Psychologists Kathlyn and Gay Hendricks point out that the McCain-Palin campaign is doing all they can to heighten fears about Obama. Specifically, they say,
McCain/Palin want us to be scared that Obama is “the other,” not like us, not a real American. They want us to be scared that Obama might worship another god. They want us to be scared that Obama pals around with terrorists and gets his spiritual counsel from an America-hating minister.
John McCain and Sarah Palin are attempting to imbue Obama with the characteristics of a traitor by disassociating him from “real America” and associating him with those who are commonly accepted in our society as public enemies. They are using rhetoric that has traditionally been reserved for propaganda against traitors and foreign enemies.
In fact, the McCain-Palin campaign is systematically invoking the image of an accepted enemy for each currently living generation, systematically creating an “us versus them” framework:
Communist and Socialist —- for the older generation, those who were reared with fears of Stalinism and Marxism and Maoism
Terrorist and Muslim —- for the younger generation, those whose fears center around the religious extremism, guerrilla warfare, or suicide bombers
McCain, Palin, and their surrogates have chosen to use words that are associated with the accepted enemies of each generation and each targeted social group, and they have applied those words to Barack Obama.
The McCain-Palin campaign is using what social psychologists call images of the enemy to create a hostile imagination . With words like “dangerous” and “terrorist” and “socialist,” the McCain-Palin campaign relegates Obama to an “outgroup”; they imbue him with the characteristics of otherness (he is not a “real American”); and they characterize him as an accepted enemy of the state (he is a “socialist” who “pals around with terrorists”). This language makes it seem acceptable to regard Obama as less than ingroup members and as the enemy .
McCain, Palin, and their surrogates are effectively engaging in psyops traditionally used during times of war (or cold war). It is not the mere characterization, though, of Obama as the other and as the enemy that is so potentially destructive. Rather, it is when people feel that their core values or way of life are/is threatened that passive fear and hostility transform into hostile action.
The attacks against Obama’s patriotism and faith combined with claims that Obama has socialist tendencies are the trifecta. Those who believe that Obama is an America-hating Muslim socialist perceive an Obama presidency as an imminent threat to the American way of life and to the American values system. The fear is transformed.
Remember, Zimbardo found through psychological research,
With public fear notched up and the enemy threat imminent, reasonable people act irrationally, independent people act in mindless conformity, and peaceful people act as warriors.
In The Lucificer Effect , Zimbardo also illustrated through scientific research that:
It is fear of vulnerability among citizens who can imagine what it would be like to be dominated by the enemy. That fear becomes morphed into hatred and a willingness to take hostile action to reduce its threat.
John McCain said during a debate that ACORN
may be perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy
McCain has repeatedly attempted to tie Obama to ACORN. Claims have been made that Obama worked for ACORN, that ACORN worked for Obama, that ACORN was involved in Project Vote, which gave Obama his start in politics. Although factcheck.org and other uninterested third parties say that McCain has repeatedly attempted to tie Obama to ACORN. Claims have been made that Obama worked for ACORN, that ACORN worked for Obama, that ACORN was involved in Project Vote, which gave Obama his start in politics. Although factcheck.org and other uninterested third parties say that there is little truth to these claims , John McCain has used ACORN to create the illusion of a threat by Obama to the American way of life — explicitly, a threat to the “fabric of democracy.” ACORN and Obama have been inundated with threats , an ACORN office has been vandalized, and an Obama canvasser was beaten by a man who mistakenly assumed she worked for ACORN.
The charge that Obama does not share the values and goals of “real Americans” may be the most serious charge in the McCain-Palin arsenal of propaganda. The way humans react to outgroup members is highly dependent on whether the outgroup is seen as cooperative or competitive and whether or not the outgroup helps or hinders the goals of the ingroup. This competitive atmosphere of this race is heightened because it is not just a race for an honorary head of state, this is the race for the role of Commander in Chief, the head of the executive branch and the commander of the military. When the goals of a “scapegoat outgroup” (socialists, Muslims, communists, terrorists) conflict with those of “real America,” it is serious. When a member of that outgroup could potentially take command of the country, it is dire.
In his book, Zimbardo also notes,
Archetypes of the enemy are created by ... propaganda that most nations use against those judged to be dangerous “them,” “outsiders,” “enemies. [This] creates a consensual societal paranoia that is focused on the enemy who would do harm to ... that nation’s way of life, destroying its fundamental beliefs and values.
The creation of an “ingroup versus outgroup” situation (us versus them) along with the subsequent derogation of that outgroup is dangerous. It is the perpetuation of this type of intergroup prejudice and hostility that creates cults, conflicts, religious wars, and in the most extraordinarily extreme cases, even genocide.
Although John McCain has plausible deniability regarding some of the more outlandish and frightening smears (some smears began long before the primaries were even in full swing), the McCain-Palin campaign has done little to dispel the smears and myths even when shouted or spoken from the lectern at their rallies. Cultural Anthropologist Jeffrey Feldman Although John McCain has plausible deniability regarding some of the more outlandish and frightening smears (some smears began long before the primaries were even in full swing), the McCain-Palin campaign has done little to dispel the smears and myths even when shouted or spoken from the lectern at their rallies. Cultural Anthropologist Jeffrey Feldman says
The McCain campaign has staked its future on rhetoric that skirts the boundary between character assassination and incitements of actual violence against their opponent
At a rally last week, a McCain supporter said, with microphone in hand, that she is scared of an Obama presidency because he is an Arab. In his strongest rebuke yet, McCain provided a weak and vague reply, “No, he is a decent man,” never really correcting the falsity by saying explicitly that Obama is not an Arab and never really acknowledging that an Arab can also be a decent man. Nevertheless, the crowd booed McCain for his meek rebuke.
Feldman Time report about McCain staff in Virginia training volunteers to tie Obama to Pentagon bombings and says that the McCain campaign has “a ground operation actually training its volunteers to elicit violent responses in voters—specifically by making false claims about Barack Obama.” This raises questions, he says, of whether “John McCain is using campaign rhetoric that not only depart from recognized moral boundaries, but risk igniting actual violence.” Feldman notes the “complete repackaging of the McCain campaign” in “violent populism.” He notes areport about McCain staff in Virginia training volunteers to tie Obama to Pentagon bombings and says that the McCain campaign has “a ground operation actually training its volunteers to elicit violent responses in voters—specifically by making false claims about Barack Obama.” This raises questions, he says, of whether “John McCain is using campaign rhetoric that not only depart from recognized moral boundaries, but risk igniting actual violence.”
Some pundits have been reluctant to believe that John McCain would want to launch these baseless and wrongheaded attacks. They lament, where has the real John McCain gone? Many in the media alternate between mourning the myth they believed and resenting that they’d been had.
According to Hendricks, According to Hendricks, McCain’s body language belies contempt and hatred and an anger boiling just below the surface. McCain seems to see himself as a warrior attacking his enemy rather than an opponent engaged in competition. My own observation is that when McCain uses vile words to attack Obama (terrorist, socialist, and so on), he grins widely, smugly, teeth glittering, shoulders held high, head tilted upward in satisfaction and pride. He is not rueful, he is haughty.
The McCain-Palin campaign continues to make the assertion that the American people need to know the full extent of the Ayers and Rezko associations for one reason only: It is impossible to prove a negative. This is the very reason that our founding fathers included “innocent until proven guilty” in our Constitution, putting the burden of proof on the accuser. Obama can provide every last detail of his relationships, but he can never prove that he has no further information to give. Nevermind that thousands of people have investigated these relationships and found nothing . Obama cannot prove that there was not some other detail. This allows the McCain campaign to ask, “Who is the real Barack Obama?” and to use suggestion, innuendo, and insinuation to answer that question.
During the last week, the McCain-Palin campaign has engaged in an onslaught of pro-America versus anti-America rhetoric. They doubled down on the “us versus them” sentiment. At a rally in North Carolina, Palin told the crowd how happy she was to be in a pro-America part of the country.
In a well coordinated attack on the Obama movement, Sarah Palin escalated the rhetoric by dividing the electorate into pro-America and anti-America geographical swaths. Rep. McCain advisor Nancy Pfotenhauer told Hardball host Chris Matthews that only conservative Southern Virginia is “real Virginia” - those who live in Northern Virginia don’t count. Michele Bachman upped the ante again by calling for investigations into the patriotism of every member of Congress. Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC) In a well coordinated attack on the Obama movement, Sarah Palin escalated the rhetoric by dividing the electorate into pro-America and anti-America geographical swaths. Rep. McCain advisor Nancy Pfotenhauer told Hardball host Chris Matthews that only conservative Southern Virginia is “real Virginia” - those who live in Northern Virginia don’t count. Michele Bachman upped the ante again by calling for investigations into the patriotism of every member of Congress. Rep. Robin Hayes (R-NC) told a crowd of rally goers
liberals hate real Americans that work and accomplish and achieve and believe in God
“Anti-American” became a GOP mantra over the last week, leading Feldman to call it the “smear du jour “ and to ask,
Has the entire political wing of Republicanism officially collapsed into cries ‘anti-Americanism’ like some endless robocall recording of O’Reilly-Coulter-Hannity-Gingrich greatest hits?
As a result, some McCain-Palin supporters are now unleashing raw emotion during political rallies. Neither McCain nor Palin deign to stop and confront those who shout “terrorist” or “kill him” at the mere mention of Obama’s name during the McCain and Palin rallies. Palin indulges rally goers at her events, even As a result, some McCain-Palin supporters are now unleashing raw emotion during political rallies. Neither McCain nor Palin deign to stop and confront those who shout “terrorist” or “kill him” at the mere mention of Obama’s name during the McCain and Palin rallies. Palin indulges rally goers at her events, even egging on out of control rally goers as they directed their ire at the media area.
After several reports, most notably After several reports, most notably a report from Al-Jazeera in Ohio , showed video footage of ordinary citizens across the country voicing real belief that Obama is a terrorist, along with other outlandish myths, New York University professor Jeffrey Feldman, an expert in violent rhetoric in American politics, said
Suddenly, thousands of people in St. Clairsville, Ohio will be convinced that the country has been taken over by a person with ties to terrorism and who seeks revenge against white people. Can you imagine the fear that is going to rip through towns like St. Clairsville? ... These small towns in the Midwest who are most persuaded by the McCain-Palin violent rhetoric about Obama—these towns will devolve into a political arena rooted in fear of their own country. These are not a few disparate folks living in the woods with bottled water, cans of milk, and boxes of shotgun shells. These are the populations of entire towns, dotted across the country, in dozens of states. And they are set to become—lost.
There has been an onslaught of incidents escalating over the last week, from verbal attacks to vandalism, from spitting to full blown violence.
Sunday, October 12
In one case, an Obama supporter was shopping In one case, an Obama supporter was shopping with his infant son when an angry McCain-Palin supporter rammed his shopping cart. Luckily, the police were able to identify the man from video of his license plate, and he was charged with assault.
Wednesday, October 15
In Greensboro, In Greensboro, North Carolina , a reporter Joe Killian was kicked to the ground at a Palin rally just for doing his job. He was interviewing Obama supporters who were protesting the Palin rally after a group of angry McCain-Palin supporters warned him that Palin was the story - not the protesters. One McCain-Palin supporter was so angry at Killian for interviewing the Obama supporters that he kicked him to the ground - from behind.
Friday, October 17
Even Barack Obama’s home state is not immune. Two separate homeowners in Villa Park, Illinois Even Barack Obama’s home state is not immune. Two separate homeowners in Villa Park, Illinois found death threats in their mailboxes that read,
Get the Obama signs off your property - now. Failure to obey this order will result in the immediate death of all family members.
Although both families vow to keep the signs in their yards, one of the families is now afraid to let their 7 year old son play outside in the yard.
Saturday, October 18
In Wisconsin, McCain-Palin supporter Ronald Goetsch physically attacked 58 year old Nancy Takehara, grabbing her by the hair and striking her in the face, while she was canvassing for Obama. In Wisconsin, McCain-Palin supporter Ronald Goetsch physically attacked 58 year old Nancy Takehara, grabbing her by the hair and striking her in the face, while she was canvassing for Obama. According to Takehara , “[Goetsch] was telling us we’re not his people, we’re probably with ACORN, and he started screaming and raving. He grabbed me by the back of the neck. I thought he was going to rip my hair out of my head. He was pounding on my head and screaming. The man terrified me.”
By the time Takehara returned to her home in Chicago, she had a message from Barack Obama on her answering machine. She called the number that had been left on her machine and talked directly to Obama. He reassured her and said that this is an isolated and extremely rare occurrence, but many Obama canvassers have begun to voice fear or nervousness about canvassing both because of a rash of incidents reported in the news and because of a notable change in atmosphere on the streets. Some who were previously comfortable canvassing along are now opting to canvass in pairs.
Saturday, October 18
Incidents have even occurred at Obama events. In Fayetteville, Incidents have even occurred at Obama events. In Fayetteville, North Carolina , someone slashed the tires on more than 30 cars during an Obama rally, leaving women and children stranded. Lynne Steenstra, whose tires were slashed, believes it was meant to intimidate Obama supporters, to prevent them from casting their votes.
Sunday, October 19
The car of an Obama volunteer was The car of an Obama volunteer was trashed (rear windshield smashed, spray painted, stolen Obama signs shoved into the backseat) while he was out to dinner with friends.
Sunday, October 19
In Princeton, West Virginia, a crowd of McCain-Palin supporters gathered to In Princeton, West Virginia, a crowd of McCain-Palin supporters gathered to heckle and intimidate mostly black voters as they arrive to vote at an early voting location. When journalist Christina Bellantoni asked the sheriff if the protesters were allowed at the early voting location, the sheriff showed no concern of voter intimidation and merely answered, “They’re fine.”
October 19, 2008
In Fairfield, Ohio, Mike Lunsford In Fairfield, Ohio, Mike Lunsford hung an Obama effigy from a noose in a tree in his front yard. He attached a campaign sign to a ghost figure, wrote “Hussain” (yes, it was misspelled), put a noose around its neck, and strung it up in a tree.
I have found no reports of Obama supporters retaliating or otherwise engaging in violence in this campaign.
Tuesday, October 20
October 21, 2008
Someone Someone took an Obama yard sign and replaced it with a large Confederate flag in the yard of an elderly African American minister . That night, after the flag had been replaced with a new Obama sign, a car drove by several times, honking and yelling at the family. The next day, the car returned again, honking and yelling in broad daylight, “No Change!” while a reporter interviewed the family in the yard. The minister told a local reporter that he had a simple message to pass on to the culprit, “I love you, and God does too.” The Baptist minister also told the reporter, “I feel like this is somebody with a lot of hatred in their heart. It’s our job to help the guy try to do better in life.”
What can the Obama campaign and Obama supporters do to stave off the psyops of the McCain-Palin campaign?
Barack Obama and his campaign staff and volunteers are already doing it. Social influence research shows that having shared goals (task interdependence) is the best way to integrate ingroup and outgroup (“us versus them”) members. Obama, his staff, and his volunteers should simply continue to emphasize the goals, dreams, and values that Barack Obama shares with ordinary Americans. Barack Obama and his supporters should continue to emphasis his shared “American experience”.
Feldman wisely Feldman wisely notes , though, that this work will not end after the election even if Barack Obama wins,
Anyone blaming the McCain-Palin campaign for stoking the prejudices of people in small towns should also be talking about how the McCain-Palin campaign is going to leave these same people drowning in a sea of propaganda-inspired fear on Nov. 5 if Barack Obama wins. |
Federal legislation to legalize marijuana will be ready in a year, Canada's health minister told the UN at a special session of the General Assembly in New York today.
"We will introduce legislation in spring 2017 that ensures we keep marijuana out of the hands of children and profits out of the hands of criminals," Jane Philpott said in her prepared speech to delegates.
"We will work with law enforcement partners to encourage appropriate and proportionate criminal justice measures. We know it is impossible to arrest our way out of this problem," she said.
Delegates are reviewing the progress and implementation of the UN's 2009 action plan on drugs to assess ongoing challenges in combating the world's drug problems. Three days of meetings will conclude Thursday.
Bill Blair, the parliamentary secretary to the justice minister who serves as Canada's point man on the legalization legislation, is with Philpott in New York.
"It's a great deal of work. It's important to do it right. And so, we're looking at regulations with respect to production, distribution, the retail and consumption of marijuana and we want to make sure that it's based on the best advice from experts." Blair told reporters on his way to the meetings on Tuesday.
The health minister said the government's proposed marijuana policy challenges the status quo, but will enhance the safety of youth.
NDP leader chides PM for not decriminalizing marijuana right away, and asks for a bill to clear records of people charged before a new pot law comes next year. 1:13
The federal Liberal Party's election pledge on pot would breach three global treaties on illicit drug use signed by previous Canadian governments.
Canada's plans are contentious for some other UN members.
Philpott said that she is aware states will take different approaches on the matter, but is hopeful they can find common ground to create a comprehensive, collaborative and compassionate drug policy.
Immediate decriminalization?
NDP Leader Tom Mulcair told reporters he believes the legalization policy proposed by the Liberals is just another broken promise. He says the only thing the Liberals have done so far is appoint Bill Blair.
"There are thousands and thousands of mostly young people who will have criminal records for the rest of their lives because (Prime Minister) Justin Trudeau did not respect his promise to legalize marijuana as soon as he took office," he said.
Mulcair said if the Liberal government found the issue too complicated they should immediately decriminalize marijuana and address complex issues like supply later.
"It's a massive waste of time, effort and energy of our entire criminal justice system," he said.
Health Minister Jane Philpott discusses her speech at the UN on drug policy and the plan to introduce a bill to legalize marijuana 8:29
Later, during question period in the House of Commons, Mulcair asked whether Trudeau would at least promise legislation to remove criminal records of Canadians charged before a new law is in place.
In response, Trudeau said simply decriminalizing marijuana does not help the government meet its goal of keeping pot out of the hands of children, but would offer a legal stream of income to criminals selling it.
"The fact of the matter is we've been clear. We believe in legalization and regulation of marijuana because it protects our kids and keeps money out of the pockets of criminal organizations and street gangs," Trudeau told the Commons.
Conservative MP Colin Carrie told the CBC's Susan Lunn that the announcement from health minister Philpott has done nothing but create more chaos surrounding the issue.
"It's in their hands whenever they want to bring it forward, It's unfortunate though that they're causing so much chaos with parents in communities and police forces. At the end of the day what is important to us is about the kids. Mr. Trudeau said he is keeping it out of the hands of kids ... let's get him moving forward on that," he said.
Carrie believes legalization is not necessary.
"If you look at the statistics that are out today, the status quo has been working. Marijuana smoking is down 23 per cent in the last few years. But he's brought this up, he's made it an issue let's see what his plan is," he said.
Pro-legalization demonstrators gather on Parliament Hill on Wednesday, known as 4/20 for the date April 20. (Jennifer Choi/CBC)
Cannabis culture demonstrations are underway across the country as pro-marijuana advocates gather in support of legal use on a day known as "4/20."
Philpott told CBC's Rosemary Barton that the announcement was not purposely made on "4/20," but the government capitalized on the opportunity to further the discussion.
"It's a day that we know people are going to be talking about marijuana and when we were aware of that fact we thought it was a great day for us to talk to people around the world about Canada's plans and our comprehensive approach to drug policy, including the legalization of and new regulations for marijuana," said Philpott on CBC News Network's Power & Politics.
Demonstrators, many of them smoking the drug, also gathered on Parliament Hill. Some members of the crowd were greeted and took photos with Mulcair.
Dominion carillonneur Andrea McCrady used her noon concert from the Peace Tower to play arrangements of tunes perhaps inspired by the gathering, including Puff, The Magic Dragon. |
Federal officials are challenging new benefit rules at Honeywell Inc. that create monetary penalties unless employees and spouses take medical tests.
A lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in response to complaints from two Minnesota employees sets up a potential court case over how far employers can go to shift health costs and influence worker behavior.
The agency said in the suit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis, that new health screening and penalties at Honeywell violate the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.
“Employees will be penalized if they or their spouses do not take the biometric tests,” the complaint said.
In response to the suit, Honeywell said its screening program is designed to encourage employees to live more healthfully and thereby create lower health care costs for themselves and the company. The company said the program complies with health care-related laws, including the Affordable Care Act.
The EEOC has requested a temporary injunction to stop the employee testing, which was scheduled to begin last week at various sites across the country.
Honeywell, based in Morristown, N.J., was started in Minneapolis and remains a major employer in the Twin Cities area, with a research center in Golden Valley and other operations in Plymouth, Coon Rapids and Minneapolis.
Like other companies, Honeywell embraced the so-called wellness movement to prod employees into better shape and to lower health care-related costs.
The EEOC said that Honeywell’s new program creates up to $4,000 in penalties for employees unless they and their spouses take blood and medical tests that can identify smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and other health problems. They include the loss of $1,500 in company contributions to health savings accounts, a $500 medical plan surcharge, a $1,000 tobacco surcharge and a $1,000 spousal tobacco surcharge.
The suit is the third one in three months that the EEOC has filed accusing companies of setting up “involuntary” employee medical or wellness programs, said Laurie Vasichek, an attorney for the agency. Honeywell’s tests and threatened penalties go too far because they are not job-related and are not consistent with any business necessity, she said.
“The thing that is important about these cases is not that they are wellness or health programs, but that the company is requiring testing and asking disability questions when it’s not job-related,” Vasichek said. “They can only do that in situations where it’s voluntary for the employee to answer.”
According to the lawsuit, Honeywell announced the new biometric testing program in August and September. The agency received complaints and subsequently asked the company to drop penalties for employees who don’t submit to the tests. Honeywell didn’t agree to that, according to the suit.
In a statement, Honeywell denied any wrongdoing and said the screening and wellness program “are in strict compliance with both HIPAA and the Affordable Care Act’s guidelines.”
The company also said, “The Chicago EEOC office is unfamiliar with the details of our wellness programs and woefully out of step with the health care marketplace and with the core intent of the ACA to provide expanded access and improved health care to all Americans. The incentives in our wellness programs are pro consumer and have delivered demonstrably better health care outcomes for employees and their families.”
Honeywell said in an e-mail that the wellness program is designed to motivate employees and that the company does not share medical information with insurance providers. Sixty percent of the participants in its health care program have identified at least one health risk, the company said.
“Encouraging more participation is the right thing to do,” it said. “Honeywell wants its employees to be well-informed about their health status not only because it promotes their well-being, but also because we don’t believe it’s fair to the employees who do work to lead healthier lifestyles to subsidize the health care premiums for those who do not.”
Dave Delahanty, a senior adviser with the human resources consulting giant Towers Watson, said the new federal health law allows companies to charge employees up to 50 percent of their total medical premium costs if tobacco use is covered in the plan.
“I know a lot of companies are looking at doing things like this,” Delahanty said. “But there are limits as to how much a company can reward or punish an employee for complying with a company health care edict.”
Liza Tucker, a senior consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog in California, said the Honeywell program sounds like an invasion of privacy. “It is outrageous to say that you as an employee have to be tested to avoid getting charged for your health care,” Tucker said. |
Galileo unboxed
Latest Galileo satellite arrives at ESA’s test centre
Europe’s latest Galileo navigation satellite has arrived at the Agency’s technical centre in the Netherlands for testing, as the previous two satellites are prepared for shipping to French Guiana for launch this summer. The new satellite travelled safely enclosed within an air-conditioned and environmentally controlled container from manufacturer OHB in Bremen, Germany, to ESA’s Technical Centre, ESTEC, in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. The container was unsealed only once the satellite had completed its journey by road to the cleanroom conditions of the centre, Europe’s largest site for spacecraft testing.
Galileo satellite Meanwhile, the previous two Galileo satellites have completed their long test campaign and are being readied for shipping to Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, for launch together by Soyuz. Europe’s first four Galileo satellites are already in orbit, the minimum number needed for achieving a position fix. This initial quartet has demonstrated the overall system works as planned, while also serving as the operational nucleus of the coming full constellation. Next come the 22 full-capability satellites being built by OHB, incorporating navigation payloads produced by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd in the UK. The three satellites currently at ESTEC are the first of these 22 to be tested for launch – all of them will pass through the site’s gates within the next few years on their way to space.
Galileo container Now detailed ‘acceptance testing’ will be carried out on this latest arrival, to check the workmanship is up to standard. Key checks includes an acoustic battering to reproduce the violent forces of launch, and a session in a thermal–vacuum chamber to subject the satellite to the airlessness and temperature extremes it must endure over the course of its 12-year working life. This latest round will be quicker and less thorough than the full-scale testing that the first two underwent over the course of last year, with the overall satellite design having now been validated.
Rolling out Galileo A fourth satellite is scheduled to arrive at ESTEC in June – the test facilities can accommodate two Galileos at a time. Such a changeover between satellites arriving as others are being readied to leave for launch will become commonplace in the next few years, as Europe builds up its constellation. And in future two-satellite Soyuz launches will be supplemented by four-satellite Ariane 5 launches, employing a specially customised version of the launcher. |
Towards the end of his run with the Boston Bruins, Tyler Seguin had fallen out of favor with the team. His alleged partying and lack of professionalism came into question and general manager Peter Chiarelli openly criticized him. It was a foregone conclusion that the Bruins were going to cut their losses with Seguin.
When the Bruins dealt Seguin to the Dallas Stars, it had some mixed reviews. Some people thought that the Bruins gave up on Seguin much too early and others thought that the Bruins received great compensation of Seguin. It was a good trade for both sides, the Bruins received some good players and Seguin gets a fresh start in a new city.
Fourteen games into his first season in Dallas and Seguin is playing like the Bruins had envisioned him to when they drafted him second overall in 2010. Through his first fourteen games Seguin has scored six goals and recorded eight assists. With the Bruins offense struggling right now, Boston could use Seguin this season, but would he have had a good season with the Bruins this season?
In my opinion, no.
Seguin needed a humbling experience to help him finally focus and play like a pro. Being traded so early on in your career after being drafted so high is pretty humbling. Seguin was supposed to be the future of the Boston Bruins, but instead due to his immaturity he flamed out in Boston and was dealt. Seguin needed a kick in the pants and this trade was it. Perhaps Seguin finally understood that he needs to straighten up and fly right as he is having a great season thus far in the Lone Star State.
Had Seguin not been traded, he would have never learned his lesson and would still be underachieving in Boston. We’d still be talking about his partying and his antics off of the ice. I truly believe that the trade to Dallas has saved his career. Chiarelli perhaps may have given up on Seguin a bit too early, but he had to do it.
Chiarelli made a great point in October on his reasoning for trading Seguin, saying,
“First, don’t judge a performance by points…Second…he’s an offensive player. When you make a trade, the return you get has to be compatible and help improve your team…that’s how we look at a trade.”
You can score all the goals and record all the assists in the world, but if you aren’t compatible with your team, then you will fail every time. Chiarelli traded Seguin for a crop of players that more fits Claude Julien’s defense first scheme. Another reason why Seguin would have never had this great start had he still remained with Boston.
Reilly Smith has been a welcome surprise for the Bruins and he has found his way into the second line. Loui Eriksson was having a solid start before suffering a concussion on a cheap shot by John Scott, so, I’m not exactly saying that the Stars got away with robbery on this trade. The Bruins got some good players, those who better fit Boston’s scheme and Seguin gets to start anew. Everybody wins.
The Bruins have some problems on offense right now, but Tyler Seguin wouldn’t have been able to solve their woes, in fact, he may have added to the problem.
Do you think Tyler Seguin would have played this well if he stayed in Boston? Comment below or send me a Tweet, @MarkWGraham
The NHL regular season schedule was released on Friday. Check out our partners at TiqIQ for the best deals on Boston Bruins tickets for all 2013-14 games. |
Australian-Chinese businessman Michael Li claims China intimidation after refusing to act as spy
Updated
A prominent Australian-Chinese businessman says China's security agencies have placed his family under surveillance in Sydney and imprisoned his brother in China because he has repeatedly refused to act as a spy for Beijing.
Michael Li, the owner of global furniture exporter OSMEN, said he has been routinely pressured by security officials to gather intelligence about the local activities of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement outlawed in China.
Mr Li said the officials had promised to financially support his business if he cooperated, but after he refused they forced the closure of his Guangzhou factory and placed him under increasing pressure.
"I think [the] Chinese government, their secret police, they have all agents here," he told ABC's Four Corners.
"They support a lot of business people here, including very successful people with businesses in Australia.
"Big business in China is impossible without government support."
We keep silent, we try to let it go for so long, so many years, until now my brother [was] arrested, my factory closed, this is the bottom. Michael Li
Mr Li's story has been unearthed as part of a Four Corners investigation into the flow of billions of dollars into Australia from China.
Experts say a significant portion of this money is likely to be illicit and there is an opaque relationship between major Chinese businesses and the Chinese government.
Mr Li had kept the alleged harassment a secret, hoping to protect his family and his business.
But he has decided he has no choice but to speak out: "We don't want to tell people for so long, but now if I keep silent, I think more people will be persecuted."
Do you know more about this story? Email [email protected]
Mr Li is afraid for his family back in China, none of whom were aware he planned to speak publicly about the case.
Last year, his factory in Guangzhou was closed after his brother, Junda 'Richard' Li, was suddenly arrested on VAT tax fraud charges.
The ABC has independently confirmed his incarceration, and that his trial has yet to be heard, but neither his lawyer nor an officer at the Sihui Detention Centre, where Richard Li is being held, would comment on the case.
An officer at the jail said: "We can't reveal any information, since you are not a direct relative, it is an ongoing case, we can't reveal any information."
Four Corners has also been shown video evidence which suggests the factory is not operational.
'I live in Australia, I [am] still under China's police control'
Mr Li said he believes the prosecution is an attempt to intimidate him into cooperating with security agencies.
He said early last year Guangdong tax officials warned dozens of Mr Li's suppliers to stop doing any further business with the company.
The other department is not friendly, they use force. Michael Li
"They called a meeting to tell them this is a political case," he said.
"In China, if you're involved in a political case, you're finished. So everybody will follow what they're told.
"They want to destroy my business because they're afraid I'll financially support Falun Gong."
Mr Li said he believes he has been under surveillance by Chinese authorities in Sydney for at least two years.
"We keep silent, we try to let it go for so long, so many years, until now my brother [was] arrested, my factory closed, this is the bottom," he said.
"It's unbelievable that even I live in Australia, I [am] still under China's police control ... [there's] nowhere to go."
Events came to a head on June 12 this year when his home on Sydney's north shore was broken into.
Mr Li woke to find the back door of his house wide open but nothing had been stolen, according to a report he filed with the New South Wales police.
His parents, who were visiting at the time, told him they had heard a male voice downstairs but had retreated to their bedroom in fear.
"That morning when I came down, I saw the back door is open and the other things the same as normal ... My mother told me the story [of the alleged intruder], then I was shocked."
Security officials threaten force if Li does not cooperate
Mr Li first fled to Australia in 2000 after being investigated for practising Falun Gong.
But after he returned to China on an Australian passport in 2004, he said he was repeatedly approached by security officials who demanded he act as an informant on the spiritual movement and its practitioners in Australia.
The Australian Government became aware that Chinese police officers had travelled to Australia to pursue investigations without permission from Australian authorities Australian Federal Police
The approach was made through his father, a former senior Communist Party official, and began in a friendly manner.
"He say if you can work for us and you're a businessman, you know, and they talk like this, you become our people," Mr Li said.
"I think financially we can get support from them, they can give you more business. But I don't want to be involved there. I don't want to be controlled by them."
After he rebuffed several similar entreaties during his repeated visits to his family, he said the tone changed.
"So at the last meeting I went to see them and in one of the hotels, he said: 'OK, we, my department, is making friends, OK? We want to make friends with you and if you don't want to cooperate with us to be friends, I have to pass you to another department. The other department is not friendly, they use force'," Mr Li claims they told him.
'Chinese police travelled to Australia to pursue investigations'
Four Corners has confirmed Mr Li was expelled from China in 2005.
There have been numerous reported cases of Chinese agents covertly pursuing expatriates.
In August, The New York Times reported the Obama administration had rebuked China for sending covert agents to the US to "strong-arm" former Chinese citizens, including by threatening family members back in China.
In a written statement, the Australian Federal Police said: "In December 2014, the Australian Government became aware that Chinese police officers had travelled to Australia to pursue investigations without permission from Australian authorities."
"The Australian Government told the Chinese government that the actions of the police officers was unacceptable.
"The Government has been assured by Chinese authorities that this will not happen again."
The Chinese embassy declined to answer questions from Four Corners about Mr Li's case or the activity of their agents on Australian soil.
Watch The Great Wall of Money on Four Corners on ABC at 8:30pm.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, world-politics, security-intelligence, defence-and-national-security, sydney-2000
First posted |
Mathias Osvath/Lund University
Ravens can plan for future events at least as well as 4-year-old humans and some adult, non-human great apes.
The birds did this in tasks they wouldn’t encounter in the wild, so it isn’t an adaptation to an ecological niche, but rather a flexible cognitive ability that evolved independently in birds and hominids, whose lineages diverged about 320 million years ago.
Planning for future events requires the use of long-term memory for some anticipated future gain. For a long time, it was thought to be a uniquely human trait. Children begin showing such abilities when they are about 4. But it turned out that chimpanzees, bonobos and orangutans have this ability too, making tools to use later on.
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In 2007, researchers at the University of Cambridge showed that scrub jays can cache food in places where they anticipate being hungry the next morning.
While the behaviour is flexible and requires planning, some argued that it might be an adaptation specific to caching food, which scrub jays and other members of the crow family do habitually, says Mathias Osvath of Lund University, Sweden.
Bartering birds
Osvath and his colleagues wanted to see if ravens could plan for the future in tasks that aren’t their natural behaviours, such as tool use and bartering with humans.
In one experiment, the ravens were first trained to use a stone to dislodge some dry dog food from a box. Later, the birds were shown a collection of objects, including the tool, without the box in sight. The researchers let the ravens select an object and 15 minutes later showed them the box at a different location with the reward in it. The birds had to drop the stone into the box to collect the food. The ravens succeeded, on average, in 11 of the 14 trials.
The birds also took part in a bartering test. Again, they were first trained, in this case to exchange a token for a reward. Later, they had to select the correct token from a batch of objects, hold on to it for 15 minutes, and then exchange it with an experimenter to get a reward. The birds picked the correct token 143 out of 144 times, and were able to exchange about 77 per cent of the tokens for the reward.
Mathias Osvath/Lund University
The researchers then increased the delay between the tool or token selection and its use to 17 hours. The ravens succeeded in the task nearly 90 per cent of the time.
Crucially, the ravens were planning from the first trial onwards, suggesting that their success wasn’t due to habituation, says Osvath. “They can perform at the same levels as great apes, making a decision in the immediate situation for a future that will occur at another place,” he says.
“This is new, very exciting evidence which we didn’t have before,” says Markus Boeckle at the University of Cambridge. “[It’s evidence] that general intelligence has also developed in birds. This is very important for understanding how intelligence evolves.”
Journal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.aam8138 |
The project is being developed at Universal Cable Productions.
Fritz Lang’s 1927 classic “Metropolis” could be on its way to the small screen in a TV miniseries by “Mr. Robot” creator Sam Esmail.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the adaption is in the very early stages and is being developed at Universal Cable Productions. While Esmail’s role is still being negotiated, the studio isn’t planning to launch the miniseries for another two to three years.
The “Metropolis” adaptation will follow the same premise as the film, taking place in a futuristic society where the city is divided between wealthy industrialists who rule from high-rise complexes and the lower class who tirelessly work to keep everything running. The story will follow two lovers from different social classes who unite to bring the system down.
READ MORE: Golden Globes 2017 TV Snubs and Surprises: ‘Mr. Robot’ Is Out, ‘Stranger Things’ Is In
Insiders tell THR that the miniseries will have about two or three writers and is more of a “concept-room” in that they will “focus less on writing scripts and more on figuring out conceptually how the movie could be adapted into an episodic series.” The studio is even prepared to spend $10 million per episode.
“Metropolis” will be executive produced by Esmail and his manager, Anonymous Content’s Chad Hamilton. It will be shopped cable and other streaming outlets.
The German sci-fi classic was one of the most expensive movies for its time and was praised for its groundbreaking special effects.
Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletter here. |
(CNN) Rick Perry said in an interview Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that the shooting in Lafayette, Louisiana, earlier this week shows why gun-free zones are "a bad idea" and said he believes people should be able to take their firearms to the movies.
"I think that it makes a lot of sense to send a message across this country," Perry said when asked by host Jake Tapper if the former governor believed a way to prevent such violence would be to allow moviegoers to take guns inside. "If we believe in the Second Amendment, and we believe in people's right to protect themselves and defend themselves, and their families."
John Russell "Rusty" Houser on Thursday shot 11 people, killing two, in a theater using a handgun he legally purchased from a pawn shop, authorities have said. Houser, who authorities say had a history of legal and mental problems, then turned the gun on himself.
"I will suggest to you that these concepts of gun-free zones are a bad idea," Perry said. "I think that you allow the citizens of this country, who have appropriately trained, appropriately backgrounded, know how to handle and use firearms, to carry them. I believe that, with all my heart, that if you have the citizens who are well trained, and particularly in these places that are considered to be gun-free zones, that we can stop that type of activity, or stop it before there's as many people that are impacted as what we saw in Lafayette.".
Perry said shootings in gun-free zones like movie theaters and churches -- such as the one in Charleston, South Carolina, the scene of a racially-motivated bloodbath that killed nine last month -- happen because of a failure to enforce existing gun laws. He said current laws should have prevented Houser from obtaining his gun.
Read More |
Hundreds are thought to have been killed during the weekend violence in the northern town of Zaria
Human rights advocates have called for an investigation following the Nigerian army’s raid on a Shia Muslim sect, in which hundreds of people were reportedly killed.
Details of the weekend violence have been slow to emerge, with the three attacked areas of the northern town on lockdown as late as Tuesday. No one was allowed to enter or leave those areas during the lockdown.
Amnesty International said in a statement that the shooting of members of the sect “must be urgently investigated ... and anyone found responsible for unlawful killings must be brought to justice.”
MK Ibrahim, director of Amnesty in Nigeria, said: “Whilst the final death toll is unclear, there is no doubt of that there has been a substantial loss of life at the hands of the military,” said
The bloodshed was yet another blow to Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, which is already beset by a six-year-old insurgency waged by the violent Islamist group Boko Haram.
At least 100 Boko Haram militants killed by Cameroon army Read more
Ibrahim Musa, a spokesman for the Shia Islamic Movement in Nigeria, said soldiers on Monday carried away about 200 bodies from around the home of the sect’s leader Ibraheem Zakzaky, who was himself badly wounded and whose whereabouts have not been disclosed by the authorities.
Hundreds more corpses were in the mortuary, Musa added. Human rights activists said hundreds of people, perhaps as many as 1,000, were killed.
The army said troops attacked sites in Zaria after 500 Shias blocked the convoy of the army chief and tried to kill him on Saturday. A report from the military police said some people were crawling through tall grass towards General Tukur Buratai’s vehicle “with the intent to attack the vehicle with [a] petrol bomb,” while others “suddenly resorted to firing gunshots from the direction of the mosque”.
The army said there was “loss of lives as a result of the Shia group members blocking roads and not allowing other passersby to go about their lawful businesses and activities.” It added that “as soon as order is restored ... the police will conduct an enquiry and the public will be informed.”
Chidi Odinkalu of the Nigerian Human Rights Commission called the attacks a massacre. The army said it has asked the rights commission to investigate the alleged assassination attempt on the general.
Odinkalu said Zakzaky suffered four bullet wounds and that one of the sect leader’s wives was killed in raids that began on Saturday and ended on Monday morning. He was quoting the family’s doctor. Two of Zakzaky’s sons were also killed and one was wounded, according to Musa.
Odinkalu and other human rights activists said there were hundreds of bodies at the mortuary of the Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospital on the outskirts of Zaria.
Outraged Nigerians took to social media to condemn what they called “trigger-happy troops” and “extrajudicial killings”. Odinkalu tweeted: “Citizens must ask, who ordered this carnage?”
Iran, seen as the guardian of the Shia Muslim faith, condemned the killings. President Hassan Rouhani told President Muhammadu Buhari that he expects the Nigerian government to compensate bereaved families and injured victims, Iran state television reported.
Several die in Nigeria suicide attack near Kano Read more
Hundreds of Shia Muslims protested in front of the Nigerian embassies in the Iranian and Indian capitals on Tuesday.
Nigeria’s Shia Muslims, a movement of millions, started 37 years ago by Zakzaky, who dresses in the robes and turban of an Iranian ayatollah. They have often clashed with police and other security forces over their unlawful blocking of major roads to hold religious processions. |
Every track on Lord Huron’s 2012 debut Lonesome Dreams took its title and lyrical inspiration from an anthology of old western adventure tales. George Ranger Johnson, a prolific, but relatively underappreciated writer, wrote 10 installments of his series between the ‘60s and ‘80s, with an eleventh incomplete work that never saw the light of day. Though Johnson does maintain a relatively sparse website, those interested in his writing will inevitably hit a brick wall in finding any of his out-of-print books, because Johnson does not actually exist.
Inspired by Kilgore Trout, the shapeshifting sci-fi writer referenced throughout Kurt Vonnegut’s novels, Johnson is but a piece of band founder Ben Schneider’s longstanding fascination with narrative world-building. When conceptualizing music videos for the various singles featured on Lonesome Dreams, Schneider and his bandmates Mark Berry (drums), Tom Renaud (guitar) and Miguel Briseno (bass) went so far as to re-enact the adventures described in Johnson’s stories. Naturally, Schneider played the role of the recurring protagonist “Lord Huron.”
“I really like when I work on something to have as much background and context as I can possibly have,” says Schneider in the backyard of his Mount Washington home located just outside downtown Los Angeles. “It helps me write the songs and and feel like it’s more fleshed out. The concepts are more real.” Providing listeners with several layers of meaning is key for Lord Huron. “I’ve always been drawn to stuff I can really inhabit and immerse myself in. We wanted to create projects that you engage on multiple levels. If you’re just interested in the music that’s totally cool. Just listen to the music. But if you’re interested in getting into some of the ephemera that we create around it, there’s this whole sort of world you can dive into. I’ve always sort of appreciated storytelling and these days it’s really easy to craft a very rich world across multiple media.”
Lord Huron is once again exploring this interconnectivity of art forms on their sophomore LP, Strange Trails. The 14-track album was recorded at Whispering Pines, a formerly abandoned studio Schneider and his bandmates renovated themselves last year. Located down an alleyway behind an auto shop in L.A.’s West Adams neighborhood, the space was discovered by the group after answering a Craigslist ad. Left unused for over 20 years, the place was in significant disrepair. But after stripping out a lot of old gear, cabling, and other equipment, the fixer-upper now functions as a legitimate clubhouse for recording, rehearsals and upcoming in-house performances.
No longer faced with the time-constrained restrictions that come with renting someone else’s space on a per diem basis, Schneider says recording lent itself to more experimentation. “It felt a little more natural,” he says. “We were able to live with the material a little bit more and I think that tightened up the songwriting and the arrangements.” The extra time also allowed Schneider to expand on the setting and tenor that was established with the group’s first record. Whereas Lonesome Dreams glided exclusively on a frontier, man-with-no-name romanticism, Strange Trails takes that same pulp aesthetic and broadens its scope. Here Lord Huron veers narratives into weirder, darker places such as vintage sci-fi or horror. From being confronted by a “visitor…from the great beyond” on “Until the Night Turns,” to a living corpse that refuses to buried in “Dead Man’s Hand,” to a cursed spirit on a path of vengeance and death in “The World Ender,” the band’s campfire cast of characters all endure more otherworldly journeys.
Schneider says horror genre comics such as Alan Moore’s run of Swamp Thing and the work of Charles Burns—best known for the graphic novel Black Hole—were a large influence on this tonal shift. “On the road touring I was reading a lot of comics. When we were in a new town I would go to the record store and the comic store and I’d come back with a couple things.” As the rollout for Strange Trails kicks into gear, Schneider has already begun building the album’s multi-media world around this comic book inspiration. The artwork for their most recent single, “The World Ender,” consists of an aged comic book cover starring a protagonist decked out with a Ghost Rider skull and leather jacket. Taking things even further, Schneider says he plans to publish his own limited comic series, co-written with his sister, featuring characters and connective threads born out of certain songs. With his own chapter-based music videos and short films also in the works, Schneider says, “We’ll see what else we come up with. We started this whole other world with Strange Trails that revolves around the stories in these songs.”
As Schneider and his band continue to push the boundaries of an album’s visual element beyond a well-crafted cover sleeve, the focus of Lord Huron always returns to the music and its ability to transport audiences somewhere else—like any good tale should. “For me it’s more about communicating a story,” Schneider says. “If it’s not a literal story, some sort of mood and vibe which communicates a narrative in its own way. That’s the main thing I’m trying to do: communicate a narrative that comes in varying degrees of storytelling.” |
PotCoin Sends Dennis Rodman Back to North Korea
NBA legend Dennis Rodman traveling for his fifth time to the Communist country
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
This historic trip made possible by PotCoin.com
NYC, NY- 6/13/17-Hall of Famer and former NBA bad-boy Dennis Rodman is headed back to North Korea on Tuesday, June 12, 2017, thanks to the community-based cryptocurrency for legalized marijuana – PotCoin.
Rodman made his first visit to North Korea in February 2013. Since then, he has previously visited the country 4 times and is known to be a trusted confidant of the Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un.
Dennis Rodman is in the very rare position to be able to claim long-time friendships with both the Supreme Leader of North Korea, as well as with the current President of the United States.
Rodman was a cast member on two seasons of Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice (seasons 8 and 13).
The nature of his visit has yet to be disclosed, but the former NBA star promises to provide details of his trip upon his return to the USA.
“I’m really looking forward to spending time with the wonderful people of North Korea and of course, visiting with the Supreme Leader, Kim Jong Un.” “I want to thank the folks at PotCoin” Rodman said, “They realized the importance of this trip and made it all possible for me.”
Rodman’s long-time agent Darren Prince said “Anyone who knows Dennis knows he’s trying to use his relationship to open the line of communication and send a message of peace and understanding”.
For further information on Dennis Rodman’s current trip to North Korea, contact: [email protected]
For more information on PotCoin, please visit www.PotCoin.com. To get started trading Potcoin, check how to buy bitcoin guide and get started on the markets trading bitcoin for potcoin.
For updates on Dennis Rodman, go to www.dennisrodman.com or follow him on Twitter @dennisrodman. |
I didn’t start Final Fantasy from the beginning. Hell, I didn’t even start at VII. I remember seeing a copy of it and asking possibly the wrongest person in the world if it was any good, only to be given the answer ‘Nah it’s rubbish’. I started at Final Fantasy VIII. I also consider it my favourite… I know, I know, nowhere near as good as VII but I suppose that through my rose tinted specs, I remember being bowled over by the story, exploration and general coolness of it. I finished it, then I went and bought Final Fantasy VII. I also spent a lot of time hunting down the earlier titles afterwards, so you could say I was a late starter, but undoubtably a fan. I was only 2 when the first one originally came out; I started gaming early, but not that early.
For a few years after being wowed by VII and VIII, the top of my game-expectation-list was always Final Fantasy. I followed the release of IX eagerly until it came into my hands. At the time I opened it, it was probably the best birthday present ever. My interest in the series took a bit of a blow upon hearing that the characters in Final Fantasy X were to get voices. A silly thing to make a fuss over, right? Maybe. I felt, though, that the game would lose something of itself. Being able to imagine what they sounded like, along with being able to name your own characters (unless you were one of those people who insisted that the characters must stick with their original names), well it kind of personalised the story a little bit. Still, I thought, I suppose the series must move with the times, and this is a PlayStation 2 title. I had to admit it was a decent game in the end, but Tidus still has one of the most annoying voices I have heard in a video game.
So when did it go downhill? When did we start to become apprehensive, instead of expectant about when a new one was going to be released? I, like many others, was deeply disappointed by Final Fantasy XIII… but it didn’t start there. In the months leading up to the release, it wasn’t like everyone was shouting ‘This is going to be awesome!’, it was more like they were hoping it was going to be great. The doubt was already planted in people’s minds.
There is no doubt that the series is trying to remain fresh and there are some aspects that I like in the newer games. The battle systems are better… I did have a moan originally about how random encounters are not used any more but then I remembered – I hate random encounters. Everybody does. When you are trudging through a dungeon trying to find three levers so you can get out, but you can’t move two steps without some level 3 monster popping up, you know you’re going to start getting those feelings of annoyance which will slowly turn to rage.
I’ve been thinking about what the series needs to be back at the top of my christmas list again; essentially what made them brilliant games. The one that immediately came into my head first was that it absolutely needs a good boss. I’m sorry, but fighting a huge ass whale is not as epic as fighting a crazy sorceress who can control other sorceresses to do her bidding. The fact I can’t remember who or what I was even up against in Final Fantasy XII is a little bit weak compared to the fact that the whole world still remembers a guy who summoned a meteor to destroy the planet just because he has parental issues (though admittedly some major ones at that). We need an enemy. A living, breathing, super strong yet killable enemy who can taunt, have an evil laugh and employ evil henchmen who wear his evil uniform. We need a new Kefka or a new Sephiroth. Someone we’ll still remember in ten years time. |
If Mr. Obama decided to devote energy toward resolving the conflict — a big if — it would not be easy. The Palestinians are deeply divided between supporters of Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah faction, which governs the West Bank, and Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza. An even bigger obstacle is Mr. Netanyahu’s right-wing government, hellbent on territorial expansion.
In short, if the objectives of the entire peace process are not ending the occupation, removing the settlements and providing for real Palestinian self-determination, then what is the purpose of pretending to restart it?
There are two facts Mr. Obama would do well to keep in mind.
The overwhelming dominance of Israel over the Palestinians means that the conflict is not one that demands reciprocal concessions from two equal parties. In addition, peace has to be made between Palestinians and Israelis, not between Mr. Obama and his critics in the Republican Party, the Israel lobby and Israel’s right-wing parties.
If Mr. Obama cannot face those realities, it would be far better for him to just be honest: the United States supports this intolerable reality and is willing to bear the resulting international opprobrium. People the world over realize that America for many decades has helped produce a situation where, pious invocations of support for a Palestinian state notwithstanding, there is, and for the foreseeable future will be, only one true sovereign authority between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River: the state of Israel.
Only Israeli Jews are full citizens of that land, while 5 million Palestinians live in a state of subjugation or exile and 1.2 million Palestinian Arabs live in Israel as second-class citizens. A “one-state solution” based on enduring discrimination and oppression is ultimately unsustainable. Its only remaining external support comes from the United States and Europe, whose citizens are increasingly aware that such a structure is deeply at odds with their own values, as apartheid South Africa was.
For Mr. Obama, a decision is in order. He can reconcile the United States to continuing to uphold and bankroll an unjust status quo that it helped produce. Or he can begin to chart a new course based on recognition that the United States must forthrightly oppose the occupation and the settlements and support an inalienable Palestinian right to freedom, equality and statehood. There is no middle way. |
LONDON -- After Linda Davies reported to police that her 15-year-old daughter had been raped, it took three months -- plus two dozen phone calls and a threat of legal action -- before police questioned the suspect, a 28-year-old neighbor.
"I gave police his name, address, mobile phone number, car registration -- everything but his passport," said Davies, 44, a strong-minded mother of two daughters. "I was basically begging them. He lived five minutes away from us."
The suspect was finally arrested but acquitted at a trial in which the judge told the jury that he was "in a way a man of good character" because his previous criminal convictions, for possession of stolen goods and marijuana, did not involve violence.
Davies was furious at the judge, who also instructed the jurors to ignore the victim's young age, and at police, who lost cellphone records that contradicted the defendant's account.
"This has shattered us," Davies said. "We felt like the whole system was against us."
Davies said she was stunned to learn that her daughter's case was the rule, not the exception. According to government statistics, only 5.7 percent of rapes officially recorded by police in England and Wales end in a conviction.
"What are they saying?" Davies asked. "That 95 percent of women that come forward are telling lies?"
In Britain, a nation whose justice system has been used as a model around the globe, government officials and women's rights activists agree that rape goes largely unpunished.
Solicitor General Vera Baird, who oversees criminal prosecutions in England, estimated that 10 to 20 percent of rapes are brought to authorities' attention. According to government figures, 14,000 cases a year are reported and 19 out of 20 defendants walk free.
"There will never be proper female equality and appropriate dignity afforded to one-half of the population if it's possible to rape somebody and get away with it," said Baird, one of the highest-ranking women in the British government.
Thousands of victims each year once chose not to go to police because of shame, women's advocates say. Now, the advocates say, the bigger reason is that rape victims feel the system is stacked against them.
A 2005 report commissioned by the police found a "culture of skepticism" in the justice system when it came to rape cases, and recommended shifting the focus from seeking reasons not to believe the accuser to gathering evidence to support the charge. |
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL WHICH WAS ORIGINALLY 4:3 Myanmar's newly-elected lawmakers arrived at a National League for Democracy (NLD) dominated parliament on Monday (February 1) in the capital, Naypyitaw. The country's parliament TV, Hluttaw TV, showed democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi sitting in parliament, as proceedings got underway to choose the country's first democratically-elected government since the military took power in 1962. Although the NLD won some 80 percent of elected seats in November's historic vote, the junta-drafted constitution will force it to share power with the army that for years has suppressed, often brutally, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate and her allies. The first sitting of the NLD-dominated parliament is another step in Myanmar's drawn-out transition which started with the election and will go on until the NLD government officially starts its term in April. Expectations are towering for Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest after the NLD swept to power in 1990 but was barred from taking office, and is regarded with an almost religious-like zeal in the Southeast Asian nation. But under the 2008 constitution, Suu Kyi is barred from becoming president because her children are not Myanmar citizens. She has given no indication as to who will take over from outgoing President Thein Sein and the NLD has no clear number two. Suu Kyi has said she will be "above the president", and in complete control of the government, but the NLD has not explained how she will do this. |
A flashy website is selling fake credentials including an imaginary reference to help people land a real job.
CareerExcuse.com will give fake job references, resume rewriting, landlord references and even a real company reference for a price.
The Ohio base company says it will assign users to one of the 200 established company sites and a reference provider in their specific career field.
“You lack the employment history, have unexplainable gaps in your past employment, lack the required references due to leaving on bad terms, being self-employed or to many short contract assignments?” the website asks.
Reference checking is very important said Gena Griffin, regional manager of Robert Half, a staffing firm in Toronto. Griffin said she has been working in the industry for 18 years and has only experienced a fake reference once.
“We’ve encountered it, but it is very, very rare,” said Griffin about fake references.
“The more specific you can be in the reference you do and the more you relate it to the actual interview you had the more you can assess if it is a valid reference,” Griffin said.
Robert Half will consult with two previous supervisors of a candidate when asking for references.
“We look to do that with the most recent supervisor and, depending on the role the company is looking to hire them for, maybe a peer level reference if that is important to the role they are taking on and a subordinate reference.”
Griffin said their organization asks for a company name, business phone number and they will also Google the company to check for its validity.
“I would say that some of our websites actually look better than the real companies,” said William Schmidt, founder of Career Excuse. He added that 30 percent of their members are Canadian and they have over 5,000 members using their database.
Sometimes he gives up to 10 references a day.
“Canada and Toronto is a big part of our market,” Schmidt said. “A lot of IT, high tech fields in that area.”
Griffin said that when checking references they will be very specific with details.
“We will reference certain experiences the person said that they have had,” she said. “We try to be as specific as possible beyond the resume to validate the experience and interview process we’ve had,” said Griffin.
Ways to spot a fake reference:
Ask about specific technical work they have done
Ask how they got along with other team members
Questions about their attendance and punctuality
Discuss what they are most passionate about
Griffin said she will then compare those answers from a reference to the ones that were asked during the interview process.
But Schmidt said that the purpose of Career Excuse is to provide more interviews for the members allowing more possibilities of landing a job.
“One of the toughest things for companies to overcome in references is the fear that people have in giving any additional information,” said Griffin.
Most companies will give the time of employment, title and company but feel reluctant to go beyond that in fear of being held legally responsible.
Griffin said perhaps the reason they don’t experience fake references is because they are dealing with professional positions at companies.
Schmidt said that the members of Career Excuse vary from bartenders to vice presidents of Fortune 500 companies. “A majority of our members are executive level, high tech, IT, executive management and finance.”
He added that in the seven-and-half years of Career Excuse in operation, he is shocked they haven’t been busted more. |
ok, listen, I was hoping this would sort of stop eventually, but I keep getting more and more requests like this, and I’d like it to stop. continued after the break.
First, what makes you think I would do that? I draw boobs once in a while, less and less. You make it sound like it’s some sort of consistent thing, but they’re far and few between. And I am willing to draw dudes in ways you might consider sexy. But kit and tackle? Flower and petals? Come on. And really, I just don’t consider topless women smut. Or topless anything for that matter.
Second, I’m not really into guys. So I’ve got very little clue as to what you want, so I’m not equipped to give it to you.
Third, requests like this, the ones for not safe for work stuff, they’re usually just… disrespectful. Please, don’t tell me what I can and cannot do. I appreciate the support, but I assure you, I know myself better, I fear nothing, and when you try to imply that you have some sort of moral high ground I’m not aware of (for, or against), it’s displeasing to say the least.
If you want something, request it. But don’t try and tell me why I should. |
The Baltic port of Gdansk is one of four Polish cities hosting the 16-nation European Championship, along with four cities in Ukraine, and with race such a sensitive issue, Andrzej Bojanowski put his foot firmly in it during a radio interview.
"I thank residents and city employees for behaving like normal civilized white people toward our guests who have in turn also behaved like normal white people," Bojanowski, 40, said.
Bojanowski promptly followed up the controversial statement with an apology in the local edition of Gazeta Wyborcza daily.
"I apologise to anyone I may have hurt with the clumsy phrasing I used this morning in a live broadcast," he said. "I simply wanted to thank residents and guests, whatever the colour of their skin."
Krzysztof Jarymowicz, an official from the Polish Foundation for Freedom anti-racism organisation, said this was "an example of the extent to which stereotypes and xenophobia are rooted in the mentality and language" of Poland. |
31 Days. Not long till the World Cup starts, and Steven Hansen has some tough decisions to make at fly-half.
Dan Carter’s superb performance in the Bledisloe Decider – his last on New Zealand soil before he heads off to Racing Metro – was the Carter of old. Barring an injury, you would expect him to be the first choice 10 for New Zealand in the World Cup.
We all know not to rely on one New Zealand 10 however. Last World Cup they lost 3 fly-halves to injury, and had to call up Steven Donald to fill the gap. So, the question remains, who should be Carter’s deputy? Who is NZ’s backup if Carter gets injured again?
The 3 other fly-halves in the New Zealand Squad right now are:
Lima Sopoaga
Age: 24
Height: 1.77m
Weight: 91kg
Test Caps: 1
Test Debut: vs South Africa, July 2015
Super Rugby Team: Highlanders (Winners)
(stats from allblacks.com)
Beauden Barrett
Age: 24
Height: 1.87m
Weight: 91kg
Test Caps: 30
Test Debut: vs. Ireland, June 2012
Super Rugby Team: Hurricanes (Runners Up)
(stats from allblacks.com)
Colin Slade:
Age: 27
Height: 1.83m
Weight: 93kg
Test Caps: 20
Test Debut: vs. Australia, September 2010
Super Rugby Team: Crusaders (7th)
(stats from allblacks.com)
Which of these fly-halves does Hansen take to England for the RWC? Who can he trust as the backup fly-half in a knockout game?
I’ll be looking at the different facets of their game – their attack, defence and their goal kicking, and see which player is mostly likely to make the step up if needed. All the stats (unless stated) are from the 2015 Super Rugby season, and are only from their game time at 10, as both Slade and Carter played in numerous positions throughout the season.
In regards to Carter, I would take these stats with a pinch of salt. Because of less gametime overall/ a bad first game back against the Hurricanes, his stats can easily be skewed.
Attack:
Player Minutes Played Tries/Assists Carter 393 0/2 Sopoaga 1327 2/10 Barrett 941 3/2 Slade 845 3/4
Source: ESPN Rugby Stats
Whilst he’s admittedly had more game time at 10 this season than his competitors, Sopoaga is clearly ahead of the others in terms of assists, having helped produce more tries than any other 10 last season in Super Rugby. Try assists are counted as the last person to pass to the try scorer. Carter has the least impressive stats of the four, but by far has spent the least time playing at 10 this season, having predominantly played 12 for the Crusaders, with Slade at 10.
Player Minutes Played Total Runs Metres run with ball Clean Breaks Defenders Beaten Offloads Carter 393 130 149 1 2 5 Sopoaga 1327 283 544 9 31 13 Barrett 941 284 742 10 34 11 Slade 845 261 441 13 19 9
Source: ESPN Rugby Stats
Carter’s case doesn’t get any stronger when you compare his runs, offloads, and clean breaks. Whilst he has had much less time, Carter is still someway off from the others. Sopoaga still looks impressive on this table, but apart from offloads he’s beaten to the top spot by Barret, who covered more ground, and beat more defenders than anyone else. To break this down further, lets look at how many meters each 10 makes per run on average:
Player Metres made per run Carter 1.146 Sopoaga 1.922 Barrett 2.594 Slade 1.70
Source: ESPN Rugby Stats
Barrett made the most metres per run out of the 4. This is perhaps unsurprising, with it being one of the biggest strengths of his game. He made the most metres out of any 10 in the Super Rugby season, and was ranked 11th overall for metres covered by any player; pretty impressive stats for a fly-half. Sopoaga and Slade are similar to each other, with Carter coming last again.
Next, we’ll look at their decision making with ball in hand:
Player Kick % Run % Pass % Carter 20.30 64.36 15.34 Sopoaga 24.86 54.11 21.03 Barrett 20.59 56.24 23.17 Slade 11.26 68.32 20.42
ESPN Rugby Stats
They are all pretty similar in their decision-making, except for 1 or 2 stats. Carter and Slade both run with the ball more often than Sopoaga and Barrett, and Slade kicks far less than the other contenders. This could be part of his natural game, however he did have Carter outside him at 12 for most of last season, and he’s not a bad kicking option to have outside of you, or it might have been part of the Crusaders game plan.
So far, by the numbers, Sopoaga sets up the most tries, Beauden Barrett is the most dangerous running option at fly half, and Carter’s running game has looked the weakest of the 4 at the 10 position.
Defense:
This again, is only showing their stats at 10:
Player Turnovers Conceded Tackles Made Tackles Missed Tackle Success Carter 5 38 13 74.51% Sopoaga 33 70 22 76.09% Barrett 10 87 14 86.14% Slade 10 68 16 80.10%
Source: ESPN Rugby Stats
Whilst Sopoaga is one of the more dangerous options attacking wise, he also conceded far more turnovers compared to the other 3, even taking into account his larger game-time. A weakness of his game that will not have escaped the coach’s notice.
Barrett has the best tackle success ratio up at 86%, and Slade next on 80%.
Carter has the worst tackle success of the 4 at 10, however – in one one game against the Hurricanes this year, he missed 9 tackles. This was his first game back at 10 for a considerable amount of time towards the end of the season. If you take that game out, his stats read at 88%, the best of the lot.
Kicking:
A key part of any fly-halves game. Goal-kicking is crucial, especially in the knockout stages. Who can you rely on to make the crucial kick for territory? Who can convert from the touchline?
Unlike the other posts, I’ve included each players stats from the whole season, rather than just playing at 10, as playing at 15 or 12 doesn’t have any influence over the goal-kicking stat.
Player Lima Sopoaga Daniel Carter Beauden Barrett Colin Slade Penalty goals 31 22 24 15 Missed penalty goals 13 7 10 8 Penalty goal success 70.50% 75.90% 70.60% 65.20% Conversions 38 23 17 20 Missed conversions 19 5 13 5 Conversion success 66.70% 82.10% 56.70% 80% Drop goals 4 0 0 0 Kicking success 68.30% 78.90% 64.10% 72.90%
Source: Opta Rugby Stats
Whilst being the bigger attacking threats, both Sopoaga and Barrett have the worst kicking stats of the 4 from last season, in particular the conversion stats. If the All Blacks are in a tight game, they may not feel comfortable relying on those 2 to kick them to a win.
Carter is the most reliable of the 4, which is no surprise. He’s shown many times for New Zealand that he’s the most reliable goal-kicker, and will be aiming to continue his form into the World Cup.
It’s also worth noting that the only fly-half to have got any drop goals last season was Sopoaga. This could be extremely useful, especially in the knockout stages, as New Zealand have found out in previous World Cups. Whether it is enough to balance out his less than stellar conversion percentage however, is a question that needs to be answered.
Overall:
Whilst looking at stats can be useful, and they can tell you certain things about players, they do not take into account things such as workrate, timing of the pass, rucks won and lost, and other facets of the game. By the numbers, Carter shouldn’t be the first choice at 10 for the All Blacks. To be a good fly-half however, you need to have good vision, be able to draw in defenders, organising defence, and kicking out of hand: whether it be a clearing kick, a kick to the corner or an up-and-under. These mostly aren’t quantifiable by stats, and watching their games is the best way of judging these abilities.
Dan Carter:
He may not be the quickest, he may not be the strongest, but Dan Carter has become one of the best fly-halves of all time. His ability to know when to kick for the corner, to draw in defenders, and decision making in general are what have put him head and shoulders above the rest.
Even as recently as the Bledisloe decider, we see 2 key moments when Carter was a decisive factor in 2 of the tries:
Source: World Rugby Highlights HD
First Carter makes the step past James Horwill, and then continues his run, drawing in Quade Cooper, and passing it at just the right time for Dane Coles.
In this instance, Carter draws in 2 defenders, and opens up the gap for Nonu, who runs a great line, targeting Nic White and running in to score. He runs flat to draw them in, and then times his pass perfectly:
Source: World Rugby Highlights HD
Lima Sopoaga:
Making your test debut at Ellis Park against the Springboks is not the easiest debut you could have, but Sopoaga looked calm and collected in a tough environment. He had a rocky start, and took some big hits, but quickly recovered to show us all what he’s been doing this Super Rugby season.
Here are his stats from that game:
Points 12 Metres Made 45 Clean Breaks 1 Defenders Beaten 2 Tackle Success % 63.60% Kick Success % 71.40%
Source: Opta Rugby Stats
His run and pass here sets up Ben Smith for New Zealand’s first try at the end of the first half.
Source: Sky Sports NZ
Playing with his Highlanders teammate Aaron Smith no doubt helped him, and having that linkup in the All Blacks team could be a decisive factor if he does get picked over his competition.
His tactical kicking is also a big strength, exemplified with this highlight reel of his kicking performance against the Sharks in May:
Source: Observatoire Béarnais
Defensively, he’s more of a risk than the other fly-half options. With the lowest tackle success rate, most turnovers conceded and lower goal kicking stats, this is likely the black mark which New Zealand management will be debating amongst one another.
Another aspect of the game that may count against Sopoaga is the fact that both Slade and Barrett can both cover a number of other positions in the backline. Utility players are valuable in the World Cup, and it’s definitely possible that Sopoaga could get passed over because he hasn’t got that ability to play more than one position.
Beauden Barrett:
Barrett has struggled with injuries towards the end of the season, damaging his medial ligament and straining his calf. He knows goal kicking is one of the areas he needs to work on to be considered, however admitted that he had been having hip pains in the build up to the super rugby semi-final because of over-practicing. If he hasn’t properly recovered from those injuries and they flare up during a match, that could be a real problem.
As shown in the stats earlier, Barrett’s running game is one of his big strengths. He has speed most wings would be proud of, and is frequently utilised as a “super-sub”. Coming on as a sub later on in games for the All Blacks at fullback, Barrett has made a name for himself by tearing apart tired and weary defenders:
Source: LyesalotRUGBY
His athleticism puts him apart from his rivals, and his versatility to cover 10, 12 and 15 is another feather in his cap.
However, his caliber as a fly-half at the top international level has been brought into question. Most notably in recent history, his inability to unlock the Welsh defense back in 2014 was a real problem. It wasn’t until Slade came on that the New Zealand attack starting clicking.
Colin Slade:
Mr Versatile. Slade has played in nearly all the backs positions, slotting in at wing, fullback, centre and fly-half for club and country. It’s something that Hansen has relied on, most recently calling Slade up to the bench for the Bledisloe decider.
Slade, like Barrett also injured himself towards the end of the season. The same questions have to be asked, will he hold out for the World Cup?
His abilities as a goal-kicker are what give him the best chance of being in the World Cup squad. He’s second only to Carter in terms of kicking percentages.
Source: markispostal
He has no fears tackling the big guys either, taking Nonu head on, resulting in knocking out his mouthguard in the process!
Summary:
In the past, the All Blacks have usually taken 2 fly-halves, and then one utility back, who plays at 10. Sopoaga is the least experienced of the trio, but his test debut showed he can handle the pressure. His lack of versatility will count against him though, perhaps being seen as the starting choice at 10 if Carter were injured, rather than being a bench option.
Barrett and Slade are both versatile, making them the more obvious choices as Carter’s understudy. Barrett’s running game and ability to be a serious attacking threat, as well as being defensively sound count has to be tempting for management. Slade, however, is the more complete fly-half. He has a much more rounded game, and his goal-kicking is superior to both Sopoaga and Barrett. Slade would be the more reliable option in a tight knockout game, when kicking goals is vital, but at the sacrifice of a dangerous runner.
WRITERS NOTE:
At the time of publishing, both Barrett and Sopoaga have been released for the ITM Cup fixtures:
Lima Sopoaga (for Southland vs. Northland, Whangarei, 5.35PM Saturday 22 August)
Beauden Barrett (for Taranaki vs. Otago, New Plymouth, 5.35PM Saturday 29 August)
This would suggest that both Carter and Slade will be in the squad, or that they may be carrying knocks from this weekend. However, the ITM Cup also offers both players one last chance to impress Steve Hansen before he announces his final World Cup squad on Sunday August 31st. It’s going to be close!
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Ed Cowan admits he was one of the players to register concerns about the general slide in attitude throughout the squad that led to the standing down of Shane Watson and three others in Mohali.
Head coach Mickey Arthur identified a series of indiscretions - from lateness to meetings, missed appointments, poor skinfolds, wrong uniforms and even backchatting - before suspending the quartet, which also included James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson and Usman Khawaja, for failing to provide performance feedback.
Spiling the beans: Ed Cowan and Mickey Arthur. Credit:Getty Images
The litany of minor ''crimes'' that preceded the four being left out only leaked out slowly in the aftermath of the punishment of the four but Cowan said he had noticed the trend and spoken to Arthur and captain Michael Clarke about it.
''Yeah, a few little things had crept in. I had a few conversations with the coach and the captain and the manager [Gavin Dovey] about those little things and I'm sure a few other guys did as well,'' Cowan said. |
The Atlanta Falcons have stormed through the regular season with a 12-2 record and can lock up a first-round playoff bye Sunday with a win over the Detroit Lions. That seems like an easy enough task, but the dirty birds do have a significant hurdle.
"It's really not about them. It's about us," Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones told NFL Network reporter Michelle Beisner, who's in Atlanta this week. "It's the little things. We can get bored. We lost against Carolina. We were kinda bored with it -- looking at their record -- I just think we got bored. There are no excuses because they whooped us, but we can't let that happen again.
"We can't get bored. We have to prepare like we're playing the best team in the NFL. We gotta go out there and play Falcon football. We gotta execute, and our guys have to be on the same page and play 100 percent."
I don't think Jones meant to be funny, but there's a lot of humor in that statement. No. 1, he dismissed the Lions so quickly. No. 2, he basically said the Panthers are so bad, they're boring. No. 3, he said the Lions are approaching that previously mentioned boring status.
I guess the Lions aren't exactly striking fear into the hearts of opponents these days.
Follow Kareem Copeland on Twitter @kareemcopeland. |
Vegan BLT Grilled Cheese Sandwich Recipe
Imagine a hot and crispy BLT sandwich, engulfed in vegan grilled cheese! It might sound too good to be true, but this is the real deal! This vegan BLT grilled cheese is what dreams are made of.. Ooey, gooey, indulgent dreams, that is!
Let’s be honest… The last thing you want to do after a long day of being awesome is cook a huge, elaborate meal. I mean, I’m in the same boat!
That’s when I created this masterpiece; I was hangry, tired, and needed something delicious immediately. (Ideal recipe-writing conditions, if you ask me 😉)
Vegan BLT Grilled Cheese Sandwich Realness
First of all, be warned:
This vegan BLT grilled cheese is the real deal. This isn’t that soggy-ass grilled cheese from a fast food place!
My secret to perfectly crispy grilled cheese? Oiling the bread before cooking!
You can use coconut oil (if you don’t mind the flavor), but I stick with good ‘ol vegan butter for that nostalgic taste… Just look at those grill-lines!
Ingredients Matter!
For this recipe I used:
Tempeh Bacon, for a healthier protein-packed punch,
Daiya cheese slices,
Organic power greens (I have to include greens somehow!),
Sliced tomatoes, and
Dave’s Killer Bread (no, seriously: It’s killer!)
One last thing: You might be wondering why I add the greens after cooking the sandwich, it’s simple! I can’t stand hot, wilted greens. They might as well not be on there, because I’ll just peel it off.
Adding them after cooking still gives the greens a chance to soften, but not to the point of being a hot wilted mess. “Hip hip, hooray (for non-nasty greens)!”
Nick @ ServingRealness.com Vegan BLT Grilled Cheese Sandwich 5 minPrep Time 10 minCook Time 15 minTotal Time Save Recipe Save Recipe Print Recipe My Recipes My Lists My Calendar Ingredients 2-3 slices of vegan bacon
2 pieces of bread
1 slice Daiya cheese
2-3 slices of tomato
Vegan butter
Handful of greens
Mustard Instructions Start with cooking your bacon to manufacturer's directions Gently place slice of cheese on one piece of bread Adorn cheese with bacon slices, ever so slightly overlapping Finish by closing the sandwich and topping with a small layer of butter (optional, but totally worth the crisp!) Cook sandwich on stove-top or panini press on medium-high until crispy and the cheese is melted Remove from heat, open back up, stuff with greens and mustard, close, and enjoy! Nutrition Calories 350 cal Fat 33 g Carbs 1 g Protein 11 g Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info 7.8.1.2 66 Nick Abell |
German police are now looking for a young Tunisian man whose identity documents were found in the cabin of the truck used in the attack on the Christmas market in Berlin, which killed 12 people and injured 48 others, German media reports.
LIVE UPDATES: Berlin Christmas market attack
The suspect, identified as a Tunisian national named Anis A., is also believed to have several IDs, according to various media reports.
++ Polizei sucht diesen Mann mit mehreren Identitäten: Anis A. und Ahmed A. ++ Zum Liveticker: https://t.co/KGVy9M9uBppic.twitter.com/Lnh52wRdgc — Berliner Zeitung (@berlinerzeitung) December 21, 2016
Der Spiegel reports that his identity document has been found by investigators under the driver’s seat in the truck cabin. The suspect was born in Tataouine, Tunisia in 1992, according to the report.
Bild, however, quoted police sources which suggest that Anis A. had several passports in different names with ages between 21 and 23.
All of the passports have surnames starting with the letter A, according to Allgemeine Zeitung Mainz. One of his aliases could be Ahmed A., the newspaper reports. The man’s German residence permit was reportedly issued in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia.
Meanwhile, Suddeutsche Zeitung reports that Anis A. arrived to Germany as a refugee and filed an asylum request. He was later granted a resident permit.
Police and secret services are now stepping up “immense security measures” in North-Rhine Westphalia, DPA news agency said.
According to German media, Anis A. was in contact with Salafist preachers from the cities of Hildesheim and Duisburg.
Earlier, German special forces had interrogated radical preachers who were suspected of recruiting for Islamic State.
Berlin police have reportedly received more tip-offs after the attack and are looking for a suspect, according to Spiegel. Earlier, investigators released a 23-year-old Pakistani refugee detained on suspicion of carrying out the attack, admitting that the wrong man was taken to custody. Police say the actual attacker may be armed and is still on the run.
On Monday, a heavy truck rammed into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 48 others. Top German officials, including Chancellor Angela Merkel and Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere, called it a terrorist attack.
Berlin is expected to tighten security measures and deploy more armed police officers amid preparations for New Year's Eve celebrations, as are other cities across the country. |
Image caption Virunga National Park officials say it was the worst attack by the FDLR in 12 months
The head of a Rwandan rebel group accused of committing war crimes in Democratic Republic of Congo has been extradited from France to The Hague.
Callixte Mbarushimana was arrested in Paris last October, following a request from the International Criminal Court.
The Hutu rebel leader has denied accusations that he ordered his FDLR fighters to kill and rape civilians.
The move came as the FDLR was accused of attacking a wildlife patrol.
The director of Virunga National Park in eastern DR Congo said three rangers and five government soldiers died in the rocket-propelled grenade attack on their vehicle.
Emmanuel de Merode said more than 130 park rangers have died since 1996 when the conflict began in the volatile east.
The presence in DR Congo of Hutu rebels has been at the heart of years of unrest in the region.
Charcoal
Mr Mbarushimana, 47, faces five counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of war crimes, including charges of murder, torture, rape, inhumane acts and persecution, and destruction of property.
A French court has previously rejected an appeal against Mr Mbarushimana's extradition but ruled he should not be sent to Rwanda, where his lawyers say he would not get a fair trial.
DR Congo and Rwanda: Troublesome neighbours April-June 1994: Genocide of Tutsis in Rwanda
June 1994: Paul Kagame's Tutsi rebels take power in Rwanda, Hutus flee into Zaire (DR Congo)
Rwanda's army enters eastern Zaire to pursue Hutu fighters
1997: Laurent Kabila's AFDL, backed by Rwanda, takes power in Kinshasa Timeline: DR Congo Profile: Rwanda President Kagame UN urges action over Congo rapes
ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the prosecution of the FDLR leaders "will provide the opportunity to demobilise this armed group".
"Rape can no longer be used as a weapon of war. In the ICC era, the fate of leaders and commanders who plan or oversee campaigns of mass crimes against civilians is to face justice," he said.
Mr de Merode said he had had reports in recent days of more than 700 FDLR fighters coming into Virunga park territory.
The park, in North Kivu province, is home to some of the world's last remaining mountain gorillas and is managed by the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN).
"They are extremely hostile towards ICCN ever since we started to stop the forest destruction for charcoal, an illegal industry from which they were making significant revenue," he said in a statement.
He said the attackers escaped by foot and that it was the worst attack in the park in the last 12 months.
FDLR fighters were accused of raping hundreds of people in eastern DR Congo last year, although the group has denied responsibility.
Some FDLR leaders allegedly took part in the 1994 slaughter of some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda.
After a Tutsi-dominated group took power ending the genocide, some FDLR members fled into what is now DR Congo, sparking years of unrest in the region.
Rwanda has twice sent its troops into DR Congo, saying they are needed to stop Hutu fighters, such as the FDLR, from using Congolese territory to attack Rwanda.
This led to the six-year conflict in DR Congo and the deaths of some five million people.
The FDLR is now one of the most powerful rebel forces operating in the east of the country, where they are believed to make millions of dollars a year by controlling mines rich in gold and other minerals, and extorting money from local people.
Mr Mbarushimana, who has been living in Paris, has described the FDLR as a freedom movement, fighting "to liberate the Rwandan people from the yoke of the fascist regime" of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which is still in power in Kigali. |
Microsoft's saying that the successor to the Xbox 360 won't be the star of the show at 2012's Electronic Entertainment Expo.
Speculation had been rising that Microsoft would be the next major platform player to show the successor to their current hardware. Rumors reportedly have the console code-named Durango , claim that it won't be a disc-based machine and speculate that it won't play pre-owned games. Expectations for a Durango reveal this year were running high but a tweet from Bloomberg News reporter Dina Bass quashed those hopes. Kotaku's confirmed that Microsoft's future hardware plans won't be the focus of this year's E3. Microsoft's full statement follows:
"While we appreciate all the interest in our long-range plans for the future, we can confirm that there will be no talk of new Xbox hardware at E3 or anytime soon. For us, 2012 is all about Xbox 360-and it's the best year ever for Xbox 360. The console is coming off its biggest year ever-a year in which Xbox outsold all other consoles worldwide. Xbox 360 didn't just outsell other consoles, it also outsold all other TV-connected devices like DVD players, as well as digital media receivers and home theatre systems. And in our seventh year, we sold more consoles than in any other year-defying convention. This year, we will build on that Xbox 360 momentum. With "Halo 4," "Forza Horizon," "Fable: The Journey," and other great Kinect games on the way, our 2012 Xbox lineup is our strongest ever. This year, we will deliver more TV, music, and movie experiences for Xbox 360-as we'll make it even easier to find and control your all entertainment. And this year, Xbox games, music, and video are coming to Windows 8 so people can enjoy their Xbox entertainment wherever they go."
With this statement coming soon after Sony's declaration that they won't be talking about the PS4 (or whatever they'll be calling the follow-up to the PS3) at the upcoming E3, it seems that we won't be hearing about the future of consoles—aside from Nintendo's already announced Wii U—for a little while yet. |
Dallas and Fort Worth officials are moving forward on plans to create a separate entity to manage a potential high-speed connection between the two cities.
The Dallas City Council's Mobility Solutions, Infrastructure & Sustainability Committee gave city officials the green light to draft an agreement to create a local government corporation, known as an LGC, for the possible project with Fort Worth.
The committee hopes to see a draft of an interlocal agreement by early next year.
But a major question remains: whether Arlington or Grand Prairie will be part of the LGC. First, the cities would have to hop aboard one of the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, better known as The T, or Dallas Area Rapid Transit.
Michael Morris, the North Central Texas Council of Governments' transportation director, said joining one of the existing agencies — creating a new authority won't cut it — or contracting with them "in a significant way" will be "a litmus test."
"You're either going to be in the big leagues or you're not going to be in the big leagues," Morris said. "And Arlington knows if they're not fully compliant with this notion, there will not be a station on this high-speed rail line." |
Story highlights "I was very, very surprised to see it," Trump said
On July 26, the FBI raided Manafort's northern Virginia home
Bridgewater, New Jersey (CNN) President Donald Trump said he was "surprised" that the FBI conducted an early morning raid of his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort's home last month.
"You know, they do that very seldom, so I was surprised to see it. I was very, very surprised to see it," Trump said from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Thursday, according to pool reports. "I thought it was a very, very strong signal, or whatever."
Trump said he has not spoken to the Attorney General Jeff Sessions or the FBI regarding the raid.
"I have not, but to do that early in the morning, whether or not it was appropriate you'd have to ask them," Trump said. "I've always found Paul Manafort to be a very decent man. He's like a lot of other people -- probably makes consultant fees from all over the place. Who knows? I don't know, but I thought it was pretty tough stuff to wake him up, perhaps his family was there."
"I think that's pretty tough stuff," the President added.
Read More |
They are coming back (avishaiweiss's flickr).
Governor Cuomo and MTA Chair Joe Lhota just updated everybody on the state of the MTA there is good news and there is bad news. Let's start with the good news: According to Cuomo a limited bus service will resume TODAY AT 5 P.M.. But only limited ("Basically the Sunday schedule.") Further, "no fares will be charged on buses today or tomorrow." And it gets better: according to Lhota, no MTA "buses have any damage, nor do any subway cars. All [of the trouble is] on the lines, all on the track level." So that is the good news.
Still expect it to take a bit of time for the system to get back on line. Think "restoration of parts of the system, not the whole thing," as Cuomo put it. He went on to explain that the damage from the waters yesterday "are unlike things this city has seen in decades, if ever."
After Cuomo spoke, Lhota took a turn to talk about the status of the tunnels (there Brooklyn-Battery tunnel is still all wet) and to let everyone know that sadly the MTA's assessment of the situation is going to "take a little longer than we had thought." Which makes sense when, y'know, downtown the "South Street station water is literally up to the ceiling."
Still, Lhota says "if there are parts that we can get up, we'll get them up" and asks that New Yorkers "understand and be creative with us." So be ready to take the bus and keep your eye on MTA.info, where the Authority hopes to keep New Yorkers up to date on their plans.
As for the MTA's non-subway and bus coverages, those will also be up and running eventually too—but things like a BOAT ON THE TRACKS OF THE OSSINING LINE are making it hard to bring them back up. As for airports? The Governor hopes that JFK will reopen tomorrow but is dubious about LaGuardia's chances due to serious damage. |
Goodwill's defunct Toronto-based chapter, which suddenly closed last month and threw its 430 employees out of work, is filing for bankruptcy in an attempt to restructure and even reopen some of its thrift stores.
But the move appeared at odds with word from the United States-based umbrella group Goodwill Industries International, which released a statement on Friday saying it had "disaffiliated" the Toronto-based chapter and banned it from using Goodwill's name and trademarks. It called the sudden shutdown on Jan. 16 and the accompanying resignation of Goodwill Toronto's entire board "egregious acts."
The two developments are the latest twists in the saga of Goodwill's troubled Toronto-based branch, which has 16 stores and 10 donation centres. Its chief executive officer, Keiko Nakamura, blamed a "cash-flow crisis."
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According to a statement from Ms. Nakamura posted on its website on Monday, Goodwill Industries of Toronto, Eastern, Central and Northern Ontario has voluntarily filed for bankruptcy under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, in an attempt, the organization says, to restructure while preserving its assets to pay its creditors, most of whom are its former employees.
While workers were initially left in the dark about whether they would receive their final paycheques, Goodwill said on Jan. 22 it was able to pay the wages for the organization's final weeks, a bill estimated at $500,000 to $750,000.
However, the Canadian Airport Workers Union (CAWU), which represents most Goodwill employees, estimates that its members are still owed as much as $4-million in termination and severance pay.
Goodwill Toronto's statement on Monday said it may make a proposal to its creditors – presumably in the form of demands for financial concessions from the union – which if approved, "would annul the bankruptcy and allow the corporation to reopen some stores, continuing to serve the surrounding communities and offering a source of gainful employment."
In an interview with The Globe and Mail on Monday, her first since the shutdown last month, Ms. Nakamura said the organization had struggled for years before what she called a cash-flow crisis forced her to take drastic action. She said she had closed six stores and reduced staff since taking over in 2011 in an attempt to turn the ailing charity around.
Ms. Nakamura, who was forced to leave her previous post at the helm of Toronto Community Housing Corp. after a scandal over lax spending, said she hoped the bankruptcy process could result in the reopening of some of the Goodwill stores, even under another name.
"I have been very committed in doing what I can do to help us navigate through this really challenging time. I really would like to see employees back working and where we are back in communities offering the services, accepting donations from the public and doing the good that I know we can," she said
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CAWU lawyer Denis Ellickson said the union supports the process and is prepared to enter talks on reviving at least some of the stores.
But he acknowledged that it appears any such rebirth would have to happen with another brand name, since Goodwill Industries International's "very disappointing" decision to sever ties with its Toronto-based branch.
Goodwill Toronto wanted a commitment that the union would be open to concessions, Mr. Ellickson said, and the union agreed: "They are prepared to do whatever it takes to get any of the stores reopened. So that's a goal. I appreciate there's a number of challenges to doing that."
As part of the bankruptcy filing, a trustee, Angela Pollard of Pollard & Associates Inc. in Richmond Hill, Ont., has been appointed to assist Goodwill Toronto and oversee the process. The trustee is supposed to contact creditors within five days of Monday's filing, Goodwill said.
A spokeswoman for Goodwill Industries International, which is based in Rockville, MD, said in an e-mail that her organization recognizes that Goodwill Toronto will need to keep its name during the bankruptcy process, but said that at "the appropriate point in the process, the organization will no longer carry the 'Goodwill' name."
The organization's chairman, Brian Itzkowitz, said in a statement on Friday that its board had decided to strip Toronto of its membership after "a thorough review."
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But Goodwill's international arm also held out hope the charity could return to Canada's largest city and the other Ontario communities the branch served, saying it would appoint a team and consult with the six healthy Canadian Goodwill branches, which were unaffected by the shutdown.
Mr. Itzkowitz's statement also alluded to the Toronto chapter's long history of problems, saying it had received a "variety of consultation and recommendations" from the United States-based umbrella group and had been under review by the international group's membership standards committee for many years.
A Globe and Mail investigation last month revealed that Goodwill Toronto had been in difficulty for more than a decade, closing stores and selling assets to try to stay afloat.
Other Goodwills in Canada have not had the same issues. Michelle Quintyn, president and CEO Goodwill Great Lakes, which is based in London, Ont., said she hopes to help revive Goodwill in Toronto.
She sits on Goodwill's international board, but said she recused herself for the recent discussions on Toronto's problems because she had worked with the Toronto chapter over the years.
"I think there's a deep interest in seeing Goodwill emerge in the future again," Ms. Quintyn said.
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Goodwill's Toronto-based chapter was still listed as a charity on the Canada Revenue Agency's website as of Monday. |
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S video game service Ouya is turning to Asia to capture the growth that has eluded the startup on its own home turf.
Lei Jun, founder and chief executive officer of China's mobile company Xiaomi, announces the price of the new Xiaomi Phone 4 at its launching ceremony, in Beijing July 22, 2014. REUTERS/Jason Lee
The Santa Monica, California-based firm has partnered with Xiaomi Inc to take its games to Chinese living rooms via the smartphone maker’s new streaming boxes and “smart” TVs, an Ouya executive and a source at Xiaomi close to the deal told Reuters.
Xiaomi, which in three years became China’s top smartphone seller ahead of Apple Inc and Samsung, harbors ambitions beyond mobile gadgets. Last year, it expanded into the TV and set-top box business with its “MiBox” and “MiTV.”
Ouya Chief Executive Julie Uhrman said details are still getting hashed out but it’s likely Ouya will get a dedicated channel on Xiaomi software installed on those devices, on which gamers can shop for and download a selection of its independently developed games later this year, Uhrman said.
Xiaomi will likely commit to marketing Ouya games, she said.
“For the likes of Xiaomi’s MiTV, its set-top boxes and other Android set-top boxes that are entering the market, this could be a turning point..in bringing great content and developers to gamers and into a region that they have never had access to before,” Uhrman told Reuters.
Ouya, which raised funds on crowdfunding site Kickstarter, began selling a $99 game console based on Google Inc’s Android software last year. But sales were disappointing.
This year, Ouya started marketing its software as an app through which developers sell games on other hardware makers’ devices. But the company, which has over 40,000 developers and more than 900 games on its platform, has sealed few partnerships, such as with Mad Catz Interactive Inc to stream games onto its M.O.J.O console.
Whether the Chinese take to gaming on TVs remains to be seen. But its deal with Xiaomi, which models itself on Apple, hands the startup a chance to distribute its content in a fast-growing video game market.
Unlike games on Apple and Google mobile devices, games developed for Ouya are designed to work on TV sets with controllers, similar to the Xbox and Playstation. Ouya and Xiaomi are discussing launch titles and marketing now, Uhrman added. The developers, Ouya and Xiaomi will share revenue, she said without elaborating.
China is the world’s third biggest gaming market, where revenues grew by more than a third to nearly $14 billion last year. The government’s move in January to allow Microsoft, Sony Corp and Nintendo Co to sell consoles has re-kindled interest in gaming hardware.
Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp for instance has tied up with game developer The9 to release the “Fun Box” console.
“The whole industry is still in a very early development stage,” Uhrman said. “There is an opportunity for both” Xiaomi and Ouya. |
At mile three of the 2012 Charlottesville Marathon, I was winning. Feeling comfortable and ecstatic about my position, I was also honored with a personal escort, biking alongside, to lead my way. But I knew that a lot could happen in the remaining 23 miles, so I kept myself in check, not allowing my excitement to take over. My legs felt eager to blaze a sub-six minute mile, but instead I reined them in to maintain an easier—and more realistic—6:30 pace. It was my ninth marathon. By that point, strategizing in a race was nothing new. My running career began when I was 14, and since then my feet have pounded asphalt, concrete, grass, gravel, and more as I’ve logged countless miles and hours training. As I have improved as a runner, my mind wanders less, and I think more about how my body is feeling. It turns out that’s exactly what I should be doing. Just as with other athletes, the relationship between my mind and my body is complex—winning races involves far more than just putting one foot in front of another. Psychologists and neuroscientists are diving into the minds of elite and amateur athletes alike, eager to uncover the mental strategies that create champions. They’re discovering that what produces winners in one sport may be disastrous in others. Analyzing the Long Run In endurance events, like running and cycling races, elite athletes focus intently on the state of their bodies. This internal focus—on arm and leg movements, breathing, sweating, and so on—is called association by sports psychologists. Endurance athletes who learn to associate are exceptionally in tune with their bodies, which has obvious benefits when strategizing a race. “You get better at reading your body the more miles you put in and run,” says Dr. Robert Weinberg, a professor of sport behavior and performance at Miami University. “An elite marathoner can tell the difference between running a 5:01 mile and a 5:02 mile. These people know their bodies.” Professional runners like Constantina Dita—here leading the 2006 Chicago Marathon—focus internally. But when the mind of an elite runner starts to wander—whether that be concentrating on music, conversation, or simply admiring the scenery—their world-class times start to slip. It’s tempting to tune out by blasting music, but if endurance athletes want to improve, they need to stress their systems and experience pain, says Erik Lind, a kinesiologist at State University of New York, Cortland. And while dissociation can be comforting while training, it can be downright dangerous in competitive events like marathons, where a loss of focus can lead to injury or even death. “At some point the mind has to pay attention to what the body is saying or, at a high intensity, yelling,” Lind says. “If you keep going, something catastrophic might happen.” Death is an extreme case, of course. While it has happened, it’s more common that marathoners hit “the wall”—the point in a race where their body exhausts its last reserve of fuel. Running becomes exceedingly difficult. People hit the wall, Weinberg says, because they “have dissociated and haven’t checked in at all. All of a sudden stuff is going on in the body but they’re not aware of it. At mile 18…it all hits them, and they hit the wall and they just stop.” The wall is physiological—people simply don’t have enough calories left to burn—but psychology can play a large part in preventing it. Restraining oneself in the early miles, as I did in Charlottesville, slows the body’s consumption of precious resources and delays the onset of the wall. Starting slowly requires patience, doubly so when you’re being passed by competitors. You have to be aware of your breathing, heart rate, and the overall effort your body is expending. You also have to override what your mind may be telling you—that it’s okay to go fast since you feel excited and energized.
Being able to monitor pain gives athletes an edge over their competition.
By mile 22 in Charlottesville, my lead was long gone. I had fallen behind around mile six and was now trailing by at least a minute. My body was exhausted. The hilly course had taken its toll, and every muscle in my body ached. I was running beneath a picturesque canopy of trees wrapping along a lazy river—it was a tempting temporary escape from the relentless hills. But instead of letting my mind wander, I took stock of myself. I was feeling okay, actually. I knew I had enough energy to muscle through and maybe—just maybe—the woman ahead of me didn’t. So I relaxed my shoulders, and I focused, calmly, on my pacing and stride. “On longer events it is important for you to be in touch with your body and maybe make adjustments or corrections,” Weinberg says. “If you feel your calves are tight you might try to do something. If you feel your breathing is too shallow or too fast you, might do something.” Elite runners constantly assess how they are feeling--from their legs and strides to their heartbeat and breathing rates. By developing an intimate relationship with their bodies, endurance athletes can accurately interpret its signals and push their limits. The success of an athlete “comes down to their personality that allows them to push through their pain,” Lind says. “Or at least monitor their pain.” This gives them an edge over their competition. As I rounded the bend a half-mile from the finish, I knew I had played my cards right. In the miles since the river, I had slowly chipped away at the lead. Soon, I was briefly neck and neck with the leader. I lengthened my stride, pulled ahead, and regained the lead. Everything hurt. But I ordered my muscles to soldier on, literally muttering encouragement under my breath. This was the moment I had trained for all season; I didn’t want to leave anything on the table. As the finish neared, I dug deeper, willing my last morsel of energy into my exhausted legs, literally forcing them to sprint. They listened. I pushed them relentlessly through the chute and over the line, winning by 13 seconds.
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Autopilot on the Green In 2011, at the age of 21, Rory McIlroy was a rising star in the world of golf. A year prior, he had won his first PGA tour event—the youngest person to do so since Tiger Woods—and set a course record in the process. Toward the end of the 2011 Masters, McIlroy was just one round away from winning it all and donning the famed Green Jacket. Going into the last day, he was leading by a commanding four strokes. Mentally, golf is unlike endurance sports. For golfers like McIlroy, focusing on what the body is doing means almost certain failure. The same is true of other precision sports like basketball and tennis. Instead, they need to focus on an external goal. Professional golfers often concentrate on the ball, basketball players frequently on the rim of the hoop. Once they zero in, they go on autopilot, trusting the torsion of their torsos or the pump of their arms to do the rest. Years of practice have etched these motions deep into their muscles. When athletes first learn to hit a golf ball or shoot a basketball, they focus on every part of the process—the location of their hands, the angle of their wrists, the position of their legs. They run down a mental checklist as they swing or shoot. As they do, the part of their brain responsible for planning and conscious awareness, the frontal cortex, comes alive. As they improve, their movements become more automatic and the role of the frontal lobe wanes. When professional golfers swing, for example, they have less overall activation in their brains and less in the frontal cortex than beginners. During their stroke, their brains are more efficient—they don’t need to think about what they are doing. In fact, if professional golfers do focus on their movements, their frontal cortex interferes and they often make a mistake. Coaches call this “choking,” and it frequently happens when the stakes are high.
When told not to worry about accuracy, experienced golfers were more accurate than when told to take their time.
Which is exactly what happened to McIlroy at the 2011 Masters. After nine holes, his lead had been cut to one stroke. The pressure was on. On the 10th hole, his shot off the tee landed far from the fairway, in between two cabins. He had to make a few more shots—first in the rough and then through the trees—one even hitting a tree—before he hit the green. He then missed a 25-foot putt before finally making it in the hole for a triple-bogey. On the next green, he had to take three putts, including one he missed from just 30 inches. On the 12th hole, he missed four putts from less than 20 feet. Having entering the final day with momentum on his side, McIlroy finished the tournament tied for 15th. “If you start thinking, ‘I better really make sure I do this right,’ and you start consciously thinking about that putting performance,” says Thomas Carr, a psychology professor at Michigan State University, “then you’re more likely to break up automated sensory motor processes that you’ve practiced so hard to achieve.” Psychology research confirms this. In her book Choke: What the Secrets of the Brain Reveal About Getting It Right When You Have To , Sian Beilock, a psychology professor at the University of Chicago, describes a study of college-level soccer players who dribbled a ball through a row of cones. When they were told to think about where their foot makes contact with the ball, they made more mistakes and navigated the slalom more slowly compared to when they were not prompted. In another set of experiments, experienced golfers forced to putt under distracting conditions were more accurate than when they were told to focus on the components of their swing. Further, if they were told to putt quickly and not worry about accuracy, they were more accurate than when told to take their time to get it right. Presumably, these seemingly not ideal conditions—distracting noises and a rushed setup—kept the golfers from overanalyzing and choking.
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Adjustments for Amateurs Years of practice have honed the skills—mental and physical—of professional and elite athletes. Experienced runners pay keen attention to their strides, their breathing, and their aching muscles. Experienced golfers focus on the ball and let their bodies do the rest. But what should the non-professionals do? It turns out, just the opposite. If you are a runner or cyclist conquering a new distance or simply getting into shape, distractions may be the best prescription. Turn on your treadmill’s TV, bring your iPod to the track, or find friends to chat with along the trail. “Dissociation seems to be better when you’re practicing and need to stay out there longer,” Weinberg says. “It takes away some of the boredom and fatigue.” If you are a beginner golfer or basketball player, focus on your technique. Unlike professionals, inexperienced golfers perform poorly when distracted and do better when told to focus on their swing. They are also less accurate when rushed, and hit the target more often when allowed to take their time. Beginning athletes in precision sports are more likely to make a mistake by not focusing on the task and the specific steps required—hand goes here, wrist held this way, shoulders squared—than when distracted by an external source. Put in enough practice, though, and some changes will occur naturally. After enough miles, you’ll be more in tune with your aching legs. Or after enough shots at the driving range, you may start forgetting about your stance and focusing on the ball. As Beilock notes in her book, “Practice can actually change the physical wiring of the brain to support exceptional performance.” Practice does makes perfect because it allows you to focus—to turn your brain on or shut it off—at the moment you need it most. In that moment, focus makes perfect. |
Photo: Gilt Taste
This story originally appeared on Gilt Taste.
There’s a stunning moment in the Academy Award-nominated documentary Gasland, where a man touches a match to his running faucet — to have it explode in a ball of fire. This is what hydraulic fracturing, a process of drilling for natural gas known as “fracking,” is doing to many drinking water supplies across the country. But the other side of fracking — what it might do to the food eaten by people living hundreds of miles from the nearest gas well — has received little attention.
Unlike many in agriculture, cattle farmer Ken Jaffe has had a good decade. But lately he’s been nervous, worried fracking will destroy his business. Jaffe’s been good to his soil, and the land has been good to him. By rotating his herd of cattle to different pastures on his Catskills farm every day, he has restored the once-eroded land and built a successful business with his grass-fed and -finished beef. His Slope Farms sells meat to food co-ops, specialty meat markets, and high-end restaurants in New York City, about 160 miles to the southeast. “If you feed your micro-herd — the bacteria and fungi in the soil — then your big herd will do well, too,” he said when I visited him recently on a cool, sunny afternoon.
Photo: RiverkeeperBut a seam of black rock lies nearly a mile beneath the topsoil he has so scrupulously nurtured, and the deposit contains enormous quantities of natural gas. Profit-hungry energy companies — and the politicians that their campaign donations support — are determined to exploit that resource, even though it could destroy the livelihoods of thousands of small farmers like Jaffe who have sprung up in New York City’s vibrant, alternative food shed.
Energy companies liberate the gas, which is trapped in tiny bubble-like pockets in the rock, by forcefully injecting chemicals diluted with millions of gallons of water into the rock. This fracking ruptures the earth, creating fissures through which the gas passes — along with a witch’s brew of carcinogens, acutely poisonous heavy metals, and radioactive elements.
“For sustainable agriculture, fracking is a disaster,” says Jaffe. The gas rush started in the South and West, but has spread to the East and now affects 34 states. Under much of West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York lies a 400-million-year-old geographic formation called the Marcellus Shale. Although estimates vary, the shale may hold 50 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas, enough to meet New York state’s needs for 50 years. To see what fracking can do to food production, Jaffe has only to look at what has happened to some of his colleagues in nearby Pennsylvania, where the first fracked well came into production in 2005, and where there are now more than 1,500.
Last year, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture quarantined 28 cattle belonging to Don and Carol Johnson, who farm about 175 miles southwest of Jaffe. The animals had come into wastewater that leaked from a nearby well that showed concentrations of chlorine, barium, magnesium, potassium, and radioactive strontium. In Louisiana, 16 cows that drank fluid from a fracked well began bellowing, foaming and bleeding at the mouth, then dropped dead. Homeowners near fracked sites complain about a host of frightening consequences, from poisoned wells to sickened pets to debilitating illnesses.
The Marcellus Shale itself contains ethane, propane, butane, arsenic, cobalt, lead, chromium — toxins all. Uranium, radium, and radon make the shale so radioactive that companies sometimes drop Geiger counters into wells to determine whether they have reached the gas-rich deposits. But those compounds are almost benign compared to the fracking fluids that drillers inject into the wells. At least 596 chemicals are used in fracking, but the companies are not required by law to divulge the ingredients, which are considered trade secrets. According to a report prepared for the Ground Water Protection Council, a national association of state agencies charged with protecting the water supply, a typical recipe [PDF] might include hydrochloric acid (which can damage respiratory organs, eyes, skin, and intestines), glutaraldehyde (normally used to sterilize medical equipment and linked to asthma, breathing difficulties, respiratory irritation, and skin rashes), N,N-dimethyl formamide (a solvent that can cause birth defects and cancer), ethylene glycol (a lethal toxin), and benzene (a potent carcinogen). Some of these chemicals stay in the ground. Others are vented into the air. Many enter the water table or leach into ponds, streams, and rivers.
For the most part, state and federal governments have turned a blind eye to the problems brought about by fracking. The Environmental Protection Agency claims that it has no jurisdiction to investigate matters related to food production, a contention disputed by Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-N.Y.), who wrote a report urging the EPA to study all issues associated with fracking. A concerned farmer who prefers not to be identified forwarded me an email written to him by Jim Riviere, the director of the Food Animal Residue Avoidance Databank, a group of animal science professors that tracks incidents of chemical contamination in livestock. Riviere wrote that his group receives up to 10 requests per day from veterinarians dealing with exposures to contaminants, including the byproducts of fracking. Nonetheless, the United States Department of Agriculture has slashed funding to his group. “We are told by the newly reorganized USDA that chemical contamination is not their priority,” Riviere wrote.
“The dangers of fracking to the food supply are not something that’s been investigated very much,” said Emily Wurgh of Food and Water Watch, an environmental group based in Washington, D.C. “We have been trying to get members of Congress to request studies into effects of fracking on agriculture, but we haven’t gotten much traction.”
Fracking is not a new technology. It was first put into commercial use in 1949 by Halliburton, and that company has made billions from employing the extraction method. But it really wasn’t until 2004 that fracking really took off, the year that the EPA declared that fracking “posed little or no threat” to drinking water. Weston Wilson, a scientist and 30-year veteran of the agency, who sought whistleblower protection, emphatically disagreed, saying that the agency’s official conclusions were “unsupportable” and that five of seven members of the review panel that made the decision had conflicts of interest. (Wilson has continued to work at the EPA, and continues to be publicly critical of fracking.)
A year later, Congress passed the Energy Policy Act with a “Halliburton loophole,” a clause inserted at the request of Dick Cheney, who had been Halliburton’s CEO before becoming vice president. The loophole specifically exempts fracking from the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act, the CLEAR Act, and from regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency, and it unleashed the largest and most extensive drilling program in history, according to Josh Fox, the creator of the film Gasland.
In 2010, New York state imposed a moratorium on gas drilling, but if that were to be lifted, fracking would deal a triple whammy to Ken Jaffe’s farm, and thousands more like it. (Compare a map of the Marcellus Shale with one of small organic farms.)
Back on his pasture, Jaffe gestured to a pond in a bowl-like valley surrounded by sloping pastures and hillsides of maples, white pines, and blossoming wild cherries and apple trees, that, along with wells on the property, provides water for his animals. Given the geography of the land, any chemical contamination seeping from the rock would go directly into Jaffe’s water supply, poisoning his cattle.
And it’s not just his herd that’s vulnerable; all the plant life on his property would also be in danger. According to Jaffe, ozone is more lethal to crops than all other airborne pollutants combined, and of all crops, few are more susceptible to it than clover, a nutrient-rich feed that is critical to his method of sustainable cattle raising. While ozone is normally associated with automobile exhaust, fracking generates so much of it that Sublette Country, Wyo., has ozone levels as high as Los Angeles. This, despite the fact that it has fewer than 9,000 residents spread out over an area the size of Connecticut. What it does have is gas wells.
Even if his cows and his land would somehow remain unaffected by nearby wells, Jaffe’s business would still likely suffer. Joe Holtz is manager of Brooklyn’s Park Slope Food Co-op, which buys a cow a week from Jaffe (and upwards of $3 million products from other New York area farms). He says that his environmentally conscious organization would be forced to seek alternatives to New York meat and produce if fracking becomes commonplace. “If the air is fouled and the animals are drinking water that contains poisonous fracking chemicals, then products from those animals are going to have poisons,” he told me. Given the progress that small, local farms have made in the region, he says, the decision to stop dealing with long-term suppliers would be hard. But he adds, “We would have to stop buying from them. There is no doubt in my mind.” |
Bertrand Zobrist, the villain in Inferno, sacrifices his life at the beginning of the film to protect his ultimate goal: to wipe out half the planet's population. A millionaire bioengineer, Zobrist used his great intelligence and even greater funds to create a virus he called "Inferno" that would solve the planet's growing overpopulation problem, what he describes as the 11:59 problem. Zobrist believes that humanity is reaching a critical mass, and soon the Earth will not be able to sustain the number of people living on it. So, the solution, obviously, is to kill half the population. But, while Zobrist may use his overpopulation theory to justify mass murder, just how accurate is the 11:59 theory from Inferno in the first place?
Zobrist's 11:59 theory in Inferno paints a dire picture, if 12:00 represents the time when the Earth will reach its capacity for human life, meaning that the Earth won't be able to support more people. In fact, it will barely be able to support the population it would have. According to Zobrist's calculations, it's currently 11:59 for humanity, and there's only a minute left before we cross the point of no return.
Bustle Cuts on YouTube
According to Ben Foster, who plays Zobrist, the statistics Zobrist uses to back up his overpopulation theory are accurate. All the statistics in the film are true. It's terrifying," Foster said in an interview with the Today show. The statistics note that the Earth's population has more than doubled since the 1960s, when it was estimated at 2.5 billion. Currently, the United Nations estimates that there are around 7.2 billion people on Earth, representing a drastic increase in a small period of time. But what this population growth means for the future of humanity is still a topic of debate. As National Geographic reported in 2014, scientists have created various projections for the future, many of which contradict each other. One published in Science journal estimated there would be 9.6 billion people by the year 2050, while another published in the Global Environmental Change journal predicted the population would reach 9.4 billion sometime this century, but fall below nine billion by 2100.
Sony Pictures Entertainment on YouTube
Zobrist's facts and figures may add up, but the scientific methods behind those facts and figures are constantly being questioned by others in the scientific community. Furthermore, the theory that the planet will reach a point where it can no longer support every human life has been similarly questioned. Erle C. Ellis, a professor of geography and environmental systems, argued that overpopulation theories left out one key aspect of human survival: technology. "These claims demonstrate a profound misunderstanding of the ecology of human systems. The conditions that sustain humanity are not natural and never have been," Ellis wrote in an op-ed for The New York Times . So, there are conflicting opinions on this issue. Variations of Zobrist's 11:59 theory in Inferno are widely believed, but they are also widely questioned. So, while the theory in Inferno is based on real life theories of overpopulation, that doesn't mean it's actually true.
It's important to note that Inferno doesn't really endorse Zobrist's theory. There is very little time spent analyzing the 11:59 argument, and Zobrist is painted as a villain from the beginning. The point is to force the audience to ask questions about population growth, not for audiences to freak out about 11:59. "When Ron hired me, he said he wanted the audience to leave with more questions then answers," Foster told Today. And the film certainly succeeds.
Images: Sony Pictures |
Kupon3ss Profile Joined May 2008 時の回廊 644 Posts Last Edited: 2012-11-05 14:51:37 November 05 2012 14:20 GMT #1
After the discovery of DotA2 pages and graphics on the G-League Website here
Today both BBC (the head of the organization behind G-League) and HaiTao (likely the main caster of the next DotA G-League) confirmed the switch to Dota2 and the addition of LoL on weibo.
Original Chinese
+ Show Spoiler + http://t.qq.com/p/t/128772124234268
魔兽争霸3要不要？要，经典和情感的延续；星际争霸2要不要？要，世界范围内唯一流行的RTS；DOTA1还是DOTA2？DOTA1继续在互动里存在，而DOTA2将是DOTA正统的延续；LOL要不要加？世界范围的流行度已经回答了这个问题。
BBC: Do we want WC3, yes, an extension a classic and of emotion; Do we want SC2, yes, the only RTS popular worldwide, DotA1 or Dota2? DotA1 will continue to exist in interactive programs, and Dota 2 will be the righteous successor of DotA; Do we want LoL? The question has already been answered by worldwide popularity.
Original Chinese
+ Show Spoiler + http://t.qq.com/p/t/134462007781947
四大项目，全新起航，喜欢DOTA1的朋友也不要着急，还是会有dota1的水友赛直播的~~
HaiTao: Four Grand Events, Newly Christened, Friends who love DotA1 have no need to fret, there will still be live broadcasts of DotA1 games with netizens.
note: G League is different from G-1 league and is currently the second most prestigious tournament in Chinese DotA behind ACE league After the discovery of DotA2 pages and graphics on the G-League Website here http://gleague.gamefy.cn/ by dota2.replayers.net http://dota2.replays.net/news/page/20121103/1743245.html ,speculation have been fairly abundant.Today both BBC (the head of the organization behind G-League) and HaiTao (likely the main caster of the next DotA G-League) confirmed the switch to Dota2 and the addition of LoL on weibo.Original ChineseBBC: Do we want WC3, yes, an extension a classic and of emotion; Do we want SC2, yes, the only RTS popular worldwide, DotA1 or Dota2? DotA1 will continue to exist in interactive programs, and Dota 2 will be the righteous successor of DotA; Do we want LoL? The question has already been answered by worldwide popularity.Original ChineseHaiTao: Four Grand Events, Newly Christened, Friends who love DotA1 have no need to fret, there will still be live broadcasts of DotA1 games with netizens.note: G League is different from G-1 league and is currently the second most prestigious tournament in Chinese DotA behind ACE league LiquidDota When in doubt, just believe in yourself and press buttons |
by Matt Allen / in Uncategorized
Gender Discrimination Law Upheld by Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a gender-based discrimination law that treats men and women differently when it comes to citizenship, according to the Associated Press.
The court dismissed Mexican-born Ruben Flores-Villar’s challenge of the citizenship law.
Currently, children born overseas who have one U.S.-citizen parent can obtain U.S. citizenship if the citizen parent had been physically present in the U.S. for a certain period of time before the child’s birth, according to the Supreme Court’s blog.
If the citizen parent is the father, the period is five years; if it is the mother, the period is one year.
So it is much easier for mothers to pass on citizenship to their children than for fathers.
Flores-Villar, 36, was born in Mexico to an American father and a Mexican mother. If his parents’ nationalities were reversed, Flores-Villar would be a citizen.
This issue was brought to the court’s attention when Flores-Villar was charged with being in the U.S. illegally. He claims he is a U.S. citizen, as he would already be if his mother had been a U.S. citizen rather than his father.
Get more information on how to deal with family law when you are a man. Visit DadsDivorce.com for answers to all your men’s divorce questions.
Contact a Cordell & Cordell divorce attorney for men if you need legal representation as most parties in divorce and child custody cases do. |
I have seen internet rumors that Crooked Hillary may be a drunk. If true, that would be the only positive I can think of about her. Anyway, I would like to propose a drinking game in her honor for the debate.
Coughs – 1 drink
Prolonged coughing fit – Keep drinking until she stops
Crazy laugh – 1 drink
Says “Oh Donald” – 1 drink
Loses her shit and yells – 2 drinks
Eyes go googled and cross – 2 drinks
Falls down – Chug entire drink
Spits mystery object into her drink – Chug entire drink (yours, not hers, that is disgusting)
Shits or pisses herself – Chug 2 drinks
Passes out/faints – Chug 2 drinks
Please give me suggestions to add or change and I will update as we get closer to the debate Monday. Leave comments here or email me at [email protected]
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(Photo by dailymail.co.uk)
Talk of the All Blacks’ decline prior to the second round of matches in the Rugby Championship was truly blown out of the water as New Zealand produced a breathtaking display in a record 6-try hammering over Australia.
The previous week in Sydney, a below-bar All Blacks laboured to a 12-12 draw against the Wallabies, following on from a rather disjointed Test Series win over England. Although they whitewashed the English 3-0, it wasn’t for lack of criticism as inconsistency and errors plagued them throughout the series.
A number of observers therefore, mainly in the Australian press, saw the game as a great opportunity to win their first Test at Eden Park since 1986 and securing the Bledisloe Cup for the first time since 2002.
These assumptions couldn’t have been more misplaced as the All Blacks dazzled the Eden Park crowd and the whole Rugby World with a performance of pure class, attitude and commitment as they racked up more than 50 points against the Wallabies for the very first time on New Zealand soil.
The match was competitive early on as Aaron Cruden and Kurtley Beale traded penalties with New Zealand leading 9-6. The sin-binning of Rob Simmons was the turning point in the match as the All Blacks, as they often do when their opposition are down to 14-men, taking full advantage, racing out to a 23-6 lead and never looking back.
Raining tries in Auckland. Julian Savea celebrates
(Photo by tvnz.co.nz)
A devastating period of pace, power and accuracy in the early stages of the second half produced 3 more tries, extending the lead to 44-6 as the game became increasingly embarrassing for the shell-shocked Wallabies .
Two quick responses made it more respectable at 44-20 but New Zealand had the last word with Steven Luatua going over late on to bring up the final margin of 51-20 and winning the Bledisloe Cup for the 12th straight year
Canterbury.com
The second game of the round switched focus to Salta, Argentina, as the Springboks were given an almighty fright, edging the Pumas 33-31. With the contest at the breakdown being ferociously fought throughout and with a hugely impressive Argentina scrum, the Pumas found themselves 28-16 in front with 20 minutes remaining, and a historic win seemed in their grasps
But as South Africa showed against Wales in June, coming back from 30-17 down to win 31-30 late on, they are a team with a firm belief in themselves, and they showed this once again as they fought back late on with two tries and a penalty to break Argentinian hearts.
Springboks edge it in Salta
(Photo by rugby.sportrightnow.com)
It was another below-par performance from the Springboks however, missing out on the all-important bonus point for the second straight game, which could prove costly towards the end of The Rugby Championship.
As the tournament takes a break for a week we are left to digest the impact this weekend’s action will have on the rest of the tournament. The Wallabies will certainly have a lot of soul-searching to do after crashing back down to earth, with Coach Ewen Mckenzie maybe thinking of bringing Waratahs half-backs Nick Phipps and Bernard Foley into his starting line-up against the Springboks.
Bodybuilding Warehouse
It will allow Kurtley Beale to move to inside centre where he has flourished for the Waratahs all season, and take away the responsibility of game management, which Bernard Foley does brilliantly, allowing him to focus on his attacking game.
South Africa, receiving much criticism back home for their opening two games, will look for major improvements as they travel to Perth for a crunch match against Australia. It’s fair to say that the loser of this match will have it all to do as the All Blacks, facing Argentina in back-to back contests, will fancy themselves to pick up the maximum 10 points.
If South Africa can get through the two tests against Australia relatively unscathed, then a two test showdown with the All Blacks for the Championship seems the likely situation.
What an exciting prospect.
Check out my blog at http://sportsrants.com/thesportblogger/category/rugby/ |
Labor's Penny Wong rejects ABC, SBS efficiency review as politically motivated
Updated
The Federal Opposition has criticised the Government's planned efficiency review of the ABC and SBS as politically motivated, with Labor frontbencher Penny Wong saying the Coalition wants to avoid scrutiny.
The Government has described the review, announced last week, as "a routine responsibility... to ensure that the ABC and SBS use public resources as efficiently as possible", and says it will not affect broadcast charters or editorial and programming decisions.
"The objective is to ensure ABC and SBS fulfil their charter responsibilities at least cost to the community, and keep pace with rapidly changing practices in the broadcasting sector," it said in a statement.
However Senator Wong, appearing on Sky News this morning, questioned the motivation behind the review.
"I think the agenda for the review is to seek to find a reason to reduce funding to the ABC, because the Government doesn't like what the ABC does and says," she said.
I think the agenda for the review is to seek to find a reason to reduce funding to the ABC, because the Government doesn't like what the ABC does and says. Senator Penny Wong
"You only have to look at what Eric Abetz has said, what other senior members of the Coalition have said, what the PM has said.
"This is about a Government that doesn't like scrutiny."
Labor has also questioned the timing of the review, which was announced after Prime Minister Tony Abbott called the ABC unpatriotic for its coverage of the Edward Snowden leaks and asylum seeker abuse claims.
"This is not about finding efficiencies, it's about cutting the ABC's budget," Opposition communications spokesman Jason Clare said last week.
"The Prime Minister gets some bad news and suddenly he starts blaming the media."
Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull denies a link, saying the review is not in response to growing criticism within the Government of the broadcaster.
"[It's] completely coincidental. I foreshadowed some time ago we'd be looking at the efficiencies of the public broadcasters and this study has been some time in the making," he said.
"We've had a lot of cooperation from the management of ABC and SBS.
"What it is designed to do is to ensure that the ABC is running its business as cost-effectively as possible."
Australia Network's future remains in the balance
The review comes amid reports the Government is considering axing the Australia Network, the overseas TV channel run by the ABC.
The previous Labor government awarded the contract to the ABC over Sky, after a botched tender process.
Mr Abbott has deflected questions about the channel's future in the wake of reports that Cabinet is likely to scrap it in the May budget.
"I think it was a particularly dodgy piece of work by the former government; we're working our way through it and if there's more to say, it'll be said in due course," he said.
Senator Wong says she would be against the abolition of the Australia Network.
Topics: broadcasting, abc, federal-government, media, industry, business-economics-and-finance, information-and-communication, abbott-tony, australia
First posted |
Iraq is once again in political turmoil, and once again we are hearing calls to partition the country into three ethno-sectarian cantonments: Shi’a, Sunni, and Kurd. The partition trope resurfaces periodically, most often while Iraq looks “too hard to fix.” Advocates of partition suggest that Iraq is a false construct of the century-old Sykes-Picot treaty, and that Iraqis are incapable of sustaining a heterogeneous state. Putting aside the fact that the Sykes-Picot narrative is at best contested, it is time to put the partition trope to the test and then, hopefully, to rest. The mostly non-Iraqi voices who want to divide the country into thirds owe the Iraqi people and the rest of the world extensive, detailed clarification. Surely, any plan to drastically restructure Iraq must be more thoughtful and detailed than the widely condemned 2003 plan to invade Iraq. At the very least, advocates for partition should address some fundamental questions. If they cannot answer these satisfactorily then they should pause before reissuing what many Iraqis view as disheartening, and even inflammatory, positions about their state.
First, who wants to break the state into three parts, either under “loose federalism” or as separate states? There appears to be no evidence that the current Sunni revolt seeks sectarian partition. Other than the outlying Islamic State terrorists, Sunni Arab Iraqis want to be part of and, in some cases to control, the state. Most Sunni Arabs I have spoken with are terrified by the idea of partition. It does not appear that leaders from Iraq’s powerful Da’wa party, or even Muqtada al-Sadr, seek partition. While the two major Kurdish parties—the PUK and the KDP—do seek eventual partition or confederation for themselves, and while the head of the PUK has suggested three way partition, neither party has pushed hard for this solution and neither party can claim to represent Iraqi Arab interests. Arguments for partition cannot be predicated on the idea that this is what the Iraqis want. If Iraqis do eventually seek three-way partition, then there is no need to advocate the position, as they will get there of their own accord.
If neither the Iraqi Arab polity nor Iraq’s most powerful political factions seek three-way partition, then the case should be closed. If external powers still decide to encourage or force partition on the Iraqis then these options must also be explained in detail. One way to force the issue is to simply allow Iraq to collapse. This might involve the full withdrawal of American aid and combat power, and ostensibly Iranian support as well. Iraqis would violently settle into a so-called “natural state” of ethno-sectarian homogeneity. Perhaps the Americans and the Iranians could collude to make this happen. But a more likely scenario is that American withdrawal would lead to greater Iranian influence, just as it did between 2011 and 2014. There is little evidence that Iran seeks three-way partition in Iraq. Therefore, it is not clear that a U.S. withdrawal would lead to anything more than greater Iranian hegemony, more destabilization, and a more powerful Islamic State. Alternatively, the United States or another external power could order Iraqi political leaders to divide the state, but why would they obey that order? Exactly how would partition be triggered?
If it could be triggered, how would a tri-partite state be ruled, and why would it be viable? Under current conditions, Baghdad’s relationship with Sunni and Kurdish areas is poor at best. Under partition, the Shi’a-led government would be under less pressure to work with or support the Sunni Arabs. Incentives for cross-sectarian collaboration would be less under partition than within a unified government. Therefore, it would be entirely unreasonable to assume that the relationship between the Shi’a and Sunni Arab Iraqis would improve under a devolved system of federation or confederation. In all likelihood, devolution would lead to mass ethnic cleansing and even more fighting as all three sides sought to consolidate power. The bloodshed in Baghdad and along the disputed territories line — running loosely from the southeast of Kirkuk to the west of Mosul — could be horrendous, possibly far worse than anything happening now. There is no reason to believe that the results would be better than any of Iraq’s prospective futures under a single state. But post-partition requires even more analysis.
Which historical analogies recommend this approach? A strong argument would require some consistent precedent. A positive exemplary case would be one in which a contested heterogeneous state was divided into ethnic or sectarian parts that were secure, economically viable, and politically stable—and that were not at war with their former co-nationalists. “Positive” cases would also have to demonstrate that the new homogeneous states (federal or national) could stand on their own or with minimal central support. This would allow the full U.S. withdrawal sought after by many pundits critical of ongoing involvement in Iraq. Further, a strong argument would have to be made that the negative cases, in which such experiments failed, did not apply to Iraq. Would Kosovo—where post-war segregation remains challenging and where NATO and the European Union retain a long term presence—be a positive or negative case? What about Sudan and South Sudan, where partition led to two years of brutal war that killed over 1.5 million people, displaced over 2 million people, and left behind a dictatorship and a decimated state? How about Rwanda, where even the ethnically-driven slaughter of approximately 800,000 people could not prevent a return to tense but stable heterogeneity down to the village level? How would these cases, or more “positive” ones, relate to Iraq? Paul R. Williams and Matthew T. Simpson argue that there is no historical trend to suggest that ethno-sectarian segregation is viable, or that such a solution would be viable in Iraq. Their arguments and others that question the efficacy of separation should be addressed by anyone who still thinks partition is a good idea.
Even if the historical case can be made, the devil may remain in the idiosyncratic details of Iraqi politics. If the Shi’a controlled much of Iraq’s oil and the capital of Baghdad (they would, just as they do now) and they viewed the world through a purely sectarian lens—a necessary condition for ethno-sectarian partition—then why would they share anything with a weak, impoverished, and volatile Sunnistan? If past performance is prologue, they would not. As a result, the Sunni would keep fighting and supporting groups like the Islamic State; they have told us as much. If the Shi’a state retained control of the increasingly powerful Iraqi Army, why would they allow the Kurds to retain control of Kirkuk or of any of the oil fields in the disputed territories? They almost certainly would not, and once the Shi’a re-cleansed the Army of residual Sunni and Kurds, war would most likely erupt. Meanwhile, there is a fair chance that Basra would declare semi-independence and try to take oil produced in the region away from the central state, throwing the entire system into further turmoil. More sanguine prospects might abound, but these require detailed and evidence-based defense.
Why is it time to give up on the idea of an Iraqi state, and why do Westerners get to foist weak ethno-sectarian federalism or dissolution upon them? Iraq’s difficult experiment with democracy — thrust upon them by the United States and its allies — has been running for about 13 years. Iraqi democracy is in its infancy. While the violence there is terrible, why is now the time to give up and try something new? Why not three years, five years, or perhaps 10 years from now? A detailed explanation is needed of the risks and rewards associated with partitioning now and giving the Iraqis more time to work out their own future. More importantly, a strong case is needed as to why foreigners get to tell the Iraqis how they should govern their state. Most importantly, if it is assumed that meddling with Iraq’s borders and government in the early 1900s and in 2003 was disastrous, why is external meddling good now? The partition argument needs better logic.
The Iraqis that I have spoken with during my research for RAND and with the Atlantic Council’s Task Force on the Future of Iraq do not talk about three-way partition. They do not view Iraq through a stark, primordialist lens like some external pundits. Instead, they talk about provincial federalism. Provincial, or geographic, federalism with divisions at a smaller and more manageable scale, might allow for improved governance, security, and service delivery. It might help move Iraq beyond ethno-sectarian division, at least to some extent. Iraq will always be a very difficult state to manage, but it can be managed in ways that do not risk mass slaughter and continuous war.
No answer to Iraq’s problems can be perfect, but the Iraqis deserve a clear explanation of any proposal that will so deeply affect their future. In 2007 Edward P. Joseph and Michael O’Hanlon made a structured argument for ethno-sectarian partition. This appears to be the most comprehensive effort to describe the pathway to tripartite segregation of Iraq. Their brief 2014 update needs a 2016 update with much more detail. At the very least, they have to make a better argument as to why partition will lead to less war, and why Shi’astan would indefinitely support an economically nonviable Sunnistan, as no Sunni or Shi’a I have met believes this would happen. They should refute strong arguments by experts on Iraq, including Reidar Visser, who, in his strong condemnation of ethno-sectarian federalism, wrote, “Iraqi sects do not have sectarian homelands.” If Joseph and O’Hanlon cannot make a compelling case and clearly answer all of the questions above and refute scholars who argue against ethno-sectarian federalism or full partition, then someone else must.
Otherwise, the sovereign Iraqi state should be supported, and the unsettling arguments for state devolution should be set aside. As Iraq’s well-respected ambassador to the United States, Lukman Faily argued, a unified Iraqi state offers the best hope to defeat the Islamic State. A unified state can in turn help achieve America’s strategic objectives in the Middle East. The alternative prospect of ethno-sectarian federalism seems destined to sustain the Islamic State indefinitely and to undermine U.S. objectives. If that’s not the case, prove me wrong — in detail.
Ben Connable is a senior political scientist at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation, a professor at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, and a retired Marine Corps intelligence and Arabic-speaking Foreign Area officer.
Image: Mobili, CC |
Russia is planning to put a man on the Moon, and anyone can apply to join the crew. The Russian Space Agency, Roscosmos, may have suffered some humiliating setbacks in recent months, but it’s hitting back by aiming even higher.
“Man should return to the Moon. And not just like in 1969, to leave a mark. We can do important work there – such as building astrology labs and observing the Sun,” Vladimir Popovkin, head of Roscosmos, told the Ekho Moskvy radio station.
Popovkin’s plans are nothing if not ambitious with the first landing scheduled for 2020. regular flights planned within five years of that, culminating in a fully-functioning scientific base complete with giant telescopes by 2030.
Roscosmos has called for volunteers, hoping that an X-factor style search will rekindle the public’s interest in space exploration. Among the requirements: a scientific or medical degree, knowledge of English and shoes no bigger than a UK size 11.
Rebirth of Moon exploration
Russia had its own Moon exploration program in the late 1960s, but once Neil Armstrong and the crew of the US ship Apollo 11 got there, there was little political prestige to be gained by coming second.
In fact, both space superpowers focused elsewhere, and Moon colonization was virtually abandoned until the end of the 20th Century when new players arrived on the scene. For the budding space programs of India, China and Japan, this was an important barrier to be conquered.
Four years ago the United States proposed the creation of an International Lunar Network – a set of interconnected bases dotting the surface of the moon.
Among its scientific aims would be an attempt to understand the composition and origin of the Moon. In its landmark report, NASA called this research a “cornerstone” in trying to understand how the Earth and other planets of the Solar System were formed. NASA also says that the Moon provides a “unique” platform for astrophysics.
For its part, since 1998 the Russian Space Agency has worked on Luna Glob – a series of robotic missions to the moon, which will culminate either in the construction of an orbital space station or a base on the Moon itself.
Popovkin has recently said that Russia may co-operate with NASA and the European Space Agency and join the International Lunar Network.
“We are not just coming back to the Moon. Now, we know much more about it than during the time of the first space launches” he told Vesti Radio.
And one such breakthrough may mean that manned as well as robotic missions are feasible. In 2008, significant amounts of water were discovered on the lunar surface.
“The areas that contain ice sheets could become suitable locations for permanent manned bases,” Lev Zeleniy, the Director of the Institute of Space Studies, told Interfax news agency.
Roscosmos has even said that any technologies tested on the Moon could serve asprototypes for future manned missions to Mars.
Overcoming past failures
But while space agencies around the world earn their bread by making big plans and capturing the public’s imagination, actually getting there is another matter entirely.
Although the Russian Space Agency is no longer surviving on a shoestring as in the 1990s – its budget has risen five-fold in five years – its record of success last year was less than stellar. There were five failed missions in 2011, including the much-touted Phobos-Grunt probe to Mars, which failed to get further than the Earth’s orbit before crashing back down.
In fact, it is that failure that may have sparked the current plans for space exploration. “We may need to think again about how to allocate our resources. Perhaps, we need a more specific, realistic Moon program, and do any Mars research as a part of a bigger international program,” Anatoliy Davydov, the deputy head of Roscosmos, said in the aftermath of the Phobos-Grunt failure.
Unfortunately, the two programs may be interconnected in another way – sharing the same vulnerabilities. “The design decisions used on Phobos-Grunt need to be reconsidered and significantly adjusted. Unfortunately, the same ones are used on the lunar missions. This is likely to push back the dates of any future launches, particularly of the Luna Glob modules” said Lev Zelenkin, who is closely involved with both projects.
After Popovkin’s announcement, some praised the agency’s aspiration to return to its Soviet heyday, while others were openly skeptical of whether Roscosmos is able to deliver, especially at such short notice.
Valeriy Ryumin, a former cosmonaut who traveled to space on four different missions, dismissed the project altogether. “There is nothing particularly interesting on the Moon and it has been visited by both men and machines. The only reason such a project would be of interest is if a lot of money was allocated to it,” he told the Trud newspaper.
In any event, Roscosmos faces competition in its bid to reconquer the Moon.
Not only are there rival national programs, but Space Adventures, the company set up to send space tourists to the ISS, says that it intends to launch a modified Russian ship towards the moon, and is in the process of selling two tickets for the trip at $150 million apiece.
Whether this mission, the Roscosmos program or one of the other space agencies will get there first, or indeed, at all, remains the burning question. But there is no doubt that even more than 40 years after Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon, any return there will be hailed as a major success. |
Hello and welcome to the 131st installment of the SWD .
Military events/news are listed below by the governorates:
Raqqa:
Syrian Democratic Forces are still engaged in heavy clashes with Islamic State in a number of areas in the city of Raqqa. SDF was reportedly able to make limited advances in Hittin, Yarmouk and Al-Qadissiyah districts. One IS’ sniper was killed in Al-Barid district.
Islamic State attacked SAA -held Bir Anbaj village, south of Tabqa Air Base. In the attack, IS allegedly killed 20 SAA ‘s fighters and destroyed a tank and a BMP, according to Amaq Agency’s statement.
Situation in Raqqa. Source: SyriacMilitaryMFS
Al-Hasakah:
Islamic State’s explosive device wounded three SDF ‘s fighters in Tel Maarouf village, south of Al-Qamishli.
Homs:
Syrian Arab Army made even more advances against Islamic State in the direction towards Al-Bukamal, localities reportedly captured by SAA today are Ard al-Washash, Sadd al-Waer, and Wadi al-Waer. SAA also advanced against IS east of Arak, capturing several hills and destroying three IS’ vehicles.
In the clashes east of Palmyra, Islamic State killed two Hezbollah’s fighters and captured one.
Situation in southeastern Syria. Source: Rr016
Deir al-Zour:
CJTF-OIR released a news release reporting the death of an IS financial facilitator, Fawaz Muhammad Jubayr al-Rawi. CJTF-OIR describes Al-Rawi as:
Fawaz Muhammad Jubayr al-Rawi, a Syrian native and an experienced terrorist financial facilitator, moved millions of dollars for the terror organization’s attack and logistics network. He owned the Hanifa Currency Exchange in Abu-Kamal, which he used along with a network of global financial contacts to move money into and out of ISIS-controlled territory and across borders on behalf of the group. The U.S. Department of the Treasury, pursuant to U.S. Executive Order 13224, which targets terrorists and those providing support to terrorists or acts of terrorism, imposed sanctions on al- Rawi and his company, Hanifa Currency Exchange’s branch in Abu-Kamal, Dec. 13, 2016. This was the first U.S. action specifically targeting ISIS-affiliated money-services businesses. The U.S. Department of Treasury designated al-Rawi for providing financial and material support to ISIS. Al-Rawi pledged loyalty to ISIS in 2014 and used his network of global financial contacts to help ISIS conduct weapons and ammunition deals at a time when the terrorist group was seizing land and committing atrocities across Syria and Iraq. In 2015, he facilitated ISIS financial transactions and money storage, including payments to ISIS foreign terrorist fighters; his property was also used by senior ISIS leaders for weekly meetings. As of May 2016, he was considered an ISIS finance emir, whose money exchange business was used for ISIS-related transactions.
Damascus:
Syrian Arab Army resumed its offensives on Jobar and Ain Terma by capturing several buildings on both fronts. Rebels claimed recapture of several positions and death of at least eight SAA ‘s soldiers on Ain Terma front.
Approximate situation in Jobar. Source: loomis
Daraa:
Rebels reportedly destroyed SAA ‘s tank east of Daraa’s Palestinian camp as the latter tried to advance in the area.
Rebel “Daraa Martyrs Documentation Office” reported death of a Free Syrian Army’s fighter due to clashes with SAA across Daraa, and death of two civilians due to SAA ‘s shelling of Daraa, confirmed rebel death toll since the 3rd of June is at least 55 fighters.
Islamic State’s affiliate, Jaysh Khalid ibn al-Walid, cut the last rebel supply route into Hayt village, thus completely besieging the locality. Until now, Hayt was surrounded from three sides by IS’ affiliate.
Iraq
Nineveh:
Iraqi forces and Islamic State clashed in several neighborhoods of Old Mosul district, according to the latter’s media agency, 10 Iraqi soldiers were killed and 27 wounded as they tried to advance in Bab Jadid and Bab al-Bayd neighborhoods. Furthermore, another statement from Amaq claimed death of eight Iraqi soldiers, including an officer and fall of a reconnaissance drone in Bab al-Bayd.
Clashes in Bab Laksh allegedly resulted in destruction of four Iraqi Humvees. Heavy clashes were also happening in Al-Mashahedah area where IS claimed to have killed five Iraqi soldiers and two officers. In the same area, according to Amaq, airstrikes wrongly targeted Iraqi forces instead of IS.
Iraqi forces reportedly surrounded a group of IS’ snipers stationed at a hospital in Old Mosul district.
Baghdad:
VBIED exploded in Baghdad al-Jadida, southeast Baghdad, killing and wounding at least seven people. The attack still remains unclaimed, but the main suspect is known to everyone, Islamic State. Another VBIED attack in Baghdad was foiled by security forces, which defused it near the Church of the Virgin Mary.
CJTF-OIR :
On the 22nd of June 2017 CJTF-OIR has conducted 28 strikes in Syria. CJTF-OIR ‘s main focus in Syria at the moment is Raqqa region where they did 19 strikes supporting SDF ‘s operations against IS destroying 12 fighting positions, two vehicles, and an IED cache; and damaging an IS supply route.
Other areas where nine airstrikes occurred are Abu Kamal (Al-Bukamal), Deir al-Zour, and Palmyra, destroying 15 IS oil stills, four dump trucks, three cement mixers, three vehicles, four IS tunnel entrances, three tactical vehicles, two cranes, a weapons cache, a pump jack, and a manifold. Full report on CJTF-OIR strikes conducted in both Syria & Iraq can be found here.
Amaq Agency:
Pakistan:
Islamic State’s suicide attack in Quetta, Balochistan province, killed and wounded 15 members of Pakistani police.
Other:
Intellectual credited property used may vary from an edition to edition.
Feel free to voice your opinion in the comments section below, constructive criticism is welcomed.
For those of you interested, you can follow us on an official Twitter account @SyrianWarDaily, or me personally on my biased twitter @joskobaric where I occasionally tweet some things.
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The Mandy Moore-starring shark thriller was initially slated for a DVD release, but an eleventh hour rescue mission involving a Weinstein, a title change, an indie distributor and a rising U.K. producer would dramatically alter its course.
When 47 Meters Down was released on June 16, the shark thriller, in which Mandy Moore and Claire Holt star as two sisters on a diving expedition gone horribly wrong, took an unexpectedly large bite out of the domestic box office.
Its opening weekend of $12 million wasn't at all bad for a $5 million to $6 million indie — shot by writer-director Johannes Roberts, mostly in a water tank in the decidedly unglamorous British town of Basildon (exteriors were done in the Dominican Republic) — and a film that had unceremoniously been served a C rating by CinemaScore.
The following week, 47 Meters Down didn't just manage to avoid sinking, but actually rose a place — from fifth to fourth, leapfrogging All Eyez on Me, while week three saw the film drop just 34 percent, the best hold of any film in the top 10. A month from launch, it currently boasts a domestic haul of more than $42 million, a major achievement given its early tracking of around $13 million to $14 million.
"We were written off along the way for sure," admits Wayne Marc Godfrey, managing director and co-founder of Fyzz Facility, the prolific U.K.-based financier that fully backed and produced the film. Godfrey had been brought the project by Mark Lane and James Harris of production house The Tea Shop & Film Company, which in 2016 joined the Fyzz family as The Fyzz Facility Pictures. "To catch a wave and hit an audience and maintain a presence in theaters is such a feat. I think it took a few people by surprise."
But this success is all the more remarkable given the story behind 47 Meters Down's release and the eleventh hour rescue mission involving a Weinstein, a former stand-up comedian, and a last-minute DVD recall that saved it from potential home video obscurity.
After the project secured a few presales off the back of a VFX teaser, U.S. rights were picked up by Bob Weinstein's Dimension Films, which came aboard 47 Meters Down at script stage in 2014. Dimension also contributed more money further down the line to help enhance the film.
"But there was never any theatrical release commitment or requirement under their deal," says Godfrey. "The film was made at a budget that was really positioned as a high-end home entertainment movie with the potential for theatrical."
However, after the film was shot in 2015, the positive reaction from test screenings convinced Fyzz — which Godfrey set up in 2010 with Robert Jones — that 47 Meters Down deserved a shot in cinemas.
But by this stage, Dimension had already set a home video release date of Aug. 2, 2016. The Weinsteins were also having a troublesome summer, with a number of underperforming films and a failed TV sale. In July 2016, TWC shunted wide theatrical launches of two major titles — Tulip Fever and The Founder — to the following year, with insiders telling THR that there simply wasn't the money to support their 2016 release.
Adding to the complications, June 2016 also saw the release of another shark survival thriller. The Shallows, starring Blake Lively, did phenomenal business, earning some $55 domestically ($119 million worldwide) off a $17 million budget. According to Dimension at the time, the initial plan had been to release 47 Meters Down before The Shallows, which had been completed afterwards, but when this proved impossible they opted to scale back.
"We decided to go with a more conservative release strategy that would take place this summer," said Dimension's senior vp production and creative affairs Matthew Signer.
"For whatever their reasons were, Bob and Dimension just couldn't work out the right kind of plan and scheduling to do the release in the way we felt the film deserved," says Godfrey. "Nothing against their view of the movie. I just think their strategy within Dimension at the time didn't tie up with where we as filmmakers believed it could go."
While it was widely agreed that the timing was wrong and cinemagoers weren't ready for two shark films in quick succession, Fyzz was prepared to wait.
Enter Entertainment Studios, the TV production and distribution banner of former stand-up Byron Allen. Allen had established the company in 1993, initially to make comedy shows, but it had grown over the years to become the largest independent producer/distributor of first-run syndicated programming for broadcast TV. In October 2015, it made a major move into film with the acquisition of indie distributor Freestyle Releasing.
Following weeks of discussions, on the exact day of the original release on Aug. 2, 2016 and as DVDs were in trucks and on their way to stores (in some cases they were already on shop shelves), a deal was finally closed between Dimension and Entertainment Studios — reportedly for seven figures — that would alter the course for 47 Meters Down.
Not only was Entertainment Studios prepared to wait until June 2017, but it backed up its commitment to 47 Meters Down with a promise of a 2,500-screen launch and major P&A spend (Godfrey says the company spent more than $30 million on the release).
Like any true thriller, it wasn't exactly a smooth ride to get there. Godfrey admits that he had a "dramatic few days," and the film's foreign sales agent, Altitude, had to jump on the phones to convince the foreign buyers — which included eOne in the U.K. and Square One in Germany — to come on board and hold off on the film's release.
"If you make an investment in 2013, 2014 to buy a movie, thinking you're getting it in 2016, then are held back for another year, that can create massive problems for your internal cash flow and budgeting," he admits. "So we're very grateful."
In another curious twist, the film experienced a dramatic name change followed by a swift reversal. When it was still with Dimension, at the last minute the title was switched to In the Deep, bizarrely the original name given to The Shallows. Actual review copies were sent out bearing this name. But when Entertainment Studios came on board, with a theatrical release plotted, it went back to 47 Meters Down (the actual depth of the shark-strewn sea floor the film's main characters sink to).
A year on from the nail-biting late nights, Fyzz's belief in the film seems fully justified. 47 Meters Down is now being considered one of the summer's indie hits, with a $42 million domestic box office, a third-place opening in South Korea at $2.2 million and some of the biggest international markets yet to come (it launches in the U.K. on July 26). Looking back now, the decision to wait also benefited from some good fortune, with Mandy Moore receiving a sizeable career boost thanks to NBC's acclaimed This Is Us.
"It's a great story," says Godfrey, who is now working on upcoming Fyzz productions including the Rosamund Pike, Joel Kinnaman and Clive Owen-starring Three Seconds, as well as Final Score, starring Dave Bautista and Pierce Brosnan, alongside its slate of investments, which he says will hit around $150 million this year (recent films include Wind River and Martin Scorsese's Silence).
"We're not pretending this is the best film ever made, but it's a fun summer thrill ride. And everyone's made money, everyone's won. The conversation now starts about whether there'll be another one."
As to whether there will be a sequel to 47 Meters Down, Godfrey says: "It looks like we're working toward it." |
Speaking during the Cowen and Company analyst conference this week, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick described Red Dead as a “permanent” franchise, like Grand Theft Auto and Borderlands.
Zelnick’s comments came as part of a response to a question about Take-Two’s “selective” approach in its game releases.
“The risk of just [releasing more games] is that you end up just bulking up your release schedule and that isn’t really what consumers want. Consumers want better, not more,” Zelnick said, in part. “So our selective approach, which we’ve taken since ’07 I think has paid off. Now, we have gotten more by taking that approach; we’ve launched one new successful franchise every year and I would like to keep doing that particularly because I talk about permanent franchises, but not everything is going to be a permanent franchise. Some of our great franchises eventually will lose their luster and some will hopefully be permanent.”
He then labeled Red Dead as one of those “permanent” franchises, perhaps suggesting that a sequel for the 2010 title could be in the works.
“I pretty much know the ones that I can assure you are permanent. It’s obvious that GTA is a permanent franchise as long as we keep delivering this incredible quality; it seems quite obvious that Red Dead is a permanent franchise, again with the same caveat, or Borderlands, for example, and NBA and others.”
“But not everything is going to be a permanent franchise. We can do very well even if it’s not. I would like to see us grow with a couple more great franchises in the next couple years and we’re launching Evolve; we have very high hopes for that.”
(via CVG, Gamespot) |
The Ontario government is banning all flavoured tobacco — including menthol — and vaporizing e-cigarettes for teenagers as well as curbing their use throughout the province.
“If young kids see people smoking or ‘vaping,’ they’re more likely to take up smoking or ‘vaping,’” Damerla told a Queen’s Park news conference.
Under the proposed law, the sale and consumption of e-cigarettes would be banned for anyone under 19 as of Jan. 1, 2016, and their use would restricted to the same places as regular cigarettes.
Scofflaws would face cash fines. Storeowners selling flavoured tobacco to a minor would see the maximum fine doubled to up to $200,000 — and $600,000 for a corporation that engages in youth sales.
For selling e-cigarettes to a child or teen, the fines would be up to $100,000 for a shopkeeper and $300,000 for corporate lawbreakers.
Currently, e-cigarettes can be used anywhere — including places where cigarettes have long since been banished from, such as bars, restaurants, and other public spaces.
At the same time, flavoured tobacco, which cigarette companies often use to lure young smokers, will be outlawed, though the prohibition on menthol will be phased in. |
US Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and Energy Secretary Rick Perry have been making some headlines for publicly rejecting the conclusions of climate science. But in between wrongly claiming that climate scientists just don’t know how much of a contribution humans make to recent global warming (answer: roughly 100 percent), they have also been parroting a new line—that climate science needs a “red team” to take on the scientific consensus.
On Friday, E&E News reported that these aren’t empty words. The EPA intends to “organize a specific process in which these individuals... provide back-and-forth critique of specific new reports on climate science," according to an administration official.
The “red team” concept refers to exercises in which one team is formed with the goal of shooting down the blue team’s conclusions or pursuing off-the-wall ideas. Since people like Scott Pruitt assert that the cause of climate change is fundamentally unknown, they argue that it would be perfectly reasonable to gather up some scientists who think humans are the cause together with some who disagree and let them duke it out.
Of course, that’s not really a reasonable way to discover how evidence built a consensus in a field (a simple search of Google Scholar would be more helpful), and it’s not the way science works. Thousands of scientists around the world are constantly carrying out studies on climate change and submitting their results to be reviewed for flaws by other researchers before things are published in scientific journals. Other researchers can then test similar hypotheses with studies of their own.
Climate “red teams” have been coming up in Senate and House committee hearings, where they're often suggested by scientists from a small contrarian group. Since their opinions haven't gotten the sort of evidentiary support that would give them traction in the scientific community, they argue for the use of red teams that would elevate their views regardless. If the EPA does put together a red team, it is extremely likely that it would be made up of these same people.
E&E News also reports that coal executive Robert Murray (the same Robert Murray who recently sued HBO host John Oliver) hopes the effort will ultimately result in the EPA overturning the “endangerment finding” that gives the agency a mandate to regulate carbon dioxide. However, Pruitt has reportedly pumped the brakes on this idea in the past, which is a tall task given the legal and scientific hurdles.
An EPA spokesperson has not yet responded to a request for information on its plans. |
Safe Schools: Malcolm Turnbull warns Bill Shorten, other MPs to choose words carefully in heated debate
Updated
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has issued a warning over the Safe Schools debate, telling all politicians they should "choose their words carefully".
Key points: Malcolm Turnbull warns Bill Shorten, other politicians to "choose words carefully"
Comments follow Mr Shorten labelling Cory Bernardi a homophobe over Safe Schools opposition
Program should "absolutely not" be subject to full review, Christopher Pyne says
Queensland LNP MP Warren Entsch defended program, saying there needs to be a "voice of reason"
According to its website, the Safe Schools Coalition offers resources and support to equip staff and students with "skills, practical ideas and greater confidence" to create a safe and inclusive environment for same-sex attracted, intersex and gender diverse students, staff and families.
It has been the subject of heated debate over recent weeks as it underwent a review amid concern from a number of conservative politicians.
The Prime Minister today called out those using disrespectful language, including Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, who has previously referred to Coalition Senator Cory Bernardi as a homophobe.
"The way that he has sought to describe any critic of the Safe Schools program as being an extremist or an ideologue, or worse, is utterly unworthy and he should recognise that inflaming this debate is unworthy," Mr Turnbull said.
"I address this to every member of this House: all members expressing views on this program should choose their words carefully and remember the impact their statements can have on young people and their families."
His comments come amid the promotion of a petition calling for the gender diversity program to be suspended or axed.
The petition was instigated by George Christensen — a strident critic of the gender diversity program — who yesterday intervened in the debate under parliamentary privilege.
Mr Christensen accused the Safe Schools program of being linked to a "paedophilia advocate" and named that person as Professor Gary Dowsett from La Trobe University.
The university said it stood by Professor Dowsett, describing the attack as appalling.
Program will see young people 'sexually liberated': Christensen
Mr Christensen told media today the Safe Schools program should be suspended because he did not want to see young people "sexually liberated".
He said the author of the program said it was about Marxist ideology and sexual liberation.
"I don't want to see sexual liberation of young people, I don't want to see young people sexualised at all," he said.
"They need information, they need to have bullying stamped out and cracked down on in schools."
Leader of the House Christopher Pyne today said the anti-bullying program should not be scrapped.
When asked whether the program should be subject to a full review, Mr Pyne answered "absolutely not".
There needs to be a voice of reason, Warren Entsch says
Queensland LNP MP Warren Entsch also defended the program and told the ABC a lot of the commentary criticising the program was inaccurate.
Mr Entsch said he was shaking his head "in disbelief" at one point during the debate.
"The lack of understanding is more towards those who are advocating, I think the children are a lot more tolerant," he said.
"There needs to be a voice of reason.
"You only have to look at the statistics in relation to attempted suicide."
Mr Entsch said he refused to sign the petition against Safe Schools and said it does not contribute anything positive at all.
Tony Abbott has signed the petition, despite being responsible for launching the program while prime minister.
Mr Shorten has urged Mr Turnbull to "show leadership" on the issue, calling for him to support the program and his Education Minister Simon Birmingham.
Addressing the chamber, Mr Shorten said it was time to stand up to the "rabid ideologues of the Liberal National Party".
"When it comes to the welfare of our children, if I have to choose between the teachers, the principals and the school counsellors of Australia or the rabid ideologues of the Liberal National Party, I choose Australian teachers and schools every day," he said.
"Mr Turnbull has a very simple choice here: stand with a great majority of Australians or a small right-wing fringe."
Mr Shorten said 533 schools had opted into the program, 32 of which signed up since the Government announced the review - a rate of more than one a day.
Topics: bullying, education, federal-government, government-and-politics, schools, australia
First posted |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Matt Le Tissier given 'very, very wrong' massage by coach accused of sex abuse
Former England and Southampton footballer Matt Le Tissier has said he was given a "naked massage" by a coach at the centre of sex abuse allegations.
Bob Higgins, a former youth officer at the club, is accused of historical sexual abuse against young players.
Mr Le Tissier said he was not abused but the incident was "very wrong".
He added allegations of sexual abuse in football "have not come as a big surprise". Mr Higgins denies wrongdoing.
Describing the incident, Mr Le Tissier told BBC South: "Everyone was kind of naked and getting thrown on this bed... and a very quick massage - it was uncomfortable.. it's very, very wrong for a start - looking back on it, you think it's wrong but as a young boy you thought 'is this normal'?
"It's pretty disgusting. What went on is not normal behaviour. When you hear the stories of naked soapy massages, hairy bum competitions... you look back at it now and think 'hang on, what was going on?'.
"Obviously boys talk at that age, they take the Mickey, it kind of gets covered up as a bit of banter at that stage. But as you grow into an adult, you look at it and think 'that's not right'."
Image copyright Twitter
Mr Le Tissier, who joined Southampton in 1985 aged 16, added: "I would like to think the bravery of the boys that have come out will encourage everyone else who experienced those kind of things."
He later tweeted: "For the record. I've never felt like I've been abused. Still don't. Please don't feel sorry for me, I'm all good. Just stated what happened."
The BBC understands Mr Higgins left Southampton after concerns were raised about his behaviour and a TV documentary then broadcast the testimony of eight alleged victims.
Mr Higgins has denied all allegations and was acquitted of sexual abuse charges in 1992.
The FA has launched an internal review into historical abuse allegations.
Image caption Bob Higgins was acquitted of sexual abuse charges in 1992
In a statement, it said: "The FA has today published the full terms of reference for the review into issues arising from the recent press reports relating to allegations of non-recent child sexual abuse in football."
The review covers what was known and what actions were taken by the FA from the 1970s. The FA said the precise number of players, alleged abusers and clubs it would investigate was as yet unknown.
It has appointed Clive Sheldon QC to lead the review, replacing Kate Gallafent QC, who was originally appointed.
Southampton FC has said it is working with police and investigating how it has handled these issues in the past.
The BBC has made several attempts to speak to Mr Higgins without success. |
If you’re ever stuck in life, just go, escape, especially if you’re mentally trapped. Life is too damn short to feel boxed in anywhere! You’d be surprised how simple it is to leave things that suck behind once you commit to ridding yourself of them. The first step in the hardest, it feels like trying to escape a black hole, but you can do it, and it gets easier once you start. Now, you won’t always get off scot-free, there is always a bit of pain, but in the end you’ll be all the better for it.
00:00 – the Toasters – Hard Man fe Dead (Hard Band for Dead ’96)
02:57 – the Snails – Can’t Stay Here (At the Underground Echo Cellar ’12)
05:47 – Madness – Close Escape (Absolutely ’80)
09:17 – Wetsock – God Loves Cash (Pacific Sound System comp ’14)
12:37 – IV4K – Escape Route (Start Your Own Scene ’14)
16:47 – Smoke Like a Fish – God Loves Man Kills (Smoke Like a Fish ’02)
19:27 – the Pressure – Single Ended (Real Horrorshow / Single Ended ’14)
Show support for the podcast by finding & liking 23min of Ska on facebook as well as follow on twitter. Also, feel free to download this episode if you wanna keep it forever. Another way to support the podcast is to buy some records from our partner in crime over at Grandpa’s Casino Recordings, they have some great vinyl ska records! |
Guess who's not coming to dinner September 28, 2008 |
I do not like you, John McCain. My feeling has nothing to do with issues. It has to do with common courtesy. During the debate, you refused to look Barack Obama in the eye. Indeed, you refused to look at him at all. Even when the two of you shook hands at the start, you used your eyes only to locate his hand, and then gazed past him as you shook it.
Obama is my guy. If you are rude to him, you are rude to me. If you came to dinner at my house and refused to look at or speak with one of my guests, that would be bad manners and I would be offended. Same thing if I went to your house. During the debate, you were America's guest.
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What was your problem? Do you hold this man in such contempt that you cannot bear to gaze upon him? Will you not even speak to him directly?
Do you think he doesn't have the right to be running for President?
Were you angry because after you said you wouldn't attend the debate, he said a President should be able to concern himself with two things at the same time? He was right. The proof is, you were there. Were you angry with him because he called your bluff?
During the debate, Jim Lehrer repeatedly called upon both candidates to speak directly to each other. Obama looked at you. He addressed you as "John," which as a fellow senator is his privilege. His body language was open. You stared straight ahead, or at Lehrer, or into space. Your jaw was clinched. You had a tight little smile, or a grimace, or a little shake of your head.
I had to do two things at once while watching the debate. I had to listen to what was being said. And I had to process your rigid and contemptuous behavior. If you were at a wedding and the father of the groom refused to look at or speak to the bride, how would that make you feel? Especially if you were the father of the bride?
You made a TV commercial showing the moments Obama agreed with you. Everybody knows he did. Did his agreement show honesty, or weakness?
It is significant that you said it proved he was not ready to lead.
What is the better leadership quality: (1) Willingness to listen to your opponent, and keep an open mind? (2) Rigidly ignoring him? Which of the two of you better demonstrated the bipartisan spirit you say you represent? Was there anything he said that you agreed with? Could you have brought yourself to say so?
I'm not the only one who noticed your odd, hostile behavior. Just about everybody did. I'm sure many of your supporters must have sensed the tension. Before the debate, pundits were wondering if you might explode in a display of your famous temper. I think we saw that happen, all right, but it was an implosion. I have instructed my wife to exclude you from any future dinner parties.
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UPDATE: 5:35 p.m. National Weather Service predicts 20-30 inches of snow, warns motorists of 'nearly impossible' driving conditions.
UPDATE: 3:24 p.m. - The National Weather Service is reporting more than 1 foot of snow in all four counties in Western Massachusetts, across the state and Connecticut.
SPRINGFIELD — The National Weather Service has issued a winter storm watch for all four counties in Western Massachusetts as well as Worcester, Boston and other parts of Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Snow is expected to begin on Monday evening and continue on until Tuesday night.
The site is warning residents of heavy snow along with considerable blowing and drifting snow. Near blizzard conditions are possible, although they will most likely not affect Western Massachusetts.
In his Saturday forecast media partner to The Republican CBS3 Meteorologist Mike Skurko predicted between 4 to 8 inches of snow across the Springfield area. He said the numbers have risen since then.
In most communities across the state it seems numbers have rise to between 18-24 inches of snow, based on National Weather Service reports.
Whatever the storm may be, the weather settles back down for Wednesday and Thursday with mostly sunny skies, he said. |
Everyone – from the voracious reader and the seeker of knowledge to the average Joe – can find something of interest in between the pages of a book.
With that in mind, neuroscientist Sam Harris – the contoversial atheist known for several clashes with author and fellow public intellectual Reza Aslan – compiled a list of eight books he thinks people should read.
Here are the 12 books according to Harris, that everyone should read:
1. The history of Western philosophy by Bertrand Russell (1945)
2. Reasons and persons by Derek Parfit (1984)
3. The Last Word by Thomas Nagal (1997)
4. The Holy Koran
5. Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom (2014)
6. Humiliation: And Other Essays on Honour, Social Discomfort and Violence by William Ian Miller (1995)
7. The Flight of the Garuda: The Dzogchen Tradition of Tibetan Buddhism by Keith Dowman (2003)
8. I am that by Nisargadatta Maharaj (1973)
9. Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (2006)
10. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (2005)
11. The Journalist and the Murderer by Janet Malcom (1990) |
Next Chapter >
Hello Speedhunters readers, it’s been a long time!
Those of you who have been lurking around these pages for a while now might remember my frequent contributions during my stint as a full-time correspondent a few years back, and if your memory does stretch that far, you might have wondered where I eventually washed ashore after disembarking the good ship Speedhunters. Allow me to give you a little back story.
Back in 2015, my wife Taryn (another Speedhunters alumni) and I managed to talk our way into a secretive automotive facility in Hong Kong, Blackbird Automotive. What we found was a treasure trove of incredible Ferrari machinery, and I was lucky enough to thoroughly document it all on this site. The visit left an indelible impression on me, and not too long after I finished up working with Speedhunters, the team in Hong Kong got back in touch and invited us to make a permanent move to their part of the world, to join Blackbird in taking things to the next level.
So what exactly does ‘next level’ mean for a company that already counts a dream workshop, an incredible simulator lounge, busy publishing house and a fleet of badass tow trucks in its arsenal? As of two months ago, Blackbird Concessionaires became the official Ferrari dealership of Hong Kong, and, as you can probably imagine when it comes to the sort of manufacturer that ‘allows’ people to buy its products if deemed worthy, getting the nod from Maranello was no easy feat.
Years’ worth of work behind the scenes went into making this happen and here we finally were, watching some very special cars rolling off our trucks and into the new showroom overlooking the white sandy beaches of Hong Kong’s Repulse Bay.
It was at this point that the Speedhunters region of my brain flickered back into life; this seemed like too good of an opportunity to pass up, so I got in touch with head Speedhunter and long-time buddy Dino, and asked if I could put a post together for old times’ sake – thanks Dino!
To celebrate the opening of the new dealership, we could have pulled any number of amazing Ferraris out of the storage facility to put in the front window; something pretty from the ’60s perhaps, maybe even an F1 car or a Le Mans veteran. But we instead decided to go a bit bigger, gathering eight of the greatest Ferraris of the last 40 years.
As lovely and exclusive as your regular Ferraris are, these particular limited-run machines are a whole step above. Seeing them all in one place, in one very iconic colour is an almost religious experience for the enlightened.
The oldest car on display is also my personal favourite. The twin-turbo V8 288 GTO was built specifically for Group B rally, with 272 manufactured between ‘84 and ‘87. Not one ever saw Group B competition dirt however, thanks to the series’ cancellation after multiple fiery deaths. While I’m pleased that more 288s probably survived total destruction as a result, I’d still dearly love to have seen these twin-turbo V8s mixing it up with the Audis and Fords of the day for total world domination.
Next in the lineage is the F40 and F50, celebrating 40 and 50 years of Ferrari respectively. The twin-turbo V8 F40 is predictably a visitor favourite in the showroom; for all its brutal design elements and barely-disguised race car underpinnings, it’s still somehow immeasurably pretty and elegant. As for the F50, I have to admit that it’s never really captured my heart. The NA V12 sings the right notes and it’s certainly a very fast and very cool car, but it’s also soft in appearance – when compared to its relations, at least. Like most things built in the mid-1990s however, I’m happy to concede that the F50 is starting to grow on me.
If the F50 could be considered too soft and smooth, its successor, the Enzo, does a full 180. Strangely, I can remember being extremely disappointed when images of the Enzo started to surface back in 2002 – I thought it was just plain ugly. It wasn’t until my first visit to Hong Kong, when I saw a black example taking pride of place in the middle of the Blackbird workshop floor, that I began to really appreciate the 660hp V12-powered F1 car-in-disguise. Now, standing in front of this Rosso Corsa example burbling away at idle, it easily comes in at second spot behind the 288 GTO on my list.
This brings us to the two grand tourers in the line up, a 2010-vintage 599 GTO and the near-new and extremely-aggressive F12TdF. These two front-engine rear-drive V12s are positively huge in comparison. The regular versions of these two cars are brutal enough as it is, but these very limited-edition track-focused models are much more up my alley.
It must be said that while the GTO is very cool and exceptionally fast, the TdF’s pure gym-rat-flex really puts a smile on my face.
If the regular F12 is all about travelling the highways at warp-speed comfortably, then the lighter-weight, more powerful TdF version is all about kicking and punching its way through bend after bend. I love just how out of place details like the heavily vented fenders seem on such an otherwise-refined big boy grand tourer.
To round out the collection, the centre of the showroom features a pair of LaFerraris, one of which is the newer open-top Aperta 70th anniversary example, currently the most valuable car out of all eight on display.
Surveying these two nearly-1000hp hybrid hypercars up close, the quantum leap in technology that the automotive world, and Ferrari especially, has undertaken over the last few decades becomes very obvious.
It’s impossible not to appreciate the research and development that has gone into creating a machine that is not only incredibly quick, but with its sharp creases and flowing, purposeful lines, looks undeniably amazing too.
My day-to-day is now very much seen through Rosso Corsa-tinted lenses, and while I’ve become somewhat of a die-hard “Tifosi” Ferrari mega fan, I have to admit that prior to my first visit to Blackbird back in 2015, I had no more than a mild interest in the Italian automaker. It’s not as though I didn’t appreciate the beautiful and fast machines coming out of Maranello, it’s just that I’d never really given the 70-year-old manufacturer too much thought. To an average joe like me who grew up fiddling with cheap Japanese cars, Ferrari was out of reach.
But I was failing to see the bigger picture; to see the history, the culture and the raw passion behind this brand. Working closely with these beauties and the people that love (and in some cases create) them over the last year has truly changed my perspective. From thrashing brand new high-tech supercars in the hills behind Maranello, to taking in the scent of aged leather and 50 years’ worth of race gas in an ex-Stirling Moss 250 SWB, I’ve fostered a fierce but manageable habit for all things Ferrari.
If you’d like to see what else we get up to here in Hong Kong, you can find us on Facebook and Instagram, or if you’re local, please feel free to come down to our showroom to see these incredible rolling artworks in person (ideally before we replace them with cars we’re actually selling!).
Only one question remains: if you could pick one, and only one of these cars to take home with you, which would you choose?
Words by Peter Kelly
Photos by Kimio Ng & Chris Lim |
Image copyright Trustees of the British Museum Image caption The coins were minted between 1847 and 1915
A hoard of gold discovered hidden inside an old piano has been revealed to be a collection of sovereign coins.
The discovery was made in Shropshire before Christmas when the piano's new owners had it retuned and repaired.
The collection consists of an undisclosed number of full and half sovereigns, dating from 1847 to 1915.
Experts believe the coins may have been "deliberately hidden" and could yield a "life-changing" sum of money, with a full sovereign worth at least £220.
More on this story and others from across Shropshire
Image copyright Portable Antiquities Scheme Image caption The history and whereabouts of the piano between 1906-1983 are unknown
An inquest, which will decide whether the discovery can be declared treasure, resumed on Thursday.
Shrewsbury Coroner's Court heard senior coroner John Ellery recount how the piano, made by Broadwood & Sons of London, was initially sold to Messrs Beavan and Mothersole of Saffron Walden, Essex, in 1906.
But its ownership from then until 1983 - when it was purchased by a family in the area who later moved to Shropshire - is unknown.
The coroner is now seeking information about its whereabouts between 1906 and 1983.
Image copyright Trustees of the British Museum Image caption A gold sovereign from the reign of Queen Victoria, dated 1847 is the oldest coin in the hoard
Image copyright Trustees of the British Museum Image caption A gold sovereign from the reign of George V is dated 1915
Mr Ellery deferred the conclusion of the inquest to allow for more time for anyone with information about the piano from the Essex area to come forward.
The hoard was initially reported to Peter Reavill, finds liaison officer for the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme at Shropshire Museums.
While not declaring the true value of the coins, he said it had "the potential of yielding a life-changing sum of money".
"It's not the sort of money you would tuck away and forget," he said. "It is a lifetime of savings and it's beyond most people."
Alexandra Whittaker, of auctioneers Fellows & Son, said a full sovereign with a 22-carat weight would be worth about £220, with a half worth £113.
"But if one was particularly special, like if it had something wrong with it, or there were fewer minted that year, then it would be worth a lot more," she added.
The objects will qualify as treasure and be the property of the Crown if the coroner finds they have been hidden with the intent of future recovery.
However, if the original owner or their heirs can establish their title to the find, the Crown's claim will be void.
The inquest will resume and conclude on 20 April. |
Getty Images
Updates from Friday, July 4
FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal reports a huge development:
Updates from Wednesday, June 18
MLB Network Radio provides comments from Cubs GM Jed Hoyer on Jeff Samardzija's future with the team:
Jon Morosi of Fox Sports provides an update:
Morosi had more on the state of negotiations between the Cubs and Samardzija:
Updates from Tuesday, June 17
Gordon Wittenmyer of the Chicago Sun-Times reports the Cubs are still willing to retain Jeff Samardzija's services if a deal can be reached:
But even as the Cubs continue early trade talks with some teams about Jason Hammel and Jeff Samardzija, they also have quietly reached out to Samardzija with a new offer on a contract that would keep him in Chicago as long as Starlin Castro and Anthony Rizzo, according to multiple sources. The sides have been miles apart for more nearly two years since having initial conversations about a multiyear extension, with differences on issues ranging from dollars to the club’s competitive timeline to management style and stability. [...] Cubs officials wouldn’t comment on the subject Monday. But the offer is believed to be for the same five years previously discussed by the parties, but at a higher number than the $60-million to $65-million range last on the table.
Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal later shared his thoughts on a potential deal between Samardzija and the Cubs:
Original Text
As the Chicago Cubs continue to fall deeper and deeper into the NL Central basement, they become closer and closer to blowing up the roster.
The MLB trade deadline is still more than a month away, but the Cubbies are already 11.5 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers, 7.0 out in the wild-card race and have a number of tantalizing pieces that could help build an already elite farm system.
Jeff Samardzija is at the very top of that list, and according to Fox Sports' Jon Morosi, Jed Hoyer, Theo Epstein and Co. are already listening to offers for the electric 29-year-old righty:
After striking out 214 yet still showing some inconsistency in 2013, the former Notre Dame wide receiver has turned into a bona fide ace this year. Through 14 starts, he owns a 2.77 ERA, 1.18 WHIP and 82 strikeouts in 91.0 innings.
“It looks like he’s a quality starter with the attitude, the aggressiveness and the demeanor he has out there,” Philadelphia Phillies manager Ryne Sandberg said, via CSN Chicago's Patrick Mooney. “The way that’s he’s pitching the last couple years really speaks for itself.”
Combine his fantastic start in 2014 with the fact he's more than just a rental (he isn't a free agent until the end of 2015), and the market is going to be massive.
Actually, it's already massive.
USA Today's Bob Nightengale provided a rundown of teams already linked with Samardzija, although it's a list that would likely be longer if Twitter allowed more than 140 characters:
The San Francisco Chronicle's Henry Schulman later denied the San Francisco Giants' interest:
Still, there will likely be plenty of teams inquiring. Of the teams on Nightengale's list, the Orioles and Red Sox rank in the league's bottom 10 in starter ERA, although any team would love to add someone like Samardzija for a playoff run—and beyond.
Of course, at the same time, with such a strong market, the Cubs, a team with a number of top prospects already, will be able to shoot for the moon in trade talks in an attempt to further improve the future.
If a deal gets done it won't likely happen until we get much closer to the deadline, but when it comes to the best trade chip of the summer, you can expect the speculation and gossip to run rampant. |
After struggling during his first two years of pro ball, Chavis made some mental adjustments that led to a breakout campaign in 2017.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Baseball is a game of adjustments -- a lesson Michael Chavis is constantly learning and a skill he is slowly mastering.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- Baseball is a game of adjustments -- a lesson Michael Chavis is constantly learning and a skill he is slowly mastering.
After struggling during his first two years of pro ball, Chavis made some mental adjustments that led to a breakout campaign in 2017.
The Red Sox's No. 2 prospect (No. 92 overall) recently experienced another tough stretch, this time in the Arizona Fall League, and once again made the necessary tweaks to break out of his slump.
"I struggled a bit recently, but I've made some adjustments," Chavis said after leading Peoria to a 4-2 win over Scottsdale on Thursday night. "I've done some extra time in the cage, tried to put the work in so I could get the results, and it's good to see it pay off tonight for sure."
• Gameday
After going 8-for-32 (.250) over his past nine games, Chavis went 3-for-4 with a pair of extra-base hits, two RBIs and two runs scored.
The 22-year-old doubled in his first at-bat, tripled in a run in the fourth and drove in the go-ahead run with a base hit in the ninth.
"I tried to keep it simple," Chavis said of his approach in a tie game with a runner on third and one out. "I hadn't faced [Giants prospect Tyler Cyr] before. I just tried to get a good pitch to hit and get it through the infield, or at least pop it to the outfield so I could drive him in either with a sacrifice fly or a hit and I got the cutter away and I stayed on it pretty well and got a single."
After batting .223 and .237 in his first two full seasons, Chavis raked in 2017. The 2014 first-round Draft pick hit .318 with Class A Advanced Salem before he was promoted to Double-A Portland, where he hit .250. In total, Chavis slashed .282/.347/.901 over 126 games.
"The biggest thing is my mental approach, the consistency and it all just comes from preparation," Chavis said. "A lot of it is maturity. When I was younger, I was immature. I'd go out there in BP and just try to hit home runs instead of going out and trying to prepare for the game."
The Scorpions got off to an early lead as the first four batters reached and the club scratched across two runs via RBI hits from Kevin Kaczmarski (Mets) and Aramis Garcia (Giants' No. 8) in the first.
However, Peoria -- which is tied with Mesa at 12-8 for the best record in the league -- fought back with two of its own in the fourth.
Chavis drove in the Javelinas' first run with an RBI triple and Luis Urias (Padres' No. 3, MLB No. 48) followed up with an RBI single.
The tie held until the ninth when Chavis gave Peoria the lead and Lourdes Gurriel (Blue Jays) provided an insurance run with an RBI double.
"We've got a great group of guys," Chavis said. "Ever since the first day, we've just clicked. We've got some pretty good personalities, so we like to have a lot of fun." |
Over the weekend, while you were hopefully enjoying quality family time and not thinking anything about corporate tax incentives, The Seattle Times published an interesting column on the lengths cities are going to lure Amazon’s second headquarters.
They are astonishing. Chicago is allowing $1.32 billion in taxes paid by employees inside the so-called HQ2 to go to Amazon rather than the city or the state. That comes with the icing of a $60 million property tax break at one of 10 sites, eight of which are in the heart of the city and easily accessible via the city’s rail system, according to the Chicago Reader. Fresno, Calif. takes it a step further: All of the company’s taxes and fees get set aside in a separate fund governed a special board made up of half Amazon, half city officials. They are “supposed to spend the money on housing, roads, and parks in and around Amazon.” Boston sets up a strange task force that assigns city employees to focus on Amazon as if it were its own department, like streets or housing or facilities. New Jersey went whole horse, offering up $7 billion if the company would just go ahead and build it in Newark.
The Dallas Regional Chamber has put together a pitch that, it appears, will include options for every North Texas city that an average Dallasite could name. (And probably a couple that they can’t.) But the DRC, which is overseeing our application process, is just one of the 208 offers throughout the country that is not beholden by a public information act request; the DRC, like the State Fair of Texas and the Dallas Museum of Art, is a private entity that shares a closer-than-average relationship with the city of Dallas.
So we don’t know what’s inside that pitch, and a spokesman didn’t take my bait to comment on what isn’t in it. The city of Dallas is also not commenting about its particulars of the incentive package.
Only 30 of these pitches are currently publicly available, so who knows what kind of wacky propositions live in the other 200-plus. Good Jobs First, a nonprofit research agency that’s been highly critical of corporate recruitment incentives, maintains a running log of the subsidies that cities have offered the company owned by the world’s richest person. We’re up to $1.15 billion in non-secret funds, the majority having gone toward fulfillment centers and warehouses like those found in South Dallas and Coppell. (Fun fact, according to Good Jobs First: Coppell’s incentive deals from 2017 and 2012 are secret, as are Dallas County’s from 2015. The city of Dallas provided $500,000 in 2015.)
Peter Simek has already written about how these sorts of mega-gifts don’t always result in the return cities are betting on, particularly in a region as geographically large and economically diverse as Dallas-Fort Worth. Amazon is dangling big numbers on its hook, like $5 billion in construction investments and 50,000 “high-paying jobs.” It’s promising “a full equal” to the existing campus in Seattle, which has 33 buildings that accounted for $3.7 billion in capital expenditures and has sent $25.7 billion to its employees.
Those numbers appear eye-popping, but they’re bait. This City Observatory piece by Joe Cortwright lays out the strategy; these beauty contests are a way to drum up additional incentives from the locations that HR has already deemed realistic for the expansion. He argues that no company would allow a project requiring 50,000 skilled workers to be determined solely by how a city can sweeten the deal. But when cities begin offering to return income tax to the company or allow the company to determine how that money is spent in the community, it ups the ante for areas that probably would’ve rested on the laurels of a comparatively low cost of living, a light tax burden, and abundance of skilled workers. Sound familiar?
We haven’t seen any incentive offerings from the other Texas pitches, nor has the governor detailed whether he’ll dip into his Enterprise Fund—which has sent more than $600 million to companies since 2004—to throw even more money to Amazon. But if we know Amazon’s game, will we call its bluff? |
At Mises.org, Jeff Deist interviews Daniel McAdams, head of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. Daniel is a foreign policy expert, having worked for many years on Capitol Hill and as an election monitor in eastern Europe. Daniel and Jeff discuss the role Dr. Paul played in creating the noninterventionist populism visible in both the Trump and Sanders campaigns, and how the public now sees the Iraq war as a mistake. Daniel also discusses the depth and reach of the "war party" lobby, marked by well-funded think tanks, a revolving door of hawkish congressional staffers, and brazen manipulation of the federal budget by defense contractors. How do neoconservative interests get their hooks into members of Congress? How do people like Bill Kristol (who never seems to be right about anything), maintain their grip on the US foreign policy establishment? And, how do ordinary people reclaim the narrative from those who would recklessly expand US intervention in Syria and Iran?
Reprinted from Mises.org. |
As the Ebola outbreak continues to cause concern, President Barack Obama has signed an amendment to an executive order that would allow him to mandate the apprehension and detention of Americans who merely show signs of “respiratory illness.”
The executive order, titled Revised List of Quarantinable Communicable Diseases, amends executive order 13295, passed by George W. Bush in April 2003, which allows for the, “apprehension, detention, or conditional release of individuals to prevent the introduction, transmission, or spread of suspected communicable diseases.”
The amendment signed by Obama replaces subsection (b) of the original Bush executive order which referred only to SARS. Obama’s amendment allows for the detention of Americans who display, “Severe acute respiratory syndromes, which are diseases that are associated with fever and signs and symptoms of pneumonia or other respiratory illness, are capable of being transmitted from person to person, and that either are causing, or have the potential to cause, a pandemic, or, upon infection, are highly likely to cause mortality or serious morbidity if not properly controlled.”
Although Ebola was listed on the original executive order signed by Bush, Obama’s amendment ensures that Americans who merely show signs of respiratory illness, with the exception of influenza, can be forcibly detained by medical authorities.
Although the quarantining of people suspected of being infected with the Ebola virus seems like a perfectly logical move, the actual preconditions for this to happen aren’t restricted to just those suffering from the disease.
As we highlighted earlier this week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has measures in place for dealing with an outbreak of a communicable disease which allow for the quarantine of “well persons” who “do not show symptoms” of the disease.
In addition, under the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, public health authorities and governors would be given expanded police powers to seize control of communications devices, public and private property, as well as a host of other draconian measures in the event of a public health emergency.
When the legislation was introduced, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons warned that it “could turn governors into dictators.”
Yesterday it was reported that Emory University Hospital in Atlanta was set to receive a patient infected with Ebola. A hospital in Germany also accepted an infected patient earlier this week. Some critics have raised concerns about the risk of deliberately importing infected individuals into the west.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor at large of Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. |
I made a pluggable Django app that allows you to talk to Alexa through your browser:
Add alexa_browser_client to your INSTALLED_APPS Run the Django app ./manage.py runserver Go to http://localhost:8000/alexa-browser-client/ Say something interesting to Alexa e.g., “Alexa, What time is it?”
And hear Alexa’s answer through your browser,
Buy why?
It’s like the Amazon Echo, but web developers can build a rich web app around it – and that web app can be used on your Desktop, Tablet, Smartphone, or Smart Watch. You can change the wakeword to anything you want. e.g., “Jarvis“. You can be 100% certain that Amazon, CIA, or “Russian Hackers” are not always listening: the Alexa code does not fire up until the “Alexa” wakeword is issued. Voice control is an important technology, and will only become more relevant. 11 Million households now have an Alexa device, 40% of adults now use voice search once per day, Cortana now has 133 million monthly users. If you’ve not started yet, it’s worth getting into voice technology to stay relevant.
So Alexa Browser App is a tool for developers to build voice commands into their web apps. The only limit is yourself.
Next Steps
I will be using Alexa Browser Client to build a rich web app for controlling my smart home devices. I will put cheap Android tablets in each room, and the web-app will be loaded on each tablet.
Has someone knocked on the door? “Alexa, ask the house to video chat with the front door”
Want to view your Google Calendar? “Alexa, ask the house to show my calendar”.
Want to view the traffic situation in Google Maps? “Alexa, ask the house to show my commute”.
80% of being married is shouting “What did you say?” to your spouse in another room. No more: “Alexa, ask to the house to video chat with the kitchen”.
Note in the above examples you would need to create a custom Alexa Skill that reacts to “the house” and routes the command to your smart home controller app.
Contribute
Alexa Browser Client has great test coverage, highest Codeclimate score, and Gemnasium integration – but the library does not yet support all the Alexa Voice Service features. Feel free to make a Pull Request to add features. As a community, we can make a fully-featured customizable open-source Echo alternative in the browser.
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Jared Bernstein is a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the author of the forthcoming book “The Reconnection Agenda: Reuniting Growth and Prosperity.”
There are two competing narratives about economic policy. In one, economists have no clue how to manage advanced economies, or else we wouldn’t have faced the Great Recession, Europe wouldn’t be the basket case it is, the U.S. recovery wouldn’t have taken so long to gain traction, and middle- and low-income households would be sharing in more of the growth. Officials at the Federal Reserve would be able to decide whether inflation is a real threat or a phantom menace.
In the other narrative, the policies implemented by President Obama during the depths of the Great Recession (some of which began under George W. Bush) helped turn things around. “At every step, we were told our goals were misguided or too ambitious — that we would crush jobs and explode deficits,” Obama said during his State of the Union address Tuesday. “Instead, we’ve seen the fastest economic growth in over a decade, our deficits cut by two-thirds, a stock market that has doubled and health-care inflation at its lowest rate in 50 years.” Jobs are growing “at the fastest pace since 1999,” he said, with more created here since 2010 than in “Europe, Japan and all advanced economies combined.” And in 2014, “about 10 million uninsured Americans finally gained the security of health coverage.”
It turns out we know more about economic policy than we think we do. Much (certainly not all) of contemporary economics has a pretty good idea of how the system works and fails. Scholars understand the hydraulics, as it were, of both the macroeconomy and critical subsystems such as health care. It’s true that we often fail to apply what we know — in part because of political interference, in part because we’ve unlearned key lessons from the past, leading to mistakes such as premature deficit reduction or inadequate financial-market oversight.
But the lesson of the recovery is this: In crucial areas of the economy, we have the historical knowledge to diagnose what went wrong, and when we undertake the prescribed policy responses, they work like they’re supposed to. Conversely, when we fail to apply what we know, we hurt the economy. The Recovery Act, the financial and auto bailouts, Federal Reserve policy, and Obamacare are examples of applying the known hydraulics to achieve the intended effects. Today’s economic revival was, in the end, a victory of the technocrats.
The Recovery Act: What happened in 2008 was a collapse of demand; people stopped spending and investing money. So the prescription was a temporary boost in government spending. Shortly after the February 2009 implementation of the stimulus, real GDP swung from the 5 percent nosedive of late 2008 to a 2.6 percent growth rate in late 2009. The pace of employment losses slowed, and the unemployment rate stopped rising. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that the stimulus increased jobs and growth (though its estimates cover a range of outcomes, from economically small to significantly positive).
Equally important, when economic policy pivoted too quickly to deficit reduction in 2010, before demand had returned, growth and jobs suffered, an observation wholly consistent with our understanding of these macrodynamics. Obama officials, myself included (I was chief economist to the vice president at the time), contributed to this blunder by not recognizing the depth of the downturn; economic forecasting still belongs to narrative No. 1 — things economists do badly. Even in 2013, austere fiscal policy was holding GDP growth down by 1.6 percentage points; in 2014, fiscal policy was neutral, and the economy did much better. Again, such dynamics were knowable based on insights available since Keynes, but politics blocked us from applying them all.
The bailouts: The credit system was illiquid, meaning bad loans on their books kept banks from lending money. Simultaneously, GM and Chrysler were failing at a time when no private investor would rescue them from bankruptcy. The prescription was large injections of cash from the federal government and the Federal Reserve, along with a government-managed bankruptcy for the two auto companies.
Banks slowly began lending again, and a financial sector that was in crisis soon began to generate record profits (yes, there’s something seriously unjust about that picture). U.S. auto companies sold more than 16.5 million cars last year, the most since 2005, and after shedding jobs for a decade, the auto industry has added back more than 500,000 positions since mid-2009.
Especially for the banks, this was not the only possible diagnosis or prescription. Insolvency, conservatorship and consumer-debt forgiveness would probably have resolved the crisis more quickly and a lot more fairly, though possibly at greater government cost. But both here and in health care, politics constrained the options.
All of this — including the housing bubble inflated by reckless finance — occurred in the first place because prominent economists such as Alan Greenspan replaced the lessons of scholars such as the late Hyman Minsky, who warned of financial volatility as recoveries progressed, with those of theoreticians whose models predicted that markets would self-regulate. Now, some House Republicans are trying again to dial back the Dodd-Frank financial reforms even as financial markets are beginning to bubble, a clear example of the way politics creates a destructive wedge between our knowledge and our actions.
The Federal Reserve: Its answer to weak demand and illiquid credit markets was to lower the key short-term interest rate it controls from north of 5 percent all the way to zero, cheapening the cost of borrowing. It also signaled to investors that rates would stay at zero for a while, and when even that proved insufficient, the Fed launched other tactics, spending money on longer-term bonds (“quantitative easing”) to lower longer-term rates.
Here’s something else we know: When the Fed rate is zero and it’s still not low enough to generate the needed economic activity in the private sector, temporary fiscal stimulus — government spending — goes much further. In this case, we knew that and might have spent more on, say, infrastructure. But deficit hawks chanting the mantra of the “failed stimulus plan” prevailed, and predictably negative results (an initially jobless, and for many still wageless, recovery) followed.
Health-care reform: Ken Arrow’s classic 1963 essay demonstrated how health care is different from the rest of the economy. If you show up hungry to the supermarket, they don’t have to feed you. But if you show up sick at the ER, they have to treat you. That takes health care out of the market in ways that every other advanced economy acted upon well before we did, and thus their ability to provide quality care while controlling costs has far surpassed ours.
Once we decided upon reform — one that precluded public health insurance (again, a function of political constraints) — the course was clear. To provide near-universal coverage, the risk of illness must be pooled across the population; that means mandatory insurance, which requires subsidies for those who can’t afford it. And once the government is subsidizing private care, for budgetary reasons, it must rigorously encourage quality of care over quantity. That meant changing the way we deliver medical care in America by rewarding efficiencies (e.g., fewer readmissions, a fixed payment for a set of services).
Europe: According to recent International Monetary Fund projections, the U.S. economy is expected to grow 3.6 percent this year, while that of the euro zone is forecast to grow at one-third that rate — 1.2 percent. Its unemployment rate is 11.5 percent, compared with the U.S. rate of 5.6 percent. Thanks again to fractious politics and economic amnesia, in every area cited above except health care, European policymakers have ignored basic macroeconomics and instead pursued austere fiscal policy, refused to overhaul damaged financial and housing markets, and inconsistently pursued stimulative central banking. (They finally announced their own quantitative easing program this past week.) The results have cost their citizenry.
Here’s what we know, what we’ve (re)learned and what we still don’t understand well enough. Financial markets need vigilant oversight or they will underprice risk and generate a bubble. When private demand falters, fiscal and monetary policy must pick up the slack until demand comes back. If, during that process, the Fed’s interest rate hits zero, fiscal policy becomes even more important. Budget deficits necessarily rise as a result of these interventions — a trend we should not block in the name of austerity, because the increase is temporary.
If that reads a bit like the manual to your new microwave, well, that’s a good thing. The economy is a system, and technocrats roughly know how it works, at least the part about restoring and sustaining growth, which is why our economy has recovered while others have not.
What we don’t know enough about is how to ensure that this growth is broadly shared. That calls for another set of ideas — policies that will restore the bargaining power and educational opportunities that have eroded for middle- and low-income households in recent decades. This, too, was part of the president’s message this past week, and understandably, it’s the part that’s getting the most attention. But now that the page has turned, let’s not forget what we’ve read. We know more than we think we do about how the economy should work. We just have to put our knowledge to good use.
[email protected]
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In a historic move, the American Legion, at its national convention in Reno on Thursday, August 24, 2017, approved Resolution 40 (text provided below) calling for the first full U.S. government investigation of Israel’s 1967 attack on the USS Liberty.
Gunnery Sergeant Bryce F. Lockwood (USMC, ret.) was on hand during the entire convention working for passage of the resolution, which originated earlier this year from Post 40 in Seattle in the American Legion Department of Washington (state).
Lockwood was awarded the Silver Star for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action in connection with the unprovoked and unexpected armed attack on U.S.S. LIBERTY (AGTR-5), in the Eastern Mediterranean, on 8 June 1967.”
Lockwood said there were a lot of “hand shakes, hugs, and some tears” after the vote.
The American Legion’s resolution brings the nation’s largest veterans organization back on the side of the USS Liberty survivors, family, and supporter in calling upon the “115th United States Congress to publicly, impartially, and thoroughly investigate the attack on the USS Liberty and its aftermath and to commence its investigation before the end of 2017, the 50th anniversary year of the attack.”
The resolution also aligns the Legion with the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which, in 2013, adopted Resolution 423 at their national convention calling for the attack to be investigated.
The Liberty was a U.S. Navy electronics ship operating in international waters in the eastern Mediterranean when it was attacked by Israeli forces, killing 34 and injuring at least 174.
The ship’s commander received the Congressional Medal of Honor and the crew is one of the most decorated for a single engagement in U.S. Navy history.
The claim is sometimes incorrectly made that the attack has already been investigated. However, a one-week-long Naval inquiry was only tasked with investigating crew performance during the attack, and Congress has never investigated it, as reported in the July 1997 issue of The American Legion Magazine and elsewhere.
While Legion members have long been supportive of the Liberty crew, Legion leaders have often managed to torpedo resolution. The resolution was passed over a recommendation by a Legion steering committee member that it be rejected.
For more information go to http://gtr5.com/faq-1.htm or see http://www.usslibertyveterans. org/. See key resolution documents at https://tinyurl.com/ LibertyResDocs.
Text of the resolution as passed by the convention National Security committee on August 20:
RESOLUTION
National Headquarters, The American Legion Ninety-Ninth Annual National Convention, Reno, Nevada August 22, 23, 24, 2017 WHEREAS, on June 8, 1967, while operating in support of the National Security Agency (NSA) in international waters, properly marked as to her identity and nationality, and in calm, clear weather in the eastern Mediterranean, the USS Liberty (AGTR-5) was the target of an unprovoked attack by Israeli military forces that killed 34 members of the Liberty’s crew and wounded 173; and, WHEREAS, in recognition of their heroic efforts during and after the Israeli onslaught, Liberty crew members were awarded the Presidential Unit Citation, 2 Navy Crosses, 12 Silver Stars, 20 Bronze Stars, more than 200 Purple Hearts, and the ship’s captain, Navy Commander William. L. McGonagle, was awarded the Medal of Honor; and, WHEREAS, the June 28, 1967 public summary of proceedings of the Navy Court of Inquiry into the attack stated: “It was not the responsibility of the Court to rule on the culpability of the attackers and no evidence was heard from the attacking nation”; and, WHEREAS, according to Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) information reports from June and October, 1967, sources in Tel Aviv reported: “Israel’s forces knew exactly what flag the [L]IBERTY was flying” and Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan “personally ordered the attack” on the Liberty over the objections of senior uniformed military personnel, one of whom characterized the attack as “pure murder”; and, WHEREAS, Richard Helms (Director of Central Intelligence, 1966-1973), stated in a 1984 CIA interview: “everything possible was done to keep from the American public really the enormity of this attack on an American naval vessel” and “since this is for the Agency’s record, I don’t think there can be any doubt that the Israelis knew exactly what they were doing … any statement to the effect that they didn’t know that it was an American ship … is nonsense”; and, WHEREAS, Lieutenant General Marshall S. Carter, USA (ret.) (Director of the NSA, 1965-1969), recalled in a 1988 NSA interview that he stated at a Congressional hearing in 1967 that the attack on the Liberty “couldn’t be anything else but deliberate. There’s just no way you could have a series of circumstances that would justify it being an accident” and Carter indicated this remained his belief in 1988; and, WHEREAS, in a 2003 affidavit published in the Congressional Record, Captain Ward Boston, Jr., JAGC, USN (ret.), legal counsel for the 1967 Navy Court of Inquiry stated: “I know from personal conversations I had with Admiral Kidd [president of the Court of Inquiry] that President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara ordered him to conclude that the attack was a case of ‘mistaken identity’ despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary”; and, WHEREAS, according to the findings, published in the Congressional Record, of the 2003 Independent Commission of Inquiry, chaired by former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Thomas H. Moorer, USN (ret.): “there is compelling evidence that Israel’s attack was a deliberate attempt to destroy an American ship and kill her entire crew” and “the White House deliberately covered up the facts of this attack”; and, WHEREAS, in 2013, the Veterans of Foreign Wars adopted Resolution 423 calling “upon Congress to immediately investigate the attack on the USS Liberty by the armed forces of Israel on June 8, 1967, in order to determine the truth behind the attack, and to bring closure to the families and crew”; and, WHEREAS, in August 1967, after the conclusion of the Navy Court of Inquiry, the American Legion adopted Resolution 508 (rescinded in 1984 without being first reviewed) declaring the published report of the Navy Court of Inquiry “fails to provide the American public with a satisfactory answer as to the reason for the attack” and stating that “The American Legion denounces and condemns Israel’s irresponsible attack” and demanding “a complete and thorough investigation of the incident”; and, WHEREAS, according to Gurney Williams III, writing in The American Legion Magazine (“Death Strikes the Liberty“, July 1997), Congress has never investigated the Israeli attack on the Liberty; now therefore be it, RESOLVED, By The American Legion in National Convention assembled in Reno, Nevada, August 22, 23, 24, 2017, that The American Legion calls upon the 115th United States Congress to publicly, impartially, and thoroughly investigate the attack on the USS Liberty and its aftermath and to commence its investigation before the end of 2017, the 50th anniversary year of the attack.
The final text of the resolution is expected to soon appear on the American Legion’s digital archive page: https://archive.legion.org/ handle/123456789/1/browse? type=dateissued
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RELATED:
Aid and Comfort to the Enemy: American Legion Honchos Betray Liberty Veterans
More information about the Liberty here. |
Copyright The Los Angeles Times
November 6, 1986
HEADLINE: U.S. SENT IRAN ARMS FOR HOSTAGE RELEASES; WEAPONS WERE SUPPLIED FOR AID IN FREEING 3 IN LEBANON, GOVERNMENT SOURCES SAY
BYLINE: By MICHAEL WINES and DOYLE McMANUS, Times Staff Writers
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
BODY:
The Reagan Administration, using an Israeli-operated supply line set up through highly secret negotiations with the regime of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, last year began supplying U.S.-made missiles and weapons parts to Iran in exchange for Iran's aid in freeing Americans held hostage in Lebanon, government sources said Wednesday.
The arrangement, in which the Tehran government received planeloads of military equipment critical to Iran in its lengthy war against Iraq, led to freedom for three hostages held by pro-Iranian extremists and, until this week, appeared to promise further releases, sources said.
The arms shipments, begun last year with the personal approval of President Reagan after secret meetings between two top-level White House officials and Iranian representatives, led to the release last Sunday in Beirut of American University Hospital director David P. Jacobsen, who had been held by Islamic Jihad (Islamic Holy War), a group of Shia Muslim fundamentalists allied with Iran.
At least one earlier weapons shipment spurred the terrorists to release the Rev. Benjamin Weir, a Presbyterian minister, in September, 1985, and Father Lawrence M. Jenco, Beirut chief of Catholic Relief Services, last July.
Brainchild of McFarlane
One source who refused to be named said that the operation was the brainchild of former national security adviser Robert C. McFarlane -- who traveled secretly to Iran several times in the process of negotiating the arrangement -- and a top aide, Lt. Col. Oliver L. North, the National Security Council's deputy director of political and military affairs.
The operation was supervised by North and Reagan's current national security adviser, John M. Poindexter, after McFarlane left the government in December, 1985.
Since early 1985, one source said, McFarlane and North reportedly have undertaken a string of secret missions to London, Geneva and other foreign capitals, as well as to Iran, to work out the shipments and exchanges, one source said.
The operation, handled almost entirely from within the White House, had been kept secret from virtually all of the highest officials in the U.S. government -- including top congressional, Pentagon and State Department officials -- at least until recent months, when some officials apparently began to pick up hints of what was going on.
Regan Concerned Over Leaks
News leaks about the operation surfaced last weekend in the Middle East and mushroomed in Britain and the United States this week. On Wednesday, White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan expressed public concern that the reports were endangering American hostages, warning in a broadcast interview that "there are lives at stake here" and that "opportunities can be lost by premature disclosure."
U.S. officials concluded Wednesday that the publicity, and the resulting uproar in Iran, have dashed all hopes that two other Americans still held in Lebanon by Islamic Jihad might be freed soon, an official said.
The secret dealings between the United States and Iran stand in marked contrast with the stated position of the Reagan Administration, which has frequently denounced Iran as one of the world's leading sponsors of state-supported terrorism. Indeed, while the secret exchanges were taking place, the President said repeatedly that the United States would not negotiate with terrorists or pay ransom for the release of American hostages.
In addition, the United States has maintained an arms embargo against Iran since 1979, when Khomeini's followers seized the U.S. Embassy and held 52 Americans hostage for 14 months.
Storm of Controversy Due
Disclosure of the arrangement thus raises far-reaching questions about American policy on terrorism, the Middle East and a host of other issues. And a storm of controversy is likely to ensue, both in and outside the Administration.
Secretary of State George P. Shultz, a leading Administration advocate of a hard-line approach to terrorism and the man whose department has been actively enforcing the ban on weapons shipments to Iran, was "completely cut out" of the hostage negotiations. His aides are said to be deeply angered by the arrangement.
Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger, a fierce advocate of American support for Iraq in its long-running war with Iran, was said to have "hit the roof" when news of the shipments reached his desk.
One government official who refused to be identified called the Administration's decision to aid Iran in its war with Iraq "a major policy shift" that had been undertaken without the usual discussions within the executive branch and with intelligence and military experts in Congress.
Approved by Reagan
The shipments were personally approved by Reagan in apparent contravention of the Export Administration Act, which prohibits the sale of U.S.-made arms to countries that support terrorism. Reagan himself put Iran on the "terrorist" list in 1981, and it has remained there.
"The President approved it," one official said, "and whatever documents were required, the President signed them privately and, like the Pope, kept it in his heart."
The Times learned of the secret arms shipments to Iran in late October. To avoid endangering the hostages or jeopardizing their chances for freedom, The Times agreed to withhold news of the operation until all the remaining hostages had been set free or details of the story appeared elsewhere.
U.S. sources say that the secret link to Iran has supplied that nation with what were described as ground-to-ground missiles as well as spare parts for F-4 Phantom jets, American-made radar systems and C-130 transport planes and other war materiel.
Weapons From China
The military value of the shipments to the Iranians could not be estimated, but Iran's air force consists entirely of American-made jets seized from Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi during Khomeini's rise to power, and its ground equipment was largely U.S.-made until China began supplying weapons in recent years.
The shipments were authorized by the White House, but were carried out by private American carriers under the top-secret direction of the Israeli government, one source said. Israeli officials involved in the operation in 1985 were identified by sources as then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Israel, a supporter of Iran in its war with Iraq, frequently has been accused of -- and has heatedly denied -- that it was illegally exporting U.S. arms to Iran. Rabin told The Times in a September interview that "Israel is committed not to resell any American arms or even American components of Israeli-made arms without explicit U.S. permission.
"And we have kept this commitment through the years," he said. "If you can give me one example through the history of our relations that Israel sold (even) a wing that was produced in the United States without American approval, I'll swallow everything."
Israeli Shipments Approved
In fact, the United States had approved such Israeli shipments, and at least one was in progress at roughly the time Rabin talked with a Times reporter, sources said.
Israel's motivation for serving as an intermediary is not clear. However, according to court records in a federal arms smuggling case in New York, Israeli officials early this year sought Iranian help in freeing Israeli soldiers believed held in Lebanon.
In January, the names of Zecharya Baumel, Zvi Feldman and Yehuda Katz, all missing since a battle near Sultan Yaakoub on June 11, 1982, and Samir Asad, reported captured near Sidon in April, 1983, were turned over to a cousin of Hashemi Rafsanjani, the Speaker of the Iranian Parliament.
The cousin, Cyrus Hashemi, was posing as a prospective Iranian buyer of U.S.-made arms from Israel. In fact, he was a acting as an undercover informant in a U.S. Customs Service conspiracy investigation that ultimately led to the arrest of retired Israeli Gen. Avraham Bar-Am and 10 others on charges of violating U.S. export laws. The case, widely criticized in Israel, is awaiting trial.
No Markings on Aircraft
Former Iranian President Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, now exiled in Paris, said on ABC's "Night Line" program Wednesday that in early September he learned through his own sources that "an American airplane with no markings did in fact deliver spare parts to Iran." A similar delivery took place in August of this year, Bani-Sadr claimed.
In September, the Danish Sailors Union claimed that a ship from Denmark had carried at least 3,600 tons of American-made weapons to Iran from Israel between May and August of this year.
Union spokesman Henrik Berlau said that the Danish freighter Ilse TH had carried four 900-ton shipments from the Israeli port of Eilat to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas.
"We have the documentation, the log and the testimony of the sailors on board. We have the exact dates. There is absolutely no doubt," Berlau said.
Shipments Began in 1985
The arms shipments apparently began at least a year earlier. On Sept. 15, 1985, a DC-8 cargo jet took off from Iran after delivering weapons to the Khomeini regime and landed in Israel -- just a day after Shia terrorists released Weir.
Israeli officials denied for two days that the plane was there, then acknowledged that the jet had landed. Air traffic controllers in Ankara, Turkey, and Beirut told reporters that the plane had reported its destination as Malaga, Spain, but then reported communications problems and headed for Tel Aviv.
The plane, identified by Turkish officials as U.S.-owned, carried the markings of International Airlines Support Group, Inc., of Miami. Richard Wellman, a spokesman for the company, told the Associated Press that the company had sold the plane to a firm called International Air Tourism of Nigeria.
That plane is now believed to have carried a weapons shipment to Iran that had originated in Israel. It was presumed, but could not be confirmed, that a similar planeload of arms earlier in544499813Jenco last July.
Helped Resolve Hijacking
It is not clear whether other shipments have been made in exchange for Iranian aid in stemming the tide of Shia-backed terrorism. However, the Iranian government played a role in ending the hostage crisis of June 14, 1985, when pro-Iranian Lebanese Muslim terrorists seized a Trans World Airways jet en route from Athens to Rome that was later diverted to Beirut.
The United States had asked Syria to intercede to free the hostages but only when Iran made its views known were the hostages freed. Since that incident, Shultz has said several times that the United States has maintained informal contacts with the Iranians.
The decision to create a secret "back channel" for dealings with the Khomeini government, however, appears to have been undertaken without Shultz's knowledge and outside the usual interagency consultations that accompany major foreign-policy shifts.
State, Defense, Treasury and other Cabinet-level departments were totally unaware of the operation until hints of the shipments began to circulate at high levels shortly after McFarlane left the White House last December. It could not be learned when Shultz and Weinberger were informed of the secret channel with Iran.
One senior State Department official who deals with Iranian issues told The Times on Wednesday that "we've had a sense that some of this might have been going on, but we were informed of none of it.
"Our job was to enforce the (arms) embargo as best we could and we believed we were doing a good job of it. We believed the policy was showing increasing success."
Comments From Speakes
White House spokesman Larry Speakes maintained the facade of that policy Tuesday, saying that "as long as Iran advocates the use of terrorism, the U.S. arms embargo will continue." Asked whether the Administration believes Iran now has reduced its support for terrorism, Speakes replied: "There has been no manifestation of a definitive change."
One U.S. official said, however, that the arms shipments carry "fairly enormous implications" for an American policy that has castigated other nations for dealing with known terrorists.
Times staff writer William C. Rempel contributed to this story from Los Angeles. |
Remember the wails about Apple turning OS X into a "walled garden" when news of GateKeeper emerged? The tool, which allows OS X users to restrict where their apps come from, was announced in February 2012 and was included with Mountain Lion when it was released in July. The controversy hinged on Apple's attempt to guide users toward installing only those apps downloaded from the Mac App Store, or at least settling for a middle ground wherein users could also install apps "signed" by the developer—an action that still costs the developer $99 per year and pads Apple's bank account.
The goal was to increase security on the Mac—especially in light of the recent Flashback scare—but power users bristled. GateKeeper does allow Mac users to install apps from any source they'd like, but it's not as easy as it used to be. The OS throws up flags that warn users about unsigned applications, which can easily discourage people from trying new software.
On the developer side, however, there was a cautious optimism that GateKeeper could mean good things for Mac users. Before GateKeeper was released to the public, Ars interviewed a number of developers who told us they generally felt comfortable with the tiers of control, even if things weren't perfect. Some acknowledged that Apple was indeed stepping up its level of control over users' computers, however, and expressed concern that Apple could change its default settings at any time to limit software distribution even further.
So has the apocalypse come? Two months post-Mountain Lion, are developers suffering from GateKeeper's new restrictions? We reached out to a handful of Mac developers for their perspective, and to see how their work has been impacted by the change.
End-users are better off with GateKeeper
Every developer we spoke to said they believe end users are better off security-wise with GateKeeper. Whether it's because users need to be protected from themselves or they simply need an extra layer of security so they can sleep easier at night, there appears to be a tremendous level of confidence in the fact that users are safer now.
"I think GateKeeper is a huge boon to end-users—it’s effective against man-in-the-middle and masquerade attacks, and the latter is a very common vector for malware," Delicious Monster's Wil Shipley told Ars. "GateKeeper is a brilliant design because there’s a cost to develop each round of computer viruses/trojans/worms, and GateKeeper lowers the chances of any particular piece of malware being a hit. It changes the economics of malware in favor of Mac users."
Iconfactory's Craig Hockenberry agreed. "I definitely think that GateKeeper is helping end users. I know that whenever I click on a download link and see that the developer hasn't signed their app, I think twice about installing it," Hockenberry told Ars.
It also appears GateKeeper hasn't caused huge problems for developers who actively market and sell their apps. "From a development point-of-view, it's been a simple change with a lot of benefit. I hear a lot of my fellow developers saying the same thing," Hockenberry said.
"It's simple to implement, has low impact on developers and users, and feels like a good way for Apple to block truly malicious applications. We're totally on board," Panic's Cabel Sasser added.
Shipley explained why developers seem to benefit from Apple's implementation of GateKeeper: because it lets customers know that if they trust the company's name, they can trust the company's software, too.
"Without GateKeeper, a customer could download a copy of Delicious Library from some third-party download site which had maliciously inserted some malware into it. We couldn’t prevent this, and the user couldn’t detect it. Now the user will be informed the software wasn’t blessed by us, so they can discard it safely before it ever launches," Shipley said. "That kind of user confidence is what made the iPhone App Store such a success. Many falsely attribute the safety of the App Store to sandboxing, but in fact it’s due to the iPhone’s implicit version of GateKeeper (e.g., every app that runs on the iPhone has to have been signed by Apple)."
It's worth remembering that there are ways to install non-Mac-App-Store, unsigned apps on your Mac under Mountain Lion—you just have to turn off or work around GateKeeper. This can be done by going to your Settings and into the Security & Privacy control panel, or by right-clicking to force open an unsigned app. This, developer Colin Barrett argues, is easy enough for most users.
"I have not personally heard of people, users or otherwise, having much trouble thanks to Gatekeeper itself. Some folks have had problems with it that were easily solved once they learned about the handy right-click Open 'work-around' Apple included (which is one of my favorite pieces of security UX in recent memory)," Barrett told Ars. "Also, a lot of people have discovered said workaround through the excellent confirmation box Apple includes when you try to turn off Gatekeeper entirely."
Jamie Phelps, a "code wrangler" from AgileBits, echoed this sentiment. "I think Gatekeeper is helping the vast majority of end users. I have Gatekeeper enabled on my Mac. Whenever I download an application and double-click, the 'unidentified developer' pop-up gives me pause," Phelps told Ars. "As a nerd, I know I can bypass this, but at a very minimum it makes me take a beat and think about what I'm doing."
But Sasser warned against turning off GateKeeper due to overconfidence—he's concerned that too many will disable GateKeeper's protections altogether, which might only help to spread malicious software in the future. "Users will all-too-readily set their default to 'Anywhere,' rendering the whole feature useless. I hope that people will think twice before changing this setting," he cautioned.
Challenges faced by smaller developers
Although many developers are happy with GateKeeper, not everyone sees such a rosy future for Mac software. In particular, hobbyist programmers and open source developers—generally, the ones not trying to make money out of the gate—are those whose work is suffering the most from GateKeeper's restrictions. And although they might be OK with that on a personal level, they're not always OK with it when it comes to where the platform is going.
Wesley Reynolds has given up development of his popular Dropbox Droplet widget, thanks in part to Mountain Lion and GateKeeper. His widget stopped working when Mountain Lion was released, and he's unable to figure out how to make it work again without shelling out $99 for a Mac developer account—even though he doesn't make any money from the widget. When I asked him his take on how things have changed, he explained that while he admires what Apple is trying to accomplish, he doesn't like the way the ecosystem hurts smaller developers.
"I could pay my $99 to find out how to fix this problem and sign my app, but I did this as a bit of a hobby to learn how dashboard widgets work, and the $99 was too big a pill to swallow," Reynolds said.
"I think Gatekeeper is pretty much killing the hobbyist coder on Mac. No longer will you be able to grab the tools for free that you need to code a program and then share it with whoever may be interested in it," Reynolds continued. "It was exciting for me to have created a handy little widget as an experiment to learn about Dashboard Widgets, and then, just because it's done, throw it up on the Web and have many thousands of people download it and use it. Now, a hobbyist coder can still download the tools for free, and learn to code and make a neat app that will run on their computer, no problem, but they can't give it to anyone over an Internet connection without Gatekeeper kicking in."
Reynolds acknowledged that there are some end user benefits to this restriction—namely that some hobbyist applications are "half-baked," low-quality, and have the potential to be dangerous. His own widget uses behind-the-scene Terminal commands in order to function, and he pointed out that he could have easily programmed the widget to delete things it shouldn't.
But if not for hobbyist programmers, would OS X be where it is today as a platform? Longtime Mac users no doubt remember the struggle to find useful software for anything, and the robust developer ecosystem we have today might not even exist if not for individuals taking an interest in coding for the Mac in their free time. Many have since turned their hobbies into full-fledged software houses, but there are others still tinkering around to see if they want to hop on board.
"Open source apps are legitimately hurt the worst, I think. Low-budget, but super-useful apps," Reynolds said. "My mom will have a hard time running an old or potentially dangerous app. Now, she'll also have a hard time running an old and harmless app she used to love. But at least it's safety in the better direction."
Where is Apple going from here?
When we first interviewed developers, some indicated a certain level of unease with where the Mac platform might be going. Rogue Amoeba's Paul Kafasis pointed out at the time that Apple already has more control with GateKeeper than it did previously—even with the middle-ground option. Stand Alone's Ben Gottlieb said he actually fears the day Apple tries to change the default to "only allow App Store apps."
Reynolds, unsurprisingly, took a similar stance when I asked him what he thought. "I think the Mac will be further locked down, requiring sandboxing for non-App Store apps perhaps?" Reynolds said. "I can see a world where you are unable to download an app to your Mac from the Internet without going through the manicured App Store, but that's a huge burden and liability to Apple if they claim 100% ownership over taste and over what is a 'good' app, and something awful goes wrong. The hobbyist coder will really be dead and buried at that point."
But the other developers I spoke to seemed to have a more positive take on the direction of third-party software on OS X.
"I really think Apple is in the business of creating the best experience possible for their users. I don't think that means Mac App Store apps only, because I don't think anyone at Apple would argue that the loss of apps like SuperDuper!, TextExpander, or Hazel would be best for the users' experience," Phelps told Ars.
"It's always hard to predict Apple's plans for the future, but if the past few years is any guide, I'd look for the Mac to get even more secure," Hockenberry added. "The trick, of course, is to do that while providing developers with the flexibility to create the applications that their customers want to purchase." |
Inside Bates Motel: Reimagining A Cinema Icon
The Paley Center celebrates Bates Motel, A&E’s compelling new hit series, with a special episode preview screening and conversation with members of the cast and creative team. Developed by executive producers Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Kerry Ehrin (Friday Night Lights), the series serves as a contemporary prequel to the genre-defining Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho, giving viewers an intimate portrayal of how Norman Bates’s psyche unravels through his teenage years. Centered on one of the medium’s most deeply intricate mother-son relationships, Bates Motel has reinvented the world around its core characters, placing Norman (Freddie Highmore) and his mother Norma (Vera Farmiga) in the context of the eerily “perfect” town of White Pine Bay, and populating that town with residents whose own personal mysteries unfold in surprising ways.
Executive producer Carlton Cuse notes, “Norman Bates is one of the more iconic characters in the history of cinema. To me, the fun challenge of this project that Kerry Ehrin and I faced was not only bringing him and his family to life but also inventing the world around them.” As Ehrin notes, “This world has a dark, fairy tale quality in many ways—just without the fairies. The shadowed world of subconscious desires and secrets we keep, even from ourselves, provides the landscape. Set in a structure of fast-paced, twist-and-turn storytelling, these themes and ideas emerge in a unique, shocking, moving, and weirdly fun way.”
Tickets on sale to Members now.
On sale to General Public: Friday, April 19 at noon |
We were whisked away to an office upstairs with windows that looked down on one of the football-field-size rooms that was now lined with cots and their new occupants. An energetic and overworked young employee tried to lay out for us the information we needed to convey in a clear, efficient and attention-getting manner. When is dinner? When is lights out? Where can one find dry clothes? Lori and I had to figure out which questions were most pressing and then craft a suitable announcement.
A quick aside: As someone with an active imagination who frequently considers the possibility of someday having to negotiate his way through a post-apocalyptic landscape, I often worry that I will have no useful abilities when that day arrives, seeing as the only discernible skill I possess is writing dialogue for actors on a stage. So I was amazed and relieved that I could contribute anything at all in the midst of a crisis like this one — which was feeling, as the hours passed by, increasingly apocalyptic.
I dashed off a first draft and read it aloud to Lori, who gave me a look that all stage managers possess — best described as a blend of compassion, pity and impatience. “It feels like a high school morning announcement,” she said, and I had to agree. Lori suggested a more energetic opening, and she also had a better sense as to what people wanted to hear. So “May we please have your attention for the following announcements” became “Ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon, we have some information that may answer some of your questions. … Shower trailers are on their way!”
The next day we learned that, despite nearly $15 million in damage to the Alley, the staff had secured an alternate space for my play at the University of Houston.
We had nowhere to rehearse, so an Alley board member gave us office space on the top floor of the second-tallest building downtown. From there we could see the whole city and the surrounding suburbs. At a glance, everything seemed fine. But looking closely, you could see the brown waters of the bayous stretching over places that were supposed to be dry. |
Arizona Hero Daniel Hernandez: I 'Shut Off My Emotions To Get Stuff Done'
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images
How did he apparently stay so calm and keep his head?
That's a question many have asked after hearing about what 20-year-old intern Daniel Hernandez Jr. did on Saturday when shots were fired during an event that his boss, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) was holding at a strip mall in Tucson.
toggle caption David Becker/Getty Images
While six people lay dying and another 13, including Giffords, were down with gunshot wounds, Hernandez ran toward the sound of gunfire and to the congresswoman. He held the 40-year-old Giffords and administered some basic first aid that helped keep her alive.
Last night at the memorial service in Tucson, Hernandez insisted he's not a hero. President Obama insisted he is.
Today on Tell Me More, host Michel Martin asked Hernandez about his "poise under pressure ... where does it come from?"
"I think I've always just had the strange ability to kind of work under pressure and to shut off my emotions to get stuff done because I thrive when I'm under stress," he said.
Of course, Hernandez added, before Saturday that ability mostly was of good use "for big homework assignments ... not anything of real consequence."
Also during their conversation, Hernandez told Michel that "when I heard the gunshots, I knew she [Giffords] was likely ... the target, but probably not the only victim."
And, he described his last few days as "absolutely surreal."
"To go from such great sadness and loss to kind of as a community and a nation move forward in our grieving process," was important, he added. "Last night was absolutely a great step forward in bringing everyone together."
Here's the audio of their conversation: |
Airbus has completed primary structural assembly of the first flying prototype A350-900, and transported it to the testing station next to the assembly line in Toulouse.
The twinjet, MSN1, has been moved, on its own undercarriage for the first time, from the final assembly line. It has yet to be equipped with its Rolls-Royce Trent XWB powerplants.
Airbus is aiming to perform the maiden flight of the aircraft around mid-2013. MSN1 is the first of five flight-test airframes which will be constructed.
Airbus
It will undergo hydraulic testing at Toulouse's station 30 point, having already completed electrical power-on tests of the fuselage and wings at the station 40 assembly line.
"This will mark the start of several weeks of comprehensive functional system testing," says the airframer. Once the station 30 tests are finished the aircraft will moved into certification and development testing, and have its powerplants installed. |
OS/Forth
OS/4th
The Complete Operating System.
"Microsoft - Breakfast of Champions"
Presented by: Christopher Passauer
You hold the tools and future in your hands ... so ... succeed !
The tenet : Forth when used to implement, and be, an Operating System can displace all other current offerings of (Microsoft, OS/2, UNIX based) operating systems on the PC single user desktop platform, and farther.
Statement
This paper presents the concept, history, direction and foundation to make Forth the next PC platform operating system to come into wide scale use. It is fully realized that some may have trouble grasping such a lofty concept, but, to dispel that parallax view is the exact purpose of this writ. I will include as little connotation and equivocation as possible. Through the words presented within, the concept no longer is lofty, but instead at hand.
Preface
During the hearings held in Washington, D.C. during the first weeks of March this year (98), Bill Gates stated, as part of his position on including Explorer in all OS offerings, that "Microsoft is rewriting all its' application offerings to use an advanced HTML interface and no longer the current windows based system." This tells us simply that, and by looking at the advances in web browser/viewer technology, everything will be HTML based. Simply examine X-Windows on top of UNIX and derivative platforms. This document is in a form of HTML just as all word processor documents are and have been, remember '^B' and the like under WordStar. Even a text file is 'marked-up' with simple CR/LF and Tab characters, basically, format.
Forth is, by definition of its' nature in execution, the perfect string processing language creation tool yet. What is HTML but a simple grouping of text with visual display markers and graphical object pointers contained within a document. A Forth generated application could literally execute an HTML document, unlike the process used in HTML browsers and the Forth derived PostScript language.
Did anybody ever tell you PostScript was originally slated to be what HTML has become, a textual, graphics and format language for all output devices, that's right, for the video monitor also. At the time it was just too cumbersome to generate so much output given the severe limitations on working storage. Apple Computers having a fast graphics display ability on the newly introduced MacIntosh needed some way to get that to a print device and chose PostScript as the output language of choice. Thus in their regular open system manner provided print device vendors universal method to connect with their new graphical system.
Point I Convey
This document will at most times be in conversational mode - until it becomes truly technical by revision, your revision. Given the short time available for this effort a dissertation format is not followed here, or great effort towards literary style, we do write one way and speak another, thus direction is towards sharing of concept and not the mechanics of writing.
Sections in this Version (that follow)
Audience
This document is written at the level of persons with an experienced software and hardware background. This effort in no way addresses the uninitiated. No spoon feeding here.
Concepts and information presented here in are from one perspective and associated resources, there can be many in both, alignment and quality of content will occur with substantiative peer and participant review cycles.
Document Direction
It is understood and directed that this, to become a working document, will become more and more technical, with that, many sections will eventually be edited out. It should be noted that the best document editing, including for this section, should be done by striking-out and not by actual deletion. This allows the history of change to be noted and roll-back to occur in need. It should also be noted that a statement of intent be included with all material changes so that no one need figure out something that should be obvious, and hidden agendas are eliminated.
The Authors (not so carefully worded) Forward
It is rare that I write a document that contains my direct and personal views on things, I normally write in a presentation format from a technical, executive or investment perspective. I do fully express my opinions and views here in, but in constructive criticism format as possible. Those of you that know me or of me will no doubt see my forward and righteous manners rear in the words trailing off before you. Yes! I unleash my heart felt passion of the subject as guide. I do not place my ego or vanity in this so that the true artistic nature of my heart and logic may speak, and I hope through revision yours also.
If you find I move across multiple subjects yet bind them together, surprise, it's the way I think. I feel now, after others have shown me, that I have three gifts: 1) I am able to see, and continue to see, the big picture even while concentrating on the smallest detail. 2) I inspire others to think differently, be challenged and then act. 3) I naturally think in a totally abstract, yet logical, manner. I do rely on my intuition.
Hey, spelling errors are inherent, expect some, however, I respect and accept all input as to format, spelling and content. Your input is not only accepted but expected, speak up please, or don't complain later. That's right get involved or Bite-It. And expect that I will not let this go the way of committees, the warm-n-fuzzys, or anything similar. Why? Because OS/Forth accommodates anything, truly, just as its' parent Forth does, as Chuck intended. So remember extensions are a fact and a design premise, not required in the heart of it.
Chuck took time and great pains to allow me my freedom of thought without rebuke, all the while instilling in me the beauty of minimalism, may you find that beauty in the concepts here.
Premise for the Design
Let's face it, there are a large number of people in the world today that resent being forced to use an 85% functional solution called Windows. I admit I am one. I will say that Windows has its' place (just like UNIX, OS-9 and even MacIntosh, Sun, or Silicon Graphics does) but to the exclusion of all else - I object. I will cover many of these points in more depth later on, perhaps scattered, so bare with me.
On the television program Uncommon Knowledge, #207, created by the Stanford Hoover Institute and produced by KTEH channel 54 PBS Station San Jose, hosted by Hoover Institute Fellow Peter Robinson, points out that the Monopoly called Microsoft sells 90%+ of all operating systems world wide and 80%+ of all desktop operating systems. The cost to the manufacturer for those operating systems has risen, not decreased, from ~$4.00 per to over $50.00 per. The manufacturers do not give a component cost breakout so the increases are hidden from the consumer.
My father, Buzz, a new friend of mine, stated to me, and I had to laugh - at myself - because it was absolutely true, 'every software manufacturer out there today wants a new operating system because it helps them do nothing more than generate more revenue - it's another opportunity to them.' This points out that most software vendors will create versions of existing software applications for any new Operating System that catches on. I ask you - would they convert software over if was really easy to do so?
Software vendors can not thrive unless you continue to purchase something from them. If they create the perfect program they would go out of business after the initial sales were over, thus their continued program of bugs and improvements. Microsoft almost seems to have invented the strategy, 85% completed, so purchase the next release for only $69.95 and so forth.
It is interesting to note that TurboPascal and most all versions of MS-DOS sold generally at $69.95, seems to be the magic figure for painless sales. Today most CD based games sell for within a few dollars of this amount and sales are brisk.
I fully believe that if this new operating system is to be offered for free - it will fail and we will all lose. Forth in general, even today, is still looked upon as Hobby Time, and even treated as such by most of you whom will read this document. I implore you with all that sings out from your creativity to stop playing and get really, really serious. Professional software is not free, when it is it gains and holds no real respect in the world market. Free will not help us all retire. $69.95 a copy can and will. Lots of people, read firms, have made a reasonable living offering Forth products, but with on going difficulty because of FREE. Let us all drive forward into the future together and make Forth pay us, we have paid into it long enough, we have supported it too long as members of our own non-profit organization, we have cuddled, petted, cherished and loved it all too long, now lets reap the rewards of all Forth has to offer from what we have made it. Look how much Bill Gates has made with Microsoft, even 1/10 of 1% of that would set us all up beyond our wildest expectations. IT CAN BE DONE - LETS DO IT!
We need one solid Operating System core to build upon, not twenty different ones, we must be of one mindset, with all the personally derived extensions one wishes to create, or can imagine, to follow.
The Concept "Operating System"
Simply stated an operating system is "an interface between some hardware, an application program and a user."
It's interesting that back in the day, when CP/M was the common operating system, I could load and run an application on any system vendors offering, while every vendors offering was a completely different hardware configuration, even disk format, except, for the processor and Operating System. As an applications creator I had to generate no extra code to accomplish this. I could query the display device to determine if it could perform graphics and/or color. Simple. All the display routines worked regardless. The hardest part was to copy my application code to the appropriate format diskette the customers hardware required, this really was never a big issue.
In reality all applications, especially under Windows anything, is nothing more than an extension to the operating system. With the exception of communications programs, and a few utilities, no application ever connects directly with either the hardware or the user devices.
Bill Gates maneuvered all applications programmers into having reliance on the operating system to such an extent, in the form of DLLs - also know as code you do not have to create we provide you - that Windows became entrenched. All of us have seen graphics panel based programs that run fine under DOS with no Operating System extensions, and almost every one is smaller than its' Windows counterpart, and easier to write I will say.
During the CP/M days MS-DOS was in wide usage in Europe, and unlike CP/M running in under 2KB, required 48KB memory for the Operating System and all the resident utility code, leaving only 16 KB for applications. The CP/M approach of "load only what you need at the time" was disparate in the MS-DOS memory pig world. Already the writing was on the wall about poor code design resulting in using lots of memory. Microsoft operating systems designs have continued this glutinous trail right to the present where unimaginable amounts of memory and storage are in use today for even simple applications.
Remember MP/M and Cromix, four users running just fine on a 4MHz Z-80 with 48KB of bank switched memory each. CP/M-86, aka Concurrent Dos or CDOS, came out for the PC platform just as Clone Turbo PCs were unveiled, a single user version of MP/M, I still have a copy, which allowed you to run four things at once and hot switch between them, two years before windows existed. Interesting that CP/M always accessed disk faster than MS-DOS.
Until Windows NT Microsoft products did not really do true multi-tasking, event driven background tasks just do not qualify. Why did it take Microsoft ten years to catch up to the technology Digital Research was using, still not being as fast or compact even yet?
Just for clarification: Tasks are user or application initiated, while processes are O.S. initiated.
When Novell introduced their first version of Netware, version 1.01a on about thirty 5.25" diskettes, I installed it on a 6 MHz true AT with 640 KB memory. That network server with 10 MHz Ethernet interface cards could get data to my PC-AT workstation faster than I could load it off the local hard disk, while supporting seventeen users, nine doing accounting functions. These are our roots. Imagine that same operating system on a 300+ MHz Pentium. This does point out a special thing I am trying to get you to notice - that all processors are I/O bound, and that more code does not mean better. All Microsoft did was use the extra processor time to draw pretty panels, until the panels became so complex that the processor became the bottle neck, so they revised it and called it Windows 3.0, newly rewritten in 16-bit code. It was the newest innovation for non-Mac users, and so it took off as everybody wanted the new interface toy .
Now where would we be if I did not bring mainframes and minicomputers into the picture? Lets cover UNIX and similar operating systems first.
In 1980 when the new UNIX was just being turned out for nothing or close to that to the universities, the new IBM PC came with only 64 KB of memory and a cassette port, the Apple II+ was a big hit in educational circles, up popped a little operating system called Qunix, which Bell Labs later insisted was named too close, and thus QNX. When first released this Operating System was multi-tasking with all the standard directory capabilities, networking and device driver shuffling of its' big brother, however, it did not suffer from disk partitions at that time. It did lack a "C" compiler at that point, which slowed its' introduction for about a year. Unfortunately the two partners residing in Canada decided to screw the one in the U.S. and shut down the operation just as it was taking off, right after two Americans wrote the "C" compiler for it - investing and losing everything they had, it has never regained any real market share since. Today QNX in used embedded.
We hit 1981-83. At this time, also, several Motorola 68000 based Bell Labs licensed UNIX machines came out like C.C.C. and the Venture Systems single user unit for accounting. CP/M-86 and MP/M-86 were just introduced about this time, just before Godbout started sinking, Digital Research had just laid off about seventy percent of its' staff, about eleven hundred people, a tragic dead end, cast so into the dirt. SCO introduced Xenix running on a custom box, and at that time it was a screamer. Banyan, 3-COM and others joined the network market with dedicated servers running proprietary multi-tasking operating systems.
HP., DEC, Wang, Perkin Elmer and Sperry/Univac all had proprietary operating systems that will not be talked about, all had their place. So where are we now? Well, we have Sun Solaris, the HP. 9000 flavor, Linux, Bell Labs UNIX versions on various platforms like UniSys and Silicon Graphics, and even Amdahl's version.
So you are now saying 'what's so wrong with UNIX'? Well let's see, besides its' cryptic naming conventions, file oriented everything, lousy disk partioning with slow access, impossible utilities, the ability to create circular directory paths, the carry over of its' original design of being an Operating System for multiple people on terminals, perhaps nothing. It has a place, just not on my desktop. It should interest you to know that most UNIX based engineering software vendors have been converting everything over to NT. The great following for Linux points out the fact that people want something other than what is available. Note that Linux is successful because it is not completely free. Just try to download enough Linux stuff with directions to boot and install it, good luck, not a task for the feint of heart. Linux was written largely by UNIX oriented people whom wanted something else or newer, and also saw that existing and low cost equipment could be leveraged. This effort, however, is to be admired.
I must talk of the Burroughs Medium Systems Operating System called MCP (Master Control Program), the main writer of which implemented the Operating System for the HP. 1000 and 2000 series and its' derivative is still in use today on HP. 9000 series machines. The MCP runs in 100 KD (kilo digits, nibbles) or 50 KB of memory. The concept and execution here is pure beauty. The MCP and the machine are very tight in operation. The medium series, 4700, 4800, 4900, V, mainframes were, in essence, state machines with just enough operating system to invoke task switches and deal with the operator, funny Intel processors run in protected mode almost the same way. The MCP did not directly swap code to disk, sort files or interact with IOPs (Input Output Processors) or DLPs (Data Link Processors). By the way, there are almost 400 commands available to the operator.
Lets look at this a little deeper. This is a little bit hard based on the fact that the 4000 series Burroughs was designed for a specific purpose - record processing. This specific machine was, and to quite an extent is, the mainstay of the banking world and the military back office accounting operations. Though dated, this line of machines designed in the early sixties, is very functional through an ongoing maintenance and upgrade program.
The CPU runs at a blinding 8 MHz, with a possible 4000 KD memory, yeah 2,000 KB, and is able to process up to 60 jobs at once. A miracle? No, just good engineering. The machine can move a sustained 60 MB per second across its' main buss, yes, it's a 64 bit machine with parity for a total of 72 bits on the buss. Can a Pentium do that, even close? Imagine seeing 16 GCR 200 MB 12 inch tapes spinning, 30 or 40 jobs active in the mix accessing 80 GB of diskpack and head-per-track drives, and four 2000 line per minute chain printers loaded with 132 column green-bar, all running full tilt, connected to this one machine. RESPECT! At 8 Mhz .
Here is the real trick to this - when an application, with a task clock running against it, does any access of any kind a task switch occurs while that access request is performed. The CPU turns control over to the MCP which then switches to the next application and its' last point of execution. Processing continues for the application when the access request is completed. Ahh, you see the ghost in the machine, the DLP. When a program executes say for instance an 'Open File' statement, that instruction is literally passed to the DLP to be executed, a program branch to MCP occurs, and another process takes over until the DLP is done. A disk, printer or tape controller is a DLP, one of many, each with a 4MHz 8080a and dual port RAM on board. If the clock runs out the task switch is forced. By the way the hardware has a sort intrinsic done by the DLP, and no accumulator, calculations are done in program memory.
An DLP is very much like modern co-processor interface cards of today, like the Intel Ethernet LAN cards, each which has an 805286 at 10 MHz, handling most all aspects of LAN communications of either 10 or 100 MHz. SCSI is another example, a block mode device setup, multiple master capability as a tape drive can backup a storage device with no host interaction, that normally uses the likes of an 80186 embedded. Even the keyboard interface is an embedded processor on the motherboard communicating over a serial LAN to an embedded processor in the keyboard, both usually 8048s. If you watch a statistics screen on a server for a time you will find that eighty percent of overhead is dealing with the LAN, unless you have a smart LAN card, almost all are today by employing a 10 MHz 80186 co-processor doing the overhead. An IDE port is a simple parallel port, the embedded controller on the disk drive itself doing the interface. If we view these smart devices in a little different way, then we can start to really use them better, and the OS benefits greatly, leveraged multi-processing, code size reduction and I/O bandwidth improvement.
One unique feature of the medium systems, that IBM still may need to figure out, is that when a job finishes its' memory is released and all the jobs below it (address 0 is at the top on this machine) are rolled out to disk and back in to fill the gap. No checker-board memory. All done through hardware, and embedded processors.
I helped a friend develop the method of doing this under program control. We went through the MCP source listing and found the instruction that does the roll out, and thus I introduced COBOL to the concept of heap, that can be resized during run time. COBOL has the need to have all data space predefined and sized at compile time, imagine being able to examine the data and then get only the needed amount of memory, never the always-the-maximum scenario.
One of these machines with an SRI supplied HP. 1000 Front-end can support over 1,000 TDI (Terminal Data Interface) serial loop, block mode transfer terminal users across local and single-point or multi drop analog or digital lease lines. Remember all data to this machine is a record. Isn't all data on any machine? A byte or a thousand bytes, is there really any difference? Still just a record, yes?
Since I have used all the various types of operating systems I can draw parallels between them. Most of you have also, so you will see what I am describing. On a PC running DOS or CP/M you interact with a single process on the display, the same for UNIX with no graphics interface. The fact that things, such as daemons, are running in the background does not fully constitute a multi-tasking environment. A good example of this is a mouse driver, its' running, scanning a port and feeding information to an application, as an extension to the Operating System, but it has no user interface. On a main frame you never interact with a process directly, you instead are always viewing a systems log on the display and issuing commands to guide those processes, everything is running in a batch mode. What a windowed or multiple view environment provides is the ability to interact with running processes, see simultaneous updates. Humans are serial in action. Yet in all this we can, and do, only really deal with one process at a time, either by inference or bringing it to the foreground. I believe that every process should have a display that can be viewed by the user, no blind daemons or drivers or other processes, but you do not have to view. The fact that processes can be made to display provides the ability to interact, which provides the ability to stop or realign runaway or undesired situations.
As you can see from all this, in its' many forms, operating systems are implemented in many yet very similar ways, always for the same purpose, always to solve the same problems. All are oriented to servicing one, or multiple, users, or tasks, interacting with one, or more, applications and/or storage and/or communications devices.
I believe that I can state without rebuke that portability is not even a question. What program or application since the beginning of the industry has been moved to a different processor or operating system without serious modification? I can't think of one. So I state that the term portability not be used while the operating system resides on one processor platform. With some careful planning and much research OS/Forth could be designed to have continuity with the application program interface, much like COBOL, allowing a recompile on the new processor in order to port an application. Perhaps this is acceptable based on current processor speeds. But, I will mention what is known, that to gain real performance processor specific code must be written, and thus, the application is no longer portable.
Operational Modes
It is important to mention Real, UNReal, Protected and Virtual mode differences in here some place, pretty much an Intel specific issue, though other processors have differences such as Standard and Virtual modes, all similar to each other in concept and function.
In relation to Intel processors
Real mode, not the natural or power-up mode, of the iAPX86 line of processors is what most people are used to dealing with when in MS-DOS. In this mode the processor can only address the lower 1 MB of memory, without special extensions. The processor has default address ranges set when you enter into this mode. We have lived with this situation because the system BIOS is a real mode program, setting and leaving the processor in this state. Most of us are quite familiar with this mode of operation. Most memory managers, Expanded Memory Services (EMS) in particular, switch into protected mode and page or copy a block of extended memory into the 1 MB range for application access. Remember High Memory is relocated on most motherboards in hardware, not software, recovering the address range overlapped by interface card start-up ROMs in the address range of 640K - 1000K. Real mode does not allow the processor to do its' task table magic, thus the application must do any tasking, if any. Real vanilla DOS.
UNReal mode, is very much like Real mode, with one exception - memory availability. To get into UNReal mode the application, or O.S., switches to protected mode, sets all the memory limit registers to their maximum, which should be the physical memory size, and then re-enters Real mode. This leaves the application or O.S. with full directly addressable access to all memory in the system, no more 1 MB limit, if the BIOS does not get in the way. This is pretty much how processors like Motorola's offering operate, all of memory available, or as much as allocated, a linear or virtual space directly addressable, without the protected mode switching troubles for start-up.
Protected mode, is the '386 32 bit mode of Windows, which did start with the iAPX286, and continues today in all Microsoft offerings. The application or process is loaded into an allocated memory segment(s) and run. The descriptor tables, explained in the following section, used by the processor and loaded by the O.S. control the access, task switching, memory usage and exception handling for each task, process or application. O.S. service requests branch to the appropriate service code while invoking a task switch. This could of course be a single application utilizing the entire machine with no operating system. Ninety percent of the multi-tasking process is performed by the processor with no O.S. intervention.
Virtual mode, V86 or VME is a fall back extension to protected mode. If you are running Windows NT and open a DOS box session, that session or task is running in an emulated lower 1 MB address space. The DOS shell that comes up is only a partial DOS, with access rights and restrictions to most I/O and devices having been lifted. Stable DOS applications work fine, even accessing networks, all the protected mode service code is still running, and task switching continues in the standard protected mode manner. The normal DOS function requests are redirected to protected mode code.
Other types, are what the rest of the world does. It is interesting that even the 6809 operated in the linear address fashion. An early version of OS-9 ran on this processor and provided multi-tasking. Intel seems to have gotten stuck on the 8080 address method, it's still with us. Motorola, like others, provides nice processors with linear addressing, which provides a task with an offset base address, and perform multi-tasking just fine. An assigned address range is still assigned, even when in a linear space.
Multi-tasking, Really
This is a fun area, given so many different ways it can be done. Initially we must address things from an Operating System perspective, then from that of an application. Without going into jargon, there is so much of it, lets list the various common low level tasking methods. Specifically the point control is passed (remember we are dealing with Intel processors only at this point in the discussion).
It is well know that table driven systems perform at the highest levels. The least number of times data is handled the faster things run, and less total code is required. That's right, you got it, we are right back to square one with a record processing environment. It should be no surprise therefor that the Intel processors use a table driven system to maintain task switching and memory management functions, other processors have similar schemes.
The functional areas covered by each hardware and software overlap, the intersection set in set theory, which is the common inter-operable area between the two. The Core or Kernel software sets up the task, privilege, interrupt, exception and memory usage tables used by running, or to be run, applications and processes and then turns actual tasking over to the processor which uses those tables in a state-machine style of operation. So the Core or Kernel software deals with memory allocation, task load-start-stop-flush and exceptions. Driver, service and process code run like application code but with higher privilege and access level.
I will not go into great depth here as all this information is conveyed in the Intel reference material and various books on the subject.
Intel designed in a four level hierarchical protection system, privilege levels 0 to 3, zero being the highest or most privileged level. The processor farther provides control as to which level of privilege can perform hardware I/O instructions. Diagram follows.
There are several Descriptor Tables defined each with its' own location register. These are the Global Descriptor Table (GDT), Local Descriptor Table (LDT) and the Interrupt Descriptor Table (IDT). These tables and the Task State Segment (TSS) are the core of the hardware portion of the tasker. The descriptor table size can change based on the number of task descriptors contained there in. These decriptors contain the segment base address and length assigned, flags as to task gate switching and activity semaphores, privilege level, I/O permission bit maps and the content of the registers if the task is inactive. A table driven system, privilege based, orchestrated by hardware, administered by the Operating System Kernel. Diagram follows.
The CPU also handles a memory page table scheme and an address facilitator cache called the Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) which holds the 32 most used memory segment and offset in the processor to improve task switching times. Also, there are memory access privilege flags held in each tasks Descriptor record. The normal methods of using a segment register and an offset in a second register, with all the common addressing modes, still works normally. The CPU actually is translating segment + offset addresses into linear addresses for physical memory access. In protected mode you can not use the Segment Register increment trick to move through a buffer in chunks, this will cause an address exception, you must use the Offset Register and mess with the Segment Registers as little as possible. Diagram follows.
So this is where the Operating System Kernel comes in, the only software on the system that executes in ring '0', the highest privilege level. The number of times per period that any particular task is executed is the reason for a kernel. The simplest way to execute a task more times is to place it in the task table more times, preferably interleaved. In all truth loading an application, setting memory up for it and locating it in the task table are mundane executions for the Kernel not any more difficult than scanning a directory tree.
The CPU performs a task switch based on any of the following instructions or occurrences: CALL, JMP, RET, IRET, INT, a trap, fault, abort or external interrupt condition.
The application enters pause condition.
During application calls to a library or routine outside its' memory partition or privilege.
During or after any hardware or software interrupt occurrence.
Expiration of any task time slice clock.
Operating System forced.
There are several instructions, not found in many vended assemblers, that facilitate access of the Descriptor Segment content and CPU control, some are LGDT, LDS, LIDT, LLDT, LMSW, LTR, SGDT, SIDT, SLDT, SMSW, STR, WBINVD, and ARPL.
It really is interesting how we have come to accept the strange operation of software and hardware as either a user or developer. Different applications switching modes or screen display formats, and we don't really notice or care - given the transition time is short.
The Intrinsics of an Operating System
The intrinsics are basically the services that are provided, the actual interface options to the hardware, the basic machine presented to the applications programmer. All this comes together more or less as the personality of an operating system, the way it feels, the freedoms or constraints enforced, its' ability to help one complete work, the actual interface presented to the user. All in all more than look and feel, even the exact same models of automobile feel different in some incommunicable way.
Most of us have written assembly language, dumped programs in hex, been through the guts of both CP/M and MS-DOS, even Windows, and spent untellable hours in front of debugger and blue ice boxes. This stuff is pretty generic as far as code goes, 32 bit is the only really different aspect, though not even that anymore.
I remember the first Forth system I had, still have. It was MVP Forth, which Glenn Hayden had come to my house and personally installed. I remember he had to make three trips, the first to get things started, the second to accommodate the 128 KB provided for CP/M-3.0, and the last to allow access to my 10 MB hard disk. It booted on a floppy and used sector based blocks. He did this all for the very low price of $39.00, the price of the package I purchased. This is a text book example of personal integrity. My gratitude and respect to you Doctor Hayden, although, I may not thank you for this strange path you long ago dumped me upon. How many sleepless, restless and heart felt frustration wrought nights have I spent tinkering, creating, implementing, dreaming, planning, seeing the clarity of concept, at 3am finding myself yelling at an empty room, having visions with no words for expression, image of concept others never seem to see, artistic expression.
The Punch Card way - Eighty columns, key it wrong and start over, many boxes full, read 'em in, compile, test run, print them out, scratch head, punch changes, collate, repeat.
The Teletype way - Supervisory Process Operator (SPO) Log running on, page after page, read, enter direction commands, transmit, more SPO output, repeat.
The CP/M way - Because UNIX serial terminals were widely available, had standard control codes, and did not use a very fast interface they became the choice. TeleVideo, Adds, Beehive, etc. The 8080, and shortly the Z80, microprocessors operating at 4MHz could easily handle 9.6 and 19.2 Kbps data rates with hardware or x-on/x-off handshake. The screen scrolled off the top, like DOS still does, like a teletype SPO log. Soon programs started to use direct cursor addressing and so the birth of formatted screens with line character panels. Some terminals had multiple screen buffers and display screens could be preloaded and switched to in a refresh clock time. Worst case the screen could be rewritten or drawn in about one second. Later CP/M versions had a scroll-back feature so one could look at commands or listed items that had scrolled off the top already. Some terminals had graphics capabilities and thus the foundations of Windows.
What you didn't need you didn't load; so why does MS-DOS keep all the utilities loaded? With an Operating System that normally fit in 2 KB of memory it is easy to see how simplicity works, and there were just as many I/O ports and storage devices then as now.
The MS-DOS way - On the PC platform, larger programs but not really any different than CP/M in fit, function and form. The display speed improved as it was parallel and operated at peripheral buss speeds. Some of the functions of the serial terminals got lost in translation and all the display functions take main processor time, a trade off for interface speed.
The Concurrent DOS way - This was a nice mix of CP/M and MS-DOS commands with the ability to have multiple sessions display on one screen or on several serial terminals. I used CDOS on a single display system and ran background sessions that could be hotkeyed to the foreground, or tiled. I could compile, copy to diskette, print and edit all at the same time on a 4.77 Mhz machine with no problem whatever. In the last version Windows could also be run, excellent memory and processor time management, a smooth fast environment. Too bad about DRI.
The Windows way - You know this one. The screen is laced with a background, then the application panels are laid on top. Panel, icon, .gif or .bmp .. there is really no difference, the screen is the main panel and everything is laid on top. Some items invoke action, icons for example, some are interfaces to running processes or applications. Enough.
The OS-9 way - I can't say much here. My short exposure was on a GIMIX system that had multiple terminals, it acted and felt very much like a terminal serving UNIX box, just different commands. All the programming languages were re-entrant resulting in very good memory utilization.
The UNIX way - In operator, or super user, mode this is a cross between DOS and a mainframe, a single scrolling screen, task lists with the ability to control, mainframe mode. Direct execution of an application places it in the foreground and the operator interacts with only it, DOS mode. X-Windows was the big leap, being able to interact with panels representing multiple running applications or processes. Windows is as Windows does, panels. Users can still be connect by terminal via serial or LAN and run in terminal or X-Windows modes, display device capability dependent. The command set is still script or batch oriented when in command mode, it still rubs me wrong, so much ability traded for cripticism.
The Plan-9 way - Very X-Windows like environment but with the underpinnings of a true multiple processor or distributed processor environment. All things are broken down into client or server parts and flung about. I question this approach with today's cheap and very fast processors, it seems this approach would have been better suited in the age of slow processors, oh well a day late and a dollar short. I can see this approach working in very heavy processing environments that are doing heavy calculations and graphics displays while looking up data, and the technique is part of how OS/Forth works on a single CPU, but LAN limitations could quickly show up. Functionally impressive but expensive.
The MCP way - A teletype on a screen with the ability to scroll back as far as you like between log roll-outs. Commands are directed at the MCP or jobs in the mix. A rich command set, about 400, makes for excellent control, but this is a batch machine with no direct interaction between the keyboard and applications. Terminals that are connected to the system interact with an application, in semi batch mode one block transmission at a time, typically CANDE, the terminal services application.
The OS/Forth way - I should comment ... but instead I suggest you keep this thought and read on. All is revealed a page or two from here following.
Programming Languages
Unlike other languages Forth takes time to learn, really learn. If you are proficient in one of the common languages, you can become good with another in two, three months on the outside. But, Forth takes a year, truly, to grasp the real nuances, the true capabilities available, the freedom. Forth - highly data-typed, yet unstructured, with complete freedom of syntactical expression, uses unhindered data passing and access models, is truly extensible, and is result oriented. It must be stated, however, that a Forth program becomes, in a unique way, very structured from the perspective of the data being dealt with as once the data handling interactions are described they must be closely followed.
It takes time to unlearn the ways of wagon pulling and invent the rocketship. If going back to the common languages, where one writes for a complier, you constantly search for and invent Forth like things to end or reduce the constraints ever present. The mind is the forge that melds concept, machine, data, form and process into a salient solution through the use of Forth as hammer and anvil. Adding words to the compiler itself is true extensibility - not the act of calling function or code libraries.
If examining all the programming manuals, references and book offerings it becomes very clear that all programming languages, completely independent of the physical processor type, refer to creating code for a specific operating system. Even books on specific subjects, such as EGA and VGA programming, constantly refer to the operating system interface to perform functions or gain access. Does this not then point out all that is really ever done is creation of code that runs under the operating system? Which really means that all applications really only are extensions to the operating system. It is commonly referenced that the application runs on top of the operating system, but in actuality it runs under the operating system. The concept is simple - if a program runs on top of the operating system then it is superior and does not need the operating system. This is to say, as example, the operating system runs on top of or around a device driver, an application also runs inside or under an operating system, merely doing something different than a device driver. Most embedded applications have built in device drivers and do not need an operating system, just operating system like extensions, a reversal and the reason most programmers never fathom embedded concepts.
Look at all the programming languages that you know, except assembly flavors, and then tell me the percentage of function extensions available that do not deal with the operating system. Following I use the DOS version 5.5 of TurboPascal, not including the overlay, graphic or object functions, as an example for clarity.
O.S. Impervious (48 ea.) -- abs addr arctan chr concat copy cos cseg dec delete dseg exp fillchar frac hi inc insert int length ln lo mark move new odd ofs ord pi pos pred ptr random randomize round seg sin sizeof sptr sqr sqrt sseg str succ swap swapvectors trunc upcase val
O.S. Interacting (101 ea.) -- append assign assigncrt blockread blockwrite chdir close clreol clrscr delay delline diskfree disksize dispose dosexitcode dosversion envcount envstr eof eoln erase exec exit fexpand filepos filesize findfirst findnext flush freemem fsearch fsplit getcbreak getdate getdir getenv getfattr getftime getintvec getmem gettime getverify gotoxy halt highvideo insline intr ioresult keep keypressed lowvideo maxavail memavail mkdir msdos normvideo nosound packtime paramcount paramstr read readkey readln release rename reset rewrite rmdir runerror seek seekeof seekeoln setcbreak setdate setfattr setftime setintvec settextbuf settime setverify sound textbackground textcolor textmode truncate unpacktime wherex wherey window write writeln
What About JAVA
Lets discuss some about Java, and other languages as well, comparison is needed. Because of the subject matter at hand this was not included in the 'Programming Languages' section.
So I ask and answer "what is Java"!? A new version of 'C' that compiles to a non-processor specific output and has standardized service library interface. Java can not be executed as Forth is, but almost, only after target compilation, but that's true about any language code fragment. The term 'Java Script' continues to pop up in all forms of communications, and I find humor there in, as any computer veteran will tell you: a script runs like a batch file, it is source text that is interpreted and executed. Java is not a script language, it is a diminished pseudo code or p-code, having been compiled, to be interpreted by a host application. Funny, to think Forth can be processor targeted, p-coded, scripted, interpreted, linked and even assembled, or all of these, based on the requirements of the application. P-code compiler output can be arranged such for efficient interpretation, but we are back to the question 'are we writing code for the compiler and libraries or for the user, application and data!?'
Another of Forth's strengths in this situation is the ability to create and test code interactively, then save same in a compiled format for later use, graphically speaking - not unlike a graphical button face in .GIF format.
The beauty of OS/Forth is that you can embed any language or instruction constructs in the display pages and have them still work fine. To that, you can have application code written in any language, with a services interface library. To make it all work only requires the correct execution module be loaded or available. Forth just happens to be best for such display formatting as the code layout is almost completely linear, there is very little execution overhead, whether interpreted, compiled, indexed or address threaded - all of which means more time being devoted to actual application generation and execution, not compiler pleasing. Languages such as Java, and any 'C' flavor, Pascal or even Basic, if interpreted, could never execute as fast because of their structure, all of these languages were designed to be compiled. That code oriented structure is the impediment, while Forth is data oriented and processing flows around the data stream.
I would rather see Open Firmware executed than Java based on its' linear design, not that it is of Forth heritage. It can be read on any platform, it is p-code like, can be reverse compiled, is compact and executes quickly ... well it's Forth, right? This all points out that we need to restructure existing languages, or create new ones, that are more linear in design. Forth is not the only answer, just a good one, but one size does not fit all. so .. Java ain't it.
Consider the current situation with browsers, they fetch and read a file, display the information according to the embedded tags, place non-scaling graphic images as designated, interpret any code fragments or macros, wait for the user. That really is all that they are doing isn't it? The most difficult of this whole business is the browser must change the HTML display information given, and place it in, the display constraints of the host operating system. The reason we think of a browser as an application, not unlike a wordprocessor or database program. You do see the problem here: we continue to interpret the display source format data for the operating system instead of integrating it into the operating system, or actually, the operating system into it. I have always considered that the data was more important than the operating system, that vantage seems to have changed along the way for others, thus Windows. HTML works, maybe not as well as wanted, but it does work. In future version releases more and more functionality will creep in until there is no difference between any display source format.
Forth broke away, well Chuck did, from the norm of the computer world with its' record oriented punch card traditions. The beauty of structure is how each of us creates it, not what we are forced into.
So go ahead - Java, 'C', Algol, Pascal, Basic, Cobol, Fortran, Assemble, Lisp, Snowball, SmallTalk and Prolog your heart out - OS/Forth can accommodate them all, with faster execution than any other operating system, in less space.
Other Devices
Now here is an interesting area for appliance and equipment makers alike. Why can't I send HTML directly to a printer not unlike postscript is currently. Soon HTML will provide drawing commands, perhaps like Turtle graphics or defined possibilities, at that point postscript will be redundant. I think it bad design when I must convert a graphical image to text for the printer to deal with it, something HTML negates, send the image and anchor, screen or page - no different.
Everything was based on the NEC SpinWriter or Diablo 630 for a very long time, then Epson, followed by the first HP Laser printers, now all kinds. Each printer type has its' own graphics capabilities or emulates the HP series. The same goes for plotters, HP or Gerber, another I can't remember right now. This nigh on two decades, it's time for something new, more robust, oriented around the user and data.
One graphical format which is visual either displayed or printed and that everyone knows and understands.
The OS/Forth Concept
The OS/Forth concept is based upon, or a summary of, many of the concepts presented in the preceding sections all rolled together. That is kind of a broad statement I know, but lets see.
Understand first that OS/Forth is not a self-booting stand alone Forth implementation - it is so much more.
so why this
The entire thrust of the concept for this new operating system is to factor the problem at hand as far as possible, provide that position to the application programmer, and reduce total size of all code running while gaining speed. In the purest sense we are treating each aspect of the operating system and all applications and utilities as separate vocabularies. If the operating system can open, close, read, write, buffer, sort or index a file why should such code be in my program? Why should my program need to update the screen coordinates in the program control file when the operating system can, and should, as it has the information first and interfaces to the storage system, my program really does not care the position of the displayed panel. So we are back to the basis of Forth - don't duplicate code over and over, leverage what you have already created, refine and factor. In this method we immediately realize that a performance improvement or gain in one part of the system transfers to everything, and the reverse.
In the OS/Forth environment all processes that are not an integral part of the Kernel are tasks, which says that all code runs under the Kernel. All non-kernel code is a process, service, driver or application and all are both clients and servers depending on the moment of execution.
startup
Control files for each task designate the location of files, first screen format or file to display, location and type of the application code, normal memory requirements, last displayed panel position and its' details, general settings and other miscellany. Similar in operation to an .INI or registry file. The operating system deals with this, not the program. The control information is a record in memory and read or written by the Operating System, so let it deal with the updates, less code in my application. This provides the situation of stopping an application at a task switch opportunity and rolling it out to disk intact, able to be brought back up later, great for transfer to another system or processor, fault tolerance or memory cleanup.
screen
I like screens, lost of them, often several when doing systems and network administration work. There are many utilities that need to be run and monitored and one screen does not accomplish that. Do you open only one book at a time to one page, close it and open to the next page, or switch books in the same way while doing research - I think not. I can often cover a whole table with open textuals and scads of notepads with points or references jotted down. One screen only does not allow me to properly move through the data stream I use. Minimized or half visual panels are the same as closed books. I should be able to fill the buss with display cards. I do not operate in a completely serial fashion and need a system with more accommodation than current ones.
I must mention HTML I guess. Most applications today were designed with screen painters that generate display files, so is there any real difference deciding that HTML is a good all around non-proprietary format to use? Hitting version 3.x level in the HTML standards in such a short amount of time shows that as need arises the display capability will improve. An Operating System that does not need a browser is the natural next evolutionary step. But, remember, a firm such as Netscape could be the writers of the HTML service module, or of new and improved versions of it, and find a solid place in the industry. A small change in scope or direction but a large potential and growing market for them to service. Oh, Yeah, I want an advertisement blocking extension, like, real quick.
panels
The two aspect states a panel should exhibit are Scaling and Fixed with a Local, Remote or Shared Presence. To begin a reasonable description I must point out something I may be taking for granted - all panels are in graphics mode all the time, this based on the fact that current video controllers convert text to graphics for display anyway. So we may as well be in the same mode from jump. So to simplify this, all:
Display screens are in graphics mode
Panels can be dragged between screens
Panels must be anchored on a single screen, no visual overlap (for now)
Panels can be a desktop, like current backgrounds, and have icons hung on them
Items hung on a panel move with it
Panels are controlled by the display services and not the program
The concept of icons on panels is very powerful. If you have a panel up, perhaps in what seems text mode, and there is a help button in the upper left corner, the button as an icon can launch an unrelated or disassociated help application, spawn an associated help application or be part of the application and flag an input event. The Help function itself is part of the Operating System, looks like any HTML you design, and is extensible by you.
Aspect is a special feature that continues to be overlooked, but, no more. I can change the size of a graphical image but not a screen panel, I don't like that. We were given scalable fonts but were denied scalable panels. If a panels' aspect is in Scale mode then it and content should scale up or down from thumbnail to full screen. If a panels' aspect is in Fixed mode then the content remains the same scale, with scroll-bars when shrunk smaller than the display content, which means it looks like panels we see today on other operating systems. Both modes are needed.
Presence is a new way of stating something forgotten. What is meant by Presence here is the panel display source. Does the panels' attached application reside on the local machine, on another and you are remote viewing or one that is shared between machines. Imagine PC Anywhere that only affects a single panel on the screen, or a group screen interaction not unlike IRC but with full text and graphics, perhaps a process that is being viewed by multiple people, a panel that is being updated by multiple processes on different machines. The powerful concept of state of Presence.
With Presence I can provide support to a person in word-processing application by seeing exactly what that person sees, and able to interact directly. I can run a backup process on a remote machine and not bother the user, able to monitor the process, interacting with it. Multiple people can collaborate on creation of the same document. And so on ....
storage
Sectors and tracks are items that should be ignored. An SCSI hard disk is a good example of how storage should work, access is according to block address or number. You can treat the content of the disk device almost like blocks of memory, a base block address plus an offset.
Remember sector skewing on early diskette drives? A practice required because of slow interface electronics, and not practiced anymore. The application never saw the fact that the sectors were arranged so that it took three disk rotations to read a track, the sector stream looked continual, the facts being hidden by the disk BIOS and a skew table.
It must be remembered that the disk directory presented us is a formatted entry point representation of what is stored and has nothing to do with the actual physical location of any data. So as long as your data is presented to you when you want it, in the format you desire, do you really care on which disk drive it resides? Perhaps we should think a little differently about how storage is referenced.
On large equipment the storage sub-system is called an array, you do not really care which spindle or spindles the file is residing on, it's all one large area. Gone are the days of drive letters to accommodate multiple 10 or 20 megabyte drives. Let us stride forward on this also.
network
As you are experienced with currently. I will state that I think the Novell method of addressing is much better than the others being employed. It was derived from TCP/IP and does similar address and routing functions. But, imagine 12 hex digits of LAN address and 12 more hex digits for station address, that's FFFFFFFFFFFF possible LANs and FFFFFFFFFFFF possible nodes, hard to run out of addresses.
services
Some of the types of services that will be needed are listed.
Kernel (tasker and memory manager) HTML interpreters Forth interpreter Application loader Storage manager Storage device drivers Storage functions Floppy driver Display manager Display functions Keyboard manager Pointing device manager LAN manager LAN drivers Comms manager Comms drivers
development
Imagine F-PC, Borland 'C' or Pascal, Pygmy, E-Forth or even assembler. All with interface and storage request interface changes will work fine. Any language that has an Operating System interface library for its' standard functions will work. The development environment would need the most work as it is normally very heavily interface oriented. Compiler output needs only the services interface library.
library dichotomy
Consider a factored environment where the application held no extra code. The concept here is that once efficient code is created there is no benefit to multiple instances of that code running when not in use. That's not clear. I ask now, and discussed prior, why should my application need a record index mechanism when one can be provided by the Operating System, it has to do all the interfacing, buffering, reads and writes, so why not? This is factoring. Why do I need to qualify keystrokes when the Operating System can do it for me and only pass me data I have declared to have value? Why can't a communications program just open and read or write the Comms ports like a file? All these things point to the why of the split in philosophy of design. If I need to write a Comms driver to take advantage of specific communications gear, like a new style modem, then I need to write a process acting in server mode, not complicate my application. This allows me to change the driver dozens of times and never touch the application code. The real thing in client/server technology, every aspect of the Operating System OS/Forth steps up to this concept and philosophy.
thread model
Which kind do you like? You can do them all. Pick.
extensions
Shall we create one? How about a file copy program.
Copy - Now think Forth, context and vocabularies. With the HTML editor we paint the HTML Page for the display panel, help information and an icon, then save them. We create our code fragment, as a Forth source text file, to run interpretively, we may test it interactively. We create the program Control File pointing to the HTML Page file, icon, source code fragment and its' execution type, help file, memory constraints, permissions and services needed. We register the control file with the Operating System. Upon icon invocation the Kernel opens the control file, loads the named HTML Page, loads the named code fragment with specified constraints, displays the HTML panel and then turns over control to the program, or interpreter in this case. The program requests input through Display services, displays directory information through Display services as provided by Disk services, accepts selection through Display services, invokes Disk services to complete the copy task, shows status and prompts for additional interact through Display services, exits which invokes a panel close as part of Kernel clean-up. The Kernel clears the active panel(s), frees memory, then updates the programs control file before closing it. The help function was designated as system default so the default Help Icon was displayed. If Help had been invoked then the Help services would have displayed the designated Help file through Display services in a separate panel. A program of this type would only be about fifteen lines long, less than 1 KB, since the Disk and Display services are doing 95% of the work. I only need to define a small TIB to work in and do not need to declare disk buffer space, or build a table and sort word for the directory information, or design display routines to place it on the screen, all that is already done for me in the Services, by much more efficient code. Besides, every time I make a service request then a task switch occurs, taking advantage of it, I let the requested service do things in a more efficient manner.
This code fragment as a utility could be added to a utility code vocabulary and stay resident in memory, being available for other applications to invoke, and sharing common HTML interface layout with other vocabulary words. So now applications can add File Copy to their file access interface with minimal or no additional code, explicitly called or an icon on the application button bar. A simple extension, or stand alone utility, either/or. Multiple control files can be designed for the same code fragment to suit different needs with no source changes.
OS/Forth Features
Here are some suggested highlights:
Displayed Operator Interface
All HTML driven, even when appearing like DOS
DOS style console screen panels
Icons can be tagged to any panel
Any panel can be full graphics or character, or both
Panels can be tiled, stacked, minimized, hidden or full size single
Icon based active panel icon button task switch bar
Every application and associated panel(s) can have individual or different icons
Full color with scaled fonts
Sub panels or frames, all forms of menus and button bars
Reduced HTML for character only mode
All manner of HTML supported formatting as frames, tables, lines, wallpaper, etc.
Multiple concurrent video cards and display formats
Separate screens and panels or a virtual large screen
Drag-n-Drop across displays
Real time loadable/unloadable drivers
Storage System Format
CP/M or UNIX style non FAT directory
Block mode - no sectors or tracks
Inverse tree sub-directories
Long file names with extensions
Textual file descriptions for display during directory functions
Various accepted file flags such as read-only, system, hidden, etc.
Directory entries display in color code format as to type
Volume names not drive letters
Storage Devices / Sub-systems
Real time loadable/unloadable drivers
Mount/unmount capable
Interactive setup and control of all devices
All interface types
All formats
All device types
Single or multiple drives, single use or arrayed
Input / Output Devices
Real time loadable/unloadable drivers
Any that can be plugged into standard interface ports
Any buss pluggable device
It's Forth, so, anything
Application Models
Forth whether native or interpreted, threaded or not, tokenized or not, etc.
Any language of Intel native code form when compiled with OS/Forth libraries
'C', Pascal or Assembler when compiled with OS/Forth libraries
Application Internal Interface
Interrupts and calls
Stack and register parameter passing
Data pointer passing to buffers, control records or table entries
System, application and private vocabularies
Core file inter-process communications
Device Drivers
For all popular and available devices
Real time loadable/unloadable
Table driven
Monitorable and displayable
Multiple per device
Open firmware compliant
Printer Drivers
Fostering of HTML driven printers
Postscript
Smart I/O
Embedded controller support
Real time loadable/unloadable drivers
Active monitor and control
Open firmware compliant
Software Included
Forth interpreter and compiler
Interactive help system
Tele-comm/net utility
System activity, operation and exception logger
Device driver monitor
All manner of disk and subsystem utilities
Editor - of basic function
What we have here is the best of all worlds. The chart below shows where different feature came from in concept more than actuality.
Forth Need I actually say..... HTML execution See previous on Forth Embedded controllers Burroughs DLPs Textual display All consoles that emulated 80 column punch cards Graphical display Xerox Star and DOS graphics programs Multiple display We all wanted multiple displays per PC, EGA spec. Inverted tree directory UNIX Long file names UNIX Real time device drivers Netware 3.x and up Display concept Multiple page serial terminals and need Block storage BusLogic SCSI controller programming interface
A Mention of PC99
If you go to the web site of either Microsoft or Intel you will find in the developers section a .PDF document, locked to all editing functions, that details the design of the next versions of desktop PCs' to be offered to the public in the 1999 time frame. I guess the reason for the PC99 nomenclature. The information shows how PCs are to be built so they will work correctly with Microsoft's operating system offerings, or you are non-compatible. This means that Microsoft is even now dictating the direction that hardware is going to take, becoming more integrated with their operating system, and locking us into their products. The document states that the new specification does not address the likes of file and network servers - bunk, most servers are desktop systems with more expensive parts inside. So where are we, just corralled, feet lashed together, butt branded or in the feed lot looking at a butchers truck? I really hate this sneaky shit. We're not that dumb.
I see a life of misery when the largest manufacturer of operating systems is dictating the design of future hardware offerings. I think we can do something about this. And so comes OS/Forth, the Cowboy of the Operating System world.
The Payoff
The thing of most note here is - our effort is not controlled by the perversionarys of the stock market or financial communities.
I feel it a shame that so many CEOs and Chair of firms today allow those that are interested in only short term financial gain to manipulate their perspective of reality. What stocks do means nothing when solid sales are present in a growing market and the firm can respond with appropriate output and support. Laying off personnel just to make the quarterly earnings look better based on sales to expense ratios, or other tripe, is ludicrous. If you layoff personnel and the buildings burn down what do you have - ashes, but, if the personnel are there, they lend their shoulder and build it back up, better than before, as they are the only true asset. Listen to and rely on them.
And too this, the following -
As an interesting story goes ... back about ten years or so, a little Silicon Valley founding firm called Varian Associates, started in a garage by the Varian brothers in the '30s, had a C.E.O. named Norm Parker. I admire this man to this day. During his leadership Varian offered up to 15% per year increase to employees that performed at the 'Excellence' level, there were always intern jobs for college students every summer in all company areas, there were no layoffs, the stocks paid every year, the company was adding new divisions. He followed a simple rule - if the division was not profitable, contract out their abilities to other firms, even if only at cost. People stay employed, the stocks pay, and the firm and its product base grow. Ten years ago there were people having forty year anniversaries with the firm. Then there was an executive coup de grace by some juniors, the head being the current or perhaps just past chair, Tom Sege. On his way out this honorable man, Mr. Parker, gave an across the board raise of 4% to all non executive employees, saying "This is the last thing I can do for you." In less than a year Sege and his henchmen were bragging about the purchase of another firm while closing down divisions and laying off people - oh, but the stocks went up. This is the executive trend and sin of today.
Being whom we are, creations can be made and presented, all the while we can not be manipulated by the financial market. That, in business terms, is real power. Based on the fact that the OS/Forth architecture is open, firms that play in the stock or financial markets can leverage products off it, fitting well within the vision, and not corrupt their standing. Everyone makes out without destruction or corruption of the vision. The best possible place to be for a new Operating System, all the possibilities and none of the limits, an international contender.
As a statement of direction FIG will need to create a foundation to own and receive the proceeds from the sale of this product. I would expect this foundation to distribute the dividends to the participants and deal with the manufacturing issues as contracts and rights. Proceeds are for grants, scholarships and research ventures. Proper representation and visibility in the industry costs. The Foundation would and will enter into and administer contracts with manufacturers for use of and distribution rights to the Operating System.
The numbers look like this: In the typical manufacturer/distributor world, given an MSRP of say $69.95, expecting a cost of medium and documentation to be under ten dollars per, the price to the distributor would be $34.97 which leaves ~ $24.97 for FIG and the development participants.
Some numbers:
MSRP 69.95 Cost of production 10.00 Vendor discount of 50% 34.97 Residual per 24.97 FIG portion of 25% 6.24 Participant portion of 75% 18.73
Conservative 1,000,000 sales
24,970,000.00 FIG portion of 25% 6,240,000.00 Participant portion of 75% 18,730,000.00 50 participants > each 374,000.00
Wild 100,000,000 sales
2,497,000,000.00 FIG portion of 25% 624,000,000.00 Participant portion of 75% 1,873,000,000.00 50 participants > each 37,400,000.00
I see the distribution of funds as 25% for FIG and 75% to be split among the participants. I estimated fifty participants, there could be many more, or less, and the numbers slide accordingly. Don't be scared of the extra zeros on the right, they are just zeros after all. If a strategic alliance situation comes into existence than these numbers must change based on the sharing of proceeds with the alliance partner doing the production or supplying the technology.
This effort will quickly gain wide visibility with consulting and development opportunities opening up for the Forth literate. All the vendors wanting drivers for hardware, new application development or software conversions will need plenty of warm bodies babbling Forth etiquette intermixed with statements of Stack-Power and mumblings of thread models. As acceptance occurs books will need written, applications imagined and instructors incited to orate. All residual opportunity.
Ownership
It is intended that the rights to this effort be held by FIG unless co-ownership is created with a firm(s) providing proprietary information for the effort.
I had started the contact process with Caldera (a Canopy Group venture) to try to secure the multi-tasker and memory manager written for Multi-User DOS, the last protected mode version of MP/M. After hearing what was intended they were very interested .. then complete silence. The code could have chopped six months off the effort with Caldera owning part of it all. So I wonder what nerve got banged when knowledge of this effort reached the executive level.
All participants will necessarily have to sign non-disclosure to protect the Kernel, the only part of OS/Forth will not be open or available in source. All else will be open. This is the only way to keep from being devalued by a slew of low or no cost me-too products.
Conclusion
We stand at a very special place in time and space, we have one of those rare opportunities to actually change the direction of computational equipment. Forth being a tool, and we the craftsmen, let us create the future.
Please - hear my orison; Do not think this project Horror, having come full circle and reached its' limits, to finally disappear up its' own sphincter.
Consider - the computer outside the context of our society has no value, is nothing.
With several million PCs in the world and thousands being sold daily one can see a potential market, a persistent one. Little mention has been made here about other platforms, present and quite capable and very much in need. Systems such as Sun, Apple, MIPS, Silicon Graphics and others, all the various mini-computers and main-frames, such a vast territory of potential computing landscape, one OS/Forth can address.
If we had all really pulled together with Tom Zimmer and F-PC imagine where it would be today, we could have competed with 'C'. I offer an apology from all of us to you Tom. You have spent much life and frustration in your effort. You took the original concept of a professional Forth development system and made it happen, gained select contributions from others such as Bob Smith, and did yourself one better with TCOM. My admiration Sir. I did not cover F-PC or other flavors of Forth because the issues are not the current implementations but the one to come. I sense that the experts in each area will feel the need to dabble, and I await your input.
Come Forth, let us break code together, cross compile falsehoods, dump all hex, trace hidden meanings, translate other tongues, decompile ancient words, and find enlightenment.
In conclusion, let me say, that Forth could soon, in essence, gasp its' last breath if a new and radical way of thinking about its' application is not accepted and applied.
Credits and Trademarks
If you see a graphic, word, phrase or product name that belongs to someone - well it's theirs.
This is group internal document and as such claims immunity from various small and/or circled letters.
I offer thanks and gratitude to you that were/are (un)knowing and/or (un)willing participants and/or supporters in this effort loosely referred to as a document.
References
Based on the fact the 'Concept of an Operating System' is quite large I have purposely not made specific references to or quotes from the data sources used. To understand everything one must be slightly more immersed in the data and associated information for the hardware specific environment. Remember this is a presentation to become a technical document, and so, please wade in.
--- HTML
Robert Mudry, Serving the WEB (Coriolis Group)
Mark Pesce, VRML: Browsing and Building Cyberspace (New Riders)
Tom Savola, Using HTML (Que)
Dave Taylor, Creating Cool Web Pages with HTML (IDG Books)
--- Processor
Intel Secrets Monthly Edition http://www.x86.org
Chipsets: The Most Important Components in a Computer System by Billy Newsom Sizing Memory in Protected Mode by Robert Collins Protected Mode Vitual Interrupts on the Pentium and SL-Enhanced i486 Intel Processors by Maciej W. Rozycki Page Size Extensions on the Pentium Processor by Robert Collins Virtual Mode Extensions on the Pentium Processor by Robert Collins Paging Extensions for the Pentium Pro Processor by Robert Collins Pentium Model-Specific Registers and What They Reveal by Ralf Brown An Overview of Pentium Probe Mode by Robert Collins The Probe Mode Control Register by Robert Collins The LOADALL Instruction by Robert Collins Protected Mode Basics by Robert Collins
Intel Architecture Software Development Manual 1997
Volume 1 Basic Architecture Volume 2 Instruction Set Reference
Pentium Pro Family Developers Manual 1996
Volume 1 Specifications Volume 2 Programmers Reference Manual Volume 3 Operating System Writers Guide
Pentium Pro Processor BIOS Writers Guide Version 2.0 January, 1996
AMD BIOS Developers' Guide Revision C August, 1995
Elan SC300 Microcontroller Programmers Reference Manual (AMD) 1996
Elan SC300 Microcontroller Technical Reference Manual (AMD) 1997
Elan SC400 Microcontroller Programmers Reference Manual (AMD) 1997
Elan SC400 Microcontroller Technical Reference Manual (AMD) 1997
--- Processor (continued)
Microprocessors - Reference (Intel) 1990
Peripherals - Reference (Intel) 1990
--- Network
Dave Kosiur and Nancy Jones, MACWORLD: Networking Handbook (IDG Books Worldwide)
John Ruley, Networking Windows NT 3.51 (Wiley)
Karanjit Siyan, Netware: The Professional Reference (New Riders Publishing)
Hal Stern, Managing NFS and NIS (O'Reilly and Associates)
--- Operating System
Stephen Coffin, UNIX The Complete Reference (Osborne/McGraw-Hill)
Brent Heslop and David Angell, Master SunOS (Sybex)
Stephen Kochan and Patrick Wood, UNIX Shell Programming (Hayden Books)
Mark Sobell, A Practical Guide to the UNIX System (Benjamin/Cummings)
Rebbeca Thomas and Rik Farrow, UNIX Adminisrtation Guide for System V (Prentice Hall)
SCO UNIX System V - System Administrators Guide (P T R Prentice Hall)
NetWare Version 2.x Reference Set (Novell)
NetWare Version 3.x Reference Set (Novell)
NetWare Version 4.x Reference Set (Novell)
Plan-9 Bell Laboratories http://www.bell-labs.com/ Plan-9 Index Bell Laboratories ftp://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9/index.html Plan-9 from Bell Labs http://www.ecf.toronto.edu/plan9/ The Linux Documentation Project: Homepage http://sunsite.unc.edu/LDP/ MyOS.com - The Operating System Website http://www.MyOS.com/os.shtml
--- Software
Richard Ferraro, Programmer's Guide to the EGA and VGA Cards (Addison-Wesley)
Donald Gregory, The Extended Algol Primer for Burroughs A-Series (Greorgy Pub.) Vol.s 1-3
Douglas Hergert, Visual Basic Programming with Windows Applications (Bantam)
Leo Scanlon, Assembly Language Subroutines for MS-DOS Computers (Tab)
Robert Stevens, Object-Oriented Graphics Programming in C++ (AP Professional)
Tom Swan, Turbo Pascal for Windows Programming (Bantam)
Allen Wyatt, Using Assembly Language (Que)
NEWP - Programming Reference (Unisys) Mark 3.7
Turbo Assembler - Users Guide, (Borland) ver. 3.2
Turbo Assembler - Reference, (Borland) ver. 3.2
Turbo Pascal - Users Guide, (Borland) ver. 7.0
Turbo Pascal - Reference, (Borland) ver. 7.0
Macro Assembler - Programmers Guide (Microsoft) ver. 5.1
Turbo 'C' - Reference Guide (Borland) ver. 3.0
Turbo Pascal Runtime Library - Source Code (Borland)
Turbo C+ Runtime Library - Source Code (Borland)
Compiled CBasic Runtime Library - Source Code (Digital Research)
--- Software (continued)
TCOM - Source Code (Tom Zimmer)
F-PC - Source Code (Tom Zimmer)
Pygmy - Source Code (Frank Sergeant)
MVP Forth - Source Code (MV Press)
--- Thought Oriented
Leo Brodie, Thinking Forth (Prentice-Hall)
Steve Maguire, Debugging the Development Process (Microsoft Press)
--- Some Stops for the Making
Stanford's Hoover Institute http://www-hoover.stanford.edu Engineering oriented data and links The Engineers' Club http://engineers.com Protected mode programming Intel Secrets Monthly http://www.x86.org Intel processor information and manuals 80x86 Index http://www.sandpile.org Motherboards and chipset data Intel Chipsets http://www.motherboards.org
--- Misc.
---
Home Base http://www.forth.org Skip Carter FIG Chair [email protected] George Perry SVFIG Chair [email protected] Christopher Passauer The Bohemian Monk [email protected]
and so ... it begins |
Under Major, Blair and Brown, the UK Government has followed a deliberate policy of running down its internal IT expertise and relying on external providers – mostly big companies like Capita and EDS – to provide IT expertise, systems and services.
The result, many argue, has been expensive IT that’s been very successful in maximising the profits of the consultants but rather less good at meeting the needs of the public sector or, for that matter, the public. Project after project has run massively over budget and time, with the companies responsible often seeming to be rewarded for their shortcomings.
So what’s the new coalition government going to do about it?
Back in 2008/09, Dr Mark Thompson wrote a report for the Conservatives on just this issue (and, to be fair, it moved them well ahead of the Lib Dems on IT policy). Thompson’s report was pretty good, and recommended fewer big IT projects, breaking projects down into smaller modules where possible and more use of open standards and open source.
That work’s made it into the coalition agreement in the form of two paragraphs:
We will take steps to open up government procurement and reduce costs; and we will publish government ICT contracts online.
We will create a level playing field for open-source software and will enable large ICT projects to be split into smaller components
Which is all good, but the devil’s in the detail.
To give one example, Labour would claim that there’s already a level playing field for open source software – guidelines issued a few years ago made it clear that open source and proprietary should both be fairly considered. In reality, though, that’s not quite happened. The combination of a lack of in-house expertise, and open source being perceived as riskier by bureaucrats who quite reasonably don’t want to damage their careers by going out on a limb has held it back.
Further, the reliance on the model of the last twenty years of buying in IT solutions externally (as opposed to the more common method of developing them in-house prior to that) makes it difficult to get the full benefit from open source.
To really benefit from the development model, you want to be taking open source software, adding to it and then releasing it so as many parts of the public sector as possible can use it. You want a piece of software developed by the Treasury to be usable – with no licensing cost – by the NHS, the Department of Education and your local council, and for their developers to be able to modify it to meet their specific needs.
So the direction of travel under the coalition – thanks to the work the Conservatives have done – is much more promising than anything for the last twenty or thirty years; but it still needs to get there.
That’s where we come in. Tech-savvy Lib Dem members can play an important role in shaping how the Government actually delivers on these promises and good intentions, and in the process catch up on an area of policy where the party’s fallen behind.
The Act group Lib Dems for some decent IT policy, with over 120 members, has the chance to work with other groups and shape the way Government does IT. If we can get it right, we’ve got the opportunity to save billions of pounds and improve public sector IT into the bargain. |
Linebacker depth was already a problem for the Eagles before Thursday night’s game in Pittsburgh.
It’s even worse now.
Seventh-round rookie Joe Walker suffered a season-ending ACL tear during a kickoff against the Steelers (see story), which leaves the Eagles without their promising young backup MIKE linebacker.
“Yeah, I think we’re going to continue to look at that obviously,” head coach Doug Pederson said on Saturday morning, when asked about the team’s need to bring in a veteran linebacker. “That’s been a spot that we’ve looked at all offseason and also in training camp. I know Howie (Roseman) and his team are out there looking.
“With the loss now to Joe, obviously, something’s gonna have to be done.”
That something could end up being 31-year-old free agent Stephen Tulloch, who has been long-linked to the Eagles because of his past with defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz.
For now, though, the backup middle linebacker is Don Cherry, an undrafted kid from Villanova who wasn’t signed until July 23. That means, unless the Eagles go out and sign someone, the Eagles are one Jordan Hicks injury away from Cherry.
“Joe’s a good friend of mine,” Cherry said. “I obviously didn't want this to happen, but I have to step up now, whether it’s special teams or defense.”
Veteran Eagle Najee Goode has experience playing in the middle, but has been Mychal Kendricks’ backup at the WILL linebacker spot. Kendricks was expected to return to practice Saturday, but missed the first two preseason games. Nigel Bradham is the starter at SAM.
Cherry spent some of the spring with the Bears, but was cut in June. He was on the street for a month before the Eagles signed him and plugged him in as the third-team middle linebacker.
“There’s definitely some pressure that comes with playing the MIKE,” Cherry said. “You obviously have to get the call, you have to learn all the signals, you have to get everybody set up. You have to keep everybody calm, you have to echo any of the adjustments you’re getting in the headset, whether it’s in practice or it’s in the game.
"You know, it’s definitely been a bigger task, where as if I came in playing the SAM or WILL it might have been easier to just worry about my job. But as the MIKE, I have to worry about everybody on the field. It’s definitely been a bigger adjustment.”
As for Walker, the rookie out of Oregon said he isn’t exactly sure how he hurt his knee, but it happened without contact.
Wearing a cumbersome brace on his left leg Saturday, Walker said the surgery hasn’t yet been scheduled.
“It’s difficult coming out here and trying to compete and having something like this happen,” Walker said, “but just trying to take the positive and keep moving forward.”
The Eagles, without Walker, will need to do the same. |
The Great Leader and the Fighter Pilot: The True Story of the Tyrant Who Created North Korea and the Young Lieutenant Who Stole His Way to Freedom. By Blaine Harden. Viking; 290 pages; $27.95. Pan Macmillan; £16.99.
THE vain feats of Kim Il Sung, the Korean guerrilla leader who fought the Japanese occupiers from Manchuria, were irresistible to the destitute North Koreans who, by the 1940s, had suffered nearly four decades of brutal colonisation. They did not know the truth: that Kim lost his war, fled east and later slinked home in a Soviet uniform, kowtowing to Stalin until his death. Nor did they see that Kim’s monstrous regime, which would last another 41 years until he died in 1994, was built on fiction.
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In 1945 No Kum Sok was one of those who thought that young Kim, the Soviet poodle, was a sham. In the boy’s hometown, Russian soldiers ransacked and raped, and his family fell on hard times. Mr No longed to escape to America. Posing as a false communist, spying and snitching to prove his fervour, he became the youngest pilot in the North Korean air force. In 1950 the Soviet-backed North invaded the South, prompting a UN-backed American-led force to step in. The Chinese, in turn, supported the North. Just after the conflict ended, Mr No flew a Soviet MiG-15 jet over the border and defected to the South.
Both men’s lives in the nascent North Korean state are deftly woven together by Blaine Harden, an American journalist, who has made good use of Mr No’s memoirs, as well as newly declassified air-force intelligence reports, presidential papers and Chinese and Soviet archives. The history of the war unfolds at the top, as Stalin, Mao and Kim (mostly “stewing in his irrelevance”) jockey, bicker and bootlick for influence. It is played out at the bottom through Mr No, who hears of the war at his naval academy in Chongjin, in the north-east, and goes to China to train as a pilot.
North Korea was deeply vulnerable from the skies. Three weeks into the war, almost all of its combat planes had been strafed; America described its early air-force campaign as “leisurely”. Its bombers destroyed more than four-fifths of the North’s infrastructure. The destruction of Chongjin, which Mr No witnessed, was a “steady, systematic and unhurried chore”. Within two months the B-29 bombers said they were running out of targets.
If China fought America to a bloody stalemate on the ground, in the air the Soviet Union’s best pilots fought its air force to a draw. By late 1951 about 2,500 MiGs prowled the skies above a section of the Sino-Korean border, known as “MiG Alley”. Stalin wanted his meddling kept quiet, so Soviet pilots flew without identification papers, in Chinese flight uniforms aboard jets with Chinese markings. America was not fooled, but it chose to ignore the charade—a move, Mr Harden says, that may have kept “the cold war cool”.
America, too, engaged in deceit. Mr No says he saw American pilots cross into Manchuria, in violation of the rules of combat, to attack enemy planes, including those of his colleagues, as they landed (the air force would try to cover this up for decades). They also dumped over 32,000 tonnes of napalm on the North, nearly twice as much as fell on Japan in 1945. Enemy soldiers lived on rice, so the Americans blew up dams to flood the paddy fields.
How Mr No witnessed the savagery and still clung to his admiration for America is not quite spelt out. But Mr Harden does make clear that Mr No’s flight was for freedom and not for the American cash that awaited him under the terms of Operation Moolah—a bribe of $100,000 (about $900,000 today) set up in 1953 for the first pilot to defect in a MiG. An American general called Mr No’s defection the country’s most “spectacular” piece of psychological warfare against the communists; Mr No had never heard of the reward.
The destruction of the North prompted much guilt across the socialist world, which Kim was quick to prey on. In 1954 China spent more than 3% of its budget helping the North. The devastation became Kim’s most potent propaganda. He found in it the trope that would continue to justify his people’s suffering for decades to come: that foreign powers—chiefly America—had always been to blame. |
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