text
stringlengths 465
100k
|
|---|
A Des Plaines teen who authorities said was accidentally shot in the face by his younger sibling has died.
The 15-year-old boy died Monday afternoon at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office and Des Plaines police.
The medical examiner's officer identified the teen Tuesday as Izaiah Franceschi. He was a student at Maine West High School, according to a Maine Township High School District 207 spokesman.
Authorities said Izaiah's 10-year-old sibling shot him in the face on Saturday morning, according to a police news release, which called the shooting accidental and "a tragic incident." Police have not released further details other than to confirm the teen's death. The younger sibling's name has not been made public.
Authorities have not said who owned the gun or how the 10-year-old came to possess it, but the investigation is ongoing.
In Izaiah's neighborhood Tuesday, one nearby resident called the family "respectable" and "beautiful." Another recalled seeing children playing outside the family home. No one answered the door there Tuesday afternoon.
District 207 released a statement Tuesday saying officials "extend our deepest sorrow and condolences to the student's family and friends" and that crisis counselors were available to students and staff.
Freelance reporter Lee Gaines contributed.
[email protected]
Twitter @knthayer |
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — It was a bizarre bomb scare involving a toilet. Now the man responsible claims he never broke the law.
Adam May has a revealing interview shot inside a state mental hospital.
Duane Davis claims he’s been wrongfully committed to a mental hospital. In February, he triggered a bomb scare after placing a decorated toilet outside the Baltimore County Courthouse. He was arrested on charges of making a phony destructive device and ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. He’s been at Spring Grove ever since.
“Jesus had a cross, Martin Luther King had a dream, Malcolm had a gun and Shorty had a toilet… ’cause we all have [expletive] to deal with,” Davis said. “The toilets represent how America treats the underclass and the voiceless. You treat us like [expletive]. No matter what color you are, how much money you got, how poor you are, everyone uses a toilet. Picasso used soup cans; I use a toilet.”
Davis says he’s not mentally ill.
“They want to claim I’m crazy, deranged or delusional,” he said. “I’m not diagnosed as bipolar, schizophrenic or nothing.”
State officials would not allow WJZ to speak with Davis’ doctor so we have no independent evaluation of his mental health.
“These people in this facility have talked to me, talked to me, talked to me and I’ve taken test after test and I haven’t failed a test yet. I know what day it is, who the president is and I know what I did wasn’t against the law. It’s my constitutional right, freedom of speech,” Davis said.
Davis admits he has sent a flood of letters to elected officials, including Governor Martin O’Malley, expressing his concerns about social justice.
“Never threatened anybody with anything,” Davis said. “The only thing that’s going to hurt the governor is the truth. I’m just telling my story.”
Davis has produced dozens of documentaries that can be difficult to understand. He says they’re meant to expose racial and social inequalities. Other videos feature nine other toilets he placed around Baltimore City over the last few years.
“I knew they were going to do something to me because I was naming public officials that use their power to deny the underclass their rights,” Davis said. “I’d put the toilets out all over again, yes I would, because it’s my right.”
Davis has his first court hearing coming up in April. |
Close
Microsoft is preparing to roll out new Windows 10 features for the operating systems' enterprise users in the coming weeks.
Business users of the operating system will benefit from three new features, namely Microsoft Passport, Enterprise Data Protection (EDP) and a Windows Store For Business.
While Fast Ring subscribers of Microsoft's Windows Insider program will be able to preview the features from this month itself, others will have to wait till the end of 2015 to take advantage of the enterprise-focused features.
"This month, we will roll out key enterprise features to our Windows Insiders, on track for broader availability later this year," noted Microsoft in a blog post.
The Microsoft Passport feature for Windows 10 enterprise users will enable an organization to log in to an app, network or a website securely, negating the need for a password. The admin will have the ability to authenticate websites, servers or apps directly.
The Enterprise Data Protection feature will allow for both corporate and personal data protection. EDP enables the encryption of data which is stored on devices and, therefore, only apps which are privileged can access the same. EDP will be handy for companies which ascribe to a BYOD policy, as the enterprise data can be erased remotely and not affect personal data in the process.
The third feature, the Windows Store For Business, will basically serve as a unified Windows Store where IT admins will be able to purchase business apps in bulk. Employees of the company who are authorized will also be able to buy third-party apps.
Additionally, Microsoft has also partnered with several OEMs for its new Surface Enterprise initiative, whereby it will offer support for Surface devices
As part of the initiative, Dell is its first partner and will start the sales of Surface Pro tablets to both Canadian and U.S.-based companies through its online store and other sales platforms from early October. Those who purchase the tablet through this scheme will not only be able to avail of Dell's warranty service for four years, but also its IT support, insurance and configuration services.
ⓒ 2018 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission. |
Originally I was gonna draw something more hilarious than this, but my great-grandma died during the damn Yolanda/Haiyan super-typhoon. I'm not sure if because of old age or of because of the typhoon itself. This is my way of grieving for her as well as for the people who also perished from the disaster. This is my condolences to them as well.
Thanks to this awesome fanfic I read about Jaune losing his parents because of White Fang and Blake was there to help him, I was motivated to make this. I can really see Jaune and Blake bonding through loss, grief and discrimination, in my headcanon.
Here's the link to that fanfic: m.fanfiction.net/s/9848768/1/A…
Well here you go guys, please enjoy this slightly depressing (for me) and crappy sketch I made with THESE HANDS
- Blake |
[Photo credit: Jeff Forney]
Avenged Sevenfold will be hosting some special headlining shows with A Day To Remember and Volbeat.
These shows will be in between Avenged Sevenfold's stadium tour with Metallica.
Read more: Fan joins Avenged Sevenfold on stage to sing “Nightmare”—watch
A Day To Remember and Volbeat will perform at different shows.
Fan club presale starts tomorrow, March 14. Register for the fan club, which does not require an annual fee, here.
Here is Avenged Sevenfold's full tour itinerary:
April 22 – Las Vegas, NV – Downtown Las Vegas Events Center**
May 5 – Virginia Beach, VA – Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater**
May 7 – Concord, NC – Rock City Campground**
May 9 – Hershey, PA – GIANT Center***
May 10 – Baltimore, MD – M&T Bank Stadium^
May 12 – Philadelphia, PA – Lincoln Financial Field^
May 14 – East Rutherford, NJ – MetLife Stadium^
June 7 – Denver, CO – Sports Authority Field^
June 11 – Houston, TX – NRG Stadium^
June 14 – San Antonio, TX – Alamodome
June 16 – Dallas, TX – AT&T Stadium
June 18 – Chicago, IL – Soldier Field
June 19 – Mt. Pleasant, MI – Soaring Eagle Casino Resort**
July 5 – Orlando, FL – Camping World Stadium^
July 7 – Miami, FL – Hard Rock Stadium^
July 9 – Atlanta, GA – SunTrust Park^
July 10 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center***
July 12 – Detroit, MI – Comercia Park^
July 13 – Oshkosh, WI – Ford Festival Park
July 14 – Cadott, WI – Rock Fest Amphitheater**
July 16 – Toronto, ON – Rogers Centre^
July 18 – Gilford, NH – Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion***
July 19 – Montreal, QB – Parc Jean-Drapeau^
July 28 – Mountain View, CA – Shoreline Amphitheatre+++
July 29 – Los Angeles, CA – Rose Bowl+
July 31 – Sacramento, CA – Golden 1 Center+++
August 3 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater+++
August 4 – Phoenix, AZ – University of Phoenix Stadium+
August 6 – San Diego, CA – Petco Park+
August 9 – Seattle, WA – CenturyLink Field+
August 11 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre+++
August 12 – Nampa (Boise), ID – Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater+++
August 14 – Vancouver, BC – BC Place+
August 16 – Edmonton, AB – Commonwealth Stadium+
** A7X headline show or festival date
*** A7X headline show with Volbeat opening
+++A7X headline show with A Day To Remember opening
^With Metallica + Volbeat
+With Metallica + Gojira
Watch more: APMAs 2015—A Day To Remember win Best Live Band presented by Macbeth (AP Fall Tour Announcement!) |
By Howard Kirschenbaum, Ed.D.
In the 1960s, about the same time that Albert Ellis was developing his original cognitive-behavioral therapy approach and William Glasser was developing his reality therapy (a cognitive behavior approach that evolved into Choice Theory), an educator named Louis Raths was developing a new affective-cognitive-behavioral counseling approach that eventually came to be called “values clarification.”
Raths noticed that young people who seemed apathetic, flighty, over-conforming, or over-dissenting in their behavior could become more purposeful, consistent, and zestful in their lives if they were asked to reflect upon their goals, purposes, and behaviors. He and his students Sidney Simon and Merrill Harmin refined and developed many ways that teachers and counselors could ask students “value-clarifying questions” and “values clarification strategies” to encourage them to reflect on what they prized and cherished, affirm their values with others, consider alternatives and their consequences, make freer choices about their lives, and act on their goals and beliefs in a consistent manner.
While developments and research on cognitive-behavioral therapies proceeded steadily over the decades, in the 1970s and 80s the focus of the values clarification movement stayed mostly on teaching, values education, and character education with youth. Although many of the methods and strategies of values clarification—such as voting, ranking, continuums, inventories, unfinished sentences, and the like—became staples in the repertoire of counselors and therapists, the utility of values clarification as a distinctive counseling approach was lost to one or two generations of new helping professionals.
In the 1980s and 90s, newer counseling and therapy approaches began to emerge on the scene, many of them utilizing concepts and methods of values clarification. Solution-focused therapy relies heavily on questions to help clients identify preferred goals, view their situation from an alternative perspective, consider alternative solutions, and evaluate coping strategies and solutions. Motivational interviewing, which has proven especially effective in alcohol and substance abuse counseling, uses clarifying questions and strategies to build on the client’s intrinsic motivation to change. Appreciative inquiry relies primarily on clarifying questions to help the client identify and capitalize on their strengths, vitalities, aspirations, possibilities, and core values as they set and achieve life and career goals. Acceptance and commitment therapy explicitly includes values clarification as a major component in their research-tested integration of western and eastern “behavior technologies.” Positive psychology recognizes that living according to one’s values is an essential element of life satisfaction.
I can’t help but be pleased that the importance of values clarification seems increasingly to be recognized as an important component in many different therapeutic approaches. Helping clients identify goals and priorities, make good decisions among competing choices, and take positive actions to achieve their goals and priorities—in a word, values clarification—is inevitably an important part of recovery, marriage and family therapy, career counseling, school counseling, pastoral counseling, financial counseling, and many other counseling and therapy foci. While values clarification is not a mental health counseling approach per se, it can be an important tool in psychotherapy when clients are ready to work on their recovery, set goals, and move forward in their lives.
So the question arises for me: Is it sufficient that values clarification seems frequently to be incorporated into many different therapy approaches and venues, or does it deserve its own renewed attention as a distinct counseling modality?
A partial answer to this question came to me in 2000, when I became chair of the Counseling Program at the Warner Graduate School of Education at the University of Rochester. I included the values clarification approach in my methods courses with both Masters students who were new to counseling and doctoral students who often had more counseling experience in certain areas than I did. Many or most of them loved values clarification: “It’s so practical.” “It’s so applicable to my work.” “Whether in individual or group settings, values clarification questions and activities make it so easy for individuals to respond and participate, even the quiet ones.”
So I became convinced that counselors, psychotherapists, psychologists, social workers, and similar helping professionals could benefit by being introduced or re-introduced to values clarification theory and practice, including:
the focus on prizing (affective), choosing (cognitive), and acting (behavior)
the seven criteria or valuing processes that fall within those three realms
the difference between value indicators and values
how to ask good clarifying questions
using the “clarifying interview” in individual counseling
the scores of practical values clarification strategies for individual and group work
specific applications of values clarification to different counseling topics and settings
the overall values clarification hypothesis and research
the appropriateness of values clarification for multicultural populations and issues
handling value and moral conflicts with clients
In the end, values clarification can be, and often is, used by itself or integrated with almost any other counseling or therapeutic modality. Better that helping professionals use it awarely and to its greatest effectiveness.
Howard Kirschenbaum, Ed.D., is Professor Emeritus and former chair of the Department of Counseling and Human Development, Warner Graduate School of Education and Human Development, University of Rochester. He is the author of Values Clarification in Counseling and Psychotherapy: Practical Strategies for Individual and Group Settings by Oxford University Press and is the author or co-author of additional books on psychology, education, and history, including Values Clarification: A Handbook of Practical Strategies, Readings in Values Clarification, and Advanced Value Clarification. He has given workshops and presentations on the values clarification approach to counseling, psychotherapy and education throughout North America and around the world.
Subscribe to the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Subscribe to only psychology articles on the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Image credit: Excluded sad girl is looking the group talking. Photo by SimmiSimons, iStockphoto. |
As Pam Spaulding puts it -- it's like a broken record.
Yet another member of the pious set proves the far-right judgmental conservative set is populated with a boatload of deviants. In a Virginia Beach Circuit Courtroom in separate hearings, Stephen Lee McPherson, 40, and Melina Ann McPherson, 37 pled guity of taking indecent liberties with a minor -- not one incident, mind you, but several between 1996 and 2000 involving three sisters. It occurred while the McPhersons were house parents at Hope Haven Children’s Home. It makes you sick. Read on...
Pat Robertson must be proud. I wonder if he knew how sick these people were? I've lost count of all the Republicans and so called "good christians" who've been caught doing despicable things to children. This was some sick stuff, and they used bible passages to justify it all:
Court records show Stephen McPherson repeatedly molested two of the sisters under his supervision and manipulated them by citing Bible verses that he said justified the abuse. Melina McPherson engaged in sexual acts with the third sister, cited Bible verses to justify her actions and told the victim that “they had a special relationship,” according to court records.
Stephen McPherson already is serving time on related sex abuse charges. He pleaded guilty in January to sexually abusing the two girls in Chesapeake. The McPhersons moved to Chesapeake in 2000 and took the three sisters there after adopting them, records show. Read on... |
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas can and should be impeached. The case and the grounds for impeachment proceedings against him are virtually iron-clad. The evidence is compelling that Thomas perjured himself in his testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee during his court confirmation hearings in 1991. The evidence is equally compelling that this constituted lying under oath to Congress during the hearings.
The impeachment case against Thomas is not based on personal or political disagreement over his views, decisions, opinions and rulings on the bench, his penchant for pornographic material, or for sexual harassment. It is based on clear legal and constitutional grounds, precedents, and Congressional mandates. Article III, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution explicitly states that a Supreme Court Justice that "lacks good behavior" can be impeached. This is not an ambiguous, subjective term. It has been interpreted by the courts to equate to the same level of seriousness as the 'high crimes and misdemeanors" clause that unequivocally mandates that the House of Representatives initiate impeachment proceedings against any public official, or federal judge in violation of that provision.
The Constitutional precept is the first legal ground for impeachment proceedings against Thomas. The second is Title 18 of the U.S. Code. It states that any official of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the government of the United States who knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact, makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry can be impeached. In other words lying to Congress is not only an impeachable offense. It's also illegal.
It's also clearly established that a public official whether the president, presidential appointees, or judges can be punished for giving false information and that's any false information of any nature to the House or Senate.
The Nixon impeachment debates and Clinton impeachment hearings were ample proof that the constitutional phrase of "good behavior" embraces not only indictable crimes but "conduct ... grossly incompatible with the office held and subversive of that office and of our constitutional system of government."
Thomas was asked directly by Utah senator Orin Hatch during his confirmation hearings about Anita Hill's allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct and whether he used sexually suggestive language. Thomas answered: "I deny each and every single allegation against me today that suggested in any way that I had conversations of a sexual nature or about pornographic material with Anita Hill, that I ever attempted to date her, that I ever had any personal sexual interest in her, or that I in any way ever harassed her. "
Thomas was emphatic, "If I used that kind of grotesque language with one person, it would seem to me that there would be traces of it throughout the employees who worked closely with me, or the other individuals who heard bits and pieces of it or various levels of it." This was stated under oath to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Thomas's sworn testimony was clearly contradicted even then in public statements by witnesses. The witnesses were not called to testify. The one witness that contradicted Thomas's sworn testimony, Angela Wright, did testify. She worked with Thomas at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and was emphatic that Thomas sexually harassed her and used explicit and graphic sexual language. Her story was corroborated by a former EEOC speechwriter who told investigators about Thomas' penchant for improper sexual talk. Letters to the committee from other women who worked with Thomas confirmed that he was a serial sexual harasser and had a penchant for sexually perverse talk. The Senate panel had other sources to corroborate the Hill-Wright charge that Thomas engaged in sexual harassment and obsessive interest in sexual smut. These sources were ignored too.
Two decades later Thomas's apparent perjured testimony to Congress is now squarely back on the legal table. Lillian McEwen put it there. Her legal credentials are impressive. She is a former assistant U.S. attorney and Senate Judiciary Committee counsel. She also dated Thomas. In interviews, she again confirmed that Hill and the other women's allegations that Thomas engaged in sexual harassment, was addicted to pornography, and talked incessantly and graphically about it and women were truthful.
Thomas's personal warped sexual predilections and perversions are not the issue as personally reprehensible as some may find them. The issue is his apparent perjured testimony to a congressional body about his words and conduct. There is no statute of limitations on bringing impeachment proceedings against officials who lie to Congress. The U.S. Code and the Constitution clearly spell out that when there's evidence a Supreme Court justice may have lied under oath the House must bring articles of impeachment to determine guilt or innocence. |
Isaiah Berlin—renowned liberal theorist, historian of ideas, Oxford don, cultural gadfly—was one of the great raconteurs of his generation. According to Robert Darnton, a professor of history at Harvard University, Berlin holding forth resembled "a trapeze artist, soaring through every imaginable subject, spinning, flipping, hanging by his heels." But Berlin, who died in 1997, worried about his reputation for rhetorical brilliance. Was he merely a clever talker, a frivolous wit? His letters, many of them collected in Enlightening: Letters 1946-1960, published by Chatto & Windus, an imprint of Random House, in Britain in July (and appearing in America in December), reveal a man at times consumed by self-doubt: "I generally think that everything I do is superficial, worthless, glaringly shallow, and could not take in an idiot child," Berlin wrote to his friend Arthur Schlesinger Jr. in 1952.
Berlin was a punctilious and prolific correspondent. Like the first volume of his letters, Flourishing: Letters 1928-1946, published in 2004, Enlightening is a hefty tome—845 pages including the index. "I romanticize every place I come to," Berlin wrote in 1949. "I find: Moscow, Oxford, Ditchley, Harvard, Washington: Each is a kind of legendary world framed within its own conventions in which the characters, suffused with unnatural brightness, perform with terrific responsiveness." His many correspondents included the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter; Katharine and Philip Graham, publishers of The Washington Post; the diplomat George Kennan; the Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann; and the literary critic Edmund Wilson.
Enlightening is co-edited by Henry Hardy, a fellow at Wolfson College at Oxford (where Berlin served as the founding president) and Jennifer Holmes, a researcher and genealogist. Hardy, 60, is the editorial impresario of the Isaiah Berlin Literary Trust. For more than 30 years, he has devoted himself to collecting, editing, and publishing Berlin's letters and essays, many of which languished in obscure scholarly journals or Festschriften, or remained unpublished. To date, Hardy has served as midwife to the publication of 16 volumes of Berlin's writings.
"Henry Hardy has done a tremendous service," says Avishai Margalit, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, N.J. "Isaiah was known as a nonwriter, but it turns out that the naysayers were wrong. He wrote in all sorts of obscure places, and gave talks no one knew about. This collection of material is important." Richard Wolin, a professor of history at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, adds: "Without Hardy, we would only have a precious few books by Berlin." It is hard to overestimate Hardy's role in transforming Berlin's reputation from that of "a mere salon virtuoso"—in the words of Michael Ignatieff, Berlin's biographer and now leader of the Liberal Party in Canada—to one of a decisive 20th-century political thinker.
More than a decade after Berlin's death, his ideas remain resonant. In an increasingly globalized and multicultural world, his clear-eyed analysis of pluralism and competing values is finding new audiences. "Some of the Great Goods cannot live together. That is a conceptual truth. We are doomed to choose, and every choice may entail an irreparable loss," Berlin wrote. And among scholars of liberalism, says Helena Rosenblatt, a professor of European intellectual history at the Graduate Center, Berlin's writings are "extremely influential." His work continues to appear posthumously in The New York Review of Books and The New Republic; several books about Berlin have been published, including John Gray's Isaiah Berlin (Princeton University Press, 1996) and George Crowder's Isaiah Berlin: Liberty and Pluralism (Polity, 2004); and most of Berlin's writings have been translated throughout Europe and China.
Berlin, it seems, is having a moment. In the past year, there has been a cascade of conferences and symposia marking the centenary of his birth. Scholars and other assorted Berlinophiles have convened in Barcelona, Jerusalem, London, Madrid, New York, Oxford, Potsdam, Riga (Berlin's birthplace), and Toronto. In September, Martha Nussbaum, Alan Ryan, Amartya Sen, and Michael Walzer, among others, gathered at Harvard to discuss Berlin's ideas on pluralism and liberalism (in particular his modest definition of negative liberty as the individual's right to do as he pleases, provided that his actions do not infringe upon the liberty of others). Later this month, Eafit University, in Medellín, Colombia, will hold a seminar on Berlin, as will the University of Seville. And in May, Boydell Press published The Book of Isaiah: Personal Impressions of Isaiah Berlin, a collection of remembrances of Berlin edited by Hardy. The crush of attention has been so intense that some Berlin aficionados are showing signs of fatigue. Asked to comment, Ian Buruma, a professor of journalism and human rights at Bard College, declined. "I'm a bit 'Isaiahed out' for the time being," he said.
In 1952, Berlin delivered six extemporaneous, hourlong lectures on BBC radio. The talks examined figures like the 18th-century French philosopher Claude-Adrien Helvétius and the conservative French writer Joseph de Maistre. Hundreds of thousands of people tuned in. The broadcasts were regarded as a triumph. Berlin was catapulted into the elite ranks of intellectual celebrity. But much of the praise was barbed. Michael Oakeshott, a prominent English philosopher, acidly declared Berlin "a Paganini of ideas." T.S. Eliot congratulated Berlin for his "torrential eloquence." Both remarks underscore the central knock on Berlin: He wasn't a writer. "Like Our Lord and Socrates, he does not publish much," joked Maurice Bowra, a colleague and friend of Berlin's at Oxford.
Hardy, who in 1974 was a postgraduate philosophy student at Wolfson, approached Berlin and proposed collecting his far-flung writings in a series of new books. Berlin agreed, but not immediately and not with any enthusiasm. "He was worried that people would consider them sweepings from the cutting-room floor that don't amount to very much," Hardy said in a recent interview. Hardy began compiling a bibliography of Berlin's work. "He no longer remembered what he had written," says Hardy, adding that Berlin had not kept records of his publications.
Advertisement
The first book that Hardy edited, Russian Thinkers (Viking Press), appeared in 1978. It included essays on the literary critic Vissarion Belinsky, the socialist writer Alexander Herzen, and the novelist Ivan Turgenev. There was also an essay on Leo Tolstoy, titled "The Hedgehog and the Fox," which put some analytical flesh on the bones of the Greek poet Archilochus's maxim that "the fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." Russian Thinkers rekindled interest in Berlin's once-famous division of thinkers into hedgehogs and foxes. It remains one of the philosopher's most-referenced insights. (Russian Thinkers itself enjoyed a revival in 2007 when the playwright Tom Stoppard cited it as a major influence on his three-part epic The Coast of Utopia.)
Russian Thinkers was quickly followed by Concepts and Categories (Hogarth Press, 1978), a collection of philosophical essays; Against the Current (Viking, 1980), essays on the history of ideas; and Personal Impressions (Viking, 1980), Berlin's meditations on famous contemporaries, including Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, and Weizmann. The reviews were glowing. Berlin's skepticism gave way to gratitude. "Such fame at my age!" he wrote Hardy. "Berlin was pleased and grateful," Hardy says, with characteristic understatement.
In 1977, Hardy became an editor at Oxford University Press. He continued to work on Berlin's papers in his free time. "It was a labor of love," he says. Hardy was barely compensated for his efforts. (More precisely, his share of the royalties, in his own words, "didn't amount to a hill of beans." Berlin's share of the royalties went to Wolfson.) In 1988, Berlin asked Hardy if he would become one of his literary trustees. Hardy first wanted to look through the papers Berlin had stored in his attic and cellar. "I was absolutely amazed by what I found," Hardy says. "The sheer quantity was astounding. Berlin never threw anything away. It was very clear straight away that there were a lot of more-or-less finished pieces of writing, most of which had probably been prepared as lectures. But Berlin never actively sought to publish his own work. The material, which covered a huge range of topics, was all extremely interesting."
Hardy said that he wanted to begin work on the manuscripts immediately and not wait until Berlin died. "I knew I would need to ask him many questions." By 1990, enough money had been raised from foundations and wealthy admirers of Berlin to allow Hardy to leave the Oxford press and turn his undivided attention to Berlin's papers. But financing remains a perpetual concern. "The whole undertaking has been very hand-to-mouth," Hardy says. "These books, though widely celebrated, haven't sold in wide numbers. They haven't generated enough money to pay my salary."
Berlin's writings, Hardy quickly realized, lacked scholarly rigor. "Though Berlin believed very much in accuracy, he wasn't particularly good at it himself," Hardy says. "In fact, one could say he was rather bad at it." Berlin admitted as much. "I am not at all surprised that my footnotes are inaccurate," he wrote to Hardy. "I am wildly unscholarly!" Berlin often quoted from memory, and being a skilled prose stylist, he had a tendency to improve quotations, to make them more resonant and impressive. For instance, his distillation of Kant's observation that "out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made" is a vast improvement on Kant's original German: "Out of timber so crooked as that from which man is made nothing entirely straight can be carved."
Hardy has, year after year, painstakingly built a scholarly infrastructure around Berlin's writings. "I feel rather ambivalent about it because getting all of that right doesn't really improve the way the essays read. And sometimes, it can even spoil the essay—because if you insist on getting everything accurate you sometimes get duller versions of quotations," Hardy says. Reviewing The Proper Study of Mankind (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), a collection of Berlin's essays published in 1998, Stefan Collini, a professor of intellectual history and English literature at the University of Cambridge, described the book as "slightly bastardized" because Hardy had "done his best to kit them out in full footnoted fig." As a result, Collini wrote, Hardy threatened to turn "what had been personal and stylish into appearing merely conventional and industrious." Hardy says that Berlin dismissed such criticism, assuring him that he had succeeded in turning belles-lettres into scholarship.
So what's it like to dedicate your whole career to another thinker's ideas? "It's a matter of personality," Hardy explains. "I am more comfortable saying, 'Here is what this person thinks, isn't it interesting?' rather than saying, 'Look, this is what I think, isn't it interesting?'" Hardy continues. "I certainly have opinions. I was drawn to Berlin and have stuck with him for so long because I admire him and his ideas. I wouldn't have been happy working for someone just on a professional basis. With Berlin, it's a vocation."
On a warm afternoon in June, a few hundred people crowded into the wood-paneled auditorium at Mishkenot Sha'ananim, a cultural center in Jerusalem, to discuss Berlin's views on Zionism. A Jew and a lifelong Zionist, Berlin had deep personal and intellectual ties to Israel. He believed nationalism is "a basic human need" that encourages the "straightening of bent backs." And Jewish backs, he argued, were in particular need of straightening. But Berlin's was a practical Zionism. He was critical of Israeli leaders, and he himself never settled in Israel, despite entreaties from prominent Israelis. Moreover, Berlin was early to recognize the legitimacy of Palestinian nationalism. In Jerusalem, the conversation continued well into the evening.
Before the event concluded, Hardy—thick in the shoulders, bearded, and dressed in a wrinkled linen suit—was called on to make some remarks. He tentatively mounted the stage. Looking out at the capacity crowd, he described feeling relief that Berlin's writings were now ensconced in the intellectual and academic firmament. Hardy recently reflected on that moment. "There is a tremendous satisfaction in having enabled this man and his ideas to come out into the light of day." |
The Supreme Court today asked why there cannot be an out-of-court settlement to the vexed Ayodhya Ram temple issue saying these were matters of religion and faith.
The bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar was hearing a mentioning by BJP leader Subramaniam Swamy who sought an expeditious day-to-day hearing of the appeals filed against the Allahabad High Court order and said they have been pending since nearly seven years.
ĆJI significantly also said the SC is even ready to spare a sitting judge as mediator but put a condition that first all sides including Swamy should sit together and decide if an out of court setttlement could be possible.
"These are matters of religion. Is it possible to give a call? Why dont you make an attempt to sort it out sitting across the table", the CJI asked Swamy.
The appeals filed by the Sunni Waqf Board and other parties five years ago challenge the September 30, 2010 verdict of a three-judge Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court that Hindus have the right to the makeshift temple under the central dome of the Babri Masjid. The Bench had relied on Hindu faith, belief and folklore to decide. |
Last week we were the first to raise the very real and imminent threat of a default for a Chinese wealth management product (WMP) default - specifically China Credit Trust's Credit Equals Gold #1 (CEQ1) - and its potential contagion concerns. It seems BofAML is now beginning to get concerned, noting that over 60% of market participants expects repo rates to rise if a trust product defaults and based on the analysis below, they think there is a high probability for CEQ1 to default on 31 January, i.e. no full redemption of principal and back-coupon on the day. Crucially, with the stratospheric leverage ratios now engaged in such products, BofAML warns trust companies must answer some serious questions: will they stand back behind every trust investment or will they have to default on some or potentially many of them? BofAML believes the question needs an answer because investors and Trusts can’t have their cake and eat it too. The potential first default, even if it’s not CEQ1 on 1/31, would be important based on the experience of what happened to the US and Europe; the market has tended to underestimate the initial event.
For those who have forgotten, below is a quick schematic of what a WMP looks like:
And as we previously noted,
...borrowers are facing rising pressures for loan repayments in an environment of overcapacity and unprofitable investments. Unable to generate cash to service their loans, they have to turn to the shadow-banking sector for credit and avoid default. The result is an explosive growth of the size of the shadow-banking sector (now conservatively estimated to account for 20-30 percent of GDP). Understandably, the PBOC does not look upon the shadow banking sector favorably. Since shadow-banking sector gets its short-term liquidity mainly through interbanking loans, the PBOC thought that it could put a painful squeeze on this sector through reducing liquidity. Apparently, the PBOC underestimated the effects of its measure. Largely because Chinese borrowers tend to cross-guarantee each other’s debt, squeezing even a relatively small number of borrowers could produce a cascade of default. The reaction in the credit market was thus almost instant and frightening. Borrowers facing imminent default are willing to borrow at any rate while banks with money are unwilling to loan it out no matter how attractive the terms are. Should this situation continue, China’s real economy would suffer a nasty shock. Chain default would produce a paralyzing effect on economic activities even though there is no run on the banks. Clearly, this is not a prospect the CCP’s top leadership relishes.
So the PBOC's efforts are merely exacerbating the situation for the worst companies... and as BofAML notes below, this is a major problem...
The 3bn CNY Beast Knocking
via BofAML's Bin Gao
CNY stands for the currency, and also a beast
CNY represents China’s official currency. It also stands for Chinese New Year, the biggest holiday for the country and the occasion for family reunions and celebration. But less familiar for many, however, the Year (?) itself actually stood for a beast which comes out every 365 days and eats everything along the way from bugs to humans. The holiday tradition started as a way for people to fend off the beast by getting together and lighting up the firecrackers.
At the same time, custom dictated that people also to paid their due to avoid becoming the beast’s target. In particular, it has been a tradition to settle all debt before the New Year. From the perspective of such folk culture, the trust product Credit Equals Gold #1, referred as CEQ1 hereafter, by China Credit Trust planned poorly for having the maturing date on the New Year, leaving a 3bn CNY beast running wild.
High probability for the trust product to default
Though the term default is used quite frequently, there are actually confusions on what constitutes a default in this case when talking to investors and especially onshore investment professionals. To simplify the issue, we define a default as failing to pay the promised contractual amount on time.
The product, CEQ1, is straightforward. It is CNY3.03bn financing with senior tranches of CNY3bn and junior tranche of CNY30mn. In principle, the senior tranches are also equity investment, but the junior tranche holder pledged assets for repurchasing senior investment at a premium. The promised rate was indexed to PBoC’s deposit rate with a floor for three classes of senior tranches at 9.5%, 10% and 11%, paid annually (detailed structure is illustrated below).
In a sense, the product is in technical default already. The last coupon payment in December, with nearly all the money (CNY80mn) left in the trust account, came in at only 2.7%, falling far short of the promised yield. The bigger trouble is the CNY3bn principal payment, along with the delinquent coupon, on 31 January.
We see high probability of default on 31 January
Political or economic consideration: ultimately, given the government’s strong grip on financial institutions, default may be a political decision as much as an economic decision. From that perspective, CEQ1 would be a good candidate for default. The minimum investment in CEQ1 is CNY3mn, much more than the typical amount required for other trust investment and 75 times of per capita GDP in China. If defaults were to be used to send a warning signal to shadow banking investors, this group of rich investors may have been a good target because the government does not need to worry too much of them demonstrating in front of government offices. Timing: there is never a good timing for deleverage because of risks involved. But the current job market situation provides a solid buffer should defaults and subsequent credit contraction slow down the economy growth. The government planned 9mn jobs last year; instead it has created more than 12mn by November. So the system could withstand a potential shock. Financial capability: China Credit Trust has a bit over CNY10bn net assets, which some analysts cite as evidence of the trust company’s capability to fully redeem the product first and recover from the collateral asset later. However, the assets might not be liquid enough, so the net asset is not the best measure. Based on its 2012 annual report, the company has liquid asset of CNY3bn and short-term liability of CNY1.35bn, leaving liquid accessible fund of CNY1.65bn at most. ICBC for certain has much deeper pocket, but it has declared that it won’t be taking major responsibility. Career concern: To certain extent, the timing was unfavorable for another reason, the ongoing anti-corruption campaign. It is reported that there are around 700 investors involved. On CNY3bn senior tranche investment, it averages CNY4.3mn per investor. We do not know the exact identity but with CNY3mn entry point, we know no one is a small-scale investor. Legally unjustified, if either China Credit Trust or ICBC decided to pay 100% with their capital, the decision maker would have to ensure that he does not have any business deals with any of the 700. Because if he does, his career or even his freedom could be in jeopardy in the current environment of ongoing anti-corruption campaign and strict scrutiny of shady deals/personal favors. Questionable asset quality and uncertain contingent claim: There are cases in the past of near default, but most of them involved collateral of real estate assets, which have at least appreciated over the years. The appreciation of collateral assets makes it easier for the third party to step in by paying back investors and taking over the collateral assets. This particular product involves coal-mining assets whose value has been decreasing over the last couple of years. Moreover, there have been multiple claimants on these assets, as exemplified by the sale of Yangjiagu coal mine. Although the mine was 51% pledged through two levels of ownership structure, only 20% of the sales proceed accrued to trust investors (Exhibit 1 above). Such a low percentage would be a deterrence and concern to whoever contemplating a takeover of the collateral assets. Other cases less relevant: In the past, one way to deal with the issue was for banks to lend to shareholders of the existing collateral asset owners for them to payback investors, with explicit or implicit local government guarantees. Shangdong Hailong’s potential default on bond was avoided this way last year. However, in the current case, the owner has been arrested for illegal fund raising, making the past precedence less applicable.
Putting all the above reasons together, we think there is a high probability for CEQ1 to default on 31 January, i.e. no full redemption of principal and backcoupon on the day.
Immediate impact would be for China rates curve to flatten
The case has been widely covered in the media. However, many still believe one way or the other the involved parties will find a last minute solution to fully redeem the maturing debt. So if the trust is not paid, we believe it will be a big shock to the market.
China rates market reaction, however, might not be straightforward. On the one hand, default would likely lead to risk-averse behavior, arguing for lower rates. On the other hand, market players would likely hoard cash in such an event, leading to tighter liquidity condition and pushing money rates higher.
We think that both movements are likely to ensue initially, meaning higher repo/SHIBOR rates and lower CGB yield if default were to realize. We suggest positioning likewise by paying 1y IRS and long 5y CGB. On the swap curve itself, we think the immediate reflection will be a bear flattening move.
Interestingly, an informal survey conducted on WeChat among finance professionals suggests the same kind of repo rate reaction (Chart 1). We think this survey is important because we believe these investment professionals will likely behave accordingly because the default event is not priced in and hard to hedge a priori.
Trust company can’t have their cake and eat it too
Of course, we can’t rule out that the involved parties do find a solution to avoid default. However, with a case as clear cut to us as this one favoring default, we believe such outcome would send a strong signal to investors that the best investment is to buy the worst credit.
Thus, we believe the near term market reaction with no default would be for the AA credit to shine brightly since this segment has been under pressure for quite some time. Trust investment would be met with enthusiasm and trust assets would likely expand further.
However, we see a fundamental problem in the industry; the leverage ratio has gone to a level which requires investors and trust companies to answer some serious questions: will trust company stand back behind every trust investment or will trust company have to default on some or potentially many of them? We believe the question needs an answer because the trust companies can’t have their cake and eat it too.
For the industry, the AUM/equity ratio has nearly doubled from 23 to 43 in less than three years during the period of 4Q2010 to 3Q2013 (Chart 2). Some in the industry has argued that one should only count the collective trusts since other trusts are originated by non-trust players like banks. Thus, trust companies have no responsibility for paying investors other than collective trusts.
We see two problems.
Even if we accept the trust companies’ argument, it is still questionable whether trust companies would be able to pay even a reasonable amount of default. The growth of leverage on collective trusts was much more aggressive. Collective trust AUM/equity ratio was 2.7 in 1Q2010 and 4.7 in 4Q2010 (Chart 2). It rose to 10 by 3Q2013, more than doubled in less than three years and more than tripled in less than four years. Along the way, the average provision has dropped from 84bp to 34bp when measured against collective AUM. As the case of CEQ1 illustrates, as long as full redemption is on the table, no involved party could walk away totally clean. CEQ1 is a case of collective trust, but the ICBC still faces the pressure to pay. If the bank is being pressured to pay in the case of collective trust default, trust companies will likely be pressured to pay as well should some non-collective trusts get into trouble. If trust companies are on the line for the total AUM, their financial condition is even shakier, with average provision covering barely 7bp of total AUM as of 3Q2013.
On longer term market trend
Based on the analysis in the above section, we see a possibility for trust companies to have to let some trust products default with such high leverage and so few provisions. This is especially likely the case given that there will be more and more trust redemption this year and next year as a result of the fast expansion of this industry over the last couple of years and short duration of such products.
The heaviest redemption in collective trusts this year will arrive in the 2Q (Chart 3). Given that the financial system is stretched thin and there were more cases of near defaults on smaller amount of redemption last year (three cases in December alone), we believe some form of default is almost inevitable in the near term.
The potential first default, even if it’s not CEQ1 on 31 JANUARY, would be important based on the experience of what happened to the US and Europe; the market has tended to underestimate the initial event. Over the last year, China appeared to be mirroring what happened in the US during 2007, the spike of money rate (much higher repo/SHIBOR), the steepening of money curve (14d money much more expensive than overnight and 7d), and small accidents here and there (junior tranches of a few wealth management products offered by Haitong Securities losing more than 60%, a few small trusts and now CEQ1’s redemption difficulty).
Theoretically, China’s risk is best expressed using a China related instrument, but we also think the more liquid expression of China goes through the south pacific. The following points list our longer views on China and Australia rates.
We have liked using Australia rates lower as a way to express our China concern and we continue recommending doing so as a theme.
We recommend long CGB and underweight credit product. The risk for such positioning in the near term is no CEQ1 default. But we believe any pain suffered due to overt market manipulation to avoid default will be short lived since it has become much harder to keep the debt-heavy system in balance and the credit spread is bound to widen.
After a brief flattening on CEQ1 default, we see swap curve steepening as being more likely on more default threatening growth leading to easy monetary policy and more issuance going to the bond market.
We look for higher CCS rates due to the fact that the currency forward will more likely start expressing the risk.
As Michael Pettis, Jim Chanos, Zero Hedge (numerous times), George Soros, Barclays, and now BofAML have explained... Simply put -
"There is an unresolved self-contradiction in China’s current policies: restarting the furnaces also reignites exponential debt growth, which cannot be sustained for much longer than a couple of years."
The "eerie resemblances" - as Soros previously noted - to the US in 2008 have profound consequences for China and the world - nowhere is that more dangerously exposed (just as in the US) than in the Chinese shadow banking sector. |
First Lady Michelle Obama drew in a crowd of over 7,000 supporters at Cincinnati’s Duke Energy Center despite the grey and drizzly weather. The First Lady visited Cincinnati and rallied the crowd to get out and vote early and to prepare for a hard-fought campaign as she helped kicked off Ohio’s month of early voting.
Said the First Lady:
“There going to be plenty of ups and down for the rest of the way, you can count on that…I want you to remember that what we do for the next 35 days will make the difference between waking up on November 7 and wondering ‘Could I have done more?’ or feeling the promise of four more years. Are we going to turn around and go back to the same policies that got us into that hole in the first place, are we going to sit back and watch everything that we fought for and worked for to just slip away, or are we going to keep this country moving forward,”
An early voting event for Mitt Romney on the sane day in downtown Cincinnati drewin roughly 45 supporters. *SNORT*
As goes Ohio, so goes the nation. |
AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has found the “no guns” signage at the Dallas County government center in northwest Dallas to be in violation of state law, putting the county at risk of legal action and thousands of dollars in fines.The county has long had a gun ban at the government center on Marsh Lane, since it houses justice of the peace and truancy courts. County officials have defended their interpretation of state law that they can ban guns in the entirety of a building that contains a government court.But a Dallas resident in January filed a complaint about that setup under a new state law that allows Texans to formally challenge some local “no guns” policies . He argued that a building-wide ban was illegal, since the center also features non-court offices.Paxton’s office last week told the county to remove the signs , saying a “reviewing court would likely conclude the county abused its discretion” with a gun ban that extends beyond the courtrooms and offices.The decision is the latest twist in an escalating debate over what exactly lawmakers intended years ago when they expanded that gun-free zone related to courts . And it will force Dallas County officials to decide if they want to be on the leading edge of the topic.“We obviously disagree with the decision,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins, a Democrat. “But we’ll look at that and decide what would be at the best interests of our citizens going forward.”The wrangling stems from a little-noticed gun law passed last year. The measure, which went into effect in September, toughened a 2003 law that said gun license holders can carry at most property “owned or leased by a governmental entity.”Exceptions to that rule can include schools, jails, courts and a few other areas.Under the new law, the attorney general’s office investigates complaints and decides whether to pursue legal action for fines . Nearly 60 complaints from all over Texas had been filed, covering zoos, city halls, courthouses and government centers.Paxton, a Republican, recently issued rulings on at least 10 of those cases . One -- announced last week -- upheld the Dallas Zoo’s gun ban . Six closed cases, like at Melissa’s City Hall, where officials took down the "no guns" signs in question.The remaining three – sent to Dallas, Brazos and McLennan counties – gave notice of violations related to courts.The battle over guns in court facilities focuses on the word “premises" -- defined in statute as a “building or portion of a building.” The Legislature in 2003 expanded the court-related gun-free zone to “the premises of any government court or offices utilized by the court.”Key lawmakers said then that they wanted to prohibit guns inside courthouses. And in one instance, the bill’s sponsor – then-Rep. Suzanna Hupp – said the measure “basically prohibits license holders from carrying in any building in which there is a courtroom.”Many local governments, including Dallas County, have held that view since. But some gun rights advocates have said that approach applies the law too broadly.Paxton stoked the debate last year by issuing a nonbinding opinion that to avoid a lawsuit, counties and cities may bar the licensed carrying of handguns only from the courtrooms and offices themselves. And with the latest rulings, he backed up his words with action.Assistant Attorney General Matthew Entsminger summed up the new standard in his violation letter to Dallas County.State law, he wrote, “does not allow a political subdivision to prohibit licensed handgun holders from entering into an entire building simply because the courts or the offices of the courts are located in a portion of that multipurpose building.”Now Dallas County officials – and the others facing complaints – must decide if they want to fight over that nuance in court. The law gives government entities 15 days to cure the violation or face lawsuits in district court.And even if local government officials choose to fight back, it’s possible that the Legislature will take up the issue next year and sort it all out before the courts do. |
We CAN predict the future (a bit): Why the brain knows what's going to happen before it does
People subconsciously make thousands of tiny predictions each day, whether it's contemplating when a bus will arrive, who is knocking on the door or if a dropped glass will break.
Now scientists are beginning to unravel how the brain is such a surprisingly accurate fortune-teller - but only when it comes to mundane events.
Researchers at Washington University in St Louis focused on the mid-brain dopamine system (MDS), which provides signals to the rest of the brain when unexpected events occur.
Each of us makes thousands of tiny predictions, such as contemplating when a bus will arrive, every day. Scientists are now beginning to unravel how the brain is such a surprisingly accurate fortune-teller
Using functional MRI (fMRI), they found that this system encodes prediction error when viewers are forced to choose what will happen next in a video of an everyday event.
They found that between 80 and 90 per cent of viewer predictions were correct, depending on when the footage was stopped.
Lead researcher Jeffrey Zacks said predicting the near future is vital in guiding behaviour and is a key component of theories of perception, language processing and learning.
He said: 'It's valuable to be able to run away when the lion lunges at you, but it's super-valuable to be able to hop out of the way before the lion jumps.
'It's a big adaptive advantage to look just a little bit over the horizon.'
The research will also help those in the early stages of neurological diseases such as schizophrenia, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, Professor Zacks said.
The scientists tested healthy young volunteers who were shown films of everyday events such as washing a car, building a Lego model or washing clothes. The film would be watched for a while, and then it was stopped.
Participants were then asked to predict what would happen five seconds later when the film was re-started by selecting a picture that showed what would happen.
Half of the time, the movie was stopped just before an event boundary, when a new event was just about to start. The other half of the time, the film was stopped in the middle of an event.
The researchers found that participants were more than 90 per cent correct in predicting activity within the event, but less than 80 per cent correct in predicting across the event boundary. They were also less confident in their predictions.
'Successful predictions are associated with the subjective experience of a smooth stream of consciousness'
Professor Zacks said: 'This is the point where they are trying hardest to predict the future. It's harder across the event boundary, and they know that they are having trouble.
'When the film is stopped, the participants are heading into the time when prediction error is starting to surge. That is, they are noting that a possible error is starting to happen.
'And that shakes their confidence. They're thinking, "Do I really know what's going to happen next?"'
In the functional MRI experiment, the researchers saw significant activity in several mid-brain regions, among them the substantia nigra - 'ground zero for the dopamine signaling system' - and in a set of nuclei called the striatum.
The substantia nigra is the part of the brain most affected by Parkinson's disease, and is important for controlling movement and making adaptive decisions.
Brain activity in the experiment was revealed by fMRI at two critical points - when subjects tried to make their choice, and immediately after feedback on whether their answers were correct or incorrect.
Professor Zacks said: 'When we watch everyday activity unfold around us, we make predictions about what will happen a few seconds out. Most of the time, our predictions are right.
'Successful predictions are associated with the subjective experience of a smooth stream of consciousness.
'But a few times a minute, our predictions come out wrong and then we perceive a break in the stream of consciousness, accompanied by an uptick in activity of primitive parts of the brain involved with the MDS that regulate attention and adaptation to unpredicted changes.' |
from Nathan to Morgan and began to take female hormones
Two years ago she made the decision to make the
With her blonde hair and enviable figure, Morgan Naomi Clarke is hoping to win a beauty pageant - even though she spent the first 22 years of her life as a man.
Morgan, 23, from Manchester, who says she was 'born in the wrong body' is hoping to take home the crown at Miss Transgender UK.
Born Nathan O'Brien, Morgan said she has spent her life feeling pressured to 'butch up' by her two older sporty brothers.
Scroll down for video
Morgan Naomi Clarke was born male but after making the decision to transition two years ago she now hopes to be crowned the winner of the first ever Miss Transgender UK
As a teenage boy, she was branded 'gay' by her family and friends who refused to believe she was born in the wrong body.
However, Morgan knew in her heart that her true identity was female and at the age of 21 she made the life-changing decision to become a woman.
And now she has landed regular work as a model and has now set her sights on becoming a beauty queen.
Morgan says that since making the transition from Nathan to Morgan she has felt far happier within her own skin.
'I've always thought of myself as a girl since before I can remember, but I always tried to 'butch' myself up as I believed it was wrong to feel this way.
'It wasn't until my late teens that I had the opportunity to dress as a girl as often as possible.
From a young age Morgan was aware of her gender confusion but says that her family just passed her off as gay with her two older brothers encouraging her to 'butch up'
Morgan says that her family were not accepting when she revealed she was born in the wrong body and their lack of support caused her to become depressed and drop out of university
'When I did this I felt more confident and happy, I felt like the person I always wanted to be.
'It wasn't until I was 21 that I realised I could live fulfilled this way and gained the bravery to change my body and my life.'
Although Morgan identifies as a woman she does not want a full sex change. However she is saving up to pay for a breast augmentation, chin reshaping surgery and a hair transplant to feminise her appearance.
Morgan has been working as a webcam girl and models for fashion brands including Edith Retro and Dress Fancy in a bid to raise the funds for her surgery.
Morgan recalls that she was aware of her gender confusion from a very early age.
But after years of being told she was homosexual by her family, she decided to tell her loved ones about her desire to be a woman.
Morgan made the decision to make the transition at the age of 21 and began to take female hormones
Morgan doesn't want a full sex change but has been working as a model to save funds for breast augmentation
Morgan, who has been taking hormones for the past two years, says that unusually it was her family who had trouble accepting her identity rather than school friends.
'I was never bullied at school, everyone was very accepting of me, but that's not what the problem was.
'It was my parents that weren't happy, they didn't believe me when I told them I wanted to be a woman, they thought it was just shock factor or a cry for attention.
'My older brothers just saw me as their little gay brother, which pressured me to butch up.'
Morgan added that the pressure to conform to something she wasn't began to affect her self-esteem.
'I was always shy as a child and teenager, even scared in social situations to the point I'd have anxiety attacks.
Morgan was never a victim of bullying and says that her classmates were very accepting of her
'I just thought I was extremely sheepish. I began to resent myself and being labelled 'gay' as I knew I wasn't living the life I actually wanted.
'It's only recently I've had the confidence to live as a woman.'
After her parents obvious discomfort with her decision, Morgan became depressed by her gender confusion, causing her to drop out of university.
She said: 'I studied fashion design a few years back, but dropped out of university due to the depressive state of my life.
I just thought I was extremely sheepish. I began to resent myself and being labelled 'gay' as I knew I wasn't living the life I actually wanted
'I'd like to return to university when I've transitioned enough to feel comfortable devoting myself to studies.'
At 22, a year after she began taking her hormone treatment, Morgan began dressing in women's clothing and calling herself Morgan Naomi Clarke.
Basing her style on idols Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Gisele Bunchen, whose careers she hopes to emulate, Morgan is now pursuing a modelling career.
And this year, she is set to compete in the first Miss Transgender UK, in which she hopes to be crowned champion.
She said that she is delighted that she is finally able to imitate the models that she has always admired.
'My obvious idols would be Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, both iconic supermodels and both British and proud.
'But I'd say Gisele became my biggest inspiration, I'm stunned by her beauty and sex appeal.
Morgan is now set to to take part in the first ever Miss Transgender UK pageant
Morgan says that win or loose it will be a huge step for her and hopefully the transgender community
'I looked up to her when I lived as male and I felt robbed as I believed I wouldn't be able to live as a woman, never mind as a model.
'But now I've made the change it's like my wildest dreams are coming true.'
Morgan says that win or lose, entering Miss Transgender UK will be an incredible honour and a big step forward not just for her but other transitioning people.
'I've never even thought about entering a beauty pageant before.
'I sometimes get nervous I won't have a clue what to do in the pageant when Miss Transgender UK draws nearer.
'I'm incredibly grateful for the experience and to represent the transsexuals of 2015, no matter the result.' |
The Muslim Patrol enforcer: Ginger-haired Bin Laden disciple admits mob attacks on 'non-believers'
Jordan Horner, 19, walked around Tower Hamlets berating non-Muslims
Members of the 'Muslim Patrol' said 'kill the non-believers' and threatened to stab people who drank beer
Horner pleads guilty to ABH after getting into a fistfight with a passer-by
He was previously jailed after telling photographers at Anjem Choudary's house that they would end up like Lee Rigby
An enforcer for hate preacher Anjem Choudary yesterday admitted joining a ‘Muslim Patrol’ which threatened to enforce sharia law.
Jordan Horner, 19, was a leading member of a vigilante mob that roamed London’s East End attacking non-Muslims in a campaign against Western culture.
The gang threatened to ‘kill non-believers’ and ‘shank’ or stab them and uploaded videos to YouTube criticising people’s appearance.
Scrol l down for video
Accused: Jordan Horner, left, and Ricardo McFarlane, right, were said to be members of the 'Muslim Patrol'
The ginger-haired convert, who uses the name Jamaal Uddin, admitted assaulting two men during one confrontation.
During a hearing at the Old Bailey, he also pleaded guilty to two public order offences via video link from high security Belmarsh Prison.
Horner is a close associate of Choudary and was arrested outside his home earlier this year for assaulting a photographer.
The outspoken thug has boasted that one of his heroes is Osama bin Laden and said British soldiers will burn in hell.
He was held as part of a highly sensitive Met investigation into the self-titled Muslim Patrol, that operated in the Tower Hamlets area of East London. The intimidating mob was seen walking the streets in the early hours of the morning last December and January.
Radical: Horner, 19, is close to jihadist hate preacher Anjem Choudary, pictured during a demonstration
One morning, Horner and others snatched cans of beers from a group of five men before emptying them in the gutter. They shouted: ‘Why are you poisoning your body? It is against Islam. This is Muslim Patrol. Kill the non believers.’
One then told another to ‘go get the shank’, meaning a knife, but as the men started to walk away, Horner threw several punches, hitting one on the jaw. At an earlier hearing a prosecutor said: ‘The victims describe the main aggressor as being ginger with a ginger beard.’
Horner also admitted threatening two couples and a man in the capital in December and January.
The ‘Muslim Patrol’ sparked huge controversy when it posted a series of videos on YouTube, including one called ‘The Truth About Saturday Night’.
In them they confronted members of the public, demanding they give up alcohol and that women cover themselves in a ‘Muslim area’. The hooded men filmed themselves calling white women ‘naked animals with no self-respect’ and labelled alcohol ‘evil’ as they stole it from revellers.
In one bizarre exchange they filmed an injured cyclist being treated after a road accident and claimed he was hurt because he was unclean.
One said, ‘We don’t care if you are appalled at all,’ before calling themselves ‘vigilantes implementing Islam upon your own necks.’
Threats: Horner told a photographer he could end up like murdered soldier Lee Rigby, pictured
In another clip, the group protested against adverts for push-up bras by High Street retailer H&M, pouring petrol over one and setting it alight.
They said: ‘The Muslims have taken it upon themselves to command the good and forbid the evil and cover up these naked people.’
Horner was a troubled youth who became an enforcer for Choudary when he converted to Islam after being approached outside a pub.
He has said: ‘People need to realise sharia law is coming. What better person to spread the message than one whose life was once so corrupted?’
In July, he was jailed for six weeks for beating up a photographer and causing £3,000 of damage to a car in an attack outside Choudary’s home.
Horner told his victim that he could be killed like soldier Lee Rigby, who was almost decapitated outside his barracks in Woolwich, South-East London. The photographer said Horner shouted ‘you’re scum, brother’, adding: ‘You should be careful. What happened to the boy soldier could happen to you.’
Horner, of Walthamstow, East London, appeared at the Old Bailey alongside Ricardo McFarlane and a 23-year-old man who cannot be named for legal reasons. |
Share
Wildlife rangers in Australia who set up a motion-sensor camera alongside a river in the hope of capturing footage of crocodiles ended up with a video of a sea eagle peering down the lens after the bird picked it up and flew with it across 70 miles of the country’s barren landscape.
The camera went missing in May soon after it was set up at a gorge on the Margaret River in Western Australia’s Kimberly district, with local ranger Roneil Skeen assuming it must have fallen into the water.
However, to his understandable surprise, it was discovered a few weeks ago some considerable distance away from where it’d been set up.
Snippets of captured video (below) revealed the culprit to be a juvenile sea eagle, one that clearly had yet to learn to distinguish between meat – morsels of which had been placed on the riverbank to tempt the crocodiles – and image-capturing devices. Of course, it may simply have been that the bird is a photography enthusiast that knows a nice shooter when it sees one.
Either way, the bird grabbed the camera, which was about 4-inches (10 cm) long and 2-inches (5 cm) wide, and flew it to another part of the region, filming bits of the Australian outback along the way.
“It was pretty amazing because it’s one of the first camera traps to ever get picked up,” Skeen told ABC News.
A video posted on YouTube captures the moment the sea eagle snatches the camera before flying off. With the landscape passing by a little way below, we can see and hear the bird’s wings flapping as it makes a swift getaway carrying its stolen loot.
After putting its catch on the ground, the eagle administers several inquisitive pecks before finally peering down the barrel of the lens, showing its face to one and all in an act that proves the selfie – a word that happened to originate in Australia and last month was selected as Word of the Year 2013 – is not just the preserve of humans.
[via ABC News] |
It feels odd now to think there was a time when Nicolas Cage wasn’t an idiosyncratic weirdo overacting his way through an endless procession of interchangeable action movies, but the ’90s were a strange time in cinema. Just as Miramax and the rest of the indie upstarts were blowing up the traditional model of studio filmmaking, action movies transitioned from being confined to the world of popular but disreputable genre entertainment and into that post-Jaws nebula known as blockbusters. As has been impressively documented in our running series A History Of Violence, the evolution of action films from B-movie to blockbuster came through a series of films that pushed the boundaries of action farther than anybody had previously anticipated. Maverick directors both great (John Woo) and awful (Michael Bay) tested the limits of the medium, and in the two years in which they delivered their best Hollywood films—The Rock and Face/Off, respectively—the most influential and impactful American action movies had one thing in common: Nicolas Cage.
It’s hard to overstate just how unlikely a candidate Cage seemed at the time for tough-guy superstardom. In fact, the actor was mostly known for playing lovable dimwits in low-budget comedies and genteel rom-coms. Breaking out as a good-hearted punk in Valley Girl, Cage delivered wry and comic turns in movies like Peggy Sue Got Married, Moonstruck, and (most memorably) Raising Arizona. To the few people who saw the bizarre 1988 dramedy Vampire’s Kiss, which has provided the internet with some of its most beloved Cage GIFs, his outsize performance likely seemed a strange outlier, and the next few years appeared to bear that out.
The notion of Cage doing slo-mo dives while dodging bullets and punching out bad guys sounded improbable at best. Instead, he alternated ambling his way through good-natured but forgettable family-friendly movies like Honeymoon In Vegas and It Could Happen To You, while reserving his manically unhinged performances for arthouse and adult fare like Wild At Heart and Zandalee (though none more so than Deadfall, his brother Christopher Coppola’s notorious mess than still somehow flies under the radar). Still, neither world of performances hinted at a blockbuster-toplining persona waiting to be unearthed. His Best Actor Oscar win for 1995’s Leaving Las Vegas only seemed to confirm that he was an artist with little desire to run around spouting catchphrases while things exploded in the background.
Advertisement
But while The Rock was the first appearance of Nic Cage, action star, and Face/Off cemented his reputation for over-the-top performances in over-the-top movies, the movie that came out in between those two is actually the one that cemented his transition into proper action hero. Con Air is not a great movie, but it’s a fantastically entertaining one. Director Simon West was making his first feature film (and still his only one that earns repeat viewings), and he had a savior in uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who smartly stocked the film wall-to-wall with outsized character actors and oddball personalities, just as he had done the year before with The Rock. (And would do again the following year, with the higher-grossing but much shittier Armageddon.) John Malkovich, John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, Ving Rhames, Dave Chappelle, M.C. Gainey, and Danny Trejo are just a few of the instantly recognizable faces saturating the movie, and bringing the lunkheaded dialogue to glorious life.
The story is somehow even dumber in execution than it is in description. Ex-Ranger Cameron Poe (Cage), imprisoned for killing a man while defending his wife from drunken thugs, is due to be released from prison. But while hitching a ride on a special plane reserved for dangerous criminals (a prisoner transport service run by the U.S. Marshals that actually exists in real life), the cons take over the plane, and hold the guards and pilots hostage as they attempt to flee the country. Poe, noble soul that he is, stays on board and tries to save the day, while the marshal tasked with keeping an eye on the plane (Cusack) works from the ground to help Poe bring it down safely. Cue the wicked fun, largely found in the scenery chewing from Malkovich’s evil mastermind, Rhames’ illogical and inconsistent Black Panther, and Buscemi’s bonkers serial child-murderer.
Advertisement
What really makes Con Air the pivot point in Cage’s move to action stardom, however, comes from the fact that he might be the only one underplaying his role. Sure, he’s sporting an absurdly flowing mane of hair, delivering his lines in a wobbly Southern drawl that borders on mumbling, and delivering lines like “Put the bunny back in the box” with straight-faced bravado, but the bug-eyed mania that would become his stock-in-trade is nowhere to be found. Instead, he’s doing what he’s actually done far more of in the intervening decades—namely, make weird choices, hit his marks, and call it a day, commanding attention without once erupting in a look-at-me demonstration of unnecessary bombast. It proved that Cage didn’t always have to dial his intensity up to 11 when he appeared in such films, for good and ill. It was just Nic Cage, action star—no surprise or winking air quotes around the film or his performance.
Cage is such a charismatic actor that he likely could’ve continued alternating between wonderfully stupid popcorn fare and genuinely great dramatic fare for the rest of his career, with an intact reputation for both. It’s what he did for most of the next 10 to 15 years: Here a Gone In 60 Seconds, there an Adaptation. But the dumb action gradually took center stage; by 2009, his terrific oddball work in a film like Bad Lieutenant: Port Of Call New Orleans already felt like the exception, not the rule. Some of this career downturn, we now know, is the result of economic necessity: Cage lost a lot of money in really dumb ways, and began taking as many gigs as possible to try to dig himself out of the hole. (This isn’t the same thing as claiming he’ll say yes to anything offered him, a gibe at which he takes great umbrage.) It’s resulted in a steady stream of subpar films (seven in 2017 alone!) from the actor, who sometimes can’t even be roused to deliver a reliably compelling performance. Still, for every interchangeable Stolen or Rage, there’s a Joe or a Kick-Ass to remind you he still has the ability to entrance in both realms.
Advertisement
There’s no question that for an entire generation of moviegoers, Cage will forever be the great idiosyncratic action star, his name above the title ensuring an unusual and entertaining time. The Rock and Face/Off may have proven that his particular brand of crazy was highly bankable when he gave audiences that bug-eyed insanity, but Con Air proved he was in it for the long haul. |
In the few days since the Houston Texans’ Arian Foster came out as “openly secular” — becoming one of the only public atheists in pro sports — I’ve been surprised by how accepting people have generally been.
It was the most shared story on ESPN’s website for a while last week, and the discussions I’ve seen have been about 1) How people were surprised this was even a big deal, 2) How the NFL (and all sports) should be accepting of non-Christian players, 3) How religious and sports are so often intertwined.
This discussion on the ESPN show His and Hers is a great example of that:
Even right-wing publications like Brietbart had nothing really nasty to say.
Their main frustration lies with the fact that quarterback Tim Tebow received a lot of negative media attention due to his very public Christianity, while Foster’s received mostly praise for his atheism. But those two are very different. Tebow made it a point to bring up God at every opportunity — it was annoying — and his skills didn’t match up to his hype. Foster, on the other hand, was quiet about his atheism until last week, and there’s no indication he’s going to make it the only thing you ever associate with him. Being a four-time Pro Bowler certainly helps.
Outside of Twitter , the worst thing I’ve seen is Foster described as an “anti-Tebow.” While it’s meant to signify how the two are on opposite sides of the religion spectrum, I suppose you could interpret it as something more combative — as if Foster is trying to pick a fight with Christians, which he’s not doing at all.
But mostly, there’s been a general acceptance of Foster’s beliefs. Maybe that’s because coming out as atheist just isn’t as big of a deal as it used to be. Maybe it’s because Foster didn’t come out swinging as if he was the NFL’s version of Christopher Hitchens. For a pro football player to fear talking about his non-belief so publicly? It’s almost endearing in a way. He’s like a gentle giant you just want to hug.
It gives me hope that other athletes will follow in his footsteps.
Politicians, too. |
Joel Mokyr's (2016) A Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press: 9780691167773: http://amzn.to/2c9TJ2y ), published in October 2016, is the latest and most successful extended brief by Northwestern University economic historian Joel Mokyr for his point of view on the causal origins of modern economic growth.
What is modern economic growth?
As best as we can conceptualize and measure (or perhaps it would be more honest to say: "guess"), average human material living standards and economic productivity levels today are some twenty times what they were in the agricultural-age span from ca. 6000 BCE to 1500 CE. The efficiency with which we collectively use technology and organization to transform human and nonhuman resources into useful commodities is currently growing at a rate of about 2%/year, perhaps 100 times the rate common during the agricultural age. Some do believe that the 2%/year global pace of modern economic growth will slow in the future. But very few indeed see it coming to any sort of rapid end--barring, of course, thermonuclear war or equivalent catastrophe.
Joel Mokyr is one of the leaders of the school of thought that sees the causal origins of modern economic growth in the emergence in Europe from 1500-1750 of a highbrow elite dominant culture of intellectuals favorable to and focused on the cumulative increase of knowledge and its application to projects of human betterment. This school has plausible arguments. But do note that it is far from being a rough consensus, a majority opinion, or even a plurality.
What are the other schools? They see the causal origins of first the industrial revolution in the British midlands and then of modern economic growth in:
an emergent scale effect on the pace of technological invention, innovation, adaptation, and deployment from a post-Neolithic Revolution slow accumulation of knowledge that supported growing--albeit poor--populations thinking about problems of improving productive efficiency; the emergence in Britain over 1500-1750 of "developmental" as opposed to the more typical agrarian-age "extractive" institutions--an emergence that then set in motion a virtuous circle of growth. the emergence in Britain over 1500-1750 of institutions that were "extractive plus investing", as opposed to more typical agrarian-age institutions less successful at extracting resources from the bulk of the population via oppression and then devoted not to positive-sum investment in the future but to zero- or negative-sum contests; the sheer luck of having very large supplies of near-surface coal on navigable waterways in Britain just when the luck of geography, religious, and political history had generated high enough real wages to make the development of first-generation steam engines profitable; pure luck of some other form; a combination of more than one of the above factors; or a set of related factors that do not map neatly onto the conceptual categories in which human thought about the causes of the industrial revolution and modern economic growth has moved.
Does it matter? Mokyr would say that any Republic of Letters--Invisible College--Marketplace of Ideas--that thinks that an important question to ask is highly unlikely to have been compatible with the origins or with the continued maintenance for long of modern economic growth.
Is Mokyr's argument correct? I tend to think the balance of the probabilities favors (4) myself. But I do not think that there will ever be a near-consensus on the issue. And I would not be surprised if Mokyr's brief--for it is a brief, and not a balanced presentation of live possibilities--were broadly correct.
The central axis around which Mokyr's argument turns is the emergence from 1450-1750 of the so-called "Republic of Letters": a single elite-level "market for ideas" spanning the European continent. Intellectuals competed for reputation and patronage. Reputation was gained by creating and disseminating ideas (rather than knowing and keeping secrets). Ideas were valued by their testable correspondence with reality. Patronage (mostly) followed reputation, rather than (typically) being gained by flattering the powerful. The political fragmentation of Europe meant that individual rulers could not suppress thought. The ideological unity of the Republic of Letters meant that the community of intellectuals had a full sub-continent wide scale.
No other civilization had ever developed a set of institutional practices followed by its intellectual cadre that was so effective at generating incentives to create, discuss, modify, test, disseminate, and use ideas. The European Republic of Letters had not before 1800 outstripped either of its Chinese, Indian, or Islamic world counterparts in terms of the number of its members or the ferocity with which they sought "knowledge". Yet there was no comparison between them in the amount of valid scientific or applicable technological knowledge that had been generated in the roughly three centuries that this divergence had had to build.
Mokyr's chain of argument concludes with a broadside against those who have been rejecting his school of thought by demanding clear, obvious, strong linkages between the writings of the thinkers of the Republic of Letters of the Age of Enlightenment and actual on-the-ground new installed technologies. He says that we:
take a very narrow view of what the Industrial Revolution was about, [for] the mechanisms by which the Republic of Letters affected technological progress are deeper and more complex than “how much science was needed to build a spinning jenny”. Science plays an ever-growing role in the subsequent history of industrialization.... Without the Republic of Letters and the changing agenda of science... [any wave of European growth] would have been short-lived and fizzled out after 1815 or so...
A Culture of Growth is certainly making me rethink.
972 words |
Clive Lewis hit back today after he was accused by a leading left-wing campaigner of being disloyal to Jeremy Corbyn over Trident.
John Rees, a senior figure in the Stop the War Coalition, hit out at the Shadow Defence Secretary at an anti-austerity demo outside the Conservative conference in Birmingham.
It came after Mr Lewis said last week Labour should not try to re-visit its backing for Trident renewal - a policy which Mr Corbyn opposes.
Seumas Milne, the Labour leader's top spin doctor, even watered down Mr Lewis' speech to the Labour conference - prompting the frontbencher to later punch a wall in anger.
According to the Huffington Post, Mr Rees said in a message to Mr Lewis: "You’re only there, you are only in the Shadow Cabinet, because Jeremy Corbyn put you there. So start defending Jeremy Corbyn’s policy on Trident and Nato and arms spending."
Mr Lewis took to Twitter to mock Mr Rees.
Cannon to RIGHT of them,
Cannon to LEFT of them,
Cannon in front of them...
Forward, the Light Brigade... https://t.co/CPWx7MQLI3 — Clive Lewis MP (@labourlewis) 2 October 2016
Lifelong unilateralist Mr Corbyn himself has refused to rule out trying to overturn Labour's pro-Trident policy.
But his room for manoeuvre has been restricted after he lost his slender majority on Labour's ruling NEC last week. |
Beer and Loathing in Las Vegas
<< BACK TO INDEX
Hollywood Pool boy >>
Monica Kim
Day Job:
Ombudsman Editor
Temp Job:
Cocktail Waitress, Marquee nightclub, Las Vegas
There were still six hours left in my shift when I climbed onto a man’s shoulders in four-inch heels. It was a Friday night at Marquee, the hottest club in Las Vegas, and there I was, in a line of cocktail waitresses, waving a giant poster of the letter L. Six of us were spelling out the name A-L-E-X-I-S (though, at that moment it read E-L-A-X-I-S), while our co-workers pumped bottles of Grey Goose vodka in the air and cheered for the birthday girl. The crowd was screaming and snapping photos of us, the highlight of a night they’ll probably never forget. What I’ll never forget about my night as a Las Vegas nightclub cocktail waitress is how a stranger’s neck sweat dripped onto the hem of my dress and stuck to my legs, or how fake our smiles grew with each passing second.
My night began leaning against the wall of employee lockers, waiting patiently as one of the girls laced me into the Marquee cocktail waitress uniform, a skintight velvet dress that corsets up the back and front with black ribbons. It was sparkly, soft, and suffocating, and Robbie, the thirtysomething waitress I would be shadowing that night, laughed as my face turned as purple as the dress.
There are no standards for hair and makeup, but most of the girls wear some variation of Robbie’s look: dark, crimped hair, heavily rouged cheeks, and bright red lips. Robbie is a veteran of the Vegas club scene, with more than a decade of experience, and has been at Marquee since it launched three years ago. Because the club is open only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays, she said, most of the waitresses see it as a side job: Some are in school, others are running businesses, but all of them are rolling in tip money—from $500 to $1,000 a night.
The sprawling 60,000-square-foot complex can hold 3,500 revelers and includes the hip-hop-inspired Boom Box Room and a more low-key Library (“There are actual books there,” one waitress whispered). Tonight, I would be working one of the VIP booths in the main room, where customers are required to drop between $1,000 and $10,000 on bottles of alcohol, depending on the night.
The lights dimmed and bass started pumping throughout the club, just minutes before the doors opened at 9:30. Robbie and I climbed onto the platform between our tables as the fog machine kicked on and started dancing to set the mood, swaying in time to the repetitive thump-thumps of the electronic dance music that would be playing all night.
Around ten o’clock, before our table had arrived, a group of eight former frat boys in their thirties wearing polos with popped collars ordered a few bottles of Grey Goose for about $450 apiece, and it was time for the first bottle presentation. We marched in a line, waving light wands above our heads, and climbed all over the booth, dancing and smiling in a spectacle designed to say, “Hey, look over here! See how much money these people are spending?”
Our table of four thirtysomething men in checkered dress shirts arrived for their bachelor party at 11. One of them, a British fellow with bushy red muttonchops, informed me that they’d flown fighter jets that morning after just 15 minutes of training and that tomorrow they were going to blow up cars with bazooka guns in the desert.
The Marquee crowd is skewed to type A, and their characteristic sense of entitlement blossoms here under the strobe lights. “I’m surrounded by ugly ass dudes,” one VIP shouted to Brian, the security guard assigned to our table. “I’d like to be near some nice-looking ladies. Take care of that.”
Instead of punching him in the face, Brian wrangled some women for the table. Though the security guards keep non-VIPs out of the VIP space, their real job is to make sure their guests are having the night of their dreams, which, for the males, means lassoing ladies to come drink vodka Red Bulls, dance, and share enlightening conversation. There was a sea of young single women in near identical bandage dresses and painful-looking platform heels to choose from, many of whom were brought here by club promoters for this specific purpose.
“I hate culture and people, and I’m a Pisces,” I heard one of them shout over the din.
As cocktail waitresses, our primary job was to keep refilling glasses for our VIPs and their new lady friends as they became more and more intoxicated. We also lit their cigarettes and laughed at their jokes, but mostly we just stood, smiled, swayed, and watched the go-go dancers writhing on poles until customers called upon us. I’d thought that they would treat me more like a stripper or an escort than a waitress. In fact, they treated me more like a servant. “For the most part, we’re invisible,” Robbie said.
Around midnight, I felt like someone had stabbed two sharp daggers through the bottoms of my feet. At one o’clock, when I was ready to crawl out of the club on all fours, Benny Benassi, an Italian DJ who had one hit in the early 2000s, took the stage. This was the moment the whole night had been building toward, and when the first beat dropped, the club exploded. Bright-white lights outshone the red ones, spazzing and sparkling in front of the DJ booth. Suddenly, I was weirdly euphoric and, like all the waitresses around me, got a huge burst of energy. Now this was fun. These girls were getting paid to party. I could do this all day. But that newfound enthusiasm was fleeting—it faded just minutes later, as the pain in my feet returned and a guest called for his eighth vodka Red Bull.
After I finished my shift, I limped back to my room in the hotel. A thousand dollars a night is a lot of money for serving drinks, I thought. The girls still swaying back at Marquee deserve every penny.
Photographs by Tiffany Brown |
It’s not only illegal aliens who are escaping enforcement of the nation’s immigration laws.
Under the Obama administration’s expansive interpretation of executive authority, legal immigrants seeking citizenship through the nation’s Naturalization process are now exempt from a key part of the Oath of Allegiance.
Immigrants seeking to become citizens no longer have to pledge to “bear arms on behalf of the United States.” They can opt out of that part of the Oath. Nor do they have to cite any specific religious belief that forbids them to perform military service.
According to the Naturalization Fact Sheet on the US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) website, In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, the nation welcomed 729,995 Legal Permanent Residents into full citizenship.
Over the past decade 6.6 million have been naturalized through a process that ends with the Oath of Allegiance.
In the decade 1980-1990, the average number completing Naturalization was only 220,000 annually, but from 1990 to 2000 that number jumped to over 500,000 annually.
1,050,399 new citizens were welcomed in the year 2008.
18.7 million immigrants are eligible to eventually become citizens, and 8.8 million already meet the 5-year residency requirement.
The pledge to help defend America was good enough for the 6.6 million immigrants naturalized since 2005 and good enough for the over 15 million naturalized since 1980, but Obama’s appointees at the USCIS think that is too much to ask of the 18.7 million estimated legal immigrants eligible today for eventual naturalization or the 750,000 who will be naturalized in the coming year.
This radical change was announced a year ago, in July of 2015. Congress did not enact the change in new legislation. There was no congressional debate, no filibuster in the US Senate, and no sit-in in the House to demand that a bill to repeal the USCIS action be brought to a vote.
No, this radical change was implemented while Congress slept. Like other Obama actions to undermine our immigration laws, the Republican-controlled Congress has not used its constitutional powers to reverse the administrative action. Thank God many states are stepping up to fill that void.
This week, the US Supreme Court let stand a federal district court ruling invalidating Obama’s unconstitutional “DAPA” amnesty.
By a 4-4 tie vote, the Supreme Court declined to review the Circuit Court’s ruling upholding the Houston district court decision. Therefore, it is now the law and Obama’s DAPA amnesty is voided. If Justice Scalia were still alive and participating in the case, it would have been a 5-4 ruling because the “swing vote,” Associate Justice Kennedy, voted with Justices Alito, Roberts and Thomas.
Where was Congress? Why did it take a lawsuit by the Governors and Attorneys General of 26 states to overturn Obama’s unconstitutional actions?
It’s true that other Presidents have made changes in the Naturalization process by administrative decree and without congressional approval. In 2002, in the wake of the 9-11 terrorist attack, President George Bush by executive order expedited the naturalization process for 89,000 immigrants serving in the armed forces. While many will agree with Bush’s action and even applaud, that change should have been done by act of Congress, not a presidential executive order.
In fact, most Americans will think it extremely odd that the USCIS action with regard to the Oath of Allegiance is not illegal. But the fact is, unelected bureaucrats at the USCIS can change the wording of the Oath without approval of the people’s representatives in Congress. Strange as it sounds, the law as it stands today allows USCIS bureaucrats great leeway in managing the Naturalization process, so Obama’s actions will not be challenged in federal court.
Yet, in view of Obama’s actions, why doesn’t Congress change the law and take control of the Oath of Allegiance? So far, there is no indication that the Republican leadership will do so. If they won’t even bar Islamic terrorists from the refugee program, why should we expect them to protect the Oath of Allegiance? Some members of Congress will grumble, make speeches and issue press releases, but the Republican leadership will do nothing.
Such is the state of the nation as we approach this 240th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Some Americans see great irony in the British declaring their independence from the tyranny of Brussels while Americans quietly accept the new tyranny of Washington, DC. |
Point 1 : #bitcoin-assets is the forum.
ninjashogun So what I was thinking is that this isn't a real 'forum' (in that most IRC channels are basically just trolls etc) and that I would just escalate to another form of contact (skype etc) and be in touch while it gets rolled out.
mircea_popescu No, this is the real forum. When the SEC wanted to talk to me I forced them to come here..
ninjashogun You're kidding right?
mircea_popescu I'm dead serious. This is the forum.
Note that the knowledge of this fact does not give you blanket license to speak there. See the rules and regulations, spend at least six months reading the logs, and generally follow the behaviour expected of children in civilised societies.
~ * ~
Point #2, ancient and oft repeated :
TALKING ABOUT BITCOIN, EVEN IF IN A GROUP, DOES NOT MAKE YOU PART OF BITCOIN.
This specifically includes all groups of foreigners to our esteemed Republic, and equally so : whether it be irrelevant derps such as Tom Carper or such as The Bitcoin Wife, it's all the same.
Bitcoin is not here for you to opine about it. Bitcoin is here to profoundly and oft times painfully change your life. Whether you agree or not, whether you give permission or not, whether you think it "acceptable" or "called for" or whatever else. Nobody asked you, nobody intends to ask you.
The available stategies open before you are quite the same as the raped woman has historically encountered : either learn to love your rapist and make him an excellent wife - or else die, beaten black and blue.
You are the raped woman. Get used to it, because this Bitcock ain't gonna suck itself.
~ * ~
Point #3. We keep track, and we know where you live. It isn't a matter of Bitcoin "being anonymous" or not. It's a matter of you not being anonymous. Not now, not ever.
You may think you're at liberty to write any idiocy, to emit any stupidity, to engage in any activity. This delusion of yours is both unwelcome and dangerous (for you). Whatever you think shields you now and hope will in the future shield you from the consequences of your actions - be it self-allocated "immunity" in the manner the various Nazi officials told each other that they won't ever prosecute themselves for anything they do ; be it a misunderstanding of the freedom of the press ; be it the Caliban nature of youth - will probably not behave in the way you expect. This is why you're encouraged to only speak once you understand enough of the forum and of reality : to protect you. From yourself, historically your biggest enemy.
You will in the future need a job, just like you need a job today. You will need friends in the future, just like you need friends today. You will need many plurious things you need today without even knowing about it. Careful what you say about Bitcoin and careful what you do. We sure as all hell keep track and there is no force on earth which may wash your public record any more than it can wash the blockchain. It's forever, Bitcoin plays for keeps, and this may well end up costing you.
——— |
Today, Rep. Thomas Massie (KY-4) introduced two new bills, the "Milk Freedom Act of 2014," H.R. 4307, and the "Interstate Milk Freedom Act of 2014," H.R. 4308, with a bipartisan coalition of 20 lawmakers. In his press release announcing the new legislation, Rep. Massie indicated these were the first in a planned series of Food Freedom legislation aimed at improving consumer choice and protecting local farmers.
“As a producer of grass-fed beef, I am familiar with some of the difficulties small farmers face when marketing fresh food directly to consumers. Our bills would make it easier for families to buy wholesome milk directly from farmers by reversing the criminalization of dairy farmers who offer raw milk,” said Rep. Massie. “The federal government should not punish farmers for providing customers the foods they want, and states should be free to set their own laws regulating food safety.”
....
Raw milk is fresh milk that has not been pasteurized, and may contain beneficial nutrients that have not been eliminated by the pasteurization process. Although Congress has never passed legislation banning raw milk, the federal Food and Drug Administration has used their regulatory authority to prosecute farmers for selling raw milk.
The “Milk Freedom Act of 2014” would provide relief to local farmers, small producers, and others who have been harassed, fined, and in some cases even prosecuted for the “crime” of distributing unpasteurized milk. This bill would prohibit the federal government from interfering with the interstate traffic of raw milk products.
Likewise, the “Interstate Milk Freedom Act of 2014” would prevent the federal government from interfering with trade of unpasteurized, natural milk or milk products between states where distribution or sale of such products is already legal.
No provision of either bill would preempt or otherwise interfere with any state law.
Massie concluded, “Today, many people are paying more attention to the food they eat, what it contains, and how it is processed. Raw milk, which has been with us for thousands of years, is making a comeback among these discerning consumers. Personal choices as basic as ‘what we feed our families’ should not be limited by the federal government.” |
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives unveiled legislation on Monday to repeal the central tenets of the Obamacare healthcare law, including its expansion of the Medicaid program for the poor and a cap on federal funding for Medicaid going forward.
Congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump have repeatedly promised to repeal and replace former Democratic President Barack Obama's signature domestic policy achievement known as the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
House Republicans didn't release a score for how much the repeal would cost – or how many Americans would lose health care coverage under the changes.
Publishing: Republicans under the leadership of Speaker Paul Ryan have unveiled their plan to repeal and replace Obamacare
The 66-page document is the prelude to an all-out battle over Obamacare with the Democrats.
House Republicans are calling their bill The American Health Care Act.
Trump made repeal and replace of his predecessor's signature plan a central point of his campaign, branding it a disaster.
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said: 'Obamacare has proven to be a disaster with fewer options, inferior care, and skyrocketing costs that are crushing small business and families across America.
'Today marks an important step toward restoring healthcare choices and affordability back to the American people. President Trump looks forward to working with both Chambers of Congress to repeal and replace Obamacare.'
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas, told Fox News’ 'Special Report with Bret Baier': 'We begin by repealing the awful taxes, the mandate penalties and the subsidies in ObamaCare.'
When asked about concerns that GOP leaders are just pushing 'ObamaCare Lite', he added: 'It is ObamaCare gone.'
HIGHLIGHTS OF HOUSE GOP HEALTH CARE LEGISLATION Here are highlights of the legislation unveiled Monday by House Republicans as they move to dismantle former President Barack Obama's health care law and replace it with a system designed along conservative lines. Primarily affected would be some 20 million people who purchase their own private health plans directly from an insurer and the more than 70 million covered by Medicaid, the federal-state program for low-income people. Here's a look at some of the major components: PRIVATE HEALTH INSURANCE Provides tax credits for people purchasing their own health insurance. The subsidies would be keyed primarily to age, rising as people get older. Financial assistance would be phased out for individuals making more than $75,000 and married couples earning more than $150,000. Subsidies could be used to buy any plan approved by a state.
Eliminates cost-sharing subsidies in Obama's Affordable Care Act that helped people with modest incomes meet the costs of insurance deductibles and copayments.
States, however, would have the option of providing similar assistance with federal financing.
Greatly expands contributions to health savings accounts, which allow people with high-deductible insurance to cover expenses that their plans don't pay for.
Protects people with pre-existing health problems from being denied coverage.
However, consumers must maintain continuous coverage - otherwise, they would face a flat 30 percent surcharge on top of their premiums.
States could use federal money to create high-risk pools as insurers of last resort.
Preserves ACA provision that let young adults stay on parental coverage until they turn 26.
Allows insurers to charge their oldest customers up to 5 times what they charge young adults. The ACA limits that to 3 times.
Prohibits use of tax credits to purchase any plan that covers elective abortions. Currently if a health plan covers abortions it must collect a separate premium to pay for such procedures. MEDICAID Maintains the ACA's higher federal financing for expanded Medicaid through the end of 2019.
After that, states can only continue to receive enhanced federal payments for beneficiaries already covered by the expansion, which has mainly helped low-income adults with no children living at home.
But for newly enrolled beneficiaries, the federal government would provide a lower level of financing.
Overhauls the broader Medicaid program to end its open-ended federal financing.
Instead, each state would receive a limited amount based on its enrollment and costs.
That federal payment would be increased according to a government measure of medical inflation.
Imposes a one-year funding freeze on Planned Parenthood, a major provider of women's health services, including abortion. PENALTIES & TAXES Repeals the ACA's tax penalties on people who remain uninsured and on larger employers who do not offer coverage. The repeal is retroactive to 2016.
Repeals the ACA's taxes on upper-income earners, investors, health insurance plans and medical device manufacturers.
Repeals 10 percent sales tax on indoor tanning. COVERAGE Expected to cover fewer people than the Obama-era law, but final estimates are not yet available from the Congressional Budget Office. - Associated Press
Central to the plan are new tax credits ranging from $2,000 to $4,000 that Americans could claim to pay for health insurance.
The repeal would effectively abolish Obamacare's individual mandate and a mandate that employers of certain businesses offer health care coverage for their employees.
The new penalties for individuals who don't get health coverage would drop to zero, as would the penalty on employees who don't offer it. The reason for affecting the change that way is that pushing legislative changes repealing Obamacare would have to clear a 60-vote threshold in the Senate. Republicans instead are opting to jam through tax and spending changes through a bill that can pass on a simple majority under budget rules.
The bill unveiled by the House Ways and Means committee also would slash away at provisions of the original Obamacare bill that paid for the program, which relied on a combination of fees, individual tax payments, and savings from Medicare to fund a system that set up new state and federal health exchanges where people could buy insurance.
The Republicans' release of bill text Monday marks the start of the next front in a major battle over the future of Obamacare
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul blasted House Republicans for failing to release the text of their bill last week
For example, the bill eliminates a tax on medical devices, a revenue source opposed by the industry.
It also phases out Obamacare's expansion of Medicaid, the health system for the poor – a portion of the bill responsible for getting millions of people onto insurance rolls.
The bill is expected to get a vote at Ways and Means and the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week and speed to the House floor, where conservative Republicans have a strong majority and have vowed for years to repeal Obamacare.
But it faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where several senators have demanded to maintain the Medicaid expansion and insisted on putting a functioning alternative to Obamacare in place.
The expansion would get frozen in 2020 and then phase out over time, Politico reported.
Meanwhile, Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky have blasted House alternative legislation that they say commits the government to new entitlements.
Senators digging in over medicaid are Rob Portman of Ohio, Shelly Moore Capito of West Virginia, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Cory Gardner of Colorado.
They wrote Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky on Monday. 'We are concerned that any poorly implemented or poorly timed change in the current funding structure in Medicaid could result in a reduction in access to life-saving health care services,' they wrote.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) released a statement calling the new plan 'Make America Sick Again,' saying 'hands billionaires a massive new tax break while shifting huge costs and burdens onto working families across America. Republicans will force tens of millions of families to pay more for worse coverage - and push millions of Americans off of health coverage entirely.'
Experts predicted a full repeal of Obamacare without an adequate replacement would result in 20 million people losing their health coverage, CNBC reported.
Another provision would repeal a provision that limited the tax deduction for executive pay of more than $500,000. The limit would go away in 2018.
The tax credits vary by age. People in their 30s might get tax credits of $2,500, while people in their 30s would get about $3,000 and people in their 50s would get about $3,500, with the amount capping out at $4,000.
Said House Speaker Paul Ryan in a statement: 'Obamacare is rapidly collapsing. Skyrocketing premiums, soaring deductibles, and dwindling choices are not what the people were promised seven years ago. It's time to turn a page and rescue our health care system from this disastrous law.'
Touting the GOP plan, he said: 'The American Health Care Act is a plan to drive down costs, encourage competition, and give every American access to quality, affordable health insurance. It protects young adults, patients with pre-existing conditions, and provides a stable transition so that no one has the rug pulled out from under them.'
'After years of Obamacare's broken promises, House Republicans today took an important step,' said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Greg Walden of Oregon.
'Simply put, we have a Better Way to deliver solutions that put patients -- not bureaucrats -- first, and we are moving forward united in our efforts to rescue the American people from the mess Obamacare has created.'
The bill withholds funding from groups like Planned Parenthood that provide abortions using funds other than federal funds.
Two Obamacare reforms would be preserved: provisions that prohibiting health insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions, and a provision that lets children stay on their parent's plans until age 26.
The bill would, however, allow insurance companies to charge higher premiums to those with pre-existing conditions who let their coverage lapse, according to CNN.
'Republicans even enable insurers to once again charge more or deny coverage to millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions, abandoning those families who lapse in coverage for any reason at all,' said Pelosi.
'Republicans have decided that affordable health care should be the privilege of the wealthy, not the right of every family in America.'
Republican leaders tried to address growing conservative opposition to the plan, imposing income limitations on the tax credits. Some House and Senate conservatives have been deriding the bill as 'Obamacare light.' |
No heart so bold, but now grows cold And almost dead with fear: No eye so dry, but now can cry, And pour out many a tear. Earth's potentates and pow'rful states, Captains and men of might Are quite abasht, their courage dasht At this most dreadful sight.
Would you have griev'd to have receiv'd through Adam so much good, As had been your for evermore, if he at first had stood? Would you have said, 'We ne'er obey'd nor did thy laws regard; It ill befits with benefits, us, Lord, to so reward?
Mehr
Seite 110 Threatnings might it fray, All these, and more, had still surviving been: But all are gone, for Death will have no Nay. Such is this World with all her Pomp and Glory, Such are the men whom worldly eyes admire: Cut down by Time, and now become a Story, That we might after better things aspire. Go boast thy self of what thy heart enjoyes, Vain Man! Wird in 28 Büchern von 1829 bis 2008 erwähnt
Seite 26 Both sea and land, at His command, Their dead at once surrender: The fire and air constrained are Also their dead to tender. The mighty word of this great Lord Links body and soul together Both of the just, and the unjust, To part no more forever. 19 The same translates, from mortal states To immortality, All that survive, and be alive, I... Wird in 29 Büchern von 1867 bis 2008 erwähnt
Seite 70 If he had stood, then all his brood had been established In God's true love never to move, nor once awry to tread ; Then all his Race my Father's Grace should have enjoy'd for ever, And wicked Sprites by subtile sleights could them have harmed never. Wird in 44 Büchern von 1828 bis 2008 erwähnt
Seite 71 Since then to share in his welfare, you could have been content, You may with reason share in his treason, and in the punishment. Hence you were born in state forlorn, with natures so depraved; Death was your due because that you had thus yourselves behaved. "You think, 'If we had been as he, whom God did so betrust, We to our cost would ne'er have lost all for a paltry lust. Wird in 41 Büchern von 1828 bis 2008 erwähnt
Seite 23 Viewing this light, which shines more bright then doth the Noon-day Sun. Straightway appears (they see't with tears) the Son of God most dread; Who with his Train comes on amain To Judge both Quick and Dead. Before his face the Heav'ns gave place, and Skies are rent asunder, With mighty voice, and hideous noise, more terrible than Thunder. Wird in 42 Büchern von 1829 bis 2008 erwähnt
Seite 21 Still was the night, Serene and Bright, when all Men sleeping lay; Calm was the season, and carnal reason thought so 'twould last for ay. Soul, take thine ease, let sorrow cease, much good thou hast in store: This was their Song, their Cups among, the Evening before. Wird in 90 Büchern von 1829 bis 2008 erwähnt
Seite 73 A crime it is, therefore in bliss you may not hope to dwell; But unto you I shall allow the easiest room in Hell. The glorious King thus answering, they cease, and plead no longer: Their Consciences must needs confess his Reasons are the stronger. Wird in 78 Büchern von 1769 bis 2008 erwähnt
Seite 81 For day and night, in their despite, Their torment's smoke ascendeth; Their pain and grief have no relief, Their anguish never endeth. There must they lie and never die, Though dying every day; There must they, dying, ever lie. And not consume away. Wird in 44 Büchern von 1867 bis 2003 erwähnt
Weniger |
Worldcrunch *NEWSBITES
"Weltbild," Germany’s largest media company, sells books, DVDs, music and more -- and also happens to belong 100% to the Catholic Church. Few people knew about this connection until this month when Buchreport, a German industry newsletter, reported that the Catholic company also sells porn.
A Church spokesman responded: “Weltbild tries to prevent the distribution of possibly pornographic content.”
Well, it's prevention efforts have apparently not been so successful. For more than 10 years, a group of committed Catholics has been trying to point out what is going on to Church authorities, and they are outraged at the hypocrisy of the spokesman's statement. In 2008, the group sent a 70-page document to all the bishops whose dioceses have shared ownership of Weltbild for 30 years, detailing evidence of the sale of questionable material.
Today, the Augsburg-based company employs 6,400 people, has an annual turnover of 1.7 billion euros, and an online business in Germany second only to Amazon. Weltbild is also Germany’s leading book seller, controlling 20% of the domestic bookstore market. Profits are regularly reinvested in the company with an eye to rapidly increase the market share – an increase that is only possible if Weltbild continues to sell materials that are not compatible with the teachings of the Church.
The 2,500 erotic books in their online catalogue, including those from Blue Panther Books, an erotic book publisher owned by Weltbild, are only one example. Their titles include: “Anwaltshure” (Lawyer’s Whore), “Vögelbar” (F—kable) and “Schlampen-Internat” (Sluts’ Boarding School).
The Church also owns a 50% share in publishing company Droemer Knaur which produces pornographic books, and so indirectly is also a publisher of pornographic material, titles including “Nimm mich hier und nimm mich jetzt!” (Take Me Here, Take Me Now!), and “Sag Luder zu mir!” (Call Me Slut!).
Read the full article in German
Photo - cover of "Anwaltshure" |
Product information:
QBX Mini-ITX Cube Chassis - Black
Features
Specifications
More links for "QBX Mini-ITX Cube Chassis - Black"
The QBX’s elegant, hairline surface front panel is the face of an ultra-compact case with one of the most stylish designs a pc case has ever seen. With the ability to house a full powered gaming computer with the latest technology, it allows the user to install up to 7 fans , thus providing the absolute best cooling on the market for a case of its kind.A full, pro-level computer, including support for high-end graphic cards, up to 4 SSD, 7 fans with water cooling and much more, all in a compact case. QBX can fit almost anywhere you could want to put a computer in.- Support for up to 350mm Graphic Cards: Run everything on the market, and do it smoothly.- Supports PS2 ATX Power Supply Units (depth up to 140mm): All the fuel you need.- Supports Mini-ITX Motherboards: Full Capabilities, Minimum Space.- USB 3.0 (two ports): Enjoy the full power of new generation peripherals.- 1 Slim Optical Disc Drive Bay (Slim ODD) / SSD bay: Enjoy disc media formats or add more storage- Space for a 3.5”HDD + Up to four 2.5” SSD or HDD: A world of High Speed Storage.- Up to 7 fans with Water Cooling.- Pro-Cooling design: the openings and fan placements are located to ensure a constant fresh air flow.- Independent Power Supply Airflow: The air does not even get into the case, it cools your PSU and gets out again.- Compatible with Water Cooling Systems (Radiators up to 240mm with a single 120mm fan)- Case Type: Mini ITX Case- Motherboard Type: Mini ITX- Dimension (WxHxD): 7.01 x 10.24 x 14.49 (inch), 178 x 260 x 368 (mm)- Optical Disk Drive (ODD) Type: Supports ONLY Slim ODD- 3.5" Internal Drive Bay (HDD): 1- 2.5" Drive Bay (HDD/SSD): 4- Expansion Slots (For example for Graphics Card): 1- I/O Panel: 2 x USB3.0 / HD audio- Cooling System: Max Installed :7pcs Fans - Front: 80mm Fan x 1 (optional), Top: 120mm Fans x 2 (optional), Rear: 90mm Fan x 1 (pre-installed), Bottom: 120mm Fans x 2 (optional), Left Side: 120mm Fan x 1 or 240mm radiator with a single 120mm fan or 120mm radiator with a 120mm fan- Cable management system: Cable feedthrough on the motherboard tray for easily routing and hiding cables.- Fan Filter (Cleanable): 1 x Bottom Filter (pre-installed and removable), 1 x Front Filter (included, installed by the user)- Water cooling support: Left Side:240mm radiator with a single 120mm fan or Left Side:120mm radiator with a 120mm fan- Max. Graphic card Length: 350mm (Support for High End Graphics Cards)- Max. CPU cooler height: 105mm- PSU: PS2 ATX Type (up to 140mm long) |
With Memorial Day behind us, and summer officially starting, it is important to remember the everyday heroes in our lives – and not just the ones in the Armed Forces. Local firefighters are a vital part to any community. These men and women are often the first responders to all emergencies and departments are mostly made up of volunteers. Although there is an official day to celebrate the work fire departments do (May 4th), there’s a family in North Carolina trying to start a new tradition.
To honor their fallen hero, Richard Sheltra’s family is asking people from all 50 states to give a batch of chocolate chip cookies to their own local fire department. Sheltra was a volunteer firefighter from Pineville, NC who died on duty in April 2016. His family is hoping to do this today to honor what would have been his 21st birthday. To find out more about Richard Sheltra’s family, click here.
CFD Fire Station 40 looks like you've got some cookies coming tomorrow in honor of Richard Sheltra #PVFD73 pic.twitter.com/2iQvpu9JAj — Charlotte Fire Comms (@CFD_Alarm) June 2, 2016
If you would like to participate, here’s where you can find your local station.
Excuse me while I go make these for my own fire department. |
Making the blanks is quite easy with a sharp knife and a good, thick straightedge. Position the straightedge to where you want the cut, and score along the edge with the knife. You'll want to be careful both when 'ripping' (cutting with the grain) and 'cross cutting' (cutting across the grain).
If the grain's not perfectly in line with your rip cut, the blade can get caught following the grain, not the straightedge. Splitting wood is seductively easy- don't go too fast, or you might deviate from the cut. You should also align the straightedge so the grain will push the blade towards the guide, not away. I like to keep the knife up at a relatively sharp angle, and cut clean through in one pass. Quite easy, once you get the hang of it. Use these rip cuts to split the wood into long 2 inch strips, which can then be split into individual cards.
When cutting across the grain (or on burled/figured wood, where the grain is wonky), you need to beware applying too much pressure and cracking or breaking the wood. I like to hold the knife blade relatively flat (small angle against the wood), and try to score the surface once or twice. Since you're only cutting two inches across, it's then quite easy to snap through the remaining material cleanly. |
Abbott 'caught out' on use of pensioner's power bill
Updated
Labor says Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has been caught out in his use of a "pensioner's" electricity bill as part of his anti-carbon tax campaign.
In questioning the Prime Minister about Hetty Verolme's bill, Mr Abbott said the customer "nearly had a heart attack" when she got her most recent power bill.
It had more than doubled since her previous bill to $1,563 for the months of June and July, and Mr Abbott wanted to know what advice Julia Gillard had for the Perth pensioner.
He followed up with a supplementary question: "With an $800 increase in just one bill of which 70 per cent is due to the carbon tax, how can the Prime Minister possibly claim that Hetty Verolme's compensation is in any way adequate?"
Labor challenged Mr Abbott to table the bill in Parliament so it could verify Mr Abbott's claims, meaning it has now been made publicly available.
An electricity consumption graph on the side of the bill shows that most of the increase was due to a dramatic increase in power usage at Mrs Verolme's home.
It also includes a note saying that electricity prices had increased on July 1 by 2.255 cents per unit because of the carbon tax, which "represents an estimated increase of 9.13 per cent for an average daily usage of 15.89 units".
That is less than the Treasury forecast of a 10 per cent increase in electricity costs because of the carbon tax.
"Once again, the Leader of the Opposition caught out just like he was on Whyalla, caught out just like he was on the coal industry, caught out just like he was on lamb roasts, peddling fear (and) peddling reckless negativity," Ms Gillard told Parliament.
"The one thing you'll never hear from the Leader of the Opposition is anything that sounds like the truth about carbon pricing.
"The Opposition knows that the increase around the country has been what was predicted - 10 per cent or less."
Percentage increase
The power company that supplies Mrs Verolme is Synergy.
When it announced the 9.13 per cent carbon tax-related increase in June, it also said there would be a regular 3.5 per cent rise in power costs, taking the total increase to 12.63 per cent.
As a percentage of the overall percentage increase, the carbon tax component is just over 70 per cent.
Liberal frontbencher Christopher Pyne responded angrily to the Prime Minister.
"How can it be relevant for the Prime Minister to mislead the Parliament by claiming that the increase is 9 per cent when the Leader of the Opposition asked about 70 per cent of the increase in Western Australia?" Mr Pyne said.
Phone surcharge
The Opposition has also raised concerns about a potential carbon tax surcharge on phone bills.
It has obtained a sample letter from Telstra which considers a "Network Electricity Surcharge" linked to the Government's move to price carbon.
A Telstra spokesman says the letter was prepared as part of a market testing process that is used to "gauge market understanding and reaction to certain topics".
"We have been looking to understand customer reaction and understanding to carbon pricing, and this letter was one of several that was tested with this audience," he said.
"We've made no decisions about pricing changes linked to this issue."
Topics: federal-government, federal-parliament, electricity-energy-and-utilities, emissions-trading, climate-change, australia, wa
First posted |
A disgruntled Japanese schoolboy is facing charges for allegedly shutting down the websites of 444 schools to “remind teachers they are incompetent”.
The 16-year-old boy reportedly launched a cyber attack against the Osaka Board of Education by hacking into its server before closing down hundreds of school websites across the region.
The incident, which took place last November when the boy was aged 15, was the first cyber attack of its kind against a local government in Japan, according to Sankei West News.
Following a police investigation into the incident, the boy has since been arrested and charged in relation to obstruction of business, with officers seizing his computer and books on hacking.
The boy’s hacking mission was reportedly motivated by a desire to highlight the incompetence of his teachers, according to media reports. “I hate how the teachers talk down to us and never let us express ourselves,” the boy told police, according to Rocket News. “So, I thought I would remind them of their own incompetence. It felt good to see them have problems. I did it several times.”
Penalties for such incidents of obstruction of business include a 500,000 yen fine or a maximum three-year prison sentence, although leniency is expected due to his age, according to reports.
Japan has been stepping up its measures against cyber defences in recent years, with Group of Seven ministers in charge of information and communication technology meeting to discuss the issue on Shikoku island last month.
Cyber security was a key issued discussed by ministers, who are keen to collaborate on an international scale in relation to clamping down on criminals and terrorists exploiting internet hacking skills.
A shortage of skilled cyber security experts is one issue facing Japan, the setting of more than 1,000 hacked organisations in recent months – ranging from the prime minister’s office to Nissan - according to media reports.
In February, a 15-year-old British schoolboy was arrested in Glasgow for allegedly attempting to hack into the top secret computer system of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. |
It might have taken nearly a month to put a new Government together, but Labour's planning to hit the ground running.
By this time next week Prime Minister-elect Jacinda Ardern will have her Cabinet in place, including a few friends from New Zealand First.
With the backing of the Greens from the outside, Labour wants to achieve a lot in its first 100 days - which from Friday, gives the party until the end of February.
But with policy concessions to the Greens and NZ First needed to get into power, how much of its original policy platform is likely to remain in tact? It already appears Labour has given up its controversial water tax, with Ms Ardern telling The AM Show on Friday Winston Peters had been "firm" in his opposition to it.
In case you've forgotten, here's what Labour has planned to get started on right away - and how likely it is to have the support of its partners.
'Make the first year of tertiary education or training fees free from January 1, 2018'
Likelihood: Good. The Greens, like Labour, want to eventually move to a completely free tertiary education system. NZ First wants the Government to cover the cost of fees, and would wipe loans for students who stay in New Zealand. The Government's books are in good shape too, so there's money to spend.
'Increase student allowances and living cost loans by $50 a week from January 1, 2018'
Likelihood: Excellent. Both the Greens and NZ First want means testing gradually removed from student allowances. Labour hasn't gone that far yet, but would make the amount ineligible students could borrow higher. The Greens want welfare boosts across the board, including students.
'Pass the Healthy Homes Guarantee Bill, requiring all rentals to be warm and dry'
Likelihood: Almost certain. NZ First and the Greens both supported this at its first and second readings. The Greens worked with National on getting homes insulated, and NZ First has in the past called for insulation subsidies.
'Ban overseas speculators from buying existing houses'
Likelihood: A given. It's a policy all three parties agree on.
'Issue an instruction to Housing New Zealand to stop the state house sell-off'
Likelihood: Excellent. It's been a core Green Party policy for a long time, and Labour was the original architect of the state housing scheme. NZ First has also called for the sell-off to end.
'Begin work to establish the Affordable Housing Authority and begin the KiwiBuild programme'
Likelihood: Excellent. It ties in nicely with NZ First's plan to boost the New Zealand forestry sector. It could take a while before the effects start to be felt, however.
'Legislate to pass the Families Package, including the Winter Fuel Payment, Best Start and increases to Paid Parental Leave, to take effect from 1 July 2018'
Likelihood: Almost certain. All three parties have campaigned on extending paid parental leave, with NZ First also wanting more for fathers so they can take time off too.
'Set up a ministerial inquiry in order to fix our mental health crisis'
Likelihood: Excellent. All three parties have called for an inquiry, and the Greens announced on Friday morning they'd secured increased support and access to mental health services as a part of their deal with Labour.
'Introduce legislation to make medicinal cannabis available for people with terminal illnesses or in chronic pain'
Likelihood: Pretty good, if not right away. The Greens are on board of course, but Winston Peters has backed having a referendum first.
'Resume contributions to the New Zealand Superannuation Fund to help safeguard the provision of universal superannuation at age 65'
Likelihood: A given. The Super Fund was the fourth Labour Government's baby, and pensioners have long had a friend in Winston Peters.
'Introduce legislation to set a child poverty reduction target and to change the Public Finance Act so the Budget reports progress on reducing child poverty'
Likelihood: Pretty good. Labour and the Greens are in line on this, and NZ First has backed Working for Families and also voted for Hone Harawira's doomed 'Feed the Kids' Bill of 2015.
'Increase the minimum wage to $16.50 an hour, to take effect from 1 April 2018, and introduce legislation to improve fairness in the workplace'
Likelihood: Certain. It's already $15.75, and would probably go up 50c anyway if National had won the election. In fact, the Greens want it risen to $18, while NZ First wants it go even higher to $20 an hour.
'Establish the Tax Working Group'
Likelihood: Good. Winston Peters actually advised Labour against putting its faith in a post-election working group; but with Labour saying it won't make any major tax change proposals until after the working group reports back, it's hard to see how it won't happen.
'Establish the Pike River Recovery Agency and assign a responsible minister'
Likelihood: A given. Winston Peters has fought hard for the Pike River families - and don't be surprised if he ends up being the minister responsible for the inevitable re-entry.
'Set up an inquiry into the abuse of children in state care'
Likelihood: Pretty good. NZ First have been pretty quiet on the topic, but don't appear to be opposed.
'Hold a Clean Waters Summit on cleaning up our rivers and lakes'
Likelihood: Excellent. Clearly the Greens would be keen, and NZ First also wants to make "rivers and lakes fully swimmable".
'Set the zero carbon emissions goal and begin setting up the independent climate commission'
Likelihood: Excellent. The Greens announced on Friday morning they'd secured the establishment of an independent climate commission. The parties differ on their approach to tackling climate change - NZ First and the Greens want to can the ETS, for example - but all agree climate change needs to be taken seriously.
Newshub. |
© Olivier Douliery/Pool/Sipa USA/TNS The CIA seal is seen on the floor during a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump on Jan. 21, 2017 at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Va.
WASHINGTON — When wayward contract employees at the CIA began pilfering snacks from vending machines back in 2013, the Office of the Inspector General sprang into action. Surveillance cameras went up, the culprits were nabbed, and all lost their jobs.
From start to finish, the case of the $3,314.40 in stolen snacks lasted two months.
When more serious allegations of wrongdoing arise at the CIA, though, inspectors may be far less speedy, especially when their findings could embarrass the Langley, Va., spy agency.
In one notable case, that of John Reidy, a contractor whose resume shows that he worked with spies deep inside Iran’s mullah-run regime, charges of wrongdoing have sat idle in the hands of CIA inspectors. Details of Reidy’s charges remain highly classified. The case is now 7 years old, and seems only to gather dust.
Reidy, 46, anguishes over his charges, angry at the yearslong delay in resolving his complaints but also wary of crossing a line and revealing anything classified beyond his allegations of a “catastrophic intelligence failure” overseas.
“I cannot talk about the 2007 incident. It is classified. I risk incarceration. I have a family,” Reidy wrote in an email before meeting with a reporter.
But in addition to his whistleblower case, Reidy presses a larger issue, one that is pertinent to the era of President Donald Trump and his persistent charges that sensitive leaks cripple his six-month-old administration. Leaks may grow worse if intelligence agencies don’t learn how to channel dissent and protect those who offer it in a constructive spirit.
“I played by the rules,” Reidy said. “They are broken. … The public has to realize that whistleblowers (like me) can follow all the rules and nothing gets done.” In frustration, Reidy last month sent a 90-page letter and documentation about his case to the chairman of the Senate’s powerful Judiciary Committee, lambasting its lack of resolution.
“They have enough time to look into who is stealing candy from a vending machine but they can’t look into billion-dollar contract fraud?” Reidy asked in an interview.
The CIA refused to comment on Reidy’s case.
“As a general matter, we do not comment on ongoing litigation,” said spokesperson Heather Fritz Horniak.
Even if CIA officials have a far different version of events, perhaps contradicting some of Reidy’s allegations, the secrecy with which the agency operates impedes them from speaking out. CIA Director Mike Pompeo said in a speech Tuesday night that his agency finds it difficult to “push back” against misleading or wrong news reports.
“At CIA we’re often limited in what we can say, given the need to protect classified information. In many cases we can’t set the record straight because doing so could harm national security,” Pompeo told a gathering of the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, a nonpartisan group in support of the intelligence community.
It took a lawsuit to release the information about the theft from CIA vending machines. The agency released a declassified report about the case as part of hundreds of documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed in 2015 by BuzzFeed News.
Pilfering from the vending machines began in 2012, and by March 2013, inspectors began looking into the thefts, discovering that the culprits were unplugging a cable linking the machines to a payment system, FreedomPay, letting them obtain snacks at no charge.
“Video footage recovered from the surveillance cameras captured numerous perpetrators engaged in the FreedomPay theft scheme, all of whom were readily identifiable as Agency contract personnel,” the inspectors’ report says.
The vending machine thievery wrapped up neatly. But Reidy still waits for resolution of the seemingly far more significant issues he has raised.
Reidy is more straight arrow than troublemaker. A native of Worcester, Mass., he was educated in Catholic schools, then attended St. Anselm College in New Hampshire and obtained a law degree from the University of San Francisco. Law degree in hand, he dreamed of joining the FBI.
After a stint in the Army, where he worked in a criminal investigations division, Reidy applied for jobs at both the FBI and the CIA. The CIA called more quickly, and Reidy joined in 2003, leaving six months later for a private contractor that dealt in security policy.
Reidy formed his own company in 2006, Form III Defense Solutions, and worked as a subcontractor, piggybacking on contracts won by bigger companies for intelligence collection, tactical targeting guidance and other matters, usually with the CIA.
A resume he gave to McClatchy shows that from 2006 to 2009, Reidy developed an “Iran Study Guide” and worked on “humint” — or human intelligence. Reidy said intelligence community secrecy rules bar him from naming the country where he handled a “complex agency operation,” but he does say he studied some Farsi language. He hasn’t done any classified work since 2012.
Two different issues led Reidy in 2010 to submit a complaint to the CIA’s internal watchdog, the Inspector General’s Office. One issue involved what Reidy alleged was fraud between elements within the CIA and contractors. Another issue involved what he called a “massive” and “catastrophic” intelligence failure due to a bungled foreign operation, according to his 2014 appeal to an office under the director of national intelligence.
Reidy said he sent the Inspector General’s Office 80 emails and 56 documents to back up his complaints.
Legal protections for whistleblowers in the intelligence community grew stronger in 2012, when then-President Barack Obama signed a presidential directive protecting people from various forms of retaliation, including demotions, termination or reassignment. Reidy took heart at the move.
“He was the poster child of the person the system is supposed to work for,” said Kel McClanahan, a Maryland attorney who represented Reidy until 2016.
Despite the Obama directive, experts working in the national security arena say employees still confront obstacles. Employees’ lawyers have no access to classified documents around which a case may rest. Classified matters cannot even be discussed between client and attorney. The CIA sees its Inspector General’s Office as impartial and makes it difficult for employees who hire attorneys, although Reidy did so for years.
Often, CIA employees or contractors find their careers put on hold.
“You will likely find yourself a pariah because nobody likes someone who rocks the boat,” said Bradley P. Moss, a Washington lawyer who handles some national security cases involving whistleblowers.
Employees disgruntled over fraud, abuse or other matters cannot easily look to obtain redress from outside the intelligence community.
“There’s no outside review of whistleblower cases in the intelligence community,” said Kathleen McClellan, deputy director at Expose Facts, a whistleblower advocacy group. “If you’re an employee who sees something egregious, they don’t have to do anything with it. They can flush it down the toilet for all you know.”
As Reidy found out, an internal investigation can drag on without time limit.
“They can go on for years. They can go on for decades,” said Jesselyn Radack, a former Justice Department ethics attorney who also works at Expose Facts.
Reidy has also told his story to staffers with security clearances for the House and Senate intelligence committees, and seen his case bounce between the CIA inspector general and the inspector general for the Directorate of National Intelligence.
Desperate for an outcome, Reidy increasingly warns that the failure of whistleblowing channels may lead disgruntled employees and contractors to go public with secrets, posing a danger to national security.
The CIA and the National Security Agency have been hit with numerous cases of leaks since the ground-shaking case of Edward Snowden, the NSA contractor who in 2013 leaked to the media details of extensive surveillance, including of tens of millions of Americans.
This year, another NSA contractor, Harold T. Martin, was indicted for amassing secret stolen documents and data at his Maryland home over a 20-year period. He awaits trial.
Prosecutors in early June charged another NSA contractor, 25-year-old Reality Winner, with sending a classified report about Russia’s meddling in the 2016 elections to The Intercept, a national security news outlet. She could face 10 years in prison.
For its part, WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group, began publishing in March a series of cyber-espionage documents that it claimed were taken from the CIA’s elite hacking unit. Speculation rose that a CIA contractor stole the documents and leaked them.
Seeking to spur action in his case, Reidy last month fired off letters to the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, warning that working through the CIA Inspector General’s Office has been a dead end.
“They just delay, delay, and delay and hope the problem goes away,” Reidy said in a June 5 letter to Sen. Charles Grassley, the Judiciary panel’s chairman.
Reidy said his own example bodes poorly for those who want to report fraud or abuse.
“If you are contemplating whistleblowing ... you’re going to sit there and say, ‘If I go through that system, it will not end well for me. I’m going to lose my career and I’m going to be financially devastated,’” Reidy said. |
Around the same time, Japan boasted a lot of sexually explicit games airing late at night, which went on to become “weird Japan” staples as well. These shows featured segments where men competed with the objective often being to reveal a woman in either skimpy clothes—or nothing at all (NSFW example here). These shows weren’t primetime staples, and it wasn’t like sex-soaked TV was unique to Japan in the early 1990s, but they did have a heyday.
So the wacky-Japanese-game-show cliché reflects real programming that once ruled the airwaves. But for a show in 2013 to pretend this model remains dominant today is off base. That’s because, even though shows featuring physical punishment and nudity were popular, there were also plenty of Japanese people outraged by them. The non-profit, non-governmental Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization set out to reform Japanese television, and in 1997 established The Broadcast and Human Rights / Other Related Rights Committee. This arm of the organization “aids parties whose honor, privacy or other human rights have been violated by broadcasting.” The group proved to have sway, and by the year 2000 the “punishment games” and sexy late-night programming were gone or toned down drastically.
This, coupled with an interest in the show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, ushered in the age of Japanese game shows that remains today—ruled by quiz shows with famous contestants. Only one program, Panel Quiz Attach 25, features regular people playing. Everything else stars celebrities, finding them answering trivia question while riding in fake rockets or guessing the price of items at grocery stores. The shows with actual physical contests are far more tame than Takeshi’s Castle or anything from the ‘90s; the challenges these days more resemble those on Nickelodeon’s Double Dare.
Save for the viral spreading of “Brain Wall” (Human Tetris) and the continued success of Sasuke (closer to ESPN than The Game Show Network, and inspiring American shows Wipeout and Ninja Warrior), very little considered a game show in Japan as of late has been worthy of the “wacky” tag. A recent viral clip, dubbed “Orgasm Wars,” appeared on a late-night cable program on a special pay channel and introduced another round of Western tittering about Japan’s supposed zaniness. It’s not reflective of anything most Japanese people watch, and the clip was met with as much surprise by the nation's online community as it was overseas.
Many viewers are starting to tire of what most of the nation watches, though. Stories on Japanese news aggregator sites like Matome Navier, Blogos, and Nifty News have focused why viewers have taken to the Internet to bemoan how boring Japanese TV (in particular, variety shows) have gotten. Popular TV presenter Dave Spector says the ease in which people can watch foreign television programs—and then compare them to Japanese programming—has also made audiences less interested in terrestrial options. Whatever the reason, Japanese TV today isn’t pumping out anything as strange as outside nations make it seem.
Marblemedia writes that Japanizi has already been pre-sold in over 120 countries, and will debut on Disney Channels around the world next year. The show claims to double as an introduction to the Japanese language and Japanese culture, and as a means to spread that language and culture far and wide. It’s too bad it’ll also be spreading a woefully outdated stereotype.
*This post originally misidentified Matsumoto Hitoshi as Yoshimoto Kogyo. We regret the error.
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to [email protected]. |
A last-minute budget proposal to redirect city funds to repair and upgrade Minneapolis’ Fourth Precinct police station — the site of recent protests — drew a packed house of angry activists to City Hall Wednesday evening.
After hours of withering testimony, the amendment touted earlier by the mayor’s office was not introduced.
The proposal, sponsored by Council Members Blong Yang and Barb Johnson and supported by Mayor Betsy Hodges, was announced hours before the council’s scheduled final budget hearing and vote. It would have directed about $605,000 for “safety and accessibility improvements” at the Fourth Precinct station on Plymouth Avenue N.
But before council members formally introduced the plan, they faced disapproval from more than 60 people who spoke at a public hearing, most of them opposed to more funding for a police department they say needs major reform. Many interpreted the amendment as a move to “fortify” the police station, which has been surrounded by temporary barricades since police ended the 18-day occupation of the building last week. Demonstrators had been camped out to protest against the police shooting of Jamar Clark.
After hours of testimony, the council voted to approve a few new amendments, but the Fourth Precinct money had disappeared from the agenda.
Other last-minute additions to the mayor’s proposed $1.2 billion budget included $305,000 for training and other costs associated with the National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice, a project through which Minneapolis police officers will get training in dealing with biases toward other communities, crisis intervention and “procedural justice.”
Council members also voted to reallocate $50,000 from a new “green zones” community development program to a Fire Department job training program for high school students, and to create a new website dedicated to the city’s work on racial equity.
The budget raises the amount collected from property taxes, the city’s levy, by about 3.4 percent to $297.5 million. Other revenue generators include utility charges, parking fees, sales taxes and state aid.
The city projects that about 52 percent of owner-occupied homes will see a tax decrease as a result of the levy change.
The growth in apartments means they will bear more of the property tax burden. Apartment values grew by 29 percent in 2015, compared with just 7 percent for residential properties. Commercial property values grew by 14 percent.
The budget increases the Police Department’s ranks of sworn officers from 860 to 862, with the two new officers dedicated to downtown. It also provides funds for a recruit class, two additional forensic scientists in the crime lab and two positions in the crime analysis unit to help respond to public information requests.
An additional two new positions will be focused on redacting footage from police body cameras, which will be rolled out across the department next year.
Hodges said the bulk of the budget that was not a subject of debate Wednesday reflects officials’ commitment to working for equity across the city.
“The actions taken tonight — and the actions not taken tonight — reflect that we value that input and reflect what we heard from the community,” she said.
Erin Golden • 612-673-4790 |
Whither the MTA’s $32 billion capital plan? By Benjamin Kabak By· Published in 2015
As we approach the six-week mark of 2015, the MTA’s next five-year capital plan — all $32 billion of it — was supposed to kick off on January 1. Now, it’s not a surprise or out of the ordinary that nearly half of the plan’s funding isn’t in place or that the plan hasn’t been approved by the state’s Capital Program Review Board. Last fall’s rejection was a pro forma measure designed to attract political attention to the need to identify funding sources. What’s surprising is how utterly silent Albany and Governor Cuomo have been on the issue.
At this point in the debate, there has been no debate. The only action from Cuomo involved tossing a wrench in the form of the ill-designed LaGuardia AirTrain into the MTA’s plans and requiring the agency to re-write a portion of the five-year proposal. He hasn’t talked about funding mechanism; he hasn’t discussed new dedicated revenue streams; and he certainly hasn’t leaped to embrace anything as progressive as MoveNY’s traffic pricing plan. The silence is deafening.
It’s not though for lack of action and noise downstate. Earlier this week, Mayor Bill de Blasio — who thanks to politics has nearly no say over perhaps the most important element driving New York City development — essentially punted the MTA funding question to Albany where it belongs. The mayor recently proposed some new Select Bus Service routes and $300 million over funding over the next decade (though the proposal could be better), and that’s the extent of his control over major MTA moves. DOT can reallocate street space, and the MTA will provide the buses. Meanwhile, the mayor has asked Albany to do something about the capital funding gap.
De Blasio’s statements earlier this week echo comments he made last week. As Capital New York reported, hizzoner made it clear that Albany must find a solution. “I think clearly this an Albany question first and foremost,” the mayor said while on NY1. “Not only do we need to preserve the payroll tax that’s playing such a crucial role now, but I think we have to have a real debate about what Albany should do with its resources and what’s fair for the whole state.”
Of course, the city’s contribution to the MTA’s capital plan has stagnated at $100 million per year for decades. At a rate of inflation, the city should be contributing $363 million, but even that huge increase would leave a gap of nearly $14 billion. The city could do more, but by and large, de Blasio is looking in the right direction.
The mayor isn’t the only one squawking at Albany that isn’t really listening. On Wednesday, the Urban Land Institute of New York and the Permanent Citizens Advisory Committee to the MTA released a report and a fancy website highlighting why the region needs a fully funded MTA capital plan. The report highlight a bunch of facts anyone reading this far already knows — 90% of NY workers live in areas served by the MTA; the Lexington Ave. line carries more riders than subways in San Francisco, Chicago, and Boston combined; the MTA needs to keep investing in system renewal to avoid constant breakdowns, etc. But it’s important because it’s a salvo in a political fight.
“We need to focus on continuing to deliver to New York commuters an affordable, accessible transit network that is equipped for the challenges of tomorrow. As the city and state’s leaders determine the final shape of the Capital Program, it is vital that they keep everyday New Yorkers at the top of their agenda,” William Henderson, Executive Director of PCAC, said. We can’t risk not investing in the system as we’ve been down that road before.
So what happens next? Eventually, Albany will pick up the cause, and the debate may play itself out in familiar fashion. No one will propose traffic pricing, but debt will be on the table. And the MTA’s debt, as a new report by the Straphangers highlights, is a problem. The MTA itself is carrying more debt than 30 nations including war-torn Syria and the entirety of Chile. And yet underinvesting is on the table because, as Joan Byron of the Pratt Center said yesterday, “we have a governor who has demonstrated that he does not get how important the MTA is to the metro and regional economy.” That’s a scary thought indeed. |
The Italian coach is likely to be relieved of his duties unless Madrid wins another trophy this season. Two Goal writers go head to head on the issue.
NO ONE AVAILABLE HAS A BETTER PEDIGREE THAN ANCELOTTI
The pressure is truly on Carlo Ancelotti. With Barcelona the favorite to win La Liga, the Champions League now takes on added importance for Real Madrid.As recently as December, the Blancos had won 22 games in succession and looked on course for an historic season - having already clinched the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup.But Madrid has suffered an alarming downturn in form in 2015, losing top spot in the Primera Division and very nearly suffering a humiliating Champions League exit to Schalke in the last 16, losing 4-3 at home in the second leg after winning 2-0 away.Ancelotti was booed off the pitch that night, and the tension has increased since Madrid lost the Clasico to Barcelona, 2-1. Inevitably, the ex-AC Milan boss' future has come under scrutiny and sources indicate to Goal International that unless Madrid either retains the Champions League or overhauls Barca's lead in La Liga, then Ancelotti is likely to be sacked in June. Ahead of Tuesday's pivotal Champions League quarterfinal first leg clash against local rivals Atletico on Tuesday, two Goal writers debate Ancelotti's future regardless of whether he wins another trophy. You can leave a comment and vote in our poll at the bottom of the page.Real Madrid does not tend to worry about the next move if the current coach isn’t meeting the required standard. But even considering the club's trigger-happy nature, the hierarchy must reach the correct conclusion – that Carlo Ancelotti is as capable as anyone available to take this team forward.Generally there tends to be a plethora of viable candidates for the hottest seat in football if word gets around that a change could be afoot. In recent years, Arsene Wenger and Rafa Benitez to name only two have been incessantly linked with the post, with both men bringing very different attributes to the role.But in the current climate there isn’t a single conceivable option with a superior pedigree to Ancelotti. In England, managers have either already been tried (Manuel Pellegrini, Jose Mourinho) or don’t have the experience to manage in Spain. In Germany, Pep Guardiola certainly won’t be residing in Madrid any time soon, while at Borussia Dortmund Jurgen Klopp’s stock has fallen considerably following a poor campaign.In Italy, the aforementioned Benitez certainly would be interested, but Napoli’s inconsistent season rules him out, while elsewhere in Spain there are excellent emerging coaches such as Marcelino at Villarreal and Unai Emery at Sevilla, but neither are close to being ready for the scrutiny of the Santiago Bernabeu. Finally, with Euro 2016 around the corner, prominent international figures won’t be leaving their posts until next summer.So where does that leave Madrid? It only leaves Zinedine Zidane, of course. Former midfielder Michel has stated his belief that ‘the club are preparing for Zidane’ but also feels Ancelotti is ‘an ideal coach for Real Madrid.’ Zidane, with his intelligence and poise, is unquestionably a coach in the making, but he simply isn’t ready.The politics and background shenanigans require subtle maneuvering and are as important as putting out a team on the pitch. The Frenchman is revered and is allowed freedom to operate at the moment, but all that changes when results are expected. Madrid might crave its own Guardiola, its own progressive product, but at the same time it must not destroy its protégé before he is in a position to handle everything that comes with directing the world’s biggest club.
Follow Paul Macdonald on
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE OR BUST FOR CARLO - LIKE LAST SEASON
Just like in his time at Chelsea, Carlo Ancelotti seems to be suffering from second season syndrome. The Italian coach led Real Madrid to four trophies in a calendar year for the first time in the club's history - but past glories mean little when it comes to job security at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Ancelotti's poor league record is under scutiny once again and, even though Madrid is now back to two points behind Barcelona with seven rounds remaining in La Liga, the Catalans remain the clear favorites for a Primera Division title that just more than a month ago looked to be heading back to the Bernabeu.
Press pressure on Ancelotti is mounting and, as things stand, La Liga may not be enough to keep him in a job next season - just as winning only the Copa del Rey would have been insufficient last season in the eyes of president Florentino Perez.
The club chief came out to rubbish claims last month that Ancelotti would be out of a job if he lost the Clasico, but he refused to confirm when pressed repeatedly whether the Italian would still be around in 2015-16.
Perez is embarrassed about Madrid's poor recent record against Atletico and had hoped last season's Decima triumph would lead to a period of dominance for Real.
That hasn't happened and, with the Madrid media on the coach's back, the Italian's position looks likely to become untenable unless he can deliver a second successive Champions League crown.
When the press campaigns commence, the writing is invariably on the wall and Ancelotti will be better off out of it, his head held high and his dignity intact after leading the club to its Decima dream - as much an obsession as an objective in the 12 years since Madrid's previous Champions League title in 2002.
What next for Real if Ancelotti does go? That's a problem for Perez to solve. But if Ancelotti fails to deliver the Champions League - and certainly if Madrid misses out to Atletico in the quarterfinals - it is extremely difficult to imagine he will still be at the club next season.
And however much he deserves to stay after the successes in his first 12 months (winning the Copa del Rey, the Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup), there will be no point because the pressure from the Madrid media will be too intense and he will not be allowed to work in peace.
So it's La Undecima or bust for Ancelotti at Real Madrid - however unfair that may seem.
Follow Ben Hayward on |
Defamer has a first look at Sir Ben Kingsley as Nizam in Prince of Persia gear for the upcoming Walt Disney Pictures’ flick ” Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” which is based on the popular video game.
In the film, Jake Gyllenhaal will play Dastan, a young Prince who teams with an exotic princess named Tamina (Gemma Arterton) on a mission to stop “a villainous nobleman from possessing the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world,”
Ben Kingsley will play the villain Nizam, who plots to kill his brother King Shahrman and blame it on Prince Dastan so he can take the throne.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time hits theaters on May 28th 2010. |
UNITED STATES — It’s become fairly commonplace for articles about “Blue Monday” to come up at this time of year. According to a formula concocted for a now-defunct travel network, the third Monday in January is the most depressing day of the year. While that designation was most likely created to sell vacation packages, it does serve to focus attention on a complex, often intractable condition.
Reverend Selena Fox, founder of Circle Sanctuary, has been a practicing psychotherapist for most of her adult life, and most of the people she works with in that context are Pagan. “It’s important one takes a holistic approach to healing and wellness,” she said. For Pagans, she added, that means “to be able to tap into their spirituality as part of working on getting better.” That is only one part of a successful treatment plan for depression, she stressed, for two main reasons:
A biochemical imbalance may be contributing to one’s depression, and often the best treatment in such cases involves biochemical support. “It’s really important to deal with the physical-plane dimensions of the condition, as well as the spiritual ones,” Fox said. That may mean medication, or one of the many herbal supplements which are used to lift mood. Determining which is best should be left to a trained professional.
There is a tendency among depression sufferers to constrict one’s social life as these interactions and activities stop giving pleasure. “It’s important to be aware of those tendencies and get help shifting out of holing up like that,” said Fox. Again, that help can take the form of a professional, such as a social worker, counselor, or therapist, or that help can be observant loved ones who are able to recognize depressed behavior.
Fox actually likened depression to a common cold in that it’s a relatively common condition, which should be resolved within a couple of weeks with self-care. Like the cold, though, if it persists longer than that, outside treatment should be sought. She recalled working in a clinic where some patients would only decide to seek help after having suffered for six or eight months. “It’s much easier to treat depression when it’s addressed earlier,” she said, noting that there are always treatment options available, no matter how serious the condition has become.
Some ways to find a suitable mental health professional include asking for references from Pagan friends and organizations in the local area, or contacting a professional association, such as the Association for Transpersonal Psychology that recognizes the importance of holistic approaches.
Taking all of that into account, there are Pagan-specific approaches to handling depression; all of which can be incorporated into a larger treatment plan. Both Fox and Tony Rella, a mental health counselor in the Seattle area and a student-mentor at the Morningstar Mystery School, use the elements of earth, water, air, and fire in their treatment plans. Fox also includes spirit in her approach.
While not every Pagan incorporates these concepts into their own religious practice, these elements can be used to present the information and recommendations that we have gathered from Fox, Rella and others.
Earth
Earth, the body, can take a beating during depression. Sleep patterns can be disrupted, and an attitude of, “What difference does it make?” can lead to poor self-care. Fox likens this to a passive form of suicidal ideation. “Someone who has the flu might not have the energy to get it treated, and it turns into pneumonia,” she explained.
Rella said activity and diet are very important earth aspects. “Am I getting exercise? Am I spending time outside? Am I getting regular doses of sunlight or Vitamin D? (A big problem in the Pacific Northwest!) Is my diet promoting health? There is emerging research that indicates a relationship between depression and inflammation in the body, leading some professionals to suggest experimenting with reducing or eliminating foods that might promote inflammation, like foods high in sugar.”
Foods are an important part of Shauna Aura Knight‘s personal strategy:
About a decade ago, I started noticing certain foods seemed to impact me. I was focusing more on reducing my migraines and acne, but (as it turned out) those foods also impacted my depression. I used to live off hot pockets, mini pizzas, and soda. Carbs, sugar, dairy. It took years to finally make the switch to a (roughly) paleo diet. No grains, no added sugars, no dairy, no calorie free sweeteners. Part of what helped me to make the switch was my belief that the divine is in each person, and that my body is divine. ‘My body is a living temple of love’ is a line from one of my favorite chants. My sacred body is worth the extra effort. Eliminating certain foods reduced the exhaustion/depression symptoms, and helped me to lose a hundred pounds which has significantly reduced my foot pain and joint pain. Taking Vitamin D, B, and my prescribed thyroid medication also helped.
Factors like sunlight and physical activity can be difficult to manage in northern climes. When reached for this story, Fox reported that it was 40 below outside her Wisconsin home. “Some days, sitting by a sunny window is all you can do,” she acknowledged, but she suggests supplementing limited exposure to sunlight with full-spectrum light boxes, and visualization exercises. Weather permitting, she also recommends nature walks for a number of reasons: exercise is known to improve depression in its own right, changing one’s environment can interrupt a cycle of negative thinking, and Pagans in particular tend to respond well to exposure to the natural world.
One very pragmatic approach comes from Heathen Cara Freyasdaughter.
I take my depression meds regularly. I also get them refilled and checked on a regular basis by doctors who are qualified to do this. I see this as part of a larger technique for dealing with depression called “taking care of myself.” My Goddess has Strong Opinions on whether I (or others) take care of ourselves enough or love ourselves enough. It’s a constant message that I, and others who work with Her, get. So I find that when I take care of myself, I honor Her as well.”
Water
Regarding the element of water, Rella asks questions that are tied to mood, including “Can I give space and permission for painful emotional experiences to emerge? What deeper wisdom might these feelings point toward? What difficult truths can I see in my heart?”
Feelings about others also feed into the water element. Fox pointed out that loved ones can be among the first to recognize depression. “If you are encouraging a loved one who seems to be in the funks and talks negatively day in and out, it’s a really good idea to have some conversations with that person hoping it will encourage or motivate them to get some additional help.”
Blogger Alyxander Folmer, writing about his own struggles with depression, said that his loved ones serve as a source of motivation:
. . . during the hardest points of depression just mustering the energy required to express emotion can be daunting. When just getting out of bed feels like it takes more energy than you’ve got in the tank, it’s hard to care enough to put on music (or fight laundry monsters). On those days, the only thing that gets me moving is remembering that people need me. I have a wife who deserves a functioning partner. I have approximately 1/3 of a child who needs me to to provide a safe and stable life for it to grow. I have friends that need to know they can call on me when times are hard. This has become my morning mantra for those days when I’m just to exhausted to muster up will to function. It doesn’t matter how I feel, or how little I care about anything else. That one thought will get me moving.
Jolene Poseidonae spoke about a technique she developed for herself:
Detached compassion is something I developed not initially to cope with depression but as part of shadow work years ago as I learned how to drop the tools that had helped me survive a violent, abusive upbringing but were then getting in the way of my being a functional adult with healthy relationships. It was something I developed so that I could trust in my gods and in the people who loved me, and it spilled over into dealing with depression. It’s a sort of stepping back from the emotional ups and downs that hit so fast they leave me dizzy, it’s the practice of disengaging from one’s emotions. Emotions are always in a state of flux for me, and they are often untrustworthy. It’s harder when the emotion is a constant, steady stream of a conviction of unworth, of wretchedness, and the knowing that nothing will ever get better, and this burning desire to cease existing will go on and on and on with no relief, but having the practice in place helps me turn my connection to those emotions off. It’s like I sort of side-step them. I watch them, I hear them, and I feel them, but I turn aside so that the feeling of them isn’t as direct. I’m not as engaged with them. Usually, this helps shorten the duration of my being mired in the black. The days I have when I lose all interest in my projects are fewer, and it’s been a long time since I’ve lost months like I used to.
Knight noted, “When my depression was at its worst, I couldn’t acknowledge I had depression because that would mean I was ‘bad,’ ‘worthless,’ ‘hopeless.’ Admitting I had a problem — looking into that dark, shadowy mirror of my own fears — was the first big step. Getting help was more difficult as I have no health insurance, and I was alone without much income. I did manage to get some help via therapy at a cheap clinic, but even that cost too much. I was introduced to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, though, and I realized that I had done personal work similar to that when I was doing leadership training at Diana’s Grove.”
Air
Air is associated with the intellect and thoughts. “What kind of story is my depression telling about me?” asks Rella. “What harmful self-beliefs are coming to light? How could I rewrite those stories to promote more ease and self-acceptance?”
Fox suggests monitoring self-talk to identify the onset of depression, which can otherwise begin without detection. On paper or electronically, jot down one’s thoughts over the course of a day. “If a person is finding a great propensity for negative thinking that is often an indicator that there’s some kind of depression going on. Phrases such as, ‘Well, what’s the point, I’m failing at this, nothing’s ever going to get better.’ If there’s ideation indicating hopelessness, sorrow, putting oneself down, that’s a sign you need some help.”
Music works for Knight, as well. “I sometimes also sing to manage depression, and I’m trying to work singing into a daily practice. While I still struggle with occasional ‘pit of despair’ days where I am utterly exhausted, and I am still trying to find ways to feel emotions like joy and happiness, my life is far better than it was.”
Freyasdaughter embraces her own thoughts from times when she felt better. “I read my past writings. There are times when I am full of faith and trust in the Gods completely, and when depression hits I lose most of that. So it’s good for me to go back and see these hopeful things, written by my own hand, and remember that the depressive funk I’m in can and will pass. It has before.”
Poseidonae also uses her writing, but slightly differently. “Writing is a huge part of coping. Going easy with myself when I need to is also a part of it. Losing myself in fiction. Sometimes throwing myself into my devotional acts helps, and sometimes it makes it worse. Sometimes I have to retreat away from all my gods — Poseidon being the sole exception — and just be.”
Fire
“In my observation, qualities of Fire are particularly challenging for people with depression,” said Rella. “The depression says, ‘I don’t care about anything and I don’t have the strength to do anything.’ Engaging the will to act on something important to me is a powerful coping strategy. Sustaining a daily practice, even when you don’t ‘feel it,’ helps. For some people at the height of depression, getting out of bed to take a shower is a tremendous act of will, and worth validating. Those who have never experienced a deep depression might have trouble understanding how much courage and strength it takes to do these daily tasks, and it is the enactment of these that helps the person work through and move out of their depression.”
For Fox, action can often break the patterns that feed depression, as has been touched upon earlier. Fire can also be utilized literally, in the form of candles or exposure to sunlight and other full-spectrum lighting.
Spirit
Fox uses spirit in the context of “one’s practices and understandings” when speaking about depression. “Some daily spiritual practice can be a really important component,” she said. That could take the form of “being at a home altar calling on the Divine, Goddess, God, Great Spirit, or a particular pantheon, depending on the tradition. Actually call on the sacred and ask for assistance as one goes through life and the day.” Further, “a ritual for self-healing involving chanting, candlelight, incense, [or] affirmations . . . is really a complement to whatever else one is doing.”
Sable Aradia, a Pagan clergyperson, provided some specific actions for depressed Pagans to take in her second post on The Downward Spiral — Depression and Suicide in Paganism, including the use of banishing pentagrams to dispel negative moods, witch bottles to get rid of bad luck, and seeking council of the gods.
I believe that if you keep your eyes open for them, the gods send you signs also. When my husband was in a major car accident and in the ICU for a month, the phrase “this too shall pass” continued to be sent to me. People would say it on the bus to me; I saw it tattooed on the wrist of one of the kinder nurses. You get the idea.
Hellenist Conor Davis finds that religious ritual sometimes works for him. “I have found that, when I can manage it, prayers and devotionals can help me with some of the milder symptoms of depression. On bad days where I don’t want to get out of bed much less leave the house, nothing seems to help and everything seems feeble.”
Freyasdaughter said, “I make a gratitude list. By that point or so, I’m in a place where I can move easily into a state of worshipping my Goddess, and in return She gives me back love. It’s a great feedback loop. When I’m depressed it’s often very difficult to reach out to the gods and trust that they are there, or to trust that anything I’m feeling or hearing from them is real or true. So, the gratitude list, where I sit myself down and make myself look at the things that are going well in my life, helps me to get back into that connected, hopeful headspace again.”
Dver, a spirit-worker on the margins of Hellenic polytheism, made this observation: “I have come to the conclusion over the years that my chronic depression is actually a recurring shaman sickness, essentially (I’m not actually a shaman, but a spirit-worker, and this concept seems to apply to various sorts of mystics). When I hit my worst point many years ago, I began delving into spirit-work (though I didn’t call it that at the time) and things got much better. To this day, when I am experiencing any longish stretch of depression (more than a few days), it is almost always a call to pay attention to what I am neglecting, and once I begin doing my Work again, the depression lifts.”
Depression is a condition which can alter one’s own perceptions of self-worth, which can lead to neglect of the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of life. A holistic approach to treatment might include physical activity, monitoring self-talk, performing regular spiritual practice even if it seems pointless, and changes in diet and medication. Because it can be a serious illness, and particularly because it changes self-perception, outside help should be sought for any depression which lasts for more than a few days. |
Evangelical leader Tony Perkins has slammed President-elect Donald Trump Donald John TrumpHouse committee believes it has evidence Trump requested putting ally in charge of Cohen probe: report Vietnamese airline takes steps to open flights to US on sidelines of Trump-Kim summit Manafort's attorneys say he should get less than 10 years in prison MORE decision to nominate Rex Tillerson, the CEO of Exxon Mobil, as his secretary of State.
Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council, argued that Tillerson will be a boon for liberals and that his selection should be "alarming to conservatives."
"The ExxonMobil executive may be the greatest ally liberals have in the Cabinet for their abortion and LGBT agendas," Perkins wrote Monday on the FRC website. "That should be particularly alarming to conservatives, who've spent the last eight years watching the State Department lead the global parade for the slaughter of innocent unborn children and the intimidation of nations with natural views on marriage and sexuality."
ADVERTISEMENT
Perkins, who criticized the potential selection of Mitt Romney for secretary of State in the past, also slammed Tillerson on his company's history of donating to Planned Parenthood and his role pushing to allow gay troop leaders in the Boy Scouts of America.
"To hear that Donald Trump may be appointing a man who not only led the charge to open the Boy Scouts to gay troop leaders but whose company directly gives to Planned Parenthood is upsetting at best," he wrote.
Perkins supported Trump during the presidential campaign, even standing by the candidate after the release of his "Access Hollywood" tape. But previous support for Trump didn't stop Perkins from criticizing Tillerson on gay rights and abortion.
"Trump calls Rex a 'world class player and dealmaker,' but if these are the kinds of deals Tillerson makes—sending dollars to an abortion business that's just been referred for criminal prosecution and risking the well-being of young boys under his charge in an attempt to placate radical homosexual activists—then who knows what sort of 'diplomacy' he would champion at DOS?" Perkins added.
Perkins also criticized Tillerson's connections to the Russian leader Vladimir Putin, stating that it will be one of the major obstacles in the way of his confirmation in the Senate. Exxon has significant business ties with Russia, and Tillerson has received the "Order of Friendship" commendation from Putin's government.
"Russia is just one hurdle Tillerson will face in his confirmation hearings with Senate Republicans," Perkins wrote.
The GOP has a 52-48 majority in the chamber, which means that Tillerson can not lose more than two Republican votes, assuming all Democrats vote to reject the nominee. |
Tatyana Hargrove, who says officers used excessive force in dealing with her in June 2017 while mistaking her for a suspect, is seen at right next to her lawyer Aug. 30, 2017, in Bakersfield, Calif. Her lawyers are filing a legal claim against the city of Bakersfield. (KBAK/KBFX photo)
The young woman who has said she was the victim of police brutality and mistaken identity has enlisted attorneys to file a legal claim against the city of Bakersfield.
Tatyana Hargrove was detained in June while officers responded to a report of a person threatening others with a machete.
Hargrove said police used excessive force in dealing with her. Police claimed Hargrove disobeyed commands and was combative.
Police later caught the real suspect, who was male.
Law firm Chain | Cohn | Stiles is representing Hargrove.
“What happened to Tatyana Hargrove is a serious injustice, but perhaps what is even more troubling is that this appears to be a pattern of conduct by the Bakersfield Police Department,” attorney Neil K. Gehlawat said in a news release. “This case is not just about obtaining justice for Tatyana, but about confronting these wider problems.”
The Kern County district attorney announced earlier this month that neither Hargrove nor the officers will face charges.
Police Chief Lyle Martin has apologized to Hargrove and her family, and Hargrove told Eyewitness News that she accepted the apology.
The police chief said stopping Hargrove was appropriate, stating the concern of public safety outweighs the rights of the public to go about their business. But, the chief admitted in this case the officers did not communicate the situation well enough and, intentionally or not, escalated the situation.
The Police Department responded to the claim with a statement. It reads, "We are aware that a claim has been filed, and we anticipated that a claim would be filed." |
Spanish firm to build ACT solar farm
Updated
Sorry, this video has expired Video: Spanish firm to build ACT solar farm (7pm TV News ACT)
The ACT Government has announced Australia's largest solar farm supported by a feed-in tariff will be built in the Territory's south.
Spanish-based company Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) will build the facility on 50 hectares near Royalla just off the Monaro Highway in Tuggeranong.
The 20 megawatt facility will be made up of 83,000 photovoltaic panels and produce enough renewable electricity to power 4,400 Canberra homes.
The project will cost ACT households an extra 25 cents a week or $13 a year. That is expected to decrease to around $9.50 by 2020.
FRV chief executive officer Rafael Benjumea says the company has extensive experience in solar power farms.
"We have built more than 350 megawatts all over the world, investing more than 2.5 billion Euros ($AUS 3 billion) in solar panels," he said.
Construction is due to begin next year and is expected to be finished in 2014, subject to environmental and planning approval.
FRV National Manager Andrea Fontana says the construction of the solar farm will have minimal impact on the environment of the chosen site.
"The good thing about this kind of [solar] plant is that the height is less than 2 metres with just a few plants or visual protections," he said.
"The impact would be almost non-existent."
Mr Fontana says the solar farm will produce about 37,000 megawatt-hours per year.
ACT Environment Minister Simon Corbell says it is an exciting new step in Canberra becoming a sustainable city.
"I think Canberrans will welcome this project," he said.
"This is about making Canberra the solar capital of Australia, it's about making the shift to renewables at a very cheap price, with a great saving in terms of greenhouse gas emissions and jobs and economic activity in our city."
Mr Corbell says the project will generate around 50 jobs during construction.
"The Government's reverse auction process is about getting the cheapest price for the best amount of renewable energy generation, and today we've delivered on that," he said.
"This will be the largest solar farm for the ACT, it will save our city over half a million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, and it's being done at a very cheap price for consumers."
The ACT Government says the solar farm will have an approximate reduction of 560,000 tonnes of carbon emissions over the 20 year life of the project, aiming to make Canberra a carbon neutral city by 2060.
Federal environment approval has already been given.
Topics: solar-energy, states-and-territories, canberra-2600, act
First posted |
Virgil Griffith created the Wikipedia Scanner to catch companies and organizations who were editing Wikipedia articles to their own benefit. Image courtesy Jake Appelbaum/ Virgil Griffith
If you've ever used the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, you might have noticed that editing an article is as easy as clicking the "edit this page" tab, making your changes and clicking "save." But it's this ease of editing that's both Wikipedia's greatest strength and its weakness: Anyone can edit Wikipedia -- even anonymously.
Stories frequently surface about an organization or individual altering a Wikipedia entry, either maliciously or for the sake of a practical joke. But limiting people's ability to easily edit Wikipedia would infringe on one of its most celebrated features and what's arguably the key to its success.
Wikipedia has a variety of tools to deal with malicious editors. The site offers extensive tutorials about what it looks for in a good encyclopedia entry and how to clean up articles. Many Wikipedians -- frequent editors of the encyclopedia -- show fierce loyalty to the site, acting as its watchdogs and correcting potentially damaging edits. Wikipedia keeps a record of all changes so that a defaced or otherwise unsatisfactory article can easily revert to an older version. The site also has several features that can be used or requested by Wikipedians, including locking down pages, blocking certain users and flagging articles that violate the site's guidelines.
Despite all of these tools, Wikipedians can't be everywhere. With more than 1.9 million English-language articles alone, the potential for abuse is enormous, especially by anonymous users [source: Wikimedia]. Enter the WikiScanner, a free program unveiled in August 2007 by Virgil Griffith, a graduate student studying computation and neural systems at the California Institute of Technology and a visiting researcher at the Santa Fe Institute.
Whenever an unregistered, anonymous user edits a Wikipedia entry, the site logs the user's IP address, the unique string of numbers that identifies each computer connected to the Internet. The WikiScanner uses these records to trace the IP addresses of anonymous Wikipedia editors. By comparing the IP addresses against a database of companies that own them, the Scanner can name the editor, or at least the organization responsible for the user's access.
The results have been astounding -- tens of millions of anonymous edits, performed by more than 180,000 organizations, some of them in clear violation of Wikipedia policy. Among the many organizations cited: the FBI, CIA, Britain's Labour Party, the Vatican, Wal-Mart, the Republican Party, the Church of Scientology, Dell Computers, Microsoft, Apple and the United Nations.
In this article, we'll take a close look at how the WikiScanner works, look at some particularly controversial or simply bizarre examples of anonymous editing and consider some of the reactions to the WikiScanner. We'll also show you how you can use the WikiScanner to see what some organizations and companies may be up to on Wikipedia. |
Jrue Holiday had been steadily improving since his rookie season, until the start of the 2012-13 campaign.
Holiday has exploded this year, going for career highs in almost every statistical category. Holiday is averaging 18.4 points, 8.9 assists, 4.3 rebounds and 45% FG, all of which are career highs. This kind of statline usually has players thrust into discussion for ‘top 5 PG’s in the league’ but Holiday has flown under the radar so far this year. You would think Holiday’s assist numbers would improve when Andrew Bynum returns to the team and may even climb above 9.5 per game. Below is a table of Holiday’s statistical improvement over his first 4 seasons in the league.
Even though Holiday’s turnovers are a little high, it is to be expected when he is given so much responsibility in running the 76er’s offence and trying to make plays for his teammates. However, Holiday still has a few areas to improve. Holiday is only making it to the charity stripe 3.3 times per game which could definitely use some work. If you look at players like Kobe Bryant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, they are all getting to the line at least 6.5 times a game which creates easy points for their team. Holiday also needs to work on taking higher percentage shots. Below is Holiday’s shot chart and the percentages of where he takes his shots.
It is obvious that Holiday is taking too many shots from the left elbow where he makes only 37.1% of his attempts. If Holiday where to take a step out to the left 3 point line, his shooting would be much more effective because he connects on 41.2% of his shots from that area and gains an extra point for making the shot. Holiday is also an effective shooter from the free throw line out to the 3 point line, where he makes 43.9% of his shots. Like most players, however, Holiday is most effective from under the basket and the baselines, where he hits ~55% of his attempts. If Holiday were to take more shots from where he is an effective shooter, he would be even more beneficial for the 76er’s offence.
Jrue Holiday may be considered a star in some peoples eyes already, but with this kind of improvement every year, it won’t be long until everyone sees him as one.
The sixers did the right thing getting a contract extension through to the start of the 2017-18 season for Jrue. Holiday will earn approximately $41 million in salary over the next 4 years.
Advertisements |
The circumstances surrounding Walker and Gray's situation remains unclear. Souths released a statement on Tuesday morning, saying they had both undergone off-season surgery. There is no suggestion of wrongdoing at this stage. In serious condition: Dylan Walker was rushed to hospital on Tuesday morning. Credit:Janie Barrett Despite this, their story brings a wider issue into sharp focus. Rugby league has a drug problem. It is not cocaine, despite the charges that still hang over Gold Coast Titans players. It's not ecstasy or crystal meth. It stopped being about alcohol years ago. The problem is prescription drugs. Stillies, Oxies, Benzos … take your pick.
That's not being dramatic. It's being realistic, because those who deal with the issue on a daily basis are the ones who tell you. On Tuesday, I spoke at length to a player who has been grappling with addiction to prescriptions. Of course, his anonymity needs to be protected. It's a day-to-day battle. You soon learn, though, that you could be talking to any number of young footballers across the NRL when he tells you this: "It's a massive issue for the game. All my mates have done it, and I would say one in two players have used some sort of painkiller. I became so addicted to them. The NRL needs to do something about this." In some respects, it is. Last season, the NRL announced it would test for a range of prescription drugs - including Valium, Serepax, Mogadon and Rohypnol - amid widespread rumours of their use at the World Cup the previous year.
The tests were conducted for data-gathering purposes only – not to punish players – to determine the extent of the problem before determining if further action or sanctions were needed to stop their use. If a positive test comes back, a confidential meeting between the NRL, the club doctor and the NRL's chief medical officer is established to determine why the player is taking the drug and whether he needs counselling or rehabilitation. This column understands the number of positive results from last season were so small the NRL decided to extend the testing to increase the sample size. It needs to press on because anecdotally the problem seems to have reached epidemic proportions. Last year, Warriors doctor John Mayhew – who was the long-time doctor of the All Blacks – described their use in the NRL as "widespread". Channel Nine and Fairfax columnist Danny Weidler broke the story about Walker and Gray on Tuesday, revealing Walker's sister had said her brother had taken "oxycodone and Tramadol".
These are serious substances. According to those who have used it, oxycodone has a similar effect to morphine. Colloquially, it is known as "hillbilly heroin". Tramadol is said to be the opiate of choice among league players at the moment. Drugs like Xanax fall into the category of benzodiazepines – "benzos", as the players call it – and if you take enough of them you can hallucinate, seeing objects and people who aren't there. "They are all from different families," explains one player. "But they have the same effect. And they all can ruin your life." If you're a professional footballer, you must grapple with many dynamics throughout your career, but the toughest one is constant pain.
Some are introduced to painkillers and sleepers through their club, some through other players. They all have different side-effects, especially when mixed with alcohol, but all have the same desired result: they change the channel when the rigors of playing a brutal contact sport are done for the week. If the player is sidelined with injury, especially for a long time, he might want to change the channel more often. He might get some of them from the club doctor, and then his family doctor, and then the black market via the internet. He is not alone, too, because more players are turning to them. Whatever education is being delivered in the name of player welfare, it doesn't seem to be enough.
It is easy to cast judgment and wonder why a player would do anything to jeopardise his sporting career with such destructive substances. But young footballers are more vulnerable than most as they strike to make the next tackle, the next play, the next game, the next contract. "Prescription drugs changed my life," says our addicted player. "I didn't know how bad it got until it was too late." |
Get the story behind Dwight Eisenhower’s grueling, 62-day cross-country road trip that inspired the creation of the Interstate Highway System.
In the early summer of 1919, Dwight Eisenhower was in a funk. With his wife and infant son living 1,500 miles away in Denver, the 28-year-old lieutenant colonel stationed at Maryland’s Camp Meade wasted away his considerable boredom by playing bridge with his fellow soldiers and drowning his sorrows about being kept stateside during World War I. Needing a way to break out of his doldrums, the future president found excitement in an endeavor still undertaken by millions today—the great American road trip.
On the left is Eisenhower, on the right is “Brett.” (Credit: Eisenhower Collection)
Upon hearing that two volunteer tank officers from Camp Meade were needed to participate in a coast-to-coast military convoy to San Francisco, Eisenhower immediately volunteered his services. It may not have offered a young soldier the thrill of combat, but in 1919 a cross-country road trip was indeed, as Eisenhower described it, a “genuine adventure.”
ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website
“To those who have known only concrete and macadam highways of gentle grades and engineered curves, such a trip might seem humdrum,” Eisenhower wrote in “At Ease: Stories I Tell to Friends.” “In those days, we were not sure it could be accomplished at all. Nothing of the sort had ever been attempted.” At the dawn of the motor age, drivers were more apt to encounter roads to nowhere rather than the open road. Few highways were paved. Dirt roads could be muddy quagmires or sun-baked into teeth-chattering ruts. Sixty miles an hour remained a daredevil’s dream, and many roads could only be traversed at the pace of a brisk walk.
ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website
ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website
(Credit: K.C. Downing Collection)
The War Department viewed the cross-country caravan—undertaken just months after the end of World War I—as part victory lap, part publicity stunt. Prodded by automakers, gasoline companies and tire manufacturers, the military saw the convoy as a way to both test the capabilities of the Army’s Motor Transport Corps and highlight the poor state of America’s roads.
On the morning of July 7, 1919, the great “motor truck train” slowly rumbled due west out of Washington, D.C., following an elaborate dedication ceremony for the Zero Milestone, the point from which all highway miles to the nation’s capital are to be measured, just south of the White House. The 81-vehicle convoy—which included ambulances, tanker trucks, field kitchens, passenger cars carrying reporters and automotive company representatives, searchlight trucks and even a five-ton trailer hauling a pontoon boat christened Mayflower II—traveled all of four hours before problems began. A kitchen trailer broke its coupling, a fan belt broke on an observation car and another truck suffered a broken magneto before the convoy made camp for the night in Frederick, Maryland, where Eisenhower joined the more than 250 enlisted men and two-dozen officers. The troops had covered only 46 miles in seven hours—a snail’s pace of barely over six miles per hour.
Helping along a ‘B.’ (Credit: Eisenhower Collection)
Over the following days, unexpected detours arose when the roofs of covered bridges proved too low for the military’s shop trucks. The convoy halted repeatedly for stripped gears, boiled-over radiators and vehicles stuck up to their hubs in mud. The custom-design Militor tractor truck, which cost the military $40,000, quickly proved its considerable worth in towing vehicle after vehicle out of roadside ditches and mud holes with its power winch. One night the Militor even arrived in camp with four trucks in tow.
Band concerts, street dances, banquets and endless speechifying by local politicians greeted the two-mile-long convoy as it rolled across the country. Once the caravan crossed through Illinois it also left behind paved sections of the Lincoln Highway, the transcontinental road it had joined in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. Scouts riding a fleet of Harley-Davidson and Indian motorcycles sped a half-hour in front of the convoy to inspect road conditions and blaze the trail ahead with painted arrows. In Nebraska, the trucks floundered in sand as slippery as ice. Outside North Platte, 25 trucks—including the Militor itself—slid into a roadside ditch. On one hellish stretch, it took the convoy seven hours to cross 200 yards of quicksand.
(Credit: Eisenhower Collection)
Two days were lost in Nebraska, but conditions grew even worse on Utah’s stretch of the Lincoln Highway, which Eisenhower reported was “one succession of dust, ruts, pits and holes.” Troops were forced to remove sand drifts from the road, and vehicles became stuck repeatedly in the desert where no rain had fallen for 18 weeks. When dozens of trucks mired themselves in the salt flats, the soldiers used their collective muscle to tow them out by hand. Like sun-beaten pioneers, the troops suffered from a lack of water, which was rationed to one cup for dinner and another for overnight. The commander even posted guards around the water tanker to prevent any pilfering until a shipment of water from the Utah Highway Commission arrived—being pulled by horses.
Once in California, the convoy returned to pavement and hit top speeds of 10 miles per hour. After being transported by ferry to the city’s docks, the vehicles paraded through the flag-festooned streets of San Francisco to the terminus of the Lincoln Highway six days behind schedule. The caravan had traversed 3,242 miles through 11 states in 62 days, an average of 52 miles per day.
At the Firestone Homestead, Columbiana, Ohio / Sunday, July 13, 1919, A Rest Halt / Major Brett, Harvey Fireston, Jr., Colonel Eisenhower. (Credit: Eisenhower Collection)
The vehicles had performed well, given the conditions, but road conditions had proven wholly inadequate. “I think that every officer on the convoy had recommended in his report that efforts should be made to get our people interested in producing better roads,” wrote Eisenhower, who lamented the lack of investment in maintaining existing roads. “It seems evident that a very small amount of money spent at the proper time would have kept the road in good condition.”
As Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in World War II, Eisenhower saw first-hand how Nazi Germany’s high-speed autobahn network allowed its troops to mobilize quickly to fight on two fronts. “After seeing the autobahns of modern Germany and knowing the asset those highways were to the Germans, I decided, as president, to put an emphasis on this kind of road building,” Eisenhower wrote. The 1919 trip, however, also remained in the forefront of his mind. “The old convoy had started me thinking about good, two-lane highways, but Germany had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land.” With America’s roads remaining in poor condition decades after his arduous cross-country trip, Eisenhower championed the creation of the American Interstate Highway System, which was officially named in his honor in 1990. |
Thank you for your participation in our survey last week! Here is where you can see the results. You should check it out!
Our CheckiO meetup this past Saturday was a lot of fun! Read more about how it was and what other CheckiO meetups are running. Then learn how to start your own!
Our February Top player is Sim0000: “Oh, I'm quite new in Python” .
And our star coder of the month is Cjkjvfnby. Andrey, thank you for all the support that you have given to the CheckiO community.
Community Digest
Here is a small lesson from Andrey Solomatin about speed in python.
Guido has reviewed two versions of Bunny Chai’s solutions of one mission "line geometry" and "projective geometry"
PositroncLama explains how his solution works and why it is better:
z_kro seems to get the idea of the Puzzle category.
What qualifies as production code? We had an interesting discussion about veky’s solution which you might want to take a look at. |
American kids are woefully behind the curve when it comes to courses of study in the STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math] fields, liberals love to tell us. To prepare our kids for success in a global economy, we need more federal involvement in education, they argue.
But heaven forbid the U.S. military be part of that solution, that might lead to a "militarization of young minds." "In its rush to find the next generation of cyberwarriors, the military has begun to infiltrate our high schools and even our middle schools, blurring the line between education and recruitment," Baruch College English professor Corey Mead groused in his September 17 blog post for Time magazine's Ideas blog headlined "Military Recruiters Have Gone Too Far." Mead pointed to "[t]he Air Force, for example," which "runs a 'CyberPatriot' national high school cyberdefense competition, geared toward influencing students to pursue careers in cybersecurity." He continues:
The Pentagon, meanwhile, has its own annual “Digital Forensics Challenge,” in which teams of players develop their own investigative tools. But no one is as innovative in his approach as Colonel Casey Wardynski (ret.)—for 16 years the Army’s top economist and now the superintendent of schools in Huntsville, Ala. Since January, Wardynski has been partnering with the Army’s Cyber Command to restructure the curriculum of Huntsville’s middle schools and high schools to train students to wage and defend against cyberwar. (As part of this effort, Wardynski has made Huntsville City Schools the largest all-digital school system in the U.S.; all 24,000 students use a personal computing device to connect to their digital curriculum.) Army Cyber Command, in collaboration with West Point, is providing the curriculum, along with soldier-mentors for the students. Wardynski is uniquely positioned to connect the military with high and middle schoolers. From 1993 to 2009, he was director of the Army’s Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis at West Point, where he created the world’s first military-built video game, America’s Army. A recruiting tool aimed at 12- and-13-year-olds, the game was an immediate smash: from 2002 to 2008, it was one of the top 10 computer games in the world. New applications of the game will now be delivered to Huntsville classrooms via iPads and iPhones. And although Huntsville is the first city to implement such a program, any materials developed for the program will be provided free to “any willing primary and secondary educational entity of the United States,” according to the agreement Wardynski signed.
Sounds like a win-win to me. Most kids won't end up going into the military, but a larger number may study computer science or some other high-tech field in college and go on to success in the private sector. Others will join the military and could, after serving, go on to successful careers in cybersecurity or other tech fields.
But Mead (pictured below at right via Time profile picture) sees a sinister military-educational complex developing:
The military has long been at the forefront of the digital-curriculum movement, and it has for decades been the largest financer (by far) of educational technology. In fact, over the past century, the military has profoundly influenced educational institutions in the skills that are valued and taught, how students are evaluated and sorted, and the methods and modes of instruction. In that regard, the new era of cyberwar will inevitably determine how and what our children learn. But as state and federal education budgets are slashed in response to the collapsed economy and as the military strains to find cyber-qualified personnel, our schools and the military will undoubtedly join in an ever closer relationship. But this interweaving of military technology, ideology and money poses a potential risk to students everywhere and should be critically examined by parents and educators alike. A military career is not a game. More to the point, the stealth recruitment and militarization of young minds is not game, and it should not be treated as such by school officials in charge of guiding our children’s future.
To be fair, Corey is not on Time magazine's payroll and his post is an opinion piece. That said, it is a left-wing opinion that I would venture to say is outside the mainstream. Time would do well to say let Col. Wardynski offer his perspective for readers. |
Historic decision: Norrie. Credit:Dallas Kilponen "It's a very exciting victory. I'm overjoyed that it's happened and happened so decisively. It's been a long time from start to finish but it's a great outcome, and it's Australia-wide not just NSW. "Maybe people will now understand there's more options than the binary, and even if a person is specifically male or female, their friends might not be - and hopefully people might be a little bit more accepting of that." The case began in 2010 when Norrie, who identifies as neuter and uses only a first name, became the first person in NSW to be neither man nor woman in the eyes of the government with a formal "sex not specified" registration. But four months later the registry wrote to Norrie, who is from Redfern in Sydney, saying the change had been "issued in error" and was invalid.
"It was completely unproblematic for a month - the world didn't collapse, the sky didn't fall in, human life continued," Norrie told Fairfax late last year. "Then it was on the front page and they suddenly said: 'Oh, no, we couldn't possibly do that!"' Norrie appealed the decision to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, but the case was dismissed. Norrie then went to the NSW Court of Appeal, where the three-judge appeal panel unanimously declared that "as a matter of construction ... the word sex does not bear a binary meaning of 'male' or 'female'." But the Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages did not accept the decision, appealing the matter to the High Court at great expense to NSW taxpayers.
The High Court ordered that Norrie's applications be sent back to the Registrar for determination in accordance with its reasons and otherwise dismissed the Registrar's appeal. When the case was heard in the High Court last month, counsel for the Registrar had argued that the acceptance of more than two categories of sex would cause unacceptable confusion. But the judges rejected this argument. "For the most part, the sex of the individuals concerned is irrelevant to legal relations,'' their judgment says. The judges said the Commonwealth Marriage Act was "the chief, perhaps the only, case where the sex of the parties to the relationship is legally significant". The judges found there was ''evident force'' in Norrie's argument that to classify her as male or female while her sex remained ambiguous would be to record misinformation in the register.
But the court found Norrie's counsel went too far in arguing that Norrie should be assigned to a separate category of sex such as "intersex" or "transgender". The court accepted the Registrar's submission that male and female were the only "registrable classes" of sex. "But to accept that submission does not mean that the Act requires that this classification can apply, or is to be applied to everyone," the judgment says. "And there is nothing in the Act which suggests that the Registrar is entitled, much less duty-bound, to register the classification of a person's sex inaccurately as male or female having regard to the information which the Act requires to be provided by the applicant." The court found that the provision of that Act, which recognises "ambiguities" in sex and a 1996 amendment which referred to persons of "indeterminate sex", was a sufficient indication that the Act recognised that "the sex of a person is not ... in every case unequivocally male or female." "The Act does not require that people who, having undergone a sex affirmation procedure, remain of indeterminate sex - that is, neither male nor female - must be registered, inaccurately, as one or the other. The Act itself recognises that a person may be other than male or female and therefore may be taken to permit the registration sought, as 'non-specific'," the judges found.
In the opening of their reasons for decision, the five-judge panel declared that "not all human beings can be classified by sex as either male or female". "The Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1995(NSW) ("the Act") expressly recognises that a person's sex may be ambiguous. It also recognises that a person's sex may be sufficiently important to the individual concerned to warrant that person undergoing a sex affirmation procedure to assist that person 'to be considered to be a member of the opposite sex'. "When a person has undergone a sex affirmation procedure, s 32DC of the Act empowers the Registrar to register a change of sex of the person upon an application by that person." Dr Tracie O'Keefe from Sex and Gender Education Australia said the High Court's decision meant that "the law now recognises the physical reality". "One in 100 people are either sex or gender diverse - that is one of life's realities," Dr O'Keefe said.
"The law has now recognised that reality, the highest court in the land, through a decision that cannot be appealed." Dr O'Keefe said she now expected others across the country who did not identify as male or female to seek to be recognised as such on their "cardinal documents" such as birth certificates and other documents held by their local registrars. "There are people out there who have been wanting to do this but have been unable to," she said. "They now have that option." Samuel Rutherford, the executive director of A Gender Agenda, a community organisation which advocates for transgender, gender-diverse and intersex people, said he was "delighted" with the decision. A Gender Agenda intervened in the case as amicus curiae, or a friend of the court.
Mr Rutherford said he was especially pleased that the court had recognised "non-specific" as the most appropriate term for a person who is neither male nor female. He said while the decision would only be binding on NSW, it would be "highly influential" on other jurisdictions. The ACT last month became the first Australian jurisdiction to make provision for people to be recognised as neither male nor female. It also removed the requirement for surgery for people who wish to change their sex registration. Mr Rutherford added that Wednesday's decision would be a powerful affirmation of the identity of many people for whom the decision was not personally relevant. ''It's actually a really big thing to have a statement from the High Court saying that you exist and that the law should recognise you," he said.
Loading Anna Brown, the Director of Advocacy & Strategic Litigation for the Human Rights Law Centre, which assisted A Gender Agenda with the case, said the judgment was a victory for the growing numbers of gender diverse people across Australia. "Sex and gender diverse people face problems every day accessing services and facilities that most Australians can use without thinking twice. It's essential that our legal systems accurately reflect and accommodate the reality of sex and gender diversity that exists in our society, and the High Court has taken an enormous leap today in achieving that goal," said Ms Brown. |
The Benelli M4 Super 90 is an Italian semi-automatic shotgun manufactured by Benelli Armi SpA.
History [ edit ]
On May 4, 1998, the United States Army's Armaments Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal, New Jersey issued Solicitation #DAAE30-98-R-0401, requesting submissions for a new 12 gauge, semi-automatic combat shotgun for the U.S. military. In response to the request, Benelli Armi SpA of Urbino, Italy designed and built the Benelli M4 Super 90 Combat Shotgun. On August 4, 1998, five samples of the M4 were delivered to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, and after intense testing, the M4 had beaten the competition. In early 1999, ARDEC awarded the M1014 Joint Service Combat Shotgun contract to Heckler & Koch, American subsidiary for importation of the Benelli M4 Combat Shotgun. The first units (count of 20,000) were delivered to the United States Marine Corps in 1999. During testing, the prototype was named XM1014, but after adoption, the 'X' was dropped, and the weapon was officially designated the M1014.[2]
Design [ edit ]
The M4 was the first gas-operated shotgun produced by Benelli. Its function is designed around an entirely new method called the "auto regulating gas operated" (ARGO) system. The short-stroke design uses two stainless-steel self-cleaning pistons located just ahead of the chamber to function opposite the rotating bolt, thereby eliminating the need for the complex mechanisms found on other gas-actuated automatics. The ARGO incorporates only four parts: two symmetrical shrouds containing two small steel gas pistons.
Additionally, the weapon is self-regulating for use with cartridges of varying length and power levels. It can fire 2.75 (70 mm) and 3-inch (76 mm) shells of differing power-levels without any operator adjustments and in any combination. Low-power rounds, such as less-lethal rubber pellets, must be cycled manually.
The sights are military-style ghost ring and are adjustable in the field using only a cartridge rim. The MIL-STD-1913 Picatinny sight rail on top allows use of both conventional and night-vision sights, while retaining use of the original sights.
The modular basis of the shotgun means many of its features can be reconfigured as needed. It allows a user to quickly exchange the various assembly groups (barrel, buttstock, forearm, etc.) without the use of tools.
Durability [ edit ]
Preliminary testing of the M4 suggests a high level of reliability. It can reliably function for at least 25,000 rounds without replacement of any major parts.[2][3] The steel components of the weapon feature a matte black phosphated corrosion resistant finish while the aluminum parts are matte hard-anodized. These finishes reduce the weapon's visibility during night operations.
The weapon requires little maintenance and operates in all climates and weather conditions.[citation needed]
Collapsible buttstock [ edit ]
The buttstock is collapsible on the M4 Model (designated 11707) but will not collapse on the M1014. This is because the M1014 was manufactured before the U.S. 1994 assault weapon ban expired, whereas the M11707 has been manufactured since the ban expired therefore not subject to the terms under the ban. Collapsing the buttstock shortens the weapon by almost 8 inches, allowing easier storage and transportation; furthermore, it permits better maneuverability around tight corners and over obstacles. The M4 is also available with a fixed stock (pistol grip and semi-pistol grip styles are both available). The M4 is no longer sold today with the skeleton fixed stock (model M11707) to civilians. Benelli only sells the M4 with a fixed pistol grip style tactical stock in the United States. However, the collapsible butt stock can be purchased by civilians in Canada.
Rail interface system [ edit ]
The rail interface system or Picatinny rail, built into the top of the shotgun accepts scopes, laser illuminators, night-vision sights, and flashlights. Most modern military firearms have similar structures.
Benelli Tactical and the M4 [ edit ]
Benelli Tactical is a division of Beretta's Law Enforcement (LE) division. Benelli Tactical manages the sales of all Benelli tactical shotguns to law enforcement, government, and military entities. The M4 shotgun is sold in three configurations: M4 Entry with a 14 in barrel; M4 with an 18.5 in barrel; and M1014, which is an M4 with the "M1014" nomenclature on it for military usage only. M4 shotguns sold through Benelli tactical are available with the collapsible buttstock.
Benelli Tactical and Beretta LE have maintained the belief that the collapsible buttstock, while no longer illegal in the United States, is still only to be made available to law enforcement and government agencies. Benelli Tactical/Beretta LE will not sell these stocks to private individuals. Benelli Tactical does sell the stock piece for retrofitting the pistol grip stock for $150. The stock must be direct-shipped from Italy, however it and other aftermarket stocks are commercially available and not restricted by the United States.
Suggested retail price of the civilian version is around $1,899.[2][4] An NFA stamp is required to purchase or own the 14.5" barreled model only since this model is considered to be a Short Barreled Shotgun or SBS. Standard magazine capacity of the civilian version is 5+1, although it is possible to fit 6+1 and two shot extension tubes are sold by Benelli as well as some other companies. 9+1 extension tubes are also available, popular in 3-gun competitions. Some LE models have become available to private individuals on the secondary market.
Users [ edit ]
See also [ edit ] |
Acting Superintendent Scott Bingham, the commander of the St George Local Area Command, said police were treating the young man's death as suspicious. Forensic police dust a phone box for fingerprints in Coleridge Street in Riverwood. Credit:Kate Geraghty He said the cause of the man's death was yet to be determined, but said he had not been shot or stabbed. The anonymous phone call to police was made at 12.50am from a public phone box on Coleridge Street, which intersects with Price Lane. That phone call could prove vital in determining how the man was injured, Acting Superintendent Bingham said.
"We would be calling at this stage for the person that made the phone call from the telephone box, if they could recontact police and assist us with our inquiries," he said. Police have taped off Price Lane in Riverwood, where a man was found critically injured. Credit:Kate Geraghty The circumstances leading up to the man's death are not known, and detectives are now trying to piece together his movements on the night of his death. One of the man's close family members is speaking to police about the man's plans for the night. Police said two people who were walking down Price Lane also came across the injured man, and made a separate triple zero call and provided first aid to the man. It was not known what time the second phone call was made. The anonymous call to triple zero was made from this public phone box in Riverwood. Credit:Kate Geraghty
Those two witnesses were speaking to police at the scene on Wednesday morning. "Those witnesses actually walked down the lane and came across the male as he was lying on the roadway," Acting Superintendent Bingham said. People who knew the dead man comfort each other near where his body was found. Credit:Kate Gergahty "We are aware that one of those witnesses actually assisted with first aid at the time, and the other one made a separate phone call to triple zero. "We'd be asking if there's anyone else that was down there, or anyone that used that phone box or saw anything in the area just before 1am this morning, if they could contact us here at St George or through Crime Stoppers."
Acting Superintendent Bingham said the dead man was not previously known to NSW Police. A group of distraught people, believed to be the man's friends, arrived at the lane early on Wednesday morning. They could be seen hugging each other and crying. Officers from the St George Local Area Command have set up a large crime scene in Riverwood, and have taped off the lane and the public phone box, which is outside a gym. Forensic police could be seen dusting the phone box on Coleridge Street for fingerprints. Detectives were also doorknocking homes and businesses in the area, searching for possible CCTV footage.
Acting Superintendent Bingham said police were still trying to contact the man's extended family. Those family members are believed to live in New Zealand. Anyone with information has been urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit the Crime Stoppers online reporting page. |
Palakakd: The sudden increase in the amount ganja seized by the Excise officials show that smugglers now prefer public transport facilities to bring in narcotic substances to the state. Officials say that ganja is being brought to Palakkad from other states in public transport buses and trains in large quantities.
According to the data available with the Excise Department, in the last seven months, a whopping 167 kg of ganja has been seized from smugglers travelling in buses and trains. Excise officials said that in the last six months, they had been frequently seizing the narcotic substance after they intensified checks in private buses.
Smugglers use buses run by KSRTC, Tamil Nadu Transport Corporation and private buses to bring in ganja to Palakkad. Once the drugs arrive in Palakkad, it is picked up at different parts of the district. K.V. Lalkumar, divisional deputy Excise Commissioner, Palakkad, said that apart from ganja, the department has seized 87 kg of ganja plants, 500 gm of hashish oil and 2,80,637 packets of Hans. “We have intensified inspection in check posts and railway stations,” he added. |
We are school with a very racially and economically diverse group of students. As with most schools in out district we have a great group of parents, students, and teachers. We all work together to over come challenges unique to us here, but we do not stop there. We also work hand in hand with our neighborhood communities and other out reach organizations to make our school a leader and an example by which other schools might follow. We have great pride in our school, much of which comes from having generation after generation from a same family, and we look for ways to improve the school for the next generation that will be coming down the line. I attended this school as a young person and now I work here as a teacher. Perhaps my favorite thing to do was the pottery wheel in the back of the art room. I learned many lessons from that broken down machine and looked forward to coming to school because of it. Sadly, at some point in the last 20 years, the wheel must have finally gave up its fight and is no longer here, however my budget does not come anywhere close to being able to replace such an item and continue to offer a complete Art experience. In my school I see almost 600 students in a year and have a budget of about $1000. This means I have about $1.66 per student to work with.
About my class We are school with a very racially and economically diverse group of students. As with most schools in out district we have a great group of parents, students, and teachers. We all work together to over come challenges unique to us here, but we do not stop there. We also work hand in hand with our neighborhood communities and other out reach organizations to make our school a leader and an example by which other schools might follow. We have great pride in our school, much of which comes from having generation after generation from a same family, and we look for ways to improve the school for the next generation that will be coming down the line. I attended this school as a young person and now I work here as a teacher. Perhaps my favorite thing to do was the pottery wheel in the back of the art room. I learned many lessons from that broken down machine and looked forward to coming to school because of it. Sadly, at some point in the last 20 years, the wheel must have finally gave up its fight and is no longer here, however my budget does not come anywhere close to being able to replace such an item and continue to offer a complete Art experience. In my school I see almost 600 students in a year and have a budget of about $1000. This means I have about $1.66 per student to work with. Read more |
We have the best pallets Melbourne has to offer, for sale to meet each and every supply chain need. Our product selection includes plastic pallets, EURO pallets, new and recycled timber pallets, and export-ready pallets in a range of sizes and specifications.
Pallets Melbourne
Service and advice are two things we take very seriously. There are a lot of pallet types out there. If you aren’t quite sure which best suits your specific circumstances, that’s okay. Let’s talk. We’ll discuss your options and sort out what you need. We realise what it might mean if a pallet carries too much weight and breaks on the forklift, causing it to tip. This is why we take the time to make sure you’re buying the right gear for the job.
We also understand how crucial your supply chain is. This is why we put such an emphasis on clear and effective communication. We make a point of being readily contactable. We answer our phones and respond to emails. Very occasionally something completely out of our control – such as an accident on the freeway – might delay a delivery. If this happens, we’ll let you know straight away. |
Written by Tom Williams on December 21, 2017
Triple M has issued a statement in response to the controversy surrounding a plan to broadcast its own Hottest 100-style countdown on Australia Day 2018 — dubbed the ‘Ozzest 100’ — after triple j decided to change the date of its annual Hottest 100 so that it no longer takes place on 26th January.
In a brief statement to Music Feeds, Triple M‘s Head Of Content, Mike Fitzpatrick, says the station is standing by its decision.
“At Triple M we are avid supporters of Aussie music and like we do throughout the year and every Australia Day we will celebrate Aussie artists,” he says.
Triple M‘s statement comes after the likes of Aussie rap duo A.B. Original criticised the station for mocking triple j‘s decision to change the date of its Hottest 100.
A.B. Original member Adam Briggs has also said he wants to “ruin” Triple M‘s countdown by encouraging his fans to vote for A.B. Original’s song ‘January 26’ in the ‘Ozzest 100’ countdown.
The ‘Ozzest 100’ is set to take place on Friday, 26th January, while triple j‘s Hottest 100 will take place on Saturday, 27th January.
UPDATE: The ABC Responds To Triple M’s ‘Ozzest 100’ With Its Own Parody Video |
Scientists are asking people across the globe to lay off sugary drinks, linking the consumption to an estimated 184,000 adult deaths each year, including more than 25,000 Americans.
Overall, that means one in every 100 deaths from obesity-related diseases is caused by sugary beverages, according to a study published Monday in the journal Circulation. The study, conducted by researchers from Tufts University, found that the beverages would be responsible for 133,000 deaths from diabetes, 45,000 from cardiovascular disease and 6,450 from cancer.
[Sorry diet soda drinkers, your favorite beverage may lead to more belly fat as you age]
About three-fourths of the deaths due to sugary drinks were in developing countries, according to the study. Latin America, in particular, had among the highest death rates, with Mexico topping the list at 405 deaths per million adults, or about 24,000 total deaths. The United States ranked fourth, with 125 deaths per million adults.
Researchers collected data on deaths and disabilities from 2010 and calculated the direct effect that sugar-sweetened beverages had on public health based on dietary surveys reaching more than 600,000 people. The beverages in the study included sugar-sweetened sodas, fruit drinks, energy drinks, sweetened iced teas and homemade sugary drinks such as frescas.
The American Beverage Association dismissed the study when it was first presented to the American Heart Association as an abstract in 2013, taking issue that it had been presented without being published or peer-reviewed.
"This study does not show that consuming sugar-sweetened beverages causes chronic diseases and the authors themselves acknowledge that they are at best estimating effects of sugar-sweetened beverage consumption," the ABA said in a statement released Tuesday. "America’s beverage companies are doing their part to offer consumers the fact-based information and the beverage options they need to make the right choices for themselves and their families."
[America's getting even fatter according to the latest obesity statistics]
Now that the study has been peer-reviewed, its authors say they remain confident about the results.
"If the sugar industry's argument is that there's no correlation, that's not correct," said Dariush Mozaffarian, an author of the study and dean of Tufts University's Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
Sugar-sweetened beverages are the main source of added sugars in the American diet, according to a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. In 2015, the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee also recommended that people replace soft drinks and other sugar-sweetened beverages with milk and 100 percent fruit juice.
In the United States, soda consumption has been on the decline for the past decade, and in Mexico, a year-old sugar tax has been credited for a slump in consumption.
"There's definitely been progress, but there's still a huge amount of soda consumption in the U.S. and globally," Mozaffarian said.
Read more:
Why this former billionaire party boy donated $50 million to try to teach Watson to be a cancer expert
Apple iPhone app to power massive, decades-long study on LGBT health
Why Republicans hate the new dietary guidelines. It’s about meat.
Quiet, please! Researchers worry urban noise may be linked to belly fat, stroke, even death |
Background
Released in August 1994, Jeff Buckley’s Grace is his lone complete studio album. While it initially sold poorly, it has since become a cult classic, selling over 2 million copies worldwide. It placed #303 on Rolling Stone’s 500 greatest albums of all time list, #13 on Q’s 2005 greatest albums of all time list, and was reportedly David Bowie’s favorite record. Buckley’s version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” would also become the definitive reading of the song, eventually being inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry. Unfortunately, Buckley would not live to see his success. He died in May 1997 at the age of 30 in a drowning accident at Memphis’s Wolf River Harbor.
Why I’ve Been Avoiding It
Grace is an album that comes with an immense amount of mythology and baggage, so getting into it always seemed like work to me. This is an album that is meant to be experienced, and it just never seemed like the right time. Plus, Buckley’s tracks have a tendency to zig when you expect them to zag, so on the few occasions when I did give it a tentative shot, it was difficult to find a foothold. Couple that with the sheer ubiquitousness of “Hallelujah” — which has been featured in The West Wing, The O.C., House M.D., Without a Trace, One Tree Hill, The Edukators, Lord of War, Saint Ralph, Shrek, and Longmire, to name a few — and I just never felt the urgency to give Grace a fair shake. Alas, I do now. Thanks, New Year’s resolutions!
Review
Every once in a while, there’s a singular moment where a vocalist transcends mere talent and reveals him or herself as a true genius. Buckley’s moment arrives only 3 minutes and 55 seconds into Grace, during opening track “Mojo Pin.” Distorted guitars start cranking, and Buckley’s voice seems to be riding them to the top of a cliff. But just when it seems like the song is about to tumble over the edge, Buckley pulls back, unleashing a piercing yet beautiful scream that cuts through the noise and stops the song dead in its tracks. It’s a breath-taking moment in an album full of vocal gymnastics most singers could only dream of pulling off, so let’s start there. Grace is, without doubt, one of the finest vocal showcases ever put to record.
Buckley’s voice is a thing of true beauty, with perfect pitch and precision control that never sounds forced. And despite that technical proficiency, he is able to imbue his words with striking emotion. Just listen to “Hallelujah,” which somehow manages to capture the entirety of human romantic experience in a single song with its anthemic highs and crushing lows. On “Corpus Christi Carol,” Buckley’s version of a Middle English hymn first discovered in 1504, his otherworldly falsetto resembles an angel floating to Earth, while “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over” enlists subtle organ and a backing choir to push Buckley to unleash his inner gospel diva, which he does to rousing effect.
Buckley was also a virtuoso guitarist with a prominent progressive streak and a voracious musical appetite, and his songs are far from the traditional post-grunge fare of his time. “So Real” features a gnarly guitar solo that sounds as if Buckley is taking a chainsaw to the studio, while “Mojo Pin” and “Grace,” his two co-writes with Gary Lucas of Gods & Monsters, move and transform in ways more common to prog-rock or jazz than mid-’90s alternative rock. Even his most straightforward track, “Last Goodbye,” veers a bit left of center. Kicking off with a legitimate bass hook, the song quickly buries it in the mix, focusing instead on Buckley’s lush falsetto as he delivers a yearning breakup lyric for the ages, “Kiss me, please kiss me. But kiss me out of desire, babe, and not consolation.” It’s the moment that launched a thousand overly sensitive male singer/songwriters, but in Buckley’s hands, it’s authentic.
The only time Buckley stumbles comes on “Eternal Life,” where he can’t seem to decide whether he wants to sound like Billy Corgan, Chris Cornell, or Axl Rose as his band kicks up a distorted racket reminiscent of Blood Sugar Sex Magik-era Red Hot Chili Peppers. Buckley was a huge fan of hard rock, and the posthumously released Sketches from My Sweetheart the Drunk seems to indicate that he was in the process of perfecting his own version of it. Unfortunately, “Eternal Life” wears its influences a bit too prominently on its sleeve. That said, Buckley more or less creates the now-classic Radiohead sound on “Dream Brother,” so a little hero worship on his part is easily forgiven.
Conclusion
Grace more than earns its classic status on the strength of Buckley’s voice alone, but his vast musical vocabulary and innovative approach to songwriting elevate it even further. This is a pivotal album in rock history, drawing a line from the grunge revolution to bands like Radiohead and Arcade Fire who would carry the genre into the 2000s and beyond. It also presaged an era in which bands like Nirvana could sit comfortably next to Nina Simone, Leonard Cohen, and traditional ballads from the 16th century on music fans’ iPods and Spotify playlists. It’s now much easier to step outside your own musical lane and experience a broad swath of sound, and Buckley was one of the first artists to make that immersion seem cool and worthwhile. The music world is far richer for having had him in it.
Standout Tracks
“Mojo Pin”
“Hallelujah”
“Lover, You Should’ve Come Over”
Buy/Stream
iTunes
Amazon
Spotify |
WATCH: USC Professor Arrested After ‘Making Students Report Fake Active Shooter’
This story gets more bizarre by the moment. Cell phone footage captured a USC professor reportedly being arrested for making students call in a fake active shooter.
Sources @USC are saying a professor made students call to report shots fired. @LAPDHQ confirms no active shooter & professor is arrested. pic.twitter.com/zWNQXvaJWu — JacquelineSarkissian (@JSarkissianFOX7) October 2, 2017
.@USCDPS confirms that a detention was made on-scene for the mental health evaluation of an adjunct professor. No other info released. — JacquelineSarkissian (@JSarkissianFOX7) October 2, 2017
ABC 7 News reports:
A USC professor suffered “some sort of an episode” that caused students to believe there was an active shooter at school, triggering the campus scare and police response on Monday, police said. LAPD Deputy Chief Phillip Tingirides said the professor, who was not identified, told her students to lock the doors and get on the floor. Then, she began yelling, “active shooter.” […] The search netted no evidence of a shooting or a shooter at school, authorities said. An all-clear was subsequently declared. Tingirides said the professor was in LAPD custody.
Early reports have emerged that an active shooter has opened fire at USC. Police have placed the area on lockdown. The LAPD are now reporting no active shooter is present.
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/914943906596446208?ref_src=twsrc% 5Etfw
NBC Los Angeles reports:
Police were responding to a report of a shooting at the University of Southern California on Monday, the Los Angeles Police Department said. The university issued an alert urging students and staff to avoid the area of 610 Childs Way on the University Park Campus or shelter in place. Officers were searching Fertitta Hall at the Marshall School of Business. University officials said shots were reported but not confirmed. NBC4 is working to confirm additional details.
Below is a periscope of the incident.
https://twitter.com/joshdcaplan/status/914936247835152384?ref_src=twsrc% 5Etfw&ref_url=http% 3A% 2F% 2Fwww.thegatewaypundit.com% 2F2017% 2F10% 2Fbreaking-active-shooter-reported-usc-campus-lockdown-videos% 2F |
Well, it's finally here. The highly anticipated Jeep entry in the Hellcat Hall of Fame. At long last, "active lifestyle" sporty utilitarians get their very own 707-hp, 645-lb-ft conveyance in which to trebuchet their kayaks and carabiners from the city house to the country house. If you can imagine Motor Trend's sister brand Roadkill doing a weekend engine swap of a Hellcat crate engine into a Grand Cherokee SRT8 to produce the world's most powerful SUV, you've got about 90 percent of the design brief for the 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk.
The engine is almost exactly the same as the one powering Challenger and Charger Hellcats, from boost pressure (11.6 psi) and max air flow rate (30,000 liters per minute) to peak in-cylinder pressures (1,600 psi). One difference: The oil capacity is slightly greater—8.3 versus 7.0 quarts. That helps it cope with the most significant difference in the Jeep's duty cycle: the ability power all four wheels and to tow 7,200 pounds (just as the SRT8 can). The eight-speed Torqueflite transmission shares the gear ratios of the Hellcat cars but is beefed up slightly for AWD towing duty, earning the name 8HP95, up from 8HP90. Naturally, there are paddle shifters, and the normal half-second shift time can be trimmed to a quarter-second in the Sport dynamic driving mode and to just 160 milliseconds in Track mode.
View 71 Photos
Unique exterior features include a 1-inch lower ride height (versus non-SRT models), body-colored wheel flares and side sill cladding, a hood with dual heat extractor vents, and two exclusive exterior color options (Rhino and Redline 2). The foglights have been deleted to enhance cooling and intake.
The transmission bolts up to a Quadra-Trac MP 3015C single-speed transfer case that is capable of varying the front to rear torque split from 60/40 percent in trailer-towing mode to 30/70 in Track mode, with intermediate stops at 50/50 (Snow mode) and 40/60 (Automatic mode). Snow and Tow modes are new to the Jeep. (The Auto, Sport, and Track modes match those in the cars.) Oh, and the Hello Kitty Quadra-Trac gets forged steel chain sprockets pulling a wider chain for added strength and durability.
Other Jeep-specific upgrades include the use of an electronic limited-slip differential out back sporting way shorter gearing than in the cars (3.70:1 versus 2.62:1, matching the Jeep SRT8's cogs). The housing is redesigned relative to the one in the SRT8 with revised ring-and-pinion tooth geometry and a new four-point axle mounting scheme to better distribute the enormous forces attempting to twist it away from the chassis. From there, the torque flows through halfshafts made of ultra-high-strength 300M alloy vacuum-melted steel to upgraded eight-ball outboard constant velocity joints. If you're a metal nerd, that steel is essentially a modified AISI 4340 steel with silicon, vanadium, and slightly more carbon and molybdenum—mega tough yet ductile.
View 71 Photos
The front brakes are the biggest in the Hellcat/SRT pantheon at 15.75 inches, chomped by bright yellow six-piston Brembo calipers (up from 15.00 on the Jeep SRT8 and 15.40 on the Hellcat cars). The rears match the SRT8 and Hellcat cars at 13.78 inches with yellow four-piston calipers. Those calipers peer out from 10.0-by-20-inch wheels; cast aluminum comes standard with a titanium finish, and forged aluminum with low-gloss black finish is an option (they're 12 pounds lighter). |
***Update***: Well, that was quick. The anti-sodomy provision in question will be removed from the legislation.
***Update 2*** (from Hemant): Two quick corrections. This was an amendment to an existing bill, not a separate bill. Also, we should have made clear in the headline that the language in the bill would have been unenforceable because of the Supreme Court ruling that we discuss in the piece. Apologies on our end for perpetuating any confusion.
…
You read that right.
Michigan is one of 12 states that has kept its sodomy bans on the books since Lawrence v. Texas outlawed such bans in 2003. And thanks to some suspect language in a new bill meant to stop animal cruelty, anyone who engages in sodomy — anal or oral sex, whether with a same-sex or different-sex partner — could be subject to major jail time.
Michigan’s Senate has already passed SB 219, which equates sodomy to bestiality in just a couple of words:
Introduced by Republican State Sen. Rick Jones, the bill includes an update to the language of the state’s existing ban on sodomy, which states “a person who commits the abominable and detestable crime against nature either with mankind or with any animal is guilty of a felony” that is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Because the bill specifies “with mankind,” a number of LGBT outlets have pointed out that any act of anal or oral sex could be interpreted as illegal as the wording essentially equates sodomy and bestiality. Although anti-sodomy laws have been used to criminalize homosexuality at the global level, some have noted that Michigan’s ban does not reference same-sex couples specifically.
This might seem like a great opportunity to finally remove the unconstitutional sodomy ban from the books, by simply striking the words “either with mankind or” from SB 219. However, Sen. Jones told The New Civil Rights Movement that such an amendment would jeopardize the whole bill. “The minute I cross that line and I start talking about the other stuff, I won’t even get another hearing. It’ll be done,” Jones [said]. “Nobody wants to touch it. I would rather not even bring up the topic, because I know what would happen. You’d get both sides screaming and you end up with a big fight that’s not needed because it’s unconstitutional.” Jones added that he believes the only way to repeal the sodomy ban would be a bill striking all unconstitutional laws from the state’s books. “But if you focus on it, people just go ballistic,” he said. “If we could put a bill in that said anything that’s unconstitutional be removed from the legal books of Michigan, that’s probably something I could vote for, but am I going to mess up this dog bill that everybody wants? No.”
For years, legislators in Michigan have been adamant about passing the package of animal rights bills referred to as Logan’s Law, for a Siberian husky who died after being intentionally burned with acid. Now, that commitment might get in the way of taking out the stipulation that, y’know, criminalizes consensual private sex acts between adults. From the New Civil Rights Movement
It makes no sense at all to link such a heinous, outdated rule to an otherwise worthy bill. (Not to mention there are plenty of other things Michigan officials could be spending their time on, like the water crisis in Flint.) The backlash from this oversight will be far more visible than any positive effects the bill could have.
Maybe get a second opinion on the language next time, you guys.
(Image via Shutterstock) |
The Stone is a forum for contemporary philosophers and other thinkers on issues both timely and timeless.
There are many ways to destroy a person, but the simplest and most devastating might be solitary confinement. Deprived of meaningful human contact, otherwise healthy prisoners often come unhinged. They experience intense anxiety, paranoia, depression, memory loss, hallucinations and other perceptual distortions. Psychiatrists call this cluster of symptoms SHU syndrome, named after the Security Housing Units of many supermax prisons. Prisoners have more direct ways of naming their experience. They call it “living death,” the “gray box,” or “living in a black hole.”
In June the Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Human Rights, headed by Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, held the first Congressional hearing on solitary confinement. Advocates and experts in the field were invited to submit testimony on the psychological, ethical, social and economic issues raised by punitive isolation. Among the many contributors was Anthony Graves, who spent over 18 years on death row in Texas, most of them in solitary confinement, for a crime he did not commit. Graves describes his isolation as a form of “emotional torture.” Two years after his exoneration and release, he still feels trapped in isolation: “I am living amongst millions of people in the world today, but most of the time I feel alone. I cry at night because of this feeling. I just want to stop feeling this way, but I haven’t been able to.”
We tend to assume that solitary confinement is reserved for “the worst of the worst”: violent inmates who have proved themselves unwilling or unable to live in the general population. But the truth is that an inmate can be sent to the hole for failing to return a meal tray, or for possession of contraband (which can include anything from weapons to spicy tortilla chips). According to the Bureau of Justice, there were 81,622 prisoners in some form of “restricted housing” (code for solitary confinement) in 2005. If anything, these numbers have increased as isolation units continue to be built in prisons, jails and juvenile detention centers across the country. Given that 95 percent of all inmates are eventually released into the public, and that many of these will be released without any form of transition or therapy, solitary confinement is a problem that potentially affects every one of us.
Leif Parsons
In my own statement for the Senate subcommittee, I made a philosophical argument against solitary confinement, drawing on my research in phenomenology. Phenomenology is a philosophical method for uncovering the structure of lived experience by describing what it is like from a first person perspective. Rather than attempting to prove a set of objective facts, phenomenology tracks the way that a meaningful experience of the world emerges for someone in the total situation of their Being-in-the-world. It’s not that facts are unimportant, but rather that they are not meaningful in themselves; they become meaningful when they are experienced by someone in relation to a wider context or horizon. What happens when that horizon shrinks to the space of a 6-by-9 cell?
Consider the following testimony from prisoners interviewed by the psychiatrist Stuart Grassian in Block 10 of Walpole Penitentiary in 1982:
I went to a standstill psychologically once — lapse of memory. I didn’t talk for 15 days. I couldn’t hear clearly. You can’t see — you’re blind — block everything out — disoriented, awareness is very bad. Did someone say he’s coming out of it? I think what I’m saying is true — not sure. I think I was drooling — a complete standstill. I seem to see movements — real fast motions in front of me. Then seems like they’re doing things behind your back — can’t quite see them. Did someone just hit me? I dwell on it for hours. Melting, everything in the cell starts moving; everything gets darker, you feel you are losing your vision. I can’t concentrate, can’t read . . . Your mind’s narcotized . . . sometimes can’t grasp words in my mind that I know. Get stuck, have to think of another word. Memory is going. You feel you are losing something you might not get back.
Deprived of everyday encounters with other people, and cut off from an open-ended experience of the world as a place of difference and change, many inmates lose touch with reality. What is the prisoner in solitary confinement at risk of losing, to the point of not getting it back?
Related More From The Stone Read previous contributions to this series.
The prisoner in a control unit may have adequate food and drink, and the conditions of his confinement may meet or exceed court-tested thresholds for humane treatment. But there is something about the exclusion of other living beings from the space that they inhabit, and the absence of even the possibility of touching or being touched by another, that threatens to undermine the identity of the subject. The problem with solitary confinement is not just that it deprives the inmate of her freedom. This harm is already inflicted by our prison system, and depending on how you feel about justice and punishment, depriving people of freedom may be justifiable. But prolonged isolation inflicts another kind of harm, one that can never be justified. This harm is ontological; it violates the very structure of our relational being.
Think about it: Every time I hear a sound and see another person look toward the origin of that sound, I receive an implicit confirmation that what I heard was something real, that it was not just my imagination playing tricks on me. Every time someone walks around the table rather than through it, I receive an unspoken, usually unremarkable, confirmation that the table exists, and that my own way of relating to tables is shared by others. When I don’t receive these implicit confirmations, I can usually ask someone — but for the most part, we don’t need to ask because our experience is already interwoven with the experience of many other living, thinking, perceiving beings who relate to the same world from their own unique perspective. This multiplicity of perspectives is like an invisible net that supports the coherence of my own experience, even (or especially) when others challenge my interpretation of “the facts.” These facts are up for discussion in the first place because we inhabit a shared world with others who agree, at the very least, that there is something to disagree about.
When we isolate a prisoner in solitary confinement, we deprive them of both the support of others, which is crucial for a coherent experience of the world, and also the critical challenge that others pose to our own interpretation of the world. Both of these are essential for a meaningful experience of things, but they are especially important for those who have broken the law, and so violated the trust of others in the community. If we truly want our prisons to rehabilitate and transform criminal offenders, then we must put them in a situation where they have a chance and an obligation to explain themselves to others, to repair damaged networks of mutual support, and to lend their own unique perspective to creating meaning in the world.
We ask too little of prisoners when we isolate them in units where they are neither allowed nor obliged to create and sustain meaningful, supportive relations with others. For the sake of justice, not only for them but for ourselves, we must put an end to the over-use of solitary confinement in this country, and we must begin the difficult but mutually rewarding work of bringing the tens of thousands of currently isolated prisoners back into the world.
Lisa Guenther is an associate professor of philosophy at Vanderbilt University and the author of the forthcoming book “Social Death and Its Afterlives: A Critical Phenomenology of Solitary Confinement.” |
The Great Lakes Wind Atlas Could Boost Region’s Wind Energy Development
September 10th, 2015 by Joshua S Hill
A wind atlas is exactly what it sounds like, a data collection of wind speed and wind direction in a given region, and now, for the first time, researchers from Cornell University and the Technical University of Denmark have combined to create the first full observational wind atlas for the Great Lakes region of North America.
The wind data sourced for this new high-definition wind atlas was gathered from weather stations, buoys, the NASA satellite QuikSCAT which focuses on wind direction and speed over water bodies, and various other satellites equipped with synthetic aperture radar (SAR).
“The techniques that we have employed optimize the strengths of each measurement type, allowing a longtime series of data to be combined with the exceptional spatial resolution of the satellites – corrected for gaps in data due to ice cover in the winter months – using a new algorithm,” said lead author Paula Doubrawa, a Cornell doctoral candidate in the field of engineering, who along with her adviser Rebecca Barthelmie, a professor of engineering at Cornell, and researchers from the Technical University of Denmark, authored the article Satellite winds as a tool for offshore wind resource assessment: The Great Lakes Wind Atlas, published in the journal Remote Sensing of Environment.
With this in mind, the Great Lakes Wind Atlas could have a significant impact on developing the Great Lakes wind energy market. As Cornell University noted in its press release, “scientists, economists and environmentalists have touted the potential for wind-energy development in the Great Lakes region” for years, “as it features a large expanse of exploitable wind resources.” Extending over 150,000 square miles (388 498 square kilometers), and touching eight US states and two Canadian provinces, the Great Lakes account for approximately 84% of North America’s surface freshwater, and 21% of Earth’s total surface freshwater.
It’s unsurprising then that the Great Lakes have been so much the focus of wind energy proponents for so long.
Earlier this year, the Lake Erie Energy Development Corporation wrote a piece highlighting the potential for offshore wind development in the US. The figures presented showed that the US had a total of 4,223 GW of offshore wind generating potential, with 50 GW alone coming from Lake Erie, the fourth largest of the five Great Lakes. Floating wind turbines could be one of the ways in which offshore wind could be best harnessed for electricity, as has been put forward back in 2012.
Image Credit: “GreatLakes.A2005027.1635.250m” by en:Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer – NASA Visible Earth. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons. |
MIA > Archive > Mehring > Historical Materialism
Franz Mehring
On Historical Materialism
Appendix
Letter from Engels
to Franz Mehring in Berlin
Dear Herr Mehring,
Today is my first opportunity to thank you for the Lessing Legend you were kind enough to send me. I did not want to reply with a bare formal acknowledgment of receipt of the book but intended at the same time to tell you something about it, about its contents. Hence the delay.
I shall begin at the end – the appendix on historical materialism, in which you have lined up the main things excellently and for any unprejudiced person convincingly. If I find anything to object to it is that you give me more credit than I deserve, even if I count in everything which I might possibly have found out for myself – in time – but which Marx with his more rapid coup d’oeil and wider vision discovered much more quickly. When one had the good fortune to work for forty years with a man like Marx, one usually does not during his lifetime get the recognition one thinks one deserves. Then, when the greater man dies, the lesser easily gets overrated and this seems to me to be just my case at present; history will set all this right in the end and by that time one will have quietly turned up one’s toes and not know anything any more about anything.
Otherwise only one more point is lacking, which, however, Marx and I always failed to stress enough in our writings and in regard to which we are all equally guilty. That is to say, we all laid, and were bound to lay, the main emphasis, in the first place, on the derivation of political, juridical and other ideological notions, and of actions arising through the medium of these notions, from basic economic facts. But in so doing we neglected the formal side – the ways and means by which these notions, etc., come about – for the sake of the content. This has given our adversaries a welcome opportunity for misunderstandings and distortions, of which Paul Barth is a striking example.
Ideology is a process accomplished by the so-called thinker consciously, it is true, but with a false consciousness. The real motive forces impelling him remain unknown to him; otherwise it simply would not be an ideological process. Hence he imagines false or seeming motive forces. Because it is a process of thought he derives its form as well as its content from pure thought, either his own or that of his predecessors. He works with mere thought material, which he accepts without examination as the product of thought, and does not investigate further for a more remote source independent of thought; indeed this is a matter of course to him, because, as all action is mediated by thought, it appears to him to be ultimately based upon thought.
The historical ideologist (historical is here simply meant to comprise the political, juridical, philosophical, theological – in short, all the spheres belonging to society and not only to nature) thus possesses in every sphere of science material which has formed itself independently out of the thought of previous generations and has gone through its own independent course of development in the brains of these successive generations. True, external facts belonging to one or another sphere may have exercised a codetermining influence on this development, but the tacit presupposition is that these facts themselves are also only the fruits of a process of thought, and so we still remain within that realm of mere thought, which apparently has successfully digested even the hardest facts.
It is above all this semblance of an independent history of state constitutions, of systems of law, of ideological conceptions in every separate domain that dazzles most people. If Luther and Calvin “overcome” the official Catholic religion or Hegel “overcomes” Fichte and Kant or Rousseau with his republican Contrat social indirectly “overcomes” the constitutional Montesquieu, this is a process which remains within theology, philosophy or political science, represents a stage in the history of these particular spheres of thought and never passes beyond the sphere of thought. And since the bourgeois illusion of the eternity and finality of capitalist production has been added as well, even the overcoming of the mercantilists by the physiocrats and Adam Smith is accounted as a sheer victory of thought; not as the reflection in thought of changed economic facts but as the finally achieved correct understanding of actual conditions subsisting always and everywhere – in fact, if Richard Coeur-de-Lion and Philip Augustus had introduced free trade instead of getting mixed up in the crusades we should have been spared five hundred years of misery and stupidity.
This aspect of the matter, which I can only indicate here, we have all, I think, neglected more than it deserves. It is the old story: form is always neglected at first for content. As I say, I have done that too and the mistake has always struck me only later. So I am not only far from reproaching you with this in any way- as the older of the guilty parties I certainly have no right to do so; on the contrary. But I would like all the same to draw your attention to this point for the future.
Hanging together with this is the fatuous notion of the ideologists that because we deny an independent historical development to the various ideological spheres which play a part in history we also deny them any effect upon history. The basis of this is the common undialectical conception of cause and effect as rigidly opposite poles, the total disregarding of interaction. These gentlemen often almost deliberately forget that once an historic element has been brought into the world by other, ultimately economic causes, it reacts, can react on its environment and even on the causes that have given rise to it. For instance, Barth on the priesthood and religion, your page 475. I was very glad to see how you settled this fellow, whose banality exceeds all expectations; and him they make professor of history in Leipzig! I must say that old man Wachsmuth – also rather a bonehead but greatly appreciative of facts – was quite a different chap.
As for the rest, I can only repeat about the book what I repeatedly said about the articles when they appeared in the Neue Zeit: it is by far the best presentation in existence of the genesis of the Prussian state. [1] Indeed, I may well say that it is the only; good presentation, correctly developing in most matters their interconnections down to the veriest details. One regrets only that you were unable to include the entire further development down to Bismarck and one hopes involuntarily that you will do this another time and present a complete coherent picture, from the Elector Frederick William down to old William. You have already made your preliminary investigations and, in the main at least, they are as good as finished. The thing has to be done sometime anyhow before the shaky old shanty comes tumbling down. The dissipation of the monarchical-patriotic legends, while not directly a necessary preliminary for the abolition of the monarchy which screens class domination (inasmuch as a pure, bourgeois republic in Germany was outstripped by events before it came into existence) will nevertheless be one of the most effective levers for that purpose.
Then you will have more space and opportunity to depict the local history of Prussia as part of the general misery that Germany has gone through. This is the point where I occasionally depart somewhat from your view, especially in the conception of the preliminary conditions for the dismemberment of Germany and of the failure of the bourgeois revolution in Germany during the sixteenth century. When I get down to reworking the historical introduction to my Peasant War, which I hope will be next winter, I shall be able to develop there the points in question. Not that I consider those you indicated incorrect, but I put others alongside them and group them somewhat differently.
In studying German history – the story of a continuous state of wretchedness – I have always found that only a comparison with the corresponding French periods produces a correct idea of proportions, because what happens there is the direct opposite of what happens in our country. There, the establishment of a national state from the scattered parts of the feudal state precisely at the time we pass through the period of our greatest decline. There, a rare objective logic during the whole course of the process; with us, more and more dismal dislocation. There, during the Middle Ages, foreign intervention is represented by the English conqueror who intervenes in favour of the Provençal nationality against the Northern French nationality. The wars with England represent, in a way, the Thirty Years’ War, which, however, ends in the ejection of the foreign invaders and the subjugation of the South by the North. Then comes the struggle between the central power and vassal Burgundy, supported by its foreign possessions, which plays the part of Brandenburg-Prussia, a struggle which ends, however, in the victory of the central power and conclusively establishes the national state. And precisely at that moment the national state completely collapses in our country (in so far as the “German kingdom” within the Holy Roman Empire can be called a national state) and the plundering of German territory on a large scale sets in. This comparison is most humiliating for Germans but for that very reason the more instructive; and since our workers have put Germany back again the forefront of the historical movement it has become somewhat easier for us to swallow the ignominy of the past.
Another especially significant feature of the development of Germany is the fact that neither of the partial states which in the end partitioned Germany between them was purely German – both were colonies on conquered Slav territory: Austria a Bavarian and Brandenburg a Saxon colony – and that they acquired power within Germany only by relying upon the support of foreign, non-German possessions: Austria upon that of Hungary (not to mention Bohemia) and Brandenburg that of Prussia. On the Western border, the one in greatest jeopardy, nothing of the kind took place; on the Northern border it was left to the Danes to protect Germany against the Danes; and in the South there was so little to protect that the frontier guard, the Swiss, even succeeded in tearing themselves loose from Germany!
But I have allowed myself to drift into all kinds of extraneous matter. Let this palaver at least serve you as proof of how stimulating an effect your work has upon me.
Once more cordial thanks and greetings from
Yours,
F. Engels
Note
1. See F. Mehring, Absolutism and Revolution in Germany 1525-1848 (New Park Publications, 1975).
Top of page
Last updated on 15.2.2004 |
BEIJING (Reuters) - Fresh reports that China is building a second aircraft carrier circulated over the weekend on a city government microblog and a state-owned newspaper, as the country scrambles to modernize its military.
China wants to develop an ocean-going “blue water” navy capable of defending the growing interests of the world’s second largest economy as it adopts a more assertive stance in territorial disputes with neighbors in the South China and East China seas.
A power cable maker in the eastern city of Changzhou has won a deal to provide equipment for the second aircraft carrier, according to the reports, which appeared on the official microblog of the government of Changzhou and the state-backed Changzhou Evening News, but have since been deleted.
Chinese military analysts said the reports were a tacit acknowledgement the carrier was being built.
Media reports last year cited the top party official in the northern province of Liaoning as saying that China was building the carrier, and aimed for a future fleet of at least four aircraft carriers.
But the government has consistently sought to keep news about a second aircraft carrier quiet, and the military has not formally acknowledged its development.
The country’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, a Soviet-era ship bought from Ukraine in 1998 and refitted in a Chinese shipyard, has long been a symbol of China’s naval build-up.
Successfully operating the 60,000-tonne Liaoning is the first step in what state media and some military experts believe will be the deployment of domestically-built carriers by 2020. |
A high school senior owns a piece of Texas football history. She's the first girl to score points in a University Interscholastic League (UIL) state title game.K-Lani Nava from the small town of Strawn, west of Dallas, is a kicker for the high school's six man team.They played in the Division II title game in Dallas Wednesday night.Playing on the home field of the Dallas Cowboys, Nava kicked nine extra points in Strawn's 78 to 42 win.Six-man games typically are higher-scoring than traditional 11-aside games. Extra points are worth two points and field goals are worth four.On Wednesday, Nava racked up 18 points, thanks to her nine PATs. One of her kicks was blocked, but that did little to sour a history-making day for the former soccer player. She also is believed to be the first female ever to play in a Texas state title game.Nava is a former soccer player who wants to be a marine biologist.Her coach says she's just like any other member of the team with a job to do. |
True autonomous vehicles are coming in the next 5–7 years. Luxury automakers from BMW to Lincoln have been pioneering advanced driver aides and interventions for nearly a decade. Tesla turned on their controversial Autopilot beta program last year and Mercedes has promised us a fully autonomous vehicle by 2021. Eleven states (Alabama, California, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia) and the District of Columbia currently have legislation around the testing and use of autonomous vehicles. It’s now clearly a matter of when, not if, self-driving cars become the future.
As someone who loves to drive there are parts of this truth that bum me out and the idea of conditioning an entire generation of drivers to actually be less attentive on the roads is particularly troubling, much of this is cultural adoption challenges and will be overcome with time. For the rest of it — well there are still people who believe that vinyl is king so I’m sure a niche population will still be manually driving well into the future.
But as a technologist interested in the data around us I’m constantly reminded that autonomous cars mean more to society than fewer automobile crashes, improved quality of life for people with disabilities, and less congested roadways. Each autonomous car on the road brings with it a broad assortment of sensors including two of my favorites — LIDAR and Radar. LIDAR and Radar are indispensable in mapping spaces while creating virtual worlds. With IHS estimating nearly 76M autonomous vehicles on the market by 2035 that’s a lot of new data being created from nearly continuous scans of the routes of those vehicles. Take just a moment to imagine the possibilities.
Think about every municipality gaining access to a real-time virtual scan of their infrastructure. No more waiting for multiple reports of potholes, downed trees or powerlines to come into the local Department of Public Works before a repair crew is dispatched. A car driving by an impacted site can automatically alert the DPW that can then send out the necessary repair crew all while doing its task of taking you to work/home. Rapid repairs to infrastructure are a key to increasing infrastructure longevity. The benefit to mapping and navigational tools for those non-autonomous cars is also great. The increase in accuracy of applications like Waze when users no longer have to rely on others taking the time to manually tag an accident or road debris, or hidden police officer. If the cars could do it automatically we’d all get much more actionable data, both autonomous cars and non-autonomous cars.
By combining LIDAR scans with geo-positioning data it will be possible to get a closer-to-real-time view of the population changes in a number of environments. This data can then be used to ensure that adequate services are being provided to the community and help municipalities more accurately measure density (I’m looking at you MTA).
In addition, when coupled with machine vision technology the LIDAR and GPS data from autonomous vehicles can be used to monitor the opening and closing of stores and restaurants. Imagine knowing when you get in your car that the store you were planning on visiting had closed early, but that another comparable store 5 minutes away was still open. Drivers will have the ability to transform errands from “I have to go to X” to “I need to pick up Y” where you can go to the store that has what you need based a number of variables including if the store is still open.
Of course with any technology that’s in public spaces there are some very serious privacy concerns. LIDAR married to machine vision and GPS could potentially be used to effectively track individuals and groups. It could be used in this manner for good (think following terrorists and other bad actors) or bad (talk about giving conspiracy theorists something to work with). Remember when Germany decided to blur out all of their citizens in Google Maps? Well I think the reaction to this data would make that experience look quaint in comparison. I also believe there would be a similar reaction in pockets of the US as well, something that didn’t really happen with Google Street Maps.
However, much like in the 2010 Google Maps case in Germany only the publicly available result of the data would be obfuscated. The actual data the mapping companies would be selling likely wouldn’t be effected in the same manner. And this is a very important distinction to be made. Each car company is most likely going to have its own data set that it will be selling, possibly in conjunction with a technology partner. But in an industry that is slow to develop and extremely reluctant to adopt technology standards it’s hard to imagine the auto manufacturers ceding control. Just think about the fact that Apple Carplay and Android Auto were in the wild for over 2 years before they were implemented by automakers, and it’s still far from being a standard. I think it’s fair to say that automakers are not going this let this go to their partners. There’s also the fact that the auto industry generally follows a three year cycle for innovation and there’s little to no way that it’s ever going to be able to adopt the tech industry’s 6–18 month cycle.
So what we’re likely to end up with is different manufacturers with slightly different data sets that are all incentivized to sell that data to the highest bidder. The personal security implications are obvious — if there’s database of your every movement that’s for sale personal anonymity goes straight out the window. That’s not even mentioning the potential impact on civil liberties. Unfortunately the only thing that’s slower to react to technology than the auto industry is the government, which means that most of this will likely be hashed out in the courts.
But don’t forget this is merely one possible scenario. There’s always all of the good that can come from having all of that sensor data out there — even if most of it isn’t publicly available. |
Supporters of independence for Scotland | EPA/Graham Stuart Independence would make Scotland ‘Greece without the sun’ After Brexit vote, Nicola Sturgeon said it was ‘highly likely’ there would be a fresh referendum.
Leaving the U.K. would expose Scotland to "significant economic risk," according to a study by a center-right think tank, published Saturday.
Breaking away, would turn Scotland into "Greece without the sun," according to the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS).
The analysis was released after Michael Gove hinted that he would cut Scotland's funding if he became prime minister in return for extra new powers that Leave campaigners had pledged would be repatriated after a Brexit vote.
Gove said: "We are taking back control of policy areas like agriculture and fishing that are vital to the economies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the Scottish parliament and devolved assemblies can enjoy new powers in these and other areas.
“I think we need to explore how we can develop a fairly funded, flexible and robust union for our new circumstances — and I will work across political divides, with respect, to build that new union,” he said.
After the June 23 Brexit vote, Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister, said it was “highly likely” there would be a fresh independence referendum, unless Scotland could retain close ties with the EU. The CPS analysis said there was “some logic from a democratic standpoint” to Sturgeon’s push for independence, but “the economic backdrop is not encouraging for her.”
Scotland’s budget deficit has grown to three times the U.K. level, about £15 billion. Its trade within the U.K. makes up nearly two-thirds of its overall exports, worth £48.5 billion, compared with only 15 percent with the EU, according to a report in the Guardian.
“There is a precedent for a small, romantic country, surrounded by hundreds of islands, perched on the extremity of Europe, seeking membership of the euro: Greece," the CPS analysis said.
“Of course, it would be impertinent to suggest that Scotland’s circumstances are directly equivalent to those of Greece, but it does undoubtedly serve as a useful reminder that countries with challenging public finances can end up suffering inside the euro,” it concluded. |
Democrat Senate hopeful Alison Lundergan Grimes says an internal poll shows she’s in a virtual dead-heat with Republican incumbent Mitch McConnell, despite national polls indicating he’s pulled well ahead.Grimes’ pollster Mark Mellman said during a media conference call that she has a 1-point lead in the Kentucky race and called it "essentially a tied race," the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.Her survey found that Grimes was leading McConnell 43 percent to 42 percent, with 15 percent undecided, according to the newspaper, which noted that Mellman’s polling of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's 2010 race proved accurate when other public polls were incorrect.Earlier this week, an NBC/Marist poll revealed that the senate minority leader was leading Kentucky’s secretary of state by 8 points, 47 percent to 39 percent.In a CBS/NYT/YouGov survey, McConnell was ahead by 4 to 5 points, while a Bluegrass Poll has the senator leading by 4 points, according to reports.But Mellman said, "Bottom line is, this is an exceedingly close race with the slightest advantage at this moment for Grimes. It's a race that will certainly go down to the wire."The Washington Post's Aaron Blake, however, scoffed at Grimes’ poll, referring to it on Twitter as "the this-race-is-still-competitive-please-don't-give-up internal poll," said the Herald-Leader, which noted that The New York Times’ statistics team just gave McConnell a 93 percent chance of winning.McConnell spokeswoman Allison Moore also shrugged off Grimes’ poll, saying it was a desperate attempt to keep her candidacy relevant."Alison Lundergan Grimes is dangerously close to losing national interest in her campaign with nine straight polls showing her losing significant ground, so that's what this poll is about," Moore told the Herald-Leader."Bottom line is that every single public poll shows that Kentuckians aren't interested in trading in the clout and influence they have in the Senate for another liberal vote in support of the Obama agenda."Pointing to his previous successes, however, Mellman said he was "absolutely" and "completely confident" in his survey."One of the differences and one of the things that makes us accurate is we're focused on the likely electorate and not just likely voters," said Mellman, without revealing the "secret sauce" of his polling methods."There's never been an electorate made up exclusively of likely voters. We want to know what that likely electorate looks like."The phone survey of 800 Kentucky voters was conducted Sept. 4-7 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points. |
FORT WORTH (CN) – Texas wants a woman to stop calling herself a “naturopathic doctor,” touting her illegal college degree, and promoting dietary supplements she claims can stop cancer on her website and a TV show called “Alternative Health.”
The Texas attorney general sued Valerie Saxion and Valerie Saxon Inc. in Tarrant County Court.
Saxion sells diet supplements, skin care products and books via telephone and her website, and pushes them on her TV show.
“Saxion promotes herself as a naturopathic doctor (N.D.), but Texas does not recognize naturopaths,” the complaint states.
“Additionally, on [her] website … defendant Valerie Saxion stated that she received her doctorate in naturopathy from Clayton College. Clayton College of Natural Health is on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board’s list of institutions whose degrees are illegal to use in Texas. According to the list, Clayton College does not have accreditation from an accreditor recognized by the Coordinating Board. Any use of terms like ‘Doctor’ or ‘Dr.’ in connection with defendant Valerie Saxion is false, misleading, or deceptive,” Texas says.
The Texas Department of Health Services has inspected Saxion’s Fort Worth business four times since May 2009 and found “defendants make explicit and implicit statements claiming their dietary supplements can diagnose, mitigate, treat, cure, or prevent disease,” the attorney general says.
Saxion claims her products can inhibit breast and prostate tumors “as well as colorectal, stomach and skin cancer, including melanoma,” treat high blood pressure, arthritis, “crippling hip/leg pain,” and give relief from bulging back discs and pinched nerves, Texas says.
There is seemingly nothing Saxion’s products cannot treat: she claims they also can be used for depression, obesity, headaches, premenstrual symptoms, fibromyalgia, Lyme disease, herpes, salmonella poisoning, warts, gonorrhea, gangrene, parasites, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, among many other applications, according to the complaint.
State investigators found that Saxion could not produce a current manufacturing license for each manufacturer listed on her products, and “could not produce evidence that the Federal Food and Drug Administration had been notified of structure/function statements made for dietary supplements,” Texas says.
Investigators found other labeling violations on Saxion’s products, including failure to include the term dietary supplement in identifying her products, labeling products as dietary supplements that do not meet the definition, making nutrient content claims on products’ labels when they do not meet the requirements to make the claim and not listing the manufacturer’s address on her products.
Texas says Saxion’s promotion of misbranded foods and drugs not approved by the FDA violates state law. It seeks an injunction, investigative costs and penalties for violations of the Texas Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
It wants her to stop selling misbranded drugs or food and “failing to disclose that claims to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent disease cannot legally be made for dietary supplements.”
And it wants her enjoined from using the words “Doctor” or “Doctor of Naturopathy” to describe herself, and making claims about disease-fighting dietary supplements on “websites, product labels and brochures, catalogs, television programs or advertisements, radio programs or advertisements; third party vendors; and third party websites.”
Like this: Like Loading... |
Yellowstone National Park is taking steps toward turning part of its bison trap at the northern edge of the park into a certified brucellosis quarantine facility.
Park officials have been talking since at least April with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and state livestock officials about upgrades they could make to the Stephens Creek Facility, as well as testing requirements needed to certify bison as brucellosis-free, The Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported Sunday.
The move is meant to eventually get the 24 male bison at the trap to the Fort Peck Indian Reservation without first transferring them to quarantine corrals at Corwin Springs.
Male bison must be quarantined for a year before they can be deemed free of the disease, which is feared by the livestock industry because it causes cattle to abort their offspring.
Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk said sending bison to Corwin Springs would cost more than quarantining them at Stephens Creek, even with the facility upgrades it will require.
"I don't think the cost is going to be that high," he said. "We feel like we're in a better place in terms of doing the research we want to do on these animals."
Work on the facility has not started because the park is waiting for the Montana Department of Livestock and the federal agriculture department to provide specific requirements. Marty Zaluski, Montana's state veterinarian, said he is working on finalizing the rules.
More than half of Yellowstone bison are believed to have been exposed to the disease. There has been no documented case of bison transmitting the disease to cattle in the wild but that fear has driven efforts to control the Yellowstone population and limit where bison are allowed.
A 17-year-old management plan calls for the population to be culled to about 3,000 bison in the park, and the numbers are managed through hunting and shipping the animals to slaughter.
Quarantining bison is seen as a way to reduce the number slaughtered each year and to establish more bison herds around the U.S. |
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to eat like a pioneer, back when people were more self reliant and worked hard to produce what they ate?
Have you wondered how hard it would really be to achieve this goal?
As homesteaders and gardeners, we decided we were up to the challenge and decided to start eating like pioneers. Sort of. We did allow ourselves to buy dairy (as we do not yet have a cow), and we did sneak in the odd chocolate bar, and at least a few bottles of Kahlua. The intent was not to punish ourselves, but to get a reasonable appreciation for where we’re at, in terms of providing for ourselves, year-round.
Over the course of the summer and autumn we stocked up a plentiful winter pantry. In addition to what we grow, it gets filled with staples like oats, beans, lentils, sugar, flour, coffee & tea. (You can read more about this in the article: Stocking a Pantry) This year there were over 800 jars, carefully preserved from the food we grew in the garden and foraged in the wild. (You can read more about this in the article: Creating a Homegrown Winter Pantry) There was a good stock of pork in the freezer from the pigs we raised, and a nice stock of wild crafted wine ready to be bottled. We were even experimenting with fermented foods, sour dough, sauerkraut, apple cider vinegar, and at least a couple more (I forget!) Things were looking great.
In the late autumn as we were pulling up the last of the root vegetables and tucking them away in cold storage, we wondered: How long can we go just eating from what’s in the pantry?
The Eat Like A Pioneer Challenge!
We decided to embark on a challenge to eat only what we had stored in the pantry for as long as possible. We figured that by depriving ourselves of convenience and luxuries we would soon figure out where we were weak, what we were missing. The ultimate goal is to be able to eat luxuriously from the food we grow and produce, right here on the homestead.
The Results
Spring has arrived and the snow is melting away. We will soon be working in the gardens again. We are both eager to be eating fresh food again. We’ve learned a lot about food and the challenges that come with trying to eat exclusively from what was stored in the pantry. In this challenge, there have been highs, and there have been lows but there are no regrets. We feel good, confident and ready for this lifestyle, more than ever before!
Eating Like a Pioneer: The Good
Organic Healthy Ingredients
It feels good knowing that the ingredients that we are using are healthy and free of pesticides. Our only challenge is to grow a bit more of it, with more variety! There are a lot of unwanted additives in everything, these days, and we really like knowing the exact ingredient and the origin of what we eat. How much pesticide did you eat last year? How about preservatives? How about strange additives, and filler? Dye? Bleach? Do you know?
Money Saving (Fuel and Frivolous purchases)
With so few trips to the store over the past six months, we’ve had great cost savings when it comes to fuel and wear and tear on the truck. I have read on-line that there is a big trend towards the “Eat From Your Pantry For One Month Challenge”. It’s a popular way to save money. I suppose our challenge is the hardcore extreme version of this?
Weather / Preparedness
There were a lot of storms this winter and at times, the driveway and roads to town were unusable for days at a time. There were also some lengthy week long power outages. We didn’t have to worry about anything, around here it was business as usual.
Improved Cooking & Baking Skills
We’ve become far more skilled at cooking meals from scratch. I can whip up pizza dough (and then a full pizza) almost as fast as you can order one, and mine will probably be better. Soups and stews come naturally as well. It’s a proud moment when you can stand in a pantry and look at a bunch of raw ingredients and come up with a delicious meal. There was a time when I would have stood there thinking “there is nothing to eat“, and would have run to the store.
Happy Accidents
When the apple wine turned sparkly it provided us some variety from the dry wine we seem to consistently produce. Another time, I accidentally dumped a jar of apple sauce into the tomato sauce I was making. Not wanting to waste food I decided to just go with it. Maybe no one would notice. Well, it turned out amazing (so amazing that it’s almost the standard). Apple sauce in tomato sauce? Blasphemy, right? Try it.
Eating Like a Pioneer: The Bad
Lack of Variety
While it seemed like we had a wide range of food to choose from, it just wasn’t enough. We started to crave things we didn’t have like mushrooms, cauliflower and spinach. We also started to desire fizzy cold beverages and anything other than apple juice. With practice this can certainly be remedied. There are many healthy fermented beverages with fizz and growing mushrooms is not difficult to learn. The biggest problem was probably meat. I am vegetarian but my husband enjoys eating meat. With only pork in the freezer, after a while no amount of creative cooking could mask the fact that it was “pork again”.
Overusing Recipes and Ingredients
I discovered that lentils taste really good when prepared correctly and we have a lot of them stored in the pantry. My husband went on “lentil strike” about a month ago deeming lentils banned from the food repertoire until further notice. You can get tired of the same ingredients week after week even if you are creative about preparing them. I have learned to not go overboard with certain ingredients.
Lack of Freshness
In March we started to crave fresh fruit. It had been such a long time since we had an apple, orange or pear. I went and bought some and they were gone in days. My husband who could often pass up the fruit bowl was eagerly helping himself each day. Fresh fruit was such a delight after so many months having gone without.
Running out of Ingredients
We hoped that we had estimated our food needs properly but we are on the verge of running out of some things that we really enjoy eating and drinking. Sugar is running low as is coffee. The apple juice is down to the last six mason jars full. We have ideas about producing our own sugar that will alleviate this in future years.
Excess Ingredients
We ended up with too many of some items. We have barely dented the shelf of pickled green beans and dill pickles. There are about eight jars of rose petal jelly awaiting us, and so many rolled oats that we wont need more for several years! Although all of these things are truly delicious, we have eaten more than a reasonable amount of them. Fortunately it will all keep but I won’t be making any more of it this coming year.
Chickens Stopped Laying
This year the chickens started moulting in late September and they didn’t lay another egg for us until March. We usually have so many eggs that we are giving them away even into November. This halt in production was unexpected and I realized too late that I should have been preserving eggs much sooner.
Conclusion
On the whole we thought that this challenge went really well. Self sufficiency with food and eating like a pioneer is achievable. This experience, the good and the bad has shown us where we are weak, what we need to improve and has given us confidence to continue ahead on this path. We do need to learn some additional skills such as tapping maple and birch trees for syrup and raising honey bees, and creating various wild yeasts for baking. These skills will help us diversify our food sources and provide additional security. Although there are some items we will always need to buy such as: wheat/grains, salt, pepper, baking soda/powder, coffee and tea with some refinement we will be able to reduce our reliance and spending even more in the years to come.
PS As I write this, I do so drinking a glass of carrot wine. We grew the carrots, turned them into wine, bottled it months ago, and just now, opened a bottle (slightly early, I might add.) How does it taste? Well, it actually has very little taste. It does not taste like carrots. Body? Skimpy. Anorexic. Aroma? Quite nice, although, somewhat lacking. Color? Absolutely gorgeous, a golden triumph. Strength? POTENT. Drinkability? You can definitely buy worse.
That might not sound so great, and really, it isn’t. There is vast room for improvement. And you know, next years batch will be better. And the year after that, better. Taken together, this quirky wine is a wonderful metaphor for homesteading: not quite what anyone really expects, odd but intoxicating, constantly evolving, wonderful for the soul, and almost certain to get you drunk.
Save |
EPISODE 279: The Problem with Nice Guys
EPISODE 279: The Problem with Nice Guys
with Dr. Robert Glover
Prefer to download? Download
Subscribe on iTunes
Find us on
Nice Guy Syndrome is when men try so hard to be liked and helpful that they end up miserable and alone. The people-pleasing, caretaker role is something that initially sounds great but often leads to huge meltdowns in personal and professional relationships. On this week’s Yoga Talk Show, we depart from our usual discussions about nutrition, anatomy and alignment to explore interpersonal relationships, particularly men’s complex and often confused role.
What You’ll Learn:
Why avoiding conflict creates more problems than it solves
Why dysfunctional relationships are the norm
Why cooperative reciprocal relationships should be the goal
Caring vs. caretaking – what’s the difference?
ABOUT OUR GUEST
Dr. Glover is a marriage and family therapist and is an internationally-recognized authority on the Nice Guy Syndrome. Through his book, online classes, workshops, podcasts, blogs, consultation, and therapy groups, Dr. Glover has helped change the lives of countless men and women around the world.
Nutritional Tip:
White Sugar
Links & Resources:
Got Questions?
Send me a voicemail here: Ask Lucas a Question
Or write to us: [email protected]
Like the Show?
Leave us a Review on iTunes
Thanks to Our Sponsor:
Trapeze Teacher Training — For passionate yoga students who love inversion yoga, this is an exciting opportunity to train with YOGABODY, the leading educator and manufacturer of inversion slings worldwide. The Yoga Trapeze® is the most-popular yoga inversion sling ever with over 100,000 students in 81 countries. Despite the ever-growing demand, there are hardly any professional instructors – until now. We’re now accepting applications for The Yoga Trapeze® Certification course where you’ll learn how to teach both group and private lessons for beginning and intermediate students.
Learn More |
On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America’s Newsroom,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders re-iterated that President Trump has no intention of firing Special Counsel Bob Mueller and stated, “We’re continuing to work closely and cooperate with them. We look forward to seeing this hoax wrap up very soon.”
Sanders said, [relevant remarks begin around 3:15] “I want to be very clear and make sure that I address Senator Warner’s (D-VA) concern [about Mueller being fired] for the 1,000th time. We have no intentions of firing Bob Mueller. We’re continuing to work closely and cooperate with them. We look forward to seeing this hoax wrap up very soon. We think that it is just further evidence that the Democrats have no plan. They have no agenda. They have nothing to talk to — about other than attacking this president. While they’ve been focused on Russia, this president has been focused on America.”
(h/t Mediaite)
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett |
People who cancel their cable TV subscriptions may not miss their monthly bills, but they're also not missing out on some of their favorite broadcast shows.
These so-called cord-cutters are more likely than the average internet user to watch ABC programs like "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and "Modern Family" and Fox's animated series online, according to a survey conducted by Experian Marketing Services.
All fifteen of the shows with higher-than-average popularity among cord-cutters are broadcast programs that could be watched on traditional TV without a cable or satellite subscription (internet-only shows like "House of Cards" weren't measured). However the programs' popularity may have as much to do with their broad distribution strategy as with their over-the-air availability.
People didn't have to watch a full episode of a show for it to register on the list. Clips also count, which could explain why programs that post a lot of clips online and are socially active -- like "Jimmy Kimmel Live," which counts more than 4 million subscribers to its YouTube channel -- rank so high. The late-night show's "Worst Twerk Fail Ever" video has been watched more than 19 million times on YouTube.
"If it's shareable or consumable in short clips, I think it's going to appeal to the cord-cutter audience because they're hungrier for video here and there," said John Fetto, Experian's senior analyst on marketing services and consumer insights.
But it also helps if a show is available on Netflix or Hulu. Experian found that 18% of cord-cutting households have Netflix or Hulu accounts. Households with Netflix accounts are 181% more likely to be cord-cutters, and those with Hulu accounts are 138% more likely.
Twelve of the top-fifteen programs can be watched on Hulu, including nine that have full episodes available on the ad-supported streaming service. And eight of the shows have episodes available on Netflix.
But Hulu and Netflix are far from the only places cord-cutters are going for their TV fix. In fact cord-cutters are more likely than the average internet user to visit some TV networks' websites than they are to check out Netflix or YouTube, Experian found.
NBC.com topped the list of online video sites cord-cutters are more inclined than most to visit. Fox News' and ESPN's sites followed, but those visits may be as much about news as video. NBC's "Today" site and Bing Video rounded out the top five. All five sites edged out Netflix and YouTube, but that seems be because the two video services' are pretty popular among cable subscribers as well as cord-cutters. Netflix and YouTube combine to account for half of the country's web traffic.
But aside from NBC and Bing Video, those visits may be as much about checking out the latest news as they are watching video. ESPN's ranking is "certainly driven by cord-cutters who still need to get their sports fix somewhere," Mr. Fetto said.
Sports has long been considered cable and satellite providers' biggest protection against cord-cutting. But while the NFL is often cited as the most valuable deterrent, that label should actually go to the NBA. People who are "very interested" in the NFL are 23% less likely to cancel their cable subscriptions, but those "very interested" in the NBA are 40% less likely, according to Experian. College football indexed at 21%, trailed by Major League Baseball at 20%.
Experian measured cord-cutters as people who have broadband internet subscriptions but not cable or satellite TV subscriptions. That means these could people who canceled their cable/satellite TV subscriptions or never had one in the first place (a cohort commonly called "cord-nevers"). |
Ten things we’ve learned about the 991 GT2 RS prototype
It’s Porsche’s worst kept secret – of this year at least. The 991 GT2 RS is on its way, marking a return for the turbocharged Rennsport moniker after a seven-year hiatus. The final production version of this hugely anticipated 911 is due for release soon but, in the meantime, one Andreas Preuninger invited Total 911 along to Germany to ride shotgun in a heavily-developed prototype. As you can imagine, final facts and figures of the new ‘Widdowmaker’ are still to be fully ratified, but our passenger ride out of Weissach did at least reveal some key snippets of information ahead of launch. Here’s ten ‘facts’ we learned about the new 911 GT2 RS:
1. The new GT2 RS will have at least 650hp
You’ll recall the previous 997 GT2 RS had what is still a mighty 620hp (it actually remains the most powerful 911 of all time). However, the new 991 GT2 RS looks set to eclipse that, Preuninger telling us the car will be good for at least 650hp.
2. The new GT2 RS will boast more than 750Nm torque
That monster torque figure is actually the work of Porsche’s latest 991.2 Turbo S, which to this point takes the title of being the 911 with the most twist (the 997 GT2 RS has 700Nm). The 991 GT2 RS looks set to sail past that figure too, though Herr Preuninger remains tight-lipped – for now – as to what the final figure may be.
3. The GT2 RS’s engine size is 3.8-litres
That’s right, whereas the naturally aspirated GT3 RS and 991 R utilise a bigger, 4.0-litre version of Porsche’s 9A1-coded flat six, the GT2 RS uses a heavily revised version of the 3.8-litre flat six found in the current 991 Turbo S. Porsche is quick to stress the new GT2 RS has had far more than a mere remap of the Turbo S’s unit, though.
4. The new GT2 RS’s intercoolers are spray-cooled
Similar to the technology currently utilised by BMW, the GT2 RS’s intercoolers are spray-cooled, with a fine mist sprayed onto their netting. We’re told the ensuing evaporation effect reduces intake temperature by as much as 15 degrees.
5. The new GT2 RS is PDK-only
Want a manual GT car? Then the GT2 RS isn’t for you. Porsche will only offer its turbocharged Rennsport with PDK only, Mr Preuninger telling us the Weissach philosophy is that an RS means precision and lap times over any romanticist proclamations of driver purity. We applaud that.
6. The new GT2 RS will weigh under 1,500 kilograms
Porsche’s goal is to keep the turbocharged Rennsport under 1,500kg (incredible when you think the 991.2 Turbo S weighs 1,675kg). As such PCCB’s will be fitted as standard and, though there is rear-axle steering, the car will remain a rear-wheel-drive car.
7. The new GT2 RS will lap the ‘Ring in around seven minutes flat
Again, Porsche is quick to stress that no official time has been set yet. However, The new 991.2 GT3 recorded seven minutes 12 seconds, and we’d expect the GT2 RS to beat that. Remember, Porsche’s 918 e-hybrid hypercar famously lapped the ‘Ring in just six minutes 57 seconds in 2013, a record for a production car at the time. Could the GT2 RS get near that?
8. The 991 GT2 RS features a new exterior design…
…for a 991 GT car, at least. While its body is based on the naturally aspirated GT3 RS, you’ll see a number of new tweaks, including air inlet ducts in the front bonnet to aid brake cooling, as well as new side air inlets unique to the 991 GT2 RS.
9. The new GT2 RS will be fully rose-jointed
That means it’ll be a super-stiff, focused ride, but we were surprised by how compliant the car felt. That said, the dampers are mounted upside-down, in true race-car guise, and the GT2 RS’s spring rates will be ‘the most extreme ever for a Porsche road car’.
10. The new GT2 RS will be offered with an optional Weissach Pack
This cool weight-saving option, which we expect many owners to take, will see the GT2 RS’s kerb weight reduced by around 30 kilograms. GT2 RS’s with the Weissach Pack will come with a carbon fibre roof rather than a magnesium number found on the GT3 RS and R. |
The Trump administration has decided against sending a U.S. delegation to Kazakhstan for talks on the war in Syria, despite receiving a formal invitation from the Kazakh government with the backing of Russia and Turkey, the State Department said Saturday.
Instead, the U.S. will be represented in Astana only by its ambassador to Kazakhstan.
“The United States is committed to a political resolution to the Syrian crisis through a Syrian-owned process, which can bring about a more representative, peaceful, and united Syria,” the State Department said in a statement. “Given our presidential inauguration and the immediate demands of the transition, a delegation from Washington will not be attending the Astana conference.”
Russia has seized on the election of Donald Trump to call for greater cooperation between Moscow and Washington to end the Syrian civil war. The Kremlin purposefully excluded former Secretary of State John Kerry from Syria negotiations sponsored by Moscow and Ankara and held at the end of last year. The two countries have sought to take the lead on diplomatic efforts, eclipsing the administration of former President Barack Obama.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and other senior officials, however, have voiced hope that Mr. Trump will be more cooperative in Syria.
Click for more from The Wall Street Journal. |
As Islamic State commits atrocities throughout Syria, the militant group continues to make money from human trafficking and sex slavery. RT spoke with three people who managed to flee the violence.
One woman spoke about the brutal acts committed by Islamic State (formerly ISIS/ISIL).
“They cut off heads and kidnapped girls and women and took them to Raqqa. What were the slaves guilty of? This is a sin,” she told RT.
A man spoke of the hypocrisy surrounding ISIS, recalling that while the group insists that females remain modest, they strip their slaves to make money.
“They forced women to be fully covered and never show any part of the body,” he said. However, they made their slaves strip in order to sell them. Women are not allowed to show anything. If someone was caught on the streets during prayer, she would be given 100 lashes.”
Read more
Another man recalled the kidnapping of Christian women and girls, as well as the destruction of churches.
“They stole property and destroyed churches. Our Christian sisters were seized. Some of them were taken hostage and held for ransom,” he said.
Sex slavery and human trafficking has been a typical method of raising revenue for ISIS. Earlier this month, the remains of up to 80 enslaved Yazidi women were discovered in Iraq. The women were believed to be between the ages of 40 and 80, leading to speculation that the group was only after younger women.
A price list verified as authentic by the UN confirms the fact that younger is apparently better in the eyes of ISIS. The list showed that children aged one to nine years old are sold for about $165, while women over 40 go for as little as $41.
There have, however, been numerous reports of women fighting back against ISIS militants. A courageous Iraqi woman made headlines in September after a report emerged that she had killed the ISIS commander who kidnapped her and forced her to be a sex slave.
Other women unfortunately lost their lives fighting against ISIS. In August, the militants reportedly executed 15 women at Ghazlani military base near Mosul after the victims refused to marry terrorists. Another 19 women in Mosul were executed for the same reason in July. There have also been numerous reports of sex slaves committing suicide to escape their situation.
Aware of the horrible atrocities committed against women by ISIS, Canadian businessman Steve Maman told RT earlier this year that he is doing all he can to return victims to safety. This is done by negotiating the women's release by reasoning with the captors or refunding them the amount of money they paid for each slave.
“We are not funding [ISIS or the captors], we are refunding them,” Maman said. |
Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
July 31, 2016, 4:26 PM GMT / Updated July 31, 2016, 4:26 PM GMT By Sally Bronston
Trump campaign Chairman Paul Manafort expressly denied his campaign had any role in changing the language of the Republican Party’s platform on Ukraine.
“It absolutely did not come from the Trump campaign,” Manafort told NBC’s “Meet the Press”.
Manafort, who has ties to ousted Ukrainian Prime Minister Victor Yanukovich, also denied having a personal role in altering the platform, saying “I had none. In fact, I didn’t even hear of it until after our convention was over.”
During the convention, the RNC eliminated specific calls to provide arms to Ukraine in its fight with Russia, “after Trump surrogates reportedly intervened,” according to the L.A. Times. The platform also weakened language criticizing Russia for intervening in Ukraine.
In an interview with ABC News, Trump claimed he was not personally involved in the platform change, saying “I was not involved in that. I’d like to – I’d have to take a look at it. But I was not involved in that.”
However, unlike what Manafort told NBC News, he did not completely rule out that his campaign or surrogates may have been involved.
Asked if he knew what changes were made, Trump replied, “They softened it, I heard. But I was not involved.”
Additionally, Trump made it clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “not going into Ukraine…you can mark it down.” |
Published: Wednesday, October 11, 2017 @ 9:12 PM
— While speaking during a segment for “Dancing with the Stars” Monday, actor Fankie Muniz revealed his struggle with memory loss.
People reported that the week’s theme for the celebrity dancing competition show was “The Most Memorable Year.” For Muniz, however, his past health issues may have contributed to his long-term memory loss.
>> Read more trending news
In a pre-taped segment before Muniz’s quickstep with partner Witney Carson, Muniz said he can’t remember most things in his life, including starring on the comedy “Malcolm in the Middle” from 2000 to 2006, Entertainment Weekly reported.
“It makes me a little sad,” Muniz said in the segment. “Things pop back into my mind (that) I should have remembered.”
Muniz said on the show he wasn’t sure about how his memory loss began.
“I have had nine concussions and I’ve had a fair amount of mini-strokes,” he said. “I’m not saying those things correlate exactly to the reason why my memory’s not great.”
In 2012, Muniz had his first mini-stroke, or transient ischemic attack, and blood supply temporarily cut off from his brain. He thinks he’s had about 15 of them at varying points and of varying lengths. None have had lasting effects, People reported.
“It’s something that I never really wanted to talk about, because I’m just me and this is my life,” he told People. “But we were talking about ‘Malcolm’ and how it started, and I don’t really have memories of being on the show.”
“Over the past 10 years, my mom will bring up things like trips we went on or big events and they are new stories to me,” he told People. “I don’t know what the cause of it is. It’s not something I looked into, I just thought it was how my brain is, so I thought it was normal. I didn’t know I should remember going to the Emmys when I was younger.”
Muniz told People he hasn’t seen doctors about the memory loss.
“I’m not a doctor person,” he said. “Every time I go to the doctors they just tell me I’m crazy.”
Bryan Cranston, who played Muniz’s father on “Malcolm,” said in the segment that his former costar didn’t need to worry about remembering old times.
“I told him not to worry about what you remember and what you don’t remember,” said Cranston, 61. “They’re still your experiences. That will be my job. I will tell him, ‘Remember this? Remember that from ‘Malcolm’? What a life for you!’”
With the support of his girfriend, Page Price, Muniz has been able to track experiences in a journal.
“She’s amazing. She literally writes because I get sad at the thought of losing the memories,” Muniz said. “So she writes in a journal that I can look at every day and it’s really cool, because it has amazing detail. ... She’s awesome. She’s very supportive. I hope we have a lot more memories (together).” |
Just announced on the Treasury department blog...
Today, the United States has reached the statutory debt limit. Secretary Geithner sent the following letter to Congress this morning alerting them to actions that have be taken to create additional headroom under the debt limit so that Treasury can continue funding obligations made by Congresses past and present. The Secretary declared a "debt issuance suspension period" for the Civil Service Retirement and Disability Fund, permitting Treasury to redeem a portion of existing Treasury securities held by that fund as investments and suspend issuance of new Treasury securities to that fund as investments. He also suspended the daily reinvestment of Treasury securities held as investments by the Government Securities Investment Fund of the Federal Employees' Retirement System Thrift Savings Plan. For more information on these measures, please read this FAQ.
Last Friday, Secretary Geithner also responded to an inquiry from Senator Bennet regarding the fiscal and economic consequences of failing to increase the debt limit. That letter can be found here.
Secretary Geithner continues to urge Congress to raise the debt limit in a timely manner in order to uphold the full faith and credit of the United States.
The Treasury has said these emergency measures will get the government through August 2, at which point it could get really dicey, with the prospect of default having been put on the table.
As we've argued, there's probably very little chance of default, as the Treasury has room to cut discretionary spending before cutting interest payments.
Read the full blog post > |
We’ve been asked to reproduce Julian Huppert’s email with the details of the new legislation in a separate post so that people don’t have to go through the mammoth post to find it, so here it is. Now, because people are clearly wanting the debate to stay in one place, we’ve closed off comments. If you have a point to make, please do it on this post here. We’re not doing it to be evil and awkward but because people have criticised us for having too many threads going on on the same subject, so we are listening and doing it this way to see if it works. It’s not set in stone.
Anyway, over to Julian:
From Julian Huppert:
As a Liberal, I care passionately about civil liberties, privacy, and the need to limit abusive state surveillance.
But I also know that there is a need for the police and intelligence agencies to have the tools to do the job we give them – as long as they are carefully controlled, appropriately used, and proportionate to the threat faced.
Those concerns are key – and I have often been incensed at the way governments, whether Labour or Tory, have used threats for terrorism or anything else as a reason to chip away at our individual freedoms. We must not and will not allow this.
There is an issue we have to deal with now. The European Court of Justice threw out the European Data Retention Directive, which underpins all collection of communications data in this country. I sympathise with the reasons, but we must acknowledge that it causes real problems – we do need to have some way to keep some communications data, but under very careful control.
Some people would love to use this to bring back the awful Communications Data Bill – known as the Snooper’s Charter – that Nick vetoed last year. A number of Tories pushed it and Labour tried something similar themselves. We will not allow this to happen. We’ve blocked it once, and we will continue to do so. This legislation just allows the agencies to continue with their current abilities.
I’ve had the chance to speak to Nick and Norman Baker about this – all of us have been clear. We must keep our country and citizens safe, but not by allowing the erosion of our civil liberties and increasing unchecked intrusion into our lives.
We need legislation to allow communications data to be available, but not to store more than is already allowed. And in this post-Snowden world, we need to move towards keeping less, and finding better and more proportionate ways to do so.
We need to completely rewrite the law in this area. But that cannot be done quickly. We have to get it right, which will take a lot of work from many experts. We’ve already started that off – our ‘Digital Bill of Rights’ motion calls for a commission of experts to review all state surveillance and information from the Snowden revelations – that takes time. Nick has already started this work with the Royal United Services Institute, and they need to finish that work.
So I think it is right to agree to a stop-gap. A piece of legislation that can be passed quickly, but crucially will automatically expire at the end of 2016, giving time to write something better, and the certainty of knowing it will not just become entrenched.
And in this stop-gap legislation, we should agree to no more than was previously allowed.
And we’ve managed better than that – we’ve also negotiated and won a package of pro-civil liberties measures to go with it:
The Bill includes a termination clause that ensures the legislation falls at the end of 2016 and the next government is forced to look again at these powers.
Between now and 2016 we will hold a full review of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, to make recommendations for how it could be reformed and updated.
We will appoint a senior diplomat to lead discussion with the American government and the internet companies to establish a new international agreement for sharing data between legal jurisdictions.
We will establish a Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board on the American model, to ensure that civil liberties are properly considered in the formulation of government policy on counter-terrorism. This will be based on David Anderson’s existing role as the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation.
Further reform of the Intelligence and Security Committee, so that in future the Chair must be drawn from the Opposition parties.
We will restrict the number of public bodies that are able to approach phone and internet companies and ask for communications data. Some bodies will lose their powers to access data altogether while local authorities will be required to go through a single central authority who will make the request on their behalf.
Finally, we will publish annual transparency reports, making more information publicly available than ever before on the way that surveillance powers operate.
I don’t claim that this is a perfect long-term solution. But I don’t think anyone could write down, right now, what would be perfect. And it’s a huge lot better than either the Tories or Labour would have done on their own. But because this legislation – though not the extra safeguards – will end in 2016, there will have to be a proper full discussion in the rest of this Parliament and the next on this – the status quo cannot be continued forever.
We’ve done much to be proud of to support civil liberties. We’ve scrapped ID cards, ended 28-day detention without charge, curtailed stop and search powers, ended routine child detention for immigration purposes, reformed the libel laws to protect free speech, and much more. If it was just down to us, we’d have made even more progress – but this simply would not have happened without us in Government.
Best wishes,
Julian
Photo by Bob Mical |
Systems designed to provide breathing air and pressurization for pilots of the T-45 Goshawk and F-18 Hornet are the prime suspects in a rash of oxygen deprivation incidents, the Navy said Thursday.
Pilots are at risk of breathing contaminated air from the on-board oxygen generation system used on the aircraft, while aging parts and inadequate testing of the fleet have caused failures in the cockpit environmental control system, according to a safety review by top Navy officials released Thursday.
Still, positively identifying the root cause and finding a solution to widespread reports of oxygen deprivation among pilots has proved elusive, the review found.
"We have to start with the sources of where we get the air, so either the oxygen system or through the cabin air system, which is filtered off the bleed air coming off of the engines," said Adm. Bill Moran, vice chief of naval operations. "When I say we have not found the cause … it may be more than one component or it may be more than one condition that clearly leads to a physiological event."
Moran said the Navy is working closely with Boeing, the prime contractor for both aircraft.
Both aircraft have seen spikes in reported incidents of oxygen deprivation that can cause sickness, hyperventilation and panic in pilots.
The T-45 trainer jets were grounded in April at bases in Mississippi, Florida and Texas following a boycott by pilots including Vice President Mike Pence's son. Congress has been concerned about F-18 oxygen systems and directed a review in December.
The Air Force is now experiencing its own reports of oxygen deprivation and grounded a squadron of its F-35 fighters at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona last week.
"The integration of the on-board oxygen generation system … in the T-45 and FA-18 is inadequate to consistently provide high quality breathing air," the Navy concluded in its review. "To varying degrees, neither aircraft is equipped to continuously provide clean, dry air to [the oxygen generation system] — a design specification for the device."
The problem allows contaminants to pollute the breathing air, which can cause oxygen deprivation.
Meanwhile, the system responsible for pressurizing the aircraft cockpits is a "complex aggregate of sub-components, all of which must function for the system to work as a whole," the Navy found.
"Aging parts, inadequate testing methodologies and numerous other factors are impacting fleet [environmental control system] reliability, inducing several instances of decompression sickness," according to the service.
Pilots in the T-45 reported 21 incidents so far this year — 10 in March alone — after a spike of 38 physiological episodes in 2016, the Navy review also found.
Reports more than doubled from 12 to 27 in the two preceding years.
Moran said the Navy has designed a new oxygen mask for the T-45 that is now in use and is installing water separator mechanisms that are already used on other high-performance jets in hopes it could solve the problems. That could be completed by early fall.
No student pilots are currently flying the T-45, which means 25 have been delayed each month since late March, the Navy said this week.
Meanwhile, pilots of the F/A-18 Hornet, along with the EA-18G Growler — the service lumped the data together — experienced 52 incidents so far this year after a major spike of 125 last year. It has been a dramatic rise since 2009, when there were just 16.
But the Navy review also cast doubt on those statistics, saying past instances might have been under-reported.
The increase of incidents beginning in 2010 was "likely more reflective of a change in aircrew awareness and reporting mechanisms than a sudden rise" in oxygen deprivation incidents, it said. |
Everybody’s Invited to My All-Male, All-White Literary Panel!
Dear Writers,
Congratulations on having a short story accepted for publication in the anthology Rusted, Lusted, Busted: Contemporary Southern Fiction, edited by myself and my good buddy Richard Head!
Richard and I, both of us straight cisgender nominally Christian white males, have put a shit-ton of work into this anthology, mostly over beers and hot wings at the local Tilted Kilt while our wives assumed 100% of the burden of watching our kids. Now this baby we’ve labored over is out and it’s time to party!
That’s why we’re hosting an all-male, all-white panel tomorrow at Lily White Books in Mansfield, SC, to celebrate the anthology’s release and your contributions to it. We’d love it if some of you could come be part of the panel!
Given the twelve-hour notice, however, along with our inability to compensate you in any way, and our unwillingness to compensate you even if we could, I completely understand that most of you — including all our woefully underrepresented contributors who do not identify as heterosexual white men — will not be able to participate in this seminal event, except perhaps as late-arriving, paying audience members ($5 at the door).
Your practically guaranteed disinclination to participate is a shame, because, as the literary gatekeepers for this region, we’re trying to give you a once-in-a-lifetime, breakthrough-level opportunity here.
But since by design you won’t be able to respond in a timely manner, worry not: We’ve already filled the five available panel slots with cutting-edge, straight Caucasian male novelists. They agreed to this several weeks ago, actually, when we were all shooting the shit, chowing down on some barbecue and guzzling bourbon at one of Richard’s monthly cookouts, and the idea for a panel came up. We figured what the hell, let’s do this thing! So just know you’re in good hands. We trust these guys will do a wonderful job representing your experiences whether you can make it or not.
As the panel chair, it is my mission to build a diverse program that welcomes and celebrates multiple perspectives. That’s why I’ve put this group of white men together. Heterogeneous in so much more than the sexual sense, these fine fellows hail from all walks of life, from counties far and wide: Some are from the country, while others are from the city. Some are academic intellectuals, while others are blue-collar workers. Some are functioning alcoholics, while others are raging alcoholics.
You see, the diversity of this panel will be something to behold. I’ve even worked tirelessly to ensure that at least one panelist is not a belligerent womanizer.
Look, I understand some of you in the anthology and/or folks from the disaffected politically correct masses at large will find something to critique about the supposed lack of representation on this panel, as though featuring a white neo-Confederate on the one extreme and a white fiscal conservative on the other was not diverse enough. As though featuring a white man with a soul patch alongside a white man with a disheveled beard was not diverse enough. As though featuring five white authors who have novels with cover images of junked pickup trucks in distinct, multifaceted states of rust and decay, set against background landscapes varied as fields and meadows and woodland edges, was not diverse enough.
Sure, one author I’ve scheduled for the panel is an uninhibited misogynist, but I have balanced his worldview by also scheduling a no-frills, old-fashioned, keep-your-prejudices-in-your-pocket sexist. Scoff all you want, but know that I’m trying. With or without you — and I understand it will almost certainly be without — this is going to be an assemblage like none other, a grand celebration of the written word, an occasion in no way indicative of a problem that has beset the literary world for at least two millennia: White men, and only white men, pontificating at the very same conference table, pulling things from their asses beneath the very same roof, enlightening a rapt audience!
Look, what more do you want? These privileged gentlemen of diverse Western European descent all have women and minor minority characters in their novels, okay? One even has a female protagonist, a complex and artfully manufactured woman whose sense of purpose and self-worth derives from the many white male characters she encounters, depends upon, and sleeps with throughout the story.
And if that weren’t enough, these five down-home white guy novelists, who all happen to have contracts with major publishing houses, unabashedly and selflessly carry books by women on their nationwide book tours because they know that women writers depend on them. Criticize that, and I say you’re the one wanting to take away women’s voices by taking away the voices of their white heterosexual spokesmen. You’re the real bigot here.
We hope to see you in a few hours! If you can make it, please remember to bring cash for the door and to purchase a copy of the anthology in which your work appears, which all the panelists will be signing. Thanks in advance for the beer money!
Sincerely,
Allen W. Peterson, Co-Editor
Rusted, Lusted, Busted: Contemporary Southern Fiction |
I would NOT recommend this groupon to anyone. I ordered TWO stamps which are completely unuseable. I contacted them, and they are extremely rude and were saying it was my fault. They claim I uploaded low res images and that I would have seen an error message (which I did not). She then tells me all the things that WON"T make a good stamp i.e. dark background. This was never listed anywhere and if you are a rubberstamp company, do you not look the stamps over to make sure they, well, stamp? I am not an expert in what types of images to use, yet they say "You would have had to click the YES button to even seen the image for the stamp. " They obviously have no interest in producing a quality product. It is ridiculous and blaming the customer? very unprofessional. "So in this case the error is not ours, but we were willing to work with you to offer you a 50% discount off replacement stamps. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance." I don't know why I would turn around and buy from them again. They do not care that I paid $10 for 2 stamps that stamp a blank rectangle. That will come in handy. |
Why does my comfort make you mad? Courtesy of Barackobama.com
When I go home in a few days, I plan to celebrate the holidays quietly—spending time with family, catching up on some reading, seeing old friends, that sort of thing. I had anticipated doing much of this in pajamas or similar leisure clothes, often with a cup of something tasty in hand, sometimes even with my reading glasses on. Is that strange? If the bizarre conservative reaction to a new Obamacare ad is any indication, I’m basically a traitor for hoping to hang out with my mom for a bit before bed. Whatever happened to family values?
These critics—and there are many—are not just offended by the notion of a relatively modest, market-based system designed to help people of differing levels of economic privilege gain access to health care. What really gets them, apparently, is the fact that there exist young, somewhat bookish-looking men who enjoy being comfortable. At least I think that’s what the problem is, based on descriptions like “infantilized … man-child,” “metrosexual hipster in a plaid onesie,” and reactions like “liberals fear masculinity and maturity.” Hey, that may be, but I bet the Brokeback Mountain understudy who tweeted that last bit of analysis would be shaking in his boots at the sight of the bedtime getups sported by some of the more bearish men of my acquaintance.
But I digress. It’s fascinating how much biographical information about “pajama boy” umbrage-taking commentators have gleaned from a single image of the guy. According to Charles Cooke of the National Review, he’s a member of the “Queer Students Association” where he takes part in “ ’dialogue’ about the evils of ‘heteronormativity’ or ‘micro-aggressions,’ the pressing necessity of ‘safe spaces,’ and the vital importance of whatever other buzzwords the comically hopeless liberal-arts students at Oberlin, Hampshire, and Brown are talking about these days.” Did Obama tweet out his college syllabus as well? I mean, that seems like a lot to assume from a fella’s bedclothes, but hey, I’m not as schooled in the old conservative Christmas tradition of gay witch-hunting as Cooke seems to be.
Considering that Cooke flirts with both Sebastian Flyte and Oscar Wilde in the course of his panic attack about a “vaguely androgynous” stock photo, it’s intriguing that he chose to title his article “Pajama Boy: The Obama Machine’s Id.” I would agree that ids are being uncovered in this dust-up, but it is not the “Obama Machine’s” that seems most troublingly exposed to my eye. Indeed, if liberals are afraid of masculinity, conservatives (of this sort) seem downright terrified of the idea that a more progressive generation is on the rise—one that includes many men, gay and straight alike, who do not measure their “maturity” by something as inane as whether or not they can “use a power tool.” Of course, that terror is well-founded, but change really doesn’t have to be so scary. All those people need to do is slip out of the homophobic, gender-policing straitjackets that they currently sleep in, and slip into something a little less ridiculous. Then, if they’re lucky, Pajama Boy might even be willing to cuddle. |
From The Hill:
President Obama can’t wait to take on Donald Trump.
Obama has been largely sidelined in the presidential contest, a last-year officeholder with high approval ratings who has repeatedly shown he likes to spar with political foes.
With Bernie Sanders continuing to slug it out with likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Obama largely has to choose his openings to talk 2016.
So on Friday, when the White House announced Obama would make a statement about the economy, the president knew he’d get asked about Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.
And when he did, Obama was ready.
“We are in serious times, and this is a really serious job,” Obama said. “This is not entertainment; this is not a reality show. This is a contest for the presidency of the United States.”
The remarks previewed a part of the Obama-Clinton strategy against Trump: that he is untested and not ready for the White House, and that the GOP and media have fallen down on the job by failing to properly vet him.
Read the rest of the story here. |
Almost a year to the date after the Wolverines’ upset loss to the New Jersey Institute of Technology following a huge win over Syracuse, Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein was fully aware his team could be set up for another letdown on Saturday.
Even after a hard-fought Big Ten/ACC Challenge road win Tuesday at North Carolina State — despite losing junior guard Derrick Walton Jr. to an ankle injury — Beilein no longer believes in “guarantee” games, especially without one of his key players.
Luckily for the Wolverines, Houston Baptist was no NJIT.
The Huskies turned the ball over 16 times, which led to 23 Michigan points, and shot just 43 percent from the floor. It was a far cry from NJIT’s spirited 59-percent shooting performance (including 11 3-ponters), and Houston Baptist fell well short of an upset in the 82-57 loss.
“Last year, we probably weren’t as mentally prepared for that game,” Beilein said. “Coming off (the Syracuse game), we hadn’t learned our lesson. ... But give them credit, (NJIT) had a heck of a year. We lost to a really good team.”
Perhaps more importantly, the Wolverines aren’t the team they were a year ago.
Some things haven’t changed — senior guard Caris LeVert, who scored a career-high 32 points in the loss to NJIT, led Michigan against Houston Baptist with 25 points and eight rebounds. But this time around, LeVert’s teammates provided more than enough support to pick up a comfortable victory.
Redshirt sophomore guard Duncan Robinson continued his hot shooting streak, knocking down five of his nine 3-point attempts and finishing the game with 19 points. Sophomore guard Aubrey Dawkins, who has been sharing minutes with Robinson early in the season, had a strong shooting performance of his own with 16 points and three triples, making up for two costly first-half traveling calls.
The Wolverines certainly seemed to be playing with a different mindset than they were a year ago, jumping out to an 11-0 lead to start the game. In its strongest run of the afternoon, Houston Baptist cut the lead to 26-24 with 4:34 remaining in the first half before a LeVert trey and five straight points from Robinson pushed the lead back to 10.
With the NJIT loss still fresh in the minds of the coaching staff and most of the roster, Michigan decided it wasn’t going to make the same mistake in consecutive seasons.
“It was stressed from the time we got off the plane after beating N.C. State,” LeVert said. “We knew that this was the game we lost year, and we didn’t want to have the same feeling coming into it (this year). So we came out and played hard for a full 40 (minutes).”
Against NJIT, the Wolverines at least had the benefit of Walton’s presence in the starting lineup, though Beilein said he was a “different player” thanks to the toe injury that plagued him most of last season. Against Houston Baptist, because of his latest injury, Michigan couldn’t use Walton at all.
But the Wolverines didn’t miss him much Saturday, thanks to stellar play from LeVert as the lead guard and some quality fill-in minutes from sophomore guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, who scored six points in his 33 minutes, and senior guard Spike Albrecht, who memorably batted a loose ball toward redshirt freshman forward D.J. Wilson for a dunk late in the game.
Abdur-Rahkman and Albrecht — the latter still playing limited minutes as he recovers from two hip surgeries — may not have expected to get so much playing time just a week ago, but they were just as focused as anyone on avoiding a repeat of the NJIT disaster.
“We didn’t want to sleep on this team,” Abdur-Rahkman said. “We wanted to come out and play like they were a top-25 team.” |
College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at SUNY Albany.
Physicist Richard Feynman famously said that there's plenty of room at the bottom. Room to build complex structures, machines, and computing engines at the size of individual molecules and even atoms.
Nowhere is this more evident than at the NanoTech Complex, which is run by the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, or CNSE, at the State University of New York at Albany. Sprawling over more than a half-dozen buildings in three locations, the $14 billion facility includes 800,000 square feet packed with advanced laboratories and computer-chip manufacturing equipment. Here, about 2600 researchers, engineers, and technicians working for the U.S. military, research institutions from around the world, and the world's top semiconductor-makers are pushing their way into ever smaller realms in the quest for faster and more energy-efficient computers, micro-electromechanical systems, sensors than can be embedded in anything from a helicopter rotor blade to a human tooth, and more.
Technicians and engineers dressed head to toe in white gowns work in clean rooms behind glass, isolated from the rest of the world and its microscopic, airborne contaminants. They move 300- and 450-millimeter-diameter silicon wafers from toolbox-size front-opening unified pods, or FOUPs, and feed them into multimillion-dollar photolithography machines, deposition machines, or other chip-manufacturing equipment. Layer by layer these machines build up the transistors, wiring, and other components of the microscopic circuits that comprise advanced computer chips in development. Workers move carts of plastic-wrapped FOUPs from one ultraclean building to another along enclosed walkways, adding to the impression of an enclosed city built to house the technologies of the very small.
The mayor of this city is the CEO of the CNSE and professor of nanoscience, Alain Kaloyeros. Eschewing suits for ripped jeans and black, 3-button long-sleeve T-shirts, the 50-something Greek Lebanese has brought together a university, top semiconductor- and computer-makers including IBM, Intel, Samsung, GlobalFoundries, and U.S. government research in one facility. This makes it the only research center of its kind in the world. All the major chip-makers have their own labs. But nowhere else do they share those facilities with their competitors and students working side by side on the same state-of-the-art equipment.
The result, Kaloyeros says, is a kind of nanotech Switzerland—a neutral ground where researchers and engineers pooling their resources and talents can make breakthroughs that would be out of reach elsewhere. "You can have the best subsidy ever from companies," he said at a recent public talk at the complex, "and if you don't have the right educational programs and the right innovation at the university, they're never going to stay."
Lithography vs Moore's Law
Key to the complex's work is developing not only prototypes of new tech, but also the techniques needed to manufacture them at the scale needed for industrial production. Engineering manager Christopher Borst tells PM that many of the same machines used in industrial production can be tweaked to make the advancements in that are in progress at the complex.
In photolithography, the process by which all current computer chips are made, light shines through a specially designed mask onto a silicon wafer that has been coated with light-sensitive photoresist. When dipped in etching chemicals, the photoresist that has been exposed to light washes away, readying the wafer for the next steps in creating the multiple layers that build up to form transistors and other structures. Further steps include depositing ultrathin layers of conducting metals to form connections between components on the chip.
Here at the complex, engineers are pushing Moore's Law—which predicts a doubling of transistor density on chips every two years—to its limits with technologies like FinFETs, or fin-shaped field effect transistors. Instead of building transistors in the standard two-dimensional configuration, FinFETs stick up out of the surface of the wafer. "You stand four of them up in the area that you used to need to make one," Borst explained on a recent tour of the complex, "so that you can pack in more chips."
Another tech that's pushing the boundaries here: extreme ultraviolet, or EUV, lithography. Current lithography uses 193-nanometer wavelengths of light. EUV lithography pushes that down to 13.5 nanometers to build smaller structures. In early 2013 the complex will receive one of the few machines in the world capable of EUV lithography—the NXE:3300, built by Dutch company ASML—which will be installed in the facility's NanoFab Xtension. Now nearing completion, the Xtension adds 500,000 square feet to the complex.
Limits?
Today's transistors are about 22 nanometers wide, Kaloyeros says. But sooner or later Moore's Law will bump into the limits of today's manufacturing technology. "It's going to run into probably a 4-nanometer, 3-nanometer [limit]. And then we're going to switch to bottom-up nanotechnology."
Such technologies in development at the Nanotech Complex include directed self-assembly, which has the potential to coax molecules to assemble themselves into circuit structures via magnetic fields and other means. Chips based on carbon (in forms such as graphene) rather than silicon also show promise to be thinner than today's chips—if nanotech experts can devise the means to build them robustly enough for industrial production.
All of this would enable smaller, more energy-efficient, and more powerful computers; embedded sensors; silicon photonics that combine light and electricity on the same chip for information processing; and a host of other innovations. |
Yaron Ayalon | History
At the end of his History 150 class each week, Yaron Ayalon stops lecturing to give 5-10 minute talks on various social issues and how students can improve themselves.
Yaron Ayalon's talk on sexual assault When: 10:30 a.m. Thursday Where: Teachers College 121
A topic the history professor spoke about last semester, and one he is repeating Feb 26., is rape culture and sexual assault. The lecture is open to all students.
Last semester when Ayalon spoke about sexual assault, he showed photos students had sent into an anonymous Twitter page, @BsuFessions.
But when students saw some of the nude, or almost nude photos posted on the page, they sent Snapchats of the page, saying how they “learn about noodz in class.”
“This is a page that promotes rape cultures,” he said. “You just need to read the tweets. How women are objectified on this page, how men talk about women, what they say about different body parts of women and men and what they would like to do with them.”
Ayalon said he is planning on showing those photos again, but this time he wants to talk about his students' reactions to them.
As a self-proclaimed feminist, Ayalon said he thinks sexual assault is a major issue on college campuses.
Yaron Ayalon's talk on sexual assault When: 10:30 a.m. Thursday Where: Teachers College 121
“Women on this campus are getting raped every year,” he said. “This is my second year at Ball State, and I already know 12 women who have been assaulted. If this is not a serious problem we all have to be talking about, I don’t know what is.”
One in five undergraduate women reported experiencing attempted or completed sexual assault since entering college, according to a study done by the Center for Disease Control.
While most of Ayalon’s talks are about setting career goals, the one on sexual assault is the only one that doesn’t relate back to their career.
"I do [these talks] because I feel like a lot of students come to college and they need a lot of extra guidance beyond what they're getting from advisors or the Ball State website," Ayalon said. |
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke had something to say about sequestration during his testimony before the House Banking Committee on Tuesday. He thinks the looming spending cuts could actually make it harder, not easier, to reduce the deficit. Why? They'll hurt growth while the economy's still weak:
Oh why do I bother. No one in Congress listens to me anyway. (AP)
The CBO estimates that deficit-reduction policies in current law will slow the pace of real GDP growth by about 1-1/2 percentage points this year, relative to what it would have been otherwise. A significant portion of this effect is related to the automatic spending sequestration that is scheduled to begin on March 1, which, according to the CBO's estimates, will contribute about 0.6 percentage point to the fiscal drag on economic growth this year. Given the still-moderate underlying pace of economic growth, this additional near-term burden on the recovery is significant. Moreover, besides having adverse effects on jobs and incomes, a slower recovery would lead to less actual deficit reduction in the short run for any given set of fiscal actions.
The logic here is simple enough. The sequestration cuts will drag down economic growth this year, which will mean that fewer Americans will have jobs and less tax revenue will pour in. Nothing cures deficits like stronger economic growth. And right now, Congress's policies are standing in the way of stronger growth.
So what's Bernanke's alternative? Wait a bit longer to start cutting, at least until the recovery is on firmer footing: "Congress and the Administration should consider replacing the sharp, front-loaded spending cuts required by the sequestration* with policies that reduce the federal deficit more gradually in the near term but more substantially in the longer run."
* Pedantic footnote: And, yes, Bernanke is technically correct when he says "sequestration" rather than "sequester" — the latter is typically a verb! But everyone in Washington is saying "the sequester" at this point, so who are we to stand up for proper grammar? |
In 1996, while most major British bands were blowing their royalties on cocaine, light aircraft, Patsy Kensit and Hampstead piles, Radiohead did something quite different. They spent a big chunk of what they’d earned on building an entirely new studio and filled it with a variety of exotic types of pricey, abstract and futuristic noise-making devices. At a time when their contemporaries were just whacking the Boss Super Overdrive through the Rat pedal and getting on with it, they were obsessed with chasing a rainbow of sounds no-one had ever heard before. It drove them to the edge of madness, and built ‘OK Computer’.
Ten years later, making ‘In Rainbows’, they were again pushing their talents to the limit in pursuit of innovation. In this case, that meant Jonny Greenwood at one point going away to write an entire piece of software that would allow them to control various sound modules they wanted to use. Jonny spent several weeks with his programmer’s hat on, working on it. It was a level of obsessiveness that led Thom Yorke to claim that he wasn’t entirely sure the group could make it through another album cycle unless they changed their MO.
So they did. ‘King Of Limbs’ was built specifically to find a unique third way between being an electronic act (programming sequencers) and being a rock band (chopping out chord progressions) – one that ultimately involved them sampling their own playing, then mixing it into new compositions.
Radiohead have spent a good deal of their lives banging their heads against a series of sonic brick walls in search of something better. They’re a reminder that innovation often isn’t glamorous. It isn’t a switch you press. No-one steps into the Innovator 3000 and sets the dial for ‘2017’. It is an endless onward trudge into the unknown that involves a hundred blind alleys and tedious cul-de-sacs. It has taken a man as self-lacerating and neurotic as Thom Yorke, and a guy as rigidly disciplined as Jonny Greenwood, to make the ‘Pablo Honey’ hit-makers into a group who have shaped and reshaped the history of rock on at least three separate occasions.
Considering the way that they have pushed music forward, you could build a case for them as The Beatles of the 21st century. After all, more than anyone still cutting it, they’ve challenged precisely what it is to sound like a huge mainstream act. Just look at ‘King Of Limbs’: probably the most eagerly anticipated record in history and one that consisted mainly of wispy, fractal rhythm patterns and diaphanous swirls of electric noise. While the surface world of rock’n’roll was swept along on The Strokes for a decade, the disciples of ‘OK Computer’ and ‘Kid A’ were quietly laying a new foundation for 21st-century music; one that cared not for reductive genre boxes but expected boundary-leaping experimentation from artists as standard. As if it wasn’t enough that their first rock-heavy incarnation had inspired Muse, Coldplay and Elbow and their later minimalist electronic dabblings had fathered a whole host of followers such as Foals, Alt-J and Django Django, Radiohead’s exploratory modernist mentality is now the norm, from Future Islands to The xx to Metronomy to James Blake and way, way beyond.
But they’ve also been our generation’s Beatles in the way they’ve caused all the clichés of the biz and stardom to warp and fold beneath their massive cultural gravity. The Beatles had Apple Corp, psychedelic feature films, writing all your own songs, the pop concept album, and cross-cultural pollination. Radiohead have given us one of the first recorded instances of streaming (via iBlip as far back as 2000’s ‘Kid A’); the Scotch Mist webcasts; apps like 2013’s PolyFauna, designed to explore the interzones between art, tech and music; and the ‘newspaper album’ on ‘King Of Limbs’ – not to mention rewiring the music industry with the pay-what-you-want scheme for ‘In Rainbows’, their own social network, and any number of genre-inverting videos from ‘Just’ to ‘House Of Cards’, in which “64 lasers rotating and shooting in a 360-degree radius 900-times per-minute produced all the exterior scenes”.
Sharethrough (Mobile)
Nowadays, everyone from Beyoncé to Bowie has dropped secret albums that they’ve been working on under a thicket of non-disclosure agreements. Artists have been bitching about their record labels since Thomas Edison first put a stylus on a wax cylinder. But Radiohead have been much better than most at finding interesting ways to cut through all the crap. If Cobain was a teenage whine against corporate rock whores, they are a more mature, wily response; flag-bearers for an independence that isn’t just about the refusenik ideals of keeping it real in the back of a van with Henry Rollins. One that’s more about feeling free to use the full weight of the system to make it do what you want, and which involves making a wraparound concept of art-plus-music-plus-life that doesn’t feel aggressively artsy, like it might with a Byrne or an Eno.
The natural tension between the scale of their popularity and the modest limits of their lust for glory has always made them a subversive proposition. In 2000, they stood at the peak of their commercial potential. How did they capitalise on it? They refused to release any singles from ‘Kid A’, an album of soupy electronica. Then they toured the country in a white, sponsorship-free marquee because Thom had read Naomi Klein’s anti-marketing classic No Logo.
Thom has pushed the-personal-as-the-political into more interesting and satisfying spaces. He has become a standard-bearer for a generation suspicious of big, flag-waving sentiment. It’s a very 21st-century kind of politicking – somewhere between Russell Brand’s ‘don’t vote’ nihilism and the kind of DIY community ethic you might spot on Portlandia. They are a reflection of how, unlike our parents’ generation, who waved the flag and bashed the barricades, getting the Powers That Be to change the world is often not as helpful or fulfilling as making your own small-scale change where you can.
Just as The Beatles came to embody the ’60s, Thom Yorke is the rock star who most clearly reflects our times. Two decades ago, he looked into the future and it weirded him out. What he saw crushed him under the weight of its haste, its twisted crony-capitalist logic, its avalanche of prescription meds, its technological shrinking of life and society until you’re never alone but always alone. He articulated something that spoke to the way we live now, demonstrated an uncomfortable angst that connects Muse (at first widely dismissed as ‘Radiohead copyists’) with Bloc Party, Everything Everything with Burial. They even cut old-school dust-on-the-tapeheads tracks with no less a Luddite than Jack White. It’s just one more wrong-footing from a band who only seem to find their balance when they’re throwing everyone else off theirs. |
Someone is lying. If we discard backmarkers Caterham and Marussia, one of the remaining teams has to finish in ninth place in the championship. As in 2012, one of Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Lotus or Mercedes has to finish fifth. Or unthinkably, worse. It seems an obvious proposition, but amidst every driver articulating that their 2013 car is an improvement on the 2012 model someone deep down knows that this season won’t be the one. So who is it? Until Melbourne, it’s difficult to know. Even then, Melbourne provides a notoriously difficult benchmark; after all last year’s top three in the championship begun the opening race from sixth, twelfth and eighteenth on the grid. Here’s who lines up on the 2013 grid, what they need to do to improve and how they might fare. But in reality, not until the DRS flicks open and each driver comes blasting around the final corner during the final moments of Q3 in Albert Park will we know the order. Even then, it’s just one session of a long, arduous and hopefully compelling season. Can Vettel win four in a row? How will Alonso bounce back? What of Perez at McLaren, Hamilton at Mercedes and Hulkenberg at Sauber? The five rookies, how will they cope? Just some of the questions waiting to be answered across the final season before Formula One heads into a new era. Speaking of which, dividing development teams between 2013 and 2014 progress will be critical not just for the leading teams but for the midfield bunch as well. Just think how the 2008/09 rule changes shook the running order to its core. Hold tight, this one’s going to be good…
1 | Sebastian Vettel | Infiniti Red Bull Racing
Vettel’s transformation from a young potential superstar to triple world champion in such a short space of time is unprecedented in Formula One history. Vettel is still just twenty-five years old; his team-mate Mark Webber had yet to make his debut at that age. Now the task for Vettel and Red Bull will be to try and make it four in a row, a feat that only compatriot Michael Schumacher has accomplished. The competition will be stronger, while the ban on the double DRS – a rule change decided prior to Red Bull’s upturn in form - could rob Red Bull of one of the key assets of the late season RB8. Vettel has to start consistently confounding the limitations of his car and make sure that there aren’t any wobbles like at the start of 2012. Towards the end of the 2012 season, Vettel and the RB8 were unstoppable. But the German won only once in the first thirteen races and was frequently indifferent in qualifying. Vettel’s dominance of the circuits towards the end of the season – Suzuka, Yeongam, Buddh – provide him with a trump card, but he must start 2013 on a better footing if he is to retain his title.
Prediction: Fighting for the title, but this time he comes up short.
2 | Mark Webber | Infiniti Red Bull Racing
Will 2013 be Mark Webber’s final season? Only the Australian can provide an answer to that question, but if it is to be his last year then expect the usual mixture of brilliance and tenacity, interspersed with races where he disappears. Webber has rarely run well at the Tilke designed circuits, but at the classic tracks he excels. There are few racing drivers who can lay claim to having won at Monaco and Silverstone twice; a feat that is a mark of a supremely gifted racer. Sebastian Vettel’s extraordinary abilities have frequently made Webber look ordinary but on the occasions when Mark turns the tables, it only exemplifies the turn of speed he possesses. Where he really needs to improve – and it may be too late – is at the start of the race. Too often does Webber lose a couple of places at the start; a feature best demonstrated in Abu Dhabi last year when a slow getaway turned a potential victory into midfield mediocrity. If the previous three seasons are to be a barometer, then a couple of wins and supporting Red Bull for the WCC will be another good result.
Prediction: A couple of sensational performances, but will it be his final year?
3 | Fernando Alonso | Scuderia Ferrari
It’s impossible to achieve perfection in a sport such as Formula One, but Fernando Alonso’s metronomic consistency combined with his sensational pace in 2012 was as close to perfection from one driver across twenty races. Can Alonso repeat his performances in 2013? It seems to be a difficult task, but Alonso was better in 2012 than in 2011, which in turn was better than 2010. The F138 should be an improvement on the F2012, although Alonso will be hoping that the F138 retains one of the F2012’s few advantages: the large window in which the Ferrari could use its tyres well. Alonso is ultimately the most complete driver on the grid, one who is peerless in victory and confounds expectation. He has a team built around him and a compliant team-mate who is unlikely to pose a sustained threat. Surely it’ll be fourth time lucky?
Prediction: World title number three. Bold call? Possibly. But he deserves it.
4 | Felipe Massa | Scuderia Ferrari
The trials and tribulations of Felipe Massa have been well documented since his horrific accident in 2009, but Massa finally rediscovered the joy of driving in the middle of 2012. Since then, he was regularly in the points and occasionally troubling Alonso. It’s difficult to envisage the Brazilian leading Ferrari’s main challenge but if he can continue this trajectory then he can provide dutiful back up to Alonso. Massa’s key weakness in 2012 was psychological and once he understood his issues, he was transformed. That doesn’t mean he’s suddenly a championship contender, but it’d be fantastic if Massa could win again.
Prediction: Regularly challenging for the podium although that win could remain just out of reach.
5 | Jenson Button | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
After Lewis Hamilton’s move to Mercedes, Button is now McLaren’s main man as he will undoubtedly assert his authority over Sergio Perez at the start of the season. The MP4-28 will be among the frontrunners, while the Brit should be aided by the Pirelli tyres warming up at a more rapid rate. But to deliver the title to McLaren, Button will need to match Alonso and Vettel in terms of consistency, speed and relentlessness. Button occasionally has a tendency to go missing for a couple of races every season. Titles are often won not through the best races, but through limiting damage in the worst; out of the top contenders, this is one of Button’s weaknesses. Improving qualifying performances will also be crucial, particularly if the grid is as tight as expected.
Prediction: Races where he is sublime, races where he isn’t. Unlocking the potential of the MP4-28 will be crucial.
6 | Sergio Perez | Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
The new Hamilton or the next Kovalainen? That’s a question that should begin to be answered across the next nineteen races. Perez is undoubtedly an intelligent racer, although there are a few lingering doubts. Was his tyre saving ability down to the Sauber or was it his own style that can be transferred across to McLaren? Does he have the ability to be relentlessly quick across the duration of a race rather than simply using a quirky tyre strategy? Can he improve his qualifying performance? Moreover, does he have the ability to compete at the front every race? Some have belittled his podiums as merely achieved through an alternative strategy, but that discredit’s Perez’a ability at managing such a strategy. Nevertheless, anonymity for a couple of races is possible at Sauber, but not at McLaren. Perez at McLaren is an intriguing proposition.
Prediction: A maiden victory and top six in the championship.
7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Lotus F1 Team
Raikkonen’s return to the sport in 2012 was impressive. Now it’s up to him and Lotus to build on a strong first season and challenge for the title. One area for improvement will be qualifying, as a lack of top four starts in 2012 meant it was difficult for Raikkonen to make that final breakthrough. After two years out of the sport, his consistency and racecraft remained exquisite, if not better than ever. The Finn hasn’t had the most ideal of pre-seasons as reliability issues seemed to hit his E21 while he also missed a day of running through food poisoning. But Kimi is Kimi. Will he be bothered? Probably not.
Prediction: A couple of victories, but ultimately falling short in the title race.
8 | Romain Grosjean | Lotus F1 Team
First lap nutcase of future world champion? Opinion is split, but Grosjean undoubtedly possesses the speed that others can only dream of. He claimed three podiums in 2012 and could have won in Valencia, but before aiming for results, he has to utilise his supreme speed in the correct manner. He says he’s approaching 2013 with a different mentality and that it’s already paying dividends. But until he’s in the middle of a first corner sandwich, the jury’s out. His lack of special awareness and risk is worrying – note his incident with an HRT in Brazil – and that could be a character trait hard to iron out. For his sake and that of the sport, let’s hope he can.
Prediction: A maiden victory, fewer moments of madness – although they linger – but an all-round improvement on 2012.
9 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes AMG Petronas
Rosberg finally achieved the breakthrough win in 2012 but was unable to sustain his early momentum. Part of that was down to Mercedes, but he didn’t fare too well against Schumacher as the season progressed. Getting the better of Hamilton early in the year before the Brit gets settled in will be crucial, although it appears over one lap the W04 is up there. The race pace of the W04 remains the great unknown but the German – with experience of all four Mercedes packages – seems confident. This is his chance to show the world whether he’s simply a very good driver or a future world champion.
Prediction: As ever for Rosberg, it could be a case of sixes and sevenths, but look out for him in China and Singapore. Unless the W04 really is the surprise package...
10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes AMG Petronas
The boldest move by any driver since Schumacher moved to Ferrari in the mid-90s? Only once the 2014 season starts can that question be answered. But as for 2013, it may not be the write-off that many have predicted. Winter testing remains a notoriously deceptive time, but the W04 has shown promising pace. Hamilton will get the maximum out of every car he drives, particularly in qualifying, but if the W04 cannot preserve its tyres then it’ll be a tricky season. Nevertheless, Hamilton is particularly effective at circuits such as Montreal and Yas Marina. One intriguing aspect will simply be Lewis Hamilton without McLaren. Hamilton was never the most assertive driver on the grid when at McLaren – think of his tyre calls against Button’s – so how will he take on the craved mantle of team leader at Mercedes?
Prediction: There may well be races where the W04 is strong. If that’s the case, Hamilton will be up there. Wet races will be an opportunity as well.
11 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber F1 Team
Should he be wearing Ferrari or McLaren overalls this season? Probably. Nico Hulkenberg joins his third different team for his third season as a Formula One racer and the Sauber C32 should provide him with a good package. Hulkenberg has an abundance of talent that should gel well with the Swiss team; after all, how frequently does Hulkenberg get into trouble on the track? Both Hulkenberg and Gutierrez were hindered by reliability issues during their final race simulations in Barcelona; perhaps a worry for Melbourne.
Prediction: He’ll be on the podium and he should win a race. Magic in Interlagos again?
12 | Esteban Gutierrez | Sauber F1 Team
After several seasons of being touted as the next big thing, Gutierrez finally earns his promotion with Sauber, the team he joined as a reserve driver in 2011. The Mexican has strong pace but a very good team-mate in Hulkenberg, meaning that simply establishing himself should be an initial target. For a driver who is frequently prone to erratic moments, Gutierrez could learn a lot from his team-mate’s measured approach to racing while avoiding over-driving early on in the year when Hulkenberg will have the upper hand.
Prediction: A typical rookie season: mistakes, moments of madness, some promising races and a few points scoring finishes.
14 | Paul di Resta | Sahara Force India
2013 will be di Resta’s third season in the sport and it’s probably due time to start making a greater impact. The Scot showed signs of promise during his rookie season in 2011 but last year his star waned slightly as he was struck by misfortune and a few errors while Nico Hulkenberg impressed at exactly the right moment. The Pirelli tyres should play into his hands, although he really needs to put in a couple of standout drives to catch the attention. Di Resta takes a quiet, methodical approach both in and out of the car and while there’s nothing hugely wrong with this, it means he can be very good but go unnoticed. How he compares to re-signed team-mate Sutil will be fascinating.
Prediction: A couple of standout drives – Bahrain and Singapore perhaps – and narrowly edges Sutil in the championship.
15 | Adrian Sutil | Sahara Force India
Everybody deserves a second chance. His form towards the end of 2011 was the best of his career and while Force India denied it at the time, his conviction for the nightclub incident seems to have been the reason for his enforced sabbatical. Missing a year of racing won’t be ideal, but he has experience, knows the team and it will feel like he’s never been away. He’s not a star, but he’s reliable; the Nick Heidfeld of this decade. Force India will hope that in Sutil, they can take advantage of rookie mistakes at rivals Sauber and Williams, particularly early in the season.
Prediction: Consistently skirting around the lower end of the top ten. Watch out for him in the wet.
16 | Pastor Maldonado | Williams F1 Team
2013 is the year where Maldonado must blend his supreme speed with consistency. Aside from his stunning maiden win, he also pumped in a couple of fantastic races in Singapore and Abu Dhabi. The Venezuelan squandered too many points in 2012 and he can’t do that again, particularly with the political uncertainty following the death of Hugo Chavez. His qualifying pace is a strong asset, but he needs to be assertive without being reckless if he is to continue his upward trajectory.
Prediction: With the hype, probably a lap 1 exit in Spain! Always quick when the walls are close. More points than in 2012 and less criticism to boot.
17 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams F1 Team
From GP3 to F1. It’s a big step for any driver, but Williams has absolute trust in their young Finnish star. Bottas has been groomed by the team for several years, including helping the team set up and pack away during race weekends. He’s now been promoted to a race seat and the world gets to see just how good Bottas really is. He could start the year a little race rusty – after all, his last start was in September 2011 – but if he can get near to Maldonado’s pace then Williams’s faith will be justified. What mustn’t happen is writing Bottas off if he has a slow start; the same happened to Hulkenberg and look where he is now.
Prediction: If the FW35 is in the ballpark, he should be the rookie to beat.
18 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Scuderia Toro Rosso
Four eighth places interspersed with sixteen races outside of the points. Vergne’s 2012 season in a nutshell. One concern about Vergne’s debut season was his qualifying pace; he was trounced by Daniel Ricciardo and too frequently found himself eliminated in Q1. Vergne’s aggressive style meant he was usually overdriving in qualifying and made too many silly errors. To have a chance of staking a claim to a Red Bull seat, Saturday pace needs to be improved.
Prediction: Another one to watch in wet weather, but as usual expect STR to be firmly in the midfield and occasionally scoring points.
19 | Daniel Ricciardo | Scuderia Toro Rosso
Mark Webber’s successor? At this moment in time, it seems to be a likely destination for Ricciardo. The STR7 wasn’t a spectacular machine yet Ricciardo’s lap in Bahrain last season was utterly sensational; his race start less so. Ricciardo impressed across the second half of 2012 and he now needs to continue this momentum without focusing too much on the carrot on the stick that is a potential Red Bull seat in 2014.
Prediction: Some unexpected results, tenacious racing and a grin as wide as his country.
20 | Charles Pic | Caterham F1 Team
Pic’s arrival at Caterham consolidates their French connections, but viewing Pic as simply a backmarker pay driver discredits the quiet Frenchman’s talents. On occasion in 2012 he took the challenge to Timo Glock which is an impressive feat. Pic operated largely under the radar last year yet he bucks the trend of Marussia drivers in remaining on the grid. His contract is a multi-year deal, meaning that 2013 will simply be a learning year.
Prediction: Another year of being quietly impressive, although the hunt for the elusive point goes on.
21 | Giedo van der Garde | Caterham F1 Team
After several years of agonising near-misses (remember, he was a junior contemporary of Vettel and Hamilton), Van der Garde finally returns the Dutch flag to the grid in 2013. His financial backing enabled him to make the step up from GP2, but Van der Garde is a competent and amiable racer. Even if his sojourn lasts just a season, it’ll be one that he enjoys.
Prediction: Consistently a few tenths behind Pic although without many errors.
22 | Jules Bianchi | Marussia F1 Team
Bianchi joins the grid in 2013 to make it a quartet of French drivers in the pinnacle of motor racing. Bianchi’s talent is not in doubt – his GP2 and FR3.5 record is testament to his ability – but what is a lingering niggle is his tendency to make errors under pressure. He curbed his erratic behaviour somewhat in FR3.5 last season and Marussia should provide the perfect environment for Bianchi to spend his rookie season. Midfield teams, and Ferrari, will be watching.
Prediction: Leading Marussia’s challenge and taking the fight to Caterham.
23 | Max Chilton | Marussia F1 Team
Like Van der Garde, Chilton owes his position on the grid down to the size of his wallet. Also like Van der Garde, writing him off before he’s started would be to ignore the fact that he has extensive junior experience – despite his youth – and won two GP2 races last season. His qualifying pace was in GP2 was strong but his racecraft was lacking; at the back of the F1 grid this will be less of an issue.
Prediction: Likely to be propping up the grid but far from out of his depth. |
SF Kaiser half-marathon runner dies near finish SAN FRANCISCO
A runner collapsed near the finish line of the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon in Golden Gate Park on Sunday and died despite efforts of bystanders and race participants to revive him, witnesses said.
A Fire Department dispatcher confirmed the death of an adult male at the race, but additional information about the man was not immediately available.
Witnesses described a slow and confused response by race officials when the man first collapsed on an unseasonably warm day that hit 80 degrees. Two witnesses said it took about 20 minutes from that point before paramedics arrived.
The San Francisco medical examiner could not be reached, and calls and e-mails on Sunday to Kaiser Permanente and RhodyCo Productions, the company that produced the race, were not immediately returned.
"In an event that size with that staff, it's ridiculous to take that long to have paramedics arrive," said Neil Fraser, head coach and co-owner of a triathlon and sports training company who was at the finish line waiting for some of his athletes when the man collapsed.
Sunday's race marked the 28th running of the Kaiser Permanente San Francisco Half Marathon and 5K Fun Run, and the event was sold out with 10,000 participants, the race website said.
When the runner collapsed, someone pointed it out to the announcer at the finish line, who called over the loudspeaker for medical staff, witnesses said. But it took repeated calls before any staff arrived, and ultimately runners and spectators began performing CPR, witnesses said.
"Finally a woman came up and started yelling at (the announcer), 'You need to start pleading for anyone to help. We need a doctor,' " said Kwesi Graves, 29, of Noe Valley, who had been at the finish line waiting for his wife. "You would think with a half marathon and a sunny day, they would have some medical staff there, but there just was no one around."
Just moments after the man collapsed at the finish line near the western edge of the park, Graves said, the announcer also called for medical help for two other runners farther up the course, which ran through Golden Gate Park and along the Great Highway.
Fraser, 41, said it was baffling that it was "a medically supported sporting event, and they didn't even have a doctor on staff" at the finish.
"I've been doing this for 10 years, but even at the small events there's an ambulance at the finish line," Fraser said. "I don't know where they were (today)."
Race producer RhodyCo says on its website that is has produced more than 390 major events with 1.4 million participants in its first 27 years.
Once paramedics were called, Fraser said, the crew drove by, then returned later. A fire dispatcher said they were alternately given three different locations for the incident.
"You want to give someone a fair chance to live," Graves said. "Who knows? If there was medical staff right there at the finish line ..." |
WASHINGTON — Late Monday, the Nevada Senate became the first legislative chamber in the country to vote to overturn a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex couples from marrying.
After a little more than an hour of debate in which one senator publicly declared that he was gay for the first time, the Nevada Senate voted 12-9 to repeal the state's 2002 amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman and replace it with language requiring the recognition of all marriages between two people, "regardless of gender."
In addition to out LGBT Sens. David Parks and Pat Spearman, Sen. Kelvin Atkinson declared on the floor during the debate, "I am a black, gay male." Because he was speaking about his sexual orientation publicly for the first time Monday night, he said he had heard negative comments about the marriage amendment repeal from others prior to the vote. But, he said, "People should mind their business and allow people to do what they want to do."
State Sen. Ben Kieckhefer was the sole Republican to vote for the marriage amendment's repeal.
The bill will now go to the state Assembly. If it passes there, it will have to be passed by the next legislature, which meets in 2015, and then by the people the following year. |
PHOENIX, June 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Altitude Organic Corporation (Pinksheets:ERBB.pk - News), a leading national, publicly-traded medical marijuana company, is pleased to announce it will be a gold sponsor of the Marijuana Policy Project's Liberty Belle Ball held at the Playboy Mansion in Los Angeles on July 7th. The annual ball is a fundraising benefit for Washington DC-based Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) (http://www.mpp.org/). The Marijuana Policy Project has been on the frontlines of marijuana reform for over 15 years, working diligently to change policies and laws at both federal and state levels. The event will be attended by cannabis industry luminaries, dedicated reform activists, business owners, and celebrity supporters.
CEO Brian Cook stated, "We are obviously dedicated supporters of the legally-regulated marijuana industry that is being born around the country today. Supporting the cannabis industry's growth and expansion requires donating time and money toward the cause. The Marijuana Policy Project continues to be visionary leaders helping implement state medical marijuana programs through their dedicated lobbying efforts. The MPP is looking to raise additional money for its operating budget where they heavily invest in the goal of expanding legal medical marijuana programs to 24 states and Washington DC by the end of 2012. Altitude Organic Corp stands fully behind their efforts to help bring about solid economic benefit and common sense regulation with cannabis."
ABOUT ALTITUDE ORGANIC CORPORATION
Altitude Organic Corporation (www.altitudeorganix.com) provides independently-owned retail dispensaries in Colorado, California, and Arizona business support services, while also acting as a one-stop-shop for entrepreneurs looking to enter the burgeoning, multi-billion dollar industry of legal cannabis. Altitude Organic Corporation has launched its new management company strategy in Arizona. The company can manage, staff, consult, and provide uniquely branded products and concepts to medical marijuana dispensaries using a limited liability agreement. The company recently launched Doctor MMJ (www.doctormmj.com) -- a medical marijuana doctor referral service. Visit www.altitudeorganicmedicine.com or www.altitudeorganix.com today.
NOTES ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
Except for any historical information contained herein, the matters discussed in this press release contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including those described in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission reports and filings. Certain statements contained in this release that are not historical facts constitute forward-looking statements, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created by that Act. Reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements because they involve unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words such as estimates, anticipates, projects, plans, expects, intends, believes, should and similar expressions and by the context in which they are used. Such statements are based upon current expectations of the Company and speak only as of the date made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which they are made.
Company and Contact:
CEO - Brian Cook - Altitude Organic Corporation
14220 N. Northsight Blvd., Suite 139
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
480-443-1600
[email protected]
SOURCE Altitude Organic Corporation |
Trump and Casablancas-Two peas in a pod
Hi folks,
Remember that article I wrote a couple weeks ago about Donald Trump, and the weird, illicit and possibly illegal modeling agency he owns? Remember his bizarre bromance with avowed child predator John Casablancas?
It’s been getting some attention-and Michael Gross, who probably knows more about the modeling and fashion industries than any other living human being, has come out with a new article that you really need to read
Inside Donald Trump’s One-Stop Parties: Attendees Recall Cocaine and Very Young Models
The morals of Donald J. Trump, as a longtime model lover and then a modeling agency owner, were forged in another era, one in which young girls were used as a sort of currency between men doing business with one another. It’s not a time that Trump, who once blew up gossip reporters’ phones to dish on his own sexual exploits, real and imagined, is eager to remember now. But after I wrote for The Daily Beast earlier this year about the parties he hosted in the 1990s where “his wealthy friends, high-rollers from his Atlantic City casinos, and potential Trump condominium buyers could meet models” from second-tier agencies, several men who attended those parties at the Plaza Hotel emerged to share scandalous specifics about Trump’s presence and behavior at events where illegal drugs and young women were passed around and used.
Huh, imagine that!
One of the two men I spoke with, a fashion photographer, requested anonymity because he has fathered several children since his Trump days and doesn’t want his past dredged up. “There’s no upside for me,” he says. The other man… well, you’ll read his words. Both confirmed that Trump, as I’ve reported, used to host parties in suites at the Plaza Hotel when he owned it, where young women and girls were introduced to older, richer men. This is hardly aberrant behavior in the modeling business. Indeed, it is standard operating procedure. The attraction for the men “was young girls assuming they’d get somewhere” by joining the party, the photographer says, “Of course, it never happens.” [...] The girls were as young as 15, he says, and “over their heads, they had no idea, and they ended up in situations. There were always dramas because the men threw money and drugs at them to keep them enticed. It’s based on power and dominating girls who can’t push back and can be discarded. There’s always someone to pick them back up. Nobody wants to call home and say ‘Help me.’” Trump would “go from room to room,” said the photographer, who added that “I was there to party myself. It was guys with younger girls, sex, a lot of sex, a lot of cocaine, top-shelf liquor” but no smoking. Trump didn’t approve of cigarettes.
Well then, thank you daddy Trump for making sure your 15-year-old party favors didn’t ruin their developing little lungs with cigarette smoke after getting fucked by the grown men you passed them around to. Granted your running mate happens to disagree with you on this particular stance-seeing as he was a loud and proud cigarette truther as recently as 2000-but that’s okay. You two apparently don’t talk a whole lot, and disagree on many things including foreign policy as it relates to Russia, and the topic of grabbing women by the pussy-or at least talking about that kind of thing in public, while mic’d up with Billy Bush.
But I digress.
I know I’m pushing fair use here, but I hope Michael will forgive me-one last snippet
[Did] he have sex with his female party guests? “So, he’s a man with a woman,” Lucchesi [a male model interviewed for the story] says vaguely. How old were they? “A lot of girls, 14, look 24. That’s as juicy as I can get. I never asked how old they were; I just partook. I did partake in activities that would be controversial, too.”
Just, y’know, for the record-it does not matter how old a 14-year-old child looks. In fact, this was me when I was 14:
My nickname was “princess jailbait”. I was a 36 DD by the time I was in 6th grade. My physical development occurred freakishly early, which was devastating because was a tomboy who loved sports and climbing trees. Circus boobs didn’t really allow for those activities.
I was getting into bars by the time I was 16, with a ridiculous fake ID that stated I was 24. Bouncers would sometimes raise an eyebrow, since the picture didn’t remotely resemble me, but they typically let me in with a wink and a nod. After all, I was a hot little thing, with circus boobs, all made up like a tart. I didn’t look like a child so why treat me like one?
But I was, at the end of the day, still very much a child. In fact, I was in many ways more of a child than most of my peers, because my development was arrested around age 10 due to sexual abuse. Which ironically may have actually been the cause of my precocious development in the first place.
And here is the thing-my background is not unusual. I wish it was-but child sexual abuse is insidiously common. It’s also a known and studied factor lurking in the background of girls who end up commodifying their own bodies. From modeling and beauty pageants to porn and prostitution, a history of child sexual abuse is the common denominator
Keep this in mind when you read about men like Donald Trump. Because no matter how much you may be primed to see these girls as older, perhaps even deserving of abuse, they aren’t. Please remember it is men like him that create the conditions that perpetuate their victimization.
Think about the kind of man who sexually objectifies his own daughter, who talks openly about being attracted to a 12-year-old family friend, who sees a 10-year-old little girl and jokes about dating (and thus fucking) her, however many years in the future. Think about the kind of man who muses about the erotic import of emotionally damaged teenage girls in a manner that indicates he knows from experience.
Think about the kind of man who, when asked about his own infant daughter, talks about her legs and speculates on her future breast development. Let’s just pause here, for a moment, because this is just so galling. Babies do not have ”legs” in the way that grown women do. They have rolls of dimpled fat and chubby little feet. There is nothing beautiful or “sexy” about the legs of a baby. And there is nothing remotely normal about comparing the legs of a baby to the legs of a woman you have sex with. That is pathological behavior.
Does it surprise you, then, that a man who says these things has sex trafficked children? And make no mistake-this is exactly what Michael Gross is describing. Have no illusions about this-it is the literal definition of the term.
And please don’t give the presumption of innocence where it is undeserved. No matter what these men say to excuse their behavior, the actual age of the girls they were passing around and fucking was not unknown. Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that a 14-year-old girl can genuinely be mistaken for a 24-year-old woman-no matter how much makeup is on her face, or how precocious her development may be. Anyone who has raised daughters, interacted with teenagers, or has been around human beings in general knows the goddamn difference. Example:
These are children. Probably around age 14. You are not allowed to have sex with them.
In the aftermath of posting my article about Trump Model Management, I have had a flood of responses from people, including Michael Gross, who have first-hand knowledge of the crimes that Donald Trump, unregistered sex offender, has committed. It is in large part because of this influx of new information that the follow up installments have been delayed. I know people are anxious for the information to come out, and I promise you it will. Soon.
But for the time being, please know one thing: I take no joy from the fact that my initial instincts when I read the Mother Jones article were correct. I also take no solace in confirming that my initial impression of Trump-who I first encountered at age 16 during one of his Howard Stern appearances-was accurate. I knew instinctively that he was an abuser, and everything I’ve learned about him since has reinforced that belief.
The fact that other women, in particular those with a history of abuse, had similar thoughts is affirming, and it is a relief that we can finally say it out loud. The resulting dialogue has been healing in many ways-perhaps the one silver lining to come out of this toxic election, and this toxic candidate.
But make no mistake-this October surprise in progress is not a joyful development. It is horrifying. It is devastating, because there are actual victims involved, and they are actual human beings. It should be a gut check to our nation that a man like Donald Trump could rise to a level of such prominence. This is something that should have never happened. The fact that it did speaks volumes about how we value women and girls in our society.
In light of this I have a request: Please read Michael Gross’s article in The Daily Beast, and pass it along to everyone you know. Don’t let it get lost in the ether. This story is important, because our girls are important.
It’s high time we prove to them that they are. |
Banksy is an anoynomous English street artist and activist who has become a cult hero for his anti-establishment and rebellious artwork.
Unlike someone I know, who stays in his house all day drawing comics and watching Simpsons reruns, Banksy is a REAL artist who challenges the status quo, forces people to think and puts himself in danger, all while remaining a complete mystery to the world. I mean think about it, he’s one of the most famous artists on the planet, his work has been popping up in major cities for the past 10 years and sell for millions of dollars and no one knows who the hell this guy is! I take my hat off to the dude.
If you haven’t seen it, I recommend the documentary Banksy directed, Exit Through the Gift Shop. What was meant to be a film about Banksy instead turned into a movie about the man who was obsessed in trying to meet him. Although many have claimed that it’s a ‘mockumentary’ and the plot a set-up, it’s still a brilliant film. It not only documents the street art movement, it also deals with the meaning of art, and whether or not an artist actually needs any talent or can just survive on hype alone. Two thumbs up!
This quote was taken from Banksy’s 2004 book Cut It Out. Some of the passage was inspired/appropriated from an essay by artist Sean Tejaratchi. I rearranged the last couple of sentences for this comic. |
The young man in the blue hoodie seen in pictures smashing police cars during violent protests in Baltimore has a name and a family. He is Allen Bullock. He voluntarily surrendered to police, only to be held on half a million dollars' bail, an amount his parents say is "ridiculous."
Bullock, 18, is charged with eight counts, including rioting and malicious destruction of property — all of them misdemeanors — after he showed up with his stepfather at the Baltimore City Juvenile Justice Center.
His stepfather, Maurice Hawkins, told the British newspaper The Guardian that Bullock agreed to surrender because the police would "find him, knock down our door and beat him."
"By turning himself in, he also let me know he was growing as a man and he recognized what he did was wrong," said Hawkins, who said he confronted his stepson after seeing him on TV during demonstrations Saturday.
"It is just so much money," Bullock's mom, Bobbi Smallwood, told the newspaper. "Who could afford to pay that?"
Smallwood said authorities were "going about this the wrong way," adding: "Just destroying stuff for nothing? I think that's ridiculous."
F. Michael Higginbotham, a law professor at the University of Baltimore, agreed.
"I think that that goes to continuing strained police-community relations," Higginbotham told NBC station WBAL of Baltimore.
"We need to take a step back and say, OK, how do we go forward from here? What is the way to improve police-community relations, not exacerbate it?" he said. "I think these high bail amounts will exacerbate it."
The Baltimore state's attorney's office wouldn't discuss the specifics of Bullock's case. But it said that with violence still possible — two large protests over the death of Freddie Gray, an African-American man who died in police custody, are planned for this weekend — authorities don't want to release the most violent demonstrators back onto the street.
IN-DEPTH
SOCIAL
— M. Alex Johnson |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.