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Sony is rumored to be considering launching a Windows Phone this year, and now the company has confirmed it’s still in discussions with Microsoft. Speaking to TechRadar this week, Sony’s European mobile chief, Pierre Perron, says the company doesn’t want to be a “single OS manufacturer," noting it’s not a viable position long term. "[Working with Microsoft] is an interesting proposition for us in the PC environment, and we continue our engagement with them,” says Perron. "We are exploring this as part of our discussion in mobile space too. One thing is using the platform [Windows Phone] itself, and another is 'what can we deliver on top of it'?"
Prototype Sony Windows Phones previously spotted
Images of prototype Sony Windows Phones have emerged several times over the past few years, and it’s almost certain that the company has been experimenting with Microsoft’s phone software. Perron has also previously revealed Sony was working with Microsoft in 2012. The latest hints come just weeks after rumors suggested Sony and ZTE were both considering Windows Phone 8 hardware. Microsoft is expected to detail a Windows Phone 8.1 update in April, and it’s almost certain that associated hardware will be ready for when the new software launches. Any future Sony Windows Phone may be branded with Vaio, the same moniker used for Sony’s range of Windows PCs.
Nokia currently dominates Windows Phone market share and it’s understandable that Microsoft would want to rely on other phone makers to push the platform. The software giant is even considering lowering licensing fees for Windows Phone in an effort to attract more hardware partners. It’s key for Microsoft to find additional support for Windows Phone through established phone vendors, and it’s possible that Sony might be the next big name to put its name to Windows Phone hardware. | {
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Dude, weed is only illegal because we're not allowed to smoke it
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Credit: CC0 Public Domain
Simulations with animal models meant to mirror galactic cosmic radiation exposure to astronauts are raising red flags for investigators at Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) about the health of astronauts during long voyages, such as to Mars.
Their most recent study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), suggests that deep space bombardment by galactic cosmic radiation (GCR) could significantly damage gastrointestinal (GI) tissue leading to long-term functional alterations. The study also raises concern about high risk of tumor development in the stomach and colon.
Their previous work has highlighted potential impairment to brain tissue as well as accelerated aging on long space trips due to the effect of energetic heavy ions, which don't affect Earthlings due to the protective global magnetosphere.
"Heavy ions such as iron and silicon are damaging because of their greater mass compared to no-mass photons such as x-rays and gamma (γ)-rays prevalent on earth as well as low mass protons in outer space," says the study's senior investigator, Kamal Datta, MD, an associate professor in the Department of Biochemistry and a project leader of the NASA Specialized Center of Research (NSCOR) at GUMC.
"With the current shielding technology, it is difficult to protect astronauts from the adverse effects of heavy ion radiation. Although there may be a way to use medicines to counter these effects, no such agent has been developed yet," says Datta, also a member of Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. "While short trips, like the times astronauts traveled to the Moon, may not expose them to this level of damage, the real concern is lasting injury from a long trip such as a Mars or other deep space missions which would be much longer" he says.
The GI tract is a self-renewing tissue with continuous cell division/proliferation, the researchers say. The mucosal (top) layer of cells is replaced every three to five days through coordinated migration of new cells from the bottom of a flask shaped structure called crypt towards the lumen of the gut. "Any disturbance of this replacement mechanism leads to malfunctioning of physiologic processes such as nutrient absorption and starts pathologic processes such as cancer," says co-author Georgetown's Albert Fornace Jr., MD, director of the NSCOR.
To investigate the effect of heavy ions on the GI tract, the scientists used mouse small intestine as a model system. Mice were exposed to a low dose of iron radiation at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory (NSRL) in Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island, New York, and the animals were then examined at Georgetown.
Researchers compared the group of mice that received heavy ions to mice exposed to gamma rays, which are comparable to X-rays, and to a third, unexposed control group. The scientists found that intestinal cells in the heavy ion group did not adequately absorb nutrients and that they formed cancerous polyps.
Additionally, there was evidence that iron radiation induced DNA damage that increased the number of senescent cells. Senescent cells are incapable of normal cell division but they are not "quiet," says Datta.
"They generate oxidative stress and inflammatory molecules that induce more damage. This greatly affected migration of cells that are needed to replace the intestinal lining which slowed down GI functioning," he says.
Even though a very low dose was delivered over the equivalent of months-long period in deep space, the effects of heavy ion radiation appeared to be permanent, says Fornace.
"We have documented the effects of deep space radiation on some vital organs, but we believe that similar damage responses may occur in many organs," says Datta. "It is important to understand these effects in advance so we can do everything we can to protect our future space travelers."
Explore further Exposure to space radiation reduces ability of intestinal cells to destroy oncoprotein
More information: Santosh Kumar el al., "Space radiation triggers persistent stress response, increases senescent signaling, and decreases cell migration in mouse intestine," PNAS (2018). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Santosh Kumar el al., "Space radiation triggers persistent stress response, increases senescent signaling, and decreases cell migration in mouse intestine,"(2018). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1807522115 | {
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AS IT HAPPENS
India Domestic Season 2019-20 - News Digest
by Cricbuzz Staff • Last updated on
Vidarbha are the two-time defending champions of Ranji Trophy © BCCL
Welcome to our rolling news coverage for the Indian Domestic Season 2019-20. Find the Ranji Trophy schedule here:
News - Domestic players will have to wait for their pay hike as BCCI sorts out taxation issues.
No DRS in Ranji Trophy quarterfinals. It will be available for the semifinals and final. More details.
Quarterfinals (starting on February 20)
Gujarat v Goa - Valsad
Bengal v Odisha - Cuttack
Karnataka v Jammu & Kashmir - Jammu
Saurashtra v Andhra - Ongole
Vineet Saxena retires!
The former Rajasthan batsman, who has more than 7000 first-class runs to his name, has called time on his career. Saxena was part of Rajasthan's back-to-back Ranji Trophy winning team of 2010-11 and 2011-12.
The Ravi Yadav record
Madhya Pradesh's left-arm pacer became the first player to bag a hat-trick in the first over of his Ranji debut, when he dismissed Sameer Rizvi, Akshdeep Nath and Mohammad Saif from Uttar Pradesh on consecutive deliveries.
Record for Goa
Sumiran Amonkar and Vaibhav Govekar scored 160 each and added 316 runs for the first wicket against Arunachal Pradesh - a record stand for any wicket for Goa.
Mayank Agarwal asked to rest (December 31)
The Indian team management has asked Mayank Agarward to rest ahead of India's tour of New Zealand. The opener will now miss Karnataka's clash the away clash against Mumbai starting from January 3.
Vinay Kumar becomes Ranji Trophy's most successful pacer (December 28)
Vinay Kumar surpassed Pankaj Singh, during Puducherry's match against Mizoram, to become the leading wicket-taker in the history of Ranji Trophy. The former Karnataka pacer returned six wickets in the match as Puducherry won by an innings and 272 runs.
December 26 - National Selector asked to leave Bengal dressing room
India's national selector from East Zone Devang Gandhi was asked to leave the Bengal dressing room at the Eden Gardens during the team's Ranji Trophy encounter against Andhra. Anti-corruption official at the venue took the call upon receiving a complaint from senior Bengal players.
"We have to follow what is contained in the anti-corruption protocol. A national selector cannot get in the dressing room without authorization," former captain Manoj Tiwary -- who was among the players raising the question -- was quoted as saying by India Today.
"Only the players and officials who have their mug-shots at the entrance can get access in the dressing room."
As per reports, Gandhi entered the dressing room to consult the Bengal team physio. But this is a breach of the anti-corruption laws as only players and team support-staff selected for the match can be present in the dressing room.
Assam's match against Jharkhand moved out of Guwahati (December 14)
The Assam vs Jharkhand Ranji Trophy match, set to take place on December 17, has been moved out of Guwahati to Ranchi due to political unrest in Assam. Saba Karim, the head of BCCI's cricket operations, told Cricbuzz, "As for now, that is only match which has been shifted out. Since the other home games of Assam are not being held in Guwahati, we are awaiting further reports from the state association on whether it will be feasible to continue holding matches there."
Umesh Yadav to play against Rajasthan (December 13)
Umesh Yadav is set to feature for Vidarbha in their next Ranji Trophy encounter, set to begin on December 17, against Rajasthan. Vidarbha bagged three points from their first game of the season, against Andhra, courtesy a first innings lead in a drawn encounter.
Final day's play in Guwahati and Agartala called off (December 12)
Owing to the political unrest and local curfew, the final day's play of the Ranji Trophy games between Assam & Services in Guwahati, and between Tripura & Jharkhand in Agartala has been called off. It's unclear if the games will be completed on a later date.
"We have been advised by the state association not to go ahead with the game. Players have been asked to remain in the hotel. The players' safety is paramount," BCCI GM Cricket Operations Saba Karim told PTI. "Whether the game will be replayed or the points will be shared. We will take a call on that later."
Ishant not in Delhi's Ranji Trophy squad (December 5)
Ishant Sharma's name doesn't feature in Delhi's Ranji Trophy squad for the first two rounds. Dhruv Shorey will be leading the unit while Nitish Rana has been named the vice captain. Anuj Rawat will keep wicket. The Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) also named four stand-byes: Pranshu Vijayran, Sarang Rawat, Kshitiz Sharma and Karan Dagar.
Delhi will open their season against Kerala at Thumba on December 9.
Squad: Dhruv Shorey (captain), Nitin Rana (vice-captain), Kunal Chandela, Anuj Rawat, Jonty Sidhu, Lalit Yadav, Shivam Sharma, Viukas Mishra, Tejas Baroka, Pradeep Sangwan, Navdeep Saini, Pawan Suyal, Kunwar Bidhuri, Hiten Dalal, Shivank Vashisth.
Unadkat to lead Saurashtra; Nair named Karnataka captain (December 4)
With Jaydev Shah retiring from the game, Jaydev Unadkat has been named the captain for the Ranji Trophy 2019-20 season. Cheteshwar Pujara is part of the squad but Ravindra Jadeja isn't given his international commitments.
Squad: Jaydev Unadkat (c), Cheteshwar Pujara, Sheldon Jackson, Arpit Vasavada, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Kamlesh Makwana, Snell Patel, Chirag Jani, Harvik Desai, Prerak Mankad, Avi Barot, Vishvaraj Jadeja, Kushang Patel, Chetan Sakariya, Divyaraj Chauhan, Jay Chauhan.
For Karnataka, Karun Nair will lead the side with Shreyas Gopal his deputy with Mayank Agarwal also named in the side.
Squad: Karun Nair (c), Mayank Agarwal, Devdutt Padikkal, D Nischal, R Samarth, Pavan Deshpande, K Gowtham, Shreyas Gopal, J Suchith, BR Sharath, Sharath Srinivas, Ronit More, David Mathias, V Koushik, KS Devaiah.
Suryakumar Yadav, Vijay Shankar named captains for Ranji Trophy (December 3)
Suryakumar Yadav, who captained Mumbai in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, will lead the team in the upcoming season of Ranji Trophy as well, returning as the full-time first-class captain for the first time since the 2014-15 season. Meanwhile, former captain Aditya Tare has been named Suryakumar's deputy. Mumbai will be missing out on the services of Shreyas Iyer (national duty) and Siddhesh Lad (personal reasons) but will be bolstered by the presence of Ajinkya Rahane.
Mumbai squad: Suryakumar Yadav (c), Aditya Tare, Ajinkya Rahane, Prithvi Shaw, Jay Bista, Shubham Ranjane, Akash Parkar, Sarfaraz Khan, Shams Mulani, Vinayak Bhoir, Shashank Attarde, Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Dhawal Kulkarni, Eknath Kerkar.
The Tamil Nadu side will be led by all-rounder Vijay Shankar, while Baba Aparajith will be the vice-captain of the team. R Ashwin, Dinesh Karthik and Murali Vijay have been named in the squad for the first two matches - against Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh - while Washington Sundar, who's part of the India squad for the limited-overs series against West Indies, will join the TN team for the second game.
Tamil Nadu squad: Vijay Shankar (c), B. Aparajith, M. Vijay, Abhinav Mukund, Dinesh Karthik (wk), N. Jagadeesan (wk), R. Ashwin, Sai Kishore, T. Natarajan, K. Vignesh, Abhishek Tanwar, M. Ashwin, M. Siddharth, Shahrukh Khan, K. Mukunth.
After 40 overs of tantalising cricket, Karnataka defended their Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy by the narrowest of margins, a one-run win over rivals Tamil Nadu helping them become the first team to complete the white-ball double - they also won the 50-over Vijay Hazare Trophy - in a season.
Manish Pandey's knock of 60, aided by Rohan Kadam's 35, helped Karnataka post a sizeable total of 180 for 5. Vijay Shankar (44) and Baba Aparajith (40) kept Tamil Nadu in the chase with handy knocks before it came down to the final over with TN needing 13.
Ravichandran Ashwin hit fours off the first two balls of the K Gowtham's over to bring the equation down to 5 off 4. Gowtham then switched angles to round the wicket, bowled a dot and gave away a single to swing the equation to a more nervy 4 from 2. Vijay's run out at a crucial juncture, thanks to Pandey's accurate throw, left TN needing two to win off the final ball. But Murugan Ashwin could only manage a single, sending the Karnataka team into delirium and sinking the other dug out into stunned silence.
Despite losing their last group game to Maharashtra by 45 runs, Punjab made it through to the Super League. They were aided by the result in the contest between Himachal and Railways, which the latter lost and joined Punjab and three other teams - Chandigarh, Chattisgarh and Hyderabad - to finish equal on 16 points each. Punjab, by virtue of a better Net Run Rate qualified, along with Maharashtra who had 20 points to their credit.
Other than them, Baroda, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Mumbai, Haryana, Delhi and Jharkhand have qualified for the Super League.
Amiesh Saheba retires (November 18)
Veteran umpire Amiesh Saheba retired from cricket on Monday. Saheba, who is only the second Indian umpire after Suresh Shastri to officiate in more than 100 first-class games, officiated in the game between Bengal and Assam, in Mumbai - his last domestic game.
Saheba, who had played for Gujarat from 1981 to 1990, has also officiated in three Test matches, 51 ODIs and 12 T20 matches. He was also adjudged by BCCI as "the best Indian Umpire" in 2009-10.
First-time contracts (November 17)
The Cricket Association of Uttarakhand (CAU) became the first state unit in the country to provide annual contracts to its first-class cricketers. The association will also open two training centres apart from providing scholarship to Under 16 and Under 19 cricketers.
New Appointment
Suryakumar Yadav has been appointed the captain of the Mumbai team for the upcoming Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. He led the team in the Vijay Hazare trophy as well and has now been retained in the hot seat for the T20 tournament, starting Friday (November 8).
Deodhar Trophy squads (October 24)
India A: Hanuma Vihari (c), Devdutt Padikkal, A R Easwaran, Vishnu Vinod, Amandeep Khare, Abhishek Raman, Ishan Kishan (wk), Shahbaz Ahmed, Ravi Bishnoi, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jaydev Unadkat, Sandeep Warrier, Siddarth Kaul, Bhargav Merai
India B: Parthiv Patel (c&wk), Priyank Panchal, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Baba Aparajith, Kedar Jadhav, Ruturaj Gaekwad, Shahbaz Nadeem, Anukul Roy, K Gowtham, Vijay Shankar, Mohammed Siraj, Rush Kalaria, Yarra Prithviraj, Nitish Rana
India C: Shubman Gill (c), Mayank Agarwal, Anmolpreet Singh, Suryakumar Yadav, Priyam Garg, Dinesh Karthik (wk), Axar Patel, Mayank Markande, Jalaj Saxena, Avesh Khan, Dhawal Kulkarni, Ishan Porel, D G Pathania, Virat Singh
Karnataka clinch fourth Vijay Hazare title (October 25)
Abhimanyu Mithun picked up a hat-trick and ended with a five-wicket haul to restrict Tamil Nadu to 252 in the final in Bangalore. Abhinav Mukund made 85 while Baba Aparajith got 64 but no other batsmen chipped in. They, however, got a good start with the ball as Devdutt Padikkal fell for just 11 during the chase. Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul then scored unbeaten 112 for the second wicket before rain brought an early end to the game. Karnataka won the clash by 60 runs by VJD method.
Heartbreak for Mumbai (October 21)
Mumbai were knocked out in the quarterfinals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy despite having the upperhand in the contest before rain spoiled the show. Chhattisgarh made only 190/6 before Mumbai raced to 95 for no loss in the 12th over in the chase before rain forced the players off the field. With Chhattisgarh having more wins in the group stage, they pipped Mumbai to a semifinal spot and the rule came under a lot of criticism.
Yashasvi creates history (October 16)
Four days after Samson's exploits, young Yashasvi Jaiswal created history by becoming the youngest List A double centurion. Yashasvi hammered 12 sixes in his double ton and was dismissed for a 154-ball 203 as Mumbai beat Jharkhand by 39 runs.
A double for Sanju (October 12)
Sanju Samson registered his highest List A score when he hammered an unbeaten 212 against Goa. Samson hit 21 fours and ten sixes in his double hundred as Kerala won comfortably by 104 runs.
Shikhar Dhawan to bolster Delhi Vijay Hazare squad (October 3)
Delhi's Vijay Hazare campaign got a massive shot in the arm with India white-ball opener, Shikhar Dhawan, confirming his availability for the rest of the 50-over tournament. The 33-year old opener had taken a break upon the conclusion of the 3-match T20I series against South Africa but had indicated to the Delhi team management about his possible availability for the latter half of the competition. Delhi feature in the Elite Group B and have seen all their games ravaged by unseasonal rains in Vadodara so far. Dhawan is expected to feature in Saturday's (October 5) encounter against Baroda.
Shreyas Iyer at the helm of Mumbai's Vijay Hazare title defence (September 18)
Iyer will be tasked with taking the domestic powerhouses to back-to-back 50-over titles following their victory over Delhi in a tense final in Bengaluru last year. While most of the players from the previous season have retained their spot, two players from the Under-19 setup - Yashasvi Jaiswal and Atharva Ankolekar - have also been included. Sarfaraz Khan, who had represented Uttar Pradesh in the 2017-18 season also returns to the Mumbai side following a one-year cool-off. Ajinkya Rahane, who will be away with the India Test team, isn't in the squad.
Squad: Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Jay Bista, Aditya Tare, Sarfaraz Khan, Shivam Dube, Shubham Ranjane, Eknath Kerkar, Dhawal Kulkarni, Tushar Deshpande, Shams Mulani, Atharva Ankolekar, Shardul Thakur, Siddhesh Lad, Yashavi Jaiswal, Kruthik Hanagawadi, Shashank Attarde
Wasim Jaffer, Vidarbha's interim captain for Vijay Hazare Trophy (September 15)
Regular captain Faiz Fazal suffered a hand injury during the recently-concluded Duleep Trophy and is expected to be missing from action, Sportstar reported. Wasim Jaffer will hence step in as the captain of side for the 50-over tournament.
Karthik to lead TN in Vijay Hazare Trophy (September 14)
Dinesh Karthik has been named the captain of Tamil Nadu for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy, while Vijay Shankar will be his deputy for the 50-over tournament. The 16-member squad also includes Abhinav Mukund and Washington Sundar. M Shahrukh Khan will be in the Team as Replacement for Murali Vijay till the time the latter joins the Team.
Rayudu to captain Hyderabad (September 14)
Ambati Rayudu, who came out of retirement two weeks ago, has been named Hyderabad's captain for the upcoming Vijay Hazare Trophy. He takes over the role from Akshath Reddy, while B Sandeep has been named his deputy.
India Red clinch Duleep Trophy (September 7)
Akshay Wakhare's fifer bundled out India Green for 119 in the second essay to help India Red clinch Duleep Trophy 2019, by an innings and 38 runs
Unmukt Chand, the 26-year-old Delhi batsman, has decided to shift base to Uttarakhand, where he will be captaining the side for the upcoming season. Having led the India Under-19 side to a world cup win in 2012, Chand promised a lot but hasn't been able to find success at the first-class level, and despite leading the side on several occasions, has failed to cement his place in the team.
The professional move (August 31)
Stuart Binny, the veteran all-rounder from Karnataka, has moved to Nagaland as a professional. He'll be joined by two other senior players from the domestic circuit - Maharashtra's Shrikant Mundhe and Yogesh Takawale. In other news, Mumbai's slow left-arm spinner Iqbal Abdullah continues his journey as a journeyman and joins Sikkim for the upcoming season.
Abhimanyu Easwaran is set to be the new Bengal captain for the upcoming domestic season. The selectors had initially mulled the idea of split captaincy, with Manoj Tiwary as the leader in the shorter formats (Vijay Hazare and Syed Mushtaq Ali meets) and Easwaran in charge of the Ranji Trophy side. But Tiwary himself felt that Easwaran should lead in all the formats and promised him full support.
It took just 58 days for Ambati Rayudu to make a U-turn on his retirement. Rayudu wrote to the Hyderabad Cricket Association's CoA that he was available for selection for all formats. "I (Ambati Rayudu) would like to bring to your kind notice that I would like to come out of retirement and play cricket in all formats," he wrote. Subsequently, the HCA CEO put out a release saying, "This is to inform you that Ambati Rayudu has withdrawn his announcement of retirement and has made himself available for the shorter format of the game for HCA in 2019-20."
KP Bhaskar returns to Delhi (August 30)
KP Bhaskar has been appointed as Delhi's coach yet again after guiding Uttarakhand to the top of the Plate division last season. Bhaskar's previous stint with the team ended with a war of words with the then Delhi captain Gautam Gambhir, who had accused him of breaking the morale of the young players in the side, soon after Delhi lost the final of Ranji Trophy 2017-18. Mithun Manhas, who had coached Delhi last season, refused to continue in his role.
KCA confirmed that the Robin Uthappa will lead the Kerala team in the Vijay Hazare one-dayers that will begin next month. The former Karnataka player, who represented Saurashtra as a professional for the last two years, will also lead the state team in the Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 tournament that follows the Vijay Hazare. Meanwhile, KCA secretary Sreejith V Nair maintained that no decision has been taken regarding the leadership role in the Ranji Trophy. "We will evaluate Robin's captaincy once both Vijay Hazare Trophy and Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy tournaments end. Ranji Trophy is beginning only in December. So we still have time to take a decision on Kerala's Ranji Trophy captain," he said.
Vinayak Samant re-appointed as Mumbai coach (August 26)
In a controversial move, the Mumbai Cricket Association re-appointed Vinayak Samant as the head coach. Samant had coached Mumbai to Vijay Hazare Trophy win last season, but came under scrutiny after Mumbai lost out in the group stage of the Ranji Trophy. As per Cricket Improvement Committee's recommendation, the offer was made to Sulakshan Kulkarni who declined it. According to a report in Mid-Day, Kulkarni was offered a contract of Rs 14 lakh when MCA had stated that the annual remuneration for the role would be for Rs 24 lakh. Samant, on the other hand, was given a contract of Rs 22 lakh, and he accepted the offer.
Karun Nair's last first-class century came in 2017 - in the Ranji Trophy semifinal clash against Vidarbha. He shrugged off poor form with 99 in the first innings against India Blue and then scored unbeaten 166 in the second innings. India Red also booked a place in the final by bagging the first-innings lead.
After a remarkable stint with Karnataka, pacer Vinay Kumar has decided to move base to Puducherry, signaling the end of an era in Karnataka cricket. Kumar, now 35, is best known for leading Karnataka to victories in the Ranji Trophy, Vijay Hazare Trophy and Irani Cup for two consecutive seasons in 2013-14 and 2014-15. Kumar made his first-class debut for Karnataka in the 2004-05 season and has since picked 459 first-class wickets - the most by a pacer in the history of Ranji Trophy - at an average of 23.53. He also scored some handy runs down the order, as a first-class batting average of 21.45 and two centuries would suggest.
Just half a day of play was possible between India Blue and India Green in the Duleep Trophy opener. The teams shared points after no play was possible because of rain and wet outfield on the remaining three days.
Pink ball experiment curtailed (August 6)
Apart from the final, none of the Duleep Trophy matches will be played in pink ball. For a tournament that was otherwise struggling for relevance, with matches getting washed off, regional affinity out of question, teams willingly playing out draws and flat and slow pitches on offer, the pink-ball experiment was its most relevant aspect. Now, even that's dusted. Explaining the reasoning behind the move, Saba Karim, BCCI's head of operations, told Cricbuzz, "At this stage, the national team is playing only red ball cricket. So we want even the players who are in the reckoning to play with a similar kind of ball, in a similar kind of environment."
The Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy - the domestic T20 event - will be played between November 8 and December 1, in order to make room for IPL franchises to take a look at domestic talent before the next player auctions, which is usually held in December or January. Last year, SMA was held in February-March, long after the player auctions were done. Eight days after the conclusion of SMA, India's premier domestic tournament - the Ranji Trophy - will get underway on December 9, and go on till March, for the first time ever. The Duleep Trophy will kickstart the 2019 season, running from August 17 to September 8. This is set to be followed by the three limited-overs tournaments - the Vijay Hazare Trophy (September 24 to October 25), the Deodhar Trophy (October 31 to November 4), followed by the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament.
© Cricbuzz
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How to prepare our cities for the post-fossil era? The award-winning Belgian-born, Paris-based archibiotect Vincent Callebaut has a vision — and it's truly inspiring. We sat down with him right before his keynote lecture at the opening session of the EU Green Week conference in Brussels.
Callebaut’s portfolio is full of mind-blowing visionary architecture that makes cities and nature become one. Browsing through floating ecopolises, vertical urban forests, and residential buildings with integrated urban farms, you may think that these eco-modernist utopias will never become a reality. But with the urgent need to cut our fossil fuel consumption in the years to come, cities across the world are getting the swing for Callebaut’s spectacular green urbanscapes. By the end of 2018, his first building, a residential tower in Taipei, will be completed — “a prototype project that will be able to absorb 135 tons of carbon per year, and produce all the necessary energy for the inhabitants directly on-site.” There’s more exciting projects planned in Cairo and Paris.
Vincent Callebaut
The Tao Zhu Yin Yuan project in Taipei is expected to have 25,000 (!) plants on its balconies. Integrating nature into architecture requires a completely new skillset from architects.
“True. The challenge for architects is to smoothly integrate other disciplines into the design process. We’re working a lot with engineers to integrate agronomy into our buildings. We also collaborate with research institutes like the MIT and the Singapore University, with whom we’re investigating floating habitats. The architect becomes an orchestra director — he doesn’t know how to play each instrument, but he knows the musical score and he knows how to direct the musicians. In order to create the perfect eco-building, you’ll have to bring all the different disciplines together.”
Currently under construction — Tao Zhu Yin Yuan in Taipei, an energy-neutral residential tower with an exterior consisting of 25,000 plants and trees
Where does your inspiration come from?
“Our team is truly passionate about biomimicry — studying the shapes and structures of life in nature to integrate it into architecture. The Lilypad, a floating city for climate refugees, or the Dragonfly, a vertical urban agriculture skyscraper for New York, are good examples of how we applied biomimicry to architecture. Another big inspiration of mine is the Amazon rainforest, in which there’s no such thing as pollution. Each form of waste becomes a resource for other forms of life. This is what we want to reproduce in cities. A city shouldn’t be an agglomeration of — what I’d call — shoe boxes, but an organic structure.”
Lilypads — floating ecopolises for climate refugees
You once stated that our cities, with all their stacked shoe boxes along traffic corridors, are very much based on individual mobility. How’s that going to change?
“Inspired by Modernist ideas, today’s cities are structured like monofunctional neighborhoods. Mobility became important for people to move from one function to another function. My parents, for example, lived in the suburbs and took the car to go to work in the city. This has resulted in horizontal urban sprawl that’s hardly energy-efficient. Today’s challenge is to create multifunctional cities in which each and every area has a multitude of functions and activities. For the past three years we’ve been working on the Paris Smart City 2050 project, which proposes a vertical densification. First, every building will produce more energy than it can consume. Second, vertical urban farms will allow food production to be close to the consumers. And third, the introduction of soft mobility — less cars and more public spaces for cycling and walking. This vertical urban densification embodies the transition from a linear economy to a circular economy that’s based on renewable energy and recycling of all waste.”
Paris Smart City 2050 — eight prototypes of energy-plus towers eco-conceived to fight climate change
There seems to be quite a gap between your futuristic ideas and the reality in today’s cities. How do you deal with that?
“With a society based on immediate profits, decision-makers tend to have a short-term vision. However, to create sustainable urban environments you’ll have to look 30-50 years ahead. We’re happy that the Mayor of Paris asked us to create a vision for 2050. This allowed us to look at re-imagine the city as a whole — society, mobility and buildings. What I like about younger generations is that they prefer access over ownership. This attitude accelerates the transition to an economy based on sharing resources.”
Dragonfly — a metabolic farm for high-density urban agriculture in New York
How do you imagine nature to become part of our living environment?
“Due to the densification of cities, there’s more and more pressure on green spaces. That’s why I see a role for nature to be directly integrated into buildings. For leisure, but also for urban food production. Increasing numbers of citizens want to move away from mass-produced food full of chemicals. They want to reconnect to what’s on their plate, and they’re becoming interested in growing their own food — also in the city. We can make that happen by turning agriculture into urbaculture.”
Flavours Orchard, Yunnan Province, China
With 70% of humanity living in cities by 2050, how do you see the role of the countryside?
“Isn’t the future of cities on the countryside? Connections allow us to work together without being together. With our Flavours Orchard project, for example, we aim to limit the massive rural exodus in China. It proposes 45 positive-energy buildings with space for co-living and co-working in the middle of a huge, agroforestry orchard. Since the residents no longer have to spend hours commuting, they’re now able to grow their own food.”
Tour & Taxis — metamorphosis of the Gare Maritime and construction of three vertical forests in Brussels
What are the challenges for your office?
“Our strategy was to respond to the economic and environmental crisis through imaginaries that could be brought into reality in 30 to 50 years — like the Lilypad or the Dragonfly. People in Europe told us we’re dreamers, while we found that developing countries are more receptive to our ideas. But in our current projects in Brussels and Paris, we’re demonstrating that it’s perfectly possible to develop such green utopias with a budget of €1,500 per square meter — the European average. So our ideas are perfectly feasible and not far-fetched! Now the challenge for us is to think beyond architecture and make outdated logistics and building industries realize they have to re-invent themselves in order to respond to the new societal needs. We’re organizing workshops with these industries to make them part of the energy transition. It’s bigger than them. It’s new jobs, new professions, and new business models — with respect to nature and the planet.” | {
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Preppers have been unusually active stockpiling emergency survival food in recent weeks in anticipation of massive post-election unrest. Fears of riots, power grid outages, the collapse of the financial system, and major terrorist attacks are causing a run on “long term food.”
A manufacturer and seller of such survival food says his sales have tripled in the past few weeks and his salespeople are currently “overwhelmed.” Keith Bansemer, VP of marketing for My Patriot Supply, said “this is more intense than what we saw in 2012.”
Via NBC News:
Purchases at other long term food supply companies are up as well. Emergency preparedness online store TheEpicenter reports a 6 percent uptick in year over year sales.
Another company, Legacy Foods, predicts they’ll see a 1-2 week spike in sales after the election — if Hillary Clinton wins, said owner Phil Cox.
The meals, sold by the plastic bucket or tote bin, are typically dehydrated or freeze-dried food in sealed military-grade Mylar packs. Menu items include pasta primavera, Hawaiian Style Sweet n’ Sour, cheesy broccoli and rice soup, orange energy drink mix and chocolate pudding. They’re sold in bundles based on how long they’ll feed you.
For $2,000 spent at Legacy Foods, you could eat three square meals a day for an entire year. That’s 1,080 servings. TheEpicenter has a 14-day supply kit for $235 that’s recently been “selling really well,” said owner Bryan Nelson. The most popular entry-level seller at My Patriot Supply is a 3-month supply for $497. It comes a in nondescript gray slim line totes bin designed to be easy to stack in the back of a closet or slip under your bed.
Big name retailers are in on the game. Costco sells a 1-month supply of 390 servings in plastic gallon buckets for $114.99. Wal-Mart has a bucket deal, too.
What’s feeding this new urgency? Survivalist consumers says they’re preparing for post-election unrest that could involve everything from massive riots, to power grid outages, to the total collapse of the financial system where a can of food becomes currency.
And it’s not just guys digging a hole on their farm and filling it with MRE’s who are driving sales, companies say, but schoolteachers, moms, and successful financial planners. Nor is it limited to just rural areas.
“Frederick Reddie,” a 41-year-old “urban prepper” from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is stocking up on staples like rice and peanut butter and working on expanding his 6-month supply of emergency food to two years. He has to use a pseudonym to protect his supply from any future hungry neighbors, he told NBC News.
Reddie predicts a Trump win that has the urban poor revolting across the nation and the imposition of martial law to quell riots and the burning of businesses.
But he’s also getting ready for the possibility of a Clinton victory that he says could lead to conflict with Russia and “World War 3 in 2017.”
Either way, Freddy’s ready – with both supplies and a word of advice.
“At minimum stock up your cabinets as if you knew a hurricane was coming,” he said. “It’ll be like a hurricane that could touch every city in America.” | {
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“The man was named by Belgian media as Oussama Zariouh and the mayor of Molenbeek said he was known for drugs offences but was not on any jihadist watch list. The prosecutor said there were indications that he had sympathies for so-called Islamic State.”
The man shot while trying to set off a bomb at Brussels Central Station on Tuesday night has been identified as a 36-year-old Moroccan. He was a resident of Molenbeek. Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
It was widely expected that terrorists would hit Brussels again. And it is no secret where these terrorists hide. Yet, it happened once more. This time, the Belgian people got lucky. One thing is certain: the strokes of luck do not last forever.
On Tuesday night — around 8:40 PM local time — Oussama Zariouh had approached a group of passengers Brussels Central Station beneath the main concourse and attempted to blow up his suitcase. It partially exploded, and then caught fire before blowing up a second time.
The man had then run towards a station-master and targeted a soldier, screaming “Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)”, before being shot. He was not wearing a suicide belt. He later died of his injuries and his home in Molenbeek was searched by special forces in the early hours of Wednesday. Officials were seen leaving the man’s home hours later with what prosecutors said were potential bomb-making materials. “Preliminary results… showed that he probably made the bomb there,” said Mr Van der Sypt. [BBC]
The prosecutor said there were indications that Oussama Zariouh had sympathies for so-called Islamic State.
Federal Prosecutor’s spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told a news conference: “It is clear that he wanted to cause much more damage than he did. He tried to make the case explode, it caught fire. There was a small explosion first, then he moved away and the case exploded a second time. This was a stronger blast but the damage could have been a lot worse.”
About Oussama Zariouh
Oussama Zariouh was born on January 12 1981 in Nador, Morocco. He arrived in Belgium in 2002. After living in Alost, he moved to Molenbeek in 2013.
The street where he lived — Boulevard Mettewie — was home to many Jihadists who left for Syria. He shaved his beard last May. He was living alone and it is not known if he had a job.
Molenbeek mayor Francoise Schepmans told reporters that Zariouh, was on police files over a drugs case last year and was divorced.
It is a mystery why he detonated the IED late in the evening when few people were in the station.
The apartment was searched early on Wednesday morning and the police believe that he made the IED in that location.
His suitcase was packed with nails and gas bottles, officials say.
The 36-year-old was shot dead after rushing towards a soldier shouting “Allahu akbar”.
About Molenbeek
Molenbeek, is one of 19 municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region (Belgium). The commune of Molenbeek has gained a reputation for being a safe haven for jihadists in relation to the support shown by some residents towards the bombers who carried out terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels.
According to Le Monde, the assassins who killed anti-Taliban commander Ahmed Shah Massoud both came from Molenbeek. Hassan el-Haski, one of the 2004 Madrid terror bombers came from Molenbeek. The perpetrator of the Jewish Museum of Belgium shooting, Mehdi Nemmouche, lived in Molenbeek for a time. Ayoub El Khazzani, the perpetrator of the 2015 Thalys train attack, stayed with his sister in Molenbeek. French police believe the weapons used in the Porte de Vincennes siege the same day as the Charlie Hebdo shooting were sourced from Molenbeek. The bombers of the November 2015 Paris attacks were also traced to Molenbeek. During the Molenbeek capture of Salah Abdeslam, an accomplice of the Paris bombers, protesters “threw stones and bottles at police and press during the arrest”, stated the Interior Minister of Belgium, Jan Jambon. November 2015 Paris attacks — At least three of the terrorists in the November 2015 Paris attacks — the brothers Brahim and Salah Abdeslam, alleged accomplice Mohamed Abrini, and the alleged mastermind Abdelhamid Abaaoud — are men who grew up and lived in Molenbeek. According to French President François Hollande, that was also where they organised the attacks. On 18 March 2016, Salah Abdeslam, a suspected accomplice in those attacks, was captured in two anti-terrorist raids in Molenbeek that killed another suspect and injured two others. At least one other suspect remains at large. Ibrahim (born 9 October 1986 in Brussels) was involved in the attempted robbery of a currency exchange office in January 2010, where he shot at police with a Kalashnikov rifle. The Mayor of Brussels, Freddy Thielemans, and the Mayor of Molenbeek, Philippe Moureaux, described the shooting as a “fait divers” (a small daily news item) and “normal in a large city”, causing controversy. Police investigation — As several of the attackers in the Brussels and Paris terrorist attacks had connections to the area, Belgian police started door-to-door checks where a quarter of Molenbeek’s inhabitants were investigated, a total of 22 668. This operation resulted in that of the 1600 organisations investigated, 102 were found to be involved with crime and a further 52 were involved with terrorism. 72 individuals were found to have terrorist connection and were subject to future surveillance. [Wikipedia]
Brussels railway station bomber identified
Brussels station attacker ‘had ISIL sympathies’
REFERENCES
Brussels bomb suspect was Moroccan and ‘known to police’ — BBC
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Brussels bomb made in Molenbeek. Once again… | {
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Ο θρύλος λέει ότι κάπου στα μέσα του 19ου αιώνα ένα πολύ φτωχό και μικρό αγόρι άρχισε να δουλεύει ως φραγκοφόρος (νεκροθάφτης). Το αγόρι μεγάλωσε, μάζευε μανιωδώς τα χρήματά του κι έγινε ένας πολύ πλούσιος και τσιγκούνης άνδρας, ο οποίος παρά τα πλούτη του εξακολουθούσε να περνά όλη του τη μέρα στο πρώτο νεκροταφείο. Μάλιστα, τσακωνόταν με τους άλλους φραγκοφόρους για να τους πάρει τη δουλειά και παρακαλούσε να πεθάνουν περισσότεροι για να μεγαλώσει το μεροκάματο. Το όνομά του Νικόλαος Μπάτσαρης κι όταν βγήκε στη σύνταξη συνέχισε να βρίσκεται εκεί, με τα ίδια παλιά ρούχα και σα σκελετωμένος, γιατί ούτε το φαγητό τον ενδιέφερε – μόνο να κουβαλήσει στεφάνια και να πάρει λίγες δραχμές. Μέχρι που με ένα στεφάνι στον ώμο πέθανε σε ηλικία 90 ετών. Από τότε, λένε, κάποιες νύχτες μια μυστηριώδης φιγούρα ενός ηλικιωμένου άνδρα ντυμένου στα μαύρα, που κρατά ένα στεφάνι, εμφανίζεται να περιπλανιέται ανάμεσα στους τάφους. Ο επαγγελματίας που μου διηγήθηκε την ιστορία άρχισε να γελάει κι εγώ συνέχισα στην ανηφόρα της οδού Αναπαύσεως μέχρι τη συμβολή της με την Τριβωνιανού και τη μεγάλη πύλη του Α΄ Νεκροταφείου Αθηνών. Εκεί όπου η ξεναγός του Δήμου Αθηναίων, Λαυρεντία Γιαννόλα, μας είπε ότι σε λίγα λεπτά θα βρισκόμασταν σε ένα από τα μεγαλύτερα ανοιχτά μουσεία γλυπτικής στην Ευρώπη.
Το πρώτο νεκροταφείο της Αθήνας
Σχετικα Δήμος Αθηναίων: Έκτακτα μέτρα ενόψει της κακοκαιρίας Δήμος Αθηναίων: Έκτακτα μέτρα ενόψει της κακοκαιρίας
Ήταν περίπου το 1802 όταν στην Ευρώπη άρχισε να απαγορεύεται να θάβονται οι νεκροί μέσα στις εκκλησίες ή στον περίβολό τους και να δημιουργούνται τα πρώτα επίσημα νεκροταφεία. Στην Αθήνα συνέβη το 1834 και επελέγη ο χώρος του Μετς. «Ήταν μια αραιοκατοικημένη περιοχή που ιδρύθηκε από τον Κάρολο Φιξ, ο οποίος έφτιαξε εδώ την πρώτη του ζυθοποιία. Την ονόμασε Μετς από την ομώνυμη πόλη της Αλσατίας, που φημιζόταν για την μπίρα της. Φτωχοί εργάτες από την Κέα (Τζια) ήταν οι πρώτοι κάτοικοι της περιοχής, η οποία έως το 1860 λεγόταν και Βατραχονήσι από τα πολλά βατράχια λόγω του ποταμού Ιλισού, αλλά και Παντρεμενάδικα, καθώς έρχονταν ζευγαράκια» λέει η Λαυρεντία Γιαννόλα. Αλλά είχαμε ήδη φτάσει στο πλέον φημισμένο μνημείο του νεκροταφείου: στην «Κοιμωμένη» του σπουδαίου γλύπτη, Γιαννούλη Χαλεπά.
Σχετικα Αδέσποτα ζώα: Τα σημαντικά έργα που έγιναν ή γίνονται στην Αθήνα Αδέσποτα ζώα: Τα σημαντικά έργα που έγιναν ή γίνονται στην Αθήνα
Η ιστορία της Κοιμωμένης «Σοφίας Αφεντάκη»
«Πρωταγωνίστρια» του γλυπτού η πανέμορφη Σοφία Αφεντάκη, κόρη ευκατάστατης οικογένειας των Αθηνών (με καταγωγή από την Κίμωλο κατά ορισμένους), που ζούσαν στην οδό Σωκράτους. Για το πολύ πρόωρο τέλος της, μόλις στα 18 της χρόνια, το 1878, υπάρχουν δύο εκδοχές. Η μία λέει ότι σε ένα ταξίδι με τον πατέρα της στη Νάπολι της Ιταλίας ερωτεύτηκε τον τενόρο Μάριο Τζιοβάνι. Ένας έρωτας που αμέσως έγινε «απαγορευμένος» για την οικογένειά της, με αποτέλεσμα η γεμάτη ευαισθησίες Σοφία να δώσει τέλος στη ζωή της με δηλητήριο. Η άλλη εκδοχή αναφέρει ότι η κοπέλα αρρώστησε και πέθανε από φυματίωση. Όπως και να έχει, ο πατέρας Κωνσταντίνος Αφεντάκης ζήτησε από το νεαρό τότε, αλλά ήδη γνωστό γλύπτη, Γιαννούλη Χαλεπά, να δημιουργήσει ένα μνημείο που θα κοσμούσε τον τάφο της κόρης του. Στην «Κοιμωμένη» η Σοφία παρουσιάζεται ξαπλωμένη, με λυτά μαλλιά και λυγισμένα χέρια, να κοιμάται βαθιά. Μόνο ο σταυρός που κρατάει στο χέρι της είναι σημάδι ότι είναι νεκρή.
Η «Κοιμωμένη», η οποία πρόκειται να μεταφερθεί στην Εθνική Γλυπτοθήκη προκειμένου να συντηρηθεί, στο πέρασμα του χρόνου έχει υποστεί πολλούς βανδαλισμούς. Τη δεκαετία του ’30 κάποιος της έριξε τοξική ουσία (άκουα φόρτε) και πριν από 10 χρόνια άγνωστοι την έβαψαν με μαύρο σπρέι. Ο πρώτος, όμως, «βανδαλισμός» προήλθε από τον ίδιο το Γιαννούλη Χαλεπά. Η μητέρα της Σοφίας τον είχε επισκεφθεί στο εργαστήρι του, στην οδό Μαυρομιχάλη, και του ανέθεσε το ταφικό μνημείο. Διηγείται ο Χαλεπάς σε μια συνέντευξη που είχε δώσει το 1930: «Μέσα στην τσάντα της είχε τη φωτογραφία μιας ωραίας γυναίκας. Την έβγαλε από την τσάντα της και, δείχνοντάς μου την, μου είπε να της κάνω μια προτομή, ένα οποιοδήποτε άγαλμα του γούστου μου. Της εζήτησα, θυμάμαι, χίλιες δραχμές κι εκείνη, αφήνοντας τη φωτογραφία, έφυγε. Εγώ την άλλη μέρα άρχισα να σκέπτομαι, να βασανίζω το μυαλό μου, σαν τι σχέδιο να κάνω. Δεν άργησα να εμπνευσθώ το σχέδιό μου κι αμέσως έβαλα μπρος. Έκανα το σχέδιο, κατόπι το έπλασα σε πηλό. Φώναξα τότε την κυρία Αφεντάκη. Όταν ήλθε, δεν της άρεσε και μου είπε αν είναι δυνατόν ν’ αλλάξω σχέδιο. Εγώ θυμώνοντας τότε –και το θυμό μου θυμάμαι ακόμα και τώρα, γιατί για μένα τα λόγια της ήτανε προσβλητικά–, μη χάνοντας καιρό, πήρα ένα λοστό, έδωσα ένα γερό χτύπημα στο στήθος του αγάλματος κι έτσι χωρίστηκε απ’ το στήθος το κεφάλι. Η κυρία Αφεντάκη κατάλαβε αμέσως το λάθος της και μου είπε ότι το άγαλμα της άρεσε όπως ήταν και με παρακάλεσε να το ξαναφτιάξω. Τo ’φτιαξα, το σκάλισα απάνου στο μάρμαρο και έπειτα από λίγον καιρό, το 1880, η Κοιμωμένη, το άγαλμα που μου έδωσε τη φήμη, στέκονταν πάνω από τον τάφο της Αφεντάκη».
Η μυθιστορηματική ζωή του Γιαννούλη Χαλεπά
Γεννημένος στην Τήνο το 1851, ήταν το ένα από τα έξι παιδιά οικογένειας φημισμένων μαρμαρογλυπτών. Παρότι η οικογένειά του προτιμούσε να μην ασχοληθεί με τη γλυπτική, ο Γιαννούλης σπούδασε στο Σχολείο των Τεχνών (μετέπειτα Σχολή Καλών Τεχνών) στην Αθήνα και στη συνέχεια στην Ακαδημία του Μονάχου, με υποτροφία του Ιερού Ιδρύματος της Ευαγγελιστρίας Τήνου. Σπουδαία έργα του εκείνης της εποχής ήταν το «Παραμύθι της Πεντάμορφης» και ο «Σάτυρος που παίζει με τον Έρωτα». Επέστρεψε στην Αθήνα το 1876, άνοιξε το δικό του εργαστήριο και την περίοδο της «Κοιμωμένης» (λόγω ενός ανεκπλήρωτου έρωτα, λένε κάποιοι) άρχισε να κλονίζεται η ψυχική του υγεία. Με προτροπή της οικογένειάς του θα ταξιδέψει στην Ιταλία, όμως η κατάσταση της υγείας του δεν θα βελτιωθεί και, τελικά, ύστερα από διάγνωση ιατρών που μίλησαν για «άνοια», ο Γιαννούλης Χαλεπάς θα εγκλειστεί το 1888 στο Δημόσιο Ψυχιατρείο Κέρκυρας. Εκεί θα παραμείνει για δεκατρία χρόνια, μέχρι το θάνατο του πατέρα του και την απόφαση της μητέρας του να τον πάρει πίσω στην Τήνο. Θεωρώντας ότι η ενασχόλησή του με τη γλυπτική ήταν αυτή που τον οδηγούσε στην τρέλα, η μητέρα θα αρχίσει να καταστρέφει οποιαδήποτε προσπάθεια δημιουργίας και ο Χαλεπάς θα ζήσει σαν τον «τρελό του χωριού». Μέχρι το 1916 και το θάνατο της μητέρας. Τότε είναι που θα αφιερωθεί και πάλι στη γλυπτική και το 1930 η ανιψιά του Ειρήνη τον προσκαλεί να ζήσει μαζί της στην Αθήνα. Ο Χαλεπάς εργάζεται εντατικά, αναγνωρίζεται και δοξάζεται, ενώ εξελίσσει την τέχνη του δημιουργώντας πιο μοντέρνες και γεωμετρικές γραμμές, σε αντίθεση με την «Κοιμωμένη» που ήταν νεανικό του έργο, και πεθαίνει στις 15 Σεπτεμβρίου 1938. Λίγα μέτρα μακριά από τη Σοφία Αφεντάκη, στο Α΄ Νεκροταφείο, βρίσκεται ο τάφος του. Ένας άγγελος είναι το μνημείο που έφτιαξαν για εκείνον οι μαθητές του.
Στην πόλη των κεκοιμημένων
Σε αγωνιστές του ’21 ανήκουν οι πρώιμοι τάφοι του Α΄ Νεκροταφείου. Πολύ κοντά στη Σοφία Βέμπο και τον Χριστόφορο Νέζερ, ο Θεόδωρος Κολοκοτρώνης. Λέει η επιγραφή: «Σιγά διαβάτη, εδώ κοιμάται ο γέρος του Μοριά, τον ύπνο του μην τον ταράξεις». Μπαίνοντας στο νεκροταφείο, στην αριστερή πλευρά, μετά τους τάφους των Αρχιεπισκόπων Δαμασκηνού και Χριστόδουλου, αλλά και του ευεργέτη Αβέρωφ, δεσπόζει εκείνος του Ερρίκου Σλήμαν (1822-1890), του αρχαιολόγου που αναζήτησε το βασίλειο του Οδυσσέα στην Ιθάκη και ανέσκαψε την Τροία και τις Μυκήνες. Σαν αρχαίος ελληνικός ναός ο τάφος-μαυσωλείο, σε σχέδια του σπουδαίου αρχιτέκτονα Ερνέστου Τσίλερ, διακοσμείται με σκηνές από μάχες του Τρωικού πολέμου. Συνηθιζόταν οι τάφοι να έχουν στοιχεία που να παραπέμπουν στη ζωή του τελευταίου τους κατοίκου. Έτσι, ο οικογενειακός τάφος της εφοπλιστικής οικογένειας Νομικού κοσμείται από ένα καράβι επάνω στο οποίο βρίσκονται τρεις άγγελοι, ενώ εκείνος του Δημήτρη Αιγινήτη (1862-1934), διευθυντή του Εθνικού Αστεροσκοπείου Αθηνών, υπουργού Παιδείας και ιδρυτή της Ακαδημίας Αθηνών, μοιάζει επίσης με αρχαίο ναό, με επιγραφές που θυμίζουν την ενασχόλησή του με την αστρονομία. Και απέναντι ένα σπουδαίο γλυπτό του Κώστα Βαλσάμη (1908-2003), η «Μάνα της Κατοχής». Ο Βαλσάμης, ο οποίος είχε τιμηθεί με τον τίτλο του Ιππότη του Τάγματος Τεχνών και Γραμμάτων του Υπουργείου Πολιτισμού της Γαλλίας, και δημιουργούσε αγάλματα από χαλκό, εμπνεύστηκε από μία εικόνα που ο ίδιος συνάντησε στον Πειραιά, στη διάρκεια της Κατοχής: μια μάνα να κείτεται νεκρή κι ένα μικρό παιδί να προσπαθεί να πιει γάλα από το άψυχο στήθος της.
Δεξιά ο τάφος του Ερρίκου Σλήμαν, σε σχέδια του αρχιτέκτονα Ερνέστου Τσίλλερ
Τα πενθούντα πνεύματα
Κοιμωμένες και άγγελοι περισσότερο, οι οποίοι συμβολίζουν τα «πενθούντα πνεύματα», σχεδόν μονοπωλούν τα μνημεία. Έργα του φημισμένου γλύπτη Ιωάννη Βιτσάρη (1834-1892) είναι ο άγγελος που έχει πέσει στο μνήμα και θρηνεί, στον τάφο της οικογένειας Κουμέλη, όπως και η κοιμωμένη στον τάφο της Μαρίας Δεληγιάννη, η οποία πέθανε σε ηλικία 16 ετών. Κάποιοι γλύπτες απέφευγαν να δημιουργούν στο νεκροταφείο, για να μη λέει ο κόσμος ότι έβγαζαν χρήματα από τους νεκρούς. Το Α΄ Νεκροταφείο υπήρξε, επίσης, πεδίο καλλιτεχνικών συγκρούσεων. Ο Δημήτρης Φιλιππότης (1839-1919), δημιουργός, μεταξύ άλλων, του ταφικού μνημείου του Αβέρωφ, είχε ασκήσει κριτική σε ένα έργο του Ιωάννη Χαλεπά, πατέρα του Γιαννούλη Χαλεπά. Τις δεκαετίες του ’50 και του ’60 το νεκροταφείο ήταν χώρος συνάθροισης καλλιτεχνών. Είχε σχολιαστεί ως «κιτς» και «υπερβολικό» το έργο του Δημητριάδη του «Αθηναίου» (1880-1941) στον τάφο της οικογένειας Σπαθάρη, όπου μία νεκρή γυναίκα κείτεται στο κρεβάτι και δυο παιδιά την κοιτούν σπαρακτικά. Αλλά, προφανώς, κάτι τέτοιο θα είχε ζητήσει η οικογένεια. Για την ιστορία, και σύμφωνα με το άρθρο 22 του Κανονισμού Λειτουργίας Δημοτικών Κοιμητηρίων Δήμου Αθηναίων, στη ζώνη πολυτελείας Α και Β του πρώτου νεκροταφείου ένας τάφος 6,75 τ.μ. τιμάται αντί περίπου 66.000 ευρώ.
Πώς θα θέλατε να είναι ο τάφος σας;
Περπατούσαμε ήσυχα ανάμεσα στους τάφους κάποιων εκ των πιο σπουδαίων Ελλήνων, όταν η Λαυρεντία Γιαννόλα μας διηγήθηκε το μύθο: Ο Κυπάρισσος ήταν, λέει, ένας όμορφος νεαρός που είχε σύντροφο ένα εξημερωμένο ιερό ελάφι, το οποίο κατά λάθος σκότωσε ένα απόγευμα με το ακόντιό του. Απαρηγόρητος ο Κυπάρισσος, θέλησε να πεθάνει και ζήτησε ως χάρη από τον ουρανό τα δάκρυά του να κυλούν αιώνια. Ο θεός Απόλλωνας, που αγαπούσε τον Κυπάρισσο, δεν κατάφερε να τον μεταπείσει και αποφάσισε να τον ανακουφίσει από τη δυστυχία του, μεταμορφώνοντάς τον για πάντα σε κυπαρίσσι, από το οποίο στην αιωνιότητα θα ρέουν πένθιμα δάκρυα (ρετσίνι). Για τους περισσότερο ρεαλιστές, τα κυπαρίσσια έχουν βαθύ ριζικό σύστημα που δεν απλώνεται και δεν ανασηκώνει το έδαφος, συνεπώς δεν επηρεάζει τα ταφικά μνημεία. Μετά σταματήσαμε μπροστά στον τάφο των Τρικούπηδων. Χαρίλαος, Σοφία, Σπυρίδων, Αικατερίνη. Ένας ξύλινος σταυρός για τον καθένα. «Πολλές φορές στο νεκροταφείο», είπε η Λαυρεντία, «γίνεται επίδειξη πλούτου και κοινωνικής θέσης. Όχι όμως πάντα». Ακολούθησαν σχόλια, κάποιος είπε ότι θα προτιμούσε ο τάφος του να έχει ένα σπουδαίο γλυπτό από ένα σκέτο ξύλινο σταυρό. Κάποιος άλλος βρήκε τη διαδικασία του ενταφιασμού πολύ αποπνικτική και την ιδέα της αποτέφρωσης περισσότερο ενδιαφέρουσα. Κι εγώ αποχώρησα βιαστικά γιατί ο ήλιος είχε αρχίσει να πέφτει.
Είναι όλοι εκεί
Πρώην πρόεδροι της Δημοκρατίας και πρωθυπουργοί, άνθρωποι του πνεύματος και της τέχνης, μοιράζονται όλοι την ίδια γειτονιά. Ο Γεώργιος Παπανδρέου βρίσκεται μακριά από το γιο του, Ανδρέα Παπανδρέου. Το ίδιο η Αλίκη Βουγιουκλάκη με τον Δημήτρη Παπαμιχαήλ. Η Μελίνα Μερκούρη έχει δίπλα της τον Ζυλ Ντασσέν, αλλά και τον παππού της, Σπυρίδωνα Μερκούρη. Εκεί τριγύρω και δεκάδες άλλοι. Η Έλλη Λαμπέτη, κοντά της ο Βασίλης Τσιτσάνης, η Τζένη Καρέζη, η Μαλβίνα Κάραλη, ο Δημήτρης Χορν, η Μαρίκα Κοτοπούλη, ο Φιλοποίμην Φίνος, ο Μάνος Κατράκης, ο Νίκος Ξυλούρης, ο Δημήτρης Μητροπάνος και δίπλα του η Ρίτα Σακελλαρίου αλλά και ο Στράτος Διονυσίου, η Κατίνα Παξινού, η Σωτηρία Μπέλλου, ο Μάνος Λοΐζος.
Και τόσοι άλλοι...
Η «Μάνα της Κατοχής», έργο του γλύπτη Κώστα Βαλσάμη
Η ξενάγηση στο Α΄ Νεκροταφείο πραγματοποιήθηκε με πρωτοβουλία της Λαυρεντίας Γιαννόλα, στο πλαίσιο των δωρεάν ξεναγήσεων του Οργανισμού Πολιτισμού και Αθλητισμού Δήμου Αθηναίων (ΟΠΑΝΔΑ), σε συνεργασία με το Σωματείο Διπλωματούχων Ξεναγών. Την παρακολούθησαν περισσότεροι από 100 άνθρωποι. Για τις επόμενες ξεναγήσεις μπορείτε να ενημερώνεστε εδώ: www.cityofathens.gr/opanda | {
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An attorney for state lawmakers made a last-ditch effort Friday to get a judge to reject a bid by schools for more than $1 billion in missed state aid, saying it’s the only fair thing to do.
Bill Richards acknowledged that the state Supreme Court ruled last year that legislators illegally ignored a voter-approved mandate to have state aid to schools keep pace with inflation.
But he told Maricopa County Judge Katherine Cooper lawmakers were acting under legal advice they thought was correct. More to the point, he said once they believed they could save the inflation funding — close to $300 million a year — they opted to spend the money on other priorities rather than cut spending elsewhere to fund inflation
“The taxpayers certainly paid the price,” he said. “They paid their share.”
And that, he said, makes it unfair to force taxpayers to now come up with additional cash.
Attorney Don Peters, who represents the school districts that sued, conceded that forcing the state to find $1 billion now might not be absolutely fair.
But he said it’s impossible for lawmakers to go back and undo the budgets they adopted in the last five years. So he said what Cooper has to do is find the best way to make things right for all — including the schools and their students who were denied money voters said they should have.
He compared it to someone who files suit after a relative is killed in an accident. Peters said the money doesn’t bring the relative back. But he said it’s the best a court can do under the circumstances.
Peters also rebuffed Richards’ argument to Cooper that it would be impossible for the state, already facing a $1 billion deficit next year, to come up with that much money now.
He cited testimony by David Jankofsky, a budget director under former Gov. Janet Napolitano, who provided a litany of possible options. These range from a small property tax and a temporary sales tax to delaying implementation of a series of tax cuts previously approved by the Legislature that are set to kick in during the next few years.
“We showed her there are ways to do this,” Peters said after the conclusion of the five-day hearing.
Cooper’s power, though, is limited to deciding what the state owes and directing lawmakers to find the cash. She cannot tell them how to do that.
Peters also rejected the contention by lawmakers that the current budget situation somehow legally relieves them from making good on the missed cash.
“If they can just say that ‘Money’s short, so we should be excused from doing this,’ they can say that in response to any court order that requires the expenditure of funds,” Peters said. “I don’t know why they would ever comply with another court order if they can keep their revenue levels low enough to say, ‘We’re broke.’ “
Cooper already has ordered the state to increase aid to public schools to where it would have been had lawmakers not ignored the inflation-funding mandate for four years. That immediately gave schools an extra $236 per student, at a cost of about $336 million.
The question of the missed funds, however, is a closer call.
There is no doubt but that the money should have been paid to the schools. But both Richards and Peters agree the legal question is not one of an unpaid debt but what is fair under the circumstances.
One element of that is whether the schools, which already have completed their budgets for the years of shorted aid, actually need the money now.
Richards said that the state has a system where schools that need money for construction or repairs can seek a grant.
He said officials from three school districts that testified all acknowledged that they had not been turned down when they made requests. And Richards said there also was no testimony that any of the districts had situations where the lack of funding made it impossible for them to meet the minimum academic standards set by the state.
But Peters pointed out that the 2000 voter-approved requirement directs lawmakers to boost aid based on inflation, not based on each school having to prove specific needs.
“In our view, it’s appropriate to do what the people directed and disburse the money,” he said.
Anyway, Peters said, the evidence presented to Cooper shows that any money she gives the schools can be put to “productive use.”
“There are accumulated facilities needs, textbooks that badly need to be replaced, schoolchildren that need computers they don’t have, staff that haven’t had raises in years that could use a one-time time salary increase,” he explained. “We think that we showed ample need.”
The decision Cooper has to make is not an all-or-nothing choice. That’s because this isn’t a debt in the traditional sense, but a question of “equity,” meaning what can she do that’s fair.
“That’s an inherently discretionary decision for the judge,” Peters said.
He said he made his best case for why the state should come up with the entire $1 billion.
“But in the end she can order some of the money paid, as opposed to all of it, she can order it spread over five years, seven years,” Peters said. “That’s her call.”
Cooper gave both sides three weeks to file legal papers telling her the points that should be in any final order. | {
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TO be brutally honest, New Brunswick was never on my bucket list . . . however I highly recommend you put it on yours.
A small maritime province roughly the size of Ireland in eastern Canada, it borders Quebec to the north, Maine in the US to the south and west, and Nova Scotia to the east.
3 Drivers tend to take their time around these parts Credit: Emily Cathcart
The province oozes with personality Credit: Emily Cathcart
But what it lacks in size and name recognition, it makes up for in personality.
The people are almost preternaturally friendly; the natural resources are off-the-charts impressive, with spectacular vistas backed up by once-in-a-lifetime wildlife encounters; the food is top class, with fish dishes being a particular source of local pride; while driving from town to town is actually relaxing due to the lack of traffic.
After flying direct from Dublin to Halifax with WestJet - which takes about six hours - we headed to the car rental counter dreaming of picking up the keys to a Ford Mustang or Bentley Continental.
One Hyundai Tucson later we were on the road to Shediac, a 240kms drive to a town billed as the ‘Lobster Capital of the World’.
Along the way we acquainted ourselves with Canadian driving habits, the most idiosyncratic of which is to overtake v e r y s l o w l y indeed on the motorways.
However as the traffic is negligible it’s more of an amusement than anything else.
Arriving a couple of hours later in Shediac gave us our first photo op of the trip when we pulled up at the town’s pride and joy - the world’s largest lobster sculpture, a 90-tonne crustaceous behemoth perched on a rock overlooking the bay (from where the now-defunct Imperial Airways once ran a flying boat service to Foynes in Co Limerick apparently).
Unfortunately that was the one and only day that the weather was anything other than idyllic so we didn’t dawdle.
Shediac is home to the world's largest lobster sculpture.. nice Credit: Emily Cathcart
3 84 per cent of Miramichi's population has Irish heritage Credit: Emily Cathcart
We overnighted at the historic Maison Webster House, built more than 100 years ago and previously in the possession of renowned Canadian physician and historian John Clarence Webster.
These days it’s run as a high-end B&B by Monique, complete with jacuzzis in the bedrooms, a grand piano in the drawing room, a pool out the back and more character than you can shake a Canadian spruce stick at.
A series of politicians’ mugshots dot the walls, detailing who has stayed at Maison Webster House over the years.
However pride of place goes to a pic of family friend and ice hockey legend Bobby Orr.
As I knew nothing about him, I gave him the Wikipedia treatment for this piece and he “revolutionised the position of defenceman”. So there.
Next morning it was back on the road for the scenic 90-minute drive north to Miramichi (pronounced mirra-mi-shee), also known as the Irish capital of Canada.
First stop on the edge of town was at the Middle Island Irish Historical Park and a quick confab with Caroline Daley who explained how 84 per cent of the city’s population claim Irish heritage.
Us paddies started arriving in the area in 1815 following the Napoleonic War and continued to appear there for the next 30-plus years.
Twinned with Monaghan no less Credit: Emily Cathcart
I could have stayed here for the afternoon.. despite the weird spelling Credit: Emily Cathcart
Caroline also told how Miramichi itself, which has been twinned with Monaghan since 1999, hosts Canada’s Irish Festival every July at the nearby Waterford Landing.
A delegation from Monaghan attends each year. We’ll be delving further into the Irish links to Canada in general and Miramichi in particular at a later date.
A few hours later, driving through the downtown area, we spotted O’Donaghue’s Irish pub so we stopped for the obligatory pint - despite the weird spelling.
I could have stayed there for the afternoon but we had a date with local historian Shawn McCarthy to see another one of Miramichi’s attractions, Beaubears Island.
Beaubears is an important cultural reference point for reasons too numerous to mention here.
However its main function, dating back to the 18th century, was as New Brunswick’s main centre of shipbuilding.
Like all golden ages though, it would eventually come to an end.
These days the island is more of a sanctuary for local wildlife, a picnicking spot during the summer for the locals and a reminder of our own impermanence.
All of this island hopping and philosophical navel-gazing was giving us an appetite so we decided to make our way back to our hotel, the Rodd Miramichi River Lodge with its spectacular views from the restaurant.
And I was delighted to be told at reception that my luggage had finally caught up with me - it had gone AWOL after we landed in Halifax but WestJet got it to me a day later despite us being 400kms away by then (these are the kind of things that impress me as I get older).
The following morning I was looking at the menu and wondering, ‘what the hell is breakfast poutine?’ Well poutine, as I’ve since figured out, is chips, gravy and cheese curds. In this case, breakfast poutine includes bacon, ham, sausage, fried eggs - and hollandaise sauce instead of gravy.
It all sounded so artery-hardeningly rich that I had to have it. And it was. But it was delicious.
Fredericton is a beautiful city with some spectacular Victorian architecture Credit: Emily Cathcart
Anyway back in the saddle of our trusty Tucson, we set our GPS for the New Brunswick state capital of Fredericton some 180kms distant.
Along the way we passed through the beautiful village of Doaktown which features a proper old-style train bridge over the Nashwaak river.
My plus-one on this trip, let’s call her Emily, wanted me to stop in the middle of the road so she could take pictures out the window of the car - that’s not how I roll.
I pulled safely to the kerb some 300 metres down the road so she made her way back on foot - perfect all round as it gave me the chance to snooze off the poutine sweats.
Fredericton is a beautiful city with some spectacular Victorian architecture alongside the more modern clean-lined structures that divide opinion. Personally, I’m a fan.
Dali, Constable, Gainsborough, Lucian Freud, Turner.. they're all here Credit: Emily Cathcart
We quickly checked in to the Crowne Plaza before dashing next door to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.
Our guide Gerry was one of those guys that are absolutely in love with every single piece in the building and makes it such a pleasure to tag along.
All of the usual household names are present and correct - Dali, Constable, Gainsborough, Lucian Freud, Turner - as well as hundreds of lesser-known names, if not lesser talent.
We were supposed to go from there to a cycling tour of the local craft breweries, which is right upside my wheelhouse, but were running a bit late.
Instead we hit the James Joyce hotel bar for an hour before heading to a restaurant called 11th Mile.
If you like the ‘small plates’ style of eating, this is spectacular.
Next morning over breakfast, we were talking about how we’d like to spend another day in Fredericton. However, needs must…
We get back on the road for St Andrews, a seaside resort town which is back down south, about 130kms.
By now, I’m starting to get anxious I haven’t seen any moose or bears. I’m getting out of the car at regular intervals for a cigarette with pocketfuls of meat and cheese... although I remain unsure if moose like gouda.
St Andrews is a beautiful, quaint beach town. Deer roam the streets, a porcupine scuttles across the lawn outside our Algonquin hotel window. However we’ve got bigger fish-like critters to fry.
The whale watching was spectacular Credit: Emily Cathcart
It’s whale-watching morning at the local pier and I’m unreasonably excited. Not for the first time, I hear Canadian accents marvelling at the tides.
I ask about the fascination and am told that they rise and fall here as fast as anywhere in the world.
And it’s true, I kept a watch one lazy afternoon - in six hours the water rises 13 metres!
The whale-watching was magnificent, apart from all the constant idiots shoving past you or putting cameras in front of your face to get a snap of something they should probably just try observing instead.
Two humpbacks were feeding in the bay while we were there and it’s as impressive a sight as anything you’ll see in your lifetime.
Speaking of tides, Minister’s Island is well worth a visit when the water is low... but cut off when it rises.
3 Campobello is notable for being the summer getaway for the family of former US president Franklin D Roosevelt Credit: Emily Cathcart
We finished with a lobster dinner in St Andrews Credit: Emily Cathcart
Another local island just a few kilometres offshore, Campobello, is a different beast entirely.
This is inhabited and it’s notable for being the summer getaway for the family of former US president Franklin D Roosevelt.
In fact, it was here, in 1921 at the age of 39, that FDR was diagnosed with the polio that would eventually leave him wheelchair-bound.
The Roosevelt Cottage - all 34 rooms of it - is a must for any US history buffs.
The quirkiest aspect of Campobello however is the fact that despite it being Canadian, it is physically attached to the US mainland via the Roosevelt Memorial Bridge.
Our guide Peter pointed out that whenever he’s thinking of making the five-minute drive over to the village of Lubec in Maine to pick up a bottle of milk, the first thing he does is grab his passport to get through border control at the bridge.
Back in St Andrews that evening, a lobster dinner at the stunning Rossmount Inn seemed like a suitable way to sign off.
We’re on the road again the next morning and heading for the Fundy Trail, a 2,600-hectare park featuring some wondrous coastal drives, hill hikes, hidden waterfalls, secluded beaches . . . there’s something for everyone, apart from the most committed couch potato.
After spending daylight roaming the Trail, we could barely crawl into bed at the Shadow Lawn Inn in charming Rothesay.
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Another day, another highlight, this time it’s the iconic sandstone rock formations at Cape Hopewell.
The ‘flowerpot rocks’ have been carved out by the tides and time. If the tides are out, an ‘ocean floor tour’ is unexpectedly fantastic.
Which pretty much sums up New Brunswick itself. | {
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GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran has sent a large batch of mined uranium “yellow cake” for processing ahead of shipment to its main enrichment facility, Iran’s state news agency reported on Wednesday in the latest sign of plans to step up its atomic activities.
Yellow cake, or uranium ore, can be further processed into enriched uranium to make fuel for nuclear power plants, Iran’s stated aim, or to provide material for atomic bombs if refined much more, which the West fears may be the Islamic Republic’s ultimate goal.
U.S.-Iranian tensions have resurged since President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 nuclear accord, calling it deeply flawed. Under the deal, Iran restricted its enrichment program to ease concerns it could not be put to developing nuclear weapons and in return won relief from sanctions.
Thirty tons of yellow cake from a production plant in the city of Ardakan in central Iran was sent to a uranium conversion facility in Isfahan on Wednesday, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported.
This appears to be the second time a consignment of yellow cake has been delivered to the facility, which was reopened in June after lying idle for nine years.
The activity is permissible under the nuclear deal, which allows Iran to enrich uranium to 3.67 percent -- far below the 90 percent of weapons grade -- and caps its stock of enriched uranium hexafluoride at 300 kg.
Yellow cake is converted into a gas called uranium hexafluoride (UF6) before enrichment. The shipment will subsequently be sent to the Natanz nuclear facility for enrichment, according to IRNA.
The Atomic Energy Organization of Iran said in June that the plant for the production of UF6, the feedstock for centrifuge machines that enrich uranium, had been relaunched at the Isfahan uranium conversion facility and a barrel of yellow cake had been delivered there. | {
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Ottawa, Canada, April 17th 2020 – Following news last week of the forthcoming Ross Live program of product launches, solutions updates and live production seminars, Ross Video is now very pleased to unveil the program’s ten week schedule.
A list of the sessions can be found at www.rossvideo.com/live, and registration is now open. The program kicks off on April 28th with a look at exciting updates to XPression, the industry’s fastest growing family of real-time graphics solutions, and closes on July 14th with, as you would expect, a Ross ‘One More Thing!’ reveal. During the nine weeks in between*, Ross specialists will be hosting weekly Tech Talk sessions to discuss challenges and best practices across a variety of live production applications and environments. Ross will also be unveiling some brand-new solutions designed to help live production professionals create high impact, high efficiency productions.
During these challenging times, Ross believes it is important to support customers in any way we can. With normal life on hold, we understand that many industry professionals may have some additional time for learning and training, and so Ross has created a weekly Living Live podcast (no registration required) that will focus on a different element of live production and explore it fully. The first podcast – ‘Building a Workflow for the Unknown: TV News Editorial, Trends & Tools)’ – will be published on Monday April 20th, and will be available on our dedicated page here.
Ross Video CEO David Ross can’t wait to get started. “We’ve put a great deal of thought and effort into this comprehensive program, and we look forward to seeing you at one of our Ross Live sessions soon. We’re going to blow your socks off once again!”
* All sessions are being broadcast on the dates shown on our web page at 11am EDT (Ottawa) / 4pm BST (London). An additional session will be offered at 11:30 pm EDT (Ottawa) for customers in India/Asia/Australia/New Zealand and surrounding countries (9am New Delhi, 11:30am Singapore/Beijing, 12:30pm Tokyo, 1:30pm Canberra, 3:30pm Auckland). Please note that the date of the additional presentations in these areas will therefore be +1 day.
For reference, the current schedule of sessions is as follows (additional sessions may be added over time):
28 April: What’s New with XPression
Join Patrick Twomey to learn about the latest developments with XPression – the industry’s fastest growing family of real-time graphics solutions.
30 April: Live Production Solutions – New Switcher Enhancements
Les O’Reilly and Nigel Spratling announce a huge feature update for Carbonite Ultra – the world’s most popular midsize production switcher. Current and potential Carbonite Ultra users alike will definitely want to learn more.
05 May: Even More Creativity with Ross Camera Motion Systems
Join Bruce Takasaki as he unveils the latest updates for Camera Motion Systems including MotionDirector extensions to CamBot XY pedestals, DashBoard control of PT heads and PIVOTcam and SkyDolly enhancements.
07 May: Ultrix – The Evolution Continues
Ultrix is our innovative (and multi-award-winning) routing and AV processing platform. Todd Riggs discusses another milestone update that adds even more flexibility.
12 May: The 4k UHD Signal Conversion Problem Solver
Gator Toolbox is an incredibly powerful ‘any-to-any’ HD, UHD and HDR signal conversion solution. Marc Ravard, Simon Lacroix and Alun Fryer explain its many different applications and the latest update for 2020.
14 May: The Latest in Production Automation & Control
Production automation has been an important industry trend for more than a decade – Mike Paquin discusses what’s new with the latest version of our OverDrive solution.
19 May: Graphite – Giving You More
Graphite is Ross Video’s all-in-one integrated production vehicle. Join Nigel Spratling and Les O’Reilly to learn about the latest update and a brand-new member of the family.
26 May: Sports and Live Events – Creating an Experience to Remember
Ross works with the leading sports teams, stadiums and live venues to help make the fan experience something to remember. Andrew Sampson discusses the evolution of live event production and the possibilities for content creators.
02 June: Ross Signal Processing Solutions – Important Updates
Marc Ravard, Alun Fryer and Wojtek Tryc present some important updates to our Signal Processing solutions based on our latest platform development.
09 June: To Boldly Go…
Ross is an industry leader when it comes to Virtual Solutions – Gideon Ferber introduces the latest developments in graphics rendering for virtual studios and augmented reality applications.
16 June: Keeping It Clean!
Douglas Johnson introduces an incredible new update to the Ross Live Event Protection Delay product line.
23 June: It Really Is Rocket Surgery
Rocket Surgery is Ross Video’s in-house creative design and professional services division. Join Mission Commander Jim Doyle and team to learn about the latest projects the team have been working on, and the creative challenges they’ve overcome.
30 June: Building the Game with Ross Mobile Productions
Ross Mobile Productions (RMP) is our dedicated mobile production company that offers full-service production packages and rental services. Mitch Rubenstein discusses the evolution of RMP, the scope of their operations and how they’ve satisfied some of the most demanding broadcasters in sports.
07 July: The Rise of esports
It may have started as a cottage industry, but esports is now a global phenomenon that attracts audiences measured in the millions. Join Cameron Reed to learn about the evolution of esports, its burgeoning popularity and how to create an amazing esports production.
14 July: Ross Live 2020 Season Finale
Douglas Johnson announces an exciting, brand new product addition to our range of Video Server solutions.
The list of Living Live podcasts is currently as follows (no registration required):
20 April: [Podcast] Building a Workflow for the Unknown (TV News Editorial, Trends & Tools)
Dramatic events, be they global or national, always place enormous strain on newsrooms and their staff. Join our Ross newsroom specialists as they talk about workflow management in times of crisis and beyond.
27 April: [Podcast] Gearing for Election Graphics
With elections taking place in the US and many other countries in 2020, how can broadcasters engage and inform their audiences at this challenging time? Join our XPression graphics team to learn how to tell a more effective story on election night.
4 May: [Podcast] Remote Connectivity
Working from home may have some advantages, but it also creates very obvious challenges for the live production industry. Join Brandon Rhoda, Mike Paquin and Les O’Reilly as they discuss the issues and examine some tools that can help overcome the difficulties.
11 May: [Podcast] Decentralized IP & SDI Routing
The last few years have seen the humble router transformed into a full AV processing solution that can replace multiple racks of traditional infrastructure equipment. Join our infrastructure team for a masterclass in how these solutions perform in both the IP and ADI domains.
18 May: [Podcast] Production Switchers – New Directions
Production switchers have always been an important part of Ross Video’s portfolio and they remain a key part of any live production workflow. With technology platforms changing, what might the next generation of production switcher look like and what does the future hold for this workhorse product?
25 May: [Podcast] Next Level Game Day Production
The TV coverage of sports has become highly sophisticated and engaging, and it can be hard to tempt people off their sofas and into the sports stadium. Sports teams and venues are fighting back, placing a new emphasis on fan engagement and the game day experience. Join us to find out how.
01 Jun: [Podcast] Virtualization Fundamentals
Many elements of live production are now moving into the cloud, and industry commentators suggest this trend towards virtualization is only going to accelerate. This presentation explains the fundamentals of virtualization, explaining the benefits and the potential pitfalls.
08 June: [Podcast] AR & Virtual Set Magic
Recent advances in graphics technology are enabling live production professionals to create amazing photo-realistic virtual sets and augmented reality elements. Join our Virtual Solutions team to find out how its done, and how you can use it to enhance your story telling.
15 June: [Podcast] Control It Your Way with DashBoard
The modern TV studio or live event venue is a sophisticated environment with many moving parts and increasingly complex workflows. Join our DashBoard product team to learn how DashBoard can strip away this complexity and make your live productions easier to manage.
22 June: [Podcast] On Air Graphics Success
On air graphics have evolved from the humble lower-third to an incredibly sophisticated set of tools that keep audiences entertained and engaged. Join our XPression graphics team to learn about the evolution of graphics and get a glimpse into the future.
29 June: [Podcast] Mobile Production Innovation
Modern mobile production vehicles are packed with production horsepower and are increasingly compact. With more and more broadcasters looking for turnkey solutions from their mobile providers, what are the trends in this sector and how are vendors innovating to respond?
06 July: [Podcast] Esports Arena Production
It may have started as a cottage industry, but esports is now a global phenomenon that attracts global audiences measured in the millions. With an increasing number of dedicated esports venues being built, what does a really great esports venue production look like? Join our team to find out.
13 July: [Podcast] Streamline Your News Workflow End-To-End
The newsroom has always been a challenging and stressful environment, and for many working in live production it’s the ultimate test of character. With many newsrooms working around the clock, how can content creators streamline their workflows and bring order and efficiency to their operations? Join our newsroom team to find out.
Ross Video – High Impact, High Efficiency Production Solutions
Ross powers video productions for billions of global viewers daily with the industry’s widest range of high impact, high efficiency production solutions. Ross makes it easy to create compelling news, weather and sports broadcasts, engaging material for sports stadium screens, entertainment shows and rock concerts, educational institutions, legislative assemblies, corporate applications and inspiring content for houses of worship.
Ross solutions have impressed the audiences and marketing partners of NBC Sunday Night Football, Eurosport, BBC World, Google YouTube Space London and China’s esports powerhouse VSPN. Ross delivers an unrivalled range of products and services comprising virtual studios, real-time motion graphics, cameras, robotic camera systems, production switchers, video servers, infrastructure and routers, social media management, newsroom systems and mobile live events.
Ross Video Media Contact:
Stuart G. Russell
Senior Communications Manager
Tel: +44 7827 019494
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @ross_video
www.rossvideo.com | {
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Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana is home to a Native American community who fished, hunted, trapped and farmed the land. But since 1955, more than 90% of the island’s original land mass has washed away, the loss caused by logging, oil exploration, hurricanes and ineffective flood control. A report by 13 US federal agencies found the island and its tribal residents to be among the nation’s most vulnerable, as the remaining land will be lost to rising sea levels | {
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ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) -- A man is hurt after being shot late Tuesday while walking down 25th Street in Rockford.
Rockford police responded just before 11:30 p.m. to the 2300 block of East Gate Parkway for reports of gunshots.
They found a male victim who was struck by a single round of gunfire.
He was transported to a local hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
No one else was hurt.
Police are looking for a dark colored vehicle that was reported to have been seen leaving the area after the shooting.
This is an ongoing investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Rockford Police Department or Rockford Area Crime Stoppers. | {
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Image copyright Reuters Image caption Armed pro-Russia groups remain in control of seized buildings in eastern Ukraine
The US says Russian military aircraft have entered Ukrainian airspace on several occasions, amid rising tension in the east of the country.
A Pentagon spokesman called on Russia to "de-escalate the situation".
The statement came as the G7 group of industrialised countries agreed on Saturday to "swiftly" impose fresh sanctions on Russia over Ukraine.
Meanwhile, talks are under way to secure the release of international observers seized by separatists.
Russia has tens of thousands of troops deployed along its side of the border with Ukraine as pro-Moscow separatists continue to occupy official buildings in a dozen eastern towns, defying the government in Kiev.
'Dangerously destabilising'
Russia has accused the West of wanting to "seize" Ukraine.
In a statement on Friday, Pentagon spokesman Col Steven Warren said Russian aircraft had entered Ukrainian airspace several times in the past 24 hours.
He gave no further details, but called on Moscow to take "immediate steps to de-escalate the situation".
US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel earlier described Russian activity along the Ukrainian border as "dangerously destabilising" and "very provocative".
Image copyright DigitalGlobe via Reuters Image caption Images released by Nato this month appeared to show a Russian military build-up near the Ukrainian border
Image copyright AFP Image caption Ukrainian troops have set up checkpoints around Sloviansk where buildings are occupied
Last week, Ukraine and Russia struck an agreement in Geneva calling for separatists to leave official premises and give up their arms. The pact included an amnesty for those who left peacefully.
But so far pro-Russian activists have refused to give in to the demands.
A joint statement from the G7 said Russia had taken "no concrete actions in support of the Geneva accord".
"We have now agreed that we will move swiftly to impose additional sanctions on Russia," the statement said.
"Given the urgency of securing the opportunity for a successful and peaceful democratic vote next month in Ukraine's presidential elections, we have committed to act urgently to intensify targeted sanctions and measures to increase the costs of Russia's actions."
White House sources told reporters that sanctions could be in place as early as Monday.
It is unclear what form they will take. Under current US and EU measures, assets freezes and travel bans have targeted a number of Russian officials.
On Friday, Ukraine's interior ministry said armed separatists had seized seven representatives from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), as well as five Ukrainian army personnel and a bus driver.
Pro-Russian leaders in Sloviansk confirmed the bus had been stopped near the town of Sloviansk and said they were checking the identities of those on board.
The self-proclaimed mayor of Sloviansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, said at least one passenger had been carrying maps showing separatist checkpoints in the area, which suggested "their involvement in espionage".
A 'bloody crime'
Last weekend, Mr Ponomaryov broadcast an appeal to President Putin asking for Russian troops to protect the city from "fascists" after three of his men died in a gunfight.
Tensions have risen in recent days as Ukraine launched military raids to try to regain occupied buildings.
At least two separatists have been killed in the raids which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described as a "bloody crime".
Mr Lavrov repeated the accusation made previously by Moscow that Ukraine was waging a war against its own people.
Unrest in Ukraine began last November over whether the country should look towards Moscow or the West.
Last month, Russia annexed Ukraine's mainly ethnic-Russian Crimean peninsula. This followed a referendum in the region that backed joining the Russian Federation but which the West and Kiev deemed illegal. | {
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NATO member Romania has been put in charge of a NATO effort to improve Ukrainian Cyber War defenses. This is one of five areas NATO recently agreed to concentrate on in an effort to improve Ukrainian ability to defend itself against Russian aggression.
When Romania joined NATO in 2004 Eastern Europe was considered Ground Zero for criminal hacking gangs. There are still a lot of black hat (criminal) hackers around but Romania has made a remarkable turnaround. Romania is now the home of many legitimate Internet security firms and Romanian programmers and engineers are frequently encountered at major software firms like Microsoft. Some twenty percent of Interpols Cyber War experts are from Romania. There are still a lot of black hats active in Romania but the local police have their own growing force of skilled hackers to make Romania a more inhospitable place for black hats. Some Internet security companies actively try to get black hats to come over to the white hat side of the business.
Taking on the Ukrainian Cyber War defense assignment is a big opportunity for Romania because if they are successful they will have a high-visibility success for their software industry and an edge in getting contracts from other countries and large corporations to come in and upgrade defenses against hackers and Cyber War attack. Many of these attacks come from black hats in Russia and China.
In 2004 Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia joined NATO, putting parts of the former Soviet Union (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) within NATO and on Russia’s border. Many Russians do not like this, for Russian policy since 1945 has been to establish a "buffer" of subservient countries between Russian territory and Germany and the rest of Western Europe. This attitude is obsolete in a practical sense, but old habits die hard. The Russian government said it was willing to work with NATO in areas of mutual benefit but that did not work out. Now there is a state of undeclared war between Russia and NATO and the Internet is one of the more active battlefields. | {
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Following his death, found written in one of his textbooks were the words: "Teacher, I can't do it," as well as, "I flinched several times when I tried to jump from the building," the Hindustan Times newspaper reported. | {
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Agents from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are using Google Maps as part of their tool kit to audit taxpayers and organizations, The Daily Caller has learned.
A redacted IRS letter dated Sept. 8, 2011 reveals that at least in one case the IRS’s examiners used photos of a property, obtained through Google Maps, as evidence to revoke the 501(c)(4) status of a homeowner’s association.
“The road consists of a two-mile loop around the inside of the property. It goes not have any sidewalks or bicycle lanes. The examining agent printed and copied a map from Google Maps (www.google.com) into this report,” states the letter.
501(c)4 is a tax-exempt status that includes certain “social welfare organizations,” “local associations of employees,” “homeowners associations,” “volunteer fire companies,” and certain lobbying organizations.
The IRS became mired in scandal in May 2013 after a report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that IRS staffers had singled out tea party groups seeking 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status for extra scrutiny.
The agency did not return The Daily Caller’s request for comment for this report.
In formal guidance issued to IRS agents inspecting historical conservation sites, however, Google Maps and the online real estate database Zillow are mentioned as tools to help determine whether a property meets the regulatory requirements necessary to receive charitable contributions.
In addition to using freely available aerial and street photographs to survey property, agents are also encouraged to use search engines to research background information on suspected tax cheats.
“The Internet (using Google or other similar search engine) can be an excellent source of background information relevant to the taxpayer, done organization and appraiser,” states the agency’s manual.
The guidance, which is posted publicly online at the IRS’s website, was last revised on Jan. 3, 2012. An agency manual, effective Oct. 1, 2013, also lists Google, Google Maps, and a number of other Internet search tools to help agents spy on taxpayers.
In July 2012, according to USASpending.gov, the Treasury Department and the IRS awarded a $9,585 contract to Virginia-based information technology vendor ICS Nett, Inc. to pay for “Google Maps License and Maintenance.”
While Google Maps is a free service, users of the licensed “business” version are able to layer proprietary business data on top of Google Maps.
Google’s sale of licenses to an IRS contractor is curious, however, given the company’s professed outrage over government surveillance. Nor is the use of Google Maps by government tax collectors restricted to IRS agents in the U.S.
Government tax collectors in Lithuania, Estonia, Greece, and the U.K. have also used Google Maps and Google Street View against suspected tax dodgers.
The TaxProf Blog warned in 2010 that the practice was coming to the U.S. after witnessing it transpire in Greece.
Seeing the warning signs in Lithuania in early 2013, accounting firm Group 11 Advisors noted in a company blog post that while it was unclear as of then whether the IRS was using Google Maps and Google Street View to monitor people, it was engaging in electronic surveillance of “high-net-worth individuals[.]”
Such surveillance methods include the monitoring of Facebook posts, eBay listings and electronic credit card records.
“The added investigative capabilities made possible by technology makes it that much more important to ensure all necessary documents regarding assets are completed and filed according to IRS rules,” wrote Group 11 advisors.
The IRS and the Securities and Exchange Commission also came under fire earlier this year for exploiting a 1980s-era law, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA), to monitor without a warrant the emails of individuals and organizations the agencies placed under investigation.
Privacy advocates at the Digital 4th coalition have been fighting to rein in the spying activities of both agencies by petitioning legislators and the White House to change the law so that government investigators will be required obtain a warrant for electronic communications.
As of 7:15pm ET on Friday, a petition on the White House website asking the Obama administration to weigh in on reforming ECPA had reached 60,362 signatures. The petition has until Dec. 12 to reach the 100,000 signature threshold required for a response from the White House.
Follow Josh on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ | {
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Το Σάββατο, η Πανελλήνια Ομοσπονδία Αστυνομικών Υπαλλήλων (ΠΟΑΣΥ) απέστειλε επιστολή με αποδέκτες το υπουργείο Υγείας και αυτό του υπουργείου Προστασίας του Πολίτη, διαμαρτυρόμενη για την πρόβλεψη του νομοσχεδίου του υπουργείου Υγείας που τους θέλει ελεγκτές της εφαρμογής του αντικαπνιστικού νόμου.
Στην ίδια επιστολή, η ΠΟΑΣΥ κάλεσε την κυβέρνηση να επανεξετάσει την ρύθμιση «ώστε να διασφαλιστεί η μη αποδυνάμωση της κύριας αποστολής του Έλληνα Αστυνομικού, που δεν είναι άλλη από την πιστή εφαρμογή της νομοθεσίας για την αποτροπή και την καταστολή πάσης φύσεως εγκληματικών συμπεριφορών και την εμπέδωση του αισθήματος ασφαλείας των συμπολιτών μας».
Η απάντηση του υπουργού Υγείας, Βασίλη Κικίλια, ήρθε δύο ημέρες αργότερα, με τον ΣΚΑΪ και πλήθος ιστοσελίδων για θέματα της αστυνομίας να μεταφέρουν πληροφορίες για την πρόθεσή του να δίνει ποσοστά επί των προστίμων στους αστυνομικούς.
Συγκεκριμένα, κατά τις ίδιες πληροφορίες, το υπουργείο Υγείας αναμένεται να προχωρήσει σε νομοθετική ρύθμιση που θα προβλέπει πως το 20% του προστίμου θα το εισπράττουν οι ένστολοι. Μάλιστα, το δημοσίευμα του τηλεοπτικού σταθμού επικαλείται πληροφορίες σύμφωνα με τις οποίες αυτό συμβαίνει και σε άλλες χώρες της Ευρώπης. | {
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ST JAMES' Hospital in Dublin have today received 10,000 medical face masks in an act of solidarity by the Association of Chinese Professionals in Ireland.
The hospital, which is one of the largest in the country with over 1,000 beds, has been facing immense strain as the coronavirus spreads across Ireland, with over half of the confirmed 1,329 cases concentrated in Dublin.
Today, the Association of Chinese Professionals in Ireland donated 10,000 face masks to help protect nurses, doctors and other health care workers battling the virus on the frontlines.
The not-for-profit organisation posted the moment the masks were delivered to the hospital in a poignant Twitter post, where they said "We'll all sleep better knowing that these supplies will protect our 'frontlineheroes to fight #Covid19".
The Association of Chinese Professionals in Ireland’s 1st #unitetofight donation of 10,000 surgical masks has been received by Mr. Lorcan Birthistle, CEO of @stjamesdublin. We'll all sleep better knowing that these supplies will protect our #frontlineheroes to fight #Covid19. pic.twitter.com/ph9I1bYwDw — Association of Chinese Professionals in Ireland (@acpigroup) March 24, 2020
Another post which showed Mr Nicolas Reuland of St James' Hospital picking up the masks from the home of ACPI Chairperson Cindy Liu stated that there was "no handshake... but hearts were touched".
A donation of 10,000 surgical masks was picked up by Mr. Nicolas Reuland @stjamesdublin from ACPI Chairperson Ms. Cindy Liu’s home(@CindyLi40567798) with Ms. Crystal Li, @translationie and Ms Qian Zhang, ACPI. No handshake #SocialDistancing but hearts were touched. pic.twitter.com/fiOpIWd9w0 — Association of Chinese Professionals in Ireland (@acpigroup) March 24, 2020
The Dublin-based ACPI have been working to support both Ireland and China as the Covid-19 virus took hold, and have, through donations, donated masks and googles to areas of Wuhan, donated masks to high-risk children in Ireland, and donated hand sanitzer to schools and churches across Ireland.
Faces of Our Heroes: Leonie, Tissue Viability CNS; Kelly, Staff Nurse and Joseph, Hospital Attendant A&E @stjamesdublin fighting against #covid19ireland. Hope our donation of 10,000 surgical masks keep you safer. #unitetofight More donations welcome here https://t.co/mfYxBPvlRJ pic.twitter.com/AWg7gbHdy6 — Association of Chinese Professionals in Ireland (@acpigroup) March 24, 2020
The charity are now focusing on purchasing emergency equipment including PPE, hand sanitizers and other supplies for frontline medical teams as well as Gardaí, volunteers and others who cannot find supplies.
Anyone who would like to assist the ACPI in their work can visit the charity's GoFUndMe page here. | {
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A new patch for Battlefield 1 has given the game its biggest change to weapons balance since it launched.
Available now in the community Test Environment, the September Weapons Balance update has increased the time to kill of all major weapons.
Light machine guns and SMGs now do more damage, typically requiring one less bullet to kill.
Self-loading rifles now have better accuracy and range, and shotguns now have a more consistent dispersion of pellets.
“We’re tweaking many weapon values to get them to feel more powerful and to slightly reduce the disparity in raw time to kill between fast firing and slow firing weapons,” said DICE.
“This should get most of the weapons to reach a time-to-kill closer to that of Battlefield 4 and allow players with great weapon control and mechanical skills to have a better chance dealing with multiple enemies and coming out victorious of a duel even if they start with a health disadvantage.”
Our man Westie has summarised the major changes in this video.
Not jumped into Battlefield 1 for a while? It sounds like with these changes the time is right to get yourself back on the frontline.
After more tweaking in the CTE, expect the weapons balance to be applied to the main game soon. | {
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Los latinoamericanos están cada vez menos satisfechos con la salud de sus democracias y, lo que es peor, también creen menos en ella como la mejor forma de gobierno. Según el último Latinobarómetro, una prestigiosa encuesta regional que analiza 20.000 entrevistas realizadas en 18 países, el respaldo ha caído desde el 54% en 2016 al 53% este año, la quinta bajada consecutiva desde 2010, cuando se alcanzó un pico de 61%. El informe concluye que el declive de la democracia es lento e invisible “como la diabetes”. “Hay países que no son enfermos terminales, pero padecen una diabetes democrática generalizada. No ves el mal, no hay síntomas que llamen la atención, pero si no la tratas termina matándote”, dice la chilena Marta Lagos, directora de Latinobarómetro, durante la presentación del informe 2017 en la sede del BID en Buenos Aires.
Este año, la encuesta se atrasó por la crisis en Venezuela. Lagos celebra la oportunidad de analizar un país “cuando está la fiebre alta”, pero advierte que la situación en Caracas “le ha hecho muy mal a la región por los problemas que oculta en otros países”. “Desde 2010 el apoyo a la democracia ha caído ocho puntos en promedio y aumentaron los indiferentes del 23% al 25% sólo en un año. La gente se aleja de los gobiernos y de las ideologías. También vemos una tremenda variación regional, porque tenemos 18 países, no una región homogénea”, dice Lagos.
Entre los ciudadanos que menos apoyan la democracia como sistema de gobierno están los brasileños (43%)y los mexicanos (38%). Al tope del listado, pero por la positiva, los venezolanos, con un 78% de apoyo. ¿Cómo se explica esto? “Entendemos que es una cuestión aspiracional. Los venezolanos están en crisis pero defienden a la democracia como la mejor opción”, explica Lagos. Cuando se trata de opinar sobre la salud del sistema actual las cifras se invierten: solo el 22% de los venezolanos se declara “muy satisfecho” o “más bien satisfecho” con la situación política y social.
Deterioro de Venezuela
La curva de satisfacción de los venezolanos no ha dejado de caer 2010, cuando alcanzó el 57% de opiniones positivas, pero, pese a lo que pueda creerse, Venezuela es más optimista que Brasil y México. Este año, sólo el 13% de los brasileños se declararon satisfechos, en línea con los mexicanos, que apenas llegaron al 18%.
Sólo en tres países están satisfechos con su democracia: Uruguay (57%), Nicaragua (52%) y Ecuador (51%). Argentina se encuentra quinta después de Costa Rica, con un 38%. Pero “vistos en conjunto, los indicadores revelan el deterioro sistemático y creciente de las democracias de la región. Los gobiernos sufren la misma suerte, cada año los latinoamericanos los aprueban menos. Lo que hoy es el promedio antes era el mínimo. No se observan indicadores de consolidación, sino, acaso, indicadores de des-consolidación”, advierte el estudio. La desconfianza en el gobierno alcanza al 92% de los brasileños y al 85% de los mexicanos.
El informe destaca un escenario que, a simple vista, puede parecer contradictorio: la caída de los indicadores políticos y sociales coincide con una subida generalizada de los económicos. El 54% de los latinoamericanos dijeron a los encuestadores de Latinobarómetro que su dinero les alcanza para llegar a fin de mes, dos puntos más que en 2016. Al tope se encuentran los brasileños, con el 68%, y en el último escalón los venezolanos, con el 21%. La conclusión del estudio es que hay “una disociación entre dos mundos, el mundo de la economía, y el mundo del poder político”. “La economía va bien para un lado y la democracia va para otro. No hay relación entre ellas, porque si bien hay una mitad de la población que se benefició, hay otra que está mirando. La región es bipolar: hay éxito económico y pobreza, lo económico avanza y los valores caen para abajo”, dice Lagos, para quien hoy, más que nunca, “la democracia no tiene que ver con la economía”. | {
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Portlanders will soon have another way to get around town.
BMW’s free-floating car-sharing service ReachNow will launch in the Rose City after debuting in Seattle this past April.
There is no official launch date but BMW is working with city officials and will start testing its Portland fleet in the next two weeks. Details about what types of vehicles and the exact number of cars have yet to be released.
This past April, BMW debuted ReachNow in Seattle and placed 370 free-floating vehicles — a mix of BMW 328xi Series sedans, MINI Coopers, and the all-electric BMW i3 — around town, allowing people to get from Point A to Point B within a “Home Area” that encompasses much of Seattle proper.
ReachNow called its launch in Seattle “extremely successful” and has since added more 150 vehicles and expanded its service area. It racked up more than 13,000 members in its first month; BMW hasn’t released updated member numbers since then. There were nearly 300,000 total miles driven by members as of June 28, which is around 240 trips per day if an average trip is, say, 15 miles.
There was one hiccup last month, though, after an AT&T connectivity issue caused a big outage during the 4th of July weekend.
In a statement, ReachNow Chief Customer Officer Sandra Phillips said that “Portland has received national acclaim for its transportation solutions, and we’re thrilled to become part of the city’s transportation future.”
In Portland, BMW will compete directly with Daimler-owned Car2go, which launched in the Rose City four years ago. Car2go is larger than ReachNow in Seattle (750 vs. 520 vehicles) and has more than 45,000 members using 465 Smart car vehicles in Portland.
It’s not yet clear what arrangement BMW will have with Portland transportation officials — these deals allow BMW customers to use city parking spots without having to pay parking fees — but Car2go pays the city $50 a year for each car and $430 a year per car for district parking permits. It also pays the city for meter revenue each quarter, or in other words, the full amount that any privately-owned vehicle would have paid when parked at metered spots.
“It’s no surprise to us that followers are starting to see what we saw when we first launched here four years ago, that Portland is a great city for carsharing,” Ken Hills, Car2go’s Portland GM, said in a statement. “At car2go we believe that the more mass transit, carsharing and ridesharing options people have, the better and we welcome them to join us in our mission to alleviate traffic and parking congestion while improving quality of life in Stumptown.”
Car2go also charges lower by-the-minute, hourly, and daily rates in Seattle. ReachNow, however, charges a lower rate when vehicles are parked, and is temporarily slashing its membership sign-up fee while matching Car2go’s per-minute rate.
Other car-sharing competitors in Portland include Zipcar, Getaround and Turo. Separately, but related to transportation, Portland also just launched a new bike-sharing program.
Uber and Lyft were legalized in Portland this past December.
ReachNow, meanwhile, has ambitions for much more than just the free-floating car-sharing program. Steve Banfield, ReachNow CEO, told GeekWire in May that there are plans to launch a number of other services, including a concierge option where BMW brings you a vehicle, instead of you having to find one yourself; an Uber and Lyft competitor that will allow people to earn revenue by driving other users around in ReachNow cars; a way for people to drop off ReachNow vehicles at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport before boarding a flight, or to pick one up after they get off the plane; or a way for BMW owners to lease their own cars within the ReachNow network.
ReachNow has its North American operations based in Seattle. It will launch in two additional cities this year, with plans to eventually service 10 North American metros.
Editor’s note: This story was updated to reflect how much Car2go pays the City of Portland in fees. | {
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Catch of 729 is the highest since Norway resumed commercial whaling despite a worldwide moratorium
This article is more than 6 years old
This article is more than 6 years old
Fishermen in Norway have caught 729 whales this year, the highest number since it resumed the controversial practice in defiance of international pressure, industry sources said on Monday.
"The season is more or less finished and it's been very good," said Svein Ove Haugland, deputy director of the Norwegian Fishermen's Sales Organisation.
The eventual figure may increase slightly before the season's end but is already the highest since 1993, when Norway resumed whaling despite a worldwide moratorium, which Oslo officially rejected.
In 2013, Norway caught 590 rorqual whales, far higher than the previous year.
The yield for 2014 remains far below the country's annual quota of 1,286 whales.
"There's a bottleneck in the market and the distribution. We must rebuild demand for whale meat, subject to tough competition from meat (from land animals) and fish," Haugland said.
"But the fact that there have been two strong consecutive rises in annual catches shows that we're on the right track."
Greenpeace believes whaling in Norway is bound to die out due to lack of demand.
"The weather this summer has been very good, which favoured significant whale meat demand for grilling in northern Norway, but also made hunting easier thanks to clear skies and calm waters," Truls Gulowsen, the Greenpeace leader in Norway, said, adding: "But this is not a shift in the trend."
Norway is the only country alongside Iceland which commercially hunts whales.
Whaling in Japan is officially for scientific purposes, but large amounts of the meat ends up in markets. | {
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Great Clips in Pacers History - Reggie Beats the Bulls
May 25, 1998 - Reggie Miller hit a 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left to beat Michael Jordan and the Bulls in Game 4 of the 1998 Eastern Conference Finals at Market Square Arena. | {
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Twin Peaks Illustrated is the passion project of the very talented Martin Woutisseth from France. The past year, this 31-year-old graphic designer dedicated all of his spare time to illustrating the many residents and visitors of Twin Peaks, and bringing them to life inside the town’s wonderful sceneries. The result of his labor of love is a beautiful homage to David Lynch and Mark Frost’s television show set to the moody music of Silencio.
You will have to watch this a few times to see every detail and catch the Easter Eggs (try to spot BOB, for instance). Martin is very excited to finally share his work and he’s looking forward to hearing feedback from the fans of Twin Peaks, so please leave your comments below!
I know I’ve teased you enough about this, so without further ado, Welcome to Twin Peaks is proud to present the world première of…
Twin Peaks Illustrated
Please watch this video full screen
Martin’s dream is to start his own design and animation studio one day. He is available for hire, so get in touch with Martin Woutisseth. Also check out his other productions, including Breaking Bad Illustrated, and his shop.
UPDATE: Stills from Twin Peaks Illustrated are now available as prints. | {
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TrueAnal – Kissa Sins – Round 2 With Kissa #TrueAnal #anal #gonzo #porno #fuck #sex
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We're live from Dish Network's CES 2012 press conference, ready to find out what the satellite TV company is bringing out next. After acquiring Sling, Blockbuster, and plenty of wireless LTE tech, we're intrigued to find out what Dish is planning and should find out shortly. Check after the break for all the updates live starting at 3PM ET. | {
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Creamy Tomato Broth Soup
We simmered organic tomato puree with coconut milk and chicken bone broth to take this classic soup to a collagen-filled flavor zenith you need to taste to believe.
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Ingredients
Ingredients: Organic Chicken Bone Broth (water, organic chicken bones, organic onions, organic carrots, organic fennel, organic leeks, organic apple cider vinegar, organic thyme, organic shiitake mushroom, organic tamarind extract, organic bay leaf), Organic Tomato Paste, Organic Coconut Milk (organic coconut milk, water, guar gum), Organic Honey, Organic Tomato Base (water, lactic acid, organic olive oil, organic honey, sea salt, organic tomato powder, organic spice, organic garlic powder, organic natural flavor), Less Than 2% of Organic Tapioca Starch, Organic Olive Oil, Lactic Acid, Sea Salt. Contains Tree Nuts (coconut) | {
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25 lies to tell yourself each National Signing Day
Which of these are you this year? | {
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Min revolutionära anda som jag använde under 1970-talet för att kämpa för ett samhälle för jämställdhet, fred, frihet och ett kärnkraftsfritt Sverige kommer jag nu att använda för ett samhälle där kvinnor får vara människor och ett Sverige utan politisk Islam. Det är dags för oss svenskar att sätta ner fötterna, skriver Kerstin Hofgren Ingasdotter i sin krönika på Katerina Magasin.
September 2005, mitt första besök på Bok & Biblioteksmässan i Göteborg. I ett litet, litet bås, knappt synligt stod en kvinna med en namnunderskriftslista framför sig. Jag stannade, började fråga: Vad samlar du underskifter till? Vad gäller det? Vi började samtala och jag kommer ihåg hennes exakta ord: ”Jag är muslim, jag har kommit till Sverige för att det är ett fritt land. Ni svenskar måste sätta ner fötter mot den politiska Islamen som begränsar kvinnors frihet.” Det var hennes första ord, och sen började vi samtala.
Hur saker och ting utvecklats sedan dess, tolv år senare, behöver jag inte gå in på, vi har alla facit i hand. Idag har vi ett samhälle där ordet rasist används utan att personen som uttalar det behöver stå till svars. Det räcker med att säga: ”Du är rasist”, och därmed är all diskussion avvärjd. För vem vill diskutera med en rasist?
Jag tänker inte gå in på hur min mor, född 1925, arbetade för kvinnors lika rättigheter om än det var det som präglade min uppväxt. Jag tänker inte gå in på hur hennes mormor, född på 1880-talet drev kampen om jämställdhet mellan könen. Jag tänker inte gå in på hur min mor supportade och var drivande i frågan om att min far skulle starta eget företag, även om det egentligen var hon som var företagaren. Jag tänker inte gå in på hur alla inom vänstern, S och V, kämpade som djur för kvinnors lika rättigheter, lika värde. Jag tänker inte gå in på de rättigheter som alla kvinnor har, som vi svenskar ser som absolut självklart. Vi arbetade för ett sekulariserat Sverige där religion skulle vara något privat, inte något som staten drev. Vid millennieskiftet, alltså för sjutton år sedan, skildes staten Sverige från kyrkan. Därmed så stod det klart: religion har inget med Sverige som stat att göra, religion är inte någon faktor som ska påverka politiken. Religion är en privatsak som kan skötas i privatlivet för den som så önskar.
Vad har vi idag? Ett samhälle som under täckmanteln ”religionsfrihet” väljer att ge sitt stöd till en religion (politisk islam) som har allt som ett västerländskt samhälle tar avstånd från. En religion som tycker att bland annat att en kvinnas röst räknas som en halv röst jämfört med en man, att kvinnor ska täcka sin kropp för att inte väcka lustar hos männen, att kvinnor ska i minsta möjliga mån uppträda ute/offentligt. Om kvinnan måste beträda offentlig mark måste hon se till att hon är ordentligt täckt, samt helst ha ett manligt förkläde med sig (släkting). Listan på särbehandling av kvinnor kan göras lång.
Vad ser vi mer idag? Utländska män som våldtar, ibland/ofta i grupp. Anmälningarna går sällan till åtal och i de fall de går till åtal ser vi ett domstolsväsende som ofta friar med skadestånd till den åtalade som följd! När jag ser dessa domar så tänker jag; Antingen så är domstolarna korrumperade eller så lever jag i en drömvärld jag aldrig trodde fanns.
Jag rustar nu för, om inte ett krig, men nästintill. Jag kommer att se till att min dotter och min dotterdotter står skyddade inför de hot de utsätts för. Självförsvarskurser? Absolut, ett måste! Vapen? Ja, de vapen som står till buds, som självförsvarsspray. Min revolutionära anda som jag använde under 1970-talet för att kämpa för ett samhälle för jämställdhet, fred, frihet och ett kärnkraftsfritt Sverige kommer jag nu att använda för ett samhälle där kvinnor får vara människor och ett Sverige utan politisk Islam. Ja, det är dags för oss svenskar att sätta ner fötterna!
Kerstin Hofgren Ingasdotter
Kerstin Hofgren Ingasdotter, 60, är en f d organisations- och ledarskapskonsult som varit verksam både som anställd och som egen företagare. Idag sysslar Kerstin främst med finansiella investeringar. Det politiska engagemanget har varit starkt sedan ungdomsåren. Hon har hela sitt liv varit engagerad i frågan om kvinnors rättigheter och jämlikhet mellan könen, något som ånyo väckt hennes engagemang i samband med dagens aktuella politik.
(Det här är en debattartikel innehållande opinionsmaterial, publicerad på Katerina Magasin. Åsikterna i artikeln står skribenten för.)
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Vill du också bli intervjuad, komma i kontakt med mig eller tipsa om något, dela med dig av din historia/erfarenheter eller skriva själv? Mejla mig på [email protected] – dock arbetar jag ensam, så jag svarar i mån av tid! Läser alla mejl. Vill du vara med och stötta mig, den fria debatten och oberoende journalistisk? Bidrag till mitt heltidsarbete tas tacksamt emot via swish på 0733289122 eller konto 5206-0000114 (första fyra siffrorna är clearingnummer). Blir glad för varje liten slant! Största tacken på förhand! Och tack alla ni som redan bidragit, ni anar inte hur glad jag är över det ni ger och det ni skriver, även om jag inte kan tacka var och en av er personligen. Ni ger mig kraft och mod att fortsätta. <3 | {
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I will never understand all of the celebratory bulls$&% surrounding birthdays. Why do people think that they deserve applause, accolades, cake, and f$&%ing gifts just for not dying? Every f$&%ing day, seven-and-a-half-billion people manage to not die across this planet and many of them face far greater challenges than can be imagined by anyone living in an industrialized, western nation with enough free time in their life that they can waste some of it reading a website of advice about a game about being a pretend elf. That is to say, you have free time to devote to getting the most out of your free time. And you think, somehow, that entitles you to annual cake and presents. Ha. Maybe if your birth was a gift to the world – like mine – I might buy that. But statistically speaking, it probably wasn’t. Sorry.
Given that, just imagine how ballsy you would have to be to send me an e-mail requesting – practically DEMANDING – an article specifically for your birthday. Yes. That actually happened. Someone who is going only by the alias “the 25-year-old DM” actually sent me – ME – an e-mail indicating they had a birthday coming on April 6 – this Friday – and that they would like to me address a topic specifically for them.
Well, here’s the thing: as much as I despise birthdays and don’t want to reward demands, I have to respect this level of chutzpah. 25YODM has guts. But she’s not foolhardy. She made the demand, but she gave me an alias. And the question is something I’ve had a lot to say on in the past, but also something I’ve not written a definitive “final word” on. It’s something that comes up a lot, that a lot of people fight about, that a lot of GMs worry about, and that a lot of GMs sling around unfounded and stupid accusations about. I COULD slot this article neatly into an Ask Angry, but frankly, I think the opportunity is too good to pass up.
So, in one go, I can reward a brave and gutsy reader, soften my image by actually wishing someone a happy birthday – which my marketing team says is a good move – and put down the definitive final word on railroading: what it is, what it isn’t, why people worry too much about it, and how the meaning has gotten lost over the years.
So, happy birthday, 25YODM. You are the first and last person to ever get a birthday article from me, simply by being the first person to have the guts to demand one. And if anyone else ever tries this crap, they will regret it.
Railroading: How to Yell at a GM
Railroading is one of those terms that used to have a nice, narrow, useful definition. Well, it used to have a narrow definition. I’m not sure it was very nice or useful. Railroading used to refer to the GM forcing the players on a predetermined path through a story. For example, imagine the players have been hired to do something simple like travel to the castle and kill the vampire lord who holds the people in thrall. Along the way, the heroes encounter a mysterious woman who wants to join them on their journey. Now, the GM knows the mysterious woman is actually the vampire’s girlfriend, and she is trying to join the party so that, at a crucial moment, she can suddenly turn out to be a vampire and betray the party, trapping them in the prison. But the heroes don’t want the woman along. Maybe they are suspicious. Maybe the GM has a habit of inserting traitorous NPCs into the party. Maybe they just work better alone. Whatever the reason, the players don’t want the woman in the party.
But the GM won’t have any of it. The woman begs and pleads. The party won’t let her join. They try to walk away. She follows. She keeps showing up in encounter after encounter. The GM even amps up the difficulty of the encounters so the mysterious woman can save the party. They encounter an obstacle only she can get past. The players – not the characters, the players – realize that this woman is going with them, whether they want her to or not. And the players finally take a drastic step. They attack the woman. Of course, the GM gets irate. He says, “you can’t just attack her, she hasn’t done anything wrong.” A player counters with “I don’t care. I attack her,” and he throws a die roll. The GM won’t have any of it. “If you attack this innocent woman,” says the GM, “the cleric will lose his powers. And you’ll have to shift your alignment and lose a level.” At that point, the game degenerates into an argument. And then someone yells out “this is a railroad! You’re railroading.”
And they are right. THAT is railroading. And it’s called that because it has become clear that the GM is steering the plot through a series of predetermined events and the GM will not allow any deviation. The events of the story – the plot – has been laid down like tracks and the players are trapped on the train. All they can do is go along for the ride and try to survive to the end.
Now, railroading is a pretty terrible thing. It flies in the face of everything that role-playing games are about. RPGs are about the players making decisions and then dealing with the consequences of those decisions. Role-playing is the act of making choices. I’ve said that before. A lot. So much so I don’t even have to link back to it. Especially because I don’t feel like searching for it. You can look it up yourself if you can’t take me on faith at this point.
In point of fact, railroading is pretty much the worst slur you can throw at a GM. It’s the equivalent of calling the GM a Nazi. Any GM in the know will respond to the accusation of railroading as if they have been slapped in the face. But, like the word Nazi, the word railroading has been thrown around so much and for so many minor offenses that aren’t nearly close to railroading that, these days, it’s meaning is pretty much distilled down to nothing. These days, the word railroading basically means “I don’t like that thing you did” or “you’re a big ole, bed-wetting doody head.”
See, GMs like to fight a lot about who runs the best games. And what are the best ways to run games. Because nerds – and gamers are nerds – don’t believe in things like subjectivity and trade-offs and preferences and styles. And nerds also have to be the best. That means they have to believe they are running the BEST game and there is only ONE WAY to run the BEST game. OBJECTIVELY. And therefore, any suggestion that anyone is having just as much – or more – fun running a different kind of game is a PERSONAL F$&%ING ATTACK! And when someone attacks you by daring to run their game differently, you have to find an OBJECTIVE way to PROVE they are WRONG. And railroading is a great word to use.
I have been accused of railroading – online, mind you, by the gaming community and not by my players – for lots of reasons over the years. I have been told that linear adventures or even dungeon adventures with critical paths are railroads. I have been told that mystery adventures to which I already knew the solution were railroads. I have been told that establishing a campaign goal and outlining the plot points of that campaign goal are railroading. I have been told that telling a player no ever was railroading. I have been told that showing up to run a game with anything other than a blank piece of paper was railroading. I have been told my ENTIRE GODDAMNED WEBSITE including EVERYTHING I’VE EVER WRITTEN ON NARRATIVE STRUCTURE was railroading.
I s$&% you not. Understanding narrative structure, designing a mystery adventure, and not improvising absolutely every f$&%ing moment of every game I run is railroading in some circles of the internet.
So, these days, I have very little respect for discussions about railroading. It’s a useless word. It doesn’t mean anything anymore other than “you made me mad, Mr. or Mrs. or Ms. GM!” It’s a word that just needs drink some lead-based paint and die.
A Useful Definition of Railroading
All of that said, I am not about to throw out a perfectly useful bathtub with some shrieking, useless, stinking baby. Because there IS a useful lesson at the heart of all of this. It’s just hard to see it with all the shrieking, useless, stinking gamer babies in the way. What REALLY is railroading?
Obviously, railroading isn’t planning. That’d be a stupid f$&%ing to say, and that’s why only stupid f$&%wits claim that it is. GMs have to plan. Even improvisation is just planning and executing in the same step. It isn’t just functioning without a plan. And a good RPG adventure or campaign has to work as a well-structured story and as a well-structured game. And both of those things mean the game has to have certain elements in the right places. Things like motivations, climaxes, tensions, appropriate difficulty curves, fairness, challenge, and so on. A good GM is constantly trying to fit the chaos of an RPG session into BOTH the framework of a good story and the framework of a satisfying game experience. And to try to do that without any forward thought and without nudging things and taking some control would just be impossible. In short, anyone who thinks any degree of planning or GM control represents railroading is just a f$&%ing moron.
In fact, understanding what railroading REALLY comes down not the planning at all. It’s about the level of control. It’s about who’s steering the game. In the example I laid out above, it is very clear that the players cannot steer the game away from the mysterious woman. The GM simply will not allow them to proceed beyond a certain point until that mysterious woman is part of the party. The players can’t do ANYTHING to avoid that fate. So that’s it, right? That must be the railroading.
Yeah. You’d think that, wouldn’t you? Lots of people do. And I don’t mean shrieking, stinky, Internet babies. Sensible people think that too. If there’s something the players can’t avoid, that MUST be railroading. But there are lots of things that can’t be avoided. I mean, for f$&%’s sake, any adventure that happens in a dungeon is filled with unavoidable things because the party can’t tunnel through rock. They can only explore where there are rooms and halls. If the only path through the dungeon to the treasure leads through the dragon’s lair, is THAT railroading?
That’s a tough one, isn’t it? Because, if you say yes, then every adventure that has a goal is railroading since the path through that adventure MUST pass through that goal. If the goal of the adventure is to recover the lost Staff of Conformity, the party must, at some point, end up in the scene in which they recover the Staff of Conformity. Right? And if a Standard Guardian Beast Type 7-B is protecting the staff, the party must deal with that beast somehow. How is that NOT railroading?
And now you have a problem. Either you have to do the old cop out of “okay, yeah, that’s railroading; but it’s not BAD railroading,” or you have to accept that railroading isn’t just about steering the plot through a series of preplanned events. And if you have to distinguish between “good railroading” and “bad railroading,” you still have some terms to define before you hit anything useful.
Okay, fine. Maybe it isn’t just about the GM steering the plot. Maybe it’s just about the GM not allowing the players to change the plot, right? Well, let’s talk about that.
Contrarian A$&holes
There is a certain category of player – let’s call them contrarian a$&holes – who just want to f$&% with the game, the world, the GM, and the players. Mostly, they are young players. Usually antisocial. A little egotistical. And they are drunk on the free-form openness of the game. You know the kind I mean. They are the sorts of players who ignore the quest and just want to roll to see if they are getting drunk in the tavern. They are the players who kill helpful NPCs for funsies. They are the sort who will always turn left when the sign points them to the right. They are just a f$&%ing delight to have at the table. Alone, they ruin the game for everyone. But if you end up with an entire group of them, they end up having a blast, and you end up depressed and miserable.
No one would argue those people are playing the game right. I mean, this is where the hippie-dippies of Internet GMs would use the smarmy term “social contract” to describe the unspoken, unwritten agreement between the players and the GM to all agree to play the same basic game. And usually, that game involves there being some sort of quest or goal and the party will work together to complete that quest or goal. And there are usually other agreements tacked on, too, like not being a bunch of murdering arsonist d$&%bags who are just killing and burning their way through the world.
Imagine a group of contrarian a$&holes – or a group that includes one such contrarian a$&hole – encountering the mysterious woman on the way to the vampire castle. They – the players – decide to give in their random impulse and kill the mysterious woman. If the GM puts up a fight – especially if the GM has had this argument with the contrarian a$&holes in question before – is THAT railroading? The BAD kind of railroading?
Let’s put aside arguments about how dysfunctional that group is for the moment and admit that, no, the players are wrong there. They aren’t engaging with the game in accordance with the – hurk, I really hate this phrase – social contract. And the GM is in the right to try to stop it. It isn’t railroading. It’s a fundamental disagreement about the game being played and whether the GM and the players belong at the same table.
But now, let’s take a lesser example. Consider the party that simply isn’t interested in the plot the GM is offering. They don’t want to fight a vampire. They want to go explore the dark forest or whatever. So, the minute they are out of town, they turn off the road and head for the dark forest. Just to see what’s out there. The GM might plead with them. He might offer them warnings about what the vampire lord will do in their absence, trying to entice them back on the path. He might fill the dark forest with terrible threats so powerful that it forces the characters back onto the road. Or he might say, “okay, you wander around the dark forest for the entire day and nothing happens. There are no monsters. There’s nothing interesting. Now, can you get back on the road and continue the adventure?”
Is THAT railroading? Is it BAD railroading? Who is being unfair to whom there? You can argue that the GM is unfair by not running the game that the players want to play. You can argue the players are unfair by ignoring the game the GM worked hard to provide. If you’re smart, you’ll argue that both sides are in the wrong because there’s clearly a breakdown of communication at the table. And you’d be right. And that’s kind of the point.
Railroading Isn’t a Thing
Ultimately, the truth is, railroading is a useless term, not because shrieking, stinky, Internet babies ruined it, but because it was always something of a useless term. You can argue about “stealing the players’ agency” and “fighting for control of the narrative” until you’re f$&%ing exhausted, but that won’t get you anywhere. A smart person – like me – will always be able to find an example that proves your definition of railroading isn’t ALWAYS a problem. And if you try to counter by saying that sometimes railroading isn’t bad, that smart person – me – will turn around and demand a definition of bad railroading. And we’ll be back where we started, with you not shutting up and me wishing you’d just shut up.
See, ultimately, here’s the problem. Let’s suppose the same vampire-mysterious-woman-traitor-plot we’ve been using all along. But let’s assume the party is totally taken in. She seems helpful, the party invites her along, they end up in the dungeons, and then, lo-and-be-jeebus, she betrays them, and they are trapped, and she flies away, cackling, into the night. Exactly as the GM planned it. Did the GM railroad the players? Of course not. He just set up a plot development. And the players executed. It became railroading when the GM started battling with the players for control of the plot.
Railroading isn’t a thing. The real thing, the real problem, is the power struggle. The thing that happens when the players feel like they’ve been robbed of their agency and become contrarian to reclaim their agency. And then the GM feels like the players are turning contrarian and fights to put them back on the path of the game. Sometimes, the GM starts it by trying to force a plot development. Sometimes, the players start it by trying to be contrarian. Most often, someone starts it due to a misunderstanding.
I do not deny that some inexperienced and immature GMs do rob their players of their agency in an attempt to ensure the plot develops exactly the way they plan. And that does fit the traditional definition of the word “railroading.” What I’m saying is that it’s not a useful distinction. Because, once there is a power struggle for control over the plot, who started it is immaterial. I don’t see the need to distinguish those moments when the GM steals the players’ agency – railroading – from the moments when the players are being f$&%abouts – contrary a$&holery – because they are just about who hit first. And who hit first doesn’t matter. What matters is that the resulting slap fight is going to ruin a game. And maybe some friendships.
Solving Out-of-Game Problems In-Game
I’ve said this a thousand f$&%ing times: NEVER solve out-of-game problems in the game. And railroading and contrariness – real or perceived – are OUT OF GAME problems. When the players FEEL railroaded, the proper response is to stop the game and talk to the GM. When the GM FEELS the players are being contrary a$&holes, the proper response is to stop the game and talk to the players. Likely, what’s happening is either a mistake or else there really is a problem underlying everyone’s expectations about the game. The players trying to walk off the road or kill the NPC? That’s solving the problem in the game. The GM trying to force the players back on the road or punish alignment changes? Same f$&%ing thing.
But none of that is really what 25YODM actually asked. That’s just me telling her – and all of you – how it is.
So let’s try to get this back to the series of questions that 25YODM demanded that I answer by way of some sort of conclusion.
Some Sort of Useful Conclusion
So, here is what 25YODM actually asked:
What is the correct definition of railroading and when is a DM doing it? Is it always bad to railroad, or can it be helpful or necessary sometimes? How can a DM avoid railroading? Or, if railroading is sometimes helpful or necessary, how can a DM avoid the bad kind of railroading?
And here is my advice. Not my answer, mind you. My advice. You can dig back through everything I said above and distill out some kind of answer if you think it’s important. But I don’t.
Don’t worry about it. Don’t worry about railroading means and whether it’s right or wrong or when it’s useful or what, technically, it is and how it happens. And don’t worry about you accidentally railroading your players and ruining your game. Because you won’t. Actual railroading is pretty rare. And it’s the response to the railroading – the resulting power struggle – that ruins the game. Well-intentioned GMs might occasionally diminish their players’ agency in an attempt to set up a good story or game element. And there’s nothing inherently wrong with that; no more than there is anything wrong with planning a boss fight at the end of a dungeon. Sometimes, though, the players might veer away from that setup. Either accidentally or because they have briefly seen through the smoke and mirrors and are asserting their agency. Which is also not inherently wrong. But, in cases like that, the well-intentioned GM – precisely because they are well-intentioned – will generally veer away from an extreme power struggle. And now, you’re smart enough to recognize the power struggle and address it.
In other words, recognize your capacity to accidentally railroad, but don’t be afraid of it like some kind of Mr. Hyde waiting to spring out and ruin your game. Just deal with it when and if it comes up. Because ACTUAL railroading is highly subjective. It depends on when the players FEEL it. And the fallout depends on the response to it. And that means that everything about railroading depends on the group and the context.
But if you are afraid of your capacity to railroad, you might paralyze yourself into planning nothing. Or, at least, you might not plan really great things like the mysterious apparent ally who betrays the party to the vampire lord at the climax of the story. It’s a terrible carpenter who throws away his hammer just because he knows it can be used to break skulls as easily as it can be used to pound in nails.
Meanwhile, good job not dying. I hope you continue to not die for many years to come. Just like everyone else. I mean, I managed to write this whole article without dying. No one is congratulating me. Where’s MY cake? | {
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I started playing ultimate in the late 80s at a N.Y.C. church camp where many of my older friends played ultimate at their local high schools (Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech). I started a team at Livingston HS my junior year and played for Rutgers Machine for three more. Ultimate was my first attempt at leadership as I founded, captained, and coached the first-ever team at my high school, and it left an indelible mark on me. I believe I have the qualifications necessary due to my experiences coaching youth and adults, organizing official USAU tournaments, working in non-profits, serving on non-profit boards, and working in local government. I am running on a platform of helping USA Ultimate's discussion on equity with a framework that leads with race. To be specific, this would be an intersectional framework. I would use my experience with the City of Seattle's Race and Social Justice toolkit to review USA Ultimate's policies. You can read more about this initiative here. For many years, I've watched the young people I coached and worked with in South Seattle struggle when it came to macro and micro-aggressions in the form of name-calling, questionable spirit-calls/cheers, and parent comments (amongst other things). I would like to use this experience to help address what is becoming a more common experience in our community and to build bridges that connect rather than divide. Here are my qualifications: Ultimate-related experiences: 11+ years of coaching experience at the HS, MS, and club levels. Former Skyd Magazine Youth Coach of the Year and multiple WA State Open CoTY awards during my seven years coaching the Franklin High School Boys team. Coached Seattle Underground for the past five years and worked as DiscNW's second-ever Youth Coordinator for three years. For 10 years, I was either the General Manager or U-19 mixed coach for DiscNW's YCC program and am one of the co-founders of Southend Ultimate Program (which runs the well-known All Girl Everything Ultimate Program). I was also a founding board member and officer for SUP. Non-profit experiences: I have served on three different boards/committees with local non-profits (Seattle Works, 826 Seattle, Leadership Tomorrow) and have worked directly for non-profits for 10 years. Government experience: I have local government experience as a Supervisor with the City of Seattle's Department of Neighborhoods. My role was working with a team of community engagement coordinators. During that time, I interfaced with multiple government departments, non-profits, business organizations, local community groups, and elected officials. I sat on the Special Events Committee which heard from and gave feedback to hundreds of organizations that wanted to utilize city parks/streets for fairs, events, marches, and run/walks. I am well-versed in multi-prong community engagement with a race/equity lens. Currently, I work at The Seattle Foundation where I am working on a two-year grant to study the impact of "Othering and Belonging" on the Puget Sound region. Professor John Powell at UC Berkeley believes that most people come together (or "bond") through shared interests. That is true of ultimate. We all love this sport, and it draws us together. However, when bonding communities become too insular, they tend to "break" – meaning that we start differentiating ourselves from those unlike us, or we make assumptions about everyone in the group. I see this today as ultimate has worked hard on gender equity but seems to miss the boat on racial equity. In order for organizations, teams, players, to move forward, we need what Dr. Powell calls "bridging" relationships. To be a bridge is difficult as bridges get walked on. It relies on dialogue, honesty, open-mindedness, and most of all, vulnerability. I would appreciate the opportunity to serve on USA Ultimate's Board of Directors in order to help build the bridges so necessary not only in our sport but in our communities. Thank you. | {
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More than a thousand jobseekers poured through the doors of the Cardiff Jobs Fair within an hour of it opening.
Hundreds of jobs at more than 40 firms were on offer at the event in Cardiff’s City Hall.
Career prospects including the armed forces, hospitality, catering and retail were showcased at the fair, which sprawled across two floors.
Those attending the event were also able to brush up their CVs, receive redundancy advice and listen to motivational speakers making presentations on different aspects of find a job.
Major employers including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Hilton Hotels and Lloyds TSB were also represented.
The free event was organised by Cardiff council’s Local Training & Enterprise team in partnership with Jobcentre Plus and Careers Wales.
Peter Cronin, employer liaison officer for Cardiff council, said: “This is the fifth event of its kind as we usually have one in the spring and one in the autumn.
“We are living in a difficult climate regarding jobs and I think this is reflected in the cross-section of people we have coming through the door. There is a huge cross section of jobseekers, from young people just out of college to the person in their mid 40s who has been made redundant.
“We had around 240 vacancies on offer and lots of opportunities for job seekers.”
Among the jobseekers was college student Mark Williams, from Ely, Cardiff, who has applied for more than 300 jobs, received three interviews and no offers.
“I have been looking for a job since June last year,” says the 18 year old.
“It is really difficult to find anything and knocks your confidence. I came to the fair to see what is around and I signed up to the Prince’s Trust.
“I hadn’t heard about their work before coming to the fair. I have signed up for voluntary work with them because it will look good on my CV and they told me that 75% of their people go on to get jobs.”
Young mums Victoria Whitfield, 22, Alana Moyles-Chick, 21, and 19-year-old Katherine Culbertson, from Llanishen, Cardiff, came along in the hope of finding jobs that could fit around childcare for their young sons.
“It is really difficult to find a job when you have young children,” said Victoria.
“I went back to work after having my son Tyler-Joseph, but it was impossible to work the hours and try to juggle childcare. I was having to ask friends and family to help out all the time and he was being moved around too much. In the end I had to give it up. It is really hard.”
Her friend Alana, who has a one-year-old son Charlie-Alan, agreed: “People think that you don’t want to work, but it is the opposite. I would love to be able to get out and have a job, but the hours available and the cost of childcare make it really difficult.
“I didn’t expect it to be quite so busy, it just shows how many people there are out there looking for jobs.” | {
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In our latest podcast, Jessica and I discussed the past week in politics and atheism.
We talked about:
— We’re having our first meet-and-greet in Chicago! Please join us if you can! (0:30)
— Impeachment is a bad idea, says Christian Right leader who constantly wanted to impeach Obama. (1:30)
— Why did America lose its religion? Thank the internet. (6:06)
— A GOP lawmaker wants to stop abortion because he loves gay people too much. (15:08)
— Be sure to test those rape kits. That concludes my TED talk. (20:04)
— This 90-million-year-old fossil remained buried because its founders feared God. (23:58)
— Don’t do this with a child at church. Or anywhere. (29:23)
— Ark Encounter got schooled by a local superintendent. (31:48)
— The CEO of a Christian magazine is stepping away after accusations of racial insensitivity. (35:52)
— When you’re in the marching band, this is how you troll an anti-gay school. (44:30)
— Donald Trump doesn’t do grammar so good. (47:29)
— People who think God is real say climate change is a hoax. (49:15)
— We found it. The worst right-wing take on Greta Thunberg. (51:35)
We’d love to hear your thoughts on the podcast. If you have any suggestions for people we should chat with, please leave them in the comments, too.
You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or Google Play, stream all the episodes on SoundCloud or Stitcher, or just listen to the whole thing below. Our RSS feed is here. And if you like what you’re hearing, please consider supporting this site on Patreon and leaving us a positive rating!
(Image via Shutterstock)
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"The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the most translated document in the world, now available in more than 500 languages."
It is not a good time for human rights in many parts of the world. That is sad to say on Human Rights Day, which we observe every year on 10 December—the day the United Nations General Assembly adopted, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In 2018, we commemorate the 70th anniversary of the adoption of this Declaration, which has been described as “a milestone document that proclaimed the inalienable rights which everyone is inherently entitled to as a human being—regardless of race, color, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.” According to the United Nations website, the UDHR is the most translated document in the world, now available in more than 500 languages. Drafted by representatives of diverse legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the declaration proclaims universal values and establishes the equal dignity and worth of every person. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile, in her statement for this year’s Human Rights Day, believes that “the human rights ideal, laid down in this Declaration, has been one of the most constructive advances of ideas in human history—as well as one of the most successful,” but she acknowledges that this progress is under threat today. According to Bachelet: “We are born ‘free and equal,’ but millions of people on this planet do not stay free and equal. Their dignity is trampled and their rights are violated on a daily basis. In many countries, the fundamental recognition that all human beings are equal, and have inherent rights, is under attack. The institutions so painstakingly set up by States to achieve common solutions to common problems are being undermined. And the comprehensive web of international, regional and national laws and treaties that gave teeth to the vision of the Universal Declaration is also being chipped away by governments and politicians increasingly focused on narrow, nationalist interests. We all need to stand up more energetically for the rights it showed us everyone should have—not just ourselves, but all our fellow human beings—and which we are at constant risk of eroding through our own, and our leaders’ forgetfulness, neglect or wanton disregard.” The Philippines is no exception. We have entered into a dangerous phase for human rights when no less than the President calls for the organization of death squads, when the law is manipulated to attack opposition politicians like Senator Trillanes or media personalities and organizations like Maria Ressa and Rappler, when defenders of human rights like Attorney Ben Ramos are assassinated or harassed as in the Talaingod 18, or when the Departments of Education and Social Welfare and Development are being weaponized against indigenous peoples as is happening in many places in Mindanao. I write this column from the great city of Krakow, home of the kings of Poland, where not so very far away, in Auschwitz, the worst human rights atrocities were inflicted during World War II on the Jews of Poland, Germany, and Eastern Europe. But from this city also came Saint Pope John Paul II who consistently taught that “it is in this dignity of the person that human rights find their immediate source. And it is respect for this dignity that gives birth to their effective protection.” In Krakow can also be visited the factory owned by Oskar Schindler, from where he saved 1200 Jewish lives. According to the Talmud, he who saves one life saves the entire world. Schindler saved 1200 lives but because many of them had children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren later on, he saved thousands more and continue to save new generations being born from those lines now. As we speak, there are people like Schindler in the Philippines and elsewhere, those who save lives in standing up for human rights. In the 2019 elections, we can even elect some of them to be senators—certainly Chel Diokno, Neri Colmenares, Erin Tañada, and Samira Gutoc are known first of all as human rights defenders. And there will be justice and accountability. The recent announcement of the International Criminal Court Prosecutor that it continues to investigate the crimes against humanity in the country is reassuring. Martin Luther King is definitely right: “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”Last Friday, participants of the conference “The Real Score: The Real Score: Upholding Life, Dignity and Justice Amidst Duterte’s War on Drugs” issued its conference statement entitled “Life, dignity and justice, not tyranny and death! I make mine these words: “We, families of victims of extrajudicial killings, religious and lay persons of different faith traditions, human rights advocates, and concerned citizens from various walks of life, gathered in conference to uphold the sanctity of life, the dignity of every person, and justice for all men and women, hereby state the following: We recognize the gravity and prevalence of drug addiction as a social problem and health issue that are rooted in mass poverty, marginalization, inadequate awareness and hopelessness. We believe that any solution to the illegal drug problem should, be intentionally for the rehabilitation of those who have fallen prey to drug addiction and misuse. This includes providing better social conditions for them and their families to assist them in extricating themselves from poverty and injustice. Such efforts, like socio-economic interventions, should respect of the rights and dignity of everyone involved. In this light, we are appalled by the continuing killings and human rights atrocities being committed in the name of President Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called war on drugs. It is unthinkable that almost 5,000 drug suspects have been killed in police anti-drug operations, and 16,000 others in yet unknown circumstances, since the start of this war. These are human beings whose rights to life and due process were violated with impunity by killers who seem to be above or beyond the law. Such victims often leave behind surviving families and relatives who are traumatized, stigmatized and suffer the difficult loss of a bread winner. We have learned that such brutal and purely police approaches to the drug problem have been tried in other countries and have miserably failed. President Duterte has also clearly bungled his campaign promise to rid the country of illegal drugs in three to six months; he has even admitted that he will not be able to solve the drug problem within his term. And yet, he has vowed that the campaign will be as “relentless and chilling” as when it started. Meanwhile, drugs continue to proliferate, as it appears to be business as usual for drug lords, smugglers and their protectors in government. With sufficient drug rehabilitation facilities sorely lacking, little to nothing has been done to reintegrate former drug users or small-time dealers. Similarly, livelihood opportunities for the poor, as well as projects and programs to provide jobs and overcome poverty, are sorely lacking. Worse, the President has announced his plan to organize a “Duterte Death Squad” to extend the same bloody approach to suspected rebels and political dissenters, possibly leading to even more killings and human rights violations. We cannot stand idly in the midst of such wanton desecration of human life, dignity and justice. We therefore pledge to: ORGANIZE and support the victims of the drug war and their families for them to rise and lead better lives, free from the scourge of illegal drugs. DEMAND that President Duterte--including his government and law enforcers--stop committing, encouraging or condoning extrajudicial killings, whether in anti-crime or internal security operations. All cases of extrajudicial killings should be seriously investigated and prosecuted, starting with those committed by suspected state or state-backed agents. WORK with all stakeholders in addressing the illegal drug menace in an effective and comprehensive manner, specially addressing health and socio-economic aspects of the problem. ACT to end the killings and other forms of tyranny and to uphold human rights, dignity and justice in all our endeavors.” Join us and together let us defeat those who would take away our human rights. | {
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(Reuters) - Univision Communications Inc said on Saturday it has deleted postings subject to active litigation against Gawker Media Group Inc to create a “clean slate” for the online publishing company acquired for $135 million in a bankruptcy auction last month.
People walk past a building that lists offices for Gawker Media in New York City, U.S., June 10, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
Gawker Media sought bankruptcy in June after facing a $140 million court judgment following an invasion of privacy lawsuit from former professional wrestler Hulk Hogan, whose real name is Terry Bollea, over the publication of excerpts from a sex tape.
“Following our acquisition of assets from Gawker Media, we have decided to take down select articles that are the subject of pending litigation against the prior owners,” Univision said in a statement.
“At this time of transition, the decision was based on a desire to have a clean slate as we look to support and grow the editorial missions of the acquired brands,” it said.
A bankruptcy judge approved Univision’s winning bid in August following a bankruptcy auction and Gawker Media said its website Gawker.com known for celebrity and media gossip would shut down and its media assets would be integrated into Fusion Media Group.
Hogan’s lawsuit against Gawker was bankrolled by billionaire investor Peter Thiel. Gawker.com in 2007 published an article about Thiel’s homosexuality.
Removal of the postings required a vote of the interim general counsel, interim CEO, and the executive editor in line with Gawker’s collective bargaining agreement.
Gawker Media Executive Editor John Cook said in a memo to staffers, seen by Reuters, that the executives had voted on Friday to delete the six postings from Gawker Media sites: three from Deadspin, two from tech blog Gizmodo and one from women’s website Jezebel.
Cook’s memo said he had voted to retain the postings and removing them was a mistake.
“While I believe that Univision is a company that values and defends aggressive, independent reporting, the decision to remove these posts is, in my view, at odds with its tradition of confronting bullies with honesty,” Cook said in the memo.
The postings deleted involved a man who sued Gawker over its reporting on his claims to have invented email, former major league pitcher Mitch Williams, a conservative blogger, and a man acquitted of sexual assault.
On Saturday, links to the six postings said, “This story is no longer available as it is the subject of pending litigation against the prior owners of this site.” | {
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Da Revista Fórum
Uma das autoras de um pedido de impeachment da presidenta Dilma e protagonista de uma cena de protesto que viralizou nas redes sociais, Janaína já teve cargos comissionados em dois governos tucanos: como assessora especial de ministro da Justiça e como assessora técnica de gabinete
Janaína Paschoal, a advogada do discurso ensandecido, tinha cargos nos governos FHC e Alckmin
Janaína Paschoal ficou conhecida principalmente na última terça-feira (5) quando viralizou, nas redes sociais, um vídeo em que faz um discurso ensandecido em apoio ao pedido de impeachment da presidenta Dilma Rousseff. Aos berros, a advogada virou piada entre os internautas por fazer alusões de poder a uma cobra e, com gestos peculiares, como rodar uma bandeira do Brasil.
Ela é uma das autoras, junto com advogados Hélio Bicudo e Miguel Reale Jr., do pedido de impeachment que está sob análise da comissão especial da Câmara dos Deputados. Seu envolvimento com a política e até sua suposta preferência partidária, no entanto, já vem muito antes do pedido de impeachment da presidenta Dilma.
Janaína exerceu, por duas ocasiões, cargos comissionados em governos tucanos. No segundo mandato do governo de Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB), a advogada atuava como assessora especial do ministro da Justiça, tendo sido exonerada em 2002, conforme consta neste arquivo do Diário Oficial da União.
Até 2002, Janaína atuava em cargo comissionado do governo FHC. (Reprodução)
Pouco antes ela atuava no governo tucano paulista que estava sob a gestão de Geraldo Alckmin (PSDB). Conforme consta neste arquivo do site da secretaria de Segurança Pública de São Paulo (SSP), em agosto de 2001 ela atuava como assessora técnica de gabinete do governo. | {
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Update:
Homicide detectives are now investigating after the 31-year-old man died at the hospital. Detectives are continuing their work on developing a possible suspect description.
Detectives are asking that if you have any information in this case please call the homicide tip line at 206-233-5000.
Original:
Officers are investigating after a man was shot at 1 Avenue South and South Spokane Street just before early Tuesday morning.
Officers received calls of shots fired in a homeless encampment near the intersection of 1 Avenue South and South Spokane Street just before 5 a.m. this morning. Officers arrived moments later and found a man shot in the chest.
Officers conducted first aid until medics were able to take the man to Harborview Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.
Officers are currently searching the area with k-9 units for two possible suspects.
This remains an active scene and we will update this post details as more information becomes available. | {
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In 2005 and 2006, two moderate Democratic candidates, Jim Webb and Tim Kaine, won in Virginia with large margins in the Washington suburbs. Their victories demonstrated that there was a new path to victory for Democrats, one that did not depend on winning Southern conservative Democrats, the way Mark Warner did in 2001.
Georgia might well be moving down the same road as Virginia. No other plausibly competitive state — not Nevada or Virginia, not Colorado or North Carolina — has had a change in the racial composition of the electorate that’s as favorable for Democrats. That’s giving Georgia Democrats hope that they might win a race that they almost certainly would have viewed as a lost cause only a few years ago.
The Senate matchup in Georgia was finally set Tuesday night, when David Perdue won the Republican nomination by defeating Jack Kingston in a runoff primary. Mr. Perdue, a businessman, is not a candidate who is expected to implode on the campaign trail, the way some Republicans have over the last few cycles. But he is not especially experienced, and some believe he could be caricatured in some of the same ways Mitt Romney was.
On the other side is Michelle Nunn, a former chief executive of the Points of Light volunteer group and the daughter of Sam Nunn, a renowned former senator from Georgia. The Democratic window to victory remains very narrow, and a Blue Georgia might still be a few years off, but Ms. Nunn is well suited to try to pry it open. | {
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not going to lie I've been playing alot of sky block recently although I didn't notice the similarities until after the first sketch. | {
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Every day that the federal shutdown drags on, Americans complain about getting too little from the government in return for their taxes. But hundreds of thousands of public servants are really getting absolutely nothing from Uncle Sam in return for another day of work. As the gridlock in Washington paralyzes the federal bureaucracy, some agencies remains on auto-pilot, thanks to a stripped-down skeleton staff of drafted workers. Ad Policy
While about half of the workers impacted by the shutdown are officially furloughed, some 420,000 “essential” employees have been forced to report to work—for free. Their jobs include work under security and safety agencies, including airport security administration and border agents, enforcement and investigation personnel at the justice and transportation departments, and various first-responders.
For those working for free, while the shutdown drags on, many are pushing for formal restitution for the hours they’re putting in. The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union representing federal workers, is suing the government for damages under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Filed by the law firm Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch on behalf of the impacted workers, the suit alleges that by imposing forced free labor, the administration demonstrates “conscious or reckless disregard of the requirements of the FLSA.” The case mirrors a lawsuit brought during the 2013 shutdown, which won compensatory damages for an estimated 25,000 workers. Although the incoming Congress, with Democrats controlling the House, is seeking to reach a legislative compromise with Trump that would allow the government to reopen while leaving other debates aside, the lawsuit signifies the anxiety and frustration that accumulates daily, as Trump continues holding workers hostage to his monomaniacal obsession with building a border wall.
In the announcement of the suit, J. David Cox Sr., national president of AFGE, denounced the administration’s exploitation of federal workers as political pawns, saying it “is nothing short of inhumane.… Our intent is to force the government and the administration to make all federal employees whole.” Related Article Washington Trained Guatemala’s Mass Murderers—and the Border Patrol Played a Role Greg Grandin and Elizabeth Oglesby
In the meantime, for an indefinite period, national museums and zoo exhibits lie dormant, tax processing and marriage ceremonies remain on pause, and campsites are getting mired in neglected toilets and uncollected trash. But regardless of how (or whether) they are ultimately compensated, many of the workers running the government on neutral gear view the current crisis as a holiday insult capping years of injury: The pay scales of much of the workforce, as well as contracted private-sector workers, have long stagnated at unsustainable levels. The freeze in Washington compounds an ongoing impasse between Congress and Trump over pending legislation for a modest 1.9 percent pay raise in 2019.
Attorney Heidi Burakiewicz says that forcing civil servants to work without pay “is not an acceptable way for any employer, let alone the US government, to treat its employees.” And for many, the damage has already been done. Not just in terms of the hole left in their finances but also the other tolls of the shutdown—economic anxieties for families with mounting debts, and the civil service’s eroding trust in the nation’s biggest deadbeat boss—the White House.
The #ShutdownStories twitter fray percolates with bitter workers’ comments, like “I know I will *eventually* get back pay but my bills won’t wait for Congress to get its act together!” and “That moment of panic when you work for the federal government and wonder if you’ll be able to keep the lights on for your severely disabled child because ridiculously wealthy people are willing to sacrifice your paycheck for a long political battle.” Current Issue View our current issue
Other idled workers are even worse off: private-sector contractors who work indirectly for agencies are both overlooked and unpaid. Although they perform crucial work for public programs in professional and blue-collar positions, unlike direct federal employees, they are largely non-union, and Washington will owe zero back wages when the shutdown ends.
It doesn’t help either, that many federal contracts fuel poverty-wage service jobs, ranging from concession workers at monuments and staff at Medicaid hospital facilities. Under Obama, contract workers campaigned successfully for a floor wage of $10.10 per hour. But under Trump, according to the advocacy group Good Jobs Nation, agencies have provided “funds and benefits worth over $1.6 trillion to private employers, funding more than 12.5 million private-sector jobs, 4.5 million of which pay below $15 per hour”—which falls short of the living wage in many parts of the country.
The FLSA lawsuit is about as far as AFGE can legally go in holding Washington accountable for the violating workers’ rights. Striking is prohibited for federal employees, as it is for many public-sector workers on the state level. However, progressive labor activists argue that the shutdown has the potential to catalyze new militancy among federal workers.
According to Georgetown University labor historian Joseph A. McCartin, “Although they have no legal right to strike, it isn’t entirely clear that courts or the Federal Labor Relations Authority”—the agency governing federal labor issues—“would define a refusal to work without pay as a strike. This might be even less clear if such action was taken without official union authorization (i.e., as a kind of wildcat). We aren’t at that point yet, obviously. But if this was to last a couple of more weeks.…we’ll be entering some uncharted territory.”
A large-scale federal government workers’ revolt would be a radical repudiation of Trump’s political warfare. Yet even without such a mass action, small acts of resistance could yet unfold below the surface as workers struggle to survive through the limbo. Because the shutdown has resulted in the cancellation of paid leave for essential employees, they are barred from tending to scheduled family and medical appointments. But although they’re technically obligated to work, some workers have simply chosen to stick to their prior commitments—even if the government hasn’t. There have been anecdotal reports of no-shows, according to Burakiewicz; apparently workers are not showing up and instead opting to get “marked Absent Without Leave…. If you have AWOL that’s something that can lead to disciplinary action.” But when you’re working for nothing, the risk may be worth it. “The people who are living paycheck to paycheck, because of all the other medical issues and other things they’re dealing with in life,” she adds, “getting a paycheck that’s just even one day short can make a significant difference in someone’s life.”
Perhaps some workers who are fed up with politicians’ dereliction of duty have started opting for their own quiet insubordination. | {
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In a quest to find more affordable, fresh and local food, many communities – particularly those in the urban, space-starved metropolitan areas – are moving towards the urban farming model of food production and distribution.
Community gardening and localized food production are not new concepts. These types of projects first made an appearance in American culture during World War I and World War II. Referred to as “Victory Gardens”, these spaces were implemented throughout the U.S. as a temporary solution to Depression-Era food shortages. Besides solving food problems, they had the added benefit of bringing neighbors together in difficult times and boosting wartime morale.
Similarly, the benefits of modern day community gardens go well beyond providing a fresh and local food source. Studies have shown that gardening can improve overall fitness, stress levels and general well-being.
During this digital age, community gardening can serve as a soothing balm for the sore of a disengaged, hyper-technological American culture. Many urban communities are already pursuing such projects but if your community is not, fret not. We offer these 6 easy steps to start your own!
First Step: Gain Community Support
There can be no community garden without a community. A successful project requires participation from local leaders and buy-in from trusted gatekeepers of the community. A great way to begin connecting with these influencers is to attend city council meetings and reach out to local government officials.
It’s also important to develop a group of committed, like-minded volunteers. Holding informational sessions at local farmer’s markets can help to boost interest and identify community members who are interested in your project.
A great way to organize participants is to create a Meet-Up that also allows you to schedule planting and gardening shifts.
Second Step: Find “The Place”
Once you have recruited a group of enthusiastic people for your project, you can begin searching for an available space for the garden.
The best place to start your search is your local city or county parks and recreation department. Many times, these offices will have open space that may be available for community projects. In addition, this office is a great resource for possible funding for your tools and seeds.
You can also check with local charities or churches that have charitable reaches within the community.
If these options are not viable, the final solution can be finding privately owned lands. If you discover a seemingly abandoned lot, contact the tax assessor’s office to find the current owner. Then you can contact the owner and request permission to use the space.
Third Step: Pick your Crop
Creating a nice, lush garden is more than just finding available space and volunteers. There are many other factors that can affect the success of your garden:
Know the planting season for your area. Most seeds are planted in spring or early summer, but this varies by region and also among plants. Consult the Farmer’s Almanac for yearly planting date/time projections. Make sure you check which plants grow well together and which should be spaced apart. For example, beets do not do well when planted next to garlic or onion. In addition, many plants need extra room to grow or may need a trellis installed for proper support.
For a detailed Garden Planner Worksheet, check out NRCS’s guide, that helps you find the most suitable veggies for your project!
Fourth Step: Cultivate and Seed
After mapping out your prospective garden, it’s time to cultivate the soil and plant. This is probably the most grueling part of the process but also the most rewarding.
Pick a day when all of the members are available and schedule a full day to prepare the soil and plant the seeds. Depending on the type of soil and region where you live, this could be as easy as tilling up a few beds with the existing soil, or you may need to bring in mulch or compost to increase the soil quality. You can have the PH level of your soil tested at your Cooperative Extension County Office.
Fifth Step: Develop Harvesting and Work Schedules
The hard work doesn’t end with cultivating and planting. Vegetable plants need a lot of care and attention in order to produce good quality fruit. You should develop a schedule for the group in which each member is assigned tasks and times to water, weed and check on the plants. Always try to use organic means to de-bug and de-pest your gardens.
Sixth Step: Pay It Forward
Once up and going, vegetable and herb gardens can produce a surprisingly large amount of food. In order to avoid waste, you should donate the extra food to local food banks.
Well, now you know the essential parts of creating a community garden. If you just want to join an existing one, you can find a common garden search tool here.
If you enjoy working together on a more healthy, sustainable and equal future, hop on our newsletter to stay updated! | {
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Directed by: Revel Co DP/Editor: Rupert WalkerProducer: Brandon SemenukPhotographer: Ian CollinsSound Design: Keith White AudioVFX: Dan GaudCourse Build: Dan Fleury, Evan Intern, Will CliffordSpecial thanks to Jhon Bonham | {
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उपद्रव के बाद महिला ने सुनाई आपबीती, कार लॉक न होता पता नहीं क्या करते
सोनीपत/पानीपत (हरियाणा). जाट कम्युनिटी के रिजर्वेशन की मांग को लेकर हुए आंदोलन के दौरान मुरथल में जीटी रोड पर 22 फरवरी की रात हरिद्वार से दिल्ली आ रही एक महिला ने 7 लोगों पर रेप का आरोप लगाया है। पीड़िता की मानें तो उसके साथ रेप करने वालों में उसका देवर और जेठ भी शामिल है। इस मामले में एफआईआर दर्ज कर ली गई है। एसआईटी ने मामले को लेकर क्या बताया... महिला के साथ रेप पर डीआईजी राजश्री ने क्या बताया - हाईकोर्ट के दखल देने के बाद बनी एसआईटी की कमान संभाल रहीं डीआईजी राजश्री ने बताया कि एक महिला ने पुलिस से गैंगरेप की शिकायत की है। - इस बारे में डीआईजी ने कहा कि फिलहाल इस बात को कन्फर्म नहीं किया जा सकता है कि मामला रिजर्वेशन को लेकर हुए आंदोलन से जुड़ा है या नहीं। - उधर, सोनीपत के एसपी अभिषेक गर्ग ने रविवार को बयान दिया था कि आंदोलन के दौरान किसी भी महिला के साथ कोई जोर-जबरदस्ती नहीं की गई। - गर्ग ने कहा था, "इस केस में जांच जारी है। एसआईटी ने मजिस्ट्रेट के सामने चश्मदीद का बयान दर्ज किया है।" शाह ने खट्टर से ली रिपोर्ट, मिनिस्टर के घर आगजनी मामले में एफआईआर - सूत्रों के मुताबिक, अमित शाह ने सीएम मनोहर लाल खट्टर से हालात पर डिटेल रिपोर्ट ली।
- रविवार देर शाम 8 बजे शाह के घर पर सीएम की उनसे मुलाकात हुई।
- उन्होंने खट्टर से हालात कंट्रोल करने में कहां चूक हुई और वक्त रहते आंदोलनकारियों को रोकने में कैसी दिक्कत आई, इस पर चर्चा की। बयान से मुकर गया चश्मदीद - रविवार देर शाम डीआईजी राजश्री सिंह ने एक चश्मदीद के घर जाकर उसका बयान रिकॉर्ड किया। - उधर, रविवार को पंजाब के ट्रक चालक व चश्मदीद निरंजन के भी बयान दर्ज किए गए। - लेकिन उसने महिलाओं से दरिंदगी होते देखने से इनकार किया है। - कैप्टन अभिमन्यु के घर पर आगजनी के आरोप में पुलिस ने 40 लोगों को नामजद किया है। - इनमें 10-12 वकील व स्टूडेंट, पूर्व सरपंच और कुछ दूसरे नाम बताए जा रहे हैं।
- उपद्रवियों ने पेट्रोल बम से उनके घर पर हमला किया। फायरिंग भी की। तीन चश्मदीद आए सामने - इस मामले में तीन चश्मदीद सामने आए हैं। उन्होंने बताया कि उपद्रवियों ने चंडीगढ़ की ओर से आ रही कुछ गाड़ियों को रोका। - उनमें से महिलाओं को घसीटना शुरू कर दिया, विरोध करने पर पुरुषों को बुरी तरह पीटा। - महिलाओं के कपड़े भी फट गए, उपद्रवी महिलाओं को खेतों की ओर घसीट ले गए और गाड़ियों में आग लगा दी। - बच्चों को नीचे फेंक दिया। उसके बाद क्या हुआ, हम नहीं देख पाए।
- पंजाब के ट्रक ड्राइवर यादवेंद्र ने बताया कि उपद्रवियों ने उसका ट्रक भी जला दिया।
- हम सुखदेव ढाबे के सामने आग बुझाने की कोशिश कर रहे थे। महिलाओं को फटे कपड़ों में भागते देखा
- तभी तीन महिलाओं को फटे कपड़ों में भागते देखा। वे बचाओ-बचाओ चिल्ला रही थीं।
- एक और ट्रक ड्राइवर निरंजन ने कहा कि उस रात मैं एक ट्रक के पास खड़ा था, उपद्रवियों ने गाड़ियों में डंडा मारकर रोका।
- महिलाओं से बदसलूकी की। उन्हें घसीटकर खेतों में खींच ले गए।
- महिलाएं बदहवास चिल्ला रही थीं, पुलिस देखती रही, कोई मदद को सामने नहीं आया।
- उसके बाद क्या हुआ, नहीं पता। निरंजन ने कहा कि वह पुलिस को बयान देने को भी तैयार है। - उनके साथ मौजूद ट्रक ड्राइवर सुखमेंद्र ने भी निरंजन की बात को सही बताया।
- उधर, गुड़गांव क्राइम ब्रांच डीआईजी राजश्री की अगुआई में बनी एसआईटी ने भी मौके का जायजा लिया।
- उनका कहना है कि मौके से कोई सबूत नहीं मिले हैं।
सोनीपत के गांव मुरथल में गैंगरेप की अफवाह के बीच कई लोगों ने ‘भास्कर’ के साथ आपबीती शेयर की है। इन लोगों ने बताया कि उपद्रवी किस तरह मारने पर उतारू थे।
1. पत्नी बार-बार कह रही थी- वह मार देंगे
- लुधियाना के रोहित ने बताया कि वे गोवा घूमकर दिल्ली पहुंचे थे। - मुरथल की सीमा में हसनपुर के पास उपद्रवियों ने गाड़ियों पर हमला कर दिया। उन्होंने गाड़ी तुरंत जीटी रोड के साथ लगते लिंक रोड पर उतार दी। - उन्होंने कहा- "हमने शिव ढाबा खुला देखा और मदद मांगी। ढाबे वाले ने उनकी गाड़ी को खेतों की तरफ निकाल कर छुपा दिया। उपद्रवियों के कहर को देखकर पत्नी सहम गई थी। बार-बार कह रही थी कि बचा लो, वरना वह मार देंगे।"
2. कुछ भी हो सकता था हमारे साथ - लुधियाना के हितेश ने बताया कि वे पत्नी के साथ थे। सड़क पर हो रही लूटपाट से जान बचाकर वह किसी तरह से सुखदेव ढाबे से चंद कदम दूरी पर शिव ढाबे पर पहुंचे। ढाबे वाले ने खेतों में छुपाकर मदद की। 3. बेहद खौफनाक मंजर था, छुपते-छुपते पहुंचे घर
- करनाल के गांव कौर के पूर्व सरपंच मोहर सिंह ने बताया कि वे पत्नी के साथ सिडनी से रविवार को दिल्ली आए थे। सोमवार को मुरथल में आंदोलन के दौरान शिव ढाबे वाले ने उन्हें शरण दी। खेत में चारपाई डालकर उन्हें बचाया, चाय पिलाकर खेतों के रास्ते निकाला।
4. महिला की आपबीती- कार लाॅक न होती तो पता नहीं क्या करते उपद्रवी
- एक महिला ने 22 फरवरी तड़के साढ़े तीन बजे का वाकया सुनाते हुए बताया कि वे परिवार के साथ कार से नैना देवी के दर्शन कर दिल्ली लौट रही थीं।
- मुरथल में सुखदेव ढाबा के सामने पहुंचे तो उपद्रवियों ने उनकी कार पर डंडे बरसाने शुरू कर दिए। पति और भतीजे को नीचे उतारकर बेरहमी से पीटा।
- उन्होंने कहा- "मैंने कार की विंडो बंदकर लॉक लगा दिया। उपद्रवी खिड़की तोड़ने की कोशिश करने लगे। लॉक लगने से वे खिड़की को नहीं तोड़ पाए।"
-"उनके जाते ही हम गेहूं के खेत में छुप गए। अचानक उपद्रवी वापस आए और इनोवा में आग लगा दी।"
- उन्होंने कहा कि जिस तरह से हाईवे पर गुंडों ने मुझे कार से निकालने की कोशिश की, उससे आशंका है कि उन्होंने अन्य महिलाओं के साथ दरिंदगी की होगी।
- वे मुरथल थाना एसएचओ अजय धनखड़ के सामने उपद्रवियों के बर्बर व्यवहार को बताते हुए खूब रोईं। बोलीं- "भाई साहब! मैंने महिलाओं का शोर सुना है। चारों तरफ हाहाकार मचा हुआ था। लोगों काे लूटा जा रहा था। किसके साथ क्या हुआ, इसको देखने से पहले सबको अपनी जान बचाने की चिंता हो रही थी।"
हरियाणा में गैंगरेप की अफवाहः पुलिस बोली- सामने आएं विक्टिम्स, हेल्पलाइन जारी
जाट आंदोलन के दौरान महिलाओं से गैंगरेप की अफवाह उड़ने के बाद पुलिस एक्शन में आई है। शुक्रवार को हरियाणा के डीजीपी वाईपी सिंघल ने कहा कि अगर ऐसा मामला है, तो हम अपील करते हैं कि विक्टिम्स सामने आएं। पुलिस ने तीन हेल्पलाइन नंबर जारी किया है। इस मामले में पंजाब एंड हरियाणा हाईकोर्ट राज्य सरकार को फटकार चुका है। कुछ लोगों ने सोनीपत के पास मुरथल हाईवे पर कुछ कपड़े मिलने का दावा किया है। - दावा है कि सोनीपत में जीटी रोड किनारे मुरथल और गन्नौर के बीच हाईवे पर प्रदर्शन के दौरान कुछ बदमाशों ने खेत में महिलाओं के साथ रेप किया। - करीब 10 मीटर के एरिया में महिलाओं की लेगिंग्स, जीन्स, अंडरगारमेंट्स और टॉप्स फटे पड़े हैं। लोग कह रहे हैं कि ये महिलाओं से हुई दरिंदगी के निशान हैं। - अफवाह है कि बीते हफ्ते जब जाटों का आरक्षण आंदोलन हिंसक हो गया, उस दौरान कुछ महिलाओं से गैंगरेप किया गया। - आसपास के लोगों का कहना है कि डर और अपनी इज्जत की खातिर किसी महिला ने शिकायत नहीं की। - वे कहते हैं, "हालात इतने खराब थे कि लोग मारकाट और आगजनी कर रहे थे, पुलिस मौन खड़ी थी। हमें भी यहां कारोबार करना है, इसलिए खुलकर शिकायत नहीं कर सकते।" सीधे सीएम को भेजें सबूत
- जिनके पास आंदोलन के दौरान का ऑडियो, वीडियो क्लिप, फोटोग्राफ या अन्य सबूत हैं तो वे ई-मेल [email protected] और [email protected] या वॉट्सऐप नंबर 9501053696 पर भेज सकते हैं। इन नंबर पर फोन कर सकती हैं विक्टिम्स डीआईजी राजश्री सिंह- 9729995000 डीएसपी भारती डबास- 8053882302 डीएसपी सुरेंद्र कौर- 9729990760
आगे की स्लाइड्स में देखें वह ढाबा, जिसके पास खेतों में कथित गैंगरेप की बात की गई है...
(Disclaimer: dainikbhaskar.com मुरथल में गैंगरेप की कथित वारदात और मौके पर बरामद कपड़ों को लेकर यह कन्फर्म नहीं करता कि वह उन्हीं महिलाओं के ही हैं, जिनके गैंगरेप होने के दावे किए जा रहे हैं।) | {
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The European Commission has added Saudi Arabia to a blacklist of nations that are seen to pose a threat because of poor controls on terrorism financing and money laundering.
Panama, Nigeria and other jurisdictions were also added to the 23-country list, the EU executive said on Wednesday.
The move was criticised by some members of the bloc, including the UK, who were concerned about their economic ties to the newly-added countries, especially Saudi Arabia.
The black-listed nations join other jurisdictions, including Afghanistan, American Samoa, the Bahamas, Botswana, North Korea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guam, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan, Puerto Rico, Samoa, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, US Virgin Islands and Yemen.
As well as damage to the countries' reputations, being added to the list makes financial relations with the EU more complicated.
The bloc's banks carry out additional checks on payments that involve the 23 nations.
Previously only featuring 16 jurisdictions, the European Commission said it included the new additions for “strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and countering terrorist financing regimes.”
Bosnia, Guyana, Laos, Uganda and Vanuatu were removed.
The Saudi government media office did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Panama said it should not be on the list as it recently introduced more rigid rules concerning money laundering. | {
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ネコの鳴き声をマスターしてしまったオウムが、ネコにドン引きされてしまう動画が公開されています。
ネコ3匹とオウムが集まっているところで、オウムが「ニャー！」と本物のネコのような鳴き声を披露。周りのネコは混乱したのか、動きが固まってしまいます。
その後オウムはネコに向かって「ニャー、ニャー」と歩み寄るも、ネコじゃないのにニャーと鳴くオウムの姿にネコたちはドン引き。「え、何この鳥……」と、オウムを見つめるネコの表情がなんとも言えません……。
それでもオウムは諦めず他のネコにも歩み寄って鳴きまねを披露しますが、やはり真顔でドン引きされてしまいます。
オウムのまねがうますぎて、ネコが混乱してしまったのかもしれません。鳴きまねが得意なオウムは、ネコと一緒にいるとネコの鳴き声までマスターしてしまうんですね。ここまで鳴きまねがうまいと、オウムは自分がネコだと思ってしまっているのかもしれません。
関連キーワード 猫 | 動画
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ZFS High Availability
1st September 2016
High availability with ZFS has been around for some time. In this article we will look at the traditional way of doing high availability ZFS as a well as a completely different way of doing it.
Current State of High Availability ZFS
The most common way of doing HA ZFS is to have 2 "head" nodes and a central JBOD system which houses the disks.
This uses external SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) cables to connect everything together.
Dual port SAS drives are required. SATA or NVMe drives cannot be used.
This is how Nexenta, Open-E, QuantaStor, Syneto and other ZFS based systems do high availability.
If one of the head nodes fails, the other head node can failover and handle the ZFS pool and associated storage services.
How is this scaled to increase storage capacity?
It is a complex design that has many limitations.
If we want to:
Use cheap consumer level SATA SSD drives
Use high performance NVMe drives
Eliminate single points of failure
Use more than 2 controllers
Add new controllers and storage without affecting the cluster
Go beyond the 12 Gbit/s bandwidth of SAS
Scale to thousands of terabytes
then we cannot do it with the existing JBOD based architecture. We need a completely different cluster design to meet those requirements.
Next Generation Architecture
Back in 2013, we began planning for a next generation of cluster that supported ZFS.
At that time, we had a dual-node solution that used DRBD [1] to handle the replication.
This only supported 2 nodes, where the controller and storage was combined in the same system. It could not scale beyond that.
What we really wanted was a highly scalable architecture. We wanted to remove the 2 controller limit and be able to connect as many storage nodes as we wanted.
And we wanted to support any disk type. HDD, SSD, SATA, SAS, NVMe, 2.5", 3.5" and PCIe. Anything from cheap consumer grade stuff all the way up to the expensive high end enterprise hardware.
It was pretty clear from the start there was only one way to connect the nodes. It had to be a switched based architecture.
Enter InfiniBand
We wanted high throughput and very low latency. We have customers who run hosting companies and the latency aspect is very important when these people are running thousands of virtual machines.
InfiniBand was the clear leader [2]. At the time we began the design, InfiniBand offered up to 56 Gbit/s of bandwidth. Ethernet was only 10 Gbit/s.
When it comes to latency, InfiniBand is around 15% the latency of Ethernet.
Then there is RDMA [3]. It has been part of InfiniBand since it was released 15 years ago. It is a standard feature of InfiniBand, unlike Ethernet where the requirements to get RDMA working are more complex. RDMA is the key to really low latency.
The icing on the cake was the pricing. InfiniBand really found it's niche in supercomputing, where the profit margins are slim. To compare with Fibre Channel, a 56 Gbit InfiniBand adapter is around half the price of a 16 Gbit Fibre Channel adapter.
We had experience with InfiniBand going back to 2007. So it was a technology we were already familiar with and we had the test equipment to start building our proposed design.
The Design
The network interconnect is really simple. The controller nodes and storage nodes are connected by an InfiniBand or Ethernet switch.
The head nodes are basically the same specification as the head nodes used in the traditional design.
The storage nodes are not JBOD enclosures. Rather they are systems with an Intel processor and a hardware RAID controller. They have their own OS and run their own storage target.
To add new controllers, just configure them and plug into the switch. To add new storage nodes, again just configure them and plug into the switch. This does not affect the running cluster. ZFS pools can be expanded with new storage without downtime or new ZFS pools can be created. Cluster expansion is completely non-disruptive.
In the above diagram, the switch is a single point of failure. So we support multiple switches and multipath all IO from the storage nodes to the controllers.
This design can also be supported in a 2 node configuration.
We support combining the controller and storage node in the same system. In that configuration, a switch is not required and the nodes can be connected point-to-point. This can be expanded in future with the addition of a switch.
Ethernet Support
It was also important that we support Ethernet based networks. If you have an Ethernet network running at 10 Gbit or better, then that is also suitable to connect the controller and storage nodes.
RDMA is supported if your hardware is capable. The iSER protocol is used which offers a significant performance increase over TCP/IP based iSCSI.
Future Networks
The current architecture is not just designed for InfiniBand and Ethernet networks. It is also designed to support future networks. One example is the Intel Omni-Path [4] network, which has 100 Gbit/s of bandwidth. We plan to support that in early 2017.
Another example is InfiniBand HDR [5] running at 200 Gbit/s and RDMA based Ethernet running at 100 Gbit/s. In short, the networking aspect of the architecture is very future proof.
Summary
Our cluster architecture was designed to overcome most of the limitations with the existing JBOD based designs. It is designed to scale to hundreds of nodes per cluster and be much easier to manage. It is also designed with an eye to the future. Our customers install these clusters and want them to run for many years. What is state of the art today will soon become yesterdays technology.
Storage technology which is not even available to buy yet can be supported when released. An example would be Intel's Xpoint [6]. We can support any block device that can be installed into a standard server.
Networks which only exist on roadmaps can also be supported when released.
The future is definitely bright for high availability ZFS.
References
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_Replicated_Block_Device
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/InfiniBand
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_direct_memory_access
[4] http://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/high-performance-computing-fabrics/omni-path-architecture-fabric-overview.html
[5] http://www.infinibandta.org/content/pages.php?pg=technology_overview
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_XPoint
| {
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Cornell University announced this week that it will accept $12.8 million in federal coronavirus relief despite mounting public pressure to reject the funds. Several Ivy League institutions, including Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania, announced last week that they would reject the federal funds after pressure from both President Donald Trump and the American public.
According to a report by the Ithaca Journal, Cornell University has announced that it will accept a $12.8 million in federal funding that it is eligible for under the CARES Act, a coronavirus relief bill that was passed by Congress in March. Elite institutions like Cornell, which boasts an endowment of over $7 billion, have been criticized for accepting federal funds during the Chinese virus pandemic.
Cornell claims that the $12.8 million that they receive from the CARES Act will go directly to Cornell students in need. Joel Malina, Cornell vice president for university relations, said that the funds will help the university ensure that every newly admitted Cornell student will have the resources to complete their degree.
“Even as our Ithaca campus faces an anticipated COVID-related budget shortfall of over $100 million for the coming fiscal year, we aim to guarantee that every single one, currently enrolled or newly admitted, has the financial resources to complete their Cornell education,” Malina told the Ithaca Journal.
Most universities and colleges have been forced to shut down their campuses as a result of the Chinese virus pandemic. Secretary Betsy DeVos has criticized wealthy institutions that have accepted federal funds from the CARES Act. DeVos has urged elite institutions to reject funds so that they may be diverted to institutions that may not survive the Chinese virus pandemic.
Thanks to @Stanford, @Princeton, @Harvard, @Yale, @Caltech and @Penn for doing the right thing and not accepting taxpayer funds. I hope all schools who can afford to do so continue to let the money go to those in greatest need! — Secretary Betsy DeVos (@BetsyDeVosED) April 23, 2020
Breitbart News reported last week that Harvard University had announced that they would reject the $8.7 million that they were eligible for under the CARES Act. During a press conference that took place last week, President Trump told Harvard that they would be required to return funds that accepted under the coronavirus relief act.
“They have one of the largest endowments anywhere in the country, maybe in the world, I guess,” Trump said during the press conference. “And they’re going to pay back that money. They shouldn’t have taken it.”
Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story. | {
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The advent of DSL and cable modems gave rise to a slew of popular web services, produced multibillion dollar companies and reshaped consumers' daily lives – all with relatively wimpy "broadband" connections that top out at a mere 3 to 6 megabits per second (Mbps).
Now two of the largest ISPs in the United States are hoping to kick off yet another broadband renaissance, this time with home connections that promise to reach 50-100 Mbps, enabling a slew of high-definition content, better-quality video-sharing sites and even 3-D video. Call it Broadband 2.0.
Experts say this increased bandwidth – when it becomes widely available – will have a profound effect on everything from our social interactions on the web to the way we consume media.
"The YouTube philosophy is really the primary motivator here," says Connie Chang-Hasnain, a professor of electrical engineering at the University of California at Berkeley and expert in broadband communications. "Even grandmas post things on YouTube. But, right now, the resolution is terrible and there are some very predefined limits due to bandwidth."
All of that will change with 50 Mbps download speeds, she said, and by simply improving the sound and video quality of video streaming sites, you can dramatically change how a society learns, teaches and communicates.
"Basically, people are going to do a lot of the things they normally do today, but in a better, more satisfying, way," says Crick Waters, co-founder of Ribbit, a Silicon Valley company that sells an internet-based telephony platform.
Waters says that first and foremost, we can expect everything to go high-definition: We'll download HD movies from Netflix, upload HD content to YouTube, and watch more sophisticated HD content on our televisions. The added bandwidth may even spur development of extra goodies, like stereoscopic 3-D video and high-fidelity audio.
"Believe me, the minute someone puts the pipes out there, people will find a way to use them," Waters says.
While the technologies they use differ, Comcast and Verizon have both started offering ultra-high-bandwidth services to select customers that are as much as 25 times faster than today's average broadband speed of 4.8 Mbps, according to the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation. Comcast's new "extreme high-speed internet service" uses the latest version of cable modem technology, while Verizon's FiOS service delivers the internet to your home via optical fibers.
Both services are currently available only in relatively limited geographic areas. Earlier this month, Comcast started offering a service to some Minneapolis/St. Paul residents that features download speeds of 50 Mbps for a hefty $150 a month. During his CES keynote in January, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said his company plans to expand this new service in 20 percent of the area it serves by the end of the year, as well as offer speeds in excess of 100 Mbps in two years.
Verizon's FiOS has a yearlong head start on Comcast's service, and Verizon currently offers it in parts of 17 states. Verizon said it will offer its fiber-to-the-home services to more than 18 million people – half of the geographic area it now serves – by 2010.
Obstacles remain for both companies. Deploying the services widely will take time – and lots of money. And even if the companies sink their capital into second-generation broadband networks, there's the risk that customers won't pony up for them unless there is compelling content to go along with that bandwidth.
"If you put a 60 Mbps service out there, people are also going to want to have services associated with it. Yet no one is going to create those services unless the 60 Mbps is there," Water says.That hesitation may not last long, because consumers always find ways to use up whatever bandwidth is available – and then some – says Rudolf van der Berg, the author of a recent study on the future of fiber networks (.pdf).
Van der Berg predicts that the average household will need 50 Mbps download speeds (and 10-50 Mbps upload speeds) between 2010 and 2020. And even that might not be enough: "Every new advance … has enabled new services over the available bandwidth," he says.
In the end, the more bandwidth that becomes available to customers, the easier it becomes to develop new content offerings.
For example, Verizon suggests that its services might enable companies to offer not just HD programming, but multiple views of sporting events, wide-angle views comparable to an Imax experience, and ultra-large screens (beyond 100 inches). Eventually, the company suggests, we'll clamor for Super HD (2160 vertical lines) and Ultra HD (4320 vertical lines) television broadcasts, which could require as much as 256-480 Mbps of bandwidth.
In other words, whatever bandwidth you've got now is never going to be enough. Broadband 3.0, anyone? | {
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I look at profiles because they have revealing photos and judge the girls for having revealing photos.
1,004 shares | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Members of the House Intelligence Committee are asking for any recordings Trump may have of his conversations with fired FBI Director James Comey.
President Trump has not confirmed if he has these so-called ‘tapes’ that he tweeted about on May 12th. If so, he must hand them over to the committee by June 23rd.
Via Circa News:
Members of the House Intelligence Committee are asking the White House to hand over any tapes that may exist of President Donald Trump’s conversations with former FBI Director James Comey. Rep. Mike Conway (R-Texas) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the two lawmakers leading the investigation into possible ties between Trump campaign officials and Russians, asked White House counsel Don McGahn on Friday to confirm whether the tapes exist, and if so, to produce them for the committee by June 23, Politico reported.
TRENDING: BREAKING: Black Lives Matter Rioters in Hollywood Chase Down and Attack Driver.. UPDATE... DRIVER DETAINED BY POLICE (SHOCKING VIDEO)
Earlier today, President Trump coyly responded to a reporter who said to him, “You seem to be hinting that there are recordings of those conversations.” Trump said, “I’m not hinting at anything. I’ll tell you about that maybe sometime in the very near future.”
When another reporter shouted, “Do you have tapes, sir?” Trump left them hanging again by saying, “Oh you’re going to be very disappointed when you hear the answer, don’t worry.” | {
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Five Major League Soccer clubs that had a player selected in the 2017 Los Angeles Football Club expansion draft will be exempted from FC Cincinnati's expansion draft next month.
FC Cincinnati's Dec. 11 expansion draft will see the club make five selections from the rosters of existing MLS teams, but Seattle Sounders FC, Sporting Kansas City, San Jose Earthquakes, Columbus Crew SC and Toronto FC – all clubs that had a player selected by LAFC last year – won't have to give players up to FC Cincinnati, MLS officials confirmed in a Friday news release.
As compensation for what's being widely perceived as reduced options in its draft, FC Cincinnati will receive an undisclosed amount of allocation money, league officials said in the release.
"Since 2014, each round of expansion has involved two incoming clubs selecting players from the eligible player list, therefore, for the purpose of the Expansion Draft, LAFC and FC Cincinnati are considered a single round of expansion," officials stated in the news release. "While the two expansion clubs are selecting players in successive years, for competitive consistency, current MLS teams that had players selected by LAFC in the 2017 MLS Expansion Draft will be exempt from the 2018 MLS Expansion Draft, however, LAFC players will be eligible for selection by FC Cincinnati."
MLS on Friday morning confirmed additional details regarding FC Cincinnati's expansion draft, including the timeline for offseason personnel decisions and windows.
FC Cincinnati's draft "selection show" will be broadcast Dec. 11 at 2 p.m. on MLSSoccer.com.
Important dates in the pre-expansion draft MLS calendar, and other dates:
• Nov. 26 – Option-exercise deadline: Clubs no longer competing in MLS Cup playoffs must notify league office of players whose options they are exercising and players receiving bona fide offers.
• Nov. 30 – Option-exercise deadline for teams not competing in MLS Cup final.
• Dec. 9 (9 a.m.-1 p.m.) – Half-day trade window: Four-hour window to sign and trade players from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Rosters will then freeze for FC Cincinnati's expansion draft as of 1 p.m.
• Dec. 9 (noon) – Option-exercise deadline for MLS Cup finalists.
• Dec. 11 (2 p.m.) – FC Cincinnati expansion draft.
• Dec. 11 (3 p.m.) – Free agency begins.
• Dec. 12 – MLS waiver draft.
• Dec. 14 – MLS stage one waiver draft.
• Dec. 20 – MLS stage two waiver draft. | {
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WASHINGTON A decade after the initial $5.1 billion contract was awarded to begin construction of the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, the troubled ship is finally closer to be able to launch and recover a variety of aircraft.
One of the many issues that have plagued the ship — causing years of schedule slippages and cost overruns — has been the reliability of the electromagnetic catapults and arresting gear (EMALS), which a Pentagon report said earlier this year have proven unreliable under all but the best conditions.
But despite slow going and scathing criticism from some in Congress, there appears to be positive progress, according to the maker of the catapults and arresting gear. General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems announced today that its Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) system caught its first C2-A Greyhound aircraft at a test site in Lakehurst, N.J on May 24. The next day, AAG nabbed an E-2D Hawkeye, followed by an E-2C Hawkeye on June 8.
Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS, said the company is “working closely with the Navy to thoroughly exercise these systems and test their range of capabilities to launch and recover the full spectrum of carrier-capable aircraft.”
The path to get to this modest point has been rocky. Testing during the 2017 showed that both the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) and AAG have had a spotty track record. In January, the Pentagon’s test and evaluation office released a scathing report stating that, as of June 2017, the electromagnetic catapults suffered a critical failure after an average 455 launches — a rate nine times higher than the Navy’s threshold requirement.
To put it another way, that failure rate means a Ford-class carrier has approximately a 70 percent chance of completing one day of sustained operations without a failure. When a problem does occur, the crew is forced to wait about 90 minutes for the system’s generators and motors to shut down before they could begin taking a look at the system to see what went wrong.
Neither the Navy nor General Atomics had released updated numbers by the time we went to press.
The first arrested landing aboard the ship took place on July 28 of last year, when an F/A-18F Super Hornet stuck its landing.
Since then, the Ford has seen about 750 F/A-18 landings, General Atomics said.
The company said it will continue testing throughout the summer, and once testing is completed in New Jersey, the aircraft will be cleared to begin testing aboard the Ford itself.
The idea of replacing traditional steam catapults with the EMALS was meant to do away with the requirement for the ship to generate and store steam. That frees up a large area below-deck and requires 25 percent fewer crew members to operate. The Navy has said the savings would shave about $4 billion off operating costs over the ship’s expected 50-year lifespan.
In its report released in January, the Pentagon’s director of test and evaluation said the “poor or unknown reliability of the newly designed catapults, arresting gear…could affect the ability of CVN 78 to generate sorties, make the ship more vulnerable to attack, or create limitations during routine operations.” Given the reliability issues, the Ford would be “unlikely to be able to conduct the type of high-intensity flight operations expected during wartime,” the study concluded.
The Ford even came up on President Trump’s radar early in 2017, when he detailed his uneasiness with using an electromagnetic system instead of steam in an interview with Time magazine. “It sounded bad to me,” he infamously said. “Digital. They have digital. What is digital? And it’s very complicated, you have to be Albert Einstein to figure it out.” When told EMALS was going to go on all carriers from here on out, “I said no you’re not. You’re going to goddamned steam, the digital costs hundreds of millions of dollars more money and it’s no good.”
However, the EMALS — obviously — continues.
But the Ford just keeps running into problems. In May, the carrier was forced back to port at Norfolk while undergoing sea trials after it experienced issues that the Navy would not discuss in detail.
“The ship experienced a propulsion system issue associated with a recent design change, requiring a return to homeport for adjustments before resuming at sea testing,” Colleen O’Rourke, spokeswoman for Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, said in a statement.
The fixes appeared to be made relatively quickly, since the ship has continued its testing in the Atlantic throughout this month.
Concerned by the problems getting the ship to sea, and the desired to bulk up the entire fleet to 355 ships in the next several decades, a provision in the House’s 2019 National Defense Authorization Act directs the Navy to consider extending the service life of the USS Nimitz, commissioned in 1975. The House instructed Navy Secretary Richard Spencer to brief the House Armed Services Committee no later than March 2019 on options to extend the service life of the Nimitz.
The Senate’s version also demands a report on keeping the carrier around past it’s 50-year lifespan in 2025, but asks for it by January 2019. The House and Senate are expected to conference in July on proposed provisions in the 2019 defense bill, which leaders in both houses hope to have wrapped up by fall.
The future USS John F. Kennedy, set to be completed in 2020, and the USS Enterprise, set to begin production this year, are the next two Ford-class carriers slated to head to sea. | {
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I got some 'monster grey' and purple powder makeup for my next cosplay, which will be a dnd character I play called Moria Oreheart, a Duereugar cleric from Gracklstugh in an out of the Abyss Campaign. I'm new to make up in general and have been practicing a bit here and there, but am excited to work on my costume more and more!
To top it all off, I also got a metal tree necklace which fits the character as a Forge Cleric who follows Sylvanus and nature.I can wait to experiment with this and build out a more full cosplay, likely for GenCon next year! | {
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Two villages voted themselves out of existence on Tuesday
Scott Wartman | Cincinnati Enquirer
Two villages decided on Tuesday to not exist.
Residents in Amelia and Newtonsville chose to surrender the villages' powers, meaning they will become unincorporated areas of their surrounding townships.
The vote in Amelia wasn't close, with 68 percent of the voters deciding to dissolve this community of 5,000 people.
In Newtonsville, population 400, the vote was only seven votes: 53-46.
More: Ever been to Newtonsville, Ohio? Now's your chance. It's one of two local villages that could disappear
The two villages in the rural and suburban Clermont County just east of Cincinnati join a growing number of towns that have decided to call it quits in recent years. Counting Amelia and Newtonsville, 14 municipalities across Ohio have dissolved in the face of rising costs and dwindling revenues.
Amelia is a metropolis compared to the other 13 towns, the largest by far of any municipality in Ohio that has called it quits in recent years. All but one of the other towns had less than 500 people.
In the case of Amelia and Newtonsville, the imposition of a 1% earnings tax spurred residents to petition for the villages' dissolution.
So who will govern Amelia and Newtonsville now? Amelia will get split between Pierce and Batavia townships.
Newtonsville will be absorbed into Wayne Township. | {
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Image Source
Check out The Book! It’s a really great novel we released recently that’s a sequel to Part 4 of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure!
Ok, this is all done. This chapter contains the 5th popularity poll results! There’s some real surprises in there!
Enjoy, everyone. I’m gonna go back to playing Mario Odyssey.
Gintama 657
Zippyshare
Mega
Direct Download
Online Reader (Batoto)
Like this: Like Loading... | {
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Half of Hongkongers get too little exercise
Hong Kong's busy pace of life means half of its residents don't get enough exercise, Ming Pao Daily reported Friday, citing a survey.
In the poll, done by the University of Hong Kong’s Public Opinion Program for HKU’s School of Public Health, 1,502 adults were interviewed between October and December 2013.
The amount of exercise done by 49.5 percent of the respondents failed to meet the standard of the World Health Organization, which requires at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity sports or less than 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity activity per week.
Of all respondents, 29.4 percent do no exercise every day. Among those over 65 years old, 40 percent do no exercise.
But 25.1 percent of those aged between 25 and 44 also do no exercise, the poll found.
It found a relationship between the amount of exercise and quality of life.
The happiness index for those who exercise for more than an hour each day is 7.4 percent higher than for those who don’t, and their family harmony index is 4.7 percent higher.
Lam Tai-hing, a professor at HKU’s School of Public Health, was quoted as saying that while some Hongkongers take part in sports for five or six hours on weekends, that cannot offset the harm brought by their daily sedentary lifestyle.
However, not doing any sports could lead in the long run to obesity, which may cause heart disease, he said.
He suggested that people move around every half an hour and do some simple exercises, such as stretching their legs and arms, even at work.
-- Contact us at [email protected]
KZ/AC/FL | {
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I don't always want to go on a murderous rampage but when I do, it's after I've played Xbox Live.
261 shares | {
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Pizza Hut teams up with Cinnabon for the introduction of new Crafted by Cinnabon Mini Rolls, available exclusively at participating Hut locations nationwide.
New Cinnabon Mini Rolls feature miniature cinnamon rolls made with Cinnabon Makara cinnamon swirls, topped with Cinnabon signature cream cheese frosting. The dessert is a permanent menu item at Pizza Hut locations nationwide.
An order of ten joins the chain’s existing desserts menu for a suggested price of $5.99 for delivery, carryout or dine-in.
Image – Pizza Hut | {
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As for Collins, front-office types in every sport repeatedly say things like no changes are planned right up until the time a manager or coach is axed. So who knows what will happen if the banged-up Mets have many more games like Thursday's 9-0 loss to the Diamondbacks, forcing Collins into desperate post-game tirades in which he berated his players' effort and energy both publicly and privately? | {
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In 46 games with the Green Wave, Teamer totaled 197 tackles, 15 passes defensed and three interceptions. At 6-foot-0, 205 pounds, he describes himself as a physical player, but said it's his ability to adapt and learn that's benefited him most early on.
"They threw a lot at us from rookie minicamp until now, and it's just so you can get accustomed to it and be able to show your true speed," Teamer said. "That's what Coach Gus talks about all the time, as well as Coach [Anthony] Lynn. They talk about whenever you know what you're doing, you can show your true talent and show them how fast you really can play."
The knowledge required to develop into an NFL player goes beyond studying the playbook each evening. Teamer said he's spent the last month asking several questions to Defensive Backs Coach Ron Milus and Assistant Defensive Backs Coach Chris Harris.
He's also leaned on All-Pro safeties Derwin James and Phillips – a fellow UDFA – to help translate his learnings onto the field. | {
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Internet companies have hit back at a fresh government drive to crack down on child pornography saying that if the government wants to censor the internet they should introduce fresh laws to do so.
It comes as Prime Minister David Cameron said he was ‘sickened’ by the proliferation of ‘disgusting images’ on the web and called on leading tech firms such as Google to do more to restrict access to such content.
Cameron said: “There are encouraging signs that the industry is willing to step up — increasing funding and technical support for organisations combating child sexual abuse imagery online. But I want more action. The time for excuses and blame is over — we must all work together. The safety of our children is at stake, and nothing matters more than that.”
Speaking to the Telegraph however one industry source said: “If the Government wants to censor the internet, they should introduce laws which we can implement.
“But ministers are terrified of being seen as trying to censor the internet as it is associated with draconian regimes, so they are now expecting private firms to make judgments about what should and should not be seen by the public.”
Internet firms stress that they already hold monthly meetings with ministers to safeguard the public and block sites when requested to do so. | {
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Hillary Clinton Picks Tim Kaine As Her Vice Presidential Running Mate
Enlarge this image toggle caption Alex Wong/Getty Images Alex Wong/Getty Images
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine is Hillary Clinton's choice for her vice president, giving her a running mate with experience at all levels of government to round out the Democratic ticket.
Clinton told supporters the news in a text message and a tweet on Friday evening just after 8 p.m. ET. According to a Clinton campaign official, the former secretary of state called Kaine this evening to make the formal offer.
In recent days, Kaine had emerged as the favorite — albeit safe — pick for Clinton, over other finalists such as Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, Labor Secretary Tom Perez and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.
According to the Clinton campaign official, their vetting process first began back in April with more than two dozen potential running mates. Kaine and Clinton campaigned last week in Northern Virginia as a tryout of sorts, and Clinton walked away impressed and comfortable with him as a partner. The two met with aides and then one-on-one for a total of about 90 minutes that night.
Last Saturday, Kaine and Clinton met together with their families for lunch at the Clintons' home in Chappaqua, N.Y. She remained comfortable with Kaine as someone who could do the job, and the alliance was made.
Kaine's addition to the ticket gives her a loyal ally who can help reach out to the Hispanic community and possibly woo disaffected independents or even some moderate Republicans turned off by Republican nominee Donald Trump.
He is a low-risk pick, comes from a swing state that has become increasingly crucial in presidential elections, has a reputation as a moderate who works across the aisle, and doesn't overshadow the top of the ticket. In fact, in an interview last month on NBC's Meet the Press, Kaine even admitted, "I am boring."
Kaine was a finalist eight years ago in President Obama's vice presidential search, and he had endorsed the then-Illinois senator early on. This time, he joined the "Ready for Hillary" bandwagon before she even announced.
The 58-year-old is a former housing lawyer who took off time from law school to work with Jesuit missionaries in Honduras, during which he became fluent in Spanish. Kaine got his start in politics on the Richmond City Council and later became the mayor of the Virginia capital. In 2001, he was elected the commonwealth's lieutenant governor.
In 2005, he won a hard-fought race against then-Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, helped by strong margins in the Northern Virginia suburbs and exurbs. His father-in-law is also a former Virginia governor.
Kaine's tenure as governor (Virginia is the last state that still limits its governors to a single four-year term) was marked by the deadly shooting at Virginia Tech in April 2007. He was praised for his response to the shootings, gathering a panel to investigate the school's response and push for more mental health reforms.
He struggled as governor, though, as the recession hit in 2008, and he unsuccessfully tried to push through a tax hike to fund his budget proposals. He was an early supporter of President Obama in the 2008 primary over Clinton.
After Obama won, he tapped Kaine to lead the Democratic National Committee, and Kaine served as both chairman and governor for a year — something that drew some criticism within the state. He was chairman of the DNC during the disastrous 2010 midterm elections for Democrats that saw them lose the House. And his time atop the party committee may have chipped away at some his moderate credentials.
He left the DNC in 2011 but jumped back into politics in 2012 to run for the Senate. He easily defeated former Republican governor and Sen. George Allen. In the Senate, he has been praised for building relationships on both sides of the aisle, and he could help Clinton with her legislative priorities in Congress.
Kaine sits on the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committee and has been less hawkish than Clinton in some instances. He has said the Obama administration needed to get authorization from Congress to use force against ISIS, and he has been critical of Congress for not granting an Authorization for Use of Military Force.
Some of his more centrist positions have upset some past supporters of Clinton's former rival Bernie Sanders, many of whom wanted her to make a more progressive pick. Kaine is a supporter of free trade deals, and as his vice presidential stock began to rise, many progressive groups voiced their displeasure. But, as other observers have noted, the Minnesota native, who was raised in Kansas City, Mo., could help Clinton appeal to one of her weakest demographic areas — white, working-class men in the Rust Belt, a group where Trump has an advantage.
NPR's Tamara Keith contributed. | {
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WASHINGTON — Islamic State fighters used a sandstorm to help seize a critical military advantage in the early hours of the terrorist group’s attack on the provincial Iraqi capital of Ramadi last week, helping to set in motion an assault that forced Iraqi security forces to flee, current and former American officials said Monday.
The sandstorm delayed American warplanes and kept them from launching airstrikes to help the Iraqi forces, as the Islamic State fighters evidently anticipated. The fighters used the time to carry out a series of car bombings followed by a wave of ground attacks in and around the city that eventually overwhelmed the American-backed Iraqi forces.
Once the storm subsided, Islamic State and Iraqi forces were intermingled in heavy combat in many areas, making it difficult for allied pilots to distinguish friend or foe, the officials said. By that point, the militants had gained an operational momentum that could not be reversed.
“The dust storm at the very least neutralized capabilities that could have been decisive,” said one former senior military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential battle assessments. | {
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Lori Grisham
USA TODAY Network
A public relations firm called "Strange Fruit PR" in Austin, Texas, apologized and changed their company name after it was widely criticized on Twitter for being racially insensitive.
The firm changed the company name to Perennial Public Relations, co-owners Mary Mickel and Ali Slutsky wrote in a statement Tuesday to USA TODAY Network.
"We sincerely apologize to those offended by the former name of our firm," they wrote. "In no way did we ever intend for the name of our firm to offend nor infer any implication of racism."
"Strange Fruit" is the name of a famous 1939 Billie Holiday song about the lynching of black men and women in the south during the Jim Crow era. Lynching is never explicitly mentioned in the song, but the "fruit" hanging from the trees refers to African-American bodies.
"Southern trees bear a strange fruit," the song begins. "Blood on the leaves and blood at the root, Black body swinging in the Southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees."
Twitter users implored the public relations company, which handles food and hospitality clients, to reconsider their name.
The PR firm disabled its Twitter account, Facebook page and website under the old name.
Mickel and Slutsky knew about the song when they started the company in 2012, according to a statement in the Austin American-Statesman, but thought enough timed had passed that people would not associate it with their company.
"Had we known the horrible connotations this name evokes, we would have never chosen it in the first place. We just didn't get it, but now we do," Mickel wrote.
Follow @lagrisham on Twitter | {
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Bryce Harper takes batting practice for the first time with the Philadelphia Phillies since signing his 13-year deal with the team | {
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Kills the most powerful dark wizard in history uses first-year spell to do so
19,554 shares | {
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We’ve released a quick hotfix for the Xbox version of Conan Exiles (build 72634/14923) to fix some issues from the Xbox parity patch.
The patch notes aren’t very long this, as the changes aren’t that many. | {
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Fire Emblem Fates has an official trading card game called Fire Emblem 0 (Cipher)featuring heroes from the entire series. Nintendo recently uploaded a video that explains how the game is played.
The cards feature illustration from various artists, and the basic gameplay is actually pretty simple. The big number on the bottom-left shows its strength with a support power number to the right. The card also has other information on the class unit, range, and skills.
The game is played with 50-card decks, where players go against each other in 1v1 fashion. You start out by picking your “protagonist,” and from there, you’ll fight it out with the help of other cards from your respective decks. The goal is to defeat the other player’s protagonist.
In battle, both players will draw a card that becomes your supporting character. After adding the strength from the original card and the support power of the other, you’ll see which side has the higher attack. If your number is the same or higher than the opponent’s, it counts as a successful attack.
Both players have two sides to their respective fields: the frontline area and the back row area.
Cards with higher strength do better in the frontline, where they can take out enemies directly in front of them. Those with higher ranged numbers can attack from the back row, and are difficult to hit.
The game is turn-based, and both players will get more cards to attack with over time. Cards also come with all kinds of skills, and can also work with other cards using their skills. Similar to the Fire Emblem games, the “bond” shared between the character cards is one of the key features of the card game.
Fire Emblem 0 cards are currently available in Japan. | {
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Not sure if I really like sushi or just soy sauce and wasabi
127 shares | {
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-CortezHouse passes bill to avert shutdown Trump attacks Omar for criticizing US: 'How did you do where you came from?' The Memo: Dems face balancing act on SCOTUS fight MORE (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that the backlash surrounding Rep. Ilhan Omar Ilhan OmarOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Trump attacks Omar for criticizing US: 'How did you do where you came from?' Democrats scramble on COVID-19 relief amid division, Trump surprise MORE's (D-Minn.) comments about Israel "came down on her a little too hard."
Ocasio-Cortez, who has questioned the severity of the response to Omar's comments that prompted allegations of anti-Semitism, told CNN that she believes the fallout from her fellow freshman lawmaker's remarks has been a "learning experience."
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"I think it’s a learning experience, and it’s part of the fact that when we elect the most diverse Democratic caucus that we have in pretty much ever, it means that we have new communities at the table, new conversations that need to be had, and we have to learn how to have conversations differently every time," the New York Democrat said.
"So I think it’s just part of a learning process that we have as a country, frankly," she added.
Question: "Do you think Congresswoman Omar was unfairly singled out?"
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: "You know, I think that things came down on her a little too hard." https://t.co/Osa3l6yEGg pic.twitter.com/qc6Ljk0Zm6 — The Hill (@thehill) March 7, 2019
The House is expected to vote Thursday afternoon on a resolution broadly condemning hate in the wake of Omar’s critical comments about Israel.
The resolution, which does not mention Omar by name, states that the House "rejects the perpetuation of anti-Semitic stereotypes in the United States and around the world, including the pernicious myth of dual loyalty and foreign allegiance, especially in the context of support for the United States-Israel alliance."
Omar has been at the center of controversy in recent weeks for comments questioning the Israel-U.S. relationship that critics said have invoked anti-Semitic tropes.
The congresswoman was widely criticized last month for suggesting U.S. lawmakers supported Israel because of money from a pro-Israel lobbying group, tweeting "it's all about the Benjamins." She later apologized for the comments.
Omar reignited controversy when said at a Washington bookstore forum last week that pro-Israel advocates pushed "allegiance to a foreign country." The comments have drawn bipartisan backlash, but Omar has defended her right to question the U.S.-Israel relationship. | {
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Plex has made it easier for premium users to organize their photos and to unearth specific snapshots from their massive collections. The service now auto-tags photos based on what its new machine learning technology sees. If the tech detects a dog in a photo, for instance, it could tag that image with the words "dog" and "puppy." Since tags are useless if you can't sort your images with their help, Plex has also updated its web app's interface to be able to search tags. Further, the interface will now display related images based on the tags you look up. | {
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The Netherlands has barred a plane carrying Turkey’s foreign minister from landing, despite a threat he made earlier warning that such a move would prompt Turkey to impose sanctions on Holland, media in both countries report.
The Dutch revoked authorization for Mevlut Cavusoglu’s flight hours after he had warned that Turkey would retaliate if his visit was canceled, CNN Turk and ANP news agencies reported.
Amsterdam said Ankara’s threat of sanctions over the visit “made search for a reasonable solution impossible” and added that concerns over public order and safety were the reason to cancel the ministerial visit.
On Saturday, Cavusoglu insisted that he would go ahead with his visit to Rotterdam even if local Dutch authorities did not agree to his taking part in a rally promoting a change in Turkey’s constitution.
Read more
Cancelling the visit had been advocated by right-wing politician Geert Wilders, who secured a harsh dismissal from the Turkish top diplomat.
“Dutch Wilders acts like a Nazi,” the Turkish minister said in an Saturday interview with CNNTurk. “He threatens the foreign minister of the Turkish Republic with not letting the airplane take off. But I will go today.”
“If the Netherlands cancels my flight clearance today then we will impose huge sanctions,” he added.
The rebuke came in reaction to the cancelation of Cavusoglu’s appearance at a rally of Turkish citizens working in Europe. The Dutch snub is the latest in a series of similar measures taken by several European nations, including Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands.
Cavusoglu intended to campaign at the rally to drum up votes in favor of an April referendum that would give the Turkish president new powers, but Rotterdam’s mayor, Ahmed Aboutaleb, banned the Turkish official from speaking in public in the city late on Friday.
“He has diplomatic immunity and everything, so we will treat him with respect, but we have other instruments to prohibit things from happening in public spaces,” the mayor told reporters.
Read more
The Turkish minister said that, by preventing Turkish citizens from meeting with an official from their government, Holland’s authorities were effectively holding them hostage.
“These people are not your captives,” he said.
A number of other Turkish pre-referendum rallies have been canceled by local European authorities this week due to security concerns. However, observers say the conflict reflects a larger stand-off between NATO member Turkey and its European allies, which criticize Ankara for a heavy-handed crackdown in the wake of an attempted military coup last year. The Turkish government has fired or imprisoned thousands of alleged supporters of self-exiled US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara holds responsible for the coup, as well as a series of anti-government protest in recent years.
Commenting on the confrontation, Cavusoglu warned that the Europeans were putting cooperation with Turkey on issues like immigration control at risk. Brussels and Ankara have stuck a deal in which Turkey agreed to ramp up its border security and take back asylum seekers from Europe in exchange for financial aid and political benefits.
However, the visa-free travel for Turks going to the EU that was promised as part of the deal has failed to materialize, angering Turkish officials. Brussels says that Turkey first needs to revise its counterterrorism laws and address other issues, but Ankara considers the condition an infringement on its sovereignty. | {
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Ochenta años después del inicio del golpe de Estado que provocó la guerra, parte de la sociedad española sigue desconociendo la verdad de este negro pero crucial capítulo de nuestra historia. Durante cuatro décadas, la dictadura franquista se encargó de adulterar la realidad de lo ocurrido para satanizar a la República y glorificar el papel jugado por ellos mismos, los golpistas.
Los historiadores franquistas y sus herederos justifican la sublevación militar por la "insostenible" situación de caos, anticlericalismo y violencia que, según ellos, se sufrió durante el periodo republicano. Los hechos y los datos demuestran, sin embargo, que una buena parte de la derecha española juró acabar con la República el mismo día en que fue proclamada y comenzó a conspirar contra ella desde aquel 14 de abril de 1931. Las razones de esta animadversión se resumen en dos: poder y dinero.
El nuevo régimen amenazaba el histórico statu quo de los estamentos que habían dirigido nuestro país durante siglos: la oligarquía económica, los terratenientes, el Ejército y la Iglesia católica. La República se planteaba, entre otros objetivos, una ambiciosa reforma agraria que acabara con la situación de miseria que sufrían más de dos millones de jornaleros sin tierra; una reforma militar para democratizar el ejército y extirparle su ADN golpista; una reforma religiosa que terminara con los privilegios de la Iglesia y le arrebatara el control de la educación; una descentralización del poder que, según se decía en la Constitución de 1931, garantizaba la integridad del Estado "compatible con la Autonomía de los Municipios y las Regiones".
A todo ello hay que sumar otra afrenta global contra el amo y señor de la España tradicional: el hombre. En solo dos años la República equiparó a la mujer en derechos y libertades concediéndole el derecho al voto antes que otras naciones europeas como Francia o Grecia.
La tormenta ideológica perfecta
La España de los años 30 reflejaba la tensa situación política que se vivía en toda Europa. El auge del fascismo coincidía con el extremismo revolucionario de los grupos anarquistas y de los movimientos comunistas que miraban con admiración hacia la Unión Soviética de Stalin. Las revueltas obreras y los actos de violencia eran frecuentes en todo el continente. En la España republicana hubo sucesos especialmente graves como la matanza de Casas Viejas o el levantamiento revolucionario de 1934.
Hechos que se saldaron con centenares de muertos y que fueron originados por la constante lucha entre quienes deseaban acelerar las reformas y aquellos que trataban de frenarlas a toda costa. La derecha que acabaría sublevándose contra la República contribuyó decisivamente a generar ese clima de tensión y violencia ejerciendo de pirómano para después presentarse como el bombero salvador. Sus líderes políticos trataron constantemente de minar la credibilidad del régimen; sus militares conspiraron en la sombra, protagonizaron varias intentonas golpistas y ejercieron la represión con especial virulencia, tal y como hizo el propio Franco para sofocar la revolución en Asturias; sus matones de la Falange sembraron el terror y provocaron la reacción violenta de sus adversarios; hasta sus terratenientes ejercieron de saboteadores profesionales dejando que sus latifundios quedaran inertes en lugar de permitir que fueran explotados por los hambrientos pero combativos jornaleros: "No queríais República, pues ahora comed República", espetaban los grandes propietarios a los agricultores sin tierra.
La izquierda por su parte se desangraba fruto de sus peleas internas y se debatía entre la lealtad al nuevo régimen y el deseo de sobrepasarlo, instaurando sistemas revolucionarios inspirados en ideales libertarios o comunistas. Numerosos anarquistas, socialistas y comunistas no veían la República como un fin, sino como un instrumento provisional para conseguir objetivos políticos más ambiciosos.
Los preparativos y el detonante
El asesinato de José Calvo Sotelo fue esgrimido por los sublevados como la causa que les empujó a la rebelión. La documentación hallada y el testimonio de numerosos protagonistas demuestran que el golpe de Estado había comenzado a planificarse meses antes de la violenta muerte del político monárquico. De hecho, el propio Calvo Sotelo y Gil Robles, líder de la mayoría parlamentaria de derechas, participaban activamente en la conspiración para recuperar por la fuerza el poder que habían perdido en las urnas.
Tras años de preparativos e intentonas fallidas, el detonante final no fue otro que el triunfo del Frente Popular en las elecciones de febrero de 1936.
Un golpe de Estado "rápido y limpio"
El capitán de aviación Virgilio Leret fue, probablemente, la primera víctima de la rebelión militar. El 17 de julio trató de hacer frente en Melilla a la sublevación que se había iniciado en Canarias y en las colonias del norte de África. Leret fue capturado y fusilado esa misma noche por los rebeldes. Al día siguiente la rebelión se extendió a la Península.
El golpe de Estado estaba liderado por un grupo de generales encabezados por José Sanjurjo y contaba con el apoyo de los partidos de la derecha parlamentaria, sectores monárquicos, financieros y empresariales, movimientos fascistas como la Falange y el respaldo directo de Hitler y Mussolini. Los rebeldes planeaban hacerse con el control del país en poco más de 72 horas. No contaban con que una parte del Ejército iba a mantener su juramento de lealtad al Gobierno legítimo de la República, ni preveía que los obreros y agricultores iban a lanzarse a las calles de ciudades y pueblos para defender la democracia con las armas en la mano.
"Cueste lo que cueste"
Tras la oportuna muerte de Sanjurjo en un accidente de aviación el 20 de julio, Franco comenzó a perfilarse como líder de los rebeldes. A esas alturas ya no había dudas de que el golpe había fracasado y que el nuevo escenario era una guerra de dimensiones catastróficas. Un panorama que no desanimaba al nuevo jefe de los sublevados.
El 27 de julio el corresponsal británico del News Chronicle, Jay Allen, relataba su entrevista con Franco en Tetuán: "A mi pregunta ¿ahora que el golpe ha fracasado en sus objetivos, por cuánto tiempo seguirá la matanza?", contestó tranquilamente: "No habrá compromiso ni tregua, seguiré preparando mi avance hacia Madrid. Avanzaré —gritó—, tomaré la capital. Salvaré España del marxismo, cueste lo que cueste" (...). "¿Eso significa que tendrá que matar a la mitad de España?". El general Franco sacudió la cabeza con sonrisa escéptica, pero dijo: "Repito, cueste lo que cueste".
La decisiva "no intervención"
"Las democracias europeas dejaron caer la República. Por un lado creían que así apaciguarían a Hitler; pero por otro le tenían más miedo a la revolución social republicana que a un posible gobierno autoritario y fascista. Por eso el pacto de no intervención fue, en realidad, una intervención en toda regla para facilitar la victoria de Franco".
Así de contundente se muestra el hispanista de la Universidad de Pau, Jean Ortiz. Los hechos le dan la razón. Además de la ayuda prestada en la preparación del golpe de Estado, Alemania e Italia comenzaron a enviar aviones, material de guerra y asesores militares al bando franquista desde el inicio del golpe. Francia y el Reino Unido contestaron promoviendo un acuerdo de "no intervención" que acabó convirtiéndose en una farsa. 27 naciones europeas se sumaron a él, entre ellos Italia, Alemania y Portugal que no dejaron de violarlo sistemática y descaradamente durante los tres años que duró la guerra.
Ya los corresponsales extranjeros que cubrieron el conflicto bélico coincidieron en señalar en sus crónicas que Franco jamás habría podido ganar la guerra sin el respaldo militar de Hitler y Mussolini. Enfrente, la única ayuda exterior que recibió la República fue la de miles de voluntarios poco preparados que formaron las Brigadas Internacionales y el apoyo más sustancial, pero infinitamente menor que el que aportaron Alemania e Italia al bando franquista, que le brindó la Unión Soviética.
Víctimas de guerra y de la represión
Los historiadores no se ponen de acuerdo sobre las víctimas que provocó la guerra. La cifra que más puede acercarse a la realidad es la que aportan investigadores como Paul Preston: 300.000 muertos en los frentes de batalla y 200.000 víctimas de la represión en ambos bandos. Preston no se atreve a aventurar una cifra de civiles fallecidos en bombardeos y combates.
Los últimos estudios sobre la represión en ambas zonas establecen unos datos esclarecedores: 50.000 asesinados extrajudicialmente por el bando republicano y unos 150.000 por el bando franquista. La represión en la zona republicana se produjo mayoritariamente durante 1936, provocada por el caos inicial generado por el golpe, por la entrega de armas a la población civil y, por extensión, a grupos extremistas y por la ausencia de un mando único capaz de hacer cumplir la ley.
Fue en estos meses cuando también se produjo la mayor parte de los asesinatos de religiosos y de la destrucción de templos como injustificable respuesta al inmediato apoyo que la Iglesia brindó a los sublevados. Esta situación fue poco a poco controlada y las autoridades republicanas no solo lucharon contra cualquier exceso cometido por sus tropas, sino que llegaron a juzgar a algunos de los responsables de los mismos.
Por contra, el bando franquista utilizó el terror como arma de guerra. El asesinato, la violación de mujeres, las torturas eran parte de la estrategia diseñada por sus líderes para eliminar y, de paso, doblegar al enemigo. Los alcaldes, concejales, diputados, maestros y militantes de las organizaciones republicanas eran sistemáticamente exterminados en las poblaciones conquistadas. No se trataba de una política secreta, los generales rebeldes alardeaban públicamente de ella.
Existen decenas de ejemplos pero citaremos solo dos de los más significativos. El general Mola, pocos días después del inicio del golpe, afirmaba: "Hay que sembrar el terror… hay que dar la sensación de dominio eliminando sin escrúpulos ni vacilación a todos los que no piensen como nosotros. Nada de cobardías. Si vacilamos un momento y no procedemos con la máxima energía, no ganamos la partida". Su colega, el general Queipo de Llano, se hizo célebre por sus arengas desde radio Sevilla en las que animaba a sus tropas a asesinar a los republicanos y violar a sus mujeres: "Nuestros valientes legionarios y regulares han demostrado a los rojos cobardes lo que significa ser hombres… y de paso también a sus mujeres. Esto está totalmente justificado porque estas comunistas y anarquistas predican el amor libre. Ahora por lo menos sabrán lo que son hombres de verdad y no milicianos maricones. No se van a librar por mucho que berreen y pataleen"
Un extraño final
La caída de Cataluña en enero de 1939 supuso el principio del fin para la República. Medio millón de hombres, mujeres y niños cruzaron la frontera hacia Francia huyendo del avance franquista en los primeros días del mes de febrero.
Muchos de los combatientes deseaban embarcarse inmediatamente rumbo hacia Valencia para seguir defendiendo "su" República que aún controlaba un tercio de la Península incluyendo Madrid; las autoridades francesas les desarmaron y les impidieron retornar a España.
Aunque se encontraba en una situación desesperada, el presidente Negrín apostaba por resistir unos meses más; confiaba en que el estallido de la ya inevitable guerra mundial hiciera salir de su falsa neutralidad a las democracias europeas. Su ensoñación terminó en los primeros días de marzo cuando sus hasta entonces compañeros de trinchera se sublevaron contra él. El coronel Casado, con el apoyo de todas las organizaciones republicanas salvo el PCE y un sector del PSOE, ejecutó un golpe de Estado que derribó el Gobierno de Negrín.
Creían que una rendición pactada les permitiría eludir las represalias de los vencedores. Se equivocaron: las tropas franquistas ocuparon Madrid y el resto del territorio republicano sin apenas resistencia e impusieron un régimen de represión y terror que se prolongaría durante casi 40 años. | {
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Tucker Carlson has become the latest Fox News personality to face an exodus of advertisers.
After Carlson — a favorite of white supremacists — said immigrants make America “dirtier” during Thursday’s edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight, Pacific Life announced it was pulling ads from his Fox News show to “reevaluate” its “relationship with his program” on Friday.
Despite not offering an apology, Carlson proclaimed, “I like immigration, I like immigrants” on Friday night.
Carlson has used his Fox News platform to claim that immigration advocates want to “change your country forever,” advocate for excluding Hispanics from the U.S. to preserve the country’s white identity, complain about how difficult it is to be a white man, promote a social media site frequented by white nationalists, and defend a white nationalist Pizzagate conspiracy theorist.
But the Fox News host’s apparent acknowledgment that he didn’t really believe immigrants were making America “dirtier” was not enough to stop the corporate backlash, as three more advertisers dropped Carlson on Monday.
Indeed responded to a tweet inquiring about its relationship with Carlson to note it “has no plans to advertise on this program in the future.”
Hi, Diane Indeed is not currently advertising on Tucker Carlson Tonight and has no plans to advertise on this program in the future. — Indeed (@indeed) December 17, 2018
Then later on Monday, Smile Direct confirmed to the Hollywood Reporter that it was also done running advertisements during Tucker Carlson Tonight.
Carlson lost a fourth advertiser on Monday evening when Bowflex also announced it was done supporting his Fox News show. “We have requested that Fox News remove our ads from airing in conjunction with Tucker Carlson Tonight in the future,” the company said in a statement. “Aside from our decision to remove our ads from his show, we have no other association or affiliation with Mr. Carlson.”
Despite three advertisers dropping Carlson on Monday, MoveOn’s Jordan Uhl noted he still enjoys plenty of corporate support.
Instead of taking responsibility for Carlson’s comments, the conservative network has attempted to blame the controversy on “left wing advocacy groups.”
In addition to being offensive, Carlson’s remarks about immigration didn’t make sense, as the economic benefits of migration have been cited by numerous Democrats and progressives.
Fox News parted ways with Bill O’Reilly last year after advertisers abandoned his show following reports that the longtime Fox host reached financial settlements with numerous women who accused him of sexual harassment.
Fox News’ Laura Ingraham also faced corporate backlash after mocking a survivor of the Parkland, Florida school shooting earlier this year. | {
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Raul Jimenez struck in the second half to give Wolves a richly-deserved win over a Burnley side for whom alarm bells are starting to ring | {
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Howard County Police Chief William H. McMahon speaks during a news conference at the Howard County Public Safety Training Center in Marriottsville, Md., where police released details from the investigation of the Jan. 25 shootings. The findings dispel speculation that the shooter, who ended the attack when he turned the gun on himself, targeted his victims.
March 12, 2014 Howard County Police Chief William H. McMahon speaks during a news conference at the Howard County Public Safety Training Center in Marriottsville, Md., where police released details from the investigation of the Jan. 25 shootings. The findings dispel speculation that the shooter, who ended the attack when he turned the gun on himself, targeted his victims. Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post
Authorities on Wednesday provided their first detailed account of the Jan. 25 shootings at the Mall in Columbia that left two victims and the shooter dead.
A crowd gathered outside the Mall in Columbia following the weekend slaying of two store employees by a gunman who turned his weapon on himself.
A crowd gathered outside the Mall in Columbia following the weekend slaying of two store employees by a gunman who turned his weapon on himself.
Darion Aguilar mentioned killing people in his journal and expressed a “general hatred of others,” police said Wednesday. The 19-year-old wrote that he was sorry to his family for what he was planning to do, although he did not indicate precisely what that was.
The writings — described Wednesday on Twitter by Howard County police — provide the best window yet into the teen’s mind-set before he walked into a skate shop at the Mall in Columbia on Saturday, shooting and killing two employees before putting a shotgun in his mouth and pulling the trigger. But they leave unanswered perhaps the most important questions.
Why the Mall in Columbia, and the Zumiez store in particular? Why 25-year-old Tyler Johnson and 21-year-old Brianna Benlolo — Aguilar’s victims who, at least so far, appear to have no concrete connections to the young man? Howard County police say those are questions they are still probing.
“Nothing in the journal indicates why he targeted these two people or the mall in general,” Howard County police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said in an e-mail.
What Aguilar’s writings — which police say came in the year leading up to the shooting — show is a teenager who was discontented, violent and self-aware. Howard County police said on Twitter that Aguilar wrote of using marijuana, expressed “thoughts of wanting to die” and even said he was “ready to die.”
Darion Marcus Aguilar. (AP)
But he never mentioned specific locations or people, police said. He wrote of needing a mental health professional, but never told his family, police said. He wrote that his plan was “set,” but he did not “indicate what he’s referring to,” police said.
An employee at Zumiez said Tuesday that Aguilar was something of a “mall rat” who occasionally spent time at the store, and Howard County police said on Twitter that Aguilar would sometimes “hang outside and smoke in small groups.” But whether he chose the mall out of mere familiarity or for some other reason remained unclear Wednesday.
No connections have emerged between Aguilar and Johnson or Benlolo, except that Aguilar and Benlolo lived near each other in College Park. Benlolo was the doting mother of a 2-year-old son, and Johnson, who lived in Ellicott City, volunteered in anti-drug efforts, friends and family members have said.
Even the path that led Aguilar to the mall is somewhat perplexing. He lived with his mom in College Park and was supposed to report to work at the Dunkin’ Donuts on Baltimore Avenue on Saturday morning. According to a missing person report released by Prince George’s County police Wednesday, he was last seen walking to work about 5:15 a.m.
But somehow, Aguilar ended up in the Montgomery County community of Burtonsville — hailing a Barwood taxi to take him to the Columbia mall, according to police and the cab company. Police said they do not know how he got there, or why he went.
Aguilar carried with him a 12-gauge shotgun — broken down inside a backpack, police said Wednesday. He had purchased it legally last month, from a Rockville gun store whose owner thought of him as “an ideal customer.” He assembled the weapon inside the Zumiez dressing room. When he emerged, he opened fire.
Police said Johnson and Benlolo were shot and killed, and another woman — 49-year-old Susan Kay Straumanis of Hanover — was shot in the foot as she stood upstairs near the store. Several others were hurt as hundreds inside the mall rushed to safety, some barricading themselves inside the many stores. Aguilar then killed himself.
Friends of Aguilar have said he seemed harmless and unremarkable; he enjoyed cooking shows and wanted to be a chef. His missing person report reflects mostly a normal teenager. He wore blue jeans, a white polo shirt covered by a gray hoodie and a gray beanie. He did not take any medications — at least none that the detective noted. He had acne.
The detective who filled out the report, though, did glean at least some hint of trouble, law enforcement officials speaking on the condition anonymity have said. Hours after the shooting, as he read Aguilar’s journal to investigate the teen’s disappearance, he came across a portion describing suicidal thoughts, officials have said. Aguilar’s mother asked the detective to put the journal down, officials have said. They began tracking his phone.
It registered at the Mall in Columbia.
Staff reporter Lynh Bui contributed to this report.
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Two men who married in Copenhagen have reportedly had their marriage recognised in Russia - where same-sex nuptials are illegal.
Eugene Wojciechowski and Paul Stotzko tied the knot in the Danish capital earlier this month, and claim to be the first gay couple to have their marriage recognised in their homeland.
They submitted their passports on their return to Russia with an updated marital status, and said they had been formalised 'without superfluous questions'.
In an interview on Russian TV, they said it was a "shock" that they did not have to fight for their union to be recognised.
The move would be a landmark in a country where 80% of people view gay sex as 'reprehensible', according to a survey released this month.
However, Russia has been under huge worldwide scrutiny ahead of its hosting of the football World Cup this summer and The Kremlin's renowned propaganda machine may be aiming to generate positive headlines as it seeks to soften its image on human rights.
(Image: AFP)
According to Russia's Family Code laws, Rain TV reports, marriages conducted abroad are recognised as valid.
Homosexuality is not illegal in Russia, but Vladimir Putin's government has faced serious questions about its attitude to same-sex relationships.
Since 2013 it has been illegal for gay people to 'promote their sexuality', a law condemned by the European Court of Human Rights.
(Image: tvrain.ru) (Image: tvrain.ru)
Last year it emerged that hate crimes against LGBT people had doubled since the law was introduced,
Svetlana Zakharova, a board member with Russian LGBT Network, told Reuters in November last year: “(Offenders) have become more aggressive and less fearful.
"It seems to them that, to some extent, the government supports their actions. Many perpetrators openly talk about their crimes as noble deeds."
(Image: TASS)
A study by the Levada Center discovered that 83% of Russians thought gay sex was 'always reprehensible' or 'almost always reprehensible'.
Twenty years ago 68% were opposed to gay relationships, the Moscow Times reports.
Last year gay people in the Russian republic of Chechnya were rounded up and tortured, and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov denied that there were any gay people within the republic. | {
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The start of the new season has come faster than I could have ever expected! You may have noticed I did not stick to my word on doing a GTE Le Mans notebook, and that there weren’t standalone articles for the prologue, new LMP1 updates or round one at Silverstone; I did not want to publish something I was not confident in. Compared to the run up to the Superseason I have had a big step kicking off my engineering career, and other life changes aligned with the start of Season 8. So, looking onward and upward with this one I aim to catch up with where we stand with WEC. It will cover the following items:
Season 8 LMP1 Updates:
Toyota TS050
The final iteration of the TS050 before the introduction of Hypercar was revealed at the S8 Prologue allowing for speculation on what has changed.
Top: Old TS050 Spec, Above: New Season 8 TS050 Spec
The major difference is in the appearance of the front of the car, and with it a slight change in philosophy around the airflow through and over the car. In recent years the TS050 has had a low nose with a rather chunky keel underneath it extending down to the splitter diverting air around the front axle hybrid units and the tub. The leading edge of this keel was very far forward almost meeting the leading edge of the splitter and the tip of the nose. Either side of this keel were flaps in conjunction with the splitter making the whole front end like a dual element wing. Ahead of the flaps on each side there was a small element diverting air downward under the car/flap to generate more downforce elsewhere (despite generating lift themselves). Removing these to simplify the front end is a good move as small slot gaps get obstructed by debris and tyre marbles adhering to aerodynamic surfaces impacting performance. This redesign should allow the TS050 to maintain performance through the duration of a race, but also be easier to clean in pit stops.
For S8 the upper bodywork of the nose was moved rearward opening up for potentially more airflow through the car to the sidepods for cooling and out the side of the car to move the front tyre wake -think towards what barge boards do in F1 for this. It gives us a nicer view of the flaps inside the front end, and shows how the angle of attack of the flap/splitter combination changes across the span as there is more expansion outboard where the wheel wells are.
Moving the central keel rearward would expose the splitter top surface to more high pressure air, and potentially reduce the yaw sensitivity of the front-end flaps as they will be exposed to clean flow at wider ranges of slip angles/unsteady ambient conditions.
Under the tip of the nose structure sits a pair of vertical fangs/fins presumed to stiffen up the front end. They are slightly ‘toe in’ to describe in suspension terms reflecting the flow direction at this area.
The wing mirrors have been hidden in the front fender for Season 8 cleaning up the aesthetic but also the reducing the frontal area of the car.
Ginetta G60-LT-P
There’s been more testing from this car representative of a real and credible LMP1 entry, giving more bits of development to take a look at.
The brake cooling has changed a lot since the debut of the Ginetta P1. To start with the inlets were low down on the fender above the splitter. In Team LNT spec, they were moved upward and inboard similar to the Dallara LMP2 in style.
The team increased the size of these inlets to get some more cooling flow, however this
was not enough as the team suffered braking problems at Silverstone and Fuji where there was a catastrophic disc failure.
To improve from here I expect another change to the brake cooling. To save money they could clean up the existing duct inside (mostly flexi hose) into a solid smooth duct avoiding a bodywork change. Some flexible ducting is necessary however to account for the kinematic wheel assembly vs a fixed chassis. Intake area could be made bigger, but at a detriment to drag and at a cost of new bodywork components. Shanghai is another track with a huge straight into a hairpin, so if dry I expect Ginetta to have more braking issues if they make no changes here.
Ginetta opted for a higher downforce setup than previously run with for a lot of testing. A second dive plane at the front was paired with a larger rear wing. Even though this was a high downforce/drag setup, the Ginetta cars were 10kph faster than anyone else on the long straight at Fuji.
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Nigeria: Police probe Ibadan 'house of horror' Published duration 23 March 2014
Nigerian police have opened a murder investigation after human skeletons and body parts were discovered in an abandoned building in the south-west.
Officers also rescued several people nearby who had been chained together and appeared severely malnourished.
The alarm had been raised by motorcycle taxi riders in the city of Ibadan after some of their colleagues went missing.
Several people have been arrested in the city - Nigeria's third largest - a police spokeswoman said.
Living skeletons
When police searched the abandoned building - dubbed the "house of horror" by the media - they found skeletons, decomposing bodies, skulls and bones on bloodstained floors.
A number of people were found shackled in leg-irons inside the building.
"Some seven malnourished human beings looking like living skeletons were also rescued in the bushes surrounding the building," police spokeswoman Olabisi Ilobanafor told AFP.
She said the motorbike riders had stumbled on the bodies after complaining to police about the disappearance of colleagues in suspicious circumstances.
"It is not a common occurrence in Ibadan or in the (Oyo) state. The police will investigate this crime in all its ramifications," she said. | {
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Every time there is talk of equal rights for the LGBTQ in this country, there is opposition from various quarters. While Muslim and Christian clerics create a hue and cry, clinging to specific sections in their holy books that outlaw homosexuality, there are their Hindutva-wadi friends and right-wing conservatives who bemoan the hurt such equality and progressive acceptance will cause to the Indian culture.
Well, this one’s to prove that Hindutva may be regressive and non-inclusive but Hinduism is not
This is not to say that Islam, Christianity or any other religion practiced across the sub-continent is inferior to Hinduism in stature or is un-indian. But the fact that Hinduism has been practiced for far longer than its brethren and the sheer diversity and inclusiveness it shows makes it the ideal base to explore Indian-ness or the Indian-culture.
Lord Vishnu in Mohini avatar | source: mahalasa.org
The fact the our mythology and sacred texts are scattered with stories, fables and legends of people and instances where not just mere humans but deities, demons and gods themselves have engaged in homosexual, inter-gender and transgender behavior. These instances are proof of the inclusiveness of the religion and also show the non-discriminative nature of ancient India is something Indians like me see as a bragging right!
Let us step into mythology first and go all the way back to beginning of creation
Hinduism has many different schools which believe in different legends pertaining to the origin of the universe. While many believe Vishnu as the first god and the source, many see Shiva and Shakti as the origin. Amidst them is the school of thought which worships Lord Ardhanareeshwara as the procreator and source of the universe.
an image of lord Ardhanareeshwara who is half Shiva and half Shakti | source: hindu devotional blog
This incarnation or deity is transgender in true sense and is represented as half-Shiva and half-Shakti. The true glory of the form is that it celebrates gender equality in true sense while showing that creation and divinity is gender-neutral. If we can worship a god who is neither a man or woman, why are we being averse to our fellow humans who do not fall into these gender definitions?
Moving on we come to the samudra-manthan saga where the nectar of immortality (Amrit) was churned out of the sea of life. When the Devas wanted to cheat the Asuras (not so godly eh!) and refused to share the nectar with them, it was Lord Vishnu, who transformed into the majestically beautiful Mohini to distract the asuras and steal the nectar only for the gods. This shows that even the gods do not see gender as deterrent can chose a different gender to see ends to their divine means.
Vishnu again took the Mohini form to save the creation from destruction. This time he did to entice Shiva. Mohini was so beautiful that even the usually reserved Shiva – a complete yogi who strays away from all material pleasures – is smitten by her. He courts her and their union becomes the god Harihara. Their child then proceeds to defeat the evil that has taken over the world as Lord Ayyappa or Dharmasastha.
Vishnu has manifested into Mohini many a times in the Puranas
And some versions even state that Ayyappa is the male form of Shakti.
In the Mahabharata there are various episodes which have a pro-LGBTQ tinge to them. The most prominent being the case of Shikhandi. Shikhandi was the rebirth of Amba – a princess who was hurt by Bheeshma’s action and vowed revenge – and ultimately becomes the cause of Bheeshma’s demise. Various versions show Shikhandi as an intergender, transgender, eunuch or a man who was born a woman.
But the fact that he fought in the great war alongside his father Drupad and brother’s-in-law Pandavas showcases the acceptance of such people in those ancient times.
Arjuna as Brihanala | source: findmessages.com
Also in the epic is Arjuna spending time during the ‘Agyatvas’ as Bhrihanala – a eunuch and Lord Krishna taking the Mohini form to marry Arjuna’s son Aravana. Aravana is now the patron deity for Eunuch clan from south.
Aravana
We Shared Aravana's Story With You Earlier
Apart from these there are numerous other minor episodes of homosexuality and trans-sexuality that appear in our epics. Did you know that Lord Krishna’s entire clan was wiped out from the world after his son Samba received a curse for pretending to be a pregnant woman and mocking sages?
These are not the only references of the LGBTQ themes but these are very prominent.
The fact that these episodes find a place among our sacred texts and the fact that many of temples are home to sculptures and artistic depictions of homo-erotic scenes tell us how tolerant Hinduism and Hindus of the older times were. If we reject these symbols as signs of our ancient heritage of acceptance, what difference is between us and Taliban or ISIS who reject their heritage and destroy monuments based on new-found outrage?
A carving at Khajuraho temple | source: Wikimedia
Then why are we bickering over giving equal rights and acceptance to our fellow Indians of the third gender?
Abrahamic faiths may have to find their own path through the embedded homophobia that was prevalent in the times of their origins in the regions where they began. But India as a nation should rise above such discrimination. Instead of calling the LGBTQ a parasitic invasion of the other cultures on us, it’s time we embrace them like our forefathers did in times when divinity and magic flowed freely this side of the Himalayas! | {
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Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
Goes to Mayhem fest Leaves when Slipknot comes on | {
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Newsweek's latest cover showcases a feature on Sarah Palin and the provocative grab quote: "I can win." In the 7,000-word article, Palin tells Newsweek's Peter Boyer that she believes she "can win a national election." When their conversation turns to the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Palin says she's still thinking about whether to jump in, then adds: "I'm not so egotistical as to believe that it has to be me, or it can only be me, to turn things around.... But I do believe that I can win." Well, could she?
Not even Palin believes this "lunacy": Palin's declaration "is laughable on its face when you know that her 'unfavorable' rating rests at an unelectable 57.9 percent," says Jonathan Capehart in The Washington Post. She knows it, too. In fact, it's "mystifying" that anyone thinks her hagiographic movie, short-lived bus tour, and the "nuttiness" in her Newsweek profile are anything but a bid to recapture the wandering spotlight. Palin "is a star," but not a presidential contender.
"Sarah Palin as Newsweek cover girl — again"
Critics don't get Palin's appeal: The only thing standing in Palin's path is "the hysterical level of character assassination that prevails on the Left," says John Sexton in Verum Serum. And she can overcome that. The Right hated Hillary Clinton, but she won her Senate seat, because "a lot of voters don't believe the negatives," or don't care. And as with Hillary, tons of people connect with Palin "on an emotional, almost spiritual level" — and they think she has "the right enemies."
"Palin can win, just like Hillary did in New York"
You've got to admire her bravado: Maybe Palin's "popularity among Republicans and conservatives warrants that pretty impressive confidence," says Tina Korbe in Hot Air, but the polls sure don't. The biggest thing in Palin's favor is the weak, dull GOP field. And who knows? Perhaps her "cockiness" about winning can light a fire under the whole lot of them. Either way, "if she's going to get in, I wish she’d get in now, so folks would stop evaluating her non-campaign-campaign tactics."
"Sarah Palin in Newsweek: 'I can win'" | {
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Top leaders of the Illinois Republican Party sought to reverse damage on Sunday after posting a movie-style poster on Facebook that depicted four progressive congresswomen who have been repeatedly attacked by President Donald Trump in recent days as "The Jihad Squad."
The poster, whose image was reportedly uploaded to the Facebook account of the Republican County Chairmen's Association of Illinois on Friday night, displayed images of the four newly elected congresswomen of color — Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts — who are often nicknamed "The Squad." It showed the lawmakers in film-style action poses with a smiling Pressley aiming a gun and Ocasio-Cortez donning a red evening dress that was on fire. Omar is seen pursing her lips and Tlaib is screaming.
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"Political Jihad is their game," the poster read. "If you don't agree with their socialist ideology, you're racist."
The post also displayed the logo of the Republican County Chairmen's Association.
In a follow-up post shared to Facebook Sunday night, the organization's president, Mark Shaw, chairman of the Lake County Republican Central Committee, said the image's posting was "not authorized by me" and that he was "sorry if anyone who saw the image was offended by its contents." He did not apologize outright for the image.
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Shaw then explained that the group has a "multi-stage, approval process for all social media posts on any of the RCCA's social media properties." That process, he said, is being "reevaluated."
He said the post had been deleted and went on to lament that it was "unfortunate distraction from the serious debate surrounding the policies advocated by these four socialist members of the United States House of Representatives of which I strongly disagree."
Shaw's post came hours after a host of Illinois Republicans denounced the image.
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"The recent social media post coming from the IRCCA does not reflect my values or the Illinois Republican Party’s values," Tim Schneider, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, said in a statement. "Bigoted rhetoric greatly distracts from legitimate and important policy debates and further divides our nation."
Cook County Republican Party Chairman Sean Morrison said in a statement that he was "appalled" by the association's recent post and their "use of hateful rhetoric."
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"There are civil ways to express political differences that do not involve going to racist extremes," he said. "The Illinois Republican County Chairman's Association's post only serves to further the hateful divide within our country, when we should instead strive for an intelligent, civil and thoughtful discussion of the philosophical differences between Republicans and Democrats."
The controversy comes as Trump has steadily escalated his incendiary criticism of the four high-profile lawmakers over the past week, since initially tweeting last week that the congresswomen should "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came."
Three of the four legislators — Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley and Tlaib — were born in the U.S., while Omar, a refugee from Somalia, has been an American citizen since she was 17.
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Trump initially defended his tweet, arguing it was not meant to be racist. He then continued his verbal volleys at a campaign rally on Wednesday in North Carolina, during which he criticized Omar as the crowd chanted, "send her back," even after the House of Representatives voted Tuesday on a resolution condemning the president over his comments.
The president told reporters on Thursday that he disagreed with the chants, only to defend the rally-goers as "patriots" one day later.
Trump continued to take aim at the congresswomen on Sunday, writing on Twitter: "I don't believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our Country. They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible (hateful) things they have said. They are destroying the Democrat Party, but are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!" | {
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Cuáles son las trabas que se deben dejar atrás para retirar encomiendas de la Aduana
Cuáles son las trabas que se deben dejar atrás para retirar encomiendas de la Aduana
Los argentinos que realizan compras minoristas a través de páginas web deben saltar múltiples obstáculos a la hora de retirar la mercaderia
Una vez más, y con la mira puesta en frenar la fuga de divisas, la Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos (AFIP) complicó y burocratizó a principios de este año la compra de bienes en el exterior a través de sitios como Amazon y Aliexpress, entre otros.
Puntualmente, con la entrada en vigencia de la resolución general (AFIP) 3.579/2014, los argentinos que realizan operaciones minoristas con proveedores de otros países a través de páginas de Internet deben -entre otros pasos a cumplir- completar un formulario online.
La presentación de esa "declaración jurada" se debe realizar con anterioridad al retiro o recepción de la mercadería en cuestión. Y para ello se debe contar con CUIT o CUIL y con la clave fiscal que brinda el organismo de recaudación a cargo de Ricardo Echegaray.
Si bien el trámite parece sencillo, expertos consultados por iProfesional advierten que existen múltiples trabas al momento de retirar encomiendas de la Aduana.
Pasos a seguir
Al respecto, la consultora tributaria, Ivon Bacaicoa, detalló los pasos que se deben seguir para llevar adelante el trámite y no morir en el intento.
Como primer acercamiento, la experta explicó que desde enero pasado la mercadería comprada en portales como Amazon o Aliexporess "dejó de llegar a la puerta de los hogares y comenzaron a llegar telegramas para que los retiros se efectivizaran en la Aduana. Y nada menos, que en la Aduana de Ezeiza".
Antes de comenzar el trámite, Bacaicoa asegura que es conveniente tener a mano lo siguiente:
Documentación de la compra y del producto: a modo de ejemplo, la pantalla de Aliexpress o DealExtreme donde se describe el producto y el proveedor.
En el portal, suministran un tracking. Con ese número se puede hacer el seguimiento online de la encomienda en la página de Correo Argentino y saber qué envío está llegando. Es importante destacar que existe un ID internacional y ID nacional y que es el que figura en el telegrama que llega. Ambos datos con su estado, están en la consulta del Correo Argentino.
Telegrama de Correo Argentino : luego de la compra, llega un telegrama de 4 hojas del Correo Argentino. En la primer hoja, está identificado el envío con un número cuyo formato es RD999999999AR.
: luego de la compra, llega un telegrama de 4 hojas del Correo Argentino. En la primer hoja, está identificado el envío con un número cuyo formato es RD999999999AR. Constancia de pago del producto: puede ser el mail de Mercado Pago o el medio que se haya utilizado. Es conveniente tener a mano también el resumen de la tarjeta de crédito donde se pueda visualizar la fecha exacta en que se acreditó el pago.
Luego, con todos los papeles en mano, se puede iniciar el trámite:
Certificación de firma en el telegrama: la segunda hoja del telegrama, contempla la posibilidad de autorizar a alguien, certificando nuestra firma. Lo más simple y rápido, es realizarlo en el banco.
Se debe tener en cuenta que el envío tiene una fecha de vencimiento. Si el trámite no se realiza antes, el producto teóricamente regresa al lugar de orígen. Son 15 días corridos a partir de la fecha que figura en el encabezado de la primer hoja.
Generar el formulario online 4550: se debe ingresar a la página de AFIP y con clave fiscal, ingresar al apartado "Mis Aplicaciones Web". Allí, elegir la opción "Formulario 4550 Compras a Proveedores del exterior".
La carga es online y al formulario se lo identifica como F 4550/100. Son 4 solapas a completar con información del comprador, del producto y de la transacción.
Anteriormente, el formulario era manual y se identificaba como 4550-T, pero ya no lo aceptan más.
Generar el Volante Electrónico de Pago (VEP): inmediatamente, luego de enviar el formulario en forma electrónica, se está habilitado para generar el VEP que arroja el importe a pagar.
El procedimiento consiste en ingresar a la página de AFIP con la clave fiscal, ir a la opción "Servicios Habilitados - Presentación de DDJJ y Pagos - Nuevo VEP".
Una vez en el formulario, se debe completar de la siguiente manera:
Organismo Recaudador: AFIP.
Grupo o Tipos de Pagos: Aduana.
Tipo de Pago: Compra a Proveedores del Exterior.
Con posterioridad, en la segunda pantalla se deben cargar datos propios de la operación. Esto contempla el 50% del valor de compra en dólares menos la franquicia anual que sólo podrá considerarse en una sola compra de las dos anuales que hoy están permitidas.
Pagar VEP: el volante electrónico generado en el punto anterior es el que se debe pagar por Internet a través de homebanking. Al pagarlo, se obtiene el ticket de pago.
El trámite en Aduana se realiza con el DNI original, el telegrama con la firma certificada, el F 4550/100, el VEP y su ticket. Allí, se verificarán todos los papeles y se cobrará un adicional en concepto de depósito por cada día en que haya estado en guarda.
Es importante aclarar que el paquete será abierto para verificar que coincida con todo lo declarado. Por eso, conviene llevar toda la documentación mencionada precedentemente. Si todo está en orden, el trámite estará finalizado. | {
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Democratic Party activist Howard Lam had never been abducted and was just “putting on a show,” prosecutors said on the final day of his trial on Monday.
In August 2017, Lam claimed that he had been drugged, abducted and tortured by suspected mainland agents in Hong Kong. Lam said the men seized him in Mongkok, inserted 21 staples into his legs, before abandoning him on a Sai Kung beach.
Howard Lam. File photo: inmediahk.net.
Less than a week later, Lam was arrested and detained by police for allegedly providing false information. He was charged with knowingly making a false report to the police.
In its closing statement at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court, the prosecution argued that the police had successfully pieced together closed-circuit television footage to disprove Lam’s version of events.
Lam has pleaded not guilty, and faces a maximum fine of HK$1,000 and six months behind bars.
‘Self-defeating’
Prosecutors told the court that police had spent substantial time and manpower to review CCTV clips, and that Lam’s testimony was “self-defeating”.
The 42-year-old claimed to return home immediately after his ordeal, but the prosecution said there was footage showing him drinking a beverage outside his home for 20 minutes. “Does that look like what a crime victim would do?” the prosecution lawyer asked.
The prosecution also said that the combined CCTV footage was “clear as a crystal ball” and allowed the police to retrace Lam’s steps in Mong Kok on the day of his alleged abduction. Lam had safely boarded a minibus headed for Sai Kung, they said.
West Kowloon Law Courts Building. Photo: Kris Cheng/HKFP.
However, Lam’s defence lawyer argued that the prosecutors did not prove Lam lied beyond reasonable doubt, and that there was an eight-metre gap not covered by CCTV footage.
The medical evidence continued to be a point of dispute. Earlier in the trial, both sides summoned their expert witnesses who gave competing evidence: Senior Forensic Pathologist Lai Sai-chak said the wounds were likely self-inflicted, but British specialist Jason Payne-James said the injuries were “consistent” with Lam’s torture claims.
The defence argued that the medical examination was delayed by 15 hours and that some symptoms may no longer have been visible.
The court will hand down its judgment on March 15. | {
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Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich's murder continues to stir up public opinion in the US. Speaking to Sputnik, Wall Street analyst Charles Ortel assumed that Rich's death could have been part of a massive conspiracy aimed at appointing Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as successor to Barack Obama.
The unresolved murder of Democratic National Committee (DNC) staffer Seth Rich has again been brought into the spotlight.
About a year ago Rich, who reportedly worked as the voter expansion data director at the DNC, was shot in the back in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington D.C.
The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) surmises that the DNC staffer was a victim of a robbery. However, his wallet, credit cards and cellphone were found on his body, intact.
To add to the controversy, the police have not been releasing new information on the case for months, prompting American political consultant Jack Burkman to file a suit against the MPD on Wednesday seeking to force them to release video footage of the murder.
For his part, US conservative commentator Sean Hannity signaled Tuesday that he is "making progress" in investigating what was really behind Seth Rich's murder.
Why does the former DNC staffer attract so much attention?
The crux of the matter is that he is believed to be an alleged whistleblower who leaked nearly 20,000 DNC emails to WikiLeaks, exposing Hillary Clinton's conspiracy against her counterpart — former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
Back in August 2016, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange dropped a hint that Rich could have been behind the leak. If that is true, the Democrats' narrative that Russia had "meddled" in the US 2016 presidential election will fall apart like a house of cards.
We are in search of the identity of the DNC leaker (s), don't get distracted by the mainstream media fake news distributors. — Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) May 31, 2017
Meanwhile, American investigative journalist and author Jerome R. Corsi has published a series of articles, which "explores the evidence that Seth Rich… leaked to WikiLeaks thousands of John Podesta's emails."
Sputnik asked Wall Street analyst and investigative journalist Charles Ortel to share his views on the issue.
If it is proven that Rich was behind the DNC leak, will it deal a lethal blow to the "Russians did it" story? At the same time, will it help answer the question who could have been behind Rich's murder?
"Jerry Corsi's excellent work deserves close attention as does the independent work of George Webb and others who are trying to discover why so many people close to the last election have died along the way," Ortel told Sputnik.
Indeed, the death of attorney Shawn Lucas, who served the DNC with a lawsuit in early July 2016 accusing then-DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of "rigging primaries" for Hillary Clinton, raised a lot of questions.
Likewise, the passing of Joe Montano, who served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee before Debbie Wasserman Schultz, in July 2016, and the death of Victor Thorn, who authored four books on the Clintons, in August 2016, are still shrouded in mystery.
The US alternative media are circulating the so-called "Clinton death list" claiming that it contains the names of people who died after crossing the Clintons' path.
"Assuming the FBI was given the appropriate attitude and necessary resources, I imagine they would wish to investigate what seems to be a massive criminal conspiracy to appoint Hillary Clinton as successor to Barack Obama," Ortel noted.
"Here, I would suggest going all the way back to the 2007 and 2008 election cycle to understand better exactly what accommodations may have been reached between the Obamas and the Clintons concerning the operation of the Clinton Foundation and its affiliates while Hillary Clinton served as US Secretary of State, forward to the present," the Wall Street analyst suggested.
"What I see in the public record alone is a pattern where political donors and Clinton Foundation donors appear to have been richly rewarded numerous ways. In addition, particularly from 2009 forward the Clinton and Obama families, somehow, seem to have become much wealthier. Can publishing houses credibly defend the enormous advances given for various books? Can payments for 'speeches' and for part-time positions be defended, when compared to incomes earned in the private sector for a full year of honest work?" Ortel asked.
Meanwhile, there is yet another burning issue related to the DNC leak.
The question is why the DNC still denies the FBI access to their hacked server. Or maybe it is the FBI that is insisting on not examining the server while relying on a private firm's findings on the alleged hack?
Why did the @FBI not demand access to the @DNC servers? Why was a conflicted private company allowed to investigate? pic.twitter.com/YUMdKOS70w — Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) May 31, 2017
"If I were a Democrat, and if I were a Bernie Sanders supporter, I would be furious with the leadership of the Democratic Party — its behavior during 2016 strongly suggests to me that party officials have much to hide, a conclusion that is consistent with their apparent refusal to let the FBI do its work, rigorously," the Wall Street analyst emphasized.
"In solving mysteries, one of the oldest questions normally asked is 'who benefits'?" he highlighted.
"I believe that the Clinton campaign acted as if their candidate had earned the absolute right not simply to win the presidency but to rule the American people with unchecked power. Having lost so badly in 2008, Hillary Clinton and her supporters were determined to win in 2016 at all costs. So, damaging information was suppressed, and the primaries seem to have been rigged from what we know, so far, in the public domain," Ortel elaborated, adding that "Americans deserve to know what really happened during election season."
"Moreover, those who have been attacked, the Russian government for example, and others who have been charged in the media and even by politicians as having, potentially, meddled in the recent election cycle need either to be proven guilty or cleared," he added.
The Wall Street analyst believes that "America needs to get its game back."
"To do so, we need to root out the endemic corruption especially in Washington, D.C. among both political parties, drain the swamp and make examples of the swamp monsters who still believe, even now, that they are above the law," Ortel concluded.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Sputnik.
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Examining the average income for Americans sheds a very troubling light on what has happened to income over a very financially destructive decade. If we look at the median household income in the U.S. this actually underplays the falling behind of wages because we are looking at households with multiple people working. Without a doubt the median wage is bolstered by two income families but when we break this out, we realize how challenging things have gotten for most Americans on a very personal level. You might even be one of these people (the odds are good that you individually make less than $40,000 per year given that 66 percent of individual Americans make this amount or less). For this article I will be looking at recent income data from the Census, Social Security, and also examine tax receipts for the Federal Government. What we find is a pooling of money at the top while most Americans have found a smaller paycheck with much less employment security. One startling fact that I found looking at Social Security information was that 100,000,000+ Americans earn an average of $39,999 or less a year (66 percent of all Americans). When we break down the cost of daily living and what one would expect out of a middle class lifestyle we get a better understanding of why so many people feel that they are being left behind in a dust cloud of economic verbiage.
I first wanted to break down the average income of individual Americans through examining Social Security data:
Source: Social Security
For 2009 Social Security had 150,917,733 wage earners. Keep in mind that in some cases you might have people only working for half a year or part-time work but this data gives us an excellent personal look at the average income of Americans on a very micro level. One startling reality is that 72,000,000+ Americans earn $25,000 or less each year (almost half the wage earning population). This is why when we look at the median household income of $50,000 we come to the stark realization that two incomes are necessary just to stay above water. When only a few decades ago one blue collar income was enough for a middle class way of life (i.e., modest home, a path to a public college, etc) now two incomes are barely enough to pay for the daily necessities.
Another 34 million Americans earn an average of $25,001 to $45,000 per year while 33 million earn between $45,001 and $99,999. Going up to an average of $99,999 covers 93 percent of all individual wage earners in the country. This is where the vast majority of Americans reside. The numbers quickly dwindle as expected when we hit the upper income ranges. What is interesting is the vast difference between those who earn $20 million and $49 million and those who make over $50 million. The data reveals that over 353 Americans earned between $20 and $49 million and the average amount was $28 million. Compare this to the 72 that made more than $50 million with an average compensation of $84 million. To put this into context, the top 72 Americans earned over $6 billion in 2009.
The lowest paid 24,000,000 Americans earned an average of $2,061. Again, this is merely to put all the data on the table. It also shows how tilted things have gotten. I wanted to see what the top 1 percent earned in total compensation for 2009 and compare this to the bottom half of wage earners:
Source: Social Security
“The top 1 percent of wage earners in America earned more than the bottom 48 percent of Americans. If you are wondering where the middle class is evaporating to it is rather clear.”
Substantial income inequality is not the path to a strong and vibrant middle class. 17 percent of Americans are either unemployed or underemployed so the lower end of the curve is dragging more people lower. Yet the top end remains rather strong. Some will argue that the very wealthy have also been hit. This is true and we have seen this in the top wage categories. But this is the difference between earning $50 million and $40 million. The marginal impact on lifestyle is minimal. Losing your income when you have a household making $50,000 combined and suddenly a $25,000 wage earner is gone can throw things into a tailspin.
There is nothing wrong with earning tremendous amounts of money. In fact, that is the spirit of capitalism. But how many Wall Street banker types that earned money betting on the failure of Americans while enjoying government handouts as protection made it to the top of the bracket? This isn’t rewarding capitalism but a modern form of corporatocracy. The reason the lower end became poorer is because those on the lower end had to shuffle and redistribute wealth to the higher end of the curve in the form of bailouts. Consider it a form of reverse trickledown theory.
Let us now look at the median household income data from the Census:
Source: Census
The median household income for Americans is $50,221. The above curve seems more balanced out but Census data tops out at “$200,000 or more” so it doesn’t break down data as clearly as the individual Social Security wage data. 3.9 percent of households make more than $200,000 a year. So the incredible majority of Americans make less than $200,000 and this is for overall household data so we have many with two or even more income earners here. So why did the media object so loudly for having higher taxes for those making more than $250,000? Well refer back to the Social Security data. Also, the line was fed that many of these high income earners are the job providers of Americans. Of course the implicit and subtle argument meant that if taxes go up on this group they will fire more people. We can debate the merits of the tax increase at the very top but the amount of rhetoric we heard on mainstream TV shows you that the top 1 percent control much more than just the wealth of the country.
You also need to remember many of those at the top take money in various forms like capital gains which are only taxed at 15 percent. The vast majority of Americans have small amounts of stock and the bulk of their net worth is stored up in real estate. The crashing housing market has harmed them the most while the improved stock market has targeted a smaller segment of the population.
Since the peak, Zillow the real estate tracking company estimates that residential values have fallen by $9 trillion. Yet stock wealth has bounced back since the low in early 2009. When we look at income figures we see there is some troubling inequality in the system and it has only become magnified in this recession.
While this is happening tax collections for the government are back up yet spending in the form of bailouts, deficit spending, war, and other government expenditures has also increased much quicker and those at the top are the biggest beneficiaries:
In essence the bailouts have gone to the wealthiest and many of the top have argued the uptick in tax revenues is somehow natural. It isn’t and you can just look at the above data. This is merely income redistribution but not how most of us would think about it. After all, why would the wealthiest in the U.S. need to take more money from those at the bottom rung? We are now back to 2005 levels of revenues. Yet this in itself is a bit deceptive because the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar has fallen over this decade as well:
The U.S. dollar is down 20 percent from the start of the decade. What this means is the purchasing power of Americans has eroded over this time. It is also the case that wages have gone negative over the entire decade with stagnant pay and inflation chipping away as well.
So how much does the average American make? $38,000 even when we add in billionaires and everyone else. This is the individual amount. It would be tough to even come close to a middle class lifestyle with that income. Let us run a quick scenario:
The average American is taking home roughly $2,500 per month. We are using Florida as an example here. Let us just run some quick numbers to see how far that $2,500 will go:
What happens if the car breaks down? What happens if you get a cavity? What happens if you lose your job? You can see how tight the budget is above and we are keeping it basic. Many are told by financial planners to sock away 9 months of emergency funds. It will take years for the average American to put away $22,500. Is it any wonder why millions of Americans rely on Social Security as their main source of income? Millions of Americans are still on verge of losing their unemployment insurance and are basically one check away from being on the streets conjuring up visions of soup lines of the Great Depression. The average income doesn’t even come close to paving a way to a middle class lifestyle. What you have is a shrinking middle class where people are working harder and harder yet being thrown off the treadmill one by one.
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When Britain occupied Yemen
No, U.S. President Barack Obama has informed People. The United States has no interest in or plans to invade Yemen or Somalia — and nor should it.
Out of curiosity, I took a look at the experience of the last western power to occupy part of Yemen: Britain. The history’s complicated. But, very briefly: last century, Britain controlled Yemeni territory at the strategic port of Aden; the western portion of the country was a kingdom. In the early 1960s, Egypt attempted to overthrow the kingdom by funding anti-royalists. Britain attempted to insulate itself by creating buffer protectorates. Still, the Aden local insurgency simmered, and boiled over when Egypt started funding it as well. In 1963, Britain declared a state of emergency and started fighting a full-on counterinsurgency.
Contemporary accounts of the conflict — known as the Aden Emergency in Britain — from Time paint an interesting picture. For one, they clearly demonstrate how racist the rhetoric was just 50 years ago. (Some of the descriptions below are, well, uncomfortable to read.) The clips also show how, despite inferior weaponry, domestic insurgencies so successfully chip away at the will and resources of occupying forces.
First, some insulting if evocative description of the Yemeni Imam from 1957:
The Imam of Yemen, who acts like a Borgia Pope, is known to have a minimum of five diseases in various stages of arrested development (rheumatism, heart trouble, bilharziasis, gastritis, syphilis), but this does not prevent him from greedily devouring huge meals consisting of nothing but Russian salad heavily splashed with mayonnaise. The Imam’s greatest trouble is psychological: he is under the impression that the British are depriving him of huge oil royalties….
A very colorful 1962 story, "Arabia Felix," describes him thus:
Ahmad governed by means of spies, subsidies and the executioner’s ax, decapitating more than a thousand enemies. He was a man of enormous appetite: he would do away with an entire roast lamb at a single sitting and then gulp down a pound of honey as a between-meals snack. He had three wives and 40 concubines, but in the last years of his life his potency declined, and he had unsuccessful recourse to rejuvenation treatments by a Swiss doctor. His luckless harem consoled itself with sorties into lesbianism and erotic gadgets sent from Japan. Like many Yemenites, Ahmad chewed qat, a narcotic shrub similar to marijuana, and switched to morphine in 1953 — heroically breaking the habit six years later.
A year later, with fighting escalating in Aden, Time overviews the conflict:
Though some scholars maintain that the Garden of Eden was in Aden, the country today seems more like purgatory than paradise. A British protectorate since 1839, Aden is a sun-scorched moonscape of thrusting volcanic mountains and rock-strewn wadies. Temperatures commonly rise to 110, and survival rations for British combat troops there include at least two gallons of water daily — for drinking, not washing. Aden is a tempting prize nonetheless.
The British primarily fought from the air, dropping leaflets and bombing villages from the sky (a strange echoing of today’s drone fights):
In the days when might was still right in the Middle East the British invented a technique for dealing with recalcitrant Arab tribesmen. The R.A.F. would drop leaflets on Arab villages demanding that they give up fugitive criminals or be bombed. Usually the trick worked, and the wanted man would be expelled from the threatened village, pursued through the desert, shot down or captured. On other occasions the population would flee the village, which the R.A.F. would then destroy.
While the guerrilla war waged on:
Sir Arthur Charles, the British Speaker of the Aden Legislative Council, was shot and killed as he was leaving his tennis club at sundown. As the incidents increased, British security forces arrested 29 suspected terrorists and imposed a dusk-to-dawn curfew. Last week schools were shut down when students tried to demonstrate, and newspapers were forbidden to "carry news that might incite people." British troops patrolled the streets, exchanging occasional fire with snipers on the rooftops.
Until the British finally recognized the fight as futile, and wanted to get out:
In its rush to rid itself of the weight of empire, Britain has often bestowed independence on lands that had no business accepting it…Few lands, however, have been so ill-prepared to rule themselves as [South Yemen], which Britain announced last week will become independent by the end of November. [It] consists of the port of Aden and 17 feudal satraps whose Bedouin tribesmen eat goat meat and carry everywhere their curved djambias (daggers). Its life has been disrupted and its British-sponsored federal government destroyed by four years of terrorism and civil war.
And finally, they left: | {
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【ワシントン＝黒瀬悦成】トランプ米大統領が２０日、米露の中距離核戦力（ＩＮＦ）全廃条約の破棄を表明したのは、ロシアによる条約違反の新型ミサイル開発で現実味を増した欧州の同盟諸国に対する脅威の除去にとどまらず、中国が西太平洋での覇権確立を目指して一方的に配備を進める中距離ミサイル戦力に対抗するのが狙いだ。
ロシアによる中距離ミサイルの開発は欧州諸国に対する奇襲攻撃を容易にし、ロシアと北大西洋条約機構（ＮＡＴＯ）との軍事バランスに重大な影響を与える恐れが強まっている。
PR
一方、中国は西太平洋地域での有事に際し、米軍の進出を遅らせ、作戦領域での行動を妨害する「接近拒否・領域拒否（Ａ２／ＡＤ）」戦略に基づき、米軍の作戦基地や空母を無力化させるため、爆撃機や潜水艦、対艦弾道ミサイル（ＡＳＢＭ）の戦力拡充を急速に進めている。
特にＡＳＢＭに関し米海軍は、２０１１年から配備された通称「空母キラー」と呼ばれるＤＦ２１Ｄ（射程１５００キロ）の存在を強く警戒。ＤＦ２１Ｄは複数の弾頭がそれぞれ迎撃を回避するなどして命中率を高める機動式多弾頭を装備しており、米空母にとって重大な脅威とみられている。
しかし、ＩＮＦ条約は米国が射程５００～５５００キロの地上発射型弾道ミサイルや巡航ミサイルを保有するのを禁止。このため米軍は条約が「足かせ」となって中国のＡ２／ＡＤ戦略に対抗する兵器を配備できない状態が続いていた。
ＩＮＦ条約の破棄は、インド太平洋地域での中国の封じ込めに向けた米軍の軍事的選択肢の拡大につながるのは確実だ。
PR
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Image 1 of 8 Fabian Cancellara (Trek) crashed out of E3 Harelbeke (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 2 of 8 Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) gets into the team car after his crash. (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 3 of 8 Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) couldn't make in onto the podium in Milan-San Remo (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 4 of 8 Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) (Image credit: Sadhbh O'Shea) Image 5 of 8 Fabian Cancellara (Trek Factory Racing) on the podium at the Tour of Oman (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 6 of 8 Fabian Cancellara took victory on the final stage (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 7 of 8 Fabian Cancellara sprays the champagne (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com) Image 8 of 8 Fabian Cancellara (Trek) crashed out of E3 Harelbeke (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Fabian Cancellara’s Classics campaign is all but over after the Trek Factory Racing rider crashed out of E3 Harelbeke on Friday. The team confirmed that the Swiss star suffered two minor fractures in the transverse processes of his lower vertebrae. Although he will not undergo surgery the team confirmed to Cyclingnews that “the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix were very unlikely”.
Related Articles Cancellara out of E3 Harelbeke after crash
Cancellara was involved in a fall early in the race together with Milan-San Remo winner John Degenkolb (Giant Alpecin) and Lars Boom (Astana). Despite briefly remounting and regaining contact with the peloton, Cancellara was forced to stop soon after and was taken to hospital immediate for scans when the extent of his injures were confirmed.
As Cancellara abandoned the race, the team’s director Dirk Demol confirmed that his rider would miss Sunday’s Gent-Wevelgem but with a fractured back the rider is most likely out for the foreseeable future with the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix also highly unlikely to form part of his campaign.
Cancellara is the reigning Tour of Flanders champion and has given himself until the end of 2016 to win as many spring classics as possible before retirement from the sport.
“It all happened so fast. Someone slammed the brakes and there was no way to go, just straight into it," Cancellara said. "I flew over a couple of riders and then landed in a pile of bikes. There were riders everywhere. I fell so hard, and felt pain everywhere. It was sort of reflex to get back on the bike but the pain was hard, in my lower back, left wrist, and my ribs on the back.
“I felt right away that it was a serious crash, but I wanted to try to keep going. I had to stop; the pain was too much. We went to the hospital for scans and this confirmed the pain.”
The bones that are broken are the wing-like parts of the sides of two vertebrae in his lower spine, and it is unknown how long he will be out of competition. One thing is certain, he will not be racing any more Spring Classics.
“There is nothing you can do with this injury – no cast, no surgery – but just biting the pain,” Cancellara said.
General Manager Luca Guercilena will now have to re-work the Trek team's strategy for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
“These are things that happen in cycling, and that everyone has to deal with sooner or later,” Guercilena said. “But we know how much Fabian is important for us, so we are of course very dejected to hear this news.
“First what is the most important is his health, and that he takes of that so he can return 100 percent again. And then for the rest, it’s time for all the other riders to step up - as they now have possibilities - and perform well. Certainly it’s not great news for our team, but that does not mean it’s over. We have some very good riders that will now have their chances.” | {
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A number of civilians and Islamic State members were killed in an attack that hit a mosque run by the militants and damaged neighboring houses in the west of the Iraqi city of Mosul on Wednesday, three residents said on Thursday.
The Omar al-Aswad mosque, in the al-Faruq district of the old city center, was hit by an airstrike, three residents in the same area told Reuters by phone.
Neighboring houses were damaged or collapsed because of the blast, they said without giving a precise estimate of the casualties as their moves are restricted by the militants.
The spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition said he wasn’t aware of a strike targeting the mosque. Iraqi military media officers said the battle was ongoing and troops were targeting Islamic State wherever they could, but did not say this specific mosque was targeted.
When Islamic State took over Mosul in 2014, it ordered Iraqi police and armed forces members who remained in the city to go to the same mosque. They had to surrender their weapons and register in the group’s data base, in return for a mandatory pass to prevent their arrest and execution at the militants’ check points.
Iraqi forces captured the eastern side of Mosul in January after 100 days of fighting and launched their attack on the districts that lie west of the Tigris river on Feb. 19.
If they defeat Islamic State in Mosul, that would crush the Iraq wing of the caliphate declared by the group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in 2014 from the city’s grand old Nuri mosque.
The Nuri mosque is located in the same area as the Omar al-Aswad mosque. | {
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Slide 1 of 9,
For the past seven years, almost as long as President Bush has been in Washington, an Iranian-American home developer has lived in a scaled-down version of the presidential mansion in suburban Atlanta. But soon enough, change is coming to Fred Milani's replica of the White House, an outsized casualty of the national housing crisis.
Erik S. Lesser for The New York Times | {
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It makes lazy people like me work out. That’s the genius of the Peloton bicycle. All you have to do is Velcro on the shoes and you’re trapped. You’ve eliminated choice and you will exercise. Through a succession of savvy product design choice I’ll break down here, Peloton removes the friction to getting fit. It’s the leader in a movement I call “pushbutton health.” And this is why I think Peloton will be a big success no matter what short-term investors do when it IPOs this week after raising $994 million in venture capital.
Basically, Peloton is a $2,300 stationary bike with a tablet stuck to the front. The $40 per month subscription unlocks thousands of live and on-demand video cycling classes, where instructors positively yell at you. When you think you’re tired already, they look into your eyes, tell you “you got this,” the soundtrack crescendos, you crank up the resistance and you pedal harder at home. The resulting endorphin rush is addictive, and you find yourself persuading friends they need a Peloton too.
That viral loop, which adds to its 500,000 subscribers, is how Peloton plans to raise ~$1.16 billion going public this week at an ~$8 billion valuation. Its revenue doubled this year as it began to dominate the connected exercise equipment market, though losses quadrupled as it burned cash to become a household name. But after riding 110 of 150 days I’ve been home since buying its bike, I’m confident in the company. Whatever it invests now to build its lead will likely be paid back handsomely by its increasingly handsome customers who can’t bear to clip out. Here’s why.
The brilliance of this bike
The Shoes – Usually the activation energy to start a workout requires dragging yourself to the gym or suiting up to face the elements outside. That can be daunting enough that you rarely do. But once you slip into the Peloton bike shoes, you can hardly walk normally, which means you can hardly procrastinate. You’re home, so you don’t even need clothes. Just a few Velcro straps and you’re over the hump and resigned to exercise.
The Clips – Home gym equipment reduces the barrier to entry but also the barrier to exit. You can tell yourself you’ll keep doing push-up sets or squats or jumping rope, but you can stop any time. Yet after you’re clipped into the Peloton bike, you’re almost assured to keep pedaling until the instructor gives you that end-of-ride congratulations.
The Schedule – You can get a sweat in just 10 or 20 minutes going hard on a Peloton. Combined with zero commute, that means you’ll practically always be able fit in a ride regardless of how busy you are. No more “I don’t have time to make it to the gym so I’ll just skip out.” When my calendar gets crunched or I dawdle a little before deciding to ride, classes as short as five minutes ensure there’s no weaseling out.
The Instructors – I wish I had these coaches to motivate me through sorting email. Peloton’s 20+ instructors range from hippie-dippie gurus to no-nonsense trainers that fit your personality type. You find yourself craving your favorite’s special brand of relentless positivity. I burn far more calories in a shorter time than exercising solo because they inspire me to push a little harder or they slow their countdown to add a couple all-out seconds to the end of a sprint. They’re even becoming celebrities, with bankers lining up for selfies during Peloton’s IPO road show. Sick of them? You can always Scenic Ride through video of some of the world’s prettiest bike paths.
The Intimacy – You’re eye-to-eye with those instructors as they stare into the camera and out of the giant 22-inch Android screen bolted to your handlebars [Update: Not an iPad. I was being facetious]. That generates intimacy despite them broadcasting to thousands. Even in person, a SoulCycle coach across the room can feel farther away. You’re mostly guided by audio cues, but their gaze compels you to perform. Peloton almost feels like FaceTime, and that’s a sense of connection many long for more of these days.
The Pavlovian Response – Your brain quickly begins to associate the sounds of Peloton with the glowing feeling of finishing a workout: The rip of the Velcro shoe straps, the click of clipping into the bike, but most of all the instructor catch-phrases. You get hooked on hearing the bubbling British accent of “I’mmmm Leeaannne Haaaaainsby” as she introduces herself, Ben Alldis’ infectious “You got 5, you got 4…” countdowns or Emma Lovewell reminding you to “Live, learn, love well.” That final “namaste” followed by wiping down the bike and jumping in a cold shower forms a ritual you’re inclined to repeat.
The Soundtrack – Popular songs are more than just a pump-up accompaniment to Peloton classes. Your pedaling pace is often pegged to the tempo, with sprints starting when the beat drops. As your legs tire, you feel obliged to maintain your speed so you don’t fall behind the drums. You can even search classes by music genre and preview each’s playlist. Peloton has paid out $50 million in royalties for its music, and faces $300 million-plus in lawsuits for copyright infringement. But having the best tunes to bike to might end up worth the penalty because it helped Peloton race ahead in a lucrative market.
The Bike as Decor – Most home exercise equipment ends up in a closet or as a clothing rack. By designing its bicycles for beauty, Peloton coerces you to place them conspicuously in your home. You might have seen the hysterical Twitter thread parodying this practice, but it’s funny because it’s true. You’re a lot more likely to ride it if it’s central to your home (ours is between our bed and the doors to the veranda), and you’ll be embarrassed if visitors ask about it and you haven’t hopped on recently.
The Network Effect – Many of these smart product design moves could be copied by competitors. But by amassing a community of 1.4 million members to date, Peloton benefits from social features and economies of scale. You can ride together with pals over video chat, send each other digital high-fives or race and compare achievements. Each friend that joins Peloton is one more reason not to sign up for a competitor. The whole concept of virtual personal training is being legitimized. And the cost of producing more classes gets spread wider as membership grows.
The Shared Accounts – Peloton has even built in a way to feel noble about your sanctimonious proselytizing about how it “jumpstarted your metabolism.” Each $39 on-bike subscription allows unlimited accounts on up to three devices, so you can hook up some friends if you convince them to buy the big-budget gadget.
The Growth Hacks – Peloton streaks are for adults what Snapchat streaks are to kids: a clever way to reward consistent usage. But beyond the achievement badges displayed on your profile, you’ll get in-ride leaderboards full of people to proudly pass, progress bars to fill by pedaling and kilojoule output high scores to beat. Peloton makes exercise a game you want to win.
The Shoutouts – Yet Peloton’s most explicit levering of our psychology comes from the in-class name-drop shout-outs instructors give. Whether mentioning the screen names of a few participants at the start of a session or congratulating users hitting their 50th, 200th or 500th ride, the recognition pushes people to join the dozen live-streamed classes each day that add urgency to the on-demand catalog. Proof it works? People strategize to ensure their 100th ride is a long live class to maximize the chance of a shout-out.
The ‘Transcendence’ – Peloton minimizes the isolation from working out at home. In fact, its whole product enables people to feel “glamorous” and “manifested” yet nonchalant in ways going to a sweaty gym or using a personal trainer can’t. It’s like being able to buy a little piece of the smug satisfaction and in-group affiliation of going to Burning Man. That’s why the company even sends you a free “Century Club” t-shirt when you hit your 100th ride. You’re meant to feel cool sharing that you “Peloton,” using the startup’s name as a verb.
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Still, Peloton has plenty left to optimize. There’s room to expand use of its camera to offer premium one-on-one coaching, head-to-head racing, group video chat with friends and augmented reality filters to make people feel comfortable on screen and take shareable selfies. A wider range of intense but short classes could appeal to overworked professionals who picked Peloton precisely because they don’t have an hour for the gym.
Novelty could come from celebrity guest instructors, or themed classes for pre-gaming for a night out, fans of a particular artist or songs about a certain topic. And it should definitely have some iconic sounds like an om or singing bowl chime that play before each class to center you and after to release you.
Most excitingly, the Peloton screen has the potential to be a platform for exercise-controlled gaming and apps. Whether pedaling to escape zombies chasing you or piece together a puzzle, maintaining an output level to keep your cross-hairs locked on an enemy plane as you dogfight, or making a garden bloom by growing each flower during a different interval, Peloton could evolve riding to be much more interactive. Apps could offer training simulators for different sports focused on sprints for basketball or marathons for soccer. Or just put Netflix on it! By opening up to outside developers, Peloton could build a moat of extra experiences competitors can’t match.
With the strengths and opportunities of its core product, Peloton is poised to absorb more of your fitness time and money. It’s already branching out with yoga, meditation, lifting, bootcamp and jazzercise classes you can do standing next to your bike (or without one) on its $19 per month app. Its second gadget is a $4,300 treadmill.
From there it could break into more of the “pushbutton health” business. I categorize these as wellness products and services that rely on convenience instead of your will power. Think delivery health food instead calorie-counting apps that are a chore. My pushbutton regimen includes Peloton, six salads per week dropped off in batches by Thistle, monthly packages of Nomiku vacuum-sealed meals that RFID scan into its sous vide machine and a Future remote personal trainer who nags me by text message.
Peloton could easily dive into selling meal kits, personal training or a wider range of workout clothes to compete with Lululemon. If it’s the center of your fitness routine, the company could become a gateway to new health products it owns or partners with.
I’m bullish on Peloton because I’m betting people are going to stay busy, lazy and competitive. It offers the effectiveness of a spin class but with scheduling flexibility. It removes every excuse for staying on the couch. And in an age of visual communication where many seek to share both the journey to and the destination of an Instagrammable body and the discipline to get there, Peloton provides conspicuous self-actualization through consumerism. Plus, finishing a ride feels damn good. | {
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THE grandfather of a boy pictured holding up the severed head of a Syrian soldier has begged the government to help bring the seven-year-old and his siblings home.
“I’m scared for the children,” truck driver Peter Nettleton said at his Panania home last night.
“What life are they going to have now?”
AUSSIE MUSLIM WITH ISIS FLAG IN TV ROW
THE MADMAN WHO LED HIS SONS INTO HELL
SICK THREAT TO ‘KEEP THE HEADS ROLLING’
Mr Nettleton thought his jihadist son-in-law Khaled Sharrouf and daughter Tara had taken her five children, two girls and three boys, to Malaysia to stay with Sharrouf’s sister while he fought in Syria.
media_camera Khaled Sharrouf and his children. Picture: Supplied
Now the shocking photo Sharrouf posted on Twitter shows he has taken his family into the war zone. “Can’t the government do something to pull these kids away from that man?” he asked.
Mr Nettleton, who has been estranged from his daughter for nine years, said he heard about the shocking photo while listening to the news on radio yesterday.
MUSLIM RAILWAY WORKER’S HATE POST SCANDAL
GOVERNMENT WARNED OVER USING IMAGE FOR TERROR LAWS
“That brought me to tears because I don’t know how to handle it,” he said. Mr Nettleton, who has remarried and has three daughters, said Tara cut off contact with him after she married her teenage sweetheart Sharrouf and converted to Islam.
“We made a decision a long time ago to part,” he said.
media_camera Khaled Sharrouf’s son holds the decapitated head of a soldier in the Syrian city of Raqqa. Picture: Supplied
“She made that decision easily. I don’t know her boys. I don’t know their names.”
Tara met Sharrouf while they were students at Chester Hill High School and had their first child, a girl, when she was 17.
“She just went with him and converted, she never grew up religious, we weren’t religious,” Mr Nettleton said.
Despite shocking evidence that his grandchildren are with their Islamist fighter father, Mr Nettleton was still not sure if his daughter was with her husband.
Sharrouf, a convicted terrorist, snuck out of Australia late last year using his brother’s passport.
media_camera Khaled Sharrouf. Picture: Supplied
Mr Nettleton said he believed his daughter left Australia with the children at the same time: “Tara’s mother told me she went to Malaysia after Khaled left to stay with Khaled’s sister. She told her mother she would be coming back within the month.”
Mr Nettleton said his ex-wife Karen remained close to her daughter.
Ms Nettleton would not answer the door of her Peakhurst home yesterday. “I don’t want to say anything,” she called in a quavering voice.
Khaled Sharrouf’s sister-in-law also refused to speak to The Daily Telegraph.
The Sharroufs still living in Sydney have become reclusive in the months since Khaled’s shocking jihad came to light.
Neighbour Joel, who said he would be moving from the area after learning about the extremist family, told The Daily Telegraph once-regular visitors had dried up. | {
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We launched the Google URL Shortener back in 2009 as a way to help people more easily share links and measure traffic online. Since then, many popular URL shortening services have emerged and the ways people find content on the Internet have also changed dramatically, from primarily desktop webpages to apps, mobile devices, home assistants, and more.
To refocus our efforts, we're turning down support for goo.gl over the coming weeks and replacing it with Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL). FDLs are smart URLs that allow you to send existing and potential users to any location within an iOS, Android or web app. We're excited to grow and improve the product going forward. While most features of goo.gl will eventually sunset, all existing links will continue to redirect to the intended destination.
For consumers
Starting April 13, 2018, anonymous users and users who have never created short links before today will not be able to create new short links via the goo.gl console. If you are looking to create new short links, we recommend you check out popular services like Bitly and Ow.ly as an alternative.
If you have existing goo.gl short links, you can continue to use all features of goo.gl console for a period of one year, until March 30, 2019, when we will discontinue the console. You can manage all your short links and their analytics through the goo.gl console during this period.
After March 30, 2019, all links will continue to redirect to the intended destination. Your existing short links will not be migrated to the Firebase console, however, you will be able to export your link information from the goo.gl console.
For developers
Starting May 30, 2018, only projects that have accessed URL Shortener APIs before today can create short links. To create new short links, we recommend FDL APIs. FDL short links will automatically detect the user's platform and send the user to either the web or your app, as appropriate.
If you are already calling URL Shortener APIs to manage goo.gl short links, you can continue to use them for a period of one year, until March 30, 2019, when we will discontinue the APIs. For developers looking to migrate to FDL see our migration guide.
As it is for consumers, all links will continue to redirect to the intended destination after March 30, 2019. However, existing short links will not be migrated to the Firebase console/API.
URL Shortener has been a great tool that we're proud to have built. As we look towards the future, we're excited about the possibilities of Firebase Dynamic Links, particularly when it comes to dynamic platform detection and links that survive the app installation process. We hope you are too! | {
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Access to Redux content is now provided via Archive Search | {
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France to slap new ‘ecotax’ on plane tickets from 2020
FILE - In this May 17, 2019 file photo, Air France planes are parked on the tarmac at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, in Roissy, near Paris. The French government will implement an "ecotax" on plane tickets for flights departing from France from next year, the government said Tuesday July 9, 2019. The tax is expected to raise over 180 million euros ($200 million) from 2020 to invest in eco-friendly transport infrastructure, including rail. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)
FILE - In this May 17, 2019 file photo, Air France planes are parked on the tarmac at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, in Roissy, near Paris. The French government will implement an "ecotax" on plane tickets for flights departing from France from next year, the government said Tuesday July 9, 2019. The tax is expected to raise over 180 million euros ($200 million) from 2020 to invest in eco-friendly transport infrastructure, including rail. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena, File)
PARIS (AP) — France will introduce a new charge on plane tickets from next year, with revenue used to fund environment-friendly alternatives, the country’s transport minister said Tuesday.
The “ecotax” costing between 1.50 euros ($1.7) and 18 euros ($20) will apply to most flights departing in France, Elisabeth Borne said.
The only exceptions will be for domestic flights to Corsica and France’s overseas territories, and connecting flights that pass through France. It will not apply to flights arriving in France.
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Shares in Air France/KLM and budget airlines EasyJet and Ryanair dropped following the announcement.
Industry group IATA, which favors a system that allows airlines to offset their emissions by paying for carbon reduction efforts elsewhere, called the French ticket charge “misguided.”
“National taxes will do nothing to assist the aviation industry in its sustainability efforts,” IATA spokesman Anthony Concil said, warning that instead of helping airlines invest in cleaner fuels and technology it could end up harming the French aviation industry and jeopardize jobs.
But the move received a cautious welcome from environmental campaigners, who argue that the airline industry needs to curb its greenhouse gas emissions as part of wider efforts to combat climate change.
“This alone won’t do much, but it’s at least a recognition by the French government that more is required,” said Andrew Murphy, an air travel expert at Brussels-based group Transport and Environment.
According to Borne, domestic and European flights will be taxed at 1.50 euros for economy tickets and 9 euros ($10) for business class, rising to 18 euros for business flights outside the EU.
By comparison, Britain’s air passenger duty for standard passenger planes starts at 13 pounds ($16.20), rising to a maximum of 172 pounds ($214.20), and generates more than 3 billion pounds in Treasury revenue every year.
The French tax is expected to raise over 180 million euros ($200 million) from 2020 to invest in eco-friendly transport infrastructure, including rail. It comes on top of a similar ticket charge introduced over a decade ago by former French President Jacques Chirac, the proceeds of which go toward medical aid for poor countries.
Murphy said the French move could boost efforts to introduce a Europe-wide tax on aviation to reflect plane travel’s environmental impact.
Germany, Italy and some Nordics nations also have ticket taxes. Several European countries are meanwhile pushing for the VAT exemption that airline fuel enjoys in Europe to be dropped.
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Germany’s Environment Ministry said Tuesday it supports discussions on additional CO2-based pricing systems for air travel to reduce the industry’s contribution to man-made greenhouse gas emissions, currently estimated at more than 2% but forecast to grow significantly in coming decades.
“What’s more, the conditions for competition between air, road and rail travel need to be made fairer,” the ministry said in a statement. “This is something we in Europe need to achieve together.”
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Jordans contributed from Berlin. | {
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The Saints won’t have quarterback Drew Brees for quite a while.
According to NFL Network, Brees suffered a torn ligament in the thumb on his throwing hand and is likely out for six weeks. The type of procedure and who performs it could alter the timeline, per the report. There were concerns the injury could be “significant,” and those fears were realized.
Brees suffered the injury Sunday during the Saints’ loss to the Rams. Brees visited a hand specialist in Los Angeles immediately after the game.
The 40-year-old longtime Saint got his hand caught in Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald’s outstretched arm as he made an incomplete pass to tight end Jared Cook in the first quarter. Brees exited the game and didn’t return, unable to grip a ball.
Brees said he had X-rays taken at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but neglected to say anything until his meeting with the hand specialist, which was scheduled for Sunday night.
“Yeah, I am concerned,” Brees said after the game. “I am hoping it’s not too significant. … I’m hoping for the best and preparing for whatever the next steps might be according to the evaluation.”
During Brees’ 14 years with the Saints, he’s missed just one game due to injury. Former Jet Teddy Bridgewater, who was traded to the Saints in August 2018, finished Sunday’s game and likely will start with Brees sidelined. | {
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