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★ stasia ★ late 20's ★ seattle ★☆ comics ☆ mucc ☆ art ☆ ☆cute girls ☆ queer things ☆ feminism ☆ stupid shit ☆★ more about me ★ | {
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[AUTO](RC):When it attacks a vanguard, if you have three or more units with "Blaster" in their card names, this unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of that battle.
[AUTO](RC):When its attack hits a vanguard, COST [ Counter Blast (1) ], your opponent chooses one of his or her rear-guards, and retires it. | {
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A renowned Colombian author and journalist, better known for her love affair with drug kingpin Pablo Escobar, is joining a new RT Spanish show to learn what it takes to pursue the American dream.
Virginia Vallejo will team up with RT correspondent Nicolas Sanchez O’Donovan to take a journey across the United States, listening to stories of those who benefited from the American dream, and those who failed. Dubbed ‘USA: Dreams and Nightmares’, the show will start airing on RT Spanish in April this year.
Vallejo, a renowned Colombian journalist and actress who authored the book ‘Loving Pablo, Hating Escobar’, says the show will be free of any bias. “We will attempt to represent American reality as truthfully as possible – unlike those media outlets that are controlled by people lacking integrity,” she noted.
Virginia Vallejo has been living in the US since 2006. Vallejo was granted political asylum in 2010 after she testified against drug lords with ties to the families of top Colombian politicians.
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See UPDATES below.
I just spoke with someone on the ground in Assumption Parish, LA where a huge sinkhole has swallowed up acres of trees. A mandatory evacuation has been ordered for 150 homes and they expect the sinkhole to grow another 2000 feet. The sinkhole is over a natural gas storage area. Last night and this morning residents reported smelling a diesel like odor near the sinkhole.
WAFB has some reporting and I will update this post as I get additional information. VIDEO – residents speak out.
Earlier this month I reported about gas bubbling up near a blowout area near where the sinkhole is forming.
There are several pipelines in the area that were mentioned in earlier news today when they were calling it a “slurry.” There is also an abandoned well that was suspect. And we must remember that the bubbling in the swamp started after a blowout. But no one is talking about the salt domes that were used to generate chlorine then converted to natural gas storage. Scratch that. They are talking about the salt dome.
UPDATE: Well, you had to know Texas would be involved somehow. Hat tip to my BlueBloggin buddy.
BAYOU CORNE — The “potential failiure” of an inactive and plugged Texas Brine Co. LLC salt-mining cavern is likely the cause of a slurry area,
Scroll down to update on Magnolia Storage facility operated by Koch subsidiary.
The governor has declared a state of emergency.
UPDATE:
The scientist I’m speaking with was the technical advisor on the Jefferson Island/Lake Peigneur event in 1980. VIDEO thanks to commenter, David. Another VIDEO.
People in Beaumont should know that they are storing natgas in a salt dome there. VIDEO Again, thanks to David.
Dave Schultz, vice president of asset development for AGL Resources talks about the new natural gas storage cavern being created within the Spindletop Salt Dome for Golden Triangle Storage. The finished storage cavern will eventually store 6 billion cubic feet of natural gas.
Read about sinkholes in the FAQ.
UPDATE: Natural gas has been bubbling up in the bayou for 2 months but scientists have been unable to pinpoint the source. There is significant oil and gas infrastructure in the area. There is no positive link yet between Texas Brine Co. LLC and the sinkhole.
Employees and residents are experiencing health effects from the strong hydrocarbon odors.
Texas Brine and other salt dome operators use salt-dome cavities left behind from mining operations to store hydrocarbons such as natural gas for companies that lease the wells, company and DNR officials have said. Source
Pictures thanks to commenter William.
UPDATE: CALLER IS REPORTING A RELEASE OF AN UNKNOWN TYPE OF GAS COMING FROM THE SALT DOME. THERE IS A STRONG SMELL OF ROTTEN EGGS IN THE AIR.
This source says the hydrocarbons are naturally occurring.
The Texas Brine Company is the operator of record for the cavern in question, which was used from 1982 to 2011 as a brine mining cavern – in which water was used to dissolve salt from deep within the Napoleonville Salt Dome, with the resulting brine water marketed to supply various industry needs. The cavern was never used for storage of natural gas or any other hydrocarbon, though naturally occurring gas is sometimes encountered in such formations and may have accumulated in the cavern after it was no longer active.
See below for a differing statement about hydrocarbon storage from a worker.
salt dome is one mile wide by 3 miles long. It has 51 caverns, 19 of which are hydrocarbon. The remainder are brine. the volume / day from 3 of those brine wells is fairly substantial. I have been going down there regularly since the incident started. Plot just thickened. I was scheduled to be down there all day Sunday and now waiting on my phone to ring any minute w/ new orders bc of recent news.
Here (scroll down) is a map of the area showing the location of the bubbling, the sinkhole and the homes that are being evacuated.
More about Texas Brine Co. LLC:
PRODUCTS: Manufactures sodium chloride brine, table salt & drilling fluids Dried herbs, Spices or extracts, Cooking or table salt, Seasoning mix, Fresh herbs, Dipping sauces or condiments or spreads or marinades, Cooking sauce, Salad dressing or dips, Savory spread or pate, Vinegars and cooking wines, Sauces and spreads and condiments, Pickles and relish and olives, Seasonings and preservatives, CHEMICALS, CHEMICALS & ALLIED PRODUCTS, WHOLESALE: Drilling Mud, DRILLING MUD COMPOUNDS, CONDITIONERS & ADDITIVES, NATURAL GAS STORAGE SERVICES, PIPELINES, EXC NATURAL GAS: Slurry SALT MINING, SALT MINING: Common, WATER SOFTENERS, WATER SOFTENING SYSTEMS
FERC permit issued to Gulf South Pipeline Company LP a subsidiary of Energy-Koch LP allowing Gulf South “to lease, construct and operate natural gas storage and related facilities at the Napoleonville salt dome in Assumption Parish.” The name of the facility is Magnolia Gas Storage.
See page 24 of this report for a table of active gas storage fields in Louisiana. Notice the Gulf South Pipeline Company facility, Magnolia Gas Storage is listed.
Operations began at this facility in 03.
Early problems. This is not the first time residents have been evacuated.:
In 2003, shortly after it commenced operations, the salt cavern storage facility in the Magnolia Salt Dome in Napoleonville, Louisiana, experienced a gas leak due to a crack that developed in a well casing near the top of the cavern, leading to a release of 0.35 Bcf of gas and the evacuation of nearby residents within a one mile radius of the storage facility.
British Geological Survey: An appraisal of Underground Gas Storage technologies and incidents, for the development of risk assessment methodology
Magnolia, Grand Bayou, south Louisiana (USA)
The Magnolia salt dome is located in a sparsely populated area at Napoleonville, about two miles from Grand Bayou, south Louisiana (Fig. 25). In 2003, a cavern gas storage facility was constructed in the dome, operated by Entergy Koch/Gulf South (http://www.txgt.com/sec/Pipelines%2010K%2012-31-05%20FINAL.pdf; Hopper, 2004). On
Christmas Eve/Day 2003, only six weeks after operations began at the facility, around 30 people were forced from their homes by a natural gas leak that led to the release of about 9.9 Mcm of gas in a matter of hours. Investigations revealed that the gas escaped from a crack in the casing of a well near the top of a cavern, some 440 m (1,450 ft) below the surface. It was eventually plugged at a point below the crack and four other wells were drilled in the area to monitor and control the release of leaked gas that was bubbling up from underground.
News about Enron subsidiary natgas storage facility in same area.
UPDATE: A 36″ pipeline is bent and risk of explosion is high. Officials are shutting down a stretch of HWY 70.
Fears that the sinkhole area could expand, sheer off nearby wellheads and release flammable materials prompted Friday’s evacuation order, which remained in effect Saturday. La. 70 South remined open to vehicular traffic until it was closed at 6 p.m. Saturday. SOURCE
We don’t seem to learn.
Thanks to commenter GhostBlogger for video. Robert from the comments provides news links to this explosion HERE and HERE.
See statement and photos from LEAN
See latest update HERE. | {
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When a surprising man enters this group of women’s lives, everything gets turned upside down.
What They Say:
Plain, timid and obsessed with jellyfish, Tsukimi is a far cry from her idea of a princess. Her tepid life as a jobless illustrator comes complete with roommates who harbor diehard hobbies that solidify their status as hopeless social rejects. These wallflowers run a tight, nun-like ship, but their no-men-allowed-not-no-one-not-no-how bubble is unwittingly burst after Tsukimi brings home a rescued sea jelly and a beauty queen… who’s actually a guy.
When the threat of losing their cozy convent inspires this glamour boy to turn the neurotic entourage into a portrait of success, will Tsukimi take her chance to bloom, or will she end up a hot mess?
The Review:
Audio:
The audio presentation for this series is straightforward in its bilingual design as we get the original Japanese in stereo and the English getting bumped up to 5.1, both of which are in the lossless Dolby TrueHD codec. The show is one that focuses strongly on dialogue with a bit of silly fun mixed in so there aren’t any really big moments when you get down to it. When it does, it’s the characters acting out strongly in a particular situation so that’s nicely handled but it doesn’t stretch the show in the slightest. The busiest moment really is the opening sequence and it’s definitely a fun piece there. The audio side is well handled here throughout with no dropouts or distortions during regular playback. The only downside is that the tracks are locked with their respective subtitles (full subtitles with the Japanese, sign/song with the English) and you can’t turn them off.
Video:
Originally airing in 2010, the transfer for this TV series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1 in 1080p using the AVC codec. The show is spread across two discs with nine on the first and two on the second, giving it more than enough room to deal with the material, especially since there are so many near static or slow scenes without a lot of high motion. It does have some though, especially the opening sequence, and that really looks great here as the colors and details are well captured. The series has a good sense of design to it as it deals with the real world for backgrounds and the like but it uses a bit softer and more colorful look with the character artwork itself and a lot of good stuff with the jellyfish themselves. The series definitely has its appeal visually and the transfer captures the look of it well with clean, solid colors, a lack of noise and no problems with the video breaking up.
Packaging:
The limited edition release of the series is pretty strong and definitely is aimed at the fans rather than trying to grab some general anime fans, which is a plus since the series is admittedly a fairly limited appeal overall. The DVD/BD combo release comes in a heavy chipboard box with two Blu-ray cases inside, one to hold the two DVDs and another for the two Blu-ray discs. The box for this has a very soft design to it with illustration artwork of the various characters characters on both sides that populates the series. It’s really appealing manga style art and it showcases the two leads in their opposite forms on each side so there’s some contrast to it, as well as shifting the supporting cast on each side as well. With the soft whites, the purples and a few other pastel colors, it really stands out in its own way and is definitely the right approach for this show.
Within the box, the two Blu-ray cases use the same approach though it avoids using a lot of heavy purple from the box to tie it together. The front covers for each use more artwork of a similar nature to the box and showcases each of the leads in different forms, prettied up and how they normally are. With the white background and the soft illustration look, it has the same appeal as the box itself and uses a few more colors to it that lets it stand out more. The back covers are kept simple with just rows of jellyfish in white against either a purple or gray background. Each cover has artwork on the reverse side as well while the left side has a solid piece that breaks down the episodes by number and title as well as the extras.
Menu:
The menu design for Princess Jellyfish is cute and fun in a way that’s obviously a bit girly but without slamming it into your face with tons of pink. The design behind it has a series of circles floating up in the background that are in blues, greens and shades of purple that occasionally have a jellyfish inside of them. It’s combined with some nice little lilting music that sets the mood just right for something a bit laid back. The logo is spread across th eupper center portion and the lower left has the discs navigation, which is inside a circle itself and uses a large, clean font for the main items. The extras and submenu selections are too small though and a bit hard to read depending on distance. Layout is spot on and easy to access and everything works without any Problems. As noted before, subtitles are locked to audio tracks so you can’t make those selections here. I would have preferred a little more clarity in the menu design for that as you can look at it and believe that it’s Japanese with no subtitles.
Extras:
This release has a lot of extras to it though it does stick with some of the tried and true ones, with all of them on the second disc. The English cast commentary with the first and last episode here is definitely fun and we also get the clean versions of the opening and closing sequences. Beyond that though is a little treasure trove of Princess Jellyfish goodness. The first we get is a four part “Princess Jellyfish Heroes” section which is made up of five to six minute animated shorts focusing on various characters, mostly the supporting cast, and just having fun with them. There’s also a six part Sisterhood Expeditionary segment that has the girls going off on an adventure but they’re only thirty seconds each. It’s adorable, but short. And unfortunate it’s also all separate as there’s no play all for it, which it desperately needed. Another cute extra is Tsukimi and Jii’s Jellyfish Tour which runs for 21 minutes and has the voice actresses stepping in to go on a real tour of jellyfish. It’s nicely educational, cute and fun. There’s also a bit of a liner notes section that goes into some of the jellyfish from the show as well as a look at the human cast, breaking them down by sisters and stylish. Add in the promotional video from Japan and the US trailer and you’ve got a good mix of fun extras here.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Known as Kuragehime in its Japanese release, Princess Jellyfish is an eleven episode series from Brain’s Base based on the very popular manga series by Akiko Higashimura. The manga version is pretty recent as it only started back in 2008 but it has eight volumes of the josei series out and it’s still coming out regularly in the Kiss magazine. The show is eye-catching from the start, especially with the opening sequence that does a number of movie parodies from James Bond to Star Wars and more. A good culturally aware series is hard to come by, especially one that plays with Western film references so openly.
The series revolves around Tsukimi, a young woman who has not achieved what she wanted out of life. She opens part of her narration by apologizing to her mother about not becoming a princess of sorts as an adult and instead having become something that doesn’t exactly fit in with the social culture of the day. While she may not have achieved that, she is somewhat happy with her life as she lives in a woman’s only apartment building with a group of rather like minded individuals. They’re all basic archetypes of social issues that keep them from interacting with society normally and without any problems. The setup and scenario is fairly standard, but it’s very rare that we see this with a group of women. Occasionally you might find one NEET oriented girl in a show, at best, but even that is exceedingly rare and hard to come by.
While the show could be extremely interesting to watch just from this perspective, akin to the Welcome to the NHK series, Princess Jellyfish intends to go a different way. Jellyfish have been important to Tsukimi since her younger days as the show opens with her visiting them with her mother, there’s story books about them and even as a young adult she spends some time drawing about them. She’s so infatuated with them, in a completely no creepy and normal way, that she has a name for the one at the local pet store she visits. What causes it to go beyond the norm is that when she visits it one night, there’s another jellyfish in the tank with her Clara jellyfish, one that will threaten Clara’s life if it’s left in there.
Tsukimi can’t actually talk to the guy there since she’s so introverted, but what saves her is the arrival of a very stylish woman who purchases the jellyfish for her and walks home with her. The arrival of this stylish woman throws a kink into the apartments since the others can’t handle someone like her there and even Tsukimi has a difficult time with it as well as knowing how it will impact the others. Never mind putting a jellyfish in the bathtub. When the woman stays overnight, it only adds to the bizarre nature of things when her true nature is revealed that she’s really a he, and that just sends Tsukimi into a real bind and panic. The newly revealed Kuranosuke is having none of it though as he can’t understand why she’s so panicked and even though she tells him to never come back, Kuranosuke is too curious not to..
And it’s his returning over the course of the series that keeps things moving and fun. The women of the complex are fearful of all that’s new and that has Tsukimi continually making sure Kuranosuke doesn’t get caught out. Of course, he knows how to dress, tease and play the ladies and he bribes them well with a bit of meat that softens them up. And at the time that Kuransouke does this, he also messes with Tsukimi and the others a bit by helping them to be stylish. Not heavily, as it would turn them away, but in smaller ways that eases their comfort level with him. Where the real trouble comes in though is when Kuranosuke’s older brother Shu sees Tsukimi in her stylish mode and can’t make the connect with her normal mode, as he sees them as separate people. And he falls pretty hard for Tsukimi.
When we start to get to know Shu a bit, as he’s the straight and proper (and virginal) son of the family who is well into politics and power, we get a larger feel for things not only with him but also why Kuranosuke is like he is. With Shu devoted to the family and service, we learn that he’s part of a project that’s going to redevelop the area. That becomes a stronger subplot as it progresses and turns into an impetus for the women at the complex to do something since their home is threatened. But as important as it is, it never really feels like it dominates. It provides the drama for the characters but it’s their interactions that really makes it work as we see the various relationships play out and mess with each other, both within the group of women and Kuranoskue and within the politics side.
With the show running just eleven episodes, it has a pretty good pacing to it as it deals with the cast of characters while never losing its focus on who’s important. Tsukimi and her relationship with her mother, the past and jellyfishes are key and they hit a lot of good points throughout this. And it’s seeing how it gets her to interact with others that makes it more special. When she deals with Kuranosuke, he’s able to draw her out more. Yet when she’s with Shu, a general rarity overall, it’s more about how she affects him and her blushing curiosity about it all. Shu’s probably my favorite character of the show since he has so many great reactions and goes through a few different issues because of his position. It’s fun to watch how he copes with it and the various people that come into the show through him.
In Summary:
Princess Jellyfish really drew me in during its simulcast run and left me smiling week after week. Taking it in as a whole didn’t change my opinion of it much in that regard as it was strong in telling its story both in weekly form and as a whole so revisiting here this way was just simply a delight to watch. There’s a great balance here between the silly stuff and the character driven material that lets it flow well. You smile along with the characters even though it’s really only Tsukimi that gets fully developed with a past. But the others aren’t diminished by that as they work well as a group and their personalities shine through well enough to make them thoroughly enjoyable to watch. Princess Jellyfish is definitely one of those special series and not like many others out there in how it handles itself and what it wants to tell. It works wonderfully and is the kind of show that’s simply great to revisit.
Features:
Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Language, English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 Language, English Subtitles, Princess Jellyfish Heroes Parts 1-4, Go, Sisterhood Explorers! Parts 1-6, Tsukimi and Jiji’s Octopus Tour, The Princess Jellyfish Field Guide, Episodes 1 & 11 Commentary, Promotional Videos, Textless Songs
Content Grade: A-
Audio Grade: B+
Video Grade: A-
Packaging Grade: B+
Menu Grade: B
Extras Grade: B+
Readers Rating: [ratings]
Released By: FUNimation
Release Date: February 28th, 2012
MSRP: $69.98
Running Time: 275 Minutes
Video Encoding: 1080p AVC
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Widescreen
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer. | {
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Rand Paul Presidential Campaign Staffer Licks Camera of Democratic Tracker The Paul campaign declined to comment specifically about the incident.
-- A Democratic tracker got a licking Monday while attending a Rand Paul campaign event in New Hampshire.
A campaign staffer for the Republican presidential candidate licked the camera lens of a tracker from the Democratic opposition research super PAC, American Bridge 21st Century, while recording the event. And the tracker caught it all on tape:
(Trackers are people hired by opponents, or opposition groups, to film everything a candidate does or says in public. They are at just about every public event featuring 2016 presidential contenders these days, and campaigns and candidates know to expect them).
When asked about the incident, Paul's campaign avoided it.
"Senator Rand Paul visited New Hampshire today to accept the endorsement of twenty New Hampshire State Representatives who support his run for the White House, and to visit with and take questions from the voters of NH," campaign communications director Sergio Gor said in a statement. "It was a great day of events."
American Bridge Tracking Director Becky Parks reacted in a tweet:
And the group's communications director, Ben Ray, said he's ever seen anything like this before.
"No. No, I have not," Ray told ABC News, noting that it's a common practice for staffers to try to block trackers' cameras with their bodies -- but not to go this far. | {
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Experts have found a shipwreck in the River Vistula in Poland that may date back to the medieval era.
The vessel, which is 121 feet long and almost 20 feet wide, was found in a stretch of the river north of Warsaw, according to the Science in Poland website.
The wreck is thought to have once carried up to 100 tonnes of cargo. Artur Brzóska from the Association of Archaeologists Jutra told Science in Poland that the shipwreck is likely a large transport vessel dating back to the 14th to 18th centuries. The boat, he explained, may have been used to transport grain to the Polish Baltic port of Gdansk.
MYSTERIOUS SHIPWRECK 'DISAPPEARS' INTO LAKE MICHIGAN, NEW PHOTOS SHOW
The remains of a bridge that was likely built by German forces during World War II were also discovered in the Vistula near the village of Lomianki Dolne. Science in Poland, which is partly financed by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education, is published by the Polish Press Agency.
Other centuries-old European shipwrecks have been grabbing attention recently. A shipwreck dating back to the 16th century, for example, was recently discovered beneath the city of Stockholm.
16TH-CENTURY SHIPWRECK UNCOVERED IN THE CENTER OF STOCKHOLM
Experts uncovered the ship in the Kungstradgarden district in the center of the Swedish capital last summer, according to a statement from archaeological consultancy Arkeologikonsult.
Analysis of the ship’s timbers indicates that it dates back to the 1590s. The ship, which is over 98.4 feet long, once sailed on Stockholm’s former waterways that were later filled to accommodate the city’s expansion.
Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers | {
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Yes of course! The costume won't be all done until late may, but I will be sure to! I will do my best to pay homage to you and all your fabulosity | {
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El diputado de UNEN Roy Cortina propuso emitir billetes de 200 y 500 pesos y que se acuñen monedas de 5 y 10 para "hacerle más fácil la vida a la población tras la violenta devaluación".
Cortina explicó que así busca "hacerle más fácil la vida a aquellos que deben viajar en colectivo y no tienen la tarjeta SUBE, por lo que deben andar cargando una gran cantidad de monedas para alcanzar el valor creciente del boleto".
También dijo que buscaba beneficiar a "asalariados, y en especial a jubilados, que cuando van a un cajero para cobrar un sueldo devaluado tienen que irse cargando grandes fajos de billetes de escaso valor".
Moreno y Palacios
El legislador socialista redactó un proyecto de ley y ya recomendó las figuras que podrían aparecer en los billetes a modo de homenaje: Mariano Moreno y Alfredo Palacios.
La iniciativa propone que los billetes de 200 pesos reproduzcan las imágenes de Moreno y la Revolución de Mayo; y en el caso de los de 500, las de Palacios y la Sanción del Nuevo Derecho.
"Luego de siete años, el Gobierno Nacional ha decidido reconocer la disparada de la inflación, creemos que la impresión de billetes y la acuñación monedas de mayor denominación significaría una solución para la vida cotidiana de varios sectores", añadió Cortina.
El socialista sostuvo en su iniciativa que "la abrupta devaluación del peso desencadenada en enero de 2014, que llegó a superar el 18 por ciento", estaba "estrechamente vinculada al flagelo inflacionario que desde hace algunos años aqueja al país". | {
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How to pet a dog - Breath of the Wild Everything you need to know to learn how to pet a dog and show man's best friend a little attention in Breath of the Wild.
There are dogs in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and they are adorable. Chances are you'll spend most of the game wanting to pet them. It seemed for a while that we would forever be destined to be unable to pet dogs in Breath of the Wild. But hosanna there is a way! Petting doggos and puppers is entirely possible in Zelda, and we're gonna show you how to do it.
Identifying a Dog to Pet
To pet a dog in Zelda: Breath of the Wild, first you must find a dog. Not just any doglike or small creature will do, though, you need a 100% bona fide canine.
Scouting for a dog to pet is important in Breath of the Wild.
How to pet a dog
Petting a dog in BoTW is a bit awkward, but pets is pets.
Once you've located a suitable dog, you may engage in petting it. To do so, unequip your melee weapon and walk up to it. Press the button you usually attack with, and Link will spaz out like he's looking for his sword. It may not look like Link is petting the dog, but looks can be deceiving. After Link spazzes for a bit, the dog will get the pink cloud of hearts around it as if you've done something it likes.
You can drop food for the dogs you encounter as well. They'll eat fruit, though they definitely prefer meat.
Although you don't get the satisfaction of seeing Link actually pat the dog, you can at least get the reaction you would from petting it. You can also feed your pupper friend and it will also make him happy. The dog likes meat, but he will eat fruit too.
Now that you've learned to pet dogs, you'll never need to learn to stay warm since puppers keep you happy from the inside out. Check out our Breath of the Wild guide for more useful info. | {
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Lol! And what's ironic is that Hanji looks like my mom here XD only my mom has dark brown hair. XD still same smile tho.she would totally do that too! In public! And I would technically be Levi going " AGH! GET OFF ALREADy!! " | {
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PARIS (Reuters) - Former prime minister Francois Fillon looked on Friday to be in a strong position to claim his center-right party’s nomination to contest next year’s French presidential election as he and rival Alain Juppe held final rallies of the primary campaign.
Francois Fillon, former French prime minister and member of Les Republicains political party, attends a rally as he campaigns in the second round for the French center-right presidential primary election in Paris, France, November 25, 2016. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer
In an impassioned speech to supporters in Paris, Fillon, 62, struck a strong patriotic note, vowing to halt “the decline of France” under the ruling Socialists by sticking to what he said was a realistic program that included ending the 35-hour working week and making big savings by slashing public spending.
Juppe, 71, also a former prime minister, defended his more moderate policies, telling supporters: “I’m not going to engage in any grandstanding against our public service. I want to manage, not demonize, it.”
A new survey issued on Friday night saw Fillon as clear favorite, winning Sunday’s vote with 61 percent against Juppe’s 39 percent.
The ballot on Sunday will send one of the two veteran conservatives into an electoral battle that opinion polls say will boil down finally to a duel with far-right leader Marine Le Pen next May.
Fillon, who defied predictions to emerge as surprise winner of Les Republicain’ first-round primary on Nov. 20, is tipped to win the second round with two-thirds of the vote. He was also boosted by a convincing performance in a televised debate.
Even as their supporters prepared for the last rallies, Paris’s chief prosecutor issued a reminder of the security threat that has hung over France since Islamist militants killed 130 people in attacks in Paris in November 2015.
POLLS
Le Pen’s National Front party, which is anti-immigrant and anti-European Union, has made big inroads against mainstream left- and right-wing parties as France struggles with a jobless rate of 10 percent and insipid economic growth. The Paris massacre and other militant attacks have also fueled support.
But with President Francois Hollande’s socialists in disarray and opinion polls showing a majority of voters opposed to seeing the far-right in power, many pollsters are seeing Fillon - France’s closest thing to a genuine conservative on both economic and social issues - as having the best chance of becoming president.
Opinion polls have, however, lost credibility since Donald Trump’s surprise win in the U.S. presidential election and the Brexit vote to take Britain out of the European Union.
With the Socialists yet to declare a candidate and with independent candidates, including former Economy Minister Emmanuel Macron in the field, many pundits say that much could change between now and next May.
Polls for months have predicted that Le Pen would qualify for the second round of the presidential election but lose the run-off to a mainstream right-winger.
The unpopular Hollande is expected to say by the end of the first week of December if he will seek a second term, though his approval rating is at rock-bottom and fell to just four percent in one recent survey.
“BRUTAL” POLICIES
Both Fillon and Juppe propose supply-side economic measures including cuts in public spending and raising the retirement age, although Fillon promises more drastic and faster measures.
While both men want to trim civil service headcount, Juppe, unlike Fillon, has promised to hire another 10,000 police officers to help improve law and order and combat the threat from militants.
Slideshow ( 6 images )
Juppe, speaking to a rally in the town of Nancy on Friday night, confirmed that intention, saying: “I’m not going to freeze the hiring of police, teachers etc during the next five years because that is impossible.”
Fillon hit back at Juppe, who in Nancy, repeated charges that his rival was pursuing “brutal” social programs.
“What is brutal is the mass unemployment which is ruining millions of French people. What is brutal is the delinquency that is destroying entire districts. What may be brutal in the future is the day when the debt wall collapses on us,” Fillon said.
Sunday’s vote comes hard on the heels of yet more scares in a country which has been under emergency rule since the 2015 Islamist gun and bomb attacks.
After police swoops last weekend, public prosecutor Francois Molins said on Friday that five people under interrogation were suspected of having planned an assault in and around Paris on Dec. 1 under the direction of Islamic State militants working from the group’s Middle East strongholds.
Another security scare was triggered by the killing of a woman at a home for aging nuns and retired Roman Catholic missionaries near Montpellier in southern France.
Police said later a 47-year-old former soldier had been arrested on suspicion of killing the woman, but that there were no links to Islamic militancy. | {
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Billionaire says the Fed should prioritize citizens over hedge funds. Image: Random Sky on Unsplash.
In brief The Federal Reserve has revealed its plans to spend $2.3 trillion to bail out the economy.
Virgin Galactic CEO argues that the money should go to ordinary Americans instead of rich CEOs.
He suggested the Fed gives "half a million to every man, woman and child" in the US.
Chamath Palihapitiya, the CEO of investment firm Social Capital and chairman of spaceflight company Virgin Galactic, has argued that the US government and the Federal Reserve should not bail out hedge funds and billionaires during the coronavirus crisis.
“On Main Street today, people are getting wiped out. Right now, rich CEOs are not, boards that have horrible governance are not. People are,” Palihapitiya told CNBC’s “Fast Money Halftime Report.”
He noted that the Fed’s spending initiatives and its plans to support enterprises will likely have far-reaching consequences, and authorities should just give those funds to Americans instead.
“What we’ve done is disproportionately prop up poor-performing CEOs and boards, and you have to wash these people out. [...] I’m not disagreeing with what the Fed has to do. What I’m saying is it’s creating a land mine, and it’s creating a bill that will have to come due,” said Palihapitiya.
“It would be better for the Fed to have given half a million to every man, woman and child in the United States,” he added.
Earlier on the same day, the Fed announced it plans to spend $2.3 trillion on various programs to help support the economy during the coronavirus outbreak. The money will be directed toward businesses and governments, including the Fed’s Main Street business lending program and market interventions.
As Decrypt reported recently, Palihapitiya has also stated that we are currently witnessing “Bitcoin’s moment,” as the cryptocurrency could “really emerge as a flight to safety” in case the US economy goes caput.
And with the US national debt hitting $24 trillion, there are a lot more questions than answers. | {
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Members of the U.S. Secret Service keep watch at the fence surrounding the White House in Washington Thomson Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee has written President Barack Obama over concerns that a recently reported data breach on the White House computer system might have compromised the personal information of many Americans.
"Just like any entity that handles personally-identifiable information, the White House has a responsibility to notify Americans if the recent, or any future breach, results in a compromise,” the committee chairman, John Thune, said in a statement on Sunday accompanying the letter.
“If such information has been lost, the White House still has a responsibility to victims even if it believes the hack was perpetrated by foreign spies and not cyber thieves," Thune added.
The White House said last month that a CNN report that Russian hackers penetrated sensitive parts of the White House computer system referred to an incident it disclosed last year, and declined to comment on who was responsible for the breach.
It added that it took immediate measures at the time to evaluate and mitigate the activity.
Asked about the Commerce Committee letter, White House National Security Council spokesman Mark Stroh declined to comment further on the breach, but said: "We have consistently supported timely notification in the event of data breaches, consistent with existing federal policy."
Thune in his letter to Obama said that while hackers did not appear to have accessed classified data, the unclassified computer system reportedly contained sensitive information such as schedules, policy discussions and emails, including exchanges with diplomats.
"This unclassified computer system likely also contains the personally identifiable information of many Americans," the South Dakota Republican wrote, noting that people must submit personal information before being allowed to enter the White House.
(Reporting by Peter Cooney; Editing by Eric Walsh) | {
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Things haven't been going so great lately for the original members of the New 52 Suicide Squad. Amanda Waller has been disgraced by her failure to defend her country during Forever Evil. But time heals all wounds, as they say. And if the cover to New Suicide Squad: Futures End #1 is any indication, it appears the fortunes of Waller, Deadshot, and Harley Quinn will improve five years in the future. This one-shot issue will explore what role Waller and her team play in the DCU five years in the future.
new suicide squad futures end 01 6 IMAGES
New Suicide Squad: Futures End #1 is written by Sean Ryan and penciled by Andre Coelho. Check out our exclusive preview below:This issue will be released on Wednesday, September 10. It'll be priced at $2.99 for the standard cover and $3.99 for the 3D motion cover.
Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter , or Kicksplode on MyIGN | {
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Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
What is a firewall?
The first step in finding the right firewalls to protect your company’s data is to know what kind of firewalls there are. Right now, there are five different types of firewall architectures, broadly speaking:
Packet-filtering firewalls
Stateful inspection firewalls
Circuit-level gateways
Application-level gateways (a.k.a. proxy firewalls)
Next-gen firewalls https://www.compuquip.com/blog/the-different-types-of-firewall-architectures
Packet-filtering
Packet filtering firewalls are intended to inspect traffic at the packet level and determine, based upon pre-configured rule sets, which traffic (actually packets) is allowed to flow in and out of the network.
Stateful Inspection
Firewalls inspecting the state of traffic help to determine the legitimacy of traffic by focusing on the TCP connection status of the traffic. For instance, if a packet is seen that is supposedly a response, but no packet was seen exiting the network to generate that response, it would block due to the fact that the response was not requested.
The packet-filtering and stateful inspection methods are used together, such as in the case of the BSD stateful packet filter, PF. PF is used by many open source firewalls today.
Circuit Level
This type of firewall is similar to stateful inspection, except that there is no analysis of the packet content as in packet-filtering firewalls. Therefore, the session state is all that is looked at before deciding upon the fate of traffic.
Application Level
Application level gateways, or proxies, work at the application layer. They also have the ability to inspect the payload of traffic and determine whether or not traffic should be relayed to the intended application.
Next-Generation Firewalls
I am not sure how long this moniker will last, but the name is given to firewalls which feature next-generation technologies. This definition is not really clear, but basically allows a category for firewalls that go beyond basic packet filtering and session monitoring. Many of these next-gen firewalls include capabilities to classify the application being used in the traffic, as apposed to ports and protocols. This is important, as many applications today use non-standard ports and it may not be easy to classify the traffic without deeper inspection of the packets to determine what the actual payload consists of.
Do I Have a Firewall?
This is a great question for consumers to begin to ask themselves, or their more knowledgeable and experienced technical resources. Most consumers never give a thought to whether or not they have a firewall in place for their networks and devices. Others are certain that the equipment provided by their Internet Service Provider (ISP) are adequate for their needs. The problem is that more and more of our household appliances are becoming Internet-connected and opening us up to more risk. Why is this a problem?
While much of what consumers do on the Internet is not very sensitive, I would like to help you understand the risks that a typical consumer could be open to. Do you do your taxes online or have financial information in a file on your Internet-connected computers? Do you have files such as pictures, documents, or recordings that you would want to protect from prying eyes or from possible loss? You see, there is much more at stake than many people want to consider. You have property that could be in jeopardy and it is no less your responsibility to protect your digital assets than it is for you to lock your house in today’s day and age.
Each of us also has a corporate responsibility to keep attackers from using our computers and connected devices as home bases for further attacks on other Internet users. Hackers typically do not run their scripts and push their malware from their servers hidden deep in their mother’s basement. They take over the assets of corporations and unknowing consumers and launch attacks from these remote assets that they control almost as easily as if they were sitting in your office. We each have a responsibility to ensure that we are not propagating this type of activity.
Now to the question at hand…Do YOU have a firewall? As a consumer, you likely have a router that was provided by your ISP. This router does provide some layer of abstraction from the outside world. It will typically disallow incoming traffic that was not initiated by a user in your home. However, a savvy hacker can navigate his way around many common consumer devices and, since there are so many of them, most of the exploits that take advantage of those devices are most likely well known. So, a router might provide some level of protection, but probably not what you want protecting the assets you care about most.
What Options Are Available?
We have established the fact that consumers would gain value from firewalls. The next question you might have is “what are my options”? That is a great question with a lot of different answers. I would say that there are really two categories to answer that question. First, there are consumer-targeted devices on the market to cater to those who need more of a set-it-and-forget-it approach. While I do not think there is ever an option within network security that allows for complete hands-off approach, there is some benefit to allowing someone else to manage the security for you, much like we depend on our antivirus vendors to put out regular updates to our virus definitions.
Cisco, Netgear, and Sonicwall offer consumer-grade firewalls that will meet most of your needs. Make sure you look for firewalls, gateways, and Unified Threat Management (UTM) appliances and not at routers. Some routers (usually classified as gateways) will offer more advanced features, but what we are looking for here is not simply a NAT router. The following link provides some details on a few devices that would suit most consumers or small businesses:
The next category of firewalls that I would suggest for the more technical consumers are the open source variety. There are many open source projects that have been providing firewall software for consumers for years. Many of these projects allow consumers to use their products for free and they also offer commercial version of their products, for a cost, to paying customers. I personally use OPNsense, but I have also used pfSense in the past. Both of these firewalls are based on the BSD operating system, known for stability and security, and offer all of the features most consumers would want on their firewalls. Please review the following link for other options in the open source variety:
The only thing to keep in mind with open source firewalls is that you might need to provide your own hardware, although some of these open source projects do sell specialized hardware if you choose to go that route. In either case, consumers need to protect themselves and there are many options for security in the home or small office. Please take some time to read the resources provided here and feel free to comment where the community can provide their thoughts and opinions on your options.
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Two years after TCF Financial Corp. underwent a major financial restructuring and started diversifying into areas such as auto financing, the bank is embarking on a new cost-savings project.
The Wayzata-based lender said Wednesday that it’s closing eight bank branches in Minnesota by the end of March. All are located at Cub supermarkets outside the core metro area, the bank said, and most are near other TCF locations.
In December, the bank said it was shuttering 37 Chicago-area branches inside Jewel supermarkets, as well as a branch in downtown Minneapolis, and adding 52 new ATMs in Chicago “L” train stations. The additional eight closings announced Wednesday bring the total chop to 46.
“There’s probably some more things to come in that, not only in the branch system but other areas in the bank as well,” TCF CEO Bill Cooper said in a conference call with analysts Wednesday.
The Minnesota branches being shuttered are in Hastings, Forest Lake, Northfield, Rogers, Chanhassen, Lakeville South, Elk River and west Mankato.
The branch strategy is more about pruning, executives said, adding that TCF is not backing away from its long-standing strategy of placing branches in Jewel and Cub supermarkets. Cub Foods remains an important partner, the bank said.
The closings cost the bank $9 million in the fourth quarter and shaved about 3 cents per share off earnings. The cuts were disclosed in the company’s fourth-quarter earnings release.
Overall, fourth-quarter profits jumped nearly 50 percent from a year ago to $35 million, or 22 cents per share, missing the consensus Wall Street estimate by a penny.
Driving the growth were gains on investments and sales of consumer real estate and auto loans and on the sale of a single commercial loan. The gains offset year-over-year declines in fees and service charges, and in leasing and equipment finance.
For the year, TCF had profits of $132.6 million compared with 2012’s $218.5 million loss when the bank repositioned its balance sheet.
TCF is among the banks and credit unions smacked by the Target Corp.’s data security breach as customers flocked to get information about their accounts and get new debit and credit cards.
Responding to an analyst’s question about it, Cooper pointed the finger at the Durbin Amendment. In 2010, TCF unsuccessfully sued the federal government over the regulation, which capped interchange swipe fees on debit card transactions, and stuck a knife in TCF’s business model.
Cooper said the amendment has unfairly penalized banks, which bear the brunt of costs for payment card fraud.
“It really shows the incorrectness of the Durbin amendment, which largely resolved around who pays fraud costs and fraud prevention,” Cooper said. “The retailers got about $20 billion of additional revenue in that thing. It’s pretty clear that they didn’t spend it on fraud prevention.”
“As you can tell I’m a little irritated by the whole thing,” he added, “… as to why I’m paying for the breach of retailers around the country.”
Cooper said that regulators have required banks to tighten their computer networks and practices to address fraud, but that retailers lack the same strong controls.
“I feel like the rest of the industry has potentially some very big holes in it,” he said. | {
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Tremendous December gains in domestic manufacturing made 2017 the strongest year for US manufacturing since 2004.
A report from the Institute for Supply Management said December’s expansions in orders and production was at the fastest pace in three months, boosting the manufacturing index. The 2017 average was 57.6 and was made possible through strong domestic business investment and increased household spending, despite a dip in November following a number of devastating hurricanes.
The report also notes that firms are paying higher wages to build their workforce, another positive sign that US wages are finally catching up to a low unemployment rate.
Analysts believe that these strong manufacturing numbers will continue into early 2018. Timothy Fiore, chairman of the ISM, said that the recently passed Republican tax plan will also incentivize businesses to invest domestically.
Manufacturers are also seeing their global exports improve, another sign that the global economy is improving.
WATCH:
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The families of the 17 people killed in the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February will each receive $400,000 from a GoFundMe page created after the mass shooting.
The GoFundMe fundraiser, which stopped accepting donations on June 30, raised $9.8 million from 36,687 people in the four months following the shooting in Parkland, Florida.
The fundraiser for those affected ultimately raised $10.5 million after donors pledged funds outside of the online page, Maria Pierson, spokesperson for the Broward Education Foundation, told the Sun-Sentinel on Monday.
The foundation received 1,654 applications from victims and families members of those affected by the attack, and 1,517 of those will receive portions of the money.
In addition to the families receiving close to half a million dollars, the 18 individuals who were injured when a gunman opened fire on the campus will receive a total of $1.63 million.
JIMMY FALLONS GIVES SURPRISE SPEECH AT STONEMAN DOUGLAS GRADUATION
More than 400 people who were inside of the school's 1200 building — where the massacre unfolded — at the time of the shooting will each receive $2,500.
And another 1,048 people who were on campus during the shooting but not inside the 1200 building will each receive $1,000.
Those whose applications were verified and approved will receive electronic disbursements of the money beginning July 16.
The funds will be provided "without any restriction on their use," the foundation board's chair, Christina Fischer said. "The families and recipients are in the best position to determine how these funds would be most beneficial to their healing."
Fox News' Kimberly Miller contributed to this report. | {
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Like this:
Jeff Mattson has been interpreting the music of the Grateful Dead for just about as long it has been a fun and profitable enterprise, beginning with the Volunteers in 1979, continuing with the Zen Tricksters, and peaking with his current role as the lead guitarist in the preeminent Dead tribute act, Dark Star Orchestra. Surrounded by music from an early age thanks to a professional musician father, Mattson found a quick route to rock and roll and the Grateful Dead. He fell in love with the early 1970s Dead releases – American Beauty, Workingman’s Dead, Europe ’72 – and hit his first shows at the Nassau Coliseum in September 1973. We spoke with Mattson in advance of his Mattson/Barraco & Friends gigs this week. Here is what he had to say about his trip so far.
On the Volunteers and the Zen Tricksters:
It’s kind of weird when you look back at it. We were a Dead cover band that also played original music. We just thought it was very much in the spirit of what we were about, to write your own songs and jam on those. By the time we got to the Zen Tricksters, we also added jamming on any song we felt like, outside of the Grateful Dead’s repertoire. The real draw there for a lot of people was the Dead stuff. It was hard to put a finger on what we did. Are they an original band? We did put out several albums but were also a Dead cover band.
On Dark Star Orchestra:
I knew those guys. Tricksters had done gigs with them and been on the same fests at them. We were friendly with them. Rob Barraco was a member of the Zen Tricksters and went on to play quite a bit with Phil Lesh and Friends and the resurrected Dead. When Scott Larned unfortunately passed away, they called Rob to come in there and help them out and he ended up staying. I was already friends with these guys and now my best buddy and bandmate is in the band and they knew my playing well, so when John Kadlecik was called to go play with Furthur, I was the first person they thought of. I was at a point in my career when I wasn’t playing out much, so it seemed like a good time. The band works a lot and it’s better than ever right now.
On DSO original set lists:
Me and Rob Eaton, the rhythm guitarist, sit down and, since we do the lion’s share of the singing, we’ll put together a set list. We take into consideration what we played the last time we were in town, what we played the night before, what we’re playing the next couple of nights, songs that haven’t really been featured on the tour. There’s a lot of factors that go into it. And then the beauty is you get up there and it’s just something to start with because we get on stage and if it doesn’t feel like the right song for the right moment, we can change it on the fly. But writing it ahead of time seems to help with the standing up there and scratching our head and arguing or just going with the obvious things because you’re not thinking of less obvious choices that could be really fun to play, if we haven’t played them that much recently, keeps it fresh.
On Mattson/Barraco & Friends:
We love playing together. We’ve played together so long. A lot of the members of the band have their own little gigs on the side that they do when they go home. We did a couple of shows with Rob on bass. He’s a really excellent bass player and he doesn’t get to play it ever, so it’s particularly fun for him to play a different instrument than keys. We did a few shows with Joe Chirco on drums and Jason Crosby on keys and we also did a couple where we played acoustically, me acoustic guitar and Rob on bass, as a duo and it was just a lot of fun. Since we do play a lot of Grateful Dead with Dark Star, we do play some Dead in this format, but we stretch out a lot more on a lot of other different stuff, very much in the vein of the Dead jamming, but we just don’t have to stick to that repertoire. We can take a Dylan song or a Donavan song or something like that, Beatles, Stones, whatever, just stretch it out, take it to all kinds of new places. We just started doing this, so we want to go to the songs that we know and have played and loved over the years. We know hundreds of songs, so we’ve been pulling from that. The other stuff we do, for example, a typical audience would probably be surprised we do “Black Star” by Radiohead and all that left field from what we usually do. But why not? “Dark Star” into “Black Star.” I was just thinking today, we’re both big fans of Tom Waits and Warren Zevon. How am I going to get some Zevon songs in there and some Tom Waits songs in there? That kind of thought process.
On new music:
I listen to all kinds of music. I have quite eclectic tastes. I’m not one of these guys who’s perpetually on to the next big thing. I like what I like. I just sort of find out what I like. I love Wilco and I love Iron & Wine and Calexico, which I guess I would consider modern bands. Just off the top of my head. I’m not up on all the new bands, but I’m always checking stuff out. I read a lot of music magazines. I know what’s going on and I check the stuff out on iTunes and YouTube all the time. I watch a lot of late night TV, so I’ll see the bands on Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, all those shows. It’s pretty varied. That’s a cool thing. I don’t like it all, but it’s a good way to find out things you do like.
On favorite venues:
I like the Crystal Ballroom in Portland, Oregon. It’s an old ballroom and the dance floor is loaded on springs and ball bearings. It’s an old school place. The Fillmore in San Francisco has just got a great vibe to it. Actually, we’ve played there just a few times, but The Paramount out on Long Island is a really nice place to play. We really enjoy playing there. We’re doing New Year’s and the night before there again with Dark Star. It used to be called the IMAC, the Inter-Media Art Center. If you had ever been there, forget it. It’s nothing like it. They completely gutted the building. I also was there not too long ago to see Emmy Lou Harris and Richard Thompson. I’d like to play Madison Square Garden [laughs]. It’s kind of an iconic venue. You know you’ve made it when you play there. It’s the pinnacle, especially growing up in New York.
Jeff Mattson will be performing with Rob Barraco and Tom Barraco at Brooklyn Bowl Tuesday and MexiCali Live in Teaneck, NJ Thursday.
For upcoming Dark Star Orchestra tour dates, CLICK HERE.
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You know what's funny? Since we started this website over six years ago, we've published literally thousands of articles. We've shown you watches owned by rock stars, taken you inside places few are ever allowed, told great stories of the human spirit, and profiled fascinating people. But, the article that received the most comments out of all these fantastic pieces was a quick new product release from the English brothers at Bremont. This post has 178 comments and counting, and that is because our readers felt they had been slighted.
Bremont claimed the movement in the new Wright Flyer was in-house. It's not. But, like with anything in life, there is much more to the story than one might expect. We'll let Nick explain above, and feel free to browse the image of the Wright Flyer below.
For more, visit Bremont online. | {
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Researchers at the University of Copenhagen's Dark Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute have brought us one step closer to understanding what the universe is made of. As part of the international collaboration ESSENCE they have observed distant supernovae (exploding stars), some of which emitted the light we now see more than half the age of the universe ago. Using these supernovae they have traced the expansion history of the universe with unprecedented accuracy and sharpened our knowledge of what it might be that is causing the mysterious acceleration of the expansion of the universe.
Background and outline
At the end of last century astronomers discovered the startling fact that the expansion of our universe is not slowing down, as all our previous understanding of gravity had predicted. Rather the expansion is speeding up. Nothing in conventional physics can explain such a result. It means that either the universe is made up of around 70% 'dark energy' (something that has a sort of anti-gravity) or our theory of gravity is flawed.
Now, as part of the international collaboration "ESSENCE", researchers at the Danish Dark Cosmology Centre have added a new piece to the puzzle. In two papers recently released they detail observations of supernovae (exploding stars) that allow them to trace the expansion history of the universe in unprecedented detail. ESSENCE is an extension of the original team that discovered the acceleration of the universe and these results push the limits of technology and knowledge, observing light from dying stars that was emitted almost half the age of the universe ago.
In a third paper, led by the Danish team and released this week, the many new theories that have been proposed to explain the acceleration of the universe are critically assessed in the face of this new data. Dr. Jesper Sollerman and Dr. Tamara Davis lead the team who show that despite the increased sophistication in cosmological models over the last century the best model to explain the acceleration remains one that was proposed by Einstein back in 1917. Although Einstein's reasoning at the time was flawed (he proposed the modification to his theory so it could support a static universe, because in those days everyone 'knew' the universe was not expanding, it may be that he was right all along.
Scientific details:
The results include 60 new type Ia supernovae discovered on the Cerro-Tololo Interamerican Observatory 4m telescope in an ongoing survey that so far has lasted four years. In order to follow up these discoveries the team uses some of the biggest telescopes in the world: the 8.2m VLT (Very Large Telescope) run by the European Southern Observatory and the 6m Magellan telescope (both in Chile), the 8m Keck telescope and the 10m Gemini telescope (both in Hawaii). The ESSENCE team includes 38 top researchers from many different countries on four continents.
The primary aim of the experiment is to measure the 'dark energy' - the thing that is causing the acceleration of the universe - to better than 10%. The feature of this dark energy that we measure is its 'equation of state'. This also allows us to check whether our theory of gravity needs modification. So far it looks like our theory is correct and that the strange acceleration of the expansion of the universe can be explained by Einstein's 'cosmological constant'.
In modern terms the cosmological constant is viewed as a quantum mechanical phenomenon called the 'energy of the vacuum'. In other words, the energy of empty space. It is this energy that is causing the universe to accelerate. The new data shows that none of the fancy new theories that have been proposed in the last decade are necessary to explain the acceleration. Rather, vacuum energy is the most likely cause and the expansion history of the universe can be explained by simply adding this constant background of acceleration into the normal theory of gravity.
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John Glenn, who made history as the first US American to orbit the Earth in and later as the oldest man to venture into space, has died in his home state of Ohio, the state's governor announced on Thursday.
"John Glenn is, and always will be, Ohio's ultimate hometown hero, and his passing today is an occasion for all of us to grieve," noted Ohio Governor John Kasich on Twitter.
The US space agency NASA called Glenn a "true American hero" and said they were "saddened" by his loss on Twitter.
US President Barack Obama also honored Glenn on Thursday following news of his death.
"John always had the right stuff, inspiring generations of scientists, engineers and astronauts who will take us to Mars and beyond -- not just to visit, but to stay," Obama said in a statement.
"With John's passing, our nation has lost an icon and Michelle and I have lost a friend," the president said. "On behalf of a grateful nation, Godspeed, John Glenn."
The 95-year-old Glenn had been in declining health when he was admitted to an Ohio State University hospital last week. No cause of death was given but he recently suffered a stroke, according to news reports.
'View is tremendous'
Born in Cambridge, Ohio on July 18, 1921 as the son of a railway guard, he studied mathematics in college and joined the Marines as an aviation cadet in 1942. He went on to fly numerous combat missions in both World War II and the Korean War.
He became famous in February 20, 1962 as the first American to orbit the earth flying for just under five hours as he orbited the planet three times. A fellow astronaut uttered "Godspeed, John Glenn" prior to liftoff, a phrase that became part of NASA lore.
"Zero-G (gravity) and I feel fine," Glenn said several minutes into his mission. "... Oh, and that view is tremendous."
Glenn was credited with reviving US pride in space exploration during the height of the Cold War and the space race with the Soviet Union.
Decades later, he returned to "the new frontier" at the age of 77 - setting another record by becoming the oldest person to venture into space. Teachers in Ohio paused class to watch Glenn's historic liftoff on October 29, 1998 along with millions of other TV-spectators. Glenn flew aboard the shuttle Discovery on a nine-day mission, withstanding the flight with no complications.
"Just because you're up in years some doesn't mean you don't have hopes and dreams and aspirations just as much as younger people do," he said following the mission.
Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth in 1962
Hometown hero
After his 23-year career in the US military and NASA space program, Glenn entered politics and was elected as a Democratic Ohio senator in 1974. He stayed in the post for another 24 years, garnering a reputation as a thoughtful moderate with expertise in defense and foreign policy.
"What made John Glenn a great senator was the same quality that made him a great astronaut and an iconic American hero: He saw enormous untapped potential in the nation he loved and he had faith that America could overcome any challenge," said current Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown following the news of Glenn's death.
His political career was slightly tarnished by a Senate investigation of five senators who were suspected of doing favors for campaign contributor Charles Keating Jr. A panel eventually found that Glenn did nothing improper or illegal.
In 2012, Obama awarded Glenn the country's highest civilian honor - the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Renowned in his home state as a hero, several buildings, schools, colleges and an airport in Ohio carry his name.
Glenn is survived by his wife of 73 years and childhood sweetheart, Annie Castor. The couple had two children, David and Lyn.
rs/se (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters) | {
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What’s New for C# and VB in Visual Studio
Richard
April 2nd, 2016
This week at Build 2016, we released Visual Studio 2015 Update 2 and Visual Studio “15” Preview. Both releases include many new language features that you can try today. It’s safe to install both versions of Visual Studio on the same machine so that you can check out all of the new features for yourself.
In Visual Studio 2015 Update 2, you’ll notice that we’ve added some enhancements to previous features as well as added some new refactorings. The team focused on improving developer productivity by cutting down time, mouse-clicks, and keystrokes to make the actions you perform every day more efficient.
Interactive Improvements (C# only in Update 2, VB planned for future)
The C# Interactive window and command-line REPL, csi, were introduced in Visual Studio Update 1. In Update 2, we’ve paired the interactive experience with the editor by allowing developers to send code snippets from the editor to be executed in the Interactive window. We’ve also enabled developers to initialize the Interactive window with a project’s context.
To play with these features:
Highlight a code snippet in the editor, right-click, and press Execute in Interactive (or Ctrl+E, Ctrl+E), as shown in the image below.
(or Ctrl+E, Ctrl+E), as shown in the image below. Right-click on a project in the Solution Explorer and press Initialize Interactive with project.
Add Imports/Using Improvements (VB and C# in Update 2)
We’ve improved the Adding Imports/Using command to support “fuzzy” matching on misspelled types and to search your entire solution and metadata for the correct type—adding both a using/imports and any project/metadata references, if necessary.
You can see an example of this feature with a misspelled “WebCleint” type. The type name needs to be fixed (two letters are transposed) and the System.Net using needs to be added.
Refactorings
A couple refactorings we sprinkled in were:
Make method synchronous (VB and C# in Update 2)
Use null-conditional for delegate invocation (C# only in Update 2, Maybe for VB? – Read More below)
So, the killer scenario for this feature is raising events in a thread-safe way. Prior to C# 6 the proper way to do this was to copy the backing field of the event to a local variable, check the variable for null-ness and invoke the delegate inside the if. Otherwise Thread B could set the delegate to null by removing the last handler after Thread A has checked it for null resulting in Thread A unintentionally throwing a NullReferenceException. Using the null-conditional in C# is a much shorter form of this pattern. But in VB the RaiseEvent statement already raised the event in a null safe way, using the same code-gen. So the killer scenario for this refactoring really didn’t exist and worse, if we add the refactoring people might mistakenly change their code to be less idiomatic with no benefit. From time to time we review samples that don’t understand this and perform the null check explicitly anyway so this seems likely to reinforce that redundant behavior. Let us know in the comments if you think the refactoring still has tons of value for you outside of raising events and we’ll reconsider! -ADG
Roslyn Features (VB and C# in Update 2)
We’ve added two new compiler flags to the Roslyn compiler:
deterministic : This switch will ensure builds with the same inputs produce the same the outputs, byte for byte. Previously, PE entries–like MVID, PDB ID and Timestamp–would change on every build but now can be calculated deterministically based on the inputs.
: This switch will ensure builds with the same inputs produce the same the outputs, byte for byte. Previously, PE entries–like MVID, PDB ID and Timestamp–would change on every build but now can be calculated deterministically based on the inputs. publicSign: Supports a new method of signing that is similar to delay signing except it doesn’t need to add skip verification entries to your machine. Binaries can be public signed with only the public key and load into contexts necessary for development and testing. This is also known as OSS signing.
Sneak Peek: What’s in Visual Studio “15” Preview
We released a first look of Visual Studio “15” this week at Build. It is point in time view of what we’ve been working on. Some features will still change and others are still coming. It’s a good opportunity to provide feedback on the next big release of Visual Studio.
Play with C# 7 Prototypes (VB 15 Prototypes planned)
The guiding theme for C# 7 language design is “working with data”. While the final feature set for C# 7 is still being determined by the Language Design Committee, you can play with some of our language feature prototypes today in Visual Studio “15” Preview.
To access the language prototypes, right-click on your project in Solution Explorer > Properties > Build and type “__DEMO__” in the “Conditional compilation symbols” text box. This will enable you to play with a preview of local functions, digit separators, binary literals, ref returns, and pattern matching.
There is a known bug related to ref return IntelliSense, which can be worked around by:
right-click on your project in Solution Explorer > Unload Project
right-click on your project after it’s been unloaded > Edit csproj
in the first Property Group under <AssemblyName> add: <Features>refLocalsAndReturns</Features>
Ignore any XML schema warnings you may see
Custom Code Style Enforcement (VB and C# in Visual Studio “15” Preview)
The feature you all have been asking for is almost here! In Visual Studio “15” Preview, you can play around and give us feedback on our initial prototype for customizable code style enforcement. To see the style options we support today, go to Tools > Options > C#/VB > Code Style. Under the General options, you can tweak “this.”/”Me.”, predefined type, and “var”/type inference preferences. Today, with “var’ preferences, you can control the severity of enforcement—e.g., I can prefer “var” over explicit types for built-in types and make any violation of this squiggle as an error in the editor.
You can also add Naming rules, for instance, to require methods to be PascalCase.
Please Keep up the Feedback
Thanks for all the feedback we’ve received over the last year. It’s had a big impact on the features that I’ve described here and on others we’ve been working on. Please keep it coming. The language feedback on the open source Roslyn project has been extensive. It’s great to see a broader language community developing around the Roslyn open source project on Github.
To give feedback, try one of the following places:
The Roslyn project, for language feedback
Send Feedback Option Visual Studio, for Visual Studio feedback
UserVoice , for Visual Studio suggestions
Thanks for using the product. I hope you enjoy using it to build your next app.
Over ‘n’ out Kasey Uhlenhuth, Program Manager, Managed Languages Team | {
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SOMERVILLE, MA – The city's legislative body will no longer be called the board of alderman, officials announced Friday. Gov. Charlie Baker signed a home rule petition Jan. 1 approving the switch to city council.
"I am very happy not to be called an elder man anymore," City Council President Katjana Ballantyne said in a statement.
The new name will officially take effect Jan. 31.
The process of switching names began early last year when Councilor-at-Large Bill white submitted a request that the city get permission from the state to change the name of the legislative body in the city charter.
"Our work certainly won't change, but I thought it was important that we adopt a modern and inclusive name for the legislative body of our city," White said in a statement.
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CHICOPEE — A Massachusetts State Police trooper has been charged with drunken driving and other offenses following a crash that left at least one person seriously injured.
A criminal complaint was issued Friday in Chicopee District Court against Trooper Jason M. Welch, 35, charging him with operating under the influence of liquor causing serious injury, reckless operation of a motor vehicle, operating under the influence of liquor and failure to take care in stopping.
The charges were filed following a state police investigation into the July 21 crash, said state police spokesman David Procopio.
While police did not reveal the name of the trooper, saying it was against policy to release names of defendants until they are formally charged, court records included Welch’s name and the charges.
Welch is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 5. Court officials could not say why the arraignment was delayed and police did not explain why he will not be arraigned for a month.
Welch is charged in connection to a crash that occurred at 2:44 a.m., on Interstate 291, which is also Burnett Road, at the intersection of Johnny Cake Hollow near the Exit 6 interchange. He was off duty and driving his personal vehicle, a 2012 Ford F-150 pickup truck, Procopio said.
Welch is accused of striking a 2007 Ford Expedition that was occupied by a man and a woman, he said.
The passenger in the Expedition, a 34-year-old man, suffered serious injuries and was taken by ambulance to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield.
Welch and his passenger were also transported to Baystate with injuries, Procopio said. The passenger is listed as being on active duty, but it was unclear if he was out due to injuries, Procopio said.
The driver of the Expedition, a 33-year-old woman, sustained minor injuries.
According to the Chicopee police, log a caller reported a rear-end collision on Burnett Road. The dispatcher state troopers and local police to respond.
A Chicopee police officer was the first to arrive at 2:49 a.m. and two other officers responded shortly after. State police arrived later and at 3:15 a.m. they took over the crash investigation, the log said.
Chicopee police public information officer Michael Wilk confirmed local police responded but had little involvement with the crash because troopers determined it occurred on a state highway.
Welch was initially placed on restricted duty, and has not yet returned to work. Because of the pending criminal charges, an Internal Affairs case was opened due to the state police investigation, Procopio said.
“The Department will hold another hearing for that member (Welch) and expects to further amend his duty status,” Procopio said. "That amended status will remain in effect for the duration of the judicial proceedings, following which his status will be re-evaluated based on the results of those proceedings and the separate Internal Affairs investigation.”
State police records show Welch, an Ayer native, graduated from the State Police Academy in 2014. He works for Troop B, which has seven barracks in Western Massachusetts including those in Northampton, Springfield and Westfield. | {
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With Hurricane Dorian churning up the U.S. East Coast, the Bahamas is reeling from the storms devastating blow.
The hurricane was a Category 5 storm when it took a direct hit on Great Abaco and Grand Bahama islands earlier this week. The death toll has reached 30 dead and hundreds are still missing. The officials warned that the number of deaths is sure to rise dramatically as search and rescue teams frantically search for survivors.
Dorian struck the island of Great Abaco in the northern Bahamas the hardest, demolishing homes, infrastructures, airport landing strips and a hospital. The hurricane was the most damaging storm to ever hit the Bahamas. The following are photos of the devastation as people try to cope with rebuilding their lives. | {
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Auburn's building block is in place.
Auburn blew past No. 10 Oklahoma State 9-2 behind a season-high 17 hits, the best production by the program since 2012 and the biggest non-conference win at Plainsman Park since 2011.
At the very least victory was the biggest accomplishment for Auburn under second-year coach Sunny Golloway, even if he played down such chatter.
"I don't know how much it says," Golloway said. "We talked to the guys down the line and clearly I told them to enjoy it. We recognize it's a win against a nationally-ranked team, but we're at home and we want to be a team that plays well at home and we want to get better every day. You know what, it's going to make dinner taste good but we have to back it up by coming back tomorrow and playing well."
JJ Shaffer was stellar off the bench, going 3-for-3 with two RBI in only his third start of the season.
The victory against the Cowboys (6-4) is the Tigers' best non-conference win against a ranked opponent at home since a 10-8 victory against No. 7 Arizona State in 2011. The Sun Devils won that series.
Auburn's seven-game winning streak is its longest since the 2009 season.
"It means a lot for us, especially with how our program ended last year," Auburn center fielder Anfernee Grier said. "We didn't have a good run last year. It's definitely a confidence booster. It shows us we can hang with the elite programs in the country, so it's a big win for us."
RELATED: Relive the action of Auburn's victory against Oklahoma State
Auburn (9-2) rallied with two-run spurts in four straight innings as Oklahoma State burned through five pitchers. Oklahoma starter Jon Perrin gave up four runs on six hits.
Meanwhile, Auburn reliever Cole Lipscomb was excellent out of the bullpen. He struck out eight batters and retired eight straight during his 4 2/3 innings on the mound. He sat down 14 of 15 batters to end the game and record a win.
Hunter Tackett's two-run home run in the fourth inning sparked the scoring spurt and gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead.
Grier extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a 3-for-5 performance. Shaffer's single gave Auburn a 4-2 lead in the fifth. He later scored on a fielder's choice, and a wild pitch on the next batter gave the Tigers an 8-2 lead in the seventh.
The Tigers were especially dangerous with their backs against the wall, going 7-of-16 with four RBI with two outs.
"Our offense is getting better each and every time out," Golloway said.
Auburn's 17 hits were the most since the Tigers had 18 against Arkansas on May 12, 2012. | {
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Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
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GET ON!!! We all hate tom brady | {
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Google Docs isn't the only Google product benefitting from acquisitions lately. It looks as if Google Goggles (and perhaps eventually Google's search) will soon integrate the capabilities of Plink, a visual search engine that identifies user-snapped photos of artwork.
Plink has only been available to the public for four months, but it's clear that its capabilities line up with Google's goal for Goggles. Google Goggles is a project (integrated into an Android app) that inputs user-uploaded photos of all manner of things—from landmarks to books to wine bottles and more—and identifies them along with more information. This includes the name of the object or product, applicable prices, and various search results associated with those pieces.
Goggles already has an "Artwork" category, but Plink's technology will undoubtedly help improve Google's visual search offerings across the board. "We’re looking forward to helping the Goggles team build a visual search engine that works not just for paintings or book covers, but for everything you see around you," reads a post on Plink's blog. Plink already offers an application on the Android Market and claims that the current app will continue to work, but that future development efforts will go towards Goggles.
This is likely just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Google's buying spree, too. Google CEO Eric Schmidt said in September that the company hopes to acquire one small company per month in the aftermath of the recession. The Plink acquisition—Google's first in the UK—represents one in a string of many that will continue to be announced in the coming months. We hope that some of Google's plans for Plink (and Goggles) will involve spreading the love to its Web search engine and other, non-Android devices. | {
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Click here for the latest coronavirus news, which the BDN has made free for the public. You can support our critical reporting on the coronavirus by purchasing a digital subscription or donating directly to the newsroom.
Maine Sen. Angus King and several Democrats in the U.S. Senate called on Wednesday for a future stimulus bill aimed at coronavirus relief to include money to support local news organizations.
King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, signed a letter with 18 Senate Democrats that characterized local news organizations as “in a state of crisis” that was only “exacerbated” by the coronavirus pandemic.
[Our COVID-19 tracker contains the most recent information on Maine cases by county]
“Reliable local news and information has been critically important during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet it has become more scarce,” the senators wrote.
The virus is expected to further harm news organizations that have struggled to rebuild since the Great Recession. Print ad revenue is expected to decline by 25 percent in 2020, according to a forecast from Magna Global. Among counties with at least one confirmed case, 37 percent have lost a local newspaper between 2004 and 2019, according to the Brookings Institute.
Local news sites have seen their readership increase significantly since the outbreak began, with some newspapers reporting that their online traffic has more than doubled, the New York Times reported. Dozens of local news organizations have still furloughed or laid off employees, according to the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit journalism research organization.
J.W. Oliver, editor of The Lincoln County News and the president of the Maine Press Association, said the association had not collaborated with King on the effort, but that federal stimulus money for local news organizations would be welcomed.
While Oliver said he did not know of any news organizations in Maine in “imminent danger,” the closure of only a few community newspapers would likely leave swaths of rural Maine without any local news coverage. The Bangor Daily News is a member of the press association.
“Newspapers tend to operate on thin margins already,” Oliver said.
Past efforts to bail out the news industry have gone nowhere in Congress, including a push in 2009 to give tax breaks to organizations that reorganize as nonprofits. Conservative groups have spoken against that and similar efforts, arguing they would make the press more beholden to government.
The next phase of a congressional stimulus package remains unclear. Republicans have called for a voice vote on Thursday to allocate $250 billion in additional funding for a lending program for small businesses championed by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. Smaller news organizations — including most in Maine — might be eligible for federal funding under that program.
Democrats have expressed support for funding the program for small businesses, but have also called for increased funding for hospitals and social services as part of the next relief package.
Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine’s 2nd District, wrote a letter to congressional leaders on Wednesday calling for increased funding for the small business program beyond what Republicans have proposed, as well as funding for rural hospitals and continued direct payments to individuals. | {
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After the defeat last week, the importance of a win yesterday was very high. We all knew Ipswich wouldn’t come to Elland Road and roll over. Their never die attitude gave Leeds a challenge they had not faced so far this season at home.
However, the lads were able to dig in and come away with the invaluable three points. The game highlighted a few things to think about as we look forward to Tuesday’s top of the table clash against Cardiff City.
Here are the three main talking points from the game:
Did we miss Jansson?
The defensive performance yesterday was a strange one. We struggled to deal with set plays during the game and Ipswich’s first goal was ultimately the outcome of the team’s inability to deal the dead ball situations. The obvious reaction to the somewhat poor defending is to refer to the need for the inclusion of Jansson.
Jansson is the best player in the squad, in my opinion, and if he is fit he is the first name on the team sheet. For us to say we missed Jansson implies that he would have replaced either of the two starting centre halves. Even though we did struggle to deal with the set pieces, the centre back partnership of Cooper and Shaughnessy were actually the standout performers in the game.
We can refer to stages in the game where we felt Jansson would have made the difference, but we also need to remember that without Cooper and Shaughnessy being as effective as they were, we may not have won the game anyway.
Hernandez holding his own
Pablo Hernandez had a great game yesterday. In the first half especially, he was the player who was at the centre of the creative positivity we saw from the team.
The Thomas Christiansen philosophy really suits the Spanish principles that are the base for Hernandez’s style of play. The build up and movement in the team creates the space and time for Hernandez to be really effective. The opposition become so concerned about the teams creativity. The stand off Hernandez which plays into his hands, we saw this numerous times in the game; the lovely nutmeg midway through the first half is testament to that point.
The attacking support and burst of energy we have in the final third has added something we have lacked in the past, but the slick approach of Hernandez balances the energy and creativity perfectly.
Getting the job done
The most important part of the result yesterday was the three points. The two teams directly below us also won and after the previous poor performance at Millwall we needed the win.
Ipswich were the best side we have played so far this season at home and will likely be in contention all season. In seasons gone by, we would have dropped points yesterday but we could see, even at 3–2 with Ipswich piling on the pressure, a different mentality.
The desire and expectation of victory flowing throughout the team meant I still knew we would win the game. As the final whistle went and I watched the team embrace each other, you could see that this is truly a winning team. Long may it continue.
We carry on riding the wave as we are still top of the table. We saw two of the Championship teams give everything yesterday and, even though the performance was not as visually appealing at times, the result certainly was. Now we move on to Tuesday night and another difficult challenge in this wonderful season.
Let us know your thoughts on the game on Facebook or Twitter. MOT | {
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If I COULD GO ONE SHIFT WITHOUT GETTING PUKED ON I would be so happy
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RS
I’ll start by making the point that technology companies like to portray themselves as public-facing, and in that way misrepresent what they are. For example, Apple used to call its retail centers “town squares.” The entire idea is to take over and capture the public discursively through branding, through architecture, through corporate slogans. Tech companies brand themselves as public services when in reality they exploit public labor. So I think in that sense they’re attempting to appear not just apolitical, but almost beyond political, or above politics.
The second point is people have long treated internet technologies in particular — though this is true throughout the history of digital technology and science itself — as morally neutral. We tend to think of technologies as almost teleological attempts to maximize efficiency, just linear instruments of progress. We think of them as agnostic, simply the creation of neutral scientists, neutral engineers.
What I seek to expose in my book is that the political biases, the racial biases, the economic biases, the geographic biases, the gender biases of technologists are fundamental to shaping and impacting the technologies they create, which either open up or foreclose on the life chances for people who are implicated by their systems. So they are profoundly political in that sense.
Now to discuss their political activity itself. Google is one of the biggest lobbyists in the American government. Meanwhile, Amazon already does work with ICE, and a lot of these companies are very cozy with the military. Their goal is to maximize not just their profit, but their overall speculated valuation, and it doesn’t matter who ends up on the chopping block as a result of that.
When Mark Zuckerberg says that Facebook will run all political ads because it’s a matter of free speech, what he’s actually doing is emboldening a world where those who have more power are provided with the ability to abuse that power on Facebook’s platform. Meanwhile, when a company like Facebook or YouTube designs its systems to make visible content that is more extreme, more hateful, more disinformation-based, that’s all done with the intention of locking people in. And that is a political choice, based upon a private self-interest, never mind the consequences for the rest of us.
These companies are intruding upon our political life, claiming the language of democracy and the public interest, when all they are interested in doing is supporting their own bottom lines, their own investors. They do not care about their impact on democracy. It’s quite clear that they do not care. | {
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A lot has been said and spoken about on the refresh that is pending from AMD, the lineup for the 570 and 580 mainly is a Polaris respin. New information has surfaced, including 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme and Ultra Results.
The new results have been spotted in the 3DMark ORB, multiple entries have been found for the Radeon RX 580, Radeon RX 570 and Radeon RX 550. Now if we average things a little and add the leaked online results from FutureMark then you'd get a chart that looks something like below.
Let me reiterate that the entries are based on the leaks and that there is nothing official about it. This is a mockup-chart.
Radeon RX 580 Radeon RX 480 Radeon RX 570 Radeon RX 470 GPU Polaris 10 Polaris 10 Polaris 10 Polaris 10 Cores 2304 2304 2048 2048 TMUs 144 144 128 128 ROPs 32 32 32 32 FP32 Compute 6.17 TFLOPS 5.83 TFLOPS 5.10 TFLOPS 4.94 TFLOPS Boost Clock 1340 MHz 1266 MHz ~1244 MHz 1206 MHz Memory Clock 8000 MHz 8000 MHz 7000 MHz 6600 MHz Memory up to 8 GB up to 8 GB up to 8 GB up to 8 GB Memory Bus 256-bit 256-bit 256-bit 256-bit Bandwidth 256 GB/s 256 GB/s 224 GB/s 211 GB/s Memory Type GDDR5 GDDR5 GDDR5 GDDR5 Power Connector 1x 8-pin 1x 6-pin 1x 6-pin 1x 6-pin
The RX 580 certainly would be a good amount faster. The 570 would hit 480 performance and the 550 .. well. Specs for the Radeon RX 550 remain a bit of a mystery. Below an overview of the spotted 3DMark results. It seems that the RX 580 was overclocked towards 1500 MHz with the memory at 2121 MHz (+121 MHz).
Graphics Card Clock Speed Memory Clock VRAM Firestrike Extreme Score (Graphics) Firestrike Extreme Score (Overall) Radeon RX 580 1500 MHz 2121 MHz 8 GB GDDR5 6880 6390 Radeon RX 580 1500 MHz 2000 MHz 8 GB GDDR5 6675 6231 Radeon RX 580 1411 MHz 2000 MHz 8 GB GDDR5 6501 6019 Radeon RX 580 1355 MHz 2000 MHz 8 GB GDDR5 6321 5911 Radeon RX 480 1342 MHz 2000 MHz 8 GB GDDR5 6242 5845
Graphics Card Clock Speed Memory Clock VRAM Firestrike Extreme Score (Graphics) Firestrike Extreme Score (Overall) Radeon RX 570 1325 MHz 1750 MHz 8 GB GDDR5 5719 5419 Radeon RX 570 1310 MHz 1750 MHz 4 GB GDDR5 5694 5394 Radeon RX 470 1206 MHz 2000 MHz 8 GB GDDR5 5443 5173 Radeon RX 470 1242 MHz 1750 MHz 4 GB GDDR5 5467 5191
Graphics Card Clock Speed Memory Clock VRAM Firestrike Extreme Score (Graphics) Firestrike Extreme Score (Overall) Radeon RX 550 1190 MHz 1750 MHz 2 GB GDDR5 1849 1832 Radeon RX 460 1216 MHz 1750 MHz 2 GB GDDR5 2285 2267 Radeon RX 460 1250 MHz 1750 MHz 4 GB GDDR5 2852 2760
The cards are expected to get released somewhere this month.
Source: wccftech
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If all good things must come to an end Why is marriage supposed to last forever?
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16" x 24" GripMat
You will get to choose any art UNLOCKED at end of campaign.
Ideal for small tile games, small tactical miniature games, or for RPG small scenery displays. Carcassonne fits this mat perfectly. International Backer? look at Shipping section for what you need to add to your pledge.
Less | {
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In the Netherlands, approximately 7,000 accidents involving household chemicals occur each year. In most cases, the victims are children under the age of 5. By showing a kitchen cabinet through the eyes of a child, we allowed parents to see the potential danger of their everyday household products. The lenticular technique enabled the viewer to switch between a real world view and that of a child.
The Consumer Safety Institute strives to continually increase the safety of all citizens, young and old, by reducing accident-related injuries. The strength of the organisation lies in its ability to educate people in both accident-related information and accident prevention. In doing so, they consider more than just figures; behaviour, the surrounding environment and technology are also taken into account. This combined knowledge is used to create extremely effective campaigns. | {
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Hon. Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne met with Windsor community leaders Thursday to discuss the Gordie Howe Bridge project. One surprise announcement was the plan to not charge tolls for cyclists.
"Our intention is there will be no tolls for biking," said Champagne.
Bike lanes were announced March 2017, and the biking community in Windsor was thrilled at the potential boost to tourism.
"Free tolling is great," said Bike Windsor-Essex executive director Lori Newton. "[Cyclists] are not wearing out the infrastructure. Rewarding people for active transportation is a great step for the government."
Lori Newton, executive director at Bike Windsor-Essex called no tolls a reward for cyclists. (Katerina Georgieva/CBC)
Newton said the bike lanes on the bridge will allow people to explore the Great Lakes "in a whole new way."
"Today was really interesting to have these stakeholders together, to talk about these aspects," said Newton, adding that exploring all the facets of the bridge together was a unique experience.
The community leader meeting was a success, said Champagne. He meets Thursday afternoon with Windsor business leaders.
"This morning was a great meeting with the community," said Champagne. "We want a bridge that's going to be representative of the community."
According to Champagne, the bridge is one of the top five infrastructure projects in Canada.
"We have all come out of here very excited," said Champagne. "Lets build it."
No timelines have been established yet for getting the bridge up, although "steady progress" has been made, he said. Champagne meets with the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority board Thursday night and will relay community questions to the board. | {
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One of the early startups in the app discovery space, Homescreen.me, is relaunching its service that lets you browse which apps others have installed on their iPhone, and now, Apple Watch, too.
Despite valiant efforts at creating social networks around apps and app recommendations, one of the best ways to discover those you’ll really like is by word-of-mouth — a friend tells you about an app they’re really enjoying and sells you on why you should use it, too. But word-of-mouth doesn’t necessarily scale.
In years past, a number of startups tried to work around that problem by launching services that allowed users to browse the iPhone home screens of others, in order to get ideas about popular apps, as well as find undiscovered gems.
Interest in these sites has faded over time. Though, initially, it’s fun to share your own home screen and check out those from others, users haven’t been motivated to return to the sites and keep updating their screens after they install new apps and things change.
Homescreen.me hopes to address that problem with its new site, built from the ground up.
Not to be confused with the betaworks’ project Homescreen.is, which came later, the Homescreen.me website has been around since 2010. It was originally a side project created by Preshit Deorukhkar while he was working on other efforts, including Smoking Apples and Beautiful Pixels.
His new website is still largely focused on app discovery — something that has become even more of a challenge over the years as the App Store has filled up with applications. There are more than 2 million apps on Apple’s iTunes App Store, and the company just announced a massive revamp of the marketplace, largely to address the problem of developers not being able to find users for their applications.
Homescreen.me, meanwhile, is returning to the more social approach of solving app discovery.
The site allows you to share your iPhone home screen, but also your other preferences, as well, including device choice, wallpaper and even how you have your Apple Watch set up.
As before, it’s fun to browse other home screens and share your own, but more importantly, Deorukhkar says the site will now have a proper roadmap with a number of features still to come. These will be focused on helping to grow its user base and keep people coming back to share their screens and browse those shared by others.
Today, the site lets you share your iPhone and Apple Watch screen, but in the future it will also introduce iPad support.
In addition, users will be able to embed their home screens on their own website — something that could prompt them to keep them current.
However, a few of the more anticipated features could potentially turn the service into something you’ll want to revisit, after the initial buzz wears off.
The site will introduce a Twitter-like Follower/Following model, so you can be updated by way of email notification when one of your favorite users uploads a new screen. You’ll also be able to track the history of how users’ screens have changed over time. (That should be fun not only for app tracking, but also seeing how iOS itself has evolved.)
Unfortunately, one of Homescreen.me’s bigger plans — a native iPhone application — got shot down.
With iOS 9, Apple stopped allowing developers to scrape and track the apps users have installed on their devices, which it felt violated user privacy. (Twitter had notoriously taken advantage of this tracking capability in order to target ads.)
But Apple attributed Homescreen.me’s App Store rejection to its use of a home screen springboard image in its app, claiming it was Apple’s IP and against brand guidelines. That’s why the startup eventually returned to the web, following the iOS app beta.
Now Homescreen.me, in conjunction with NFN Labs, has a full team dedicated to its development, and will be a main project for the group going forward. The new site will be ad-supported, as before. You can sign up to try it now, but the official debut isn’t happening until tomorrow morning. | {
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Today we’re going to create a super cool pattern based video synthesizer, using one of Max MSP’s native toolsets called Vizzie. Vizzie makes video creation and manipulation really simple and I think you’ll see what I mean by the end of this tutorial.
So lets start by opening a new patcher file and looking at the left hand side of our screen. In the toolbar you’ll see a little V inside a circle. This is Vizzie, go ahead and click it and a menu will open.
All the components available in the Vizzie package are listed in this menu. For our purposes what we need to do is make sure all is selected and anytime we want to create a new component we’re going to search for it by using the filter field. To get a visual up and running quickly, using the Vizzie filter, lets create:
1 OSCIL8R
1 PATTERNIZR
1 VIEWR
Next to connect it all:
Connect the output of your OSCIL8R to the 7th and 8th inputs of your PATTERNIZR
Connect the output of your PATTERNIZR to the input of your VIEWR
You should see something like this:
Your pattern should be oscillating and moving, pretty neat, but where’s the colour? Create a 2TONER and a KALEIDR and lets add it to our synth.
Connect the output of your PATTERNIZR to the input of your 2TONER
Pick two colours you like for your 2TONER
Connect the output of your 2TONER to the input of your KALEIDR
Connect the output of your KALEIDR to the input of your VIEWR
Lock your patcher, CMD+E, and set your KALEIDR mode to scale, then unlock
If nothing blew up you should have something similar to the image below.
Now Vizzie is rather processor intensive on my machine so I won’t take this too much further, but just to push this puppy past 11 lets select everything accept our VIEWR, then copy and paste it.
Create a XFADR and connect the outputs of both KALEIDRs to the inputs of the XFADR
Create a BRCOSR and connect the output of the XFADR to the input of the BRCOSR
Connect the output of your BRCOSR to the input of your VIEWR
Lock your patch, CMD+E, and tweak the second set of modules to something you think is cool, unlock your patch
You should have something like this:
The last thing you will likely want to do is record your video. To do that what we are going to do is:
Create a RECORDR
Connect the output of the XFADR to the input of the RECORDR
Lock your patch, CMD+E, set the RECORDR codec to h264
Click the Choose a directory button on the RECORDR and choose where to save your movie
Click record and tweak your patch, when you’re done, click record again to stop
Once your done you’ll have your own video synth clip.
Your browser does not support the video tag.
For more video synth tutorials check out Create a Video Synthesizer with VSynth & Max MSP. | {
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CRISPR has been a hot topic lately, and it's not hard to see why: It's the kind of genetic editing science fiction has predicted for years at an incredibly low cost. But to date, it hasn't been used on human embryos. It seems that's set to change, though, the Francis Crick Institute has won approval from the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority in Britain to edit embryonic genes for research purposes, according to Scientific American.
The team will fertilize ovum, then use CRISPR–Cas9 to make genetic changes to see how it affects cell development before destroying the embryos seven days later. One of the goals of the research is to find ways to treat infertility. They will initially run experiments involving altering the stem cell gene OCT4, responsible for replicating cells exactly. If OCT4 malfunctions it can cause a series of mutations that can auto-terminate a pregnancy or lead to medical problems.
There are still some regulatory hurdles before the research can begin. For instance, a local research ethics board needs to approve the research. But with this tentative step taken, we are one closer to making genetic alterations in humans a reality.
Source: Scientific American
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io | {
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Gaza Gags Civil Liberties
GAZA CITY, Feb 12 2013 (IPS) - Gaza is becoming increasingly radicalised as Hamas continues its crackdown on civil liberties, press freedom and the rights of women. In the last few weeks a number of journalists have been arrested and accused of being involved in “suspicious activities”, several detainees shot dead by police during arrest attempts, and female students asked to abide by a strict Islamic dress code.
“Hamas is on a gradual track of the Islamisation of Gazan society, which goes against their early promises,” Dr Samir Awad from Birzeit University near Ramallah tells IPS. “Most people in Gaza, even the most conservative, oppose this. Gazans are already very conservative and they don’t need Hamas dictating their religion to them.”
Women have borne the brunt of the crackdown. Gaza’s Al Aqsa University has announced that female students will be required to wear full traditional Muslim garb, from head to toe.
Some female students have expressed outrage, claiming that the new demands are in violation of their public freedom. They say that already female students are modestly dressed but that some prefer wearing pants and a long overcoat rather than a burka, abaya or hijab.
In the past, Hamas has banned women from riding on the backs of motorbikes, from smoking water pipes, and men from working in female hair salons – saying such practices were immodest. Not all bans, however, have been imposed uniformly.
“Hamas has also banned mixed parties and mixed activities as well as enforcing other restrictions on women but not on men. Gaza’s entire seashore has practically been confiscated by Hamas as if it is their private property and they decide who can access the area and when,” Awad tells IPS.
The dress code decision has also further undermined the latest unity efforts between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority (PA)-affiliated Fatah movement.
PA Minister for Higher Education Ali Jarbawi stresses that Hamas’s decision is illegal and cannot be implemented. He wrote an official letter to Al Aqsa’s president stating the illegality of the move which he said also violated Palestinian government decisions.
Dr. Faiq al-Naouk, advisor for managerial affairs at Al-Aqsa University responded saying that the controversial decision would be implemented only gradually as an act of “goodwill” before it becomes mandatory.
“Hamas’s increasing radicalisation is one of the sticking points for Fatah and Hamas being able to form a unity government,” says Awad.
Hamas has cracked down on other civil liberties too in the past few weeks. ‘New Star’, the annual Palestinian version of ‘American Idol’, was recently banned by the Islamist group on the grounds that it was “indecent” and violated conservative interpretations of Islam.
Producer Alaa Al Abed lashed out at the decision, of which he was only informed at the last moment, saying the ban prevented Gaza’s 12 contestants from competing in the second round of the competition.
“This is more serious than Hamas just killing fun in Gaza – they are limiting the freedoms of the people, according to their whims,” al-Abed says.
Teenage girls and women can only rarely be seen singing in public, but men are encouraged to sing, without musical instruments, about the glory of Islam and fighting Israel.
Journalists are also facing censure. Hamas has carried out a wave of arrests of Palestinian journalists in the coastal territory, accusing them of being involved in “suspicious activities”. Palestinian human rights groups say internal security services in the Gaza Strip have stepped up harassment of journalists in the Gaza Strip.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) distributed a list of media workers it said had been arrested, and condemned the seemingly coordinated campaign, which Hamas officials deny.
Hamas interior ministry spokesman Islam Shahwan says his ministry guarantees freedom of the press, and says recent detainees were charged with recognisable offenses. He says they had admitted to charges that they “threatened the security of the community.”
The ministry added that “those persons are not journalists at all. Even those who work as journalists use this field as a cover to carry out suspicious acts.” The Palestinian media freedoms watchdog Mada issued a statement claiming abuse of those detained as well as confiscation of property and searches.
Gaza’s Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights has expressed concern over the repeated use of lethal and excessive force by Hamas police following the death of several individuals during attempts to arrest them.
The organisation called on the Hamas authorities to use reasonable force to arrest people suspected of breaking the law, and further called for investigation into the conduct of the police officers involved.
“Law enforcement officials may use force only when strictly necessary and to the extent required for the performance of their duty,” says Mezan. (End) | {
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Police believe the body of a man found behind a Halifax grocery store isn't the result of foul play.
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Around 1 p.m. on Saturday, Halifax Regional Police responded to a call that a body had been found in a wooded area behind the Superstore on Joseph Howe Drive.
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Initially, only emergency health services responded but then police were also called to the scene, They were followed by members of the Nova Scotia medical examiner’s office.
Their investigation found that the body was that of a deceased male and that the death was not suspicious in nature.
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One of the more exotic products we had chance to look over at the recent CE China show out in Shenzhen was this smart bicycle from LeEco. A company with a broad range of connected hardware, this pretty outrageous looking mountain bike isn't something we come across every day. Oh, and it runs Android.
The Le Syvrac isn't your average pedaller by any means. Besides the built in computer that runs software based on Android, it has smart functions like built in lights, a speaker and even a lock. It's also alarmed should someone just pick it up and throw it in the back of a van and with a companion smartphone app you'll be able to track the location of your futuristic cycle. Nestled in the handlebars is a heart rate sensor, too, for more accurate fitness tracking on the move. Verizon is offering the Pixel 4a for just $10/mo on new Unlimited lines The Android portion of this bike though is worth closer attention. It's not just a smartphone that's been glued to the handlebars, instead hosting some tailored software that the cyclist may actually want to use. It's packing a 4-inch display and a fairly hefty 4GB of RAM. What you're going to be doing most is tracking your activity like most good quality bike computers would. Speed, distance travelled and the weather are all pretty handy when you're outside, as is built in maps. The beauty is that it's built in to the handlebars, so if you're a serious cyclist you've got what you want right where you want it already. | {
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As Democratic Presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders scramble to woo the black vote, hip-hop’s politically minded luminaries will inevitably play an increasingly vital role leading into November. But only one of them is actively seeing their message make its way through the ranks of rap’s most influential. (Hint: It ain’t Hillary.)
“You know, before I knew that Killer Mike was involved with Bernie, I liked what I was hearing about him,” NYC legend Nas told The Daily Beast this week in Los Angeles, where he was recording his latest campaign for Hennessy. “I liked the people that were supporting him. And Killer Mike, once I saw that he was with him…”
Sanders, of course, has a very vocal celebrity supporter in Killer Mike, who introduced Bernie at an Atlanta rally last November by comparing him to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“I have to tell you that in my heart of hearts, in my heart of hearts, I fully believe that Sen. Bernie Sanders is the right man to lead this country,” the Run the Jewels MC told the crowd. “I believe it because he, unlike any other candidate, said, ‘I would like to restore the Voting Rights Act.’ He, unlike any other candidate, said, ‘I wish to end this illegal war on drugs.’ Unlike any other candidate in my life, he said that education should be free.”
Months later, the rap game’s biggest Bernie bro is still spreading the gospel to his pals—and Nas says he’s listening.
“We talked on the phone a couple of days ago. He was enlightening me about Bernie and we plan to have more conversations about him,” Nas said. “I actually like what Bernie’s talking about!”
That’s not to say that Nas is ready to fully pledge his support to Sanders as he did with Barack Obama in 2008, when everyone from Jay Z to Diddy to Young Jeezy backed the first black president either publicly or in rhyme.
“Listen, I’m not a man that is into politics,” he said. “Let’s just say I didn’t trust politicians. Maybe I still don’t. So I don’t know how much I could endorse a politician.”
He smiled. “But Killer Mike is very persuasive. So who knows?”
Meanwhile over in the Republican race, Donald Trump’s explosive rallies are drawing the support of white separatists and supremacists. Last week, video of a young African-American woman being shoved and verbally abused while exiting one such Trump event went viral.
“There are race problems that have been going on since the beginning of America, and I don’t see how politicians really can help that,” said Nas, echoing the feeling of disillusionment he expressed last summer in the wake of the Charleston, South Carolina church shooting. “I hope some of them have some of the answers for it.”
“I believe in people,” he continued, choosing his words carefully. “I believe in human beings. I believe that we need to believe in ourselves. Before there’s politics, before all of that stuff, there are people. I believe we have it in us to make ourselves better. It’s up to us.
“We can’t rely on a politician,” he offered. “Hopefully they can help make changes, but we as a people—the racists have to change their ways, and that’s it. I’m hoping for a better tomorrow for everybody.”
Meanwhile, on Twitter…
In his latest humbletweet, Kanye West slyly hinted at sharing a tête-à-tête with President Obama in which he “promised” to work again with Nas.
Yes, we can believe that given the chance, Obama would make such an entreaty of two of rap’s biggest living icons. Because there’s so much work left to do before he leaves office; why not mastermind the next great hip-hop collab while he’s at it? (Did he sign up for a throwaway Tidal account just to stream The Life Of Pablo, too?)
Obama has already been doing his part to bridge the gap. Last year, he hosted Grammy-nominated Kendrick Lamar, the latest guest in a new American tradition of a sitting president inviting rappers to the White House.
“Can you believe that we’re both sitting in this Oval Office?” Obama asked to break the ice with a nervous Kendrick, according to senior advisor Valerie Jarrett.
More recently, the only POTUS with Jay-Z, Esco, and Lil Wayne on his iPod recruited J. Cole to play the March 11 DNC fundraiser concert he’s throwing next week in Austin to coincide with his SXSW keynote speech. Tickets are going for $250-$33K, with the Black Eyed Peas’ will.i.am set as co-host.
Eight years ago, Nas commemorated Obama’s presidency in verse. “I think Obama provides hope, and challenges minds / or all races and colors to erase the hate / and try to love one another,” he said on “Black President,” from his untitled album. “So many political snakes / We in need of a break, I’m thinking I can trust this brotha / but will he keep it way real? / ... When he wins, will he really care still?” | {
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Manila: The eldest daughter of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos has advised Filipinos to "move on" and forget about the past, drawing angry rebukes in a country that suffered under two decades of her father's brutal regime.
Imee Marcos, 62, and the rest of the Marcos family have been enjoying a revival of sorts under the presidency of President Rodrigo Duterte, a self-professed fan of Ferdinand Marcos and his strongman ways.
Imee Marcos wants Filipinos to get over her late father, dictator Ferdinand Marcos' brutal years. Credit:AP
On Tuesday, the 35th anniversary of the assassination of Benigno Aquino jnr, whose killing fuelled the protests that toppled Marcos, the dictator's daughter used an appearance with Duterte to tell Filipinos to move beyond her father's misdeeds.
"The millennials have moved on, and I think people at my age should also move on as well," Marcos said, as quoted by local newspapers. | {
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Leander Paes felt there's still tennis left in him and he can go on to playing till the age of 50 emulating hi... Read More
MUMBAI: It's tennis' off-season and Indian players are making most of it with the Champions Tennis League (CTL) promoted by ace commentator Vijay Amritraj serving as a perfect platform to help them earn quick bucks and get back to full fitness. The CTL will be hosted across six cities from November 17 to 26.
India's doubles great Leander Paes recently replaced an injured David Ferrer of Spain in the Punjab franchise of the CTL and is excited to have an opportunity to rub shoulders against the likes of Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, three-time Davis Cup champion Tommy Robredo, Aussie legend Pat Cash, five-time Grand Slam winner Martina Hingis and former World No. 1 Venus Williams.
"I am quite excited and looking forward to playing in the CTL for Punjab Marshals. Vijay (Amritraj) has done a great job creating a format like this. It has all the Davis Cup players, Fed Cup players and also the international stars. Integrating the international players such as Youzhny, Cash and Martina is something great. I was talking to Tommy Robredo about the CTL. He is already in Delhi and ready to play. Martina is already here, Venus is here too and I am really happy that some of the greatest players in the world will be coming to our shores in the next few weeks to be part this celebration of tennis. It is quite exciting," Paes told reporters during the unveiling of the Premier Tennis League (PTL) trophy on Saturday.
With Indian players like Saketh Myneni, Sanam Singh and Ramkumar Ramanathan competing in both CTL and PTL, Paes was of the view more leagues augured well for tennis.
"I always feel more the merrier. There was a time when there was no IPL and things changed after that. As a player its good to have more opportunities to showcase your skills. More events only help the spread of the sport. But just launching too many leagues doesn't mean good, they need sustainability," the 14-time Grand Slam winner said.
Paes, who won bronze at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, felt there's still tennis left in him and he can go on to playing till the age of 50 emulating his mixed doubles partner Martina Navratilova .
"Navratilova has given me a thought that I can play till 50 and even win a tournament. We won an event together, a few months before her 50th birthday. I have thought of that. Longevity and excellence is part of my daily ambition. Right now I am at the crossroads of life both personally and professionally. I am taking it one day at a time. There are many responsibilities. I am looking at fulfilling them to the best of my abilities and then move forward," the 41-year-old explained.
Know PTL
Five teams - Accurate Aces, Baseline Bombers, Dazzling Deuces, Sharp Smashers, Vibrant Volleyers - will vie for top honours in the Premier Tennis League (PTL).
The PTL will be staged in Pune from November 27 to December 3 with internationally renowned Indians competing.
Top buys: Saketh Myneni (Rs 240,000), Ramkumar Ramanathan (Rs 240,000), Sriram Balaji (Rs 225,000), Sanam Singh (Rs 225,000), Jeevan Neduncheziyan (Rs 225,000).
The tournament will adopt the 'All Play All' format and each match will consist of 13 games. | {
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“If it typically takes 10 days for a product to get from farm to customer, we’ll do it in five,” said Jason Ackerman, the company’s co-founder and chief executive.
Washington’s burgeoning food scene makes it an obvious choice for expansion, Ackerman said. The company, which has no bricks-and-mortar locations, has a warehouse in Prince George’s County and plans to hire about 50 full-time employees. Delivery will begin April 5 for residents in the District, Arlington, McLean and Bethesda.
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“Washington is full of busy working people,” Ackerman said. “They value great quality food, but they also need convenience.”
FreshDirect is hardly the first grocery delivery service in the Washington area. A number of large supermarkets, including Giant and Safeway, offer delivery, as do third-party services like Instacart. Relay Foods, a Charlottesville-based online grocer, created a similar model when it launched in 2008. (Earlier this year the company announced plans to merge with Colorado-based Door to Door Organics.)
“This is undoubtedly the future of grocery shopping,” Relay Foods founder Zach Buckner told The Washington Post in 2013. “Netflix, Apple iTunes and others have wiped the video store category off the map. The same thing is on its way for groceries.”
In the case of FreshDirect, items are delivered from farms straight to the company’s manufacturing facilities, where they are prepared into meals or packed into boxes, and delivered to customers’ homes. Delivery costs $7.99 per order, or $129 for a year.
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The company has 3,000 workers, including roughly 50 who travel from farm to farm.
“When the Alaskan fish are running, we’re there too, making sure we’re buying from the right guys,” Ackerman said. “This isn’t like buying Kellogg’s Cornflakes, where you know you’re going to get the same product no matter what. To get the best fresh food, you have to have a relationship with each fishing boat, farmer and rancher.”
In the late 1990s, Ackerman was a New York City banker who noticed the grocery industry was rapidly changing. Supermarket chains were increasingly trying to compete with Wal-Mart by becoming bigger. Shoppers, meanwhile, wanted the opposite.
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“Consumers wanted fresh food — they wanted to know where things were coming from, and I realized supermarkets were going to be doing a worse and worse job of that,” Ackerman said. “As these chains got bigger and bigger, they were really losing the ability to manage quality.”
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He and Joe Fedele, co-founder of New York’s Fairway Market, knew they wanted to come up with a new model. They toyed with the idea of opening mega-stores — 100,000 square feet or larger — that would carry a variety of fresh produce. But in the end they nixed the idea of bricks-and-mortars locations altogether.
“We found that nothing was more effective and efficient than not having stores,” Ackerman said.
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They raised $70 million to get started. (“The only useful thing about being an investment banker is that you know how to raise money,” Ackerman said.) After that, the duo hired 15 chefs, butchers and bakers, and 10 technologists. Together, they set out to find a new way to source and sell groceries. It took two and a half years of planning before they sold their first product.
It was quick to catch on, Ackerman said. He hired 1,000 employees in the first year. Four years later, the company turned a profit. Today, it has more than $600 million in annual sales.
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Over the years, FreshDirect has begun adapting to customers’ requests. In the beginning, Ackerman says hardly anybody bought antibiotic-free chicken. Today, it makes up 85 percent of the company’s chicken sales. Grass-fed meat become another fast-growing item.
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“During the holidays, we used to sell a bunch of those good ol’ frozen turkeys,” he said. “Now it’s like I can’t even give away a frozen turkey. It’s all free range, grass fed, cage free. Anything but frozen.”
Over the years, the company has also begun expanding its lineup of household products and supplies. It currently carries about 12,000 packaged and fresh products, and plans to add another 7,000 this year.
But Ackerman said, the company’s focus continues to be on its fresh foods.
“I’m not going to win over any customers by carrying Tide,” he said. “I’m going to carry Tide to be convenient. But I’m going to excite people by carrying a great jumbo blueberry or a fantastic ripe cantaloupe that’s better than anything they’ve tasted before.” | {
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Curbed's weekly original tours series takes you inside homes with eye-catching style and big personality—from modern tiny homes to pedigreed midcentury gems and everything in between.
When Ray and Monique bought the top floor corner unit of a renovated factory building in the West Loop it was exactly what they wanted but they knew that down the road they'd eventually expand. Now, thirteen years later, their home has grown alongside their family and features a home movie theater, massive deck and a set of rooms for their two-year-old son, Jackson. This isn't the first time that the couple have opened their space up to the media. Fans of the hit TV series Chicago Fire may recognize the loft from the show's first season.
Who lives here?
Monique, Ray, their two-year-old son, Jackson, and their great dane, Lando.
What are the specs?
Two original units combined give us a total of 4,000 square feet alongside an 1,800-square-foot deck. Four bedrooms, four baths, a home office, playroom for Jackson, and a home theater.
How long have you lived here?
Ray bought the corner unit thirteen years ago though he was originally considering a larger unit on the second floor. While the inspection was taking place downstairs, we decided to kill some time and take a peek at this place as it was also for sale. We immediately fell in love with the deck and the hot tub and pulled out of the first sale to buy this one instead. The owners downstairs were, considerably, a bit peeved at the time but we later became friends.
And you recently combined the original unit with the unit next door?
Since we first moved in, Ray has always said that he would buy the neighboring unit. It finally came up for sale about two years ago right when we were pregnant with Jackson and we jumped on it. It had been a rather dingy rental unit for many, many years so we took it down to the studs and built it back up as a new master suite with rooms for Jackson and a home theater.
So how did you go about combining and renovating the two units?
We tried working with a few architects and designers but never found a great fit. Then, in the middle of it, Jackson was born so Ray decided to step away from his business to finish contracting the renovations himself while also taking care of our newborn son. Construction was completed in 2014 and we still have a few projects to finish, including finally installing the door to our master suite, but it’s been nice to have a year or so of quiet around here after so many major changes in our home.
We heard this building had history?
The building was originally built in 1914 an, was at one point, an undergarment factory before it was eventually converted into condos. When we were renovating, we visited the Chicago History Museum and found lots of old photos of the original factory in the archives. The wall behind our bed features an enlargement of an image taken during a building fire drill, showing the factory employees evacuating via an old fire stair on Sangamon Street. We had a few other historical prints made into acoustic panels in the theater including one image of the building just across the street (now demolished) where Ray's parents first met.
And, from more recent history, why might readers recognize your home?
Our unit was used as Kelly Severide and Leslie Shay's shared apartment during the first season of Chicago Fire. The crew was originally going to use it for just a few scenes but ended up filming here for a whole season. They'd come in for days at a time and put us up, on their tab, elsewhere in the city. We got to meet Dick Wolf and Taylor Kinney and Lady Gaga was even here at our apartment once. It was a great experience, we'd do it again in a heartbeat.
So after everything you’ve done, what’s the favorite room?
The reason we first bought this place was the deck and it is definitely still our favorite space in the house. We obviously don’t have much out there at the moment but in the summer we’re always up there using the grill and hanging out in our hot tub. When we entertain friends and family, everyone ends up on the deck by the end of the night.
The movie theater isn’t the favorite room!?
We also love the theater. It’s probably the most used room in our place. In the winter we hang out in here all day with Jackson and Lando, eating candy and watching movies. It's easy to lose track of time in here. Unfortunately, with the a dog and a two-year-old in the house we also have to repaint it quite regularly. The black paint just can’t keep up with Jackson’s fingers and Lando’s giant tail.
Anything you'd do differently?
We messed up the bathroom, we both agree. The shower and the tub were bigger than the measurements in the architect’s drawings but the plumbing was already done so we just had to work with it. Maybe someday we’ll fix it but we’re not looking for any new projects at the moment. I also need a larger laundry room but really anyone with a two-year-old could use a larger laundry room, right?
·House Calls archives [Curbed Chicago] | {
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Верховна Рада задовольнила подання Генпрокуратури на притягнення до відповідальності депутата від "Волі народу" Олександра Онищенка.
За це проголосували 275 депутатів.
Після цього депутати 265 голосами підтримали подання про затримання Онищенка.
Також депутати, незважаючи на попередні сумніви, підтримали арешт депутата – за це проголосували 263 депутати.
Онищенко був відсутній у залі.
Як відомо, раніше регламентний комітет Верховної Ради дав згоду на притягнення Онищенка до відповідальності, однак вирішив, що затримувати чи арештувати депутата поки "передчасно".
За даними слідства, Онищенко з поплічниками продавали газ держпідприємства "Укргазвидобування" за допомогою кількох своїх компаній через "псевдобіржі", що завдало державі збитків на суму понад 1,613 млрд гривень.
Керівниками злочинного угрупування крім самого депутата вважаються його матір Інесса Кадирова і бізнесмен Валерій Постний.
Сам Онищенко заперечує всі звинувачення на свою адресу.
Олег Шанковський, УП | {
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User Not Syncing to Office 365
Scenario:
User Not Syncing to Office 365.
Are you using AD Connect to synchronize your users in Azure AD? Every time there is a change on a user, AD Connect will synchronize the changes based on the cycle that you have configured. Some times there are errors that you receive and need to fix them in order for the users to be synchronized correctly. In this post we will look only into a specific synchronization issue. When you have multiple domains, sometimes their is a need to change the domain of user from company1.com to company2.com. When there is such a change, some times you may receive the below error:
Unable to update this object in Azure Active Directory, because the attribute [FederatedUser.UserPrincipalName], is not valid. Update the value in your local directory services.
The message can be misleading. It tells you to update the value in your local directory, but actually the specific value has by changed on purpose. The aim is to replicate the change in Azure Active Directory. So lets see what we can do to fix the issue using a small PowerShell script.
Let see in more details
Our script has one parameter only, that is mandatory. The parameter is the user that is affected and the value that can accept is the Logon Name of the user without the domain. The main idea is to get the new information from OnPrem Active Directory. After we will check that the information in Azure Active Directory is different and then fix the issue. The first thing that we will do is to import Active Directory module so our commands will be available. Then we need to define our temporary domain that will be used later to fix our issue.
OnPrem Active Directory Information
We need to collect the new information from OnPrem Active Directory so we will be able to perform the changes. We will find the user and we will keep only DisplayName and UserPrincipalName and save them in two separate variables. After we have the OnPrem information, we will need also the Azure Active Directory information so we will be able to perform a comparison and update the UserPrincipalName.
Connect Azure Active Directory
There are two modules that you can use to connect to Azure Active Directory. One is the MSOnline, which is considered version 1 by Microsoft. The second module, which is considered version 2, is called AzureAD. In this script we are using MSOnline, so you need to make sure that is already installed in you system before you run the script. So the first thing that we will do, in order to be able to get the information from Azure, is to connect to it. We save our cloud admin credentials, using the below that will be appeared on your screen. Those credentials will be used to connect to AzureAD. After we are connected, we will try to find the UserPrincipalName in Azure Active Directory and save it in another variable. As you are able to see below, we keep some string variables so we will be able to use them at a later point.
Perform the checks
Now that we have all variables ready we need to perform a check. We need to check if the old UserPrincipalName and the new one are different. As sometimes you maybe confused on the error, we do not want to perform the change on a user that UserPrincipalName is correct and the issue is something else. So if the two UserPrincipalNames are the same, the script will show a red error informing you that and then will exit the script.
If the two UserPrincipalNames are different the script will proceed to perform the change. Before the change another message will appear and provide you the old and new UserPrincipalNames to ensure and accept with the change. To accept the change, you need to answer “y” or “n”. It accepts only those two so you enter anything else it will keep asking you to enter “y” or “n” by showing the below message.
Perform the change
If the administrator will answer “n” the script will exit. If the administrator is “y” then the script will set the UserPrincipalName of the user in Azure Active Directory to a temporary one. The temporary one is the one that you have set before, at the beginning of the script. After the UserPrincipalName will be changed succefully to the temporary one, a number will be appreared on the screen. This means that the changed was succesful. The the script will perform another change from the temporary UserPrincipalName to the new one. The new one is the same with OnPrem Active Directory. When the change has been completed, a green message will appear on the screen informing the administrator and the script will exit.
You can download the script here or copy it from below.
Hope you like it. If you have any questions or anything else please let me know in the comments below.
Related Links:
Solution / Script:
<# .SYNOPSIS Name: Set-CorrectUPN.ps1 The purpose of this script is to fix the synchronization error, coming from Azure AD for incorrect UserPrincipalName .DESCRIPTION This is a simple script to fix the error received from Azure AD that a user is not able to be synchronized due to incorrect UserPrincipalName after ther domain of the user has been changed in OnPrem Active Directory. .RELATED LINKS Home .PARAMETER User This is the only parameter that is needed to provide the name of the user that you want to fix the synchronization error. The parameter is mandatory. .NOTES Version: 1.1 Update 07-03-2018 - Updated method of get the information from Azure AD with faster one. Release Date: 06-03-2018 Author: Stephanos Constantinou .EXAMPLE Run the Set-CorrectUPN script to perform the change Set-CorrectUPN -User User1 #> Param( [Parameter(Mandatory=$true)][string]$User ) Import-Module ActiveDirectory $TempDomain = "@company.onmicrosoft.com" $UserInfo = Get-ADUser $User -Properties DisplayName,UserPrincipalName $DisplayName = $UserInfo.DisplayName $NewUPN = $UserInfo.UserPrincipalName $LiveCred = $host.ui.PromptForCredential("Need Credentials", "Provide Cloud Admin Username and Password.","","") Connect-MsolService -Credential $LiveCred $OldUPN = (Get-MsolUser -SearchString "$User").UserPrincipalName $TempUPN = $User + $TempDomain $Info = @" Do you want to change UserPrincipalName for $DisplayName ? Old UPN: $OldUPN New UPN: $NewUPN "@ $UPNCheck = @" WARNING: Old UPN and New UPN are the same. There is no need to run the script. Exiting script... "@ $WrongAnswer = @" You have entered a wrong answer. Please enter y [YES] or n [NO] "@ $Confirmation = @" UserPrincipalName of $DisplayName has been changed from $OldUPN to $NewUPN "@ If ($OldUPN -eq $NewUPN){ Write-Host $UPNCheck -ForegroundColor Red Break} else{ Write-Host $Info do{ $Answer = Read-Host "Do you want to continue with the change: " If (($Answer -eq "n") -or ($Answer -eq "y")){ $userinput = "correct"} else{ $userinput = "wrong" Write-Host $WrongAnswer} } while ($userinput -eq "wrong") if ($Answer -eq "y"){ Set-MsolUserPrincipalName -UserPrincipalName $OldUPN -NewUserPrincipalName $TempUPN Set-MsolUserPrincipalName -UserPrincipalName $TempUPN -NewUserPrincipalName $NewUPN Write-Host -ForegroundColor Green}} | {
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Bill Marrazzo made about $842,000 in total compensation, and some of his employees are furious.
Times are good for the head of Philly’s public media station.
Recently released tax documents show Bill Marrazzo, the president of WHYY, received an increase in compensation of nearly 20 percent, taking his total to the high six figures. His employees, many of whom haven’t seen a substantial raise in years, are questioning whether his gain is a loss for the station.
Marrazzo’s compensation for fiscal year 2016 was $842,832, well over the $703,000 he took home in 2015.
“How much Bill makes is a slap in the face,” one WHYY staffer told Billy Penn. “Coming off of a pledge drive, where we tell our listeners that we need their money to survive, and then to see in the 990 how much goes to executive compensation – it doesn’t feel like it aligns with our mission.”
The salary is publicly available via the station’s Form 990, a tax document required for nonprofits. The $842,000 puts Marrazzo well ahead of his peers in other major cities, save for New York. At New York’s NPR affiliate, WNYC, president Laura Walker pulled in $888,110 for the same fiscal year.
But there’s a major difference: WNYC’s revenue totaled $80 million. WHYY’s totaled $34 million. Proportionally, Marrazzo’s salary is taking up more than twice as much of the budget as Walker’s. At WGBH, the Boston NPR affiliate, president Jonathan Abbott’s compensation totaled $624,930. His payment represented an even smaller slice of the station’s $161 million in revenue. WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR affiliate, didn’t yet have its FY 2016 data available but in 2015 paid its president $250,060 in total compensation. WBEZ’s revenue, at $27.6 million, is comparable to WHYY’s.
It’s not the first time Marazzo’s salary has drawn scrutiny. In 2007, Philadelphia magazine published a lengthy examination of a salary described as excessive — when it was $430,786, almost half of his total compensation last year. (Adjusted solely for inflation, as the raises of most WHYY staff generally are for cost-of-living increase, that salary would be $496,000 in 2016.)
A few years ago, Marazzo justified his hefty pay package thusly in a conversation with the Inquirer‘s Jane Von Bergen:
“Contentment for me has never come by the size of my paycheck, but by the knowledge that I’ve given no less than what I take out,” he said. “It’s dangerous to measure somebody on the basis of their W2, no matter how big or no matter how small. It’s less about what they make; it’s more about how they live, and what they do with it.”
His jump in payment outpaces other station executives, rank-and-file employees and top talents like Terry Gross and Marty Moss-Coane.
Compensation for Marazzo included his base salary, bonuses and $85,668 in deferred retirement payments he had already collected. The previous fiscal year, Marrazzo’s total compensation equaled $703,718 and included $97,296 in deferred retirement payments.
Marrazzo, whose automatic email reply indicated he was on vacation, did not respond to an interview request. Art Ellis, the station’s vice president of communications and member relations, responded on his behalf, emailing that Marrazzo did not request a raise.
He noted that Marrazzo’s total compensation included two years of bonuses and the deferred retirement payments and that his base salary of $524,769 was six percent higher than the base of the previous fiscal year.
“The raise Bill received was a consequence of meeting some and exceeding most stretch goals established by the WHYY board prior to the beginning of the performance period,” Ellis said.
Membership and revenues have increased in recent years at WHYY, and Ellis said 71 percent of its budget is invested in production. In 2003, the number was at 52 percent. Ellis said the bonuses were for $101,000 and $85,000 and based on performance.
Board chairman Fred Sutherland could not be reached for comment. Vice chairman John F. Salveson did not respond to an interview request.
The 20 percent increase in compensation for Marrazzo doesn’t compare to fellow employees of WHYY. Fellow executive Kyra McGrath’s compensation went up about 10 percent from fiscal year 2015 to 2016. Gross, the host of “Fresh Air” and by far WHYY’s biggest star, went from about $320,000 to $331,000.
The staff in general tends to be eligible for maximum 3 percent annual raises. Those raises must be determined by individual managers and are essentially considered standard, cost-of-living raises.
The increase of Marrazzo’s compensation has been a topic among employees of the station, though most have been unwilling to speak openly about it out of fear of reprisal.
Another WHYY staffer said salaries for reporters and editors remain below those of public media competitors, to the extent the station is having trouble attracting good editors. The staffer agreed the timing of the release of Marrazzo’s compensation was particularly bad.
“Publishing this 990 after a big summer pledge drive in which Marrazzo cried victim to listeners about how Trump was going to cut public media funding — it won’t happen — as a way to guilt people into opening their wallets makes his disingenuous pitch even more manipulative and self-serving,” the staffer said. “Let’s not kid ourselves. Marrazzo cares about maintaining his lifestyle and powerful rich-guy image and far, far less about public media or journalism.” | {
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Climate change is already producing longer and more frequent droughts in areas like northwestern Kenya
The threat of climate change has overtaken the prospect of nuclear war as the most pressing concern facing humanity, a former Colombian president and Nobel peace laureate warned Monday.
"After World War II, the world was facing a threat from a nuclear war," Juan Manuel Santos, a staunch environmentalist, told the World Green Economy Summit in Dubai.
"The threat from a nuclear war remains... but we have something worse, which is a certainty. That is climate change," he said.
"If we don't act, we will perish. We must act for survival."
Santos, who won the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to bring the country's more than 50-year-long civil war to an end, also won plaudits for his green policies while in office.
Experts at the two-day conference called for more aggressive policies to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of preventing global average temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.
They called for more action to reduce carbon emissions and move faster towards renewable energy and taxes on carbon emissions.
"Some countries still think that moving toward green economy is a luxury. Actually, it has become a question of to be or not to be," said Mohamed Kafafy, president of the World Green Energy Council which organised the conference along with Dubai's government.
Agriculture is one of the top sources of greenhouse gas emissions
Kafafy said that funds collected from carbon taxes should be used to promote green economic initiatives and renewables.
The International Monetary Fund this month urged the world's biggest carbon polluting nations to agree to tax emissions at $75 per ton in the next decade to keep climate change at safe levels.
Greenhouse gases are released as by-products in sectors ranging from energy to manufacturing, shipping and agriculture.
Taxes on such emissions provide an incentive to cut pollution. The IMF said such taxes are the most efficient way to tackle global warming.
Assistant United Nations Secretary-General for Climate Change Ovais Sarmad warned that the world is facing an "existential crisis".
"We have all the agreements, the policies and the tools. Now, we need to enhance the implementation," he said.
© 2019 AFP | {
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As the news on climate change takes a sharp turn for the worse, questions are being asked about the global impact. In May, scientists announced that a large portion of Antarctica had begun to collapse. It is the largest and most catastrophic Antarctic cleaving to date – taken as a sign that extreme changes to the global environment are imminent and inevitable. The nation facing the greatest calamity is literally half a world away from western Antarctica: Bangladesh.
Predictions of looming environmental catastrophe have lingered over Bangladesh for decades. Many predictions of the small, densely populated, impoverished nation’s fate have involved Malthus’ famous theory, which posits that exponential population growth will outstrip linear increases in crop yields, provoking mass hunger and social breakdown. So far, Bangladesh has proven neo-Malthusian doomsayers wrong. Poverty and malnutrition are in decline, and the nation of 160 million is self-sufficient in the production of rice and wheat, its staple foods.
Climate change predictions are a different matter entirely. The risk is not overpopulation, but rather myriad adverse changes induced by rising temperatures and global changes. The combined risk of rising sea levels, droughts, and chaotic storms lands the country at number one on the global Climate Change Vulnerability Index. The impact may soon provoke the violent social breakdown long feared.
The country’s geography makes environmental vulnerability inescapable. Bangladesh is a flat country surrounded on three sides by India and on the fourth by the Bay of Bengal. It’s a delta, a massive drain for three mighty rivers that flow through the Indian subcontinent (the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna), for the Himalayan glacial melt, and for the area’s annual monsoon rains. Indeed, annual flooding helps to restore the nutrient-rich soil on which the country’s agricultural self-sufficiency depends. But the waterlogged land loses 18-75 percent of its area to temporary flooding each year – which kills some 5,000 Bangladeshis annually, causes homelessness for many more, and disrupts the lives of the rural-dwelling majority. Rising waters will mean losing habitable land.
And the water will rise. The announcement of Antarctic continental fracturing included a prediction of a three-meter sea level rise within the next century. Just one meter of sea level rise – a rise now forecast as inevitable within current lifetimes – will displace millions of Bangladeshis from their land. It would be sufficient to reduce Bangladesh’s land mass by 17.5 percent, according to a 2007 academic paper by Golam Mahabub Sarwar and Manunul H. Khan.
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The loss of the Sundarbans will remove a natural barrier to storm surges – just as the world begins to experience increases in chaotic weather. Already the most cyclone-vulnerable country in the world, Bangladesh faces a near-certainty of catastrophic storms. Sea level rise will also force seawater inland, contaminating Bangladesh’s water table and leaving some coastal areas without potable water. Changes in weather are also likely to exacerbate droughts in the northeast. Overall, climate change is set to test communal resilience and force Bangladesh’s people off a significant portion of rural land and into cities.
But while researchers are certain that environmental migration will occur, few can quantify the human tide. Sarwar and Khan have suggested, in a number echoed elsewhere, that 40 million Bangladeshis will be displaced by one meter of sea level rise in the coming decades.
That is a quarter of the current Bangladeshi population, and it is likely that large-scale migration is already beginning. Environmental migrants are not often recognized as such in Bangladesh, but researcher Thomas Homer-Dixon suggests this is common. “The term environmental refugee is often misleading [because] it suggests that people will move out of their homelands in vast and sudden waves.” This ignores the many whose migration is impacted by a complex combination of environment and economics, and those environmental migrants who move due to slow, permanent changes such as saline intrusion.
Nonetheless, migration is unmistakable. Dhaka, the country’s capital, has experienced a population explosion. Migrants arrive from other areas of Bangladesh at a rate of 400,000 per year – one of the fastest growth rates of any city in Asia. The capital has swollen from four million to fifteen million people within a few short years. Already ranked the second least livable city in the world for its severe overcrowding, Dhaka will hold an additional 25 million people by 2050. Migrants far outstrip the city’s ability to accommodate them.
Their impoverishment can be intractable, too. Having lost the opportunity to use their agricultural skills, new arrivals often fill the area’s garment factories and tanneries, where work conditions can be deadly.
The result is a kind of pressure cooker, primed for intensive upheaval. Thomas Homer-Dixon’s book Environment, Scarcity, and Violence describes the relationship between climate and conflict: a pattern of agricultural loss that drives migration and economic marginalization – followed by an explosion of violence. Amidst resource challenges, it would be unsurprising if Bangladesh’s fault lines undergo dangerous shifts.
In rural areas, where environmental tensions can be most clearly felt, they arguably already are. For example, Bangladeshi Hindus were the targets of a two-month long spate of attacks in December 2013 to February 2014. The proximate causes were Islamic fundamentalists’ anger over a contested election and war crimes tribunal; the violence was widely decried by moderate Muslims. But the violence is part of a long-running persecution of Hindus, and victims noted that some attackers appeared mostly interested in grabbing Hindu land and property. While political losses were the spark, poverty and resource scarcity were the dry tinder for the attacks.
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The attacks looked much like the circumstances that preceded the Rwandan genocide of 1994 – a conflict caused in part by resource scarcity, per scientist Jared Diamond’s seminal book Collapse. Ongoing climate change threatens to increase the potential for Muslim attacks on Hindus inside Bangladesh. As Nazmul Hussain, a Bangladesh Army staff officer deployed with a peacekeeping force to Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, says, “I can see a similarity about potential threats in Bangladesh like Rwanda…. there is an ominous sign of potential outbursts anytime.”
If the threat is from Muslims to Hindus inside the country, though, the dynamic is reversed across the border. To speak of emigration to India is anathema to Bangladeshi tastes, despite ample evidence of long-standing Bengali Muslim migration into India’s West Bengali, Tripura and Assam states, motivated by a quest for arable farmland. Mass immigration sparked interethnic conflict in Assam in the early 1980s, and in 1983, Assamese militants massacred several thousand Bengalis in a single day. While that struggle narrowly predates a quarter-century of climate change warnings, more bloodshed has occurred as recently as 2012. The cross-border tension over migration has never truly abated.
In fact, pressures are increasing. Although Khatun insists that “no data are available” of whether climate change will induce Bangladeshis to move abroad, it’s logical that some of the displaced millions will cross borders. Meanwhile, India’s newly elected prime minister, Narendra Modi, has publicly voiced his acceptance of migrants from Bangladesh – but only if they are Hindu. An outcry for inclusion from India’s leftist politicians notwithstanding, the stipulation reflects long-standing Indian discrimination against Muslims. It may, in the end, cause international difficulties impacting millions.
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While problems loom, they remain open to mitigation. Modi’s administration is too new for clear answers on international diplomacy, and Bangladesh’s governance is often poorly managed (as Nazmul Hussain puts it: “Corruption is rampant, so this is an ominous sign.”)
Nonetheless, the Bangladeshi government created a climate change action strategy in 2009. While it does not directly refer to violence, it could reduce the overall likelihood of conflicts by addressing climate change-induced instability in country.
Judging by current behavior, though, human concerns are taking a back seat to myopic preoccupations with money. The country hasn’t received promised financial support from wealthy nations to enact the plan. But at the edge of the country’s delicate delta, foreigners are funding a new, ultra-polluting coal plant.
M. Sophia Newman, MPH, was a 2012-2013 Fulbright grantee to Bangladesh who lives in Dhaka and works as a freelance writer. | {
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Hatch Green Chile and Tomato Egg Casserole! A healthy gluten free casserole with the fresh taste of hatch green chiles and tomatoes make for a super easy and quick dinner recipe or even breakfast! Great for vegetarians or just add meat for those hungry carnivores.
UPDATE- Looking for low carb version of green chile egg casserole?
Feel free to check out that grain free roasted green chile casserole here!
Helllllllo! Happy Monday! There are two things that are special about this week. And when I say special, I mean eventful for us Texas/American folk.
First, it’s Hatch Green Chile Season. This means Hatch Green Chile Festivals take place and all over New Mexico and even make it to the stores in Texas! People go bonkers over Hatch Green Chiles and roast them outside the store every day. You think I’m joking, but I’m not. People like their Hatch Green Chiles… A LOT. Just check out the chile fest site for proof!
And secondly, it’s the first week back to school for most districts in Texas! Yay school season! Haha, I know what you are thinking. “Why does that mean anything to you? You don’t have kids Lindsay.”
Yes, yes, I know we are kidless. But, hear me out. We may not have kids but I do make a lot of kid friendly recipes for my husband’s athletes and for my nieces and nephews. They are always looking for ways to make more family friendly gluten free meals . Especially ones that are quick and full of rich nutrients to fuel them for their activities/sports!
I like to help make their busy life as a mom/parent easier. It’s nice to be the “sherpa” wife for them too, ya know? Besides, it’s always good to prep for when we have kids. … um, when we do, not now. But hopefully some day.
That being said, today’s recipe is combining New Mexico/Texas’ love for this Hatch Green Chile season with an EASY gluten free recipes that can be made in 40 minutes. And both kid/adult approved, duh. In fact, I used leftovers in this dish. Shhhhh, don’t tell Martha or Betty Crocker!
So let’s talk about this dish and what’s in it. Well, besides Hatch Green Chiles of course.
There are layers! First, I used leftover gluten free bread crust. You know when you cut off the crusts to sandwiches? Yes, that kind. Well, now you don’t need to toss them. KEEP THEM and use them in this dish.
Then I topped the crusts with slices of hatch green chile, cilantro, provolone, tomato, and an egg mixture. Here is what it looks like before cilantro is added and the egg batter is poured on top. And don’t worry , for those who dislike cilantro, you can use basil instead. Easy peasy!
Then you just add your beaten egg batter and bake it up. The edges are nice and crispy due to the crusts. I may be bias, but I think this dish has all the right textures.
Okay, enough crust talk. Let me get the whole recipe here.
clock clock icon cutlery cutlery icon flag flag icon folder folder icon instagram instagram icon pinterest pinterest icon print print icon squares squares icon Hatch Green Chile and Tomato Casserole {Gluten Free, Vegetarian} ★★★★ 3.6 from 75 reviews Author: Lindsay Cotter
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 35 - 45 min
Total Time: 39 minute
Yield: 6 1 x Print Recipe Pin Recipe Description Easy gluten free Hatch Green Chile and Tomato Casserole. Scale 1x 2x 3x Ingredients Hatch Green Chile and Tomato Casserole 4 – 5 large pieces of gluten free bread crusts or about 2 cups cubed (I used whole grain glu ten free)
– large pieces of gluten free bread crusts or about 2 cups cubed (I used whole grain glu free) 2 – 3 whole medium hatch green chiles diced (roasted ) or 1.5 cups diced green chiles.
– whole medium hatch green chiles diced (roasted ) or 1.5 cups diced green chiles. 2 medium tomatoes ,sliced thin
medium tomatoes ,sliced thin 1 – 2 tbsp olive oil
– tbsp olive oil 6 – 8 large eggs (the more you use the thicker the casserole)
– large eggs (the more you use the thicker the casserole) 1.5 cup almond milk (or milk of choice)
almond milk (or milk of choice) 1 tsp favorite seasoning mix (I used adobe mix which includes garlic, onion, oregano, sea salt, chili pepper, and black pepper)
favorite seasoning mix (I used adobe mix which includes garlic, onion, oregano, sea salt, chili pepper, and black pepper) 1 tbsp chopped cilantro (or basil works too)
chopped cilantro (or basil works too) 2 oz sliced cheese (mozzarella, provolone, or cheddar cheese work well. Non dairy cheese may be substituted)
sliced cheese (mozzarella, provolone, or cheddar cheese work well. Non dairy cheese may be substituted) optional — Feel free to add in sausage or chicken for more protein
salt/pepper to taste Instructions Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a large casserole dish with a little cooking oil. Next lay out your crusts on the bottom. Then layer the diced green chiles, tomatoes, cheese, and 1/2 tbsp cilantro over the crusts. Drizzle 1-2 tbsp olive oil evenly over the layers. in another bowl, combine your eggs, milk, and seasoning mix. Additional salt/pepper if desired. Whisk or beat until the mixture looks uniform. Pour batter over the casserole dish. Add any additional veggies or cheese you’d like on top. Place in oven and bake for 35-45 minutes. (check at 30 minutes for doneness) Remove and garnish with the rest of your cilantro. For the lower carb version for this Green Chile Egg casserole, click here. Notes it’s best to use hearty bread crusts so that it gives it more a crunch on the edges. Be sure to layer the crusts evenly on the bottom. For more authentic hatch green chile taste, use pre roasted green chile or simply roast your own before adding to the casserole! Nutrition depends on the bread you use and any extras. Estimate Per Serving : 220-250 Calories 12-14 grams fat. 15-18 carbs. 7 grams sugar. 2 grams fiber. 13-14 grams protein 14% Iron 200% Vitamin C Category: breakfast
Method: baking
Cuisine: mexican american Keywords: casserole, hatch green chile, eggs, gluten free, vegetarian
Well, I hope you all get to enjoy some Hatch green chiles soon.
Notes –> Hatch Green Chiles are grown in New Mexico, but outsourced to many other states. Which is why us TExas can enjoy them!
Are Hatch green chiles as popular where you are as they are in Texas?
Anyone else have kids back to school this week? Please take first day outfit pics and share them with me. I LOVE THOSE! –> Corny Cotter confession.
Happy meatless Monday!
Cheers, | {
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BANGKOK — An ultraconservative news agency said Sunday that it has acquired the media conglomerate behind Thailand’s No. 2 English-language newspaper to “rescue” it from insolvency.
A week after becoming the new owner of Nation Multimedia Group, Sontiyan Chuenruetainaidhama, founder of conservative outlets T News and INN News, said it had acquired the company to keep it afloat.
“If it’s the last thing I do in my life, I will rescue The Nation,” Sontiyan said in a statement published Sunday by T News. He did not return multiple calls seeking comment Monday.
Read: Thailand’s Devastating Year For Print Was a Wake-Up Call. Adapt or Die.
T News’ acquisition of Nation Multimedia Group; which consists of two digital TV stations, English-language The Nation newspaper, two Thai papers and a publishing house; caps a three-year effort that was opposed by some of Nation’s editorial team, who circulated a petition last year protesting the buyout.
The takeover was achieved through acquisition of a controlling stock interest by T News, INN News and Spring News, which are all part of News Network Corp. Public Co. Ltd. Sontiyan, who sat on the board of both News Network and Nation, resigned as director of News Network earlier this month.
Nation Multimedia Group (NMG) closed at 0.46 baht Monday on the Stock Exchange of Thailand, where it has been sliding toward its lowest level since 2011. The media conglomerate has been in dire financial straits for years, downsizing its operations and staff to try and stem losses.
T News is ardently ultra-royalist and pro-junta on both the editorial page and its daily coverage. It has also developed a reputation for habitually reproducing news taken from other agencies without regard to copyright, for which it has been forced to apologize.
Sontiyan’s statement said nothing about changes to Nation’s editorial direction, but it was printed side-by-side with a biography touting his leadership role, alongside Suthep Thaugsuban, in 2014 street protests seeking to topple the government and suspend democratic rule.
Though The Nation has hewed to the right on the opinion page, which hailed the 2014 coup and ensuing military rule, its daily news coverage is more right-of-center and has taken issue with the controversial lese-majeste law.
The two brothers largely responsible for what The Nation is today – co-founder Suthichai Yoon and Thepchai Yong – won’t be around.
A call seeking comment was terminated by Thepchai, who Nation news has said will depart in April. Suthichai, an energetic and combative force on the opinion page and social media before his retirement was announced Jan. 12, could not be reached for comment.
According to one of Suthichai’s colleagues, the 71-year-old said he was proud of the newspaper’s standards and values at his Jan.12 farewell party.
“I hope after my retirement everyone here will carry on the Nation Way,” he said, according to a report by Kittipong Thavevong.
Which Way Ahead?
Sunida Kitiyakara, who helped cofound Nation Group in 1971 but departed years ago, was skeptical of Sontiyan’s claim to be rescuing what is one of the nation’s largest media conglomerates.
“I read that and laughed so hard. Who does he think he is? How is he going to save The Nation, by plugging the leaks with money?” Sunida said.
She said the new management would be wise not to change the way news is reported.
“If he’s smart, he shouldn’t change the way The Nation does things,” she said. “The Nation has its unique way of reporting, unlike the usual Thai style or the way T News does it.”
A former senior editor at The Nation, whose 2014 departure was said to be over its editorial direction – she says the reasons were personal – expressed concern at the change in leadership.
“The Nation used to have its strengths and used to be reliable. But in recent years, it’s taken too many political sides that raised questions about its quality,” said Nitthinand Yorsaengrat, who now writes a column for Matichon. Both Matichon and Khaosod English are part of the Matichon Group.
Nitthinand said The Nation newsroom was open to different perspectives.
“The Nation also gives its reporters lots of leeway. Even reporters who thought differently could do their work while having fun with it,” Nitthinand said. “But will things still be like that in the Sontiyan era?”
Several staff members at The Nation did not want to comment on the news.
Pratch Rujivanarom, a current Nation reporter, said nothing has changed as yet.
“We haven’t seen any big changes yet,” Pratch said. “Right now it’s still the same set of editorial staff. Next month we might see more changes, company-wise.”
Asked whether he thought its ideological stance would change, Pratch said he had “no idea, it’s up to the new management and their policies.” | {
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A fan simply asked Lagerwey about the rumors regarding the backline - upcoming retirements or free agency.
Laughing, Lagerwey indicated that the “cat’s out of the bag” on Zach Scott. He’s retiring and not part of the 2017 plan. Then he offered this nugget on Chad Marshall.
"Chad signed a new contract this year, so I don't think he's uh... Chad's my neighbor too. He tells me he's going to stay. So as far as I know it's just Zach [retiring]."
Seattle Sounders FC confirmed to Sounder at Heart that Marshall is, in fact, under contract in 2017.
The question came during the post-match session with President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey. He’d wrapped up his prepared remarks and faced about a dozen questions from the crowd of about 100.
The three-time Defender of the Year may no longer be at that level, but he’s still a top tier centerback in this league. It will be his 14th year in MLS and he’ll turn 33 during the 2017 season.
Since joining the Sounders Marshall won a Defensive Player of the Year award (2014), recognition in the Best XI (2014), led the best defense of 2015 and twice earned MLS All Star recognition (‘14, ‘15). | {
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So Ruby in a room full of rich people.
This is just comedy waiting to happen.
Chapter 5: The Dance
Weiss locked herself in her room for the rest of the day. She turned away any and all visitors, including Neptune. Citing seasickness might not have been the best of excuses as it seemed to make him worry even more until she threatened to string him to the rudder.
All she wanted was to be left alone and sulk! Was that so hard to ask for when the ship was bigger than most buildings?!
To be fair, she did have slight seasickness, but the majority of it was just how trapped she felt, literally and metaphorically. What kind of life awaited her after this? Probably the same as it was now, under the oppressive thumb of someone else.
And Ruby…
Her thoughts strayed to the girl more and more. She was so happy, so carefree. Weiss both envied and hated that. The girl might have been poor, but she didn't have to understand the suffocating gilded cage Weiss found herself in.
Dinnertime came all too soon, mostly because Weiss would have rather be anywhere but with pompous guests that thought they knew everything about refinery and culture when they might as well have had ageusia.
Perhaps…
And this was a very big perhaps, Ruby would liven things up?
…
What was she thinking betting on Ruby?!
Here she was bored out of her mind and couldn't stomach much of anything, and the dolt was so swarmed with affluent patrons that Weiss couldn't even see her.
But her jaw did drop when she saw Ruby enter the dining hall earlier. Red velvet. Red silk. Ruby wore a stunning evening gown that hugged her figure fairly well, though flared enough around her legs to avoid constricting her movements. She wobbled a bit as she walked, clearly unused to the heels she wore, but balanced like a child determined to take her own steps forward. Her eyebrows furrowed and she stuck out her tongue a few time trying to center properly. Childish, but the expression won the hearts of so many who saw her.
She didn't have any make up on, nor changed her hairstyle. Actually, Weiss was fairly certain she didn't even bother to brush her hair. And yet despite not going the full distance to beautify herself, Weiss couldn't help but think that the younger girl cleaned up quite nicely.
Of course, everyone immediately recognized a new face; especially when she walked in, arms linked with Pyrrha's. Like a demure doll, she walked alongside the Olympian, taking almost two steps for every one of the taller girl's. The contrast between them highlighted Pyrrha's grace and elegance while simultaneously accentuated Ruby's childlike charm and innocence.
Needless to say, everyone rushed to the two beautiful flowers.
Thus, Weiss was left in this predicament. Once again ignored, once again lonely.
Everyone clamored over Ruby's notebook. Aside from 'oohs' and 'ahhs' and comments, of all things Weiss actually heard some shouts for endorsements and sponsorships.
"Beautiful application of Trompe-l'œil," a mustached man complimented. "How you used the center crease of the book to create a three-dimensional piece only seeable at a particular angle is simply inspiring!"
"No, no, her lovely shading is what truly stands out," a woman with an needlessly large boa argued. "So real, so lifelike! And each portrait carries such personality!" She cozied up to Ruby and whispered, "Mind you, I could never get the noses right."
All the while, Ruby blushed deeper and deeper. As friendly as she tried to be with everyone she meets, she hated large gatherings, especially when she was in the spotlight.
She wasn't used to this kind of attention. Her drawings were mostly for fun, even if she sometimes used it to bring in a bit extra to feed her and her sister.
Awkwardness…
Weiss heard her stuttering and smirked. Oh if only she could see the face the little dolt was making right now…
Slow waltz music started playing in the background, though Weiss only drowned it out. There were too many people talking to fully enjoy the composition. Were it up to her, everyone would be shut out, the lights dimmed, and the walls remodeled to better serve the acoustics. Ahh~ even in her mind she will push everyone out.
As it were, Weiss looked glumly down at her plate of half-eaten mash potatoes. They were cold. Distasteful. Much like herself... Considering her stomach, she didn't think even something so soft would stay down.
So she kept her head down instead.
Stupid stomach. Stupid food. Stupid ship that served stupid food. Stupid family and obligations and everything else that wrong with this world.
So engrossed in her thoughts, she didn't even notice when someone stood in front of her until she received a small tap on her shoulder.
"What do you-" she started acerbically but faded when she looked into Ruby's shining eyes.
"H-hi…" Ruby stuttered shyly, her eyes glancing left and right as if trying avoid Weiss' eyes, but always straying back.
Weiss quirked her eyebrow. Everyone else behind Ruby was staring at them. She must have left in the middle of the conversation.
So what did she want?
"Uh…um…" Ruby's fidgeting got worse. Her hands were firmly clasped together and she wrung them nervously. "…w…w…" her voice couldn't find strength for anything above a whisper. So she hesitated and took a deep breath.
"W-WOULD YOU LIKE TO DANCE?!"
Weiss winced and covered her ears because Ruby practically shouted. Nearly everyone else did too. And yet the waltz behind them kept continuing. Weiss had to hand it to those musicians, they knew how to keep up professionalism.
To the matter at hand though…
"Huh?"
Ruby nearly crumpled at hearing Weiss' words, and Weiss felt a deep pang in her heart at seeing Ruby's face. Mouth slightly agape, eyes tearing up and becoming glassy. Like a little puppy begging for food and was kicked unceremoniously.
"I-I'm sorry!" Ruby quickly apologized and rushed away.
…
At least, she would have if Weiss hadn't grasped onto her wrist at the last possible second.
"What did you say?" Weiss asked, unsure if Ruby screamed the correct thing or just panicked.
"…D-do you want to dance with me?" Ruby repeated in a small voice without looking back. Her shoulders were slumped, certain that Weiss hadn't wanted to dance and that the whole idea of inviting her to dance was stupid.
Well… the idea was certainly stupid…
"Eep!" Ruby squeaked as Weiss tugged on her hand and spun her so they were face to face.
…but it had merit…
Weiss smirked as she pulled Ruby towards the dance floor, noting the faces of everyone around them.
Ruby froze up when Weiss pulled her. She hadn't thawed out yet, her face still stuck in awe and surprise.
She flinched when she felt Weiss' fingers entwine her own and Weiss' hand on her hip.
"Hey! Don't tell me you don't know how to dance," Weiss hissed. Since Ruby initiated, she thought the dolt would have known that much at least.
"I-I know!" Ruby blushed. "…jigs…" she muttered softly.
Weiss stared at her in shock. Unbelievable! The only thing this girl knew how to dance was to folk music? Nothing so refined as a good waltz?
"Are you trying to embarrass us?" Weiss gritted. The piece finished and paused to allow everyone who wanted to dance a chance to approach.
"I-it's really embarrassing! I don't know how and now everyone will know too!" Ruby nearly cried. "B-but! I saw you…" she bit down on her tongue to prevent what she was going to say next.
Weiss gave her a look.
Ruby shivered and bowed her head down so Weiss couldn't see her eyes or blushing cheeks anymore. "…but I saw you look like you weren't having any fun…"
Weiss' exasperation and anger evaporated. Ruby knew she would embarrass herself. But the reason she asked anyways was because she thought Weiss wasn't having a good time.
"Hand on my hip," Weiss sighed, drawing a confused look from Ruby.
She grabbed Ruby's hand and placed it on her hip.
Ruby's fingers twitched, not knowing how hard she should grasp or where her fingers should go, lest she accidentally grope Weiss. She looked worriedly at Weiss when her fingers brushed the silky fabric.
Warm. The realization flooded her mind. The sheer fabric was the only barrier between her hand and Weiss' soft and delicate skin. At this point, her body was blushing so much she was certain steam was coming out her ears. Steam… that would make the dress wet and cling to Weiss' figure…
Weiss smirked internally, unaware of the thought process going through Ruby's head. Were it anyone else, "accidentally" would have been putting it mildly. One of the reasons why Weiss didn't actually like to dance so much as just listen to the flow of the music. Just the once though, she'll allow it.
Weiss rolled her eyes. "Just follow my lead, okay?"
It was a simple step. Envision a box. Move accordingly to the points.
Weiss was glad that Ruby was a quick learner and that the drivel on soap operas about stepping on one's partner's toes were just an overused trope. While Ruby was not the best, nor a natural and she moved stiffly at first, she memorized the pattern quickly.
Half-way through, Weiss might even dared say that Ruby was having fun considering the brilliant smile on her face.
As the piece drew to a close, Weiss lifted her hand and pulled Ruby into a spin. Ruby naturally let her body flow long with Weiss', fully trusting her to lead and not let her spin out of control or trip.
Light applause resounded in the room. Weiss and Ruby looked at each other, faces flushed and both breathing a bit harder than when they started.
Weiss opened her mouth to speak, but Ruby took her words.
"Thanks Weiss," she beamed. "For showing me such fun!"
The same words died on Weiss' lips.
Even though Ruby was the one who was surrounded by people. Even though Ruby was the one they lavished praise on for her artworks. Even though Ruby was the one who saw how lonely and bored Weiss was and invited her to dance.
And yet she was thanking Weiss, not the other way around.
Ruby was… different. She didn't want anything from Weiss. She wasn't trying to use her or saw her as a piece to move or an advantage to further.
Despite getting a free meal, she still pushed to pay for it herself.
…. If it was Ruby… then maybe…
"Come along Ruby," Weiss looked away and tugged at her hand. "I've thought of how you can pay me back…"
Things are only going to get heated up from here on out!
Also, Ruby has a bit of a dirty mind...
Hehe~ look forward to the next chapter for that infamous scene! | {
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Indian Envoy Vikram Misri performs Yoga in Beijing.
Yoga represents aspirations of the people from India and China that it is beneficial to work together in spirit of "friendship and cooperation", Indian envoy Vikram Misri said today as he along with a large number of Chinese yoga enthusiasts in Beijing marked the fifth International Yoga Day.
Hundreds of thousands of yoga enthusiasts across China rolled out their mats on Friday to participate in colourful yoga events in Beijing to mark the yoga day.
Yoga has become immensely popular all over China in the past few decades and is emerging as a major fitness discipline which is specially promoted by the Chinese Ministry of Sports.
The ancient Indian practice has got official recognition in 2015 after Chinese Premier Li Keqiang along with his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi participated in a joint event of yoga and Chinese martial art practice Taichi.
Since then both the countries established a Yoga college in Yunnan Minzu University in Kunming, capital of southwest China's Yunnan Province in joint collaboration with India.
Popularity of yoga in China has attracted scores of Indian yoga teachers to either start their own institutes or work for popular yoga institutes.
On Friday, few hundred yoga enthusiasts took part in the yoga day event organised by the Indian Embassy at the India House in which Indian Ambassador Vikram Misri and his wife Dolly Misri were also present.
Addressing the gathering, Mr Misri said yoga represents not just the civilisational connect between India and China "but also the modern aspirations of our two peoples, that acknowledges the shared benefit of working together in spirit of friendship and cooperation".
China has this year already conducted three celebratory activities, in Guiyang, at Shaolin Temple and also at the iconic Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, he said.
Another event is set to get underway in Qingdao as well, he said.
Indian Embassy has also organised yoga events in various historic and scenic sites in different provinces of China, in collaboration with the local and provincial governments.
Yoga events were held at the Tianhe Tan Park in Guiyang, Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan, Shaolin Temple in Henan and Qingdao in Shandong, the embassy said in a statement.
Indian Consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou have also organised a number of events to mark the International Yoga Day.
The Consulate in Shanghai in association with local governments, cultural and yoga groups have organised eight events to celebrate the 5th International Day of Yoga.
This year's curtain raiser event was held at Wuyi on the auspicious day of Buddha Purnima recognising the importance of yoga in the life of Mahatma Buddha, Consul General Anil Kumar Rai said in a press release.
The Indian Consulate in Guangzhou has organised major yoga events at several places, including at the picturesque Dujiangyan City, Consul General Sujit Ghosh said.
The Consulate has also organised a special yoga event on Friday on the banks of the Zhujiang River in Guangzhou. Around 300 yoga enthusiasts participated in this event, General Sujit Ghosh said. | {
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The Little Mermaid may have just cast its first live-action star. Image : Disney
With Dumbo, Aladdin, and The Lion King all being released this year, you might think Disney would slow down with its modern remakes of classic animated films. You’d be wrong. The Little Mermaid, which has long been rumored, is reportedly started to speed up— and none other than Melissa McCarthy may be playing Ursula.
Recent Video This browser does not support the video element. The Origin of the Screen Name
Variety reports the Bridesmaids/Gilmore Girls/Ghostbusters multi-Oscar nominee is “in early talks” to play the villain in the film, which is being directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago, Mary Poppins Returns) and co-produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda, who’ll reportedly help Alan Menken with new songs to compliment the originals.
Never Leave Your Charger at Home Again With This Cargo Backpack and... Read on The Inventory
According to the piece, “Disney and the production team behind it are looking to make contemporary and compelling casting choices, while still paying homage to the beloved animated original.” Which sounds great, but casting McCarthy, inspired as it may be, feels very much on the nose. It’ll be interesting to see if that contemporary feel is easily recognizable with any upcoming casting, or if comes more with the adaptation of the story.
The Little Mermaid is widely regarded as the film that brought Disney Animation back to full glory and le d the way to a period of incredible critical and financial success. It’s a beyond beloved film that, much like the other remakes on the way, will have a lot to live up to.
The live-action Little Mermaid does not yet have a release date.
For more, make sure you’re following us on our new Instagram @io9dotcom. | {
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Do sieci wyciekły kolejne nieoficjalne materiały o Radeonie R9 380X - zdjęcie, specyfikacja i wydajność niereferencyjnego modelu ColorFire.
Jakiś czas temu pojawiły się pogłoski o karcie graficznej AMD Radeon R9 380X, która miałaby umocnić pozycję „czerwonych” na rynku wydajniejszych modeli. Wstępna specyfikacja była łatwa do przewidzenia, ale zagadką pozostawała m.in. wydajność – aż do teraz, bo w sieci pojawiły się nieoficjalne wyniki wydajności nowego akceleratora.
Radeon R9 380X ma być całkowicie nową konstrukcją, bowiem na pokładzie znajdziemy procesor graficzny Antigua XT z 2048 jednostkami cieniującymi – tak naprawdę będzie to udoskonalony rdzeń Tonga XT, który do tej pory znalazł zastosowanie tylko w mobilnym Radeonie R9 M295X. Oprócz tego karta ma mieć do dyspozycji 4 GB pamięci GDDR5 256-bit. Dokładne taktowania jeszcze nie są znane.
Model Radeon R9 380 Radeon R9 380X* Radeon R9 390 Układ graficzny Antigua PRO Antigua XT Grenada PRO Procesory strumieniowe 1792 2048 2560 Jednsotki teksturujące 112 128 160 Jednostki rasteryzujące 32 32 64 Taktowanie rdzenia 970 MHz ? 1000 MHz Pamięć wideo 2/4 GB GDDR5 256-bit 4 GB GDDR5 256-bit 8 GB GDDR5 512-bit Taktowanie pamięci 5500/5700 MHz ? 6000 MHz TDP 190 W ? 275 W *specyfikacja nieoficjalna
Na forum OverclockersUK pojawiły się pierwsze przecieki o modelu chińskiej marki ColorFire – jest to niereferencyjna konstrukcja, która została wyposażona w potężne chłodzenie z trzema wentylatorami.
Załączony zrzut ekranu z aplikacji GPU-Z budzi jednak pewne podejrzenia, bowiem karta ma ten sam numer ID co Radeon R9 285 i R9 380. Możliwe jednak, że jest to spowodowane brakiem pełnego wsparcia i błędami w rozpoznaniu akceleratora.
Jeżeli specyfikacja okazałaby się prawdziwa, karta ColorFire pracuje z wysokimi taktowaniami - 1070 MHz dla procesora graficznego i 6000 MHz dla pamięci wideo. Nie wiadomo jednak czy nie mamy do czynienia z fabrycznie podkręconą konstrukcją.
Karta została przetestowana w benchmarku 3DMark 11 w trybie Extreme, a na platformę testową składał się jeszcze 4-rdzeniowy procesor Intel Core i5-3550S (generacja Ivy Bridge). Konfiguracja uzyskała 4024 punktów ogólnych i 3768 punktów GPU Score - wynik ten plasuje się pomiędzy Radeonem R9 280X a R9 290, aczkolwiek bliżej mu właśnie do drugiej karty.
Jeżeli ujawnione informacje okazałyby się prawdziwe, będziemy mieli do czynienia z kolejną propozycją z wyższej półki. Sukces Radeona R9 380X zależy jednak od stosunku ceny do oferowanej wydajności – jaki będzie, dowiemy się najprawdopodobniej jeszcze w tym miesiącu.
Źródło: OverclockersUK | {
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Taryn and Ben Marcus had hoped hemp was going to be the cash crop of their dreams, bringing in enough money so they would no longer have to borrow against their Whitefield farm each spring to tide them over until the strawberry crop was ready to pick.
Instead, their hemp harvest – which garnered national headlines as Maine’s first pick-your-own hemp operation – is turning into a nightmare as the couple’s bank and insurance agency have canceled the Marcuses’ accounts, putting the 180-acre farm, farm store and family home at risk.
This, even though hemp is not marijuana, cannot get you high and is legal under state and federal law.
“We tiptoed out of the dark woods of prohibition, guided by our elected officials, and wham, we got run over by everyone’s other favorite institutions – banks and insurance companies,” Taryn Marcus said. “We were completely blindsided … what’s the point of legalizing hemp if we can’t actually farm it?”
On Friday, the couple’s bank, Camden National, called to say it was closing the farm’s bank account and calling the $12,000 equipment loan it had just issued for a produce cooler the couple had ordered but have yet to receive, Taryn Marcus said.
This comes on the heels of Acadia Insurance deciding to cancel the policy that covers the 180-acre Uncas Farm, Sheepscot General Store and the couple’s home, which is next door to the former dairy farm. Without insurance, the couple’s privately held mortgage could get called at any time.
Acadia’s parent company, W.R. Berkley of Connecticut, said the insurance company doesn’t comment on individual policies or clients, and refused to answer questions about its current hemp policies. But Taryn Marcus said Acadia has given them until Nov. 19 to find a new carrier before pulling its coverage.
“We thought it was just a mistake, that it would all be fine once we explained we were growing hemp, not marijuana,” she said. “But they understood that. They knew hemp was legal, but said without federal guidelines on how to handle hemp, they had no choice but to cut us loose.”
The couple’s plight attracted the attention of Gov. Janet Mills and Maine Agriculture Commissioner Amanda Beal, who sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Tuesday asking it to finalize federal guidance and regulations for commercial hemp production.
“Growers in Maine are receiving notices of bank account closures and insurance policies not being renewed because of uncertainty around federal hemp regulations,” they wrote. “These are troubling developments that stifle the growth and aspirations of hardworking farm businesses.”
STUCK IN LIMBO
When Congress legalized hemp in December, removing it from the federal government’s list of Class 1 controlled substances like heroin, cocaine and marijuana, it transferred hemp regulation from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to the USDA.
The USDA is working on its hemp regulations, which are expected to be published sometime this fall. Once finalized, each state will have to submit its own plan for USDA approval, embrace the federal plan or prohibit hemp production altogether. Maine is waiting for the USDA rules before deciding what to do.
The USDA hopes these guidelines will be in place in time for the 2020 hemp crop, but that leaves all the farmers who jumped into the newly legal 2019 hemp season in limbo, not doing anything illegal, but not able to access many of the support services – like banking and insurance – that are available to traditional farmers.
“We thought we did everything right,” Taryn Marcus said. “We got our license. We researched the best genetics, best growing practices. We transplanted seedlings, weeded (the land) by hand. We publicized the hell out of it to create a market. We basically did what good farmers do. We grew a beautiful crop.”
The couple’s insurance broker is hopeful that she will be able to find them another carrier, but predicts the cost of the policy will be higher than the one they had with Acadia. Ironically, Acadia’s parent, W.R. Berkley, offers coverage to higher risk marijuana operations through one of its other insurance groups.
Several financial institutions have reached out to the couple since they began telling people about their plight, but one credit union that handles marijuana-related deposits isn’t chartered to serve their region and a second institution is so far away that it would require them to hire a courier service to deposit their cash.
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, believes Maine’s hemp industry will be hindered by uncertainty until Congress passes the Secure and Fair Enforcement Banking Act, or SAFE Banking Act, which allows cannabis-related businesses, including hemp and marijuana, access to traditional banking.
Renee Smyth, marketing officer at Camden National, declined to discuss Sheepscot General’s situation, citing customer privacy. But she said that in general, although growing and selling hemp is now legal, banking regulators have offered no guidance on how to ensure they are following the new federal law.
“The conundrum between these small businesses and us, is that we don’t have guidance for how to bank businesses like that,” Smyth said. “We want to work with those businesses. We want to help them grow, but we’re kind of caught in this middle-ground.”
FOLLOWING THE RULES
The Marcuses made headlines last month when they announced they would open their first hemp crop to adults for guided public picking, much like they do with their strawberry and blueberry fields. Hundreds of people showed up to hand select cuttings for $35 a pound or whole hemp plants for $25 a pound.
The couple decided to start growing hemp – the variety of cannabis that will not get you high – last year after the U.S. legalized its cultivation with the 2018 Farm Bill. In April, they were the first in line to get their state license to plant about 7,000 plants on about 3 acres.
Like all hemp, the plants grown at Sheepscot contain only trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive part of the cannabis plant. The state Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry actually tests all licensed hemp grows to make sure they don’t bust the legal 0.3 percent THC threshold.
The Marcuses bought state-approved seed for four cannabis strains known to yield flowers that will, if dried, cured and heated at the right temperature, yield about 15 to 20 percent CBD, or cannabidiol, the active ingredient in hemp.
The number of hemp licenses issued nationwide has quadrupled since the passage of the Farm Bill last December, according to a report issued last month by New Frontier Data, a national cannabis research company. Licensed cultivation hit almost 480,000 acres in 2019, a 328 percent year-over-year increase.
That is more hemp than the U.S. planted in 1943, at the peak of cultivation during World War II.
Hemp in Maine has grown from a small pilot program in 2016, with just two farmers growing a quarter acre of plants between them to 164 state licensed farmers from Elliot to Madawaska growing more than 1,700 acres, with another 1,400 acres licensed but not in production, according to state regulators.
Farmers are responding to America’s obsession with all things CBD. According to the Brightfield Group, a national marijuana consulting firm, U.S. consumers spent $591 million on CBD products nationally in 2018 in the belief that it eases insomnia, anxiety, depression and pain.
Hemp is a versatile crop. Its core can be used for construction, its skin for insulation and its nutty seeds for eating. But the CBD craze has made oil extracted from its flowers its most lucrative end market. New Frontier Data estimates 70 percent of the 2019 crop will end up as CBD oil.
Staff Writer Matt Byrne contributed to this report.
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well I mean I've looked it up, it has cancer causing chemicals but they are absent and other than that it has memory loss and it can cause someone to become infertile but nothing serious, but I personally hate it because the world wasn't made for just getting high and stiz, it was made for love and compassion, and marijuana isn't that, and when someone's "happy" you want to be able to see the sparkle in their eyes, when someone's high you can't, all you see is someone who's drug induced, and I don't want to see a bunch of people high off weed when it's legalized which I know will happen, I'd much rather see people happy or in love but that's just the way the world is. And being high isn't being happy it's manipulating the brain into thinking it's feeling something that it's not.
And I think i's illegal partly because some people believe the way I do but even then they have no right to put their opinions into pay about the legalization of weed and then partly because there trying to keep everyone safe, do you have any idea what some people are capable of? some people are just plain crazy and being high would make that worst and people like that may end up doing crazy thing, even people who are sane may | {
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Become a scientist for the day, and join us for a collection event to measure urban trees for scientific research in Cheviot Hills Park. You're welcome to join us as a volunteer, or attend to take your field test in order to complete your training as an Earthwatch Certified Citizen Scientist (http://earthwatch.urbanresiliency.org/get-involved/certifiedcs/). Be sure to RSVP for the correct ticket to ensure adequate supplies.
Both events will meet in the northern part of the parking lot off of Motor Avenue in front of the red brick recreation building, and we will be measuring trees throughout the park. All tools, training, and supplies will be provided, though we recommend wearing sun protection and comfortable clothing appropriate for light walking, bending, and crouching.
FAQs
Are there ID requirements or an age limit to enter the event?
All ages are welcome to participate, however, if you are under 18 years old you will need to have a parent/guardian sign an Earthwatch liability form on your behalf. If they will not be with you to sign the form on-site, you may bring a signed liability waiver with you to the event. Liability waivers are downloadable here: http://earthwatch.urbanresiliency.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Earthwatch-Liability-Release_individual-signature.pdf
What's the difference between a Volunteer ticket and a Field Test ticket?
While they take place at the same time, the Field Test ticket lets us know that you're intending to become a full-fledged Earthwatch Certified Citizen Scientist. This means you'll be completing our Certified Citizen Scientist training online prior to the event (available at http://earthwatch.urbanresiliency.org/resources/training/) and will attend this collection event in order to complete the hands-on field test component in order to earn your certificate.
A Volunteer ticket lets us know you're interested in helping us measure new trees and want to be provided with full guidance on collecting tree data without any prior training.
Can I get community service hours for volunteering?
Certainly! Just bring any community service verification forms you need signed to the event, and an Earthwatch facilitator will be happy to sign them for you.
Where can I contact the organizer with any questions?
You may contact Earthwatch staff member Ellie Perry at [email protected] or (805) 419-0633 for any questions prior to the event.
Is my registration/ticket transferrable?
Registering is used to get a headcount and ensure enough tools and supplies are available for everyone. If you have friends, family, colleagues, etc. they are all welcome to join us, just be sure to reserve a spot for them in your ticket count. | {
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The Indian mining giant Adani would pay no corporate tax on Australia’s largest proposed coalmine, the Carmichael mine in central Queensland, because it was certain to operate at a loss, the state land court has heard.
Energy industry analyst Tim Buckley told the court it was “categorically” his opinion that the Adani mine would not make a profit on the lower quality thermal coal it planned to export to Asia amid a long term decline in worldwide prices.
Adani, which has enjoyed bipartisan political support in Queensland for a venture that includes an expanded coal port shipping through Great Barrier Reef waters, is fighting a legal challenge to its plans by the conservation group Coast and Country.
Buckley was called as an expert witness on Friday by Coast and Country, which is seeking a land court recommendation that the Queensland government reject the proposed mine.
Buckley said his modelling using data in part from Adani to calculate the mine’s revenues, cost and profits found it was “going to lose money at … in fact the operating level, so therefore it actually won’t pay any tax”.
The court previously heard that modelling from Adani’s own independent expert witness, economics consultant Jerome Fahrer, showed the Carmichael project would generate corporate tax of $8.96bn over 30 years.
Fahrer forecast that tax, combined with coal royalties of $7.85bn before inflation, would put $16.8bn into state and federal coffers. He also said the project would generate 1,464 jobs, including indirect related employment.
Adani ran TV advertisements during the Queensland state election claiming the project would generate “10,000 jobs [and] $22bn in royalties and taxes invested back into Queensland communities”.
Buckley suggested the mine could become a “stranded asset” as the market for thermal coal had reached a “major tipping point” driven by change in the Chinese electricity market, with prices never again to recover after peaking in 2013.
Buckley said Chinese coal imports last year dropped by 9% while consumption dropped 3% as the Chinese government continued the “largest rollouts the world has seen” in hydro, wind and solar power in a move away from polluting coal.
The Carmichael coal compared unfavorably in quality with the Australian benchmark Newcastle coal, having less energy content and more ash.
If Adani were to put that 40megatonnes of coal a year into the Asian market, prices would be driven lower and consumption of coal in total would increase, Buckley said.
Buckley also claimed the mine would struggle to gain funding because a looming restructure of Indian based parent company Adani Enterprises – stripping out ports and power assets into separate new companies – would reduce its profits by 80%.
Adani Enterprises’ “ability to borrow will drop commensurately”, with Australian-based subsidiary Adani Mining already more than $1bn in debt against a “negative shareholders fund of $45m”.
The hearing continues, with the land court recommendation on the mining project not expected to be handed down for months.
The state government is not obliged to follow its advice when deciding to issue a mining lease or environmental approval.
Adani’s climate market expert witness, John Stanford, earlier told the court it was widely acknowledged that the Carmichael mine was a “very high risk” project.
Adani’s local financial controller, Rajesh Gupta, last week in court agreed the company would look to minimise its tax obligations within the law.
But he repeatedly declined to say whether it would take advantage of a common ploy used by mining companies, revealed in a recent senate inquiry, of using “marketing hubs” in lower tax jurisdictions like Singapore to sell coal to and reduce the profits realised and taxes paid in Australia.
Gupta, under cross-examination from barrister Saul Holt, acknowledged that Singapore-based Adani Global Private, the “parent entity” of Australia-based Adani Mining, was set up for “coal trading”.
But he said he couldn’t comment on whether Adani Mining in Australia, would sell all its coal to its Singapore parent.
“We can’t comment on that. We’ll not necessarily … be selling to them. We might sell to the customers directly as well,” Gupta said.
“It’s not illegal,” Holt said. “Are you planning to use Adani Global Private Limited in Singapore as a trading hub to reduce – optimise, lawfully and legitimately – the corporate tax you pay in Australia?”
Gupta replied: “What I can say is that we have done the calculation of taxes based on the, the profit we’ll be generating in Australia, and we’ll be paying the taxes on that basis.”
Holt: “You didn’t answer my question. Are you planning to use Adani Global Private Limited as a trading hub? Let’s break it down?”
Gupta: “I’m sorry, I can’t answer that question.”
Gupta, who is in charge of tax planning for Adani Mining, also said he did not know the concessional tax rate in Singapore was 12% compared to 30% in Australia.
He also said he had “no idea” what the purpose was of Adani Global Private’s related company, Adani Global Limited, in Mauritius, where the tax rate is 3%.
| {
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It wouldn't be wise for a new administration to come in, take over a case from a prosecutor, and completely change a legal strategy in mid-course without a more thorough review of the national security implications. And, of course, the invocation itself isn't necessarily an issue; civil libertarians and others who voted for Obama did so with the belief that his judgment and his attorney general would be better stewards of that privilege than President Bush and his attorney generals (and vice president.) Obama certainly never promised Americans that he'd declassify everything, or that the government had to renounce its right to assert a state secrets privilege forever.
According to the Justice Department, AG Holder is reviewing all state secrets claims to make sure they meet certain legal tests.
The ACLU is outraged. Executive Director Patrick Romero said that "[c]andidate Obama ran on a platform that would reform the abuse of state secrets, but President Obama's Justice Department has disappointingly reneged on that important civil liberties issue. If this is a harbinger of things to come, it will be a long and arduous road to give us back an America we can be proud of again."
We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to [email protected]. | {
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As part of our annual compulsory Certificate of Professional Competence training, Lothian have partnered with Cycling Scotland to give our bus drivers bespoke Practical Cycle Awareness training, a first for the UK Bus Industry.
Over 1700 drivers, managers and supervisors from across the business will take part in the training this year.
The full day course has been designed to be fun and interactive and includes a 90 minute of cycling around our Longstone Training Centre in Edinburgh. The cycle route has been specifically planned to highlight key issues facing cyclists in relation to other vehicles, particularly buses and HGV’s.
Two of our trainers have been specially trained by Cycling Scotland to become qualified Cycling Instructors and lead the course and we have invested in a fleet of Raleigh Pioneer hybrid bikes for staff to use on the course.
Richard Hall, Managing Director of Lothian, said:
Following feedback from previous CPC training courses we thought long and hard about how we could make the course more interactive and increase the level of learning for all our staff. Working in partnership with Cycling Scotland, we are proud to be the first bus operator in the UK to introduce this bespoke practical cycle awareness training. This fantastic opportunity will assist us all in learning more about sharing road space and gaining a better understanding of the difficulties faced by other road users daily across our operating area, as well as having the ability going forward to influence these groups through our own actions.
Valentin Jeanjean, Cycling Scotland Development Officer, said:
We’re delighted to be working with Lothian and it’s a great credit to them to be the first bus company to provide Practical Cycle Awareness Training for all drivers. More people are cycling in Edinburgh and this practical training, originally developed by Edinburgh Council, can help improve safety for all road users. We would encourage other bus and HGV fleet operators to provide this training to their drivers and contact us for details of the subsidised courses available from ourselves and Recyke-a-Bike.
Councillor David Key, The City of Edinburgh Council’s Cycling Champion added:
Hats off to Lothian for their pioneering approach delivering this hugely beneficial training to their drivers. By raising awareness of the safest ways to interact and share the road with those travelling on two wheels, they’re helping make Edinburgh’s streets even safer for vulnerable road users.
CPC Periodic Training is compulsory for anyone who holds a Passenger Carrying Vehicle driving license across the UK, with each individual required to carry out thirty-five hours of periodic training every five years. We ensure this requirement is met by making sure all our drivers across the company have seven hours of CPC training each year. | {
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Stock futures moved higher Thursday as investors cheered Donald Trump's presidential victory. Meanwhile, Twitter's (TWTR) - Get Report Chief Operating Officer Adam Bain is stepping down. He will be replaced by Twitter's Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto. Jack Dorsey remains CEO. Shares were lower in premarket trading. The company announced deep layoffs back in October as it struggles with growing users and monetization. Meanwhile, will Verizon (VZ) - Get Report pull away from its pending $4.8 billion acquisition of Yahoo! (YHOO) ? Yahoo! raised that possibility in a quarterly filing, saying Verizon may try to terminate or renegotiate the deal. This as a major data breach of some 500 million Yahoo! accounts came to light in September, after Verizon agreed to the purchase price. The breach reportedly occurred some two years ago. Macy's (M) - Get Report and Kohl's (KSS) - Get Report release quarterly earnings before the markets open, while The Walt Disney Company (DIS) - Get Report is out with results after the markets close. TheStreet's Scott Gamm reports from the Nasdaq. | {
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A group of agricultural workers in southern California lost their jobs last week when they took shelter to escape the ash-filled air blowing down on them ahead of one of the wildfires currently blazing in that state. According to NBC Los Angeles, 15 workers went inside to escape the smoke, which was interfering with their ability to breathe. When they returned to work the next day, they were informed that they had been fired.
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“The smoke was very bad. There’s no doubt about that,” said Lauro Barrajas, one of the workers, who are represented by the United Farm Workers union.
The wildfire, dubbed the Springs Fire was growing out of control in Camarillo Springs, California on Thursday, May 2. The workers, employees of Crisalida Farms in Oxnard, located 11 miles south of the fire’s center, began to cough and experience lowered visibility as smoke and ash rained down on them.
Even as the air quality in the fields declined, a foreman told the workers that if they walked off the job, they would not have jobs to come back to. When they returned on May 3, they were told that they were fired.
Farm representatives made a statement to Latin TV network Telemundo that the workers had clocked out without permission with orders still to be filled, hence the firing.
Union reps, including Barrajas, met with the farm’s managers and applied a union rule, “No worker shall work under conditions where they feel his life or health is in danger.”
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Crisalida Farms settled with the union and offered the workers their jobs back, but all but one declined. The others have since taken jobs on other farms where they feel they are safer.
One worker noted that while losing work is hard, losing one’s health is harder.
Watch video about this story, which aired Tuesday and is embedded below via NBC LA:
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View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com. | {
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cocoa-bakery-031717.jpg
Cocoa Bakery on Grand Street in Jersey City has been without internet and phone service for more than a week, thanks to an outage affecting the Liberty Harbor neighborhood.
(Terrence T. McDonald | The Jersey Journal)
JERSEY CITY -- Residents of Jersey City's Liberty Harbor neighborhood are on their eighth day of an internet outage that is affecting residents of the area and some local businesses.
The outage, which began late last week and has also affected telephone and cable television service, has Liberty Harbor residents questioning why they are forced to use a single internet provider, Gold Coast Broadband, that is tied to Liberty Harbor developer Peter Mocco.
"They will not allow any other company," said Jessica Isaacs, owner of Cocoa Bakery on Grand Street, which Isaacs said has been without Gold Coast's internet and phone service since last week. The shop has seen a dramatic dip in orders as a result, she said.
The outage has angry residents looking for legal options. Complaints have been filed with the state Office of Cable Television and Telecommunications and a U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez's office.
In the meantime, residents are venting and trading temporary solutions in a private Facebook group. One person managed to get internet service and set up a guest network for anyone in range.
"Wahhhhhhhhhh no internet=no life," reads one resident's post.
Gold Coast Broadband, located on Grand Street in Jersey City, is the sole internet provider for much of the Liberty Harbor neighborhood.
Gold Coast Broadband has an office on Grand Street. Peter Mocco, the developer's son, declined to comment to The Jersey Journal. A phone call seeking comment from his father was not returned. One of them is listed as the company's registered agent on its LLC certification.
The Liberty Harbor development sits on the southern end of the Downtown, overlooking Liberty State Park.
Mark Liberfarb, who works in financial reporting for an advertising agency, has had no internet in his Regent Street home for the last eight days. He said Gold Coast has said it doesn't know what the problem is and has given no estimate for when they can get it fixed.
Liberfarb, who rents his unit, said he may move out before his two-year lease ends.
"I'm seriously considering breaking my lease because there's no end in sight," he said.
An email the property manager for the condos at 10 Regent St. sent to residents on March 15 said the building's board of directors will review what the master deed requires, send a legal notice to Gold Coast and look at alternative internet providers.
Terrence T. McDonald may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @terrencemcd. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook. | {
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RT: Why is the US government so keen to protect the interests of Monsanto?
WE: I think this is the strategic interest of the US agribusiness lobby, the lobby of Bush senior as president in 1992. Monsanto went to the White House and had a closed-door meeting with Bush, and got him to agree to make sure there are no government tests whatsoever on the health and safety of GMO products before they were released to the commercial public. That was called the doctrine of 'substantial equivalence'– it’s a fraudulent doctrine if you just analyze the name, it’s by no means scientifically rigorous. | {
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Rugby world cup winner Josh Lewsey tells the story of the ultimate sacrifice made by rugby and football players during the First World War, and how they shaped the game as we know it today. To commemorate those who lost their lives, he dons his boots one more time to play a centenary rugby match. | {
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A research team, led by John Graham-Brown at the University of Liverpool, describe three cases in UK dogs with recent history of travel to mainland Europe.
They call for vigilance when examining travelled dogs and warn that other animals -- and people -- should also be considered at risk of infection when travelling to areas where the parasite is endemic.
Thelazia callipaeda is a parasitic worm capable of infecting a range of mammalian host species including dogs, cats and human beings. The worm is found in a species of fruit fly known to be present in the UK. The researchers believe the introduction of this species is a potential risk.
Adult worms live in the eyes and associated tissues. Infected animals show a variety of symptoms, from mild conjunctivitis to severe corneal ulceration which, if untreated, can lead to blindness.
In July 2016, the authors described the first known case of eyeworm infection in the UK in a dog recently imported from Romania. Today, they confirm their initial diagnosis and report a further two cases in dogs with recent history of travel to Italy and France.
In all three cases, all requirements specified under the UK government's pet travel scheme (PETS) were met before and during travel.
All three dogs received treatment and made a full recovery. But the authors warn that, given the relatively free and regular movement of dogs into and out of the UK from mainland Europe and importation from rescue charities under this scheme, this and other pathogens pose a significant threat to the UK canine population.
These three cases "demonstrate the risk of introducing T callipaeda to the UK through dogs being imported from and travelling to geographical locations where T callipaeda is known to be endemic," write the authors.
"Furthermore, since T callipaeda is zoonotic and capable of infecting several other mammalian species, both people and cats should also be considered at risk of infection when travelling to such areas," they warn.
The researchers also state that wild animals, such as foxes can be infected and could act as a reservoir if introduced.
"Although effective diagnostic tests and treatments are available, more can and should be done to prevent this zoonotic pathogen from becoming endemic in the UK," they conclude. | {
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I revel in being referred to as the grand patriarch Elevate your hands skyward if your claims of being a Lothario are verifiable
182 shares | {
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Introducing: I Am By The Senate on 2015-08-28 22:22:00 We’ve all dreamed of becoming our favorite Star Wars characters for a day. No matter if you’d prefer piloting an X-wing or engaging in a legendary Lightsaber duel, there’s always that one character that stays with you.
Live those dreams in Card Trader with the newest insert set: I Am! Featuring beautifully illustrated artwork of your favorite heroes and villain’s most iconic armor and attire, you’ve never been this close to the galaxy far, far away….
The set consists of 10 cards, and you have 2 weeks to collect them all! Here is how it will work:
To access the I AM Cantina, swipe, horizontally, once you are on the Main Cantina section of the app.
There are 4 color variants of this set: White, Red, Green, and Blue.
Your first card from the White set is completely FREE and will set you on a collecting path through the remainder of the set.
Depending on which White card you pick, you will be given access to a pack containing the Red, Green, or Blue I Am sets. If you complete any one of these variant sets within the 2 week time period, you will receive Yellow versions of the cards that grant access to the variant set you collected. For example, if Han Solo, Boba Fett, and Leia all give access to the Red set (which is not actually the case), then completing the Red set will award you Yellow versions of Han Solo, Boba Fett, and Leia.
You will have a 10% chance per pack of pulling an I Am insert in the Red, Blue, and Green I Am Packs.
If you decide you want to complete each set, you can purchase the Gateway Pack, which becomes available after you make your first card selection and contains all of the White I Am inserts. Opening this pack will give you access to all 3 variant I Am Packs.
If you are able to collect all of the cards within a color variant set before 2 weeks are up, you will earn an R2-D2 Award card in that color.
Good luck! | {
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Orbicella faveolata, also known as boulder coral or mountainous star coral, in a Caribbean coral reef. Researchers have discovered that this species of coral is able to withstand repeated heat stress, known as "bleaching," in part because of fat it stores in its body. Credit: Image courtesy of Verena Schoepf, University of Western Australia.
A year ago, researchers discovered that fat helps coral survive heat stress over the short term—and now it seems that fat helps coral survive over the long term, too.
The study offers important clues as to which coral species are most likely to withstand repeated bouts of heat stress, called "bleaching," as climate change warms world oceans.
In the Nov. 18 issue of the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, the researchers report that the same fat-storing coral species that showed the most resilience in a 2014 bleaching study has recovered more fully in the year since, compared to other species that stored less fat.
Lead study author Verena Schoepf, a former doctoral student in the School of Earth Sciences at The Ohio State University and now a research associate at the University of Western Australia, said that tropical corals are extremely sensitive to heat stress.
"Three global bleaching events have already occurred since the 1980s, and will likely occur annually starting later this century," she said. "Therefore, it has become more urgent than ever to know how coral can survive annual bleaching—one of the major threats to coral reefs today."
Corals are animals that live in symbiosis with algae, and when stressed, they flush the algae from their cells and take on a pale, or "bleached," appearance. Bleached coral are more susceptible to storm damage and disease.
Andréa Grottoli, professor in the School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State and principal investigator of the study, said that repeated bleaching will ultimately lead to less diversity in coral reefs, where all the different sizes and shapes of coral provide specialized habitats for fish and other creatures.
Orbicella faveolata, also known as boulder coral or mountainous star coral, in a Caribbean coral reef. Researchers have discovered that this species of coral is able to withstand repeated heat stress, known as "bleaching," in part because of fat it stores in its body. Credit: Image courtesy of Verena Schoepf, University of Western Australia.
"Bleaching will significantly change the future of coral reefs, with heat-sensitive coral unable to recover," Grottoli said. Interactions among coral hosts and their endosymbiontic algae, as well as predators and prey would then change in a domino effect.
"Already, bleaching events have resulted in significant amounts of coral dying and causing impact to ocean ecosystems, but up until now it was largely unknown whether coral could recover between annual bleaching events," Schoepf added.
In fact, evidence that fat is a key component to coral survival has been building in recent years.
In 2014, Grottoli, Schoepf and their colleagues exposed three different coral species to two rounds of annual bleaching, then tested them six weeks later to see how well they had recovered. At that time, finger coral (Porites divaricata), the species which kept the largest fat reserves, had fared the best. Boulder coral (Orbicella faveolata), which kept less fat reserves, had recovered to a lesser extent. Mustard hill coral (Porites astreoides), which stored the least fat, had recovered the least.
Now, one year later, the researchers have revisited the corals and discovered that both the finger coral and boulder coral have recovered, while the mustard hill coral has not yet recovered, and likely never will if bleaching frequency remains high.
Surprisingly, all three species appear to be healthy at first glance. The symbiotic algae had returned to their cells, so the corals' normal color had returned. But further analyses of the corals' bodies tell a different story.
"They all look healthy on the outside, but they're not all healthy on the inside," Grottoli said.
Healthy corals get their day-to-day energy from sugar that the algae make through photosynthesis. For growth, healing and reproduction, they eat a diet that includes zooplankton. During bleaching, their nutritional state is thrown out of balance.
"When coral is bleached, it no longer gets enough food energy and so it starts slowing down in growth and loses its fat and other energy reserves - just like humans do during times of hardship," Schoepf said.
When corals photosynthesis slows down during bleaching, they start consuming their own bodies, as human bodies do when severely malnourished. And while all the corals in the study were able to eat zooplankton, the ones who had more fat to burn had less healing to do after the repeat bleaching subsided, and were able to resume a normal status within a year.
The ones with less fat to burn sustained more damage, and so—even a year later—they are still in the process of healing.
"Our research will help with predicting the persistence of coral reefs, because knowledge of their capacity to recover from annual bleaching is critical information for these models," Grottoli said.
More information: Annual coral bleaching and the long-term recovery capacity of corals, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, rspb.royalsocietypublishing.or … .1098/rspb.2015.1887 Journal information: Proceedings of the Royal Society B Annual coral bleaching and the long-term recovery capacity of corals, | {
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The press corps is busy quizzing the president, the speaker of the House and the Senate majority leader on their plans for tax reform. The question is why they aren’t chasing after the three people who actually hold all the power.
If the past eight months have proved anything, it is that all the 24/7 news coverage of Donald Trump’s antics, all the millions of words devoted to Paul Ryan’s and Mitch McConnell’s plans, have been a complete waste of space and time. In the end, control of the entire policy agenda in Washington comes down to three senators. Three senators whom most Americans have never had a chance to vote for or against. Three senators who comprise 8% of their party conference. Arizona’s John McCain, Maine’s Susan Collins and Kentucky’s Rand Paul. Forget Caesar, Crassus and Pompey. Meet the Never-Trump Triumvirate.
At least the House Freedom Caucus scuttles GOP legislation based on shared principles. Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee have also led revolts against bills, again based on shared criticisms. But what do the Arizona maverick, the Maine moderate and the Kentucky libertarian have in common? Very little.
Well, very little save motivations that go beyond policy. And that is the crucial point that is missing from the endless analyses of the McCain-Collins-Paul defections on health care. The media has treated the trio’s excuses for killing their party’s top priority as legit, despite the obvious holes in their objections over policy and process. What in fact binds the three is their crafting of identities based primarily on opposition to their party or Mr. Trump. This matters, because it bodes very ill for tax reform in the Senate. Overcoming policy objections is one thing. Overcoming egos is another.
Mr. McCain, who is gravely ill with brain cancer, has decided his final legacy will be a return to the contrarian “straight talk” persona of old, which wins him liberal media plaudits. The Arizonan has never gotten over losing the presidency, and it clearly irks him that Mr. Trump succeeded where he failed. His personal disdain for the president is obvious, and his implausible excuses for opposing the Graham-Cassidy health-care reform are proof that this is personal. | {
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Rita Greene
Ruidoso News
Brenna Chee remembered her grandmother telling her in Apache “Hnzhúú be ejidilte i” which means “we use nature to take good care of ourselves.” At the time, Chee said she felt awakened.
Chee had been trying to find a way to heal her son’s severe, painful dry skin. She began thinking about how nature could be used in helping him. She listened to her grandmother and the elders. She began researching vigorously because she did not want her son to suffer anymore.
After much hard work and determination, Chee came up with a bottle of lotion which she made from scratch incorporating the traditional practices that her grandmother passed down to her. Chee’s son used the lotion and for the first time in many years, he was free of the pain he had suffered for so long.
Chee told others about the lotion who used it and found that it improved their skin and soon there was a demand for the lotion. Chee then developed body butter and a variety of handmade soaps and soon she made this into a business and named it ‘Hnzhúú Bath & Body.
Her determination to help her son and her hard work resulted in a company. She incorporated Hnzhuu, Inc., in December of 2014. Brenna didn’t stop there, with the help of her family, she also developed Hnzhúú Foods, Hnzhúú Wellness and Hnzhúú Cleaning Services.
Chee and her sons moved back to Ruidoso two months ago after living in South Dakota for five years. She is concentrating on her Hnzhúú Cleaning Services business and trying to get established in Ruidoso. She wants to contract with both businesses and residential to provide cleaning services not only in Ruidoso, but in Artesia, Alamogordo, Alto, and Capitan as well.
Chee has four sons, Joel, 13; Samuel, 15; Zion, 19; and Solomon, 21. Chee said she teaches her sons about entrepreneurship and how important having your own business is. She said they each have different talents which they utilize in the different businesses. “Joel is very gifted working with numbers; Samuel works in videography and graphic design; Zion is half-owner of and helps with the cleaning business; and Solomon is half-owner of and creates salsa for the food business.”
Chee said she and Solomon love chile peppers and they found that while living in South Dakota that blazing hot spicy food was hard to find. Chee said for someone raised in New Mexico, “the chile capital of the world,” “this was really a big deal.”
So, Chee and Solomon began making salsa and called it Sol’s Solsa and gave it the slogan “Heat you can eat!”
Solomon will be graduating from the U.S. Marine Corps Boot Camp in San Diego Friday and will help out with the businesses until he receives orders. Chee said, “he plans on continuing to sell his solsa and watching the growth of the solsa availability spread to many places.”
“Our family’s memories revolve around us using nature to take care of ourselves. That which is good should be remembered and shared. We believe that what we do is our way of giving thanks to the Creator by using our gifts in service to help others. A circle of life that is precious to our family and culture,” Chee said.
Chee is also a licensed minister and is working on a bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Tribal Law.
For information regarding the Hnzhúú Cleaning Services call: 575-315-2450.
Hnzhúú Cleaning Services can also be reached online at https://www.hnzhuu.com/hnzhuu-cleaning-services which contains a contact form to request a cleaning estimate. Cleaning services offered can be one-time, weekly, bi-weekly; only kitchen and bathroom is available; laundry services, cleaning appliances, move in/move out services, and cleaning of new construction.
All items listed on the website can be ordered through the website. Chee said, “we are currently making batches of soap which make nice Christmas gifts.” | {
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Despite nurse's husband calling his mother in India every day, his relatives there had no idea of the strain caused by the prank
The relatives of nurse Jacintha Saldanha have revealed that she told no one in the family about the prank call that has been blamed for driving her to suicide.
Members of the family gathered at the south Indian home of Saldanha's mother-in-law, Carmine Barboza, to console one another after news reached them of the tragedy.
They said that neither Saldanha nor her husband, Benedict Barboza, had talked of the hoax phone call or given any clue that she had been under any pressure or strain.
"Benedict used to call every day but neither he nor Jacintha said anything about what had happened. Everything seemed normal," said Carmine Barboza, 69. "We got a call last night from Benedict informing us that Jacintha had died. He was crying and couldn't speak much. We don't know whether we'll be able to bring her dead body back to India, but we desperately hope so.
"We spoke to Benedict again this morning, and he said he hasn't been allowed to see her body yet because of legal formalities and she'll not be handed over before Monday. We want to bring her dead body to India to perform her last rites."
She said that the couple had spent last new year with the family in Udupi with their teenage children.
"Jacintha was a very caring woman," said Barboza. "She used to call us every Sunday without fail. We just cannot believe what has happened."
Saldanha and her husband were married in 1993 and moved to Muscat in Oman before arriving in the UK nine years ago. Relatives said that the family returned to India every couple of years.
On Saturday, relatives gathered at the Barbozas' smart single-storey home in Sorkala, near the town of Shirva in Karnataka, to grieve and to share their memories of Saldanha. The modern peach-painted house sits amid coconut palms and tidy gardens.
Irene Barboza, Saldanha's sister-in-law, said the family first heard the news on Friday night at about 8pm. Other members of the family made it clear that they were too grief-stricken to talk to journalists.
Staff at the medical college where Saldanha had trained in Mangalore described her as very dedicated. "Jacintha was a very efficient, intelligent and lively personality, who had won laurels in her nursing studies," said Reverend Sister Aileen Mathias, chief nursing officer at the Father Muller Medical College.
Mathias said that, after completing nursing school, Saldanha had gone on to pursue advanced nursing qualifications before moving to Muscat. Later, after moving to the UK, she appeared to have been thriving in London.
Saldanha and her family were active members of the expatriate Konkani community in the UK – people who hail from the Konkan region, which runs down the south-west coast of India. At a Konkani Community Association Christmas celebration in 2009, they were voted family of the day.
Messages of sympathy were being posted in comments threads on news websites in her native southern India on Saturday.
One read: "Dear Benedict and the children. I have no words to console you at this crucial moment. I am shocked to hear the news. I would like to say that I am supporting you all with my prayers. I cannot believe that Jessy is no more. Please trust in the Lord and take courage."
Another wrote: "Jacintha had been my classmate in Mangalore in school and we contacted on Facebook. It is really sad to hear about this tragic incident. May her soul rest in peace."
Father Richard Coelho, administrator of the Father Muller Medical College Hospital, posted a message to the family that said: "It is really shocking to hear that Jacintha is no more. May her soul rest in peace and that you all may have the strength from the Lord to bear this great loss.
"It should not have happened at all because Jacintha is not at fault. May those who are responsible for her death understand the mistake they have committed and ask pardon from the Lord."
Others called for the Indian government to put pressure on the Australian authorities to take action against the radio station.
• For confidential support call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 | {
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Pakistan has long posed a dilemma for the United States — should America provide it with aid and treat it as an ally because of its potential to help fight regional extremists, or should ties and funding be restricted, or even severed, because of its connections to those groups?
The Trump administration’s announcement on Thursday that it would freeze nearly all military aid to Pakistan, roughly $1.3 billion annually, is the latest of several times in the last 16 years that funding has been withheld or modified out of American frustration with Pakistan’s support for certain terrorist groups. But President Trump’s bombast and the precipitous way the decision seems to have been made have led to doubts that Mr. Trump has a serious plan for managing the ramifications of this move.
Almost every military flight into Afghanistan goes through Pakistani airspace. Most supplies travel along Pakistani roads and rails. Pakistan could shut down American access at any moment, and some Pakistani officials are threatening to do just that. Pakistan could also ally more closely with China, which is already investing in major new infrastructure projects and expanding its international leadership at America’s expense, and be more hard-line in its rivalry with India. Indeed, China could once again be the beneficiary of a Trump decision estranging the United States from longtime partners.
The president is good at venting grievances, as he demonstrated in his New Year’s Day tweet on the situation: “The United States has foolishly given Pakistan more than 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years,” he wrote, “and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit, thinking of our leaders as fools. They give safe haven to the terrorists we hunt in Afghanistan, with little help. No more!” | {
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片岡愛之助、「劇場版 仮面ライダー鎧武」で歌舞伎界初の仮面ライダーに!!
2014年5月24日 05:00
仮面ライダーマルスの変身シーンは歌舞伎風
［映画.com ニュース］ 歌舞伎俳優の片岡愛之助が、シリーズ最新作「劇場版 仮面ライダー鎧武（ガイム） サッカー大決戦！黄金の果実争奪杯！」に出演することが発表された。すでに撮影は終了しており、歌舞伎界初の仮面ライダー俳優となった片岡が5月20日、公開アフレコ収録に臨んだ。
収録後、取材に応じた片岡は「小さい頃は、仮面ライダー1号、2号、V3、アマゾン、キカイダーやハカイダーが好きで良く見ていました。男の子は皆、一度は変身したいと思っているはずです」と特撮ヒーローへの憧れを語り、「仮面ライダーを見て育ったので、オファーをいただいたときは喜びました」とコメント。「次世代の神と自負する“悪のボス”を演じますが、悪役を演じるのは楽しいです（笑）」と充実感を漂わせた。
片岡が演じるのは、仮面ライダー鎧武（佐野岳）と敵対する劇場版オリジナルキャラクター、仮面ライダーマルス／コウガネ。物語の鍵となる“黄金の果実”を持つ最強のアーマードライダーで「新しい世界を切り開く究極の神の存在」という設定のため、武部直美プロデューサーは「神の雰囲気を醸し出せる風ぼうと目力を重視した」とキャスティングのポイントを語った。
撮影では、歌舞伎俳優ならではの独特の発声と役づくりで神々しい存在を発揮した片岡。さらに、「撮影にあたり、改めて変身ポーズを研究しました」といい、「僕の演じる仮面ライダーマルスは、“スロー”な変身で少し歌舞伎風になっています」と、歴代ライダーとは一線を画す変身シーンが誕生したことをほのめかした。
また、歌舞伎界では小学生から大学生までを対象とした上演を行っていることにも触れ、「意外にも小学生が一番前のめりになって楽しんで見てくれています。この映画を見たら、歌舞伎を見に来た子どもたちが僕のことを『あ、仮面ライダーの人だ！』と言って喜んでくれるんじゃないかと思っています」と期待を込めた。
個性的なアーマードライダーたちが登場し、激しい戦いを繰り広げる平成ライダーシリーズ第15作「仮面ライダー鎧武／ガイム」の劇場版。今年はワールドカップイヤーということからサッカー界とコラボレーションし、サッカー元日本代表の中山雅史らがゲスト出演する。「烈車戦隊トッキュウジャー THE MOVIE ギャラクシーラインSOS」との2本立てで、7月19日から公開。
（映画.com速報） | {
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Simon Crowther, whose letter to his MP went viral after it showed an interest of £180 a month, says he trusted the government to keep interest rates low
whose letter to his MP A graduate went viral after it detailed how his student loan had grown by more than £1,800 in the year since he left university has said he and his contemporaries did not understand what they were signing up to when they took out the financing.
Jeremy Corbyn launches battle to stop tuition fee cap being lifted Read more
Simon Crowther posted a letter to his local MP, Vernon Coaker, alongside the statement he received from the Student Loans Company on the social media site. The letter has been shared almost 17,000 times on Facebook.
The statement, which arrived at the weekend, shows how his loan grew to £41,976 by the end of March, after accruing interest of up to £180 a month. Crowther wrote that he and his fellow students “feel we have been cheated by a government who encouraged many of us to undertake higher education, despite trebling the cost of attending university”.
He wrote: “I was still in sixth form at school when I agreed to the student loan. I had no experience of loans, credit cards or mortgages. Like all the other thousands of students in the UK, we trusted the government that the interest rate would remain low – at around 0%-0.5%.”
In fact, Crowther’s loan was attracting an interest rate of inflation, plus 3% while he was at university and in the first year since his graduation – currently 3.9%. The rate is higher than that of the best-buy personal loans on the open market, as well as many mortgage deals, and above the 0.9% currently being paid by those with earlier student borrowing.
The Guardian view on the higher education white paper: the customer is always ripe – for fleecing | Editorial Read more
Crowther’s letter suggests that the sale of the Student Loans Company to a private firm was behind the hike, a detail he has since learned is incorrect. The rate was always set to be inflation plus 3%.
However, he said the mistake underlines the lack of knowledge he and his peers had about the financial commitment they were taking on.
Crowther’s letter explains that when he started the civil engineering course at the University of Nottingham he was in the first year of undergraduates to be charged the increased fees of £9,000 a year. He told the Guardian that he had not realised that interest rates were increased at the same time. “None of us really realised what we were signing up to,” he said. “The general consensus was that it was the best loan you could ever get – it was the cheapest money you could borrow.”
Crowther received tuition and maintenance loans and like many of his contemporaries was one of a number of students whose first statement came under the new regime charging £9,000 a year. The system under which he was charged applies to England and Wales only.
Simon Crowther’s open letter to his MP Vernon Coaker. Photograph: Simon Crowther
Crowther said that receiving the statement at the weekend was “an eye-opener” as he had not realised how much interest he was being charged. The interest on the loans will now be 0.9%, the inflation figure being used for the rate for graduates earning up to £21,000, and on a sliding scale that hits 3.9% at earnings of £41,000 a year. The chancellor’s announcement that the lower threshold would be frozen at £21,000 for students starting university in 2012 and beyond was last year criticised by the personal finance expert Martin Lewis and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
“I’m assuming I’ll be paying it off for 30 years, and that at that point what’s left will be written off,” said Crowther. “I can’t see how I will pay it off. The monthly repayments seem geared up just to pay off the interest.”
One recent graduate posting on Facebook below Crowther’s letter said she had “nearly passed out” when her statement arrived, while another wrote: “I wouldn’t have taken out my maintenance loan if I’d known. They essentially targeted children, lured them in, and then screwed them over!”
Crowther has set up his own social media business since graduating, and is pleased that his letter has gone viral. He said he was glad to have raised awareness of the issue, which was adding to the struggles of his generation. “How are we ever expected to pay into a pension when we have this to pay off?” he said. “Older people have the winter fuel allowance, they have bus passes, they have pensions, while my generation have to pay these huge debts.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills, said: “The variable interest rate for loans taken out after September 2012 has not been changed. As the OECD has recognised, our student funding system is fair and sustainable. It removes financial barriers for anyone hoping to study, and is backed by the taxpayer with outstanding debt written off after 30 years.
“Graduates only pay back at 9% of on earnings above £21,000 and enjoy a considerable wage premium of £9,500 per year over non-graduates.” | {
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Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
Creates Reddit account the week of finals What have I done? | {
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Adults with ADHD describe self-medicating with cannabis, with some reporting a preference for cannabis over ADHD medications. A small number of psychiatrists in the US prescribe cannabis medication for ADHD, despite there being no evidence from randomised controlled studies. The EMA-C trial (Experimental Medicine in ADHD-Cannabinoids) was a pilot randomised placebo-controlled experimental study of a cannabinoid medication, Sativex Oromucosal Spray, in 30 adults with ADHD. The primary outcome was cognitive performance and activity level using the QbTest. Secondary outcomes included ADHD and emotional lability (EL) symptoms. From 17.07.14 to 18.06.15, 30 participants were randomly assigned to the active (n=15) or placebo (n=15) group. For the primary outcome, no significant difference was found in the ITT analysis although the overall pattern of scores was such that the active group usually had scores that were better than the placebo group (Est=−0.17, 95%CI-0.40 to 0.07, p=0.16, n=15/11 active/placebo). For secondary outcomes Sativex was associated with a nominally significant improvement in hyperactivity/impulsivity (p=0.03) and a cognitive measure of inhibition (p=0.05), and a trend towards improvement for inattention (p=0.10) and EL (p=0.11). Per-protocol effects were higher. Results did not meet significance following adjustment for multiple testing. One serious (muscular seizures/spasms) and three mild adverse events occurred in the active group and one serious (cardiovascular problems) adverse event in the placebo group. Adults with ADHD may represent a subgroup of individuals who experience a reduction of symptoms and no cognitive impairments following cannabinoid use. While not definitive, this study provides preliminary evidence supporting the self-medication theory of cannabis use in ADHD and the need for further studies of the endocannabinoid system in ADHD. | {
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Published: July 18, 2017
KARACHI: Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) increased by 5% to $2.41 billion in fiscal year 2016-17 which ended on June 30, compared to $2.30 billion in the previous year, according to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday.
Pakistan received $5.4 billion in fiscal year 2007-08, which is the highest amount in the country’s history, according to the Board of Investment (BoI).
However, the country has been recording low levels of foreign investment since 2008. Many foreign investors, especially from western countries, have pulled out due to the persistent energy crisis, poor governance and security challenges.
Three more Kashmiri martyred in IOK by Indian Army
China dominates with 49% share
Chinese investors are pouring cash due to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects mainly in major infrastructure projects. Pakistan’s eastern neighbour leads the list of individual countries pouring investment in FY17 with $1.186 billion, up by 11% from $1.064 billion in the last year.
In June 2017 alone, the country received net FDI of $104 million from China.
Netherlands emerged as the second leading country with FDI of $463 million in FY17 compared to just $29.9 million in the same period of last year. This comes on the back of a $448-million acquisition of Engro Foods by FrieslandCampina – a Dutch food company.
Turkey came at number three with $136 million in FY17 compared to just $17 million in the same period of last year while France brought in investments of $119 million compared with $95 million in the corresponding period.
Only 2% WORLDWIDE Prefer USA to China
Major decline from Norway, Egypt, UK and UAE
Fiscal year 2017 saw a major decline in FDI coming from Norway, which dropped to a negative $13 million from $172 million in FY16. Similarly, this year Pakistan did not receive any FDI from Egypt though it got a decent FDI of $141 million from the North African country in 2016.
The FDI coming from UK declined to $69 million in FY17, down 54% from $151 million in last year. Likewise, the country received just $59 million from the UAE in FY17, down 46% compared to $110 in the previous year.
Pakistani Women vs REVENGE PORN, Cyber Bullies
Sector breakdown
Power sector received the highest FDI of $795 million in FY17, but it was still significantly down from $1.159 billion from the previous year.
This was followed by the food sector where the country received $493 million in FY17 compared to net outflow of $56 million in the previous year.
Surprisingly, construction was also among the fastest growing sectors in FY17; receiving a significant $468 million compared to just $46 million in FY16. The electronics sector also received a respectable $143 million compared to just $34 million in FY16.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 18th, 2017.
Online, Cheap, in English -
INDIA - CHINA WAR ??
YOUR AD SEEN 85,000 TIMES!
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Follows is the announcement today from Peter Dalgaard, for the R Core Team:
The build system rolled up R-2.15.3.tar.gz (codename “Security Blanket”) at 9:00 this morning. This is intended to be the final round-up release of the 2.15 series, and in fact of the entire 2.x.y series which started 2004-10-04.
The list below details the changes in this release.
You can get the source code from
http://cran.r-project.org/src/base/R-2/R-2.15.3.tar.gz
or wait for it to be mirrored at a CRAN site nearer to you.
Binaries for various platforms will appear in due course.
This is the relevant part of the NEWS file
CHANGES IN R VERSION 2.15.3:
NEW FEATURES:
o lgamma(x) for very small x (in the denormalized range) is no
longer Inf with a warning.
o image() now sorts an unsorted breaks vector, with a warning.
o The internal methods for tar() and untar() do a slightly more
general job for ‘ustar’-style handling of paths of more than 100
bytes.
o Packages compiler and parallel have been added to the reference
index (refman.pdf).
o untar(tar = “internal”) has some support for pax headers as
produced by e.g. gnutar –posix (which seems prevalent on
OpenSUSE 12.2) or bsdtar –format pax, including long path and
link names.
o sQuote() and dQuote() now handle 0-length inputs. (Suggestion of
Ben Bolker.)
o summaryRprof() returns zero-row data frames rather than throw an
error if no events are recorded, for consistency.
o The included version of PCRE has been updated to 8.32.
o The tcltk namespace can now be re-loaded after unloading.
The Tcl/Tk event loop is inhibited in a forked child from package
parallel (as in e.g. mclapply()).
o parallel::makeCluster() recognizes the value random for the
environment variable R_PARALLEL_PORT: this chooses a random value
for the port and reduces the chance of conflicts when multiple
users start a cluster at the same time.
UTILITIES:
o The default for TAR on Windows for R CMD build has been changed
to be internal if no tar command is on the path.
This enables most packages to be built ‘out of the box’ without
Rtools: the main exceptions are those which need to be installed
to re-build vignettes and need Rtools for installation (usually
because they contain compiled code).
C-LEVEL FACILITIES:
o On a 64-bit Windows platform with enough RAM, R_alloc can now
allocate up to just under 32GB like other 64-bit platforms.
DEPRECATED AND DEFUNCT:
o Use of col2rgb(0) is deprecated (see the help page for its
limitations).
o The deprecated intensities component returned by hist() is no
longer recognized by the plot() method and will be removed in R
3.0.0.
o real(), as.real() and is.real() are now formally deprecated and
give a warning.
o This is formal notice that the non-API EISPACK entry points in R
will be removed shortly.
INSTALLATION:
o The configure tests for Objective C and Objective C++ now work on
Mac OS 10.8 with Xcode 4.5.2 (PR#15107).
o The cairo-based versions of X11() now work with current versions
of cairographics (e.g. 1.12.10). (PR#15168)
A workaround for earlier versions of R is to use X11.options(type
= “nbcairo”).
o Configuration and R CMD javareconf now come up with a smaller set
of library paths for Java on Oracle-format JDK (including
OpenJDK). This helps avoid conflicts between libraries (such as
libjpeg) supplied in the JDK and system libraries. This can
always be overridden if needed: see the ‘R Installation and
Administration’ manual.
BUG FIXES:
o beta(a, b) could overflow to infinity in its calculations when
one of a and b was less than one. (PR#15075)
o lbeta(a, b) no longer gives NaN if a or b is very small (in the
denormalized range).
o bquote() is now able to substitute default arguments in
single-argument functions. (PR#15077)
o browseEnv(html = FALSE) would segfault if called from R (not
R.app) on a CRAN-style Mac OS X build of R.
o [[when RHS is used more than once. (PR#15098)
o On Windows, warnings about opening a file or pipe with a
non-ASCII description were sometimes output in UTF-8 rather than
in the current locale’s character set.
o The call() function did not duplicate its arguments. (PR#15115)
o TukeyHSD() could give NA results with some na.action methods such
as na.exclude(). (Hinted at on R-help by John Fox.)
o The deprecated svd(X, LINPACK = TRUE) could alter X in R
2.15.[12]. (Reported by Bill Dunlap.)
o Under Windows, file.link() and file.symlink() used the link name
twice, so would always fail. (Reported by Rui Barradas/Oliver
Soong).
o summaryRprof(memory = “both”) mixed up the units of Vcells and
Ncells: it now works in bytes. (PR#15138)
o tools::Rd2HTML() would sometimes delete text. (PR#15134)
o plot() failed for “table” objects containing just one entry.
(PR#15118)
o embedFonts() needed to quote some filepaths. (PR#15149)
o parallel::mccollect() handled NULL returns incorrectly (removing
the element rather than setting it to NULL).
o The full reference index (fullrefman.pdf) was missing packages
compiler and parallel.
o The report for optim(method = “L-BFGS-B”, control = list(trace =
1)) reported the last completed and not the current iteration,
unlike other methods and trace levels. (PR#15103)
o qt(1e-12, 1.2) no longer gives NaN.
o dt(1e160, 1.2, log=TRUE) no longer gives -Inf.
o On Windows the untar() function now quotes the directory name
when using an external tar utility, so R CMD check will handle
pathnames containing spaces.
o The version for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 is now
displayed by win.version(). (Reported by Gabor Grothendieck.)
o The custom Windows installer target myR in the installer Makefile
did not work in 2.15.2. (Reported by Erich Neuwirth.)
o aperm(matrix(1:6, 2, dimnames=list(A={}, B={})), “A”) no longer
segfaults.
o Expressions involving user defined operators were not always
deparsed faithfully. (PR#15179)
o The enc2utf8() function converted NA_character_ to “NA” in
non-UTF-8 locales. (PR#15201)
o The exclude argument to xtabs() was ignored for “factor”
arguments.
o On Windows, work around an event-timing problem when the RGui
console was closed from the ‘X’ control and the closure
cancelled. (This would on some 64-bit systems crash R, typically
those with a slow GPU relative to the CPU.)
o On unix Rscript will pass the r_arch setting it was compiled with
on to the R process so that the architecture of Rscript and that
of R will match unless overridden.
These are the md5sums for the freshly created files, in case you wish
to check that they are uncorrupted:
MD5 (AUTHORS) = cbf6da8f886ccd8d0dda0cc7ffd1b8ec
MD5 (COPYING) = eb723b61539feef013de476e68b5c50a
MD5 (COPYING.LIB) = a6f89e2100d9b6cdffcea4f398e37343
MD5 (FAQ) = c82ec3aa971272312ca6f3f28c58d329
MD5 (INSTALL) = 37adac6d0fbadf25b5a40e3f7535415e
MD5 (NEWS) = 09e5c175b09d33e28023c655a11e9b8d
MD5 (NEWS.html) = c7dccfe18e943427b85e9ddd1c7ba46b
MD5 (ONEWS) = 0c3e10eef74439786e5fceddd06dac71
MD5 (OONEWS) = b0d650eba25fc5664980528c147a20db
MD5 (R-latest.tar.gz) = b2f1a5d701f1f90679be0c60e1931a5c
MD5 (README) = 296871fcf14f49787910c57b92655c76
MD5 (RESOURCES) = c7cb32499ebbf85deb064aab282f93a4
MD5 (THANKS) = 7a87321ccf0ecd2bece697e39dce5e67
MD5 (R-2/R-2.15.3.tar.gz) = b2f1a5d701f1f90679be0c60e1931a5c
—
Peter Dalgaard, Professor
Center for Statistics, Copenhagen Business School | {
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What does a real-life CEO have in common with the central figures of a fictitious Mafia crime family in The Godfather? According to Justin Moore, CEO and founder of Axcient, plenty. Moore is a serial entrepreneur, early-stage advisor, and angel investor. He’s currently at the helm of Axcient, a company he founded that provides backup, business continuity, and disaster recovery services to the small and mid-sized business (SMB) market. Right now, Axcient is protecting more than 2 billion files and applications for businesses across North America. Moore also happens to think that The Godfather is “one of the best movies ever made” and had a chance to watch it again when the film was aired extensively last week to mark the 40th anniversary of its premiere. Though a decade had passed since the last time Moore watched it, his recent viewing offered an unexpected reward. This time he found the film rife with teaching moments for CEOs running a business today. “I certainly don’t endorse crime or violence, and I’m not suggesting business should operate like the Mafia,” explains Moore, “but there are some universal themes in the movie I can relate to as a CEO.” Moore says The Godfather offers valuable lessons in community and team building, making tough decisions, and playing to win while not neglecting friends and family. Here are five essential leadership lessons Moore distilled for Fast Company. 1. Build a powerful community.
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Someday, and that day may never come, I’ll call upon you to do a service for me. ~Vito Corleone Uttered in the iconic rasp of Marlon Brando, the words of Vito Corleone illustrate how he creates a loyal community among those he has helped. Moore says, “By granting these favors and helping people with their problems, Vito Corleone is building a network of influence–relationships that may or may not deliver a specific or quantifiable return, but all which serve to strengthen his power base and which have the potential to be reciprocal in the long run.” Moore says building strategic partnerships enables companies to work through challenging markets and fast-track overall success. “As a CEO, I see it as part of my job to be a super connector, networking with the technology and investment community without an expectation of reciprocation. Partnerships forged through time, trust, and mutual benefit–such as those Axcient has built with HP, Ingram-Micro, and a vast network of service providers and resellers–are the types of community relationships that bring about the greatest returns.” 2. Hold people accountable. What’s the matter with you? I think your brain is going soft. ~Vito Corleone The Godfather reminds us of the importance of being tough when necessary. “As soon as Vito Corleone allowed a few moments of weakness to be seen by his enemy, they attempted to assassinate him. And it was largely because of failures of his team,” Moore observes.
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“In business, accountability isn’t achieved by a murderous rampage. But the lesson is this–to be successful in business you have to be tough, and you have to be extremely focused on hitting goals and getting results,” says Moore. That doesn’t mean patience and understanding don’t have a place, he says, but ongoing tolerance of low-performing people or products just eats away at the success of the entire company. “You are ultimately responsible for all of your employees and shareholders, and that requires tough and swift decisions. 3. Don’t get emotional. It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business. ~Michael Corleone “Many people don’t like to talk about the fact that in business, there are winners and losers. When Sonny Corleone reacts impulsively and emotionally, he gets taken out. In business, if you don’t take the opportunity to out-sell, out-bid, or out-market your competitor, they’ll take you out. I’m not suggesting doing anything outside the boundaries of morality or rightness–simply pointing out that when people make emotional decisions, they start making bad decisions. To lead successfully, you have to take your emotion and ego out of the equation.” Likewise, Moore says it’s important to play to win. In business, that translates to knowing the competition and always staying at least one step ahead. “Operate your business with integrity and have respect for competition, but you also need to seize opportunities to eliminate your competition and win.” 4. Be decisive.
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Moore says that he, like most people who appreciate The Godfather, watch the movie with a combination of shock and respect. “Shock because he is so ruthless that he kills his own family member, but respect for the fact that Don Corleone knows exactly what he wants, executes decisively, and commands respect through unwavering leadership.” While you don’t have to kill anyone to prove a point, as soon as you know what choice to make, move forward. “Know who on your team is making the right choices, and trust them to take decisive action as well. Hesitation too often leads to missed opportunities.” 5. Spend time with your family. Do you spend time with your family? Because a man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man. ~Vito Corleone Moore isn’t endorsing 1940s machismo, but he is decrying 100-hour workweeks that many entrepreneurs fall prey to in hot pursuit of the next big thing. Though he’s been dedicated like that in the past, Moore finds it’s not sustainable in the long run. “A leader can’t be successful in creative problem-solving and making excellent decisions unless that person is connected to people and passions outside of work. I find that it’s often time with family and friends that gives me the perspective I need to build the relationships and make the decisive actions required for continued success in business,” says Moore.
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The LAPD’s Twitter account for some reason posted a message that read “lapdWHITE SUPREMACISTS” today.
Yikes.
Per ABC7, the tweet was up for a few minutes before being taken down.
It’s unclear exactly what happened, whether it was a hack or if it was an error –– ABC7 reports officials said this was “not posted by staff” –– but they later tweeted this out:
We are aware that our #LAPD account was compromised and are taking the proper steps to resolve this issue. — LAPD HQ (@LAPDHQ) February 26, 2018
[image via screengrab]
— —
Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac
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When it comes to filling the soon-to-be-empty seat on the Supreme Court, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is playing hardball.
In a private meeting Wednesday, McConnell apparently told senior Republicans he may keep pushing back the confirmation vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh until right before the November midterms, sources tell Politico. Why? Because Democrats keep trying to surface the nominee's long paper trail, and McConnell, it seems, is sick of it.
Even before President Trump had announced his nominee to replace retiring Justice Anthony Kennedy, Democrats were dead-set on a strategy of resistance, warning Trump's pick could cement a conservative majority on the nation's highest court and spell disaster for issues like reproductive rights. Since then, Democrats have been requesting every piece of Kavanaugh's records in an attempt to find something they can use to fight his confirmation.
McConnell is apparently ready to retaliate. He's already canceled the Senate's August recess, and is looking to drain Democrats' campaign time even more by delaying Kavanaugh's confirmation vote, per Politico. The delay would mean red-state Democrats wouldn't be able to leave the Capitol and utilize valuable campaign time until the Kavanaugh vote, and his potential confirmation would serve them a crushing defeat just days before voters head to the polls.
If Democrats manage to flip the Senate this fall, that could give them the 50 votes they need to defeat Kavanaugh's nomination. But McConnell has already pledged to hold the vote before the midterms, even if it's at the very last minute. Kathryn Krawczyk | {
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Trump also lied about paying off two women who have alleged to have had sexual affairs with him. Initially, the president said he knew nothing about the payments. Later, he acknowledged learning about them. And Cohen later said in court that Trump had instructed him to make the payments, effectively implicating Trump in a crime—in an account implicitly backed by federal prosecutors.
Whether Trump formally committed the crime of obstruction of justice remains unlitigated, but he has fought relentlessly to undermine and block the Russia investigation, mostly recently in a tweet Friday morning saying, “The Witch Hunt, so bad for our Country, must end!” According to contemporaneous quotes from James Comey, Trump pressured the then–FBI director to drop an investigation into Flynn. He fired Comey after he declined to do so. He lambasted former Attorney General Jeff Sessions both publicly and privately for recusing himself from Russia-related matters and refusing to end the probe. He has threatened Mueller publicly and reportedly attempted to fire him. According to a recent Times story, Trump tried to have his handpicked U.S. attorney take over an investigation from the Southern District of New York. His cries of “witch hunt” have become so frequent that they barely penetrate the consciousness. By any plain-English definition, he has worked strenuously to obstruct a full accounting of his actions.
Taken together, these incidents paint a vivid and consistent portrait of a president who is chronically dishonest, does not respect the rule of law, is frantic to avoid being investigated, hires people without strong ethical bearings, and placed himself in a position to be compromised by Russia during the campaign. (This doesn’t even get into the chaos and mismanagement of his presidency, the many scandals of his Cabinet members, his boasting about sexual assault, his encouragement of attacks on the press, and any number of other offenses.)
Yoni Appelbaum: Impeach Donald Trump
Whether one believes that this merits impeachment, should simply guarantee that Trump is not reelected in 2020, or is entirely acceptable is largely a matter of personal taste and political allegiance. But if one is not already convinced that the president’s behavior is unacceptable, it would require an immense revelation to change one’s mind—if that’s even possible. Conversely, if one looks at these facts and believes they merit impeachment (or another sanction), then standing sentry for a nebulously timed, nebulously structured report hardly seems worth the effort.
One possible reason for the anticipation is the expectation that Mueller’s report will vindicate Trump—which the president is likely to claim no matter what it says. But as the preceding recitation of facts shows, it’s already far too late for vindication. Another reason for anticipation is the hope among Trump critics that a final smoking gun might emerge that will cause a substantial group of Republican members of Congress to break from Trump. There may well be bombshells in Mueller’s report, or in indictments between now and then; the special counsel has repeatedly shocked even close observers with new revelations and details. But the number of smoking guns already in plain sight make it hard to believe that a new one will have an effect on Trump’s GOP allies that the earlier ones haven’t.
Mueller’s report, or whatever version of it the public sees, will be an important document, whenever it emerges. But it needn’t, and probably won’t, radically change anything about the basic story. You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, and you don’t need a special counsel’s report to know what kind of president Trump is. | {
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Henderson police released body-worn camera footage Friday night of an officer shooting at a car that had just run over his foot. It was the first shooting by a Henderson police officer this year.
A screenshot from bodycam footage shows a Henderson police officer raising his gun to fire at a vehicle on August 12, 2018. (Henderson Police Department)
Henderson police respond after a shooting outside the Vons store in the 2600 block of Windmill Parkway, near Pecos Road, on Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018. (Max Michor/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Henderson police respond after a shooting outside the Vons store in the 2600 block of Windmill Parkway, near Pecos Road, on Sunday, Aug. 12, 2018. (Max Michor/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Henderson police released body-worn camera footage Friday night of an officer shooting at a car that had just run over his foot.
The shooting marked the first by a Henderson police officer this year.
The footage shows officer Eric Nielsen speaking with Larry Calvert, 27, in a grocery store parking lot of 2667 Windmill Parkway on Aug. 12, according to a Henderson Police Department release. Nielsen speaks with Calvert and Marcella Levia, 26, about 8:10 p.m. while they’re inside a 1998 Toyota Camry. Nielsen had approached them after noticing unspecified suspicious activity, the release said.
The body-worn camera footage was the first to be released by Henderson police as the department works to equip all of its officers with cameras by Sept. 1, spokesman Rod Pena said.
The video shows Nielsen as he determined Calvert gave false information about his identity. A second officer arrives, and Nielsen directs him to get behind the car.
“Am I arrested?” Calvert asks from the Camry’s driver’s seat.
“No, you’re not under arrest,” Nielsen replies. “Get your — if you take off, I’m gonna knock you the f—- out.”
Calvert starts the car, the release said, and the camera footage gets shaky as an altercation between Nielsen and Calvert ensues.
Calvert puts the Camry in reverse, which the release said pinned Nielsen between the open driver-side door and the car’s body.
The Camry ran over Nielsen’s foot as Calvert backed up the car, prompting Nielsen to fire three times at the car. The car also hit the second officer as it traveled in reverse, the release said.
The footage shows the Camry fleeing the scene as Nielsen appears to broadcast the vehicle’s license plate over the radio.
The officers sustained minor injuries and were treated at the scene.
Shortly before 5:30 p.m. Monday, a police task force found the Toyota on the 3000 block of Morning Wind lane in the northwest valley. A person who wasn’t involved in Sunday’s shooting left home in the car and was stopped by police. The driver told police that Levia and Calvert were in a home on Morning Wind.
The task force arrested Calvert on suspicion of battery with a deadly weapon against officers, police said.
Calvert was hospitalized with two gunshot wounds, police said. Levia, who was also hit by Calvert’s car, sustained survivable injuries, police said.
Nielsen is assigned to Henderson’s North Area Patrol Division and is on paid leave pending the investigation.
Contact Mike Shoro at [email protected] or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter. | {
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Manly half Kane Elgey has retired from the NRL aged 25 after falling out of love with the game.
Elgey made the announcement on Tuesday despite still having a year to run on his contract with the Sea Eagles.
Kane Elgey has announced his retirement from rugby league at the age of 25. Credit:AAP
"After months of consideration I have decided to officially retire from the NRL and move back home," Elgey wrote on his Instagram account. "I just know deep down I don't love it like I use (sic) to and when you lose that it's very hard to keep doing it at a high level."
Elgey debuted for hometown club Gold Coast in 2015 but the Australian Schoolboys representative's career stalled when he suffered an ACL injury in pre-season training before the 2016 campaign. | {
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MEXICO CITY—Last week, hundreds of gunmen from the Sinaloa cartel overpowered military forces in fighting that killed at least a dozen people, blocked the airport and major roads, and terrorized the city of Culiacán for hours until the Mexican government capitulated and freed the son of legendary drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán. There doesn’t seem to be an end to the bloodshed.
But authorities have finally figured out a way to end all the senseless violence that has plagued the country.
In a statement, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has announced that the Mexican government has hired Robert “Beto” O’Rourke to confiscate all the cartels’ guns.
“We are pleased to announce that our good gringo friend Robert ‘Beto’ O’Rourke will be single-handedly confiscating all the firearms possessed by the cartels,” Obrador said.
Mexico already has the some of the strictest gun laws on the planet. Unless the bearer has explicit authorization from the Secretariat of National Defense, it is illegal and punishable by law to enter Mexican territory with any firearm as well as to keep and carry any firearm on your person or vehicle at any time, anywhere.
They were just waiting for that miracle man Beto to take all the guns away for good and make the people obey the laws.
“Beto is our savior!” a witness said.
A fan of O’Rourkes in the US said, “Just you wait and see. He’ll take all the cartels’ guns and then everyone will know that his plans work and so they’ll vote for him in the US.”
Exavier Saskagoochie Exavier is an excellent writer—tremendous. He’s really very, very talented. And his hair is really great too. He should have a couple Pulitzers under his belt by now if there was any justice. If he brightened your day at all please consider buying him a coffee or a leg of mutton through this link! See author's posts | {
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De regering hield stand toen, het betwiste wetsontwerp werd in het parlement goedgekeurd en de staking bloedde dood. De democratische en parlementaire instellingen hadden dus gezegevierd. Het is inderdaad een belangrijk principe dat in een democratie, die steunt op een door de kiezers gekozen volksvertegenwoordiging, de meerderheid in het parlement, die dan ook de regering steunt, het laatste woord zou hebben.
Toch is dit standpunt enigszins formalistisch en niet zonder gevaar voor de sociale cohesie in de samenleving. We leven thans immers in een pluralistische samenleving. Een puur electorale democratie, waarbij de kiezers om de vier of om de vijf jaar worden opgetrommeld om hun stem uit te brengen, volstaat niet om in onze maatschappij een voldoende samenlevingsgevoel te genereren. De democratie moet ook participerend zijn en de burger de indruk geven en de overtuiging, dat ook hij er bijhoort.
Het volk wordt steeds meer vervangen door een bevolking waarvan een deel zich bevindt in een proces van integratie en gemakkelijk slachtoffer wordt of zich slachtoffer voelt van allerlei vormen van discriminatie. Sinds de val van de Berlijnse muur, net 25 jaar geleden, de implosie van het communisme en de explosie van de Sovjet-Unie kregen veel landen een democratisch electoraal systeem. Maar de ervaring wijst erop dat ze niet meteen worden omgetoverd tot een democratische samenleving. Dit vereist vrije meningsuiting en de vrijheid van vereniging, een onafhankelijk gerecht, toegang ook van de oppositie tot de officiële media, strijd tegen discriminaties en ongelijkheden.
Zelfs in onze eigen westerse democratieën dient hieraan bijna dagelijks de nodige zorg besteed. Het feit dat uit statistieken blijkt dat in veel landen een paar procent van de bevolking tot 40 à 50 % van de vermogens bezit is erg storend, ook voor het rechtvaardigheidsgevoel. De malaise wordt nog aangescherpt als blijkt dat zeer grote fortuinen en ook hoge bedrijfswinsten ontsnappen aan belastbaarheid omdat de betrokkenen erin slagen zeer gesofistikeerde fiscale ontwijkings mogelijkheden op te zetten. Belangrijk voor een democratie is ook sociaal overleg teneinde de voordelen van een markteconomie te corrigeren en te waken over een rechtvaardige spreiding van de welvaart. De nood hieraan lijkt momenteel ook in België intens te zijn geworden. | {
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Friskies will announce this morning that it is no longer just a cat food brand. It has larger catspirations, and is catapulting itself into a new category. It is to be the namesake of The Friskies, the first (and possibly annual) large-scale competition to name the Internet cat video of the year–including a $15,000 grand prize, and truckloads of cat food. The Nestlé Purina brand is speaking loudly, putting its money where its needle teeth and spiny tongues are and saying: I can has branding opportunity?
You can, Friskies. Though it’s amazing it took this long.
If a brand is a cat, the Internet is a small box to be squeezed into. It is dubstep to be danced to. A lime to be worn as a hat. And yet, while brands of all types have hijacked various Internet flotsam, established cat brands have been comparatively slow to try riding the Internet cat meme. Some don’t paw it at all; others do it clumsily. But many brands are at least now trying. The Internet cat is about to be colonized, and Friskies is carrying the catnip.
How new is this? Friskies only launched a Facebook page last spring. It followed that up with iPad games for cats (most involve a cat tapping at the screen); training a cat named Buddy to play the games and then pitting it against random college mascots; and a party at Austin’s SXSW Interactive, where it partnered with Cheezburger Network to unveil four sculptures of famous Internet cats–all made of cheese. But The Friskies contest is arguably the most ambitious: It’s overseen by a panel of celebrity judges (including Wayne White, original set designer for Pee Wee’s Playhouse), and come November 5, Friskies will have a cat-humor artillery of finalists to unload online.
Importantly, The Friskies will consider any cat video created in 2012 that its original creator submits. That is to say, cat owners don’t have to make content for Friskies; they just have to send in stuff they already made. Stuff that may have even already gone viral. It’s tough for a brand to invest in silly cat videos that may go nowhere, so this is a clever solution–a way to comfortably attach the Friskies name to Internet-tested material. So, I ask communications brand manager Shaun Belongie: That’s the point, right?
“One of the things we celebrate is that cats have this really vivid imagination,” says Belongie (a claim substantiated by the brand’s jaw-droppingly trippy “Feed the Senses” ads). “They experience the world differently. Cat videos, in a lot of ways, really do celebrate the imagination of cat owners and cats.”
Yes, yes. But you’re trying to boost the brand on the back of an Internet meme, right? | {
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This is because microbes are looking out for their own interests, says Athena Aktipis, assistant professor at Arizona State University’s department of psychology. And they’re good at doing this.
“The gut microbes that are best at surviving inside us end up being more frequent in the next generation. They have the evolutionary advantage of being better at affecting us in ways that get us to preferentially feed them,” she says. (Find out more about how microbes affect our bodies in our recent BBC Future series Microbes and Me).
Different microbes in our guts prefer different environments, such as more or less acidic, and what we eat affects the ecosystem in our guts and what’s available for the bacteria to survive on. They can manipulate us into eating what they need in a few different ways.
They can send signals from the gut to the brain via our vagus nerve and make us feel under the weather if we’re not eating enough of a certain nutrient, or make us feel good when we eat what they want, by releasing neurotransmitters such as dopamine and serotonin. They can also alter our taste receptors so we consume more of something to get the same taste of sweetness, for example.
No one has observed this happening yet, Aktipis says, but it’s based on scientists’ understanding of how microbes behave.
But, she adds, these microbes aren’t always necessarily signalling for us to eat things that are good for us. After all, some bacteria cause disease and death.
“There’s a notion that the microbiome is part of us, but if you have an infectious disease making you feel sick, you would say that microbe is invading your body, not that it’s part of your body,” she says. “You could be getting hijacked by an impaired microbiome.” | {
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Польский Сейм принял закон о запрете торговли по воскресеньям. Согласно нему с 1 марта 2018 года магазины будут работать только два воскресенья в месяце — в первую и последнюю неделю.
В последующие два года меры ужесточатся: с с 1 января 2019 года отовариваться в польских магазинах можно будет только в одно воскресенье в месяц, а в с первого дня 2020-го будет действовать полный запрет на торговлю по воскресеньям за исключением семи дней в году: два воскресных дня перед Рождеством, воскресенье накануне Пасхи, а также последние воскресенья в январе, июне и августе.
Работать во все выходные дни будут только кондитерские и цветочные магазины, кафе-мороженое и пекарни. Но только при одном условии: большую часть их ассортимента будут действительно занимать цветы, мороженое, кондитерские и хлебобулочные изделия.
Нарушителям запрета грозит немалый штраф — от 1 тыс. до 100 тыс. злотых (от 240 до 24 тыс. евро). За регулярное нарушение запрета — лишение свободы. | {
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On CNN Wednesday afternoon, 'Washington Post' columnist David Ignatius compares the shake-up of personnel on the Trump presidential transition team to the Night of the Long Knives, a 1934 purge of Hitler's personal enemies within the Nazi Party.
Ignatius said: "Well, I think there is kind of a 'Night of the Long Knives' quality as this Trump team sorts out who is going to be on top, who is going to have the president-elect's ear. Jared Kushner is a person who has a deep political personal history with Christie. I think there was general concern among the traditional foreign policy group in Washington when Mike Rogers, who was a key transition figure, former House Intelligence Committee chairman, a conservative Republican, but somebody who worked very hard to make his committee work, when he was removed, ousted from a key position over the weekend and others came into the center. I think the issue really is, are they going to have qualified, experienced people directing these most sensitive activities of the U.S. government or people who are less knowledgeable, less trustworthy."
Former Congressman Mike Rogers and N.J. Gov. Chris Christie were both removed from the Trump transition team this week, along with anyone who had any history as a lobbyist. | {
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Illustration by Michael Hogue
Jonathan Bernstein comments on the negative reviews of the Republican candidates’ foreign policy statements at the debate:
They’re not saying the Republican candidates are promoting foolish policies; they’re saying the entire debate, with only a handful of exceptions, was an exercise in fantasy.
The critics are right about the debate, but it’s not as if this is unusual for a presidential primary debate among mostly hawkish candidates. It certainly isn’t unusual for Republican foreign policy arguments over the last six years. It’s correct to say most of what the candidates said on Tuesday night was divorced from reality, but then most hawkish attacks on the administration’s record have been no different. Ever since it became popular to accuse Obama of going on an “apology tour” or to assert that he doesn’t believe in American exceptionalism (both of which date to his first year in office), Republican hawks have been railing against a mostly imaginary record. Even when there are genuine policy failures and horrible decisions that could and should be used against the president, hawkish critics have opted for the least credible and most preposterous lines of attack based on the fantasy record they have concocted. That makes them a fairly useless political opposition, and it guarantees that the real failings of our foreign policy don’t receive the scrutiny they should.
We can this most clearly in the complete failure to hold Obama accountable for his illegal war in Libya while being obsessed with the 2012 Benghazi attack that followed from that war. Hawkish interventionists couldn’t object to Obama’s decision to start a war (and many Republicans supported that war), but they were desperate to portray him as indifferent to terrorist threats, which is itself an extension of their need to see Obama as “retreating” from the world and blind to the dangers of jihadism. Many other examples are available. Almost all Republican presidential candidates fault Obama for withdrawing residual forces from Iraq and blame the growth of ISIS on the withdrawal. They always ignore that there was no way that U.S. forces could have stayed in Iraq without being put under Iraqi jurisdiction, and they definitely ignore that the original status of forces agreement was negotiated by the previous administration. They also ignore that Iraqis opposed a U.S. military presence and a new insurgency would probably have started if the hawks had had their way. If our reality doesn’t validate their “Obama chooses decline” and “weakness is provocative” beliefs, they have to imagine another one that does.
The reaction to the unobjectionable, modest New START may be the most telling example. Despite broad support for the treaty from the military and arms control experts, there was almost no Republican support for it in the Senate, and the critics used the most nonsensical arguments to justify their opposition. They latched on to a non-binding preamble as proof that the treaty limited missile defenses when the actual treaty contained no provisions related to this, and they complained that a strategic arms reduction treaty didn’t include tactical nuclear weapons. Mitt Romney went out of his way that year to make a fool of himself by repeating a number of ridiculous and discredited arguments against the treaty, which led Fred Kaplan to dub his attack on New START as “shabby, misleading, and thoroughly ignorant.” But this wasn’t just Romney demonstrating how little he knew. Romney was repeating the bogus objections that other hawks in his party were already making against the treaty. Besides, Obama wanted the treaty ratified, so Romney must have thought that he had to denounce it as one of the biggest sell-outs of all time. If that required making up silly reasons to oppose the treaty, so be it. The response to all this from his own party was to applaud, and later after Romney had lost the election the response was to pretend that Romney’s bad foreign policy arguments had been vindicated. A party that encourages the belief that “Romney was right” about anything important on foreign policy is one that has chosen not to take these issues seriously nor to deal with the world as it is.
I could go on for a while, but I’ll offer just one more example. Republican hawks treat is as an absolute certainty that Obama “missed an opportunity” for regime change in Iran during the Green movement protests. They are certain of this despite the fact that the protesters weren’t seeking regime change and couldn’t have achieved it even if they had been. The “opportunity” they claim that Obama missed never existed, but they insist that it was there for the taking all the same so that they can accuse Obama of “allowing” the Iranian regime to remain in power. It is one thing to complain that Obama didn’t respond to the protests as vocally as the hawks would like, but it is something else entirely to pretend that it was within Obama’s power to hasten the toppling of a foreign government by offering rhetorical support to protesters that didn’t want to overthrow their government. That is where the usual opposition carping about supposed presidential foreign policy failure crosses over into the realm of make-believe and absurdity. Unfortunately, that is where most Republican foreign policy arguments end up these days. That problem didn’t just start this cycle, it isn’t limited to the “outsider” and demagogue candidates, and it goes much deeper than most people in or out of the GOP would like to admit. | {
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