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Democrats see these one-on-ones with Merrick Garland as a key way to gain ground — however incremental — in their war of attrition over the Republican blockade. | Getty More Republicans agree to meet with Garland
At least two Senate Republicans plan to meet with Merrick Garland next week, suggesting there's momentum behind the Democratic campaign to pressure the GOP into at least one-on-one meetings with the Supreme Court nominee, if not an actual confirmation vote this year.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine had said during an interview with a Maine radio station earlier this week she will meet with Garland. And a spokesman for Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas said Thursday that he is planning one as well.
“My understanding is that is currently being worked out for next week,” Boozman spokesman Patrick Creamer said in an email.
Senate Republicans, who overwhelmingly say Garland’s nomination should not move forward this year, argue these meetings are purely a matter of courtesy. They point to the fact that only three GOP senators have called for hearings this year.
“The fact that after a month and a half of a sustained political campaign (and millions of dollars spent by MoveOn.org and other left-wing groups) and all they can point to is a handful of courtesy visits demonstrates that the special interests haven't succeeded in moving senators away from a principled decision,” said Don Stewart, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
But Democrats see these one-on-ones with Garland as a key way to gain ground — however incremental — in their war of attrition over the Republican blockade of Garland.
Other Senate GOP offices contacted Thursday indicated that they were in communication with the White House to set up meetings with Garland. For example, Sens. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Mike Rounds of South Dakota have been in touch with White House officials, aides said.
Meanwhile, the two Oklahoma Republican senators say they are both open to meetings, but the White House has not reached out to them. Garland has a unique tie to Oklahoma; he oversaw the investigation into the 1995 bombing in Oklahoma City.
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) "is willing to meet with Mr. Garland. But no meeting has been set up yet,” Lankford spokesman Darrell Jordan said Thursday. “We have not asked the White House for a meeting. We assume the White House will contact us to request specifics.”
An aide to Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), who is also willing to meet with Garland and has already spoken to him on the phone, said no meeting has been requested. A White House official said the White House legislative affairs office has reached out to both senators' offices in an attempt to schedule in-person meeting.
An aide said Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) is awaiting word from the White House on a meeting with Garland. She and other Republicans have said they would use the meetings to reiterate that filling the vacancy should wait until after the election.
Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, a moderate red-state Democrat, will also host a private sit-down with Garland; his meeting is scheduled for April 5.
So far, Garland — who was nominated March 16 by President Barack Obama to replace deceased Justice Antonin Scalia — has met with 10 senators. All have been Democrats, except for Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois.
And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) is not meeting with Garland after previously saying he’d be open to a meeting, even though he opposes the nomination.
“Senator Rubio will not be meeting with Judge Garland. He doesn’t believe the Senate should move on this nomination in the president’s final year, he wouldn’t support him, neither of these positions will change, and he sees no point in a meeting,” said a spokesman. | {
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COHOES — Two 911 calls made last year by the wife of Cohoes Mayor Shawn M. Morse confirm that she told a dispatcher she had been a victim of domestic violence and that her husband had grabbed her by the throat during a violent encounter at their city residence.
"What's going on there?" a dispatcher asked Brenda Morse, who called 911 on the morning of Nov. 10.
"I guess you could say domestic violence," Morse answered, her voice trembling with emotion.
The first call, which was made from a cell phone and relayed to a dispatcher in neighboring Rensselaer County, was disconnected. Moments later, when Morse dialed 911 a second time, she told the same dispatcher that police had yet to arrive at her residence and that "my husband is the mayor of the city."
"They're probably calling him because he smashed my phone, so I have no phone to get ahold of anyone," Morse said in the recording, which was obtained this week by the Times Union.
The female dispatcher, who had tried unsuccessfully to transfer Morse to a dispatcher in Albany County, asked her what had happened.
"We got into a fight and he — I have cuts on me because he pulled me by my throat to the ground because I went to grab my daughter's cell phone," Morse said before the call was disconnected a second time.
The recordings call into question statements Shawn Morse made last year in the wake of the incident, including his claim that his wife did not tell a dispatcher he had assaulted her or that she had sustained any injuries.
During a series of interviews with the Times Union a day after the incident, Morse said his wife had been setting up a new phone and mistakenly dialed 911. He also noted that under state law the recordings of her call to a dispatcher could not be made public.
At the time, the Times Union had reported information from a police report that indicated Brenda Morse had told a dispatcher that her husband had snatched her phone from her hand and smashed it when she dialed 911.
The report also noted that Brenda Morse had used a "911-only" mobile phone and told the dispatchers that her husband, "the mayor of Cohoes ... grabbed her by the throat and threw her to the ground, has scratches all over her and there's one child in (t)he residence."
That police record, as Shawn Morse later noted, had two inaccuracies: The phone Brenda Morse used to call 911 belonged to her youngest daughter, but it was only capable of dialing 911 because it had been disabled. Also, the couple's youngest daughter was not at the residence at the time Brenda Morse called 911, but the dispatcher had mistakenly assumed the daughter was present when Brenda Morse said she was using her daughter's phone.
Still, the calls confirm that Brenda Morse accused her husband of roughing her up.
"My wife never got hurt," Morse told the Times Union last November. "The 911 call (report) was riddled with inaccuracies. ... I never hit my wife in my entire life. ... Nobody got hurt. Nobody hit each other."
In response to questions about the incident on Thursday, Morse's attorney Joseph Ahearn provided copies of text messages that he said Brenda Morse sent to a friend of her husband's three days later, claiming the physical abuse never happened.
"I just wanted to embarrass him so he could feel the same pain I felt by him putting (their daughter in juvenile detention)," the text message reads. "Shawn has never put his hands on me, he's never hit me or choked me, he didn't break my phone, I just felt by saying those things it would embarrass him, I never thought I would hear him say he has to resign over this, I just can't believe what has happened."
According to a person familiar with the law enforcement investigation that ensued, Brenda Morse told investigators during a series of interviews that her husband had put her up to writing the text, which she said was sent to Michael Conners, the Albany County comptroller who is a close friend of Shawn Morse's.
She also sent a similar text to Cohoes assistant police Chief Thomas Ross. She told the investigators that her husband sat next to her and told her what to write in the text messages, and reminded her that his career as an elected official was in jeopardy if she didn't do it.
"The matter was referred to the New York State Police and the Albany County district attorney's office, who would have reviewed the 911 recording and interviewed Mrs. Morse," Ahearn said. "More than ten months later, no charges have been filed against Mr. Morse. Mr. Morse denies ever striking his wife."
Brenda Morse declined to comment for this story.
The couple are estranged. Brenda Morse discontinued a divorce proceeding she filed against her husband earlier this year in Albany County, but has recently retained a new attorney to revive the case.
The day after the November incident, Shawn Morse had what appeared to be a scratch on his left cheek near his eye when he attended an afternoon ceremony dedicating the Cohoes Veterans Memorial Park on Columbia Street.
Ross, the Cohoes acting police chief at the time, confirmed later that day that two patrol officers and a sergeant responded to Morse's residence for a 911 call. He said that Morse was not there when they arrived. A police captain, Todd Pucci, who is the mayor's close friend and also the public safety commissioner in the village of Altamont, also went to the residence and spoke to Morse.
Ross said Pucci did not take note of any injuries to Brenda Morse, and there were no signs of damage to the residence.
Pucci "said that everything on the (dispatcher's) report was discounted," Ross said. "No scratches, no choking. There was a little scratch on Shawn's face under the eye."
Ross, at the time, did not note that a domestic incident report filled out by one of the responding officers noted that Brenda Morse told police it wasn't the only time her husband had assaulted her, according to law enforcement sources briefed on the investigation.
When contacted a day after the November incident, Shawn Morse denied that his face was scratched, and he asked a reporter how he would know that. "I certainly don't have no scratches on my face," he said. When told the Times Union had photographed him during the park dedication ceremony, Morse still denied he had a scratch on his face.
He also vehemently denied there was any physical contact between him and his wife.
"My family's issues are none of your business," Morse said at the time. "My wife never said that I choked her."
"Nobody got hurt, everything is good," Ross said last year. "Unless I'm being hoodwinked, it looks clean. ... Because of it being the mayor, you want to do it right and you want to go by the numbers."
Two days later, under pressure from the Albany County district attorney's office, Cohoes police turned the case over to the State Police. Investigators with that agency later interviewed Morse and used a search warrant to seize his mobile phone.
No charges have been filed against Morse in connection with the incident, which the district attorney's office said remains under investigation.
"If there was any credibility to Brenda Morse's 911 call law enforcement would have arrested Shawn 10 months ago," Ahearn said. | {
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Chris Voigt loves his job. And, it seems, he loves potatoes, too. As executive director of the Washington State Potato Commission, Voigt has pledged to eat nothing but potatoes for two months.
No toppings. No sides. Just the wholesome goodness of 20 potatoes a day to meet his caloric needs, from Oct. 1 to Nov. 29.
"I want to show the world that the potato is so healthy that you could live off them alone for an extended period of time without any negative impact to your health," Voigt explained on his website.
You don't get that kind of commitment from the scallion commissioner, that no-good lackey. But to paraphrase the announcer before any Evel Knievel stunt, "Kids, don't try this at home."
Potatoes or nuts?
Much research has been conducted on potatoes, and the conclusion drawn by every medical doctor and nutritionist on the planet is that you have to be nuts to think you can live off of potatoes.
To Voigt's credit, his lighthearted stunt will educate the public about many healthy aspects of the potato: a decent and inexpensive source of vitamin C, vitamin B 6 , potassium, magnesium and, with the skin left on, dietary fiber.
Also, low-carb advocates are harsher on the potato than science allows them to be. Some potato varieties, prepared correctly, can be as healthy as the much-lauded whole grains. [7 Diet Tricks That Really Work ]
Voigt didn't enter this diet blindly. He told LiveScience he first consulted with a doctor and dietician to confirm he could go 60 days on just potatoes. You need healthy kidneys to process the excess potassium delivered by 20 potatoes a day. You also need a store of nutrients potatoes lack, such as vitamin A for proper vision, or else exit this diet blindly.
Potato vs. the world
The potato's charm is its mediocrity: It is a decent famine food, because it has modest amounts of many nutrients, as opposed to the so-called healthy orange, which just delivers vitamin C and some fiber. The United Nations has promoted the potato as a means to eliminate world hunger.
The problem is that potatoes have a high glycemic index, a measure of how quickly carbohydrates are absorbed into the bloodstream. Foods with a higher glycemic index — most notoriously, processed foods — are associated with weight gain, insulin resistance and diabetes.
Potatoes get worse with the typical preparation: mashed and served with butter or gravy, or fried and salted.
"Potatoes can be an excellent part of a healthy diet, but are not a healthy single source diet," said Barry Swanson, regents professor and interim director of the School of Food Science at Washington State University and University of Idaho, a guy who traverses the two states that produce about half of North America's potatoes. "The glucose release in the body is pretty large for most potato products since the starch is readily digestible."
This means the potato initially satisfies energy needs but, if that's your primary food source, leaves you hungry and tired a few hours later, Swanson said. Like all starches, the potato is most healthful when eaten with other vegetables.
A baked Russet has a glycemic index of 76. Most starches have a lower glycemic index, such as white rice (64), brown rice (55), lentils and beans (under 30) and barley (25), according to the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. Vinegar and cold storage lowers the glycemic index. A cold, boiled red potato has a glycemic index of 55.
For the record, Voigt told LiveScience his blood sugar level is in the mid-90s, slightly high but within normal range and actually lower than his pre-diet measurement.
Man doth not live by bread only
Can humans survive on any single food? A whale or other marine mammal might do the trick. Some Inuit have survived long periods entirely on meat, attaining vitamin C in muktuk, the skin and blubber of whales.
Surprisingly, potatoes offer a complete protein if you eat enough, over 10 per day. But you would ultimately encounter deficiencies in vitamins A, B 12 and E, and calcium and selenium if you keep to just potatoes. Potatoes are slightly toxic, too. The poison is in the stem and leaves, but trace amounts can be in greenish spots on the potato itself and can cause serious illness if you eat enough.
In eating any single vegetable, you are sacrificing nutrients. Soybeans, chickpeas, lentils, or carrots also provide a good range of nutrients. Subjective, yes. I welcome your suggestions.
Christopher Wanjek is the author of the books "Bad Medicine" and "Food At Work." His column, Bad Medicine, appears regularly on LiveScience. | {
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Expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar is accused of raping the Unnao woman in 2017.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday filed a charge-sheet accusing three men of gang-raping a woman from Uttar Pradesh's Unnao in 2017, days after she was raped allegedly by expelled BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar.
The CBI said the woman was raped by the men on June 11, 2017, when she was a minor, a week after she was allegedly raped on June 4 by Kuldeep Singh Sengar at his residence.
Kuldeep Sengar is currently in jail, awaiting trial. The woman, who was critically injured in a car crash - which is also under investigation - earlier this year, was recently released from hospital and has alleged a threat to her life.
The charge-sheet in the gang rape was filed before District Judge Dharmesh Sharma in Delhi's Tiz Hazari court.
The court listed the case for October 10 after the investigative agency sought time to file additional documents and a list of witnesses to be examined.
The CBI has named three people as accused in the charge-sheet - Naresh Tiwari, Brijesh Yadav Singh and Shubham Singh. All three are out on bail.
According to the charge-sheet, the three had allegedly kidnapped and gang-raped the woman a week after the June 4 incident.
Shubham Singh is the son of Shashi Singh, who had allegedly lured the woman to the MLA's residence on June 4 and is a co-accused in that case.
The mother of the rape survivor, meanwhile, had her statement recorded before the same court, in the murder case of her husband in judicial custody.
Her husband was allegedly assaulted and framed in a case of illegal possession of firearms. Kuldeep Sengar and his brother Atul Sengar were charged for his murder in August this year.
The case made international headlines after the rape survivor tried to commit suicide outside Yogi Adityanath's home. The next day, April 9, 2018, her father died while in custody at a local hospital.
(With inputs from PTI) | {
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It is incredibly difficult to predict how a player will fit in with a new team. Don’t believe me? Let me ask you this, how did you feel about Brandon Marshall going to the Jets last season? I can’t think anyone out there would have predicted that he would rack up 1500 yards and post a career high in touchdowns.
While there were no elite quarterbacks or receivers to change teams this offseason, these players will have a huge impact on their new team and some of them will end up on your fantasy roster.
Quarterbacks
Brock Osweiler – Texans
First thing first, I need to address the mishandling of nicknames that I have heard thrown around for this guy. I could have lived with “Brocket Launcher,” and anything is better than “Brock Lobster.” The Broncos eventually settled on “The Brockweiler.” If you are looking to incorporate his name into the nickname it’s not terrible I guess. However, a true miscarriage of justice has taken place that Edward Cullen (Robert Pattinson) from The Twilight Saga wasn’t worked into it somehow. I don’t even know the exact name I was looking for, but when there is a such a strong resemblance it is a shame to waste it. Hopefully the Texans take advantage of this golden opportunity.
My initial reaction was to automatically dismiss Osweiler as a viable fantasy option at the quarterback position. After doing some digging, I have to admit that he has a chance. Last season, Hoyer, who has half the arm talent that Osweiler possesses manged to throw multiple touchdown passes in seven of the 11 games he played. Hoyer played a terrific five-week stretch from Week 4 to Week 8, in which he scored 17+ fantasy points in each game. My motto is: “if Hoyer can do it…”
If you aren’t sold on Osweiler’s talent look no further than his MNF performance against a tough Bengals defense. He completed 69% of his passes for 299 yards and a score.
69% is no laughing matter, and it certainly wasn’t a fluke when you take into consideration that he completed 61%+ of his passes in four of his final five starts. The accuracy is there. With throws like this, I don’t think his arm strength can be questioned either.
I am not a huge Bill O’Brien fan, but I do think he does a tremendous job with his quarterbacks. I anticipate that he will get the most from Osweiler’s talents. Having an elite receiver in DeAndre Hopkins to throw the ball too certainly doesn’t hurt.
Robert Griffin III – Browns
Sports are funny. Just when every single person in the world counts a team or player out they occasionally rise from the ashes. The smoldering ashes I speak of are RGIII’s career and the Cleveland Browns franchise.
The Browns are advertising an open competition between Griffin, Josh McCown, and rookie Cody Kessler for the quarterback spot. Most believe that it is Griffin’s job to lose, which he has done before.
For me personally, the intrigue surrounding RGIII has worn off. He had a great rookie season. This was thanks in large part to being the perfect fit for a scheme that NFL defenses had not yet caught up to. Unfortunately for Griffin, the defense always finds a way to catch up. The read-option offense isn’t sneaking up on any defenses in 2016 and I don’t see him evolving, especially in Cleveland.
Wide Receivers
Marvin Jones – Lions
Jones signed a 40 million dollar contract to join the Lions this offseason. Not a bad haul for a guy who posted 65/816/4 last season. Keep in mind, these numbers were achieved being the second and sometimes third option in an offense that threw the ball fewer times than only six other teams in the league.
Jones comes to Detroit and will work in tandem with Golden Tate to try to fill the void left by the retired Calvin Johnson. I don’t see this situation being defined as a #1 and #2 receiver, but rather two guys who specialize in different things that will compliment each other. Tate will continue to work as the slot receiver, while Jones will do a good portion of his work outside of the numbers. Jones will likely see a career high in targets this season, which should translate into career high numbers. 1000 yards and six touchdowns is a reasonable expectation.
Mohamed Sanu – Falcons
Sanu is the classic case of a player who is much more valuable in the “real” game than he is in fantasy football. His career stats don’t dazzle the eye, but he does the little things that help a team win football games. First off, he is a mauling blocker that helped spring 10-15 yard runs into huge chunk plays. Secondly, he is a chain mover. Over half of his receptions last year resulted in first-downs. I think what Falcon’s fans will appreciate most about Sanu is how tough he is after the catch. Last season, he averaged 6.4 yards after the catch. To put that number in perspective former teammates A.J. Green and the previously mentioned Marvin Jones averaged 3.6 and 4.5. Another wrinkle that Sanu brings to the table is his trick-play versatility.
Happen to notice who this play came against? That is almost 60 yards dropped in a bucket.
Although there are many Falcons fans that think they overpaid for him, having a swiss-army-knife type player like Sanu can be quite valuable.
Travis Benjamin – Chargers
I don’t know who the fastest player in the NFL is, but Travis Benjamin is the near the top of the list. I had hopes of him landing in a spot with a big-arm quarterback where 50+ yard receptions would be a regular occurrence.
Instead, he landed in San Diego playing with a quarterback who looks like he is heaving a shot put. Although it’s not pretty, Rivers has been one of the best in the game for the last 10 years. Last year, Benjamin played with three different quarterbacks. He won’t have to worry about that this year. Rivers has been an iron-man. He has played in all 16 games for 10 straight seasons. Although Rivers might not be the strong-armed quarterback I envisioned Benjamin linking up with, he cranks out the yardage and has turned mediocre talent into consistent fantasy producers. It will be interesting to see what he can do with Benjamin and his elite speed.
Rishard Matthews – Titans
The Titans are doing their best to surround Mariota with a strong supporting cast. They completely overhauled the backfield and added Matthews to the receiver group. In Miami, Matthews showed flashes of his potential. Last year, he was the hot waiver claim after his Week 2 performance of six receptions for 115 yards. He put a smile on the face of the owners who picked him when he erupted for 113 yards and two touchdowns the following week. He played in seven more games, before a rib injury cut his season short. Although he didn’t have any other big games, he was productive having over 50 yards receiving in five of those seven games.
The Titans offense has my interest peeked for this season. With Murray and Henry they should be pounding defenses. In the passing game, Delanie Walker will likely be the top target again. There is some buzz surrounding second year man Dorial Green-Beckham as a breakout candidate. Possession receiver Kendall Wright is still in the fold as well. Matthews will have a role on this team, but it is unlikely for him to make a fantasy impact.
Mike Wallace – Ravens
This is a perfect match. If Wallace doesn’t make it work in Baltimore, he isn’t going to make it work anywhere. His specialty has always been straight-line speed. Fortunately for him, one of Joe Flacco’s calling cards is the ability to throw the deep ball.
Torrey Smith, who has a similar skill-set to Wallace posted four consecutive seasons of 750+ yards, including a 1128-yard season in 2013. I don’t foresee Wallace having a season that big, but he is someone I wouldn’t mind taking a late-round gamble on.
Brandon LaFell – Bengals
What was wrong with Brandon LaFell last year? He looked lost running routes and then when he actually did get to the right spot he couldn’t make the play. Brady has made any receiver he has ever played with look good, but not even he could work his magic on LaFell last season.
Sometimes a change of scenery can make all the difference. LaFell will likely compete with rookie Tyler Boyd for a starting role thanks to the departure of Jones and Sanu. It is an explosive offense, but I don’t think there are enough footballs to go around to make LaFell anything more than a bye-week replacement.
Rueben Randle – Eagles
Randle was sneaky good in 2015 finishing the season with 797/8. At just 25 years old there is still time for improvement. Speaking of improvement, second year man Nelson Agholor will need to make a giant leap from year one to two if he wants to be on the field. If Randle can beat out Agholor and fellow free agent Chris Givens he could post a similar yardage total but I would anticipate the touchdown number to dip.
Check back next week when I take a look at the key moves at the running back and tight end position.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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Major League Fantasy Baseball Show: Join Corey D Roberts on Sunday May 22nd, 2016 from 7-9pm EST for this week’s episode of the Major League Fantasy Baseball Radio Show. We are a live call in radio show so we encourage callers at 323-870-4395 . Press 1 to speak with the host. Every week we will do a quick recap of Fr-Sat games, and a forecast of Monday through Thursday’s games.
Our guests this week are Lenny Melnick and Zak Sauer. Lenny Melnick is a fantasy baseball legend and a pioneer in the business. He is credited with starting the very first fantasy baseball show in 1993 along with Irwin Zwilling and Sandy Stolle. He also has a website which you can find at lennymelnickfantasysports.com where you can find all his work, and it is a great overall free community. Zak is a writer with majorleaguefantasysports.com, a co-host of our Saturday football shows starting June 4th, and the co-host of Sports Buffet’s radio show “Sports Talk” every Monday with Lou Landers.
“You can find our shows on I-Tunes. Just search for Major League Fantasy Sports in the podcasts section. For Android users go to “Podcast Republic,” then download that app, and search for “Major League Fantasy Sports Show”
________________________________________________________________________
(Click the Red link below to listen)
Major League Fantasy Baseball Weekly: Join Lou Landers and Kyle Amore live on Thursday May 19th, 2016 from 8-10pm EST for episode #14 of Major League Fantasy Baseball Weekly. This will run every Thursday as a live broadcast that will take live callers at 323-870-4395. Press 1 to speak with the host. Our Thursday night show will do some weekly recaps, player updates, and preview the coming week-end games.
Our guests this week are Hernan Batista and Bryan Luhrs. Bryan is the owner of Real Deal Dynasty Sports, a writer with MLFS, and a key member of our organization. Hernan is a frequent guest on our radio shows and an owner in MLFB1 and MLFB2.
You can find our shows on I-Tunes. Just search for Major League Fantasy Sports in the podcasts section. For Android users go to “Podcast Republic,” then download that app, and search for “Major League Fantasy Sports Show”
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guns.JPG
Shooting range at Larry's Pistol and Pawn in Huntsville, (Challen Stephens / [email protected])
Alabama, unlike the rest of the country, is experiencing a second run on guns.
While most Southern states have seen interest recede to 2012 levels, FBI firearm background checks soared across Alabama this fall.
The spike follows a new Alabama law, adopted on Aug. 1, which allows 18- to 21-year-olds to apply for concealed carry permits. The same law also limits the ability of sheriffs to deny such permits. But gun sellers say they don't see a direct connection to the law, beyond publicity and awareness.
"I think maybe it's more of the guns that were hard to get are back in," said Larry Barnett, owner of Larry's Pistol & Pawn in Huntsville. Nearby, a team of roughly a dozen employees were busy helping shoppers choose guns early on a Friday morning.
He said his store never saw a slowdown, other than the normal seasonal change for summer weather. "Gun sales go down. People don't shoot as much."
Alabama had led the entire nation late last year, seeing a 145 percent jump in FBI background checks after President Obama won re-election and after the Sandy Hook shooting.
By summer, sales appeared to level off. The number of background checks in Alabama fell to roughly 28,000 in June, marking the lowest total on the year. That number was up just 7 percent over June of last year. It seemed the rush was over in Alabama.
But it turns out this fall Alabama is once again leading the nation when it comes to buying guns.
Alabama saw 55 percent more background checks in August of 2013 than August of 2012. Only Utah saw a slightly bigger rise year-over-year at 58 percent for August. No other states came close to those two.
Most states – including neighbors like Louisiana, Georgia and Mississippi – went in the opposite direction, seeing fewer background checks in August of 2013.
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Brad Williamson, who owns Quint's Sporting Goods in Saraland near Mobile, said he thinks the sales are simply a continuation of gun-buying that started five years ago after Obama's first election.
"We're a gun culture. We love our guns," Williamson said. "My customers seem to be very in tune with politics. They're scared, really. ... I can't pinpoint it down to a specific law."
Every single state saw an increase in background checks after Obama's re- election. But the nationwide run on guns lost momentum in most places. More than half of the states saw fewer background checks this August than August of last year. Same goes for September.
Alabama's buying frenzy after Obama's re-election stretched well into March. But buyers eventually encountered picked-over selections and jacked-up prices. Alabama gun stores ran out of ammunition and had to begin limiting purchases per customer.
In August, the new state law kicked in. In August, background checks surged.
The new state law included a little provision asking sheriffs to run the the FBI checks for permits, which Chief Deputy Chris Stephens in Madison County said some sheriff departments may not have relied on before. He said that would explain some of the increase. But he called it part of a "perfect storm."
Stephens, like gun shop owners, said there remains widespread concern
about possible gun control restrictions.
And Stephens, also agreeing with gun shop owners, said publicity over the state law is driving increased interest in guns, as background checks were already up 24 percent in July, before the new provision took effect.
Plus, pistol permit applications themselves also rose year-over-year for August and for September.
Nelson Wingo, who owns Campbell Hardware and Sporting Goods in Robertsdale, still looked to federal influences over state law. He said he thinks Obama has helped sales nationwide. But he said he doubts sales will continue at the same pace.
"I'm assuming it will level off unless there's another big emergency in the country," he said. "People are still afraid. They don't know what this administration is going to do."
But in Alabama, checks continue to climb.
The FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System, or NICS, requires licensed gun sellers to call and check that a customer doesn't have a criminal background or isn't otherwise ineligible to buy a gun. The data is not a perfect match with sales, as states have different requirements and some customers are denied. And approved individuals can buy more than one firearm.
But FBI checks do indicate interest in buying firearms.
And background checks in Alabama rose 63 percent for September over September of last year.
Only one state saw a bigger jump than Alabama. Maryland saw a staggering 421 percent increase in background checks in September, as buyers scrambled to stay ahead of the restrictive Maryland Gun Safety Act, which took effect on Oct. 1.
For comparison, California finished a distant third, with just a 32 percent increase in September 2013 over September 2012.
Meanwhile, background checks are falling year-over-year in states like Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Nebraska, Maine and West Virginia. Most Southern states, other than Florida and Alabama, are seeing relatively flat numbers this fall.
Barnett and other gun shop owners pointed out that, while they can apply for a concealed carry permit, teenagers and 20-year-olds still cannot buy pistols. "I can't sell a handgun to anyone under 21," said Barnett.
When shown the increase in pistol permits and background checks, Barnett suggested that the new state law may have created a greater awareness. And the publicity itself could have led to the spike.
Barnett also said that he believes many people buy guns as an investment, saying firearms hold value or rise in value over time. "The last five years there's just been a gun run," said Barnett, saying manufacturers have had to expand operations to meet national demand.
One of the many busy clerks at Larry's on a Friday morning bagged up about 15 boxes of assorted ammunition for a man in a polo and prescription sunglasses. "Anything else?" she asked.
"Not unless you can issue a loan," he joked.
Staff writer Brendan Kirby contributed to this report.
Updated at 12:10 p.m. with comment from Chief Deputy Chris Stephens.
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There has been a systematic effort by the western media, international business bodies and their trade proxies to malign India. Perhaps the biggest pressure came from the US, both by the government and trade and business organisations. <br /><br />
On Monday, an innocuous Reuters report from Zurich said that the Kolkata patent office has partly revoked "patents granted to Roche Holding for its breast cancer drug Herceptin."
For breast cancer patients and health activists, this could have been music to ears because Herceptin, which is Roche's brand name of a compound Trastuzumab, is a wonder-drug that is not only a significant life-saver, but also is highly effective against the spread of malignancy related to breast cancer to the other parts of the body.
So far, there is no other drug against HER2-positive cancer, which is an aggressive form that is widely prevalent among young women in India and elsewhere, with such efficacy. It can be administered alone, along with chemotherapy and after surgery. In many cases, it even helps avoid surgery, which many find disfiguring.
But, unfortunately the report from Zurich, attributed to multinational drug major Roche, which makes Herceptin, is misleading and is most likely aimed at maligning India.
What in reality happened was the Kolkata patent office dismissed two "divisional" applications, that it had filed on top of its original patent application for the drug, for procedural reasons. The patent on Herceptin or Trastuzumab is intact, and the drug will continue to be priced exorbitantly.
Divisionals are supplementary applications that claim improvements on the original drug filed by crafty drug companies to extent their patent-periods.
Now, read the rest of the report from Zurich to understand the mischief:
"The decision is the latest in a series of rulings on intellectual property and pricing in India that have frustrated attempts by Western drugmakers to sell their medicines in the country's fast-growing drugs market."
The message is not new and has been heard from Obama's men and women in Washington DC, European capitals and MNC boardrooms: India doesn't respect intellectual properties and innovation. They are copycats.
This language against the country's "disrespect" for intellectual property rights is part of an increasing, organised and West-backed chorus by MNCs against India, whereas the reality is that the country is strictly within its rights to revoke patents of drugs to "protect public health" under the Doha Declaration on the TRIPS agreement.
This anti-India campaign has been gaining momentum since India broke the patent of an obscenely priced cancer drug called Nexavar early last year. The price of the drug fell from Rs 2.8 lakh to Rs 6000 and also led to cascading prices of a few other cancer drugs.
Since then, there has been a systematic effort by the western media, international business bodies and their trade proxies to malign India. Perhaps the biggest pressure came from the US, both by the government and trade and business organisations.
"Administrative and court rulings have repeatedly ignored internationally recognised rights - imposing arbitrary marketing restrictions on medical devices and denying, breaking or revoking patents for nearly a dozen lifesaving medications," said a strong letter to Obama signed by heads of 17 trade and business organisations that was aimed to arm-twist India.
Its language sounded as if India was violating international law whereas it was strictly operating within multilateral treaties.
The same lobby, including the western media, played the same game while reporting on the recent punitive action by FDA against Indian generic major Ranbaxy. In almost all the western media stories, the sub-text was a lawless generic anarchy in India, which doesn't respect intellectual property rights. The Ranbaxy debacle was an additional launchpad for new attacks against India's drug scene.
Let's come back to Herceptin or Trastuzumab. The real story is that the patent is fit to be revoked for two reasons:
One, as the Cancer Patients Aid Association argues, India was wrong in granting patent to the drug because it was a pre-1995 drug. According to the Indian patent law, amended in 2005, drugs that existed before 1995 are not patentable.
Two, the huge breast cancer burden amongst women in India (23 per 100,000 and 90,659 annual deaths) makes it a public health emergency. When there is an extremely efficient drug available that the majority of people cannot access because of its exorbitant price (Rs 6-8 lakhs for a full course), India is well within its rights to issue a compulsory license to local manufacturers who can make its generic versions. A generic version should not cost more than 10 per cent of the original price. Indians, and even a vast majority of people in the US, are alive only because of generics.
Noting the seriousness of the situation, in January, the government had reportedly begun steps to issue compulsory licenses on Trastuzumab and two other cancer drugs (Dasatinib and Ixabepilone). In November 2012, the Campaign for Affordable Trastuzumab, a citizens' collective, wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister, signed by around 200 cancer survivors, women's groups, human rights and health rights campaigns and treatment activists from around the world, urging the government to make the drug affordable and freely available to patients.
"Drug companies are holding our health hostage to their greed for profits" said Kalyani Menon-Sen, coordinator of the Campaign. "Roche should not be allowed to get away with such predatory prices. Courts and other authorities like the Competition Commission must take suo moto action against Roche for abusing its dominant position in the market." She also called on Indian manufacturers to expedite the production of bio-similars (generic version) of Trastuzumab.
It's in this context that Roche has been misleading the world that the Patent office in Kolkata has partially lifted the patent, ostensibly to generate pre-emptive pressure against India. The US and MNC lobbies have been able to slow down the momentum to free more life-saving drugs following the revocation of the patent on Nexavar.
The UPA government, which had indicated a pro-people sentiment early last year, has now developed cold feet under pressure from the US and others. Had it continued to pay attention to the health-security of its people, Herceptin should have been out of patent and some local company should have been making it for a few thousand rupees by now.
In June this year, YK Sapru of the Cancer Patient Aid Association wrote to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry asking for a revocation of the patent under Section 66 of the Patents Act. Strangely, the government's answer was that it couldn't do anything now because a local drug company (Glenmark) had filed a post grant opposition against the patent. Since it was still pending, the DIPP couldn't act on the cancer patients appeal.
But what the government did not say was why it was sitting on Glenmark's petition for five years! At present, it is an useful ruse to keep the Trastuzumab/Herceptin patent going.
Additionally, the DIPP also says that its decision will depend on the applications by generic manufacturers to make bio-similars of Trastuzumab. Doesn't the DIPP know that no company will make such an effort unless there is an indication that it's likely to issue a compulsory license.
Ideally, the government could have revoked the patent either based on Glenmark's opposition (because granting patent to a pre-1995 drug was erroneous) or on the request of the Cancer patients, had it been serious of its people's health.
Given the huge burden of breast cancer on women in India - in terms of massive treatment costs, morbidity and mortality - it's indeed shocking that the UPA government is dragging its feet on its legitimate right to ask Roche to take a walk and allow local companies to make it.
Unlike many other drugs that have been generically manufactured, making Trastuzumab through an alternative route is not easy because it's a biotechnology drug and a parallel process will take a lot of efforts and money. Unless the government gives a clear indication that it's planning to issue a compulsory license, no Indian company will invest in making its generic version. Thousands of our women will continue to go bankrupt, suffer and die.
It's such a shame that in its quest for the elusive FDA and anxiety over current account deficit, the UPA government is consistently forfeiting its citizens' right to survive. As former IMF, World Bank and United Nations "experts" make a beeline to enter India's policy sphere, it will certainly reach more alarming levels. On top of that, the Swadeshi lobby had been hijacked by a coterie of right-wing economists, accountants and columnists.
We, particularly the poor and middle class of India, are certainly in for hell. | {
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英国などが、ロシアによる世界規模でのサイバー攻撃を非難する声明を発表/Photo Illustration: Getty Images / Shutterstock / CNN
（ＣＮＮ） 英国、オーストラリア、ニュージーランドの当局者は４日に声明を出し、ロシアの諜報部が世界的な戦略として「悪意のある」サイバー攻撃を展開していると非難した。
英国のハント外相は声明で、同国のサイバーセキュリティーセンターが突き止めた事実として、ロシア軍参謀本部情報総局（ＧＲＵ）の工作員が複数のサイバー攻撃に関与していると発表した。これらの攻撃により、世界経済は数百万ドル規模の損失を被ったとされる。
オーストラリアとニュージーランドも同様の声明を出し、それぞれの情報機関を通じて複数のサイバー攻撃にロシアが関わった証拠をつかんだと主張。政治、ビジネス、メディア、スポーツに関連する各組織が標的になったという。
３カ国が言及したサイバー攻撃には、２０１６年米大統領選に先駆けて行われた民主党全国委員会を狙ったものや、１７年にウクライナ国内の都市交通機関に仕掛けられたランサムウェア（身代金要求型不正プログラム）、１６年に世界反ドーピング機関（ＷＡＤＡ）から各国代表選手に関する機密ファイルを盗んで公開した件などが含まれる。
ハント英外相は「ＧＲＵの行動は無鉄砲で見境がない。他国の選挙への妨害や介入を試みるほか、ロシアの企業と市民に損害を与えることさえいとわない」と強調した。
英国などによる今回の非難に対し、ロシア政府から返答はない。ただ米大統領選への介入問題などサイバー攻撃をめぐる一連の疑惑の多くについて、同国の指導者らは一貫して否定する立場をとっている。 | {
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The only way for Daniel Jones to mount a serious challenge this summer to overtake Eli Manning for the Giants’ starting quarterback job is for him to arrive at his first NFL training camp and put on a show. Before he can do that, he must sign his contract. Jones is one of five first-round picks around the league yet to come to terms.
There is no cause for alarm, even though the clock is ticking. Jones is scheduled to report Monday, when all rookies and select veterans report to camp. Two days later, the entire roster arrives and the first practice is set for July 25.
Jones is expected to be there on Monday with all the other rookies. At that time (or prior to that), he is expected to sign a four-year deal that will pay him $25.5 million, with $16.6 million in guaranteed money. That is the financial slot Jones occupies as the No. 6 overall pick in the draft, a slot that almost never gets altered when it comes to dollars and cents. What most likely is holding up the agreement is language in the contract — language that figures to get cleared up in time for Jones to hit the field along with his new teammates.
A year ago, running back Saquon Barkley arrived as the Giants’ No. 2 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft and signed his four-year, fully guaranteed $31.2 million deal the day he reported.
Another Giants player, outside linebacker Oshane Ximines, also is one of the nine unsigned players from the late-April draft. Ximines, a third-round pick (95th overall) from Old Dominion, is a pass-rush prospect. He will receive a four-year deal worth $3.3 million, with around $880,000 in guaranteed money.
Other than Jones, the unsigned first-round picks are No. 2 Nick Bosa (49ers), No. 3 Quinnen Williams (Jets), No. 5 Devin White (Buccaneers) and No. 16 Brian Burns (Panthers).
“I think for everyone, training camp is the next opportunity to improve as a player,’’ Jones said last month. “I am looking forward to that and to getting back and taking those steps. I think everything will be ramped up a little bit in training camp. I think that’ll be the next step in the process and the next step to improve.’’
Coach Pat Shurmur, following the Giants’ offseason program, stressed Manning is the starter, but did not dismiss Jones as a backup with no chance to supplant the veteran.
It was no secret the Giants had keen interest in Jones, but his selection by general manager Dave Gettleman so high in the draft was widely criticized as a reach. Jones, a Manning look-alike from Duke, was impressive in the spring, showing athleticism and a stronger arm than advertised.
“I think I have certainly made progress and am a lot closer than I was the first week of [organized team activities],’’ Jones said. “I think that is positive. As far as am I ready … I am not sure. I have never played. I am improving and making progress.’’ | {
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Grit City Trees is the City of Tacoma’s free street tree giveaway program, and applications for the 2019 season are being accepted now through Tuesday, Aug. 13, for individuals and Friday, Sept. 6, for group applications. The goal of the program is to increase tree canopy and beautify neighborhoods through community building by providing free street trees to Tacoma homeowners who are interested in planting in the right-of-way.
Individuals can submit applications; however, residents are encouraged to work with their neighborhoods to apply for trees as a group. Successful neighborhood group applications are eligible to have trees delivered in October. For those with successful individual applications, trees will be available for pick up at the City nursery in the fall.
Interested residents must fill out the Grit City Trees application form and the corresponding tree care agreement must be signed by all participating property owners. These trees are for planting in the right-of-way only and species availability is limited.
For more information, visit cityoftacoma.org/GritCityTrees, contact [email protected] or call (253) 502-2138.
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There have been a lot of stories going around about the World of Warcraft movie from who will be directing the project, to who will be starring in it. It was initially claimed that Sam Raimi would be at the helm but since he left to do his Wizard of Oz prequel it was believed he would no longer be involved.
James Cameron Mark Hildenbrandt would be set to star as Varian Wrynn and that is looking ever more likely. was the next name to be suggested , however he seems to be very busy with his Avatar sequels, so that now looks unlikely. Then there were claims thatwould be set to star as Varian Wrynn and that is looking ever more likely.
Now it has been suggested that Friends With Benefits actress Mila Kunis , who has confessed she is obsessed with the game, is set to appear in World of Warcraft the movie. It is believed that Mila will play the character Valeera Sanguinar but there have also been rumours that she could play Lady Jaina Proudmoore.
It has previously been reported that the World of Warcraft film is set to be released in 2013. However, with 2012 fast approaching and production not yet ready to begin on the movie, that date now looks unlikely. Don’t expect to see World of Warcraft the movie anytime before 2014 but do expect an amazing experience. | {
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Suggestions Thread?
I think -25 mood debuff isn't enough, I know that whenever I'm forced to eat without a table I'm halfway to the noose before I snap out of it. Guaranteed mental breaks would add to the realism I think, as well as potentially reducing relations with other factions for this heinous act of pure evil that you've thrust upon your poor colonists. | {
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Brasília
O presidente Jair Bolsonaro criticou nesta quinta-feira (11) a autonomia das universidades federais e disse que tem evitado nomear reitores que tenham relação com partidos de esquerda.
Em café da manhã com a bancada evangélica, no Palácio do Planalto, ele afirmou que "coisas absurdas" têm ocorrido nos campi universitários, que viraram, segundo ele, "terras deles".
A autonomia das universidades é garantida pela Constituição Federal. Nos últimos meses, o governo federal reteve a nomeação de reitores, escolhidos em listas tríplices. A motivação teria sido política.
"Coisas absurdas têm acontecido dada a autonomia das universidades", disse. "Ali virou terras deles, eles que mandam", acrescentou.
O presidente disse ainda que, em algumas listas tríplices, há nomes do PT, do PCdoB e do PSOL e, segundo ele, "não tem como fugir".
"É do PT, do PCdoB ou do PSOL. Agora, o que puder fugir, logicamente pode ter um voto só na eleição, mas estamos optando por essa questão", disse.
Durante o encontro, o presidente ouviu uma crítica de um integrante da bancada evangélica à Unilab (Universidade da Integração da Lusofonia Afro-Brasileira).
A instituição de ensino lançou na terça-feira (9) um vestibular específico para candidatos transgêneros e intersexuais em unidades no Ceará e na Bahia.
O Ministério da Educação já deu sinais de que pode não seguir a nomeação do primeiro da lista tríplice formada pelas instituições em consultas internas.
O governo tem a atribuição legal de oficializar qualquer nome da lista, embora seja tradicional a indicação do primeiro colocado, como forma de respeitar a autonomia das universidades. | {
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SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - Shattered glass and bullet holes marked the scene of what neighbors said was a drive-by shooting that injured a young boy, early Saturday.
Witnesses said the 12-year-old came under fire while sitting on a couch inside his home. “I said, ‘Oh my God, my girls! What’s going on?'” said Yami, a neighbor. “My neighbors were targeted. I don’t know who meant to do that.”
The multiple gunshots were heard before 12:30 a.m., near Southwest 132nd Avenue and Southwest 278th Street.
According to a man who said he’s a family friend, he was inside of the bullet-riddled home. “They just went right by my face,” said the man. “Right by my face as soon as it happened. I just ducked down and I ran.”
Miami-Dade Police said the man wasn’t hit, but a 12-year-old boy was shot in the leg.
Bullet holes tore through a TV, struck walls and went through a couch where the child was, said the family friend. “He wasn’t screaming, he didn’t know he got shot until I told him he got shot,” said the man. “I wrapped his leg up and called police.”
“I’m afraid,” said Yami. “I’m very afraid because I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t know if it’s going to happen again. I’m concerned as a parent.”
The boy is expected to be OK after undergoing surgery.
If you have any information on this shooting, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a $1,000 reward.
Copyright 2020 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. | {
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"Dan was one of the main reasons I wanted to come here," Shanahan said. "I was very impressed with Dan and really just how loyal he was to me. He told me a long time ago that he wanted me as a coordinator and for a guy to do that, who I had never met in person before, who I hadn't spent a lot of time with, it made me feel extremely loyal to him. I think he's a very honest person. I think you got a special guy."
3. Coaching Julio: Having coached Pro Bowl wide reciever Andre Johnson during his time with the Houston Texans (2006-09), Shanahan compared Johnson's skills with that of his new Pro Bowl wide receiver, Julio Jones.
"There are lots of different ways to be good as a receiver, but Andre and Julio are two guys who are as explosive as anybody," Shanahan said. "The way they come off the ball and the way they can eat up a cushion and scare a defensive back every single play by just the power and stuff they can come off the ball with, the physicalness they play with, running through the ball, it's very exciting."
4. A Defensive Philosophy: Following Shanahan's media session, new Falcons defensive coordinator Richard Smith addressed the media, first by sharing the connection he's had with Quinn, dating back to their time together with the San Francisco 49ers. Later, when asked about his philosophy on defense, Smith made his point very clear.
"It's not my philosophy; it's our philosophy," Smith said. "What we're looking for first is guys who come out and have fun. We're looking to play fast, fundamentally sound and able to attack. We want to make a system that players can play fast and hard, trying to create turnovers in terms of our aggressive style of play."
5. Time for Pressure: Like Falcons owner and chairman Arthur Blank, the team's fan base has been waiting for a defense that puts relentless pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Smith conveyed the same desires, wanting to make other teams' quarterbacks as uncomfortable as possible. | {
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合わせる服やその日の気分で、色を変えられる。
靴とか服とか買うときって、色・柄で迷うことがよくありますよね。合わせやすさで黒を選ぶか、明るい印象のベージュにするか、たまには変わった柄ものにするか…みたいに。いっそ全部買えればいいんですけど、Tシャツくらいは別として、同じ形のものをいくつも持つってのは何かムダな気がしてしまいます。だからひとつ買えば全部の色柄が手に入ると、うれしいですよね。
まさにそれを可能にしたのがこのiShuu Technologiesによるスマートシューズ｢Volvorii Timeless｣です。上の画像で白になってる部分が実はフレキシブルなE-Inkディスプレイで、iOSやAndroidのアプリからの操作で下のような柄や黒に変化するんです。
さらには物理的なカスタマイズも可能で、甲とかかとの部分にはストラップやアクセサリーを付けられるアンカーがあります。iShuu Technologiesでは、それらのアクセサリーやディスプレイに表示するデザインを売り買いできるプラットフォームも作る予定なので、カスタマイズの可能性は無限にあります。
底が2.5cmと厚めになっていますが、この部分にスマートフォンと通信するためのBluetooth LEモジュールが入っています。靴といえども電子機器なので充電が必要ですが、バッテリーは2時間程度でフル充電できて2～6ヵ月保ち、ワイヤレス充電が可能になっています。
正式な小売価格は未発表ですが、Indiegogoでは1足249ドル（約3万円）で予約できます。現在はプロトタイプなので、これから本格的な生産やテストを開始し、今年12月の発送を予定しています。
Volvorii Timelessはご覧の通り女性用ですが、このアイデアは男性用の靴はもちろん、バッグや小物、インテリアにも応用できそうですね。色を自在に変えられる壁紙なんてのもすでに提案されているし、E-Inkのポテンシャルはまだまだ開けてきそうです。
Image by iShuu Technologies
source:Indiegogo
（miho） | {
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Police are warning residents after a series of pickpocket thefts were reported at restaurants in the Loop over the last two months.
In each case, someone took a wallet from a purse hanging on the back of a chair and later used the credit cards that were inside, Chicago police said in a community alert.
The thefts happened:
Between noon and 1:30 p.m. July 12 in the 600 block of West Randolph Street
At 1:30 p.m. July 15 in the 500 block of West Madison Street
Between 1:25 p.m. and 2:05 p.m. July 18 in the 200 block of West Lake Street.
Between 1:45 p.m. and 4 p.m. July 18 in the 400 block of South Wells Street
Between 11:45 a.m. and 1:40 p.m. July 19 in the 200 block of West Randolph Street
Between 9:15 a.m. and 3 p.m. July 23 in the 200 block of West Adams Street
Between 11:30 a.m. and noon July 25 in the first block of South Franklin Street
Between 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. July 24 in the 200 block of West Washington Street
At 3:04 p.m. July 26 in the 100 block of North Riverside Plaza
Between 12:10 p.m. and 12:50 p.m. July 29 in the 200 block of South LaSalle Street
At 1:10 p.m. July 29 in the 200 block of South Clark Street
Between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. July 29 in the 400 block of South Wells Street
Between 12:30 p.m. and 1:15 p.m. July 31 in the 100 block of North Wacker Drive
At 1 p.m. July 29 in the 200 block of South Clark Street
Between 1:30 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. Aug. 1 in the first block of South LaSalle Street
At 2:15 p.m. Aug. 1 in the 100 block of North Clinton Street
At 2 p.m. Aug. 2 in the 200 block of West Washington Street
Between 11:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. Aug. 6 in the 200 block of North Franklin Street.
Between 1:05 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. Aug. 8 in the 200 block of South Wacker Drive
At 1:45 p.m. Aug. 12 in the 200 block of West Adams Street
The suspect is described as a 40 to 55-year-old man.
Anyone with information on the thefts is asked to call Area Central detectives at 312-747-8384.
Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides. | {
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Universities, where international students pay higher fees, are used by corrupt individuals to launder reputations and money by buying financing departments, according to campaigners
Universities and private schools are accused of turning a blind eye to millions of pounds of allegedly dirty money poured into their coffers by foreign students.
The education sector made only nine out of the 382,000 reports to authorities of possible money-laundering incidents in 2014-15. Anti-corruption campaigners say that a loophole which means schools and colleges are not obliged to make “suspicious activity reports” to the National Crime Agency must be closed and called for stricter supervision of money in the sector.
Transparency campaigners say that the education system is a destination for corrupt individuals to launder reputations and money by buying places for their children at schools and colleges, financing university departments and bankrolling research projects.
International students pay higher fees than their domestic | {
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Image copyright Getty Images
China has hit back at accusations that it is using its currency as a tool in the trade war with the US.
At a forum in Tianjin, China's Premier Li Keqiang said Beijing will not actively weaken the yuan to boost exports.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly accused China of manipulating its currency to combat US tariffs.
Mr Li's comments come amid an escalating trade war between the world's two largest economies.
The Chinese premier also said at the World Economic Forum it was essential that the basic principles of "multilateralism and free trade" were upheld.
The US has engaged in a protectionist agenda since Mr Trump took office in 2016, challenging the global system of free trade which has prevailed for decades.
His accusation that China has manipulated the yuan raised concerns that the currency market could become the next front in the economic battle between the two countries.
"The recent fluctuations in the [yuan] exchange rate have been seen by some as an intentional measure on the part of China. This is simply not true," Premier Li said.
"Persistent depreciation of the [yuan] will only do more harm than good to our country. China will never go down the path of stimulating exports by devaluating its currency," he added.
This week, Washington raised the stakes by saying it would impose new tariffs on $200bn (£152.1bn) worth of Chinese goods from Monday. Beijing will hit back with new duties on $60bn of American imports.
During his campaign for president, Mr Trump also called China a currency manipulator, but retracted those comments early last year. | {
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Darcy Tucker will never get a better opportunity to audition his midfield credentials than in Monday’s JLT Community Series clash with Collingwood at Arena Joondalup.
The departure of Lachie Neale to Brisbane and a long-term injury to Connor Blakely has created openings and Tucker is ready to fill the void against the talent-laden Pies.
Tucker has played the majority of his 48 games off half-back or on a wing but has spent greater time in the middle in the Dockers’ intraclub games and match simulation over the summer and expects more of the same tomorrow.
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“I am keeping my options open. All pre-season I’ve been training a bit off half-back, wing and midfield, so it’s about getting variety in those roles,” he said.
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“Wherever they do want to play me I’d like to think I am capable of playing those roles.
“There is definitely an (midfield) opening but we have got lots of players who hopefully will get a bit of time in there, other young players who are capable of filling that void in (Andrew) Brayshaw, (Adam) Cerra, (Bailey) Banfield.”
Tucker, 22, is entering his fourth season and hopes he can track teammate Ed Langdon who had a breakout 2018 at the same stage of his career.
“It’s always an aim to take my game to another level,” Tucker said. “I am focusing on improving and areas I need to improve on. Ed showed that last year and I’d love to do the same.”
Tucker’s 17 games and eight goals last season were the foundation and now he’s ready to start construction.
“I feel I am capable of playing good games, it is about doing it week in, week out at the elite level,” he said.
“I want to get myself in there early and play good, consistent footy. In pre-season I have just been focusing on training well. When it comes to games, I will hopefully put it all together.”
The Dockers have gone to school over the summer learning the AFL’s new rules and have trialled them in match simulation, but there is nothing like good, old-fashioned footy against real opponents.
“We have had good education on it, so we are all over it,” he said.
“It doesn’t seem to change it too much, but it has definitely opened the game up, especially with the kick-in rule and the 6-6-6 with the zones at centre square bounces.
“But apart from that, it doesn’t look to have changed the game too much.” | {
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New research on the neural basis of 'spontaneous' actions in rats could shed light on the philosophical mystery that is human 'free will'. The study, just published in Nature Neuroscience, is called Neural antecedents of self-initiated actions in secondary motor cortex. It's from researchers Masayoshi Murakami and colleagues of Portugal's excellently-named Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown. The senior author is Zach Mainen, whom I interviewed recently after he helped organize the campaign for reform of Europe's Human Brain Project. Murakami et al. trained rats to perform a task requiring patience. In each trial, the rat heard a sound and had to wait in place until a second sound occured. If they waited, they got a large amount of water as a reward. If they moved to get some water too soon, however, they only got a small amount. Using tiny electrodes implanted in the premotor cortex of the rats' brains, Murakami et al. discovered that some neurons seemed to act as "integrators" (or counters) - over the course of the waiting period, their firing activity gradually increased. If activity reached a certain threshold before the second sound played, the rat would stop waiting and 'spontaneously' decide to go for the small reward. These "integrator" neurons didn't always count at the same speed, however. On some trials, they 'ramped up' more quickly - and when this happened, the rat was more impatient. This image shows the relationship between ramp up rates and waiting time -
Why did the integrators sometimes count faster than other times? Murakami et al. found a second class of neurons, whose rate of firing (which varied seemingly at random) predicted the rate at which the integrators "counted up". The authors suggest, therefore, that these latter neurons provide inputs to the neural integrators. When the total amount of input reaches a threshold, a 'spontaneous' action is triggered. What does this have to do with free will? Well, it all goes back to 1983, when a neuroscientist called Benjamin Libet found, using EEG, that a certain pattern of brain activity - a "readiness potential" - occurs in the human brain just before 'spontaneous' actions. In fact, this brain event happens even before we are aware of deciding to act. Libet's much-discussed finding has been seen as evidence against free will because it seems to suggest that 'the brain decides to act before we do'. But what if the readiness potential is somehow the equivalent of the rat "integrator"? That would be a big deal, say Murakami et al. In this case,
activity preceding bound crossing, either input or accumulated activity, could be said to participate causally in the timing of an action, but does not uniquely specify it. The integration-to-bound theory implies that no decision has been made until the bound has been reached... as at any moment up to bound crossing, the arrival of opposing inputs may avert an action.
In other words, maybe the readiness potential is not a consequence of a decision that has already been made, but rather is a contributor to a decision that only happens later. This is in fact not a new idea. I blogged about this kind of interpretation of the Libet experiment last year, and integrate-to-bound models are quite common in neuroscience (e.g.). However Murakami et al. say that they're the first researchers to find direct evidence for this model in decision making. They conclude that the integrator threshold might even reflect the boundary between unconscious and conscious neural processes:
Crossing the threshold from unawareness to awareness [could be] a reflection of bound crossing [in the integrator]. In this way, the integration-to-bound theory may help to resolve the contradiction between the subjective report of free will and the requirement for causal antecedents to non-capricious, willed actions. ...our results provide a starting point for investigating mechanisms underlying concepts such as self, will and intention to act, which might be conserved among mammalian species.
Murakami M, Vicente MI, Costa GM, & Mainen ZF (2014). Neural antecedents of self-initiated actions in secondary motor cortex. Nature neuroscience, 17 (11), 1574-82 PMID: 25262496 | {
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En declaraciones a Radio Uruguay, la secretaria de Estado dijo que la habilitación deberá ser analizada por diferentes organismos estatales, como por ejemplo la Dirección Nacional de Agua (Dinagua).
Embed
La secretaria de Estado aclaró que por el momento solo fue aprobada la ubicación de la segunda planta de la pastera finlandesa.
"Esto no significa que se haya cumplido con el proceso para obtener el estudio de impacto ambiental, ni que ya esté definido que la pastera utilizará agua subterránea", aclaró.
El portal Sudestada publicó esta semana un informe en el que asegura que UPM propone recurrir al Acuífero Guaraní, el Río Negro y dos embalses.
El acuífero Guaraní es considerado la reserva de agua dulce más importante del mundo. Abarca territorialmente casi todo el Mercosur y es una herramienta estratégica para el desarrollo regional.
Sin embargo, el documento Viabilidad Ambiental de Localización de UPM, -publicado en la web de la Dinama- sostiene que las aguas se utilizarán únicamente en la etapa de construcción de la planta para abastecer a los operarios de agua potable, para el tratamiento aguas residuales de baños, y el uso en vestuarios.
Además, según el texto del informe, UPM se ubicará en un acuífero "de productividad muy baja", con rocas fracturadas de importancia hidrogeológica "relativa media a pequeña". | {
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Sie posiert vor Flaschen mit Hitler-Wein und zeigt sich mit AfD-Rechtsaußen. Doch im Abgeordnetenhaus wird Jessica Bießmann von der AfD nicht mehr gesehen.
Wenn sich am Donnerstag die Mitglieder des Abgeordnetenhauses zum zweiten Plenum des Jahres versammeln, bleibt einer der 160 Plätze wohl erneut leer: Seit ihrem Ausschluss aus der AfD-Fraktion im November 2018 hat sich Jessica Bießmann im Parlament nicht mehr blicken lassen. Selbst zu Parteifreunden aus dem eigenen Bezirksverband Marzahn-Hellersdorf ist der Kontakt abgerissen.
Weil Bießmann ihre monatliche Abgeordnetendiät von 3944 Euro sowie einen Zuschuss für das Büro in Höhe von 2492 Euro weiter kassiert, wird sie nun auch aus der eigenen Partei heraus scharf kritisiert. Anlass für Bießmanns Rauswurf aus der Fraktion waren zehn Jahre alte Fotos: Sie posierte und räkelte sich auf einer Theke – im Hintergrund auf einem Küchenschrank stand Hitler-Wein: mit Adolf Hitlers Konterfei beklebte Weinflaschen.
„Eine Frau Bießmann hat nichts in der Partei zu suchen“, sagte Georg Pazderski, Landeschef der AfD in Berlin, zuletzt. Er machte sein Urteil unter anderem daran fest, dass Bießmann den Pflichten einer gewählten Abgeordneten schon vor ihrem Ausschluss, als sie noch familienpolitische Sprecherin war, nur sporadisch, danach aber überhaupt nicht mehr nachgekommen sei. „Sie kassiert Geld fürs Nichtstun, das ist ein Affront gegenüber dem Steuerzahler“, sagte Pazderski weiter und nannte Bießmanns Verhalten „unlauter und unappetitlich.“
Aus der Community Vielleicht sollte man die Abgeordneten trotz aller Eigenverantwortung und Unabhängigkeit doch etwas in die Pflicht nehmen hinsichtlich ihrer Mandatsausübung. Eine Anwesenheitspflicht in Plenar- und Ausschußsitzungen wäre da durchaus vorstellbar. ThomasM
Seit November nicht im Parlament gesehen worden
Tatsächlich ist Bießmann, die ohne Gegenkandidaten als Spitzenfrau der AfD im Wahlkreis 3 nominiert worden war und diesen 2016 mit 29,8 Prozent direkt gewonnen hatte, seit November nicht mehr im Parlament gesehen worden - die für das Fernbleiben von Plenarsitzungen festgelegte Kürzung ihrer Kostenpauschale um 50 Euro nimmt sie offenbar in Kauf. Kontaktversuche durch Parteifreunde wie Jeannette Auricht, Bezirksvorsitzende der AfD in Marzahn-Hellersdorf und Mitglied des AfD-Landesvorstands, blieben unbeantwortet, genau wie mehrere Anfragen des Tagesspiegels. „Bießmann ist abgetaucht“, kritisiert Auricht und sagt: „Wenn man Abgeordnete ist, sollte man seine Pflichten auch wahrnehmen.“
Klar ist: Auch wenn sich Bießmann im Parlament nicht mehr blicken lässt, politisch untätig ist sie nicht. Über verschiedene Facebook-Profile lässt sie die Öffentlichkeit an ihren Aktivitäten teilhaben, zuletzt weilte sie in Burladingen (Baden-Württemberg). Dort trafen sich mehrere von Parteiausschlussverfahren betroffene AfD-Politiker, darunter die bereits mehrfach in die Schlagzeilen geratene Christina Baum aus Baden-Württemberg. Ebenfalls anwesend: Jürgen Elsässer, Chefredakteur des Rechtsaußen-Magazins „Compact“ mit guten Verbindungen zur AfD-Formation „Der Flügel“, den die Verfassungsschutzbehörden jüngst zum Verdachtsfall erklärt hatten. Ein AfD-intern kursierendes Video zeigt Elsässer und Bießmann Händchen haltend, Gerüchte über eine mehr als berufliche Verbindung der beiden machen die Runde.
Aber auch die direkte Nähe zum Flügel und dessen Vorsitzenden Björn Höcke scheut Bießmann nicht. Im vergangenen Jahr hatte sie diesen nach Tagesspiegel-Informationen in ihrem Büro empfangen, während parallel die Fraktionssitzung lief. Mit 90 Minuten Verspätung sei Bießmann damals in die Sitzung gekommen, berichten Teilnehmer. Im gesamten Jahr hatte sie 15 Fraktionssitzungen verpasst. Kurios: Ein Gespräch zwischen Pazderski und Höcke, die in Berlin und Thüringen jeweils den Landes- und den Fraktionsvorsitz innehaben, fand nicht statt.
„Im Nachhinein war das nicht unbedingt die beste Besetzung“
Während der auf Abgrenzung seiner Partei zum Flügel drängende Pazderski möglicherweise auch deshalb scharf gegen Bießmann schießt, stört Gunnar Lindemann etwas anderes: Statt sich im eigenen Wahlkreis um ihre Wähler zu kümmern, tourt Bießmann quer durch die Republik und ist vor Ort nicht präsent. „Im Nachhinein war das nicht unbedingt die beste Besetzung“, sagt Lindemann, stellvertretender Bezirksvorsitzender der AfD in Marzahn-Hellersdorf, deren Vorstand in der Vergangenheit eher den Rechtsauslegern der Partei nahe stand. So verfassten Auricht, Lindemann und Co im Februar 2017 ein Solidaritätsschreiben in Richtung Björn Höcke, gegen den kurz zuvor ein Parteiausschlussverfahren angestrengt worden war. Im September 2017 luden sie Höcke während des Bundestagswahlkampfes zu einer Veranstaltung ein, Auricht selbst nahm im April 2018 an einer Veranstaltung der Berliner Freunde des Flügels teil.
Fest steht, dass sich Bießmann durch ihr Vorgehen in den vergangenen Monaten auch innerhalb des eigenen Bezirksverbandes disqualifiziert hat. „Dann werden wir jemand anders aufstellen“, sagt Lindemann mit Blick auf die nächste Abgeordnetenhauswahl im Jahr 2021. Eine erneute Kandidatur Bießmanns schließt er zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt aus.
Parteiausschluss bleibt fraglich
Unklar bleibt, wie das im Oktober 2018 angestrengte Parteiausschlussverfahren gegen Bießmann ausgehen wird. Während sich Pazderski den Ausschluss Bießmanns wünscht, äußert sich Lindemann skeptisch. „Ich rechne nicht damit, dass das Verfahren erfolgreich sein wird“, erklärt er mit Blick auf andere vor den AfD-Schiedsgerichten laufende Verfahren. Ob es Bießmann hilft, wenn sie ihre an das Mandat gebundenen Pflichten wie die Teilnahme am Plenum doch wieder wahrnimmt, ist unklar. Jeanette Auricht sagt dazu: „Die Hoffnung stirbt ja bekanntlich zuletzt, allein der Glaube fehlt mir.“
Mehr zum Thema Nach Hitlerwein-Fotos Berliner AfD schließt Jessica Bießmann aus
Zwölf Newsletter, zwölf Bezirke: Unsere Leute-Newsletter aus allen Berliner Bezirken können Sie hier kostenlos bestellen: leute.tagesspiegel.de | {
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CAIRO — Islamist militants shot down an Egyptian military helicopter in the Sinai Peninsula with a surface-to-air missile over the weekend, raising new alarms about the terrorist insurgency that developed there in response to the military takeover last summer.
The attack — described by witnesses, documented in a video released by the militants, and confirmed by three people briefed on the Egyptian government’s investigation — validated longstanding fears that such weapons would spill into Egypt and beyond after the Libyan civil war tore open Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s fearsome arsenals.
Known as manpads, for man-portable air defense systems, the missiles can bring down commercial airliners if they are flying at low altitude, as during takeoff and landing. They also strengthen Sinai-based militants’ hand against the Egyptian Army, and there is concern that the militants might seek to use the missiles on the Egyptian mainland, where terrorist attacks have become more frequent. On Saturday, four bombings killed six people in greater Cairo.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, a militant group based in Sinai that has claimed responsibility for an escalating series of attacks on police and soldiers, said in a statement posted on jihadist websites that it had succeeded in “downing a military helicopter with a surface-to-air missile and killing its entire crew in the area around the city of Sheikh Zuweid” in North Sinai, near the border with Gaza. The group, which quotes Al Qaeda leaders in its online video statements, said it had targeted the aircraft “in an area clear of residents to preserve the lives of Muslims.” | {
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Add games to your site | Game not loading? GAME OBJECTIVES
Ten Gen
Ten Gen is a fast paced number puzzle board game with unique gameplay for the fast thinking person in you. If you don't move quickly you will be swamped by numbers and the next thing you will see is the game over pop up and probably some screaming coming out of your mouth.
Can you score 16 or higher? Combine tiles with the same value, will add +1 to the tile. Tiles with different values can not be combined.
New tiles spawn when no more moves possible ... or timer runs out.
Updated: July 1, 2015 8:20 AM
MY GAME
Community GAME INSTRUCTIONS
Mouse
-$- EARN Fr00k$ if u COMMENT -$-
Successful Alert !!!
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The Caleb Porter era can't come soon enough for the Portland Timbers. They were physically up for their Cascadia Cup match against the Seattle Sounders on Sunday night, but they certainly didn't have the organization or talent to hang with their rivals to the north. It only took 25 minutes for Seattle to score, and the game was more or less over when the Sounders went ahead. They scored twice more to capture a comfortable 3-0 win.
Adam Johansson created the opener with a cross from the right flank, which was poked in by 'Futty' Mamadou Danso. Eddie Johnson netted three minutes after that, hitting an impressive finish past Donovan Ricketts after Brad Evans played him in on goal with a through ball.
The Timbers looked a bit more threatening in the second half, but only managed one truly great chance, when halftime substitute Mike Fucito hit the post early in the second half. Seattle quickly dispelled any notion that the Timbers had a chance to come back in the 62nd minute, when Fredy Montero punched in his 13th league goal of the season with a close-range finish that deflected off Jack Jewsbury before going in.
Seattle are now comfortably in a playoff spot and are now ahead of the Los Angeles Galaxy for 3rd place, which would see them avoid a play-in game. The Timbers are only one point ahead of Chivas USA, the bottom team in the West, and are simply waiting for this season to end so a new era can begin. | {
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外国人にとって、日本のイメージの一つである「忍者」。アニメなどでは奇想天外な忍術が目立ちますが、2月に都内であった外国人向けの忍者教室では、情報収集が大きな仕事という「リアルな一面」も紹介されました。参加者からも「ステレオタイプな忍者ではなく新鮮だった」と好評だったこの教室は、日本を訪れる外国人が増え続けるなか、「日本の伝統文化を正しく外国人に伝えたい」という主催者の思いがありました。
忍者のずきんをかぶって雰囲気を体験する外国人たち
忍者の役割、丁寧に解説
「ニン・ニン・ニン」の語呂に合わせた2月22日の「忍者の日」に開かれた忍者教室。集まった10数人の外国人たちは、忍者による刀の実演などを観賞。さらに手裏剣やチャンバラなどの体験もしました。
この教室は通訳・翻訳会社の「テンナインコミュニケーション」（東京）が開催しました。実演したのは「あすと流忍者」と名乗り、忍者教室・忍者ショーを手がけている「アストアクションスクール」。忍術鑑賞の前には、あすと流忍者の責任者が「忍者の実際の仕事は、暗殺ではなく情報収集です」などと、史実に沿って紹介。また武士と忍者の刀の違い（武士は斬る、忍者は刺す）、女性忍者「くのいち」などを含め、忍者たちが演じる忍術も一つ一つ解説していきました。日本語解説の後に、「テンナインコミュニケーション」による英語の通訳も丁寧に行われました。
教室に参加した来日14年のエジプト人女性、インジーさん（33）は「忍術の動作が力強く、身近で見てその呼吸、動きの風も感じられ、とてもよかった」。三重県の忍者屋敷を訪れるほどの忍者ファンで、「実在の忍者がいれば、『絶対会いたい』」と話しました。
「あすと流忍者」による刀の実演
アメリカでは忍者人気が高く、しかしハリウッド流
アメリカのテキサス州から来たジョンさん（27）とミネソタ州から来たエアレンさん（28）によると、アメリカでも忍者は有名です。ただし、それは「ハリウッド流」になっていて、「日本は本格的」と感想を口にしました。
エアレンさんはアメリカで人気の忍者作品を紹介してくれました。一つ目はThree Ninjas （日本語訳『クロオビキッズ』）という映画です。アメリカでは大ヒットして、4作も作られたシリーズ映画ですが、かなりアメリカ流にアレンジされた作品です。
二つ目はAsk a Ninja（日本語訳『忍者に聞け』）というコメディーですが、これもかなりアメリカ風の忍者です。
2人とも、アメリカでのイメージとは異なった「本物」の忍者に出会い、満足している様子でした。特にエアレンさんは、「これまで剣を握ったことがありますが、手裏剣を使ったことがなかった。実際に体験できて素晴らしかったです」と絶賛しました。
忍者による野菜カッティングのパフォーマンスも外国人に大人気
「ステレオタイプではなく、新鮮だった」
ベルギー出身のスティーブさん（31）はネットで情報を知り、忍者教室に参加しました。アニメが好きで来日したスティーブさんは、ベルギーにいた頃から忍者を知っていたそうですが、今回の教室は「ステレオタイプな忍者ではなく、新鮮だった」。これまで「殺し屋」というイメージが強かったそうですが、情報収集が忍者の仕事と知り、驚いたそうです。
語学学校の先生をしているイギリス出身のスティーブンさん（37）も、忍者のパフォーマンスとともに、解説部分も満足した様子でした。
「教室で忍者たちは、色々な技を見せてくれました。そして解説が非常に面白く、忍者の服装や任務の目的も理解しました。戦うイメージだけではなく、逃げるための忍術もあることを初めて知り、とてもよかったです」
外国人受講者たちの忍者体験のシーン
日本の伝統文化を正しく外国人に伝える
今回の忍者教室を担当した松本匡史さんに、外国人相手ならではの工夫について聞きました。松本さんが大切にしているのは、「日本の伝統文化を正しく外国人に伝える」という点です。
「冒頭でまず忍者とは何かを説明し、忍者の仕事は暗殺ではなく情報収集と紹介しました。また演舞中も一つ一つの忍術の意味を細かく説明しました」
「忍者と聞いて最初に思い浮かぶアクロバットな動きは、実戦では隙が多くなってしまう」という理由で教室ではあまり紹介せず、軽業の修行など、日々の訓練の様子を実演しているそうです。
説明と体験を織り交ぜ、「頭でも理解して楽しむ場にできるよう工夫した」と話す松本さん。外国人参加者のコメントを見ると、忍者文化はまさに言葉と文化の壁を乗り越え、うまく伝わったように思いました。 | {
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Sama nazwa jest jednocześnie odpowiedzią na pytanie – są to randki, które z założenia trwają bardzo krótko. W standardowych spotkaniach tego typu bierze udział tyle samo kobiet, co mężczyzn. Przedstawicielki płci pięknej siadają przy dwuosobowych stolikach, zostawiając miejsce po przeciwnej stronie dla partnerów. Panowie na dźwięk dzwonka przysiadają się do pań, mają 5 minut na rozmowę i pytania. Gdy czas minie, mężczyźni przesiadają się do stolika obok. Niepełnosprawni randki Warszawa czy Katowice trwają tak długo, aż każda z kobiet będzie miała okazję porozmawiać ze wszystkimi uczestnikami. Jeśli ktoś wzbudził nasze zainteresowanie, zaintrygował nas przez minione kilka minut, odpowiedział na wszystkie pytania – powinniśmy zaznaczyć krzyżyk przy danym imieniu w formularzu. Numer kontaktowy do wybranego partnera otrzymamy tylko i wyłącznie w sytuacji, gdy też przypadniemy do gustu. | {
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WATCH: Trump Gives Victory Speech from South Carolina
'Our Country Deserves a President for Everyone': Jeb Drops Out of Race
Marco Rubio called out Donald Trump after the South Carolina primary last night, saying that the GOP front-runner should be more specific on his plans for American foreign policy.
“I think Donald, now that the race has narrowed, really needs to step up and outline his foreign policy vision,” Rubio said.
“And it can't be that he relies on experts he won't name. I mean, presidents have to know on day one about the difficult issues that confront this country on the global stage.”
Rubio’s remarks come just as 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney has pledged his support to Marco Rubio, The Huffington Post reported on Sunday. An official announcement has not yet been made.
The Florida senator also told Fox News that some staffers from Jeb Bush’s campaign – which last night he suspended – will now join his team.
Watch more, above.
Rubio: 'This Has Become a Three-Person Race'
Cruz: 'We Are the Only Campaign that Can Beat Donald Trump'
How Trump's Proposed Muslim Ban Pushed a Win in South Carolina | {
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One of the most obvious sidewalk-level impacts of the COVID-19 epidemic, in Seattle as well as other West Coast cities, has been the proliferation of homeless encampments in public spaces. Prior to the epidemic, the encampment-clearing Navigation Team, aided by the police and the parks department, were removing about 100 encampments a month, 96 percent of them without providing any prior notice, outreach, or offers of shelter or services to the people living there. Since mid-March, the city reports that the Navigation Team has shifted its role and is now offering information about “expanded shelter resources,” testing referrals, and hygiene kits that include bars of soap—not terribly useful without a ready source of running water.
However, the team was still doing sweeps—which the city refers to, in language that removes humans from the equation, as “cleans”—through mid-March. After that, they moved to doing “litter picks,” another odd term that implies people living unsheltered are wantonly tossing trash about, when the reality is that only a handful of established encampments get trash bags and pickup from the city. In all the “site journals” the team produces during their operations, the “before clean” photos are zoomed-in, prurient—a bottle of pee, an extreme close-up of a piece of feces on a sidewalk, a tight crop on two needles sitting on a ledge. The “after clean” shots, in contrast, are zoomed out, territorial—they take in the entirety of an area, demonstrating the fruits of a job well done.
But you can’t deny the encampments. They’re everywhere, from Ballard to Highland Park to Beacon Hill. The city, county, and state have failed to provide housing for the thousands of homeless people living unsheltered, and the thousands more who spend their nights on shelter floors, in transitional motel spaces, or moving from couch to street to couch. That was before the epidemic. Now, they’ve failed to provide safe places for most of these people to go.
The tents, sprouting everywhere, are the fruits of that inaction. There simply is no “good” story to tell on housing or shelter right now, because so many people are unhoused, and because the shelters aren’t safe. The city of Seattle has created just 95 new spaces—half of them in tiny houses, half in shelter—for people to sleep, and “solved” the problem of overcrowded shelters by opening bigger spaces so that people can sleep head to toe, six feet apart. People are trying to survive an epidemic in conditions no elected official would want for their own family members—sharing air, bathrooms, and common areas at a time when the rest of us are ordered to stay at home and far away from other people.
The county has opened hundreds of hotel rooms, but thousands more are needed, and the city has resisted even discussing the idea. On Monday morning, city council member Teresa Mosqueda quizzed staffers from the City Budget Office about what the city is doing to provide individual spaces for homeless people to shelter in place; the answer was that the city was “focused on trying to provide additional space for our existing shelters” and that the county was “taking the lead on isolation and quarantine rooms,” which was not what Mosqueda asked about.
Meanwhile, the tents proliferate. And even if the city decides to follow the lead of the county, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and other cities and find the money to put people in hotels, it’s unclear what happens next. It seems impossible, in this moment, to think of returning to the old system of endless sweeps—if nothing else, the city is now in a budget crisis and the Navigation Team costs more than $8 million a year—but no one at any governmental level has proposed an exit strategy for all these people, whose current living situation is untenable in the long run. Elected officials say we have to deal with the immediate crisis in front of us and worry about funding and housing options later. Advocates say there has to be a solution that doesn’t retraumatize people by returning them to chaotic, overcrowded shelters. Right now, we’re still in a middle of a crisis, but things are also on hold. Perhaps that creates some space to consider our priorities, what we owe to each other, and the consequences of doing things the way we’ve always done them.
Support The C Is for Crank During this unprecedented time of crisis, your support for truly independent journalism is more critical than ever before. The C Is for Crank is a one-person operation supported entirely by contributions from readers like you. Your $5, $10, and $20 monthly donations allow me to do this work as my full-time job. Every supporter who maintains or increases their contribution during this difficult time helps to ensure that I can keep covering the issues that matter to you, with empathy, relentlessness, and depth. If you don’t wish to become a monthly contributor, you can always make a one-time donation via PayPal , Venmo (Erica-Barnett-7) or by mailing your contribution to P.O. Box 14328, Seattle, WA 98104. Thank you for reading, and supporting, The C Is for Crank.
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By now we all know there’s a robot reading your resume when you apply for a job. It explains all that has confused the job seekers of the world for the last 10-20 years. Everybody knew there was something wrong. We just didn’t have the facts. When it comes to finding work in America, facts seem to be rather scarce. But now that we know, we can evaluate where we stand.
Where we stand is on the brink of societal and cultural disaster. Our entire civilization is built on the fundamental principle that a man who wants to work can find work. He may not start out at his dream job. He may not start out making much, either. But he certainly isn’t going to be confined to an Internet job board, clicking “apply instantly” buttons and being lied to until he starves.
Until now.
Our civilization and future are both being destroyed in a small room containing two chairs, a desk, a hiring manager and a job candidate. What happens in that room is the foundation of our entire economy. If the candidate can’t successfully navigate what happens in that room, no homes get sold, no cars get bought, no man marries a wife and no children are raised in two-parent homes. That room is where the American Dream gestates. Without it, all that our ancestors fought for is gone.
But our problem is more fundamental. Nobody can get in to that room. There’s a robot at the door barring entry. So it no longer matters what happens in that room, because nothing happens in that room.
There are six million people in this country who not only want to work, but have, in some cases, spent decades building the skills and experience to be effective at their jobs. These are people who can start making their employers money the very moment they sit down at their new desk. If we tolerate the status quo as it stands today, these people will never work again. Six million people is the combined population of Chicago, Houston and Sacramento, all sitting idle for the rest of their lives: Their talent, knowledge and skill wasted.
The “application tracking system,” as it has come to be known, was inserted into the hiring process by so-called “employers” without notice. The traditional job seekers had no idea they had been placed on the other side of a firewall by the companies that claimed to want their “marketable skills.” It stood to reason, of course, for those of us who have witnessed the increasingly vindictive way employers began to excuse themselves from the responsibility for their former employees about 20 years ago. Layoffs following higher profits became the dominant-tonic chord progression of American business after the dot-com crash. It was almost as if executives had some kind of vendetta against technology workers. But I have about as much proof of that right now as we had for application tracking systems ten years ago. A robot reading your resume? What a crazy idea!
Exactly how is the ATS evaluating your resume? Do you really believe it’s just looking at keywords from the job ad? It’s not looking at anything else? Do you really believe employers with an agenda can’t tune an ATS to exclude applicants based on any criteria they choose? How about zip code? How about age? Want to know how quick I can program a computer to figure out your age within five years?
What if an application tracking system is capable of monitoring your applications to many different employers at once? What if it’s keeping track of how many resumes you send out in a given time interval? How hard would it be for that ATS to be provided a threshold number and then to automatically blackball you after you reach your maximum number of applications in a week? A month? Ever? The employer could justify it by saying you’re a spammer, or that you’re desperate. They don’t want desperate people. So they’ll just blackball you.
What if they set up their ATS to reject if you’ve been rejected by another ATS? How hard would it be to tag you with the job market’s version of the scarlet letter forever? What if they reject you for having a resume that’s too good? What if they start analyzing the data to see which days of the week most successful applications arrive and then reject everyone else? People who apply on weekends probably have a job. Others probably don’t. Which do you want, boss? *click* –poverty and desperation for all.
In other words, after employers turn the job application process into a numbers game, they can start punishing you for treating it like a numbers game. You’re no longer looking for a job you want. You’re just looking for a job. The higher they turn that dial, the more impenetrable their ATS becomes. It’s not a mistake it’s called an application tracking system. Of course, that’s an Orwellian euphemism. Let’s call it what it really is: a firewall.
What else could a vindictive employer do with a hostile ATS? Could they set a minimum credit score? That’s ludicrous! Employers can’t get access to your credit score without permission! They would face legal trouble if they did that! They don’t have your credit score! What a crazy idea!
How hard would it be to reject resumes based on surnames? Or based on whether you have an accent in your surname? Or based on your e-mail address? Are you using gmail? Reject. Are you not using gmail? Reject. Could an ATS be programmed to prioritize applications if a competitor is listed in a candidate’s employment history? What if it performed a public records search and pulled up your divorce? Or your personal injury case from that slip and fall at your flower store last year? Or the police report from your car accident? Or the legal dispute you had with a former employer over their repeated attempts to illegally exploit your intellectual property? Reject. Reject. Reject. Reject. Employers don’t want colorful people in cubicles. They want obedient, unremarkable drones. Obedient, unremarkable people don’t show up in public records searches. They have 35 followers on Twitter and live alone.
I’ve written eight novels. That alone is grounds to reject every application I ever file. A guy who writes novels might get ideas. Might get uppity in a meeting. And we can’t have that.
But they want rock stars also.
What if the ATS just does a Google search and rejects you if you do show up, or alternatively rejects you if you don’t? Either condition could be a red flag depending on how paranoid and resentful your recruiter is. What if you have a common name and the ATS mistakes you for someone else? Reject.
Want to make it even more sinister? What if the ATS qualifies you the way social media companies qualify ad audiences? What if it rejects all Android phone owners in favor of iPhone owners? People with iPhones are generally more affluent, and affluent people are preferable to some companies and some hiring managers. You really don’t want to know how easy it is to find out which kind of phone you own.
What if I told you I can guess your income based on what TV shows you like? What if I told you I can guess your age the same way? Favorite band? The kind of computer you own? With the right tools, a savvy advertiser can zero in on your front porch with a half-dozen pieces of seemingly unconnected information. Remember the last time you passed around one of those “list your favorites” surveys on your favorite social media platform? Ever take a poll on social media? Are you in a group? Which one? If more than one, how are they related? How long do you think it would take to connect that to your e-mail address and then to your exact identity and your credit report? About eight trillionths of a second.
Don’t overthink it. The robot doesn’t have to be right. It just has to be close enough.
Know what the best part is? You’ll never know it happened. Without a massively expensive legal siege you’ll never be able to prove the little black box blocked your job application on grounds having exactly nothing to do with your qualifications, skills or experience. It can make a snap judgement about your life based on conjecture, statistics and theory, and then it can declare you unemployable and relentlessly enforce its decision forever and there is nothing you can do about it no matter how many graduate degrees you have.
The robot does not care about your qualifications. All that matters is whether your resume is fictional enough to beat the filter. That’s what gets you the interview now.
Lest you console yourself with the notion this is as far as it will go, I am here to tell you this doesn’t even begin to demonstrate what is in store for future generations. You see, real jobs have become privileges for the favored few. That’s why everyone else has two or three pretend jobs to make ends meet, all underpaid. Anyone who has been paying attention for the last 30 years knows how rapidly someone can become “more corporate than thou” if they snuggle deeply enough into that leather chair and can hide behind a receptionist, a key card and a general counsel. Once the rabble has been quietly locked out, how long will it be before you are legally required to avert your eyes if you actually encounter someone who is salaried? You probably thought the Matrix was just entertainment, and that dressing the agents in suits was all in good fun. It was a warning, not science fiction.
Your kids will never have a real job.
I’m not going to let the universal basic income people off the hook here, either. UBI is the last echoing click of the shackles that will be eternally fastened to your wrists if we allow this to continue. If you yearn for free money in place of the opportunity that once existed in America, you yearn for a prison. The same goes for you if you think borrowing scooters, cars and places to sleep with an app are good substitutes for owning a home and independent transportation. If you own no land, you have no future.
Back in the 1980s, we were all entertained by Kyle Reese and his cryptic warning to Sarah Connor about the future. The line has been exploited for humor, parody and dramatic prescience for decades.
“That thing is out there. It can’t be reasoned with. It can’t be bargained with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear. And it absolutely will not stop. Ever. Until you are dead.”
That line isn’t really very funny any more, is it? | {
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The Best Way to Fix the Parity Freeze: Part 1
Despite some controversy, there is a way to recover the frozen Parity contract funds on the Ethereum network. This is our recommendation for exactly how this recovery can take place.
On November 6th, 2017, an anonymous user known as devops199 found and exploited a bug in the Parity multi-sig wallet infrastructure that froze at least $150 million (although some reports have it up to $280 million) USD worth of ether.
It seems that Parity left a small oversight in their code, allowing anyone to call the initWallet() function and take control of all multisig wallets that had been generated within the last few months. And having called this function, devops199, as the owner of these wallets, was able to self-destruct the library that granted important permissions, such as the ability to withdraw funds.
As a result, the funds are now stuck in a digital limbo, visible on the blockchain but entirely inaccessible. Most striking about this situation is that it would appear that devops199 is an amateur coder who was just experimenting with the system. After he killed the contracts, he posted on GitHub asking if he would be arrested, and telling people he was an “eth newbie”. It seems that he even went so far as to open a support request on GitHub, saying, “I accidentally killed it”.
Hard Fork Proposals and Related Controversy
The Parity self-destruct bug affected both larger companies (Notable names include Polkadot and Iconomi) and individual users alike, and while solutions are currently being discussed, there is no real consensus about what to do. Some have speculated that a hard fork, or a patch included an already-scheduled network hard fork upgrade, will be required to unfreeze the ether funds.
Others have suggested that we do nothing — some of these motivated, in part, by anger at Parity, a company who only recently saw their wallets hacked to the tune of ~$30 million of their user’s money; and some motivated by a darwinian “survival of the fittest” mindset geared towards a libertarian ethos regarding the philosophy of blockchain technology. Others still remain undecided, waiting to gather more information before taking a side.
As of this writing, Parity is still in postmortem mode, taking stock of the damage and collecting data as it becomes available. However, as we learn more about what happened, it seems that a self-destructed library renders all of the ether in question truly inaccessible. Parity — and others — are searching for a way to internally restore wallet functionality and unfreeze the funds. Initial reports don’t seem promising, and in the event that a private, technical solution fails, one of the more elegant solutions available is a fix in the form of a hard fork.
But what does a hard fork really mean, and why does the current scenario present a unique opportunity to implement a well-designed hard fork solution?
To Fork or Not to Fork?
There are a lot of misconceptions out there regarding what a hard fork actually entails. Much of this stems from the DAO hack of 2016, in which an unknown party managed to drain ~3.6 million ether from a wallet belonging to the DAO. The community reacted, voting on and approving a controversial hard fork to restore the ether as if the hack had never occurred. The forked chain continued on as Ethereum, while a holdout contingent, believing that the hacker’s claim to the ether was valid, continued with the un-forked chain in the form of Ethereum Classic (ETC).
However, the DAO scenario from 2016 only tangentially resembles the situation we find ourselves in today. The lone concrete similarity is that a hard fork is being proposed as a potential solution. One of the most notable distinctions is the level of controversy that surrounded something as foundational as the ownership of the ether. Since the hacker simply took advantage of a loophole in the smart contract, he or she operated completely within the parameters of what was coded and released to the public. In this way, the exploit was more akin to a lawyer exploiting a legal loophole to free her client.
While the contract hacker used a vulnerability in the code to produce an unanticipated outcome, the method was not clearly “wrong” or against the law. Some have argued that the hacker was simply being intelligent, and deserved to keep their ether. This dispute over ownership is conspicuously absent in the immediate case. We know who owns the ether. We know exactly how much each address held at the time it was frozen, and there is no reasonable argument that a third party has any kind of claim to any of the ether.
Also missing is the time crunch found in the DAO resolution. Due to limitations in the smart contract, the hacker was able to drain his ether into 58 wallets, but was unable to move the funds for 30 days. This was a complete stroke of luck — were the funds more mobile, they would likely have disappeared into many different wallets and coins, making recovery all but impossible. We had to act quickly, as any resolution necessarily had to be in place before the ether could have been moved. Ultimately, the community voted on and approved a hard fork, which went through as a one-off fix to return the ether. The ad hoc nature of the fork served to add even more controversy to an already contentious resolution. Here, however, a fork wouldn’t take the form of a special, hastily-thrown-together pivot. Any proposed fork would be carefully considered, put to the community, tweaked, and eventually rolled into a planned update, possibly even in the form of a broader EIP. None of the negatively that can come along with feeling rushed or backed into a corner needs to be present in order to restore the Parity funds.
Instead, a fork in this scenario could be better thought of as an improvement to the entire ecosystem, albeit one that was catalyzed by an exploit. Unlike the DAO, a fork wouldn’t simply help one company, but would instead symbolize a new chapter for Ethereum, and for blockchain technology.
Immutability means that there is no need to trust a centralized authority. That’s the main reason why people are interested in cryptocurrency and blockchain tech. But every major update to the Ethereum network comes in the form of a fork, changing the code in order to improve the network.
Of course, there are those who oppose a fork, and there are valid points that need to be considered. One major issue is that of fairness and equality. The concern is that with hard-fork based solutions we will reverse some mistakes but not all mistakes, leaving some people, seemingly arbitrarily, to bear the burden of those mistakes. But this perhaps conflates cause and effect.
When a hard fork is accepted by the community, that is not the same thing as a decision made in a centralized system. A centralized system doesn’t give the community a say in the matter — an authority says either “we can undo your mistake”, or “tough luck”. But here, we’re talking about community-guided outcomes.
A hard fork could take the form of broad changes to Ethereum, allowing for anyone meeting a certain set of criteria to unfreeze their ether. Or, a hard fork could alternatively follow the precedent set by the DAO and operate as an ad hoc solution for a unique situation. In either case, however, there will not have been a centralized decision. If the community votes for either of these resolutions, they will go through. And if the community votes against them, they won’t. As Peter Vessenes, co-founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Bitcoin Foundation, wrote on his website:
“The Ethereum project has a plan for consensus, and the public debate we see today is part of that consensus-building plan. To come to agreement is not centralization.”
Or as user/Ethereum developer Nick Johnson wrote on the “ether-recovery” chat room as part of the discussion regarding recovering the Parity funds:
“Nobody can dictate a hard fork. It’s in the nature of blockchains that everyone has to agree with it and upgrade their software accordingly.”
Another reason a hard fork is somewhat controversial is that immutability and finality are core to the Ethereum ethos. Without a fully laissez-faire lack of intervention, the possibility is raised of a slippery slope. What if the next parties to request or demand a hard fork includes tax agencies, censors, litigious corporations, and other parties that are attempting to co-opt the blockchain? Or at least to start with, the possibility of a tidal wave of requests for hard-fork fixes that would surely include a large proportion of fraudulent claims that may be difficult to discern from legitimate claims. As the value of ether has increased, so has the amount of effort that some may be willing to endure to socially engineer their way to a hard-fork heist.
In many ways, we’ve seen these same arguments between community-oriented liberalism and individual-oriented libertarianism play out in traditional economic and political systems. The balance between these positions may be the same one that already works for us: implementing something akin to a constitutional amendment framework. Just as amending a constitution should be exceedingly difficult but not impossible, so too should blockchain modifications be possible, but appropriately difficult, in extraordinary circumstances.
The argument in favor of some type of governance mechanism that most affects the interest of the average ether holder who is not affected by the Parity situation is that technologies that don’t adapt and don’t innovate get replaced, particularly by the enterprise and institutions, such as those who are members of the Ethereum Enterprise Alliance and are helping to propel much of the momentum within the Ethereum ecosystem.
To make this issue even more important is the fact that by definition, the amount of “frozen” funds can only increase over time with the current lack of any consensus-based governance system. At this point, there is around a quarter of a billion dollars stuck on the blockchain, and potentially much more that amount that has not been publicly reported. This number will only grow as a combination of hacks, user mistakes, and bugs freeze more and more ether in new and unexpected ways.
With new Ethereum alternatives such as Tezos spearheading a community-driven governance system that are baked into the underlying technology, some type of comparable consensus-based governance mechanisms, even simple ones meant only for exceptional circumstances, may be in the interest of every Ethereum user. We may soon be faced with the choice between pure, absolute immutability and overall success and adoption amongst a more mainstream community. As Vitalik Buterin notes:
“In order to remain relevant in a rapidly evolving technological landscape, software must update, and software that does not update has no alternative but to slowly fade away and die as it is replaced by superior technology. There is no reason why this principle should not apply to decentralized crypto-protocols as well.”
Best Practices for a Hard Fork Solution
If a remedy for the Parity self-destruct scenario were to be implemented via hard-fork code, what would the best practices be for this solution?
Here are a few ways that some best practices could be used:
If possible, avoid hardcoding exact addresses to be affected by the patch. Instead, rely on logic that will allow for the patch to affect the affected contract address based on properties of the address that make self-evident the problem that needs to be solved by any address with those properties. In the case of the Parity bug, this may include properties indicating that the contract that has been destructed, it still holds a frozen balance, and possibly other properties that will provide additional safeguards. The goal is to avoid the possibility that someone conducting a code review many years from now will need to look up the specific circumstances of a hardcoded address that is cited in hard-fork code, and instead can deduce from the patch code itself what situation was being resolved. Publish an EIP with the exact code that will be used, a month or more ahead of the planned hard fork date, so that there is plenty of time for the community to review. Conduct an independent audit of the EIP to determine that it does not introduce any unintended side effects. Until a more official governance system is available, use CarbonVote or a similar unofficial voting system to help signal support for the remedy.
These best practices don’t go so far as to implement a full consensus-based governance solution, but it does provide an incremental starting point that improves on the somewhat chaotic, ad-hoc nature of the DAO hard fork.
Adding new consensus-based governance features to the network implemented via an already-planned hard fork upgrade is a strong contender for the resolution most likely to promote the longevity of Ethereum. The Parity issue has only served to underscore how fragile our entire ecosystem really is, and we are now forced to respond. We cannot wait for the next crisis — the time to get ahead of the future is right now.
We will publish a follow-up to this post with more specifics regarding various EIPs and proposals that are now being developed along with the exact implementation that we would recommend most based on the principles listed above. You can follow some of the discussion about this topic on the ether-recovery Gitter channel. | {
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TASS, February 18. The death toll from the church shooting in Dagestan’s Kizlyar has risen to five, a spokeswoman for the republican health ministry told TASS on Sunday.
"As of now, the death toll has risen to five after a woman died of wounds in hospital," said Zalina Murtazaliyeva.
A spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee’s directorate for Dagestan told TASS the shooter who opened gunfire at people leaving a church in Dagestan’s Kizlyar had been identified as a 22-year-old local resident.
"The shooter (who was killed) has been identified. He is a local resident of 22 years of age," the spokesman said, adding that a criminal case had been opened over the incident.
Meanwhile, a source in the local law enforcement agencies told TASS that the young man had not been wanted by the police as a member of illegal armed groups or a militant accomplice. | {
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They’re the Amazin’ Mets, but also the Superstitious Mets, the club that made rally caps cool, whose fans always blame some curse for its misfortunes.
So, Jake Mangum, selected in the fourth-round of last week’s amateur draft out of Mississippi State, should fit in just fine. Allow his team’s equipment manager, Jalen Stone, to explain:
“He walks in with his bat [last weekend] and he says, ‘Hey, just so you know, I’m taking the bat home with me, I’m going to bring it back tomorrow,’ ” Stone recently recalled over the phone, still stunned Mangum had gone four games without a hit. “And I said, ‘Oh, OK, that’s fine.’ He was going to sleep with it. I think he was trying to get the bad Ju-Ju off of him.
“He kind of jokingly said, ‘Maybe we should sacrifice a live chicken.’”
A chicken, jokingly or not, wasn’t handy, so Stone instead rubbed the barrel of the bat with ice because Mangum was “kind of cold right now so the bat’s gotta get cold,” and then used a steamer reserved for the team’s uniforms to heat it back up.
The next day, he brought Mangum eight pieces of Kentucky Fried Chicken to chow down as a substitute for the sacrifice before facing Miami, and the one they call “The Mayor of Starkville,” went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs in a win over the Hurricanes. Two days later, the Mets scooped him up with the 118th pick.
Of course Mangum hasn’t had to rely on rituals all that much. The 6-foot-1 switch-hitting center fielder, whose square jaw, dirty blonde hair and blue eyes scream Tim Tebow All-American, was bred by a family of athletes. His father, John Jr. (Bears, nine seasons), uncle, Kris (Panthers, 10 seasons) and grandfather, John (Boston Patriots, two seasons) played in the old AFL and NFL.
After junior high, Mangum followed his heart to baseball full-time, ditching the gridiron where he played wide receiver and defensive back. Asked if his dad would rather see him follow the family business, he said with a chuckle, “I think playing professional baseball is good enough.”
At 23, and ready to sign professionally once the college season ends, Mangum is inching closer to his MLB dream. He wasn’t surprised to see the Mets take another chance on him in the 2019 draft, after he turned their draft selection down the year before.
He’s projected as a fourth or fifth major league outfielder.
“Really good hitter. Plays hard. Gives quality at-bats. Solid defender,” one major league scout said. “He should hit right away after he signs.”
Mangum was SEC freshman of the year in 2016, and the program won the conference championship the same season in one of baseball’s toughest fields. He also holds the conference record for most career hits — 372 and counting. And he’s the unofficial Mayor of Starkville, which those around the program says fits like the glove he used to leap into the Mississippi air to rob a grand slam Saturday night against Stanford in the NCAA Super Regional.
He’s the “glue,” Mississippi State superfan Hobie Hobart said, that’s kept the program afloat through four different coaches.
Said Stone, also a lifelong Bulldogs fan: “There’s been two athletes, coaches that have impacted this community quite like he has, and that was him and [Dallas Cowboys quarterback] Dak Prescott.”
But one box remains unchecked for Mangum.
“Man, I want to bring a national championship back to Mississippi State,” Mangum said, the intensity rising in his voice.
The College World Series now stands in his way — just don’t forget to bring a chicken to Omaha. | {
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MCALLEN, Texas – Sheriff’s deputies and federal authorities are on scene at a popular border park in the city of Mission after discovering the bodies of a woman, two infants, and a toddler near the banks of the Rio Grande. Authorities have not revealed if the victims drowned or if they died from another cause
Hidalgo County Sheriff Eddie Guerra announced the discovery late Sunday night. The sheriff confirmed that the bodies are those of a 20-year old female, two infants, and a toddler. Officials found the bodies near the river in the Las Paloma Wildlife Management Area located southeast of Anzalduas Park. The FBI is expected to take over the investigation.
BREAKING NEWS: Deputies are on scene by the river SE of the Anzalduas Park in Las Paloma Wildlife Management Area where Border Patrol agents located 4 deceased bodies. Bodies appear to be 2 infants, a toddler and 20yoa female. Deputies are awaiting FBI agents who will be leading. pic.twitter.com/2qPCYDjZBu — Sheriff Eddie Guerra (@SheriffGuerra) June 24, 2019
Breitbart News reported repeatedly on human smuggling activity in an around Anzalduas Park. The park is a popular county park that has become one of the main routes used by the Gulf Cartel to move Central American migrants into Texas. While the area has a heavy law enforcement presence, criminal organizations push the migrant groups through the park expecting them to get detained and eventually released. The smuggling activity comes at a time when the number of migrants being apprehended along the southern border is expected to set new records.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Border / Cartel Chronicles. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Border / Cartel Chronicles. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at [email protected]. | {
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Recently, prominent Democrats, and rumored 2020 presidential hopefuls in particular, have been signing on to some very big ideas. The latest is a national job guarantee, proposed in different forms by senators Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Bernie Sanders, and making plenty of headline news. Guaranteed employment joins a slew of other such ideas like free university or community college, supported by senators from Kamala Harris to Brian Schatz. Medicare for All was a fringe concept in the Obama era, yet today it is championed not just by Senator Sanders, but by fully one-third of Senate Democrats.
Critics have tried to cast these proposals as evidence of a party rushing left too far and too fast, offering the progressive equivalent of Trump’s border wall—impractical fantasies designed to appease a base looking for nothing but bread and circus. But this narrative is wrong. Everywhere there are signs of ideas unthinkable in years past gaining traction because mainstream America—not just the far left—is actually ready for them.
For half a century now, a neoliberal, free-market consensus has governed our politics, forcing progressives into a reactionary crouch, particularly on economics. But both the 2008 financial crisis and the 2016 election demonstrate that market fundamentalism has failed on its own terms; the result has been increasing inequality and the specter of political authoritarianism. The twentieth-century version of right-versus-left no longer makes sense.
Instead, today’s true measure is old versus bold. What matters is scale. Opinion polls, movement protests, and election results all suggest that ordinary people already know what our political parties have been slow to grasp: The economic, racial, and political landscape of the country has been ruptured. Americans want something drastically different, solutions befitting the enormity of this moment.
Our nation’s promise has been an experiment in economic liberalism, political democracy, and, very belatedly, racial and gender equality. Today, all three pillars are under serious threat. The first two are faltering under the stress of a broken economic worldview. The third is—at least for now—seeing backlash against its own success. In this era of mass disruption, whichever party responds with bold ideas has the opportunity to define the axis of politics for a generation. This will be an evolution, and not the flip of a switch overnight, but rewards will no doubt go, nonetheless, to the party that can keep up.
Bold has become the norm with tremendous speed. Criminal justice reforms, more ambitious than we’ve ever seen, that include substance abuse treatment programs and sentencing reductions, have gone mainstream in Texas. States from New York to Tennessee are promoting free community college. A $15/hour minimum wage, considered laughable just a few years ago, is now standard policy in states and cities across the country. To stay ahead of the curve, some major retailers have adopted this policy nationwide. From California to Kansas, legislatures are, after decades of cutting, raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for hospitals and schools.
And “bold” does not just mean “blue,” either. The minimum wage has gone up in Arizona and Maine, states with Republican governors. GOP governors are also leading fights for free community college, and conservatives are proposing new legal regimes on antitrust, privacy, and ending the abuse of eminent domain for corporate gain—often with allies that defy traditional political lines, as seen in recent bi-partisan fights in Virginia against both a sweetheart deal for the electric monopolies and the construction of a fracked-gas pipeline through the Blue Ridge.
Nor is “resistance” limited to coastal bastions. Since 2016, close to 2,000 American cities and towns have seen marches in the name of women’s rights and gun safety. This is Middle America rebooting democracy: Retired librarians, school teachers, and working moms are joining Occupy protesters to broaden the coalition. From Indivisible chapters in every congressional district to teachers striking in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Arizona, this is a convergence of voices that looks more like all of America than any political movement in living memory.
The 2017 elections in the swing state of Virginia captured this transformation particularly well. Winning candidates up and down the ticket embraced some of the country’s most progressive “bold” policies—not only raising the minimum wage and debt-free community college, but also an unqualified welcoming of immigrants and refugees, ambitious demands for gun reform, and access to long-acting reversible contraceptives. Elizabeth Guzman, Hala Ayala, and Kathy Tran, running in the hotly contested exurbs of Virginia, all leaned in to their immigrant roots and won by campaigning on higher wages, health-care access, and more public education funding. These positions themselves have gone from marginal to the mainstream so quickly that Republicans did not even bother to disparage them in their negative ad campaigns, focusing instead on stoking fears of lost Confederate memorials and armed Latino gang members, a new “globalized” phase of the Southern strategy.
The Virginia midterm elections also helped illustrate another important phenomenon of this political moment: our country’s continuously growing partisan divide, and how differently our political parties have reacted to these seismic changes. While some Republicans have begun to embrace bold, the national party as a whole has embraced a reactionary populism, rather than a vision of the future. Most have abandoned the ideals of even-handed conservatism and have either gone all in with Donald Trump’s agenda of white identity politics; remained in complicit silence; or, like House Speaker Paul Ryan and 30 of his fellow House Republicans, have retired or resigned from politics altogether.
The Democratic Party’s direction, meanwhile, remains in flux. The small-bore fixes of the 1990s no longer make sense. Today, party leaders are learning, in fits and starts, to move beyond half-hearted criticism of the status quo, and some are experimenting with going big in a way that the times demand.
Like all sociopolitical transformations of this magnitude, our current disruption has been long in the making. From Ronald Reagan onward, market fundamentalism turbo-charged corporate power. Politicians watered down regulations that had long encouraged small businesses, laying the foundation of the megastore economy. From finance to telecommunications to health care, the pattern was the same: Fewer companies controlled more market share and took home more profit. CEOs saw their compensation skyrocket 90 times faster than average worker pay. And corporate lobbying began its rise to a $6.3 billion per election cycle industry, more than is spent on all federal elections combined.
Yet the rise of market fundamentalism coincided with actual progress in our racial and gender relations. In the 1960s and ‘70s, the civil rights and women’s movements made actual gains. Equal treatment in the workplace became the legal standard (though gender wage gaps persist, most perniciously for women of color). Black mayors were elected in major cities nationwide, from Chicago to New York to Los Angeles. Perhaps a backlash was inevitable. Yet that backlash was no doubt intensified by shrinking municipal budgets, and by middle-class jobs fleeing cities for mostly white suburbs, and then fleeing America altogether. The result has been, for many, a fear- and prejudice-driven race to the bottom.
Today’s seemingly sudden about-face toward the bold is the result of a growing awareness that tinkering that was not enough, in addition to denials of hard-won racial and economic progress.
Therefore, in 2018, the policy and political answers must be more democracy, not less. More imagination, not less. All of the bold ideas now being floated share the same backbone; combining the need for public goods with rule-making in the service of the common good, which, by definition, must also be racially inclusive. This is true not just for universal health care, guaranteed jobs, and free higher education, which have already been embraced by politicians. It is also true for other bold ideas being developed and discussed: a universal guaranteed income, muscular anti-trust and competition policy, the break-up of technology giants, a Public Integrity Protection Agency to consolidate the disparate anti-corruption forces in government.
We need bold because we already know where caution in the midst of confusion leads. In 2009, during the financial panic, President Obama’s chief economist argued for a $1.8 trillion stimulus. Instead, austerity-driven common economic “wisdom,” and political considerations about how big a package Congress would pass, won the day and led to a package half that size. This prevented a depression but failed to rejuvenate the middle class; unsurprisingly, politicians caught nothing but hell for their efforts. In contrast, when politicians go bold, as the Obama team did with its $80 billion auto bailout, they can reap both economic and electoral rewards.
The bold-versus-old axis also demands scale, which is where the Elizabeth Warren and Mark Warner wings of the Democratic Party could converge. Senator Warner calls for a “new capitalism,” given the potential scope of automation-driven disruption. Senator Warren argues for structural reforms including a real curb on monopoly power, because she understands the chokepoint threat that Big Tech and big banks, too massive to fail, pose to our democracy.
Critics who fear big ideas are mistaken. Viewed through the lens we propose here, the best critique of Senator Booker’s job guarantee proposal is not that it is too big but that it is too modest, focusing on a handful of pilot projects instead of a nationwide effort linked to transformative infrastructure investment. We should move from talking about removing a few Confederate memorials to whether we should be holding a national racial truth and reconciliation commission. Calling for an end to racialized voter suppression is important, but let’s take that to 100 percent voter participation by broadening our voting windows and making registration universal.
On taxes, it is not enough to say that cutting is wrong. We can and should propose a new tax code, one that raises revenue for public investment; closes massive loopholes exploited by the extremely wealthy; and reduces corporate incentives to automate, outsource jobs, and pollute. Globally, we can and should reimagine trade deals to address corruption and consolidation, workers and wages, and the elimination of international tax havens (to the tune of $73 billion annually). The failure to offer bold new economic solutions leaves a vacuum within which Trump’s backwards rhetoric can seem like truth-telling.
Importantly, recent research also says that we can afford bold. New studies say that the economy still has plenty of what economists call “slack,” meaning room to grow. The current unemployment rate masks serious underemployment—closer to 8 percent of Americans would take more work if they could find it, and those numbers are doubled, at least, for African-American men. In short: U.S. labor force participation is at historic lows. At a time when our nation’s children and elderly require more care, and our roads and bridges require more repair, we have more people than ever wanting jobs but unable to connect to the labor market. Some scholarship also suggests that more government spending would actually lead to more productivity, which could then be taxed.
This rejection of half a century of austerity thinking has finally made way for bold solutions. Consider a country where citizens were ensured affordable lifelong housing, health care, and education. Consider an America that ran not only on 100 percent clean energy, but produced at least half of it through decentralized production instead of outdated utility monopolies, reviving our small towns and rural communities. Consider elections where not only did every citizen vote, but where campaign spending and funding was strictly limited, as in many other advanced democracies. And consider an America that seriously addressed a 13:1 racial wealth disparity and the structural forces behind it, with child trusts and other tools to bridge that gap.
If all of this bold sounds outlandish, consider this, once again: Bold is winning. Bold politicians have triumphed not just in Virginia, but nationwide. In New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy won on a platform that included a public bank, ensuring equal pay for equal work, mandating earned sick leave, and raising the minimum wage. Pennsylvania’s victorious Conor Lamb was staunchly pro-union, and endorsed by the AFL-CIO. In Alabama, winner Doug Jones emphasized his track record as a U.S. Attorney who fought the Ku Klux Klan. Against this, Republicans have underperformed in every single election since 2016.
This is not just anti-Trump. It is much more.
We believe that bold is at the heart of the new vision that progressives have been searching for since well before 2016. Old thinking about markets and government has simply failed. Today we know that markets are only free and fair when public sector judges and regulators work to keep big firms from exclusionary domination. We know that our economy works best when all people are productive, and that it takes investment from both the government and the private sector to make that possible. We know that our society works best when all people are included, which means acknowledging and making real amends for rules—written and unwritten, past and present—that keep black people, brown people, and women, out.
We are in the middle of once-in-a-lifetime realignment. As we’ve said, whoever wins this race toward a new narrative, an agenda that addresses the key fractures of our age, will no doubt shape our politics for generations. This may sound like a lofty claim. And today’s rush toward major proposals may seem impossibly grandiose. And yet innovation, in the pursuit of one form of equality or another, has always been the central project of this country. Langston Hughes called America “the land that has never been yet, and yet must be.” Champions of bold will win by envisioning an America that finally makes real the promise of liberty and justice for all. | {
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August 16, 2010
Colleges across the nation are coming up short on what students need to know, reported the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA), an independent non-profit that promotes academic freedom, academic excellence and accountability.
According to a press release from ACTA, more than 700 colleges and universities were evaluated based on core subjects that ACTA deemed as essential to a "strong foundation of knowledge": composition, mathematics, science, economics, foreign language, literature and American government or history. Each school was given a grade from "A" to "F" based on how many of the core subjects it required. To receive an "A", a school must require six to seven core subjects. A school with no requirements, or only one, would be given an "F".
The ACTA reported that colleges and universities have failed to provide students with a general education, which has created large gaps in their knowledge. The organization gave more than 60 percent of all schools a "C" or worse for requiring three or fewer core subjects. Nearly 40 percent of schools did not require college-level mathematics and less than five percent required economics. Only 16 schools earned an "A".
Furthermore, ACTA found that public institutions were doing a better job than private institutions when it came to teaching students basic skills and knowledge. More than half of all private schools received a "D" or an "F" while 44 percent of public institutions received a "B" or better. Public schools also provided a stronger foundation at a lower price: based on 2009 figures, average tuition at the more than 100 "F" schools was $28,200, whereas average tuition at the 16 top schools was $13,200.
The Washington Post reported that one of the causes for this lack of fundamental education is schools offer too many subjects to fulfill certain requirements and many of those classes are of questionable value. Emory University, for example, offers approximately 600 courses for its "History, Society and Culture" requirement. Anne Neal, ACTA president, argued that universities are supposed to help guide students to classes that will "develop healthy minds" and that giving students so many choices can be detrimental. "It's ludicrous to take an 18-year-old and give them hundreds of choices when they don't have any basis for making a decision," she said.
Additionally, when given such a range of options, by nature students will opt for what is fun, easy or most interesting, which is not always the most content-rich. The Christian Science Monitor pointed out that at California State University Monterey Bay, students can choose to take "The History of Rock and Roll" to fulfill their U.S. history requirement.
At a time when higher education is becoming more and more inaccessible due to rising costs, ACTA's findings are an essential tool to help students and parents determine where they can get the most for their dollar. Critics, however, feel ACTA's methods are outdated. Carol Geary Schneider, president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities, argued that ACTA's grading system is based on a 1950s model of what college students should learn. Schneider pointed out that today about seven out of ten institutions require some study of world cultures or global perspectives, but the ACTA does not acknowledge this type of competence. "There's a huge amount of energy in higher education devoted to revitalizing a content-rich general-education program that is highly focused both on the knowledge students need and the skills they need for a 21st-century competence," said Schneider.
Neal, however, told The Washington Post that ACTA's grading system does not tell the whole story about an institution. Rather, it is one piece of information that can help "fill a gap so that parents and students can make better choices".
Compiled by Heidi M. Agustin | {
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A Guatemalan asylum-seeker sued the Trump administration on Tuesday for 'forcibly' separating her from her seven-year-old son after they crossed the border in May.
Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia was never indicted for illegally entering the country, but officials won't tell her where her son Darwin is, according to her lawsuit filed Tuesday in Federal District Court in Washington, D.C. against 6 federal agencies and 10 senior officials.
Mejia-Mejia's lawsuit is believed to be the first to challenge the government's removal of a specific child from a parent in the course of upholding federal immigration law. It opens up a new legal front in what has become an all-out battle with the White House on one side and a combination of Democratic lawmakers and immigration activists on the other.
Through a Spanish translator in her newly adopted hometown of Austin, Texas, Mejia-Mejia told DailyMail.com that she's not focused on the politics.
Only the boy, whom she named Darwin after hearing the name on television.
'Right now my main focus is to get Darwin back in my arms,' she said. 'I am a mom, and mothers fight for their children. I hope my fight can help other moms avoid this horror in their lives.'
In the lawsuit, she describes a heart-wrenching scene when uniformed agents entered her holding cell and took away the boy, who screamed for his mother.
SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE ENTIRE LAWSUIT
Guatemalan asylum applicant Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia is seeking asylum and has posted bond to get out of immigration jail; she sued the federal government on Tuesday for the return of her 7-year-old son Darwin, who was taken from her shortly after she entered the country and requested asylum after officials won't tell her where her son is
The Trump administration is under fire from all sides for separating more than 2,000 minors from their parents after they cross into the U.S. illegally
The White House has insisted that court rulings offer no flexibility, and that children can't legally be housed in immigration detention centers with the adults who bring them across the border – even if they're their parents; the result has been scenes like this one, and an ear-piercing, emotional outcry from Americans across the political spectrum
President Trump, pictured Tuesday, is defending his policy, with top officials saying separating kids from jailed parents is no different from what happens in ordinary criminal courts
Mejia-Mejia and her son entered the U.S. near San Luis, Arizona on approximately May 19 and turned themselves in to U.S. Border Patrol agents 'with the intention of seeking asylum,' according to her attorney Mario Williams, because of spousal abuse at the hands of a violently alcoholic husband who she says threatened to kill her.
She says immigration officials took the boy after they spent two days in 'la hielera' – the 'cooler.'
'Men dressed in green uniforms (border agents) told Ms. M. they needed to take her son and would not tell her why. Ms. M. said “no” and demanded an explanation, but they would not tell her why they needed to take her seven-year-old son, and they took him anyway,' the legal complaint reads, referring to Mejia-Mejia and her son only by their initials.
'The border agents did not tell Ms. M. where they were taking her son,' who was 'screaming and crying.'
'That was the last time Ms. M. saw her son,' according to the lawsuit.
She 'has not been given any paperwork to indicate where her son is or what his status or health condition is,' it alleges.
Mejia-Mejia was permitted to post bond after she passed what the Justice Department calls a 'credible fear' interview, persuading immigration officials that deporting her back to her original home in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala would place her in physical danger.
After her release, Mejia-Mejia was permitted a single phone call with Darwin, whom agents would only tell her was somewhere in Phoenix.
'Her son was crying and scared' during the brief call, according to the lawsuit.
'An official facilitating the call, who was with D.M., told Ms. M. that her son was “fine,” but Ms. M. could clearly hear her son saying “Mama! Mama! Mama!” in a distressed voice over and over and over again.'
The Trump administration is urging asylum-seekers to enter the U.S. at official 'ports of entry.' But Mike Donovan, CEO of Libre by Nexus – the Harrisonburg, Virginia firm that bailed her out for free – said Tuesday that she couldn't possibly have known where to go.
'She doesn't have GPS. She didn't have Google Maps,' he said.
And after a journey of more than 2,300 miles – roughly the distance from Boston to Phoenix – she couldn't possibly find a government-approved checkpoint.
'This woman doesn't understand where a "port of entry" is. She's navigating three countries to get here. She doesn't even know where the border is.'
He called her situation, and Darwin's, 'insane, vicious and cruel' but said the normally quiet, shy mother 'is willing to go to war to protect her son.'
Beata Mariana de Jesus Mejia-Mejia has sued the Trump administration, saying she was 'forcibly' separated from her 7-year-old son after they entered the U.S. illegally but then applied for asylum
Mejia-Mejia was released from federal immigration detention center in Eloy, Arizona on June 15 after posting a $12,500 bond arranged by Donovan's company.
'We have a charitable bonding program, and that's how her bond was posted,' he said. 'So she doesn't have to pay anything. It's based on indigency.'
The firm typically charges up to 20 per cent of a bond's amount, plus a monthly fee.
Williams, whose law practice centers on civil rights and international human rights cases, said Donovan's parent company funds an independent law firm with between $1 million and $3 million per year to litigate cases like Mejia-Mejia's.
'She reached out for help' after the company posted her bond, Williams said.
He hopes to get a court hearing before the end of the week on an emergency application for a restraining order, something that would force the Trump administration to find Darwin and reunite him with his mother.
But he cautioned that there's a bigger issue in play and he's not likely to withdraw the lawsuit until it runs its full course.
'We definitely will be happy when she gets her son back, but we are going to continue litigating the situation because of the broad impact this egregious policy has had on people around the country and around the world,' Williams said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Monday at the White House that children like Darwin are typically held in shelters by the Department of Health and Human Services for no more than 20 days.
That agency's Office of Refugee Resettlement 'provides meals, medical care, and educational services to these children. They are provided temporary shelter. And HHS works hard to find a parent, relative, or foster home to care for these children,' she said.
Nielsen also told reporters that parents like Mejia-Mejia 'can still communicate with their children through phone calls and video conferencing.'
That doesn't appear to have happened in her case.
Neither an ICE spokesperson nor the White House immediately responded to requests for comment. A Homeland Security Department spokeswoman said that 'as a matter of policy, we don’t comment on pending litigation.'
Mejia-Mejia can't get any answers either, said Donovan.
'I feel like we should be printing pictures on milk cartons and canvassing Arizona,' he said. 'How do we know the kid's safe? Are we supposed to take the government's word for it?'
'She's free. She's been paroled. The very government that took her child has authorized her to be here on bond. Give the child back! This isn't hard.'
Mejia-Mejia says federal officials won't tell her where her son is, and only allowed her to speak with him once after she bonded out of immigration jail – and heard him crying 'Mama! Mama!'
President Donald Trump said Tuesday on Twitter that the U.S. has 'got to stop separation of the families,' and blamed congressional Democrats for clinging to the status quo for political reasons.
'As a result of Democrat-supported loopholes in our federal laws, most illegal immigrant families and minors from Central America who arrive unlawfully at the border cannot be detained together, or removed together. Only released,' he said.
'These are crippling loopholes that cause family separation, which we don't want. As a result of these loopholes, roughly half a million ... have been released into the United States since 2014.'
The federal government, he claimed, has only two choices that don't break current law.
'We have only two policy options to respond to this massive crisis,' he said. 'We can either release all immigrant families and minors who show up at the border from Central America. Or we can arrest the adults for the federal crime of illegal entries.'
'Those are [the] only two options: totally open borders or criminal prosecution for lawbreaking.'
'We can't let people pour in,' he added. 'They've got to go through the process. And maybe it's politically correct or maybe it's not.'
Attorney General Jeff Sessions approved a 'zero tolerance' immigration enforcement policy in April, directing agents in the field to spare no one from prosecution after an illegal border crossing.
'What has changed,' Nielsen said Monday, 'is that we no longer exempt entire classes of people who break the law. Everyone is subject to prosecution.'
She underscored that 'if an adult enters at a port of entry and claims asylum, they will not face prosecution for illegal entry. They have not committed a crime by coming to the port of entry.'
Mejia-Mejia is not facing criminal prosecution despite jumping the border in between those legal ports of entry, calling the consistency of the zero-tolerance approach into doubt.
In her legal argument, she claims the Trump administration 'has separated hundreds of migrant families for no legitimate purpose.'
'Although there are no allegations that the parents are unfit or abusing their children in any way, the government has forcibly separated them from their young children and detained the children, often far away, in facilities for “unaccompanied” minors,' she charges.
It's unclear whether Mejia-Mejia's asylum request will be granted.
Trump said Tuesday during a speech that he has 'only two options' for dealing with adults who illegally bring children into the U.S. from Mexico: 'totally open borders or criminal prosecution for lawbreaking'
Last week Sessions ruled that domestic violence can no longer be considered grounds for asylum unless an applicant can prove he or she was persecuted because of 'membership in a particular and socially distinct group' like race or gender.
But passing the credible fear test, and bonding out of jail, suggests her case may fit into a narrow range of exceptions.
In her lawsuit, Mejia-Mejia is asking a federal judge to declare separating her from her son was 'unlawful,' order the boy's return to her and forbid the government from deporting her without him.
She is also seeking financial damages for the 'pain and suffering arising from the separation,' and 'punitive damages for the conscious disregard for [her] rights.
The lawsuit cites the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and alleges that the Trump administration violated her and her son's rights to due process under the law.
They 'have a liberty interest under the Due Process Clause in remaining together as a family,' it contends.
Her argument hinges on the definition of a 'person' in the Fifth Amendment, which the Supreme Court ruled in 2001 encompasses people who, the law considers 'aliens.'
The trek Mejia-Mejia took with her son covered about 2,300 miles, roughly the distance from Boston to Phoenix
'Once an alien enters the country, the legal circumstance changes, for the due process clause applies to all persons within the United States,' the justices wrote in the case Zadvydas vs. Davis.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued the administration this year, challenging the policy more generally. A judge ruled June 6 that the suit can proceed forward, saying that it describes 'government conduct that arbitrarily tears at the sacred bond between parent and child.'
Mejia-Mejia sued U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Department of Health and Human Services and its Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Individual named defendants include Nielsen, Sessions, HHS Secretary Alex Azar, Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan, Phoenix ICE Field Office Director Henry Lucero and Assistant Field Office Director Michael Zackowski, USCIS Director L. Francis Cissna, Acting CBP Commissioner Kevin McAleenan and his Tucson Field Director William Brooks, and Office of Refugee Resettlement Director Scott Lloyd.
President Trump is not named as a defendant.
The case is Mejia-Mejia v. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement et al, 1:18-cv-01445. | {
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It is a common presumption, thanks largely to author Malcolm Gladwell, that it takes 10,000 hours to attain mastery in a given enterprise. For The Beatles, it was Hamburg—sharpening their musical skills playing seven days a week in a series of cramped, caliginous nightclubs over a two-plus year period. For Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, it was spending his teenage years inside a dark room fiddling with Atari BASIC Programming. And for many of our generation’s greatest filmmakers, from David Fincher to Christopher Nolan, it all began with Super 8.
Introduced in 1965 by Kodak, Super 8 film was a boon for amateur filmmakers. A marked improvement over the regular 8 mm motion-picture film format, Super 8 film’s perforations were reduced in size, allowing for an image about 50 percent wider than standard 8 mm. Nearly all Super 8 film cameras also came with a daylight filter switch built-in, allowing for both daytime and nighttime shoots, and also used plastic light-proof film cartridges that could be loaded directly into the camera in just two seconds, doing away with the tedious task of threading the film into the camera. Additionally, these little plastic cartridges afforded amateur filmmakers three minutes and 20 seconds of continuous filming at a rate of 18 frames per second (compared to regular 8 mm’s 16 frames per second). Although the original Super 8 could only produce silent films, in 1973, a version with sound was released.
Even more than it owes to the sci-fi canon of its producer, Steven Spielberg, J.J. Abrams’ retro blockbuster 'Super 8' is a love letter to its namesake. Set in the summer of 1979 in the fictional town of Lillian, Ohio, a group of teenagers set out to make a zombie movie to submit to a local film festival. Armed with a Eumig Makro Sound 65 XL Super 8 camera, a makeshift lighting kit, ketchup (for blood), and several film cartridges, the 'Goonies'-like crew films a pivotal scene by the train tracks to get “production value”—as their bossy director, a pudgy Orson Welles in training, puts it. They start filming, when suddenly a train carrying top-secret Air Force cargo speeds by and crashes into a vehicle on the tracks, resulting in arguably the most strident and spectacular train crash ever. The next day, the kids bring in the Super 8 film to be processed—which takes three days. Meanwhile, people start mysteriously disappearing in the town, and the amateur filmmakers soon realize that whatever evidence there is of the cause lies in that film.
Back in 1958, an 11-year-old Steve Spielberg became a Boy Scout and needed to fulfill a requirement for a photography merit badge. “My dad's still-camera was broken, so I asked the scoutmaster if I could tell a story with my father's movie camera,” Spielberg told Nickelodeon Magazine. “He said yes, and I got an idea to do a Western.” After filming his first 8 mm movie—a train wreck with model trains, believe it or not—Spielberg ended up making a nine-minute 8 mm film called 'The Last Gunfight.' “I made it and got my merit badge,” Spielberg later recalled. “That was how it all started.” At 13, Spielberg won a local Arizona film festival prize for a 40-minute World War II film shot on 8 mm entitled 'Escape to Nowhere,' and, at age 16, caught the attention of Universal execs with 'Firelight'—a 140-minute film about a UFO invading a small town (also shot on 8 mm).
Years later, a 1982 Los Angeles Times article was published under the headline, “Beardless Wonders of Film Making.” Most of the story was dedicated to a nerdy 15-year-old named J.J. Abrams, who had caused waves at a local Super 8 film festival, and said, “I see stuff by Steven Spielberg and John Carpenter, and I want to do it, too.” The article got in the hands of Spielberg, who by then had already established himself as one of the biggest directors in Hollywood with 'Jaws', 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', and 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'. According to the newspaper, Spielberg then hired Abrams—and his childhood pal Matt Reeves—to restore his early 8 mm films 'Escape to Nowhere' and 'Firelight'. Abrams would go on to helm 'Star Trek,' while Reeves would direct the Abrams-produced monster flick 'Cloverfield', and the vampire film 'Let Me In.'
Like Abrams, Tim Burton started out making films on Super 8—shooting rough stop-motion animated shorts in his backyard. While a student at CalArts, his short film 'The Stalk of the Celery Monster,' animated entirely in pencil and shot on Super 8, won Burton an apprenticeship at Walt Disney Animation Studios, where he would go on to serve as a storyboard/conceptual artist for films like the original 'Tron.' And 'Lord of the Rings' filmmaker Peter Jackson, perhaps Spielberg’s heir apparent, was gifted a Super 8 cine-camera by a family friend, and proceeded to make short films with his friends, including a WWII epic, a James Bond spoof, and at 15, a short film called 'The Valley,' about a group of men who get sucked into a rift in the space/time continuum and are transported to a post-apocalyptic world run by wild beasts, which won Jackson a filmmaking prize.
Directors David Fincher ('The Social Network') and Christopher Nolan ('Inception') also caught the filmmaking bug after they were gifted Super 8 cameras at an early age, and 'Transformers' helmer Michael Bay almost destroyed his home as a child while making a particularly inventive Super 8 film. "I'd do little firecrackers on the train set. I actually set my bedroom on fire once,” Bay told USA Today. "The fire department came. It was a little Super 8 movie where the aliens invaded."
After Panasonic, RCA, and Hitachi began producing shoulder-mount camcorders in 1985 that could play full-size VHS cassettes, offering three hours of recording time—as opposed to three minutes and 20 seconds for Super 8—these handheld cameras soon became a relic of the past among budding directors. This was followed by the advent of DV (digital video) in 1995, which quickly established itself as the de facto standard for amateur and independent filmmaking. Kodak first discontinued the production of Super 8 sound film in 1997, and then in 2005, decided to cease producing the most popular Super 8 film stock, Kodachrome. While Kodak still manufactures several different varieties of Super 8 film, very few retailers carry it due to little to no demand from ordinary consumers.
But its legacy lives on. | {
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Chronique
Loto-DGE Québec
Vincent Marissal La Presse
À la Loto-DGE Québec, Québec solidaire a gagné un billet gratuit et garde la circonscription de Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques (SMSJ), mais c’est le Parti québécois qui remporte le gros lot au terme d’un exercice confus qui rappelle un peu la fin échevelée de la cérémonie des Oscars, dimanche dernier.
Dans la catégorie « circonscription préservée », les gagnantes sont : Outremont et Mont-Royal… euh, non, attendez, c’est plutôt… Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques !
En gros, du deuxième rapport de la Commission de la représentation électorale (CRE) à celui, définitif, déposé hier, c’est ainsi que ça s’est passé. On pourrait appeler ce curieux processus : Improvisation, stupeur et revirement.
Dans son rapport définitif, la CRE explique sa décision en reprenant tous les arguments avancés par les opposants à la disparition de SMSJ, des arguments qui sont aussi les principaux critères (comme la préservation des milieux naturels) devant guider ses choix.
La question qui tue : pourquoi ne pas avoir suivi ces critères dans le deuxième rapport ? D’autant que la disparition de SMSJ ne faisait même pas partie des propositions du premier rapport. Étrange.
C’est comme si le DGE s’était dit : on va essayer ça, ça semble tenir la route, sans même s’inquiéter des réactions du milieu touché et sans même tenir compte des critères de la loi avant de jouer de la gomme à effacer dans le Centre-Sud, à Montréal.
On avait l’impression, lors du dépôt du deuxième rapport de la CRE, le mois dernier, qu’elle voulait surtout ménager la chèvre et le chou. On coupe une circonscription (libérale) dans la Mauricie, mais on garde Outremont et Mont-Royal ; on fait disparaître SMSJ (Québec solidaire), mais le redécoupage d’Hochelaga-Maisonneuve ouvre la porte à QS ; on garde toutes les circonscriptions (libérales, il va sans dire) de l’ouest de Montréal et on en crée deux nouvelles dans les Basses-Laurentides. À la fin, c’est probablement le PQ qui sortait gagnant (ou, du moins, le moins perdant) de l’exercice, puisque les Basses-Laurentides lui sont favorables.
Seulement voilà, la proposition de disparition de SMSJ, englobée dans une nouvelle circonscription avec le centre-ville et avec Westmount, est sortie de nulle part, elle n’a jamais été évoquée dans le premier rapport ni dans les consultations qui ont suivi et QS a organisé une irrésistible montée au créneau.
On reprend, donc, et on revient à la case départ : SMSJ demeure ; Outremont et Mont-Royal fusionnent ; une circonscription disparaît dans la Mauricie (Saint-Maurice, libérale) et deux voient le jour dans le 450 au nord de Montréal. Cette fois, c’est le PLQ qui sort perdant de l’exercice.
On a d’ailleurs reproché aux libéraux de ne pas avoir défendu, avec les autres partis, Sainte-Marie–Saint-Jacques, mais dans les faits, ils étaient piégés : s’ils plaidaient pour la disparition de SMSJ, ils protégeaient leurs propres circonscriptions (Outremont et Mont-Royal) et s’ils défendaient SMSJ, ils jouaient contre leurs intérêts.
Outremont et Mont-Royal (toutes deux représentées par un ministre) sont historiquement des points de chute rêvée pour des candidats vedettes au cœur de Montréal. Si Pierre Arcand et Hélène David décident tous les deux de se représenter dans 18 mois, Philippe Couillard va avoir un gros problème sur les bras.
Mince consolation, le DGE accepte, ce qu’on n’attendait plus, de biffer le nom de Crémazie et de renommer cette circonscription Maurice-Richard, proposition défendue par la députée libérale de l’endroit, Marie Montpetit. Il faut souligner la rapidité de ce changement de nom. Au Québec, il faut parfois près de 20 ans pour renommer une artère significative en l’honneur d’un défunt premier ministre, mais dans le cas de Maurice-Richard, cette proposition n’a été faite au DGE qu’en septembre dernier.
Québec solidaire gagne la bataille de l’opinion publique, mais c’est le PQ qui se sauve avec le gros lot : deux nouvelles circonscriptions très « prenables » et Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, arrachée par 91 votes en 2014, qui garde ses limites actuelles.
On ne connaîtra jamais la teneur des délibérations privées des trois commissaires de la CRE chargés de pondre le rapport définitif déposé hier, mais il est difficile de croire que la très forte mobilisation pour sauver SMSJ et l’impression d’injustice faite envers QS n’a pas joué dans les discussions. Toute la classe politique montréalaise, avec à sa tête le maire Denis Coderre, s’est mobilisée pour conserver cette circonscription unique, qui englobe notamment le Village gai.
La CRE, qui relève du Directeur général des élections, se doit d’être plus neutre que neutre et imperméable à toute pression politique. Elle a intitulé son rapport définitif Les électeurs avant tout et le directeur des élections, Pierre Reid, souligne dans son communiqué qu’il est impossible de faire l’unanimité dans une telle démarche.
Les arguments démographiques et socioéconomiques pour sauver SMSJ ont été entendus, lit-on dans le communiqué, mais la CRE se défend bien d’avoir cédé à des considérations plus politiques.
« Il importe de souligner que plusieurs commentaires ont porté sur la nécessité de préserver le poids politique d’un parti à l’Assemblée nationale plutôt que sur les principes de l’égalité du vote des électeurs et du respect des communautés naturelles. Ces commentaires n’ont pas pu être considérés dans la prise de décision finale », écrit le DGE.
On peut croire, en effet, que la mobilisation, que les messages de plus de 4000 électeurs au DGE en faveur de la préservation de SMSJ et que les 14 000 noms sur une pétition ont eu un poids. Mais il faut aussi reconnaître que priver le plus petit parti de l’un de ses trois maigres sièges pour favoriser le parti dominant au Québec, ce n’était peut-être pas l’idée du siècle. | {
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BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand on Wednesday defended its curbs on freedom of expression at a review of its rights record by the U.N. Human Rights Council, saying the measures were aimed at “those who stir up violence”.
Slideshow ( 6 images )
At a time of fresh arrests of online critics accused of criticizing Thailand’s junta, U.N. member states attending the review in Geneva expressed concern over the deteriorating rights situation since the military took power in a May 2014 coup.
Some U.N. members urged the military to review controversial laws, such as a royal insults law, that rights groups say have increasingly been used to silence critics.
Thailand should “allow all Thai people to fully participate in the political process,” the United States said in a brief statement to the council, and called for the elimination of “mandatory minimum sentences for lese-majeste”.
The restrictions were “meant for those who stir up violence”, a representative of Thailand’s justice ministry said in a live broadcast of the meeting, responding to the concerns raised at the review, the country’s first since 2011.
The military seized power in May 2014, saying it had to end a bitter cycle of political unrest that had rocked Thailand since 2006, when the army ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Rights groups say the junta has tightened its grip on power and severely repressed rights in the past year. It has jailed critics, introduced new laws aimed at curbing freedom of speech, censored the media and restricted political debate.
The military government has stepped up prosecutions of those accused of defamation, handing down harsher sentences.
The latest crackdown comes as the military government prepares to put a widely criticized military-written constitution to the public in August.
Thai authorities on Tuesday released on bail eight activists arrested in April over Facebook comments critical of the junta and the draft constitution.
Two of the eight activists face separate charges of royal insult. They were charged on Wednesday with insulting the revered monarchy in private Facebook messages.
Thailand’s strict royal defamation law makes it a crime to defame, insult or threaten the king, queen, heir to the throne or regent. Those found guilty face prison terms of up to 15 years for each offense.
Thailand is one of 14 countries being questioned at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), a cyclical review of the human rights record of the 193 United Nations members.
More than a decade of political strife has seen at times violent street protests by both Thaksin’s supporters and their opponents.
In their closing remarks, Thai officials told the council they expected to adopt some of its recommendations on Friday, when its current session ends. | {
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It's been 11 months since the Rams gave Todd Gurley a four-year, $57.5 million extension, and in the process resetting the market for running backs after Le'Veon Bell failed to do so in Pittsburgh. (Bell subsequently held out for the entirety of the 2018 season, and signed with the Jets in March. More on that later.)
Gurley's contract runs through 2023 and he averages $14.4 million per season. And while NFL contracts are almost never fully guaranteed, the Rams can't easily get out from this one anytime soon; the team would incur a $34.9 million dead-cap hit if they parted ways with Gurley in 2019. That number is $25.7 million in 2020 and $8.4 million in 2021, according to Spotrac.
We mention this because Gurley's finish to the 2018 season was, in a word, troubling. It all started well enough. In the first 14 games Gurley rushed for 1,251 yards (4.9 yards per carry) and added another 580 yards on 59 receptions. All told, he scored 21 touchdowns and finished No. 1 in total value and value per play among all running backs, according to Football Outsiders' metrics. Gurley also ranked 12th in total value among all backs as a pass catcher.
Put another way: His contract matched his productivity.
But Gurley missed the final two games of the regular season with a knee injury. He returned in the divisional playoff game against the Cowboys and looked like his old self rushing for 115 yards and a score. But he ran the ball just four times for 10 yards against the Saints in the NFC Championship Game and was only slightly more effective in the Super Bowl when he had 10 carries for 35 yards. In three postseason games, Gurley had four receptions for five yards.
That Super Bowl performance did nothing to assuage concerns about Gurley's knee. In fact, the speculation only intensified during the weeks that followed. At the combine in March, CBSSports.com's John Breech reported that there was so much concern over the knee that a stem cell procedure was being considered. That was in addition to a report that Gurley is dealing with arthritis.
Concern about Gurley's health for the upcoming season would be understandable -- except that Gurley doesn't sound worried at all.
"I had bigger problems to worry about coming out of college," he told reporters last week, via NFL.com. "This is small."
Gurley continued: "I've be hearing stuff all my life. Just whatever growing up. Hearing comments or whatever that is. All of the stuff don't really get to me. I feel like I do a great job, got a great supporting cast. ... It's football. It's the game I've been playing my whole life, so it's nothing new to me. I know what I'm capable of. I know what type of person I am. No big deal to me."
But is it "small," as Gurley suggests? Here's what his trainer, Travelle Gaines, told CBSSports.com's Dave Richard.
"Everybody knew when Todd came out of Georgia that there would be some kind of arthritic component to his knee, which is part of every surgery whether it's a shoulder, a knee, an ankle," Gaines said late last week. "He's now at the year-five mark, all we're doing is managing that. If we can pound him less in the offseason while keeping his weight down, working on his strength, working on his agility in short areas, that's going to give him a better chance to be healthy Weeks 14 through 17 when they really count."
So what's Plan B if Gurley doesn't return to the form that saw him rush for 2,556 yards the last two season, average 4.8 yards per carry and score 40 touchdowns?
It starts with Malcolm Brown, who had 43 carries for 212 yards (4.9 YPC) in '18, and signed a two-year deal this offseason. But the Rams also used a third-round pick on Memphis running back Darrell Henderson whose college production was off the charts. Henderson averaged 8.9 yards per carry his last two college seasons. And while some of that was a result of running behind a really good offensive line, Henderson deserves a lot of credit too. He averaged around 20 receptions a season during his career but the biggest question about his game translating to the NFL may be his ability to pass block. That said, he has zero reservations about fitting in to McVay's scheme.
"If you go back and watch my college film and you watch the Rams film, it's the same," Henderson told the Los Angeles Times in May. "I thought that was the best system I could get in. So everything worked out great. When I was talking to them, everything was clicking and we developed a relationship. The coaches told me they knew they were going to get me so it was the perfect fit."
Ideally, Gurley would be completely healthy heading into training camp. And it sounds like that's the plan.
"Talking to Todd, he looks really good, and feels really good," McVay told reporters last week. ... The intention is to get him back, ready to go. This was the intention, this was part of the long term plan to get him for the opener against the Panthers, but when we start camp that represents when he can get on the field and do some things and start to compete with his teammates."
Gaines sounded a similar tone, despite the addition of Henderson.
"It's never been told to me that there's a plan to decrease his workload come Week 1," Gaines told Richard. "At the end of the day, you need solid running backs, and they grabbed a home-run running back in the third round. ... If you watched the games last year, Todd typically sat out two to three series last year. I don't see anything changing with that, so you need a back who can catch, and I believe Darrell averaged around 9.0 yards per carry, a home-run type guy."
Gurley is only 24 years old but it's hard to know how his knee will respond until he's on the field. For the Rams the good news is that this offense doesn't run through the running back, even one as talented at Gurley. It starts with McVay.
In 2015, McVay was in his second season as the Redskins offensive coordinator. The team finished 9-7 and the offense, behind Kirk Cousins and Alfred Morris and his team-leading 751 rushing yards, ranked 12th in total offense -- No. 6 in passing and ... dead least in running the ball. But a year later, that offense ranked No. 5 overall -- fifth in passing and fourth in rushing -- again, Cousins was under center but Robert Kelly led the team with 704 rushing yards. The point: McVay can work without a Pro Bowl rusher but, like every other NFL offense, a franchise quarterback is imperative.
(We can argue about about the franchise-ness of Cousins and Jared Goff but the former was third in total value in '16 and the latter was sixth in total value last season when the Rams made the Super Bowl.)
A backs-by-committee approach probably makes the most sense for Gurley and the Rams going forward and that's OK. There's no need to run Gurley into the ground when you have Brown and Henderson on the roster -- and Goff under center and McVay calling plays. It's also why, like last year, you're not likely to see Gurley take part in preseason games.
"Todd is asked to do a lot in that offense, so to preserve him as much as possible is what the goal of the game is," Gaines said. "Their sports science department and sports medicine department are made up of very sharp individuals, so whatever they subscribe and ask me to help out with to do with Todd as Todd's with me every single day, I'm going to do it. I think the Rams have a great formula and are a phenomenal franchise."
We mentioned Le'Veon Bell in the first paragraph above. He signed a four-year, $52.5 million deal with the Jets this spring, making him the second-highest paid back behind Gurley. The Steelers offered him a bigger contract (with reportedly less guaranteed money, however) last summer but Bell chose to sit out the season because he felt he was worth more than that. The running back position is the most fungible in the NFL and that's been the case for a while now. You could argue that Bell overvalued his worth but it's also fair to say that Gurley's late-season woes did Bell no favors. As we watched C.J. Anderson, who was signed in December after the Panthers cut him the month before, step right into Gurley's role, it reinforced the notion that backs are replaceable.
Simply put: Rams are a better team with Gurley firing on all cylinders. But even if if he's less than 100 percent, Los Angeles remains one of the NFL's most formidable offenses. | {
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Netflix users on Windows and OS X currently depend on Microsoft's Silverlight plugin to watch videos. With Silverlight no longer under active development, the company is looking at alternative delivery systems for its app-free, browser-based video delivery.
The answer it picked is, unsurprisingly, HTML5, but as the company details in a blog post, it's not up to the challenge just yet. The sticking point, again unsurprisingly, is DRM. Netflix's Silverlight player protects the content that it plays, and the company needs to maintain a similar level of protection in its HTML5 successor.
That isn't possible today, but with a trio of features currently being worked on under the remit of W3C, the World Wide Web Consortium, it soon will be.
Two of the features are relatively uncontentious. The <video> element that underpins HTML5-based video playback presently uses a specific URL or URLs as its data source. Netflix, however, performs dynamic management of the source, so that, for example, it can switch to lower bitrate streams if it detects a deterioration in network conditions. The Media Source Extensions (MSE) extends the <video> element to give JavaScript this kind of control.
The Web Cryptography (WebCrypto) API provides a JavaScript API for various standard cryptographic features such as hashing and encryption. This can be used for many things, such as client-side encrypted data storage, client-side generation of signed documents and e-mail message, and client-side secure instant messaging.
The third feature is, however, unwelcome for many. Encrypted Media Extensions (EME) provide an API that allows using encrypted media streams with HTML5's <video> and <audio> tags. EME defines how HTML5 browsers will detect that encrypted streams are being used, and then look up an appropriate Content Decryption Module (CDM) that will verify that the license is being properly respected, and then decrypt the data.
The announcement in February that W3C had deemed EME to be in scope for HTML5's development, and hence something that can be developed under W3C's banner, was not universally welcomed by the Web community. Content owners, and some of those providing services to content owners (both directly, such as Netflix, and indirectly, such as Microsoft and Google, with Internet Explorer and Chrome, respectively) regard EME as either desirable, or at least necessary, if premium video content is to move to HTML5.
For them, the choice is between "Silverlight/Flash/custom apps with DRM" and "HTML5 with DRM." "HTML5 without DRM" simply isn't in the running.
Countering that group are those who say variously that DRM is ineffective, DRM undermines users' rights, and that CDMs allow non-standard, proprietary code to be injected into the browser. In that light, it serves much the same role as plugins anyway, and as such, EME contradicts the goals of the open Web. Most or all CDMs are likely to be proprietary, unmodifiable code, to reduce the chance that they are tampered with.
Currently, the Chrome browser and Chrome OS have preliminary support for MSE and EME. Netflix is using both of these on Chrome OS to provide Netflix video to Chromebook users. It's using a plugin for WebCrypto; once that's included in Chrome, the plugin will be removed. From there, Netflix will begin testing its HTML5 player in Chrome on both Windows and OS X. | {
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By Martin Sommer, Juan Treviño, and Neil Hickey
Version in عربي (Arabic)
The significant and prolonged drop in oil prices since mid-2014 has changed the fortunes of many energy-exporting nations around the world. This applies particularly to countries of the Middle East and Central Asia, because these regions are home to 11 of the world’s top 20 energy exporters.
Budgets have generally turned from surpluses to large deficits (Chart 1), growth has slowed, and financial stability risks have increased. In such a challenging environment, a policy of “business as usual” will not suffice—policymakers will need to adopt significant measures to put public budgets on a sounder footing, address risks to liquidity and the quality of assets in the financial sector, and improve growth prospects. This will be a difficult long-term process, but the good news is that many countries have made a strong start, especially in terms of budget policies.
Spending restraint
In the early stages of the oil price decline, most countries appropriately used their savings to cope with the shortfall in oil revenues. As it became clear that the oil price decline would persist, oil exporters made significant spending cuts, an obvious area to target since public expenditures had ballooned during the oil-price boom. The budget plans for 2016 indicate that deficit-reduction efforts will deepen further, with sizable adjustment measures planned especially in Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia.
Countries have generally aimed for savings in both current and investment expenditures. Cross-country evidence suggests that reviewing both spending categories is sensible—for instance, the Gulf countries, Algeria, and Central Asian oil exporters all have higher capital expenditure levels than their emerging market counterparts (Chart 2). The Gulf countries and Algeria, meanwhile, also have a much larger public sector payroll, a longstanding element of the social contract between policymakers and their citizens.
Artificially low domestic energy prices are also being targeted by policymakers. Government regulations ensuring inexpensive fuel, water, and electricity have traditionally been another part of the social contract. Therefore, the reform of these subsidies (that had tended to benefit the well-off) is welcome evidence of a sea change in the policies of the oil exporters. Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and, more recently, Qatar have gone one step further by introducing automatic pricing, whereby local energy prices adjust in tandem with international benchmarks. The challenge for policymakers across the region will be to move energy prices toward international levels in a way that minimizes the adverse social impact; for example, through targeted transfers to the vulnerable segments of population.
New sources of revenues
Spending control is only part of the fiscal equation for oil exporters, however. Another important consideration is finding new sources of revenue. A number of promising plans are emerging, especially the discussions of Gulf countries to introduce a value-added tax (VAT). This would be a major achievement for a region that has traditionally relied mostly on hydrocarbon-linked receipts. In parallel, some Gulf countries have been raising fees, excises, and corporate income taxes. In the Central Asian oil exporters, non-oil taxation is much more developed, but there is room to reduce exemptions and strengthen collections (Chart 3).
Central Asian oil exporters have achieved some fiscal adjustment indirectly, by allowing their exchange rates to depreciate. This has raised the local-currency value of their export receipts and related taxes. However, these fiscal gains will only last if fiscal expenditures, in particular public wages, do not increase in tandem with the exchange rate depreciation.
Currency adjustment in these economies has also brought some undesired side effects, including inflationary pressures and concerns about stability of the highly-dollarized financial systems. Therefore, the Central Asian oil exporters also face the challenge of strengthening their monetary, exchange rate, and financial sector policy frameworks.
Push for diversification
In the coming years, oil revenues will no longer be sufficient for governments to act as the main employer of their fast-growing young populations. Therefore, policymakers must find new ways to promote private sector development and help their economies diversify away from oil. The Gulf countries already benefit from high-quality infrastructure, but are hindered by bureaucracy and lingering gaps in their legal and regulatory frameworks. They could also further improve the quality of education. Institutional quality could be enhanced in Central Asian oil-exporting countries and Algeria in a number of areas, including contract enforcement, corruption, and access to finance. | {
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So, do you want a big man on the downside of a former All-Star career who played all of seven games last season, has had health issues and is owed $37.8 million over the next two years? If so, have the Knicks got a guy for you.
If the Knicks can’t find a taker for Joakim Noah, 33, the league’s 2014 defensive player of the year, or can’t get him to agree to a buyout, which was a plan met with resistance in the past, the team likely will use the waive and stretch provision to dump the veteran in September, league sources confirmed Wednesday.
The Knicks are exploring all options, hoping for a trade partner or the buyout. If not, however, the stretch provision “definitely” remains in play, sources said.
By using the stretch provision, the Knicks can spread out money owed to Noah over the next three years. Using it Sept. 1 or later would reduce Noah’s cap hit to $6.4 million and would save the Knicks $12.9 million toward the salary cap, according to ESPN.
When David Fizdale was named the Knicks’ new coach, there was a chance — a small one — of Noah remaining with the team. Now, that path seems nonexistent. Fizdale succeeded Jeff Hornacek, whose relationship with Noah was like brothers: Cain and Abel. The two had a heated verbal exchange during a game at Golden State over playing time and then had to be separated at a subsequent practice.
The Knicks tried unsuccessfully to trade Noah before the February deadline. Any team willing to take the contract wanted assets — young players with talent or draft picks — but the Knicks declined.
Noah has averaged 8.9 points and 9.3 rebounds in his 11 seasons, but only 4.6 points and 7.9 rebounds with the Knicks. Last season, he averaged 5.7 minutes — with 1.7 points and 2.0 rebounds.
He will go down as the costliest blunder in the horrendous run of former Knicks president Phil Jackson, who signed Noah for four years and $72 million. Noah was plagued by injuries and then was hit with a 20-game suspension by the NBA for using a banned substance. The suspension bridged the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons.
The Knicks have incumbent starter Enes Kanter at center, return second-year guy Luke Kornet and are high on second-round draft pick Mitchell Robinson. | {
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(CNN) Nearly nine weeks after the government shut down, Congress has finally reached agreement -- and cleared the path forward to pass -- on a package that will clear the decks on spending battles, and most importantly, spending deadlines, until the end of September.
In the form of 1,169 pages, the full spending package -- which is comprised not just of the border security agreement, but also the six remaining outstanding funding measures, is now public and ready to be voted on. House and Senate leaders believe they have plan to get that done in short order. At least that's the plan.
Bottom line: The Senate and House plan to pass the border security and broad spending package by Thursday night. That much, according to aides and both parties, in both chambers, is virtually assured at this point. The question remains will President Donald Trump sign the deal, which, at least on Capitol Hill, everyone is working under the assumption he will. But as everyone should be well aware by now, nothing is final until the President puts pen to paper on the bill.
With that in mind, just a word of caution: This is a very large piece of legislation, released at midnight, less than a day before the final vote Thursday, with a Friday deadline.
There is something in here for everyone, particularly those in the White House, to dislike. The White House is still reviewing the final text, and there's concern, as there always is at this point, that Trump will suddenly change course.
This is a high wire act rife with potential landmines. It could go seamlessly today. But history would say it almost certainly will not be that easy.
How the conference committee ended up
Of the 17 members of the bipartisan conference committee, 16 signed onto the final agreement. One member -- Republican Rep. Tom Graves -- chose not to sign the conference report.
This was his rationale, via Twitter with a photograph of the bill: "Here's my first look at the final conference report and supporting language. A total of seven funding bills. With 30 minutes notice, I was allowed 1 hour to review and had to make a choice. I could not sign off."
Here's my first look at the final conference report and supporting language. A total of 7 funding bills. With 30 minutes notice, I was allowed 1 hour to review and had to make a choice.
I could not sign off. pic.twitter.com/kwwmZwLFv8 — Tom Graves (@RepTomGraves) February 14, 2019
How it will all happen
In a shift, leaders in both parties decided late on Wednesday the Senate will go first on Thursday.
The package is technically in the form of a conference report, which isn't amendable, so the process can technically move fairly quickly. It's still to be determined whether senators will attempt to raise points of order to try and slow the process down, but the idea is to move fast once it's officially taken up.
Stay tuned on the procedural machinations of the day -- they still aren't fully fleshed out as of Thursday morning. And always remember, in the Senate, a single senator can slow things down if that senator so pleases.
Once the Senate passes the package, it will move to the House.
The House Rules Committee will meet at some point day to set the parameters for the debate on the conference report. When lawmakers return from the funerals of former Rep. John Dingell and Rep. Walter Jones, they will move to vote on the rule, then debate the conference report, then vote to pass it.
Final passage is scheduled to occur Thursday evening.
After House passage, the package will be cleared for Trump's signature. And then Congress will officially be on recess.
Fair warning: The plan in both chambers, on both sides of the aisle, is for the bill to be through Congress by Thursday night. But usually at some point something goes wrong -- not to actually sink the bill, but to draw out its consideration. So just be aware that's always a possibility.
Vote timing: With the above in mind, there will be a lot of speculation, guessing and slightly educated positing on when and ho the votes will happen Thursday. Please tune most of that out and just listen to the Hill team for guidance -- we'll let you know what's happening as soon as it is set, we promise.
The temperature: Lawmakers and aides in both chambers grew increasingly confident as Wednesday went on that not only were the votes there to pass the package in both chambers, but it would pass pretty comfortably.
"We're in good shape," a House Democratic aide said Wednesday night.
"Better than I thought we'd be, though still have to wait for POTUS," a senior House GOP said.
"Good to go," a Senate Republican aide said Thursday morning.
"Our guys are good," a Senate Democratic aide said.
Closed door conference meetings on the House side yielded some objections, but nothing that could scuttle the bill, aides said.
The jet fumes
It's tough to overstate how eager senators are to get out of town. There's hardly been a full Congressional recess since July of last year, and certainly not since the midterm elections (though most went home for the holidays, the government was still shutdown during that period). There are 2020 presidential candidates that want to be in Iowa and New Hampshire. There are multiple senators who are scheduled to leave Thursday night for the Munich Security Conference, which begins Friday.
Will POTUS actually sign the bill?
CNN's Dana Bash reported Wednesday morning Trump was telling people he was inclined to sign the measure. House GOP leaders told their members on Wednesday they expected the President to sign the bill.
The President himself didn't go that far, saying he wanted to review the text and ensure there were no "landmines."
Trump did appear to lean toward signing the agreement when he said this, however: "I don't want to see a shutdown. A shutdown would be a terrible thing,"
And Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby, the Alabama Republican who has been tasked as the congressional GOP point person on briefing the President on the deal, tweeted Wednesday night that he had just spoken to the President about the deal and Trump "was in good spirits."
What's in the border security agreement
Barriers
$1.375 billion for border barriers
Prohibitions on use of concrete wall or other prototypes that are not already in use for fencing and barriers
In total, the bill funds 55 miles of new barriers
The new barriers will be targeted for the Rio Grande Valley sector
Restrictions on physical barriers in the following locations: Santa Ana Refuge, La Lomita Historical Park, Bentsen-Rio State Park, National Butterfly Center, Vista del Mar
Detention beds
Funding for an average 45,274 detention beds per day (with intent to return to 40,520 by the end of the fiscal year, which is the level funded in the last fiscal year. Currently ICE is utilizing approximately 49,000 detention beds)
No cap on interior detention beds
No restrictions, beyond funding, on overall detention beds
Border security funding:
$564 million for ports-of-entry inspection equipment
$191 million for ports-of-entry construction
$100 million for new technology
$127 million for aircraft and marine assets
Funding for 600 new customs officers
Funding for 200 additional border patrol agents over the last fiscal year level
Humanitarian aid/detentions:
$414 million in humanitarian aid for the border, in the form of enhanced medical support, transportation, food and clothing for migrants in detention
Funds additional detention facility inspectors to bring facility inspections to twice a year, up from once every three years
$527 million for humanitarian assistance to Central America to deal with migrant crisis (this is separate from the border security deal, but is included in the package in the State and Foreign Ops spending measure)
Immigration courts
Funding for 75 new immigration judges
$7.4 million for additional attorneys and for courtroom expansion to assist in the backlog of immigration cases currently in the system
Oversight
Requires ICE to report and make public information about numbers and makeup of individuals in custody, specifically family units, border apprehension detainees, interior enforcement detainees and those who have reported a positive federal credible fear claim
Bars DHS from preventing a member of Congress from entering a facility used to detain or house children.
What didn't get into the final package
Some of the sharpest disputes on Wednesday actually occurred around issues not in the spending bills or border security bills. Instead, they were over additions to the package -- in the form of more than a dozen extension of priorities that will also expire on Friday.
In short, every one of those issues was dropped, and the primary reason was White House objection to the Democratic push to include backpay for federal contractors affected by the 35-day government shutdown.
So federal contractor back pay is out.
A clean extension of the Violence Against Women Act is also out. Republican pushed for the clean extension, which Democrats objected to on the grounds, according to two Democratic aides, that they would have more leverage to negotiate a broader reauthorization of VAWA outside the confines of the spending deal.
Democrats say the expiration of VAWA will have no tangible effect, as the program's grants are funded through the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations measure that is included in the package. In other words, to be continued on the fight over the future shape of VAWA.
Also left out of the final agreement:
An extension of the Pesticide Registration Improvement Act
An extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Postponement of the statutory pay-as-you-go sequester
If/when POTUS signs, then what
Every lawmaker and aide CNN has spoken to in the last 48 hours, regardless of party, is expecting Trump to take executive action to secure more money for the border barriers. The White House team has reported extensively on the options and possible timing for this. What the final form of that will be -- and whether he'll go as far as declare a national emergency -- are still unknown on Capitol Hill, aides say -- GOP leaders have not been informed of a specific plan by the White House. But everyone is fully expecting something to happen. | {
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Kelsey McClain celebrated her birthday at Fisher’s Landing in August.
She was dead eight days later.
It took a lab to discover she contracted a brain-eating amoeba when she was in the Colorado River.
And it may take another lab to stumble upon a cure.
“Losing somebody this close to you, a child, the pain is incredible,” said Jennifer McClain, Kelsey’s mom.
Doctors suspected bacterial meningitis -- until a lab at UC San Diego found the amoeba after Kelsey was brain dead. Contracting the deadly brain-eating amoeba is rare -- 133 cases in 50 years. Three survivors.
Only Miltefosine, a drug being developed to fight breast cancer, has shown some effectiveness against the amoeba -- called Naeglaria fowleri. The amoeba is found in freshwater, like hot springs and rivers. It enters through the nose.
Dr. Jeffrey Engel, who runs an agency that maintains a list of "nationally notifiable diseases" and works with the CDC to recommend which diseases authorities should be made aware of when a new case arises, says Zika was just added to the list of about 70 "nationally notifiable diseases." The Naeglaria Fowleri amoeba won’t make the cut.
So, what's the problem? Why won't the amoeba responsible for Kelsey McClain's death be put on the list?
“Just like other things that are such a rare or small risk, there’s not a lot of attention paid to it, there’s not a lot of resources dedicated to it,” said Engel, executive director of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists.
Engel says the economics aren’t there, that no drug maker will spend the money to find a cure for a disease that’s only on record as claiming 133 lives.
“The companies see that there’s no market there,” he said. “The drugs take a hell of a lot of money to bring to market, and with a rare infection, it’s just not feasible for them to do.”
So, just what is the intervention? What should people do to avoid contracting the brain-eating amoeba?
The CDC recommends not going into bodies of freshwater. For those who do venture in, the CDC says they should wear swimmers nose clips, available for about $4.
"We would never close all fresh water swimming areas," says Engel, "that would be impossible.”
Kelsey's mom, Jennifer McClain says it’s a reality she's come to know, all too well. | {
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自治体まるごと都道府県の飛び地という和歌山県北山村を代表例に、それは全国各地に点在しているわけだが、この東京23区にも、周りを埼玉県に取り囲まれた東京都の飛び地というものが実在している。
それが埼玉県新座市片山三丁目16に存在する「東京都練馬区西大泉町」なのだが、わざわざその飛び地を見るためだけに西武池袋線大泉学園駅からバスに乗り継いで、やってきましたよ。
東京23区でもっとも農地面積が広い練馬区。埼玉県境に近い大泉までやってくると至る所に広大な農地が見える。下手すると八王子よりも田舎臭い場所があるが、それも練馬の魅力の一つであろう。
この界隈は都県境が複雑で、あちこち住宅地と化した地区一帯に昔の基準で設けられた都県境がそのまま使われている為、隣の家で東京と埼玉が分かれていたり、家のど真ん中で東京と埼玉が分かれていたりするなど、かなりややこしい事になっている。
都県境が入り組んだ特殊事情もあるためか道路インフラ整備も中途半端で、昔ながらの曲がりくねった道なりに住宅地が形成されている。地図帳がなければ間違いなく迷子になるだろう。
住居表示板にある片山三丁目の案内図。16番地のごくごく一部に矢印で「東京都練馬区」と示された奇妙なエリアがあることに気づくだろう。
ここまでやってきたら、まずは注目して欲しいのがマンホールの形状である。
水道などは基本的に都道府県市町村毎に整備されるべきものだが、県境が錯雑している練馬区西大泉と新座市片山付近では、東京都と新座市のマンホールが双方敷かれていて、路上がマンホールだらけになっている光景が拝める。
ちなみに、もみじマークのマンホールは新座市のものだ。
こちらが、東京の街中でもよく見かけるお馴染みの東京都のマンホール。
東京都と新座市のマンホールが競い合うかのように敷かれる住宅地の一角。それぞれ下水道や上水道は別々に整備されているのか？
しかしここまでマンホールが多すぎると異様に思える。逆にメンテナンスも面倒臭くならないのだろうかと思うが。東京都と新座市のマンホールの位置を見ても、必ずしも都県境に沿って直線状に配置されているわけでもなさそうだ。このぐっちゃぐちゃ感は凄まじい。
大泉学園駅から走っている西武バスの泉30系統「片山小学校」行きのバスに乗ると辿り着く県境ゾーン。田園風景の前には本格的な田舎地帯でしかお目にかかれない卵の即売所。すぐそばに23区があるとはにわかに信じがたい光景だ。
練馬区の飛び地への目印は、まだ目新しい建物のスーパー「サミット新座片山店」である。こちら側は完全に埼玉県の領土であり、電話番号も048だ。
サミットの裏手の路地に入ると、片山三丁目の住宅街に突入する。小さなお稲荷さんが祭られているが、この近くに練馬区の飛び地が存在する。
新興住宅地然とした区画で片側だけが畑の残る奇妙な場所が、埼玉県に囲まれた練馬区の飛び地「西大泉町1179番地」。本当に普通の住宅地であり、飛び地だと知らずに来ても何の印象にも残らない場所である。
この区画には8世帯17人が生活しているとのこと。
住宅街に置かれている消火器などの設備も、きちんと練馬区と書かれている。紛れもなくここは練馬区の領土なのだ。
さらにこの一帯に突入すると、桜模様の東京都の下水道マンホールに「東京・下水道」と刻印されていない特殊なケースを見ることができる。
ちなみに西大泉町1179番地の世帯の上下水道は練馬区ではなく新座市のものになっている。玄関先に貼り付けられたこれらのプレートを見る限り、水道料金だけは新座市に納めているものと思われる。ついでに電話番号も新座市と同じ048だとか。
ついでに、地元の「稲荷台自治会住宅案内図」を確認すると、該当する「飛び地」だけが世帯主の苗字ではなくまとめて「東京都」と書かれてしまっている。これはかなりシュールだ。自治会からもハブられてるのか、ここは？！
わかりやすく色付けしてみるとこうなる。やっぱりここだけ変すぎます。南側の8軒並んだ家のうち、左から二軒目と六軒目だけ東京都で、あとは埼玉県。
この8軒の「都県境」を色付けして実際の現場写真と合成するとこの通り。
ちなみに練馬区西大泉町民は、学校も新座ではなく練馬の学区だったり、周りの車は全部所沢ナンバーなのにここだけ練馬ナンバーだったりと日常生活の色んな場面で飛び地ならではの暮らしをしている。
飛び地になった理由は「役所のうっかりミス」から？！
なぜこの土地が飛び地となってしまったかは諸説あるが、練馬区役所は「歴史的な経緯は不明」としている（→詳細）。
1974（昭和49）年に住宅造成されたこの区画を役所に登記に訪れた不動産業者が、間違えて練馬区役所に書類を提出したのが、そのまま練馬にも新座にも気づかれずにノーチェックで通ってしまったからだという説もネット上では見受けられるが、これはあくまで役所の公式見解ではない。
実は双方の役所間では、この飛び地を新座市に編入する方向で話を解決させてはいるのだが、当の一部住民が「うちは埼玉県に入りたくない」などとゴネているため、未だ以って飛び地が存続している形だ。
その理由に、住所が東京か埼玉かというだけで不動産価格に影響が出てしまうという事があるという。地図上では完全に埼玉県にめり込んでいる西大泉町だが、そんなに埼玉県民になるのが嫌なのか。
2015年、西大泉町飛び地に変化が
久しぶりに当該地域の航空写真をグーグルマップから見ていたら分かったのだが、これまで「西大泉町1179」の飛地内の南側、畑だった場所が宅地開発されて住民が増えている模様。再度現地を訪問した。
確かに畑だった部分が建売住宅っぽい一軒家になっている。つまり飛び地「西大泉町1179番地」の人口・世帯数も上昇した事を意味する。既に住民も住まれているようですが、完全に埼玉同然の土地なのに東京の住所欲しさに割高な地代を払ったのかと思うと色々込み上げてくるものがある。
仲良く6軒の真新しい一軒家と化した飛地南側部分。いずれ新座市への編入に反対する住民が居なくなれば飛び地状態は解消されるのだろうが、一人でも「埼玉になりたくない」住民が居る限りはこのままなのだろう。
かの魔夜峰央氏の埼玉ディス漫画「翔んで埼玉」にもあるように、埼玉県民と東京都民の間には決定的に譲れない格の違いというものがあるらしく、一部の人々にとって「埼玉県民になる事」自体がよほど屈辱的なようだ。そしてその選民意識が歪な飛び地として具現化したものが「練馬区西大泉町1179番地」なのである。 | {
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about database
Phallus cinnabarinus; photo by Benedicta Wong
Thank you for considering Contributing a Collection to the Stinkhorn Project. So that we can study the DNA, morphology, and ecology of stinkhorns, collections will need to be illustrated, preserved, and mailed to us, together with information regarding the collection as detailed on the contribution form. Below please find suggestions for making a successful contribution.
Collecting the Stinkhorn
Stinkhorns are often fairly fragile, so you will want to handle the specimens carefully. No stinkhorn is known to be poisonous, and no harm can come to you from handling them--although the smell is often unpleasant (they're not called "perfume horns") and you might not want to get spore slime on your clothing.
We recommend using a pocket knife or gardening trowel to dig the stinkhorn out of the ground carefully. Stinkhorns arise from an egg-like structure that can often be found partially buried underneath the mature stinkhorn. Carefully remove excess dirt from the base of the stinkhorn.
If there are several stages of development available, it would be very useful to collect them so that we can study the stinkhorn's development. For example, an "egg," if one is available, would make a nice accompaniment to a mature stinkhorn.
Photographing the Stinkhorn
Since we will be studying your stinkhorn in the dried state, we will need to see what it looked like when it was fresh. Photos from a digital camera are preferable (here is a page with some photography tips), but stinkhorns can also be scanned (see this page for tips) or photographed with a cell phone. Blurry, out-of-focus photos, however, will not help us see what the stinkhorn looked like--and photos taken with standard indoor lighting (which is especially yellow) usually make precise colors difficult to assess.
It would be nice to include photos of the stinkhorn in its natural setting--even to include photos of the setting itself . . . but if this is not possible, photos of your stinkhorn from several angles, after you have picked it, will still be very useful.
Preserving the Stinkhorn
Unfortunately it's not possible to mail your stinkhorn without preserving it somehow; if you were to try, more fungi would arrive in the container than were there when you sent it! So you will need to dry your specimens. If you have a food dehydrator, it would be ideal for this purpose (be sure to wash the trays with soap and water after you're done)--but since most folks do not have a dehydrator available to them, the method below can be used to dry the stinkhorn. Please do not attempt to use your oven, even on its lowest setting, for this purpose; not only will you regret it because of the odor, but ovens actually cook the specimens, rather than just drying them out.
Place the specimens on a paper towel or piece of screen wire, and set them over a lamp, as illustrated. However, you should probably not attempt this in your living quarters (again recall that they're not called "perfume horns"); perhaps a garage or basement would be better suited. Be careful not to overheat them by placing them above a very strong light bulb. The drying process may take several days (fortunately, the odor will probably not last that long, and will be strongest in the first few hours). You will know the stinkhorns are dried out when they are, well, dried out to the touch. The stinkhorns in the illustration are near the end of the drying process. Note that they are dried out, but not blackened or "cooked" (the black stuff is just dried-up spore slime, not blackened tissues).
Documenting Your Collection
Please print and fill out our brief contribution form, so that your collection will be documented appropriately.
Mailing the Stinkhorn
Please avoid closing the dried stinkhorn up in an airtight container; condensation and residual moisture can lead to mold and decay of your specimen. We recommend that you wrap the dried specimens loosely in a paper towel, and surround them with bubble wrap, newspaper, or other packing material in a small box.
Please send your specimen(s), along with the printed contribution form (see above), to:
The Stinkhorn Project
Dr. Michael Kuo
Post Office Box 742
Charleston, IL 61920
USA
If you are mailing from outside the United States, it is important that you put the words "Gift of mushroom specimen for identification" on the customs declaration. All of the words in quotes are important.
When we receive your contribution, we will send you an e-mail to let you know it has arrived. And, as our studies progress, we will of course keep you updated on anything we discover through study of your specimens. | {
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Usual Russian or Ukrainian multi apartment middle class, not new, buildings look like this. You probably can notice those windows are different for everyone. Some have totally new PVC windows, other have self made wooden frames. That’s because there are no laws forbidding to change the window frames and paint them for an individual apartment in order to maintain the overall look of the house, so people do this according to their available budget and will. And not only poor people live in such buildings, no. It’s really normal place for middle class people to live. So they can spend tens thousands dollars for renovation works, but… inside the apartment so it might look glossy inside but be in such a place from outside. It’s totally normal that someone having a Range Rover car can live in such a place. Just because the average price of such an apartment in Moscow would be around $300,000. And it would be considered good buy if it is in good location – not far from the central part of the city etc. They were left as a heritage from the Soviet times when authorities didn’t care much on the ethical side of the housing but wanted to give space for as much families as possible, and they gave them away for free, though in order to get one sometime people were staying in waiting lists for years.
From inside this buildings look usually like this. There were no special organizations tracking the condition of the halls, stairways or lobbies so only if the residents of the building were enough organized to plan a renovation then it might look bit different. The lobbies are often occupied by local teens from the neighbourhood as the weather is cold and they can’t wander thru the streets and to get inside some cafe you need to order stuff or to be at least some age old etc.
Lately people were paying more attention to the condition of such places, equipping the entrances with special steel doors with hardened access and video cams to track unwanted visitors but still there are a lot of places like this, especially in smaller cities. And, again, it is often a place where higher class people live, driving good cars and earning some a few thousands dollars a month. Of course, eventually some of those move to some new construction but it’s not that easy too even for them with current property prices in Russia.
But what we can see today, is something a very different from which was discussed and showen above. This is just another lobby on the thirteenth floor of such a building, in Ukraine, but there was living a person, a lady, that was bit too much devoted to letting the things leave as they were. What to she has turned their hall you can see inside…
As she told in phone interview: “My neighbors tried to protest, even to ruin this artwork but they couldn’t really do much – that’s a painted concrete actually”. So she was really devoted to see things changed! And she lights the candles all the time too!
People say they try don’t to spread the rumors on this location much just because they afraid it would attract thousands of visitors to the place daily and would break their privacy totally with those watchers, so the location stays undisclosed. The only known thing is that it is in one of the most bad reputable districts of Kiev city, in a thirteen stored building. And they say there are not much of those there.
photo credits: 1,2,3 | {
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Tanzanian girl assaulted, stripped by mob after Bengaluru woman dies in accident
Tanzanian student had nothing to do with the students involved in the accident
news
A 35-year-old woman in Hesaraghatta in north Bengaluru died on Sunday after being rammed by a car driven by an African (Sudanese) student. But an irate mob assaulted a 21-year-old Tanzanian student, who came to the accident spot 30 minutes after the incident. She was also allegedly stripped and assaulted by the mob.
The Tanzanian student, who is a second year BBA student of Acharya College had nothing to do with those involved in the accident. She arrived in a car half hour after the accident. A Sudanese man was driving the car involved in the accident.
The mob also burnt down both the cars, one belonging to the Sudanese man and other one that the Tanzanian woman was driving. The Tanzanian student and her friends who were travelling with her in the car was chased by the crowd.
Legal adviser of All African Students Union in Bengaluru, Bosco Kaweesi confirmed that the Tanzanian girl and the Sudanese man, who was booked for the accident, did not know each other.
Deccan Chronicle reported that the student was travelling in another car, a Wagon-R, along with four other friends and had arrived at the accident spot only 30 minutes after the incident occurred. The mob reportedly beat her, stripped her and paraded her around in the presence of the police. A bystander, who tried to help the woman, was also attacked.
"The students and her friends came in her car half an hour after the accident. The mob thought they were with the same group and forced them to come out of the car. While three of her friends escaped, she was held by the locals, stripped, beaten up and paraded on the road," Kaweesi told TNM.
Though the group of friends got into a bus in an effort to take refuge, the passengers made them get down, when the mob started assaulting them again.
"I understand local sentiments and that people were angry, but how can they beat up an innocent woman?" he asked.
He further alleged that the police also did not take the girl's complaint and instead asked her to bring the person who caused the accident when he was already in their custody.
"When someone from the crowd offered her a T-Shirt to protect her modesty, that man too was beaten up by the mob. Later, when she tried to enter a BMTC bus that had slowed down nearby, the passengers in the bus pushed her on to the road,” Kaweesi said.
The police allegedly refused to take the Tanzanian student’s complaint of assault.
Bengaluru police commissioner Megharik claims it was a case of mistaken identity. However, the police are not able to give any explanation why they refused to file an FIR on Sunday.
Four people were arrested on Wednesday evening for burning the cars and five for the assault on the Tanzanian.
Do you believe him? It was not a racial attack says Karnataka Home Minister. | {
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O Benfica reagiu esta sexta-feira ao facto de o avançado Jonas ter colocado um 'gosto' num comentário de Instagram a apelar à saída de Rui Vitória. O clube garante que a conta da rede social do jogador brasileiro foi pirateada.
Fonte do Benfica garante ao CM que não foi o atleta a mostrar a sua satisfação pelo comentário de um adepto que qualificava o futebol do Benfica como "medíocre" e exigia a saída do treinador.
Ver comentários | {
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Ask all your coding questions @ codequery.io
There are two ways to create forms in Angular. While the template driven approach is more familiar to AngularJS users, the reactive approach leverages observables and functional programming techniques.
While each has its pros/cons, the reality is you can use either approach to achieve the same end result.
Angular Form Example
Let's implement a basic form using Angular. We'll construct the same form using both the template driven and reactive approach so you can easily see the difference...
Importing the Modules
app.module.ts
import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
import { FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
@NgModule({
declarations: [
AppComponent
],
imports: [
BrowserModule,
FormsModule,
ReactiveFormsModule
],
providers: [],
bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }
To use both template driven and reactive forms, we must first import the modules in the app.module.ts file:
import { FormsModule, ReactiveFormsModule } from '@angular/forms';
While only the FormsModule is required for template driven forms, we must also import the ReactiveFormsModule for our reactive form example.
Don't forget to include these in the imports array in the @NgModule declaration as well.
The Data Model
user.ts
export class User {
constructor(
public name: string,
public age: number
){}
}
Angular forms are designed around data models. We've created a User class to model a user in our application. For simplicity, a user has two defined fields for the user's name and age.
We create this class in it's own file user.ts and import it for use in our component classes...
The Template Driven Way...
app.component.ts
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { User } from './user';
@Component({
selector: 'app-root',
templateUrl: './app.component.html',
styleUrls: ['./app.component.css']
})
export class AppComponent {
user = new User("", 0);
submitForm(){
console.log(this.user.name + " is " + this.user.age + " years old" );
}
}
app.component.html
<form #myForm="ngForm" (ngSubmit) = "submitForm()">
<label>Name:</label>
<input type="text" [(ngModel)]="user.name" name="name" #nameField="ngModel" required />
<label>Age:</label>
<input type="text" [(ngModel)]="user.age" name="age" #ageField="ngModel" />
<button type="submit" [disabled]="!myForm.valid">Submit</button>
</form>
<p>Name: {{user.name}}</p>
<p>Age: {{user.age}}</p>
<p style="color:red" [hidden] = "nameField.valid || !nameField.touched">Your name is required!</p>
Notice how we've created a simple form for entering a user's name and age. {{user.name}} and {{user.age}} display the dynamically updated values of the inputs. This is referred to as two-way data binding.
This two-way data binding is achieved through the [(ngModel)] directive. Notice how we set [(ngModel)]="user.name". This associates the input with the user variable we define in the AppComponent class.
[(ngModel)] requires the name attribute. This is why you see name="name" and name="age" defined on the inputs that use [(ngModel)].
Also notice how we've added template variables to both the <form> and input tags. While #myForm="ngForm" gives us a reference to the form as a whole, #nameField="ngModel"> and #ageField="ngModel" give us references to the inputs themselves.
This allows us to conditionally show / hide / disable things based on the state of the referenced element. For example, the [disabled]="!myForm.valid" makes the submit <button> disabled unless the form is valid.
And what makes the form valid? See the required attribute? Angular automagically wires this up so that #myForm is invalid if any of it's child elements are invalid.
We conditionally show an error message [hidden] = "nameField.valid || !nameField.touched" if the #nameField input is blank.
The Reactive Way
app.component.ts
import { Component } from '@angular/core';
import { User } from './user';
import { FormGroup, FormControl, Validators} from '@angular/forms'
@Component({
selector: 'app-root',
templateUrl: './app.component.html',
styleUrls: ['./app.component.css']
})
export class AppComponent {
user = new User("", 0);
myForm = new FormGroup({
name: new FormControl('', Validators.required),
age: new FormControl('')
})
submitForm(){
console.log(this.myForm.controls.name.value + " is " + this.myForm.controls.age.value + " years old" );
}
}
app.component.html
<form [formGroup]="myForm" (ngSubmit) = "submitForm()">
<label>Name:</label>
<input type="text" formControlName="name" />
<label>Age:</label>
<input type="text" formControlName="age" />
<button type="submit" [disabled]="!myForm.valid">Submit</button>
</form>
<p>Name: {{myForm.controls.name.value}}</p>
<p>Age: {{myForm.controls.age.value}}</p>
<p style="color:red" [hidden] = "myForm.valid || !myForm.touched">Your name is required!</p>
The key difference between this example and the template driven form is the use of FormGroup, FormControl and Validators in the controller class. Notice how we first import these via:
import { FormGroup, FormControl, Validators} from '@angular/forms'
Notice how we set a myForm variable to a new FormGroup instance. The FormGroup is an object of key/value pairs where the key is the field name and the value is a new FormControl() instance.
While this example adds a bit more complexity to app.component.ts, it makes for much cleaner markup in app.component.html. Since we define the form components in the controller, we don't have to define a bunch of template variables to implement all of the form validation and data binding in the view.
Instead, we add [fomrGroup]="myForm" to the <form> tag to associate our myForm controller variable with the template. We also add formControlName attributes to the <input /> fields to associate the FormControl instances in our controller with the template.
We can dynamically reference the input values without the use of ngModel. Instead, we simply reference the FormControl values like myForm.controls.name.value. This gives us the value of a given input at any point in time.
Template Driven vs Reactive Forms
Both examples achieve the same result. The template driven form even utilizes the same FormControl class under the hood. By autowiring these controls from the template and utilizing ngModel, the template driven approach is similar to AngularJS and more intuitive than the reactive approach.
While the reactive approach requires more implementation in the controller class, it's also less verbose on the template side. Reactive forms work with observables to create a more functional approach to form building. Using the FormBuilder class, reactive forms make dynamic form building easier. Since they don't rely on DOM elements, reactive elements are also easier to test.
Conclusion
Both reactive and template driven forms provide efficient ways for building forms in Angular. While the template driven syntax offers a more familiar approach, reactive forms offer a more dynamic way of building form groups and controls. | {
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June 10, 2020 • 26:14 Modern Love Podcast: Lorraine Toussaint Reads ‘Race Wasn’t an Issue to Him, Which Was an Issue to Me’ | {
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Hello. In this mini-lesson, I’ll talk about a special point in a triangle – called the incenter. Let’s jump right into it.
Take any triangle, say ΔABC. Draw the three angle bisectors, AD, BE, and CF. Then:
AD , BE , and CF always intersect at a point. In other words, they are concurrent.
, , and always intersect at a point. In other words, they are concurrent. The point of concurrency of the three angle bisectors is known as the triangle’s incenter.
Let’s observe the same in the applet below. Press the play button to start.
Drag the vertices to see how the incenter (I) changes with their positions. Once you’re done, think about the following:
does the incenter always lie inside the triangle? (it’s in the name)
can the incenter lie on the (sides or vertices of the) triangle?
Go, play around with the vertices a bit more to see if you can find the answers. Also, why do the angle bisectors have to be concurrent anyways? (This one is a bit tricky!)
A few more questions for you. In terms of the side lengths (a, b, c) and angles (A, B, C),
what is the length of each angle bisector?
how far does the incenter lie from each vertex?
how far does the incenter lie from each side?
To find these answers, you’ll need to use the Sine Rule along with the Angle Bisector Theorem.
Turns out that the incenter is equidistant from each side. Play around with the vertices in the applet below to see this in action first.
So, what’s going on here?
The triangles IBP and IBR are congruent (due to some reason, which you need to find out). This would mean that IP = IR.
And similarly (a powerful word in math proofs), IP = IQ, making IP = IQ = IR.
We call each of these three equal lengths the inradius of the triangle, which is generally denoted by r.
I think you know where this is going – incenter, inradius, in______? Well, no points for guessing.
Taking the center as I and the radius as r, we’ll get a nice little circle which touches each side of the triangle internally. This circle is known as the incircle of the triangle.
Here’s the culmination of this lesson. Press the Play button to start the show.
Hope you enjoyed reading this. Drop me a message here in case you need some direction in proving IP = IQ = IR, or discussing the answers of any of the previous questions.
Goodbye. | {
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Young Elsa from Frozen - I've had this one reference picture lying around for a few month's and finally came around to use it for something. | {
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COLUMBUS (WCMH) – A Maryland man behind the ‘fake news masterpiece’ that claimed that thousands of fraudulent votes were found in a Columbus warehouse says he did it for the money.
Cameron Harris operated the ‘Christian Times’ fake news website that published a widely shared story about fraudulent ballots being found in Franklin County.
Harris told the New York Times that he bought an abandoned domain name for $5 and got to work.
The story claimed that an unnamed source said that a maintenance worker inspecting a warehouse found 12 sealed ballot boxes filled with thousands of votes for Hillary Clinton in the upcoming general election. The website asserted that the “likely goal was to slip the fake ballot boxes in with real ballot boxes.”
The story used a picture of ballot boxes taken from a 2015 Birmingham Post article showing ballot boxes.
Shortly after the article was published, the NBC4 newsroom was inundated with social media posts asking why we weren’t covering the story.
The story was widely shared and prompted a response from the Franklin County Board of Elections.
“Given the severe distrust of the media among Trump supporters, anything that parroted Trump’s talking points people would click. Trump was saying ‘rigged election, rigged election.’ People were predisposed to believe Hillary Clinton could not win except by cheating,” Harris told the Times.
Harris tells the New York Times that he made $22,000 from the fake news website during the 2016 election season. He had a chance to sell the website for more than $100,000 but didn’t take it.
The website became worthless after Google pulled advertising from fake news sites.
He told the Times that he spent much of the money on living expenses and student loans. | {
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Progressive American politicians must embrace the necessity of dramatic action on climate change as a touchstone. So far, Senator Bernie Sanders has done it the most persuasively, campaigning on addressing climate change, health care, racial justice, and economic inequality as his unvaried quartet of issues, invoked in every speech and backed up with serious legislation that shows a willingness to move with real speed. Other party leaders will back him on one bill or another, and scientists and engineers are now running for office. Seriousness on climate change needs to be a qualification, not an afterthought, for anyone who wants to run for president. Because it’s not an environmental issue; it’s the most crucial security question that humans have ever faced.1 Ad Policy
“Security” in the most basic sense: There is a nontrivial chance that the area where you live, your particular home, is going to face a wildfire or flood or extreme storm or killer heat wave in the years ahead. The insurance industry, the part of our economy that we ask to analyze risk, has been clear about this. But at this point, the real experts are the people who survived last fall’s California firestorms, or Hurricane Maria’s assault on Puerto Rico.2
When we talk about “security” in magazines, we usually mean something to do with armies and guns and foreign policy. The Pentagon has actually been the one arm of traditional conservative power in America willing to at least lay out the facts of our climate peril, and ranking officers have become ever more outspoken: In 2013, the head of US forces in the Pacific, Adm. Samuel Locklear III, told a reporter that, although he was in charge of dealing with the threats from North Korea and China, the thing his planners feared most was global warming. It was “probably the most likely thing that is going to happen…that will cripple the security environment, probably more likely than the other scenarios we all often talk about.” Though President Trump has forced even the military to remove most overt references to climate change from its reports, one imagines that military planners aren’t fooled, if for no other reason than that rising sea levels and extreme weather threaten half of US bases and ports, according to one study. But it goes far deeper than that: Instability and chaos are the great enemies of peace, and the invariable outriders of climate change.3
Failure looks like Syria, where a deep drought—the worst in the Levant in nearly a millennium—forced a million farmers off their land and into the already unstable cities a decade ago. One study after another now shows that this played a crucial role in helping trigger the conflict there, which in turn helped to fuel the hateful new politics in our own country and Europe. Now multiply that by 100, as rising seas and spreading deserts push more and more people into frightened motion. One of the ironies is that the West fears migration resulting from its own fossil-fuel burning; no one on the Marshall Islands is responsible for, or can stop, the rising sea. It will take our work here to actually ensure that people elsewhere enjoy the right to stay in their own homes.4 Current Issue View our current issue
Success, at this point, looks like… well, not stopping global warming—it’s far too late for that—but rather curbing it short of civilizational destruction. This may or may not be possible—but if we are to have a chance at all, it will require unflagging leadership on at least three fronts.5
First, we really could move to run the world on renewables in a matter of decades; indeed, academic studies show that the existing technology could get us 80 percent of the way there at affordable prices by 2030. Engineers and manufacturers in California, Germany, and China have done the planet a great service by decreasing the price of solar panels and wind turbines at a prodigious pace; now they’re becoming the cheapest way to produce power on most of the planet. And that electricity could be used to run our transportation systems too, since the electric drivetrain seems finally to have come of age.6
But a natural progression won’t happen fast enough; hence the need for government policy aimed at setting targets and then meeting them, with a mix of subsidies, a price on carbon, government procurement, and all of the other tools at a government’s disposal. Germany has shown part of the path forward, and China and California, too—all are making change at rates that matter, and all are showing the results, in terms of both jobs and savings for consumers. California’s recent declaration that all new homes built in the state must come with solar panels is a perfect piece of practical symbolism: It will save the average homebuyer $40 a month, because sunlight doesn’t actually cost anything.7
But the state’s governor, Jerry Brown, is also a reminder that even the most progressive Democrats have so far failed on the second test for real action on climate change: the pressing need to keep fossil fuels in the ground. So far, he’s been unwilling to slow down California’s oil industry, the third-biggest in the nation, even though scientific assessments show that 80 percent or more of current fossil-fuel reserves need to stay beneath the soil to avoid catastrophic warming. That’s why the environmental movement has worked so hard to block new pipelines, new fracking wells, new offshore drilling. But it’s much harder than it should be. Seven years of constant campaigning finally convinced Barack Obama that we could do without the Keystone XL pipeline, but his years in office saw the build-out of enough other fossil-fuel infrastructure that the United States passed Russia and Saudi Arabia as the biggest oil and gas producer on earth. The Keep It in the Ground Act, introduced by Sanders, Senator Jeff Merkley, and others, is the kind of key step that all presidential contenders should line up behind.8 Special Foreign Policy Issue Why We Need a Wider Foreign-Policy Debate Katrina vanden Heuvel
The third step is to stem the flow of money to the fossil-fuel industry—and here, campaigners have been able to accomplish a fair amount even without federal help. The vast divestment movement, though, has been buoyed by state and local leaders; when the City of New York announced that it was selling its fossil-fuel stocks from pension funds, it sent a nice jolt into the centers of market power, reminding them that the death spiral for oil and gas is under way. Washington needs to end the subsidies that have long enriched the hydrocarbon industry, and one good way to achieve that is for more candidates to join the more than 500 who have already pledged not to accept a penny from oil, gas, or coal companies. (The Democratic National Committee has vowed to do likewise.)9 Needed: A New Foreign Policy How to Challenge the Elite Consensus for Endless War Andrew J. Bacevich Nuclear Weapons Pose the Ultimate Threat to Mankind Betsy Taylor Will the Foreign-Policy Establishment Learn From Trump’s Election Victory? Robert L. Borosage More in this series
One problem in this distracted age is that, while climate change is the most important thing happening on our planet, there’s almost never a day when it’s the most dramatic story. So a commitment to climate justice needs to be a central and unvarying part of our message, just like racial or gender justice. (They are, of course, deeply allied—looking at Hurricane Maria’s aftermath, it’s not hard to figure out who bears the brunt of catastrophic storms.)10
Another problem is that the whole world needs to be moving on climate change. Of all the actions that Trump has taken during his reckless and infantile months in the White House, none will do longer-lasting damage than his abandonment of the Paris climate accord. It’s not that his decision means the conversion to renewable energy won’t continue—“free” is a hard argument to beat, and solar and wind power will eventually spread around the globe. But the momentum that had begun to build at Paris has been hobbled, and the chances of them spreading fast enough to matter are much reduced. We will power the world of the future with renewable energy, but unless we act with great swiftness, it will be a broken world that we power.11
So if and when the United States emerges from the Trump era, and if and when progressive politicians really embrace climate change as a core issue in tandem with race, gender, immigration, and inequality, we will have a chance for something new: an activist government whose task, alongside those of China and Europe, will be to help lead in a very different direction the planet that we’ve done the most to pollute. If there’s any reason for a superpower, it’s got everything to do with… power.12 | {
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Miroslav Lelyukh and Vladislava Raguzina are two young and talented accordionists from Russia. Together they form a ... | {
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A US start-up has invented a robot that can tie together steel reinforcement bars before a concrete pour, saving many back-breaking hours on bridge and other construction projects.
The machine, called the Tybot, uses a robotic arm rigged to a gantry crane that locates rebar junctions and attaches a tie.
Since deck bridges and other structures can have thousands of such intersections, the robot could circumvent a labour-intensive, expensive and injury-prone process – although one of its inventors joked that it was “boring”.
It is the first offering of the firm Advanced Construction Robotics (ACR), launched by construction firm boss Steve Muck and robotics expert Jeremy Searock, formerly of Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Centre.
“What we’re trying to do at ACR is methodically look at the most difficult critical path challenges, and our first product reflects that, because one of our big challenge is finding people to tie deck rebar,” said Muck, who has experience of building bridges as chief executive of Pennsylvania contractor Brayman Construction, of which ACR is a spin-off.
Muck told the Pittsburg Post-Gazette that when his company, Brayman, built the Hulton Bridge in 2015 it took a crew of up to 10 workers 7,400 man hours between April and September to lay 113,000 square feet of rebar, tying just over 2 million joints.
“[Tybot] both speeds up the work and reduces the number of people to do it,” Muck told the newspaper. “This is the construction industry looking to the robotics industry for a solution to a business problem.”
He added that Tybot tie rebar at night or when workers are needed elsewhere.
Academic Jeremy Searock told the paper: “This is a very boring robot that has great application and profitability.”
Elsewhere Searock said that although the robot requires a frame, it is still convenient to set up. “It’s easy to integrate into operations. You can transport it to the project in a 40ft trailer, it takes half a shift to set up, it can deal with decks between 20ft and 145ft wide using the infrastructure already on the bridge.”
Once the robot is in position it can operate autonomously with one worker supervising.
Brayman tested the Tybot on a project in Pennsylvania earlier this year and now plans to begin selling its product next spring.
Image: The robot arm has sensors to detect junctions and a gantry crane for mobility (ACR)
Further Reading: | {
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Apparently, other Hollywood luminaries like Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, and David Bowie have also lived in the sprawling mansion.
In the market for a vacation getaway with some real Hollywood history behind it? Why not rent the sprawling Hollywood Hills estate where Orson Welles not only lived but also reportedly wrote “Citizen Kane”? A curious new listing on home rental website HomeAway is playing up the apparent bonafides of the “Orson Welles Hollywood Hills Estate,” a four-bedroom, three-bathroom mansion that sleeps eight comfortably and can be yours for the relatively affordable asking price of about eight hundred bucks per night.
This 3,000 square foot “old Hollywood gem” was owned by Welles, and then went on to be owned and inhabited by a long list of other Hollywood luminaries, including Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, and David Bowie. If nothing else, it sounds like a hell of a joint to try to crank out your own script.
Per the house’s listing, the “Cape Cod-style estate was originally built in 1928 and has an amazing Hollywood history. Sidney Toler, who played Charlie Chan in the late 30s and 40s, built the house. After several years the house was then inhabited by Orson Welles, the great American filmmaker, actor, theater director, screenwriter, and producer, who is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century.”
The house “sits atop Sunset Boulevard” (appropriate) and includes a “15,000 square foot private knoll,” plus a “luxurious lagoon pool with a jacuzzi, surrounded by beautiful foliage, and a huge outdoor deck overlooking stunning views of Hollywood and beyond.”
No word on if the house includes a large pile of (seeming!) junk to sort through in hopes of finding life-altering treasure that helps clarify the meaning of one’s own life, but who knows?
You can check out the full listing over on HomeAway.
Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here. | {
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Express News Service By
CHENNAI: Despite a concerted campaign by the Union Government for the past few months urging the well-off to give up their LPG subsidy, less than 0.3 per cent of consumers in Tamil Nadu have opted out of subsidy, official statistics reveal.
The State has a total of 1.54 crore LPG connections, of which less than 50,000 have given up their subisdy. According to statistics available on the websites of the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), 23,116 Indane consumers, 8,202 Hindustan Petroleum Gas (HP Gas) consumers and around 15,000 BharatGas consumers have given up the subsidy.
Currently, a non-subsidised 14.2 kg LPG cylinder costs Rs 620, while a subsidy of Rs 215 is given to consumers per cylinder, which is debited to their bank accounts.
Gas agency proprietors in Chennai attributed this not to the thriftiness of the well-off, but to their sheer laziness. “There are many well-intentioned people who can afford to let go of Rs 200 per cylinder. Even if they consume eight cylinders in a year, it’s a mere Rs 1,600. It is peanuts for them, but they just don’t want to take the effort to come to the agency and submit the forms,” an agency owner in Adyar said.
As of now, this campaign has resulted in a total annual savings of Rs 187.75 crore for Indane, Rs 91.6 crore for Bharat Gas and Rs 100 crore for HP Gas, statistics show.
The Union Petroleum Ministry has also set up a separate website www.giveitup.in, which guides all those consumers who might want to opt out of their LPG subsidy. | {
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DeliverLean, a healthy gourmet meal delivery service, converted its 16,000 square foot wholesale production facility into a USDA certified center in Hollywood, Florida . The facility is part of its ongoing quest towards national expansion.The company will add upwards of 75 new employees at its USDA Certified campus, including an on-site USDA inspector, bringing the company’s total number of staff to over 225 associates.According to company officials, USDA certification of this facility brings DeliverLean one step closer to large volume national food manufacturing . USDA certification is a clear indicator of the company’s continued commitment to providing the highest quality food and safety standards and is a natural next step as the company looks to grow its footprint on a national scale.“The USDA certification of our Hollywood facility helps DeliverLean evolve from a regional meal delivery service into a turnkey grab and go food solution with large scale food manufacturing capabilities giving us unlimited growth potential. This gets us closer to delivering our products nationwide as we continue our mission to make healthy food available for consumers everywhere,” said Scott Harris, CEO of DeliverLean.Securing a niche in the marketplace for healthy, ready-to-eat meals, DeliverLean continues to bring restaurant quality, calorically balanced menu items to consumers, officials said. In addition to subscription based meal delivery options, DeliverLean menu items are also available in airports, hotels, grocery markets and convenience stores via clients like Aramark, Hudson News, Whole Foods Markets, Boucher Brothers, Diplomat Resort, The Ritz Carlton and others.DeliverLean was established in 2011 by health-conscious foodie and savvy entrepreneur Scott Harris as a solution to save people time and energy, while simultaneously providing a nutritious and convenient way for people to live a healthy lifestyle. DeliverLean brings together experts in diet and nutrition, culinary arts, operations and customer service to offer affordable, healthy meals and grab and go items. | {
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Addendum-2696-01: Excerpts from the diary of Henry Percival Rosyth, recovered from inside SCP-2696
They buried Clara on the 4th - on one of those dreadful winter mornings where the frost drips off everything like a veil and the last owls have yet to echo away the terror of the dawn. Even now, in the dim safety of my study, her voice still rings in my mind — as I speak I cannot help but hear her echoes lingering at the edges of my words — her memories, still fresh in my mouth. The children are asleep now, but I think that I will fear to hear their voices too when they wake.
A correspondent from America writes to me about his work on the "mind-made body". His schema is clumsy, inefficient - but it sets me thinking. Thought, given power, becomes form. But thoughts are transient, fleeting, merely actions and words yet-to-be. They decompose. They rot. Memory, however, is altogether different. I recall the work of Ebbinghaus and his idea of "savings" - that what was once forgotten is still retained, encoded - engraved, if you will - on the neurons of the mind. And so I ask, what is a memory but a thought cast in stone?
Self-experimentation has not been forthcoming. So much reminds me of her, yet nothing comes forth in practice. Ink and needle proves insufficient. My forehead stings. [The remainder of the page is covered with complex geometrical diagrams, partially smudged with blood.]
The Eastern mystic traditions of positioning and energy flow are of great assistance. Sacrifice and equivalent exchange mean nothing when a working can draw from the flow of the very air itself. Though my attempts still end in failure, the tower's auspicious energies are strong. I must persevere, for her sake and mine.
The children still speak in her voice. I fear I might be going mad.
Addendum-2696-02: Initial Recovery Log
See attached documentation.
Addendum-2696-03: Interviews with SCP-2696-1-contaminated personnel
Interview-2696-19750201/Priyadarshni-Sanchez-03
<Begin log> Dr. Sanchez: Divya, how are you feeling? Priyadarshni: Like hell. Whatever they gave me, it isn't working. S: Can you elaborate? P: It's kind of like a pounding, at the base of my skull. And at the front, too. It won't let up. When I try to focus on the pain I feel like I'm focusing down a telescope, if that makes any sense. S: Mhm. What about the hallucinations? Are they gone yet? P: No, they're not all gone. Just residual visions, mostly. Like, right before you came in I closed my eyes and I swear I was back in that house again -like it was plastered on the backs of my eyes. Except the lights were all on, and everything looked - well, broken. Like looking into smashed glass. It's the same for the others, isn't it? I heard. Or, at least, I think I heard. Maybe it was something else. S: I see. (Interviewer pauses.) Did… anything else happen? P: I think - I think I saw her, too. SCP-2696-1. Or Clara, whatever you want to call her. She was just about… there. (Subject vaguely gestures to their 11 o'clock with their left hand.) Just two arms' length away. She had this dress on, and - and - those small, jeweled slippers. I knew they were jeweled, because I looked down and saw them on my feet, in one of the broken shards. And she turned and gave me this - this smile. Like that was all she had to give. It caught in the cracks and I saw it reflected over and over again, in my eyes. She was so gentle… S: Div? Div? What happened after that? P: I don't know. I snapped to back here again, and that's when you came in, and that's when I realised I wasn't dreaming, I was awake the whole time. I think it took no more than two seconds. Sorry I can't remember more than that, doc. S: I understand. It's not just you, the others are confused as well. Is there anything more you need? Anything we can do? P: Nah, we're good here. Just turn off the lights when you leave. It gets so bright when I close my eyes. <End log>
Interview-2696-19870513/Carrington-Lim-27
<Begin log> Specialist Carrington: How it went? Cut to the chase, you're just looking for the soundbite on how being mindfucked by the house feels like. Dr. Lim: I'd prefer we call this an interview, thank you very much. C: Right you are, sir. So where'd you want me to begin? L: On the record, your team was deployed after 2696-1 activated and blew the seals off two of the arrays in the library. There was another burst of ARad, and your team went dark. We want to know what happened next. C: Alright. I remember - I remember we'd made it to the damaged arrays without any issue - numbers L03 and L05, if I'm not wrong. Jorge and I held the thing steady while Molly traced back the runes, and we got L03 up just fine. We'd just begun working on L05 when our comms start to flicker, and the alarm starts blaring from outside. And I think to myself, well, shit, that's not good. We'd been first responders before, but none of us had really been caught inside the house when it went live, y'know? C: So we pack up our gear nice and easy, try not to make any sudden movements, and creep our way back to the library entrance when all of a sudden my ward just goes fsshhht and sparks out. Then Molly's ward goes, then Jorge's too. We were carrying Class-5's, for God's sake. You've seen them before - they're heavy, powerful stuff, no joke. So when this happens, that's when we dropped everything and ran. But we were too slow. I saw her, dash-one, moving down the tower stairs. She was moving, not really floating, just - moving. Then bam, she was right in front of me. C: One moment I was staring into her eyes, the next moment Jorge is pulling me out by my armpits, dragging me down the stairs, and that's when I realised the screaming was my own. Then the side effects kicked in. It's like - you ever met a psychic, Dr. Lim? It's not pretty, the way it feels, that drinking-straw butterfly-proboscis feeling you get inside your head, sloshing up your insides. No, this is different. Dash-one is something else entirely. M: Tell me about it, Carrington. I am here to listen. C: It's like… a flood. Almost profound. And that's how she gets in, that's her, slipping into the grooves and crannies of your brain, getting in between the folds, and you remember. You remember what it's like to be her, like you've never been anything else. Everything comes at once - the smell of her hair, the touch of her voice on your skin, gently up the cleft of your cheek - it's her, she's the real deal, she's everywhere and anywhere at once in your mind. But she doesn't come in one piece, she comes in shards and ashes that don't quite seem to fit together as she does, as she should. I cried, you know. She could've been so, so much more. C: She's broken. That's what she is. Whatever he did to her to try and bring her back, that's not her. Bits and pieces suspended in time, bound to a crumbling frame of whatever's beneath that skin - and behind it she's roaring and bursting and raging with the force of a dying star, spitting out the pieces of herself that don't fit, that can't fit. And for a moment, when you look into her eyes, you are her, and you feel her pain and rage and ten thousand other things that you don't have a word for, because she's got nothing inside to feel in the way that you or I do, nothing left but a whirlwind of shattered glass and memories. M: I think I understand. Is there anything more? C: No, I'm - I think I'm done here. (Subject pauses.) I'd like to take the meds now, if you please. <End log>
Addendum-2696-04: Incident log of activation event, 06/12/1990
<Begin log> [00:00:06] Thunderstorms begin to form in the Dark Peak region. [00:12:52] SCP-2696 begins to exhibit increased aspect radiation levels, with local readings outside SCP-2696 registering a peak of 0.87 kilocaspers. All personnel are evacuated from within SCP-2696. [00:30:20] Lightning strikes SCP-2696 in several places in quick succession. Surge protection fails, and 55% of the electrothaumic arrays in SCP-2696 are damaged beyond repair. The remaining arrays soon become overloaded and fail in the resultant cascade effect. Almost immediately, aspect radiation levels within SCP-2696 spike above 2.0 kilocaspers. Backup electrothaumic arrays are powered on, and MTF Theta-77 is scrambled. SCP-2696-1 is noted to change form into a swirling, floating mass of tattered white lace emitting a loud screeching sound. [00:35:11] Backup electrothaumic arrays do not appear to have any effect in containing SCP-2696-1. SCP-2696-1 reaches peak aspect radiation levels of 5.1 kilocaspers. Personnel outside SCP-2696 begin to complain of headaches and nausea. [00:40:45] Theta-77 arrives and establishes an inner and outer cordon around SCP-2696. Emergency rituals performed by Specialists M. Cooper and J. Simos succeed in repelling SCP-2696-1 away from the front door of SCP-2696 and back towards the second storey. However, SCP-2696-1 manages to mentally incapacitate three members of Theta-77 (Specialist C. Carrington, Dr. M. Lim, and Technician J. Vasquez). [00:42:54] A strong wind blows through the hallways of SCP-2696. The front door is slammed shut and is unable to be opened from the outside. Specialists Cooper and Simos are unable to continue the containment rituals and retreat with the remainder of the inner cordon team. Aspect radiation levels around SCP-2696 continue to intensify to a record high of 7.5 kilocaspers, beyond the threshold of protection offered by any Foundation protection wards. Throughout all this, SCP-2696-1 remains at the staircase to the second storey. Its swirling and screeching intensifies. [00:43:00] Internal monitors detect that the door to the nursery has opened. [00:43:06] Internal monitors detect that both instances of SCP-2696-2 have left the nursery, accompanied by a large burst of aspect radiation and electromagnetic radiation in the gamma spectrum. Minor seismic tremors are detected within SCP-2696, likely as a result of said aspect radiation discharge. [00:44:30] Both instances of SCP-2696-2 approach SCP-2696-1 with outstretched arms. Upon contact with SCP-2696-2, SCP-2696-1 abruptly shrinks, shifting back into its humanoid form. [00:44:49] Local aspect radiation levels are observed to sharply drop. The two instances of SCP-2696-2 lead SCP-2696-1 by the hand into the library and up the stairs into the tower. [00:45:23] SCP-2696-1 turns around to embrace the two instances of SCP-2696-2. It kisses each of them on the symbols on their foreheads, then passes through the tower door and disappears. [00:46:02] Both instances of SCP-2696-2 hold hands and descend the tower steps. They exit through the second floor and return to the nursery. At this point, aspect radiation levels within SCP-2696 have returned to baseline. [00:46:37] The door to the nursery gently closes. Above SCP-2696, the thunderstorm dissipates. Theta-77 is ordered to stand down. <End log>
Additional notes:
SCP-2696-1 activity was greatly reduced in the months following this incident. It is unknown as to why the surge protectors failed, as well as to how SCP-2696-2 was able to leave the nursery and pacify SCP-2696-1.
Subsequent investigations revealed that the interior structure of SCP-2696 was significantly damaged by the large burst of aspect radiation caused by the emergence of SCP-2696-2 from the nursery. While some of the damage was reparable, several structures utilised fragile and/or currently unobtainable materials that were unable to be replaced in full. It appears that while SCP-2696-2 serves as a last-resort failsafe mechanism for SCP-2696, repeated activations will have the negative effect of permanently reducing the containment effectiveness of SCP-2696, resulting in more frequent and violent breach attempts.
Given current containment practices and rates of failure of AAFM units, it is estimated that SCP-2696-1 will have a 47% chance of fully breaching containment by 2030. Accordingly, members of the ECRG assigned to SCP-2696 are to focus on devising more sustainable and permanent long-term containment solutions for SCP-2696-1. | {
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For nearly a year now I have been consulting with filmmaker Joel Gilbert on his book and film project, each called The Trayvon Hoax: Unmasking the Witness Fraud that Divided America. From the beginning, I have been impressed by Gilbert’s diligence in exposing the fraud at the heart of America’s most publicized and racially charged trial since O.J.’s. I refer here to the 2013 murder trial of George Zimmerman for the 2012 shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.
Not having any financial stake in the success of either the book or the film, I thought I might serve as a useful go-between in reaching out to the media. Joel and I both understood from the outset that the national media, for all the wrong reasons, would want no part of this story. The Miami Herald, I insisted, was the one publication that would step up to the plate.
During the time between the shooting in February 2012 and the Zimmerman trial in 2013, the Miami Herald was the only mainstream media outlet in the country to report honestly on the proceedings. That was then.
This is now. I selected the three or four of the most likely reporters on the staff and sent them the following email:
In 2013, I wrote a book on the George Zimmerman case, "If I Had A Son." I have been following with interest Joel Gilbert's research into the case, which culminated with his book and documentary "The Trayvon Hoax," just released. What Gilbert proves beyond doubt is that the state's star witness, Rachel Jeantel, was an imposter. Gilbert finds Trayvon's real girlfriend, Brittany Diamond Eugene by name. At some point, Eugene refused to go along with the testimony concocted for her by attorney Benjamin Crump and backed out. Jeantel's April 2, 2012, deposition was the basis for the affidavit to arrest Zimmerman. Jeantel was not on the phone with Trayvon. She may not have ever met him. Trayvon's mother, Sybrina Fulton, provably knew about the switch and said nothing. She is now running for County Commissioner in Miami-Dade. Andrew Gillum based his career on the false narrative. BLM was formed as a result of GZ's acquittal. There is a Pulitzer waiting for whoever follows up here. The state attorneys had to know. I would love to hear what Angela Corey or Bernie de la Rionda have to say, but they are not going to answer my phone calls. I can put you in touch with Gilbert. The national media will not touch this until the local media do.
I sent comparable emails to several reporters at the Tampa Bay Times and at the Orlando Sentinel. The Sentinel covered the case extensively as the shooting and trial happened in nearby Sanford, but its reporting was not as forthright as the Herald’s.
Finally, one Herald reporter called me back. I will spare his name as he at least called me. No one else did from any other publication. On the phone, I gave him my best pitch: Trayvon’s mother was one person that knew both Diamond, the real girlfriend, and Rachel Jeantel, the imposter. Gilbert proved this beyond any doubt. Fulton is now running for Miami-Dade county commissioner. Hillary Clinton tweeted her endorsement of Fulton to her millions of followers requesting donations for Fulton’s campaign, and Corey Booker endorsed her too.
In a spirit of bipartisanship, I dangled to the Herald reporters the fact that the prosecutors in the Zimmerman case were Republicans. I would love to learn how they could not have known Jeantel was an imposter if Gilbert were able to figure it out on his own.
The one Herald reporter to call me seemed openminded and promised to watch the film. I sent him a private link. “Thanks for calling back.” I emailed him. “I am totally impressed by the work Gilbert did on this project, and I am 100 percent confident he got it right. If you are interested, I can put you in touch with George Zimmerman as well. Here is the official web site
The Trayvon Hoax: Unmasking the Witness Fraud that Divided America.”
The reporter soon got back to me. He claimed he watched the film but decided to pass. When I asked why, he said something to the effect that it was an old case, that Zimmerman was “odious,” and that he did not see the point of bringing this story back up again. (I don’t record my calls)
Gilbert reached out to him one last time: “What is your constraint or reason to avoid this blockbuster story of a proven witness switch in this monumental case?” he asked. “I remind you Sybrina Fulton, Travyon’s mother who is running for office, is proven to have known about it if you got that far into the film.”
Gilbert added as something of a dig, “Could you kindly recommend a reporter at Miami Herald whom I could approach? Perhaps a younger reporter looking to make a name for themselves? Have them call me!” When Gilbert checked the private film link that I had provided, he discovered that the reporter with whom we communicated had not watched the film at all.
Undaunted, Gilbert reached out to Pete Weitzel, a former managing editor of the Miami Herald. Now retired, Weitzel established the Florida First Amendment Foundation to serve as a government transparency watchdog. Weitzel told Gilbert his organization was in transition and recommended he speak to the current managing editor of the Miami Herald, Rick Hirsch.
“Dear Mr. Hirsch,” Gilbert wrote in an email, “Pete Weitzel suggested to me that you were an excellent newsman and would take a good look at the breaking news story I have revealed in my new film/book. Please watch the trailer on the official website here.”
Twelve minutes later, Gilbert received the following email from Hirsch: “Thanks for reaching out. We are going to pass.”
I decided to word-search my 2013 Trayvon book, If I Had A Son, for “Miami Herald” to see whose reporting it was that I admired. The reporter’s name was Frances Robles. After a few minutes of research, I discovered that Robles now works for the New York Times, but Miami is at the heart of her beat.
On Saturday, I sent her an email under the server heading, “A legit story only you can report.”
I will let you know when I hear back.
Correction: I contended that an unnamed reporter did not watch Gilbert’s film as he claimed. Not being able to prove or disprove my contention through Vimeo analytics, I take him at his word that he watched at least the beginning of the film. He would also like it known that he is not just a reporter but the “investigations editor,” a fact I concealed for the same reason I did not name him, to protect his identity. | {
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The man, the myth, the legend. It's the perfect description for Tom Ford, a self-made man who was born in a sleepy Texas town and went on to be one of fashion's most influential and impactful designers. And the guy certainly knows a thing or two about living well, looking sharp and taking care of oneself. So we've rounded up some of his best thoughts on how to be a modern gentleman in this day and age.
“ You should put on
the best version of yourself when you go out in the world because that is a show of respect to the other people around you.”
Shouting is wasted energy. It embarrasses people in front of other people.
"The most important thing a man can do is exercise and maintain his weight. Because that's the key to looking youthful."
Every man should have a smart blazer, lots of crisp white shirts, a pair of classic black lace-up shoes, the perfect pair of jeans and always new socks and underwear (throw away the old ones every six months or so).
Manners are very important and actually knowing when things are appropriate. I always open doors for women, I carry their coat, I make sure that they're walking on the inside of the street. Stand up when people arrive at and leave the dinner table.
“ I'm a pretty calm person. That came from living in Italy for a long time. Nothing works, nothing is on time. You have to learn to deal with it.”
The secret to a long-term relationship? Choose someone great to begin with, then stick it out.
Like white teeth, white eyes matter. Use Visine.
"I worry constantly and obsess over things, but I don't let fear stand in the way of doing something that I really want to do."
I don't like showers. Why do anything standing up that you could do lying down? | {
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Critics warn the steps will further destabilize wobbly Obamacare markets by siphoning off younger and healthier customers. | Yuri Gripas/Getty Images Trump’s new health insurance rules expected to hurt Obamacare
Obamacare suffered another blow Tuesday when the Trump administration announced plans to make it easier for small businesses and trade groups to band together to purchase health coverage outside of the law’s insurance markets.
President Donald Trump touted the expansion of so-called association health plans, which offer fewer consumer protections than Obamacare coverage, as a much-needed cheaper alternative. But critics have warned that the latest move will further drive up Obamacare premiums and weaken the law.
“For the first time ever, sole proprietors will be able to buy lower-cost group insurance instead of getting ripped off by this disaster we all know as Obamacare,” Trump said during a speech at the National Federation of Independent Business, a group that has long opposed the 2010 Affordable Care Act.
Democrats decried the new rules as the latest act of Obamacare “sabotage” that will drive up health insurance premiums for millions in the law’s insurance markets. The Labor Department rules come after the administration earlier this month urged a federal court to throw out Obamacare’s popular insurance protections for pre-existing conditions, arguing they are no longer valid after the GOP tax law eliminated the individual mandate penalty for skipping health coverage. The administration will also soon finalize rules boosting short-term plans that typically offer much skimpier coverage than Obamacare.
Prescription Pulse A weekly briefing on pharmaceutical policy news — in your inbox. Email Sign Up By signing up you agree to receive email newsletters or alerts from POLITICO. You can unsubscribe at any time. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Critics warn the steps will further destabilize wobbly Obamacare markets by siphoning off younger and healthier customers, who are more likely to favor cheaper plans that cover less. The law’s insurance markets have already been beset by skyrocketing premiums and diminishing competition, problems that are likely to grow worse if the customer base becomes even smaller and sicker.
“These plans weaken protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said. “No single group that represents physicians, patients, hospitals or nurses is supportive. Not one."
Supporters of the Affordable Care Act also worry that the law’s consumer protections will be eroded under the new rules, since insurers will be allowed to offer skinnier coverage that doesn’t include costly benefits like mental health treatment and prescription drug coverage. Customers might not be aware of coverage gaps until they require significant medical care and could be left with big, unexpected bills.
Consumer advocates had called on the Trump administration to mandate that association plans cover the same broad set of benefits as Obamacare plans. However, the Labor Department rejected the suggestion, concluding that it would raise costs and restrict the coverage options available to small businesses and independent contractors.
Many business groups praised the new rules. The National Federation of Independent Business, which unsuccessfully sought to overturn Obamacare in the courts, is among the most ardent supporters of the new proposal.
“In the wake of the Senate’s failure to repeal Obamacare, we are grateful to President Trump for addressing regulations that make it harder and costlier for small business owners to provide healthcare for themselves and their employees,” NFIB CEO Juanita Duggan said in a statement.
Administration officials said the final proposal contains consumer protections, including prohibitions on discrimination against customers with expensive medical conditions. That could reassure critics but may limit the ability of the plans to hold down costs.
“I think that’s problematic,” said Chris Condeluci, a benefits lawyer who was a top Republican staffer on the Senate Finance Committee during Obamacare’s drafting. “It really sets up many of these [association plans] to fail.”
However, existing association health plans that don’t meet the new anti-discrimination requirements can continue operating under the old rules. Employers had raised concerns that some current plans would be forced to shut down if they weren’t granted an exemption.
The new regulations are likely to spark a legal challenge on the grounds that they violate federal labor law and need approval from Congress. Insurance regulators, particularly in states that have embraced Obamacare, are also likely to push back against the changes.
Insurers are proposing double-digit rate hikes for 2019 in many states, citing the likelihood some existing Obamacare customers will migrate to the Trump-backed health plans. The Society of Actuaries projected that the expanded availability of association health plans would reduce Obamacare enrollment by 2 to 6 percent. It also predicted that customers dropping out of the exchanges will be 60 to 70 percent healthier than those who remain.
Highmark Health CEO David Holmberg said the health insurer, which is finally making money on Obamacare customers after years of losses, is committed to remaining in the law’s markets in Delaware, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. However, he said the changes coming out of Washington are adding new challenges.
“We can see a path where we could stabilize this, but we continue to see rule changes,” Holmberg told POLITICO. “That creates a new set of uncertainties.”
Association health plans have been around for decades, allowing companies to join together to create larger pools of customers to get better insurance rates. The Trump administration, in a major change to how association health plans have operated, has proposed allowing self-employed individuals to enroll in them.
The change will help people in non-traditional work arrangements, Condeluci said.
“One of the purposes of the change for allowing self-employed individuals was a recognition of a growing gig economy,” he said.
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You'll get the digital and hard copy of the book, and you'll be listed on the thank-you page.
Plus you'll get digital copies of the art book and the Kickstarter-exclusive poster found in the Deluxe package.
Less | {
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Look Legends of the Ball | {
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A first person account of involvement in and the activity of The Red Butterfly, a socialist "cell" within the US Gay Liberation Front 1969-1971.
Some time in the fall of 1969, at a meeting of the New York Gay Liberation Front (GLF), people who called themselves the “June 28 cell” pushed through a series of motions: GLF henceforth would have no structure, but a “structureless structure”. Decisions would no longer be made by voting, but only by consensus. (Since GLF kept no membership roster, anyone who attended a meeting could consider himself or herself a member of GLF, and could speak in its name.) Further, GLF would consist of totally independent cells, and everyone should join one. Anyone could form a cell, of any kind whatsoever, which could then act under the GLF banner. What these decisions meant in practice was that GLF would be controlled by those who were best at behind-the-scenes manipulation and at shouting down opponents in meetings.
As the last of these motions was approved, John O'Brien turned to me and said, “You have just witnessed the death of GLF.” His words were prophetic. The “structureless structure” led to chaos, the inability to make decisions in an orderly and democratic manner; it meant that GLF could never be a viable political organization. GLF died two years later, in 1971.
Since everyone had to belong to a cell, I and a few co-thinkers formed our own cell, a Marxist cell, which we rather whimsically named The Red Butterfly. The announcement of our cell caused instant anxiety, and we were accused of advocating violence. Our activities, however, were more cerebral. In a way, The Red Butterfly constituted a radical intelligentsia within GLF, concerned with developing theory of gay liberation and linking it to other movements for social change. Our members included graduate students, scholars, artists, poets, workers, and a scientist. In time we linked with radical gay liberationists around the world.
Red Butterfly members were unbeholden to any particular political group or ideology. Indeed, much of our joy in those vibrant years came from debates, with each other or outsiders. Our group reading consisted of such works as The German Ideology and Theses On Feurbach by Marx and Engels, Theory of Capitalist Development by Sweezy, Eros and Civilization by Marcuse, Patterns of Sexual Behavior by Ford and Beach, Homosexual Behavior Among Males by Churchill, and Mass Psychology of Fascism by Reich. We were not slavish adherents of the Marxist classics: on one occasion an older member had us all in tears from laughter, as he pointed out the absurdities in Engels' Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State.
The Red Butterfly's greatest achievement was our intervention in a huge antiwar conference. On 14-15 February 1970, over three thousand student activists met at the Student Mobilization Committee (SMC) conference in Cleveland, to plan nationwide campus strikes and rallies on April 15. A few of us drove there and set up a table with the GLF banner, GLF buttons, and our just-published first pamphlet. For two days we were mobbed, as everyone wanted to know about the new movement. We scheduled a gay liberation workshop, and the response was overwhelming. Emotions ran high, as dozens of activists came out of the closet. At the end of the conference our proposal was read, asking for the Conference's long overdue support of its Gay Sisters and Brothers; thousands voted for it and only seven voted against it.
The Red Butterfly produced four mimeographed pamphlets:
• The first pamphlet, Gay Liberation, published on 13 February 1970, went through five printings, each of 1000 copies.
• The second pamphlet, published in 1970, was a reprinting of Carl Wittman's A Gay Manifesto, with comments by The Red Butterfly.
• The third pamphlet, published in 1970, was Gay Oppression: A Radical Analysis.
• The fourth pamphlet was my translation of a 1928 speech by the German philosopher, Kurt Hiller: “Appeal to the Second International Congress for Sexual Reform for the Benefit of an Oppressed Variety of Human Being”.
On the weekend of 5 September 1970, The Red Butterfly and other GLF members went to Philadelphia to attend the Black Panther Party's “Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention Planning Session”. At this event, a Gay Caucus issued a series of demands — which sounded radical, but were half-baked and thoughtless. On the spur of the moment we issued a critique of the “gay demands”. We were immediately denounced; some of the Gay Caucus members said we should be assaulted, and one man no-one had seen before said we should be killed, to show the Panthers the gay movement could deal with its own traitors.
Back in New York, ostracized but undaunted, we prepared a position paper, Critique of the “Gay Demands”, which we took to the second of the Black Panther conventions, held in Washington, D.C. on 27-29 November 1970.
I have refrained from giving names of Red Butterfly members, some of whom are no longer alive. These events took place over forty years ago. Most of us, as we grow older, also grow more conservative; we acquire more caution, more common sense. Re-reading the Red Butterfly documents, I see things I no longer believe, and certainly sentences that I would re-write, but on the whole, I am proud of them. Some of our writing may seem crude now, but we were explorers, sailing on uncharted seas. The Red Butterfly's legacy was its influence on gay liberationists around the world, and on other movements for social change. Our ideas live on.
— John Lauritsen, Boston 2011.
From http://paganpressbooks.com/jpl/TRB.HTM | {
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マジシャン兼グラドルの伊藤里織さんが、BD＆DVD「さおちゅと一緒に温泉入りに ＃さおりゅーじょんしませんか？」（発売元：ファインクリエイト、収録時間：60分、価格：BD 5378円、DVD 4298円）の発売記念イベントを6月9日、ソフマップAKIBA 1号店 サブカル・モバイル館で開催した。
2017年3月まで、アイドルグループ「ハニースパイス」（現：ハニースパイスRe.）で活動していた伊藤さん。その前年にマジックと出会い、グループ卒業後はマジシャンとしての仕事に専念。昨年末からグラビア活動を再開し、1年半ぶりの作品が出来上がった。
――どんな内容ですか？
【伊藤里織】 3月に静岡県で撮ったのですが、一緒に温泉旅行した気分を妄想できます。旅館の部屋とか、温泉で色っぽく魅せました。
――特徴的なシーンなどは？
【伊藤里織】 和室で服を脱いでからの眼帯水着です。私は作品を出すたびに眼帯水着を着ているのですが、今回は肌色なので、めちゃくちゃセクシーです。
――次に挙げるなら？
【伊藤里織】 胸が大胆に開いた黒い水着です。ベッドで動いているのですが、横乳もいっぱい楽しめる映像になっています（笑）。
――マジシャンとしての仕事についても聞かせてください。
【伊藤里織】 六本木にある「Magic Bar YOLO」にレギュラー出演しています。得意なのはクローズアップ・マジック（カードを使ったテーブルマジックなど）。ぜひ遊びに来てくださいね。
作品タイトルにも入っているが、自身のマジックを「さおりゅーじょん」と呼んでいて、SNSでそのテクニックを披露。得意なカードマジックは一度は見ておこう。グラビア的な仕事では、6月22日のフレッシュ屋外大撮影会「ホリエモン×100人のグラビア美女」に参加する。 | {
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Car Crash 7-8-14
Industry experts and lawmakers agree that high-crime, poor road conditions, and general urban density all play a role in driving the Motor City's premiums to rates higher than even places such as flood-prone New Orleans. But there is disagreement on how much of a factor the states' lack of a cap on PIP claims is when insurers write auto coverage in Detroit.
(Brian Smith)
DETROIT, MI - No matter where the report comes from, few people within or outside of the insurance industry dispute this: Detroit has the highest car insurance rates in the country.
Why that is the case is the source of passionate disagreement among some politicians, insurance industry leaders and advocates for victims of automobile accident injuries in Michigan.
The latest report on car insurance, coming from consumer website InsuranceQuotes.com, says that in metro Detroit drivers pay 165 percent more than the national average for car insurance.
Motor City area drivers' car insurance rates easily outpace the next most expensive metros, including New York City at 36 percent above the national average, followed by Miami at 34 percent and Los Angeles at 25 percent.
"One of the main reasons why car insurance is so expensive in the Detroit area is because Michigan is the only state where car insurance includes unlimited personal injury protection," Laura Adams, a senior analyst for insuranceQuotes.com, said in a release, citing an oft-repeated claim among industry experts and some politicians. "Also, Detroit has a very high percentage of uninsured motorists – as high as 50 percent by some estimates. That unfortunately raises rates for those who do have car insurance."
Michigan is the only state in the country to provide unlimited, lifetime benefits to injured drivers. But while industry-backing groups such as the Insurance Institute of Michigan actively seek to reform this, a group called the Coalition to Protecting Auto No-Fault has been keen on keeping it in place. CPAN includes 25 medical and consumer groups that argue that is in the public interest of Michigan citizens to preserve the no-fault setup, made possible through legislation passed in 1972.
In February, state House Republicans proposed legislation that would cap Michigan's unlimited Personal Injury Protection coverage at $10 million. Metro Detroit leaders voiced opposition to this, as did state Democrats.
Detroit consistently ranks at the top of the nation for auto premiums in study after study, including one by Runzheimer International that is often cited by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners.
Industry experts and lawmakers agree that high crime, poor road conditions, and general urban density all play a role in driving the Motor City’s premiums to rates higher than even places such as flood-prone New Orleans. But there is disagreement on how much of a factor the states’ lack of a cap on PIP claims is when insurers write auto coverage in Detroit.
Meanwhile, efforts to do something - anything - to quell high auto insurance rates have been mostly stagnant.
During his State of the City address, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced the formation of a team to study the matter and even gave the proposed entity a name: D-Insurance. "When I moved from the suburbs to Detroit two years ago, our car insurance went from $3,000 to $6,000," the mayor said at the time. A spokesman for the mayor's office could not immediately be reached Thursday morning for an update on this effort.
David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter | {
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A musician was mauled to death by a grizzly bear in a remote area of Canada — where he had traveled to record various sounds in the wilderness, according to a new report.
Julien Gauthier, 44, had been traveling with biologist Camille Toscani in the Tulita area on the Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories, the BBC reported.
Gauthier was sleeping when the bear suddenly dragged him away sometime in the middle of the night, said Toscani, who realized what happened around 7:45 a.m. Thursday and raised a distress alert, according to the report.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police searched the largely isolated area, accessible only by sea or air, and found Gauthier’s body the next day, according to the report.
Gauthier, Toscani and another woman, a cellist, had planned to canoe about 930 miles down the Mackenzie River from Fort Providence to Inuvik, according to a crowdfunding page for the project.
Gauthier was born and raised in Canada with his two French parents and moved to France at age 19, where he stayed, according to reports.
“It was his dream to go there, to go to the North,” Toscani told the French-language newspaper Le Parisien. “He had asked me to take part in this adventure, we had been thinking about it for three years. We were so happy to get to do it. He was a unique artist, inspired by open spaces and nature.”
He was a composer in residence with the Brittany Symphony Orchestra since 2017, according to the BBC. The orchestra called him “a sensitive, generous and talented man” with “a sense of adventure, wonder and rare intelligence.”
In an Aug. 7 Facebook post, written in French, Gauthier mentioned he’d encountered four bears, all kinds of birds and a wolf, after only five days of canoeing and camping.
But he’d already recorded “some very important sounds,” he shared. | {
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We're on the verge of war because we're blaming the Russians on acts they may or may not of commited. THIS is not the american way and we shouldn't stand for it. So What I propose is firstly, look into the origins of the dnc leaks and provide evidence. Confirm there legitmacy if there is any and provide us with proof. And if they are confirmed bring the criminals behind them to justice, whether directly or indirectly involved it doesn't matter. The email which have been a big talk state that the Dnc was involved in Wetworks(aka MURDER) as well as other scandalous things. If this is indeed confirmed then I would also enjoy an explanation for why the Fbi found her Innocent. And if there is no legitimacy I'd like to see valid proof for why if possible. | {
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According to Tom Loeffler, promoter for IBO, WBA, WBC middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, says his fighter is now willing to move away from a 50-50 monetary demand for a rematch with Mexican superstar Canelo Alvarez.
The rematch was targeted for September 15, likely for T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Earlier this week, the negotiations broke down after Golovkin would not step away from a 50-50 split - while Canelo was standing firm on a 65-35 demand.
But on Wednesday, the IBF stripped Golovkin of their middleweight belt - for his failure to reach an deal to make a mandatory world title defense against challenger Sergiy Derevyanchenko.
Based on the IBF's recent order, Golovkin is ready to make a rematch deal.
Golovkin's decision comes on the back of the recent announcement by Canelo's promoter, Oscar De La Hoya of Golden Boy Promotions, who stated that the rematch discussions were dead and they were going to pursue a fight with Daniel Jacobs.
“Gennady would agree to come off the 50 percent in order to make it work,” Loeffler said to the Las Vegas Review Journal. “I’m thinking about all the plans for Triple G’s next fight, although the IBF made it a lot easier to not worry about the IBF mandatory.
“I’ve been talking to [Golden Boy Promotions President] Eric Gomez on a regular basis. I don’t want to criticize what Oscar [De La Hoya] said. It’s clearly the biggest fight for both guys and the biggest fight in boxing. It’s my job and Eric’s job to figure out a way to make the fight work.”
Golovkin was scheduled to fight Canelo on May 5th, but instead he blasted out late replacement Vanes Martirosyan in two rounds.
The May date fell apart when Canelo tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol - which forced the Mexican star to withdraw from the contest. He was later hit with a six month suspension, retroactive to February 17, by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. | {
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Washington, January 8, 2015 — It was December 24, 1970 as the faint glow of Christmas lights reflected on the window of the cheap hotel room, and darkness fell on the outskirts of the large southern town. The dingy yellow carpet raked across my bare feet as I nervously drew pictures of Santa and his reindeer on the fogged glass. Outside, the distant sound of car horns echoed as they slowly snaked their way toward home and Christmas with their families.
Behind me, the sound of voices temporarily interrupted the haze of drugs and alcohol I had been forced to take as an argument ensued over the price of photographs of my naked eight-year-old body that lay neatly lined up on the faded bedspread. For the last eight hours I had been raped and used for child pornography by a steady stream of men and one woman. They had satisfied their twisted sexual appetites, exploiting my innocence as the pockets of those who were trafficking me filled with cash.
It had been three years since this nightmare I was trapped in had begun. My mother had met a man named Neale who forced me into being a sexual slave as the property of the pedophile ring that he belonged to. My fate had been sealed so long ago as I was ushered into this world and set adrift on a sea of dysfunction, a rudderless ship whose sails rose and fell at the whim of my mother’s addiction to chaos.
While many children were filled with the glow of the holiday spirit and the expectation of dreams fulfilled on Christmas morning, my childhood was filled with hopeless desperation. I had seen violence in my life and most often times been the target, but seeing the bottomless evil that dwelled in the eyes of my traffickers scared me down to the depths of my very soul.
Many would say I was placed on a collision course with the world of trafficking from the day I was born. I was cradled by dysfunction even as I lay deep within my mother’s womb. She was an alcoholic and it was her way of altering her reality to make what she condoned by her inaction acceptable within her dwindling conscience. Her marriage to my biological father had been short lived and lasted only three years, as he served overseas during the 1960’s. His return ushered in the demise of my innocence and filled my world with the plague of domestic violence. The life my mother and I had shared since my birth had never been stable, but the violence I experienced at the hands of my mother and grandparents was a mere whisper compared to what lay ahead of me.
Neale and the pedophile ring he belonged to were on a whole different level. We are often told stories about evil but most of us are oblivious to its presence as it silently moves among us. My indoctrination to the “group,” as they often referred to themselves in private, consisted of being raped and beaten by each member. Many of the members enjoyed inflicting pain on innocent children as they were tied up, but several were as unhinged as a barn door in a tornado. Children were choked unconscious to satisfy the twisted sexual appetites of a select few of the members, and many clients of the trafficking ring also shared this sick practice.
Those who employed the “services” of my traffickers were pillars of society and the type of people who would sit beside you in church. There was a transformation that took place when I was forced into a room with them. The term Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde does not even come close to describing the personality change these individuals underwent.
For those who have never seen the true face of a sexual predator and witnessed the reflection in their eyes that claims you as a sexual object, there is darkness inside them no one can describe. In their presence I ceased to exist as a person and every ounce of humanity was stripped from me as both my body and my will was bent to conform to their twisted fantasies. Pedophiles have a sick and deprived sense of love toward their victims and in their view they have a sense of entitlement to ravage a child’s innocence.
Pedophilia often exists in the presence of another disorder and according to Abel GG, Becker JV, Cunningham-Rathner J, Mittelman M, Rouleau JL. Multiple paraphilic diagnoses among sex offenders. Bull Am Acad Psychiatry Law. 1988;16:153-168, “Fifty percent to 70% of pedophiles can be diagnosed as having another paraphilia, such as frotteurism, exhibitionism, voyeurism, or sadism.”
When I first began telling the story of my childhood I would often wake up in the middle of the night screaming still feeling their hands around my neck as I passed into unconsciousness.
The Department of Justice estimates that between 100,000 and 300,000 children are at risk of being trafficked in this country right now. Human trafficking is a $9.5 billion a year business in the U.S. according to the United Nations, and within the first forty-eight hours of leaving home a runaway child will be approached by a human trafficker. Human trafficking is second only to the drug trade as the largest criminal enterprise, according to the Justice Department. The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) reports that pimps can make from $150,000 to $200,000 per year for each child. The NCMEC also reports a pimp has an average of four children, and the Polaris Project, an anti-trafficking non profit, reports the average victim of sex trafficking is forced to have sex 20-48 times a day.
Historically, women have been identified as the overwhelming majority of victims of human trafficking, but recent studies have shown male victims of trafficking have been severely overlooked. In a 2008 study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, of those who were sexually exploited in New York, fifty percent of victims were found to be boys from the United States, being trafficked domestically. Until now anti-trafficking organizations have been focused on female victims but that tide is now starting to turn. A 2013 study by the organization ECPAT discovered males are more likely to be arrested for shoplifting or other petty crimes even though they are being trafficked sexually.
For forty years I suffered in silence, struggling with the truth I had buried so deep inside myself.
As a child I was starved for affection. My alcoholic mother met a man named Neale and cast aside the very last drop of my humanity. In the beginning Neale feigned affection for me as he manipulated the heart of a young boy to his evil intentions. I became trapped by threats of violence against my mother and myself. The maternal bond defies logic, and even though she cast me into a world of darkness, there was a place in my heart where I dreamed my mother would transform into the protector I needed so desperately. Forty years later as an adult, when I confronted her with the horrific events of my childhood she still clung to the denial that had allowed her to go on living while her child suffered under the yoke of evil.
Once Neale began molesting me, it was not long before he began using me for child pornography, and soon after that he introduced me to the pedophile ring he belonged to.
Studies and case reports indicate that 30% to 80% of individuals who viewed child pornography and 76% of individuals who were arrested for Internet child pornography had molested a child (Lanning KV. Child Molesters: A Behavioral Analysis. 4th ed. Alexandria,Va: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children; 2001.)
As a victim of child pornography, every time someone viewed a photo of me I was being abused all over again. The pedophile ring that trafficked me was an ever-expanding malfeasance consuming everything in its path, using blackmail and violence to bend those who resisted to their will. Many clients were powerful figures, and of the many times I had tried to speak out, my silence was secured at a heavy price to my own well-being. During a doctor visit one of my “handlers” left the room momentarily and I tried to tell the man examining my cuts and bruises about the hell I was trapped in. Later I returned to the same hospital with three broken ribs as I was taught a lesson in keeping my mouth shut.
Read part two of “For victims of child sex trafficking there is no Christmas” : “Finding hope: The story of a child sex trafficking victim” here: http://www.commdiginews.com/life/finding-hope-the-story-of-a-child-sex-trafficking-victim-33040/ | {
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Much of humanity saw yesterday’s news that scientists have created the first image of a black hole in outer space. This has been heralded as a huge gain in astrophysics, the ushering in a new age of exploration and knowledge.
You could take it from the science perspective, but you could take another view as well.
You could take it that God created the universe and everything in it, so things like this image of that black hole are no coincidence but a sign from God and he’s trying to tell us something.
Note that the black hole looks like a giant zero. Note also that the scientists in charge of the imaging process chose black and yellow to represent the black hole so that it would be more visible. Black and yellow? Looks like a color close to gold to me.
Black holes are known for their suck. They are so massive and so dense that not even light can escape the suck that they are.
Let’s Review - The Black Hole is:
Black and gold. (Close enough)
A giant ball of suck, in fact, the biggest suck in all the universe.
A ginormous zero floating in space. That zero could stand for national titles (real national titles, not those where you go back and retroactively grant yourselves titles so you feel better about your empty trophy case), spring games played this season, and the intelligence quotient of people within a determined border.
Add all that up, and what do you get?
BLACK HOLE = IOWA FOOTBALL = BIGGEST SUCK IN UNIVERSE
Remember that transmissions from this black hole take millions of years to reach the earth. If it were to change to a giant “1” (as if Iowa would win a national title), it would take millions of years to be seen.
Therefore, Iowa doesn’t just suck right now, but has always sucked and will continue to suck millions of years into the future. | {
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Multiple Legato Modes at Multiple Dynamics
The choir contains four true legato modes (ah, eh, ih and oh) sampled at multiple dynamic layers, giving a total of EIGHT true sampled legato sets, for absolute realism and variation. On top of this, there are a total of twenty four different syllable shorts, sequence-able in the GUI, each sampled at three dynamic layers, giving a total of 72 variations per short note!
Four Mic Positions (48kHz / 24 Bit)
The choir was recorded in a mid sized hall, for a pristine and clear sound, with four mic positions used to ensure that no part of the vocalists’ glorious sound was wasted. Choose from, or create your own personal blend from the four available positions. The positions are ordered from closest to furthest, and you even have the option between close condenser mics, and close ribbon mics (for a darker and warmer sound). If an even more reverberant sound is what you are after, there is a reverb slider on the interface, and you’ll also be pleased to know that this library takes external reverb very well.
All audio is in 24 bit 48KHz .wav format files.
The Sequencer
The sequencer (lower) part of the interface allows for the creation of extremely realistic and powerful spoken lines, with the 24 included syllables.
The default sequence spells out the “Dies Irae” text, but you can easily customise or completely change this. Simply click on any syllable, and select a different one from the 24 options on the drop down menu that opens… Each syllable was recorded at three dynamics, which respond to velocity.
The low G# (in yellow) can be used to reset the sequence to the beginning, in case you don’t want to use all twenty four steps every time, allowing for even greater variation. | {
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Scott Goodale is on the short list of the most accomplished Rutgers coaches in the modern era. The winningest coach in Rutgers wrestling history, Goodale has never had a losing record and has led the Scarlet Knights to Top 25 finishes eight times, including two top-10 rankings.
As he methodically built a wrestling program into a Big Ten contender, Goodale also witnessed the trials and tribulations that the Rutgers athletics program experienced this decade. From the Mike Rice scandal to the never-ending string of controversies surrounding Julie Hermann to the recent football-program struggles, Goodale has seen it all.
A part of the Scarlet Knights’ fabric for 13 years, Goodale doesn’t sugarcoat those issues. He also doesn’t shy away from stating his opinions. He has a big following on Twitter, and when he saw a seemingly endless string of tweets that criticized the state of the Rutgers football program in general — and Athletics Director Pat Hobbs in particular — Goodale went on the offensive Sunday night.
“Stop. Enough already,’’ he tweeted after a Rutgers fan blamed Hobbs for the football team’s woes (mobile app users please click here to read Goodale’s tweets).
The back-and-forth didn’t stop there:
Because your not in the department. You have no idea what is going on. Same people didn’t know what was going on w hoops 3/4 years ago and now everyone is fired up. The negativity is brutal and doesn’t help #saynothing https://t.co/2UntYdY2o6 — Coach Scott Goodale (@CoachGoodale) October 14, 2019
Asked if he wanted to expand on his thoughts, Goodale told NJ Advance Media he didn’t expect his tweets to “get that crazy’’ but he stood by his statements.
“Those are my thoughts,’’ he said. “I just got tired of everyone thinking our athletic department is in shambles and we need a new AD. That’s b.s. We are all frustrated — the football coaches, (the) players and fans — but when you surround yourself with constant negativity there is no way out. It kills recruiting. It kills relationships.’’
Introducing Rutgers Sports Insider: Sign up for exclusive news, behind-the-scenes observations and the ability to text message directly with beat writers
Rutgers interim head coach Nunzio Campanile, who took over the football program in the wake of Chris Ash’s firing two weeks ago, said Goodale “is 100 percent right.’’
“I understand the frustration for sure,’’ said Campanile, whose team has been outscored 83-7 in his two games calling the shots. “I mean, everybody wants to win. But we're in the situation we're in right now. So the negativity doesn't help anybody — certainly doesn't help these kids because if somebody thinks that they don't want to win they are sadly mistaken. As Scott said, (negativity) doesn't really help anybody.’’
Campanile would like nothing better than to be Rutgers’ permanent head coach, but he understands the reality of the situation, too. He is trying to jumpstart Rutgers’ struggling offense with a new scheme, a different quarterback and he’s without the team’s best playmaker. Oh, and the defense he inherited statistically ranks near the bottom of the Big Ten in every meaningful category through the team’s 1-5 start.
“I’m going to go out and coach this team every day and try and put them in a position to be successful,’’ Campanile said. “I think that (the fans) should support these kids. If they are not happy with what’s going on — clearly there’s been a lot of change here. There will continue to be change. I actually think it’s silly. I don’t know what they could possibly be talking about. They have already made change and more change will come. As that comes, the team is going to have to grow and develop. What I want for our players is, when this team is turned over to someone else, that we are a little bit better than we are now … and that’s not going to happen overnight.’’
Goodale’s story is well documented. He went from Jackson Memorial to Rutgers more than a decade ago. Campanile made a similar leap from the high school ranks to college, becoming a Scarlet Knights football assistant after a successful tenure at Bergen Catholic.
Campanile, who was a successful wrestling coach at Don Bosco Prep around the same time as Goodale was winning high school championships, said he’s modeled some of his coaching methods by watching Goodale from afar.
“As a high school coach, he’s like an idol for me,’’ Campanile said. “What he did in building that (wrestling) program is incredibly remarkable, but it also took tremendous patience. We’re not going to turn into a team that’s a top-5 team in the country overnight. It’s going to take time. That’s going to take development. But the state clearly has enough good players. There’s so many things that Rutgers has to offer, and it seems to me like working together is a lot better way to get there than for people to be negative all the time.’’
Get Rutgers Sports Insider text messages from reporters: Cut through the clutter of social media and communicate directly with the Rutgers beat writers. Plus, exclusive news and analysis every day. Sign up now.
Keith Sargeant may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook. | {
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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's response to the latest reports of abuse against refugees on Nauru has been manifestly inadequate. Human rights group Amnesty International has compiled a damning report to show a deliberate regime of neglect and cruelty on the island nation paid-off by Australia to warehouse unwanted asylum seekers. This is Australia's doing, Australia's responsibility, Australia's shame.
Yet Mr Turnbull has disingenuously sought to deflect this responsibility from his government by again invoking the drownings at sea during the Labor years. The connection he draws stems from a fallacy. Leave aside for a moment the argument about whether Pacific camps are a necessary deterrent for people smugglers – and The Age does not agree with the policy of offshore processing – there is simply no justifiable reason why people need to be treated in such an appalling and callous fashion.
The conditions on Nauru that emerge from testimony and records in the Amnesty report, Island of Despair, are deeply disturbing, all the more so because they fit with a pattern of stories that has become depressingly familiar. People are suffering from acute psychological distress resulting from a life in limbo. Self-harm and attempted suicide rates are rife, while many children are living in despair, some subjected to threats or corporal punishment.
Amnesty stripped bare the obfuscation of Australia's policy, that would refer to asylum seekers in dehumanising language as "transferees" or their treatment as "deterrence", and in explicit terms captured the sinister consequences of what has actually been achieved. | {
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Joe Scarborough: “A storm is gathering, and there is every reason to believe that 2018 will be the most consequential political year of our lives.”
“The reckoning upon us follows a year mercifully drawing to a close this weekend. Over that horrid year, President Trump has questioned the legitimacy of federal judges, used Stalinist barbs to attack the free press and cast contempt on the rule of law, while his campaign manager, his national security adviser and a foreign policy aide have been marched into federal courts. Those anti-democratic instincts were made all the more ominous by his praising of autocrats across the world as they were ruthlessly consolidating power in countries such as Russia, China and the Philippines.” | {
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Things haven’t changed much since my 1992 book Out of Order revealed how thoroughly journalists frame elections as a competitive game. It goes beyond the endless “who’s ahead” reports sparked by the polls. Pity the press image of the candidate who’s not getting traction. Whatever happened to media darling Beto O’Rourke? This mind-set also leads journalists to see blunders and scandals as game changers, resulting in heavy coverage that can make those seem like the key issues. Hillary Clinton’s e-mails and other alleged improprieties received twice the news coverage in 2016 as did all of her foreign and domestic policy positions combined.
There’s a madness to presidential primary debates. Having 10 candidates on stage governed by a stopwatch is an invitation to sound bites and cheap shots. This is when we need journalists to do their best work. Instead, we get news that overplays winning, losing, and gaffes, while underplaying issues of policy and leadership.
Enter the presidential primary debates. The networks treat them as business opportunities, a time to ring the stage with their logos, showcase their on-air talent, and do whatever it takes to keep viewers tuned in. Everyone loves a fight, and debate moderators oblige, as when CNN’s Jake Tapper in a July debate asked former vice president Joe Biden: “Senator Booker called your new criminal justice reform plan . . . ‘an inadequate solution to what is a raging crisis in our country.’ Why is Senator Booker wrong ?”
“Gotcha” questions also rule. In this year’s first debate, NBC moderator Savannah Guthrie posed a trick question with a no-win response: “Raise your hand,” Guthrie said, “if your government plan would provide coverage for undocumented immigrants.” If any of the candidates had not raised a hand, other Democrats on stage would have jumped on them. So every Democrat obliged, giving Donald Trump fuel for social media. He promptly tweeted, “All Democrats just raised their hands for giving millions of illegal aliens unlimited healthcare. How about taking care of American Citizens first!?”
It’s difficult to name a primary debate where, after it ended, the candidates’ policy ideas received more news attention than their performances. The two rounds of debates so far this year have been no exception. California Senator Kamala Harris has been described as “feisty,” Biden as “uncomfortable,” former Texas representative O’Rourke as “robotic,” Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders as “having only one gear — shouty and scoldy,” and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren as “the best political athlete on the field.” Scholar Kiku Adatto notes that journalists “sound like theater critics, reporting more on the stagecraft than the substance of politics.”
Studies, including those of Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center, have found that post-debate coverage is as important to the public’s response to a debate as the debate itself. Beyond the tired litany of “who won,” the post-debate story tells “who got the better of whom,” as if the ability to deliver a blistering one-liner was the measure of presidential greatness. If that were true, Lincoln and Washington would need to move over to make room for Trump. Yet, gotcha moments often fill post-debate headlines, which are then amplified through social media — turning these moments into campaign issues, as Jamieson notes.
With more primary debates to come, there’s still time to do better.
Moderators need to get out of the way, an exercise in invisibility that Jim Lehrer perfected between 1988 and 2012 when he moderated 12 general election debates. Lehrer says that his job was not to make the candidates look bad but to give viewers a chance to hear what they had to say about the nation’s pressing issues. Moderators might also model themselves after the citizens who ask questions at town-hall style debates. They want to know what candidates plan to do as president and whether they understand the problems ordinary people face.
When a debate ends, can we all remind ourselves that debate skills have next to nothing to do with the job of president? What matters is a candidate’s leadership style, knowledge of the nation’s policy challenges, skill at recognizing workable solutions, capacity for working with others, and ability to inspire public confidence. Debates are imperfect indicators of these things, but political reporters, editors, and producers worth their salt know more about the candidates than what is revealed on stage. What is the media there for if not to give us a larger sense of what the debate reveals?
News organizations like to say they’re only giving the audience what it wants. Studies demonstrate there’s a basis for this claim. We say we want meatier political news but then consume flashier fare. Nevertheless, as several studies I conducted found, people follow the news not to be entertained — though a bit of that doesn’t hurt — but to keep up with their world , and if the media fails to do that, we become a less informed citizenry.
Presidential campaigns are marathon affairs that test our attention. But research shows there are moments when Americans are unusually willing to listen and learn. The national conventions are such a moment. Debates are another. The opportunity is there if reporters would seize it, and some this year have done so. I recall, for example, a remarkable debate story that explained the ideological divide between the candidates, another that connected Biden’s remarks to his political history, and yet another that related Sanders’ comments to his leadership style. Let’s see more of that kind of post-debate reporting. And let the voters prove it’s what they want to see.
Thomas E. Patterson is the Bradlee Professor of Government & the Press at Harvard University and author of the forthcoming book “How America Lost Its Mind.” Send comments to [email protected]. Get the best of the magazine’s award-winning stories and features right in your e-mail inbox every Sunday.Sign up here. | {
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Nintendo didn't initially plan to create Super Mario Maker
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Speaking with Time , Nintendo game designer Takashi Tezuka — who was the lead director on Super Mario World — talked about Super Mario Maker's origins. "Originally we wanted to make a Mario Paint game, using the Wii U GamePad,” he said.“And that was where the idea originally started, but at the same time, we wanted to take the Super Mario Bros. toolset that we use to create the levels, and we wanted to move that toolset over to the Wii U GamePad to make it easier to create the levels with the touchscreen.”The Super Mario Maker toolset, though, is not the same one that Nintendo's developers use to build new Mario levels, Tezuka added. "The tools that we use internally on the developer team for creating levels are much more complicated than what you see from an interface standpoint — our tools use a keyboard and mouse," he said.Nintendo has reportedly issued a patch for Super Mario Maker , which changes how new tools are added to the game. Players don't have to necessarily wait nine days to unlock all of the features, with a secondary way now possible (though the required criteria isn't known for certain).In addition, Tezuka, Shigeru Miyamoto and other Nintendo legends recently chatted with IGN about their favorite Mario memories For more on the Wii U exclusive, be sure to check out IGN's review of Super Mario Maker
Evan Campbell is a freelance writer who scripts the Daily Fix , streams games on his Twitch channel , and chats about movies and TV series on Twitter | {
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Those who oppose the farmers market said it takes up parking in the area and is costing them business.
LA MESA, Calif. — The La Mesa Farmers Market, with its music, bunches of fresh produce and a whole lot of foot traffic, has become very popular overtime.
The idea of the La Mesa Farmers Market moving from its current location is not welcoming news for some like Mamie Stovall – who goes to the farmers market with her mother and her kids.
“We come to La Mesa to get our fresh fruit. I wouldn’t be happy if it was gone,” she said.
Next week, the La Mesa City Council will vote on a proposal that would move the market to the Grossmont Center - just one year after it was moved to the center of the town at The Village on La Mesa Boulevard.
Those who oppose the farmers market said it takes up parking in the area and is costing them business.
Business owners who want the farmers market to be moved did not want to express their point of view on camera for fear of losing customers.
Other shop owners argue that the event brings in new customers.
“It is been fantastic for us. It gives the ability to reach all of these folks that are coming in that might not have known about us,” said Peter Soutowood, Chair of the La Mesa Village Association.
Brian Beevers, who manages the farmers market, said 70% of the local businesses support things staying the way they are because they have seen a significant change since bringing it to The Village.
The public is being asked to weigh in before the City Council decides. It will take up the issue on Tuesday and they are welcoming public comment.
If they vote to move the La Mesa Farmers Market, next week will be the last done in The Village. | {
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►Stadionul e prea mic! STEAUA - PETROLUL, miercuri 20:45, IN DIRECT ProTV si Voyo.ro! Castiga AICI bilete la SuperCupa!
UPDATE, 23.35: Cristescu a iesit triumfator din hotel! Este oficial: Copos a vandut clubul, iar Cristescu si Zamfir sunt noii proprietari.
"Ne bucuram ca s-a terminat, este o seara istorica! Suntem foarte fericiti, contractul a fost semnat si este acum la Gigi Corsicanu'. Primul obiectiv este sa castigam barajul si sa ramanem in Liga I", a declarat Nicolae Cristescu.
Dragomir a anuntat astazi ca proprietarul clubului este asociatul lui Cristescu, Adrian Zamfir.
UPDATE, 22.33: Niciun semn deocamdata; Cristescu, Zamfir si George Copos sunt in continuare la discutii. Mai in gluma, mai in serios, ne gandim ca daca vor mai trece cateva ore, Copos le va cere celor doi banii pentru o noapte de cazare :)
UPDATE, 21.00: Cand a intrat in hotel, in jurul orei 19.00, Cristescu le-a transmis jurnalistilor ca totul este aranjat si ca semnarea actelor va dura "cateva minute". Au trecut doua ore... :)
Avocatul lui Cristescu a iesit din hotel cu cateva hartii in mana si le-a spus jurnalistilor ca "va mai dura putin".
UPDATE, 20.00: Cristescu si Zamfir s-au dus la hotelul lui Copos pentru a semna actele. Vanzarea Rapidului s-ar putea oficializa in aceasta seara.
UPDATE: Pancu a anuntat ca Grigore Sichitiu va fi presedintele clubului
"Eu stiu ca noii patroni sunt domnii Cristescu si Zamfir. Domnul Sichitiu m-a sunat si mi-a spus, dansul va fi presedintele clubului", a declarat Pancu la DigiSport
Dumitru Dragomir a anuntat ca, din informatiile pe care le detine, clubul Rapid a fost vandut astazi de George Copos.
Presedintele Ligii a precizat ca noul patron al Rapidului nu va fi Cristescu, ci asociatul acestuia, Adrian Zamfir.
"Da, s-a vandut clubul. Asa cel putin stiu eu... Mi s-a spus asta la 12.30. Cei doi, domnii Zamfir si Cristescu, au venit la mine si la secretarul general al LPF si ne-au spus ca problema s-a rezolvat. Rapidul este al lui Adrian Zamfir, domnul Cristescu este deocamdata asociat", a spus Dragomir la postul Digi Sport.
Intrebat daca este sigur ca Adrian Zamfir si George Copos au semnat actele de vanzare-cumparare a clubului Rapid, Dragomir a raspuns: "Eu stiu precis, nu spun din auzite. La 12.30 s-a intamplat aceasta problema".
Oficialul a mentionat ca, in cazul in care giulestenii se mentin in Liga I, Liga Profesionista de fotbal nu va achita banii din drepturile TV clubului Rapid inainte ca Tribunalul Bucuresti sa aprobe planul de reorganizare. "Le-am spus reprezentantilor Rapidului ca banii din drepturile TV sunt numai pentru salarii. Le-am zis ca nu le dau acesti bani pana nu se aproba planul de reorganizare. Iar inainte ii pot lua numai cu statele de plata ale jucatorilor si salariatilor clubului", a explicat Dragomir.
Citeste si: Scene de groaza pentru pasagerii unui avion! Ce au vazut pe geam i-a marcat pe viata | {
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by Jake Prins
How to Create and Publish a Chrome Extension in 20 minutes
Photo by Mikes Photos: https://www.pexels.com/photo/acoustic-amplifier-artist-audio-114820/
Ever wondered what it would be like to create a Chrome extension? Well, I’m here to tell you just how easy it is. Follow these steps and your idea will turn into reality and you’ll be able to publish a real extension in the Chrome Web Store in no time.
What is a Chrome extension?
Chrome extensions allow you to add functionality to the Chrome web browser without diving deeply into native code. That’s awesome because you can create new extensions for Chrome with core technologies that web developers are very familiar with - HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. If you’ve ever built a web page, you’ll will be able to create an extension faster than you can have lunch. The only thing you need to learn is how to add some functionality to Chrome through some of the JavaScript APIs that Chrome exposes.
If you’re not experienced yet in building web pages, I recommend you first dive into some free resources to learn how to code, like freeCodeCamp.
What do you want to build?
Before you start, you should have a rough idea of what you want to build. It doesn’t need to be some new groundbreaking idea, we can just do this for fun. In this article, I’ll be telling you about my idea and how I implemented it into a Chrome extension.
The plan
I’ve used the Unsplash Chrome extension for a while which allows me to have nice background images of Unsplash in my default tab. I later replaced it with the Muzli Chrome extension that turns the default tab into a feed of design news and shots from around the web.
Let’s use these two extensions as inspiration to build something new, but this time, for movie lovers. My idea is to show a random background image of a movie every time you open a new tab. On scroll it should turn into a nice feed of popular movies and TV shows. So let’s get started.
Step 1: Setting things up
The first step is to create a manifest file named manifest.json . This is a metadata file in JSON format that contains properties like your extension’s name, description, version number and so on. In this file we tell Chrome what the extension is going to do, and what permissions it requires.
For the movie extension we need to have permission to control activeTab, so our manifest.json file looks something like this:
{ “manifest_version”: 2, “name”: “RaterFox”, “description”: “The most popular movies and TV shows in your default tab. Includes ratings, summaries and the ability to watch trailers.”, “version”: “1”, “author”: “Jake Prins”,
"browser_action": { "default_icon": "tab-icon.png", “default_title”: “Have a good day” },
“chrome_url_overrides” : { “newtab”: “newtab.html”},
“permissions”: [“activeTab”]}
As you can see, we say that newtab.html will be the HTML file that should be rendered every time a new tab gets opened. To do this we need to have permission to control the activeTab, so when a user tries to install the extension they will be warned with all the permissions the extension needs.
Another interesting thing inside the manifest.json are the browser actions. In this example we use it to set the title, but there are more options. For instance, to show a popup whenever you click on the app icon inside the address bar, all you have to do is something like this:
“browser_action”: { “default_popup”: “popup.html”, },
Now, popup.html will be rendered inside the popup window that's created in response to a user's click on the browser action. It's a standard HTML file so it’s giving you free reign over what the popup displays. Just put some of your magic inside a file named popup.html .
Step 2: Test if it works
The next step is to create the newtab.html file and put in a ‘ Hello world ’:
<!doctype html><html> <head> <title>Test</title> </head> <body> <h1>Hello World!</h1> </body></html>
To test if it works, visit chrome://extensions in your browser and ensure that the Developer mode checkbox in the top right-hand corner is checked.
Chrome Developer mode
Click Load unpacked extension and select the directory in which your extension files live. If the extension is valid, it will be active straight away so you can open a new tab to see your ‘Hello world’.
Step 3: Making things nice
Now that we got our first feature working, it’s time to make it nice. We can simply style our new tab by creating a main.css file in our extension directory and load it in our newtab.html file. The same goes when including a JavaScript file for any active functionality that you would like to include. Assuming that you have created a web page before, you can now use your magic to show your users whatever you want.
Finishing up the plan
All I further needed to finish the movie extension was HTML, CSS and JavaScript, so I don’t think it’s relevant to dive deep into the code, but I’d like to go through it quickly.
Here is what I did:
For my idea I needed some nice background images, so in the JavaScript file I used the TMDb API to fetch some popular movies, took their backdrop images and put them in an array. Whenever the page loads it now randomly picks one image from that array and sets it as the background of the page. To make this page a little more interesting I also added the current date in the top right corner. And for more information, it allows users to click the background which leads to visiting the movie’s IMDb page.
I replaced the screen with a nice feed of popular movies when the user tries to scroll down. I used the same API to build cards of movies with an image, title, rating and vote count. Then, on clicking one of those cards, it shows the overview with a button to watch a trailer.
The result
Now with that little manifest.json file and just some HTML, CSS and JavaScript, every new tab that you open looks a lot more interesting:
View the end result here.
Step 4: Publish your extension
When your first Chrome extension looks nice and works like it should, it’s time to publish it to the Chrome Store. Simply follow this link to go to your Chrome Web Store dashboard (you’ll be asked to sign in to your Google account if you’re not). Then click the Add new item button, accept the terms and you will go to the page where you can upload your extension. Now compress the folder that contains your project and upload that ZIP file.
Chrome Web Store
After successfully uploading your file, you will see a form in which you should add some information about your extension. You can add an icon, a detailed description, upload some screenshots, and so on.
Make sure you provide some nice images to show off your project. The store can use these images to promote your groundbreaking project. The more images you provide, the more prominently your extension will be featured. You can preview how your extension looks inside the web store by clicking the Preview changes button. When you’re happy with the result, hit Publish changes and that’s it, your done!
Now go to the Chrome Web Store and search for your extension by its title (It might take some time before it’s up there). If you’re interested, you can find mine here.
The only thing left to do is get some users. So you might want to share a post about your life changing Chrome extension on social media. Tell your friends to check it out. Add it to ProductHunt. And don’t forget to share your project here in the comments. I’m curious to see what you came up with!
Conclusion
As a web developer, it’s very easy to create a Chrome extension in a short amount of time. All you need is some HTML, CSS, JavaScript and a basic knowledge of how to add functionality through some of the JavaScript APIs that Chrome exposes. Your initial setup can be published inside the Chrome Web Store within just 20 minutes. Building an extension that’s new, worthwhile or looks nice will take some more time. But it’s all up to you!
Use your creativity to come up with something interesting and if you ever get stuck, the excellent Chrome extension documentation can probably help you out.
So what are you waiting for? It’s time to start working on your own Chrome extension and turning your idea into reality.
Don’t forget to share your project in the comments and hit the clap button if this article was any useful to you. If you got some time and want to be a hero, give my extension a positive rating. That would be highly appreciated!
Got questions or feedback? Let me know in the comments!
Thanks for reading! Hope the information was helpfull. Follow me on Medium for more tech related articles or on Twitter and Instagram @jakeprins_nl. | {
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Billions of years in the future, our dead sun will morph into a giant cosmic jewel, a new study suggests.
Like the vast majority of stars in our Milky Way galaxy, the sun will eventually collapse into a white dwarf, an exotic object about 200,000 times denser than Earth. To put that in perspective: A mere teaspoon of white-dwarf material would weigh about as much as an elephant, if you could somehow transport the stuff to our planet.
Half a century ago, theorists predicted that white dwarfs solidify into crystal over time — and the new research has found that this is indeed the case. [Death of a Sunlike Star: How It Will Destroy Earth (Infographic)]
"All white dwarfs will crystallize at some point in their evolution, although more massive white dwarfs go through the process sooner," study lead author Pier-Emmanuel Tremblay, a physicist at the University of Warwick in England, said in a statement.
"This means that billions of white dwarfs in our galaxy have already completed the process and are essentially crystal spheres in the sky," Tremblay added. "The sun itself will become a crystal white dwarf in about 10 billion years."
Tremblay and his colleagues analyzed data gathered by the European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft, which launched in December 2013 to help researchers construct the best-ever 3D map of the Milky Way. Gaia does this by precisely monitoring the positions of huge numbers of stars; the mission team aims to study 1 billion stars over the spacecraft's operational lifetime.
For the new study, the researchers looked at Gaia measurements of about 15,000 white dwarfs, all of which lie within 330 light-years of the sun. These data revealed an odd "pileup" — an overabundance of white dwarfs with certain colors and brightnesses that cannot be explained by the objects' ages or masses.
Modeling work suggested that the pileup was caused by crystallization of the white dwarfs' interiors, which released enough heat to slow down the white dwarfs' cooling over time.
"This is the first direct evidence that white dwarfs crystallize, or transition from liquid to solid," Tremblay said. "It was predicted 50 years ago that we should observe a pileup in the number of white dwarfs at certain luminosities and colors due to crystallization, and only now this has been observed."
White-dwarf crystallization is akin to water freezing from liquid to ice. But the material in this case is oxygen and carbon, and it's crystallizing at temperatures that aren't exactly chilly. The process really kicks into gear when a white-dwarf interior cools down to about 18 million degrees Fahrenheit (10 million degrees Celsius), the researchers said.
The result is likely a core composed of crystallized oxygen and a mantle dominated by carbon.
"Not only do we have evidence of heat release upon solidification, but considerably more energy release is needed to explain the observations," Tremblay said. "We believe this is due to the oxygen crystallizing first and then sinking to the core, a process similar to sedimentation on a riverbed on Earth. This will push the carbon upward, and that separation will release gravitational energy."
The new results suggest that many white dwarfs are considerably older than scientists had thought — up to 15 percent older in some cases, study team members said. Astronomers generally age these stellar corpses by taking their temperature, and crystallization slows the cooling-off process.
The study was published online today (Jan. 9) in the journal Nature.
Mike Wall's book about the search for alien life, "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate) is out now. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us @Spacedotcom or Facebook. Originally published on Space.com. | {
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Next Game: Western Oregon 11/5/2016 | 6:00 PM
GLENDORA, Calif. -- For the third time in four years, the Great Northwest Athletic Conference football championship came home to Azusa Pacific, as the No. 15-ranked Cougars celebrated a conference title for Homecoming with a knockout punch against its only remaining contender in a 44-7 victory over Central Washington. The victory also bolstered Azusa Pacific's case for a potential playoff bid with its latest impressive all-around performance.
Junior quarterback Andrew Elffers completed 21-of-32 passes for career-highs of 321 yards and four touchdowns, and redshirt freshman wide receiver Weston Carr was his favorite target, collecting nine receptions for 189 yards and four touchdowns.
The Cougar defense posted three quarters of shutout football, turning four turnovers into 21 points before surrendering the lone Wildcat score with less than four minutes to play. Senior cornerback C.J. Broussard registered a pair of interceptions, and senior linebacker Sam Flemming added another for Azusa Pacific.
With the win, Azusa Pacific improves to 8-1 overall and 7-0 in GNAC play, while Central Washington remains in second but unable to catch the Cougars after dropping to 5-3 overall, 4-2 GNAC.
The Cougars got on the board with the opening possession, driving 66 yards in 12 plays before sophomore kicker Jacob Hall drilled a 30-yard field goal less than five minutes into the game. Broussard's first interception of the game set up a short 12-yard touchdown pass from Elffers to Carr, extending the lead to 10-0 with 4:39 to play in the first quarter, and a fumble on the ensuing kickoff was recovered by Azusa Pacific to set up another short field and an eventual one-yard scoring run for Aaron Baltazar .
Elffers tossed another pair of touchdown passes in the final five minutes of the second quarter to send the Cougars into halftime with a commanding 31-0 lead. After forcing a three-and-out on Central Washington's opening second-half possession, Elffers engineered a 10-play, 81-yard drive with another scoring toss to Carr, this time from 23 yards out, to extend the lead to 38-0.
After Central Washington completed an 11-play, 72-yard drive for a touchdown with 3:56 left, the Cougars finished off the scoring with Carr's fourth scoring reception of the game, a 45-yard haul from Chad Jeffries .
The late Central Washington touchdown represented the first points allowed by the Cougars over a span of 119 minutes, 11 seconds of game action, going back to late in the fourth quarter of Azusa Pacific's 45-13 win over Humboldt State two weeks earlier.
WHAT'S NEXT: Azusa Pacific remains home to wrap up its GNAC schedule, hosting Western Oregon, which will be the Cougars' third consecutive opponent coming off a bye week, on Saturday, Nov. 5, at 6:00 p.m. When the teams met in early October, Azusa Pacific posted a 31-2 win over the Wolves. The Cougars wrap up the regular season with a non-conference visit to Colorado Mesa, which improved to 7-2 overall after rolling up 933 yards of total offense, including 708 rushing, in an 87-14 win over New Mexico Highlands Saturday.
POSTGAME INTERVIEWS:
Head Coach Victor Santa Cruz | {
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UNESCO, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, has pulled a Jewish exhibit two years in the making, entitled “People, Book, Land – The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People and the Land of Israel,” after a zero hour protest from the Arab League, The Algemeiner has learned.
The exhibit, which was created by Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights group the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) together with UNESCO, was scheduled to open on January 20th, 2014, at UNESCO’s Paris headquarters. The invitations had already gone out, and the fully prepared exhibition material was already in place. The display was co-sponsored by Israel, Canada and Montenegro.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, Dean of the SWC, told The Algemeiner that the move was an “absolute outrage.” “The Arabs,” he said, “don’t want the world to know that the Jews have a 3,500-year relationship to the Land of Israel.”
Hier said that his organization, which is accredited by UNESCO as an NGO, worked in intimate co-operation with the international body on the project, which his center initiated after the Palestinian Authority was unilaterally accepted as a UNESCO member state in 2011.
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“We made a clear attempt to work with them and the system, they can’t say they were blindsided, they commented on every sentence (in the exhibit’s materials) and still, in the end, the Arabs protested and they kicked us out,” he said.
“It is not supposed to be a place of censorship,” Hier said, “It is not supposed to deny one nation the right to their history.”
“The Arab world doesn’t know that Isaiah didn’t live in Portugal, Jeremiah didn’t roam France and Ezekiel wasn’t from Germany.”
UNESCO informed the SWC of the change on January 14th in a letter to the Center’s Shimon Samuels, asserting the Arab League’s claim that going ahead with the show “could create potential obstacles related to the peace process in the Middle East.”
In a letter to Irina Bokova, president of UNESCO, President of the Arab group within UNESCO, Abdulla al Neaimi, from the United Arab Emirates, expressed “deep worry and great disapproval” over the program showing the age old connection between Israel and the Jewish people.
“The subject of this exhibition is highly political though the appearance of the title seems to be trivial. Most serious is the defense of this theme which is one of the reasons used by the opponents of peace within Israel,” the Arab League wrote. “The publicity that will accompany… the exhibit can only cause damage to the peace negotiations presently occurring, and the constant effort of Secretary of State John Kerry, and the neutrality and objectivity of UNESCO.”
“For all these reasons, for the major worry not to damage UNESCO in its… mission of support for peace, the Arab group within UNESCO is asking you to make the decision to cancel this exhibition,” Al Neaimi concluded.
Interestingly, 10 days prior to the suspension of the exhibit, the United States declined co-sponsorship on remarkably similar grounds.
“At this sensitive juncture in the ongoing Middle East peace process, and after thoughtful consideration with review at the highest levels, we have made the decision that the United States will not be able to co-sponsor the current exhibit during its display at UNESCO headquarters,” wrote Kelly O. Siekman, Director at the Office of UNESCO Affairs of the State Department, in an email seen by The Algemeiner.
SWC’s Hier told The Algemeiner that he was disappointed in the U.S. position on the issue, and said that he was sure the exhibition would not have been suspended has the U.S. aligned itself as a formal co-sponsor. “This is not the end of this story,” he said.
In its formal response to UNESCO’s Bokova after the suspension of the program, the SWC said, “we insist that you live up to your responsibilities and commitments as the co-organizer of this exhibition by overturning this naked political move that has no place in an institution whose mandate is defined by education, science, and culture — not politics.”
“Let’s be clear, the Arab Group’s protest is not over any particular content in the exhibition, but rather the very idea of it – that the Jewish people did not come to the Holy Land only after the Nazi Holocaust, but trace their historical and cultural roots in that land for three and a half millennia,” SWC wrote. “If anything will derail hopes for peace and reconciliation among the people of the Middle East, it will be by surrendering to the forces of extremism and torpedoing the opening of this exhibition — jointly vetted and co-organized by UNESCO and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.”
“Madame Director General, we hope you have the courage to do the right thing and we are still looking forward to cutting the ribbon on the exhibition with you next Monday night, January 20, at UNESCO headquarters,” SWC concluded.
In a letter seen by The Algemeiner written in response to the decision, Nimrod Barkan, Ambassador of Israel to International Organizations, recounted the degree to which the SWC co-operated with UNESCO on the project over two years, and blasted the decision.
“This unjust and outrageously last moment decision is biased and discriminative towards Israel. In the past UNESCO hosted numerous events and exhibitions accentuating the relations between Muslim and Christian religions with the Holy Land, and of course it holds and annual ‘Palestine Day,'” he wrote.
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations in New York and UNESCO representatives in Paris could not immediately be reached by The Algemeiner for comment. | {
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Use the following command to quickly understand what a rule will do to your code:
To visualize all the rules that belong to a ruleset:
Choose from the list of available rules:
align_multiline_comment [@PhpCsFixer] Each line of multi-line DocComments must have an asterisk [PSR-5] and must be aligned with the first one. Configuration options: comment_type ( 'all_multiline' , 'phpdocs_like' , 'phpdocs_only' ): whether to fix PHPDoc comments only ( phpdocs_only ), any multi-line comment whose lines all start with an asterisk ( phpdocs_like ) or any multi-line comment ( all_multiline ); defaults to 'phpdocs_only'
array_indentation [@PhpCsFixer] Each element of an array must be indented exactly once.
array_syntax [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] PHP arrays should be declared using the configured syntax. Configuration options: syntax ( 'long' , 'short' ): whether to use the long or short array syntax; defaults to 'long'
backtick_to_shell_exec Converts backtick operators to shell_exec calls.
binary_operator_spaces [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Binary operators should be surrounded by space as configured. Configuration options: align_double_arrow ( false , null , true ): whether to apply, remove or ignore double arrows alignment; defaults to false . DEPRECATED: use options operators and default instead
( , , ): whether to apply, remove or ignore double arrows alignment; defaults to . DEPRECATED: use options and instead align_equals ( false , null , true ): whether to apply, remove or ignore equals alignment; defaults to false . DEPRECATED: use options operators and default instead
( , , ): whether to apply, remove or ignore equals alignment; defaults to . DEPRECATED: use options and instead default ( 'align' , 'align_single_space' , 'align_single_space_minimal' , 'no_space' , 'single_space' , null ): default fix strategy; defaults to 'single_space'
( , , , , , ): default fix strategy; defaults to operators ( array ): dictionary of binary operator => fix strategy values that differ from the default strategy; defaults to []
blank_line_after_namespace [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] There MUST be one blank line after the namespace declaration.
blank_line_after_opening_tag [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Ensure there is no code on the same line as the PHP open tag and it is followed by a blank line.
blank_line_before_return An empty line feed should precede a return statement. DEPRECATED: use blank_line_before_statement instead.
blank_line_before_statement [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] An empty line feed must precede any configured statement. Configuration options: statements (a subset of ['break', 'case', 'continue', 'declare', 'default', 'die', 'do', 'exit', 'for', 'foreach', 'goto', 'if', 'include', 'include_once', 'require', 'require_once', 'return', 'switch', 'throw', 'try', 'while', 'yield'] ): list of statements which must be preceded by an empty line; defaults to ['break', 'continue', 'declare', 'return', 'throw', 'try']
braces [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] The body of each structure MUST be enclosed by braces. Braces should be properly placed. Body of braces should be properly indented. Configuration options: allow_single_line_closure ( bool ): whether single line lambda notation should be allowed; defaults to false
( ): whether single line lambda notation should be allowed; defaults to position_after_anonymous_constructs ( 'next' , 'same' ): whether the opening brace should be placed on “next” or “same” line after anonymous constructs (anonymous classes and lambda functions); defaults to 'same'
( , ): whether the opening brace should be placed on “next” or “same” line after anonymous constructs (anonymous classes and lambda functions); defaults to position_after_control_structures ( 'next' , 'same' ): whether the opening brace should be placed on “next” or “same” line after control structures; defaults to 'same'
( , ): whether the opening brace should be placed on “next” or “same” line after control structures; defaults to position_after_functions_and_oop_constructs ( 'next' , 'same' ): whether the opening brace should be placed on “next” or “same” line after classy constructs (non-anonymous classes, interfaces, traits, methods and non-lambda functions); defaults to 'next'
cast_spaces [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] A single space or none should be between cast and variable. Configuration options: space ( 'none' , 'single' ): spacing to apply between cast and variable; defaults to 'single'
class_attributes_separation [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Class, trait and interface elements must be separated with one blank line. Configuration options: elements (a subset of ['const', 'method', 'property'] ): list of classy elements; ‘const’, ‘method’, ‘property’; defaults to ['const', 'method', 'property']
class_definition [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Whitespace around the keywords of a class, trait or interfaces definition should be one space. Configuration options: multi_line_extends_each_single_line ( bool ): whether definitions should be multiline; defaults to false ; DEPRECATED alias: multiLineExtendsEachSingleLine
( ): whether definitions should be multiline; defaults to ; DEPRECATED alias: single_item_single_line ( bool ): whether definitions should be single line when including a single item; defaults to false ; DEPRECATED alias: singleItemSingleLine
( ): whether definitions should be single line when including a single item; defaults to ; DEPRECATED alias: single_line ( bool ): whether definitions should be single line; defaults to false ; DEPRECATED alias: singleLine
class_keyword_remove Converts ::class keywords to FQCN strings.
combine_consecutive_issets [@PhpCsFixer] Using isset($var) && multiple times should be done in one call.
combine_consecutive_unsets [@PhpCsFixer] Calling unset on multiple items should be done in one call.
combine_nested_dirname [@PHP70Migration:risky, @PHP71Migration:risky] Replace multiple nested calls of dirname by only one call with second $level parameter. Requires PHP >= 7.0. Risky rule: risky when the function ``dirname`` is overridden.
comment_to_phpdoc [@PhpCsFixer:risky] Comments with annotation should be docblock when used on structural elements. Risky rule: risky as new docblocks might mean more, e.g. a Doctrine entity might have a new column in database. Configuration options: ignored_tags ( array ): list of ignored tags; defaults to []
compact_nullable_typehint [@PhpCsFixer] Remove extra spaces in a nullable typehint.
concat_space [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Concatenation should be spaced according configuration. Configuration options: spacing ( 'none' , 'one' ): spacing to apply around concatenation operator; defaults to 'none'
constant_case [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] The PHP constants true , false , and null MUST be written using the correct casing. Configuration options: case ( 'lower' , 'upper' ): whether to use the upper or lower case syntax; defaults to 'lower'
date_time_immutable Class DateTimeImmutable should be used instead of DateTime . Risky rule: risky when the code relies on modifying ``DateTime`` objects or if any of the ``date_create*`` functions are overridden.
declare_equal_normalize [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Equal sign in declare statement should be surrounded by spaces or not following configuration. Configuration options: space ( 'none' , 'single' ): spacing to apply around the equal sign; defaults to 'none'
declare_strict_types [@PHP70Migration:risky, @PHP71Migration:risky] Force strict types declaration in all files. Requires PHP >= 7.0. Risky rule: forcing strict types will stop non strict code from working.
dir_constant [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Replaces dirname(__FILE__) expression with equivalent __DIR__ constant. Risky rule: risky when the function ``dirname`` is overridden.
doctrine_annotation_array_assignment [@DoctrineAnnotation] Doctrine annotations must use configured operator for assignment in arrays. Configuration options: ignored_tags ( array ): list of tags that must not be treated as Doctrine Annotations; defaults to ['abstract', 'access', 'code', 'deprec', 'encode', 'exception', 'final', 'ingroup', 'inheritdoc', 'inheritDoc', 'magic', 'name', 'toc', 'tutorial', 'private', 'static', 'staticvar', 'staticVar', 'throw', 'api', 'author', 'category', 'copyright', 'deprecated', 'example', 'filesource', 'global', 'ignore', 'internal', 'license', 'link', 'method', 'package', 'param', 'property', 'property-read', 'property-write', 'return', 'see', 'since', 'source', 'subpackage', 'throws', 'todo', 'TODO', 'usedBy', 'uses', 'var', 'version', 'after', 'afterClass', 'backupGlobals', 'backupStaticAttributes', 'before', 'beforeClass', 'codeCoverageIgnore', 'codeCoverageIgnoreStart', 'codeCoverageIgnoreEnd', 'covers', 'coversDefaultClass', 'coversNothing', 'dataProvider', 'depends', 'expectedException', 'expectedExceptionCode', 'expectedExceptionMessage', 'expectedExceptionMessageRegExp', 'group', 'large', 'medium', 'preserveGlobalState', 'requires', 'runTestsInSeparateProcesses', 'runInSeparateProcess', 'small', 'test', 'testdox', 'ticket', 'uses', 'SuppressWarnings', 'noinspection', 'package_version', 'enduml', 'startuml', 'fix', 'FIXME', 'fixme', 'override']
( ): list of tags that must not be treated as Doctrine Annotations; defaults to operator ( ':' , '=' ): the operator to use; defaults to '='
doctrine_annotation_braces [@DoctrineAnnotation] Doctrine annotations without arguments must use the configured syntax. Configuration options: ignored_tags ( array ): list of tags that must not be treated as Doctrine Annotations; defaults to ['abstract', 'access', 'code', 'deprec', 'encode', 'exception', 'final', 'ingroup', 'inheritdoc', 'inheritDoc', 'magic', 'name', 'toc', 'tutorial', 'private', 'static', 'staticvar', 'staticVar', 'throw', 'api', 'author', 'category', 'copyright', 'deprecated', 'example', 'filesource', 'global', 'ignore', 'internal', 'license', 'link', 'method', 'package', 'param', 'property', 'property-read', 'property-write', 'return', 'see', 'since', 'source', 'subpackage', 'throws', 'todo', 'TODO', 'usedBy', 'uses', 'var', 'version', 'after', 'afterClass', 'backupGlobals', 'backupStaticAttributes', 'before', 'beforeClass', 'codeCoverageIgnore', 'codeCoverageIgnoreStart', 'codeCoverageIgnoreEnd', 'covers', 'coversDefaultClass', 'coversNothing', 'dataProvider', 'depends', 'expectedException', 'expectedExceptionCode', 'expectedExceptionMessage', 'expectedExceptionMessageRegExp', 'group', 'large', 'medium', 'preserveGlobalState', 'requires', 'runTestsInSeparateProcesses', 'runInSeparateProcess', 'small', 'test', 'testdox', 'ticket', 'uses', 'SuppressWarnings', 'noinspection', 'package_version', 'enduml', 'startuml', 'fix', 'FIXME', 'fixme', 'override']
( ): list of tags that must not be treated as Doctrine Annotations; defaults to syntax ( 'with_braces' , 'without_braces' ): whether to add or remove braces; defaults to 'without_braces'
doctrine_annotation_indentation [@DoctrineAnnotation] Doctrine annotations must be indented with four spaces. Configuration options: ignored_tags ( array ): list of tags that must not be treated as Doctrine Annotations; defaults to ['abstract', 'access', 'code', 'deprec', 'encode', 'exception', 'final', 'ingroup', 'inheritdoc', 'inheritDoc', 'magic', 'name', 'toc', 'tutorial', 'private', 'static', 'staticvar', 'staticVar', 'throw', 'api', 'author', 'category', 'copyright', 'deprecated', 'example', 'filesource', 'global', 'ignore', 'internal', 'license', 'link', 'method', 'package', 'param', 'property', 'property-read', 'property-write', 'return', 'see', 'since', 'source', 'subpackage', 'throws', 'todo', 'TODO', 'usedBy', 'uses', 'var', 'version', 'after', 'afterClass', 'backupGlobals', 'backupStaticAttributes', 'before', 'beforeClass', 'codeCoverageIgnore', 'codeCoverageIgnoreStart', 'codeCoverageIgnoreEnd', 'covers', 'coversDefaultClass', 'coversNothing', 'dataProvider', 'depends', 'expectedException', 'expectedExceptionCode', 'expectedExceptionMessage', 'expectedExceptionMessageRegExp', 'group', 'large', 'medium', 'preserveGlobalState', 'requires', 'runTestsInSeparateProcesses', 'runInSeparateProcess', 'small', 'test', 'testdox', 'ticket', 'uses', 'SuppressWarnings', 'noinspection', 'package_version', 'enduml', 'startuml', 'fix', 'FIXME', 'fixme', 'override']
( ): list of tags that must not be treated as Doctrine Annotations; defaults to indent_mixed_lines ( bool ): whether to indent lines that have content before closing parenthesis; defaults to false
doctrine_annotation_spaces [@DoctrineAnnotation] Fixes spaces in Doctrine annotations. Configuration options: after_argument_assignments ( null , bool ): whether to add, remove or ignore spaces after argument assignment operator; defaults to false
( , ): whether to add, remove or ignore spaces after argument assignment operator; defaults to after_array_assignments_colon ( null , bool ): whether to add, remove or ignore spaces after array assignment : operator; defaults to true
( , ): whether to add, remove or ignore spaces after array assignment operator; defaults to after_array_assignments_equals ( null , bool ): whether to add, remove or ignore spaces after array assignment = operator; defaults to true
( , ): whether to add, remove or ignore spaces after array assignment operator; defaults to around_argument_assignments ( bool ): whether to fix spaces around argument assignment operator; defaults to true . DEPRECATED: use options before_argument_assignments and after_argument_assignments instead
( ): whether to fix spaces around argument assignment operator; defaults to . DEPRECATED: use options and instead around_array_assignments ( bool ): whether to fix spaces around array assignment operators; defaults to true . DEPRECATED: use options before_array_assignments_equals , after_array_assignments_equals , before_array_assignments_colon and after_array_assignments_colon instead
( ): whether to fix spaces around array assignment operators; defaults to . DEPRECATED: use options , , and instead around_commas ( bool ): whether to fix spaces around commas; defaults to true
( ): whether to fix spaces around commas; defaults to around_parentheses ( bool ): whether to fix spaces around parentheses; defaults to true
( ): whether to fix spaces around parentheses; defaults to before_argument_assignments ( null , bool ): whether to add, remove or ignore spaces before argument assignment operator; defaults to false
( , ): whether to add, remove or ignore spaces before argument assignment operator; defaults to before_array_assignments_colon ( null , bool ): whether to add, remove or ignore spaces before array : assignment operator; defaults to true
( , ): whether to add, remove or ignore spaces before array assignment operator; defaults to before_array_assignments_equals ( null , bool ): whether to add, remove or ignore spaces before array = assignment operator; defaults to true
( , ): whether to add, remove or ignore spaces before array assignment operator; defaults to ignored_tags ( array ): list of tags that must not be treated as Doctrine Annotations; defaults to ['abstract', 'access', 'code', 'deprec', 'encode', 'exception', 'final', 'ingroup', 'inheritdoc', 'inheritDoc', 'magic', 'name', 'toc', 'tutorial', 'private', 'static', 'staticvar', 'staticVar', 'throw', 'api', 'author', 'category', 'copyright', 'deprecated', 'example', 'filesource', 'global', 'ignore', 'internal', 'license', 'link', 'method', 'package', 'param', 'property', 'property-read', 'property-write', 'return', 'see', 'since', 'source', 'subpackage', 'throws', 'todo', 'TODO', 'usedBy', 'uses', 'var', 'version', 'after', 'afterClass', 'backupGlobals', 'backupStaticAttributes', 'before', 'beforeClass', 'codeCoverageIgnore', 'codeCoverageIgnoreStart', 'codeCoverageIgnoreEnd', 'covers', 'coversDefaultClass', 'coversNothing', 'dataProvider', 'depends', 'expectedException', 'expectedExceptionCode', 'expectedExceptionMessage', 'expectedExceptionMessageRegExp', 'group', 'large', 'medium', 'preserveGlobalState', 'requires', 'runTestsInSeparateProcesses', 'runInSeparateProcess', 'small', 'test', 'testdox', 'ticket', 'uses', 'SuppressWarnings', 'noinspection', 'package_version', 'enduml', 'startuml', 'fix', 'FIXME', 'fixme', 'override']
elseif [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] The keyword elseif should be used instead of else if so that all control keywords look like single words.
encoding [@PSR1, @PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] PHP code MUST use only UTF-8 without BOM (remove BOM).
ereg_to_preg [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Replace deprecated ereg regular expression functions with preg . Risky rule: risky if the ``ereg`` function is overridden.
error_suppression [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Error control operator should be added to deprecation notices and/or removed from other cases. Risky rule: risky because adding/removing ``@`` might cause changes to code behaviour or if ``trigger_error`` function is overridden. Configuration options: mute_deprecation_error ( bool ): whether to add @ in deprecation notices; defaults to true
( ): whether to add in deprecation notices; defaults to noise_remaining_usages ( bool ): whether to remove @ in remaining usages; defaults to false
( ): whether to remove in remaining usages; defaults to noise_remaining_usages_exclude ( array ): list of global functions to exclude from removing @ ; defaults to []
escape_implicit_backslashes [@PhpCsFixer] Escape implicit backslashes in strings and heredocs to ease the understanding of which are special chars interpreted by PHP and which not. Configuration options: double_quoted ( bool ): whether to fix double-quoted strings; defaults to true
( ): whether to fix double-quoted strings; defaults to heredoc_syntax ( bool ): whether to fix heredoc syntax; defaults to true
( ): whether to fix heredoc syntax; defaults to single_quoted ( bool ): whether to fix single-quoted strings; defaults to false
explicit_indirect_variable [@PhpCsFixer] Add curly braces to indirect variables to make them clear to understand. Requires PHP >= 7.0.
explicit_string_variable [@PhpCsFixer] Converts implicit variables into explicit ones in double-quoted strings or heredoc syntax.
final_class All classes must be final, except abstract ones and Doctrine entities. Risky rule: risky when subclassing non-abstract classes.
final_internal_class [@PhpCsFixer:risky] Internal classes should be final . Risky rule: changing classes to ``final`` might cause code execution to break. Configuration options: annotation-black-list ( array ): class level annotations tags that must be omitted to fix the class, even if all of the excluded ones are used as well. (case insensitive); defaults to ['@final', '@Entity', '@ORM\\Entity', '@ORM\\Mapping\\Entity', '@Mapping\\Entity']
( ): class level annotations tags that must be omitted to fix the class, even if all of the excluded ones are used as well. (case insensitive); defaults to annotation-white-list ( array ): class level annotations tags that must be set in order to fix the class. (case insensitive); defaults to ['@internal']
( ): class level annotations tags that must be set in order to fix the class. (case insensitive); defaults to consider-absent-docblock-as-internal-class ( bool ): should classes without any DocBlock be fixed to final?; defaults to false
final_public_method_for_abstract_class All public methods of abstract classes should be final . Risky rule: risky when overriding ``public`` methods of ``abstract`` classes.
final_static_access Converts static access to self access in final classes.
fopen_flag_order [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Order the flags in fopen calls, b and t must be last. Risky rule: risky when the function ``fopen`` is overridden.
fopen_flags [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] The flags in fopen calls must omit t , and b must be omitted or included consistently. Risky rule: risky when the function ``fopen`` is overridden. Configuration options: b_mode ( bool ): the b flag must be used ( true ) or omitted ( false ); defaults to true
full_opening_tag [@PSR1, @PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] PHP code must use the long <?php tags or short-echo <?= tags and not other tag variations.
fully_qualified_strict_types [@PhpCsFixer] Transforms imported FQCN parameters and return types in function arguments to short version.
function_declaration [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Spaces should be properly placed in a function declaration. Configuration options: closure_function_spacing ( 'none' , 'one' ): spacing to use before open parenthesis for closures; defaults to 'one'
function_to_constant [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Replace core functions calls returning constants with the constants. Risky rule: risky when any of the configured functions to replace are overridden. Configuration options: functions (a subset of ['get_called_class', 'get_class', 'get_class_this', 'php_sapi_name', 'phpversion', 'pi'] ): list of function names to fix; defaults to ['get_class', 'php_sapi_name', 'phpversion', 'pi']
function_typehint_space [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Ensure single space between function’s argument and its typehint.
general_phpdoc_annotation_remove Configured annotations should be omitted from PHPDoc. Configuration options: annotations ( array ): list of annotations to remove, e.g. ["author"] ; defaults to []
global_namespace_import Imports or fully qualifies global classes/functions/constants. Configuration options: import_classes ( false , null , true ): whether to import, not import or ignore global classes; defaults to true
( , , ): whether to import, not import or ignore global classes; defaults to import_constants ( false , null , true ): whether to import, not import or ignore global constants; defaults to null
( , , ): whether to import, not import or ignore global constants; defaults to import_functions ( false , null , true ): whether to import, not import or ignore global functions; defaults to null
hash_to_slash_comment Single line comments should use double slashes // and not hash # . DEPRECATED: use single_line_comment_style instead.
header_comment Add, replace or remove header comment. Configuration options: comment_type ( 'comment' , 'PHPDoc' ): comment syntax type; defaults to 'comment' ; DEPRECATED alias: commentType
( , ): comment syntax type; defaults to ; DEPRECATED alias: header ( string ): proper header content; required
( ): proper header content; required location ( 'after_declare_strict' , 'after_open' ): the location of the inserted header; defaults to 'after_declare_strict'
( , ): the location of the inserted header; defaults to separate ( 'both' , 'bottom' , 'none' , 'top' ): whether the header should be separated from the file content with a new line; defaults to 'both'
heredoc_indentation [@PHP73Migration] Heredoc/nowdoc content must be properly indented. Requires PHP >= 7.3.
heredoc_to_nowdoc [@PhpCsFixer] Convert heredoc to nowdoc where possible.
implode_call [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Function implode must be called with 2 arguments in the documented order. Risky rule: risky when the function ``implode`` is overridden.
include [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Include/Require and file path should be divided with a single space. File path should not be placed under brackets.
increment_style [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Pre- or post-increment and decrement operators should be used if possible. Configuration options: style ( 'post' , 'pre' ): whether to use pre- or post-increment and decrement operators; defaults to 'pre'
indentation_type [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Code MUST use configured indentation type.
is_null [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Replaces is_null($var) expression with null === $var . Risky rule: risky when the function ``is_null`` is overridden. Configuration options: use_yoda_style ( bool ): whether Yoda style conditions should be used; defaults to true . DEPRECATED: use yoda_style fixer instead
line_ending [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] All PHP files must use same line ending.
linebreak_after_opening_tag Ensure there is no code on the same line as the PHP open tag.
list_syntax List ( array destructuring) assignment should be declared using the configured syntax. Requires PHP >= 7.1. Configuration options: syntax ( 'long' , 'short' ): whether to use the long or short list syntax; defaults to 'long'
logical_operators [@PhpCsFixer:risky] Use && and || logical operators instead of and and or . Risky rule: risky, because you must double-check if using and/or with lower precedence was intentional.
lowercase_cast [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Cast should be written in lower case.
lowercase_constants The PHP constants true , false , and null MUST be in lower case. DEPRECATED: use constant_case instead.
lowercase_keywords [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] PHP keywords MUST be in lower case.
lowercase_static_reference [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Class static references self , static and parent MUST be in lower case.
magic_constant_casing [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Magic constants should be referred to using the correct casing.
magic_method_casing [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Magic method definitions and calls must be using the correct casing.
mb_str_functions Replace non multibyte-safe functions with corresponding mb function. Risky rule: risky when any of the functions are overridden.
method_argument_space [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] In method arguments and method call, there MUST NOT be a space before each comma and there MUST be one space after each comma. Argument lists MAY be split across multiple lines, where each subsequent line is indented once. When doing so, the first item in the list MUST be on the next line, and there MUST be only one argument per line. Configuration options: after_heredoc ( bool ): whether the whitespace between heredoc end and comma should be removed; defaults to false
( ): whether the whitespace between heredoc end and comma should be removed; defaults to ensure_fully_multiline ( bool ): ensure every argument of a multiline argument list is on its own line; defaults to false . DEPRECATED: use option on_multiline instead
( ): ensure every argument of a multiline argument list is on its own line; defaults to . DEPRECATED: use option instead keep_multiple_spaces_after_comma ( bool ): whether keep multiple spaces after comma; defaults to false
( ): whether keep multiple spaces after comma; defaults to on_multiline ( 'ensure_fully_multiline' , 'ensure_single_line' , 'ignore' ): defines how to handle function arguments lists that contain newlines; defaults to 'ignore'
method_chaining_indentation [@PhpCsFixer] Method chaining MUST be properly indented. Method chaining with different levels of indentation is not supported.
method_separation Methods must be separated with one blank line. DEPRECATED: use class_attributes_separation instead.
modernize_types_casting [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Replaces intval , floatval , doubleval , strval and boolval function calls with according type casting operator. Risky rule: risky if any of the functions ``intval``, ``floatval``, ``doubleval``, ``strval`` or ``boolval`` are overridden.
multiline_comment_opening_closing [@PhpCsFixer] DocBlocks must start with two asterisks, multiline comments must start with a single asterisk, after the opening slash. Both must end with a single asterisk before the closing slash.
multiline_whitespace_before_semicolons [@PhpCsFixer] Forbid multi-line whitespace before the closing semicolon or move the semicolon to the new line for chained calls. Configuration options: strategy ( 'new_line_for_chained_calls' , 'no_multi_line' ): forbid multi-line whitespace or move the semicolon to the new line for chained calls; defaults to 'no_multi_line'
native_constant_invocation [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Add leading \ before constant invocation of internal constant to speed up resolving. Constant name match is case-sensitive, except for null , false and true . Risky rule: risky when any of the constants are namespaced or overridden. Configuration options: exclude ( array ): list of constants to ignore; defaults to ['null', 'false', 'true']
( ): list of constants to ignore; defaults to fix_built_in ( bool ): whether to fix constants returned by get_defined_constants . User constants are not accounted in this list and must be specified in the include one; defaults to true
( ): whether to fix constants returned by . User constants are not accounted in this list and must be specified in the include one; defaults to include ( array ): list of additional constants to fix; defaults to []
( ): list of additional constants to fix; defaults to scope ( 'all' , 'namespaced' ): only fix constant invocations that are made within a namespace or fix all; defaults to 'all'
native_function_casing [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Function defined by PHP should be called using the correct casing.
native_function_invocation [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Add leading \ before function invocation to speed up resolving. Risky rule: risky when any of the functions are overridden. Configuration options: exclude ( array ): list of functions to ignore; defaults to []
( ): list of functions to ignore; defaults to include ( array ): list of function names or sets to fix. Defined sets are @internal (all native functions), @all (all global functions) and @compiler_optimized (functions that are specially optimized by Zend); defaults to ['@internal']
( ): list of function names or sets to fix. Defined sets are (all native functions), (all global functions) and (functions that are specially optimized by Zend); defaults to scope ( 'all' , 'namespaced' ): only fix function calls that are made within a namespace or fix all; defaults to 'all'
( , ): only fix function calls that are made within a namespace or fix all; defaults to strict ( bool ): whether leading \ of function call not meant to have it should be removed; defaults to false
native_function_type_declaration_casing [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Native type hints for functions should use the correct case.
new_with_braces [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] All instances created with new keyword must be followed by braces.
no_alias_functions [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Master functions shall be used instead of aliases. Risky rule: risky when any of the alias functions are overridden. Configuration options: sets (a subset of ['@internal', '@IMAP', '@mbreg', '@all'] ): list of sets to fix. Defined sets are @internal (native functions), @IMAP (IMAP functions), @mbreg (from ext-mbstring ) @all (all listed sets); defaults to ['@internal', '@IMAP']
no_alternative_syntax [@PhpCsFixer] Replace control structure alternative syntax to use braces.
no_binary_string [@PhpCsFixer] There should not be a binary flag before strings.
no_blank_lines_after_class_opening [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] There should be no empty lines after class opening brace.
no_blank_lines_after_phpdoc [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] There should not be blank lines between docblock and the documented element.
no_blank_lines_before_namespace There should be no blank lines before a namespace declaration.
no_break_comment [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] There must be a comment when fall-through is intentional in a non-empty case body. Configuration options: comment_text ( string ): the text to use in the added comment and to detect it; defaults to 'no break'
no_closing_tag [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] The closing ?> tag MUST be omitted from files containing only PHP.
no_empty_comment [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] There should not be any empty comments.
no_empty_phpdoc [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] There should not be empty PHPDoc blocks.
no_empty_statement [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Remove useless semicolon statements.
no_extra_blank_lines [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Removes extra blank lines and/or blank lines following configuration. Configuration options: tokens (a subset of ['break', 'case', 'continue', 'curly_brace_block', 'default', 'extra', 'parenthesis_brace_block', 'return', 'square_brace_block', 'switch', 'throw', 'use', 'useTrait', 'use_trait'] ): list of tokens to fix; defaults to ['extra']
no_extra_consecutive_blank_lines Removes extra blank lines and/or blank lines following configuration. DEPRECATED: use no_extra_blank_lines instead. Configuration options: tokens (a subset of ['break', 'case', 'continue', 'curly_brace_block', 'default', 'extra', 'parenthesis_brace_block', 'return', 'square_brace_block', 'switch', 'throw', 'use', 'useTrait', 'use_trait'] ): list of tokens to fix; defaults to ['extra']
no_homoglyph_names [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Replace accidental usage of homoglyphs (non ascii characters) in names. Risky rule: renames classes and cannot rename the files. You might have string references to renamed code (``$$name``).
no_leading_import_slash [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Remove leading slashes in use clauses.
no_leading_namespace_whitespace [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] The namespace declaration line shouldn’t contain leading whitespace.
no_mixed_echo_print [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Either language construct print or echo should be used. Configuration options: use ( 'echo' , 'print' ): the desired language construct; defaults to 'echo'
no_multiline_whitespace_around_double_arrow [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Operator => should not be surrounded by multi-line whitespaces.
no_multiline_whitespace_before_semicolons Multi-line whitespace before closing semicolon are prohibited. DEPRECATED: use multiline_whitespace_before_semicolons instead.
no_null_property_initialization [@PhpCsFixer] Properties MUST not be explicitly initialized with null except when they have a type declaration (PHP 7.4).
no_php4_constructor Convert PHP4-style constructors to __construct . Risky rule: risky when old style constructor being fixed is overridden or overrides parent one.
no_short_bool_cast [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Short cast bool using double exclamation mark should not be used.
no_short_echo_tag [@PhpCsFixer] Replace short-echo <?= with long format <?php echo syntax.
no_singleline_whitespace_before_semicolons [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Single-line whitespace before closing semicolon are prohibited.
no_spaces_after_function_name [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] When making a method or function call, there MUST NOT be a space between the method or function name and the opening parenthesis.
no_spaces_around_offset [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] There MUST NOT be spaces around offset braces. Configuration options: positions (a subset of ['inside', 'outside'] ): whether spacing should be fixed inside and/or outside the offset braces; defaults to ['inside', 'outside']
no_spaces_inside_parenthesis [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] There MUST NOT be a space after the opening parenthesis. There MUST NOT be a space before the closing parenthesis.
no_superfluous_elseif [@PhpCsFixer] Replaces superfluous elseif with if .
no_superfluous_phpdoc_tags [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Removes @param , @return and @var tags that don’t provide any useful information. Configuration options: allow_mixed ( bool ): whether type mixed without description is allowed ( true ) or considered superfluous ( false ); defaults to false
( ): whether type without description is allowed ( ) or considered superfluous ( ); defaults to allow_unused_params ( bool ): whether param annotation without actual signature is allowed ( true ) or considered superfluous ( false ); defaults to false
( ): whether annotation without actual signature is allowed ( ) or considered superfluous ( ); defaults to remove_inheritdoc ( bool ): remove @inheritDoc tags; defaults to false
no_trailing_comma_in_list_call [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Remove trailing commas in list function calls.
no_trailing_comma_in_singleline_array [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] PHP single-line arrays should not have trailing comma.
no_trailing_whitespace [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Remove trailing whitespace at the end of non-blank lines.
no_trailing_whitespace_in_comment [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] There MUST be no trailing spaces inside comment or PHPDoc.
no_unneeded_control_parentheses [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Removes unneeded parentheses around control statements. Configuration options: statements ( array ): list of control statements to fix; defaults to ['break', 'clone', 'continue', 'echo_print', 'return', 'switch_case', 'yield']
no_unneeded_curly_braces [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Removes unneeded curly braces that are superfluous and aren’t part of a control structure’s body. Configuration options: namespaces ( bool ): remove unneeded curly braces from bracketed namespaces; defaults to false
no_unneeded_final_method [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] A final class must not have final methods and private methods must not be final . Risky rule: risky when child class overrides a ``private`` method.
no_unreachable_default_argument_value [@PhpCsFixer:risky] In function arguments there must not be arguments with default values before non-default ones. Risky rule: modifies the signature of functions; therefore risky when using systems (such as some Symfony components) that rely on those (for example through reflection).
no_unset_cast [@PhpCsFixer] Variables must be set null instead of using (unset) casting.
no_unset_on_property [@PhpCsFixer:risky] Properties should be set to null instead of using unset . Risky rule: changing variables to ``null`` instead of unsetting them will mean they still show up when looping over class variables. With PHP 7.4, this rule might introduce ``null`` assignments to property whose type declaration does not allow it.
no_unused_imports [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Unused use statements must be removed.
no_useless_else [@PhpCsFixer] There should not be useless else cases.
no_useless_return [@PhpCsFixer] There should not be an empty return statement at the end of a function.
no_whitespace_before_comma_in_array [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] In array declaration, there MUST NOT be a whitespace before each comma. Configuration options: after_heredoc ( bool ): whether the whitespace between heredoc end and comma should be removed; defaults to false
no_whitespace_in_blank_line [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Remove trailing whitespace at the end of blank lines.
non_printable_character [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky, @PHP70Migration:risky, @PHP71Migration:risky] Remove Zero-width space (ZWSP), Non-breaking space (NBSP) and other invisible unicode symbols. Risky rule: risky when strings contain intended invisible characters. Configuration options: use_escape_sequences_in_strings ( bool ): whether characters should be replaced with escape sequences in strings; defaults to false
normalize_index_brace [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Array index should always be written by using square braces.
not_operator_with_space Logical NOT operators ( ! ) should have leading and trailing whitespaces.
not_operator_with_successor_space Logical NOT operators ( ! ) should have one trailing whitespace.
nullable_type_declaration_for_default_null_value Adds or removes ? before type declarations for parameters with a default null value. Configuration options: use_nullable_type_declaration ( bool ): whether to add or remove ? before type declarations for parameters with a default null value; defaults to true
object_operator_without_whitespace [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] There should not be space before or after object T_OBJECT_OPERATOR -> .
ordered_class_elements [@PhpCsFixer] Orders the elements of classes/interfaces/traits. Configuration options: order (a subset of ['use_trait', 'public', 'protected', 'private', 'constant', 'constant_public', 'constant_protected', 'constant_private', 'property', 'property_static', 'property_public', 'property_protected', 'property_private', 'property_public_static', 'property_protected_static', 'property_private_static', 'method', 'method_static', 'method_public', 'method_protected', 'method_private', 'method_public_static', 'method_protected_static', 'method_private_static', 'construct', 'destruct', 'magic', 'phpunit'] ): list of strings defining order of elements; defaults to ['use_trait', 'constant_public', 'constant_protected', 'constant_private', 'property_public', 'property_protected', 'property_private', 'construct', 'destruct', 'magic', 'phpunit', 'method_public', 'method_protected', 'method_private']
(a subset of ): list of strings defining order of elements; defaults to sortAlgorithm ( 'alpha' , 'none' ): how multiple occurrences of same type statements should be sorted; defaults to 'none'
ordered_imports [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Ordering use statements. Configuration options: imports_order ( array , null ): defines the order of import types; defaults to null ; DEPRECATED alias: importsOrder
( , ): defines the order of import types; defaults to ; DEPRECATED alias: sort_algorithm ( 'alpha' , 'length' , 'none' ): whether the statements should be sorted alphabetically or by length, or not sorted; defaults to 'alpha' ; DEPRECATED alias: sortAlgorithm
ordered_interfaces Orders the interfaces in an implements or interface extends clause. Risky rule: risky for ``implements`` when specifying both an interface and its parent interface, because PHP doesn’t break on ``parent, child`` but does on ``child, parent``. Configuration options: direction ( 'ascend' , 'descend' ): which direction the interfaces should be ordered; defaults to 'ascend'
( , ): which direction the interfaces should be ordered; defaults to order ( 'alpha' , 'length' ): how the interfaces should be ordered; defaults to 'alpha'
php_unit_construct [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] PHPUnit assertion method calls like ->assertSame(true, $foo) should be written with dedicated method like ->assertTrue($foo) . Risky rule: fixer could be risky if one is overriding PHPUnit’s native methods. Configuration options: assertions (a subset of ['assertSame', 'assertEquals', 'assertNotEquals', 'assertNotSame'] ): list of assertion methods to fix; defaults to ['assertEquals', 'assertSame', 'assertNotEquals', 'assertNotSame']
php_unit_dedicate_assert [@PHPUnit30Migration:risky, @PHPUnit32Migration:risky, @PHPUnit35Migration:risky, @PHPUnit43Migration:risky, @PHPUnit48Migration:risky, @PHPUnit50Migration:risky, @PHPUnit52Migration:risky, @PHPUnit54Migration:risky, @PHPUnit55Migration:risky, @PHPUnit56Migration:risky, @PHPUnit57Migration:risky, @PHPUnit60Migration:risky, @PHPUnit75Migration:risky] PHPUnit assertions like assertInternalType , assertFileExists , should be used over assertTrue . Risky rule: fixer could be risky if one is overriding PHPUnit’s native methods. Configuration options: functions (a subset of ['array_key_exists', 'empty', 'file_exists', 'is_array', 'is_bool', 'is_callable', 'is_double', 'is_float', 'is_infinite', 'is_int', 'is_integer', 'is_long', 'is_nan', 'is_null', 'is_numeric', 'is_object', 'is_real', 'is_resource', 'is_scalar', 'is_string'] , null ): list of assertions to fix (overrides target ); defaults to null . DEPRECATED: use option target instead
(a subset of , ): list of assertions to fix (overrides ); defaults to . DEPRECATED: use option instead target ( '3.0' , '3.5' , '5.0' , '5.6' , 'newest' ): target version of PHPUnit; defaults to '5.0'
php_unit_dedicate_assert_internal_type [@PHPUnit75Migration:risky] PHPUnit assertions like assertIsArray should be used over assertInternalType . Risky rule: risky when PHPUnit methods are overridden or when project has PHPUnit incompatibilities. Configuration options: target ( '7.5' , 'newest' ): target version of PHPUnit; defaults to 'newest'
php_unit_expectation [@PHPUnit52Migration:risky, @PHPUnit54Migration:risky, @PHPUnit55Migration:risky, @PHPUnit56Migration:risky, @PHPUnit57Migration:risky, @PHPUnit60Migration:risky, @PHPUnit75Migration:risky] Usages of ->setExpectedException* methods MUST be replaced by ->expectException* methods. Risky rule: risky when PHPUnit classes are overridden or not accessible, or when project has PHPUnit incompatibilities. Configuration options: target ( '5.2' , '5.6' , 'newest' ): target version of PHPUnit; defaults to 'newest'
php_unit_fqcn_annotation [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] PHPUnit annotations should be a FQCNs including a root namespace.
php_unit_internal_class [@PhpCsFixer] All PHPUnit test classes should be marked as internal. Configuration options: types (a subset of ['normal', 'final', 'abstract'] ): what types of classes to mark as internal; defaults to ['normal', 'final']
php_unit_method_casing [@PhpCsFixer] Enforce camel (or snake) case for PHPUnit test methods, following configuration. Configuration options: case ( 'camel_case' , 'snake_case' ): apply camel or snake case to test methods; defaults to 'camel_case'
php_unit_mock [@PHPUnit54Migration:risky, @PHPUnit55Migration:risky, @PHPUnit56Migration:risky, @PHPUnit57Migration:risky, @PHPUnit60Migration:risky, @PHPUnit75Migration:risky] Usages of ->getMock and ->getMockWithoutInvokingTheOriginalConstructor methods MUST be replaced by ->createMock or ->createPartialMock methods. Risky rule: risky when PHPUnit classes are overridden or not accessible, or when project has PHPUnit incompatibilities. Configuration options: target ( '5.4' , '5.5' , 'newest' ): target version of PHPUnit; defaults to 'newest'
php_unit_mock_short_will_return [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Usage of PHPUnit’s mock e.g. ->will($this->returnValue(..)) must be replaced by its shorter equivalent such as ->willReturn(...) . Risky rule: risky when PHPUnit classes are overridden or not accessible, or when project has PHPUnit incompatibilities.
php_unit_namespaced [@PHPUnit48Migration:risky, @PHPUnit50Migration:risky, @PHPUnit52Migration:risky, @PHPUnit54Migration:risky, @PHPUnit55Migration:risky, @PHPUnit56Migration:risky, @PHPUnit57Migration:risky, @PHPUnit60Migration:risky, @PHPUnit75Migration:risky] PHPUnit classes MUST be used in namespaced version, e.g. \PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase instead of \PHPUnit_Framework_TestCase . Risky rule: risky when PHPUnit classes are overridden or not accessible, or when project has PHPUnit incompatibilities. Configuration options: target ( '4.8' , '5.7' , '6.0' , 'newest' ): target version of PHPUnit; defaults to 'newest'
php_unit_no_expectation_annotation [@PHPUnit32Migration:risky, @PHPUnit35Migration:risky, @PHPUnit43Migration:risky, @PHPUnit48Migration:risky, @PHPUnit50Migration:risky, @PHPUnit52Migration:risky, @PHPUnit54Migration:risky, @PHPUnit55Migration:risky, @PHPUnit56Migration:risky, @PHPUnit57Migration:risky, @PHPUnit60Migration:risky, @PHPUnit75Migration:risky] Usages of @expectedException* annotations MUST be replaced by ->setExpectedException* methods. Risky rule: risky when PHPUnit classes are overridden or not accessible, or when project has PHPUnit incompatibilities. Configuration options: target ( '3.2' , '4.3' , 'newest' ): target version of PHPUnit; defaults to 'newest'
( , , ): target version of PHPUnit; defaults to use_class_const ( bool ): use ::class notation; defaults to true
php_unit_ordered_covers [@PhpCsFixer] Order @covers annotation of PHPUnit tests.
php_unit_set_up_tear_down_visibility [@PhpCsFixer:risky] Changes the visibility of the setUp() and tearDown() functions of PHPUnit to protected , to match the PHPUnit TestCase. Risky rule: this fixer may change functions named ``setUp()`` or ``tearDown()`` outside of PHPUnit tests, when a class is wrongly seen as a PHPUnit test.
php_unit_size_class All PHPUnit test cases should have @small , @medium or @large annotation to enable run time limits. Configuration options: group ( 'large' , 'medium' , 'small' ): define a specific group to be used in case no group is already in use; defaults to 'small'
php_unit_strict [@PhpCsFixer:risky] PHPUnit methods like assertSame should be used instead of assertEquals . Risky rule: risky when any of the functions are overridden or when testing object equality. Configuration options: assertions (a subset of ['assertAttributeEquals', 'assertAttributeNotEquals', 'assertEquals', 'assertNotEquals'] ): list of assertion methods to fix; defaults to ['assertAttributeEquals', 'assertAttributeNotEquals', 'assertEquals', 'assertNotEquals']
php_unit_test_annotation [@PhpCsFixer:risky] Adds or removes @test annotations from tests, following configuration. Risky rule: this fixer may change the name of your tests, and could cause incompatibility with abstract classes or interfaces. Configuration options: case ( 'camel' , 'snake' ): whether to camel or snake case when adding the test prefix; defaults to 'camel' . DEPRECATED: use php_unit_method_casing fixer instead
( , ): whether to camel or snake case when adding the test prefix; defaults to . DEPRECATED: use fixer instead style ( 'annotation' , 'prefix' ): whether to use the @test annotation or not; defaults to 'prefix'
php_unit_test_case_static_method_calls [@PhpCsFixer:risky] Calls to PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase static methods must all be of the same type, either $this-> , self:: or static:: . Risky rule: risky when PHPUnit methods are overridden or not accessible, or when project has PHPUnit incompatibilities. Configuration options: call_type ( 'self' , 'static' , 'this' ): the call type to use for referring to PHPUnit methods; defaults to 'static'
( , , ): the call type to use for referring to PHPUnit methods; defaults to methods ( array ): dictionary of method => call_type values that differ from the default strategy; defaults to []
php_unit_test_class_requires_covers [@PhpCsFixer] Adds a default @coversNothing annotation to PHPUnit test classes that have no @covers* annotation.
phpdoc_add_missing_param_annotation [@PhpCsFixer] PHPDoc should contain @param for all params. Configuration options: only_untyped ( bool ): whether to add missing @param annotations for untyped parameters only; defaults to true
phpdoc_align [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] All items of the given phpdoc tags must be either left-aligned or (by default) aligned vertically. Configuration options: align ( 'left' , 'vertical' ): align comments; defaults to 'vertical'
( , ): align comments; defaults to tags (a subset of ['param', 'property', 'property-read', 'property-write', 'return', 'throws', 'type', 'var', 'method'] ): the tags that should be aligned; defaults to ['param', 'return', 'throws', 'type', 'var']
phpdoc_annotation_without_dot [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] PHPDoc annotation descriptions should not be a sentence.
phpdoc_indent [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Docblocks should have the same indentation as the documented subject.
phpdoc_inline_tag [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Fix PHPDoc inline tags, make @inheritdoc always inline.
phpdoc_line_span Changes doc blocks from single to multi line, or reversed. Works for class constants, properties and methods only. Configuration options: const ( 'multi' , 'single' ): whether const blocks should be single or multi line; defaults to 'multi'
( , ): whether const blocks should be single or multi line; defaults to method ( 'multi' , 'single' ): whether method doc blocks should be single or multi line; defaults to 'multi'
( , ): whether method doc blocks should be single or multi line; defaults to property ( 'multi' , 'single' ): whether property doc blocks should be single or multi line; defaults to 'multi'
phpdoc_no_access [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] @access annotations should be omitted from PHPDoc.
phpdoc_no_alias_tag [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] No alias PHPDoc tags should be used. Configuration options: replacements ( array ): mapping between replaced annotations with new ones; defaults to ['property-read' => 'property', 'property-write' => 'property', 'type' => 'var', 'link' => 'see']
phpdoc_no_empty_return [@PhpCsFixer] @return void and @return null annotations should be omitted from PHPDoc.
phpdoc_no_package [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] @package and @subpackage annotations should be omitted from PHPDoc.
phpdoc_no_useless_inheritdoc [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Classy that does not inherit must not have @inheritdoc tags.
phpdoc_order [@PhpCsFixer] Annotations in PHPDoc should be ordered so that @param annotations come first, then @throws annotations, then @return annotations.
phpdoc_return_self_reference [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] The type of @return annotations of methods returning a reference to itself must the configured one. Configuration options: replacements ( array ): mapping between replaced return types with new ones; defaults to ['this' => '$this', '@this' => '$this', '$self' => 'self', '@self' => 'self', '$static' => 'static', '@static' => 'static']
phpdoc_scalar [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Scalar types should always be written in the same form. int not integer , bool not boolean , float not real or double . Configuration options: types (a subset of ['boolean', 'callback', 'double', 'integer', 'real', 'str'] ): a map of types to fix; defaults to ['boolean', 'double', 'integer', 'real', 'str']
phpdoc_separation [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Annotations in PHPDoc should be grouped together so that annotations of the same type immediately follow each other, and annotations of a different type are separated by a single blank line.
phpdoc_single_line_var_spacing [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Single line @var PHPDoc should have proper spacing.
phpdoc_summary [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] PHPDoc summary should end in either a full stop, exclamation mark, or question mark.
phpdoc_to_comment [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Docblocks should only be used on structural elements.
phpdoc_to_param_type EXPERIMENTAL: Takes @param annotations of non-mixed types and adjusts accordingly the function signature. Requires PHP >= 7.0. Risky rule: this rule is EXPERIMENTAL and [1] is not covered with backward compatibility promise. [2] ``@param`` annotation is mandatory for the fixer to make changes, signatures of methods without it (no docblock, inheritdocs) will not be fixed. [3] Manual actions are required if inherited signatures are not properly documented. Configuration options: scalar_types ( bool ): fix also scalar types; may have unexpected behaviour due to PHP bad type coercion system; defaults to true
phpdoc_to_return_type EXPERIMENTAL: Takes @return annotation of non-mixed types and adjusts accordingly the function signature. Requires PHP >= 7.0. Risky rule: this rule is EXPERIMENTAL and [1] is not covered with backward compatibility promise. [2] ``@return`` annotation is mandatory for the fixer to make changes, signatures of methods without it (no docblock, inheritdocs) will not be fixed. [3] Manual actions are required if inherited signatures are not properly documented. [4] ``@inheritdocs`` support is under construction. Configuration options: scalar_types ( bool ): fix also scalar types; may have unexpected behaviour due to PHP bad type coercion system; defaults to true
phpdoc_trim [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] PHPDoc should start and end with content, excluding the very first and last line of the docblocks.
phpdoc_trim_consecutive_blank_line_separation [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Removes extra blank lines after summary and after description in PHPDoc.
phpdoc_types [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] The correct case must be used for standard PHP types in PHPDoc. Configuration options: groups (a subset of ['simple', 'alias', 'meta'] ): type groups to fix; defaults to ['simple', 'alias', 'meta']
phpdoc_types_order [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Sorts PHPDoc types. Configuration options: null_adjustment ( 'always_first' , 'always_last' , 'none' ): forces the position of null (overrides sort_algorithm ); defaults to 'always_first'
( , , ): forces the position of (overrides ); defaults to sort_algorithm ( 'alpha' , 'none' ): the sorting algorithm to apply; defaults to 'alpha'
phpdoc_var_annotation_correct_order [@PhpCsFixer] @var and @type annotations must have type and name in the correct order.
phpdoc_var_without_name [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] @var and @type annotations of classy properties should not contain the name.
pow_to_exponentiation [@PHP56Migration:risky, @PHP70Migration:risky, @PHP71Migration:risky] Converts pow to the ** operator. Risky rule: risky when the function ``pow`` is overridden.
pre_increment Pre incrementation/decrementation should be used if possible. DEPRECATED: use increment_style instead.
protected_to_private [@PhpCsFixer] Converts protected variables and methods to private where possible.
psr0 Classes must be in a path that matches their namespace, be at least one namespace deep and the class name should match the file name. Risky rule: this fixer may change your class name, which will break the code that depends on the old name. Configuration options: dir ( string ): the directory where the project code is placed; defaults to ''
psr4 [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Class names should match the file name. Risky rule: this fixer may change your class name, which will break the code that depends on the old name.
random_api_migration [@PHP70Migration:risky, @PHP71Migration:risky] Replaces rand , srand , getrandmax functions calls with their mt_* analogs. Risky rule: risky when the configured functions are overridden. Configuration options: replacements ( array ): mapping between replaced functions with the new ones; defaults to ['getrandmax' => 'mt_getrandmax', 'rand' => 'mt_rand', 'srand' => 'mt_srand']
return_assignment [@PhpCsFixer] Local, dynamic and directly referenced variables should not be assigned and directly returned by a function or method.
return_type_declaration [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] There should be one or no space before colon, and one space after it in return type declarations, according to configuration. Configuration options: space_before ( 'none' , 'one' ): spacing to apply before colon; defaults to 'none'
self_accessor [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Inside class or interface element self should be preferred to the class name itself. Risky rule: risky when using dynamic calls like get_called_class() or late static binding.
self_static_accessor Inside a final class or anonymous class self should be preferred to static .
semicolon_after_instruction [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Instructions must be terminated with a semicolon.
set_type_to_cast [@Symfony:risky, @PhpCsFixer:risky] Cast shall be used, not settype . Risky rule: risky when the ``settype`` function is overridden or when used as the 2nd or 3rd expression in a ``for`` loop .
short_scalar_cast [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Cast (boolean) and (integer) should be written as (bool) and (int) , (double) and (real) as (float) , (binary) as (string) .
silenced_deprecation_error Ensures deprecation notices are silenced. DEPRECATED: use error_suppression instead. Risky rule: silencing of deprecation errors might cause changes to code behaviour.
simple_to_complex_string_variable [@PhpCsFixer] Converts explicit variables in double-quoted strings and heredoc syntax from simple to complex format ( ${ to {$ ).
simplified_null_return A return statement wishing to return void should not return null .
single_blank_line_at_eof [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] A PHP file without end tag must always end with a single empty line feed.
single_blank_line_before_namespace [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] There should be exactly one blank line before a namespace declaration.
single_class_element_per_statement [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] There MUST NOT be more than one property or constant declared per statement. Configuration options: elements (a subset of ['const', 'property'] ): list of strings which element should be modified; defaults to ['const', 'property']
single_import_per_statement [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] There MUST be one use keyword per declaration.
single_line_after_imports [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Each namespace use MUST go on its own line and there MUST be one blank line after the use statements block.
single_line_comment_style [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Single-line comments and multi-line comments with only one line of actual content should use the // syntax. Configuration options: comment_types (a subset of ['asterisk', 'hash'] ): list of comment types to fix; defaults to ['asterisk', 'hash']
single_line_throw [@Symfony] Throwing exception must be done in single line.
single_quote [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Convert double quotes to single quotes for simple strings. Configuration options: strings_containing_single_quote_chars ( bool ): whether to fix double-quoted strings that contains single-quotes; defaults to false
single_trait_insert_per_statement [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Each trait use must be done as single statement.
space_after_semicolon [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Fix whitespace after a semicolon. Configuration options: remove_in_empty_for_expressions ( bool ): whether spaces should be removed for empty for expressions; defaults to false
standardize_increment [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Increment and decrement operators should be used if possible.
standardize_not_equals [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Replace all <> with != .
static_lambda Lambdas not (indirect) referencing $this must be declared static . Risky rule: risky when using ``->bindTo`` on lambdas without referencing to ``$this``.
strict_comparison [@PhpCsFixer:risky] Comparisons should be strict. Risky rule: changing comparisons to strict might change code behavior.
strict_param [@PhpCsFixer:risky] Functions should be used with $strict param set to true . Risky rule: risky when the fixed function is overridden or if the code relies on non-strict usage.
string_line_ending [@PhpCsFixer:risky] All multi-line strings must use correct line ending. Risky rule: changing the line endings of multi-line strings might affect string comparisons and outputs.
switch_case_semicolon_to_colon [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] A case should be followed by a colon and not a semicolon.
switch_case_space [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Removes extra spaces between colon and case value.
ternary_operator_spaces [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Standardize spaces around ternary operator.
ternary_to_null_coalescing [@PHP70Migration, @PHP71Migration, @PHP73Migration] Use null coalescing operator ?? where possible. Requires PHP >= 7.0.
trailing_comma_in_multiline_array [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] PHP multi-line arrays should have a trailing comma. Configuration options: after_heredoc ( bool ): whether a trailing comma should also be placed after heredoc end; defaults to false
trim_array_spaces [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Arrays should be formatted like function/method arguments, without leading or trailing single line space.
unary_operator_spaces [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] Unary operators should be placed adjacent to their operands.
visibility_required [@PSR2, @Symfony, @PhpCsFixer, @PHP71Migration, @PHP73Migration] Visibility MUST be declared on all properties and methods; abstract and final MUST be declared before the visibility; static MUST be declared after the visibility. Configuration options: elements (a subset of ['property', 'method', 'const'] ): the structural elements to fix (PHP >= 7.1 required for const ); defaults to ['property', 'method']
void_return [@PHP71Migration:risky] Add void return type to functions with missing or empty return statements, but priority is given to @return annotations. Requires PHP >= 7.1. Risky rule: modifies the signature of functions.
whitespace_after_comma_in_array [@Symfony, @PhpCsFixer] In array declaration, there MUST be a whitespace after each comma. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
It's Official: Chick-fil-A COO Dan Cathy Comes Out as Antigay
In a new interview, the restaurant chain's chief operating officer has it coming out as anti-marriage equality.
Dan Cathy, the chief operating officer of Chick-fil-A, said there is no denying that his company opposes marriage equality.
Cathy said that he does not feel right billing Chick-fil-A as a Christian business because, as Christian business mentor Fred Roach once said, "There is no such thing as a Christian business ... Christ never died for a corporation."
However, Cathy told the Baptist Press he aims to operate the restaurant chain "on biblical principles." When asked whether his company had an established position against marriage equality, Cathy said, "guilty as charged."
He added, "We are very much supportive of the family — the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that. ... We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord, we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles."
Previously, Cathy insisted that he and Chick-fil-A were not antigay, and that his company has "no agenda against anyone."
Cathy's father and grandfather opened the first Chick-fil-A in 1967 in Atlanta. Forty-five years later, the company is one of the largest fast-food outfits in the country, with 1,608 restaurants, 61,000 employees, and $4 billion in sales last year.
The company has reported millions of dollars in donations to antigay groups including the Family Research Council and the Marriage and Family Foundation. Because of Chick-fil-A's ties to antigay organizations and causes, many LGBT people and allies are boycotting the restaurants, and plans to open a restaurant on the Northeastern University campus were quashed. | {
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After pressure from campaigners, SpaceX has published a first batch of more than 100 photos on Flickr under a Creative Commons license. The decision gives the public the ability to download and remix the images freely (as long as they're attributed properly) and has been welcomed as a success for both space fans and copyright advocates. Unlike images of space published by NASA, SpaceX's photos do have some rights reserved, meaning they can't be used for commercial purposes.
In the US, there's a well-established tradition of copyright-free space images thanks to the work of NASA. Because the space agency is funded by taxpayers, its photographs are deemed "government works" and therefore have "no copyright restrictions on reproduction, derivative works, distribution, performance, or display."
NASA's most iconic images have started social movements and inspired millions
This means that iconic images such as The Blue Marble, Earthrise, or the Pillars of Creation are free to use in pretty much any scenario. They've appeared on T-shirts, in adverts, and been published in books, embedding themselves in our collective conscious as images that are both inspirational and aspirational. And, as Electronic Frontier Foundation activist Parker Higgins notes, they've also "formed the basis of major social movements [and] activism campaigns."
SpaceX, by comparison, has no obligation to release its images to the public. Speaking to Motherboard about the issue, intellectual property lawyer Andrew Rush said: "Just because they're operating on behalf of NASA does not necessarily mean the copyright of their images are owned by NASA or the US government. When SpaceX is operating as a NASA contractor, generally any of the copyrightable stuff they create is subject to copyright protections."
The newly-applied Creative Commons license for SpaceX's images isn't the same as putting them into the public domain, but campaigners say it's a start. "It’d be nice if these photos could appear in Wikipedia or be built upon without any caveats by artists and entrepreneurs," Higgins told The Atlantic. "But it’s still a good thing that these are going online under clear terms."
All images credited to SpaceX. | {
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Hours after North Korea's latest nuclear provocation, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said that any threat to the U.S. "will be met with a massive military response."
"Any threat to the United States or its territories, including Guam or our allies, will be met with a massive military response -- a response both effective and overwhelming," Mattis said.
Mattis said that all members of the U.N. Security Council "unanimously agreed on the threat North Korea poses" and remain committed to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.
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While he said America does not seek the "total annihilation" of the North, he added, "We have many options to do so."
Mattis, who did not take questions from reporters, said he had attended a "small group" national security meeting with President Trump and others. He said the president wanted to be briefed on each of what Mattis called "many military options" for action against North Korea.
"We made clear that we have the ability to defend ourselves and our allies, South Korea and Japan, from any attacks, and our commitments among the allies are ironclad," he said.
Earlier, President Trump raised the stakes in the escalating crisis over North Korea's nuclear threats, suggesting drastic economic measures against China and criticizing ally South Korea.
"The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea," he also tweeted.
The United States is considering, in addition to other options, stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 3, 2017
North Korea claimed "perfect success" Sunday in an underground test of what it called a hydrogen bomb -- potentially vastly more destructive than an atomic bomb. It was the North's sixth nuclear test since 2006, but the first since Mr. Trump took office in January.
Mr. Trump, asked by a reporter during a trip to church services if he would attack the North, said: "We'll see."
No U.S. military action appeared imminent, and the immediate focus appeared to be on ratcheting up economic penalties, which have had little effect thus far. Members of Congress expressed alarm at the North's test and emphasized strengthening U.S. missile defenses. Leaders in Russia, China and Europe issued condemnations.
The precise strength of the underground nuclear explosion had yet to be determined. South Korea's weather agency said the artificial earthquake caused by the explosion was five times to six times stronger than tremors generated by the North's previous five tests.
North Korea's state-run television broadcast a special bulletin to announce the test, and said Kim attended a meeting of the ruling party's presidium and signed the go-ahead order. Earlier, the party's newspaper published photos of Kim examining what it said was a nuclear warhead being fitted onto an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Sunday's detonation builds on recent North Korean advances that include test launches in July of two ICBMs that are believed to be capable of reaching the mainland U.S. The North says its missile development is part of a defensive effort to build a viable nuclear deterrent that can target U.S. cities.
The Arms Control Association said the explosion appeared to produce a yield in excess of 100 kilotons of TNT equivalent, which it said strongly suggests the North tested a high-yield but compact nuclear weapon that could be launched on a missile of intermediate or intercontinental range.
Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons expert at the Federation of American Scientists, said the North probably will need to do more tests before achieving a functioning hydrogen bomb design.
Beyond the science of the blast, North Korea's accelerating push to field a nuclear weapon that can target all of the United States is creating political complications for the U.S. as it seeks to balance resolve with reassurance to allies that Washington will uphold its decadeslong commitment to deter nuclear attack on South Korea and Japan.
That is why some questioned Trump's jab Sunday at South Korea. He tweeted that Seoul is finding that its "talk of appeasement" will not work. The North Koreans, he added, "only understand one thing," implying military force might be required. The U.S. has about 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea and is obliged by treaty to defend it in the event of war.
Patrick Cronin, an Asia expert with the Center for a New American Security, said Mr. Trump's comment on South Korea was probably "intended to stiffen the spine of an ally." He said he agreed with the intention.
"I think Washington is very serious about showing some unexpected resolve," he said. "We need our ally and we need to remain ironclad. But at the same time, we can't afford South Korea to go weak in facing down this growing danger."
Trump also suggested putting more pressure on China, the North's patron for many decades and a vital U.S. trading partner, in hopes of persuading Beijing to exert more effective leverage on its neighbor. Trump tweeted that the U.S. is considering "stopping all trade with any country doing business with North Korea." Such a halt would be radical. The U.S. imports about $40 billion in goods a month from China, North Korea's main commercial partner.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was calling counterparts in Asia, and Trump's treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said he was putting together proposed new sanctions for Trump to consider that would seek to cut off trade with North Korea.
It's unclear what kind of penalties might make a difference. Lassina Zerbo, head of the U.N. test ban treaty organization, said sanctions already imposed against North Korea aren't working.
China's official Xinhua News Agency said President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, meeting on the sidelines of a Beijing-led economic summit, agreed "to adhere to the goal of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, have close communication and coordination and properly respond" to the test.
Experts have questioned whether the North has gone too far down the nuclear road to continue pushing for a denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, an Obama administration policy goal still embraced by Trump's White House.
"Denuclearization is not a viable U.S. policy goal," said Richard Fontaine, president of the Center for a New American Security, but neither should the U.S. accept North Korea as a nuclear power. "We should keep denuclearization as a long-term aspiration, but recognize privately that it's unachievable anytime soon." | {
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July’s lineup of Shark Week documentaries features an exploration of the toothy fish in the waters off Cuba, a relatively unstudied hotspot of shark biodiversity. The area has only recently been opened to a wide community of scientists because of a thaw in U.S.-Cuban diplomatic relations. "Tiburones: The Sharks of Cuba," to be aired July 7 at 10 P.M. on the Discovery Channel, follows a joint team of U.S. and Cuban marine biologists. “Viewers will get to experience all our on-water and in-water activities with sharks, hear the scientists talk about the excitement of our collaboration and feel the drama as we work through challenges to accomplish our goals,” says Bob Hueter, a marine biologist at Mote Marine Laboratory, who appears in "Tiburones."
One of those goals is to protect the more than 100 species of sharks in the area from overfishing. “Fishing in Cuba is an important source of income, supports remote coastal communities and is critical for food security,” says Abel Valdivia, a marine biologist who was born in Cuba and majored in marine biology at the University of Havana and now works at the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation advocacy group. “But overfishing in Cuban waters is a major problem from commercial to recreational fisheries.”
Preventing the overfishing of sharks is a major part of Hueter’s research and outreach efforts. “The current fishery is not intensively targeting sharks but the catch is still significant,” Hueter says. “We have a collaboration with the University of Havana to study the sharks of Cuba, assess their status in Cuban waters, better understand Cuban fisheries for sharks and assist the Cubans in the development of a National Plan of Action for Sharks and Rays in Cuban waters.”
Cuba’s coastal habitats face many threats in addition to overfishing. Some of the nation’s coral reefs have long been praised by tourists as among the healthiest in the Caribbean. But according to Valdivia, they have suffered from pollution, habitat destruction, climate change and invasive species. “Coral cover across the island is low because the same problems that Caribbean corals face at the regional scale: warming that induces coral bleaching and disease prevalence that may be more related with warming than with pollution,” Valdivia says. “Mangrove forest and seagrass beds are generally in good shape but few studies have backed this up.”
Despite these threats, the marine environment around Cuba is more protected than it is in nearby areas such as Florida, according to Hueter. “Cuba has put nearly 20 percent of their coastal environment into marine protected areas, with more planned in the future,” he says. “That is a remarkably high percentage. And because of the lower pace of development in Cuba over the past 50 years, much of the shoreline is in a fairly natural state.”
One theme that recurs in "Tiburones" is how the recent warming of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba could have a positive effect on ocean science and conservation. Cuba’s marine science community is relatively small and, until the past several years, has been isolated as well. “Most research is published in national journals or Latin American journals with few scientists publishing in international prestige journals,” Valdivia says. “The marine research that is done in the island is still very descriptive. Few scientists are trying to answer hard-core ecology questions.” Cuban marine science is centered primarily at the University of Havana and government-run Institute of Oceanology. U.S. scientists and conservationists have been working with their Cuban counterparts for about a decade, but only on a small scale.
The diplomatic thaw has already started to increase collaboration between the two ocean science communities “The legacy of marine research is strong in Cuba, going back to the 1800s, and Cubans have great respect for the role and power of science,” Hueter says. “Their main challenges are lack of resources and isolation from their counterparts in the U.S. Through our work and that of others the second challenge is changing. And as more resources become available," he adds, "we will be able to elevate the level of science and conservation efforts in Cuba.” | {
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Authored by Karina Martin via PanamPost.com,
The economic crisis and the food shortage in Venezuela is so serious that looting has become commonplace throughout the country.
In January alone, nearly 400 small protests and more than 100 instances of looting have taken place across 19 states, according to the Venezuelan Conflict Observatory.
On Saturday, January 13, Venezuelans began looting for food in the states of Guárico and Zulia.
In Maracaibo — the capital of Zulia — residents looted a supermarket after waiting hours in line to buy corn flour. Violence broke out when they were informed that only members of pro-government community councils could make purchases.
“People were upset,” Ana, a mother of two, said. “There were people waiting yesterday. They started to open the doors (of the supermarket), to get in and grab packets of flour, but the police arrived.”
A similar situation occurred in the town of Calabozo. According to the opposition party Vente Venezuela, it has become “totally paralyzed following mass looting.” According to opposition Deputy Carlos Prosperi, a government supply network known as Mercal and “several shops on tenth and eleventh avenue” were looted.
The Bolivarian National Guard has been tasked with keeping the area in order with gunshots and tear gas, but the situation seems irrepressible.
#BREAKING Tough situation in Calabozo, #Guárico. The GNB does not seem to be able to control the looting or the amount of people on the streets. There are even helicopters flying over some areas of #Calobozo #January 13
#ÚLTIMO Fuerte situación en Calabozo, #Guárico. La GNB parece que no pueden controlar los saqueos por la cantidad de personas en la calle, hasta helicópteros sobrevuelan varios sectores de #Calabozo#13Ene pic.twitter.com/vO6AqLlPY9 — Andrews Abreu (@AndrewsAbreu) January 13, 2018
“Until we solve the humanitarian hunger problem, protests will become more and more common,” Congressman Carlos Paparoni, of Mérida, said.
URGENT!! The people are going hungry in Guárico, and facing off against the National Guard in an attempt to access Calabozo stockpiles. There have been reports of teargas.
URGENTE!! Pueblo hambriento en Guárico enfrenta a la Guardia Nacional para saquear centro de acopio de alimentos de Calabozo: Reportan detonaciones y lacrimógenas. (2) pic.twitter.com/NvlaU1LhgU — Gabriel De Mendonça (@desagabriel1383) January 13, 2018
The situation in Venezuela is becoming increasingly worse. Inflation has reached 2,616 percent and the minimum monthly salary is at US $5 — barely enough for a kilo of meat and a carton of 30 eggs.
If that weren’t enough, the government has subsidized the food program known as CLAP. The program’s boxes are sent to the poorest areas of the country, and millions of families depend on them.
On January 11, a group of Venezuelans desperate to find food broke into a farm in Merida and dismembered about 40 cows for their meat.
According to Manuel López, President of the Association of Agricultural Producers of the Sur del Lago area, criminals go from farm to farm, extorting producers and asking them to give up an animal. If they don’t, they destroy everything.
Video obtained of the common practice of killing and stealing cows for beef in Sur del lago farms. #Merida #Jan11 @Breaking @ElNacionalWeb
Video aficionado recibido de como están cazando y sacrificando las reses en las fincas de la zona sur del lago.#Mérida..#11ene ..@ReporteYa ..@ElNacionalWeb pic.twitter.com/oeSm4w8Oql — Leonardo León (@leoperiodista) January 11, 2018
The situation has led many ranchers and businessmen to pay armed groups to secure their properties.
“The desperation, impunity and serious humanitarian crisis that we are experiencing in Venezuela continues to deepen and is leading people to commit this type of crime,” Coordinator of the Venezuelan Conflict Observatory, Marco Antonio Ponce, said.
“This situation continues to worsen throughout the country given that it’s impossible to get food,” he said. “In the absence of imported products and in the absence of national production, we are experiencing a rather critical situation of scarcity of the few products that we still have in the country.”
After the looting in Merida during the last few hours it is important to remember that socialism and looting will ultimately be bad for everyone Defend #YourProperty!
A propósito de los saqueos en Calabozo registrados en las últimas horas, es bueno recordar que ¡El socialismo y los saqueos finalmente traerán pérdidas a todos! ¡Defiende #TuPropiedad! pic.twitter.com/tBj9GDLW5o — Cedice Libertad (@CEDICE) January 14, 2018
According to the Program for Human Rights Education and Action, the economic crisis has forced Venezuelans to buy pet food.
“I just came back from the Central Madeirense of the IPSFA [Caracas] and saw how they were voraciously grabbing packages of frozen meat for dogs,” Coordinator Rafael Uzcátegui said. “In line, I discovered that they were not getting them for their dogs.”
Meanwhile, Climax Magazine reported that the situation in Venezuela has reached such a serious level, that prostitutes are accepting food as payment for their services. | {
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Do you write enough tests? Even if the answer is yes, there might be some scenarios where you could add a few more to cover extra possibilities. But do you really want to go through the effort of having to write out another test for the extra inputs you are going to test? JUnitParams provides a solution to this, allowing you to write fewer individual tests while keeping the coverage the same. It does so by defining parameters to pass into each test, and then you use these parameters to replace what would have originally been static values.
In this post, I will show you a little tutorial on how to use JUnitParams.
As mentioned above, parameters are defined for tests using the @Parameters annotation. Note that not all the tests have to take in parameters and can be left as normal JUnit tests. The test will still run with no problems. There are a few different ways to pass these parameters into the tests, and they are included in the examples below.
@RunWith(JUnitParamsRunner.class) public class JUnitParamsTutorialTest { private JUnitParamsTutorial testSubject = new JUnitParamsTutorial(); // takes parameters from the inside the annotation @Test @Parameters({"1, 2, 3", "3, 4, 7", "5, 6, 11", "7, 8, 15"}) public void addProducesCorrectValue_usingAnnotatedParameters(final int a, final int b, final int expectedResult) { assertEquals(expectedResult, testSubject.add(a, b)); } // takes parameters from the addParameters method @Test @Parameters(method = "addParameters") public void addProducesCorrectValue_usingNamedMethodParameters(final int a, final int b, final int expectedResult) { assertEquals(expectedResult, testSubject.add(a, b)); } private Object[] addParameters() { return new Object[]{ new Object[]{1, 2, 3}, new Object[]{3, 4, 7}, new Object[]{5, 6, 11}, new Object[]{7, 8, 15} }; } // equivalent of version two but no method is defined // takes method that is named "parametersFor" + "name of the test" @Test @Parameters public void addProducesCorrectValue_usingMethodParametersWithoutName(final int a, final int b, final int expectedResult) { assertEquals(expectedResult, testSubject.add(a, b)); } private Object[] parametersForAddProducesCorrectValue_usingMethodParametersWithoutName() { return new Object[]{ new Object[]{1, 2, 3}, new Object[]{3, 4, 7}, new Object[]{5, 6, 11}, new Object[]{7, 8, 15} }; } // takes parameters from a CSV file @Test @FileParameters("resources/JUnitParamsTutorialParameters.csv") public void addProducesCorrectValue_usingCSV(final int a, final int b, final int expectedResult) { assertEquals(expectedResult, testSubject.add(a, b)); } // takes parameters from the containsParameters method @Test @Parameters(method = "containsParameters") public void testContains_usingNamedMethodParameters(final List<String> list, final String a, final boolean expectedResult) { assertEquals(expectedResult, testSubject.contains(list, a)); } private Object[] containsParameters() { return new Object[]{ new Object[]{Arrays.asList("a", "b", "c", "d", "e"), "c", true}, new Object[]{Arrays.asList("a", "b", "c", "d", "e"), "e", true}, new Object[]{Arrays.asList("a", "b"), "e", false}, new Object[]{Arrays.asList(), "e", false} }; } // takes parameters from the methods in MyContainsTestProvider @Test @Parameters(source = MyContainsTestProvider.class) public void testContains_usingSeperateClass(final List<String> list, final String a, final boolean expectedResult) { assertEquals(expectedResult, testSubject.contains(list, a)); } public static class MyContainsTestProvider { public static Object[] provideContainsTrueParameters() { return new Object[]{ new Object[]{Arrays.asList("a", "b", "c", "d", "e"), "c", true}, new Object[]{Arrays.asList("a", "b", "c", "d", "e"), "e", true}, new Object[]{Arrays.asList("a", "b"), "b", true}, new Object[]{Arrays.asList("a"), "a", true} }; } public static Object[] provideContainsFalseParameters() { return new Object[]{ new Object[]{Arrays.asList("a", "b", "c", "d", "e"), "f", false}, new Object[]{Arrays.asList("a", "b", "c", "d", "e"), "z", false}, new Object[]{Arrays.asList("a", "b"), "e", false}, new Object[]{Arrays.asList(), "e", false} }; } } }
And the little class that is the test subject of this unit test.
public class JUnitParamsTutorial { public int add(final int a, final int b) { return a + b; } public boolean contains(final List<String> list, final String a) { return list.contains(a); } }
The first thing to notice in the test class is:
@RunWith(JUnitParamsRunner.class)
... which will run this test with JUnitParams, allowing the use of its specific annotations.
Moving on a bit, you will see the tests, which each have the @Test and @Parameters or @FileParameters annotations on them. @Test is used to define methods as tests. The test methods each have input parameters like you would have in a normal method and are to be used in setting up the tests and possibly contain expected results.
@Test @Parameters({"1, 2, 3", "3, 4, 7", "5, 6, 11", "7, 8, 15"}) public void addProducesCorrectValue_versionOne(final int a, final int b, final int expectedResult) { assertEquals(expectedResult, testSubject.add(a, b)); }
In this test, four sets of three parameters are being passed into the test. This test will execute four times using each set of parameters per run through. The parameters were used to pass the expected result of each set while the remaining were used to pass into the test subject. If you were expecting all of your results to be true, then assertTrue could be used and the expected result does not need to be passed into the test. This test also demonstrated one of the ways to pass parameters into a test, and more methods will be discussed below.
There are a few ways to define parameters for tests. Parameters that are passed into tests using the @Parameters annotation must be Object[]s, and tests using the annotation @FileParameters must be CSVs. The different means to pass in parameters are shown below.
In the annotation: @Parameters({"1, 2, 3", "3, 4, 7", "5, 6, 11", "7, 8, 15"})
The parameters must be primitive objects such as integers, strings, or booleans. Each set of parameters is contained within a single string and will be parsed to their correct values as defined by the test method's signature.
In a method named in the annotation: @Parameters(method = "addParameters")
A separate method can be defined and referred to for parameters. This method must return an Object[] and can contain normal objects.
In a method not named in the annotation: @Parameters
When the annotation is left blank, it will look for a method that has the same name of the test it is attached to prefixed with parametersFor. So if your method is called testA, the parameter method will be called parametersForTestA.
In a class: @Parameters(source = MyContainsTestProvider.class)
A separate class can be used to define parameters for the test. This test must contain at least one static method that returns an Object[], and its name must be prefixed with provide. The class could also contain multiple methods that provide parameters to the test, as long as they also meet the required criteria.
CSV: @FileParameters("resources/JUnitParamsTutorialParameters.csv")
A CSV can also be used to contain the parameters for the tests. It is pretty simple to set up, as it's just a comma separated list. I spent most of the time trying to get the correct path to the file itself…
In summary, I quite like using JUnitParams and try to use it when it is applicable to the tests I am writing — normally, tests that can have a variety of different inputs or have varying outputs. There is one main thing that annoys me when using JUnitParams, though. Debugging can be pretty frustrating, as you cannot easily run one set of parameters at a time when desired, forcing me to comment out the parameters I don’t want to debug into, which isn’t a problem for normal tests, which can be run one at a time. Another, smaller issue I have is that both Eclipse and IntelliJ cannot jump to straight to each individual test when double-clicked on in their test views, although Eclipse has a few extra problems with JUnitParams that IntelliJ doesn’t run into.
For more information on JUnitParams, have a look at their GitHub page, which contains some examples, although some of them are a little out of date and are not usable anymore.
The example code that I used in this post can be found here. | {
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There’s something very wrong when masses of people are able to come together at the drop of a hat to protest the death of a member of their community at the hands of a cop, but are unable to find the energy to protest when a member of their community is killed by another member of their community.
The music icon spoke at the North Minneapolis Conference on Peace on Saturday.
Stevie Wonder spoke out about Black Lives Matter and youth gun violence at the North Minneapolis Conference on Peace on Saturday.
“It is in your hands to stop all of the killing and the shooting wherever it might be,” Wonder said. “You cannot say, ‘Black lives matter,’ and then kill yourselves. Because you know we’ve mattered long before it was said, but the way we show that we matter, the way that we show all the various people of color matter is by loving each other and doing something about it. Not just talking about it, not just waiting to see the media and press come when there’s a horrible thing.”
Watch:
Wonder’s statement came after he highlighted the fatal shooting of Philando Castile during a traffic stop by former Minnesota police officer Jeronimo Yanez. On Friday, Yanez was acquitted of all charges by a jury. – Billboard
The amazing website heyjackass.com provides up-to-date information on the current gun-crime situation in the gun-free city of Chicago. Why are there no protests in the city of Chicago from Black Lives Matter?
Every 2:30 minutes a person is shot in the city of Chicago. Where is the outrage from the black community over the killing of their own in their communities? | {
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As the countdown clock toward a deal to avert a federal shutdown neared zero, and for all the talk of reducing the size of government and scaling back federal spending, Democrats complained Friday that House Republicans were again fixated an age-old sticking point: Abortion.
“Republicans want to shut down the government because they want to make it harder for women to obtain the health services they need,” Sen. Harry Reid, the majority leader, said Friday on the Senate floor.
At issue is a provision, known as Title X, that sends federal dollars to Planned Parenthood for family planning and health services such as cancer screenings. Republicans want to allow states to redirect that money away from abortion providers. They also want to eliminate $317 million from the program for the 2011 fiscal year.
“The truth is that the rider regarding Planned Parenthood would bar Planned Parenthood from being paid by Medicaid and other federal programs for providing women with birth control, cancer screenings, HIV testing, and testing and treatment for other” sexually transmitted diseases, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards said in a statement. “More than 90% of the healthcare Planned Parenthood provides is preventive.”
Federal law already prevents tax dollars from being used for abortion, except in rare cases. But while Democrats insist the fight is about denying women healthcare services, two other proposals pushed by the GOP more directly affect abortion rights.
One would halt foreign aid funding to health organizations that promote or provide abortion services, a measure known as the Mexico City rule, as well as to the U.N. Population Fund, which provides reproductive, AIDS prevention and women’s health services.
Another provision would ban the District of Columbia from sending local tax revenue to groups that provide access to abortions.
House Speaker John Boehner on Friday morning insisted that spending levels are holding up a potential compromise, not policy issues.
“There’s only one reason that we do not have an agreement as yet, and that issue is spending,” Boehner said. “We are close to a resolution on the policy issues. But I think the American people deserve to know: When will the White House and when will Senate Democrats get serious about cutting spending?”
But Reid dismissed that, saying $38 billion in cuts from current spending levels had been agreed to.
Senate Democrats went full tilt into blaming a power struggle between Boehner and the conservative rank-and-file in the House for the holdup.
“This issue has been brought in by House Republicans at the last moment,” Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the assistant majority leader, said on the floor. “It virtually has no impact on government spending.”
While some reports have had the House negotiations driven by its “tea party” freshman class, the last-minute outcry over abortion shows that social conservatives still have some teeth in the chamber.
Last year, a sustained conflict over abortion services almost derailed the Democratic healthcare overhaul, with antiabortion protesters and women’s rights groups descending on the Capitol.
A compromise was ultimately reached and President Obama signed an executive order reaffirming that no funds from the healthcare bill’s subsidy provisions could be used for abortions.
If no deal on a new budget for the 2011 fiscal year is reached by midnight Friday, most government services will cease and 800,000 workers would be furloughed.
[email protected] | {
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