text
stringlengths 14
100k
| meta
dict |
|---|---|
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — West Virginia University President Gordon Gee and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich are creating a nonprofit that will fight to steer cash from any national opioid settlement to hospitals, rather than to local and state governments already sparring for control of the dollars.
Gee and Kasich say Citizens for Effective Opioid Treatment, a 501(c)4 organization to be announced Thursday, will educate policymakers and the public about the negative impact the opioid epidemic has had on health care infrastructure and advance health-related research solutions to the crisis.
“It’s an educational effort,” Gee said. “We want to help people understand that this is a crisis and that the caregivers — the hospitals, in particular — are really leading the charge in order to be able to both give care and solve the problem.”
The duo’s plan is the latest move in a tug-of-war over what to do with the potential billions that could flow from a national opioid settlement with drugmakers and distributors, if one is reached. Some individual settlements with counties and states have already been reached and larger pharmaceutical companies could yet cut deals as the clock ticks toward the first trial, which is set for October.
Local governments are asking the Cleveland-based federal judge who is overseeing the majority of more than 2,000 lawsuits over the toll of opioids to let them distribute the money among themselves. They say being able to negotiate as a group on behalf of all or most local governments would make it possible to reach a deal with the industry. They argue the crisis has hit local governments especially hard as they’ve needed to spend more on police, jails and other programs.
Most state attorneys general oppose that plan, saying the states would be in the best position to dole out money to local governments and to create larger scale prevention and treatment programs.
Both Gee and Kasich said their nonprofit isn’t intended as an attack on local governments. But Kasich, who was criticized as governor for cuts to the state’s local government fund, said large sums of undedicated money can tend to migrate.
“I’m not here to kind of tell the attorney generals what to do. If they can get a settlement and these communities can be reimbursed, good for them,” he said. “But I don’t want the money to go to fill potholes or to fill a budget gap or something like that. I want the money to go to the people who are on the front lines, because they are right up against the wall.”
Gee and Kasich developed a relationship when Kasich was Ohio’s governor, beginning in 2011, and Gee was president of Ohio State University.
Gee - himself a prolific fundraiser - said he enlisted Kasich’s help with the nonprofit for his political acumen. Gee called Kasich “a rainmaker and a door opener” who “knows everyone.”
Under IRS rules, the new tax-exempt nonprofit - which can raise unlimited amounts and not disclose its donors to the public - must “primarily” engage in social welfare and helping the community, meaning at least half its budget has to go to activities such as education rather than to political lobbying. Gee said a companion entity is planned whose collections can be spent more freely.
Hospitals in West Virginia, including one system separately chaired by Gee, sued some of the largest makers of the powerful painkillers in April, seeking monetary damages to cover the costs of the crisis. The epidemic has spread to include street drugs, such as heroin and illegal fentanyl.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says opioids were involved in more than 47,000 deaths in both 2017 and 2018.
Gee said hospitals have had to cope with front-line health care costs, the space requirements of patients unable to go home, the associated medical needs of children and newborns and added workload and security costs.
He said the nonprofit will solicit private donations to spread its message. Kasich said he will speak out publicly, write op-eds and appear in videos.
The idea of having a private foundation handle at least some of any money from an opioid settlement isn’t new. A group of public health groups including the Public Health Advocacy Institute at Boston’s Northeastern University filed papers in court in May calling for such an entity. The group said one of the successes from a 1998 national tobacco settlement was the $1.7 billion that went to such a group and helped reduce youth smoking.
But this approach makes some people bristle. Earlier this year, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and members of the Sackler family, which owns it, agreed to a $270 million settlement with the state of Oklahoma. Much of that money went to a research and treatment center at Oklahoma State University. Some lawmakers complained that they, rather than the state attorney general, should have gotten to decide what to do with the settlement.
In July, a group of state lawmakers in West Virginia asked their state’s attorney general for control of a $37 million opioid settlement with the drug distributor McKesson, arguing they were the ones best suited to assure the money went to treatment programs rather than administrative costs. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey responded in a statement that it’s important to “attack the drug epidemic holistically.”
___
Associated Press Writer Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this report from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.
Sign up for Daily Newsletters Manage Newsletters
Copyright © 2020 The Washington Times, LLC. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Social Media has been a great leveller in recent times. At the same time, it has become a potent weapon in the hands of unscrupulous individuals, who use it to spread untruths and falsehoods. Social media has broken the barriers between the common man and the media personalities living in their ivory towers. It has also been used by politicians and bureaucrats for various positive purposes.
One such instance happened yesterday when the CEO of Niti Aayog, took to twitter to call out the “absolute falsehood & utter garbage” of a journalist working with The Hindu.
Journalist Puja Mehra has previously featured on our site when she resorted to creative interpretations of the GDP figure, to prove Modi is wrong. Even on that occasion she was called out on twitter. This time she chose to tweet out some “gossip”:
Most government people in Delhi are gossiping of this one Niti Aayog outcome review meeting which made a Cabinet Minister lose their cool..! — Puja Mehra (@pujamehra) March 21, 2016
Within 30 minutes of this tweet, the CEO of Niti Aayog, Amitabh Kant, who was formerly the Secretary in the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, took to twitter to set the record straight:
@pujamehra this is absolute falsehood & utter garbage. I have been present in all Outcome meetings ofNiti Aayog. Not an iota of truth. — Amitabh Kant (@amitabhk87) March 21, 2016
- Advertisement -
The journalist quickly back-tracked and claimed that she did think that the “gossip” was untrue. One wonders what motivates journalists to tweet out gossip which they themselves think is untrue. Further, does this remark reveal how the usual “source” based stories are formulated?:
@amitabhk87 thought so. That’s why tweeted about the gossip and didn’t file a story. — Puja Mehra (@pujamehra) March 21, 2016
This was quickly followed by an attempt to hide behind language and semantics. When in doubt, pull out the victim/abuse card:
@amitabhk87 shocked at your choice of words though. — Puja Mehra (@pujamehra) March 21, 2016
Mr Kant stuck to his guns and expressed how important it is to negate any rumours. To this, Puja Mehra’s response was a quick goal-post shift, shifting the onus of the rumours on ministers and officers:
@amitabhk87 snip at the root. Cabinet Ministers and IAS officers are talking about them. Tell them to not spread ‘garbage’ and ‘falsehoods’? — Puja Mehra (@pujamehra) March 21, 2016
Ever since the new Government has come to power, access-journalism which thrived on sources and leaks from ministries has come to a grinding halt. With more people within the Government using social media as an effective tool to counter false propaganda online, the situation is only getting tougher for gossip-mongerers masquerading as intelligent journalists. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
A disc golfers blog spanning the tee pads, fairways, and disc catching chains of Central Texas. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
In the 1997 police drama “Cop Land,” Harvey Keitel’s character says, “And these men, to make a living, they cross that bridge everyday to a place where everything is upside down. Where the cop is the perp, and the perp is the victim.”
The line works on two levels. The first is that Keitel was playing a corrupt NYPD detective. Second, it was ahead of its time: Two decades later, California itself resembles that description, as new state laws and a recent warning from Attorney General Xavier Becerra make clear. State authorities are vowing not only to protect and promote the interests of illegal immigrants, but also to actually prosecute legal citizens of America who assist federal agents in enforcing immigration law. When a state official threatens to punish honest citizens for cooperating with the Immigration and Custom Enforcement agents, then everything is truly “upside down.”
Thankfully, the head of ICE, Acting Director Tom Homan, balks at this nonsense from Becerra and Gov. Jerry Brown. "If the politicians in California don’t want to protect their communities,” he declared, “then ICE will.”
President Trump triumphed in 2016 largely on a platform of regaining control of our immigration system, arguing persuasively that a porous border and widespread tolerance of illegal migrants jeopardizes both our national and economic security. Toward that latter point, AG Becerra should consider the plight of working-class citizens he’s supposed to serve. California, a state of immense overall wealth, has become a difficult place to get a perch on the American Dream. The factors are no secret: a high cost of living driven by mind-boggling housing price and high taxes, and stagnant wages depressed at least in part by labor force competition from illegal workers. Heritage Foundation economist Wendell Cox explained that California “middle-income households have been forced to accept lower standards of living.”
Who benefits from tolerating mass illegal immigrants? Sacramento politicians crassly believe they’re currying favor with Latino voters by obstructing Trump. Let’s start with California’s wealthy elites, who occupy amazing real estate on the Pacific coast while enjoying the spoils of cheap labor and millions of working-class people struggle. This helps explain why California has, by one U.S. Census Bureau metric, the highest actual poverty rate in America. Most Americans would likely guess that dubious distinction would belong to Mississippi or West Virginia, but for millions of people, the Golden State has become a “Paradise Lost,” a land spoiled by counterproductive government policies.
Aside from the affront of threatening honest citizens who assist law enforcement, Becerra also violates federal law and the Constitutional rights of Californians. As much as I respect federalism, only Washington, D.C., controls our immigration statutes, not the states. In addition, precluding citizens from cooperating with federal agents violates the First Amendment right to free speech. Any citizen is free, under our Bill of Rights, to speak or not speak with authorities (unless they’re under subpoena). The states may not, per the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, curtail those rights via state laws.
As a Latino and an immigrant son, I celebrate the centuries of progress in America made possible by countless legal immigrants building the cultural vitality and economic prosperity of our great nation. In recent decades, our immigration model has become badly broken, especially in California, where 55 percent of immigrant households receive public assistance. In addition to securing our border and moving toward merit-based legal immigrant screening, better enforcement represents a pillar of protecting the safety and success of American citizens first. Grandstanding politicians like Xavier Becerra pursue their own narrow political agenda, without regard for the well-being of federal agents, the citizens of California, or our sacred Constitution. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
The number of Americans being secretly wiretapped or having their financial and other records reviewed by the government has continued to increase as officials aggressively use powers approved after the Sept. 11 attacks. But the number of terrorism prosecutions ending up in court -- one measure of the effectiveness of such sleuthing -- has continued to decline, in some cases precipitously.
The trends, visible in new government data and a private analysis of Justice Department records, are worrisome to civil liberties groups and some legal scholars. They say it is further evidence that the government has compromised the privacy rights of ordinary citizens without much to show for it.
The emphasis on spy programs also is starting to give pause to some members of Congress who fear the government is investing too much in anti-terrorism programs at the expense of traditional crime-fighting. Other lawmakers are raising questions about how well the FBI is performing its counter-terrorism mission.
The Senate Intelligence Committee last week concluded that the bureau was far behind in making internal changes to keep the nation safe from terrorist threats. Lawmakers urged that the FBI set specific benchmarks to measure its progress and make more regular reports to Congress.
These concerns come as the Bush administration has been seeking to expand its ability to gather intelligence without prior court approval. It has asked Congress for amendments to the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to make it clear that eavesdropping on foreign telecommunications signals routed through the U.S. does not require a warrant.
Law enforcement officials say the additional surveillance powers have been critically important in ways the public does not always see. Threats can be mitigated, they say, by deporting suspicious people or letting them know that authorities are watching them.
“The fact that the prosecutions are down doesn’t mean that the utility of these investigations is down. It suggests that these investigations may be leading to other forms of prevention and protection,” said Thomas Newcomb, a former Bush White House national security aide. He said there were half a dozen actions outside of the criminal courts that the government could take to snuff out potential threats, including using diplomatic or military channels.
Although legal experts say they would not necessarily expect the number of prosecutions to rise along with the stepped-up surveillance, there are few other good ways to measure how well the government is progressing in keeping the country safe.
“How does one measure the success? The short answer is we aren’t in a great position to know,” said Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor. With prosecutions declining, he said, the public is left with imperfect and possibly misleading ways to gauge progress in the Bush administration’s war on terrorism -- such as the number of secret warrants the government issues or the number of agents it assigns to terrorism cases.
“These are the only tracks in the snow left by terrorism investigations, if there are no more counter-terrorism prosecutions,” Richman said. “This is why, more than ever, there is a pressing need for congressional oversight, for accountability at the top of the [Justice] department, and for public confidence in the department.”
--
Changing numbers
A recent study showed that the number of terrorism and national security cases initiated by the Justice Department in 2007 was more than 50% below 2002 levels. The nonprofit Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University, which obtained the data under the Freedom of Information Act, found that the number of cases brought declined 19% in the last year alone, dropping to 505 in 2007 from 624 in 2006.
By contrast, the Justice Department reported last month that the nation’s spy court had granted 2,370 warrant requests by the department to search or eavesdrop on suspected terrorists and spies in the U.S. last year -- 9% more than in 2006. The number of such warrants approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has more than doubled since the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The department also reported a sharp rise in the use of national security letters by the FBI -- from 9,254 in 2005 to 12,583 in 2006, the latest data available. The letters seek customer information from banks, Internet providers and phone companies. They have caused a stir because consumers do not have a right to know that their information is being disclosed and the letters are issued without court oversight.
The inspector general of the Justice Department has found numerous cases in which FBI agents failed to comply with rules and guidelines in issuing the letters, often gaining access to information they were not entitled to. The FBI has responded by taking a number of measures to tighten its internal procedures.
Civil liberties groups say the new data reveal a disturbing consequence of the government’s post-Sept. 11 expanded surveillance capabilities.
“The number of Americans being investigated dwarfs any legitimate number of actual terrorism prosecutions, and that is extremely troubling -- for both the security and privacy of innocent Americans as well as for the squandering of resources on people who have not and never will be charged with any wrongdoing,” said Lisa Graves, deputy director of the Center for National Security Studies, a Washington-based civil liberties group.
--
A mixed record
But Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman, said statistics on court-approved FISA applications and statistics on criminal prosecution were “apples and oranges.”
“There are a variety of factors that may account for the increase in court-approved FISA applications since 9/11,” he said. Boyd said he could not comment on those factors, but said, “It is important to remember that surveillance under FISA is authorized by an independent court and used carefully and judiciously to protect the country from national security threats.”
Certainly, the government has pursued a number of high-profile terrorism cases of late. A U.S. sailor was convicted in March of providing support to terrorists by passing classified information regarding movements of a Navy battle group to operators of an Internet site suspected of terrorist leanings.
The record in court has been somewhat mixed, however. Federal prosecutors in Miami twice have failed to secure verdicts in the cases of six men accused of plotting to destroy Chicago’s Sears Tower and several FBI offices. After two mistrials, the “Liberty City Seven” case is due in court in January.
Even some former government officials concede many intelligence investigations fail to yield evidence of a serious threat to the U.S. “Most of these threats ultimately turn out to be wrong, or maybe just the investigating makes them go away,” said Washington lawyer Michael Woods, former head of the FBI national security law unit. “A lot more information is going to pass through government hands, and most of that is going to be about people who turn out to be innocent or irrelevant.”
--
[email protected] | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Using OCaml to visualize Radiohead's HoC music video (part 3)
Posted in: ocaml , visualization , opengl
Particle Model
class particle_model : object (* starting frame *) val mutable start_frame : VertexType . depth_vertex list (* ending frame *) val mutable last_frame : VertexType . depth_vertex list (* currently loaded frame *) val mutable loaded_frame : VertexType . depth_vertex list (* if setted to true, it will load a new frame for each step of the animation *) val mutable refresh_frames : bool (* same as the camera_model -check that post *) val mutable time : float val mutable total_frames : float val mutable transition : Transition . trans * Transition . ease (* extend start_frame or last_frame in order to have same number of points *) method balance : unit (* equivalent to the camera methods *) method step : unit method draw : float -& gt ; unit (* set the type of the animation you want to perform *) method set_animation : float -& gt ; bool * bool * ( ParticleTrans . transformation * float * ( Transition . trans * Transition . ease )) -& gt ; unit end
type animation_op = ParticleTrans . transformation * float * ( Transition . trans * Transition . ease )
type camera_op_list = ( camera_op list ) * float * ( trans * ease )
The float value is the total number of frames the animation will use.
The (trans \* ease) value allows you to customize different type of transitions, from Linear, None to Quad, EaseInOut. More information about this is in the camera_model post.
ParticleTrans.transformation is a function that applies a transformation to a frame. You can define custom functions in that module and then apply them to the visualization. I only defined a couple of functions, but you can define any other animation you like. You just have to define a function that receives a frame as input and returns a frame as output. The interface for ParticleTrans is: type transformation = | Idle | Project of float * float * float | Random val idle : ' a -& gt ; ' a val project : transformation -& gt ; VertexType . depth_vertex list -& gt ; VertexType . depth_vertex list val random : VertexType . depth_vertex list -& gt ; VertexType . depth_vertex list val get_trans : transformation -& gt ; VertexType . depth_vertex list -& gt ; VertexType . depth_vertex list
Putting it all together
let timeline = object ( self ) val mutable frame = 0 . val camera_timeline = [ (* operations defined in the camera model post *) ] val particle_timeline = [ (* frame number, (invert, refresh frames, instruction) *) ( 1 ., ( true , true , ( Random , 120 ., ( Elastic , EaseOut )))); ( 420 ., ( false , false , ( Random , 50 ., ( Quad , EaseOut )))); ( 471 ., ( false , true , ( Idle , 80 ., ( Quad , EaseIn )))) ] method get_frame = frame method tick = frame & lt ;- frame +. 1 .; self # update_camera ; self # update_animation method update_camera = try let camera_anim = List . assoc frame camera_timeline in cam # set_animations camera_anim ; with | Not_found -& gt ; () method update_animation = try let anim = List . assoc frame particle_timeline in part # set_animation frame anim ; with | Not_found -& gt ; () end
Download and Use
ocamlc - g str . cma - I + camlimages ci_core . cma ci_jpeg . cma ci_bmp . cma - I + lablGL lablglut . cma lablgl . cma interpolate . ml transition . ml camera . ml loader . ml particleTrans . ml particle . ml main . ml - o main
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
Disqus
*Update 10/2009:* The project is currently hosted at GitHub . *Update 01/2009:* Created a new hoc3.zip file and some documentation . A while ago Radiohead published their House of Cards video data in form of CSV files. Each CSV file contains information about the 3D position of the points for each frame. I wrote a couple of previous posts that covered how to render and save that data with OpenGL and OCaml and also how to customize camera movement in OpenGL . This post shows how to customize particle animations for Radiohead's House of Cards video. A proof of concept for camera movement + particle animation is shown in this youtube video:If you want to generate the video, you have to download Radiohead's HoC music video data here . Also, you can download the source code for this project here . This small project is organized in a way that is easy to add new features, camera animations and particle transformations in order to easily code new videos with different effects using the HoC data. Radiohead's HoC data is a set of CSV files. Those files are rendered in OpenGL with OCaml and then saved in bmp or jpeg files to be merged into a video using ffmpeg. If you want to know more about this you should probably read part 1 of this "trilogy". The Camera Model class allows you to make custom camera movements that can be handled and defined in a Timeline object in the main.ml file. If you like to know more about this, you can read part 2 of this "trilogy". This last post shows how to customize particle interpolation and movement by using the Particle Model class, the ParticleTrans module and the Timeline object.The particle_model class handles particle animations. Somewhat like the camera class, particle_model stores the initial frame and the last frame along with some extra information about the timing of the animation. The particle_model then performs an interpolation from the initial_frame to the last_frame, rendering the state of the transformation in the draw function. A possible interface for the particle model could be something like this:Particle animations have a special type, that ressembles the camera model transition type. This type is defined as follows:Just to make a comparison, the camera model transition type is:This type can be divided into three main parts:The timeline object (described in the previous post ) holds information about the camera and particle transformations beeing applied at each stage of the animation. This class-less object is defined in the main.ml file and looks like this:The particle_timeline and camera_timeline variables hold the transformations to be performed at different stages of the animation.You can download the project here . You can compile the project by typing:Any comment about the Video or the OpenGL/OCaml implementation is very welcome! | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Mike Babcock joined the Dean Blundell & Co
It’s funny, you know, because, when you were announced as head coach, I thought I know he’ll probably understand that this place is hyper sensitive and a real magnifying glass for everything to do with the Toronto Maple Leafs. But I bet you never thought you’d see your house listing on sports media sites.
Babcock: You know, the classic thing about it is I didn’t even know. One of my neighbours called and told me about it. It was great; the market in Detroit was real good so our house was sold in two hours, which was really nice. The next day I guess they’re reporting that, [but] the house was now off the market and it’s already been sold. I phoned the people and said, “you mind getting all of that stuff down so we can get on with our life here?” You know, obviously selling our house was good. We maintain a property in Michigan, though; my kids want to summer there for the next three, four, five years, so we maintained a property there. My wife and I are happy to be living here.
You must be amazed though; I don’t know if you thought it’d be this scrutinized… the attention you’ve received so far.
Babcock: Obviously, I knew, being a Canadian myself – I think part of being Canadian is you believe that hockey is your game. The Toronto Maple Leafs are an original six franchise, which is a special, special thing, but right now we don’t hold, I don’t believe, our rightful place in the National Hockey League. We’ve got to get a better product on the ice on a year-to-year, day-to-day basis. That’s Shanny’s plan here and with Lou and myself that’s what we plan on getting done over time.
You mentioned, I was reading the Sun this weekend, a nice kind of expose unplugged with Mike Zeisberger. You talked about being scared to death. You’ve spoken a lot about your expectations and you holding yourself to those, and that’s who you’re accountable to – you. You’re not worried about other people. I guess I would ask you: Is it the new experience, or is it kind of everything involved with a new move, new team, new city, or is it the challenge of taking over this franchise and coaching the Toronto Maple Leafs that is a little intimidating?
Babcock: I don’t think intimidating is the right word at all. Scared, or fearful, is what I talked about. I remember in 1997, when they gave me the World Junior job and I got off the phone, I remember saying to myself, “oh my god, what am I getting myself into? They just won four in a row.” I probably said the same thing when I got the job in Anaheim. I know I did when I got the job in 2010 to coach Canada’s Olympic team. Same thing in 2014. Anything new is exhilarating. You believe you can disarm the bomb; that’s how you have to think. If you think you can, you can. And yet, it would’ve been way safer to stay in Detroit. You’re insulated with Ken Holland, you’ve got players that you’ve known for a long time; you know who they are. Right now, I have a face chart on my desk. I don’t even know who the players are. You know how they skate when you see them on the ice, you know who they are, but you don’t know what they look like. It’s a way different situation; you’re getting to know people. What I like about it, for me, is it’s energizing. Every day I get up, I’m pumped up; I’m ready to go. Is there going to be some tough times here? No question about it. Are we going to have a good time doing it? Absolutely. I’m very excited.
I
We’ve talked to a couple guys like Peter Holland, who says he’s had a conversation with you. You watch Nazem Kadri posting instagram pictures and twitter pictures of doing box jumps and working out; he says it’s the best he’s ever [trained]. Have you talked to the guys on the team last year. We know kind of about the debacle last year and how tough it’s been in the city. Have you made them aware of your expectations and what they are?
Babcock: Basically, what I’ve done was, on my initial call to every guy, I just said hello. I didn’t want to get into anything positive, anything negative; I just wanted to say hello and look forward to getting to know them. When I bumped into them here, or anyone I’ve met individually, we’ve had fairly good conversations. Most of them, until I’m around them for a period of time, through exhibition, I’m really not going to know who they are as a player. What I try to do is I never confuse the player and the person. I love coaching hockey; I love the guys. Absolutely love the guys, and yet, just because I think you’re a good man and you try hard, it doesn’t mean you get to play. It’s about what you do on the ice. I try not to confuse the two. I’m going to get to know them both as people and as players, and we’re going to have good people here who play hard and compete hard and the best players are getting to play. That’s the process we’re in right now. I had dinner with Lou and Jacques last night and we’re all talking about the fact that we don’t know who they are. So, until we spend some time with them, we’re not going to know. We’re going to get that figured out over the next chunk of time and it happens in a hurry now.
You know what you do? Like in house league, you take those little sticky notes, you put them over their helmets with their first name. It should be a lot easier.
Babcock: That’s exactly what I’d like to do, but they don’t like you to do that in the National Hockey League. We used to do that all the time at camp in Red Deer College. I’d put their name on the front of their helmet. I actually asked about doing that at Olympic camp. They didn’t think I should have “Sid” on the front of his helmet.
Did you get a sense of relief from some of the players that this is a new fresh start for everybody involved?
Babcock: I haven’t talked to any of them about the past. That, to me, has nothing to do with what we’re doing here. This is a new opportunity. I’ve been impressed with every guy I’ve talked to. I’ve been impressed when I’ve watched them skate. I’ve been impressed when I’ve seen guys work out. They’ve been good. Now, they should be good; in the short term, it’s easy to be on your best behavior. But who you are is what you do everyday and is what you do when no one is watching. That’s what I’m looking for; I’m looking for authentic people who bring it every single day. We’re going to end up with a good group with that. Is it going to take time? Sure it’s going to take time. Are we all going to learn from one another? Absolutely. But I think it’s an exciting time here. We’re in a process. I think the journey’s always the most fun anyway, and we’re embarking on one of those.
If a 19-year-old William Nylander, and let’s even say Mitch Marner, if they come into camp and show you they deserve to be there, will that opportunity be afforded to those guys? Will there be a spot for those guys should you deem that these guys have something to offer?
Babcock: The way I look at it is real simple for young guys. Tie goes to the veteran. A kid has to earn his way. No jobs are given here for free. Everything about it is, “can you help us?” Not, “can you get in the lineup?” Can you help us? The way the CBA works today is you have to pay these guys. If you play a kid when he isn’t ready to help the team, it’s one year off his contract. Would you rather have that guy playing when he can help your team? That’s another thing to consider. To me, I think the process we’re in is we have to get to know the guys here. I don’t know which kids are ready to play, which kids aren’t ready to play, which kids are physically, which kids are mentally ready to go. What you do at training camp each year – you get fired up about the kids, you’re all charged up, they’re fired up through exhibition, the regular season starts and ten games in the kid’s sitting with the General Manager. Let’s make sure they’re ready to play, and when they’re ready to play they’re going to be Leafs. If they’re not, they can play for the Marlies or play junior.
What is the expectation this season?
Babcock: The expectation is simple: Get better each and every day, and when you walk out of the rink hold your head high because you competed at the highest level.
Being aware of the abject disappointment this rabid fan base has had to endure over the past forty-odd years, last year’s debacle… you say you’re getting better every day, but what’s the best advice you can give to fans? You talk to Maple Leafs fans around the city and everybody is kind of sitting there with one eye open, one eye closed, thinking, “could this be the change or the turnaround this franchise has so desperately wanted for such a long time?” If you could get people to temper their expectations – I know you’ve talked about pain – what advice would you give a fan who has been through this for decades in the city of Toronto?
Babcock: I think it’s real simple. Just be patient. It’s going to happen. How’s that? There it is. It’s done. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Ryan issued one of the Republicans' irate statements:
“No one should be above the law. But based upon the director's own statement, it appears damage is being done to the rule of law. Declining to prosecute Secretary Clinton for recklessly mishandling and transmitting national security information will set a terrible precedent. The findings of this investigation also make clear that Secretary Clinton misled the American people when she was confronted with her criminal actions.”
And then he held a news conference, where he asked the Obama administration to stop giving Clinton, who was the Democrats' newly minted presidential nominee, classified briefings. “Individuals who are 'extremely careless,' close quote,” Ryan said, using the term then-FBI director James B. Comey used to describe Clinton's email practices, “should be denied further access to information.” (That proposal never got anywhere). (Ryan's office reached out to underscore that he thought Clinton should be able to receive classified briefings if she became president, since you can't deny presidents classified information.)
AD
AD
The message was clear: Ryan thought the FBI should have charged Clinton for a crime for sending and receiving classified information on a private email server she used exclusively as secretary of state.
Ryan piped up again about this 11 days before the election, when Comey told Congress his team had found new emails related to Clinton that they were looking into. The FBI did not describe it as a reopening of an investigation, but Ryan sure did:
We're spending so much time parsing Ryan's words about a candidate in an election that is now over because suddenly, it's not Clinton who is on the receiving end of criticism about the way she handled classified information. It's President Trump.
The Washington Post's ace national security team reported Monday that while in an Oval Office meeting last week with top Russian officials, Trump told them highly classified information about the Islamic State. The information he told to the Russian ambassador and foreign minister is so secret it's not even relayed to some U.S. allies, let alone a country that most intelligence officials think meddled in the U.S. election.
“It is all kind of shocking,” a former senior U.S. official who is close to current administration officials told The Post's Greg Miller and Greg Jaffe. “Trump seems to be very reckless and doesn’t grasp the gravity of the things he’s dealing with, especially when it comes to intelligence and national security. And it’s all clouded because of this problem he has with Russia.”
AD
AD
Reckless. That's exactly the word Ryan used in another statement, issued in September, after the FBI released its report of its interview with Clinton. The FBI's investigation demonstrates, Ryan said, “Hillary Clinton’s reckless and downright dangerous handling of classified information during her tenure as secretary of state.”
It's also the exact word that at least one former intelligence official used to describe the fact Trump shared information so secret it requires a code word just to talk about it among U.S. officials.
The Fix's Aaron Blake rounded up their comments to Miller and Jaffe:
“Trump seems to be very reckless, and doesn’t grasp the gravity of the things he’s dealing with, especially when it comes to intelligence and national security.” — a former senior U.S. official close to current administration officials
“Russia could identify our sources or techniques.” — a senior U.S. official
“I don’t think that it would be that hard [for Russian spy services] to figure this out.” — a former intelligence official who worked on Russia-related issues
“He seems to get in the room or on the phone and just goes with it — and that has big downsides. Does he understand what’s classified and what’s not? That’s what worries me.” — a former U.S. official
Perhaps “reckless” is in the eye of the beholder. As president, Trump has the authority to declassify government secrets, while anyone else in government (like secretaries of state) does not.
In his initial statement about Trump's comments to Russian officials, Ryan made no attempt to provide cover for the president. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
how to make reddit suck less
Reddit's a pretty cool site. Well, parts of it are. Unfortunately, those parts are pretty obscure, and the Reddit that the vast majority of its users see is more or less pure shit. Here's what the front page of Reddit looks like to someone who isn't logged in.
"Funny" youtube videos, "funny" comics, shriekingly partisan political news, crap, crap, crap. Reddit is not, in fact, a terrible site where the SNR approaches zero, but you wouldn't know it from this screenshot. We can do quite a lot better than this.
First, create an account. It's pretty damn easy, and you don't even need to provide an email address.
Now click on the "EDIT" link in the the top right corner of the screen. This will take you to the subreddit editing page.
Subreddits are the lego blocks of Reddit. Each one is dedicated to a certain topic, and if a link in a subreddit gets enough upvotes, it bubbles up to the front page, where millions of people immediately crush whatever webserver is being linked to. Unfortunately, the default subreddits all have hundreds of thousands of subscribers, and are all absolutely terrible. So let's unsubscribe from them all.
There won't be a lot left. In fact, at the time of writing, doing this resulted in nothing on the front page. While this has a certain "we had to destroy the village in order to save it" appeal, you probably actually want to see stuff when you go to Reddit. So I suggest subscribing to:
And a screenshot of what it looks like afterwards:
Beauty. But we can do better!
In my experience, links to imgur, youtube, or ted.com are always crap. Reddit doesn't let you block links to certain domains, but Reddit Enhancement Suite does. Go there, and install it. Now click on [RES] in the upper right corner, go to "Configure Modules" and scroll to "filteReddit" in the drop down menu. Add the (un)desired domains in the "domains" section.
While we're changing settings, go to the standard Reddit preferences page, and set "don't show me comments with a score less than" to "10".
Congrats! You are now the owner of a much-improved Reddit.
(some subreddit recommendations credit this nerd.) | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told West Bank Jewish leaders Monday night that settlement development was effectively frozen, local council leaders claimed.
According to a report on Ynet news, the prime minister told council heads during a tense meeting that “the settlements can no longer be developed and we must preserve that which exists.”
There was no official corroboration of settler leaders’ claims.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up
But following the meeting, the Yesha Council, which represents the settler movement, issued a scathing statement that “A government that does not build loses its right to exist.”
The council rejected assertions that a halt to construction would help preserve existing settlements. “The right way to protect the settlement project is only through development and construction. The best defense is an offense.”
The head of the Har Hebron regional council Yohai Damari also issued a statement according to which “the prime minister stated his intent to halt the settlement initiative.”
Damari said such action would “desperately hurt many communities.”
Both the Yesha Concul and Damari called on government ministers to prevent a construction freeze.
At the end of last month, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki handed International Criminal Court prosecutors a file detailing settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as well as alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza.
The Israeli government has said it will respond to the ICC’s investigation on the matter.
Israeli officials maintained, however, that their communications with the ICC probe will only be to reaffirm the government’s stance that the Palestinian Authority, as a non-state actor, does not have the right to open a case against Israel, the report said. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
The United States will regain its lead as the world’s most competitive manufacturing nation by the year 2020, according to a report by economic analyst Deloitte.
Deloitte made its forecast after surveying the opinions of manufacturing industry executives for its 2016 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index.
Deloitte says “executives expect the US to assume the top position before the end of the decade”.
Currently, Deloitte says China is the most competitive nation, followed by the US in second, Germany in third, and Japan and South Korea placed fourth and fifth respectively.
The main driver of the resurgence of the US, according to Deloitte, is advanced manufacturing technologies.
The trend towards adopting higher value, advanced manufacturing technologies are tilting the advantage to developed nations in the future, says Deloitte.
The report says: “CEOs say advanced manufacturing technologies is a key to unlocking future competitiveness. As the digital and physical worlds converge within manufacturing, executives indicate the path to manufacturing competitiveness is through advanced technologies.
“The shift to higher value, advanced manufacturing tilts the advantage to developed nations in the future. As the manufacturing industry increasingly applies more advanced and sophisticated product and process technologies and materials, traditional manufacturing powerhouses of the 20th century are back toward the very top of the 10 most competitive nations in 2016.”
Deloitte uses its own system for rating individual countries’ competitiveness in manufacturing, and below is the full list the consultancy published.
Deloitte Global CEO survey: 2016 Global manufacturing competitiveness index rankings by country
China United States Germany Japan South Korea United Kingdom Taiwan Mexico Canada Singapore India Switzerland Sweden Thailand Poland Turkey Malaysia Vietnam Indonesia Netherlands Australia France Czech Republic Finland Spain Belgium South Africa Italy Brazil United Arab Emirates Ireland Russia Romania Saudi Arabia Portugal Colombia Egypt Nigeria Argentina Greece
The above is Deloitte’s own list and is, as mentioned, based on the consultancy’s own criteria. Another, similar list of major manufacturing nations, based on output is included below.
But one particularly interesting part of the Deloitte survey was a list of what CEOs said were the most important advanced manufacturing technologies, which we publish below.
Predictive analytics Smart, connected products (internet of things) Advanced materials Smart factories (IoT) Digital design, simulation and integration High performance computing Advanced robotics Additive manufacturing (3D printing) Open source design / direct customer input Augmented reality (to improve quality, training, expert knowledge) Augmented reality (to increase customer service and experience)
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development statistics, the world’s leading manufacturer in 2014 – the latest available figures – was China, as shown in the list below, along with the individual country’s total manufacturing output in billions of dollars.
UN Conference on Trade and Development statistics on manufacturing output in 2014
China – 1,882 United States – 1,843 Japan – 1,001 Germany – 680 South Korea – 368 India – 290 France – 267 Italy – 257 United Kingdom – 247 Taiwan – 190 Mexico – 170 Canada – 150 Brazil – 145 Russia – 140 Spain – 134 Turkey – 120 Indonesia – 110 Switzerland – 95 Poland – 94 Netherlands – 87
Figures in billions of dollars.
[visualizer id=”8530″]
The combined manufactured output of the above countries accounts for around 84 per cent of total world manufacturing output, which reached a two-year high in September, according to reports quoted in SeekingAlpha.com.
Share this: Print
Facebook
LinkedIn
Reddit
Twitter
Tumblr
Pinterest
Skype
WhatsApp
Telegram
Pocket
| {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
As humans continue to pump the atmosphere with carbon, it's crucial for scientists to understand how and where the planet absorbs and naturally emits carbon.
A recent study in the journal Nature Geosciences examined the global carbon cycle and suggests that existing studies may have misgauged how carbon is distributed around the world, particularly between the northern and southern hemispheres. The results could change projections of how, when and where the currently massive levels of atmospheric carbon will result in environmental changes such as ocean acidification.
By reexamining ocean circulations and considering the carbon-moving power of rivers, the study's authors suggest that as much as 40 percent of the world's atmospheric carbon absorbed by land needs to be reallocated from existing estimates. In particular, the Southern Ocean encircling Antarctica and forests in the northern hemisphere -- while still substantial absorbers or "sinks" of carbon -- may not take up as much as scientists have figured.
"The carbon story we got is more consistent with what people have observed on the ground," said first author Laure Resplandy, an assistant professor of geosciences and the Princeton Environmental Institute.
"Rivers have been largely overlooked," Resplandy said. "We need to better constrain the transport of carbon from the land to the ocean by rivers. Otherwise, this carbon is attributed to the land sink and is missing from the ocean sink. If carbon goes into the land or into the ocean, it doesn't have the same impact."
Resplandy and her co-authors used models and field observations to find that the world's oceans transport heat between the northern and southern hemispheres in the same way that carbon is transported. The transport of heat, however, is easier to observe. By tracking this heat, the researchers discovered that the ocean in the southern hemisphere is a much smaller carbon sink than previously thought and that the land at the same latitude is an almost non-existent source of carbon.
advertisement
At the same time, the land in the northern hemisphere is a much smaller sink, meaning that it absorbs less carbon than climate models had accounted for. Instead, the researchers found that this carbon is sent to the ocean by rivers and transported to the southern hemisphere by ocean currents with 20 to 100 percent more strength than previous studies and models had shown.
For scientists, the world's carbon "budget" is like a bank ledger, Resplandy said. The carbon being absorbed into the global cycle needs to match the carbon being emitted. While the ocean carbon cycle is well documented, direct observations of carbon flux on land are difficult to obtain and influenced by numerous factors. As a result, the extent to which land acts as a sink or source is largely deduced by assigning it whatever carbon is left over after ocean data are considered, Resplandy said.
"In the southern hemisphere, the ocean sink was overestimated. As a result, the land, which is deduced from observed atmospheric carbon dioxide and the assumed ocean sink in the same region, was found to be a source," Resplandy said.
"This was highly surprising though as there is not a lot of land mass in the southern hemisphere to sustain this source," she said. "Our new estimate reconciles this apparent discrepancy by suggesting that there is a weaker ocean sink and close-to-zero land flux in the south."
In a commentary about the paper published in Nature Geosciences, Andrew Lenton, a research scientist at the Centre for Southern Hemisphere Oceans Research in Australia, wrote that the researchers established a correlation between heat and carbon transport, and showed that the pre-industrial carbon cycle can inform the understanding of the cycle today.
The researchers "provided an important baseline for understanding and attributing changes in land and ocean sinks in response to increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations," Lenton wrote. "Their results demonstrate the importance of the pre-industrial carbon cycle in setting the distribution of carbon sinks in the present day, and the power of exploiting the relationship between ocean heat and carbon transport driven by large-scale circulation."
Scientists need to know how much carbon is entering the oceans, and where, so that they can more accurately project environmental changes that have a global reach, Resplandy said. Oceans, especially in the southern hemisphere, naturally take up carbon and heat from the atmosphere. But the price paid is a warmer ocean and higher acidity that threatens marine life and sea-based economies such as fishing.
"Now it matters to do a better job understanding the ocean," Resplandy said. "Our main point is that carbon gets re-distributed because it was wrongly allocated. A lot of people had different pieces, but all the pieces weren't quite fitting together." | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
NASCAR Chief International Officer Jim Cassidy has left the organization. NASCAR: "Jim Cassidy has spearheaded a number of key initiatives throughout his time with the sanctioning body. We thank him for his many years of outstanding contributions, and wish him well in all future endeavors.” | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Convert any RC airplane into a fully-autonomous UAV!
Just add the APM 2 autopilot to any RC aircraft and it becomes a fully-programmable flying robot with a powerful ground station and Mission Planner.
Features include:
Return to Launch with a flick of your RC toggle switch or a mouse click in the graphical Ground Station
Unlimited 3D GPS waypoints
Built-in camera control
Fully-scriptable missions
One-click software load, and easy point-and-click configuration in the powerful Mission Planner. NO programming required!
Replay recorded missions and analyze all the data with a graphing interface
Supports two-way telemetry with Xbee wireless modules.
Point-and-click waypoint entry or real-time mission commands while the UAV is in the air
Fly with a joystick or gamepad via your PC--no need for RC control!
Built-in failsafe will bring your aircraft home in the case of radio loss
All instructions and software are here.
APM 2 is an open source, Arduino-compatible, pro-quality autopilot. It is the most advanced IMU-based open source autopilot available today, and provides an entire UAV control system with scriptable missions with 3D waypoints, in-flight uploading of commands and powerful ground station software.
APM 2 supports any kind of of vehicle with a one-click change of code. Available code include ArduPlane (fixed wing), ArduCopter (rotary wing), ArduRover (ground vehicles) and more.
Everything you need to create an ArduPlane UAV:
* APM 2.5 autopilot with GPS ($179)
* [Optional] Telemetry kit ($75). | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. – John 8:32
I recently realized that because the prohibitionists have a set of stock lies they can repeat in an article or internet comment, someone trying to refute them is forced to link to a number of different sources to debunk those lies. In order to make things easier, I’ve decided to consolidate responses in one place; in a few days I’ll replicate this column as a static page, to which I can add new lies which may appear and new statistics with which to debunk them. This column only covers factual claims; emotional arguments of the “no little girl dreams of being a prostitute” variety are covered in “Amazingly Stupid Statements”.
LIE: The average age at which a woman enters prostitution is 13.
TRUTH: If this were true, there would have to be huge numbers of toddler-prostitutes to balance the many, many women who start later in life, such as to support themselves after divorce. Even underage prostitutes start at an average of 15-16, and only 15% of teen hookers (themselves a small minority of all sex workers) enter at an age below 13. A conservative estimate for the average age at which women enter the trade is 25. The “average debut at 13” lie was a purposeful distortion by anti-sex crusader Melissa Farley, who misrepresented the average age of first noncommercial sexual contact (which could include kissing, petting, etc) reported by underage girls in one 1982 study as though it were the age they first reported selling sex; the actual average age at which the girls in that study began prostitution was 16.
LIE: The average age of death for a prostitute is 34.
TRUTH: That figure was derived from a 2003 study which examined all of the reports of murdered street workers in Colorado Springs from 1967-1999, and discovered that the average age of death of those victims was 34. In other words, nobody who wasn’t murdered was included in the figure. It’s like using the average age of dead soldiers in a war to proclaim “the average man who joins the military dies at 21”.
LIE: The demonstrable problems with legalization schemes in places like Nevada and the Netherlands constitute an argument in favor of criminalization.
TRUTH: The demonstrable problems with those legalization schemes constitute an argument in favor of decriminalization. No sex worker rights organization in the world favors the Dutch or Nevada models, precisely because they do give rise to a host of problems which are prevented by treating sex work as work.
LIE: 85% of prostitutes report childhood sexual abuse.
TRUTH: The original source for this claim was a 2004 study of incarcerated street workers which actually claimed that 45% reported sexual abuse and 85% physical abuse. Furthermore, there are serious methodological problems with the study, which is typical when biased researchers use an unrepresentative convenience sample and then extrapolate the results to a much larger population with which it does not correlate to any meaningful extent.
LIE: “End Demand” tactics are an effective means of reducing prostitution.
TRUTH: Economic analysis demonstrates that “end demand” tactics increase the number of sales of sex, especially at the street level.
LIE: “Human trafficking” is the world’s second most profitable criminal enterprise (or the third most, or most recently the most).
TRUTH: This myth originated in a UNODC meeting where Kevin Bales (see “27 million” below) said, “…it’s impossible to answer that question. If I had to guess I would say it was third…” Ann Jordan surmised that the original source of the myth (later revealed as Bales) was probably thinking about smuggling, certainly a more credible candidate for the position.
LIE: Most of the violence to which sex workers are subjected is at the hands of clients or pimps.
TRUTH: Most of the violence suffered by sex workers in regimes where the work is fully or partially criminalized is at the hands of police.
LIE: Most or nearly all prostitutes are controlled by pimps and forced to work.
TRUTH: In nearly every stable modern society, the rate of coercion for adult prostitutes is about 2% or less, and for underage ones about 8-10%; this is roughly the same as the rate of non-sex-working women who report an abusive or controlling boyfriend or husband.
LIE: Most prostitutes are driven to it by financial need, and 9 out of 10 prostitutes would like to exit prostitution immediately.
TRUTH: These statements are probably true, but if there is any normal job (not an elite career occupied by a tiny fraction of the population) to which they do not apply, I’d like to know what it might be. What makes this a lie is the pretense that it applies to sex work to a higher degree than to other jobs, which it does not; one Australian study found that half of all prostitutes ranked their work as a “major source of satisfaction” in their lives, and 70% said they would definitely choose prostitution again if they had their lives to live over.
LIE: Most prostitutes are “recruited” into the work by pimps.
TRUTH: Most adult sex workers start due to pragmatic concerns, and most underage ones either think of it on their own or are recruited by friends.
LIE: Most prostitutes suffer symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
TRUTH: This is another of Melissa Farley’s pet lies. She claims to be able to diagnose PTSD with a 15-minute self-administered questionnaire, despite the fact that the National Center for PTSD states that “brief, single-item, closed-ended questions for each PTSD symptom are…no more valid for making a diagnosis than self-report measures…Proper assessment of PTSD is complex…” In short, she is not qualified to diagnose this condition, and her method would be quackery even if she were.
LIE: Nearly all men buy sex OR a small, pathological group of men buys sex.
TRUTH: Though a slight majority of men have paid for sex at least once in their lives, about 20% of them do it “occasionally” (several times per year) and 6% “frequently” (several times per month).
LIE: 100,000-300,000 children are “trafficked” every year in the United States.
TRUTH: That myth is a distortion of an absurd estimate from the Estes & Weiner study of 2001, which estimated that number of “children, adolescents and youth (up to 21) at risk of sexual exploitation”. “Sex trafficking” was the least prevalent form of “exploitation” in their definition; other things they classed as “exploitation” included stripping, consensual homosexual relations and merely viewing porn. Two of the so-called “risk factors” were access to a car and proximity to the Canadian or Mexican border. When interviewed by reporters in 2011, Estes himself estimated the number of legal minors actually abducted into “sex slavery” as “very small…We’re talking about a few hundred people.”
LIE: Prostitutes only do the work because they have no meaningful choices.
TRUTH: 93% of escorts say they like their work for the money, 72% for the independence and 67% for meeting people. And a 2011 study demonstrated that most American escorts are women with “high opportunity cost”, in other words those who have many other meaningful options.
LIE: Prostitutes spread disease.
TRUTH: Only about 3-5% of all STIs can be attributed to either side of a sex work transaction, and the rates of infection among professionals are much (often dramatically) lower than among promiscuous amateurs.
LIE: Prostitution destroys the self-esteem of women involved in it.
TRUTH: Though only a small fraction of street workers report an increase in self-esteem after entering harlotry, they represent less than 15% of all prostitutes. 97% of escorts in one study reported an increase in self-esteem, compared with 50% of Nevada brothel workers; another study found that 75% of escorts felt their lives had improved since starting the work, 25% reported no change and 0% said their lives were worse. Anyone who has ever personally known any sex workers of any kind knows that if anything, their self-esteem is often too high.
LIE: Prostitution is associated with crime.
TRUTH: Criminalization is associated with crime. When “authorities” criminalize a consensual activity, they shouldn’t be too surprised when criminals are then attracted to it. When’s the last time you heard of anyone arrested for bootlegging or rum-running?
LIE: “Sex trafficking” increases when prostitution is legalized.
TRUTH: This claim is based on the deeply-flawed Neumayer, Cho and Dreher study, which failed to even define the term “trafficking” in any way which would allow statistical comparison. The lie was further developed by a report in Der Spiegel which used figures for exploitation among illegal prostitutes to argue against legalization. In any legalization regime, those sex workers who are defined as being outside the legal structure (i.e. still criminal) are always those at greatest risk of violence and exploitation; to the extent that “trafficking” actually exists, it is generally the illegal nature of sex work which supplies the greatest tool for coercion. In the decriminalized structures of New Zealand and New South Wales, coercion is virtually nonexistent.
LIE: Sex work causes rape.
TRUTH: The evidence suggests that sex work of all kinds actually decreases the rates of rape, sexual assault, divorce and several other sex-related social ills.
LIE: The Swedish model has dramatically reduced prostitution and sex trafficking in Sweden.
TRUTH: The Swedish model cannot be shown to have had any effect on rates of prostitution at all, though it has made the lives of sex workers much more difficult and dangerous. Norwegian studies demonstrate that their version of the law has increased sex trafficking and the number of prostitutes, and also promoted pimping.
LIE: There are 27,000,000 people enslaved in the world today.
TRUTH: That number was developed by a “trafficking” fanatic named Kevin Bales using media reports multiplied by arbitrary numbers of his own devising; the more the hysteria, the higher the number of articles and thus the higher Bales’ number grows. “Trafficking” estimates are all over the map; the official UNODC estimate is less than a tenth as much (2.4 million), and even with vague, loose and ever-expanding definitions of “trafficking” the office has evidence for only about 40,000 in the entire world.
LIE: A very large fraction of sex workers are below 18.
TRUTH: In legal forms of sex work, virtually none are; in illegal forms the fraction is still very small. Only about 3.5 % of prostitutes in Western countries are under 18.
That’s all I can think of for now; post any others you’ve seen in the comments and I’ll add them to the static page. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Maisy and Cooper were so excited to tear open the giant box that arrived from Canada last night!! As you can see in the pictures they couldn’t keep their mouths off of the corduroy moose. They haven’t stopped squeaking it since.
Their next favorite (after the moose) is definitely the “Arf’ul Good” treats. I have never seen the dogs sit, stay, roll over so fast! They were going through the motions before we even asked them to.
I really have to say - special shout out to our Santa for not skimping on the quality of anything that was included. The toys, the treats, everything is actually much higher quality than our dogs are used to.
Your generosity was really appreciated by our whole family. Thank you! | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
There is a strong possibility that the General Election vote in the constituency of Tipperary will take place on Saturday.
The election there had been postponed following the death yesterday of Independent candidate Marese Skehan.
However, RTÉ News understands that the Attorney General's Office is tonight looking at legal arguments that claim a delay to the Tipperary vote could be unconstitutional.
This is because the Constitution states an election has to be held within 30 days of the dissolution of the Dáil.
It is believed that an order would have to be signed by the Minister for Local Government to allow the election to proceed in Tipperary on Saturday.
This would also have to take account of the fact that a deceased person's name is on the ballot paper.
Independent candidate Mattie McGrath has this evening written to the Department of Local Government warning that he will take a legal challenge next week if the vote is postponed.
Ms Skehan's death meant that that polling order in the constituency had to be countermanded yesterday by the returning officer James Seymour.
A new date had been expected at some point today and 29 February had been seen as the most likely date. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
First Name
Last Name
Work Email
Password
Phone
Company
Job Title
Job Function C-Suite/Executive Management CIO/CTO CSO/CISO Finance/Accounting Compliance Privacy Risk Management Security Analyst IT Architect IT Communications IT Engineer IT Network IT Operations IT Systems Please select an option
Company Type Aerospace Construction, mining and agriculture Education Engineering Entertainment/hospitality Finance Central government Local government Law/Legal Manufacturing (computers/software/hardware) Manufacturing (non-computer related) Media/marketing/advertising Medical/Healthcare Non-Profit Organisation Retail/Wholesale Technology services (consultants, data processing) Telecommunications Transport Utilities Other Please select an option
Number of Employees <250 250-499 500-999 1,000-4,999 5,000-9,999 10,000-19,999 20,000+ Please select an option
Do you influence or approve company spend on information security? Yes No Please select an option
City | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Grodd: (Roars loudly)
Barry: Oh you gotta be kid-(Gets slammed into a car) ow...
Joe: What the hell is that?
Barry: I don't know...maybe it's a Gorilla?
joe: Don't get sarcastic with me.
Harrison: (via communicator) I think I know him...Grodd.
Cisco: Wait...Grodd? The ape you saved Eiling from?
Harrison: and how Barry needs saving from him... | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times
A new study reports that beer is an excellent recovery beverage for marathon runners. But you may not want to start a raucous celebration just yet. The beer was effective only if it was nonalcoholic.
Running a marathon is, of course, punishing to the body, causing muscle soreness and inflammation. Grueling exercise can also weaken the immune system, making athletes susceptible to colds and other ills in the weeks after the event. Some athletes, particularly in Europe, long had downed nonalcoholic beer during hard training, claiming that it helped them to recover, but no science existed to support the practice.
To study the matter, researchers at the Technical University of Munich approached healthy male runners, most in their early 40s, who were training for the Munich Marathon, and asked if they would — in the name of science — be willing to drink a considerable amount of beer. Two hundred seventy-seven men agreed, even when told that the beverage would be nonalcoholic. Only half of the group received the alcohol-free beer, however; the other half got a similarly flavored placebo. No one knew who was drinking what.
All of the runners downed a liter to a liter and a half — about two to three pints — of their assigned beverage every day, beginning three weeks before the race and continuing for two weeks afterward. The scientists, meanwhile, collected blood samples from the men several weeks before the race, as well as immediately before to the start, at the finish line and on select days afterward. (These were an exceptionally obliging group of racers, it seems.) They monitored levels of various markers of inflammation in the men’s blood, to see whether beer helped to blunt some of the immediate damage from running.
For the next two weeks, the men continued to dutifully swallow their nonalcoholic beer or other brew. They also reported any symptoms of colds or other upper respiratory ailments that developed during that time.
The men drinking the nonalcoholic beer reported far fewer illnesses than the runners swallowing the placebo beverage. “Incidence of upper respiratory tract infections was 3.25-fold lower” in the nonalcoholic beer drinkers, the scientists reported, in the journal Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. They also showed significantly less evidence of inflammation, as measured by various markers in their blood, and lower counts of white blood cells than the placebo group, an indication of overall better immune system health.
These effects matter, said Dr. Johannes Scherr, lead author of the study, because if a marathon runner’s body is less sore and inflamed after a race, and he doesn’t develop the sniffles, he can recover and return to training more quickly than he otherwise might have been able to. “It can be speculated that the training frequency could be higher (with shorter breaks after vigorous training sessions)” in those drinking beer, he wrote in an e-mail response.
Just how nonalcoholic beer eases the ravages of strenuous marathon training and racing is still being investigated. But, said Dr. Scherr, it almost certainly involves the beverage’s rich bouquet of polyphenols, chemical substances found in many plants that, among other things, “suppress viral replication” and “influence the innate immune system positively,” all beneficial for fighting off a cold.
Alcoholic beer happens to be drenched in polyphenols, too — “even more than nonalcoholic beer,” Dr. Scherr said — but has the signal disadvantage of being alcoholic. “We do not know whether the side effects of alcoholic beer would cancel out the positive effects caused by the polyphenols,” he wrote. “Furthermore, it is not possible to drink one to one and a half liters of alcoholic beer per day, especially not during strenuous training.” We all knew that, right?
Of course, other substances containing polyphenols have shown early promise, and then underperformed in follow-up studies. Quercetin, for instance, a polyphenol derived principally from apple skins, was widely touted by endurance athletes several years ago after studies found that large doses allowed untrained lab mice to run for far longer than untreated animals. But the supplement has largely failed to show benefits in human athletes. An analysis of 10 human studies of the supplement presented at the American College of Sports Medicine annual meeting in June concluded that quercetin supplementation “is very unlikely to provide an endurance performance advantage.”
But the beer experiment did not begin by looking at mice. It began with human marathoners completing a punishing, unsimulated race, and showed demonstrable benefits, in terms of minimizing postrace damage.
All of which is good news as the fall marathon season approaches. Asked if he would recommend that serious marathon runners add nonalcoholic beer to their diets, Dr. Scherr said, “When I look at the results of our study, I would have to answer ‘Yes.’”
It’s possible to get large amounts of polyphenols from other foods, he added, like those training-table staples chokeberries and mangosteens, as well as pomegranates and grapes. “But with these foods you do not consume the minerals, fluid and carbohydrates,” he said, “so nonalcoholic beer seems to be optimal” for everything, perhaps, apart from your well-deserved celebratory carouse after the race. For that, at least, the beer can be full-potency. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Why would I need to rest in peace... if I'm going to heaven?
1,518 shares | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Mission to clear up Earth’s orbit ends after device created with a fishing net company fails to deploy
This article is more than 3 years old
This article is more than 3 years old
An experimental Japanese mission to clear space junk from the Earth’s orbit has ended in failure, officials said on Monday, in an embarrassment for Tokyo.
More than 100m pieces of rubbish are thought to be whizzing around the planet, including cast-off equipment from old satellites and bits of rocket, which experts say could pose risks for future space exploration.
Scientists at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) were trying to test an electrodynamic “tether” – created with the help of a fishing net company – to slow the orbiting rubbish and bring it into a lower orbit.
Rise in space junk could provoke armed conflict say scientists Read more
The hope was that the clutter – built up after more than five decades of human space exploration – would eventually enter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up harmlessly before it had a chance to crash into the planet.
The 700-metre tether – made from thin wires of stainless steel and aluminium – was due to be extended from a cargo ship launched in December carrying supplies to astronauts at the International Space Station.
Problems arose quickly, however, and technicians tried for days to fix the problem but had only one week to carry out the mission before the vessel reentered the Earth’s atmosphere before dawn on Monday.
“We believe the tether did not get released,” leading researcher Koichi Inoue said. “It is certainly disappointing that we ended the mission without completing one of the main objectives.”
The disappointment is the latest failure to hit Jaxa and comes just weeks after the agency had to abort a mission that sought to use a mini-rocket to send a satellite into orbit.
The agency also abandoned a satellite launched in February last year to search for X-rays emanating from black holes and galaxy clusters after losing contact with the spacecraft. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
As he was concluding the calamitous nuclear agreement with Iran last summer, John Kerry asked the Iranians to cut out the “Death to America” chants. (This was not long before he told an astonished world that the chants did not really mean that the Iranian mullahs wanted to kill us.)
In yet another indication of just how disastrous the nuclear deal really is, the Iranians have not only rejected Kerry’s request, but are ramping up the genocidal rhetoric. On Monday, 192 of the 290 members of the Iranian Majlis (Parliament) declared:
The martyr-nurturing nation of Iran is not at all prepared to abandon the slogan of “Death to America” under the pretext of a nuclear agreement.
Remember: in an Islamic context, a “martyr” is not simply someone who dies for his faith. It is is someone who takes hold of the Qur’an’s promise of Paradise to those who “kill and are killed” for Allah (9:111). If the Iranian nation is “martyr-nurturing,” it is raising a generation of killers.
The assembled parliamentarians added that “Death to America” — which according to Agence France Presse is “chanted at the weekly Friday prayers in mosques and at protests” — had “turned into the symbol of the Islamic Republic and all struggling nations.”
Chanting “Death to America” is the “symbol of the Islamic Republic.” A communal desire to destroy the United States and commit mass murder of its citizens is the Islamic Republic of Iran’s very reason for being.
It is interesting to note that death is also the chief preoccupation of Iran’s hated Sunni rival, the Islamic State (ISIS), whose operatives have repeatedly addressed Americans with the boast:
We will win, for we love death more than you love life.
Both the Islamic State and Iran love death and wish to bring it to us; they just differ as to whether the coup de grace will be administered to us by Sunni or Shi’ite hands.
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani, whom AFP assures us is a “moderate,” tried to sell the chant as an expression of the legitimate frustration of the long-suffering Iranian people:
This slogan that is chanted is not a slogan against the American people. Our people respect the American people. But … the policies of the United States have been against the national interests of Iranian people (so) it’s understandable that people will demonstrate sensitivity to this issue.
“Sensitivity.” With this word, Rouhani demonstrates that he knows the right buttons to push to get the Western intelligentsia dancing to his bidding: tell them that if the U.S. just starts being nicer, all the frustration that boils over in these poor dears into “Death to America” chants will melt away.
Now that we have this Iran nuclear deal, we should expect an outpouring of good will from the Iranians, no? Well, not only did the majority of Iran’s parliamentarians just endorse “Death to America” as the “symbol of the Islamic Republic,” but Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the following on Sunday:
Contrary to certain people’s belief, the U.S. is the cause of the major portion of regional problems and is not part of the solution to the problems. Americans want to impose their views rather than solve problems. They want to impose 60 to 70 percent of their demands in talks and practically implement and impose the rest of their goals illegally. So what can such negotiations mean?
Khamenei continued with boasting:
[T]he Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign policy has acted as impenetrable rock against the domineering nature of hegemonic powers, especially the U.S., in the region. [Iran’s foreign policy is] based on Islam and stems from the aspirations and goals of the [Islamic] revolution.
A foreign policy that its framers believe to be “based on Islam” — that is, based on principles that are believed to be eternal and unchangeable — is unlikely to change significantly in the near future. And if a majority of Iran’s parliamentarians believe that “Death to America” is nothing less than the “symbol of the Islamic Republic,” then Khamenei’s question is pointed: “What can such negotiations mean?”
Nothing. Except more bloodshed. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Niantic chief John Hanke is a big science fiction fan. And he’s looking forward to beholding a Matrix world, inspired by his favorite book, Neuromancer.
Speaking at GamesBeat on Monday, Hanke spoke of his ambitions for augmented reality and gaming. Niantic is best known for its work on global hit Pokémon Go.
The session, moderated by sci-fi author Eliot Peper, focused on how science fiction inspires today’s communications and entertainment creators.
“Sci-fi is a great source of inspiration and ideas,” Hanke said, adding that he read William Gibson’s book about a cyber-centric future when he first embarked on his career in the early internet. “It was predicting the future of the industry I was working in.”
Having helped create augmented reality hit Pokémon Go, Hanke said he’s “investing heavily in the AR cloud.” The AR cloud is a much-vaunted geo-computing future in which shared augmented reality experiences are tied to specific locations. In essence, it’s a vastly expanded version of Pokémon Go.
Hanke asked the audience to imagine going to a coffee shop, sitting down at a table, and being joined by an AR quest-giver. These virtual characters are shared, but they might give different quests to different people. In the AR cloud, a digital world overlays the real world.
Hanke predicted that games will be at the leading edge of the AR cloud.
“It feels really natural,” he said. “Gamers are willing to put up with some glitches and imperfections in new technologies, which makes gaming a great frontier to try new ideas.”
. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Under Trump Budget, Nearly 2 Million Kids May Lose After-School Care
Enlarge this image toggle caption Pam Fessler/NPR Pam Fessler/NPR
Mary Beth Burkes lives in Buchanan County, Va., a depressed coal-mining region where 1 in 4 families lives in poverty and where her autistic son gets extra help in the after-school program at his school.
Burkes says the program has been a godsend for her and other parents, because they know their children are in a safe place after school. "Their parents work," she says. "There is no day care in this area."
But in his budget for next year, President Trump wants to eliminate this nationwide after-school program for low-income children, called 21st Century Community Learning Centers.
Budget Director Mick Mulvaney says there's no evidence the $1.2 billion-a-year program works.
"When we took your money from you, to say, 'Look, we're going to go spend it on an after-school program,' the way we justified it was, 'These programs are going to help these kids do better in school and get better jobs.' And we can't prove that that's happening," he told reporters.
But participants like Mary Beth Burkes say, to them, the evidence is clear: Struggling kids are getting some much-needed help.
Burkes thinks the administration position is ill-informed. "They do not live in rural America and they don't live in the Appalachian mountains," she says.
At her son's school, Riverview, which is both an elementary and middle school, about 80 children a day attend the program, which serves 1.8 million students in high-poverty, low-performing schools around the country.
toggle caption Pam Fessler/NPR
Each day, the kids get a healthy snack, then an hour of help with subjects like English and math, and another hour doing something extra like cooking or robotics.
Teachers say the beauty of the program is that kids get to work with each other in small groups, doing things they might not otherwise get to do. Kay Ratliff, a teacher here, points to one boy, as he eagerly explains rational numbers to another child. She says the boy never talks in class during the day, but thrives after school.
"He has a little bit of a speech impediment and in front of his whole class, he's more self conscious, but he glows. And he learns so much more," she says.
Riverview's administrators say grades and attendance are also up for students in the program. The school is still waiting for standardized test scores but administrators think they'll be up, too.
But that's the big debate — how to measure the program's success. The U.S. Government Accountability Office last week said the evidence is mixed when it comes to improving test scores, and that there's more evidence it helps to improve attendance and other student behavior.
Opponents argue that the program is little more than government-funded child care.
"It's really not the responsibility of the federal government to manage after-school programs," says Lindsey Burke, director of education policy at the conservative Heritage Foundation. She says such activities should be handled by the private sector or nonprofit groups, although most of the programs are already jointly funded, in Riverview's case with the local Boys and Girls Club.
Burke also says one of the most extensive studies of the 21st Century program, in 2007, found no evidence that it improved students' academic achievement. "And there was no impact on homework outcomes for those students, and there was also some negative behavioral impacts as well," she adds.
But supporters say more recent studies show exactly the opposite. Heather Weiss, co-director of the Global Family Research Project, says there's substantial evidence that children who participate in 21st Century programs benefit greatly.
"And those benefits includes things that contribute to academic achievement, and in school success, specific skills around math and literacy, and then things like better attitudes to school, and lower dropouts, better attendance," she says.
And supporters point to other benefits in communities where resources are especially tight. At Riverview, Amy Bowen says the after-school program allows her to work, because she couldn't afford to pay a babysitter $12 an hour. And she says it helps her two daughters with their homework, freeing up time for the family to be together after dinner.
Bowen also says her kids really like the program. When she recently showed up early to pick up her daughters, her youngest didn't want to leave. She was in the middle of creating a story using Legos and asked for just a little more time. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Prince William accepted his LGBT award in a video recording
Prince William said "nobody should be bullied for their sexuality", as he was recognised for supporting the LGBT community.
He told the British LGBT Awards on Friday evening via a video message: "It's so important to be proud of the person you are."
The Duke of Cambridge was named "straight ally of the year" and was among several celebrities given awards.
TV presenter Clare Balding and diver Tom Daley were also named winners.
Prince William, who appeared on the cover of gay magazine Attitude last year, made the video message ahead of the ceremony in London's Grand Connaught Rooms.
'Tragic stories'
In the video, he said: "In recent years I've become passionate about what we can do to protect people from bullying, particularly online.
"I have encountered a number of tragic stories about LGBT young people who have sadly felt unable to cope with the abuse and discrimination they face in their lives."
He added: "It is 2017, and nobody should be bullied for their sexuality, or for any other reason."
Image caption Clare Balding was named broadcaster of the year at the ceremony
The awards, in their sixth year, recognise individuals and organisations which promote equality for lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual people. Among this year's winners were:
Clare Balding, broadcaster of the year
Lauren Jauregui, celebrity of the year
Caitlin Jenner, loud and proud award
Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black, influencers of the year
Shannon Beveridge, LGBT celebrity rising star
Russell T Davies for lifetime achievement
Comedian Alan Carr, who presented the awards, said: "So many brilliant people have won awards and there were some very special moments."
Image copyright PA Image caption Diver Tom Daley (R) and his husband Dustin Lance Black were recognised as influencers of the year
Sarah Garrett, who co-founded the awards, praised Prince William for speaking out against homophobic bullying.
"Prince William has used his position to promote diversity," she said.
"His message will resonate and offer hope to young people around the world who have faced discrimination because of their sexuality." | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
When FUNimation ran their “Sneak Preview” panel at AnimeNEXT weeks ago, their centerpiece was a new title from studio Gonzo called Romeo x Juliet (pronounced “Romeo and Juliet”). In this Youtube clip, FUNi rep Adam Sheehan describes the unique dub that they did for this series:
An English dub consisting of actual lines of Shakespeare and next episode previews written in iambic pentameter? That sounded interesting.
And so he showed off two clips from the show, and sure enough, the dub did appear quite impressive. Many people in the audience left the panel eager to see more of this show and its unique dub.
So now that I’ve had a chance to watch the series, does it live up to the hype surrounding it?
Well, yes, but not in the ways that I thought it would.
Romeo x Juliet takes the old Shakespearean classic about the star-crossed lovers and sets it into a world more appropriate to anime. The entire house of Capulet has been slain by Lord Montague, and the sole survivor is young Juliet. The poor girl is kept hidden away disguised as an orphaned boy her whole life. When she grows older, she spends her days as a masked crime fighter protecting the streets of Neo Verona, when she finally meets the dashing Romeo and his flying horse.
Yes, Romeo has a flying horse, just like in the original play by Shakespeare. 😉
As expected, the two leads fall madly and deeply in love with each other. But on Juliet’s 16th birthday, she learns about how her family fell at the hands of the Montagues, and how it is now her destiny to seek vengeance for the sake of her name. Will their love prevail in this fantasy remake or will they meet the same tragic end that we’ve come to expect from this centuries-old tale?
First and foremost, I must talk about the unique dub that FUNimation created and has hyped up about so much. The clips that were shown at that AnimeNEXT panel were taken from the second episode of the series, and indeed, the dub in that episode is absolutely fantastic. Almost every line from start to finish in this episode is so brilliantly thought out to recreate the feeling of watching a Shakespearean-inspired story. Even little subtleties like having Juliet yell, “Never you mind!” when she’s mad rather than simply saying, “nevermind!” brings this ambitious idea to full realization.
From the perspective of an English-speaking anime viewer, I think this is the first time I have ever felt the dialogue actually matter while watching an anime show. The art of language just doesn’t translate from Japanese to English, so FUNimation took it upon themselves to adapt life and creativity back into this script.
But unfortunately, and I really mean unfortunately, this adaptation turns out to be a major disappointment in the long run. For some reason, only the second and ninth episodes are written in this way. The Shakespearean language quickly goes away after the episode is over, and only comes back for the poetic “next episode” previews and sporadic moments through out the rest of this 12-episode volume. They’ll surprise you with the occasional rhyming couplet thrown in here and there, but besides that, all you really have is just a same-old same-old dub translation that you’d find in any other series.
Where did it go? Why didn’t they stick with it?
I could understand that adapting a show like this in this way was probably not an easy task to accomplish. The Japanese script was in no way intended to fit into Shakespearean language, and there are many places where the lip flaps would not allow the right amount of syllables to be spoken in this way. But they made it look so easy within those two episodes! I really don’t see why they didn’t continue with it beyond that.
If they had challenge themselves to stick with the Shakespearean adaptation through out the entire dub, we could potentially have seen the best English adaptation I have ever encounter. FUNimation teases us with how awesome this could have been in those two selected episodes, but sadly, they do not follow through on that promise.
But while FUNimation disappoints in adaption, the Japanese more than make up for it in the source material. As ridiculous at it may sound to have Juliet as a caped crusader or Romeo to have a flying horse in an adaptation of the classic play, I’ve really got to give the folks at Gonzo credit where credit is due –
They wrote one fantastic story!
From the very first moment of the first episode to the point that the series leaves off in the twelfth, I was hooked every minute of every episode. The settings and scenarios in this fantasy world lead to very entertaining action sequences. All the supporting cast members are notable and lovable, and they provide great drama and interest amongst themselves. And the pacing is the best I have ever seen in a serialized series. Every time the credits began to roll at the end of each episode, I found myself amazed that the full half hour had pass by so quickly like that. There’s never a single boring moment within this two-DVD box set.
But I think the reason why this story is so good is the relationship between the ill-fated lovers. Gonzo kept the best aspects of the original story, and that is the tragic beauty of the two falling for each other despite being destine to be enemies. But on top of that premise, they made the two characters absolutely believable. Through the emotions they display on their animated faces and the actions they take within the story, you believe that these cartoon characters are actually in love with each other.
This is amazing storytelling, and I don’t think I could ever praise it enough in this review. You must watch this series and experience it for yourself.
* * *
The Good: Fantastic story filled with enough drama and action to keep you sucked in each and every episode.
The Bad: FUNimation could have potentially done great things with the English adaptation, but holds back for most of the series.
Final Verdict: There is no doubt that Gonzo has created a fantastic take off of the Shakespearean classic with Romeo x Juliet. This is one of the best releases so far this year, and truly a “must watch” series for any anime fan out there. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
入力された顧客評価がありません。
重要 大雨の影響による配送遅延のお知らせ
重要 お客様対応の遅れに関するお詫びとご案内
送料：全国一律料金540円 ご注文金額3,980円以上で無料 ※変更になる場合「注文確認」画面にて送料をご確認頂けます。
すっぽり包まれる！腕枕のような癒し系ピローです。
すっぽり包まれる！まるで腕枕のような癒し系ピロー。
腕枕をしてもらっているような心地よさが体験できる癒し系ピロー。
男性が腕枕をしてくれているような形の枕です。
一見ネタなの？と思えるような見た目ですが…使ってみるとフィット感が抜群なんです！
絶妙なサイズの隙間にすっぽり包まれる感じが気持ちいい！
スタンダードに枕として、腕やボディに抱き着いて抱き枕にしたり、
体に巻き付けてクッション代わりに使ってもOK！
疲れたあなたを癒し、心地よい眠りをサポートする癒し系ピローです。
画像をクリックすると拡大します | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Slideshow ( 2 images )
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - An international investigation into the disappearance of 43 students in Mexico was targeted with spying software sold to governments to fight criminals and terrorists, according to a report published on Monday.
The spying attempt was the latest example of civilians who have been targeted by the software known as Pegasus, which Israeli company NSO Group only sells to governments, according to the report by Citizen Lab, a group of researchers based at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has asked the attorney general’s office to investigate previous charges that the government spied on private citizens, saying he wanted to get to the bottom of the accusations that he called “false.”
Citizen Lab said it had found a trace of the Pegasus software in a phone belonging to a group of experts backed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) who had traveled to Mexico to investigate the disappearance of the 43 students.
The attempt to infect the phone occurred in early March 2016, following criticism by the IACHR-backed group that the Mexican government had interfered with its investigation, Citizen Lab said.
“This is a very delicate matter ... a big problem. Any state must react immediately,” Angela Buitrago, part of the IACHR’s team of experts, told Reuters.
Buitrago said that if any sensitive data was leaked it could have influenced the investigation.
The disappearance of the students from a rural teachers college in 2014 marked one of Mexico’s worse atrocities, and the government’s handling of the case marked a low point for Pena Nieto’s popularity.
Last month, Citizen Lab identified 15 activists, human-rights lawyers, journalists and opposition officials who had also seen attempts to infect their phones with the spyware. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
JOE WHY MUST YOU TRY AND KILL ME
SERIOUSLY DUDE THIS IS TOO FUCKING CUTE AND ADORABLE AND JUST FUCKING AWESOME | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2001). A theoretical basis for the major dimensions of personality. European Journal of Personality, 15(5), 327–353.
Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2007). Empirical, theoretical, and practical advantages of the HEXACO model of personality structure. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11(2), 150–166.
Ashton, M. C., Lee, K., & Son, C. (2000). Honesty as the sixth factor of personality: correlations with Machiavellianism, primary psychopathy, and social adroitness. European Journal of Personality, 14(4), 359–368.
Ashton, M. C., Lee, K., & de Vries, R. E. (2014). The HEXACO honesty-humility, agreeableness, and emotionality factors: a review of research and theory. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 18(2), 139–152.
Asparouhov, T., & Muthén, B. O. (2010). Weighted least squares estimation with missing data. Mplus Technical Appendices. Retrieved from http://www.statmodel.com/download/GstrucMissingRevision.pdf.
Baams, L., Dubas, J. S., Overbeek, G., & Van Aken, M. A. (2015). Transitions in body and behavior: a meta-analytic study on the relationship between pubertal development and adolescent sexual behavior. Journal of Adolescent Health, 56(6), 586–598.
Ball, H. A., Arseneault, L., Taylor, A., Maughan, B., Caspi, A., & Moffitt, T. E. (2008). Genetic and environmental influences on victims, bullies and bully-victims in childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49(1), 104–112.
Book, A. S., Volk, A. A., & Hosker, A. (2012). Adolescent bullying and personality: an adaptive approach. Personality and Individual Differences, 52(2), 218–223.
Book, A., Visser, B. A., & Volk, A. A. (2015). Unpacking “evil”: claiming the core of the dark triad. Personality and Individual Differences, 73, 29–38.
Book, A., Visser, B. A., Blais, J., Hosker-Field, A., Methot-Jones, T., Gauthier, N. Y., et al. (2016). Unpacking more “evil”: what is at the core of the dark tetrad? Personality and Individual Differences, 90, 269–272.
Bourdage, J. S., Lee, K., Ashton, M. C., & Perry, A. (2007). Big Five and HEXACO model personality correlates of sexuality. Personality and Individual Differences, 43(6), 1506–1516.
Brener, N. D., Billy, J. O., & Grady, W. R. (2003). Assessment of factors affecting the validity of self-reported health-risk behavior among adolescents: evidence from the scientific literature. Journal of Adolescent Health, 33(6), 436–457.
de Bruyn, E. H., Cillessen, A. H., & Weisfeld, G. E. (2012). Dominance-popularity status, behavior, and the emergence of sexual activity in young adolescents. Evolutionary Psychology, 10(2), 296–319.
Buss, D. M. (1991). Conflict in married couples: personality predictors of anger and upset. Journal of Personality, 59, 663–688.
Buss, D. M., & Shackelford, T. K. (1997). Human aggression in evolutionary psychological perspective. Clinical Psychology Review, 17(6), 605–619.
Campbell, A. (2013). The evolutionary psychology of women’s aggression. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 368, 20130078.
Claxton, S. E., & van Dulmen, M. H. (2013). Casual sexual relationships and experiences in emerging adulthood. Emerging Adulthood, 1(2), 138–150.
Connolly, I., & O'Moore, M. (2003). Personality and family relations of children who bully. Personality and Individual Differences, 35(3), 559–567.
Connolly, J., Craig, W., Goldberg, A., & Pepler, D. (2004). Mixed-gender groups, dating, and romantic relationships in early adolescence. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 14(2), 185–207.
Coolidge, F. L., DenBoer, J. W., & Segal, D. L. (2004). Personality and neuropsychological correlates of bullying behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 36(7), 1559–1569.
Craig, W., Harel-Fisch, Y., Fogel-Grinvald, H., Dostaler, S., Hetland, J., Simons-Morton, B., et al. (2009). A cross-national profile of bullying and victimization among adolescents in 40 countries. International Journal of Public Health, 54, 216–224.
Crick, N. R., & Dodge, K. A. (1999). ‘Superiority’ is in the eye of the beholder: a comment on Sutton, Smith, and Swettenham. Social Development, 8(1), 128–131.
Dane, A. V., Marini, Z. A., Volk, A. A., & Vaillancourt, T. (2017). Physical and relational bullying and victimization: differential relations with adolescent dating and sexual behavior. Aggressive Behavior, 43(2), 111–122.
Dir, A. L., Coskunpinar, A., & Cyders, M. A. (2014). A meta-analytic review of the relationship between adolescent risky sexual behavior and impulsivity across gender, age, and race. Clinical Psychology Review, 34(7), 551–562.
Ellis, B. J., Del Giudice, M., Dishion, T. J., Figueredo, A. J., Gray, P., Griskevicius, V., Hawley, P. H., et al (2012). The evolutionary basis of risky adolescent behavior: Implications for science, policy, and practice. Developmental Psychology, 48(3), 598–623.
Ellis, B. J., Volk, A. A., Gonzalez, J. M., & Embry, D. D. (2015). The meaningful roles intervention: an evolutionary approach to reducing bullying and increasing prosocial Behavior. Journal of Research on Adolescence.
Endresen, I. M., & Olweus, D. (2002). Self-reported empathy in Norwegian adolescents: sex-differences, age trends, and relationship to bullying. In D. Stipek & A. Bohart (Eds.), Constructive and destructive behavior. Implications for family, school, society (pp. 147–165). Washington: American Psychological Association.
Farrell, A. H., Della Cioppa, V., Volk, A. A., & Book, A. S. (2014). Predicting bullying heterogeneity with the HEXACO model of personality. International Journal of Advances in Psychology, 3(2), 30–39.
Field, A. (2013). Discovering statistics using IBM SPSS statistics. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications Ltd..
Finer, L. B., & Philbin, J. M. (2013). Sexual initiation, contraceptive use, and pregnancy among young adolescents. Pediatrics, 131(5), 886–891.
Fisher, M., & Cox, A. (2009). The influence of female attractiveness on competitor derogation. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 7(2), 141–155.
Foster, J. D., Shrira, I., & Campbell, W. K. (2006). Theoretical models of narcissism, sexuality, and relationship commitment. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 23(3), 367–386.
Frey, K. S., Pearson, C. R., & Cohen, D. (2015). Revenge is seductive, if not sweet: why friends matter for prevention efforts. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 37, 25–35.
Gallup, A. C., White, D. D., & Gallup, G. G. (2007). Handgrip strength predicts sexual behavior, body morphology, and aggression in male college students. Evolution and Human Behavior, 28(6), 423–429.
Gallup, A. C., O'Brien, D. T., & Wilson, D. S. (2011). Intrasexual peer aggression and dating behavior during adolescence: an evolutionary perspective. Aggressive Behavior, 37(3), 258–267.
Grello, C. M., Welsh, D. P., Harper, M. S., & Dickson, J. W. (2003). Dating and sexual relationship trajectories and adolescent functioning. Adolescent and Family Health, 3(3), 103–112.
Hazler, R. J., Carney, J. V., & Granger, D. A. (2006). Integrating biological measures into the study of bullying. Journal of Counseling & Development, 84, 298–307.
Heaven, P. C., Fitzpatrick, J., Craig, F. L., Kelly, P., & Sebar, G. (2000). Five personality factors and sex: preliminary findings. Personality and Individual Differences, 28(6), 1133–1141.
Hoyle, R. H., Fejfar, M. C., & Miller, J. D. (2000). Personality and sexual risk taking: a quantitative review. Journal of Personality, 68(6), 1203–1231.
Jolliffe, D., & Farrington, D. P. (2004). Empathy and offending: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 9, 441–476.
Jonason, P. K., Li, N. P., Webster, G. D., & Schmitt, D. P. (2009). The dark triad: facilitating a short-term mating strategy in men. European Journal of Personality, 23(1), 5–18.
Jonason, P. K., Koenig, B., & Tost, J. (2010). Living a fast life: the dark triad and life history theory. Human Nature, 21, 428–442.
Jordan, M. R., Amir, D., & Bloom, P. (2016). Are empathy and concern psychologically distinct? Emotion, 16(8), 1107–1116.
Kanazawa, S. (2003). Can evolutionary psychology explain reproductive behavior in the contemporary United States? Sociological Quarterly, 44, 291–302.
Kline, R. B. (2016). Principles and practice of structural equational modeling (4th ed.). New York: The Guilford Press.
Koh, J. B., & Wong, J. S. (2015). Survival of the fittest and the sexiest evolutionary origins of adolescent bullying. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 0886260515593546.
Larochette, A. C., Murphy, A. N., & Craig, W. M. (2010). Racial bullying and victimization in Canadian school-aged children: individual and school level effects. School Psychology International, 31(4), 389–408.
Lee, K., & Ashton, M. C. (2004). Psychometric properties of the HEXACO personality inventory. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39(2), 329–358.
Lee, K., & Ashton, M. C. (2009). The HEXACO personality inventory-revised: a measure of the six major dimensions of personality. Retrieved from http://hexaco.org/hexaco-inventory.
Lee, K., & Ashton, M. C. (2012). The H factor of personality: why some people are manipulative, self-entitled, materialistic, and exploitative—and why it matters for everyone. Waterloo: Wilfried Laurier University Press.
Lee, K., Ashton, M. C., Morrison, D. L., Cordery, D., & Dunlop, P. D. (2008). Predicting integrity with the HEXACO personality model: use of self- and observer reports. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 81, 147–167.
Lee, K., Ashton, M. C., Wiltshire, J., Bourdage, J. S., Visser, B. A., & Gallucci, A. (2013). Sex, power, and money: prediction from the dark triad and honesty–humility. European Journal of Personality, 27(2), 169–184.
Leenaars, L. S., Dane, A. V., & Marini, Z. A. (2008). Evolutionary perspective on indirect victimization in adolescence: the role of attractiveness, dating and sexual behavior. Aggressive Behavior, 34(4), 404–415.
Manson, J. H. (2015). Life history strategy and the HEXACO personality dimensions. Evolutionary Psychology, 13(1), 147470491501300104.
Marsee, M. A., Barry, C. T., Childs, K. K., Frick, P. J., Kimonis, E. R., Muñoz, L. C., et al. (2011). Assessing the forms and functions of aggression using self-report: Factor structure and invariance of the Peer Conflict Scale in youths. Psychological Assessment, 23(3), 792–804.
Marshall, W. L., Hudson, S. M., Jones, R., & Fernandez, Y. M. (1995). Empathy in sex offenders. Clinical Psychology Review, 15(2), 99–113.
Miller, J. D., Lynam, D., Zimmerman, R. S., Logan, T. K., Leukefeld, C., & Clayton, R. (2004). The utility of the five factor model in understanding risky sexual behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 36(7), 1611–1626.
Mitsopoulou, E., & Giovazolias, T. (2015). Personality traits, empathy and bullying behavior: a meta-analytic approach. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 21, 61–72.
Monks, C. P., Smith, P. K., Naylor, P., Barter, C., Ireland, J. L., & Coyne, I. (2009). Bullying in different contexts: commonalities, differences, and the role of theory. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 14, 146–156.
Morrison-Beedy, D., Carey, M. P., & Tu, X. (2006). Accuracy of audio computer-assisted self-interviewing (ACASI) and self-administered questionnaires for the assessment of sexual behavior. AIDS and Behavior, 10(5), 541–552.
Muthén, L., & Muthén, B. O. (1998-2017). Mplus. User’s guide. Los Angeles: Muthén & Muthén.
Nettle, D. (2005). An evolutionary approach to the extraversion continuum. Evolution and Human Behavior, 26(4), 363–373.
Pearl, J. (2012). The causal foundations of structural equational modeling. In R. R. Hoyle (Ed.), Handbook of structural equational modeling (pp. 68–91). New York: The Guilford Press.
Pellegrini, A. D., & Long, J. D. (2003). A sexual selection theory longitudinal analysis of sexual segregation and integration in early adolescence. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 85(3), 257–278.
Pontzer, D. (2010). A theoretical test of bullying behavior: parenting, personality, and the bully/victim relationship. Journal of Family Violence, 25(3), 259–273.
Reijntjes, A., Vermande, M., Goossens, F. A., Olthof, T., van de Schoot, R., Aleva, L., & van der Meulen, M. (2013). Developmental trajectories of bullying and social dominance in youth. Child Abuse & Neglect, 37(4), 224–234.
Schmitt, D. P. (2005). Sociosexuality from Argentina to Zimbabwe: a 48-nation study of sex, culture, and strategies of human mating. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 28, 247–275.
Schmitt, D. P., & Shackelford, T. K. (2008). Big Five traits related to short-term mating: from personality to promiscuity across 46 nations. Evolutionary Psychology, 6(2), 147470490800600204.
Shimberg, J., Josephs, L., & Grace, L. (2016). Empathy as mediator of attitudes toward infidelity among college students. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 42(4), 353–368.
Shrout, P. E., & Bolger, N. (2002). Mediation in experimental and nonexperimental studies: new procedures and recommendations. Psychological Methods, 7(4), 422–445.
Steinberg, L. (2004). Risk taking in adolescence: what changes, and why? Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1021(1), 51–58.
Vaillancourt, T. (2013). Do human females use indirect aggression as an intrasexual competition strategy? Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 368(1631), 20130080.
Volk, A. A., & Lagzdins, L. (2009). Bullying and victimization among adolescent girl athletes. Athletic Insight, 11(1), 12–25.
Volk, A., Craig, W., Boyce, W., & King, M. (2006). Adolescent risk correlates of bullying and different types of victimization. International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health, 18(4), 575–586.
Volk, A. A., Camilleri, J. A., Dane, A. V., & Marini, Z. A. (2012). Is adolescent bullying an evolutionary adaptation? Aggressive Behavior, 38(3), 222–238.
Volk, A. A., Dane, A. V., & Marini, Z. A. (2014). What is bullying? A theoretical redefinition. Developmental Review, 34(4), 327–343.
Volk, A.A., Dane, A.V., Marini, Z.A., & Vaillancourt, T. (2015). Adolescent bullying, dating, and mating: testing an evolutionary hypothesis. Evolutionary Psychology, 13(4), doi: 1474704915613909.
de Vries, R. E., de Vries, A., & Feij, J. A. (2009). Sensation seeking, risk-taking, and the HEXACO model of personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 47(6), 536–540.
Wang, J., Iannotti, R. J., & Luk, J. W. (2012). Patterns of adolescent bullying behaviors: Physical, verbal, exclusion, rumor, and cyber. Journal of School Psychology, 50(4), 521–534.
Warden, D., & Mackinnon, S. (2003). Prosocial children, bullies and victims: an investigation of their sociometric status, empathy and social problem-solving strategies. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 21, 367–385.
Watson, P. J., & Morris, R. J. (1991). Narcissism, empathy and social desirability. Personality & Individual Differences, 12(6), 575–579.
Wheeler, J. G., George, W. H., & Dahl, B. J. (2002). Sexually aggressive college males: empathy as a moderator in the “confluence model” of sexual aggression. Personality and Individual Differences, 33(5), 759–775.
Yeager, D. S., Fong, C. J., Lee, H. Y., & Espelage, D. L. (2015). Declines in efficacy of anti-bullying programs among older adolescents: theory and a three-level meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 37, 36–51.
Zimmer-Gembeck, M. J., & Helfland, M. (2008). Ten years of longitudinal research on U.S. adolescent sexual behavior: developmental correlates of sexual intercourse, and the importance of age, gender and ethnic background. Developmental Review, 28, 153–224. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Categories: Business, News, Schenectady County
ALBANY — Computer hacking will climb down from the headlines and into the Albany Capital Center next week, as local cybersecurity experts stage ANYCon, billed as the area’s first hacker conference.
It’s not an exaggeration or slander to call these experts hackers — they have the same skillset as criminals stealing identities and crashing computers for illicit gain, but they are hired to do it legally, to expose weaknesses in their clients’ computer systems.
“White hat” hackers, those on the right side of the law, are the intended audience for the June 16-17 convention, but the organizer acknowledges there may be some black hat hackers in attendance, as well.
“It’s an interesting debate,” said Tyler Wrightson, owner of Leet Cyber Security and organizer of ANYCon. But ultimately, he thinks the debate about teaching black hats how to hack misses the point — there already is a huge black hat hacker community, and they’ve proved very adept at sharing the latest tips and tricks among themselves. It’s crucial, he said, that the white hats keep up.
“Learning the offensive side of cybersecurity is absolutely necessary to defend against it,” Wrightson said. “It’s far more important to get the good people together in a crowd. You need to understand things to actually create good, strong defenses.”
ANYCon — which stands simply for Albany Convention, in honor of Wrightson’s hometown — is open to all but is targeted at cybersecurity industry professionals and students interested in the field, he said. More than 25 regional and national experts are lined up to speak, representing entities ranging from the U.S Army to Albany Law School. Topics will also include software and information security, but hacking is a main focus.
Wrightson has been in cybersecurity for two decades: three years as a hobby and the last 17 years as a professional. His business is entirely preventative — he looks for the weaknesses in a client’s system and advises how to eliminate them. (“Hacking you before they do” is the Leet slogan.)
If someone comes to Leet with a computer infection or security breach, Leet refers them to a company that specializes in damage control.
“All we do is hack,” Wrightson said. “We get hired to identify those weaknesses before [black hat] hackers do.”
Cybersecurity is a rapidly growing field, he said, with essentially zero percent unemployment and room for perhaps a million new practitioners.
“Everyone has had technology thrown into their business,” he said. “You can’t not be connected to the Internet now. And it’s invaded people’s personal lives.”
With that sea change has come an entire category of criminals looking for illicit gain from all those computers.
They spread knowledge through chat rooms, message boards, the “dark web” and sometimes even face-to-face meetings, Wrightson said. They can be hard to combat because seeking or possessing the knowledge isn’t illegal — misusing it is. Also, many are operating in countries that don’t do anything to stop them.
“I think our government is getting very good at responding to threats that operate in America, but that’s one of the challenges,” he said.
Government agencies and private entities keep tabs on black hat hackers and their activities, but they are a moving target — hacking tools and techniques change weekly or even daily, Wrightson said.
“Even some of the things that are cutting-edge, they’ll be obsolete three months from now,” he explained.
His company works for firms and agencies of all sizes, and while the tactics and details of what Leet does for each client vary, the results don’t.
“The methods that we use basically work everywhere,” Wrightson said. “Hackers are like water; they’re going to follow the path of least resistance.”
Ransomware like the worldwide WannaCry hack last month is one of the major cybersecurity threats today, he said, but the current model — where data on an infected computer is locked or encrypted so users can’t get at it unless they pay the hacker a ransom — is just “the tip of the iceberg,” he said.
New types of ransomware will be deployed, Wrightson predicted, that will do things like leaving data accessible but completely scrambled — patient names and treatment details switched in medical records, or numbers moved on financial data before it is released to regulators and stockholders.
“This is literally the easiest, most brute-force way to frighten anyone,” he said. “Criminals could do that today; it’s just a question of whether it’s worth their effort.”
This is the challenge of cybersecurity: As black hats follow the path of least resistance, white hats block them, and if they are successful, something else becomes the path of least resistance.
Effective cybersecurity and white hat hacking contain a large education component, Wrightson said: professionals have to constantly update their knowledge base.
It’s impossible to print an up-to-date textbook about the subject, and colleges don’t turn out graduates ready to immediately combat black-hat hackers through offensive security measures, he said. What colleges are good at is preparing people to move into the field, he added, by grounding them in network engineering, programming and network administration — the fundamental infrastructure that black hats corrupt and white hats protect.
“We do have some really good pipelines of talent that are emerging, between all the colleges in the area,” Wrightson said.
He hopes to use ANYCon to further develop that talent.
“We want to make this a community event, where we stick a flag in the ground and say, ‘Albany has a very good budding cybersecurity community,’” he said.
Dave Kennedy, the founder and principal security consultant of TrustedSec, will be ANYCon’s keynote speaker. Kennedy is co-author of “Metasploit: The Penetration Tester’s Guide.” He is also the creator of the Social-Engineer Toolkit and co-founder of the DerbyCon cybersecurity conference in Kentucky. He will speak about the current state of the cybersecurity industry and its impact on the world.
Two-day tickets are $125 for adults, $50 for students and free for those younger than 17. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
House Intel Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) viciously attacked US Attorney General Bill Barr in a scathing op-ed in USA Today and called for Barr to immediately resign.
“Barr is the 2nd most dangerous man in the US. By his logic, the Saturday Night Massacre was fine and Trump can end the 14 probes Mueller handed off,” Schiff wrote.
Schiff echoed Speaker Pelosi and accused Barr of lying to Congress and misleading the country.
“William Barr should resign,” Schiff wrote. “After the events of this past month, it is clear that Barr is not that leader. And more than that, he is dangerous.
TRENDING: OUTRAGEOUS! Ohio State University President Sends Ignorant Text Message to Students Following Breonna Taylor Decision -- And a Crazy-Ass Video!
The swamp is very afraid of Barr because he just launched a sweeping investigation into Spygate and believes “spying did occur” during the 2016 election.
Bill Barr confirmed in the Senate hearing Wednesday in an exchange with Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) that he has looked into and is continuing to look into the origins of the illegal CI investigations of Trump and his associates.
Schiff continued his attacks on Barr and accused him of ‘amplifying Trump’s false talking points about collusion.’
As expected, Schiff brought up the March 27th letter Robert Mueller sent to Bill Barr complaining about the public perception of his report following Barr’s release of the “principal conclusions.”
“In his March 27 letter, Mueller stated that Barr’s actions had undermined a central purpose of the special counsel regulations, to “assure full public confidence in the outcome” of the investigation. Mueller was right, but Barr’s actions and statements have done far worse than that. They have undermined public confidence in the independence of the DOJ and the fair administration of justice,” Schiff wrote.
Schiff concluded that Barr’s belief that Trump could end an investigation that is based on false allegations (he can) makes him the second most dangerous man in the country.
The Democrats are afraid of Bill Barr because he is a real attorney general who immediately took control of the Justice Department, unlike Jeff Sessions who was a coward and hid under his desk while Rosenstein, Mueller and Weissmann destroyed the lives of many innocent men by charging them with process crimes. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez has welcomed the verdict of the jury in the inquest into the Hillsborough disaster
Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez has welcomed the verdict of the jury in the inquest into the Hillsborough disaster.
The former Liverpool boss said: "After so many years fighting for justice I am really pleased to see the verdict today, which confirms what we have been saying for a long time.
"I am especially pleased for the families of the 96 who have sought justice for so long and with such dignity, as well as for the people of Liverpool and for football fans in general.
"Hopefully this verdict today will ensure that this kind of tragedy can never happen again." | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Previous Reward +You will also receive 15 digital download copies. if total funding reach or over $1.5 Million, I would do my best to make this game available on a console game. due to licensing and many other issues, I can't promise this would happen, because there is something external beyond my control. however, in case I make it happened, you will get two copies of boxed COLLECTOR'S EDITION and one digital download copy. of course the delivery time for the console game only will be few months after this. one thing I can promise is that you will get the game at least a month before everybody else. please keep that in mind, this is a bonus.(Please add $15 for international shipping)
Less | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
On a wet and cold day it was IN2 Racing who came out on top of the three test sessions at Silverstone for the 2018 Porsche Carrera Cup GB media day with a time of 1:00.451, set in the final test by Josh Webster.
Following the launch of the series in the morning, a handful of cars ventured out in the first session, with Tom Wrigley completing the fastest lap of the session with a time of 1:01.533.
Frontrunners Dino Zamparelli and Lewis Plato followed in second and third places, with Zamparelli’s time just 0.099 seconds off of Wrigley’s.
Am-rookie Peter Mangion made the most of the session as he familiarised himself with the car, completing 33 laps to finish the session in fourth.
Dan Vaughan, Jamie Orton, Justin Sherwood, Peter Kyle-Henney, and Esmee Hawkey occupied fifth through to ninth with Tio Ellinas completing just two laps, choosing not to record a flying lap.
With tricky conditions and a few spins, most of the field opted to stay safe and limit their runs.
Rain continues in to the afternoon
The first session of the afternoon saw IN2 Racing’s top the time sheets with a time of 1:01.214, the timing screens showed Kyle-Henney but it was actually Josh Webster at the wheel of the car.
A total of sixteen cars took part in this session which was disrupted with two red flags, the first coming when Rory Collingbourne spun his Welch Motorsport Porsche in to the barriers coming out of Woodcote, after being recovered back to the pitlane he revealed to the team that he had lost control when the car aquaplaned.
Jamie Orton recorded the second fastest time of the session, 0.273 seconds behind the time of Webster with Zamparelli in third and George Gamble in fourth.
Fifth fastest was Seb Perez, who on his twentieth lap aquaplaned in to the barriers at the end of the Wellington Straight, this incident came in the closing minutes of the session, bringing it to a close.
Dan Harper put in thirty-nine laps to record the sixth fastest time, ahead of Plato, Wrigley, Mangion, and Hawkey who rounded out the top-ten.
Fraser Robertson, Dan Vaughan, Justin Sherwood, Shamus Jennings, Tio Ellinas and Rory Collingbourne completed the sixteen-car field that took part in the session.
More rain as times drop in third session
Following the recover of Perez’s stricken car a short break, drivers headed out on track for the final two hour session as the rain continued.
In2 Racing continued where they left off as they recorded 45 laps, setting the fastest time of the day on his sixteenth lap.
Tom Wrigley and Lewis Plato took recorded second and fastest times in their JTR cars, with Dino Zamparelli recording the third fastest in the Pro class in the Redline Racing Porsche.
Dan Harper ended the final session of the day fourth in class, ahead of Tio Ellinas and George Gamble.
Leading the way for the Pro-Am field was Jamie Orton with a time of 1:01.379 ahead of the rookie trio of Dan Vaughan, Esmee Hawkey and Seb Perez. Justin Sherwood rounded out the Pro-Am class.
The lead Am driver was Shamus Jennings ahead of G-Cat Racing team-mate Gary Eastwood.
The session stopped briefly when Fraser Robertson spun off at Brooklands, luckily keeping it out of the barriers, he would finish the session third fastest of the Am class.
Iain Dockerill and Rory Collingbourne rounded out the field in fourth and fifth in class.
Teams and drivers head to Donington Park tomorrow for the second official test before the season gets underway at Brands Hatch in April.
2018 Porsche Carrera Cup GB media day combined times
[table id=2796 /] | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
The Trump administration plans to significantly cut U.S. support for United Nations peacekeeping missions in Africa as part of a broader strategy that seeks to better promote American interests on the continent, National Security Adviser John Bolton said Thursday.
Speaking at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., Bolton criticized "unproductive, unsuccessful, and unaccountable U.N. peacekeeping missions" that often lead to decades of U.N. occupation rather than conflict resolution.
"We will only back effective and efficient operations, and we will seek to streamline, reconfigure, or terminate missions that are unable to meet their own mandate or facilitate lasting peace," Bolton said. "Our objective is to resolve conflicts, not freeze them in perpetuity."
Bolton, who served as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under the second Bush administration, accused the world body of frequently entering into truces with African governments followed by the deployment of peacekeeping forces without addressing the issues fueling the conflict.
"All too often at the United Nations, establishing the peacekeeping force and deploying it is the end of creative thinking and the mandate [of the mission] is renewed almost automatically," he said. "There needs to be a lot more focus on resolving the underlying conflict, and therefore having success in the peacekeeping mission. Success is not simply continuing the mission ad infinitum."
Bolton cited the U.N. mission in the Western Sahara, which has operated there for nearly three decades. Bolton helped write the mission mandate in 1991 when he served as the assistant secretary for international organizations at the State Department.
He asked in exasperation, "How can you justify that?"
The United States has already rejected an increase in funding for a peacekeeping mission in the Central African Republic and has threatened to withhold backing for the U.N.'s Congo mission.
Earlier this year, U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley told the organization the United States would no longer fund more than a quarter of its peacekeeping missions. The United States is currently the largest financial contributor to U.N. peacekeeping operations, funding roughly 28 percent of the $8 billion budget. The second largest contributor is China, which covers a little more than 10 percent of the costs.
The administration's new Africa strategy also seeks to counter China and Russia's growing influence in the region in a pivot away from counterterrorism operations. Bolton accused the two U.S. adversaries of "predatory practices," which use their investment and trade to leverage influence over African governments. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
The ex-forward's contribution helped the club recover after falling into administration, and he could not hide his excitement at seeing his boyhood team challenging at the top
Former Liverpool and England striker Emile Heskey revealed he once donated £100,000 to debt-stricken Leicester City , while expressing his delight at the club's unlikely Premier League challenge.Heskey began his career at Filbert Street, the club's old home, scoring 46 goals in 194 appearances before moving to Anfield in 1999.And as Claudio Ranieri's men continue to fly high at the Premier League summit, the Foxes old boy recalled that things were not always so rosy at the club - to the extent that he donated the six-figure sum to help the club out of administration.
“If it wasn’t for this club would I be what I am or have done what I have achieved? Everything that happened for me is down to me starting here as a little kid," Heskey told the Daily Star.
“I just felt it was something I had to do and, in all fairness, I thought a few more people would do it as well. But maybe they just didn’t have the same deep feeling as me.”
“I just gave it unconditionally because of my love for the club. They were in a bad way. It was desperate. It was sad to see the club I played for and went to cup finals with in such a terrible state.
“I was a ball boy at Filbert Street and I went to playing at the old Wembley with my parents watching. Everything about what happened for me – the 5-1 win with England in Germany - was all down to starting here.
“The club was going down a road nobody wanted to see. It was something I had to do. I wasn’t looking for anything from it.”
Those dark days are hard to imagine with Ranieri guiding the side to a five-point lead at the summit of the Premier League standings, and Heskey admits he is already thinking ahead to a dream finale.
“The buzz around the city is incredible. People are starting to believe this fairytale could have a very happy ending," he said.
“The last game of the season is at Chelsea. You couldn’t make that up.
“Imagine if Leicester came out there to a guard of honour from the team that were champions the previous season?
“Now that is the kind of thing you read about in fairytales isn’t it?” | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Kevin Nesgoda is the managing editor of Sonics Rising. At my request, he was graciously willing to offer his thoughts about our interview series with David Holt. Though we may have differing opinions on matters at hand, he is a friend whose work stands on its own and deserves the respect of our readership. - J.A. Sherman
***
"Holding a grudge is like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die."
-Buddha
Oklahoma City deserves an NBA team. Their growing support of the Thunder over the past five years substantiates that. They might not be one of the most knowledgeable fan bases in all of the NBA, but a five-year-old child is also not all that insightful. Do not take that previous sentence the wrong way. I am not comparing the average fan of the Thunder to a kindergartener. What I am saying is they have been raised in the ways of college football for a century and only five full years in the NBA. There are still many growing pains to go through and that does not make them any less deserving.
Most fans of the Supersonics do not want anything to do with the Thunder; will not watch them unless they are seconds away from being bounced out of the playoffs or simply will not watch an NBA game at all. For the first year or so I was one of these people. I still watched the games, but couldn't stomach the idea of watching the former Sonics play, especially in Oklahoma City.
As time has gone on my feelings of disregard and neglect from the league that I have been following closely for 25 years now have diminished. I consume more basketball than a normal human being should. I'm one of the few who are 99% over it. The one percent might remain until Seattle gets a team and wins a championship.
The feeling stems from comments from people like Oklahoma Senator, David Holt.
In a recent interview on this site, Holt stated that there was not enough fans to convince local leaders to fund a new arena. This could not be more of a fallacy. If not for the fans Clay Bennett would have had a much easier time getting the team out of Seattle.
We are talking about generations of fans who showed up by the thousands to rallies in the streets of Seattle and the halls of the state capital. It was the fans that pushed the national narrative and made the rest of the NBA pay attention to what was happening and how our team was getting stolen. Its because of the fans that Chris Hansen is trying to get a team back in Seattle. When it was announced that Hansen was working to get an NBA team back in Seattle, there was a rally to show Hansen support and thousands once again showed up in green and gold.
To me this doesn't sound like a fan base that doesn't care. This sounds like a fan base that craves NBA basketball, Mr. Holt.
The claims that Bennett did everything he possibly could to keep the Sonics in Seattle is not true and there is more than enough evidence to prove it.
On August 12, 2007, Sonics co-owner, Aubrey McClendon told the Oklahoman, "We didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle. We hoped to come here."
McClendon was in Oklahoma City at the time of that quote.
Clay Bennett was in Seattle "trying" to get a new arena built in Renton, a suburb of Seattle. The Mariners had just opened Safeco Field in 1999 and the Seahawks opened Centurylink Field in 2002. So the Bennett needed a shiny new arena for the Sonics despite KeyArena only being 10 years old. Yep, Seattle Center Coliseum was torn down, completely rebuilt and reopened in 1995, four years before Safeco, seven years before Centurylink. An arena that David Stern himself said was the model of the new NBA arena.
The problem with this Renton plan of Bennett's was the land he wanted to build on wasn't for sale, wouldn't ever be for sale and already being prepped for new development (he knew this, was told no, still told NBA it was a viable option), this area of Renton was part of an infamous bottleneck on Interstate 405, even though 12 miles from downtown Seattle there would be no promise that if you left at 5PM after work you'd make it there for a 7PM tip and to top it all off there was a $500 million price tag on this new arena.
In 2003 Houston built the Toyota Center for $235 million, in 2004 Memphis built FedEx for $250 million and in 2005 Charlotte built Time Warner Cable Arena for $260 million. Based on price jumps, I really don't see an arena costing $500 million in 2007 unless you plan on handing out iPads to every person with a ticket for the next ten years.
Bennett knew this wouldn't ever be considered, but hey he tried right?
He also couldn't go to the City of Seattle and try to work with them on possibly building a new arena because the city just passed Initiative-91, which would not allow the city to support teams with tax dollars raised within city limits. Did Bennett bother to ask? No. Less than five years later Chris Hansen did manage to figure out a way to skirt around I-91 (which is a terribly written bill full of loop holes a junior high student could exploit) and get an arena deal done in Seattle, right next to Safeco Field with land he bought, paid for and owns.
There was never effort on Bennett's part to keep the Sonics in Seattle. He was a "man possessed" to avoid another lame duck season in Seattle, stated as such in an email to Tom Ward and then lied under oath about during the KeyArena lease trial.
Howard Schultz should have never sold the Sonics to Bennett in the first place. Bennett did promise to keep the Sonics in Seattle, but this was the same man who just months earlier was lobbying the NBA to keep the Hornets in Oklahoma City and when that option was pulled off the table immediately began to inquire about an expansion team for OKC.
There was never any intent to keep the team in Seattle.
Schultz should have never sold to Bennett out of spite because he couldn't get an upgrade to a 10-year-old arena. Oklahoma City should have either been allowed to keep the Hornets or gotten the expansion team that Charlotte had gotten.
Oklahoma City does deserve an NBA team, but it should have never been the Sonics. We the fans did everything we could and made the fight much harder than it should have been for Bennett, McClendon and Ward.
We never had a chance though. Deceitful billionaires, a shady league commissioner and local government officials who lacked the civic pride to keep the team with our lone professional championship in town, played the game.
Senator Holt, please in the future be sure to have your facts right on the fans of the Sonics, we're not going anywhere and carefully choose the words you use to describe how Bennett actually moved the Sonics to OKC.
More from Welcome to Loud City: | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
2 policemen have been taken off from the investigation of a gangrape case of a girl. (Representational)
Two policemen have been taken off from the investigation of a gangrape case of a girl in Uttar Pradesh's Kaushambi district and sent to police line over allegations that they misbehaved with the complainant, an official said on Sunday.
The 16-year-old was allegedly gangraped on Saturday at a village under Sarai Akil police station limits and the accused also recorded a video of the act, police officer Pradeep Gupta said.
He said the villagers accused the police of "misbehaving with the aggrieved side", following which Sub-Inspector Deepak Gupta and Head Constable Ramnath Yadav were sent to police lines.
The role of another policeman, police officer Manish Pandey, is being probed by the circle officer of Manjhanpur, the officer said.
Narrating the sequence of event, the SP said, the girl was collecting fodder at a neighbouring village for her livestock when three men allegedly attacked her. They then allegedly dragged her to an isolated place and raped her, the SP said, adding the accused also made a video of the incident.
When the girl raised an alarm, some villagers reached the spot and caught one of the accused, while the other two managed to escape, he said.
The villagers beat up the man and handed him over to the police who took him to a hospital, the officer said.
The girl has been sent for medical examination, the officer added.
Meanwhile, senior police officer Prayagraj Sujeet Pandey inspected the crime scene, and directed officials to form five teams to arrest the absconders. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
A discussion of Bitcoin’s ability to resist 51% attacks (ie, its “security budget”). Competition makes it difficult for one network to collect enough fees – instead, we should try to collect fees from all networks.
This post is a somewhat more-empirical sequel to “Two Types of Blockspace Demand”. And to my Building-on-Bitcoin talk.
1. The “Security Budget”
Bitcoin’s “security budget” is the total amount of money we pay to miners (or, if you prefer, the total amount spent on mining – they are the same thing). When this value is low, 51% attacks are cheap. In 2018, BTC’s security budget was about $7 million per day. So, the suppression of BTC (via a never-ending campaign of 51% attacks) would cost –at most– $2.6 billion per year.
$2.6 B is pretty low – by comparison, the 2017 annual US Military Budget was $590 billion, and the FED’s annual operating expenses totaled $5.7 billion.
2. The Block Subsidy
Fortunately, we can expect the block subsidy to give us more security in the future. Even though it “halves” once every four years (effectively falling by a factor of 0.84 per year), it hits for full force no matter how high the BTC exchange rate climbs. As long as annual appreciation 19%+, it fully compensates for the PP lost to the halvening. Historically, the rate has been much higher than 19% (more like 70%+), and so the security budget has increased substantially over time, and will continue to do so for a while.
Of course, eventually the exchange rate must stop appreciating. Even if Bitcoin is outrageously successful, it will apparently reach a point where it simply cannot grow faster than 1.077 per year , as this is apparently the growth in the nominal value of all the world’s money.
Here I show the growth, and ultimate decline of the security budget:
Above: Bitcoin’s security budget over time. Each row refers to a different year. Theoretical max exchange rate from the Game and Watch paper. Imputed exchange rate is historical rates and growth factors, with some manual “blending in” so as to more rapidly approach the theoretical maximum. Defense budget extrapolated from wikipedia data. “Safety Ratio” is the percentage of military budget that would be needed to disable Bitcoin. All numbers are in nominal dollars.
The “indifference” epoch is one where Bitcoin is vulnerable, but few adversaries squander their opportunity to attack because they are not paying attention. The “healthy” epoch is one where BTC should be able to deter 51% attacks even from ultra-wealthy motivated adversaries. But the “decline” epoch shows us a bleak future, in which 51% attacks on Bitcoin are easy again.
3. Transaction Fees
i. The Desired “Fee Pressure”
As is commonly known, transaction fees are expected to come to the rescue. As Greg Maxwell remarked:
fee pressure is an intentional part of the system design and to the best of the current understanding essential for the system's long term survival
He later famously wrote:
Personally, I'm pulling out the champaign that market behaviour is indeed producing activity levels that can pay for security without inflation.
This view, (of a needed “fee pressure”), is common. Roger Ver has compiled similar quotes from other Bitcoin intelligentsia. Roger did this in order to discredit them politically, but the quotes are nonetheless accurate.
ii. The Dual Nature
The dual nature of Bitcoin (as both a money-unit, and a payment-rail) has confused people since Bitcoin was first invented.
In general, monetary theorists and economics ignored the payment-rail (and dismissed Bitcoin as supposedly having “no intrinsic value”). Businessmen and bankers ignored the money-unit (and regarded purchases of BTC as hopelessly naive), and instead tried hopelessly to rip-off the “blockchain technology”.
The confusion persists today in the “scaling debate”, in the form of a discussion over whether or not the “medium of exchange” use-cases are more valuable than the “store of value” use-cases.
And I think it persists in long-run security budget analysis, as well. Consider the following table:
Revenue Source Block Subsidy (12.5 BTC) Transaction Fees Market’s Units …of BTC …of block space Price Units … $ (PPP) per BTC $ (PPP) per byte If BTC price = moon… …SB Goes Up …SB Unaffected Meme Store of Value Medium of Exchange Slogan “Digital Gold” “P2P Electronic Cash”
While the two are mixed into the same “security budget”, the block subsidy and txn-fees are utterly and completely different. They are as different from each other, as “VISA’s total profits in 2017” are from the “total increase in M2 in 2017”.
VISA’s profits are a function of how cost-effectively VISA provides value to its customers, relative to its competitors (MasterCard, ACH, WesternUnion, etc). Changes in M2 are a function of other things entirely, such as: election outcomes, public opinion, business cycles, and FED decisions. There is some sense in which M2 “competes” with the Japanese Yen, but there are really no senses in which it competes with MasterCard.
iii. Are fees truly paid “in BTC”?
Transaction fees are explicitly priced in BTC. But, unlike the block reward, they do react to changes in the exchange rate. As the exchange rate rises, a given satoshi/byte fee rate becomes more onerous, and people shy away from paying it.
And so tx-fees are not really “priced in BTC”, despite the protocol’s attempt to mislead us into thinking that they are. They are actually priced in purchasing power, which –these days (pre-hyper-bitcoinization)– is best expressed in US Dollars.
So, it is entirely appropriate to say, for example, that “in Dec 2017, BTC had tx-fees as high as twenty-eight dollars”. And it would be inappropriate to say that the tx-fees were “as high as .0015,0000 BTC”. For if the BTC price had been 10x higher, the tx-fees would have only reached .0001,5000 BTC.
iv. Stimulating Production
Whenever prices rise, entrepreneurs are induced to produce. (Owners are also induced to sell, but we are not interested in that right now.)
The supply of BTC is famously capped at 21 million. The produced supply (aka the “new” supply) is currently capped at 12.5 BTC per block, until the next halving.
The supply of a completely different good, “btc-block-bytes”, is also capped. It was first (in)famously capped at 1 MB per block, and now is capped at something-like 2.3 MB per block.
As was just said: whenever blocks become more valuable, entrepreneurs search for ways to produce more of them.
One way is to reactivate older, marginally unprofitable mining hardware. Production then hastens…temporarily. Of course, after the next difficulty adjustment, block-production will return to its equilibrium rate (of 1 block per 10 minutes).
Alternatively, entrepreneurs can create, and mine, Altcoins.
v. Altcoins as Substitute Goods
Alt-“coins” are very poor substitutes for Bit-“coins”. Each form of money, is necessarily in competition with all other forms: money has strong network effects; the recognizability property has super-linear returns to scale; exchange rates are transaction frictions that are inconvenient; etc. What people wanted was a BTC. They wanted to get rid of all their other forms of money!
But it is the reverse when we consider transaction fees and “btc-block-bytes”: Altcoin-blockspace is a pretty good substitute for Bitcoin-blockspace. Remember that this type of demand has nothing to do with obtaining BTC. Users merely wish to buy something using the Bitcoin payment-rail. This image from 2013 FINCEN Congressional testimony hopefully makes it clear:
Since the amount of coin sent in a blockchain payment is always configurable, it will always be possible to send someone “twenty dollars” worth of LTC; or “one BTC” worth of DOGE; or “one sandwich” worth of EOS. All of this is made much easier by the “exchangers” (ie: Coinbase, ShapeShift, SideShift, BitPay, LocalBitcoins, multi-currency wallets, CC ATMs, etc) which now take numerous forms and are easy to use.
Furthermore, this (true) premise –that Altcoin-payments are indeed substitutes for Bitcoin-payments– is occasionally explicitly admitted, even by hardcore maximalists. Especially during the last fee run-up in late 2017:
vi. Competitive Demand for the Payment Rail
The supposedly-essential “fee pressure” has, for the moment, deserted us.
See this graph (from this page) for BTC-priced fees:
And this graph (from this page) for USD-priced fees:
We see that fee pressure has crumbled. Today, a typical transaction will cost 30-40 cents – much cheaper than a VISA txn.
Compare the historical data, given in 90-day moving-average…
…to the two graphs below:
We see that BTC’s crossing of the “1 USD per transaction line”, in May of 2017, coincides with the rise of Altcoins. We also see that the “pressure” of late 2017 quickly canceled itself out, and then some. Finally, we see that this release-of-pressure coincided with a sudden (and unprecedented) decline in BTC-transactions.
To me, this data refutes the theory that users will pay high BTC fees willingly. In fact, they seem to have only ever paid high fees unwillingly – during a brief “bubble” time (of relative panic and FOMO).
If that theory is indeed false, then total fees will not be any higher –in USD terms– than they are today.
According to blockchain.info, fees in the last 12 months totaled $70 million. (In the 12 months before that, they were $770 million).
Revisit the chart above, and you will see that this barely registers. After all, when $70 M is priced in the units of the chart (billions), it is just $0.07.
If the consumer is cost-conscious, and will only pay the lowest tx-fees, then how can we get those numbers up?
vii. Alternative Fee-Sources
a. Lightning Network
The Lightning Network (if successful) will allow very many “real-life transactions” to be fit into just two on-chain txns.
The immediate effect of this, is to lower on-chain transaction fees; but the ultimate effect is increase them. LN boosts on-chain fees by increasing the utility of each on-chain txn (by allowing each to do the work of many txns), and by therefore making high on-chain fees more tolerable to the end user.
Exactly how much will LN boost fees?
At this point – it is anyone’s guess. But my guess is that they cannot realistically increase by more than two orders of magnitude.
First, on-chain txns are needed to create, and periodically maintain, the LN. So LN-users will still be paying on-chain fees; and will still prefer to minimize these costs. Meanwhile, Altcoins will have their own Lightning Network (they will copy LN, just as they’ve copied everything else). All of these LNs will compete with each other, the same way that different blockchains compete with each other.
Keep in mind, that the fees paid to LN-hubs will, by definition, not be paid to miners. So, there is no sense in which LN-fees “accumulate” into one big on-chain txn-fee (in contrast to how the economic effect of each LN-txn does accumulate into a single net on-chain txn).
Second, the LN user-experience will probably always be worse than the on-chain user-experience. LN is interactive, meaning that users must be online, and do something [sign a transaction] in order to receive money. It also means that your LN-counterparties can inconvenience you (for example if they stop replying, or if their computers catch fire) or outright harass you. LN also comes with new risks – the LN-design is very clever at minimizing these risks, but they are still there and will still be annoying to users. Users will prefer not to put up with them. So they will tend to prefer an Altcoin on-chain-txn over a mainchain-LN-txn.
b. Merged-Mined Sidechains
Merged-Mined Sidechains do whatever Altcoins can do, but without the need to purchase a new token. So they have infinitely lower exchange rate risk, and are more convenient for users.
On top of that, MM SCs send all txn-fees they collect to Bitcoin miners. Under Blind Merged Mining, they do this without requiring any users or miners to run the sidechain node software.
A set of largeblock sidechains could process very many transactions. In the next section, I will assume that the total Sidechain Network replaces VISA, (and VISA alone), and captures all of its transaction fee revenues. VISA is only a small percentage of the total payments market (which includes checks, WesternUnion, ApplePay, etc), but it is a good first look.
viii. VISA’s Transaction Fee Revenues
Contrary to what I believed just moments before looking this up, VISA does not earn any money off of the interest that it charges its customers.
Observe page 40 of their most recent annual report:
Our operating revenues are primarily generated from payments volume on Visa products for purchased goods and services, as well as the number of transactions processed on our network. We do not earn revenues from, or bear credit risk with respect to, interest or fees paid by account holders on Visa products.
Instead VISA’s revenue comes from transaction fees. This perfectly facilitates our comparison.
Total revenues were 18,538 $M in 2017, up from 11,778 $M in 2013. This corresponds to quite an annual growth rate – 12% per year.
If we assume that current trends holds, we get the following:
Link to Excel sheet.
Above: The ‘security budget table’ from earlier in this post, plus a new column: VISA transaction fees. These fees are added to the base block subsidy amounts, to get a new total security budget.
This security budget does seem to be much safer in the long run, and safer in general.
Conclusion
To deter 51% attacks, Bitcoin needs a high “security budget”. Today’s tx-fee revenues are not high enough; we must ensure that they are “boosted” in the future.
Higher prices (ie, higher satoshi/byte fee-rates) are one way of boosting revenue. Unfortunately, competition from rival chains acts to suppress the market-clearing fee-rate.
A better way, is to attempt to devour the entire payments market, and claim all of its fee revenues. This can be done using Merge Mined Sidechains, without any decentralization loss.
Update (4/2020): Tweetstorm 14 months later
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
Disqus | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Das Bundesverfassungsgericht hat unter allen Verfassungsorganen am wenigsten Sanktionen zu befürchten, wenn es unpopuläre Entscheidungen fällt. Das führt aber nicht dazu, dass es immer unpopulärer wird. Im Gegenteil – es wird immer populärer.
Das Allensbach-Institut hat die Deutschen sehr ausführlich zu ihrer Meinung über das BVerfG befragt, und die FAZ hat die Auswertung der Institutsdirektorin Renate Köcher wie üblich abgedruckt. Das Ergebnis: Anfang der 90er Jahre fand nicht mal jeder Zweite das BVerfG gut. Und heute? 64 Prozent! Vertrauen in die Institution haben sensationelle 75 Prozent (zum Vergleich: Bundestag 40 Prozent, EU-Kommission 22 Prozent). Ihren Einfluss finden 56 Prozent angemessen, weitere 14 Prozent sogar noch zu gering. Das gilt auch ganz konkret für die aktuellen europapolitischen Themen: 68 Prozent finden es goldrichtig, dass die Entscheidung über die Eurorettung in Karlsruhe fällt, nur 15 Prozent sähen sie in Berlin und Brüssel besser aufgehoben.
Insofern, das muss man ihm lassen, hat der Politiker Andreas Voßkuhle sicherlich erst mal alles richtig gemacht.
Nun ist das kein neues Phänomen, dass das Bundesverfassungsgericht die Hitparade politischer Popularität einsam anführt, und dass seine Beliebtheit in Zeiten wie diesen noch wächst, ist gleichfalls nicht so überraschend. Oder, in der leicht gespreizten Diktion von Renate Köcher:
In einer von großen Unsicherheiten und Risiken gekennzeichneten Zeit, in der die Bürger durch die Streitereien zwischen und in den Parteien oft irritiert sind und teilweise zweifeln, ob ihre Interessen bei ihren politischen Repräsentanten gut aufgehoben sind, wird das Verfassungsgericht immer mehr zu einer Institution, mit der sich die Hoffnungen der Bürger auf Verlässlichkeit und die Wahrung nicht nur der politischen und gesellschaftlichen Ordnung, sondern auch der nationalen Interessen verbinden.
Interessant finde ich vor allem, welche einzelnen Themen die Befragten in Karlsruhe verhandelt sehen wünschen (Europa, Datenschutz, Auslandseinsätze, Plebiszite und Hartz IV), und welche nicht (Steuern, Pkw-Maut, Ladenschluss, Rauchverbot, Homo-Ehe).
Das verlockt mich zum ungehemmten sozialpsychologischen Spekulieren. Warum diese ja und jene nicht? Was für Motive, was für Muster könnten dahinter stecken? Zwei Dinge fallen mir ein.
Erstens scheinen die Deutschen tatsächlich Karlsruhe als zuständige Institution für verfassungspolitische Entscheidungen im allerweitesten Sinne zu betrachten. Nicht nur wie wir verfasst sind, sondern auch wie wir verfasst sein wollen, soll das Gericht entscheiden. Wie sonst wäre zu erklären, dass sich 72 Prozent eine “eine stärkere Verankerung plebiszitärer Elemente in der politischen Ordnung der Bundesrepublik” von Karlsruhe erwarten, die das Grundgesetz derselben entschieden vorenthält? Auch dass 71 Prozent es gut finden, wenn Karlsruhe bremsend in die europäische Integration eingreift, zeigt, dass das verfassungsgestaltende Selbstverständnis des Zweiten Senats da draußen richtig gut ankommt.
Zweitens fällt mir auf, dass die staatliche Leistung Harz IV viel mehr als Verfassungsthema begriffen wird als der staatliche Eingriff Steuern. Sogar die Regelsätze wollen 58 % in Karlsruhe festlegen lassen, während die maximale Steuerbelastung – Paul Kirchhof, höre! – mehrheitlich als kein Thema für das Verfassungsgericht gesehen wird.
Das dürfte natürlich damit zu tun haben, dass es bei Hartz IV um die Schwachen = Schutzbedürftigen geht und bei Steuern um die Starken = die, die auch ohne Verfassungsgericht klar kommen. Aber ich könnte mir vorstellen, dass hier auch ein ganz gesundes Gefühl dahinter steckt, welche Entscheidungen besser nicht rein majoritär gefällt werden sollten. Die Mehrheit wird sich schnell einig, dass die Minderheit der Hartz-IV-Empfänger auch ohne diese oder jene Leistung zurechtkommen sollte, schon gar Asylbewerber. Steuern dagegen zahlen wir fast alle, ebenso gegebenenfalls Pkw-Maut: Da kann man getrost auch abstimmen lassen.
Dabei hilft, dass in punkto Hartz IV zumindest theoretisch jeder in die Situation geraten könnte, einmal in die Minderheit zu rutschen. Im Unterschied zur Homo-Ehe. Da hat die Mehrheit gar nichts gegen majoritäre Entscheidungen.
Zuletzt noch ein Disclaimer: Ich habe die eigentliche Allensbach-Studie nicht gelesen. Wenn ich aber Renate Köchers Text lese (“Die Sorge, dass der europäische Integrationsprozess sukzessive die Geltung des Grundgesetzes aushöhlt, hat signifikant zugenommen”), dann beschleicht mich doch gelegentlich leiser Zweifel, ob nicht vielleicht die eine oder andere Frage ein klitzeklein wenig suggestiv formuliert gewesen sein könnte… | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Have you ever identified yourself as something, lived and breathed it all your life, and then told you’re not really what you believe yourself to be?
I’ve always called myself a Muslim, but recently the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) made a statement about me, saying the beliefs I follow mean I “cannot be eligible for affiliation with the Muslim Council”.
What’s my offence - am I neglecting my prayers, or not eating halal meat? No: I’m a member of the Ahmadiyya community.
Ahmadiyya Muslims believe their founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was Islam’s Messiah and Mahdi, who came to revive Islam, reform Muslims and bring humanity back to God. But because other Muslims will not accept any more messengers, the MCB have declared me and fellow Ahmadiyya Muslims as non-believers.
I know what I am. As a young boy, I regularly went to the mosque, and often made the call to prayer. I loved attending religious classes and was addicted to reading about Islam, especially the life of the Prophet Muhammad. I was in secondary school when my father wrote a response to Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses and other books that vilified the Prophet. This inspired me to write about my faith too, and defend the Prophet’s honour whenever and wherever he was insulted.
Soon after graduating, I got married to my wife, who has always proudly worn the hijab. We have three beautiful children and continued the same tradition as our parents in raising them - teaching them the Qur’an and Islamic etiquettes, and going to the mosque. My eldest son has already decided that he wants to become an imam!
All my life, I have believed in the five pillars and six articles of faith. Furthermore, my community requires me to make the Qur’an and hadith my guiding principles, to invoke blessings on the Prophet, and to put Islam above everyone and everything. Whenever I leave the house, I wear a ring with the inscription ‘Is Allah not sufficient for His servant?’
However, while I fulfil all the descriptions of a Muslim given by Allah and the Prophet, the MCB says that “Muslims should not be forced to class Ahmadis as Muslims if they do not wish to do so”. But their own criterion for who is and isn’t a Muslim has no basis in the primary Islamic sources. It’s also inconsistent with the belief of the majority of Muslims, including their own affiliates that Jesus - a Prophet - will come again in future.
Why should this even matter to an outsider? The MCB has for long been a credible organisation, representing several mosques and Islamic groups, and done a lot of valuable work on behalf of Muslim communities across the UK. But their recent statement has wider, and potentially dangerous, implications for us all.
When Muslims start playing God in this way, religious prejudice, bigotry and hate will inevitably rise – including here in Britain. The MCB claims to be committed to “pluralism, peaceful coexistence and extend a hand of friendship and cooperation for the common good of all”, but seems to have a different rule when it comes to Ahmadiyya Muslims.
They appear content to regard extremists like the murderer of Asad Shah and hate preachers as among their co-religionists, but not those who live by the motto ‘love for all, hatred for none.’
Whatever the theological differences, no individual or institution has any authority to dictate what anyone else can and cannot call themselves. My faith is a matter between me and my Maker. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Frühstart mit Folgen Fahrschüler kommt mit Auto zur Fahrschule
Vor der Prüfung schon mit dem eigenen Auto zur Fahrschule kommen? Keine gute Idee: Ein Fahrschüler in Neuwied muss jetzt länger als geplant auf seinen Führerschein warten. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Following the end of the Open Test, Penske rolled the car onto pitlane fitted not only with the screen as tested by Scott Dixon at Phoenix’s ISM Raceway in February, but with further modifications.
A NACA-style duct has been added behind the shock-absorber access panel to feed cool air to the cockpit, while because of reflection glare, matte-black duct tape was put across the white nose of the Hitachi-liveried car, on the drivers’ side of the windshield.
After a couple of in and out laps, Newgarden had his tinted helmet visor removed and replaced with a clear one but also admitted that the aero path and low-pressure area within the cockpit was pushing his helmet forward.
“You’re not used to that much of a windscreen in front of you,” said Newgarden, who currently leads the 2018 championship points standings. “It was really interesting to try it out.
“The most interesting bit for me was the visor change, going from a fully-smoked visor to a clear visor. I actually thought that was better. It helped the clarity and visibility. So I think helmet manufacturers will be involved in this process in helping make it better and happier for the drivers.
“But overall, pretty clean and easy – easy installation today. It took us just 10 minutes and to be able to jump in and do 10 or 12 laps didn’t seem too difficult.
“There’s probably some small improvements we can continue to make such as the clarity of the visors and the perception of what it’s like to see through [the screen], but overall it was pretty easy to make it work. I didn’t have any major issues. So I think IndyCar did a really nice job.”
Newgarden added that the reduced wind noise was noticeable and that the engine note “sounded different with the wind not interfering”.
Regarding the NACA duct, Newgarden observed: “It alleviated some of the head pressure you get with not having the air on your helmet directed straight to you, so you have this back pressure that pushes your helmet forward.
“They cut that back pressure down by about 50 percent, and also you got some airflow inside the cockpit… If they said I could have more, I’d take it to get more airflow to the driver but to me it wasn’t too bad, it wasn’t crazy-hot.”
Further explaining the helmet visor issue, Newgarden said: “Because you wouldn’t normally run a clear visor on a sunny day, I started getting my face reflecting through the visor and that was bugging me a little at the end. But that’s something we can figure out with the helmet manufacturers to make a lot better.”
Newgarden also said that one of the question-marks over the screen remains its clarity deep into a stint, and that there may need to be further adjustments needed to adjust the path of the airflow.
“We were talking a little bit about what the dirtcar guys do,” he commented, “creating a little flip-up to push everything over a visor or over a windscreen. I think we can make that better because it was accumulating bugs pretty fast.
“It had tear-offs on it so we could make a tear-off change and have clear vision again but I think it’s something we’ll need to improve to direct the airflow much more over the screen.” | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
How do we stand a chance of transforming our culture and traditions into something more fit for purpose in the 21st century? Education, of course.
In a period where women are haemorrhaging from the workforce, and when state welfare, elder care and childcare provisions are under attack, the wider social purpose of schooling – and the importance of the feminist lens in public policy and decision-making – are hoving into view.
As a group, women rely more upon the state to mitigate the disproportionate burden of care placed upon them, yet the government appears to be turning back the clock on women's equality, setting in motion a resurgence of feminist protest.
Had any of our current crop of politicians engaged with feminism and gender studies, the public interest in performing a gender equality impact assessment on the proposed cuts would have been apparent, as would the ethical and legal transgression of failing to do one.
A critically important dimension of philosophy and history is not being passed on from one generation to the next. When feminism and the challenging questions thrown up by gender are overlooked is it any wonder that British institutions – from Parliament to the BBC – continue to be dominated by men?
As long as only a handful of schools teach gender issues and address feminist thought and history, women only discover the tradition when they hit glass ceilings in the workplace, or become mothers, and begin to seek insight into their experiences.
To understand why it is time to place gender at the centre of the education agenda, it helps to place the 5,400 women "missing" from top public sector jobs in the UK in a broader context. The exclusion of women from positions of power in the public sector is but one manifestation of the cultural devaluation of females.
We have serious work to do to shift the norms. Teaching about gender is increasingly looked to as a way to make progress in a global culture that continues to uphold men and boys' entitlement to control women and girls.
The schooling system is one of our most precious assetsand holds the key to improving the lot of women and girls in the workplace, family and culture. Empowering girls to fight their individual battles, unsupported, can only take us so far. Educating men and boys – in particular – to question the beliefs, customs, traditions on which the oppression, abuse and devaluing of females depends seems an obvious and profoundly necessary step.
Aside from the moral case, there is a legal dimension to the call for gender studies in schools. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, ratified by the UK in April 1986, is an international bill of rights for women which recognises the role of culture and tradition in perpetuating gender discrimination. This expressly includes schooling. In addition, the public sector equality duty, which came into force in 2011, makes it clear that where schools and other public bodies can eliminate discrimination, they must.
Young people must be educated to recognise the manifestations of gender inequality. This calls for teachers who have addressed gender in their professional training.
In addition, headteachers must take care to avoid discriminating against women teachers by failing to promote them or, for example, making it difficult for them to return after becoming parents.
The reality of leadership jobs is that conflict abounds. Given education and opportunity, women have flooded into the lower ranks of all professions. Few would deny that they shoulder an additional burden in overcoming discrimination, exclusion and stereotyping, be it simply to stay in the job or climb the ranks.
Although women cannot afford to shirk the conflict necessary to take what they're entitled to – an equal share in the running of their institution – they do so from a position of systemic disadvantage and varying degrees of precariousness. Men who hold the keys to power need to develop awareness of the broader impact of reflexive modes of sex discrimination. They have major critical analysis to do, and yet no time, support or guidance is set aside for that task.
I hope that in the future, women and girls will litigate and protest about serious failures to safeguard their most basic rights to teach and learn in school environments free from discrimination, harassment and abuse. Empowering victims of discrimination to question acts and omissions of the executive through the courts may animate the spirit of our equality laws.
The government's target is that 50% of new appointments to public boards should be held by women by 2015. While getting more female representation at senior levels of the public sector is a laudable goal, as is the goal of 25% female representation on corporate boards by 2015, I would also add to our list of demands that women and gender studies must be included in the national curriculum by that date.
If we start by educating the educators, subsequent generations of women and girls won't have to battle with half-changed minds and institutions which fail to represent their interests.
• Triona Kennedy is the founder of The Astell Project for Women & Gender Studies
This article is published by Guardian Professional. Join the Guardian Public Leaders Network free to receive regular emails on the issues at the top of the professional agenda. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
更新
１４日午前６時５５分ごろ、京都市左京区の賀茂川左岸河川敷で、オオサンショウウオが歩いているのを通行人の女性が発見、京都府警下鴨署に通報し、駆けつけた同署員が保護した。
保護されたオオサンショウウオは体長約１メートル、体重約７・５キロ。１３日に降った雨で川が増水し、流されてきた可能性もあるという。
オオサンショウウオは国の特別天然記念物に指定されており、同日中に京都市文化財保護課に引き渡された。市によると、近年は中国産との交雑種が増えており、在来種かどうかをＤＮＡ鑑定した上で、川に戻すという。
同署では、昨年７月にも、体長約７５センチ、体重約６キロの交雑種のオオサンショウウオが保護されている。 | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
LAS VEGAS -- Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino will host the 2019 NHL Awards presented by Bridgestone on June 19, the NHL announced Tuesday.
This is the 10th time the NHL Awards will be held in Las Vegas but the first time at Mandalay Bay Events Center, which has room for more fans and a larger show. This event will be open to at least 6,500 fans, at least 5,000 more than the 2018 show.
Tickets go on sale to the general public Thursday at 1 p.m. ET at nhl.com/awardstickets.
"We just wanted to up the energy level," NHL chief content officer and executive vice president Steve Mayer said at a news conference before the Vegas Golden Knights played the San Jose Sharks in Game 4 of the Western Conference First Round at T-Mobile Arena. "We just felt like it was a great opportunity to just expand the whole show, because in that building the stage is bigger, the surroundings are bigger, and there's more opportunity to do things from a production standpoint. So it just adds to the overall bigness of the program."
Mayer said the NHL plans to honor Ted Lindsay, the namesake of the Ted Lindsay Award, which goes to the most outstanding player as voted by members of the NHL Players' Association. The Hockey Hall of Famer died March 4 at age 93.
"I think that's going to mean a lot to the players in the room," NHLPA divisional player rep Steve Webb said.
But the event, broadcast live by NBCSN and Sportsnet at 8 p.m. ET, will have a light touch too. Mayer said the host will be a comedian, and there will be several familiar faces.
"Our presenter list is going to be new and different," Mayer said. "There's a lot of new celebrities that are going to be coming on, and we'll start announcing all that in the coming weeks."
Finalists for each award will be announced daily starting Wednesday with the Selke Trophy for best defensive forward.
The NHL Awards have been held previously in Las Vegas at the Palms Hotel (2009-11), Encore at Wynn Las Vegas (2012, 2014), MGM Grand Garden Arena (2015), The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino (2016, 2018) and T-Mobile Arena (2017).
In 2017, the show combined with the NHL Expansion Draft. Last year, it celebrated the Golden Knights' inaugural season and the impact they made after the mass shooting on the Strip on Oct. 1, 2017.
"We saw what the Vegas Golden Knights meant to this community," Mayer said. "After the tragic events of Oct. 1, they helped this city recover. And that was something that we took note of.
"To be able to go to Mandalay Bay, to go to a bigger venue, to have those fans and this community who love hockey so much be able to appreciate our show is something we look forward to.
"The show has grown over the years to become more than just handing out awards. We're really interested in showing our fans how the NHL and our sport is so meaningful in all communities." | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
That’s kid’s stuff – or for those locked in adolescence- right?
That’s a point with which these Bookworms beg to differ!
Like books? Here’s an argument for why you should like comic books too! Give it a listen and find out if you’ve been missing something good over in the four color world.
You can find our episodes in iTunes HERE or with your favorite podcasting service HERE. Please subscribe and, if you are feeling really generous, leave us a review on iTunes. You can also stream the episode in the player below.
We would love to hear your feedback! You can send us a message on our CONNECT page, our Facebook Page (click Like while you are there?), orTwitter feed (perhaps give us a Follow?), or leave a comment below. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
news, latest-news
A Batemans Bay man who trashed his car to cover a hit-and-run has been found guilty of culpable driving. Hugh Trounson – who was the cyclist struck by Wayne Anthony Thompson, 30, in Tuggeranong in March 2012 – said the decision in the ACT Magistrates Court on Friday had been a win for Canberra. Thompson sped away after the crash, leaving Mr Trounson lying injured on the road. Mr Trounson spent a week in hospital with fractured vertebrae and ribs, gravel rash, a cut mouth and a knee injury. Outside court, Mr Trounson said Thompson's behaviour could not be tolerated. "It's a good result and closure for both myself and my wife, we feel justice really has been served, it's a win for Canberra and for cyclists," he said. "We retired to Canberra because of the facilities and it being a friendly city. "The sentence doesn't matter, the most important thing is that he has been found guilty and will be held accountable. I'm satisfied with that." Thompson faced trial before Magistrate Robert Cook in November having pleaded not guilty to a charge of culpable driving causing grievous bodily harm. The court heard Thompson had a disqualified licence when he began a car journey from his then Wanniassa home to drop his partner at her mother's Kambah house on March 7. The route took them along Wheeler Crescent to a roundabout at the junction with Fincham Crescent, where the car struck Mr Trounson as he rode through the intersection. Thompson paused briefly before speeding away from the accident. He then jumped on the car's bonnet and roof, and put a log through the windscreen to cover the damage caused by the accident in a bid to avoid prosecution. In evidence, Mr Trounson said he had seen the car slow before the crash and assumed it would give way. Thompson claimed he had slowed the vehicle at the roundabout, looked for other road users and started to accelerate when his partner yelled to look out. He said he turned to look at her but then heard a bang and saw a body hit the windscreen. Defence lawyer, Soraya Saikal, argued her client's conduct had not reached the level of gross negligence required to prove a charge of culpable driving. But Magistrate Cook found Thompson had failed to adhere to the high standard of care required of a driver of a motor vehicle. The magistrate found him guilty of culpable driving causing grievous bodily harm. Thompson had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of driving while disqualified. The prosecution withdrew back up charges of negligent driving and not stopping to provide assistance as a result of the finding. Thompson will be sentenced in February. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
SATURDAY: The club has announced the move, and transferred Pablo Sandoval to the 60-day DL to accomodate.
FRIDAY: The Giants are set to activate Hunter Strickland from the disabled list tomorrow, the team told reporters (Twitter link via Kerry Crowley of the Bay Area News Group). His activation will serve as the corresponding move for placing rookie right-hander Dereck Rodriguez on the 10-day disabled list yesterday. Curiously, the Giants won’t make an additional move today and will instead play a man short in Friday’s contest against the Reds.
[Related: San Francisco Giants depth chart]
Strickland has been out since undergoing surgery to repair a fractured right hand back in mid-June. It was an embarrassing injury for the right-hander, who sustained the fracture when he punched a door out of frustration following a blown save. He’s on the 60-day disabled list, so the Giants will have to make a corresponding 40-man move in order to activate him.
Left-hander Will Smith has been serving as San Francisco’s closer in Strickland’s absence, and it’s not yet clear how manager Bruce Bochy will elect to manage his bullpen roles once Strickland is activated. Smith has pitched exceptionally well this year, working to a superlative 2.01 ERA with 12.5 K/9, 2.2 BB/9, 0.45 HR/9 and a 40.7 percent ground-ball rate. Smith is also running up a career-best 16 percent swinging-strike rate and a 40.4 percent chase rate that checks in as the third-best mark among qualified relievers in 2018.
Strickland was enjoying a strong season himself prior to the injury. In 31 2/3 frames this year, he’s posted a 2.84 ERA with 8.2 K/9, 3.7 BB/9, 0.57 HR/9 and a 39.6 percent ground-ball rate. Those numbers are obviously a fair sight shy of Smith’s dominance, but deploying Strickland in the ninth inning could allow Bochy to utilize Smith in higher-leverage spots earlier in the game — particularly against tough left-handed bats. While Smith has dominated righties and lefties alike, he’s been utterly overpowering against same-handed battters. Through 57 plate appearances, lefties are hitting a comically feeble .161/.175/.196 against him. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
NEW YORK (Reuters) - America’s trade war with China is once again poised to switch off the nation’s last television factory.
FILE PHOTO: Workers on the assembly line replace the back covers of 32-inch television sets at Element Electronics in Winnsboro, South Carolina, U.S. on May 29, 2014. REUTERS/Chris Keane
The United States had 150 television manufacturers in the 1950s, with factories and suppliers employing hundreds of thousands of workers across the country.
Those sets had hundreds of parts and were often sold in wooden cases the size of kitchen stoves. A modern flat screen, by contrast, has 70% of its value packed into the glass panel, and production is now almost entirely in Asia.
Today, there is only one U.S. assembly plant and it is more symbolic than substantive.
Element Electronics opened the plant in an old shirt factory in Winnsboro, South Carolina, in 2014, chiefly to supply televisions to Walmart for the retailer’s highly publicized buy-American campaign. It employs 250 workers.
The televisions at the plant are assembled entirely with Chinese components. Element applies the finishing touches in South Carolina, such as the insertion of printed circuit boards. It also tests the sets. Even most of the boxes and other packaging come from China. The labels state: “Assembled in the USA,” not “Made in the USA,” although the difference is lost on most consumers.
The mostly Chinese origin of these televisions has become a matter of survival for Element for the second consecutive year.
Last summer, President Donald Trump’s administration announced it would impose tariffs on Chinese television components among the many goods affected by a deepening trade war between Beijing and Washington.
The extra cost of the tariffs would mean the plant would not be able to compete on price with televisions imported from Mexico and Asia. Element appealed for relief, arguing that the items should be removed from the tariff list.
The company announced it would have to shut down because of the added cost of tariffs, and notified its workers they were being laid off.
The plant stopped production, but the company won a last-minute reprieve when the U.S. government dropped television parts from its list. In the end, no workers were laid off.
Now the tariff threat is back. Trump’s administration is preparing to impose 25% tariffs on the last $300 billion worth of Chinese goods not already covered by trade-war duties. Televisions and components are on the list.
FUTURE IN DOUBT
Trump’s meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping later this week at the G20 summit in Japan could determine whether those tariffs are imposed. In the meantime, the plant’s future is again in doubt.
“We’ll appeal - our lawyers will work on that,” said Michael O’Shaughnessy, the company’s chief executive.
China is only part of Element’s trade problem. The company has also struggled to compete with television importers from Mexico because of tariff rules.
Mexican television plants also assemble components mostly from Asia. Those TVs are then exported across the U.S. border duty-free because they are included in the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Element, however, previously had to pay a 4.5% tariff on their main components from China - a duty that existed long before Trump started his trade wars. Last year, Congress passed a bill that exempted a number of goods, including TV components, from those tariffs.
About 40% of televisions imported to the United States in recent years come from Mexico, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission.
Paul Gagnon, an expert on the industry’s supply chain at research firm IHS Markit, said the business has tiny margins, so manufacturers are constantly hunting for the lowest cost locations to do final assembly.
Element almost got a boost from another set of Trump trade tariffs. The U.S. president’s threat to put tariffs on Mexican goods, in an attempt to force Mexico to reduce the flow of illegal immigrants, might have given Element a big price advantage over the Mexican plants. But Trump dropped the threat after Mexico promised measures to tighten its borders.
O’Shaughnessy said he supports the administration’s efforts to level the playing field with China and other trading partners and feels businesses that create jobs in the United States should not face a disadvantage just because they rely on imported parts.
In the meantime, this is the busiest time of year for all television manufacturers, as they gear up for the holiday sales surge at the end of the year.
“We’re doing the things we can today to bring in a little more parts than we normally would,” said O’Shaughnessy, “So we have a buffer against the unknown.”
The company is also continuing to hire. It aims to have 300 employees by the end of the summer, O’Shaughnessy said, as business remains strong and is growing. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
'É normal fracassar na dieta': quem são e o que pregam as nutricionistas que se opõem a dietas restritivas
Crédito, Marcela Kotait Legenda da foto, A nutricionista Marcela Kotait, especialista em transtornos alimentares e obesidade, questiona se dietas restritivas são de fato sustentáveis
"Desde que eu me entendo por gente, sempre tive sobrepeso. Meus pais me levavam aos nutricionistas e eu acabava fazendo várias dietas", conta a geógrafa Maurielle Felix da Silva, hoje com 31 anos.
Na passagem de um consultório a outro, as receitas variavam. Testou dietas que iam das sopas aos shakes emagrecedores, mas o problema se repetia. Reduzia drasticamente as refeições, mas a vontade de comer os alimentos "errados" — mais calóricos, como pizzas e hambúrgueres — aparecia.
"Eu sentia muita vontade mas, quando comia, comia muito e sentia culpa", explica a paranaense. O comportamento, que ela define como "ou 8 ou 80", gerou frustração ao longo dos anos.
Seu último recurso foi uma abordagem alternativa, a linha não-prescritiva. Em busca de emagrecimento, Maurielle recorreu a uma profissional que era contra dietas. "Cheguei até a pensar em fazer bariátrica", diz ela.
Nutricionistas que seguem tal linha podem optar por diversas práticas. Há quem foque no viés comportamental, com atenção especial a como se come, não apenas aos alimentos. Já a "mindful eating" recorre às técnicas de atenção plena na hora das refeições.
Como regra geral, profissionais antidietas não receitam um plano alimentar rígido, nem focam em cortar calorias da alimentação por si só. Em vez disso, optam por trabalhar junto ao paciente as formas de comer melhor, alinhadas às sensações de fome e saciedade.
A ideia é contemplar a alimentação de forma mais global: onde se come, quais emoções o paciente sente ao fazê-lo, com quem se senta à mesa. Entram na balança, portanto, fatores psicológicos, emocionais e sociais.
A nutricionista paranaense Paola Altheia aderiu a uma abordagem não prescritiva logo ao se formar. Foi ela quem apresentou a Maurielle a possibilidade de viver sem fazer dietas.
Como Altheia brinca, seu consultório é "última porta" no caminho das pacientes. "'Eu fiz de tudo' é uma frase que eu ouço sempre", diz ela, criadora do projeto Não Sou Exposição, que divulga informações sobre nutrição, corpo e imagem.
Crédito, Paola Altheia Legenda da foto, A nutricionista paranaense Paola Altheia segue linha que não prescreve dietas restritivas para pacientes
Um peso, duas medidas
As orientações de entidades como a ABESO (Associação Brasileira para o Estudo da Obesidade e Síndrome Metabólica) apontam que dietas com deficit calórico de 500 a 1000 kcal levam ao emagrecimento.
Não faltam estudos que monitorem a queda nas medidas de pacientes com dietas variadas, desde a restrição de determinados grupos alimentares até do número de calorias. E nutricionistas — até mesmo de linhas não prescritivas — concordam.
A diferença está na pergunta seguinte: o que acontece depois do período seguindo dieta à risca? Os planos alimentares duram, em geral, de quatro a oito semanas. As taxas de sucesso podem ser otimistas durante o estudo, mas não se mantêm com a passagem dos anos.
Segundo as diretrizes da ABESO, "grande porcentagem de pacientes recupera o peso perdido". Tais índices ultrapassam os 90%, no período de um a cinco anos após a dieta.
"Perder peso não é fácil, mesmo porque obesidade é uma doença crônica que não tem cura, só controle", afirma o endocrinologista Mario Kehdi Carra, presidente da ABESO (Associação Brasileira para o Estudo da Obesidade e Síndrome Metabólica). "O tratamento é para a vida toda."
Qual é o problema das dietas para perder peso, então? "Elas são, via de regra, cansativas, porque a restrição tem que ser grande. O número de alimentos que um paciente vai usar é pequeno, ele acaba tendo uma alimentação monótona", detalha Carra.
Nutricionista do Instituto Central do Hospital das Clínicas de São Paulo, Michelle Rasmussen Martins faz coro. Ela ressalta, entretanto, que é necessária uma bateria de exames antes de apontar a conduta adequada, com restrição ou não.
"O peso não é o único fator nesse caso. O peso não leva em conta massa muscular, se a pessoa está inchada, se a pessoa vai regularmente ao banheiro…", completa ela.
Ela também enxerga saídas possíveis que vão além de cortes radicais na alimentação. "Às vezes, é interessante trabalhar com metas e atitudes ao longo do dia, mais do que com um valor calórico no plano alimentar. Tudo isso é válido", opina Martins.
Diante de uma gama de opções, o ponto levantado por nutricionistas antidietas é o nível de dificuldade nas restrições.
"A vida de uma pessoa normal, o seu dia a dia, é muito diferente de um laboratório", resume Paola Altheia. Ela explica que os obstáculos para manter o peso baixo pouco têm a ver com força de vontade. "É normal fracassar na dieta", crava Sophie Deram, nutricionista autora do livro O Peso das Dietas.
Crédito, Sophie Deram Legenda da foto, Nutricionista francesa radicada no Brasil, Sophie Deram faz ressalvas quanto às dietas restritivas: "fazendo dieta, a gente vai contra a nossa programação celular"
Como saída para manter o peso sob controle, o endocrinologista Mario Kehdi Carra sugere o uso de medicamentos, segundo orientação do profissional de saúde. "Ninguém cura depressão olhando o pôr do sol, cura tomando remédio. A obesidade é mais ou menos parecida", diz o endocrinologista.
Por outro lado, as adeptas de abordagens alternativas levantam ressalvas sobre o uso de fármacos a longo prazo. Para elas, o caminho seria entender os comportamentos e sensações ligados à alimentação, sem apelar para remédios.
Diante das linhas não-prescritivas, o presidente da ABESO também tem reservas. "Todas essas coisas têm pouca informação científica na literatura. A ABESO, como entidade de cunho científico, não costuma validar esse tipo de comportamento", diz Carra.
Entretanto, ele reconhece que as técnicas podem servir de complemento, de acordo com o caso. "Às vezes, você tem que lançar mão de mecanismos não exatamente xiitas para poder ter algum sucesso".
Por trás do ciclo da dieta
Há pontos comuns na conversa sobre como perder peso: os dois lados concordam, por exemplo, que é difícil se manter na dieta. A explicação por trás desse obstáculo vem do próprio funcionamento do corpo.
Questões evolutivas, nesse caso, também pesam. Afinal, mesmo que prateleiras de mercado sejam recheadas de opções hoje em dia, esse não era o caso milhares de anos atrás. Pelo contrário: nossos antepassados conviveram com o risco de passar fome por muitas gerações.
Adaptado ao ambiente externo com tantas restrições, o corpo apresenta mecanismos para se manter estável — é a chamada homeostase, comandada pelo hipotálamo.
Com uma bagagem evolutiva em que inanição era uma ameaça frequente, a tendência é retomar o peso, e não perdê-lo.
"Fazendo dietas, a gente vai contra a nossa programação celular", explica Sophie Deram, que coordena o projeto Genética de Transtornos Alimentares da Universidade de São Paulo. "O cérebro não entende que a gente quer emagrecer, só sabe que está com fome".
A partir daí, surge uma cascata de adaptações. Com a queda no tanto de calorias à disposição, a mensagem que chega ao cérebro aciona um gatilho: há pouca energia, é necessário comer mais.
Com isso, hormônios que controlam fome e saciedade acabam desajustados. O estômago, por exemplo, secreta mais grelina, o hormônio do apetite.
Já o pâncreas reduz a liberação de insulina, que leva a glicose para o interior das células.
Não à toa, como explicam as nutricionistas, os pacientes pensem tanto em comida quando fazem dietas restritivas.
A série de mudanças não para por aí. Se há menos energia para consumir, o corpo também passa a gastá-la menos. "O próprio corpo se coloca em um funcionamento moderado para se preservar", explica Sophie.
A economia de bateria afeta funções que vão desde a produção de serotonina até o crescimento dos fios de cabelo.
É aí que o metabolismo desacelera. "A taxa metabólica basal, o número de calorias que gastamos em repouso, acaba prejudicada", detalha a nutricionista Marcela Kotait, especialista em obesidade e transtornos alimentares.
Esses índices também demoram para voltar ao normal, depois de encerrada a dieta. "Ou seja, fazer dieta engorda", sintetiza ela.
Crédito, Maurielle Felix Legenda da foto, A geógrafa Maurielle Felix da Silva procurou uma nutricionista contrária a dietas como "última saída"
Dupla ameaça
Os gatilhos físicos não são os únicos considerados pelas nutricionistas antidietas para criticar as restrições. A parte psicológica entra para a equação, já que o foco são comportamentos e sentimentos ligados à comida.
Para ilustrar o problema, a especialista Marcela Kotait parte de um exemplo. "Você pode comer um hambúrguer junto da família, comemorando algo, ou pode comê-lo sozinho no carro depois de passar em um drive thru."
Há formas diferentes, explica ela, de comer um mesmo alimento, com o mesmo tanto de calorias. Por isso, antes de indicar uma conduta rígida, profissionais investigam os motivos envolvidos antes, durante e depois da refeição. E o que constatam é a existência de um ciclo da dieta.
O ciclo começa com a restrição de alimentos, segue com a vontade exacerbada de comê-los e culmina na recaída. O caso de Maurielle, que abandonou as dietas, ilustra a dinâmica. "Eu sentia que precisava comer tudo naquele momento, porque era última vez em que eu poderia", conta ela.
"Toda segunda-feira, vinha um ciclo de culpa e de tentar começar de novo."
Para alguns pacientes esses sentimentos de frustração e ansiedade estimulam a vontade por determinados pratos.
"Comer faz bem, alivia a dor, nos deixa mais tranquilos. O cérebro se coloca em uma espécie de piloto automático para aliviar essas sensações com comida", detalha Sophie Deram, da Universidade de São Paulo.
Essa atenção aos aspectos psicológicos leva em conta transtornos alimentares, como bulimia e ortorexia.
Por um lado, o comer desordenado relatado por pacientes pode ser sinal de distúrbios. Por outro, a restrição imposta por uma dieta pode servir como ponto de partida para o quadro.
"Nem toda dieta leva a um transtorno alimentar, mas todo transtorno alimentar começa com uma dieta", resume Paola Altheia.
Entretanto, ela e outros nutricionistas — adeptos ou não de planos alimentares restritivos — reconhecem que tais quadros são multifatoriais, incluindo aspectos genéticos.
"Tanto transtornos quanto dietas restritivas têm características em comum, como ignorar os sinais de fome e saciedade, ter pensamento obsessivo por comida", complementa Marcela Kotait, coordenadora da equipe de nutrição do Ambulatório de Anorexia Nervosa, na Universidade de São Paulo.
Crédito, Rostislav Sedlacek/Getty Images Legenda da foto, Alguns nutricionistas sequer têm balanças em seus consultórios
Consulta sem dietas
A diferença entre uma consulta comum e a de nutricionistas contrários às dietas começa já no ambiente de trabalho.
"Vejo pacientes que choram só de ver que não tenho uma balança no consultório", conta Sophie Deram, que deixa o objeto escondido. Cabe ao paciente, então, decidir se quer ou não se pesar.
Para a geógrafa Maurielle Felix, cada consulta trazia uma carga de vergonha. "Se eu falava para um médico que fazia atividade física todos os dias, não acreditavam. Eles me olhavam e faziam uma cara de dúvida", conta.
"Parecia que eles se perguntavam 'será que se alimenta bem? Será que faz academia mesmo? Se faz, como não é magra?", explica ela.
Tirar o peso do eixo central busca aliviar essa tensão. "De que adianta saber se meu paciente tem 95 ou 97 quilos? O tratamento que eu indico foca em ter uma melhor relação com a comida", detalha Deram. "O peso é consequência disso, e não causa."
A escuta sobre o histórico, desde variações no peso até a relação com a própria imagem, dá o pontapé inicial à consulta. Medidas exatas de peso, e outras como circunferência abdominal, podem ou não ser analisadas logo de cara.
"Eu sempre falo que o peso é a ponta do iceberg da relação com o corpo e com a comida", diz Marcela Kotait. A estratégia nas consultas, para ela, é "deixar o paciente falar" para identificar o que ainda está submerso.
"É importante saber se a pessoa come escondida, se ela perde o controle, mais do que se ela come cenoura ou vagem. O comportamento é tão importante quanto o nutriente", explica Sophie Deram.
Sem o ponteiro da balança como foco, como saber se o tratamento funciona?
Há quem sente com o paciente para definir metas, adaptadas às necessidades de cada: beber mais água ao longo do dia, fazer as três refeições, demorar mais tempo à mesa.
Ao falar de resultados, Paola Altheia brinca que o trabalho não gera um "emagrecimento de parar o trânsito", nem um "corpo de celebridade".
O foco é comer de forma equilibrada, sem ter um plano alimentar rígido em mente, nem grandes restrições. "O peso não é objetivo principal dessa abordagem, é só uma das consequências de novas atitudes", pondera Marcela Kotait.
"Se a paciente me conta 'Paola, eu esqueci um chocolate na gaveta', ou 'entrei no mar e não fiquei escondida debaixo do guarda-sol quando estava na praia', eu vejo que a qualidade de vida dela está melhorando aos poucos", explica Paola Altheia.
É o outro resultado contado pelas pacientes que são, em maioria, mulheres: a mudança na relação com o próprio corpo.
"Quando a gente só pensa em peso o tempo todo, é a balança que vai decidir a nossa felicidade", opina Sophie Deram. "Às vezes a pessoa está bem, está feliz, se sentindo bem e aí sobe na balança e o mundo cai." | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Things I WOULD Wish Upon My Enemies Part III
Alt-Text: Wait, you didn't know Danny Boyle directed Trainspotting? Why do you even watch movies? | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
A new year means a new draft and new sleepers and breakouts. You can’t always go by projections and stats from the previous year to draft your team because there are always guys who out perform their ranking and perform below it. From now until April, we’ll be going over some people we think you need to be aware of to make sure you draft your team as best as you can. Today, we’ll be talking about sleepers.
Every year there are some guys that very few people suspect will have great years and it comes as a surprise to most when they do. Guys like Daniel Murphy, Jean Segura, and Dj LeMahieu all had great years last year while having subpar years before or, in Murphy’s case, did something no one thought possible. This year I have a few guys I think will have much better seasons this year compared to last year and I would look out from them in the later rounds of your draft to really solidify your team as a contender.
Pitchers
1. ARI LHP Robbie Ray
2016 Stats: 8-15, 4.90 ERA, 174.1 INN, 218 SO, 3.76 FIP, 1.468 WHIP, 1.2 HR/9, 11.3 K/9
Ray’s 2015 at first glance was horrible. 4.90 ERA and 4.5 INN/G are not the kind of stats you want to see from a starting pitcher. However, sabermetrics, along with the fact that Ray is only 25, tell us that the year he had is not reflective of how he actually pitched. He ranked 30th in the NL for ERA but he was 13th in FIP. His ERA was over a point worse than his FIP and that is due to the fact that his BABIP for the season was a baffling .352. That was the worst BABIP in the majors and it was 3.7% higher than the next guy in the rankings(Michael Pineda, who we will discuss later in the list).
If Robbie Ray’s 2016 season was to be summed up in one word it would be unlucky and he’s unlikely to have another season like it again. So going into the 2017, Ray is a 25 year old starting pitcher who finished second in the National League in K/9 with an outstanding 11.3. Sure, he might be in a hitter’s park, but there is no way he will sustain a 23.3% difference between his ERA and his FIP. I have no doubt in my mind that Ray will clock in 200+ innings this year and that he’ll be up there with Kershaw and Scherzer for the lead is SO. Just how unlucky he got this past year remains to be seen, but I think Ray will be anywhere from a solid middle rotation guy to a full on Fantasy Ace.
2017 Prediction: 14-9, 3.39 ERA, 205 INN, 253 SO, 1.287 WHIP, 1.1 HR/9, 11.1 K/9
2. NYY RHP Michael Pineda
2016 Stats: 6-12, 4.82 ERA, 175.2 INN, 207 Ks, 3.79 FIP, 1.349 WHIP, 1.4 HR/9, 10.6 K/9
Every year Pineda seems to be a sleeper pick but he hasn’t panned out so far in his career. A lot of that has been due to injuries, but this past year he had his first full season in the MLB and it was also his worst year statistically. Pineda and Ray had nearly identical 2016 seasons but Ray was given the #1 spot on account of his being 25 years old. Pineda is still pretty young though and at 28, I think he will have a fantastic year. Pineda had the second highest BABIP in the majors with a .339 and it was the highest in the AL. Pineda does pitch in a hitters park but that isn’t enough for his BABIP to be as high as it is or for this FIP to stray from his ERA as much as it does.
Pineda posted the highest K/9 in the American League and his 2015 season proved that he can be a 6 INN/G type guy if he can stay healthy. It should also be noted that he was partly unlucky in 2015 as well. Although some of his struggles in 2015 were due to injury, he still posted a BABIP of .335 that year with an FIP of 3.34. Pineda will be available in the later rounds of most drafts and I highly recommend scooping him if he’s available.
2017 Prediction: 13-7, 3.52 ERA, 208 INN, 240 Ks, 10.4 K/9, 1.245 WHIP, 1.1 HR/9
3. COL RHP Jon Gray
2016 Stats: 10-10, 4.61 ERA, 168 INN, 185, 3.60 FIP, 1.262 WHIP, 1 HR/9, 9.9 K/9
Gray isn’t as much of a sleeper as the other two but he is a must draft especially in dynasty leagues. Most of his stats look pretty good outside his 4.61 ERA. His 5.8 INN/G can be improved but it’s solid as it is and his WHIP is great for a rookie in Colorado. Some question just how good he can be in the gauntlet that is Coor’s Field, but I think the sky's the limit for Gray. What Gray needs to work on is his GB rate. At first glance, it’s pretty hard to pinpoint how he had such a high ERA when his WHIP was as low as it is and when his HR/9 is solid.
His struggles came because of momentum. He seemed to get rattled pretty easily. When you go through his game logs, he seems to pitch well for a few innings but give it all away in one or two innings. Last year he was allowing hits and runs in short bunches. Sure, maybe this problem has come from just a mindset that he cannot change but I believe that he can bounce back and start to get more comfortable as a pitcher going into his sophomore season.
In regular redraft leagues, he’ll likely go between rounds 17-21 but his value is much higher than that. In dynasty leagues he should be going closer to round 10 and I think he’s even a safe bet to be picked in redrafts between rounds 13-15. While he isn’t completely a sleeper compared to guys like Pineda and Ray, he is definitely ranked a lot lower than what his value is. If you can pick up in the early to mid teens rounds, you won’t be sorry.
2017 Prediction: 11-8, 3.23 ERA, 175 INN, 197 SO, 10.1 K/9, 1.181 WHIP
Batters
1. WSH 3B Anthony Rendon
2016 Stats: .270/.348/.450/.797, 91 R, 85 RBI, 12 SB, 20 HR, 38 2B, 10 BB%, .342 wOBA, .304 BABIP, 4.1 bWAR
Rendon may not seem like a sleeper, considering just two years ago he was a second round pick coming off a top 5 MVP campaign at the age of 25. But when his 2015 season was plagued with injuries, people started to forget his name. And after what looks like a decent but pretty average 2016 campaign, combined with being two years removed from his breakout campaign, his status as a fantasy star started to fade away. Granted, his 2016 season was pretty good and he is projected to go shortly after the 10th round, but I believe that Rendon might be in for another top 5 MVP campaign for a number of reasons.
Very similar to Joey Votto, Rendon had a slow start to the 2016 season. Although he didn’t turn it around as much as Votto (which would have been nearly impossible to do anyway), he did turn it around quite a bit and he showed that he is still worthy of being considered a fantasy star. On may 9th, Rendon reached his season low for batting average at .211 and he was very close to his season low for OBP and SLG with .289 and .297 respectively. But from May 10th on, he was playing like 2014 Rendon again and fantasy owners were rejoicing. From May 10th to the end of the season, which included 124 games and 505 PAs, Rendon slashed a monstrous .287/.364/.494/.859 with 69 runs scored, 80 RBI, 19 home runs, and a K:BB rate of 96:51. Those stats are much better than his stats were in the entire 2014 season when he finished 5th in MVP voting.
If you look at his 2016 season as a whole you wouldn’t think that he was back to his superstar ways but he most certainly is, which is why he is a sleeper. There is no doubt in my mind that Rendon would at least be worthy or a 3rd or 4th round pick and the fact that he is projected to be taking later than the 10th round is absurd. If Rendon is available from the 7th round or after he is a must draft. I’m calling it now, Rendon will finish in the top 7 in NL MVP voting in 2017.
2017 Prediction: .290/.365/.502/.867, 108 R, 92 RBI, 24 HR, 15 SB, 11 BB%
2. TOR 2B Devon Travis
2016 Stats: .300/.332/.454/.785, .154 ISO, 20.1 K%, .337 wOBA, 109 wRC+, 2.9 bWAR
While Travis may be starting to get some traction as a solid fantasy 2B, he is still pretty often valued for what he did last year. He was solid but he did nothing too spectacular. Travis’ value come in when his 2015 season is put under the microscope. In 2015 he slashed a very solid .304/.361/.498/.859 with a 131 OPS+. He was extremely solid as a rookie and while he didn’t have the counting stats to get him a spot on the AL ROY list(with just 38 runs and 35 RBI in 217 ABs) he still did tremendously well and could have very well been one of the 10 best fantasy 2B in the league he had been up the whole year. He also showed a lot more plate discipline, walking 7.6% of the time compared to this past year when he walked just 4.6% of the time.
Rookie Travis is the kind of player you should be expecting from him. Not only do I consider him a sleeper but he is also a breakout candidate for 2017 and I could very well see him cracking the top 6 or 7 best second basemen this year. Considering he is expected to be taken in the 20th round or later on popular sites like ESPN, I believe he is a must draft especially for the bargain of a round you would be getting on. Drafting Travis between rounds 16-19 would be the best way to ensure you get him and he will give you much better production than anyone you could have drafted in those rounds.
2017 Prediction: .310/.372/.495/.867, 21 HR, 46 2B, 82 RBI, 85 R, 3.3 K:BB
3. PHI 3B Maikel Franco
The once average prospect from the Dominican Republic, Maikel Franco, has transformed to a young stud that is on the cusp of stardom. Franco had a fantastic rookie campaign, slashing a remarkable .280/.343/.497/.840 with an OPS+ of 130 and a K:BB of 52:25. His 15.5 K% was very solid for a rookie and his 21.7 AB/HR pointed to the fact that this guy could be hitting anywhere between 25-35 homers a year. He played almost exactly half a season that year and in that time he racked up 45 runs and 50 RBI. Franco was only showing signs that’d he’d be a star and anyone who had a problem with him only did so because they believed he had a fluke year.
And based off his sophomore season in 2016, they may be right. While his Home Runs and walks were only slightly down and his strikeout rate was only slightly up, his averages were abysmal in comparison to his rookie season. He slashed .255/.306/.427/.733 with an OPS+ of 96. Franco is really a tale of two seasons: which one was the fluke.
Well, he wouldn’t be on this list if I didn’t think his 2016 season was a fluke. For starters, the fact that his BB%, K%, and AB/HR only slightly varied from what they were in 2015. His K% was up to 16.8% from 15.5%, his BB% was down to 6.3% from 7.8%, and his AB/HR was up to 23.24. While these changes are alarming, they are only very slight and they point to the fact that Franco’s approach to the plate and his mechanics have stayed roughly the same over his first two years in the league. The variation in production may big explained in sabermetrics.
Franco’s BABIP in 2016 was .271, which is well below average and 26 points below his BABIP in 2015. Although his struggles weren’t solely due to getting unlucky, it did play a part in the difference in production over the last two years. His ISO was also down 45 points from 2015 to 2016, which is peculiar because his Home Run production was only down slightly. This was because he was not hitting doubles even remotely close to the rate he was hitting them in 2015. In 2015 he hit 22 doubles in 335 PA but in 2016, he hit 23 doubles in 630 PA. It might have been do in part to over production in 2015 and in part to getting unlucky, but his biggest question mark is how often he will hit doubles from here on out.
Franco’s 2016 saw him struggle to hit for average and saw his power go down quite a bit. However, all other aspects of his game seemed to stay right on par with his 2015 campaign. His .271 BABIP in 2016 makes me not too worried about his ability to hit for average. That BABIP is unsustainable and I am expecting him to at least return to being a 280 average hitter. That would also bring his OBP almost to where it was in 2015, seeing as his BB% did not go down very much. His power will be similar to 2015 but it’s unknown how often he’ll hit doubles. I think his poor BABIP had a part to play in the difference in production of doubles and I am expecting him to hit around 35 doubles this year.
Franco is a sleeper because of his poor 2016 season and he will be available very late in drafts. I believe that his 2016 season was a fluke and it does not represent Franco well. However, if it turns out that Franco is more of a 25 doubles a year type player, his value brings him much closer to his value this past year. All in all, I think Franco is worth the pick in the late stages of your draft because his upside is tremendous and his floor the season he just had.
2017 Prediction: .283/.348/.485/.833, 34 2B, 27 HR, 91 RBI, 71 R, 2.3 K:BB | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Who: Bryan Brown, Louisville
Title: Defensive coordinator/cornerbacks coach
Previous stop: Appalachian State defensive coordinator/cornerbacks coach (2018), cornerbacks coach (2012-17)
Why he’s important: Let’s put it this way — there’s nowhere to go but up.
Scott Satterfield on Deener show on @939TheVille just said last year’s Louisville defense was “one of the worst I’ve ever seen.” — Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) April 30, 2019
The 2018 Cardinals won the golden sombrero in the ACC, finishing last in the conference in scoring defense (44.1 points per game), total defense (483.5 yards per game), and yards per play (6.88). They allowed nearly 10 points per game more than next-to-last-place North Carolina. They 25 yards per game more than next-to-last Wake Forest. In fact, Louisville defended exactly the same amount of plays (843) as first place Miami and allowed 2,176 more yards, which is more than the total number of passing or rushing yards Miami surrendered all season.
(Louisville was also last in the ACC in scoring offense and total offense… but 13th in yards per play!)
Even worse than the product on the field was the culture inside the locker room.
“I did not know (how bad it was) until I got here,” Brown told ESPN Louisville in May, “until I stepped foot on campus in December and I met with a couple of guys and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh! Like, you didn’t know where the coach’s offices were?’ That’s the God’s to honest truth, we had players who didn’t know where the coach’s offices were.
“It blew me away cause from the time I’ve grown up playing any sports, I’ve always talked to my coaches no matter what… And then when you get here and you talk to guys and there like, “Well you know, I’ve never seen my coach’s house. I’ve never been invited to my coach’s house. I don’t know where his office is.’ That blew my mind.”
It’s a rebuild unlike anything else the 35-year-old has ever undertaken, who has one year of coordinator experience under his belt.
The new staff has moved a dozen players to new positions to better maximize their talents in Brown’s scheme. But more than anything, the defense’s greatest improvement will come not from scheme, but buy-in.
Brown didn’t go back and watch the entire 2018 season — showing game tape of the 2018 Louisville season to prisoners of war is actually classified as torture by the United Nations — but he saw enough to know last year’s team quit, and so improvement is bound to come simply by getting all 11 players to play through the whistle.
“The guys that we have, they want to do right,” Brown said. “And when you have guys that want to do right, I think great things will end up happening for us…. I think our guys are going to execute to a T a good bit of the time this year, and I’m excited about it. They’re going to give great effort, they’re going to get to that football. We’re going to cause havoc. If there’s some mistakes made, we’re going to make up for it with our effort.
“I can tell with my little ones, fathering them, you can tell when to kick them in the butt and when they need a pat on the back. These guys need a lots of pats on the back.”
One staff’s bottom-out is another staff’s opportunity, and no one on Satterfield’s staff stands to gain from Louisville’s eventual rebound more than Brown. It probably won’t happen in 2019 or maybe even 2020, but once the Cardinal defense grows from abjectly bad to adequate to good or even great, plenty of athletics directors and search firms will look at the unit’s coordinator and see head coaching material. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
North American anime licensing company Sentai Filmworks announced on Friday that it has licensed the television anime adaptation of Shūzō Oshimi's Aku no Hana (The Flowers of Evil) manga. The company plans to release the series digitally with a home video release to follow later this year. Crunchyroll is currently streaming the series outside of Japan as it airs.
The "corrupt pure-love story" revolves around Takao Kasuga (Shinichiroh Ueda), a bookish boy who loves the poems of Charles Baudelaire (the original author of the poetry collection Les Fleurs du mal or Flowers of Evil ). One day after school, he discovers and steals the gym clothes of Nanako Saeki (Yōko Hikasa), the girl he has a crush on. However, he learns that Sawa Nakamura (Mariya Ise), a girl he loathes, happens to catch him in the act. Nakamura blackmails Kasuga into a "contract," or else she will reveal his secret.
The series will co-star Ayako Uemura as Ai Kinoshita, Katsutoshi Matsuzaki as Yamada, Sayuri Hara as Mayu, and Shinya Hamazoe as Kojima. Uchu-jin band member Asako Shinosaki will be performing the opening theme song.
Hiroshi Nagahama (Mushi-Shi, Detroit Metal City) is directing the series at the studio ZEXCS, who will be using a nontraditional process to produce the series. Hidekazu Shimamura (Nodame Cantabile, Detroit Metal City) is adapting Oshimi's characters for animation, and Aki Itami (Mushi-Shi, Prince Mackaroo) is serving as scriptwriter and the series script supervisor.
The series premiered in Japan on April 5 on BS Animax. Vertical publishes the original manga in North America. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
BitMEX Signals
Short #BCH around 505
Target-Open
Stop Loss -535
Leverage 10-20x
Result - 700% | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Hears you talking about not having money for food Buys pizza and shares it with you
308 shares | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Diet trends: Pros and cons of keto, pegan, fasting and more If you're resolving to lose weight in the new year, there are plenty of trendy diet plans to choose from. Registered dietician and clinical nutritionist Kelly Hogan joins CBSN with a look at the pros and cons. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Thursday is your chance to get a look inside some of the Twin Cities most stunning historic homes, ones that have been meticulously maintained.
It's the Ramsey Hill Home Tour and it opens the doors to more than a dozen properties for a self-guided tour. Shayne Wells took us inside a few of the homes on the Fox 9 Morning News.
For ticket information click here. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
The following blog post, unless otherwise noted, was written by a member of Gamasutras community.
The thoughts and opinions expressed are those of the writer and not Gamasutra or its parent company.
Preamble
I reached an important milestone, lately. I published a Kickstarter-supported indie game to Steam. The game, now selling for $4.99 USD, was developed entirely by my best friend, my wife, and I, entirely in our free time. As you might imagine, it's small, silly, and full of bugs.
Unfortunately, in nearly the same breath, I became aware of the existence of Steam-key 'reselling' websites, like Kinguin, G2A, and GameFlip. I have a particular problem with the existence of these sites, and a few of the symptoms they seem to cause. While I acknowledge that they're not breaking any laws, I think they do a few things that are harmful to indie devs, and honestly to devs in general.
Please bear in mind that this post is entirely opinion, and I am not offering these insights in any kind of 'official' capacity. What follows is, I hope, a series of tips and encouragements that can help some indies keep control of their brand and retain value in their product.
Obligatory Self Promotion
The game in question is Beans: The Coffee Shop Simulator. It's a goofy simulator game where you run coffee shops. It's jammed full of dad jokes, bad puns, and hamfisted social commentary set to chiptune and 'pixel art'. We did it mostly as a hobby, partially as a way of doing 'gamedev therapy'. By that I mean since both my day job and my hobbies include games, this gave me a creative outlet. That's a story for another article, though.
In any case, here's a promo video:
The game is on Steam if you want to check it out. It's also on Itch and Humble if you'd like to support those stores, or want a DRM-free version.
The Story
I'm not here to talk about the very, very shady world of selling Steam keys on the gray market. There are already dozens of other tweets and articles from large publishers that detail that. What I am here to talk about is the secondary effect on indies, especially very small indies that lack a PR rep, legal team, or any other kind of secondary support staff.
You're probably already aware, but one of the largest issues indie developers face is promotion and visibility. There are a lot of great games out there, and it's hard to get potential customer eyeballs on yours. We've been fortunate to have a wonderful streaming community, and the help of awesome indie PR firm Bearded Astronaut to help us get some eyes, but sometimes it can still feel like nobody is seeing that thing you spent years on. Take a look at the below chart of total views by day for the 10 days after launch, gathered from Google Analytics:
This chart should make sense to anyone. Value is total revenue / users, conversion is total visits / total units, and so on. What you should see here is that as visitors decrease, conversion increases, on average. That's sensible, because as time goes on, the only people who are seeing your game are the people who are already looking for it. So, with time, visitors approach zero, while conversion approaches one.
Anyway, another key takeaway from that chart is that our game has a visibility problem. This isn't uncommon for indie devs, based on my discussions with friends in the business. As a result, it's very easy to get into the mentality of any eyes on my product are of value. You also tend to get into a mindset of I'm an indie, so I should support other small businesses.
Given those two predicate belief sets, that you need to promote visibility, and that you should be open to the idea of small businesses, behold, what I believe to be the greatest issue posed to indies by sites like G2A, Kinguin, and the like:
Preying on Hope
The issue isn't reselling keys, the issue is that since the keys can be resold without validation, people will come up with every scheme imaginable to get your keys, sell them, and profit. Usually, they will take the guise of promotion. E.G., a scheme setup where you provide a number of keys to the scammer, and they will, in exchange and through poorly-worded and evasive means, 'promote' your game.
For this reason, it's very important to keep track of every single Steam key you distribute. Here's SplatterCat Gaming, who did an awesome video of our game near launch:
"Wait, Matt.", you say - "...doesn't that mean you have to query literally hundreds of Steam keys on a daily basis to make sure they're being redeemed?"
Yes, yes it does. If someone has a better solution to that, I'm willing to hear it. Additionally this doesn't mean I immediately suspect people who don't download the game. People are busy. But I do flag ones that I think are suspect and then closely monitor sites like Kinguin etc. to make sure additional copies of the game haven't cropped up. It's not a perfect system, but I'm trying to preserve the game's already low price point for as long as possible.
Without further ado, here are the primary methods by which people seem to try to get my Steam Keys to invariably end up on sale on G2A:
Phishing Emails
Well, first of all, I have to confess. I got a serious kick out of "Mr. Bean", as this is often what I look like working bugs out of indie games at 3AM:
Regardless, you are going to receive literally hundreds of emails like this. Sometimes with exactly similar copy, sometimes with creative sounding pitches, other times with really sincere pitches to get copies of your game.
"But maybe they mean well" you say. That's entirely possible. The fact that I received literally two dozen of these within hours of pressing the launch button on Steam notwithstanding. As a gag, I gave one of these guys a single Steam key (which I banned a bit later).
Within hours...
Takeaway #1:
Vet every email you receive with an offer to promote your game very, very harshly. Legitimate streamers, YouTubers, LetsPlayers, Press, etc. don't mind the vetting, and will happily provide you with validation that they are who they say they are. Alternatively, use a key request service like Keymailer, or create a webform that has the person validate themselves by providing, for example, an email address matching a domain.
Bulk Resale Offers
You're going to get a lot of these as well. They'll take various forms, but one way or another the entity will ask you for a large number of keys at a preposterously low price (pennies or less) and offer to use those to 'promote' or 'resell' your game. Realistically, they are going to sell the keys at a reduced rate, usually in a gray market store, and make off with sales at your expense.
Inevitably, when pressed, the resellers will reveal that they intend to buy them from you (for $0.03 USD, no less), usually in a huge amount (5000 here, more than our total sales to date), and then sell them at a discount, making money at your expense. You are literally supplying people to undercut you by participating in such an activity.
Takeaway #2:
Don't give your keys to resellers. Ever.
Intimidation
This one irks me. You're an indie, and scammers know that. They probably also know, especially if you make this public, that you have a small team, and this might well be the first game you've ever worked on. The especially scummy ones will use this to try to intimidate you.
In order to eschew key scamming, I try my hardest to provide review copies or DRM-Free Itch.io copies to reviewers where possible. Legitimate reviewers don't care where you get your keys, and won't mind a DRM free or press version. In fact, they've probably been in this boat before, and will understand.
In my case, a few different versions have occurred, but the bottom line is always the same - in some way, scammer will either contribute money, a retweet, a website feature, something to your campaign. Afterward, they will assert that you promised them keys in return. When you say that's not the case, they'll threaten you with vague legal action, hoping you'll decide it's not worth the trouble and just give in to whatever they desire.
I'll share with you my most egregious case:
During my Kickstarter campaign, I had one backer who selected the $6 tier (which got him a copy of the game), but contributed $100. Way more than he needed to. I then got a contact from him on Kickstarter offering various things, which I made clear was probably not going to happen. He pressed on, assuring - without me having asked - that he was going to do 'press and promotion' for my game:
I made it pretty clear that he could pledge whatever he wanted, but I wasn't comfortable forging any kind of relationship in informal Kickstarter messages. When he eventually came looking for keys...
After this, I told him that using Itch keys for press and promotion protects us both, as it keeps the items off of gray market stores.
His response - trying to vaguely intimidate me:
Of course, googling his name reveals that he's utterly prolific in the Steam key reselling scope, with over 8000 transactions on G2A. Thankfully, with help from our lawyer over at Thorn Law LLC, we're pretty sure we don't owe brad anything, and he can try to intimidate all he wants.
This was unfortunately not the only case of indie intimidation we faced, but certainly it stung the most, since the person backed our Kickstarter.
Takeaway #3:
Don't be bullied into giving away your Steam Keys.
Moral of the Story
I realize many of you are too busy to read a rambling diatribe, so here is the condensed version in key takeaway format:
Your Steam keys should be treated like actual cash money.
Every Steam key you give away is a sale you didn't make.
Keep track of every single Steam key, and use the query function to make sure they're being redeemed and not resold.
Swiftly ban Steam keys you suspect of being resold, and reissue a DRM free key to the person in question.
Offer DRM free or Itch keys in place of Steam keys.
Don't be bullied into giving away your merchandise - that's one step away from robbery.
Legitimate businesses, streamers, etc. will understand you protecting your brand.
Vet every single email you receive with a request for a key.
Use services like Keymailer that validate requests for keys.
Happy trails, and keep making games! | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
La sede de la Facultad de Derecho de la UBA
Año a año, la Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA) mejora su posición en los rankings internacionales. En la nueva edición del World University Rankings, que confecciona la consultora QS, llegó al puesto 73 a nivel mundial. En el plano regional, se alzó una vez más como la mejor de Latinoamérica.
En 2011, la UBA ocupaba el puesto 270, por debajo de otras cinco universidades de la región. Desde entonces, escaló a un ritmo exponencial, al punto de que en el top 100 es la institución que más creció, por encima incluso de las asiáticas que, en los últimos años, se instalaron en la elite de la educación superior.
Este año se dio una situación curiosa. La UBA mejoró su ranking, pero cayó en 5 de las métricas que mide. "Los rankings son relativos, lo que implica que la posición de una institución no solo depende de su propio desempeño sino también de las demás. La combinación de las métricas dio lugar a un puntaje total superior al logrado por otras instituciones. Al estar tan arriba, las diferencias suelen ser mínimas", explicó a Infobae Martín Juno, analista de QS.
Alberto Barbieri, rector de la UBA, le dijo a Infobae: "Como siempre digo, los rankings son relativos. Es muy difícil poner en un número todo lo que la universidad genera, pero hay 26 mil instituciones en el mundo y en todos los rankings estamos en la elite del 1%".
Para Barbieri, el avance se debe a distintos factores: mayor aplicabilidad de las tecnologías, a la internacionalización -el intercambio de docentes y alumnos-, a la apuesta por la generación de conocimiento e investigación en áreas críticas, a la actualización de los planes de estudio y a la inclusión de los sectores vulnerables.
"Somos la única universidad gratuita y masiva en lo más alto. Lo cual implica un llamado a la reflexión para la clase política porque para mantener esos estándares necesitamos inversión en ciencia y técnica. Por ejemplo, en los últimos días, el CONICET cambió su manera de ingresar y perjudica a los investigadores de la UBA en pos de fortalecer universidades más nuevas. Hay que potenciar las nuevas, pero no por eso afectar las tradicionales. Tenemos buena relación con el ministro de Educación y el de Ciencia y estamos buscando revisarlo", remarcó.
En el ranking en cuestión hay seis indicadores que se combinan y dan un puntaje máximo de 100 puntos, pero no todos tienen el mismo peso. La reputación académica acapara el 40% del valor total. En ese índice, que procede de la opinión de 82.000 académicos, la alta casa de estudios porteña descendió levemente, pero aún conserva un privilegiado puesto 53.
Donde sí se destacó la UBA fue en la métrica que pondera la opinión de los empleadores. Obtuvo el puesto 45. "Históricamente es una de las instituciones líderes en esta área en América Latina. La creatividad y el talento de los graduados en Arte y Diseño de la UBA son especialmente destacados por los empleadores. También aquellos dedicados a las Geociencias, la Psicología y las Ciencias Sociales recibieron una alta proporción de nominaciones, tanto de empleadores nacionales como internacionales", detalló Juno.
Otra área destacable es la que mide la proporción de estudiantes internacionales. Allí está entre las 200 mejores, lo que demuestra que "la institución es un foco de atracción para estudiantes extranjeros, especialmente de Latinoamérica", destaca el informe.
Según Marcelo Rabossi, investigador especializado en educación superior de la Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, la UBA ordenó su información en los últimos años. "A partir de la importancia que ganaron los rankings en los medios, se dedicó a sistematizar la información para así lograr una mejora. Por ejemplo, sugerir a todos sus investigadores que al momento de publicar sus trabajos en revistas científicas se identifiquen de manera precisa que son pertenecientes a UBA. Con esa simple medida podrías mejorar de un año a otro y sin que hayas mejorado tu productividad o calidad de enseñanza", explicó a Infobae.
Solo siete días antes, el Centro de Ranking Mundial de Universidades (CWUR) ubicó a la UBA como 293 del mundo; una diferencia de 220 puestos. Sucede que el CWUR no realiza encuestas de opinión. "El CWUR trabaja con datos más duros, más objetivos, y aunque es metodológicamente más sólido, se encuentra sesgado hacia la investigación, tomando como relevante la cantidad de Premios Nobel que tiene una universidad o la cantidad de CEO. Por eso, no es de extrañar que la UBA caiga significativamente en CWUR", dijo Rabossi.
Las universidades argentinas en el ranking
En total, hay 15 universidades argentinas dentro de las mil mejores; una menos que el año pasado. Tres ascendieron, cinco cayeron, seis se mantuvieron y la Universidad Nacional del Litoral ingresó por primera vez. El aspecto más flojo de las instituciones se da en la métrica de citas por facultad, en la que ninguna está dentro del top 750. La media del impacto de las citas es de solo 4.24 por investigador, muy por debajo de la media global de 60.03.
Ben Sowter, director de investigación de QS, comentó: "Las 15 universidades argentinas dentro del ranking, tanto el año pasado como este, aumentaron el número de investigaciones publicadas y el número de citas de 90.000 a 97.500. Mientras que esto es indicativo de que están mejorando, aún no está creciendo el número de citaciones por investigación o por profesor, lo que sugiere que el aumento en la cantidad no está influyendo en la calidad".
Después de la UBA, siguen seis universidades privadas. La segunda es por quinto año consecutivo la Universidad Austral. "Por un lado, impulsamos una educación personalizada. Por otro, tenemos un muy buen índice de empleabilidad. Por último, hacemos un gran esfuerzo por destinar recursos a la investigación. Con nuestro hospital, por caso, tenemos investigación de excelencia en Ciencias Biomédicas", dijo su rector, Julián Rodríguez.
A nivel mundial, otra vez el ranking se lo dividen entre cinco universidades estadounidenses, cuatro británicas y la suiza ETH Zurich. Como curiosidad, Oxford superó por primera vez a Cambridge. Al igual que en primaria y secundaria, en educación superior también Singapur sigue creciendo. Dos de sus instituciones ocupan el puesto 11 y 12.
Seguí leyendo:
La UBA sobresalió en un ranking internacional: qué posición logró en cada carrera
3 universidades argentinas ingresaron al grupo de las mil mejores del mundo | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Factions That Endorse Violence Are Driving Away What's Left of Occupy Seattle
If you haven't seen evidence of Occupy Seattle around town recently, it's not just that the grassy plaza where tents used to stand at Seattle Central Community College is now an empty mud field. Since protesters were evicted on December 6, the activists themselves have become introverted and distracted from an agenda to reform Wall Street. Many supporters, including church leaders, have taken a step back to wait out divisive internal conflict. Others have fled the community entirely, saying it's too toxic to touch.
The rift results from a vote taken on December 20, when protesters at a general assembly rejected a proposal that would "commit to using methods of nonviolent civil disobedience at all of our demonstrations..."
According to the minutes of the conversation that led up to the vote, several activists argued that Seattle's protest was akin to the revolution in Egypt (and thus required violent clashes), while others said protesters must be free to use a diversity of tactics, if they choose. A man named Forrest warned that when martial law is declared (in Seattle, martial law?), "How many of us are prepared to stand before rifles, to subvert the police, to do everything possible to bring down the state as necessary?" Another man, named Greg, called the nonviolence pledge a "social fascist position" and a "domestic colonialist view."
Those voices won in a particularly heated 16-to-54 vote, thereby rejecting Occupy Seattle's attempt to declare itself a peaceful movement.
While those loony voices prevailed, cooler heads fled. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Former Republican Senator Rick Santorum grew incensed on Sunday morning with the Parkland teens who were behind the massive #MarchToSaveOurLives on Saturday that drew an estimated 800,000 participants to the nation’s capital, saying their time would be better served learning life-saving techniques.
Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union with fill-in host Briana Keilar, the former lawmaker said he appreciated the march, but that the the teens need to focus on how to respond to future shootings.
ADVERTISEMENT
Santorum began by accusing “Hollywood elites” of being behind the movement that saw marches in hundreds of U.S. cities.
“This is the bottom line,” Santorum lectured. “Is this a political effort? Is this a political movement? It very well may be, and that’s fine, people certainly supported it. But if it’s the Hollywood elites and the liberal billionaires who funded this, it’s all about politics. Or is is it about keeping our schools safe?”
“If it’s about keeping schools safe, we need a broader discussion,” he then suggested. “How about kids taking CPR classes or trying to deal with situations if there is violence?”
“They took action!” Keilar interrupted.
“Yeah, they took action to ask someone to pass a law, but they didn’t take action for how do I, as an individual, deal with this problem?” Santorum heatedly replied. “How am I going to stop bullying within my own community? What am I actually going to do to an issue? Those are the kinds of things you can take internally and say ‘Here’s how I’m going to deal with this and help the situation,’ instead of going and protesting and saying someone else needs to pass a law to protect me.”
ADVERTISEMENT
CNN regular Van Jones pointed out that he has a child who will be attending high school next year, before adding, “I’m proud of these kids.”
“I’m’ proud of them too,” Santorum parried. “But ignoring the problems and saying some phony gun law is going to solve it — phony gun laws don’t solve these problems. That’s what we found out.”
Watch the video below via CNN: | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Primero fueron osos hormigueros, pero también pecaríes de collar y aves como los guacamayos rojos. Las estrellas hasta ahora fueron - y probablemente sigan siendo - los yaguaretés Tobuna y Nahuel, la primera de dos parejas que se prevé instalar en la reserva de San Alonso, en el corazón de los Esteros del Iberá a través del proyecto de reintroducción de especies impulsado por Conservation Land Trust. También se rescataron, cuidaron y pusieron luego en libertad en ese ámbito silvestre a ejemplares de aguará guazú y venados de las pampas.
Pero, desde hace dos días, dos nuevos futuros habitantes del Iberá llegaron a Corrientes.
Se trata de Francisco y Nato, dos tapires que fueron donados desde una reserva en Salta y que arribaron al centro de la estación biológica en San Cayetano para ser mantenidos en cuarentena antes de su reinserción.
“La idea es traer este año unas tres parejas. Desde la misma estación de fauna autóctona de Salta vendrán otras dos hembras y un macho más. Mientras estamos viendo de dónde traer un tercer macho. Se evalúan como posibilidades a ejemplares de Misiones y de Tucumán”, precisó al diario Época el biólogo a cargo del proyecto, Sebastián Di Martino.
De todos modos, desde CLT explicaron que la llegada de las próximas parejas está todavía distante, ya que “por el tamaño que tienen los tapires, sólo cabe de una pareja por vez en la estación biológica donde pasan la cuarentena”. Así es que por ahora es el turno de Francisco y Nato de ser atendidos, estudiados y adaptarse antes de partir a los esteros.
Vale recordar que el mismo proceso de cuarentena pasan todos los animales que llegan a la provincia con el objetivo de regresar a la vida silvestre. Se estudian sus condiciones de salud y además se garantiza que ningún ejemplar transporte a la naturaleza alguna enfermedad proveniente de otra región geográfica.
El proyecto de reinserción de los tapires surgió hace relativamente poco tiempo en el marco de la CLT, desde donde notaron la extinción de la especie, uno de los mamíferos más grandes de esta parte del mundo.
Una de las particularidades de esta reintroducción - y que también entusiasma a quienes integran el equipo de profesionales de CLT - es que los tapires comparten con los yaguaretés el mismo tiempo de extinción.
“El último ejemplar del que se supo su existencia fue cazado en el año 1975, en zona de islas cerca de Ituzaingó”, precisó a época Marisi López, la responsable de relaciones públicas de la fundación de Douglas Tompkins.
Al igual que los felinos del Iberá, tampoco los tapires pisaban suelo correntino desde hace 60 años. Otra característica que vuelve especiales a estos animales es que forman una familia única.
Tapirus es un género de mamíferos perisodáctilos de la familia Tapiridae, conocidos vulgarmente como tapires. Es el único género actual de la familia, la cual incluye otros nueve géneros extintos. Pertenece al mismo orden que los caballos, con los que están lejanamente emparentados, y los rinocerontes, que son sus parientes vivos más cercanos.
Son animales de tamaño mediano, con una longitud que varía desde los 1,8 hasta los 2,5 metros, con una cola de 5 a 10 centímetros y una altura en la cruz de hasta un metro.
Tienen además un peso promedio 220 a 300 kilos. Sin embargo, la principal característica del tapir es su alargado hocico, como una pequeña trompa, que usa principalmente para arrancar las hojas, hierbas y raíces que constituyen su alimento. Esta trompa resulta especialmente útil para recolectar plantas acuáticas en los pantanos donde suele pasar buena parte del día. También le sirve para tomar agua y, cuando son machos, para enfrentarse a sus rivales en la época de apareamiento.
En algunos lugares recibe nombres como mboreví (vocablo guaraní), anta, danta, pinchaque y macho de monte.
Ahora llegaron los primeros, en grandes jaulas, y se espera que antes de fin de año ya vuelvan a ser parte de la fauna habitual de la zona de reserva en los esteros.
[email protected] | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was absent from the bench for a third straight day on Wednesday.
Chief Justice John Roberts said Ginsburg was unable to be present for arguments but would participate in deciding Wednesday's case via briefs and transcripts of oral arguments.
The 85-year-old justice is working from home after undergoing surgery on Dec. 21 to remove two cancerous nodules from her left lung. Roberts did not say whether Ginsburg would be back on the bench next week.
Her absence Monday marked the first time in more than 25 years on the court that she missed an oral argument due to her health.
The Supreme Court's Press Office said last month that Ginsburg's cancer was discovered in an X-ray after she fractured three ribs on her left side in a Nov. 7 fall. Both nodules removed during surgery were found to be malignant on initial pathology evaluation, but post-surgery there was no evidence of any remaining disease.
Ginsburg has survived two previous bouts of cancer - colon cancer in 1999 and pancreatic cancer in 2009 - and did not miss a day in court during those periods. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Ενα νέο επεισόδιο βίας καταγράφηκε χθες σε ελληνικό πανεπιστήμιο –το Πάντειο– επιβαρύνοντας το κλίμα ανησυχίας ύστερα και από τη βίαια επίθεση που δέχθηκε φοιτητής της Νομικής Αθηνών τη Δευτέρα. Ειδικότερα, το απόγευμα της Τετάρτης άγνωστοι μπήκαν στο Πάντειο Πανεπιστήμιο και προκάλεσαν καταστροφές σε διοικητικές υπηρεσίες.
Οι άγνωστοι έσπασαν μία πόρτα στο λογιστήριο και άλλη μία στη γραμματεία του Τμήματος Διεθνών και Ευρωπαϊκών Σπουδών. Επίσης, φέρονται να έχουν προκαλέσει ζημιές σε κομπιούτερ και γραφεία, ενώ άδειασαν και κάποια συρτάρια. Oπως ανέφερε στην «Κ» η πρύτανης του ιδρύματος Ισμήνη Κριάρη, δεν διαπιστώθηκαν κλοπές, ενώ η ίδια δήλωσε ότι εκλήθη η Αστυνομία και η Σήμανση και το ίδρυμα υπέβαλε μήνυση κατ’ αγνώστων. Καθώς δεν υπήρξαν κλοπές, το επεισόδιο έχει προκαλέσει ερωτήματα για τα κίνητρα των δραστών.
Την ίδια στιγμή, ανησυχία έχουν προκαλέσει στη Νομική Αθηνών τα τελευταία περιστατικά βίας κατά φοιτητών. Υπενθυμίζεται ότι τη Δευτέρα ένας άγνωστος (;) επιτέθηκε –λένε πως είχε και αιχμηρό αντικείμενο– σε φοιτητή εισβάλλοντας σε αίθουσα διδασκαλίας. Πλέον ο φόβος είναι έκδηλος. «Θα μείνουμε εκτεθειμένοι απέναντι σε αυτούς που καταχρώνται το άσυλο», είναι η δεύτερη σκέψη των φοιτητών όταν τους ρωτάς για τα γεγονότα. Από την πλευρά τους, οι πανεπιστημιακές αρχές ζητούν επίσημη καταγγελία, ενώ ο δράστης φέρεται να είναι σε κάποιους γνωστός.
Επίσης, εντός του κτιρίου υπάρχουν υπό κατάληψη χώροι. Στο κτίριο της οδού Σόλωνος φιλοξενούνται η Νομική Σχολή με κοσμήτορα τη Διονυσία Καλλινίκου και η Σχολή Οικονομικών και Πολιτικών Επιστημών με κοσμήτορα τον Μιχάλη Σπουρδαλάκη. Εκείνοι περιμένουν από τους εικοσάρηδες φοιτητές τους την καταγγελία κατά του αγνώστου. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
It's always exciting to get a new ride, so imagine the incredible thrill of getting more than 20 new cars. Four truckloads of Tesla vehicles arrived in northwest Ohio Monday. They were bought by a Maumee company.
21 brand new Teslas were delivered by four semis at Brandywine Country Club. Some of them will become company cars, the rest will be leased or sold. And there's a local connection to Tesla.
One after the other,the electric vehicles were unloaded. It didn't take long for them to hit the road for test drives.Bryan Chlebowski is with Maumee Assembly and Stamping, "They're beautiful. Like a family man's sports car with four doors. They're fast, they handle great and they're American made.."
12 of the cars will be used by companies including US Utility, Maumee Assembly and Stamping as well as Brandywine Country Club. The rest will be sold or leased. So what's the reason for the big purchase? "We're trying to be ahead of the curve and make some noise and promote the company and expand our relationship with them and do more work for them."
That's right,some of the Tesla parts come from Maumee Assembly and Stamping, "We've been stamping some parts for them for the X model that is built in California as well as some steel battery trays for their gigawatt facility in Nevada."
Travis Barta is the Vice President of Operations of Maumee Assembly and Stamping, "We want to support those that support us. Tesla gives us work and they took a chance on us.We want to show our appreciations and support for that and we also want to cut our carbon footprint."
21 of the cars arrived today. Two are still on order for a total of 23.
In addition to buying the vehicles, charging stations are going in around the region and statewide. Barta says there are some already in place here at Brandywine, others are going in at Maumee Assembly and Stamping as well as US Utility in Perrysburg, "It's just like your cell phone, you use it all day and then you plug it in and charge it at night. These vehicles get 250-300 miles per charge."
The technology isn't cheap on the front end,"\Depending on what you order,they can be anywhere from $60,000-$135,000. It all depends on the package."
The hope is that there will be a growing market for Teslas around the region and that more can be delivered to the area in the coming months. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
This week we’re trying to address some of the feedback we’ve been receiving on Mining and Smithing, as well as continuing to monitor and implement hotfixes to the Winter Chill Off and War’s Retreat. We’re listening closely to any and all feedback, especially with War’s Retreat, so make sure to keep it coming!
Mining To meet the aims of improving the value of ore, as well as to further increase the value of stone spirits, we’ve made some changes to player stamina while Mining. Damage dealt to rock’s HP now scales with the player's current mining stamina. With no stamina remaining, swings provide only 20% of the damage that is dealt at full stamina (outside random damage variation and critical hits). Rocks that don't reduce stamina (like red sandstone and Arc crablets) aren't affected by these changes. As before, you can restore stamina by clicking/tapping on a rock again. Modifiers from pickaxe tier, rock hardness, strength level, and critical hit damage are unchanged and work as before. Stamina is restored automatically when stone spirits are consumed while under the effect of a perfect juju mining potion. Stamina no longer depletes while mining Seren Stones, as such Seren stones have had their HP increased from 1500 to 2000. Updated the mining skill guide to include Anachronia mining locations for various ores. Back to Top ↑
Smithing To meet the aims of improving the availability of invention components that were more easily obtained before the M&S rework via weapons & armour we’ve made some changes. We’ve buffed the chances of obtaining components rather than parts from Elder Rune equipment. Due to these large increases in available parts & components, the breakdown perk's activation chance has been adjusted to compensate. All smithable items now disassemble into 4 Invention parts or components per bar used in their creation. For example, a 2h sword with no upgrades, which requires 4 bars to create, breaks down into 16 parts or components. An elder rune platebody + 5, which requires 160 bars to create from scratch, breaks into 640 parts or components. Elder rune equipment now has a higher chance of breaking into components rather than parts, compared to other tiers of equipment. Component 1 increased from 3% to 9% per roll. Component 2 increased from 2% to 6% per roll. Breakdown Perk Activation Chance from 0.8% per rank per bar, down to a flat 0.8% per rank. Back to Top ↑
Winter Chill Off Empowered Blight Staff and Sword are now available as rewards from the Winter Chill Off. Hotfix: Fixed Norm in the Winter Chill Off event to allow you to correctly purchase the Currency Doubler through the dialogue options if you have the Blightreaver unlocked Hotfix: Some skilling stations have been adjusted in Winter Chill Off as they were changing states quicker than anticipated. Hotfix: The Winter Chill-Off interface will now correctly display how much increased experience a player will earn from the event. Back to Top ↑
Audio A recent patch caused some issues with sound effects in the game. This week we are launching a fix that should resolve the issue on desktop. Sadly due to some unexpected events, we can not launch this as part of today's game update and are instead looking to warm fix this within the next couple of days. A fix for mobile is in the works. Resolved an issue preventing specific sound effects from playing on desktop. (Expected very soon) Audio for attuning the Shadow Reef portal and Liberation of Mazcab have been fixed to play the correct sounds. Back to Top ↑
Bossing God Wars Dungeon The War’s Retreat Reaper Portal now checks for all normal access requirements when pointed at a God Wars Dungeon boss. Nex Hotfix: Ancient Ceremonial will once again bypass the kill count requirement when trying to enter the Nex boss area. Back to Top ↑
Engine Resolved an issue preventing the client from launching on some Intel HD Integrated Graphics. (Expected very soon) Fixed an issue preventing the launcher installer from working on older versions of OSX. (Expected very soon) Back to Top ↑
Graphics Graphics issues with NPCs at longer draw distances while using the free cam has been fixed. (Expected very soon) Back to Top ↑
Interface Boss pets will now show the correct player’s killcount when examined. Back to Top ↑
Skilling Non-direct combat methods can now be utilized to progress a variety of slayer tasks that previously could not be progressed in this manner. Back to Top ↑ | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Bei der britischen Zeitung Daily Telegraph wurden Bewegungsmelder an die Arbeitsplätze der Journalisten angebracht, um zu überwachen, wann die sich davon entfernen. Das berichtet Buzzfeed unter Berufung auf eine interne Mail, in der die Überwachungsmaßnahme bestätigt worden sei. Die Redakteure seien vorher nicht darüber informiert wurden, schreibt das Nachrichtenportal. Stattdessen hätten sie die Geräte am gestrigen Montag an ihren Arbeitsplätzen entdeckt und erst über Google-Suchen herausgefunden, dass es sich dabei um Bewegungsmelder der Firma OccupEye handelt.
Individuelle Überwachung am Arbeitsplatz
Bewegungsmelder unter dem Schreibtisch registrieren genau, wann jemand am Platz ist und wann nicht. (Bild: OccupEye)
Die Geräte geben den Vorgesetzten demnach einen individuellen Blick auf alle überwachten Arbeitsplätze, so dass diese jederzeit genau wissen, wer an seinem Schreibtisch sitzt und wer nicht. Die Verantwortlichen bei der Zeitung haben demnach intern erklärt, die Überwachung solle die Energieeffizienz steigern: Sie solle vier Wochen laufen und unter anderem deutlich machen, wo und wann die Heizungen herunter geregelt oder die Beleuchtung abgeschaltet werden könne. OccupEye wirbt aber auch damit, dass die Überwachung Kosten sparen könne, indem sie zeige, wo noch mehr Schreibtische platziert werden können.
Nachdem Buzzfeed am Montag über die Bewegungsmelder berichtet hatte, hat man sich bei dem Daily Telegraph aber schließlich doch entschieden, die Überwachungsgeräte wieder abzubauen. Man werde nach anderen Möglichkeiten suchen, um die gewünschten Daten zur Energieeffizienz zu sammeln. Die Bewegungsmelder würden jedenfalls umgehend entfernt, sei den Mitarbeitern noch am Montag mitgeteilt worden, berichtet Buzzfeed unter Berufung auf die jüngste interne E-Mail zu dem Thema. (mho) | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
SACRAMENTO -- The last thing the Kings needed Wednesday evening was a visit from Luka Doncic. The budding superstar, who the team passed on during the 2018 NBA Draft, ran over Sacramento on the way to his NBA leading 12th triple-double of the season.
Adding to the frustration of the night, with a 127-123 loss, Sacramento fell 11 games under .500 and finished the first half of the season at 15-26. They currently sit five games behind last season’s 20-21 record at the midway point and they are in 14th place in the Western Conference standings.
The Kings are lost. They are 3-12 over their last 15 games and they are about to hit their longest road trip of the season, beginning Saturday in Utah.
If ever there were a soft spot in an NBA schedule, the Kings just went through one. They played 10 out of 12 at home with seven of those games against sub-.500 teams. They went just 2-8 at home over the stretch in front of near-sellout crowds.
Fans booed during Monday’s loss against the Mavericks. It’s not the first time they’ve made their displeasure known this season and the way things are heading, it won’t be the last.
“Everybody is frustrated, it’s not even them, we’re trying to figure it out too,” Buddy Hield said following the loss. “But it’s the home team and we get booed...we don’t agree with it, but they’re going to voice their opinion.
“I understand their frustration, but like I said, I’m going to keep shooting the ball,” Hield continued. “When I make a three they like me, when I don’t, they hate you. That’s how Sacramento fans are, man, so you’ve got to embrace it.”
Hield is wrong. This is not how Sacramento fans are. They are loyal to a fault and at this point, they are being tested.
Fans are voicing their angst because they feel like they were sold a “Super Team, just young” and now the Kings are neither super, nor young.
After watching one of the most exciting teams in basketball last season, management made the decision to fire their coaching staff and start over. Instead of building on the success, the players were forced to learn a new system and terminology during an abbreviated training camp due to a trip to India.
On Opening Night, the injury bug hit the Kings and hasn’t let up the entire season. The team looks disjointed and out of sync, although they have enough talent to make every game close.
This isn’t a Luke Walton issue, despite the fan rhetoric. Yes, he has an over-reliance on a few veterans, but he’s also had his core of Hield, De’Aaron Fox, Marvin Bagley, Harrison Barnes, Richaun Holmes and Bogdan Bogdanovic healthy for just one game this season.
Not only has this group of players missed a combined 59 games, they rarely have practiced together or had time to build any continuity in a new system. Getting everyone healthy is only going to create its own set of issues.
We can talk about the 19 games decided by five points or less. We can talk about the NBA’s Last Two Minute Report. We can talk about missed draft picks or bad free agent signings. There is a litany of issues that are either reasons or excuses for the Sacramento Kings.
The fact is, this is the most disappointing first half to any season since 2006-07 when the Kings’ streak of missing the postseason began. Watching Doncic tear through the team was just salt in an open wound.
[RELATED: Holmes back at practice, but weeks away from Kings return]
These are the questions facing a Kings franchise in complete disarray.
Is it too late to turn the season around?
No, but the clock is ticking.
How does this situation get better?
Luck, better health, and an epiphany moment where the core players understand the system, play extended minutes together and find a rhythm.
Is it possible that moment comes this season?
Yes, but a lot of damage has been done. The record is one issue, but the confidence of the team would have to completely change. They may not have the leader behind the scenes to fight through the adversity they are currently facing.
Were expectations too high?
Absolutely not. This is the most talented roster the Kings have had in over a decade. They have four top-seven draft picks in their starting lineup and enough role players to fill in the gaps. They won 39 games last season and that number would have been closer to 42 if they didn’t collapse in the final week of the season.
When do people start losing their jobs over this?
It doesn’t sound like that’s happening anytime soon.
This isn’t how anyone saw the first half going for the Kings. They are on pace to win 30 games this season and finish outside the postseason picture for a 14th consecutive season. They have not only lost massive amounts of time due to injury, but also major development time for some of their young players.
The team needs a solid second half to the season to assess where they are moving forward. If they post one similar to what we’re seen through the first 41 games, someone needs to be held accountable. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
A chemistry journal has retracted a 2006 paper that had knowledgeable researchers scratching their heads from the minute it was published.
Here’s the notice:
The following article from Angewandte Chemie International Edition, “Total Syntheses of Hexacyclinol, 5-epi-Hexacyclinol, and Desoxohexacyclinol Unveil an Antimalarial Prodrug Motif” by James J. La Clair, published online on February 9, 2006 in Wiley Online Library (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com), has been retracted by agreement between the author, the journal Editor in Chief, Peter Gölitz, and Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. The retraction has been agreed due to lack of sufficient Supporting Information. In particular, the lack of experimental procedures and characterization data for the synthetic intermediates as well as copies of salient NMR spectra prevents validation of the synthetic claims. The author acknowledges this shortcoming and its potential impact on the community.
La Clair, of the Xenobe Research Institute, apparently presented the findings at the 231st American Cancer Society National Meeting in 2006.
The paper has been cited 11 times, according to CrossRef, as provided by Wiley.
Well-known blogger Derek Lowe has been writing about hexacyclinol since the paper appeared in 2006, and not in a flattering way:
The paper is remarkable in several ways, and not just because I’d never heard of La Clair. The synthesis is over 30 steps long, which is unfortunately not as uncommon as it should be. (I’m afraid that my bias against total synthesis is showing). But La Clair is the only author, which is highly unusual for such a large effort. And it must have been a large one, since the paper makes reference to starting on a molar scale and finished with over three grams of the penultimate intermediate. Experienced organic chemists will wonder if two or three decimal points have been misplaced there, but that’s what it says.
Lowe has much more, including what he calls a paragraph “for my fellow synthetic geeks.” He highlights one particular passage:
The strangest part of La Clair’s paper is its final footnote, added in proof. Here’s how it starts; make of this what you will: “The 1H NMR spectra for this Communication were determined by contract services. The spectra provided in the Supporting Information were collected by N. Voss (Berlin, Germany). The operator added the peak for CDCl3 to the spectrum of synthetic hexacyclinol (1), however, this was done incorrectly at 7.5 ppm and against the request of the author.” That doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. The NMR operator “added the peak” for solvent to a spectrum? Why? And he put the peak in at 7.5 ppm (the wrong place, for non-chemists)? With what, Photoshop? No, this is very strange indeed.
Lowe has posted a few more times on this case, including in 2009, about remaining questions.
We had a few questions ourselves — particularly why this retraction took six years. La Clair tells Retraction Watch:
This paper was retracted based on the fact that it lacked sufficient spectral data supporting the synthetic intermediates as well as detailed 2D NMR analyses on the isolated and synthetic final products; an omission that fueled considerable controversy. While many published synthetic and natural product isolation efforts can be found in the literature with similar lacks of data, the author elected to retract this paper due to the fact that this omission failed to meet the current expectations associated with the publication of total syntheses and natural product isolation. The author hopes that this incident inspires publishers, editors, reviewers and authors to advance more effective measures to check and require spectral data sets as a part of the publication process. In particular, there is currently a lack of tools for presenting raw data files along with publications.
Hat tip: Chemjobber, via Neil Withers and Stuart Cantrill
Share this: Email
Facebook
Twitter
| {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Clint Dempsey hunting for Chelsea scalp
Tottenham midfielder Clint Dempsey is hoping he can help his new side end Chelsea‘s unbeaten start to the Premier League at White Hart Lane this weekend.
Roberto Di Matteo’s side have enjoyed six wins from their opening seven league games but Dempsey feels Spurs have finally found their feet after a slow start under new boss Andre Villas-Boas.
He told Sky Sports: “It is going to be an important game because the table is so tight. You have to take care of your home games and try and get as many results as you can.
“We want to continue this run of positive results, so we know it is going to be a tough test but we are all excited, and we have everyone back from fitness now and we are looking to make the most of this game.”
The American joined Tottenham in a transfer deadline day move from Fulham in the summer but, despite enjoying a solid start to his White Hart Lane career, admits he would like to be finding the back of the net more often having only scored once in his first seven games for Spurs.
“I feel like I am settling in,” he added.
“I have played in seven games, and six starts – with a goal and assist in the league and I would like better numbers than that but at the same time I am feeling good and playing consistently, I am playing well but I just want more goals and assists as it feels I am contributing more.”
[post_link url=”hhttps://www.footballfancast.com/premiership/tottenham/spurs-to-move-for-valencia-star,https://www.footballfancast.com/premiership/tottenham/gareth-bale-lavished-with-praise,https://www.footballfancast.com/premiership/tottenham/tottenham-receive-injury-boost-2,https://www.footballfancast.com/premiership/tottenham-and-chelsea-scouts-eye-trio,https://www.footballfancast.com/premiership/newcastle-united/the-15-premier-league-clubs-hit-by-the-transfer-premium ” target=”_blank” type=”grid”] | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
NBA star Kevin Love might be a power forward, but he’s not a power shopper. After all, it’s not easy to pop tags when you’re 6-foot-10 with size 17 feet, like the Cleveland Cavaliers champ.
“Most of the time, it has to be custom,” he told The Post after the Rag & Bone show, which he attended with his girlfriend, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Kate Bock. “The thing that’s the biggest hurdle for me is my shoes.”
Love says he prefers classic, timeless pieces, though he has been known to take fashion risks. “I think because I’m an athlete, in some respects I’m able to pull that off a little bit better than most. I wore a pair of Nike Supreme overalls to a game. I got a lot of s–t for that,” he says, grinning. “It was like, ‘Who’s this dressed-up farmer walking around? What the hell is this?’ It was a mixed bag of what I got back from that.” Will Love be tackling a fashion line of his own? “I can see it happening,” he says.
Sometimes – like on the cover of ESPN’s 2015 Body Issue – he wears nothing at all. Love revealed that the shoot was “terrifying,” but would be open to another, depending on the details. “I very well could do one of those, but at what point do you strike out?” he says.
As for what his father, former NBA star Stan Love, thought of the beefcake pictorial, Love laughs. “He was born in ’49. What do you expect? He’s like, ‘We didn’t do that in our day.’” | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Rediscovering Haystack Rock With An Assist From The 'Puffin Man'
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kirk Siegler/NPR Kirk Siegler/NPR
When I was a kid, my family would take summer road trips to the Oregon Coast, where a favorite stop was always Haystack Rock on Cannon Beach. The 250-foot-high, grassy behemoth of an outcropping just off the coast is a prominent backdrop in old family photos.
What I didn't realize back then was just how important a sanctuary this rock was for rare seabirds. I discovered that while on a recent reporting trip in Oregon, when I had a few hours to spare and decided to make the nostalgic, winding drive on U.S. Route 26 from Portland to Cannon Beach.
There was that rock shrouded in mist just as I remembered it. And the beach was just as popular, crawling with people, only now visitors were taking iPhone selfies with the rock in the background rather than using old Nikon cameras. A small crowd was gathered around a tall, bearded man in a fleece vest, clutching binoculars and standing by a pair of high-powered scopes on tripods trained on the rock.
"Well, they're up there somewhere," Art Broszeit said, softly, as he patiently scanned the rock, looking for the elusive tufted puffin.
Cannon Beach locals have nicknamed Broszeit the "Puffin Man," a citizen scientist and de facto expert on the exotic cold climate birds that are becoming harder and harder to find.
If I can spark interest in one or two young people to enjoy the outdoors, and look through the binoculars, it's a good day for me.
Broszeit is actually one of tens of thousands of volunteers that agencies like the National Park Service rely on every year to conduct wildlife studies, field surveys, or in this case man a pop-up, mobile interpretive center about tufted puffins on Cannon Beach.
"Everyone wants to come here and see puffins," Broszeit said. "I've had people specifically go to Iceland to see puffins and don't see them." But they're relatively easy to see in Oregon most summers. In fact, this may be one of the most accessible places in the world to get a glimpse of one.
Enlarge this image toggle caption David Irons/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, via AP David Irons/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, via AP
They're amazing. They have black and white faces, black bellies and a bright orange bill that has hooks in it that enable them to catch and hold fish. Right now, during the mating season, both the males and females have grown their signature "tuft," which looks like a strand of coiffed blond hair.
"For such a small bird, they're pretty tough," Broszeit says, as he spots one taking flight from the rock. "They live out 100 miles off the shoreline here and the young ones, they'll spend their first four years out there."
There used to be hundreds of puffins nesting on the rock. This summer, the local Haystack Rock Awareness Program estimates there are only 30. One reason there are fewer birds, according to scientists, is that their food source is becoming harder to reach due to climate change. The puffins are a diving bird, sometimes plunging 40 feet or deeper into the ocean to catch fish. As ocean temperatures warm, those fish are going deeper down to survive.
"So the fish are going down deeper into colder water and a lot of the birds just can't reach them," Broszeit says.
So I was glad I decided to return to Cannon Beach to see them while I still can. We also spotted a bald eagle, cormorants, black oystercatchers and cliff swallows.
I remembered how cool it was to explore the vast tide pools beneath the rock too when I was a kid. I was reassured to find that this clearly hasn't changed when I caught up with Connor Reblkin and his family, on a summer road trip from their home in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
"I'd like to live up there, wouldn't you?" Connor asked.
Watching over it all, Art Broszeit beams. Whether he's looking for puffins or answering questions from curious beachgoers, he says it's great to volunteer and give back, especially when it comes to getting people interested in science.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Kirk Siegler/NPR Kirk Siegler/NPR
"If I can spark interest in one or two young people to enjoy the outdoors, and look through the binoculars, it's a good day for me," he says.
Broszeit, a retired engineer, has volunteered at public lands sites from the Everglades in Florida to Dinosaur National Monument in Utah and Colorado. He counts his latest four-month stint here on the Oregon Coast among his favorites.
So what's next for the Puffin Man? Maybe home for a little bit of a break and then it's on to pick a new wild place to enjoy with visitors.
As for me, my short road trip diversion is over and it's back to my actual reporting beat. It's hard not to feel a little nostalgia driving away. I know I can come back — but I wonder how long that will be true for the tufted puffins? | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Trots goda försäljningssiffror som överstiger såväl förra generationen som rivalen Xbox One har Sony under hösten valt att prissänka Playstation 4 i stora delar av världen inför julhandeln. Nu kommer prisjusteringen även till Europa och därmed också den svenska marknaden.
Playstation 4 (500 GB) går idag ned från 399,99 till 349,99 euro, motsvarande en åttondel av ursprungspriset. I samtal med Sonys PR-byrå framgår att det ännu inte finns något officiellt svenskt pris, men förutsatt att prisjusteringen motsvarar övriga Europa kan spelkonsolen väntas landa på strax över 3 000 kronor.
Källa: Sony. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
God OF War is the most anticipated game of 2017, and is all set to release on the 19th of April. It’s looking like Sony has a lot of confidence in the game as apparently reviews will start hitting online on April 12th, Sony has confirmed.
With many developers refraining from giving Review copies to game journalism sites before release, this move by Sony is pretty vocal since they want to get the word spread about their game from before release itself.
While this isn’t a guarantee that the new God of War will be good, everything we’ve seen up to this point has been pretty promising for God of War fans. A new setting and the impressive visuals only possible on the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 4 Pro could make this Kratos’ most beautiful adventure yet.
The review embargo for God of War on PlayStation 4 will officially be over at 12:01 AM PT on 4/12. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - Premier League clubs enjoyed record profits and revenues in the 2016/17 season according to data released on Friday by Deloitte, who expect profitability to continue despite a decline in domestic broadcasting revenue.
Slideshow ( 3 images )
The combined revenues of Premier League clubs increased by nearly 1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) to a record 4.5 billion pounds in the 2016/17 season.
The collective pre-tax profit of 0.5 billion pounds was almost three times the previous record of 0.2 billion in 2013/14, reported Deloitte.
Deloitte found that wage costs across the league rose by nine percent to 2.5 billion pounds, a new record, but noted that growth was significantly slower than the 25 percent increase in overall revenue.
“As predicted last year, the Premier League’s three year broadcast deals which came into effect in the 2016/17 season helped drive revenue to record levels,” said Dan Jones, head of the Sports Business Group at Deloitte.
Deloitte’s analysis found that Premier League clubs have collectively made a pre-tax profit in three out of the last four years.
Deloitte expects that trend to continue despite a fall in income from domestic television deals for the three years from the 2019/20 season.
In 2015, Sky and BT smashed forecasts by paying a record 5.14 billion pounds to show matches featuring the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool, as they battled for pay-TV and broadband subscribers.
The two companies, however, will pay a reduced 4.46 billion pounds for 160 games a season in the latest three-year rights packages.
The Premier League hopes revenue from international rights deals will continue to increase.
“Despite the lack of growth in domestic broadcast deals announced to date, we still expect to see overall revenue growth in the coming seasons, and if this is complemented with prudent cost control, we expect that pre-tax profits will be achieved for the foreseeable future,” added Jones. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
“Film is a truly magical medium. You can create illusions of reality, make people think they’ve seen things that they really haven’t — like blowing a guy’s head off with a shotgun.”
Horror depends on magicians. Men and women who know the secrets and have the ability to create illusions and deceptions. Those who can convince audiences of the veracity of aliens, mutated creatures, malformed backwoods killers and sundry decapitations, dissections, dismemberments and shotgun blasts. These magicians are the makeup and effects artists.
Rob Bottin, Dick Smith, Greg Nicotero, Stan Winston and Rick Baker are among the masters of this conspiratorial craft, but despite their formidable talents and undeniable influence, not many outside the horror and genre communities know their names. Then there’s Tom Savini. Standing apart from his peers, he is more than just a makeup man. Actor, director, in front of the camera or behind, Savini has bludgeoned his way through the horror ceiling and into the mainstream.
Why is Savini’s face and name known while his peers operate in relative anonymity? Is it his makeup work on such seminal films as Friday the 13th, The Burning, Maniac and Deads both Dawn and Day? Could it be his judging appearances on reality competitions Face Off and Halloween Wars? How about his unforgettable appearance in yellow on The Simpsons (“You sir, are a perfect patsy!”)
Or how about his many memorable turns in front of the camera, such as his roles in Dawn of the Dead, Planet Terror, Machete, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Django Unchained, and his inimitable turn as Sex Machine in From Dusk till Dawn? There is only man in Hollywood who can list stuntman, actor, director and makeup artist on his resume and that man is Tom Savini.
One of us (Jeff) recently had the opportunity to chat with Savini at Toronto’s Horror-Rama convention. A relaxed and jovial Savini reflected on his career and shared his thoughts on his peers in the industry and genre cinema.
On acting:
“When I was doing makeup, I always liked to play a part in the film I was doing makeup for. But acting is the toughest thing. You have to cry in 5 minutes. What will it take for you to make those tears…I mean…that’s what actors do. So that in a way is the same as makeup effects. In makeup, you create a character, and mentally, that’s what actors do because when your face is 50 feet high and 60 feet wide, you gotta believe what you’re doing. It’s a funny thing that’s going on. You’re sitting in the audience, pretending that what you’re seeing isn’t acting. The actors on the screen are pretending, but we all are part of this conspiracy of creation.”
On creation:
“I read somewhere that happiness statistically among all walks of life is doing something. Starting from the beginning and seeing it through to completion…That supposedly is what happiness is. So happiness, it seems, is creating something.”
So what’s more rewarding [creating a creature from the ground up or working on a practical effect]?
“They’re all, I think, equally rewarding when it’s appreciated. You know, it’s like, students in my school…some of them have never sculpted before. And in the second semester, they have to create something that never existed and then make it come to life with animatronics. They’re so happy…It’s the Frankenstein syndrome. Dr. Frankenstein created something that never existed before. There it is! Alive! But you always look at it like I could have done that better. But a true artist is never done. It’s simply time is up!”
On practical effects vs. CGI:
“There’s a collective dislike of CGI…[but] even some movies that are coming up…they’re building real puppets, it’s gonna be real stuff. So right now there’s that desire to go back. Three major American visual effects companies have gone bankrupt because they’re sending it overseas. And it’s expensive.
But there’s more to it than that. If you watch American Werewolf in London, everything is happening right in front of you. You don’t have to pretend. When I saw Jurassic Park, I had to pretend that I’m seeing dinosaurs…I had to change my mindset to enjoy the movie because us old-timers…we don’t want to make the effort to have to pretend…we like to see it happen. Because there’s a lot of things CGI hasn’t mastered, like blood splattering, people falling, car crashes. So when you see stuff like that, it’s irritating. It’s supposed to be one of the tools that filmmakers use in their toolbox, and sometimes it works. The best make-up effects now are a combination of practical and CGI.”
On watching movies:
“I wish I could go back and see a movie through the eyes of a child. I was a kid in the 50s and I saw The Creature from the Black Lagoon when it was in the theater, and that was a scary time because I believed it was real. I believed Frankenstein was real. It’s very rare now when I can watch a movie and not think of [the technical aspects.] The Exorcist did it for me. Alien did it to me. I never thought, not for a second, about a camera angle or something. It was just scaring the hell out of me.”
On his peers:
“Never a competition; it was always a brotherhood. That’s why I loved going to movies. It was the latest exhibit from your favorite artist. And we helped each other. I called Rob Bottin before I did Creepshow because I had never made an articulated creature. And he showed me step-by-step how to do it. He was great. I would never know how to do it if it wasn’t Rob Bottin teaching me… Rick Baker just got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame…The greatest zombies that exist today are what Greg [Nicotero] is doing on The Walking Dead.”
Look for Tom Savini as the title character in 2015’s The Sadist. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Accused killer Kalen Schlatter started testifying in his own defence Monday at his first-degree murder trial in the death of Toronto woman Tess Richey, and told the jury that she was alive the last time he saw her.
"Mr. Schlatter, did you murder Tess Richey?" defence lawyer Lydia Riva asked her client in Superior Court in Toronto. "Absolutely not," he responded.
"Did you sexually assault her?" she then asked. "Absolutely not," he said.
For over five weeks, the jury has heard witness testimony about the 23-year-old Toronto man, who the Crown alleges sexually assaulted and then strangled Richey, before leaving her body at the bottom of an outdoor stairwell in the city's gay village in 2017.
Schlatter has pleaded not guilty in connection with the 22-year-old's death. His cross-examination by the Crown is slated for Tuesday morning.
Schlatter began his testimony by telling the jury that on the evening of Nov. 24, he drank with a couple of friends before heading to Crews and Tangos, a well known drag bar in the city's gay village.
After last call, he ended up talking with Richey and her friend Ryley Simard outside the club, he said.
"They seemed like nice people, nice sociable people," Schlatter said. Richey, he told the jury, spent considerable time talking about how her ex-boyfriend had cheated on her. The two had just broken up, court has heard.
Tess Richey, 22, went missing on Nov. 25, 2017 after a night out with a high school friend. Her body was found the day before what would have been her 23rd birthday. (Tess Richey/Facebook)
After getting hot dogs and wandering around the area in the early morning hours of Nov. 25, Simard told Richey she wanted to leave. Richey wanted her friend to stay, and so the two got into an argument, Schlatter testified.
The two friends then walked away from each other, he said.
"Tess seemed a bit more upset from the argument, so I walked over to her to check if she was alright," he said, adding that Richey then asked him to sit and talk with her at a bench on Church Street.
'She asked me to go with her'
Schlatter said that a little while later, Richey asked if it was OK if she kissed him.
"We stand up and give each other a hug and kiss," he said. "We hold hands and she asked me to go with her."
He told the court that Richey then asked him to follow her up a driveway at 582 Church St., towards an outdoor stairwell in a construction site.
The jury has previously seen security camera footage of Schlatter and Richey together in that area — including video showing the pair walking up the driveway before Schlatter emerges alone about 45 minutes later, heading back the way they came.
The officer who examined the video told the court he watched for at least two hours after that and did not see anyone else going to or coming from the area.
WATCH: Security footage shows Schlatter and Richey in alley before he leaves alone
This footage of Kalen Schlatter and Tess Richey was played at Schlatter's first-degree murder trial. The two can be seen walking together down an alleyway. Schlatter leaves on his own some time later. 0:24
Court has also heard Schlatter's semen was found on Richey's pants and his saliva was on the inside of her bra.
Schlatter testified Monday that he and Richey went down the stairs and started making out. He said he told Richey that he had some condoms, but she said she was on her period, so they couldn't have sex.
The two continued to make out, and Schlatter "came in his pants," which he called "embarrassing."
Schlatter said he then asked Richey if she wanted to come back to his family's home, but she declined.
He testified Richey then pulled out her phone and told him he could leave, so he left her at the bottom of the stairs.
Schlatter said he felt bad for leaving her there. "I should have stayed with her," he said.
At this, members of Richey's family visibly recoiled in the courtroom.
Schlatter appears to cry for the 2nd time in court
At one point during Monday's testimony, while describing how a detective told him that Richey died of neck compression, Schlatter appeared to cry while in the witness box. He became red faced, dabbed his eyes with a tissue, and took several moments to compose himself.
This is the second time Schlatter has appeared to cry in court. He acted similarly when photos of Richey's body were shown earlier in the trial.
Court previously heard testimony from an undercover cop who spoke with Schlatter after his arrest, who testified that Schlatter told him he "pretended" to get emotional when detectives showed him photos of Richey's body.
"In reality, it didn't bother him at all," the officer testified Schlatter said.
Kalen Schlatter, left, listens as Rachel Richey, centre, testifies and Crown attorney Beverley Richards looks on. (Pam Davies)
"Did you tell the undercover that you pretended to be emotional?" Riva asked Schlatter Monday.
Schlatter said he told the cop that he "acted emotional" because he actually was upset.
Further jailhouse evidence from the trial came from Schlatter's former cellmate in the Toronto South Detention Centre, who previously testified that Schlatter confessed to strangling Richey with a scarf when she refused to have sex with him hours after they met.
Schlatter said Monday that he never told his cellmate he killed Richey.
His cellmate, who cannot be named because of a publication ban, told the jury that Schlatter cried himself to sleep at night in his cell because he missed his "mommy," but had "no remorse" about Richey's death.
"Did you sometimes cry at night?" Riva asked.
"Yes," Schlatter said. "I missed my family ... I felt bad for Tess, and I felt bad that I was in jail for something I didn't do."
CBC Toronto's Adam Carter reported live from inside the courtroom Monday. Here's a recap of what Schlatter said in the witness box:
[email protected] | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
As told by his mother.
My son Anthony was very honest, brave, and a friend to all. He was smart as a child, made friends easily. He was also very protective of his family and friends. His teen years were typical; Anthony enjoyed being with friends, dirt bike riding, camping, and being with family.
It was the 9-11 attacks that inspired him to serve. He stated it was a new chapter in his life. He chose to serve to be the best he could be. Anthony wanted to see the world. He wanted to do more with his life and joined the US Marines to be his best. He has many friends who will remember him always and still stand by the family in his honor. He had plans for his life after the Marines. He always planned ahead and reached his goals. Anyone who knew Anthony and became his friend stayed friends with him forever. He was brave, and if he had to do it again to save a brother, he would do it.
A true hero until the end, Anthony was killed when his unit was ambushed in Afghanistan. He was the only one who passed on the battlefield that day. His Marine brothers said if it wasn’t for Anthony, they wouldn’t have made it home. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Photo: Patrick McMullan, Getty Images
Almost besting Morgan Spurlock’s supposed discovery of Osama bin Laden as 2007’s most insane pop-cultural crossover, Vanity Fair is reporting that Beck might have played a tangential role in the double suicide of artists Theresa Duncan and her boyfriend, Jeremy Blake. In January’s issue, Nancy Jo Sales traces the last steps of the couple leading up to their deaths this past July. According to Sales, Duncan was devastated after the singer reneged on a promise to star in Alice Underground, a film she was directing. “Beck and I met repeatedly to discuss the film,” she e-mailed a friend in 2003. But when he backed out later, she blamed it on his being a Scientologist and claimed members of his church repeatedly harassed her and Blake. (The VF story says she complained about late-night hang-up phone calls and weird men staking out the couple’s house.)
“We never met to discuss doing her film,” Beck writes in an e-mail to VF, referring to Duncan as “a passing acquaintance.” Weird, though, because Duncan had pictures of herself and Blake enjoying a day at the beach with Beck and his wife, Marissa Ribisi, purportedly taken in 2004. (VF even published one of them.) Duncan reportedly said that Beck had told her he wanted to leave the Church of Scientology and thought starring in her movie might be a way to do it. “[Beck] really, really tried to get away…using going to New York to be in Alice Underground…He told me he wanted to leave the cult desperately.” Wrong again, says Beck: “That’s ridiculous. Totally false…Had we been closer and discussed anything as personal as religion, I would have only had positive things to say about Scientology.”
But now blogger Emmanuelle Richard points us to a translated 2003 Italian interview with Beck that seems to undermine his credibility a little. Here he is talking excitedly about making his acting debut in a movie that sounds a lot like Duncan’s Alice Underground: “It will be full of energy and full of characters: some kind of Alice in Wonderland set in the seventies. It still doesn’t have a title. The director is a friend of mine, and it will be her directorial debut. But I trust her. We will begin shooting in the fall.”
The controversy doesn’t end there, apparently. Blog SoMA reports that the Vanity Fair article’s original author, John Connolly, was pulled off the story, and it was given to Sales, who’s the ex-wife of Father Frank Morales, a friend to Duncan and Blake who was there when Duncan’s body was discovered in her East Village apartment.
What the hell is going on here? We have no idea!
The Golden Suicides [Vanity Fair]
What’s the Story Behind Nancy Jo Sales’ VF Article? [SoMA]
About Beck and “Alice Underground” [Emmanuelle Richard]
Related: Conspiracy of Two [NYM]
How Well Did Beck Know Theresa Duncan and Jeremy Blake? | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Great squash, shame about the blocking…
By DAVE IRESON in Aberdeen
TRAC North of Scotland Open, Aberdeen Squash Club. First Round reports:
[2] Eddie Charlton (Eng) vs [WC] Chris Leiper (Sco)
Last up after a very long day was local favourite / hero / hulk wannabe Chris Leiper in as the tournament’s Wild Card against No 2 seed Eddie Charlton. Leiper played well in the first, and didn’t seem too phased by the pace of the professional game. Charlton’s line and length was however, impeccable in the first and he forced a series of boasts from Leiper. Charlton capitalised on these with some nice holds at the front, and ran away with the first 11/5.
Into the second and a slightly more positive start from Leiper, looking to take the initiative and use his own holds at the front, sending Charlton the wrong way on several occasions. Sam story in the second however, it was even until 5-5 and then Eddie seemed to pull away, this time though as a result of errors from Leiper’s racket. Game to Charlton 11/5.
The third was much more exhibition like, with Leiper looking to be more aggressive with his front court play. Both players were holding, flicking, corkscrewing their way to points. It looked to be all over when Charlton went 10-4 up, but Leiper made a spirited comeback before Charlton closed out the game and match 11-7.
Eddie Charlton (Eng) bt Chris Leiper (Sco) 3-0 11-5 11-5 11-7 (26min)
[6] Steven Finitsis (Aus) vs [Q] Matthew Hopkin (Aus)
My first observation of this game is that there are very few decisions being made…. Just some typical Aussie blokes having some fun. Finitsis prepared for his match with some “Netflix and chill”, and he certainly carried on in relaxed fashion in the first moving effortlessly about the court taking the first 11-7. In the second Hopkin went on a nick rampage – so “on it” it was unreal – just didn’t miss – all over in minutes – exhibition stuff…. Hopkin takes it 11-1 #jokesquash
More of the same in the third from both players this time, absolutely ridiculous squash, loads of angles, boasts, holds, flicks, and nicks; such easy on the eye compared to the previous match! Finitsis takes it 11-5. Into the fourth and more ridiculous stuff, end to end rallies, with such great variety and creativity from both players. Finitsis just a bit stronger in the end taking the fourth and match 11-7.
Steven Finitsis (Aus) bt Matthew Hopkin (Aus) 3-1 11-7 1-11 11-5 11-7 (33min)
Don’t come back …
[5] Richie Fallows (Eng) vs Chris Binnie (Jam)
I am embarrassed as a player, coach, tournament organiser, and more importantly spectator when I am forced witness the absolutely shambolic scenes on the show court this evening.
I have not seen such an appalling display of blocking, cheating, and playing the man in a long time. Bluntly, if you are going to play like that, please don’t come back next year. PSA – sort this out….
Chris Binnie (Jam) bt Richie Fallows (Eng) 3-2: 11-5 3-11 11-2 11-8 (54min)
[4] Piedro Schweertman (Ned) vs [LL] Joe Green (Eng)
Straight off the bat, want to mention that this is probably one of the fairest, most flowing games of squash that I have witnessed to date. The pace was ferocious from the start both players looking to step up and volley and whilst there was a lot of competition for the middle of the court, in the whole match I think that I counted 3 lets, both players just choosing to get on with it and play the ball. Great to see.
Anyway onto the squash…. Both players are very similar in style, hitting hard length, pushing up and volleying and both looking to extend the rallies. This favoured Green in the early stages as perhaps Schweertman got a bit impatient and made a couple of uncharacteristic errors. First game to Green 11-9. The second game was a mirror of the first, this time Green making a few errors, handing the game to Schweertman.
It was clear in the third that Green had got up a bit of confidence and several members of the crows noted he seemed to be playing much more fluid squash that yesterday. Green decided to add a bit of front court flair in the third and hit a couple of front court rollers. Third to Green 11-9. Tiiiiight…..
What a fourth game…. Green not wanting to let this opportunity go! Excellent retrieval from both players, but Green looked just so up for the match; dives, splits, nicks – on fire! Green takes the fourth 11-9 – into the quarters. Great game!
Joe Green (Eng) bt Piedro Schweertman (Ned) 3-1 11-9 9-11 11-9 11-9 (59min)
[3] Mahesh Mangoankar (Ind) vs Dougie Kempsell (Sco)
The first game was the first more traditional game of squash we have seen with both players looking to rally up and down the wall in search of an opening. Kempsell looked to vary the height and pace of the ball more than Mangaonkar and this stopped him getting into a solid rhythm. It was level pegging until 8-8 when Dougie managed to use some nice touches at the front to finish the rallies off and take the game 11-9.
In the second and the third games Kempsell’s play got a bit passive; using some nice height on the front wall and forcing some weaker drives from his opponent, however he couldn’t seem to back this up with some solid line hitting or front court play to capitalise on this advantage. Mangaonkar too the second and third 11-6, 11-8.
Into the third and Kempsell starts to mix a good variety of floated balls with some short kills, which unsettled his opponent’s rhythm. Despite going 9-7 down Kempsell “dug” deep and took the game to a tie break, and closed it out 12-10.
The fourth and fifth games were really high quality from both players, Kempsell looking to vary the pace and take the ball short when in front, with Mangaonkar looking to keep the ball alive and make not errors. It was see-saw all the way through the game, with neither player more than one point ahead. Couple of errors from Kempsell’s racket was the difference. Kempsell took the fourth 12-10 and Mangaonkar took the 5th game 12-10. Great effort “Dug”!
Mahesh Mangaonkar (Ind) bt Douglas Kempsell (Sco) 3-2 8-11 11-6 11-8 10-12 12-10 (95min)
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
[7] Chris Fuller (Eng) vs [Q] Ashley Davies (Eng)
A tight first game saw Fuller play everything to Davies backhand; Davies not quite able to keep the ball as tight as he would like on that side of the court. This frustrated Davies into careless attempt to end the rally early resulting in a few errors. However as the game progress Davie’s backhand width improved which forced slightly weaker shots from Fuller, allowing Davies to capitalise and claw his way back into the game, eventually pipping Fuller to the post 12-10.
In the second Davies played a series of very well crafted rallies, keeping the ball tight and forcing Fuller into playing some loose balls. Davies took a commanding 5-0, however he seemed to drop his focus mid-way through and allowed Fuller too claw his way back into the game. Point by point, Fuller kept getting the ball back and edging his points tally closer to Davies. As we neared the business end of the game the game got a bit more scrappy, which suited Fuller, and he managed to close out the game 13-11.
The third was just silly squash. End to end rallies. Back wall boasts galore. Crowd loving it. At 9-7 down Fuller has Davies on the absolute ropes, 6, 7, 8 court sprints, but makes the crazy decision of arguing with the referees about a pick up, giving Davies some well needed recovery. Davies then closed out the game with a ridiculous volley drop winner and then buried the ball deep in the forehand cross court nick. Game to Davies 11-7.
The fourth and fifth were both tight games, but it was Davies on the receiving end of some brutal rallies, being forced to retrieve ever deeper into the corners of the court. Fuller did just enough to close out the games 11-9 and 14-12.
Chris Fuller (Eng) bt Ashley Davies (Eng) 3-2 10-12 13-11 7-11 11-9 14-12 (98min)
[8] Joshua Larkin (Aus) vs [Q] Youssef Soliman (Egy)
The first game was a contrast of styles, both players wanting to play at high tempo, but Larkin looking to keep the ball straight and contain his opponent, whereas Soliman was looking to open the court up and use his speed advantage over his opponent. Larkin even commenting midway through the first “He’s quick”. This extra speed was the deciding factor as Soliman edged ahead and closed out the game 11-8.
Into the second game and Larkin looks to step up the court and volley the ball as much as possible keeping Soliman deep in the court. The game was highly energetic with Soliman looking to open up the court and either force a huge lunge from Larkin to recover the ball, or causing himself to use his retrieval skills when Larkin punished a weak attacking shot. In the end the consistency from Larkin saw him take a small lead and the game 11-9.
The third game was long and tiring, both players sensing the importance of the game, despite Soliman taking an early lead (6-1) by hitting some outrageous winners coupled with some pin point accurate cross courts. Larkin never looked as if he was out of any of the rallies though and fought back to 8-8 with some excellent retrieval and defensive lobs. There were a couple of clashes towards the end of the game, and it looked like these mini breaks favoured Soliman who took the next 3 points, to close out the game 11-8.
Into the fourth and once again Soliman took an early 7-0 lead with some outrageous winners, once again Larkin fought his way back into the game, however this time Soliman’s lead was far too great, and he took the game and match 11/7.
Youssef Soliman (Egy) bt Joshua Larkin (Aus) 3-1 11-8 9-11 11-8 11-7 (63min)
[1] Karim Ali Fathi (Egy) vs [Q] Joshua Masters (Eng)
Let’s be clear, the boy Masters can play a bit…. Starting off exactly where he left off last night, spanking the ball in the nick at every opportunity. Despite a high pace and some very low straight drives from Fathi, Masters still managed to consistently find an angle to play several outright winners, taking the game 11-7.
Into the second and Fathi noticeably looked to increase the tempo and keep the ball deep on Master’s backhand. Not deterred Masters continued to look to take the ball in. Unfortunately for Masters his racket work slightly let him down and a series of errors handed a very close second game to Fathi 11-7.
Predictably in the third given the high intensity of the match, Fathi looked to exert his slightly greater physical presence on the match, asking for let after let, for no reason – deliberately extending the length of the games, and turned a really good game of squash into a dog fight. Third to Fathi 16-14.
Despite the length and the intensity of the third game, Masters managed to continue his assault on the front of the court with devastating effect, taking the ball short from the most unlikely of places, including roll several 3 wall boasts right out of the nick in a row. Game to Masters 11-9.
The damage inflicted by Fathi on Masters in the third and fourth games was simply too great and in the fith game Masters couldn’t keep the ball out of the tin, looking more tired with every shot. Game and match to Fathi 11-4.
Karim Ali Fathi (Egy) bt Joshua Masters (Eng) 3-2 7-11 11-7 16-14 9-11 11-4 (76min)
| {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
How to Make Money with Photography?
Turn Photography from Passion to Profession
Photo by Jazvisuals
Photography is not only an artistic pursuit but also a commercial one. There is a potential scope of making some good bucks through means of this. So, the great and perhaps the most attractive thing about Photography is that it is not humdrum and has a scope for you to make something worthwhile and even get paid for it.
Wondering how you could make money as a Photographer? Here’s how:
1. Do Photo Shoot for Prospective Clients
Photo by Nayan Halder
The most obvious way how to earn money via Photography is to do some Photoshoot for certain events when there are opportunities available. In order to get started, perhaps the most important thing that you will require is to build a strong portfolio and hence people can reach out to you through that. Another vital aspect to make this work is to spread a word on various social media platforms about the Photography services offered by you.
2. Upload your Photographs on Stock Photography Sites
So, if you have got that perfect shot representation something and you want to make money out of it, you can do so by uploading the Photograph on the various Photography sites available. Now, because your Photograph is subjected to copyright, you will earn some bucks if some site wishes to use the picture that you have captured. Make sure you use some good keywords while you upload.
Here are 10 stock photography sites to sell photos online:
3. Try Photo Blogging
If you not only have the skill set of a Photographer but also of a potential writer, this one is for you. Why not try Photo blogging? Bloggers get paid in various forms including publishing of sites or via ads. For this, you can start your own blog online and upload relevant content based on the same and make your site work. Prospective agencies who want to publicize via your blog will automatically approach you.
4. Become a Freelance Photographer
Photo by Kamal Kant Tyagi
Similar to the pursuit of freelance writing, a freelance Photographer can make some bucks by means of getting their clicks published in a newspaper or a magazine. Again, for this to work you do need a strong portfolio.
5. Participate in Online Photo Contests
Various websites organize Photography Contests and usually, the winners of the contest stand a chance of winning some cash prize or goodies. So why not enter those contests and make your work simpler? Coming to this, make sure that you check out the Photo Contests organized by us at Halla. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
It's been 25 years and the truth is still freakin' out there, people.
Loading
With The X-Files celebrating its 25th anniversary today, what better time to dust off, and shine up, our picks for the greatest standalone episodes from the show ever? That's right, these are episodes that don't involve the over-arching alien mythology. They're most commonly categorized as being "Monster of the Week" chapters, which in X-Files' case often led to some of their best and most creative episodes.But why a top 12? Simple: When we first created this list based on the original run of the show, it was a top 10. But since then we got two more modern seasons of The X-Files, and we just had to add two more of our favorites. So let's get into the Top 12!
12 "The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat" (Season 11)
11 "Mulder & Scully Meet the Were-Monster" (Season 10)
10 "Humbug" (Season 2)
9 "Paper Hearts" (Season 4)
8 "Drive" (Season 6)
7 "Bad Blood" (Season 5)
The messaging of the likely final, eleventh season continued here about how no one (whether it's the American public or actual viewers of The X-Files) cares about shadowy government conspiracies anymore because everything is terrible and nothing is scared. It sort of all funneled into a joke this episode as Mulder and Scully found themselves in an absurdist adventure all about collective acceptance of lies. Or false memories. Or whatever you want to call it when no one's ever really on the same page about the truth, which is supposed to be an objective construct.Written and directed by Darin Morgan, this romp featured all-rounder Brian Huskey as Reggie, a man on the brink of mental collapse who tries to convince Mulder and Scully (aka "Muldy" and "Sculls") that the infamous Dr. They has been systematically changing the population's collective memory - touching on everything from innocuous old toys, TV shows, and Jell-O products to illegal government operations. In fact, Reggie will tell you he invented the X-Files division itself - and even hung up the "I Want to Believe" poster! Overall, it's a masterful, and loving, lampooning of the series featuring hilarious performances from both Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny.Everything about this one was solid. From the opening scene featuring Mulder chucking pencils at Scully's poster to him trying to figure out how to photo and/or video the mystery creature for proof of its existence (we just get a shot of Mulder screaming hysterically as blood lands on his cheek) to the were-monster himself lying about Scully coming onto him in the cellphone shop, this installment was on its toes the entire time. The monster man got a dog and NAMED HIM DAGOO! C'MON!And Scully hit the nail on the head with "I forgot how much fun these cases could be." Yeah, she knew Mulder was being "batcrap crazy," but it was the Mulder she preferred. The kind of Mulder who'd stand in front of her and rambunctiously act out her side of a hypothetical argument about lizard men.This Season 2 episode was an early attempt at the dark humor that would prove to work so well on The X-Files. While never undermining the story or its characters, the laughs in "Humbug" come from the self-awareness of the show's creators (particularly the episode's writer, Darin Morgan). Take the scene when one of the freaks talks about how, thanks to the inevitable genetic engineering of the 21st century, people like him are a dying breed. "I've seen the future and the future looks just like him," he says, pointing at Mulder in the distance, who is striking a particularly heroic (bordering on ridiculous) stance. "Imagine, going through your whole life looking like that."Aside from the humor, the episode also benefits from some truly stylish touches, as when Scully awakens to see what appears to be men literally falling from the sky. Supported by a great guest cast of familiar favorites (Vincent Schiavelli, Twin Peaks' Michael J. Anderson), "Humbug" is requisite X-Files viewing and a segment that only gets better with age.Duchovny adds a layer of pain and torment here, as we find out just how deeply scarred he is from his sister's disappearance. The bad guy -- a sick and twisted child murderer named John Lee Roche (Tom Noonan) -- is one of the most disturbing villains to make an appearance in the series. There's no Cigarette Smoking Man, no black ooze, no special powers – just undeniable and all-too-real evil. This is one of those episodes that proved the series could get under your skin. It also showed us the many levels of Fox Mulder and why David Duchovny was so essential in creating this iconic character."Drive" opens with a mock news report of the car chase in question, echoing the O.J. Simpson incident of just a few years earlier. But it's the interplay between Mulder and Crump that makes this episode a standout. The tragic victim of an overreaching military experiment, Crump is the living proof of the conspiracies which are Mulder's life mission to uncover. Played by Bryan Cranston -- in the episode that put him on Vince Gilligan's radar, eventually leading to their collaboration on Breaking Bad -- Crump here is an antagonistic yet heartbreaking character, and as he and Mulder become unlikely allies."Drive" in turn becomes a memorably scary X-Files episode - not for any particular monster or alien presence, but because of the perhaps most frightening element of the show's world ever: mankind itself, and the governments that supposedly protect us.The real fun lies in how Mulder and Scully choose to see themselves as well as each other. Scully paints herself as a devoted and heroic martyr, going without food and sleep to please a selfish and bossy Mulder, while he portrays her as a mean and whiny jerk, constantly sneering at his polite and scholarly arguments in favor of the supernatural. "Bad Blood" is full of truly funny moments, like Scully getting a craving for pizza while cataloguing a victim's stomach contents during an autopsy. It also brilliantly explores, through humor, how deeply Mulder and Scully crave to be better understood and appreciated by one another. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Wackers declare the term offensive say “it is our term to be used by us”
Most every department has a few of them. The guys with more lights on their Chevy or Ford than the front line engine has. People who carry multiple pagers, and radios twenty-four hours a day. The person who dresses head to toe, all day, everyday in 5.11 gear. We all know this person as a “wacker”.
But recently a group of so-called wackers have declared the word “wacker” as offensive. They feel that it is derogatory to be called that term. Virgil Brigman sat down to talk about this issue.
“These guys make fun of us for being enthusiastic. But they are the pathetic ones. When the shit hits the fan they all look to us loser wackers to take control of the scene.”
Virgil then gave us a tour of his ford truck. In addition to having a 200watt siren system Brigman has many lights to make sure people know he is coming.
“See I got a full light bar. I also got a set of LED lights on my dash. Then in my grill I got two mini LED light bars. Also on the side of my license plates I also got some LED lights. Now check this out. The lights in the grill and by the license plates are slightly tilted out. So it makes it easier to see from an angle. Then I also have lights on the back of my truck but they are not as impressive.”
Getting back to the topic of wacker being offensive, Brigman had this to add.
“All the lights, the siren, even my own radio paid for out of my pocket. Guys on my department give me shit about them. But I get to every call. Let that sink in… I make EVERY CALL… Some of the guys I know are lucky to make 40% of the calls. We got guys who don’t have any lights in their cars. They never make calls. They always show up about the time the call is done.”
When CallTheCops pointed out that there are web pages and online forums devoted to the Wacker Lifestyle, Brigman claimed this.
“People who are Wackers, have the right to call each other a Wacker. For us to call each other that, it is not a big deal. But when someone else calls us that, it is derogatory. One Wacker cannot degrade another Wacker. For us to use that word in private it is appropriate, but only for us to use.”
Brigman is lobbying for his department to add a policy about harassment and including Wacker in that policy. Chief Sonny Dawson has thus far declined to take Brigman seriously. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Longbox Graveyard #164
Super-Blog Team-Up returns with a Doctor Strange-driven look at magic in comics! Now, Halloween was last week, so I’m a couple days late for Dracula, but with his movie out this week, I’m right on time for Doctor Strange … and it’s always time for Bronze Age Marvel here at Longbox Graveyard. So let’s jump right in as Doctor Strange battles Dracula, Lord of Vampires!
This two-part crossover began in Tomb of Dracula #44, smack-dab in the middle of the classic run by Marv Wolfman, Gene Colan, and Tom Palmer. I’ve sung the praises of Tomb of Dracula here at Longbox Graveyard before (twice!) — it really might have been the finest Marvel comic of its age. And one of the reasons the book worked so well was that writer and editor Marv Wolfman largely kept Dracula and his tales sequestered from the rest of the Marvel Universe. While Drac would encounter Spider-Man and Thor in other titles, Marv jealously guarded the door of Dracula’s own book, ceding to editorial pressure to more closely connect Tomb of Dracula with the Marvel Universe only through crossovers with otherworldly and supernatural characters like Silver Surfer, Brother Voodoo, and (in our case) Doctor Strange!
The first part of the tale, written by Marv Wolfman, opened with Strange mourning the death of his faithful manservant, Wong, beneath the flashing fangs of a vampire!
Just look at Gene Colan’s smokey pencils, beautifully illuminated by Tom Palmer’s perfect inks! There’s never been a better team for supernatural comics storytelling!
But this wasn’t just any vampire — this was Dracula, the Lord of Vampires, as Strange discovered when his sorcery allowed him to experience Wong’s final moments.
Harnessing the fathomless powers of the All-Seeing Eye of Agamotto (which then, as now, could do about anything the writer needed it to do), Doctor Strange tracked the “life-patterns” of Dracula from the scene of the crime to Dracula’s lair in Boston.
I love how Colan’s “camera” pushes in on Dracula, starting with his open coffin, then Dracula in repose, and then Dracula alert to Strange’s intrusion. Looking at this sequence, did you “see” Dracula’s eyes snap open between the last two panels? That’s the magic of comics, boys and girls — like Scott McCloud noted, comics are as much about what you don’t see between the panels as what you see in the panels themselves.
After that? Well, it’s on!
But this battle between Dracula and Strange wasn’t the usual Marvel Comics Fist City beat-down, and it wasn’t even a garden-variety Doctor Strange ectoplasmic duel of ghosts.
No, to battle Dracula, Strange invoked the “Images of Ikonn” to delve into Dracula’s “passions and fears,” taking Dracula back to the moment his mortal self fell on the battlefield in a cavalry duel with Turkish invaders.
It’s kind of dirty pool, to be honest.
For a couple panels, there, we could almost sympathize with Dracula, and this was intentional. Marv Wolfman considered Dracula the “protagonist” of Tomb of Dracula, rather than the hero, but as readers we still needed to get on board with Dracula, and moments like this served to humanize him. We see Dracula as a mortal terrified of his pending (un)death, we see his noble sacrifice in defense of his homeland, and can kind of feel bad for him … but it doesn’t take much for Dracula to revert to form, showing the dark side of his noble nature with his incredulity that this conflict originated with the death of “… a mere hireling … a cretinous menial … a whimpering domestic.”
(Don’t take a job with Dracula, folks).
Taken aback by Dracula’s sudden recovery — and reluctant to use his “more potent magics” for fear of rendering Dracula incapable of restoring Wong to life — Doctor Strange was quickly mesmerized by Dracula.
Mesmerized … and slain!
How’s that for a vintage Marvel shock ending? Doctor Strange is dead? Say it isn’t so!
Fortunately, we needn’t wait even one week to see how this one turns out … the tale continued in Doctor Strange #14!
While this issue was written by Steve Englehart (who firmly put his stamp on the story, as we shall see), the book was illustrated by the self-same team of Colan and Palmer, and also edited by Marv Wolfman, resulting in an unusually coherent crossover, at least by Marvel standards.
The issue opened with Dracula gloating over his fallen foe, casting Strange’s body into a dungeon, where he might rot until rising, three days later, as Dracula’s undead slave.
But in his arrogance, Dracula didn’t reckon that Doctor Strange might be “no stranger to death,” as we learn that Strange escaped death by leaving his body instants before Dracula killed him at the end of last issue. But now, Strange was trapped outside his body, in astral form, with only three days to concoct a solution to his dilemma.
So what did Strange do?
Why, he thought, of course!
But all the thinking in the world didn’t solve Doc’s trouble. After trying to distract Dracula with visions and spells — and nearly catching Dracula out in the daylight — Strange was still a helpless, disembodied spectator when Dracula returned three days later. But Dracula was taking no chances, and in an odd reversal of roles, he sought to put a final end to the undead Doctor Strange with a stake through the heart!
Right on cue, Strange rose as a vampire, and we finally got some fist-and-fang action, as Dracula battled with a thing that was not-quite-Strange: Doctor Strange’s body, given in to dark vampiric impulses, while Strange’s conscience was helpless to intervene.
And it didn’t take long for Dracula to gain the upper hand against a Doctor Strange reduced to bestial impulses.
I love it when Drac calls someone a “clod.” If your boss calls you a clod — or “cretin,” another favorite — then he’s probably a super-villian
It’s when Dracula had Doctor Strange on the ropes that something intriguing and even a little profound occurred. When Dracula asserted himself as “Lord” while strangling the life from Strange, from the depths of his possessed soul, Doctor Strange called on the power of the Christian god to save his life!
It’s a bold turn of events, and something Steve Englehart didn’t shy away from — he once featured God Himself in a Doctor Strange story, then authored a bogus fan letter to deflect scrutiny — but what’s most interesting to me about this moment is what it asks about Doctor Strange’s own spirituality.
Does Doctor Strange believe in the Christian god, or is He just another deity in the Rolodex, to be invoked like Cyttorak or Vishanti? In his moment of greatest extremis, it is the Christian god that Strange turns to for salvation. Is Strange a man of faith, or is he just happy to use the best tool at hand?
Either way, that cross-like burst of light sure did the job …
Strange’s body and soul become one again even as Dracula is sent down to defeat, but Englehart implies that the will and even the cruelty required to overcome Dracula’s evil doesn’t come entirely from the divine force Strange invoked — that the “… true Dr. Strange would find no pleasure in his (Dracula’s) pain … that his tormentor (Strange) has been touched with Dracula’s own evil …” This conclusion points to an (ahem) strange duality, with the power of God getting Strange back on his feet, but Dracula’s own dark power of evil being the special sauce that let Strange finish the deed and kill Dracula for all time.
(Or at least until the next issue of Tomb of Dracula!)
And with Strange’s (and Wong’s) souls miraculously restored through Dracula’s death (could Drac have died for their sins? Nah …), that brings this tale to a close, and with it this installment of Longbox Graveyard!
It’s been awhile since I posted here, and it feels good! I hope to make this a more regular occurrence — please let me know what you think of this story and Steve Englehart’s Strange cosmology in the comments section below!
But, before you go — it took the awesome power of Super-Blog Team-Up to wake Longbox Graveyard from its Odinsleep … assuming you view this as a welcome development, please pay your thanks forward by visiting these other Super-Blog Team-Up articles, all looking at some form of “Strange” Magic!
NEXT: #165 I Shopped At An Amazon Brick And Mortar Book Store | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
EU executive pays tribute to top diplomat as Brussels observers predict his exit will be a loss for UK in Brexit negotiations
The European commission has paid tribute to Sir Ivan Rogers after he resigned as Britain’s top diplomat to the European Union, praising him as a “very professional [and] very knowledgeable” figure in a rare public comment on national politics.
In qualified praise a day after Rogers’ resignation, the EU’s executive made clear its respect for the diplomat, as Brussels observers predicted his departure would be a loss for the UK in the upcoming Brexit negotiations.
“We regret the loss of a very professional, very knowledgeable, while not always easy interlocutor and diplomat,” a commission spokeswoman said on Wednesday.
Rogers’ decision came as a shock to many in Britain, but did not surprise some seasoned observers, even if many staff at the UK permanent representation to the EU had no inkling of their boss’s decision until his resignation memo landed in their inbox on the first day of the new term in Brussels.
Rogers kept out of the loop on Brexit because he wasn't trusted, Duncan Smith claims - Politics live Read more
One senior EU source said Rogers had found himself in an impossible situation: “[He] was deeply worried about the lack of preparation by the Brits and the constant underestimation in London of the difficulties and the problems [of Brexit] ... and the persistent incapacity of the May cabinet in taking a credible line.”
Worrying implications of EU ambassador exit | Letters Read more
His departure is seen in Brussels as likely to rebound to the UK’s disadvantage. “I don’t think this is something that will strengthen the British position in these negotiations,” another diplomat said.
Tensions had risen between No 10 and the UK’s man in Brussels after the leak of a Brexit memo, where Rogers warned that finalising a trade deal could take up to a decade. He had also not held back in giving his unvarnished advice to ministers about the pitfalls awaiting the British government as it embarks on the most complex diplomatic task since the second world war.
“Contrary to the beliefs of some, free trade does not just happen when it is not thwarted by authorities,” he wrote in his resignation email to staff, where he praised speaking truth to power. “Increasing market access to other markets and consumer choice in our own, depends on the deals, multilateral, plurilateral and bilateral that we strike.”
Regarded as heresy by some Brexiteers, this is seen in Brussels as stating the obvious. “We knew the concerns he had, which are obvious,” said one EU diplomat. “Everyone knows what he put in his note. He was doing his job in warning about those hazards.”
Ministers 'failing to defend independence of senior mandarins' Read more
This diplomat was unconvinced by the Foreign Office’s hasty justification of Rogers’ resignation as a routine personnel change, to clear the decks before the prime minister, Theresa May, launches formal EU exit talks under article 50. “[The resignation] is probably the result of his own warnings not being welcomed,” the EU diplomat said.
Donald Tusk, the European council president, warned in June that the UK faced seven years of uncertainty over Brexit. Rogers was picking up on this and similar warnings when he warned ministers about the potential timeframe of a free trade deal.
EU leaders, including Angela Merkel, François Hollande and the chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, have repeatedly stressed there can be no negotiations ahead of notification of article 50.
Rogers was among the first to realise the full force of this message: his attempts to start preparatory talks were consistently rebuffed by his counterparts.
But the man himself was highly regarded, seen as sceptical and a tough defender of Britain’s interests. “His ability, his seriousness, his knowledge of the EU was unanimously recognised by his counterparts,” said the EU diplomat. “His objective was clearly the UK’s interests.” | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
I don't always go grocery shopping but when I do, I always get the cart with the broken wheel
888 shares | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
The greater problems with Craig Borten’s slushy screenplay, though, are its extreme earnestness — Sergio’s lengthy conversation with a female Timorese weaver is a sinkhole of sap — and an overemphasis on the love affair between the married Sergio and Carolina Larriera (Ana de Armas), an alluring United Nations economist. They meet in East Timor, lock lips in a downpour, and their ensuing, soft-focus romance has the effect of smoothing away any narrative grit or sense of the cerebral knife-edge that Sergio walked with such skill. Even his meeting with the infamous Khmer Rouge leader Ieng Sary looks like just a friendly chat.
Moreover, the choppiness of the storytelling gives short shrift to the bombing and Sergio’s tense interaction with L. Paul Bremer III (Bradley Whitford), President George W. Bush’s representative in Iraq. Tasked with restoring order and enabling legal elections, Sergio and his team are appalled by what they view as the United States’ excessive use of force and human-rights violations. The two men symbolize the eternal push and pull between diplomacy and violence, and their relationship could have given the movie the intellectual heft it so badly needs.
“We’re mopping up resistance,” Bremer tells Sergio at one point, curtly explaining the rising number of detainees. He forgot he was talking to a man who had made a career out of doing just that, and without detaining anyone.
Sergio
Rated R for nudity and violence. In English, Portuguese, Spanish and French, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 58 minutes. Watch on Netflix. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Mount Rainier
The sight that greeted us on arrival back in Seattle - the magnificent Mount Rainier which looms over the city.
Mount Rainier , Mount Tacoma, or Mount Tahoma is the highest mountain of the Cascade Range of the Pacific Northwest, and the highest mountain in the U.S. state of Washington. It is a large active stratovolcano located 54 miles (87 km) south-southeast of Seattle, in the Mount Rainier National Park. It is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous United States and the Cascade Volcanic Arc, with a summit elevation of 14,411 ft (4,392 m).
Mt. Rainier is considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, and it is on the Decade Volcano list. Because of its large amount of glacial ice, Mt. Rainier could produce massive lahars that could threaten the entire Puyallup River valley, and poses a grave threat to the southern sections of the Seattle metropolitan area, a city of over 650,000 people with more than 3.7 million living in its metropolitan area.
Done | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Deep Dasgupta believes that R Ashwin was rested for the Sri Lanka ODIs with a mandate to sharpen his skills in overseas conditions with one eye on the upcoming Test tours (2:08)
India offspinner R Ashwin, who had been left out of the limited-overs leg of the tour of Sri Lanka, will play county cricket this season. He could be available as early as Worcestershire's match against Gloucestershire starting on August 28. ESPNcricinfo had earlier reported that Worcestershire had shown interest in availing Ashwin's services towards the end of their season.
Ashwin's India team-mate left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja is also in talks with the counties, but it as yet unclear whom he will play for.
Worcestershire are currently placed second in division two of the county championships. Ashwin could come up against another India team-mate, Cheteshwar Pujara, in his second match as Worcestershire take on the table-leaders Nottinghamshire starting on September 5. Pujara is all set to continue playing for Nottinghamshire, whom he signed up for at the start of the season, following the conclusion of the Tests against Sri Lanka. Pujara scored 223 runs for them in five innings over four matches, including a match-winning hundred against Gloucestershire.
This will be Ashwin's first stint in county cricket. The last time India toured England for a Test series, he was played in only two of the five Tests, losing out to Jadeja in the first three. India have another five-Test series coming up in England next year.
India's next assignment after the Sri Lanka tour is the five ODIs against Australia starting on September 17. If Ashwin is selected for those matches, he might play only two matches in England. If he is not, he could go on till the end of the season as Worcestershire make a push for promotion. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Upset Bernie Sanders supporters booed California Sen. [crscore]Barbara Boxer[/crscore], a Hillary Clinton supporter, during a contentious Nevada Democratic Convention Saturday.
“We need civility in the Democratic Party, civility,” Boxer said as Sanders supporters booed the senator. Clinton won the Nevada Caucus and received more delegates than Sanders at the Saturday convention. Bernie supporters upset with the convention results started chants of “recount.”
WATCH:
Hillary Clinton has an almost insurmountable lead over Sanders, and a victory by the Vermont senator would require Clinton’s superdelegates to switch their support.
[dcquiz] Now Clinton is attempting to unify the Democratic Party which is turning out to be a tough task. Her campaign sent out a fundraising email Saturday complaining about having to still compete against Sanders instead of concentrating on Donald Trump.
One Sanders delegate at the convention yelled, “Fuck Hillary and Fuck the DNC” during his speech.
“When you’re booing me, you’re booing Bernie Sanders,” Boxer told the crowd. “You know something. I grew up in Brooklyn I’m not afraid of bullies. I’m for Hillary Clinton because she’s for all of us. So keep yourselves booing and boo yourself out of the election,” the California senator added.
“We had our Nevada Caucus and Hillary Clinton won,” Boxer told the defiant crowd of upset Sanders supporters.
WATCH:
| {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Buy here https://checkout.picturestees.com/154878834-1353409914.html?20059 Late last year, a 2005 video by Donald Trump and Billy Bush emerged, where formerly libelous statements about a woman’s body. In a discussion outside the camera before the Access Hollywood segment, Trump says that when you’re a celebrity, you can stay away from anything about sexual misconduct. Then he said, “Take them with your pussy. You can do anything. "Now, those comments emerged in an interview with former Prime Minister Floyd Mayweather about Hollywood Unlocked.
I think that by normalizing Trump sexually attacking him paved the way for many of these behaviors.I found him referring to a new non-political world, where I saw many trump supporters talking about political politics and how bad it was. The obvious action was what he boasted, but there was a video of the security camera, but the site explained that he had been hugged to death in support of the woman’s statement.
Trump Grab ‘Em shirt, hoodie, sweater, v-neck t-shirt, long sleeve
Official Trump Grab 'Em shirt
His defense of this action is not a denial but something strikingly similar to what it is People use to protect Donald Trump’s tapes, it’s just a joke, playful it’s "dressing room” or “just a joke.”. No, he does not listen to the tape and the context of what. He is saying, what he said subtly is “im so rich that women will let me go up and grab them”. Context is the key in any conversation. The context in which the words “get them by the pussy” was spoken .. He did not say that I just walked up the street and took the ladies. that is sexual assault.
What he says is that women will give him because he is rich. It has nothing to do with what this person wants to hear. “I just started kissing them.” It’s like a magnet, just kissing, I do not even wait, and when you’re a star, they allow you to do it. can do anything". Get me by the pussy. You can do anything. The setting is Trump on a bus with Billy Bush waiting to meet some soap opera operatives for the first time to do a TV segment. This guy directly says that he kisses and groans The lady he just met because he knows he can get away from it.
You can see all shirt at Picturestees.com
from Picturestees.com | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Trustees of the think tank embroiled in a Tory cash for access scandal donated £4.6 million to the Conservatives and paid to dine with Theresa May.
Last week Unearthed, the Greenpeace investigations unit, published a recording of Mark Littlewood – Director of the Institute of Economic Affairs – boasting that funders could get to know ministers on first-name terms and be involved in “the Brexit influencing game”.
But as well as offering potential donors access to ministers, the Red Roar can reveal the think tank’s trustees have handed millions of pounds to the Conservative Party – and in one case paid to dine with Theresa May.
Hedge fund billionaire Michael Hintze has donated over £4 million to the Tories, and is reportedly a member of the party’s exclusive Leader’s Group of elite donors – who pay £50,000 a head to socialise with Theresa May. Hintze is a supporter of hard Brexit who once gave Liam Fox a ride in his private jet and donated £100,000 to the Vote Leave campaign, which is now under investigation by the Electoral Commission.
Neil Record, the finance industry millionaire who chairs the IEA, has donated £450,000 to the Conservatives. But it is his £32,000 in donations to new Tory Health Secretary Matt Hancock that have raised the most concern, because the IEA has called for the NHS to be scrapped under Record’s leadership.
Jon Moynihan, another IEA trustee, has donated £102,000 to the Tories. He sold his business PA Consulting for $1 billion in 2016, and is another supporter of hard Brexit handing £122,000 to Vote Leave.
Another IEA trustees made a smaller donation to the Tories; Life Vice President of the IEA and Tory member of the House of Lords Nigel Vinson has given £6,000 to the party. Trustee Linda Whetstone is married to Conservative councillor Francis Whetstone, who gave £1,050.
The trustees’ combined £4,586,169 donation to the Conservatives is likely to prompt further questions about the think tank’s political neutrality as it faces a Charity Commission investigation in the wake of its director’s promise to arrange face-to-face meetings with ministers. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
All those people who want tort reform can pound sand. Give us tort reform and we might never get the monumental self-own that Congressman—and White House lawn ornament—Devin Nunes brought to the Henrico County Circuit Court late Monday afternoon. In merciful brief, Nunes is suing Twitter (and several Twitterers) for $250 million because he thinks the platform conspired to shut out conservative voices while allowing other accounts to be very mean to him, Devin Nunes. From the Sacramento Bee:
The lawsuit accuses Twitter of hiding, punishing or “shadow-banning” posts with a conservative bent — including those from Nunes — while simultaneously allowing others to profit from defaming him. Nunes’ attorney, Steven S. Biss, claims Twitter acts as “allowed (and allows) its platform to serve as a portal of defamation in order to undermine public confidence in Plaintiff and to benefit his opponents and opponents of the Republican Party.
Liz Mair — a political strategist who acted against Nunes in the previous election through the Swamp Accountability Project, a dark money group targeting President Donald Trump and his congressional allies — is the only individual named on the lawsuit. Two apparent parody Twitter accounts, “Devin Nunes’ Mom” and “Devin Nunes’ cow,” are also named. Nunes’ lawsuit claims “Twitter contributed materially to the illegal conduct of defamers Mair, Devin Nunes’ Mom and Devin Nunes’ cow.”
Yes, this is all in a legal document. But it really only scratches the surface. To wit:
Defendant, Devin Nunes’ Mom, is a person who, with Twitter’s consent, hijacked Nunes’ name, falsely impersonated Nunes’ mother, and created and maintained an account on Twitter (@DevinNunesMom) for the sole purpose of attacking, defaming, disparaging and demeaning Nunes.
The complaint would like you to know that Devin Nunes has had bestowed upon him a dazzling array of pseudonyms.
In her endless barrage of tweets, Devin Nunes’ Mom maliciously attacked every aspect of Nunes’ character, honesty, integrity, ethics and fitness to perform his duties as a United States Congressman. Devin Nunes’ Mom stated that Nunes had turned out worse than Jacob Wohl; falsely accused Nunes of being a racist, having “white supremist friends” and distributing “disturbing inflammatory racial propaganda”; falsely accused Nunes of putting up a “Fake News MAGA” sign outside a Texas Holocaust museum; falsely stated that Nunes would probably join the “Proud Boys … “if it weren’t for that unfortunate ‘no masturbating’ rule”; disparagingly called him a “presidential fluffer and swamp rat”; alsely stated that Nunes had brought “shame” to his family; repeatedly accused Nunes of the crime of treason, compared him to Benedict Arnold, and called him a “traitor”, “treasonous shitbag”, a “treasonous Putin shill”, working for the “Kremlin”; falsely stated that Nunes was “100% bought and sold. He has no interest remaining for his constituents”; falsely accused Nunes of being part of the President’s “taint” team; falsely stated that Nunes was unfit to run the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; falsely accused Nunes of “secretly hat[ing] the people he’s supposed to serve”; falsely accused Nunes of being a “lying piece of shit”…falsely stated that “@Devin Nunes is DEFINITELY a feckless cunt”…
For those not hip to the kids on the Intertoobz, the complaint helpfully defines “taint.”
The verb “taint” means to contaminate morally or to affect with putrefaction. A “taint” is a contaminating mark or influence or a trace of a bad or undesirable substance or quality...The Urban Dictionary defines “taint” as the area of skin on a women between her vagina and her anus.
There’s also a helpful copy of a tweet from which one can learn what a human centipede is. (Look it up yourselves.) And, all around the country, a thousand college students give up on law school. The complaint comes to a thunderous conclusion in which the Whole Shadow Banning Deep State is uncovered.
The substance and timing of the tweets, retweets, replies and likes by Mair, Devin Nunes’ Mom and Devin Nunes’ cow demonstrates that all three bad actors were and are engaged in a joint effort, together and with others, to defame Nunes and interfere with his duties, employment and investigations of corruption as a United States Congressman. The purpose of the concerted defamation campaign was to cause immense pain, intimidate, interfere with and divert Nunes’ attention from his investigation of corruption and Russian involvement in the 2016 Presidential Election… he Twitter attacks on Nunes were pre-planned, calculated, orchestrated and undertaken by multiple individuals acting in concert, over a continuous period of time exceeding a year. The full scope of the conspiracy, including the names of all participants and the level of involvement of donors and members of the Democratic Party, is unknown at this time and will be the subject of discovery in this action.
And thus does the kitty come screeching out of the burlap.
To review: Devin Nunes, a member of the Congress of the United States, is suing Twitter. He also is suing his imaginary mother and his imaginary cow, because he believes his imaginary mother and his imaginary cow slandered him online, and because he believes that his imaginary mother and his imaginary cow conspired with Jack Dorsey to keep Devin Nunes and his supporters—real and imaginary—from stating their case on his platform. He is suing them for $250 million; oddly, this is the same amount sought in the lawsuit brought by the MAGA hat kid against CNN et. al.
As a nation, we’re wearing our underwear on our head and going to church.
Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook page here.
Charles P. Pierce Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976.
This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
About ManUtd is an excellent iPhone and iPad App for United fans. Launched this season by the people behind the respected Manchester United stats website, it’s already giving fans facts and stats to back them up in all Man Utd discussions around the world.
About ManUtd is a fact-supplying app that:
Covers every official match played by Manchester United since 1886 – over 5300 of them.
Lists every United team and every United goal-scorer; for many matches it also gives the opposition team and scorers.
Provides stats and summaries for each of the 863 United players, 19 managers, 115 seasons and 209 opponents.
Contains original profiles supporting the stats for all managers, all recent seasons, and many players.
Is updated after every match.
Apart from updates, the app does not need internet access – perfect for getting Manchester United stats on the go.
Making the most of familiar iPhone and iPad conventions, the App is really easy to use.
You can filter and sort the lists to find what you want. For example, you can easily filter the players’ list to display just wingers, who are Scottish, who have made more than 10 appearances – and then order them by goals scored. (Top of the list, incidentally, comes Willie Morgan 1968-1975; details include his date and place of birth, clubs before and after United, every match he played in, season summaries, and a profile of his United career.)
Or you can filter the seasons to find out when Man Utd played in the European Cup, or won the FA Cup. Or find the Premiership away matches against Chelsea.
About ManUtd is an App that’s difficult to put down. Who was in the squad that season? Where did we finish in the League? How many times has United beaten Liverpool at Anfield? The questions keep coming and the App keeps supplying the answers.
Bonus tip: You can use the About ManUtd app to get quick answers to our ticket giveaways (such as this one) and other contests on the blog.
Screenshots: iPhone, iPad (1), iPad (2).
About ManUtd is available from the Apple App Store for those with an iPhone, an iPad or an iPod touch. At just £1.99 it’s got to be one of the buys of the season.
Update: AboutManUtd.com have said that they’re working on an Android version of the app – as soon as it’s launched, you’ll hear about it here.
------------ Made in Manchester is available for just £5. It includes 30 articles from the country's best football writers about graduates from the Manchester United academy.. All profit goes to Trafford Macmillan so please support this fantastic cause. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
New York post-punks Interpol have had a wild ride promoting El Pintor, but it's not drawing to a close soon - they've just announced another new single, "Anywhere".
The new single will be released 9 March via Soft Limit/PIAS, and is taken from their latest record El Pintor (a former Best Fit Album of the Week), which is out now.
Interpol also kick off a UK/Ireland tour in February, including a three-night residency at Dublin's Olympia, and you can peek at the dates below.
February
6 - Roundhouse, London
7 - Roundhouse, London
8 - Albert Hall, Manchester
10 - Olympia, Dublin
11 - Olympia, Dublin
12 - Olympia, Dublin
14 - Barrowlands, Glasgow
15 - Metropolitan University, Leeds Tuesday 17 The Forum, London (NME Awards show)
Check out the band performing "Anywhere" during last June's Brixton headline date below. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Party & power abuse: nurses spark debate in South Korea
The end of the year is a traditional time to party – especially for workers to socialise with colleagues, for a change. That’s also the norm in South Korea – but a video of nurses dancing at a hospital talent show has sparked debate about abuse. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.