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HomeImportant Posts Allahu Akbar is Why Muslims Kill
Allahu Akbar is Why Muslims Kill
Allahu Akbar. You hear it everywhere these days.
Special agent Scott Wickland said that he heard cries of "Allahu Akbar" before the Benghazi attack. And then the guards ran for their guns.
In Nice, France, the Islamic terrorist who killed 86 people and wounded over 400 by running them over with a truck, shouted, “Allahu Akbar”. In New York, the Islamic terrorist who was trying to imitate him, also shouted, “Allahu Akbar.” The 9/11 hijackers had the same message, “Allahu Akbar”.
“Allahu Akbar” has been present at virtually every major recent Islamic terror attack in the West.
But according to the New York Times, “Allahu Akbar” is an “innocent” and “innocuous” expression. According to one of the Times’ sources, “You see a reallу beautiful woman” and “уou go, ‘Allahu Akbar.’”
If all those shouts of “Allahu Akbar” in Paris, London and New York are caused by Muslim terrorists encountering attractive women, their reaction of choice to an attractive woman is a killing spree.
“Allahu Akbar” is not “innocent” or “innocuous.” It’s at the core of what makes Islam violent.
To understand the violent history of “Allahu Akbar”, let’s climb into a time machine and go back to the year 628 and to a place that will one day be known as Saudi Arabia. It’s hot out here in the desert. Temperatures from the spring to the fall routinely cross the hundred degree mark and keep going.
We’re in Khaybar. It’s a desert oasis maintained by the Jews. If being in 109 degree heat has got you down, you stop by the oasis, and have a cool drink of water and some dates. Then you keep going. Out here trade runs through the desert and the oasis is a gas station. If you want to choke off major trade routes, you go after an oasis. And that’s what a cult leader whose followers today terrorize the world by attacking its travel routes, airline hijackings, pirates preying on ships, train and bus bombs, was doing.
Muslims call what happened next, the “Battle of Khaybar”. Like most Muslim battles, it was a treacherous ambush and a massacre. And it helps explain why there are no Jews in Saudi Arabia today. Nor do Muslims regret this act of ethnic cleansing. Instead they celebrate it. Muslims still threaten Jews by chanting, “Khaybar, Khaybar ya Yahud.” "Remember Khaybar, Jews, Mohammed’s Army Will Return."
And “Allahu Akbar?”
That’s what Mohammed shouted as he realized that his surprise attack had been successful. "Allahu-Akbar! Khaybar is destroyed.” He boasted that any nation attacked by Muslims would suffer a similar fate. And then he “had their warriors killed, their offspring and woman taken as captives”. Mohammed also picked up his own sex slave. “Safiya was amongst the captives. She first came in the share of Dahya Alkali but later on she belonged to the Prophet.” Safiya’s husband had been murdered. Like their ISIS successors, the Prophet of Islam’s band of killers and rapists took the women as slaves.
That’s where “Allahu Akbar” originated. And that’s why Muslims still shout it at terrorist attacks.
Allahu Akbar does not mean “God is Great.” It means “Allah is Greater”. What was Allah greater than at Khaybar? Allah was greater than the religion of the Jews because Mohammed was able to defeat them.
In Islam, a religious war is also a religious test. Muslim victories demonstrate the supremacy of Allah.
Despite the incessant claims that Muslims, Jews and Christians all worship the same god, the Koran tells Muslims something very different. “And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah, and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah. These are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!” (Koran 9:30)
The preceding verse commands Muslims to "Fight those who do not believe in Allah" and “who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the Scripture until they pay jizya and submit."
Those who “were given the Scripture” are Christians and Jews.
Jews and Christians had “taken Rabbis and monks to be their lords besides Allah”. The Christians had taken “Messiah, the son of Mary” when they had been commanded to “worship only one Allah.” (Koran 9:31)
Jews and Christians were “Kuffir” and “Mushrikeen”. They had taken “partners” in addition to Allah. Christians and Jews seek to “extinguish the light of Allah” (Koran 9:32). Allah had sent Mohammed to make Islam supreme over all other religions. (Koran 9:33). Jews and Christians obstruct the “Way of Allah” (Koran 9:34) Muslims are encouraged to make Jihad against non-Muslims (Koran 9:38). Those who refuse to carry out Jihad will be punished by Allah (Koran 9:39).
When Muslims defeat Christians or Jews, they prove that Allah is superior to Jewish and Christian beliefs. And that the teachings of Islam are superior to the teachings of their religious enemies.
“Allahu Akbar” originated with Mohammed’s attack on the Jews of Khaybar. When Muslim terrorists shout it today, they are declaring that they are about to prove Allah’s superiority by killing non-Muslims.
“Allahu Akbar” isn’t merely associated with terrorist attacks. It’s the reason for those attacks.
Muslims kill non-Muslims to prove that, “Allahu Akbar”: that Allah is greater the religions of their victims.
“Allahu Akbar” is the motive for Islamic terrorism.
A typical excuse is that Muslims will use “Allahu Akbar” to celebrate a good event. What this excuse misses though is that Islam is a supremacist religion. And Muslims believe that the good event that they are celebrating is due to being the only ones who truly worship “Allah”. That’s a common religious belief. And they are entitled to it. But the problem is that this relationship rests heavily on Jihad.
The Islamic mission is to make Islam supreme over all other religions (Koran 9:33). If Muslims aren’t striving to defeat other religions, then “Allahu Akbar” rings hollow. Islam does not primarily offer an internal religious experience that transforms the believer, but an external collective experience that transforms the world. Jihad, the acts of terror we see on the news, are that religious experience.
“Allahu Akbar” is the supremacist core of Islam. Mohammed offered a religious experience that merged desert banditry and conquest, whose sacraments were the murder of the enemies of Islam and the rapes of their wives and daughters. The horrifying Islamic rituals of ethnic cleansing, rape and torture demonstrated that, “Allahu Akbar”. That Allah was greater than the dead men and raped women.
The Yazidi girls who were sold as sex slaves to ISIS fighters, as the Prophet Mohammed had done, describe their Islamic captors intimidating them by shouting, “Allahu Akbar”, and recall the Islamic rapist of a 12-year-old girl saying that it brought him “closer to Allah”, of a 15-year-old girl calling it a “prayer to Allah” and of the rapist of another 12-year-old girl describing her abuse as “pleasing to Allah.”
The official ISIS publication praised Allah for enabling its Jihadists to capture non-Muslim women.
“I write this while the letters drip of pride. Yes, O religions of kufr (non-Muslims) altogether, we have indeed raided and captured the kāfirah women, and drove them like sheep by the edge of the sword. I and those with me at home prostrated to Allah in gratitude on the day the first slave-girl entered our home.”
How can raping children be a prayer to Allah? Because, “Allahu Akbar”. Being able to rape non-Muslim girls is a matter of “pride”. It shows that Allah, the god Muslims worship, is superior to their religion.
When ISIS Jihadists rape children or when an ISIS Muslim sympathizer runs over people in New York, Berlin or Nice, it’s a prayer of praise to Allah. And the prayer is, “Allahu Akbar.”
The more non-Muslims are killed, abused and enslaved, the more the truth of Islam and the supremacy of Allah are proven with the screams of the wounded, the dying and the families of the dead.
This is Islam. This is what it was in 628. That’s what it is today.
“Allahu Akbar” is a mandate to kill non-Muslims. A Muslim terrorist taking a gun, a knife or a truck and attacking non-Muslims is living out, “Allahu Akbar”. He’s showing that Islam is superior.
“Allahu Akbar” isn’t something he happens to say while killing you. It’s why he’s killing you. | {
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FOCUS
Quick Changes in Magnetic Materials
A class of magnetic materials can be reordered at the nanoscale more rapidly than the type usually found in magnetic hard drives, offering a possible route to faster memory devices.
iStock.com/Kolobo4ek Faster rewriting. A study of the response of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic regions in the same material may point to faster ways to edit the information stored in magnetic memory devices such as this hard drive.
iStock.com/Kolobo4ek Faster rewriting. A study of the response of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic regions in the same material may point to faster ways to edit the information stored in magnetic memory devices such as this hard drive. ×
The hard drive in your computer stores information in tiny regions that can be flipped from one magnetic polarity to the other to represent the zeroes and ones of binary data. The speed of such devices depends on how quickly these “bits” can be flipped, or “rewritten,” and a team of physicists has now shown experimentally that writing speeds might be made some 30 times faster by fine-tuning the magnetic geometry of the storage device. The demonstration may not lead immediately to faster memories but gives researchers a promising pathway to pursue them.
In most magnetic materials, each atom has a spin that acts like a microscopic magnet. If all these spins point in the same direction, the pattern is called ferromagnetic order, as found, for example, inside an ordinary iron magnet. But magnetic order can be more subtle, with the direction of spins varying systematically across the atomic lattice. Atomic spins in a line can alternately point up and down, for example, or they can gradually rotate to trace out a helix as you move across the lattice. These and other configurations produce no large-scale magnetism because every spin is cancelled out by another. This kind of pattern is known as antiferromagnetic order.
The bits of modern magnetic memories are typically small domains of ferromagnetic order. Flipping a bit requires simultaneously reorienting many atomic spins, limiting the speed of information rewriting. Physicists have long suspected that it should be easier to switch a region of antiferromagnetic order into a non-antiferromagnetic state, because you can use light to knock spin-carrying electrons from one atom to a neighbor, disrupting the geometric pattern. In principle, ones and zeros could be represented by the two states “antiferromagnetic order” and “non-antiferromagnetic order.” Experiments to test the response times of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic regions are challenging, however, because most materials have exclusively one type of order, and other physical differences obscure the comparison of magnetic properties.
To overcome this problem, Christian Schüssler-Langeheine of the Berlin Helmholtz Center for Materials and Energy and his colleagues ran experiments using a thin film of the element dysprosium, which is ferromagnetic at temperatures less than 87 K and antiferromagnetic at higher temperatures. “We measure how both kinds of order change in the very same sample,” says team member Nele Thielemann-Kühn, who is now at the Free University of Berlin. “All we had to do was to change the sample temperature.”
For a direct comparison of the switching speeds of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic regions, the team studied the rate for disturbing the order in the two cases, rather than looking explicitly at the flipping of spins. They used pulses of infrared laser light to disturb the magnetic order of dysprosium samples by nudging electrons responsible for the magnetism from one atom to another. To monitor how quickly the magnetic order changed, they then scanned the sample with pulses of x rays, whose scattering depends on the magnetic state of dysprosium. The researchers found that the antiferromagnetic zones lost their magnetic order around 30 times faster than the ferromagnetic zones and required much less laser energy to trigger the change.
The difference, says Thielemann-Kühn, can be explained by thinking about the angular momentum associated with each atomic spin. In a ferromagnetic zone, parallel spins add up to create a large total angular momentum. Moving a spin from one atom to another doesn’t affect that total and therefore doesn’t disrupt the ferromagnetic order. Disrupting ferromagnetism requires transporting the angular momentum away from the spin system into other parts of the surrounding environment. In contrast, an antiferromagnetic zone possesses no net angular momentum because the contributions from different atoms cancel out. The magnetic order can be erased merely by shuffling the atomic spins and destroying their delicate spatial arrangement.
“This experiment is very elegant,” says physicist Stefan Eisebitt of the Max Born Institute in Berlin. “It’s also important, as it shows that optical demagnetization can proceed faster if there’s no need to transport angular momentum away.”
“Our work is mainly fundamental research,” says Thielemann-Kühn, but she believes that their results might lead to speedier and more efficient magnetic devices. Although antiferromagnetic materials lack the clear distinction between opposite polarities that make ferromagnetic memories so convenient, she says that other researchers have been working to find ways to store bits of information in antiferromagnetic zones, which could in principle be flipped much faster. Another possibility might be to improve the switching speed of conventional ferromagnetic bits by placing them in close contact with antiferromagnetic materials that could provide a pathway for moving angular momentum in or out.
This research is published in Physical Review Letters.
–Mark Buchanan
Mark Buchanan is a freelance science writer who splits his time between Abergavenny, UK, and Notre Dame de Courson, France. | {
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Boise State has given the Mountain West Conference a 10th program.
Boise State is leaving the Western Athletic Conference, a league the Broncos have dominated for a decade in football, the MWC confirmed with a statement Friday.
"We are pleased and excited to welcome Boise State University to the Mountain West Conference," commissioner Craig Thompson said in the news release. "Since our inception just 11 short years ago, the Mountain West has experienced tremendous success, and the addition of Boise State will further enhance that strength. The MWC continues to strategize regarding potential membership scenarios and bringing Boise State into the Conference is an important part of that evolution."
Boise State becomes the second institution to join the Mountain West in the past six years, after TCU was added in 2005. The conference was founded in 1998 with eight members.
The Mountain West also includes Brigham Young, Utah, Air Force, Wyoming, UNLV, San Diego State, New Mexico and Colorado State.
"It will be a privilege to compete and partner with such a successful group of member institutions," Boise State president Robert Kustra said in a statement. "This move is in the best interests of Boise State's future, and the university is excited to be part of one of the nation's most outstanding conferences."
Thompson had said Monday the Mountain West would hold off on expansion until the dust settles in the other conferences.
WAC commissioner Karl Benson figured Boise State was bound to bolt for the Mountain West. So much so that as the WAC board of directors and athletic directors assembled in Las Vegas for the conference's annual meeting this week, they discussed contingency plans.
The conference didn't want to be caught off guard.
"I think everyone was anticipating and expecting it," Benson said in a conference call Monday night. "All the signals out there were pointing in the direction that any invitation would come today. ... This is an unbelievably volatile period. The poker playing that is going on I think is unprecedented.
"Regardless of what changes might occur, we are poised to move forward either with our existing membership or with any membership changes that may occur."
Benson said there wasn't any bitterness toward Boise State officials at the meeting, the relationship remaining quite cordial.
The WAC is keeping its options open, too, scouring for schools. Benson said there are five or six candidates from the Football Championship Series the conference is keeping an eye on.
However, Benson wouldn't elaborate on which schools might potentially be in the mix.
"Regardless of what the Mountain West might do, or Boise State might do, the WAC is going to continue to be a credible and recognizable conference," Benson said.
Broncos football coach Chris Petersen, who has compiled a 49-4 record and won three WAC titles in four years, said Monday the decision doesn't change anything about his plans for next season.
"We have a very challenging nonconference and conference schedule ahead of us and we are not planning to change our goals because of today's decision," he said.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. | {
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Welcome to Given By The Sun! 1. Every family will be allowed one purchase. Please choose yours with care. 2. There are ten (10) of each item. 3. New items will be put out randomly as things sell out. 4. Please be polite to your fellow shoppers. Thank you, The Management | {
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Description
Explore the depths in The Quarry with your friends and find rare ores! Hey Quarry fans, thanks for all your love and support of this game! This game is now under legacy status (fewer updates). You receive badges at the map selection (main menu). Type '/quality' to lower the graphics if you are laggy, or playing on a mobile device. If you get stuck type '/spawn'. | {
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J20161219-0027—Vaccinium ovatum—RPBG
Vaccinium ovatum—evergreen huckleberry. "Huckleberry is a refined and elegant garden plant with lustrous, dark green foliage"—Katherine Greenberg. Found in most coastal California counties and north to British Columbia and Alaska. This specimen is from Santa Cruz Island, one of the northern Channel Islands off the California coast. Photographed at Regional Parks Botanic Garden located in Tilden Regional Park near Berkeley, CA.
Done | {
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Description: Hello all! This is my Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, with Voices added to the game! I have just finished recording the entirety of the game, and all I need for the finishing touches (aside from editing the footage) is the voice acting! The editing process will take a couple of weeks for all of the unedited footage, and during that time-frame I will have you all post your voice submissions for these characters! However, there are some characters that only appear once, and don't ever appear again for awhile throughout the story, so for those people who try out for those specific characters: You can also try out for the unlisted Chapter Boss voices. You know the bosses you fight at the end of a chapter? Those ones. Also, if you did make the cut, you can also go for the npc characters that appear once, and then never again! Anyways, here is what this amazing Strategy-RPG has to say for itself!
This will be posted to YouTube once I edit together everything and everyone's lines for each part :)
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is set on the fictional continent of Tellius. The storyline is all-new and un-related to any other Fire Emblem title storylines before it. The protagonist, Ike, the son of Greil, begins the game as the newest member of his father's mercenary company, the Greil Mercenaries. The company operates within the borders of Crimea, a nation of humans (referred to as "beorc") that shares its southern border with Gallia, a nation of Beast laguz, or humanoids capable of transforming into animals. A few chapters into the game, a neighboring beorc nation, Daein, invades Crimea. Soon after, Ike comes across an unconscious woman in a forest that turns out to be the Crimean princess, Elincia Ridell Crimea. Faced with the ruthless Daein assault, Greil leads the mercenaries out of Crimea and towards Gallia, but is mortally wounded by a Daein general known only as the Black Knight. These events mark the beginning of a long journey that will take Ike, Elincia, and the mercenaries across the continent and back in an effort to defeat Daein and restore Crimea's royalty to the throne.
Over the course of the game, Ike and his companions must overcome long-held racial tensions between the beorc and laguz in order to form an alliance against their true enemy, Ashnard, King of Daein. In particular, Ike manages to reestablish relations between the beorc nation of Begnion and the few remaining members of the heron laguz clan, which was annihilated in an act of genocide known as the Serenes Massacre. With this accomplishment, Ike is given command of a patchwork army that he leads into Daein and finally back to Crimea, where he confronts the Black Knight and ultimately King Ashnard himself. Hello all! This is my Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance, with Voices added to the game! I have just finished recording the entirety of the game, and all I need for the finishing touches (aside from editing the footage) is the voice acting! The editing process will take a couple of weeks for all of the unedited footage, and during that time-frame I will have you all post your voice submissions for these characters! However, there are some characters that only appear once, and don't ever appear again for awhile throughout the story, so for those people who try out for those specific characters: You can also try out for the unlisted Chapter Boss voices. You know the bosses you fight at the end of a chapter? Those ones. Also, if you did make the cut, you can also go for the npc characters that appear once, and then never again! Anyways, here is what this amazing Strategy-RPG has to say for itself!This will be posted to YouTube once I edit together everything and everyone's lines for each part :)Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance is set on the fictional continent of Tellius. The storyline is all-new and un-related to any other Fire Emblem title storylines before it. The protagonist, Ike, the son of Greil, begins the game as the newest member of his father's mercenary company, the Greil Mercenaries. The company operates within the borders of Crimea, a nation of humans (referred to as "beorc") that shares its southern border with Gallia, a nation of Beast laguz, or humanoids capable of transforming into animals. A few chapters into the game, a neighboring beorc nation, Daein, invades Crimea. Soon after, Ike comes across an unconscious woman in a forest that turns out to be the Crimean princess, Elincia Ridell Crimea. Faced with the ruthless Daein assault, Greil leads the mercenaries out of Crimea and towards Gallia, but is mortally wounded by a Daein general known only as the Black Knight. These events mark the beginning of a long journey that will take Ike, Elincia, and the mercenaries across the continent and back in an effort to defeat Daein and restore Crimea's royalty to the throne.Over the course of the game, Ike and his companions must overcome long-held racial tensions between the beorc and laguz in order to form an alliance against their true enemy, Ashnard, King of Daein. In particular, Ike manages to reestablish relations between the beorc nation of Begnion and the few remaining members of the heron laguz clan, which was annihilated in an act of genocide known as the Serenes Massacre. With this accomplishment, Ike is given command of a patchwork army that he leads into Daein and finally back to Crimea, where he confronts the Black Knight and ultimately King Ashnard himself. | {
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This post is based on the chapter entitled "Make Believe Children" in Dr. Christine Ann Lawson's book, "Understanding The Borderline Mother: Helping Her Children Transcend the Intense, Unpredictable, and Volatile Relationship." This is part two of a two part post on this topic.
Borderline parents often "split", that is they project their good side onto one child who becomes the "fair haired boy or girl", the "golden child", the "all good child" while they project their bad side onto the "black sheep", the "scapegoat", or the "no good child". In part one I described some of the dynamics that occur for the all good child. In this part two, I will describe some of the dynamics that occur for the all bad child. Dr. Lawson writes:
"Children who are perceived as evil by their mother have two choices: (1) to believe that they are evil, or (2) to die trying to be good. The mother's perception is immutable: no-good children can never win no matter how hard they try." p . 168
In part one we discussed the idea of "forced teaming" where the borderline parent says "You're just like me," and "My life would be unlivable were it not for you." There is negative forced teaming when the no good child is constantly compared to another person whom the borderline parent despises often the child's father. "You're just like your father!" referring to the father's negative characteristics or behavior. It is impossible for the child to dissociate herself from this negative attribution. This negative attribution will often become a self fulfilling prophecy and the child will act out the attitudes, and behavior attributed to them as if to say, "You think I'm bad, here's bad. You think I'm stupid, here's stupid. You think I'm criminal, here's criminal." It is interesting that the borderline parent rarely sees their part in contributing to the situation. If anything, they feel further validated that their predictions came true. As Dr. Lawson says:
"No-good children see no good in themselves, in the world, or in their future. They feel certain that they will ruin good things, good people, and good times. When they wish upon a star they see only darkness. No-good children see no hope." p.170
The kind of messages which no-good children hear from their borderline parents are things like, "You ruin everything," "I'd be better off without you," "You are responsible for my unhappiness," "You make me sick," "I could kill you," "You're a disgrace to this family." Spouses often hear similar messages. One client told me that his wife had witnessed her father physically abuse her mother and told him that she expected he would abuse her as well. When after 25 years of marriage he pointed out that he had never physically abused her, she, in a rage, said that she knew he was capable of it, wanted to strike her, and it was only a matter of time before he did. My client wept and said he could never dissuade her from her perception that he was a physically violent man and an abusive husband even though he had never behaved and spoke in a way to warrant such a judgment. Later he laughingly said he could die and go to his grave and she would say "He was a wife beater in his heart and didn't act on it because he died before he got the chance. We were married 55 years."
Dr. Lawson says,
"An x-ray of the no-good child's self might reveal a slow-growing tumor consuming the soul. No-good children are afraid of looking at themselves, especially of looking within. They sense an internal darkness, something withered and black, foul and rotten. Whatever it is, it feels beyond their control and is too terrifying to face. No-good children who come to therapy, therefore, must have a great deal of courage. They must be willing to look at their withered soul and let it be nourished in the warm light of acceptance and understanding." p. 171
Dr. Lawson also describes the lost child who has given up. She says.
"Surviving mixed messages of the borderline mother requires an ability to ride the waves of emotional upheaval. Lost children survive by floating, by resigning themselves to having no control." p. 171
As adults the children of borderline parents struggle trying to understand what is normal and what is not normal. As Dr. Lawson points out, the children of borderline parents have no way of organizing their emotional life. They never received the templates or compass that kids in healthy families receive as a part of their growing up.
Dr. Lawson points out that a healthy father or mother can make a big difference in counterbalancing the dysfunctional interactions of the borderline parent. Dr. Lawson writes,
"The father's character structure can either reinforce the pathological dynamics between mother and child, or provide a healthy counterbalance, depending on the degree to which he experienced healthy love in his own childhood." p. 173
This healthy counterbalance is what I mentioned earlier in a previous post as the "enlightened witness" which Alice Miller discusses - the person who reassures the child that what is happening to them is not normal, not of their doing, and that they will be OK.
This is post #20 in a series on borderline parenting based on a book written by Dr. Christine Lawson entitled, "Understanding The Borderline Mother". | {
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Dimitrios Makridopoulos has always been fascinated by the preternatural. Devouring books about occult phenomena from childhood to adulthood, he soon became curious about the pyramid-shaped mountain of Penteli, located about 15km north-west of Athens. “[I was] drawn to the energy of this mysterious and ancient mountain,” he told me.
Penteli is globally acclaimed for its ancient quarries and the incomparably crystalline structure and golden-hued tint of its marble that was used to construct the sacred temple of Parthenon as well as other glorious monuments. Yet, it was Davelis Cave, located on the mountain’s south-west side, that particularly piqued Makridopoulos’ interest.
Resting in and above an ancient marble quarry and averaging a width of 45m and a height of 62m, Davelis Cave is a vast, mesmerising and steeply descending grotto that could well serve as the backdrop to a horror movie. Visitors have reported electronics going out of control, glowing orbs, ineffable creatures, water dripping upwards, ghostly voices, spooky etchings, remnants of satanic rituals and more.
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In 2015, Makridopoulos packed up a ‘spirit box’ (a device said to enable communication with spirits through the use of radio frequency) and an infrared camera, and headed for Penteli with some friends. It was January and the mountain was shrouded in fog. This made it virtually impossible for him and the others to make out what lay even 5m ahead, but Penteli compensated with gifts at every turn, from chunks of precious marble from its plentiful ancient quarries to pieces of iron bearing evidence (according to Makridopoulos) of cryptic military experiments conducted in the cave in the late 1970s and ‘80s.
I was surrounded by an inexplicable, otherworldly energy
“From the minute I stepped into this unspoilt and pure place, I became one with it. I was surrounded by an inexplicable, otherworldly energy... I felt eyes following my every move... I could not see or hear anything with my five senses, but I knew,” Makridopoulos said.
The 29-year-old computer technician remembers his surprise when his electrical appliances confirmed back at home what he’d felt in the cave. His spirit box captured what sounded like a choir of angelic children’s voices chanting in ancient Greek. “It was the language of the pixies,” he said. He is also adamant his infrared camera recorded ghostly apparitions near the cave’s centre, and a tiny, pitch-black creature lurking at the entrance of the hollow. “There, can you see it?” Makridopoulos asked with intense interest when showing me the photos a few days before my own journey to the cave.
Davelis Cave was used as a shrine as far back as the 5th Century, when devotees worshipped Pan, their goat-footed god of shepherds and orgies. During the Middle Ages, hermits and Orthodox monks started flocking to Penteli either for spiritual retreats or because they were religiously persecuted, and the place was named ‘Σπήλαιο των Αμώμων’ (‘Cave of the Immaculate’), hence the presence of two adjacent Byzantine chapels built directly into the cave’s entrance.
In the 19th Century, notorious brigand Christos Natsios, aka Davelis, allegedly squatted in the cave with his gang. There’s even a legend that the brigand, who had a fling with the French duchess Placentia, discovered tunnels zigzagging through the cave’s guts and terminating at his lover’s mansion in the village of Pendeli in Athens’ northern suburbs. Whatever the truth, the allure of past-era cabals of desperados was catalytic in renaming the spine-chilling catacomb in honour of the iconic outlaw.
On a mellow January 2019 morning, I visited Davelis Cave with a couple of friends. After driving through a maze of Penteli’s slopes, we left the car at the beginning of a dirt road. Walking up the unmarked trail and regularly hopping over small puddles of slush and muddy water, the panoramic views of Athens stretching out to the Saronic Gulf made up for what at times seemed like a fruitless hike.
Finally, after about 25 minutes, the GPS insisted we turn left. There, at the foot of a rugged, ochre-grey cliff was a crescent-shaped opening in the rock. To the right of it sat the adjoined chapels of St Spyridon and St Nicholas. On the left was a concrete structure, built by the Greek military as an outpost and now seemingly abandoned. Cautiously walking towards the cave, I felt an intense pull inside, where I could see fragmented rocks scattered across the cave floor and cascades of stalactites streaming down in front of moss-riddled walls. There was hollow sound of water dripping from the roof. Though claustrophobic and fearful of what awaited me, I wanted to head deeper inside. But once in the cavern itself, I realised couldn’t go much further as the tunnels leading from the cave had been blocked up.
“These were the tunnels the Nato and the Greek military concreted to cover their tracks,” Makridopoulos later told me.
On 6 October 1977, Greek magazine Tahidromos published an article saying that the Greek military had begun strictly confidential operations inside Davelis Cave. The place was classified as military and sealed off to the public. Some talked about the establishment of a rocket base overseen by Nato, a rumour further fuelled by a US military base in neighbouring Nea Makri district. In 1982, Giorgos Balanos, a well-known Greek author of paranormal and science fiction, wrote of apocryphal underground tunnels, nuclear weapons and mind-control projects in his The Enigma of Penteli book, stirring up even more suspicion about what was going on in the underground chamber. In the 1990s, the Greek government attempted to re-initiate their projects in Davelis Cave; this time, newspaper front pages screamed about nuclear experiments. Soon, all the indeterminate works in the cave came to a halt, and future visitors would be met with a few new tunnels stopping at dead-end cave walls while the old ones were closed off.
Despite the tunnels being inaccessible, conspiracy theories still abound, such as Makridopoulos telling me that Nato extracted the marble of Penteli to create advanced satellites during the Cold War space race.
Whatever the truth, a 2002 study by Georgios D Papadeas of the Institute of Geology and Mineral Exploration of Greece agrees that there is something special about the cave. Scientists have found slate enriched with graphite between the layers of the Pentelic marble, which makes the mountain a good conductor of electromagnetic waves.
Additionally, the Pentelic marble itself possesses certain scientific properties that lead it to give electric charge under high-pressure conditions (which, for Makridopoulos and others, might explain some of the bizarre electromagnetic phenomena observed there, such as the dizziness and disorientation some visitors feel). That said, Dimitrios Papanikolaou, emeritus professor at the Department of Dynamic, Tectonic and Applied Geology at the University of Athens, who has been studying Penteli since 1973, chalks any obsession with paranormal phenomena inside Davelis Cave to “idiosyncratic forces at work”.
What we don’t understand, we ascribe to myth
“Penteli has a one-of-a-kind rock composition resulting from millions of years of metamorphosis. But that’s just about it,” he told me from his office at the University of Athens campus the day before I visited the cave, and describing all Davelis Cave-related paranormal sightings and hearings as “vagaries” and “placebo effects”.
“The summit of Penteli was an air force base. Athens is a Nato city,” he continued. “Penteli overlooks the Aegean Sea, so everything that happened in the cave and nearby in the ‘70s and ‘80s happened with the intent of armouring the Attica Basin.” As for the blocked-off tunnels? “They were dangerous, they had to do it,” the professor replied. “But what we don’t understand, we ascribe to myth.”
Notwithstanding, what Papanikolaou himself admits is that certain places are distinguished by an unexampled magnetism. “When Athens was at its peak, people devoted all their intellect to extracting the best marble in the world. Maybe some places have a distinct energy of their own: the energy of thousands of human beings that once lived and thrived there, but that’s just about it.”
‘Magnetised’ is just a fraction of what Makridopoulos claims to feel in the proximity of Davelis Cave. He is already spearheading a team called ‘Orfeas Group’, which has a popular blog dedicated to exploring supernatural phenomena.
Even I felt a gravitational pull towards the cave the day I visited. As I stood at the entrance, a beam of light passed through the cave’s mouth and lit up the place, almost as if to guide me forward. The words of the professor about the energy certain places have amassed over time rang true more than ever.
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Felix Sater, the former Port Washington resident and key figure in the Trump investigation, had led a life in the shadows of organized crime and terrorism over 10 years as an FBI informant, according to federal court records and media reports.
“He was a major operator,” State Sen. Todd Kaminsky (D-Long Beach), a former federal prosecutor, told Newsday. Kaminsky had worked on Sater's presentencing report that led to Sater's cooperation with federal officials. “He cooperated for an extraordinary length of time that you almost never see. He provided information that no one else could."
Sater's back story almost sounds like a movie script, according to numerous reports. He’s a Russian immigrant who once did prison time for stabbing someone in a bar with a with a broken margarita glass and later was nabbed in a stock swindling scheme. He wheeled and dealed in Trump Tower trying to forge business deals around the globe and allegedly helped fugitive Kazakhs invest millions of dollars in now-troubled U.S. ventures. And, for more than a decade, he secretly worked as an informant for the FBI, providing intelligence on al-Qaida, North Korea, New York-based mafiosos and Russian organized crime.
“I was building Trump Towers by day and hunting bin Laden by night,” Sater, 52, told the Los Angeles Times in 2017.
Sater's name surfaced again Thursday when Michael D. Cohen, President Donald Trump’s former lawyer, pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about the details of a Russian real estate deal he negotiated on Trump’s behalf.
As part of his statement, Cohen said he worked with an individual whom news reports identified as Sater on a Trump-branded Moscow project amid the 2016 presidential campaign; the deal fell apart, though, in early 2016.
Sater’s history with the Trumps and Russia make him part of the probe by special prosecutor Robert Mueller.
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According to media reports and interviews Sater has given, he was part of several attempts by Trump to garner business deals in Russia, starting with a 2005 effort to build a “Trump Tower” in Moscow. In 2006, he accompanied Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump around the city to meet with potential business partners.
But later, Bayrock — Sater’s company, which was headquartered in Trump Tower in Manhattan — partnered with the Trump Organization to build properties in New York and Florida, financed with Russian and Kazakhstan money, according to lawsuits alleging embezzlement and fraud involving top Kazakhstan bankers who were investing in Europe and the United States.
And in February 2017, Sater said he met with Cohen to deliver a Russia-Ukraine peace settlement proposed by a pro-Russia Ukrainian lawmaker.
“What could be wrong in helping stop a war and trying to achieve peace?” he told Fox News after The New York Times broke the story about the proposal. He moved to California from Long Island last February, according to media reports. Calls to a phone number once associated with Sater went unanswered Thursday.
Amid all the deal brokering — and while he was working in Trump Tower — Sater also was acting as a confidential informant for federal officials.
Kaminsky also once vouched for his value as a source.
In a 2011 secret proceeding, Kaminsky filed a document disclosing that Sater had turned government witness after pleading guilty in 1998 to stock fraud. For more than a decade Sater provided sufficient information to help convict 20 individuals, including “members of La Cosa Nostra," some of whom were in the Gambino, Genovese and Bonanno crime families.
Further, Sater provided information about Afghan missile sales and identifying details about al-Qaida members. That’s largely why Sater received only a small fine for the 1998 stock fraud conviction, according to the document, which was filed in federal court.
Sater’s “cooperation was extraordinary both in terms of its depth and breadth,” Kaminsky wrote in the presentencing report. “It is rare to find a cooperator who provides information about organizations as varied as the ones here.”
In November 2015, while Trump was a presidential candidate, Sater sent Cohen the email that has become part of the Mueller probe. He said he might be able to finally line up the deal for a Moscow Trump Tower and suggested he could get Russian President Vladimir Putin to say “great things” about Trump. In the process, it all might help get Trump elected, Sater said in the email.
But earlier this year, Sater told BuzzFeed News he was just pumping a potential deal. He said he had nothing to do with any Russian involvement in the 2016 election.
“If I could get a deal done and I could make money and he (Trump) could look like a statesman, what … is the downside, right,” Sater said. | {
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I say “shocker” ironically, of course, because this is anything but shocking. Andrew Stiles at Heat Street dug up a nugget from yesterday’s FBI document dump, and it is not very flattering to Hillary Clinton:
Hillary Clinton was so abusive toward her diplomatic security staff that many quit or sought reassignment during her tenure as secretary of state, a former agent told FBI investigators, according to documents released Monday.
Clinton’s treatment of the diplomatic security agents assigned to protect her “was so contemptuous that many of them sought reassignment or employment elsewhere,” according to an FBI summary of its interview with the unnamed former security official.
The former agent described how protecting the secretary of state had long been viewed as “an honor and privilege reserved for senior agents,” according to the FBI summary, but that changed during Clinton tenure.
The agent told FBI investigators that by the end of Clinton’s time at the state department, the secretary’s security detail was “staffed largely with new agents because it was difficult to find senior agents willing to work for her.” | {
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It's not easy being a Republican in California, where the Grand Old Party could soon join the Yosemite toad and Mohave ground squirrel on the list of threatened species. It's harder still being a Republican in left-leaning strongholds such as Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area.
But it's hardest of all living in those blue bulwarks and supporting President Donald Trump.
Living behind the Blue Curtain requires certain survival skills, backers of the president say. No bumper stickers, lest someone key your car. No signs, in the window or planted on your front lawn, to prevent vandalism. Steer clear of Facebook and other online forums, and don't discuss politics in the real world if you can help it.
"You kind of keep your head down," said Danny Turner, 29, a Trump supporter in the East Bay suburbs of San Francisco who waits tables as he prepares to launch a stock-picking newsletter. "You can't be very loud about it."
He learned that when someone in Turner's Livermore neighborhood put up a Trump lawn sign last fall and had their car and home plastered with blue spray paint. The word "fascist" — misspelled, Turner said — was left as a calling card on the sidewalk out front.
Trump received just under 600,000 votes in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area and nearly 200,000 more in nearby Sacramento County. That's more than his totals in 21 states and the District of Columbia.
Still, he was swamped by Democrat Hillary Clinton, who carried California in the biggest landslide since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936. Here in San Francisco, Trump won a blink-and-you-missed-it 9 percent of the vote. Across the bay, where Turner lives in Alameda County, he mustered just 15 percent support.
In those liberal bastions of California, supporters of the president stand out like red pinpoints on a vast blue canvas — if, that is, they're willing to reveal themselves publicly.
"Someone gave me a Donald Trump T-shirt with Tupac on it," Turner said, referring to an improbable pairing of the president with the late rapper, Tupac Shakur, who attended high school in the Bay Area and claimed Oakland as his home. "It's pretty funny."
He has yet to wear it outside, however.
Living as a political pariah has dampened what might otherwise be a time of celebration — the end, as some Trump supporters see it, of a dark eight-year period in the country's history.
Dee Dee, 66, a part-time substitute teacher in Contra Costa County, where Trump scratched out 25 percent of the vote, said for years she put up with grating talk about the virtues of President Barack Obama and, more recently, Democratic presidential nominee Clinton. (She asked that her last name not be published, to avoid harassment.)
When Trump won, she said, the lunch-room conversation turned to shock and horror, and pretty soon that grew tiresome as well. "I finally said, 'Excuse me, I'd like to have a safe zone where I can come and eat peacefully and not listen to all this moaning and groaning.'"
Gloating, of course, would be out of the question. "You don't bring up the subject," she said.
Clinton's landslide margins in California are part of a broader social and political trend, as Americans continue to sort themselves into like-minded enclaves.
Across the country, more than 6 in 10 voters cast ballots in counties that backed Clinton or Trump with at least 60 percent support. About half the voters lived in such landslide counties in 2012, compared with fewer than 40 percent in 1992.
Of the nation's 3,113 counties or their equivalent, less than 1 in 10 — just 303 — were decided by single digits, said David Wasserman, an elections analyst with the nonpartisan Cook Political Report.
Even in bluest California, where they make up a distinct minority, not every Trump supporter feels oppressed or intimidated.
Katy Grimes, 54, a reporter and Sacramento columnist for the Flash Report, a conservative blog, proudly wears a pink camo baseball cap and a tank top emblazoned with "Make America Great Again" on runs through her Land Park neighborhood.
"I don't make it a secret at all," she said of her fervent Trump support, though she has a hard time understanding the hostility that abounds in the leafy, upscale community near the Capitol. "People here — neighbors, friends — they're just seething." (Trump won 34 percent of the vote in Sacramento County.)
She's heard some gasps and endured some hisses as she sports her pro-Trump regalia, Grimes said, but no one has tried to mess with her. "I do have a big German shepherd," she said.
As for Ring, the Sacramento policy analyst, he managed to salvage at least one long-standing relationship.
For a time, he said, he feared his pro-Trump stance had gotten him banned from the home of another close friend, who'd been the best man at his wedding. "I was pretty upset," Ring said, but after he posted a lament on Facebook his chum's wife called to say it was all just a misunderstanding and he was welcome to visit.
Still, he's proceeding with caution.
"We probably won't talk about politics," Ring said, "and if we do it will be because she wants to. I will not bring the subject up." | {
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Venezuela's new assembly creates 'truth commission' Published duration 9 August 2017 Related Topics Venezuela crisis
image copyright EPA image caption More than 120 people have been killed in protest-related violence in Venezuela since 1 April
Venezuela's controversial constituent assembly has passed a law creating a "truth commission".
The head of the assembly said the law was a "powerful instrument to stifle violence, hatred and intolerance".
More than 120 people have been killed in the violence since anti-government protests began sweeping through the country on 1 April.
The government blames right-wing "terrorists" but the UN suggests dozens were killed by the security forces.
The law was passed unanimously by the constituent assembly, a body convened by President Nicolás Maduro.
Power grab?
The assembly has deeply divided Venezuelans, many of whom see it as a way for the president to expand his power and sideline the opposition-controlled legislative.
It has also been condemned by international leaders and by the Pope, who urged President Maduro not to inaugurate it.
President Maduro said the constituent assembly would promote peace by bringing different sectors of society together to rewrite the constitution.
image copyright EPA image caption Members of the constituent assembly proudly held up pictures of former President Chávez
But since its 545 members were sworn in on Saturday, the political situation has swiftly deteriorated.
While it was ostensibly created to rewrite the constitution, the new body has taken a series of decisions unrelated to the constitution.
One of its first moves was to sack chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega , who in recent months has become a vocal critic of the government.
It also passed a decree prohibiting the opposition-controlled legislative from taking any action that would interfere with laws passed by the new constituent assembly.
The decisions were taken unanimously, bolstering the opposition's claim that the constituent assembly is made up entirely of government loyalists.
'End to impunity'
The newly created truth commission will be lead by Delcy Rodríguez, who also heads the constituent assembly.
media caption Is Delcy Rodriguez the most powerful person in Venezuela?
Ms Rodríguez said the commission would investigate "acts of violence carried out with political motives or out of intolerance".
The government has blamed "right-wing terrorists" for the violence at recent protests.
But according to analysis by a UN Human Rights team , the "security forces are allegedly responsible for 46 deaths, while pro-government armed groups (...) are reportedly for another 27 of the deaths" out of 124 under investigation.
The UN team said it was "unclear who the perpetrators in the remaining deaths may be".
Ms Rodríguez said there would be "an end to impunity" with the new truth commission. Opposition leaders have taken this as a thinly veiled warning that there will be a further crackdown on those criticising the government.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court sentenced an opposition mayor, Ramón Muchacho, to 15 months in jail for failing to prevent roads in his neighbourhood being blocked by protesters. | {
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Lieutenant General DS Hooda said the talk around politicisation of the military "is sort of exaggerated"
Lt Gen (retd) DS Hooda, the main architect of the 2016 surgical strikes on terror launch pads in PoK, Thursday said it is "worrisome" that the military is increasingly being drawn into the political discourse and used to win political arguments.
The Indian Army's former Northern Command chief also said the talk around politicisation of the military "is sort of exaggerated".
"...the military (is) being increasingly drawn into the political discourse, it's being used to win political arguments, it's being used as something which generates success in the elections. And that frankly is worrisome," Lieutenant General Hooda said at an event.
"For example, you saw the recent debate over ''my cross border strikes versus your surgical strikes''. What ultimately happened, a document was pulled out in reply to a RTI reply... to say that look this is what the Army headquarters is saying, that's where, I think, the worry is when too much political debate starts over military," he said.
"Then you could see military being increasingly drawn in and ultimately in the long run, everybody understands it that it is going to impact your impartiality, it is going to impact your apolitical character," he added.
Responding to an RTI application filed by PTI, the Directorate General of Military Operations (DGMOs) said last year that the Army did not have any records of any "surgical strike" conducted before September 29, 2016 -- the day when the raid was carried out in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
"So, I think, if all political parties can just leave the military out of the political discourse, that would be the best. Whether it is going to happen, I don't know because people have also tasted success using name of the military for electoral victory," Lieutenant General Hooda said.
Replying to a question about "politicisation of the armed forces", Lieutenant General Hooda said, "There is a lot of talk around politicisation of the Army, politicisation of the military, to me, some of it is sort of exaggerated. What exactly does politicisation mean? It means that men and women in uniform are taking a partisan political viewpoint and I don't see that to such an extent that you should start getting worried."
Lt Gen (retd) Praveen Bakshi, who was also present at the event, said politicisation of the armed forces was his "biggest fear".
"Politicisation of the armed forces is when the government in power can make the armed forces do its bidding, not in the national interest but for personal interest, that could be politicisation," said Bakshi, who headed the Army's Eastern Command during the Doklam standoff.
"... we need to insulate ourselves and as a democracy all of us are stakeholders in preventing this part. If this (politicisation) happens, I am afraid, others are just baying for it. In fact, perhaps Pakistan's strategy is exactly this -- to politicise our armed forces. We are a multi-party democracy, how can we be politicised?" he said.
He added that the Indian armed forces have not been politicised yet, but it is at the germination stage and it may flower later.
Congress leader Rajeev Gowda, also a panelist, said national security is not just what happens at the border and is a much broader subject.
" ...it is fundamentally about our people, their security, their prospects... it is also about what happens internally in different parts of India, what happens within the economy and whether everyone is getting a chance to move forward in a manner that promotes harmony rather than discontent and division," he said. | {
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White House press secretary Jay Carney. (Photo: Talk Radio News Service / Flickr)The drums of war are beating again. The Obama administration will reportedly launch a military strike to punish Syria’s Assad government for its alleged use of chemical weapons. A military attack would invariably kill civilians for the ostensible purpose of showing the Syrian government that killing civilians is wrong. “What we are talking about here is a potential response . . . to this specific violation of international norms,” declared White House press secretary Jay Carney. But a military intervention by the United States in Syria to punish the government would violate international law.
For the United States to threaten to and/or launch a military strike as a reprisal is a blatant violation of the United Nations Charter. The Charter requires countries to settle their international disputes peacefully. Article 2(4) makes it illegal for any country to either use force or threaten to use force against another country. Article 2(7) prohibits intervention in an internal or domestic dispute in another country. The only time military force is lawful under the Charter is when the Security Council approves it, or under Article 51, which allows a country to defend itself if attacked. “The use of chemical weapons within Syria is not an armed attack on the United States,” according to Notre Dame law professor Mary Ellen O’Connell.
The United States and the international community have failed to take constructive steps to promote peace-making efforts, which could have brought the crisis in Syria to an end. The big powers instead have waged a proxy war to give their “side” a stronger hand in future negotiations, evaluating the situation only in terms of geopolitical concerns. The result has been to once again demonstrate that military solutions to political and economic problems are no solution at all. In the meantime, the fans of enmity between religious factions have been inflamed to such a degree that the demonization of each by the other has created fertile ground for slaughter and excuses for not negotiating with anyone with “blood on their hands.”
Despite U.S. claims of “little doubt that Assad used these weapons,” there is significant doubt among the international community about which side employed chemical weapons. Many view the so-called rebels as trying to create a situation to provoke U.S. intervention against Assad. Indeed, in May, Carla del Ponte, former international prosecutor and current UN commissioner on Syria, concluded that opposition forces used sarin gas against civilians.
The use of any type of chemical weapon by any party would constitute a war crime. Chemical weapons that kill and maim people are illegal and their use violates the laws of war. The illegality of chemical and poisoned weapons was first established by the Hague regulations of 1899 and Hague Convention of 1907. It was reiterated in the Geneva Convention of 1925 and the Chemical Weapons Convention. The Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court specifically states that employing “poison or poisoned weapons” and “asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and all analogous liquids, materials or devices” are war crimes, under Article 8. The prohibition on the use of these weapons is an international norm regardless of whether any convention has been ratified. As these weapons do not distinguish between military combatants and civilians, they violate the principle of distinction and the ban on weapons which cause unnecessary suffering and death contained in the Hague Convention. Under the Nuremberg Principles, violations of the laws of war are war crimes.
The self-righteousness of the United States about the alleged use of chemical weapons by Assad is hypocritical. The United States used napalm and employed massive amounts of chemical weapons in the form of Agent Orange in Vietnam, which continues to affect countless people over many generations. Recently declassified CIA documents reveal U.S. complicity in Saddam Hussein’s use of chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq war, according to Foreign Policy: “In contrast to today’s wrenching debate over whether the United States should intervene to stop alleged chemical weapons attacks by the Syrian government, the United States applied a cold calculus three decades ago to Hussein’s widespread use of chemical weapons against his enemies and his own people. The Reagan administration decided that it was better to let the attacks continue if they might turn the tide of the war. And even if they were discovered, the CIA wagered that international outrage and condemnation would be muted.”
In Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States used cluster bombs, depleted uranium, and white phosphorous gas. Cluster bomb cannisters contain tiny bomblets, which can spread over a vast area. Unexploded cluster bombs are frequently picked up by children and explode, resulting in serious injury or death. Depleted uranium (DU) weapons spread high levels of radiation over vast areas of land. In Iraq, there has been a sharp increase in Leukemia and birth defects, probably due to DU. White phosphorous gas melts the skin and burns to the bone. The Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in time of War (Geneva IV) classifies “willfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health” as a grave breach, which constitutes a war crime.
The use of chemical weapons, regardless of the purpose, is atrocious, no matter the feigned justification. A government’s use of such weapons against its own people is particularly reprehensible. Secretary of State John Kerry said that the purported attack by Assad’s forces “defies any code of morality” and should “shock the conscience of the world.” He went on to say that “there must be accountability for those who would use the world’s most heinous weapons against the world’s most vulnerable people.”
Yet the U.S. militarily occupied over 75% of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques for 60 years, during which time the Navy routinely practiced with, and used, Agent Orange, depleted uranium, napalm and other toxic chemicals and metals such as TNT and mercury. This occurred within a couple of miles of a civilian population that included thousands of U.S. citizens. The people of Vieques have lived under the colonial rule of the United States now for 115 years and suffer from terminal health conditions such as elevated rates of cancer, hypertension, respiratory and skin illnesses and kidney failure. While Secretary Kerry calls for accountability by the Assad government, the U.S. Navy has yet to admit, much less seek atonement, for decades of bombing and biochemical warfare on Vieques.
The U.S. government’s moral outrage at the use of these weapons falls flat as it refuses to take responsibility for its own violations.
President Barack Obama admitted, “If the U.S. goes in and attacks another country without a UN mandate and without clear evidence that can be presented, then there are questions in terms of whether international law supports it . . .” The Obama administration is studying the 1999 “NATO air war in Kosovo as a possible blueprint for acting without a mandate from the United Nations,” the New York Times reported. But NATO’s Kosovo bombing also violated the UN Charter as the Security Council never approved it, and it was not carried out in self-defense. The UN Charter does not permit the use of military force for “humanitarian interventions.” Humanitarian concerns do not constitute self-defense. In fact, humanitarian concerns should spur the international community to seek peace and end the suffering, not increase military attacks, which could endanger peace in the entire region.
Moreover, as Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies and David Wildman of Human Rights & Racial Justice for the Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church wrote, “Does anyone really believe that a military strike on an alleged chemical weapons factory would help the Syrian people, would save any lives, would help bring an end to this horrific civil war”?
Military strikes will likely result in the escalation of Syria’s civil war. “Let’s be clear,” Bennis and Wildman note. “Any U.S. military attack, cruise missiles or anything else, will not be to protect civilians – it will mean taking sides once again in a bloody, complicated civil war.” Anthony Cordesman, military analyst from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, asks, “Can you do damage with cruise missiles? Yes. Can you stop them from having chemical weapons capability? I would think the answer would be no.”
The United States and its allies must refrain from military intervention in Syria and take affirmative steps to promote a durable ceasefire and a political solution consistent with international law. If the U.S. government were truly interested in fomenting peace and promoting accountability, it should apologize to and compensate the victims of its own use of chemical weapons around the world.
Prevent a war with Syria now! | {
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An explosion near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan shut down one of the busiest transit hubs in North America during the Monday morning rush, disrupting the routines of tens of thousands of commuters.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority closed the busy subway station beneath the terminal, at 42nd Street and Eighth Avenue and diverted passengers on several lines. Shortly after 7:30 a.m., the transit authority said trains would bypass the 42nd Street stops on the 1,2,3, A, C, E, N, Q, R and W lines.
The No. 7 line, which runs along 42nd Street, also was affected. The L line, which runs along 14th Street, was not operating west of the Sixth Avenue station. | {
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Florida is getting close to making a decision on a backup quarterback, offensive coordinator Kurt Roper said on Tuesday. Head coach Will Muschamp had previously said the team would put both Will Grier and Treon Harris in live contact for Monday and Tuesday's practice and make an evaluation after that.
"Obviously it's getting close to decision time, but it's a fluid thing because you never know what can happen," Roper said.
There was no clear leader for the job through eight open practices in fall camp, and many have wondered if the fact that Harris' running ability could add a dimension to the Florida offense even with a healthy Jeff Driskel could work in his favor. GatorBait.net asked Roper how that weighs against simply getting the best quarterback on the field in the event Driskel goes down with an injury.
"Well, I think the first thought process is if Jeff goes down, you've got to be prepared to go win that game when it happens," Roper said. "That's really where the decision starts and why it never stops and can always be fluid." | {
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It is a anime wallscroll featuring the main girls from Azumanga Daioh (one of my most favorite anime/manga I might add). It is actually quite large and I love it. Thank you secret santa! | {
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Defense Secretary James Mattis fired back Wednesday at criticisms of the Trump administration’s move to send troops to the Mexican border, as the migrant caravan moves north.
Fox News' Lucas Tomlinson said on Outnumbered Overtime that according to Gen. Terrence J. O'Shaughnessy, more troops will be deployed to the border in addition to the more than 5,000 already expected to arrive soon.
"The support that we provide to the secretary for homeland security is practical support based on the request from the commissioner of customs and border police, so we don't do stunts in this department,” Mattis told a reporter who asked if the Pentagon’s move was a political stunt.
O'Shaughnessy also said that there are currently 1,800 troops active-duty troops are in Texas, with most of them at Lackland Air Force Base.
Too Shocking for Google? Marsha Blackburn Ad Flagged Over Footage of Left-Wing Protesters
The armed troops will be sent to the border to perform logistical and support functions.
Tomlinson added that according to officials, the caravan is roughly 900 miles away from the border but is more organized than previous groups.
President Trump has repeatedly called for the caravan to retreat, tweeting on Wednesday that there are "many more troops coming."
O'Shaughnessy has also said that miles of barbed wire were sent to the border, and more Border Patrol personnel would also be delivered.
Homan: Migrant Caravan Is 'More Sophisticated' Than Past Groups, Trump Right to Send Troops
Judge Nap: Constitution Says 'Once Here, a Baby Born Is an American Citizen'
Sanders: Dems, Media 'Overplaying Their Hand' With Criticism of Trump on Immigration | {
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“I'm extremely excited to join the staff at Sporting Kansas City and grateful for the opportunity to continue serving as the Head Coach and Technical Director for KVFC this upcoming year,” Urbanyi said. “The most rewarding part of our inaugural season was the relationships I developed with the players, staff, and the community and I'm really looking forward to continuing to build upon our success from last season. In my opinion, the USL2 represents an important developmental pathway for collegiate soccer players and aspiring professionals to further develop their individual skills and talents."
A former teammate of current Sporting Kansas City head coach Peter Vermes, Urbanyi was an important part of the SKC Academy program in 2014 through 2016, serving as the head coach of the U16 and U18 SKC Academy teams. Urbanyi guided the U16 team to the 2015 Generation Adidas Cup International Final and the U18 team to the 2014-15 U.S. Soccer Development Academy Playoffs for first time in the club history. He also won the U15 National Championship Trophy alongside current SKC Academy Director Jon Parry. Most recently, Urbanyi was the Associate Head Coach at NCAA Division I University of Missouri-Kansas City. In addition to his success in coaching, Urbanyi had a standout playing career and has an eye for identifying talent – playing an essential role in bringing Hungarian players like Krisztian Nemeth and Daniel Salloi to SKC.
“We could not have asked for a better individual to serve as our Head Coach and Technical Director,” KVFC President and General Manager Marcus Dudley said. “Istvan has been instrumental in helping us build the foundation of our culture and club and, as a Developmental Partner for Sporting Kansas City, we are so excited for him to have the opportunity to advance his professional career within the SKC family. We're ready to get the 2019 season started and truly grateful that Coach Urbanyi will be back on the sidelines again this summer.”
Kaw Valley FC’s upcoming 2019 USL League Two schedule is set to be released on Jan 30th. | {
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Six people were evacuated from a home near Ashcroft due to a landslide triggered by wet weather.
Emergency Management BC said the RCMP were able to get the people out safely, and that there was no indication of anyone else who was trapped.
WATCH: Mudslides in B.C.’s interior
0:29 B.C. highways closed due to mudlslides B.C. highways closed due to mudlslides
The rain also triggered a number of mudslides that wreaked havoc on the Cariboo region’s highways.
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Highway 1 reopened to single-lane alternating traffic about 23 km west of Savona, after being completely closed overnight.
According to DriveBC, mud and debris removal is taking place, and motorcycle traffic is not recommended in the area.
UPDATE – CLOSED – #BCHwy1 23 km west of Savona due to mudslide. Alternate route via #BCHwy5 north. Debris removal in process, estimated time of opening to single lane alternating traffic is 12:00 PM. Next update 9:30 AM. https://t.co/cbbw7Nkvdz — Drive BC (@DriveBC) August 12, 2018
Highway 97 also reopened to single-lane alternating traffic on Sunday afternoon, after it was initially closed in both directions at Clinton and northbound at the junction with Highway 1.
REMINDER – #BCHwy97 is CLOSED in both directions at #ClintonBC because of a Mud slide. Assessment in progress. Detour via #BCHwy5 and #BCHwy24. Next update 9 AM.https://t.co/MSGUUbRqMW — Drive BC (@DriveBC) August 12, 2018
Highway 99 remained closed in both directions at Hat Creek Corner outside Ashcroft as of 2 p.m. on Sunday. No detour is available.
REMINDER – #BCHwy99 is CLOSED in both directions at Hat Creek Corner because of a Mud slide. Assessment in progress, no detour available. Next update 9 AM.https://t.co/WCJhnwlgyk — Drive BC (@DriveBC) August 12, 2018 | {
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"Can I say with a certain amount of credence we can compete with Baltimore day in and day out? I know it and I can say it," LeBeau said. "We didn't have Ben in either one of those games. I know we're a better team with Ben because he's a great player." | {
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AHMEDABAD: With Gujarat government not heeding to the Patels' demand for OBC status , at least 500 families of the community have threatened to leave Hinduism and convert to another religion for getting benefits of reservation in jobs and education .
READ ALSO: Congress voices support for Hardik Patel, quota agitation
These families reside in Pasodara village near Surat city, around 260kms from here. Local Patel leaders called this move as a symbolic protest against the state government, which according to them, has denied reservation benefits to the community members under OBC category.
"At least 500 Patel families of Pasodara have decided to go for conversion in the wake of the government's denial of reservation benefits to the Patels. We have conveyed our wish to convert to various Hindu organisations and leaders of our religion," said Raju Bodara, a prominent member of Akhil Bharatiya Patidar Sena , a Patel group, in Surat district.
Vijay Patel, a local resident, said the families are "compelled" to take such a step.
READ ALSO: Ahmedabad grabs Hardik after Surat's sedition fails
"Looking at the current situation, where the government is terrorizing Patels by various means, we are left with no other option but to convert. We are compelled to do so. This government and our religious leaders should now do introspection on this issue," he said.
"We are consulting legal experts to know more about our rights after conversion. We are also studying the Constitution. There must be a law which will give us all the benefits of reservation after conversion," Vijay added.
The state-wide agitation for quota is being spearheaded by Hardik Patel , a 22-year-old commerce graduate who is hogging the limelight after organizing a massive rally in Ahmedabad on August 25.
READ ALSO: Cops release tapes of Hardik calls
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An eagerly awaited estimate today of flu vaccine effectiveness (VE) in the United States so far this season confirmed that protection against the H3N2 strain is low and not much different than a similar report from Canada earlier this month.
The latest findings flesh out a vaccine protection gap that is part of what's fueling a record-high flu season in the United States and bolster the case that researchers and public health experts are making for the development of much improved flu vaccines.
With H3N2 as the dominant strain again this season, scientists have grappled with complex challenges regarding declining vaccine protection believed to be related to problems with egg-based production and wide genetic diversity in circulating H3N2 strains.
Research involved 5 study sites
To provide annual snapshots of flu VE during and at the end of each season, a team of researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and their collaborators analyze children and adults seen for acute respiratory infections at five study sites connected to outpatient clinics. The investigators reported their interim findings—based on clinic visits and flu testing from Nov 2, 2017, through Feb 3, 2018—today in the latest issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).
Of 4,562 people who had respiratory illnesses, 38% tested positive for flu, with more than 80% of the infections caused by H3N2. The percentage of those vaccinated against flu varied by study location and demographic group, ranging from 45% to 59%. Of people with lab-confirmed flu, 43% had been vaccinated.
Based on their test-negative study, the overall adjusted VE against all seasonal flu subtypes was 36% (95% confidence interval [CI], 27% to 44%). Against the closely watched H3N2 strain, VE for all ages was 25% (CI, 13% to 36%), statistically significant but not much different from the statistically not-significant 17% VE against H3N2 reported from Canada 2 weeks ago.
Against the 2009 H1N1 virus, VE was higher at 67% (CI, 54% to 76%), and against influenza B, VE was 42% (CI, 25% to 56%). Nearly all (98%) of the influenza B viruses found in the study group belonged to the Yamagata lineage, which is not included in trivalent (three-strain) vaccines but is in quadrivalent (four-strain) formulations.
The researchers concluded that their interim estimate underscores ongoing challenges with the vaccine's H3N2 component that have persisted since the 2011-12 season. They added that the US findings of 25% VE against H3N2 suggest at least some protection against H3N2, and at a higher level than Canada's data and the 10% VE found in Australia—another finding that wasn't statistically significant. The US scientists also said VE against H3N2 this year was similar to the final 2016-17 estimate of 32%.
When the researchers looked at protection by age-group, they found that overall and H3N2-specific VE trended higher in children age 6 months through 8 years old.
In a nutshell, they said the vaccine provided substantial protection against 2009 H1N1 and moderate protection against influenza B. And the team said the findings emphasize the importance of antiviral treatment for any patients with suspected or confirmed flu who have severe or worsening symptoms or are at risk for flu complications, regardless of vaccination status or test results.
A separate US flu season update today from the CDC in the same MMWR issue said the proportion of 2009 H1N1 and influenza B infections are currently on the rise, and with several weeks more of flu activity expected, the vaccine is still poised to prevent significant illness, and CDC officials continue to recommend being immunized.
A need to probe other drivers of flu VE
Danuta Skowronski, MD, lead author of Canada's recent study, said the US findings for H3N2 are what experts have been expecting and aren't much different from what Canadian experts found.
"We wouldn't expect the overall H3N2 estimates to be identical," she said, noting differences in the proportion of participants who were children between the two studies. In both studies, VE estimates in working-age adults were only about 10% to 20%. "Overall," she added, "the estimates in Canada and the US are in the same ballpark—which is low."
The profile of circulating H3N2 viruses doesn't appear to be different between the two countries, Skowronski said. In both, more than 90% belonged to the same clade: 3C.2a.
"In combination, these findings signal something unique and important related to low VE in working-age adults especially that we need to understand better," she said. One factor in need of further study involves birth cohort effects triggered by different prime-boost exposures, also known as "imprinting," she said.
She said the US VE against influenza B is also comparable to Canada's, despite greater use of quadrivalent vaccine in the United States. Skowronski said hints of cross-lineage protection in the influenza B strains are interesting and have been found before. They require deeper study, she added, given that the hemagglutinin (HA) head of the two lineages is so antigenically distinct from each other.
"Clearly, there are other important contributors to vaccine performance beyond antigenic match between the HA head of the vaccine and circulating strains," she said, adding that there may be other components of the influenza B virus that are driving cross-lineage protection such as antibody to the neuraminidase or to the stalk of the hemagglutinin—not just the head.
FDA head casts doubt on egg-based problems
In a statement today, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, said though the US interim findings for the vaccine are better than some might have predicted, there is still significant room for improvement. And he added that the FDA is committed to working with scientific and medical communities to better protect the public against flu and apply lessons learned to next season's vaccine.
He added that the FDA is collaborating with the CDC, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and other federal agencies to address steps needed to ensure optimal protection. He said a preliminary analysis of CDC data and patient database information suggests that cell-based flu vaccines appear to have performed somewhat better at protecting against flu than the egg-based vaccines that make up most of the US flu vaccine supply.
"Scientists at the FDA, CDC, and NIH are working diligently to fully understand the basis for this finding, so that all of next year's vaccines can provide better protection in preventing the flu," he said. He added that clarifying why cell-based vaccines provided better protection against H3N2 this season may help improve production of a more effective H3N2 vaccine for next season.
He also said that FDA tests on vaccine lots casts doubt on egg-based mutations as the cause of lower observed efficacy, given that agency scientists have confirmed, as part of quality control tests, that the genetic sequence in the vaccine strains used by manufacturers were the same as those provided to them at the beginning of the production process.
"Thus for egg-based vaccines, the lower-than-desirable efficacy being observed is not likely related to the process of adapting the virus to grow well in eggs," Gottlieb said in the statement.
Though developing a universal flu vaccine would be ideal, the reality is that such a vaccine is several years away, he said. In the meanwhile, the FDA is working with federal partners and industry to improve the manufacturing of current vaccines and looking at the possibility of continuous manufacturing technologies for cell-based and recombinant vaccines, which Gottlieb said could allow a quicker response to changes in circulating flu strains and a step-up in production, if needed.
Early estimates from Spain
In a separate study today in Eurosurveillance, Spanish researchers reported findings from primary care clinics and hospitals this season in Navarre, located in the north of the country. In October and November, the trivalent vaccine was offered for free to target populations, which included people age 60 and older and those with underlying health conditions.
Of 1,268 patients seen for flulike illness, 52% had lab-confirmed flu. The team found an overall adjusted VE of 39% (CI, 20% to 54%). Against H3N2 VE was 29% (CI, 15% to 57%), against 2009 H1N1 VE was 59% (CI, -6 to 84, so not statistically significant), and against influenza B VE was 29% (CI, 15% to 57%).
They concluded that the trivalent vaccine afforded moderate protection early in the area's flu season, and that performance of the H3N2 component higher than earlier reports from Canada and Australia, hinting that vaccination history might be a confounding factor. They also said their results for influenza B were consistent with those from Canada, which suggests the possibility of cross-lineage protection.
Skowronski noted that it's difficult to compare the Spanish report with the recent findings from Canada and the United States, because the Spanish study combined outpatient and hospitalized populations and involved only 118 H3N2 cases, too few to for a reliable estimation. "These results should be interpreted very cautiously," she said.
See also:
Feb 16 MMWR report on interim US flu VE
Feb 16 MMWR update on US flu season
Feb 1 CIDRAP News story "Canadian data show low flu vaccine protection against H3N2"
Feb 15 FDA statement
Feb 15 Eurosurveillance study | {
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Office of Management and Budget acting Director Russell Vought speaks to reporters about the Federal Fiscal 2020 Budget in the Brady Press Briefing room at the White House on March 11. File Photo by Pat Benic/UPI | License Photo
July 16 (UPI) -- The White House Office of Management and Budget says the 2019 federal deficit is projected to surpass the $1 trillion mark -- virtually the highest it's ever been.
The office reported the updated projection Monday in its mid-season review.
The report said despite the extreme deficit, it continues to project strong economic growth due to President Donald Trump's policies, perhaps most notably the sweeping overhaul to the tax code in 2017.
"The 2019 deficit has been revised to a projected $1.0 trillion, $91 billion lower than the 1.1 trillion projected in March," the review states. "The improvement in the 2019 deficit is largely the result of technical revisions, including an increase in expected receipts based on new tax reporting data and collections to date, as a decrease in outlays, primarily in mandatory and net increase spending."
Apart from the four years following the Great Recession, the U.S. deficit has never surpassed the $1 trillion-mark. The new projection worries some deficit watchers.
"The mid-session review is just the latest reminder of the dangerous fiscal path that we're on -- and it drives home the point that we are missing a valuable opportunity to start managing our debt during a time of growth and high employment," analyst Michael Peterson of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation said in a statement.
The Office of Management and Budget said the deficit should decrease by $414 billion over the next decade, based on a forecast of economic assumptions, including lower interest rates. The Federal Reserve could order a rate cut at its next policy meeting July 30.
Congress and the White House are discussing a spending increase for the next fiscal year, starting Oct. 1. Spending has risen recently, with Republicans negotiating increases for defense while Democrats seek more for domestic projects like education and healthcare. | {
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Eligible electors can apply to vote by special ballot. With a special ballot, you can vote by mail from anywhere in the world.
If you live in Canada, you may apply once an election is under way.
If you live abroad, you may apply anytime – click the button below:
By-elections will be held on October 26, 2020 in the electoral districts of: Toronto Centre (Ontario)
York Centre (Ontario) Canadian voters have the option of voting by mail. If you are eligible to vote in one of these by-elections, you must apply as soon as possible, to allow time for your special ballot voting kit to reach you and for your marked ballot to reach Elections Canada by election day. Deadline to apply to vote by mail in the current by-elections Elections Canada must receive your completed application by the deadline indicated below: If you apply online or to Elections Canada in Ottawa: Tuesday, October 20, 2020, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern time
If you apply to a local Elections Canada office: Tuesday, October 20, 2020, at 6:00 p.m. local time
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Hot off the press The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health (FIH) has been spreading misinformation about medicine since 1993. It has featured often on this blog. Now it has closed its doors.
An announcement has appeared on the FIH website
30 April 2010 The Trustees of The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health have decided to close the charity.
The announcement goes on
"Whilst the closure has been planned for many months and is part of an agreed strategy, the Trustees have brought forward the closure timetable as a result of a fraud investigation at the charity." "The Trustees feel that The Foundation has achieved its key objective of promoting the use of integrated health. Since The Foundation was set up in 1993, integrated health has become part of the mainstream healthcare agenda, with over half a million patients using complementary therapies each year, alongside conventional medicine. . . "
While the immediate precipitating cause may have been the fraud (see below), the idea that the Foundation "has achieved its key objective of promoting the use of integrated health" seems like a ludicrous bit of make-believe. Well, make-believe is something with which the Foundation was quite familiar. At a time when university courses in quackery are vanishing like the snow in springtime, they can hardly believe that their aims have been achieved. But I guess one could not expect them to say "sorry folks, we were wrong all along".
The 2010 Conference is cancelled too
Judging by the quality of the 2009 conference, which I analysed at length last year, the cancellation of the 2010 conference is very welcome news (except perhaps to a few sycophants looking for honours).
What next? A College?
The rumour is that a “College of Integrated Medicine” may arise from the ashes of FIH. Or even, heaven forbid. a Royal College of Integrated baloney. Since universities seem to be deciding that it isn’t sensible to teach myth as truth, i is not unlikely.
“Prince Charles’s aide at homeopathy charity arrested on suspicion of fraud“
This headline, of an article in the Guardian, by Robert Booth, was not entirely unexpected.
The parlous state of the accounts at the Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health has been documented already at
Gimpy’s blog.
“An aide in Prince Charles’s campaign for wider use of complementary medicine in the NHS was arrested at dawn today on suspicion of fraud and money-laundering at the prince’s health charity. A 49-year old man, understood to be a former senior official at the Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health, was taken into custody at a police station in north London. He was arrested alongside a 54-year-old woman, who was being held at the same address. The arrests follow a police investigation into £300,000 unaccounted for in the books of the charity, of which the Prince is president.”
More news will appear here, as it comes in.
Follow-up
Other posts on this topic appeared rapidly.
The Guardian 30 April. Robert Booth Prince of Wales’s health charity wound up in wake of fraud investigation
Dr Aust’s Spleen 30 April In memoriam. In which Dr Aust gets a bit poetic
Quackometer 30 April. Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health Closes. Prince Charles’ Toad Eaters are no more.
Followed by the rest of the mainstream media.
Edzard Ernst 1 May 2010, in the Indepenndent. Better than any journalist. Why alternative medicine wins from the foundation’s demise. Read it! Here are some quotations.
“I therefore think that the FIH has become a lobby group for unproven and disproven treatments populated by sycophants.” “The FIH has repeatedly been economical with the truth. For instance when it published a DoH-sponsored patient guide that was devoid of evidence. They claimed evidence was never meant to be included. But I had seen a draft where it was and friends have seen the contract with the DoH where “evidence” was an important element. “ “I hope that, after the demise of FIH, the discussion about alternative medicine in the UK can once more become rational. I also hope that Prince Charles has the greatness of selecting advisers who actually advise rather than “Yes Men” who are hoping to see their names on the next Honours List. “
1 May 2010. According to Martin Delgado, in the Daily Mail, the people who were arrested on suspicion of fraud were accountant George Gray and his wife. Gray was Finance Director and acting Chief Executive of FIH. About as senior as you can get.
Gray spent two weeks (two weeks?) at Diabetes UK in 2004 before becoming finance director at the Leadership Foundation For Higher Education. | {
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Yesterday, Netflix finally gave us a much awaited look at The Witcher’s first season at Lucca Comics and Games. With the trailer released we have a few cast details to share that got buried under the hype.
First, a new face was added to the show’s already impressive cast. As we witnessed before, when the teaser dropped in at SDCC in July, many talent agencies took to twitter to celebrate the trailer’s release and congratulate the actors lucky enough to land a part on the show. London-based agency Waring and McKenna had two cast members to compliment. One familiar and a new one:
Alongside Joshua Higgott (Hegor), young actress Viola Prettejohn will play a currently unknown character. Social media activity suggests, she might appear in Ciri’s (Freya Allan) story arc but take this with a grain of salt. A relatively new face to the acting world, Prettejohn has made her debut in Starz’s Counterpart and will be seen as a series regular in HBO’s upcoming science fiction drama The Nevers.
Viola Prettejohn
Thanks to the trailer and promotional images released yesterday we also know more about two of the show’s minor cast additions. First, we have John Cummins‘ Marton, who is seen amongst the villagers of Blaviken, that witness Geralt’s fight with Renfri (Emma Appleton) and her band of thugs at the town’s marketplace. It might be that he is playing the show’s version of Caldemeyn, the alderman of Blaviken.
Marton looking horrified
Second, a photo showing Yennefer (Anya Chalotra) in what seems to be a potionmaker’s store or a pharmacy may have also given us our first look at Philippe Spall’s character Hemet. From the picture’s filenames we know this scene will be in Episode 5, directed by Charlotte Brändström. Hemet might be an original character or even the show’s version of a certain apothecary from the town of Rinde.
This is most likely Philippe Spall’s Hemet
Meanwhile, we are still waiting for news on some of the The Witcher’s meatier roles including Geralt’s mother Visenna, wandering knight Borch Three Jackdaws, dryad queen Eithne. As we get closer to the release date it should only be a matter of time. Expect more cast updates in the coming weeks!
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Минэкономразвития предложило увеличить тарифы на электричество на 4% в 2017 году
Тарифы на газ в МЭР предложили проиндексировать на 3%
Фото: panthermedia/vostock-photo
Москва. 10 октября. INTERFAX.RU - Минэкономразвития РФ предложило индексировать тарифы на передачу электроэнергии по сетям на 3%, тарифы на электроэнергию для населения - на 4%, сообщил министр экономического развития Алексей Улюкаев журналистам в понедельник в Стамбуле.
"По электроэнергии предлагаем 3% для сетей и 4% для населения на 2017 год", - сказал он. Министр пояснил, что предложения сформированы исходя из нового прогноза по инфляции в 2017 году на уровне 4%.
Он также сообщил, что Минэкономразвития предложило индексировать тарифы на газ как для населения, так и для промышленности в 2017 году на уровень не выше 3%. Тарифы на транспортировку газа, по его словам, также рекомендовано проиндексировать на 3% в 2017 году.
"Тарифы предлагаем из принципа "инфляция минус", исходя из того, что прогноз по инфляции 4% на 2017 год", - пояснил министр принцип тарифообразования.
"Для газа это будет 3% и для промышленности, и для населения. И индексация тарифов на транспортировку газа также предлагается на уровне 3%", - сказал Улюкаев о предложениях по индексации тарифов на газ. По его словам, такие предложения содержатся в прогнозе социально-экономического развития на 2017-2019 годы, который правительство планирует рассмотреть на заседании 13 октября. | {
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New Zealand captain Kane Williamson did not look like an unhappy leader despite losing both the ODI and the T20I series in India. What pleased him about his team's performance across both series was the way the visitors gave India a fight by turning the last match of each series into a decider and further taking it to the last over. In the third ODI in Kanpur, New Zealand nearly chased down 338, losing by only six runs, and in the deciding T20I in Thiruvananthapuram, they fell short by the same margin when chasing 68 in a rain-curtailed match.
"I thought in both of them [deciders] we were very good, just not quite good enough," Williamson said on Tuesday night. "That's the challenge; both of them came down to the last couple of balls and when that is the case, there are such small margins that we look to make those improvements. But on a whole, as a unit we are constantly trying to improve and get better. And I think, we have seen that throughout the series but there's still a way to go to where we want to be.
"We've showed some really good signs, like I said such a fine line, especially in white-ball cricket and we saw that throughout the series. It was a really tough-fought series, both teams played really good competitive cricket and for a lot of games to come down to the last three balls makes for good watching but a shame to be on the wrong side."
The margins in the deciding T20I were also slimmer, with rain curtailing the match to eight overs a side on a new ground. The pitch at the Greenfield International Stadium turned out to be damp and assisted bowlers with turn and moisture.
"Naturally, when it gets shortened to eight overs, you can sort of plan prior to going out with eight overs and only having to bowl four bowlers," Williamson said. "It kind of means that you're not too fluid in how you're going to operate. So, the guys coming out were essentially playing death in terms of their batting from ball one. So it was more to do with the surface and what we wanted to finish with today but it's something different because you don't experience it too much, you get 20 overs each and this is something different. You have to think on your feet.
Martin Guptill loses his off stump BCCI
"I suppose when the game is that short as well, to try and get a read on the surface is quite tough because you're trying to generate a strike-rate straightaway and it was a tricky surface so to get eight an over on that, from India's perspective was a good effort. We knew it was going to be tough and we got very close, just a shame we couldn't get across the line.
"Eight an over on that surface is fairly difficult. Perhaps a lot more difficult than on another surface. It is just trying to adapt as best you can, take the best options but even with eight overs, you don't have to go silly. You need to play smart cricket because there is still a lot of balls that you need to score off and then you get a couple of boundaries away, it goes a long way to chasing that total down. But it was a very tricky surface and for it to be so close, I guess we go back to how we want to execute. You can look at a number of areas but it was so close and I think we keep competing well, keep improving as a unit and we will get some more wins."
While defending their score of 67, India had the added advantage of using their prime and in-form bowlers, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah, to bowl half their overs. India captain Virat Kohli also used them differently: he finished Bhuvneshwar's quota by the halfway mark and gave Bumrah the penultimate over. The last over was bowled by Hardik Pandya.
"In terms of a T20 generally, you have the start of the game and the death phase which is the last whatever depending on how many wickets they have lost so…five or six and you tend to see those two fantastic death bowlers bowling again," Williamson said. "When it's eight overs, they're kind of on the defense because batsmen are coming out so aggressively. And the nature of the surface…it was taking so much turn. All bowlers were a threat out there and I suppose batsmen were trying their best trying to generate a strike-rate."
Four bowlers being allowed two overs each also meant New Zealand did not have to use their fifth bowler, an area that has been a weak link on the tour. They have mainly utilised allrounder Colin de Grandhomme and Colin Munro to make up for that fifth bowler and Williamson admitted that combination was new to deal with for them. He also said players were trying to adapt to their roles in the team after New Zealand made changes to their top and middle orders.
"I suppose that fifth-bowling role for us is fairly new," he said. "Colin - both Colins I suppose and some of the part-time spinners - they are relatively new to that role to make up those 10 overs. But we certainly know in some conditions how effective they can be and we saw Colin de Grandhomme throughout the IPL bowl exceptionally well for Kolkata [Knight Riders]. It is a balancing act on different surfaces. The batting unit has a really nice balance to it but it is just trying to adapt, read the game the best you can and seeing our bowlers adapt well." | {
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Sebring, FL (WTFF) — A woman died after she was bitten by a rabid bat which has not yet been turned in.
The Highlands County Florida Department of Health confirmed the death, but could not offer any additional details due to HIPAA laws. Unconfirmed sources state that she was middle-aged.
The woman did not seek medical attention, according to an official statement.
The Highlands News-Sun interviewed Lt. Clay Kinslow, head of Animal Services under the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office, who had this to say about it:
“At the end of the day, a bat is a wild animal, if you get bit by one, you’re in a bad situation.”
He stated that the infected animal could still be flying around, since nobody has found it yet.
If you are unlucky enough to get bit by this bat, or any wild animal for that matter, please get it looked at. There are health clinics in every county, seriously use your brain and get bites checked by a medical professional.
Also, prevention is everything, so get your pets vaccinated, and don’t allow them to run free. Never feed wild animals. Use common sense, and educate yourself before you or your furry friends end up dying from rabies.
Read more Rabies Prevention Tips at floridahealth.gov
What do I do if an animal bites me?
Immediately scrub the wound with lots of soap and running water for five to ten minutes.
Try to get a complete description of the animal and determine where it is so that it can be picked up by animal control staff for quarantine or rabies testing.
Go to your family doctor or the nearest emergency room.
Call your county health department or animal control agency with your description and location of the animal. The animal will either be quarantined for ten days (if it is a dog, cat or ferret) or be tested for rabies.
If you kill the animal, be careful not to damage the head, and avoid further contact with the animal even when it is dead.
Official Statement
The Florida Department of Health has confirmed a single human case of rabies that was likely transmitted when an individual was bitten by a bat. The individual did not seek treatment at that time and did not receive rabies post exposure prophylaxis. Unfortunately, the individual did pass away. | {
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It felt a lot nicer outside Thursday after a heavy round of storms moved through North Texas.
Last month was one of the driest Mays on record, but the first day of June brought scattered thunderstorms and a hail threat. Some areas got less than an inch of rain and others got more than 2 inches, meteorologist Jesse Moore with the National Weather Service.
At DFW International Airport, only .15 inches was recorded. Dallas Love Field measured .45 inches. But a city of Dallas rain gauge at Skillman Street and Southwestern Boulevard saw 2.21 inches, he said.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for parts of Dallas County that was allowed to expire. Some flights were delayed a few roads experienced flooding.
The rain did do a nice job of cooling things down. DFW reached a high of 87 at 1:39 p.m., but three hours later the temperature was down to 74 degrees.
"It's June 1 at 5 in the afternoon and the temperature is 77 degrees," Moore said. "Who's going to complain about that?"
There's a 20 percent chance that additional storms may form later in the evening, though they're not expected to be as widespread as the afternoon storms.
But that won't be the end of the wet weather. Forecasters are calling for more rainfall Friday and Saturday.
Here's what meteorologists at KXAS-TV (NBC5) have in the forecast for the coming days:
Friday: 88/70 with 40 percent to 60 percent chance of thunderstorms
Saturday: 88/71 with 20 percent to 40 percent chance of thunderstorms
Sunday: 89/72 with 20 percent to 40 percent chance of thunderstorms
Monday: 87/69 with 20 percent chance of thunderstorms | {
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Iron-rich rocks near ancient lake sites on Mars could hold vital clues that show life once existed there, research suggests.
These rocks -- which formed in lake beds -- are the best place to seek fossil evidence of life from billions of years ago, researchers say.
A new study that sheds light on where fossils might be preserved could aid the search for traces of tiny creatures -- known as microbes -- on Mars, which it is thought may have supported primitive life forms around four billion years ago.
A team of scientists has determined that sedimentary rocks made of compacted mud or clay are the most likely to contain fossils. These rocks are rich in iron and a mineral called silica, which helps preserve fossils.
They formed during the Noachian and Hesperian Periods of Martian history between three and four billion years ago. At that time, the planet's surface was abundant in water, which could have supported life.
The rocks are much better preserved than those of the same age on Earth, researchers say. This is because Mars is not subject to plate tectonics -- the movement of huge rocky slabs that form the crust of some planets -- which over time can destroy rocks and fossils inside them.
The team reviewed studies of fossils on Earth and assessed the results of lab experiments replicating Martian conditions to identify the most promising sites on the planet to explore for traces of ancient life.
Their findings could help inform NASA's next rover mission to the Red Planet, which will focus on searching for evidence of past life. The US space agency's Mars 2020 rover will collect rock samples to be returned to Earth for analysis by a future mission.
A similar mission led by the European Space Agency is also planned in coming years.
The latest study of Mars rocks -- led by a researcher from the University of Edinburgh -- could aid in the selection of landing sites for both missions. It could also help to identify the best places to gather rock samples.
The study, published in Journal of Geophysical Research, also involved researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Brown University, California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University in the US.
Dr Sean McMahon, a Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellow in the University of Edinburgh's School of Physics and Astronomy, said: "There are many interesting rock and mineral outcrops on Mars where we would like to search for fossils, but since we can't send rovers to all of them we have tried to prioritise the most promising deposits based on the best available information." | {
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The oddness of Carles Puigdemont’s life is apparent as soon as I arrive at our meeting place, a comfortable, anonymous flat in Berlin. Four silent minders – two police bodyguards and two supporters, all from Catalonia – usher me into a room.
These are his “people”. He maintains he is followed by the Spanish secret service. He still feels shaken from discovering a tracking device fitted to the Renault Espace he’d been travelling in and claims that the Spanish media is infested with government spies. Puigdemont now communicates via encrypted networks.
I was therefore expecting a long wait, or a last-minute cancellation, a body search and, eventually, a big entrance. Jordi Pujol, the president of Catalonia from 1980 to 2003, insisted that journalists stood for | {
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If you were paying close attention to Harvard professor Larry Lessig’s quiet presidential campaign, you know that it came to an untimely end Monday. But what you might not know is that for what Lessig lacked in polling numbers he made up for in financial support.
Lessig’s campaign lasted just under two months, but in that time he managed to raise a comparable amount of money to most of the GOP’s undercard debate participants, including Rick Santorum, the runner-up for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, and George Pataki, a former three-term governor of New York – all hardly unknowns in the Republican field.
Lessig on Sept. 9 announced his longest-of-long shot bids, which had the sole goal of changing the country’s campaign finance rules to get big business money out of elections. Lessig announced an exploratory committee on Aug. 11. His presidential run was contingent on raising $1 million by Labor Day. After achieving this goal, Lessig said he would resign from office – a plan from which he later backtracked. The premise garnered about as much interest among Democrats as the candidacies of former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia and former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, which is to say not much.
Lessig’s bid came to an end, according to his campaign’s general consultant, Steve Jarding, in part due to a change in the Democratic National Committee's polling requirement for its second televised presidential debate that disqualified him from participating. That debate is slated for Nov. 14 in Des Moines, Iowa.
In all, Lessig’s campaign raised $1,016,189, according to the Federal Election Commission’s third-quarter filing, which includes donations collected from July 1 to Sept. 30. Santorum, Jindal and Pataki raised a combined $1,120,938 during that period. Individually, Santorum, Jindal and Pataki have raised $995,602, $1,158,197 and $409,309 respectively since the start of their campaigns which all began between late May and late June.
The Republican undercard debate has also featured Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has struggled at the polls but has managed to outperform his fellow participants on that stage in fundraising. Graham raised $1,052,658 in the third quarter and has pulled in $4,762,211 since the start of his campaign on June 1.
Ethan Rosenberg for USN&WR/Source: FEC
Ethan Rosenberg for USN&WR/Source: FEC
Lessig only spent $442,254 of his total, a burn rate of 44 percent. That rate is much lower than those competing in the Republican undercard debate, where each participant spent more than they collected in the third quarter. Strict FEC regulations govern what can be done with unused contributions. In general, they can be used to pay off lingering campaign debts or costs associated with dissolving his operation. They can also be donated to charity or a political party in unlimited amounts or contributed to a candidate under established campaign finance rules. Candidates are not permitted to use unspent funds for personal purposes.
Ethan Rosenberg for USN&WR/Source: FEC
Lessig is a relatively unknown challenger going up against a field that has had a front-runner since the end of President Obama’s first term, if not before. He's never held elected office and, despite having once been fictionalized on The West Wing, lacks the name recognition that have helped propel the outsider candidacies of Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina on the Republican side.
It’s not surprising his campaign never gained the kind of traction, say Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont has as the foil to Clinton’s mainstream appeal. He only made three trips to early primary states – all to New Hampshire according to The Chase presidential tracker – and spent the majority of his short campaign as a single-issue candidate. In a piece Lessig penned for The Atlantic, he commented "The resignation idea was a total bust. No one liked it. At all."
What we will never find out is whether Lessig’s message would have resonated had it been broadcast on a national stage.
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WATCH Tevaughn Campbell admits he's still unsure of all the rules in Rugby Sevens, but the professional football player is showing flashes of his tremendous potential on the pitch. | {
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Fear and lies work. Over many decades (and really for centuries) the Unionist parties and the media have succeeded in persuading a large percentage of Scots that they’re beggars, scroungers, vagrants and “subsidy junkies” dependent on the ever-generous charity of England to keep them from starvation.
And in terms of the facts, that hasn’t always been an easy sell.
At times, hiding the truth about Scotland’s wealth from its people has been a task requiring subterfuge and secrecy at the highest levels.
And when faced with expert calculations proving that since the discovery of North Sea oil Scotland has subsidised the rest of the UK to the tune of tens of billions of pounds, and would in fact have been in significant surplus over the total period – even including the last couple of years of supposed £15bn “black holes” – that inconvenient data was quietly ignored.
According to 2013 figures from Fraser Of Allander Institute economist Brian Ashcroft – husband of former Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander and a committed Unionist – an independent Scotland would have more than balanced its books from 1980 until the present day and currently be sitting on an oil fund of tens of billions of pounds to cushion the blow of current low revenues.
And it wasn’t for want of asking – SNP politicians had been agitating for control over oil revenues and the creation of an oil fund since the mid-1970s.
So strong was the clamour, in fact, that the Conservative election manifesto in October 1974 actually promised to create such a fund, called the Scottish Development Fund:
But Labour won the election, suppressed the McCrone Report, and insisted that the oil would run out in a few years anyway so it didn’t matter.
Norway, meanwhile, having also discovered oil in the North Sea, used it to create a sovereign wealth fund in 1990 which is now worth approximately £658 billion.
Now, we knew all this already and to a large degree it’s spilt milk. Oil revenues are low now, and the fact that Scotland has been left impoverished by its oil riches because successive Labour and Tory governments at Westminster squandered the money on huge tax cuts and bribes for the rich in (primarily) the south-east of England is a matter of historical record about which little can be done.
But this week, after an(other) bombardment of newspaper hype about how abysmally bankrupt Scotland was after the latest GERS figures, we learned something strange.
Despite the collapse in the oil price, Norway – which produced roughly twice as much oil as Scotland last year (around 1.64m barrels a day vs around 860,000) – somehow still managed to make 218bn Krone from it.
That’s just short of £20bn at current exchange rates.
Yet according to GERS, Scottish revenue from around half that much oil wasn’t £10bn, but just £60m. In other words, Norway made more than 170 times as much money per barrel from its oil as Scotland did at the exact same time from oil selling at the exact same price.
The primary reason for this is the incredible mess successive UK governments have made of the economy – chiefly for ideological reasons, but also through incompetence – and the enormous tax breaks they have to give the oil industry when times are bad.
The Thatcher government of the mid-1980s privatised the national oil company (Britoil, formerly the British National Oil Corporation), whereas Norway kept its industry mainly in state hands.
BP, which took over Britoil in 1986, pays very little tax on its North Sea profits.
The upshot of the combination of privatisation, tax breaks and tax avoidance is that the UK is in effect paying multinational companies to take our oil away.
The ostensible justification for this is that it enables the “broad shoulders” of the UK to protect jobs in the industry. But there’s little evidence of that plan working.
We appreciate that we’ve just given you quite a lot of information to take in in a small amount of time. So allow us to summarise:
1. According to figures from a respected pro-Union economist, if Scotland had been independent since 1980 it would currently have a substantial surplus, even after the last two extremely bad years for oil revenue.
The Scottish Exchequer would have zero debt and tens of billions of pounds in the bank to protect it from a sustained oil downturn, even if it had exactly matched reckless and wasteful UK government spending over the entire period.
2. Furthermore, it is beyond question that the rUK, not Scotland, has been the recipient of cross-border subsidies over the past 40 years or so. Prof. Ashcroft calculates that even factoring in considerably higher levels of public spending, Scotland has only had £95 back for every £100 it sent to Westminster.
3. Despite the current low price, Norway made a very healthy profit on oil in 2015-16. In fact, even allowing for the fact that Scotland has considerably less oil, it would have been almost enough to completely wipe out Scotland’s “deficit”.
4. The fact that Scotland’s income from oil was only 0.6% of Norway’s (per barrel) – an astonishing figure – is a direct result of decades of UK government mismanagement, and the selling off of an incredibly valuable public resource to a private sector that avoids paying tax on its profits.
5. It therefore follows that under different management, and a different political ideology, an independent Scotland could still be extracting a huge amount of money from the North Sea.
(One possible way would be to renationalise the industry. This would be a huge and controversial step, and EU law would require market-price compensation to be paid. But there’s no better time to be paying market price for oil-industry assets, as we’re told they’re currently literally worthless.)
And yet despite all this, a YouGov poll in the Times today finds that half of Scots still believe the lie that Scotland benefits financially from being in the UK, with less than a quarter believing the truth.
Scotland, in short, has Stockholm Syndrome. Endless years of being relentlessly told that the nation and its abundances of natural wealth are a terrible affliction borne by the heroic UK have seeped into the national consciousness.
The battle to persuade voters of the reality is the greatest challenge facing the Yes movement. It’s not easy to shift misconceptions that have been battered into people by the combined might of the state, the press and a self-serving political elite for their entire lifetime. But it’s a battle that simply must be won, and the starting point is to arm ourselves not with grievance and conspiracy but with the cold, hard facts.
Scotland, let there be no dispute about it, has been heinously robbed on an epic scale for generations (which can be partly redressed in any future debt negotiations), but far more important is the future, and the truth about Scotland’s future is that it can still be a rosy one as one of the world’s most naturally fortunate nations.
The only way that will ever happen, though, is if we stop being grateful to thieves for relieving us of the burden of our treasures. | {
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Pauley Perrette is making it clear: she is never returning to "NCIS."
The actress, 50, took to Twitter on Friday to explain to her followers that she is "not coming back" to the CBS procedural drama "ever," claiming she is "terrified" of former co-star Mark Harmon.
“NO I AM NOT COMING BACK! EVER! (Please stop asking?),” she wrote before alleging: “I am terrified of Harmon and him attacking me. I have nightmares about it."
'NCIS' ACTRESS PAULEY PERRETTE CLAIMS SHE LEFT THE SHOW OVER 'MULTIPLE PHYSICAL ASSAULTS'
"I have a new show that is SAFE AND HAPPY!" she added. "You’ll love it! #HappyPlace Love y’all!”
Reps for CBS and Harmon did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
PAULEY PERRETTE LEAVING 'NCIS'
Perrette left "NCIS" in May 2018 after 16 years on the series. She alleged she exited the show over "multiple physical assaults."
As previously reported, days after her character forensic scientist Abby Sciuto's final appearance on the beloved procedural, Perrette released a series of ominous tweets. In them, she alleged abuse on the set that she claimed was being covered up by a “machine” run by “a very rich, very powerful” publicity entity.
On Friday, Perrette also posted pictures of an individual -- who she claims was her crew member on "NCIS" -- with a bruised eye and stitches.
"You think I didn’t expect blow back? You got me wrong. THIS happened To my crew member and I fought like hell to keep it from happening again! To protect my crew!" she wrote in a now-deleted tweeted alongside the photos, before alleging: "And then I was physically assaulted for saying NO!?and I lost my job."
Although Perrette did not share when the alleged assault happened, last May The Wrap reported that in 2016 a crew member was bitten by Harmon's dog, which ultimately required stitches. According to the outlet, citing sources, the actress "objected when the dog was allowed to return" to set following the incident and "the tension between the two stars" became "bad."
PAULEY PERRETTE THANKS CBS FOR ITS RESPONSE TO HER ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS
In a statement to Fox News from CBS at the time, the television studio said: “Pauley Perrette had a terrific run on ‘NCIS’ and we are all going to miss her. Over a year ago, Pauley came to us with a workplace concern. We took the matter seriously and worked with her to find a resolution. We are committed to a safe work environment on all our shows."
In response, Perrette took to Twitter to thank CBS for its statement, indicating that it wasn't to blame for her assault allegations.
"I want to thank my studio and network CBS They have always been so good to me and always had my back," she wrote.
At the time, CBS would not comment on any follow-up questions about the nature of the workplace complaint or exactly what kind of resolution was met.
Fox News' Julius Young and Tyler McCarthy contributed to this report. | {
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The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has condemned Israeli settlements on the West Bank. The interesting part is that the United States abstained from the vote, which is why it passed. It is likely that President-elect Donald Trump, taking office in less than a month, will pursue a very different policy on Israel than recent administrations have. Neither the United Nations resolution nor Trump’s shift is of great significance. Over the years, throughout the world, UNSC resolutions have been met with indifference. It does not matter what the UNSC says. It matters what the permanent members of the UNSC do. In the case of Israel and Palestine, no one on either side can do very much of significance. As for public opinion, that is fairly well locked into place. There are four camps: those who are pro-Israeli, those who are pro-Palestinian, those who wring their hand and express pieties and those who couldn’t care less. Nothing that happened at the U.N. will change anyone’s mind.
Moral arguments are made, of course. The moral argument for the existence of the state of Israel is that it rectifies an injustice committed by the Romans 2,000 years ago. But 2,000 years is a long time, and the half-life for moral rectification seems past. The claim that the Israelis wanted peaceful coexistence with the Arabs was true, but limited by the fact that they wanted that peace to be on Israeli terms. The claim that this was merely the return of a people to a land where their rights were morally unambiguous strains credibility.
The Arabs’ moral argument is that Israel was made up of European people occupying Arab lands and displacing and oppressing the native population. The problem with this argument is that the history of Islamic expansion was the history of the imposition of its religion and political control on other people. Moreover, the history of the immediate region is one of violence, population displacement and oppression. The state of Jordan was created by the British-supported Hashemite tribe that was forced to leave the west coast of what is now Saudi Arabia and settled there. As for the argument that the creation of settlements in the West Bank is uniquely oppressive, that can only be made by willfully ignoring the slaughter and oppression in the rest of the Arab world.
The Arab-Israeli moral debate is an exercise in hypocrisy by both sides and their supporters. Which is as it should be. When two nations collide, each will make themselves appear the innocent victims and the others moral monsters. It is sometimes like that, but this isn’t such a case. Israel was created through a massive movement of a people from Europe to the Middle East. They used force to create their own state, as is common in history. The Arab world that Palestine is part of has also gone through mass migrations (one is underway now), displaced other people when it could and imposed its own values. Many nations were created as Israel was. The United States, for example. Some were destroyed. Others flourished. Power determined the outcome. Looking at a map of Lebanon, Syria or Iraq will show the way that distinct national or religious groups have done this.
Israel is a settler nation, as are the United States and New Zealand. It settled in a stretch of the eastern Mediterranean coast that Israelis had some historic connection to. Part of it was a response to the rise of nationalism in Europe. If every European cultural entity had a moral claim to a state, so should the Jews. The theoretical position turned into a practical one in World War II. They had thought they were simply Europeans with a different religion and discovered that wasn’t true. The theoretical argument for nationhood and statehood surged. The Jews were a nation. They needed a land on which to build a state. They migrated, partially displaced a population and created a state.
Palestinian nationalism had the same origin in European nationalism. Palestinians had two identities. One was Muslim. The other was Arab. But until the fall of the Ottomans, they were subjects of the Turks. When the Ottomans fell and the Jews began to arrive, so did the idea that they were a distinct people requiring an independent state. Their claims against the Jews were at first ambiguous and based primarily on Muslim or Arab identity. Over time, as with the Jews, the objection to Israel and the basis of their claims against Israel were refined into the idea of nationhood and statehood. They had a land, and they needed to be a nation and build a state. To understand the region, therefore, a historical, not a moral, perspective is needed.
The region’s history has had four phases since 1948. The logical geography of any state in the region is the Jordan River to the east, the Litani River in Lebanon to the north and the deserts in the south, possibly to the Red Sea. In the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Israel failed to reach the Jordan River or the Litani River but took the Negev Desert in the south. Therefore, Israel was vulnerable and dependent on building an outsized military force. The surrounding Arab states were weak and as a result, this was a period of inconclusive skirmishing.
The next period stretched from 1967 to 1978. In 1967, the Israelis reached the Jordan River and secured its eastern border. The 1967 Arab-Israeli War did not really end until 1973 when the Egyptians and Syrians launched an offensive that the Israelis eventual defeated. This led to the Camp David Accords, the neutralization of Egypt and the end of state-based threats to Israel.
The succeeding period (actually beginning in about 1970 and overlapping the major wars) was a period in which the primary conflict was carried out by Palestinian covert operatives not only within Israel but in Europe and elsewhere. It was a war of terror attacks and reprisals and included extensive Israeli incursions into Lebanon. Supported by the Soviets, the Palestinian operations decreased with the fall of the Soviet Union.
The next phase began in 1987, consisting of the first Intifada, which challenged Israeli control and created the framework for extensive negotiations based on the concept of a two-state solution.
There are now two realities. The first is that the Palestinians are weak. No great power or Arab state has an overriding interest in the creation of a Palestinian state. The Russians are indifferent and the Arabs are concerned about the radicalism of such a state. The Palestinians are also divided, split into the relatively secular West Bank and religious Gaza – the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas. Without unity among the Palestinians, no one can sign an agreement authoritatively or coordinate resistance to the Israelis.
The second reality is that it is impossible to create two states. The Israelis cannot give up the Jordan River line since it is their main defensive position. Nor can they accept a westward shift of the border toward the 1948 lines, as it would make the Israeli heartland (the Tel Aviv-Haifa-Jerusalem triangle) vulnerable to the kinds of rockets fired from Gaza.
The Palestinians can’t accept a state divided between Gaza and the West Bank, without any transport under their control. Nor can they accept Israeli control of the Jordan River line, as that would mean that they remain isolated except for Israel permitting movement – and would mean the Israeli army moving through Palestinian territory. Finally, such a geography would be economic insanity. Palestine would remain dependent on Israel, with its population employed in menial jobs in Israel, passing through Israeli checkpoints.
Therefore, the resolution on settlements and the entire settlement question completely miss the point. The Palestinian problem is that it has no meaningful Arab support, and its support in Europe or the United States consists of meaningless gestures. In fact, many see Israel as an ally against more immediate threats. The Palestinians’ only means of asserting their claims is the Intifada, which is far more painful to the Palestinians than the Israelis. The divisions among the Palestinians make the discussion pointless. The Israelis can’t abandon the Jordan River line without endangering Israeli survival should Arab states shift their strategy. Nor can they accept a movement of the border westward because Palestinian politics could readily move the Gaza problem to Tel Aviv.
Therefore, a two-state solution is impossible and it is inevitable that Israel will strengthen its position in the West Bank with settlements and other means. This is not because Israeli is strong. It is because the Arab world is in a dynamic moment. It does not know what will emerge, and in the end, the Arabs are potentially much stronger than Israel so it must act now, while it can.
The U.N. resolution, President Barack Obama’s decision to abstain from the vote and Trump’s appointment of David Friedman as ambassador to Israel all have no impact because the reality is geopolitically locked in. | {
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To me, Dreamdoll sounds like a stripper name from the 80’s. Or a female character from American Gladiators. Either way, Dreamdoll can call herself anything she wants because she’s bad as hell.
Source | {
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“When we speak about climate justice we are not speaking about something that’s going to be decided in the UN, but something we have to fight for, now, in our daily struggles.”
by William Kramer
MRzine, April 26, 2013
Pablo Solon is the Executive Director of Focus on the Global South based in Bangkok. He was formerly Bolivia’s Ambassador to the United Nations and Bolivia’s chief negotiator on climate issues. He was also instrumental in organizing the People’s Climate Summit in Cochabamba, Bolivia.
He spoke with William Kramer, a US based climate organizer, at the 2013 World Social Forum in Tunisia, where Focus On the Global South and many other groups organized a series of workshops called the Climate Space. William Kramer may be contacted at william.kramer[at]sierraclub.org
Q: Why was the Climate Space formed?
PS: On one hand, in the World Social Forum the environmental issues, and particularly the climate issues, are more highlighted. Because it’s impossible to have a social transformation that only addresses the economy and the distribution of wealth.
The revolution for a new society has to address also the relation of humans with nature. And the issue of climate change is one of them.
Not the only one, but it’s a very urgent issue because we don’t have too much time. It’s this decade, and the next decade it’s a different scenario.
So that is one of the positive aspects.
And the second one is to bring together a different kind of movement: trade unions, indigenous movements, NGOs, environmentalists, from different continents, to discuss from a different perspective that is not being negotiated in the United Nations.
Because what has happened during the last years is that mainly the discussion on climate change for activists was focused on the negotiations within the UN.
And we’re not saying that that’s not good, but that has consumed all our energy, or most of our energy. And we need to rethink our strategy because we are not going to be able to have a success in the UN negotiations through a specific campaign of lobby or just putting pressure on the streets during a COP of the UNFCCC.
The battle to change climate change will be mainly in the daily life of people, in the streets, in the forests, in the fields. And it’s a battle very much related to concrete struggles to stop extractivist projects, to stop REDD projects, to stop the land grabbing.
And also to develop proposals of a systemic alternative. The climate movement has a very good slogan that is “System Change, Not Climate Change.” But what does system change mean? This is something that has not been very much developed in the climate movement. And I think that this has been one opportunity to really go a little bit further in this discussion. I think that what we will see as an outcome will be more focused on this.
When it comes to concrete actions, I think that it has been very positive to know the actions that some have taken in relation to land grabbing here, or in relation to coal plants there, in different regions and continents, and how to deal with climate change not only through solidarity but common actions in the future.
I think we still need to make this movement much broader. This is not at all enough. This is just a tiny drop in a river that we need to build. We need now to bring other movements, in other continents, with a logic that clearly shows that when we speak about climate we are not speaking about something abstract, we are not speaking about something that’s going to be decided in the United Nations, but something that we have to fight for, now, in our daily struggles.
We have to show how these are linked to this.
Q: So, it’s almost to raise awareness about climate change.
PS: On one hand, it’s to raise awareness. On the other hand, it’s to present and develop alternatives. I mean, if you don’t want that [climate change], then, what do you have to do in order to change it?
Mostly, all the groups here agree that this is not an issue of just going to green technology to stop greenhouse gasses. Most groups here in the Climate Space agree that we need to change the capitalist system. This is an issue about overconsumption and overproduction.
And if we don’t change the capitalist system, we are not going to solve the problem of climate change even if we have more solar panels or we have more production of wind energy. This is a problem that deals with this growth that the capitalist system needs in order to make more and more profit.
So, how to achieve prosperity, taking into account the limits of the planet earth, without trying to pursue growth forever?
So it’s not only an awareness issue, it is also an issue of alternatives. But it’s also not just about alternatives in our world, it’s also about how we support the struggles that are happening around the world, because now there are struggles around water privatization and coal plants here, but many of the struggles are just done locally.
If we have common actions across continents, across countries, we can increase the impact of this local or national action.
Q: And, in this forum, you talked about particular issues like some environmental crisis in particular regions. For example. . . .
PS: Each region has presented its reality. For example, Africa is the center of not only land grabbing but resource grabbing, mainly in extractive industries. But we are seeing that also in a much broader scale in Asia.
Q: So, what’s next, after this forum?
PS: After this forum, we’re going to have the Assembly of Strategies. And there is going to be a discussion.
We think that it’s not to build a new network, it’s more to build a process. A process linking social struggles with environmental struggles.
I am trying to find which are the concrete battles that we can win. Because, a movement, you don’t build it if it doesn’t achieve some concrete victories.
So if we are going to build a climate movement we have to choose. There are too many battles — we are not going to be able to solve the climate crisis in one year.
But, if we are able to have concrete victories in the sector of fossil fuels or fracking or water privatization or land grabbing, that will help create and develop the movement.
A movement is built by concentrating the energy on some specific issues at some specific moment in order to achieve a concrete victory that can galvanize the whole movement.
Q: In terms of your perspective on the United States, what opportunities exist in the United States to move things forward on climate justice?
PS: I think that the movement in the United States has moved a little bit backward because of the economical crisis. When the crisis came in, then the most important thing became to solve that and the environmental issue was put aside. I see that natural disasters like Sandy have brought back the issue and so I see a new moment, but it’s just at the beginning.
And also there was a lot of hope in relation with what could be done from the government, from Obama. So everyone was suspecting that he would take the lead. I think that now it is clear in the majority, that’s what I see from outside, that it’s necessary to do something, but if there is no pressure it’s not going to be done by the administration.
So in that sense I see a positive movement, taking into account how we were two years ago. Of course if you compare it with five years ago the situation was different because it was before the economic crisis. So I see a positive development but it’s in its first steps now.
And I see something positive about the movement in the US — now there are concrete campaigns against the Keystone Pipeline that help unify the movement and help concentrate the energies on some concrete target, and that is positive. Now there is a long way yet to go, to move.
I see also in Europe the problem is that many of the movements think that the main target is to achieve that — to close that coal plant — and when they achieve that they go back to their homes, so the key thing is how we are going to be able to achieve victories at a local level but to go to a second level which is how to continue the struggle because yeah we closed the coal plant but the problem has not been solved.
So I think in that sense it’s very important to build a movement because with only local struggles you can have the false impression that by doing that in your community everything will be solved and it’s not true.
Q: You say you don’t want to create a network, you want to create a process. Could you elaborate a little bit on what that process would look like?
PS: I think that networks have a structure and organization and sometimes you spend more time in the process of networking than in the real process of bringing the climate issue to the concrete social struggles.
So I think we have to be more open to different initiatives and to stop this fight that has happened in many networks for leadership and so on. There are many that are not yet here and we cannot say, “Hey, we are the network or campaign that is going to solve it.”
I think we have to meet much more, learn much more, and in that process, of course, it’s necessary to have some kind of coordination, but that has to also come out of the process. So we did not create the Climate Space with the idea that we are going to come up with a new logo or campaign.
I think that I am very happy because the most important thing is that the organizations that have come — the trade unions,Via Campesina — have not agreed on paper but have agreed during the whole process that has not only been during these days of the World Social Forum but before, and there is a commitment to move this, and that is the most important thing. Because sometimes we come and we have a declaration and we think that with that we are going to change the world, and we are not going to change the world like that. | {
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Fire At Oil And Gas Facility Sends Up Large Plume Of Smoke
WINDSOR, Colo. (CBS4) – Windsor Fire tells CBS4 two oil tanks at an oil battery facility are on fire.
Firefighters are on scene. No one has been hurt. The facility is at Highway 392 and Weld County Road 25 in Weld County.
The smoke can be seen from 20 miles.
Firefighters used foam to put the fire out. | {
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Writer Jen Hatmaker said she would attend a gay wedding "with gladness."
A major Christian retailer has removed an author’s books from its shelves after she suggested gay people should have the same rights and acceptance as heterosexuals.
Rick Diamond/WireImage
LifeWay Christian Stores announced Thursday it would pull all books by Jen Hatmaker after she told Religion News Service that LGBT couples were “our brothers and sisters in Christ.”
“In a recent interview, [Hatmaker] voiced significant changes in her theology of human sexuality and the meaning and definition of marriage—changes which contradict LifeWay’s doctrinal guidelines,” said LifeWay spokesman Marty King.
“As a result, LifeWay has discontinued selling her resources.”
Raymond Boyd/Getty Images
LifeWay operates more than 186 locations in two dozen states, mainly marketing to Southern Baptists and the wider evangelical community.
Several of Hatmaker’s titled were released by LifeWay, including Interrupted: When Jesus Wrecks Your Comfortable Christianity and Seven: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess.
In the past, Hatmaker has endorsed the view of marriage as between one man and one woman, but she told RNS’ Jonathan Merritt she’s evolved on the issue, affirming she would attend a gay wedding “with gladness, and I would drink champagne.”
“I want the very best for my gay friends,” adds Hatmaker, who also starred in the HGTV series My Big Family Renovation. “I want love and happiness and faithfulness and commitment and community… That’s an easy answer.”
She describes herself as “a left-leaning moderate” who has voted for both Democrats and Republicans.
If one of her children turns out to be gay, Hatmaker says she “would always be on their side” and would hope for them to have a “faithful, committed marriage and a beautiful family that is committed to God and the church.”
She’s also forthright on other hot-button issues, from Hillary Clinton to reproductive rights.
“For me, pro-life includes the life of the struggling single mom who decides to have that kid and they’re poor. It means being pro-refugee. It means being pro-Muslim. My pro-life ethic, while still not in favor of abortion and certainly not in favor of late-term abortions, has expanded.”
She finds Donald Trump “absolutely, positively, thoroughly unfit for the presidency… I cannot imagine any scenario in which he could represent the American people on an international stage.”
Jen Hatmaker
And as the mother of two children adopted from Ethiopia, she’s deeply involved in the conversation surrounding Black Lives Matter.
“I am learning so much from people of color right now, specifically my black mentors and leaders that I’ve sort of put myself under,” she explains.
“When I think about [my son] being viewed as criminal, dangerous, threatening, in any scenario… I could just come unraveled. It terrifies me.”
Wedding progressive values with Christian faith should be a no-brainer. So why does it sound so shocking? | {
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Despite having a main event fall through for the sixth time this year, the UFC managed to deliver a strong show in its return to England as injury replacement Lyoto Machida made quick work of Mark Munoz in Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 30 headliner.
Former light heavyweight champion Machida (20-4 MMA, 12-4 UFC) didn’t let his friendship with Munoz (13-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) get in the way of sending a violent message to the middleweight division, which came with a perfectly timed head kick.
It was yet another highlight-reel worthy finish for Machida and one that earned him the fourth “Knockout of the Night” bonus of his career, which ties him with Roy Nelson and Vitor Belfort for the second most all-time behind former 185-pound champion Anderson Silva.
As a whole, Saturday’s FOX Sports 2-televised event in Manchester provided a mixed bag of ups and downs, but as always, at least a few intriguing statistical figures came out of the event.
So with the help of FightMetric, take a look at 30 facts to come out of UFC Fight Night 30.
GENERAL
Machida, Luke Barnatt and Nicholas Musoke earned $50,000 UFC Fight Night 30 fight-night bonuses.
UFC Fight Night 30 drew an announced attendance of 10,355 for a live gate of $1.5 million.
Betting favorites went 8-3 on the card.
Total fight time for the 12-bout card was 1:39:32.
In the 13 events the UFC has held in England, fighters from the country are 38-28 with one no-contest against foreign opponents. English fighters went 3-3 at UFC Fight Night 30.
MAIN CARD
Machida became the fifth fighter in UFC history to earn a second knockout stemming from a kick to the head (Belfort, Yves Edwards, Anthony Johnson, Paul Taylor).
Machida’s knockdown of Munoz was the 12th in his UFC career, which is fourth all-time in history behind Melvin Guillard (13), Chuck Liddell (14) and Anderson Silva (17).
Machida’s knockout at 3:10 of Round 1 was the fastest stoppage victory of his UFC career.
Munoz is the fifth fighter in UFC history to record zero strikes landed in a main event fight. The 35-year-old was 0-3 in total strikes.
Munoz has been knocked out in three of his four career defeats.
Guillard (31-12-2 MMA, 12-8 UFC) vs. Ross Pearson (15-6 MMA, 7-3 UFC) was the UFC’s first no-contest since Abel Trujillo vs. Roger Bowling at UFC Fight Night 27.
Guillard vs. Pearson was the 21st fight in UFC history be declared a no-contest.
Guillard and Pearson will have a rematch of their co-main event at a UFC European Tour event on March 8 in London.
Jimi Manuwa (14-0 MMA, 3-0 UFC) remained undefeated with all of his career victories coming by knockout. Manuwa’s UFC victories have come via injury stoppage, doctor’s stoppage and retirement.
Ryan Jimmo (18-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC) was knocked out for the first time since Feb. 3, 2007 – a span of 2,457 days (more than 6.5 years) and 20 fights.
Norman Parke (19-2 MMA, 3-0 UFC) is the first winner of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show to start his UFC career with a 3-0 record since Rony Jason (“TUF: Brazil 1”). Parke has earned all three of his UFC victories by decision.
Alessio Sakara (15-11 MMA, 6-8 UFC) extended his career-worst losing streak to four fights.
Sakara was submitted for the first time since May 27, 2006 – a span of 2,709 days (nearly 7.5 years) and 12 fights.
Phil Harris (22-11 MMA, 1-2 UFC) was knocked out for the first time since Nov. 24, 2007 – a span of 2,163 days (nearly six years) and eight fights.
John Lineker (23-6 MMA, 4-1 UFC) has won three straight UFC fights by knockout.
Lineker’s knockout of Phil Harris at 2:51 of Round 1 was the fastest knockout in UFC flyweight history.
PRELIMINARY CARD
Al Iaquinta (7-2-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) earned his second short-notice UFC victory in a 56-day span.
Piotr Hallmann (14-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) suffered a decision loss for the first time in his 16-fight career.
Jessica Andrade (10-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC) earned the first 10-8 round in a women’s UFC bout that went to a decision. Andrade was awarded one 10-8 round by two of the three judges in her decision win over Rosi Sexton (13-4 MMA, 0-2 UFC).
Andrade landed 206 significant strikes (215 total strikes) against Sexton, a single fight women’s bantamweight record.
Andrade and Sexton combined for 294 significant strikes landed, breaking the previous divisional record of 152 set by Jessica Eye and Sarah Kaufman at earlier this month at UFC 166.
Cole Miller (20-8 MMA, 9-6 UFC) won a fight by decision for the first time since Sept. 19, 2007 – a span of 2,229 days (more than six years) and 14 fights.
Jimy Hettes’ (11-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) 18 completed takedowns in his UFC career are the most in featherweight history.
Robert Whiteford (10-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) was submitted for the first time in his 12-fight career.
Brad Scott (9-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) earned the first standing submission victory in the UFC since Urijah Faber defeated Ivan Menjivar at UFC 157 in February.
For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 30, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site. | {
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1. United States
The defending champions — and FIFA’s top-ranked team — will look to add an unprecedented fourth world title in France this summer. For all the talk about how other nations have caught up to the U.S., what sets Jill Ellis’ side apart is depth. No other team in the tournament can summon game-changers like explosive youngster Mallory Pugh or 2015 Golden Ball winner Carli Lloyd from the bench.
2. France
Tough, technically gifted and almost as athletic as the Americans, the hosts pose the biggest threat to the USA’s hope’s of repeating. Although France lacks experience, it also boasts top 10 talents in the Lyon trio of forward Eugenie Le Sommer, midfielder Amandine Henry and defender Wendie Renard. Les Bleues also trounced the Yanks 3-1 in La Havre in January.
3. Germany
Don’t sleep on the Germans. A fashionable pick to win it all in 2015 before being eliminated by the U.S. in the semifinals four years ago in Canada, Germany — the 2003 and 2007 champion and the only nation besides the U.S. to win multiple titles — will arrive in France with a deep and battle-tested roster and as FIFA’s second-ranked team.
4. England
The Lionesses came close to reaching the final four years ago, eventually finishing third in Canada. With stout defenders Lucy Bronze and captain Steph Houghton anchoring a stingy backline, six capable forwards to choose from up front, and a good mix of youth and experience, England, which is managed by former men’s World Cup player Phil Neville, is one of the most balanced teams in the tournament.
View photos Mallory Pugh (right) and the United States are considered World Cup favorites along with Amandine Henry and France. (Getty) More
5. Australia
Led by all-planet captain Sam Kerr, the wonderfully named Matildas head to France will a real chance to advance past the quarterfinals, where they went out at the last three World Cups, for the first time.
6. Japan
The losing finalist four years ago after winning it all in 2011, Japan hasn’t quite replaced its golden generation. But with tons of technical ability and defensive organization, they’ll be a tough out for any of the more fancied sides in the knockout phase.
7. Netherlands
Somehow, the 2017 European champion nearly missed out on this World Cup. They beat Switzerland and Denmark in UEFA’s playoffs to claim the continent’s final berth in the end, and boast two of the game’s most dangerous attackers in Barcelona forward Lieke Martens and in-form Arsenal striker Vivianne Miedema.
8. Canada
The Canucks may have disappointed on home soil in 2015, getting bounced by England in the quarters, but they did take home the bronze medal in each of the last two Olympic tourneys. They’ll be hoping to replicate that success this summer through Christine Sinclair’s goals; with 181 career strikes, the veteran forward is just three shy of American legend Abby Wambach’s all-time international record.
9. Sweden
The Swedes shocked the United States at the 2016 Rio games, and will have a chance to do it again as the teams square off to close out the group stage. This is a rebuilding squad, though. Peter Gerhardsson replaced Pia Sundhage as manager in 2017, and all-time top scorer Lotta Schelin retired last year.
10. Brazil
Talented enough to win it all, Brazil steamrolled the competition at last year’s Copa America Femenina, which serves as South America’s World Cup qualifying tournament, outscoring foes 31-2 along the way. Legendary striker Marta, playing in her fifth and likely final World Cup, will look to add to her record 15 goals in France.
View photos Brazilian legend Marta hopes to raise the trophy in what will likely be her final World Cup. (AP) More
Story continues | {
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It's a lousy time to be a record label. Profits are tanking, bands are angry—OK Go just ditched EMI—and YouTube and BitTorrent changed the game. Still, some labels are transforming themselves to help musicians in the digital age.
"Change or Die" may sound like hyperbole, or an idle threat, but for the music business, the two alternatives have never been more real. EMI may very well go extinct in the coming months, and all of the major labels are fighting losing battles. But all is not lost.
The traditional role of a record label, in the broadest sense, is to bankroll a band until they start making lots of money, at which point the label gets to keep most of it. They own the master recordings a band makes, and by taking on this ownership they put all of their resources behind selling said recordings.
This setup makes sense when bands lacked the wherewithal to produce and record their own albums and when manufacturing and distributing physical copies of albums and marketing said albums costs hundreds of thousands of dollars. It also makes sense when a popular album will sell millions of copies at $15 a pop.
But that's definitely not the case now. Record stores are dying at an alarming rate, and fewer and fewer people are buying CDs every day. It's safe to say that the current generation of teenagers has never perused record stores as a normal activity; it's all downhill from here for physical music sales. And FM radio isn't doing too hot either. In short, everything that the music industry has known to be true for the last few decades is quickly turning to dust. Big labels can still bank on country, R&B and pop acts, but the bottom has already fallen out on alternative groups and other internet-friendly genres. And that's just the beginning.
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The Old, Dead Way of Doing Business
The way bands operate has changed so much in the last decade that what a label can provide and what bands require of a label has changed drastically, faster than labels have been able to adapt.
Manufacturing and distribution used to be the cornerstone of a label's business; every major label owned its own plants to make the albums and also dealt with shipping the albums worldwide. Today, only Sony still owns plants that manufacture CDs, with the other three big labels outsourcing manufacturing to them. But they all still have reps who have to go out to record stores and make sure that their albums are getting proper shelf space. They have to deal with defects and returns. There are lots of resources required to deal with the manufacture and distribution of a physical product, but that physical product is quickly headed towards irrelevancy.
The biggest music stores are now virtual, so there's no need for someone to go gladhand every Sam Goody manager so they give you endcap space for Use Your Illusion II. The iTunes Music Store sells 25% of the music sold in America as of last August, and that number is definitely going up, not down.
According to the IFPI, physical sales of music dropped 15.4% globally between 2007 and 2008. But in that same year, digital sales rose 24.1%. And Nielsen SoundScan numbers show that the number of units sold between 2006 and 2009 rose from 1 billion per year to 1.7 billion per year, with a unit referring to either an album or a song sold. It's a significant increase, but when someone buying three songs counts the same as someone buying three CDs, you can see why the labels are losing money despite the positive-sounding stat.
But for unsigned bands, companies such as TuneCore and CD Baby act as middlemen between them and digital storefronts like iTunes for very small amounts of money; getting your album up on major stores such as iTunes, Amazon and eMusic will set you back about $47 through TuneCore. And you retain all ownership of your music and keep all royalties, unlike working with a record label.
And TuneCore's internal numbers show that online sales are growing even faster for independent acts than those already well established. TuneCore CEO Jeff Price told me that between 2007 and 2009, TuneCore artists have gone from earning $7-8 million a year to $31 million, with $60 million in earnings projected for 2010. That's insane growth, to be sure, but it's got a long way to go before it represents a sizable proportion of global music sales. To put things in perspective, the IFPI recorded $4.9 billion in sales for 2008.
Furthermore, these days it's easier than ever for musicians to record music without an expensive studio. Software such as Reason, Pro Tools and Logic can be bought for $300 or less, and run on a mid-range laptop. Cheap mics and gear can be found all over eBay and Craigslist. Tie everything together with a $200 to $500 mic preamp analog-to-digital/digital-to-analog box, and you have a mini-studio in your bedroom.
And music blogs have turned the way artists are discovered on its head. It used to be that high-paid A&R executives would scour clubs to find underground bands to sign, acting as the filter between the millions of mediocre bands and the discriminating public. Today, obsessive music fans scour clubs and the web for free, discovering new acts and writing about them on blogs. Labels then discover bands from these blogs. The A&R system is no longer as relevant.
Marketing and promotion, another cornerstone service that labels provide, has also been transformed by the web. You no longer need radio play and ads in Rolling Stone to get your band noticed. When a band makes a music video, there's less of a need for a major label with contacts at MTV to push it through official channels to get it noticed. These days, you can just throw it up on YouTube and get it noticed by some music—or gadget—blogs. The fact that it's a simple click or two from video appreciation to buying actual music is worth more than any paper ad in any dying magazine.
As Voyno from the musicians-as-entrepreneurs blog New Rockstar Philosophy told me, it's very possible for a band to use the internet to replace much of what a label provides:
There are artists on YouTube who use creative on-the-cheap strategies to garner millions of views that direct traffic to their main site, iTunes pages, Facebook page and bandcamp.com profile. They then build an e-mail/text subscription from their new fans, which allows them to offer new merchandise, tickets for shows and other related info directly to fans. The web traffic analytics from all their sites can help them plan successful tours, target Facebook ads, and make better decisions on how to move forward.
These changes have shaken the foundation of the industry, and the biggest labels have borne the brunt of the losses that these changes wrought.
Tough Times for Major Labels
EMI is bleeding money. Earlier this month, it reported a whopping $2.4 billion loss, which, when added to its prior debts, puts it $4.5 billion in debt to CitiGroup. It owes Citi $160 million this month, and it's facing a restructuring plan that'll require an additional investment from its parent company.
EMI is owned by Terra Firma Capital Partners, a British private equity firm that also owns waste management companies, gas stations, residential home builders and movie theaters. To them, the art EMI is releasing is about as important as the trash that Waste Recycling Group collects. If it doesn't make them money, it isn't worth keeping around, 80 years of history or not.
Billboard's Senior Editorial Analyst Glenn Peoples told me that it's not for lack of trying that EMI finds itself in this position. "Labels have cut as many costs as they possibly can, they've taken fewer risks, they've signed fewer artists and tried to make safer bets," he says. "They're doing what they can, but the revenue might not be there to support the way they do business. So it's very possible that the recorded music division of EMI will be sold off and will go elsewhere. An acquisition by Warner Music Group is a possibility, and that would take it down to three majors in recorded music, and that'd be pretty drastic and a lot of concentration between three companies."
An EMI Music spokesperson told me, "EMI Music is doing well. We've reported revenue growth, despite a declining market, and strong operating profit and margin improvement, both in the last financial year and in the current year." But if they can't convince Terra Firma that they have a way out of the quagmire they're in, the possibility of the number of major labels to dropping to three is very real.
And if that happens, what of those remaining three? Universal Music Group is owned by French media conglomerate Vivendi, a company with stakes in the Universal and Canal movie studios and the video game publisher Activision Blizzard amongst other holdings. Sony Music Entertainment is obviously a division of Sony, and we all know Sony has had problems of its own lately. Warner Music Group is the only major without a parent company to answer to, as it spun off from Time Warner in 2004, and its revenue dropped about $3.5 billion last year.
The Upside of Signing on the Dotted Line
But all is not lost, and the death of the record label at a business is not a foregone conclusion. Labels from EMI down to the smallest indie labels are racing to change the way they do business. And they still have quite a bit to offer.
Ra Ra Riot is a band from Syracuse, NY who's currently prepping their second album from indie label Barsuk Records. Barsuk is a true indie based out of Seattle, featuring bands such as Death Cab for Cutie, Mates of State, Nada Surf and They Might Be Giants in addition to Ra Ra Riot.
I talked to Josh Roth, Ra Ra Riot's manager, about the reasons bands still have for signing with a label. One big positive that signing to a label provides a band, he told me, is giving them legitimacy. "I think right now with the internet, there are just so many bands out there that it's easy to go unnoticed," he told me. "There's still is a certain charm to having a label saying 'We like this band and we're going to sign them and you should take a listen.' With the amount of bands that are out there, it's hard to filter what is actually good now."
Furthermore, as outlets such as radio and MTV have become less relevant, new venues for being heard and getting paid have opened up. "Commercials are becoming much more relevant," Ra Ra Riot guitarist Milo Bonacci told me.
"That's how a lot of bands get paid or get their music out there. That's how a lot of people hear a song for the first time. I feel like commercials are taking the place of commercial radio." And to get on a commercial, it sure helps to be signed to a label with a nice licensing department.
Of course, there are different types of record labels. A major label, such as EMI, has a lot more money to throw around and can make more promises, but contracts with majors can end up with artists further in the hole due to these deep pockets. As Bonacci told me, "There's more risk. There's more fuel to propel you forward up front, but that's no guarantee." That same fuel could blow up in your face. We've seen how bands who don't hit it big can end up "owing" their major label hundreds of thousands of dollars, after all.
Indie labels (true indie labels, not boutiques under the umbrella of a major) have less resources and therefore will give bands less to recoup. Indies also will often offer the artist a chance to interact with top brass, something that is almost never done at a major. Indies are presumably owned by passionate music fans rather than gigantic multinational holding companies, which is important when a band needs to know that a label is 100% behind them, according to RRR's Bonacci.
And signing to an indie instantly connects you to that labels fans, Bonacci says. "Nobody really cares about Sony records or Universal. You don't seek out stuff that's being released on Universal as a fan. Independent labels, be it Domino or SubPop or whatever, those labels have fans."
Indie labels seem to have a better chance of adapting and surviving in tumultuous times. Since for the most part they're private companies with few employees, they're able to make drastic changes in their business models much more quickly than major labels. But that doesn't mean they'll all survive; famed indie label Touch and Go closed down last year, and in addition to repping bands such as TV on the Radio, Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, !!! and Blonde Redhead, they also handled distribution for other venerable indies such as Drag City, Kill Rock Stars, Jade Tree and Merge. It was a huge blow to the indie label scene.
Getting a Cut of Everything
The way labels are moving to stay alive is by becoming involved in the places that bands still make money, such as touring and merchandising. Traditionally, labels only made money off records sold, while any profits made from t-shirts or posters sold on the road went to the band. After all, if the label just owns the master recordings, it can only make money off the sale of said recordings, not any ancillary profits that come from things like touring.
But now some labels are pushing what are called 360 deals, which involve them in virtually everything an artist does. One of the most famous 360 deals was EMI's 2002 deal with Robbie Williams, which was worth a whopping £80 million, giving EMI a piece of basically everything that Williams touched. That didn't go so well, with Williams threatening to withhold albums from the label and trying to get out of his contract. But last week, according to UK trade paper Music Week, Williams' manager Tim Clark publicly came out in support of the embattled label, saying, "My own view is Citigroup would be mad at this stage not to keep EMI on as a going concern. It just would be bonkers."
In any case, 360 deals and general diversification are what big labels such as EMI are looking to move into, according to Billboard's Glenn Peoples. "They're definitely diversifying and they're actually getting into agencies, artist management, concert promotion. There's really no area that the four majors are not pursuing right now."
These deals make the most sense for huge acts with lots of opportunities for branding and licensing. You've seen it in action here on Giz, in fact, with Dr. Dre's Beats headphones and Lady Gaga's new Creative Director "job" at Polaroid. Both those acts are signed to Interscope, a sub-label of Universal that's clearly pushing artists towards these new revenue streams. But many smaller acts are still reluctant to give a label a slice of the entire pie with such a wide-reaching deal.
The fact of the matter is that bands do still need someone working for them, 360 deal or not. For some bands, just having a small team of a dedicated manager, publicist and lawyer who can handle the nitty-gritty of online sales, tour organization, merchandising and marketing will be enough for them. But many can still benefit from the huge networks that labels have with their contacts in every facet of the industry. Sure, you can print your own t-shirts, but a label with contacts with clothing manufacturers, stores and distributors can make that process a lot easier. And just how much of this work do you want to do yourself?
360 deals don't make sense for all bands; Ra Ra Riot manager Roth isn't sold on them. "A lot of labels are also now branching into management because the manager is involved with everything going on with a band. Labels will try to be like a full-service company to a band, but I don't think it'll be very popular." He worries that bands will be setting themselves up to be taken advantage of even more by labels if they give up merchandising and touring profits to them. Having an independent team working for a band and playing middleman between them in the label makes sure there's someone deeply involved in "business stuff" that still has their best interests at heart.
And it makes sense that a manager would be wary of labels moving into their territory, but there's still a distinction between label and manager with these deals. "For example, a new artist signed to a multi-rights deal may use the major label's merchandise company and e-commerce division in addition to its publishing and recorded music companies," Peoples says. "In the past, a manager could pick and choose which merch, e-commerce, publishing and record companies it wanted to work with. Now they're more likely to be under the same umbrella."
Sometimes, a band's management team can replace what a label does entirely. Just yesterday, OK Go announced it was splitting with EMI, whom they didn't have the greatest relationship with, to strike out on their own with a new company called Paracadute. Paracadute is basically OK Go's own team to handle management, promotion and distribution of their records. "The things that a major has to offer above and beyond anybody else are the things that OK Go really didn't need so much," Peoples says. "And that's radio promotion and access to brick and mortar retail. If you're going to create nearly all of your consumer awareness through cheaply made YouTube videos, you don't need this big promotional and distribution system behind you."
But not all bands can do what OK Go has done. The digital world looks a lot more accessible when only viewed through the lens of rock acts. "If you're an R&B act, if you're a straight up pop act, a country act, you're going to need radio and you're going to need brick and mortar retail, and that's not going to change anytime soon. Things are changing definitely for alternative rock, rock and indie, but some genres sell a lot better in digital than other genres."
But clearly, the money that's to be made in music is no longer just in album sales. And bands seem to be presented with a choice: they can either allow labels to become more involved in everything that they do, and give up money that used to go exclusively to them in the process, or strike out on their own. Either way, they'll entering a landscape where getting their song on Gossip Girl for 40 seconds is more important than any amount of FM radio play, where getting a music video posted to Stereogum is more important than getting it on MTV and where you make more money touring behind an album than selling that same album.
And in order to prove to artists that signing with a label is a better idea than going out on your own, they'll need to make big changes; bigger than they've made so far. "It might be how an addict ends up turning his life around," Peoples says. "He's gotta hit rock bottom. And I dunno if the record industry has hit rock bottom yet, but maybe that's what'll need to happen for there to be really big change."
But at the end of the day, the saving grace of record labels might be a lot more basic than who gets what percentage of merchandise or who deals with distribution. The big question is this: do bands really want to try to make it completely on their own? As Bonacci says, "I don't necessarily want to have all that nitty-gritty stuff to worry about. I'd rather just worry about making music. I don't want to worry about numbers or distribution or marketing or publicity or anything like that. That sounds like a desk job. I used to have a desk job, that's why I'm playing music. Now look at me. I sleep on couches." | {
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he not dead but in a love coma! cuz flurry a shot a overduse of love! the more give and long time he be like this! but he will not die! twilight need help of cadance to fixe the messe of flurry! flurry want be like her mother! but she over do it! she dauther of the love princess but she rule the crystal empire so who make love to other pony? is will be flurry heart but she still need to learn! so flash wont know it he be the test pony for the future duty of flurry heart! but who the other guard be victime of the learning of flurry heart testing love duty? 10? or 1000? who know? but is in the crystal empire only! so the sun guard and the night guard are save, for now! whahahahahahahahaha! i joking! | {
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Contrary to what a review of high school friends' Facebook profiles may suggest, not everyone is getting married already. Rather, we millennials are dragging our feet to the altar at a slower pace than any previous generation.
Our grandparents, the "Betty and Don Drapers," married young, and their breakups caused the divorce spike in the 1970s and 1980s. Our parents married their high school and college sweethearts, and only 60% of us grew up in a two-parent household. We look at them and we look at our partners and we say, "let's really think this through."
Psychotherapist and writer Dr. Tina Tessina says, because many millennials have single parents or blended families, "they have little experience of what good marriages look like. The media has a lot of focus on celebrities whose relationships are dysfunctional, and reality TV thrives on bad relationships featuring emotionally immature and dysfunctional people … It's no surprise, then, that millennials are gun-shy. Where will they get their images of what functional relationships and healthy marriages look like?"
In 2012, the median age for first marriages in the U.S. was 28.6 for men and 26.6 for women. In 1990, the ages were 26.1 and 23.9, respectfully. Back in 1960, men were 22 and women were 20, and 59% of adults ages 18 to 29 were married. Today, a record low of 20% in that age bracket have said, "I do."
Increasing enrollment in higher education, especially for women, is at least part of the reason for the older marriage age. More (primarily white) women are employed in top positions with breadwinner salaries than ever before — so many put their weddings and baby days on hold until they've finished school and made strides in their careers.
Other factors that may account for the delay to wed include tends of secularization, lowering rates of teen pregnancy, and medical advances that extend women's childbearing age. The economic decline also plays a role; 13% of adults under the age of 35 say they postponed marriage because of the recession.
The importance of marriage slightly differs by race and ethnic background. Pew’s 2010 study shows that among American millennials, about 5% more non-Hispanic whites than nonwhites rank a successful marriage as one of the highest priorities in their life. Across racial lines, the majority of millennials say they value good parenting over a successful marriage.
While many millennials are hesitant to get hitched, most still support the institution of marriage for straight and same-sex couples alike. That said, 44% of the generation say marriage is becoming obsolete, compared to 35% of baby boomers.
Those who are planning a future more readily buy a house than a ring. Two-thirds of us move in together before we marry, and the numbers of non-married couples buying a home have risen substantially. Couples are playing house to test their compatibility before they tie the knot — except in the south, where signing marriage certificate still usually precedes signing a mortgage. Robi Ludwig, a psychotherapist who surveys buyer habits, observes, "it's almost like buying a home is the new engagement ring."
We may end up marrying at a comparable percentage to the generations before us, and time will tell what effect our older wedding age will have on our divorce rates. Until then, you'll be in good company at the open bar watching the tossing of the bouquet. | {
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The 12-room Dreamcatcher boutique hotel in San Juan’s Ocean Park neighborhood launched a voluntourism initiative in collaboration with Estancia Verde Luz, a family-owned organic farm in Ciales, Puerto Rico, 40 minutes from San Juan.
The Dreamcatcher, which was spared major damage from Hurricane Maria and is currently open to guests and relief workers, invites its guests to help rebuild damaged structures at the farm and assist with tasks such as planting, watering and weeding.
Estancia Verde Luz is located next to a river that flooded during the hurricane and wiped out entire crops of fruits, vegetables and greens.
It is one of the primary farms that Dreamcatcher used to provide the produce for the hotel’s vegetarian cuisine.
In addition to the program where guests can help out on the farm, the hotel’s owners will donate 10% of guests’ stays to benefit Estancia Verde Luz and other local farms.
Owners Sylvia De Marco and Stephan Watts are committed to contributing to San Juan’s tourism recovery and have also partnered with Puerto Rico Rising, a grassroots fundraising effort to assist Puerto Ricans in need of humanitarian aid. | {
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Jaskanwal Singh lives in Toronto, and got badly bullied at school for his turban. To stop the bullying and become more popular he decided to stop wearing a turban. He also felt girls would find him more attractive if he cut his hair. For 19 years he didn't wear a turban and while he became more popular he also started binge drinking and felt unfulfilled.
Last year he stopped drinking and decided to wear a turban again. He now helps young Sikhs who get bullied at school for their turbans.
Producer: Ammar Ebrahim
Camera: Orla McNelis
Series Producer: Anisa Subedar
Commissioning Editor: Kimberley Rowell | {
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Same Day Delivery
Delivered as soon as today if order is placed by 12 Noon.
You may also schedule your delivery day at checkout. | {
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Taylorsville • Pick a line. It didn’t matter to Olympus’ Jeremy DowDell.
Monday’s closing game of the first Martin Luther King Jr. Shootout in Utah featured a battle between Class 5A and Class 4A’s top-ranked teams and was played on a court with a myriad of 3-point lines.
The closest arc on the floor was for high school play at Salt Lake Community College. The second, a little further out, was for college games — the SLCC Bruins. And since the Salt Lake City Stars also play on the court, the most challenging line was set for NBA distance.
The differences mattered not for DowDell. He stayed behind all of them in hitting a pair of early 3-pointers.
And DowDell was effective from a myriad of spots on the floor throughout the game, finishing with 34 points. Olympus only used six players, with DowDell going all 32 minutes, as the Titans stayed unbeaten with a 76-69 victory over Orem.
“To me, the difference was Jeremy DowDell. We had a game plan and everything with the game plan worked as to how we were going to guard Olympus,” Orem coach Golden Holt said. “Except for Jeremy DowDell.”
Olympus (14-0) grabbed a 35-32 lead at the intermission thanks to a pair of late drives into the paint by Rylan Jones.
But Jones, who finished with 16 points, wasn’t at his usual level. The University of Utah commit was fighting sickness, according to coach Matt Barnes. So DowDell’s output came at the most appropriate time for the Titans.
“I shot really well and my teammates were just finding me,” DowDell said. “I kind of felt a little sluggish, but I made my first couple of shots. I felt a little slow at the beginning but obviously was able to score the ball really well.”
Orem (10-4), paced by Ross Reeves’ 28 points and 19 from Puka Nacua, also shot well in the first half. But the start of the third quarter, in which the Tigers only scored one basket in the first five minutes, put Orem behind by 13 points.
The score was at 71-65 when the Tigers missed a pair of 3-point tries in the quarter’s final minute. DowDell then canned a pair of free throws to keep Olympus safely in the lead.
“We had a third quarter that really helped us push the lead out,” Barnes said. “But they never gave up. They kept coming back.”
The game was the fourth contest of the day at the MLK Shootout.
The day started with Sky View beating Dixie 52-37. The next game featured MaxPreps’ third-ranked team in the country, Bishop Montgomery from Torrance, Calif., defeating Bingham 61-40.
American Fork then knocked off BC Christian Prep, from Vancouver, British Columbia, by a 68-61 count. | {
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Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersNYT editorial board remembers Ginsburg: She 'will forever have two legacies' Two GOP governors urge Republicans to hold off on Supreme Court nominee Sanders knocks McConnell: He's going against Ginsburg's 'dying wishes' MORE (I-Vt.) gave Senate Democrats his presidential pitch on Tuesday — and left his colleagues thankful for not attacking Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Democratic super PAC to hit Trump in battleground states over coronavirus deaths Battle lines drawn on precedent in Supreme Court fight MORE.
Democrats said that the Vermont senator struck a familiar tone with them, after roughly a quarter century of pushing his populist economic positions in Washington.
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"It was warm and friendly. We know him. We love him,” said Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin Richard (Dick) Joseph DurbinMcConnell focuses on confirming judicial nominees with COVID-19 talks stalled Senate Republicans signal openness to working with Biden Top GOP senator calls for Biden to release list of possible Supreme Court picks MORE (D-Ill.). “He's the real deal. He's genuine. His message to our caucus hasn't changed one bit."
Sanders’s presentation at the Tuesday lunch came just two weeks after Clinton herself drew wide praise from House and Senate Democrats in briefings about her 2016 campaign. After Clinton's visit to the Capitol this month, Sanders made an extensive case to reporters for why he was the more progressive candidate.
A spokesman for Sanders didn’t respond to requests for comment about the candidate’s pitch to Democrats.
The Vermont senator has closed the gap on Clinton, in both national polling and early primary states, while distancing himself from other Democratic contenders seeking to be the Clinton alternative.
Both Durbin and Sen. Chuck Schumer Chuck SchumerRepublican senator says plans to confirm justice before election 'completely consistent with the precedent' Video of Lindsey Graham arguing against nominating a Supreme Court justice in an election year goes viral Graham signals support for confirming a Supreme Court nominee this year MORE (N.Y.), the Senate Democrats’ next leader, said the caucus didn’t hear much new from Sanders, who has drawn big crowds at events across the nation in recent weeks. Sanders has long pushed for policies, like higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, and a more robust minimum wage.
But Durbin and Schumer said Senate Democrats were perhaps most pleased that Sanders has refrained from personally attacking Clinton — a stark contrast, they said, to the Republican field. Sanders, however, did criticize Clinton on Tuesday for dodging questions on the Keystone XL Pipeline, a project he opposes.
“He has a very coherent, strong message,” Schumer said. “And people also were appreciative of the fact that he’s not attacking any other candidate. He’s just laying out his view.”
Durbin said it was undeniable that Sanders, who is popular among grassroots liberals, has had an impact on the Democratic campaign.
Liberal activists have hoped that Sanders and others can pull Clinton’s policy prescriptions to the left. But Sanders’s longstanding push to roll back corporate influence of the U.S. economy has not been warmly received by activists, who think he could speak out more about racial injustice.
"He not only got a warm reception, but several senators stood up and said, ‘You know, I'm supporting Hillary, but I respect you because you've kept it at the issues.’ It's not the personal attack that's going on in the Republican primary,” Durbin said. | {
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Yong He Dou Jiang Da Wang 永和豆漿大王 (Soy Milk King) is one of best breakfast in Taiwan. They are opened 24 hours and is relative easy to get to by subway. We arrived bright and early at 8am there were already lines forming. We found the smell of fresh baozhi and soy milk.
We arrived in Taiwan after a long cab ride from Taoyuan airport to Taipei City. Although our Cabbie was driving like he was on Fast and Furious it still takes about 1 hr. The plan was to sweep the streets of Taipei and fill our bellies with as much good food possible. Given the FX exchange rate was approx 1 CAD:30 NTD, so a full breakfast costs less than $5 CAD. | {
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Kaspars Migla is the creator and founder of a chess website chessratings.top. In his column, he analyzes FIDE standard rating changes, career-highs, rating distribution by country, continent, region, and other rating-related statistics. In this edition, he looks back at the biggest rating gains in 2019, made by players in various categories.
Chessratings.top analyzed the biggest FIDE rating gains over the year 2019 and broke them down into different categories. Generally speaking, the higher the rating, the lower the rate of its change. Consequently, the lower the rate of the rating change, the more difficult to improve one’s raring. The more difficult to improve one’s rating the more significant every gain. With this in mind, let's start with GMs.
Evgeny Shtembuliak (UKR) born in 1999 (pictured above) made the biggest progress among grandmasters – over the period from March 2019 (when he was awarded his GM title) to January 2020 he improved his rating by 109 points and reached the 2625 mark. His gain is only 4 points bigger than one by a chess wunderkind from Iran Alireza Firouzja who made a huge jump from 2618 to 2723. Ironically, in 2018, when Alireza had lower rating (consequently, it was easier to earn rating points) his progress was also quite big, but not that impressive – from 2549 to 2618, i.e. 69 points. A young Chilean (born in 1996) Cristobal Henriquez Villagra rounds out the top-3 in this category after hitting the mark 2603 with a 99-point increment.
It is nice to see a lady in the top-20 GMs making the biggest progress – Aleksandra Goryachkina (2578) boosted her rating by 60 points.
Another gifted player from Iran Parham Maghsoodloo made roughly equal increments in 2018 and 2019 and increased his rating by 107 points over a two-year period moving up from 2572 to 2679 mark.
TOP-20 biggest rating gains among GMs:
The biggest gains are registered among IMs, which is hardly surprising given their lower rating comparing to GMs. The top spot in this nomination belongs to Mahfoud Oussedik from Algeria who picked 118 points and for the first in his career broke the 2400 barrier (2423). Jonas Buhl Bjerre from Denmark (born in 2004) really stands out in this list as he made an impressive leap from 2422 to 2535, passing the GM mark (2500).
Jonas Buhl Bjerre
Back in 2018, Wilson Guillermo Palencia Morales was the IM to make the biggest progress after improving his rating by 120 points from 2211 to 2331.
TOP-20 biggest rating gains among IMs:
Let’s talk about seniors. After retiring from competitive chess many of them have more time to spend on the game, which in turn has a beneficial effect on their level of play and rating, especially if it was not particularly high. Two players managed to increase their rating by 300 points and more thanks to a so-called low base effect. The age difference among the players on this list is striking. It is also noticeable that there is not a single player having an international title.
TOP-20 biggest rating gains among seniors (all titles):
Since juniors chess rating is calculated with the greatest coefficient (К=40), in the table below we see the biggest gains among all the players. Usually, Indian players dominate junior rating lists but this particular case the first three positions are occupied by the representatives of other counties. The first place in this list belongs to Reja Neer Manon from Bangladesh (born in 2010), one of the world leaders in the U-10 category. In 2019 his rating rose from 1486 to 2206 (720 points). Reja’s achievement is even more significant given that he had the highest starting rating among all the players on this list.
Reja Neer Manon
The #2 in our top-20 is quite a different story. Matteo Calvigioni from Italy (born in 2001) got his first international rating only in 2018. As of January 01, 2019, it was equal to 1130 points. Starting from this mark Matteo moved only up and by the end of the year he ramped it up to 1821!
Back in 2018, the leader in this nomination Milan Gagic from Serbia (born in 2005) improved his rating by 654 points – from 1335 to 1989.
TOP-20 biggest rating gains among all young players:
Since youngsters took all the positions in this TOP, we analyzed the best achievements of juniors (players born in 1999 and 2000) separately. Predictably, the players with initial low ratings are among the leaders. For example, Dominik Zilkay (SVK) started the year with 1238 points and finished on the 1683 mark.
TOP-20 biggest rating gains among U-20 (1999, 2000):
Probably the broadest and the most diverse category in chess is adults, i.e. players born in 1999 and older. It is hard to find a well-known player in this list with a wide range of age – there is a player, born in 1947 in this top. As we all know, chess unites players of different ages not only over boards but also in rating lists.
TOP-20 rating gains among adults (born in 1999 and older)
When it comes to female WGM, IM, and GM we see a totally different picture: young players and juniors play second fiddle. Indeed, there is only one (!) U-18 player - WGM Aleksandra Maltsevskaya (RUS)
WGM Katarzyna Toma (ENG) made the biggest progress (108) after increasing her rating from 2173 to 2281. It is worth noting though, that this rating-jump happened after a real slump in October of 2018 when she dropped 114 points in the course of two tournaments. If we present rating progress as a linear chart, that of IM Bhakti Kulkarni stands out from the rest and looks like a wave curve. Back in November 2018, her rating was 2256 but ten months later in August 2019 it reached 2429 points.
Katarzyna Toma
In 2018 WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova from Uzbekistan topped the list. She made an impressive jump from 2329 to 2446 (117 points) breaking her personal record along the way.
TOP-20 biggest gains among women (GM, IM, WGM):
It comes as no surprise that youngsters are the absolute leaders among all female players when it comes to the biggest rating gains.
TOP-20 biggest gains among all women:
The young generation dominates all regional tops. Out of 80 players you see below only two Venezuelans do not belong to this age group.
TOP-20 biggest gains among all players from Asia:
TOP-20 biggest gains among all players from the Americas:
TOP-20 biggest gains among all players from Europe:
TOP-20 biggest gains among all players from Africa:
Photo: Niklesh Jain and Amruta Mokal ChessBase India; David Llada. | {
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If you believe the Left, Kansas is set to implode in a rage of violence and bloodshed starting July 1st when a provision put place by the legislature four years ago goes into effect.
According to Leftist fear mongers, this provision will squelch free speech on campuses everywhere. Students will be afraid to speak due to the threat of violence from fellow students. Teachers will fear giving someone a bad grade because of the sheer violence that will befall them. Professors will no longer find refuge in their offices and are being forced to change their office hours or become unavailable altogether - some have even sought refuge in other states. Others have decided to stop teaching and are seeking alternative pursuits like research. One or two have opted for retirement.
Dark days are ahead for Kansas.
What could bring on such fear?
In 2013, the Kansas legislature passed a law requiring that local municipalities and buildings owned by the state either have adequate security preventing the carrying of guns inside the property or require that citizens be allowed to carry concealed firearms on such properties. It’s a simple concept, either allow citizens to defend themselves, or provide adequate security. These properties were allowed an exemption from concealed carry for four years, giving them enough time to make plans for proper security measures to be installed. Yes, you read that right. They had four years.
Although there is no single place to go for definitive numbers, the grand total of those who have made public announcements about their leaving state universities because of the concealed carry law is around a half-dozen. An article from the Manhattan Mercury, where Kansas State University is located, listed three academic staff and one other employee. At Kansas University, Jacob Dornan made a big splash with his announcement in March. At Wichita State, Deborah Ballard-Reisch announced her resignation blaming concealed carry on campus. That’s a confirmed five out of around 5,800 academic staff in the six state universities - hardly a mass exodus, especially considering several were of retirement age anyway.
Concealed carry on college campuses is allowed in ten states, the longest standing being Utah where students have been allowed to carry since 2004. In thirteen years, there should be plenty of incidents where hostile students confronted others with guns, or situations where the presence of guns has squelched free speech. Or how (insert emotional argument here) has happened. One can search for hours to try and find such incidents and will find nothing of substance. No injuries, no blood in the streets, no students confronting teachers over a bad grade. Nothing. Interestingly enough, there were no mass shootings on campuses that allowed concealed carry either. Hmmmm.
Using the "logic" from the Left, it should be easy to find instances in Kansas where their claims have materialized. Since some municipalities chose not to participate in the exemption, many municipal buildings have allowed concealed carry holders inside state and county owned buildings for the past four years. In that time- frame, there should be plenty of instances where angry confrontational gun owners pointed their pistols at frantic clerks over a driver’s license issue or a property tax problem. Surely, one can find a multitude of instances where these hotheads took their guns out of holsters and threatened innocent government workers. Can you guess how many thousands of times this has happened? Hundreds? Scores? Dozens? A handful? Any? That’s right, zero is the number. At least this author couldn’t find one, if it did happen.
Despite all the fear mongering from the Left, Kansas citizens and students will be safer starting July 1, and the sensational, emotional arguments from Leftists will be found to be without merit...again.
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In this booming era of nearly 5,000 American breweries, each seemingly making hundreds of different beers per year, it can be difficult for any one offering to pervade the national consciousness, let alone transform into a household name. Sure, the Bud-Miller-Coors of the world are known by all these days, in the same way McDonald’s and Wal-Mart are—but their ubiquity now isn't necessarily a sign of their cultural cachet.
Likewise, every so often a certain craft beer becomes so revolutionary, so important, so desired, that even your mom will have heard about it. “Have you tried that Heady Topper yet, honey?” she asks you. In reality though, the Headys, Plinys, and Juliuses of the world mostly remain geek obsessions.
Before the craft-beer movement kicked into full gear, and before Sierra Nevada released a pale ale that launched a thousand breweries, the country was mostly lacking in breweries. There were a few national companies, a few regional breweries too, and for any single one of their releases to find a way to dominate the culture would have seemed a minor miracle. Yet it occasionally happened for a variety of reasons—from a lack of availability, to the invention of a one-of-a-kind technology, to the mighty influence of men with ironic mustaches.
These are a few of those stories, including tales of big brands that once generated rabid cult followings. Like when Coors became so damn desired it led to covert smuggling operations and a Hollywood blockbuster; or when Miller Lite became the coolest drink for macho, macho men; and even when the whacky decade of “Corona-mania” convinced one writer to eventually call it nothing more than a “hula hoop, an offbeat fancy that had run its inevitable course.”
Here we look back at some of these beers that spoke to the zeitgeist of their respective eras. From pulling America out of the Prohibition era, to the introduction of a beer black market, here are the brews that came to define America throughout the ages. | {
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Source: Instagram, Binance
Binance has revealed that it is “preparing to launch trading services for users in Japan” – and is currently in advanced talks with the operator of Yahoo Japan, which runs a licensed cryptocurrency exchange in the country.
In an official post, Binance stated that it has “entered into a strategic partnership discussion” with Z Corporation, and the holding company Z Holdings Corporation, which runs Yahoo Japan, one of the country’s biggest search engines and internet platforms.
The company began life as a partnership between America’s Yahoo and Japanese business giant SoftBank, which holds a 48% stake in Yahoo Japan. The American company is no longer associated with Yahoo Japan. And Yahoo Japan, in turn, owns a controlling stake in the recently rebranded TaoTao exchange.
The exchange, formerly known as BitARG, was one of the first to receive an operating license from the regulatory Financial Services Agency (FSA). The regulator has a notoriously strict compliance policy, and an off-putting application backlog.
As such, many Japanese companies have sought to buy up smaller already-licensed exchanges.
Binance’s CEO Changpeng Zhao took to Twitter to talk up the partnership deal, writing,
“Many non-Japanese may not understand the significance of this. […] Couldn’t ask for a better partner than TaoTao in Japan.”
The partnership could potentially throw the Japanese crypto world wide open.
Watch the latest reports by Block TV.
Softbank already has a number of irons in the blockchain and cryptocurrency fire, and has made significant blockchain-related investments in the past few years. Yahoo Japan has integrated Ripple‘s MoneyTap technology into its PayPay mobile-based e-pay solution.
And readers may recall that a deal-in-principle is still on the table for Yahoo Japan over a possible merger with Line, Japan’s biggest chat app. Line’s biggest shareholder is Naver, a South Korean internet giant. Line operates a number of crypto exchanges, including an FSA-licensed trading platform in Japan.
The move could well be part of a concerted Binance effort to break into the lucrative East Asian market. Rival exchange Huobi has already established fast-growing exchanges in both Seoul and Tokyo. Last year, Binance struck a partnership with a subsidiary of South Korea’s Kakao, the operator of the Klaytn blockchain platform.
Binance has previously been warned off by the FSA, which specifies that even overseas-based exchanges may not actively target Japanese customers without an operating permit. As reported, the company said yesterday that Binance.com will be phasing out the provision of services to Japanese residents and will gradually restrict transactions for them.
And per Business Korea, Binance has now made an unspecified investment in South Korean stablecoin issuer and blockchain startup BXB.
The media outlet quotes Binance as stating,
“We are drawing up a long-term plan to lead the South Korean cryptocurrency market.”
At pixel time, binance coin (BNB), the native token of the exchange, trades at c. USD 18 and is up 9% in a day and 27% in a week.
Source | {
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So, if her Plug Suit acts like her Zero Suit, maybe her armor will resemble Asuka's EVA unit? | {
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A stunning 13th century tiled floor has been found 6.5 feet (two metres) below the current floor level at a medieval Abbey, in what has been described as a 'once-in-a-lifetime' discovery.
The vividly-coloured tiles, which have not been seen in 500 years, display the coats of arms of powerful Norman monarchs and barons.
They give a unique glimpse at what the interior of the grand Normal cathedral, which once stood on the site, would have looked like.
The 'amazing' discovery was made at Bath Abbey in Somerset – which was initially founded in the 10th century – as part of vital repair work to the Abbey's collapsing floor.
Scroll down for video
A stunning 13th century tiled floor has been found two metres (6.5ft) below the current floor level at a medieval Abbey, in what has been described as a 'once-in-a-lifetime' discovery
The tiles were found during renovation work for Bath Abbey's Footprint project to install a new eco-friendly heating system by using Bath's unique hot springs as a source of energy.
Project director Charles Curnock said: 'Seeing these tiles is just amazing.
'We knew there was a floor down there but in a couple of places that we've done [and seen] already, there have been nothing of significance at all, just ordinary stone if that.
'We have been surprised and thrilled by the beautiful medieval tiles that Wessex Archaeology have just found as they dig down through the different layers of history below the floor.'
Cai Mason, senior project officer for Wessex Archaeology, which is excavating the site, said that for archaeologists involved it is 'a once-in-a-lifetime find'.
'The trench in which the tiled floor was discovered was excavated during vital repair and stabilisation work to the abbey's collapsing floor', he said.
'The work is part of the £19.3 million ($25m) Heritage Lottery-supported Footprint Project which will also create new spaces and facilities for the community and install an eco-friendly heating system using Bath's famous thermal spring.'
The 700-year-old floor is currently being painstakingly recorded by the archaeologists.
The 'amazing' discovery was made at Bath Abbey in Somerset – which was initially founded in the 10th century – as part of vital repair work to the Abbey's collapsing floor
The tiles were found during renovation work for Bath Abbey's Footprint project to install a new eco-friendly heating system by using Bath's unique hot springs as a source of energy
WHAT HAVE ARCHAEOLOGISTS FOUND UNDER BATH ABBEY? A stunning 13th century tiled floor has been found 6.5 feet (two metres) below the current floor level at a Bath Abbey, in what has been described as a 'once-in-a-lifetime' discovery. The vividly-coloured tiles, which have not been seen in 500 years, display the coats of arms of powerful Norman monarchs and barons. They give a unique glimpse at what the interior of the grand Normal cathedral which once stood on the site would have looked like. The 'amazing' discovery was made at the abbey – which was initially founded in the 10th century – as part of vital repair work to the Abbey's collapsing floor. The 700-year-old floor is currently being painstakingly recorded by the archaeologists. The tiles will be preserved in situ; covered by a protective membrane and a layer of inert sand before the floor layers are built back up again to their present level. Experts have always known that before the current Gothic church was built there stood a Norman Cathedral and before that an Anglo-Saxon monastery. The three golden lions on a red shield is the coat of arms of the Plantagenet kings. The three red chevrons on a gold shield is the coat of arms of the de Clare family. This was composed of powerful Norman marcher barons who held the earldoms of Gloucester and Hertford as well as land in both Wales and Ireland. The family line came to an end when Gilbert de Clare, 8 Earl of Gloucester and cousin of Edward II, died at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Advertisement
It will eventually form part of a 3D model encompassing all the excavations within the abbey.
The tiles will be preserved in situ; covered by a protective membrane and a layer of inert sand before the floor layers are built back up again to their present level.
Mr Curnock said: 'We have been surprised and thrilled by the beautiful medieval tiles that Wessex Archaeology have just found as they dig down through the different layers of history below the floor.
Experts have always known that before the current Gothic church was built there stood a Norman Cathedral and before that an Anglo-Saxon monastery.
'Lifting the pews and repairing the floor as part of the Footprint project is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity', Mr Curnock said.
'It will mean that we can maintain and make improvements to this beautiful building, and change how it can be used to better serve the city, visitors and future generations.
Experts have always known that before the current Gothic church was built there stood a Norman Cathedral and before that an Anglo-Saxon monastery
'However, a massive bonus is that it has allowed us to discover important parts of the heritage; things like these beautiful tiles which are being seen for the first time in centuries.'
Experts say that if it wasn't for the work carried out for the Footprint project they would have no idea they were here.
The floor is composed of exquisite tiles which are attributed to the Wessex School; a series of designs derived from tiles laid at Clarendon Palace, east of Salisbury.
Other examples of these tile designs are known from Bath, Wells, Bristol and Glastonbury.
The three golden lions on a red shield is the coat of arms of the Plantagenet kings.
The three red chevrons on a gold shield is the coat of arms of the de Clare family.
This was composed of powerful Norman marcher barons who held the earldoms of Gloucester and Hertford as well as land in both Wales and Ireland.
The family line came to an end when Gilbert de Clare, 8 Earl of Gloucester and cousin of Edward II, died at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. | {
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Their knowledge regarding Gülen came from the intense lobbying of the movement in the U.S. and U.K. Not only did they reckon too little about the incidents that had shaken Turkey in the last five-six years, they were not willing to listen either. This was not an isolated incident. To the contrary, the same can unfortunately be said for many Western journalists, academics and politicians. The post-coup coverage of the Western media shows traces of that sentiment which attracted the attention and rightful criticism of many credible Turkish journalists One may criticize the government’s human rights record or the ongoing purge in the country however this should not mask the Gülen movement’s involvement in all types of unlawful activities, including the recent coup attempt. Turkey and the Turkish people faced a tremendous attack of a deep state created by the Gülen movement. Failure to report this part of the story may either be intentionally negligent journalism or a byproduct of deficient information. Hoping that the latter is the case, I want to provide a 11-point list of facts on Gülen:1. The Gülen movement, led by Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, is embraced by the Western media and politicians as a promoter of peace and interfaith dialogue. However, this was hardly ever the case. He actually left Turkey subsequent to a trial that charged him with toppling the secular state in 1999. However, in the post 9/11 era he found support in the West, where he was seen as an antidote to rising radical Islamism. His first application to the U.S. for “a preference visa as an alien of extraordinary ability in the field of education” was denied due to the fact that he was “is not an educator, and is certainly not one of a small percentage of experts in the field of education who have risen to the very top of that field. Further, the record contains overwhelming evidence that [the] plaintiff [Gülen] is primarily the leader of a large and influential religious and political movement with immense commercial holdings.” But then Gülen was nevertheless granted a green card with reference letters including ones from three U.S. officials: Former U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Morton Abromovotiz and former CIA officials George Fidas and Graham Fuller.2. The Gülen movement has two layers. The first one consists of Fethullah Gülen’s many disciples who more or less believe that he is the Mahdi, the Islamic version of a messiah. The second layer is the top echelon known to operate as a secret network, nested mainly in the security apparatus and the judiciary, to achieve their goals through Machiavellian methods, especially in Turkey. His followers in the state civil service, judiciary, police and – as we have understood recently - in the army are more loyal to Gülen than the institutions they work for. They take orders from the “brothers” of the movement rather than acting in the lawful chain of command of the state.3. Fethullah Gülen believes in secretive and incremental take-over from within and that the change should come from the bottom up. One of his early sermons which was included in the indictment of 1999 epitomizes this belief: “You must move in the arteries of the system without anyone noticing your existence until you reach all the power centers… until the conditions are ripe, they [the followers] must continue like this… You must wait for the time when you are complete and conditions are ripe, until we can shoulder the entire world and carry it… You must wait until such time as you have gotten all the state power, until you have brought to your side all the power of the constitutional institutions in Turkey… Until that time, any step taken would be too early - like breaking an egg without waiting the full 40 days for it to hatch. It would be like killing the chick inside.”4. The Gülen movement had been working with the best PR agents in America and built a strong lobbying machine in the U.S., the U.K. and Turkey. According to the U.S. government, this movement’s financial capacity was estimated to be between $25 billion and $50 billion with schools and charities in more than 150 countries.5. The Gülen movement’s infiltration into the Turkish state dates back to late 1980s. His disciples’ presence were tacitly condoned by the Bülent Ecevit, Süleyman Demirel and Tansu Çiller administrations, even though he has always been considered as a threat by the Kemalist establishment and the army, which considers itself the guardian of the secular state. It appears that those who suspected their actions were very much right.6. The Gülen movement lived its golden years during the first decade of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government. The AKP initially formed an alliance with the group to eliminate the power of the army in politics. This alliance was most apparent in 2007, in the aftermath of the e-memorandum of the military opposing the presidency of Abdullah Gül. 46 days later a high profile case called Ergenekon started. Another case called Sledgehammer followed in 2010. In these cases, military officials, opposition MPs and journalists were accused of plotting a violent coup to oust the AKP government. It later turned out that these cases were based on fabricated evidence and that most such fabrications were done by the Gülenists in the police. All the defendants were acquitted of those crimes in 2015. President Recep Tayyıp Erdoğan later admitted that he was misled by Gülen’s followers in the state. July 15 showed that it was actually the followers of Gülen who had violent coup plans.7. Daily Hürriyet Editor-in-Chief Sedat Ergin recently published an article affirming that the perpetrators of the coup were the military officers who had risen to critical positions which were vacated by the sham Sledgehammer trial. It is obvious that these cases served the purpose of undermining the power of Kemalists in the armed forces and replacing them with the Gülenists.8. Journalists who had written about the Gülen machinations in these trials endured slander campaigns and threats of arrests. Fellow journalists Barış Terkoğlu, Barış Pehlivan, Soner Yalçın, Nedim Şener and Ahmet Şık served time because of their work that showed Gülen’s infiltration into the state. Şık was writing a book on Gülen’s presence in the police force while Şener was investigating the links of Gülen’s disciples with the 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. Now Gülen-linked officers stand trial on the Dink murder case.9. Fethullah Gülen in his recent op-ed for the New York Times makes a reference to the AKP’s crackdown on Kurds. However, this sounds rather hypocritical. Many of us, including myself, criticized the AKP’s handling of the peace process. However, the Gülen movement was one of the main forces that worked actively to undermine the process. Their first strike was a mass arresting campaign against almost 8000 Kurdish activists, elected mayors, academics and journalists after 2009 known as the KCK (Kurdistan Communities Union) arrests. Prominent Kurdish politician Hatip Dicle acknowledged that “the mind that started the KCK operations was the Gülen movement’s elements in the police and judiciary… After we had won 100 mayorships from the 2009 local elections, they came up with the idea of these operations just to terrorize us.” The idea of the Gülen movement being the mastermind behind the KCK operations not only belongs to Kurds, as it was also confirmed by the AKP government. “It was the Gülen movement who had staged the KCK trials,” said Undersecretary of Public Security and Order Muhammed Dervisoğlu. The second strike was the leaking of the records of the Oslo talks, where the chief of National Intelligence Agency (MİT), Hakan Fidan, was negotiating with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Only the Gülenists within the security apparatus had the means to reach such confidential material and they were the ones who promoted them the most. The third strike was an attempt to detain Fidan and former directors of the organization on Feb. 7, 2012, because of those negotiations. This attempt was also backed by known Gülenists within the judiciary.10. The accusation that the coup attempt was led by Gülenist generals is not based on simple force of assertion. It is rather based on hard evidence that had unfortunately been dismissed for years. Ahmet Zeki Üçok, a military prosecutor, carried out a comprehensive investigation into the Gülenists in the armed forces in 2009. He discovered a large secret network within the army. He identified many members of this unlawful organization by their names. However, he could not complete his investigation as he was detained on the grounds that he tortured certain witnesses by “hypnotizing” them and also as part of the Sledgehammer case. He spent almost five years in prison. When he gave an interview to Ahmet Hakan last April he stated that he knew the Gülenists in the army name-by-name. Immediately after the botched coup attempt, he declared that the leaders of the coup matched perfectly the list that he had. Referring to the F-16s that bombed the Turkish parliament he recalled the words of now-retired Col. Selçuk Başyiğit in the court records: “We are now very strong. We have F-16s, F-4s that will take off with a single order of Fethullah Gülen.” Üçok’s findings were corroborated by many soldiers who fought against the coup attempt or by those soldiers who were the victims of the Sledgehammer case.11. Finally, all political parties in the parliament, the AKP, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) are in consensus in an unprecedented way that the coup attempt of July 15 was orchestrated by Gülenist soldiers. The testimonies of the perpetrators of the coup further prove this point. Chief of General Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar’s aide-de-camp confessed to links to Gülen and described how he had wiretapped former Chief of Armed Forces Necdet Ozel.Akar’s testimony also revealed that one of the masterminds of the coup, Maj. Gen. Hakan Evrim, told him that he could arrange a phone call with Gülen , whom he called their “intellectual leader,” on the night of the coupIn light of this information it would certainly be a huge mischaracterization to think of Gülen merely as a peaceful Islamic scholar and preacher. His followers in the armed forces waged a campaign of terror on the night of July 15 and Gülen’s role in it deserves everyone’s attention. | {
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Nii Ntreh is interested in academic philosophy with specific attention to moral, social and political topics. Having taught philosophy at the University of Cape Coast for a while, Nii finds in new media, a more potent way to reach many with his passion of breaking down complexities.
Mauritania says it is now coronavirus-free after officials of that country reportedly confirmed on Monday that all six active cases have recovered. A seventh person had earlier died.
This makes Mauritania the only country on the African continent to make that claim. The scarcely populated nation was also one of the few countries that reported single-digit COVID-19 cases.
Burundi, Sao Tome and Principe and South Sudan are among the countries with single digit cases.
Mauritania reported its first case on March 13. Since then, authorities say they are carrying out extensive testing amid a curfew intended to contain a spread.
Mauritania, like other African countries, face a dire challenge fighting the coronavirus because of poverty and political instability.
Last year, Mauritanians were left in bewilderment after the European Union donated 250 camels to the Sahelian country in a partnership quest to fight against Islamic fundamentalists in North and West Africa.
Africa on a whole, still lags behind the rest of the world in confirmed cases of the coronavirus. The continent’s 24,000 or so cases make it statistically the safest place.
The case count is accompanied by almost 1,200 deaths and over 6,000 recoveries.
But the continent’s battle has also been affected by disinformation and miseducation on the pandemic, sometimes from the highest placed and influential people.
Social media has been awash with theories that connect the coronavirus pandemic and 5G technology. In Africa, the theories have taken the form of Christian eschatology. The end times are here, so says some men of megachurches, and the devil is about to take over.
Chris Oyakhilome, the Nigerian leader of the Christ Embassy Church or LoveWorld Inc., has emerged as the continent’s most powerful evangelist of the theory of some sinister doing behind the pandemic. | {
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Pavel Durov has confirmed via Facebook that on a visit to the US, two guys (FBI) approached him to ask many obvious questions in a very persistent way.
In addition, he also claims that the NSA tried to recruit two Telegram developers as spies on a visit to Google I / O in San Francisco.
For all these reasons, Pavel says that he do not trust on the US -based encryption.
“If these corporations behave this way during a visit for a week, imagine what they can do if you’re always there.”
Follow us on Telegram Geeks Channel. | {
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Politicians are voted out of office, CEOs are booted out at the behest of nervous shareholders, and the manager of Gadzooks gets demoted after failing to move the SNAPE KILLS TWILIGHT T-shirts or whatever, so it shouldn't surprise us that head coaches of pro sports teams get fired on a regular basis.
Isn't this very nature of leadership strange, though? Your coach is your unquestioned superior. He decides what the team looks like, who starts, who sits, and which plays are run. He is the Supreme Leader. And yet, his job is far less secure than yours, and it's likely that you will remain on the team longer than he will -- even if you and your teammates carry more of the blame for losing than he does.
Sometimes, executive management grows so impatient that it fires a coach in the middle of a season. At a base level, I've always found this difficult to understand, because: a) clearly, if management is making a personnel change at head coach, it believes the head coach position to be important, and b) in most cases, management is hastily filling the role with an offensive coordinator or third base coach who has never served in such a role.
I understand that the decision to fire a coach mid-season is often a public relations move, made to broadcast the message to players and fans that executive management is not satisfied with losing. But to treat this coach, who manages the team both strategically and emotionally, as a pawn in a PR game? It's weird.
I got curious, so I decided to try and find out whether, from a win/loss perspective, firing a head coach halfway through the season is a good idea. First, I counted up all the mid-season firings this century.
I was careful not to count coaches who we know voluntarily resigned, such as Lou Piniella and Rudy Tomjanovich. Of course, sometimes "resigned" really means "forced out," so there were a few gray areas to sort out -- for example, I decided to include Stan Van Gundy, who technically resigned from the Heat, because some in the know suggest that he was indeed forced out by Pat Riley.
Here's a sport-by-sport rundown. I looked at, among other things, how the teams' winning percentages improved or declined after their coaches were fired. Most were a wash, as the numbers didn't vary in a significant way, or the change was made too early or late in the season for the numbers to say anything meaningful. A few, though, deviated enough for me to be able to call them "good firings" or "bad firings" strictly from an immediate win-loss perspective.
MLB
Baseball teams have, on the whole, benefited from their decisions to can their coaches mid-season. The difference in winning percentage is only .021, which, over the course of an entire season, means about 3.4 games. If the team's making the switch halfway through the season, of course, that's only one or two games. If you're in a tight playoff race, that's huge. If you're sitting around .450, like most of these teams were, that isn't nearly as significant.
So usually, a mid-season firing doesn't affect a team negatively in the win-loss department, and the team gets to make a PR statement. Not bad.
Good firings: 17
Bad firings: 5
A wash: 17
Best mid-season firing: After Clint Hurdle staggered to an 18-28 start in 2009, the Rockies dumped him in favor of Jim Tracy, who went 74-42 and led them to the playoffs.
Worst mid-season firing: Jimy Williams had his 2001 Red Sox well over .500, but thanks to an August slump and a rough relationship with general manager Dan Duquette, Boston fired him and replaced him with Joe Kerrigan. After inheriting a 65-53 record, Kerrigan's Red Sox went 17-26 and fell out of the playoff race.
NFL
Mid-season firings are relatively uncommon in the NFL. If an NFL team fires its head coach, it's a pretty sure bet that it wasn't going to the playoffs anyway, but on average, teams did win just a little bit more often. That might mean a difference between 4-12 and 6-10. That difference matters to fans.
Good firings: 3
Bad firings: 0
A wash: 17
Best mid-season firing: Wade Phillips enjoyed three winning seasons in Dallas, but the Cowboys started 1-7 in his fourth, and the Cowboys had no real choice but to fire him. Jason Garrett took the reins and went 5-3 the rest of the way to salvage some measure of respect for the team.
Worst mid-season firing: Honestly, almost no mid-season firings I found could be described as "bad firings," because by and large, the teams finished about as badly as they started. However, in 2000, Norv Turner led the Redskins to a 6-2 start before they dropped four of their next five. At 7-6, the Redskins dropped Turner in favor of Terry Robiskie. The team dropped two of its last three games and missed the playoffs.
NBA
Good firings: 19
Bad firings: 6
A wash: 15
That "good firings" number is important. On the whole, as you can see, a mid-season firing has had virtually zero impact on an NBA team's win-loss record. The thing is, I did find 19 "good firings," which should indicate to you that the bad firings must have been really bad firings. In several cases, would-be playoff teams sunk like rocks as soon as their coaches were fired.
Best mid-season firing: In just two years, Jeff Bzdelik turned the Nuggets from a perennial loser into a playoff team. He started his third year with a 13-15 record, at which point he lost his job. The move probably seemed premature to some fans, especially after the team dropped 10 of its next 14 under interim coach Michael Cooper. However, the Nuggets then landed veteran coach George Karl, who led Denver to a 32-8 record the rest of the way.
Worst mid-season firing: With a 20-20 record, the 2006-07 Timberwolves were showing significant improvement, but the team fired head coach Dwane Casey in only his second season. Randy Wittman took over and the team immediately sunk in the standings, going 12-30 the rest of the way. Wittman retained the head coaching job in 2007-08 and went 22-60. Strangely enough, he managed to keep his job into the 2008-09 season, and was finally fired after a 4-15 start.
NHL
Well, dang. Look at that. NHL teams are more willing to can their coaches mid-season than those in other leagues, and as it turns out, it looks like they're better at it, too. Of the 52 teams I counted, 15 actually ended up reaching the playoffs -- far more than I can say of MLB (four teams) or the NFL (zero). Of course, that's thanks in part to the NHL's inclusive playoff format, but said format simply underscores the importance between finishing at .475 and finishing at .525.
Good firings: 19
Bad firings: 4
A wash: 29
Best mid-season firing: Through two years and change under head coach Glen Hanlon, the Capitals were cellar-dwellers, and after a 6-14-1 start to the 2007-08 season, he was fired. Bruce Boudreau took the captain's chair, led the Caps to a 37-17-7 record the rest of the way, and transformed the team into a perennial playoff contender.
Worst mid-season firing: In 2004, the Phoenix Coyotes started 20-24-15-3 under Bobby Francis, at which point they fired him in favor of Rick Bowness. The Coyotes then took a nosedive, going 2-12-3-3 the rest of the way.
OVERALL
So there you go. After lumping together the numbers from every sport, we have an especially large sample size, and the data indicates that, by and large, teams are just a little better after firing a coach.
The difference between .428 and .450 almost never means anything if you're gunning for the playoffs, but it does mean something if you're trying to send a message to your players and fans, or if you're getting your affairs in order for the long-term future. There is, of course, such a thing as a terrible mid-season firing. But if you're making the decision with a level head, in terms of both short-term and long-term stability, it's probably a win-win.
So yeah, every team should fire every coach immediately. Go! NOW! | {
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Optimize ubuntu boot sequence by profiling it
While you are in grub menu highlight your preferred kernel version and press "e" .
. Highlight the line beginning with kernel and press "e" again. Press End key in order to goto end of that line.
again. Press in order to goto end of that line. Add a word "profile" without quotes to that line and press Enter .
without quotes to that line and press . Now press "b" to continue booting.
This one time special boot may take more time than ordinary boot. But during this boot ubuntu monitors file usage and preloads those files during subsequent boots.
prelink
Any executable that makes heavy use of shared libraries can benefit from prelinking. Prelinking resolves addresses of shared libraries in advance this reduces number of relocations.
Prelink is also useful in the context of security since we can tell prelink to make libraries load at random addresses until next run of prelink. This is useful since libraries won't load at fixed addresses on every system.
You can install prelink by issuing following command.
sudo apt-get -y install prelink
Change a line inside the configuration file /etc/default/prelink from
PRELINKING=unknown
PRELINKING=yes
sudo /etc/cron.daily/prelink
toWe will do our first prelinking by executing following command
Thats it you don't have to do anything else. Prelink daemon will run periodically to optimize your newly installed executables.
preload
Preload is a little application that monitors files of frequently used applications and and loads them in to the memory when system is idle. This usually results in lesser startup times for those applications. Install preload by executing following command.
sudo apt-get -y install preload
deborphan: Find orphan packages
After doing several installs and removes apt leaves lot of packages that are not needed anymore. You can find these packages using deborphan. Install deborphan by issuing following command.
sudo apt-get -y install deborphan
Now to see the list of packages which are not needed anymore just run following command.
deborphan
To remove these packages give following command.
sudo apt-get remove `deborphan`
To get full list of packages that are not essential for functioning of the system execute the following command.
deborphan --guess-all
This command will list data,dev and many other types packages that are not essential for system functioning. Please see man page of deborphan to find out more options.
localepurge
Remove locale information(language tables) of the applications that are not needed for you. localepurge maintains specified locales and removes the remaining. To install localepurge issue following command.
sudo apt-get -y install localepurge
During installation localepurge will ask you to select locales that you want to preserve. At this step select what you need and press OK. From now on localepurge will maintain only those locales which you selected during configuration step. | {
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For decades, auto shows were filled with concept-car unveilings complete with loud music, extravagant light shows and company executives (or paid celebrities) extolling the virtues of cars that would never make it to production. Usually the cars had huge growling gas engines that drowned whatever guitar wail or pop song a committee deemed most appropriate for the vehicle. This year the thunder of cylinders was replaced with the quiet drivetrains of EVs and hybrids as the industry pulled back the curtain on the biggest change to cars since the introduction of the automatic transmission.
Judging by the pledges made by automakers ahead of, and during, the Frankfurt auto show, by the end of the 2020s, it'll be tough to find a car that doesn't have some serious batteries in it. Mercedes says it'll have an electrified version of all its models by 2022. Its entire Smart subdivision will be entirely electric by 2020. Honda wants two thirds of its sales to be electrified in some way by the end of 2030, while Audi, Jaguar, Volvo and Volkswagen will all have a substantial proportion of their vehicles powered by electrons during the next decade. All of this is good news for drivers.
To help achieve their goals, automakers are already on the verge of unleashing new EVs. Honda's Urban EV Concept is expected in Europe in 2019. The Jaguar i-Pace will be available in the United States in 2018 to challenge Tesla's Model X as the dominant electric SUV.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen has been pushing its electric modular battery, MEB platform via the upcoming releases of its ID vehicles. The Buzz microbus is slated to be available in 2022 for fans of buses and nostalgia. The ID hatchback and Crozz crossover are slated to land in 2020.
A car is an investment. It's something that'll be around for years, and eventually, the oil under our feet will dry up. It might not happen for decades but there's no reason to expedite the process by continuing to power all our vehicles with gasoline. Plus, when it does happen, the last thing you're going to want is a car that runs on something that's incredibly scarce. Automakers are aware of this -- plus it helps that regulation can be a big motivator.
Both the UK and France plan to ban the sale fossil-fueled cars by 2040. Meanwhile China -- a huge market for automakers -- is considering its own ban on the sale of gas-powered cars. Automakers need to stay ahead of these trends in order to compete.
As for drivers, even if you don't care about the environment (and seriously, who doesn't care about the environment? It's where we live) the first time you feel the torque of an electric car, you're going to be hooked. It's also the opportunity to fundamentally change our relationship to the car and how we consume energy.
More and more automakers -- like Tesla and Honda -- are talking about the ability to sell electricity back to grid from their vehicles. For example: If you car's battery is already full, but the grid is in need to more power than it's currently generating, your car (along with others) can sell some back. If your car can earn you a bit of cash while in the garage, that's a plus. Also, as solar and battery technologies advance, there'll be opportunities to power not only your home but also your main source of transportation for less than you're paying today.
This will all most likely start for most of us in the 2020s. As customers, we'll have more car choices, which is always a good thing. Electric cars are going mainstream whether you like it or not, and if you're looking forward to eventually having a car that's silent, maybe saves you a few bucks and is actually fun to drive, start saving now because your next car might plug into your home instead of tapping into a gas pump. | {
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Хто сьогодні працює на шкоду державі 6 березня 2018, 17:13 Вы также можете прочесть этот материал на русском языке
За останній час країна змінилася. І як це часто буває: два кроки вперед, один назад
На численних зустрічах з міжнародними партнерами і представниками ЗМІ мене часто запитують, де останнім часом відбувається найпозитивніша динаміка реформ. І від яких груп реформаторів варто очікувати позитивних результатів. Пропрацювавши рівно 500 днів в уряді, з упевненістю можу сказати, що один в полі не воїн і ставку потрібно робити на команди реформаторів, однодумців, агентів змін.
Я можу виділити шість команд реформаторів, які на сьогоднішній день вже досягли значних успіхів:
1) Коболєв, Вітренко & Co з Нафтогазу, включаючи новий менеджмент в "Укргазвидобування" на чолі з Прохоренко, які в минулому році показали рекордну кількість видобутку газу. Тут же і перемоги в Стокгольмському арбітражі і створення першої, реально незалежної ради директорів державної компанії.
2) Команда прем'єр-міністра Володимира Гройсмана, де сьогодні працюють і кілька моїх колишніх колег. Я підтримую те, що він робить. Це, перш за все, ціла низка ініціатив щодо поліпшення інвестклімату в країні, це і #маскішоустоп, і своєчасне повернення експортного ПДВ, прийняття закону про приватизацію. І це, звичайно, успішна децентралізація, і будівництво доріг.
3) Звичайно, команда Уляни Супрун. Це і медична реформа, і серйозна економія при закупівлі ліків за допомогою міжнародних організацій.
4) Міністр фінансів Олександр Данилюк і його заступники. Велика подяка від бізнесу за вищевказане повернення ПДВ, яке вперше в історії країни повертається в повному обсязі, вчасно і без корупційної складової. Також варто відзначити успішне розміщення єврооблігацій на зовнішніх ринках.
5) НАБУ. Їх критикують, їх прессингують, їм заважають, але вони залишаються надією, що хороші хлопці врешті все одно отримають перемогу.
6) Колектив Нацбанку, який провів серйозну внутрішню реформацію структури і очистив банківську систему від колосальної корупції. Як результат, вітчизняні експортні компанії можуть запозичувати у валюті за 5% річних і нижче. Такого в історії українського бізнесу ще не було.
Звичайно, список реформаторів цим не закінчується. Але досягнення інших держкомпаній, окремо взятих міністерств є менш системними, мають точковий характер і часто спостерігається негативна траєкторія кадрової політики.
Завдяки багатьом вищевказаним ініціативам і стабілізації макроекономічної ситуації спостерігаємо ранню стадію економічного зростання. Воно недостатнє, воно розчаровує. При цьому бізнес дивиться на 2018 рік з надією. Згідно з останнім опитуванням членів СУП (Союзу українських підприємців), 89,7% респондентів планують збільшення обсягу реалізації, при тому, що рівно 0% планують зменшення бізнесу.
Очевидною причиною відсутності більш стрімкого економічного зростання є відсутність якісних змін у судовій системі і структурах правоохоронних органів. Нічого хорошого там зараз не відбувається. З депутатів знімають електронні браслети. Суддя, який давав хабара Холодницькому, не за гратами, а продовжує працювати. Це жах! Жодних позитивних результатів в роботі ГПУ, СБУ і МВС.
Всі ці нереформовані інститути повинні залишити бізнес у спокої і займатися антитероризмом, контррозвідкою й іншими важливими справами.
У зв'язку з цим я дуже чекаю на створення бюро фінансових розслідувань та появу антикорупційного суду. І останній повинен бути обов'язково незалежним, адже ми пам'ятаємо історію зі створенням НАПКА. На перший погляд, ця ініціатива була дуже хорошою. Але потім суспільство переконалося, що цей орган не став незалежним. Звідси і негативні результати.
Недооцінювати шкоду, що корупція завдає іміджу країни, інвестиційному клімату, рівню життя є великою помилкою. Згідно з останнім опитуванням Американської торгової палати в Україні, 89% респондентів вважають, що боротьба з корупцією повинна бути пріоритетом номер один для влади. 96% вважають, що корупція в нашій країні сильно поширена.
Тому геть очевидно, що створювати Антикорупційний суд потрібно в зовсім в інших умовах: щоб ні президент, ні парламент, ні якісь фінансово-промислові групи не могли впливати на його діяльність. Як це забезпечити? Тільки шляхом обрання суддів через незалежний конкурс. Якби таке призначення залежало від мене, я б без сумніву запросив на цю посаду якогось іноземця. Свого часу в інших корумпованих країнах так і робили. Наприклад, Гватемала залучала іспанців. Є великий вибір: є люди з діаспори, є шановні, успішні українці, що працюють в юридичній сфері за кордоном, є іноземні фахівці готові допомогти перемогти гідру корупції.
Без допомоги міжнародних партнерів не обійтися. І вони повинні стати не радниками, а безпосередніми учасниками цього процесу.
І в жодному разі створення реально незалежного Антикорупційного суду не зазіхає на суверенітет країни. А ось корупція і відсутність політичної волі в боротьбі з нею дуже серйозно підриває підвалини суверенітету нашої країни.
Приєднуйтесь до нашого телеграм-каналу Думки Нового Часу | {
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Will a longtime friend of Marco Rubio’s compromise his larger ambitions?
On April 19, Republican Senator Marco Rubio appeared at a policy breakfast in Washington. The ostensible topic was his proposal for a Republican alternative to the DREAM Act, but it wasn’t long before the conversation drifted to vice presidential talk. Since the start of the Republican primary, Rubio has been named at the top of nearly every short list of likely running mates—and for good reason. He is young, charismatic, and popular with both the Tea Party and the GOP establishment. He has a reputation for being serious about policy. He is a Hispanic in a party that badly needs to do better with Hispanic voters. And it hardly hurts that his home state is Florida.
Of course, when the inevitable question arose, Rubio declared in his surprisingly youthful voice, “I don’t want to be the vice president right now.” Was it because he was too inexperienced, the interviewer asked? Rubio, a lively speaker with a canny sense of comic timing, said no. “I’m older than I look,” he explained. “I’ll be forty-one this year, but I feel forty-two.” Later, he said: “Three, four, five, six, seven years from now, if I do a good job as vice president—I’m sorry—if I do a good job as a senator ...I’ll have the chance to do all sorts of things.” The gaffe was striking not least because it was a rare moment in which Rubio seemed to be caught off-balance. But Rubio was adamant that he wasn’t angling to be on the presidential ticket. “I think the Senate is a very valid place to shape and drive American policy, foreign policy, which I enjoy deeply,” he said. “If I were running for vice president, I would have to answer questions about my dog.”
All of these coy denials only seemed to heighten Republican interest. And, in the following days, Rubio did all the things one would expect of someone who wanted to be vice president: He gave a well-received foreign policy speech at the Brookings Institution and appeared with Mitt Romney, by that point the all-but-certain nominee, at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. But, in the midst of this media blitz, there was one bit of news that didn’t quite fit: Politico reported that Rubio was planning to hold a fund-raiser at an upscale Capitol Hill restaurant for a Florida congressman named David Rivera.
Given that conservative excitement over Rubio was approaching fever pitch, it was a strange move indeed. For a year and a half, Rivera had been under criminal investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Miami-Dade Office of the State Attorney. In September, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington had named him one of the 19 most corrupt members of Congress. Rivera, in short, was not the kind of person for whom someone auditioning to be vice president would want to hold a fund-raiser.
But Rivera also happens to be Marco Rubio’s closest friend in politics. And, during the course of their friendship of 20 years, he has been instrumental in Rubio’s rapid rise from West Miami commissioner to U.S. senator. A Republican colleague in the Florida House describes their relationship as “one step below blood.” As a result, if Rubio makes it on to the Republican ticket, questions about his dog may be the least of his problems. | {
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On Being Stoned Charles T. Tart, Ph. D. Chapter 24. Levels of Intoxication
THIS CHAPTER will summarize the data on minimal levels of intoxication for the various effects of marijuana intoxication. The first three sections will deal with overall views of the material, and the final section will present a detailed summary of all effects by minimal level of intoxication. THE MINIMAL LEVEL MODEL AND TOTAL EFFECTS The basic model of marijuana intoxication effects, discussed at length in Chapter 2, assumed that any given effect became available for the user to experience once he was intoxicated to some certain minimal degree and when the variables other than level of intoxication assumed necessary configurations. Above this minimal level, the model assumes that the effect is always available as long as the other variables maintain the necessary configurations.
Examination of the present data, combined with interviews with informants, has convinced me that this model is valid for the vast majority of the effects presented. In a few cases, however, it seems that at some level higher than the minimal level the effect may no longer be available. Ease of reading is an example; at the low levels of intoxication an increased fluency of reading may be experienced, but this drops out above the Moderate level and is replaced by reading difficulty (Chapter 15). Figure 24-1. CUMULATIVE DISTRIBUTIONS:
TYPES OF EFFECTS BY MINIMAL
LEVELS OF INTOXICATION
Further discussions will assume the general validity of the minimal level model unless otherwise noted.
An important consequence of the minimal level model is that the nature of the marijuana experience at any one time becomes more variable at higher levels of intoxication. That is, at higher levels of intoxication more and more effects are potentially available. In terms of experimental studies of intoxication, this means that non-drug variables (personality, set and setting, etc.) become increasingly important at high doses.
This is illustrated in Figure 24-1, a plot of the cumulative distributions of various types of effects by the minimal level of intoxication presented earlier for each individual effect.
At the Just to Fair levels, only five effects are available; by the time the Maximum level is reached, over two hundred effects are potentially available.
Looking at types of effects, we see that Characteristic Effects almost all become available by the Fairly/Strongly level, Common Effects by the Strongly/Very Strongly level, Infrequent Effects by the Very Strongly level, and Rare Effects at the Very Strongly/Maximum level. Thus the experiences of a user who is mildly intoxicated are fairly predictable from this knowledge of level alone, but predictability drops off rapidly with increasing level.
LEVELS OF INTOXICATION AND CHARACTERISTIC EFFECTS The 30 effects rated as occurring so frequently they were called characteristic (at least 50 percent of users rated them Very Often or Usually) are ordered by minimal level of intoxication in Figure 24-2. They range from the lowest level, Just/Fairly,[1] up to the Very Strongly level. Most characteristic effects begin at the Fairly and Fairly/Strongly levels.
Characteristic effects come as close as we can presently get to indicating what the "pure drug effects" of marijuana might be. That is, because they occur so commonly, either they must result from very powerful effects of the drug that manifest regardless of other determining factors, or the necessary configuration of non-drug factors on which they depend for manifestation is extremely common within our culture. To some extent, then, Figure 24-2 represents the relationship of relatively "pure drug effects" to level of intoxication. FIGURE 24-2. LEVELS OF INTOXICATION, CHARACTERISTIC EFFECTS Just Fairly Strongly Very
Strongly Maximum Type size code:
MOST CHARACTERISTIC
VERY CHARACTERISTIC
CHARACTERISTIC FORGET START OF CONVERSATION NEW QUALITIES TO SEXUAL ORGASM EASILY SIDETRACKED MORE HERE-AND-NOW SEE PATTERNS IN NORMALLY AMBIGUOUS VISUAL MATERIAL TIME PASSES MORE SLOWLY DISTANCE IN WALKING CHANGED SPONTANEOUS INSIGHTS ABOUT SELF MORE CHILDLIKE, OPEN TO EXPERIENCE DIFFICULT TO READ PHYSICALLY RELAXED NEW QUALITIES TO TOUCH MOVEMENT EXCEPTIONALLY SMOOTH WHEN DANCING TOUCH MORE EXCITING, SENSUAL GREATER SPATIAL SEPARATION BETWEEN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS DEEP INSIGHTS INTO OTHERS VISUAL IMAGERY MORE INTENSE APPRECIATE VERY SUBTLE HUMOR HARD TO PLAY ORDINARY SOCIAL GAMES LESS NOISY AT PARTIES THAN WHEN STRAIGHT LESS NEED TO FEEL IN CONTROL OF THINGS MORE TOLERANT OF CONTRADICTIONS INVARIABLY FEEL GOOD FROM TURNING ON TASTE SENSATIONS HAVE NEW QUALITIES EASY TO GET TO SLEEP AT BEDTIME..?.?.?.* UNDERSTAND WORDS OF SONGS BETTER ENJOY EATING A LOT LESS NOISY AT PARTIES THAN WHEN TIPSY OR DRUNK NEW, SUBTLE QUALITIES TO SOUNDS CAN COME DOWN AT WILL Just Fairly Strongly Very
Strongly Maximum *There is some question whether this effect is available at all levels above the minimal one.
Marijuana users usually test the quality of the marijuana they are buying. This is done either by smoking a fixed amount of it and rating the level of intoxication reached or by smoking until a desired level of intoxication is reached and noting how much marijuana was required. While each marijuana user probably has certain idiosyncratic effects he uses to judge how intoxicated he is, some of the characteristic effects presented in Figure 24-2 probably function commonly as a guide to level and thus to the potency of the marijuana.
Because so few characteristic effects have a minimal level above the Strong level, Figure 24-2 does not provide useful information about what else, in addition to these characteristic effects, may occur at the higher levels of intoxication. Such data is found in the final two sections of this chapter. LEVELS OF INTOXICATION AND TYPES OF EFFECTS To determine what sorts of effects may begin to occur at each of the eight levels of intoxications distinguished in this study, one could tabulate the effects beginning for each level, and this has been done in the next section. This is a cumbersome procedure, however, and it also tends to overwhelm the general reader with material, even if very useful for the researcher.
I have condensed most of the effects reported on earlier into sixteen general categories, explained below. I then determined the minimal level of intoxication where at least 50 percent of the effects in the category had begun.[2] These categories and their average minimal levels are plotted in Figure 24-3. No attempt was made to include frequency of occurrence information in this graph, as was done in earlier graphs of this sort. FIGURE 24-3. TYPES OF EFFECTS AND MINIMAL LEVEL OF INTOXICATION Just Fairly Strongly Very
Strongly Maximum NAUSEA MYSTICAL & PARANORMAL EXPERIENCES IDENTITY CHANGES LOSS OF CONTACT MEMORY ALTERATIONS INTERNAL BODY AWARENESS DRIFTING, LOSS OF CONTROL, INEFFICIENCY INTENSIFIED IMAGERY, FANTASY, HALLUCINATIONS SPACE TIME ALTERATIONS AFTEREFFECTS INSIGHTS INTO SELF AND ALTERATIONS IN COGNITIVE PROCESSES FOCUSING, CENTERING, EFFICIENCY.?.?.* GREATER SENSITIVITY AND SUBTLETY IN INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS SENSORY ENHANCEMENT RELAXING, QUIETING, OPENING RESTLESSNESS Just Fairly Strongly Very
Strongly Maximum *There is some question whether this effect is available at all levels above the minimal one.
Restlessness includes six effects[3] indicating restlessness, a desire to move about to do things. Comments by informants indicated that these types of effects probably do not fit the minimal level model; i.e., restlessness is often a transitory phenomenon of the very low levels of intoxication and is replaced by relaxation and lethargy as soon as the user becomes more intoxicated. This is indicated by the use of question marks on the graph.
Relaxing, quieting, opening includes 52 effects indicating feeling physically relaxed, content, open to whatever happens, less striving, less active.
Sensory enhancement includes 72 items dealing with new, enhanced, or more subtle qualities of sensory perceptions of the external world.
Greater sensitivity and subtlety in interpersonal relationships includes 26 items dealing with feelings of insights into others, increased empathy with them, and the ability to interact in very subtle and sensitive ways, to play subtle "games" Focusing, centering, efficiency includes 28 items dealing with focusing more clearly on tasks at hand, being more here-and-now, being centered in oneself in a situation rather than pulled off balance, and feeling more capable and efficient at tasks. This is another category of effects that probably does not fit the minimal level model in all respects, with feelings of inefficiency being more likely at the higher levels of intoxication.
Insights into self and alteration of cognitive processes includes 32 items dealing with heightened awareness of one's mental processes and one's personality characteristics, often including the awareness of alteration in functioning of these processes.
Aftereffects includes some 14 effects occurring the day following a session of marijuana intoxication, without regard as to whether these are desirable or undesirable. Space/time alterations includes 37 effects dealing with changes in perception of space, spatial relationships, and time.
Intensified imagery, fantasy, hallucinations includes 41 effects indicating greatly intensified imagery in all sensory modalities, intensified and more absorbing fantasy activity, synesthesia, and visual hallucination.
Drifting, loss of control, inefficiency includes 36 effects reflecting an inability to concentrate, to perform tasks well, or to recall desired memories.
Internal body awareness includes 65 effects dealing with enhanced awareness of sensations and processes inside one's body.
Memory alterations includes some 19 effects concerned with false memories, deja vu, alterations in memory retrieval, state-specific memory, and the like. Simple worsening or bettering of recall has been included in the inefficiency or efficiency categories above.
Loss of contact includes 29 effects dealing with loss of contact with the external environment or one's own body, often resulting from absorption in internal activities.
Identity changes includes 9 effects dealing with temporary changes in personality, archetypal qualities to events, and changes in the relationship of self-concept to the body.
Mystical and paranormal experiences includes 12 effects dealing with spiritual experiences and ostensibly paranormal effects such as telepathy.
Nausea includes 2 effects dealing with the feeling of nausea and actual vomiting. Considering the relation of types of effects to minimal level of intoxication as a whole, then, we see the following:
At the lowest levels there may be a mild restlessness, but this is replaced with relaxation, calmness, and quieting at only slightly higher levels. Sensory enhancement begins at low levels, coupled with feelings of being centered and efficient. While this sensory enhancement persists through all levels, feelings of efficiency may be replaced by those of inefficiency, inability to concentrate on a task, at Strong levels.
The Fairly/Strongly level also is characterized with feelings of insight into one's own and others' psychological processes, so that both thought and social interaction seem very subtle, clever, and different. Some aftereffects the next day follow intoxication at the Fairly/Strongly level, increasingly so at the very high levels.
At the Strong level major alterations in the perception of space and time may occur, and the user can become very absorbed in an inner world of thought, fantasy, and intensified bodily sensations, although social interaction is still easily possible.
At the Strongly/Very Strongly level and higher, memory is altered in its functioning, and the user may become so absorbed in inner experience that he temporarily loses contact with his own body and/or the
environment. Mystical and ostensibly paranormal experiences sometimes occur.
Nausea and vomiting (both rare effects) may occur at the maximal level. LEVELS OF INTOXICATION: DETAILED DATA The following table presents all the effects of the present study classified by the average minimal level of intoxication. Within the table, the effects are ordered by the arithmetic mean of intoxication level ratings, with the effect having the lowest mean at the bottom.
Frequency data are given by type style in the usual convention; i.e., characteristic effects in boldface, infrequent effects in small caps, and rare effects in lower case. The question number of each effect is also given after the item as an aid to the reader. TABLE 24-1
EFFECTS BY MINIMAL LEVEL OF INTOXICATION Effects Beginning at the Just/Fairly Level: HIGHER PEOPLE GET ME HIGHER (Q121)
LESS NOISY AT PARTIES THAN WHEN DRUNK (Q110)
REMEMBER MORE OF WHAT IS READ (Q20)
HEAR MORE SUBTLE CHANGES IN SOUNDS (Q24)
EASIER TO READ THAN WHEN STRAIGHT (Q19)
Effects Beginning at the Fairly Level: LEARN A LOT ABOUT PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES (Q138)
Invariably feel bad when intoxicated (Q166)
Colors get duller (Q2)
HARD TO PLAY ORDINARY SOCIAL GAMES (Q106)
CONTOURS GET SHARPER (Q10)
LESS NOISY AT PARTIES THAN WHEN STRAIGHT (Q109)
EASIER TO ACCEPT WHATEVER HAPPENS, LESS NEED TO CONTROL (Q170)
EASIER TO ACCEPT CONTRADICTIONS (Q137)
CRAVE SWEET THINGS TO EAT (Q46)
REMEMBER LESS OF WHAT IS READ (Q21)
TALK A LOT MORE THAN WHEN STRAIGHT (Q117)
WORK AT TASKS WITH EXTRA ENERGY AND ABSORPTION (QI79)
INVARIABLY FEEL GOOD WHEN INTOXICATED (Q165)
NEW QUALITIES TO TASTE (Q39)
FEEL THE WORLD IS IN BAD SHAPE (Q215)
EASY TO GO TO SLEEP AT BEDTIME (Q197)
UNDERSTAND THE WORDS OF SONGS BETTER (Q25)
MORE SOCIABLE (Ql15)
ENJOY EATING AND EAT A LOT (Q44)
Effects Beginning at the Fairly/Strongly Level: DISTANCES SEEM GREATER (Q52)
MEMORY FOR OTHERWISE FORGOTTEN EVENTS IS WORSE (Q152)
SEE PATTERNS, FORMS IN OTHERWISE AMBIGUOUS VISUAL MATERIAL (Q13)
TIME PASSES MORE SLOWLY (Q58)
LESS SOCIABLE (Q116)
PICTURES ACQUIRE A THIRD DIMENSION OF DEPTH (Q4)
STRONGLY INFLUENCED BY COMPANIONS (Q120)
TALK A LOT LESS (Q118)
DISTANCES IN WALKING CHANGED (Q51)
SPONTANEOUSLY HAVE INSIGHTS ABOUT MYSELF (Q139)
WORK ON TASKS LESS ACCURATELY, JUDGED BY LATER EVALUATION (Ql44)
INHIBITIONS LOWERED (Ql73)
SMELL HAS NEW QUALITIES (Q47)
VISUAL IMAGES AUTOMATICALLY ACCOMPANY THINKING (Ql48)
SMELLS RICHER, MORE UNIQUE (Q48)
THINK IN A MORE INTUITIVE FASHION (Ql49)
SURFACES SEEM ROUGHER, FORM INTERESTING PATTERNS (Q34)
BETTER PERSON TO MAKE LOVE WITH WHEN STONED (Ql27)
PLEASANT, WARM TINGLING INSIDE BODY (Q81)
DREAMS MORE VIVID (Q201)
PAIN MORE INTENSE IF CONCENTRATED ON (Q89)
MORE INVOLVED IN ORDINARY TASKS (Q217)
OBJECTS SEEM HEAVIER (Q35)
FEEL MORE CHILDLIKE, OPEN TO EXPERIENCE (Q207)
CLOSER MENTAL CONTACT WITH PARTNER WHEN MAKING LOVE (Ql25)
MORE DIFFICULT TO READ (Q18)
PLAY CHILDISH GAMES (Q105)
FEEL THE WORLD IS IN GOOD SHAPE (Q214)
PHYSICALLY RELAXED (Q99)
IDEAS MORE ORIGINAL, CREATIVE THAN WHEN STRAIGHT (Q145)
INSIGHTS ABOUT MYSELF IF I DELIBERATELY TRY TO HAVE THEM (Q14O)
MEMORY FOR OTHERWISE FORGOTTEN EVENTS BETTER (Q151)
MOVEMENTS VERY SMOOTH, COORDINATED (Q100)
NEW QUALITIES TO TOUCH (Q31)
COMPULSIVE DESIRE TO GET HIGHER (Q176)
SURFACES FEEL SMOOTHER, SILKIER (Q33)
FEEL EMOTIONS MORE WEAKLY (Q162)
EVENTS AND THOUGHTS FLOW MORE SMOOTHLY (Q61)
TOUCH MORE EXCITING, SENSUAL (Q32)
DREAMS LESS VIVID (Q202)
NEED FOR SEX GOES UP (Ql22)
GOOD MEMORY FOR PERIOD OF INTOXICATION (Ql58)
GET PHYSICALLY RESTLESS, WANT TO MOVE AROUND (Q98)
GREATER SEPARATION BETWEEN INSTRUMENTS WHEN LISTENING TO STEREO (Q29)
EMPATHIZE STRONGLY WITH OTHERS (Qll4)
FEELS AS IF MIND IS WORKING MORE EFFICIENTLY (Ql41)
VIVID TASTE IMAGERY (Q45)
DEEP INSIGHTS INTO OTHERS (Q113)
SAY MORE PROFOUND THINGS (Q111)
AUDITORY IMAGERY MORE VIVID (Q27)
VISUAL IMAGERY MORE VIVID (Q8)
APPRECIATE MORE SUBTLE HUMOR (Q146)
MOOD BEFORE INTOXICATION AMPLIFIED BY INTOXICATION (Ql60)
PLAY VERY ELABORATE GAMES (Ql47)
WORK ON TASKS MORE ACCURATELY, JUDGED BY LATER EVALUATION (Q143)
NEW COLORS, SHADES OF COLOR (Q1)
SALIVATE A LOT (Q42)
MARKED INCREASE IN SEXUAL DESIRE IF SITUATION IS APPROPRIATE (Ql24)
GROUP TAKES ON A SENSE OF UNITY WHEN STONED (Qll2)
SLEEP MORE REFRESHING THAN USUAL (Ql99)
MORE VISUAL IMAGERY WHILE READING (Q22)
RETASTE FOOD WHEN BELCHING (Q43)
Effects Beginning at the Strongly Level: BODY FEELS LIGHT, FLOATY (Q79)
BODY FEELS HEAVY (Q80)
LOSE AWARENESS OF BODY UNLESS STRONG STIMULUS OCCURS(Q70)
VISUAL DEPTH MAGNIFIED (Q14)
SPACE BECOMES AN AUDITORY SPACE (Q30)
Others seem dead, lifeless (Q119)
POOR MEMORY FOR PERIOD OF INTOXICATION (Ql59)
DEJA VU (Q63)
FEELS AS IF MIND IS WORKING LESS EFFICIENTLY (Ql42)
LONG TIME DELAY BETWEEN CHEWING AND TASTING (Q41)
Less desire for sex (Q123)
VIVID TACTUAL IMAGERY (Q37)
EVENTS AND THOUGHTS FOLLOW JERKILY (Q62)
SKIP INTERMEDIATE STEPS IN PROBLEM SOLVING (Ql33)
TIME PASSES MORE RAPIDLY (Q59)
VERY AWARE OF BREATHING (Q73)
SOUND OF OWN VOICE CHANGES (Q28)
FOCUSED SIGHTS VERY REAL, OTHERS DIMVISUAL CENTRALITY (Ql2)
World looks flat, lacks depth (Q5)
MOVEMENTS AWKWARD (Q 101)
DROWSY EARLY IN EVENING (Ql98)
FEEL WEAKER (Q96)
DISTANCES SEEM SHORTER (Q53)
FEEL UNIQUE, NO ONE IS LIKE ME (Q188)
THINGS IN PERIPHERY LOOK DIFFERENT (Q9)
AWARE OF HEART BEATING (Q92)
FEEL STRONGER (Q95)
SPONTANEOUSLY REMEMBER THINGS LONG FORGOTTEN (Q150)
LESS AWARE OF BODILY COMPONENTS OF EMOTION (Q164)
VIVID SMELL IMAGERY (Q50)
NEW QUALITIES TO TEMPERATURE (Q38)
PAIN EASY TO TOLERATE IF ATTENTION DIVERTED (Q88)
GIVE LESS THOUGHT TO CONSEQUENCES OF ACTIONS (Ql31)
FEEL VERY POWERFUL. CAPABLE (Ql90)
NEW QUALITIES TO SEXUAL ORGASM (Q128)
OBJECTS SEEM LIGHTER (Q36)
CAN MEDITATE MORE EFFECTIVELY (Ql93)
EASILY SIDETRACKED, FORGET TO FINISH TASKS (Q175)
MORE HERE-AND-NOW (Q136)
GIGGLE A LOT (Ql74)
NEW MEANING TO COMMONPLACE SAYING, EVENTS (Ql35)
FEEL EMOTIONS MORE STRONGLY (Q161)
EXCELLENT CONTROL OF FANTASIES (Ql78)
MORE AWARE OF BODILY COMPONENTS OF EMOTION (Ql63)
Effects Beginning at the Strongly/Very Strongly Level: SPACE TAKES ON A SOLID QUALITY (Q56)
AWARE OF INTERNAL ORGANS NORMALLY UNAWARE OF (Q75)
FORGET START OF SENTENCE (Q154)
LOSE SENSE OF SEPARATE SELF, AT ONE WITH WORLD (Q189)
MUSCLES DEVELOP A TREMOR (Q86)
PERSONALITY CHANGES A LOT WHILE STONED (Q185)
IN TOUCH WITH A HIGHER POWER (Q177)
POOR CONTROL OF FANTASIES (Q177)
LOCATION OF CONSCIOUSNESS IN BODY SHIFTS (Q77)
SO ABSORBED IN FANTASY THAT ATTENTION MUST BE GOTTEN FORCIBLY (Q129)
VISION BLURRY (Q11)
CAN'T THINK CLEARLY, THOUGHTS SLIP AWAY BEFORE GRASPED (Q134)
EVENTS BECOME ARCHETYPAL (Q191)
INNER VISIONS AS REAL AS NOCTURNAL DREAMS (Q218)
THINK I'VE SAID SOMETHING WHEN I'VE ONLY THOUGHT ABOUT IT (Ql56)
THINGS GET NEAR OR FURTHER AS I LOOK AT THEMDEPTH JIGGLE (Q15)
VIBRATION OR TINGLING IN BODY, NOT PHYSICAL TREMOR (Q85)
VERY AWARE OF INTERNAL ORGANS WHILE DEFECATING OR URINATING (Q78)
BODY FEELS LARGER (Q90)
BODY FEELS SMALLER (Q91)
Sleep poor and restless (Q200)
POWER, FORCE, ENERGY SENSATIONS IN BODY (Q82)
FEEL ISOLATED FROM THINGS AROUND ME (Q107)
CAN CONVERSE INTELLIGENTLY DESPITE SHORTENED MEMORY SPAN (Q155)
Smell sensations broken into components (Q49)
FORGET START OF CONVERSATION (Q153)
FINISH PHYSICAL TASK EVEN THOUGH MENTALLY LOST TRACK OF (Q130)
BODY PART ATTENDED TO STANDS OUT MUCH MORE (Q71)
SENSUAL QUALITY TO VISION (Q3)
FEEL ISOLATED FROM PARTNER WHILE MAKING LOVE (Q126)
OTHERS HAVEN'T NOTICED I'M STONED (Q212)
FEEL PARANOID, SUSPICIOUS ABOUT OTHERS WITH ME (Q108)
So AWARE OF PEOPLE'S THOUGHTS IT MUST BE TELEPATHY (Q65)
TASTE SENSATIONS DIVIDED INTO COMPONENTS (Q40)
Effects Beginning at the Very Strongly Level: CAN'T COME DOWN QUICKLY ABOVE THIS LEVEL (Q205)
BODY NUMB (Q76)
GET SO LOST IN FANTASY IT TAKES A WHILE TO REORIENT AFTER (Q55)
ANOTHER PERSON'S FACE WILL CHANGE AS I WATCH IT (Q16)
CAN COME DOWN AT WILL IF NECESSARY (Q184)
OBJECTS VIBRATE OR PULSE AS IF THEY HAD A LIFE OF THEIR OWN (Q 17)
Parts of body have moved by themselves (Q182)
SENSE OF BALANCE ERRATIC (Q103)
Tremble a lot in hands after having been stoned (Q102)
HARD TO GET ORGANIZED NEXT DAY (Q209)
Can perform magical operations to affect things or people (Q68)
AURAS AROUND OBJECTS (Q7)
INNER TRIPS, FANTASIES AS REAL AS REALITY (Q208)
Possessed by a good force (Q181)
LOSE CONTROL OVER THOUGHTS (Q183)
OTHERS HAVE NOTICED I ACT DIFFERENTLY WHEN STONED (Q211)
PROLONGED BLANK PERIODS (Q219)
FELT SHAPE OF BODY DOESN'T CORRESPOND TO ACTUAL FORM (Q69)
SYNESTHESIA: SOUNDS HAVE VISUAL IMAGES ASSOCIATED (Q216)
Worry about losing control (Q171)
Aware of energy flowing in spine (Q83)
THINK SOMETHING IS A MEMORY THAT TURNS OUT TO BE A FANTASY (Q157)
DIFFICULT TO GET TO SLEEP AT BEDTIME (Q196)
Do antisocial things that hurt others (Q172)
Precognition, able to foretell future (Q66)
Effects Beginning at the Very Strongly/Maximum Level: Possessed by an evil force (Q180)
MERGE WITH OBJECT OR PERSON CONTEMPLATED (Q186)
HAVE LOST ALL CONSCIOUSNESS OF BODY DURING FANTASY TRIPS (Q94)
TIME SEEMS TO STOP (Q60)
AURAS AROUND PEOPLE (Q6)
HALLUCINATIONS (Q23)
Aware of chakra centers along spine (Q84)
Sounds are blurry, indistinct (Q26)
Effects Beginning at the Maximum Level: Felt nauseated and vomited (Q210)
Felt dizzy or nauseated (Q74)
LOST ALL CONSCIOUSNESS OF BODY, FLOATED IN LIMITLESS SPACE (Q93) Footnotes 1. No effect was commonly rated as beginning at the Just level. (back)
2. I shall not present the methods for this tabulation in any detail, as it involved a good deal of my personal judgment, and I am not certain others would classify individual effects the same way. Figure 24-3 is offered more as a suggestion to research than as a final account. (back)
3. Note that the number of times constituting a given category has no necessary relation to the commonness of such effects; it was determined by the construction of the questionnaire. (back) Chapter 25 Contents | Feedback | Search | DRCNet Library | Schaffer Library The Psychedelic Library | Book Menu | Table of Contents | {
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The EOS network has barely processed its first blocks, but one blockchain researcher is already predicting that an as-yet-undiscovered vulnerability in the nascent cryptocurrency’s codebase will lead to a “massive exchange hack” within the near future.
Writing on Twitter, Cornell professor Emin Gün Sirer forecasted his belief that EOS, which launched last week following a yearlong crowdsale that raised more than $4 billion, will be the root cause of a significant cryptocurrency exchange hack at some point during the next calendar year.
“I’m calling it: there will be a massive exchange hack within the next year, taking advantage of an EOS vulnerability. That exchange will lose its hot wallet.”
“If EOS uses its arbitrators to reverse the hack, the contagion will spread downstream,” he added. There will be threats of lawsuits involving the devs and the [block producers].”
While clarifying that this prediction is not based on any specific vulnerability he has identified or believes lies hidden within the EOS source code, he argued that such an exploit is likely inevitable given the way developers “handle safety critical bugs.”
#blockchain #technology #coin #coinmarketcap #cryptocurrency #crypto #cryptonews94 #bitcoin #btc #eos #news #post #follow #altcoins #altcoin #wallet #hacking
from CryptoNews https://ift.tt/2ykpCSJvia IFTTT | {
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During the runup to the election last fall, a vocal group of economists warned that a surprise win by Donald Trump would send financial markets into a tailspin. Instead, the opposite happened: After initially tumbling as the results came in on election night, markets surged the day after, and have risen steadily ever since.
Until today, that is. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down more than 120 points, making for its worst day since the election. The broader S&P 500 and the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite were down sharply as well. (Markets rebounded a bit near the end of the trading day.) To be clear, the declines stopped well short of what most investors would consider a “crash,” but they were enough that many market-watchers are predicting the end of the post-election “Trump rally.”
So what happened? Explaining market behavior is a fool’s game. But at risk of being proven a fool, let me offer a theory: Investors are waking up to the fact that they need to take Trump literally, not just seriously.
Regular FiveThirtyEight readers are already familiar with this literally/seriously construct — my colleague (er, boss) Nate Silver wrote about it over the weekend. The basic idea is that during the campaign, many in the media failed to take Trump seriously (by, among other things, doubting he could win), but insisted on taking his pronouncements literally (obsessively fact-checking his claims). His supporters, this argument goes, knew to do the opposite: They took him seriously but not literally.
Trump won the election, so the “seriously” question is no longer in doubt. But whether to take him literally was more of an open question, at least until last week, when Trump began making good on many of his campaign promises.
Here’s where the markets fit into this: My conversations with investors in the weeks since the election suggest that many of them expected Trump to govern as a fairly conventional Republican president, despite his fiery campaign rhetoric. He would cut taxes, reduce regulation and take other steps that are generally good for businesses and that are core parts of House Speaker Paul Ryan’s legislative agenda. Meanwhile, a combination of forces — Ryan’s influence, advice from Cabinet members such as Treasury Secretary nominee Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s own business savvy — would prevent Trump from making good on his less business-friendly promises, such as rolling back trade deals and restricting immigration. Sure, Trump might make life uncomfortable for the occasional outsourcing-happy auto executive, but he wouldn’t really try to roll back 20-plus years of trade liberalization.
Investors, in other words, didn’t take Trump literally.
Now, however, that confidence is looking misplaced. The details of Trump’s various executive actions are complex and ever-changing, and it’s too soon to know exactly how they will affect businesses. But Trump’s first days in office — and especially last Friday’s executive order on immigration — show that the new president isn’t afraid to carry out his most controversial campaign promises, or to create a little chaos while doing so.
That chaos has the potential to be very bad for business. Tech companies rely on immigrants — including from the predominantly Muslim countries covered by Trump’s temporary travel ban — to fill many of their most important engineering positions. Energy companies count on being able to move workers in and out of countries around the world. Manufacturers have supply chains that cross international borders. Even temporary disruptions to travel and trade could cause problems; more permanent barriers could prove disastrous.
Investors’ early confidence in Trump could still prove well-founded. The Trump administration has already backed away from the most extreme interpretation of its travel ban and from suggestions earlier last week that it would impose a steep import tax to help pay for Trump’s promised border wall. But Monday’s market jitters suggest that investors are waking up to the reality that they have to listen to all of what Trump says, not just the parts they like. | {
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Center frame above is a "II" flag in a sea of "III" flags, which was an independent effort at least as populous on the National Mall as our 50 III flags.
As I was scrambling to the field after being both the team's medevac and admin puke/gear honcho, I carried one of our III flags. I was cutting through the crowd and ran into two gents carrying a II flag.
"What's 'II'?", says I.
"What's 'III'?", says they.
Several iterations ensued before either side budged.
Eventually, amidst much chuckling at our banner-version of the old Mexican standoff, the IIs said they were calling for a Second Revolution.
I explained that 3% in arms in the field had been enough to prevail in RevWar I.
We all agreed before proceeding to our respective destinations that our messages, dark as they were, were mutually supporting.
Not coincidentally, II plus III equals V.
Forward. | {
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It's well known that women live longer than men do, but this wasn't always the case: A new study finds that differences between men and women's life expectancies began to emerge in the late 1800s.
For the study, researchers analyzed information from people born between 1800 and 1935 in 13 developed countries.
They found that over this time period, death rates decreased among both men and women. But starting in 1880, death rates decreased much faster among women, leading to differences in mortality rates between the sexes.
The findings show that, although a greater life expectancy for women is seen as normal today, it is actually "a relatively new demographic phenomenon that emerged among people born in the late 19th century," the researchers concluded.
For example, among people born before 1840, death rates were about the same for men and women of a given age. But for people born between 1880 and 1899, death rates for men ages 50 to 70 were 1.5 times greater than those for women of the same age.
Among people born after 1900, the death rate of 50- to 70-year-old men was double that of women of the same age, according to the study. [8 Tips for Healthy Aging]
Cardiovascular disease was the main cause of the higher death rates among men, the researchers said. Heart disease and stroke accounted for more than 40 percent of the increase in male mortality rates versus female mortality rates between 1880 and 1919, the researchers noted.
Biologically, men may be more vulnerable to cardiovascular disease, but this susceptibility was seen only after deaths from other causes, such as infections, started to decline, the researchers said.
Body fat (also called adiposity) tends to be distributed differently over men's bodies compared with women's, and "their differing patterns of adiposity could make men more vulnerable to the increasing weight that resulted from changes in diet and activity," the researchers said in their study, published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Future studies could investigate other differences between the sexes, including genetic dissimilarities, that may play a role in the increased risk of death from heart disease in men, the researchers said.
Follow Rachael Rettner @RachaelRettner. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. | {
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Submitted by Judith Bergmann via The Gatestone Institute,
According to New Europe, in Leeuwarden, "about twenty opponents of the plans [to establish asylum centers] in the region received police visits at home." In other words, the Netherlands are engaging in state censorship, thereby raising the question: Is the Netherlands now a police state?
In other words, the Netherlands are engaging in state censorship, thereby raising the question: Is the Netherlands now a police state? In the town of Sliedrecht, police came to Mark Jongeneel's office and told him that he tweeted "too much" and that he should "watch his tone": his tweets "may seem seditious". His offense? One tweet said: "The College of #Sliedrecht comes up with a proposal to take 250 refugees over the next two years. What a bad idea!"
In September 2015, Die Welt reported that people who air "xenophobic" views on social media, risk losing the right to see their own children.
While ordinary European citizens risk arrest and prosecution for "xenophobic" remarks, a German EU Commissioner, Günther Oettinger, called a visiting Chinese delegation of ministers "slant eyes" ("Schlitzaugen"). European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has promoted Oettinger to be in charge of the EU budget.
Clearly, the law is not equal. EU Commissioners can make "xenophobic" remarks and get a promotion; European citizens, for exercising their right to free speech, are arrested and prosecuted.
In Europe, is the enemy now the governments? Evidence is mounting that expressing even a mild opinion that runs counter to official government policy can land you in prison, or at least ensure a visit from your friendly local Kafkaesque police. Has Europe effectively become a police state?
Several European governments are making it clear to their citizens that criticizing migrants or European migrant policies is criminally off limits. People who go "too far," according to the authorities, are being arrested, prosecuted and at times convicted.
In the Netherlands, the police visited people who naïvely made critical comments about asylum centers on Twitter in October 2015. In the town of Sliedrecht, police came to Mark Jongeneel's office and told him that he tweeted "too much" and that he should "watch his tone": his tweets "may seem seditious". His offense? The town had held a citizens meeting about a refugee center in the region, and Jongeneel had posted a few tweets. One said: "The College of #Sliedrecht comes up with a proposal to take 250 refugees over the next two years. What a bad idea!" Earlier he had also tweeted: "Should we let this happen?!"
He was not the only one. In Leeuwarden, according to New Europe:
"...about twenty opponents of the plans [to establish asylum centers] in the region received police visits at home. It also happened in Enschede, and in some places in the Brabant, where, according to the Dutch media, people who had been critical of the arrival of refugees and ran a page on social media on the topic were told to stop".
A spokesperson for the national police explained that ten intelligence units of "digital detectives" monitor Facebook pages and Twitter accounts in real time, looking for posts that go "too far," so that they can visit with people to tell them "what effect a post or tweet on the internet can have." In other words, the Netherlands are engaging in state censorship, thus raising the question: Is the Netherlands now a police state?
In the United Kingdom, Scott Clark was arrested in February 2016 for writing on the Facebook page of the Scottish Defense League that Syrian refugees would "see the nasty side to us." According to a news report, he referred to sexual assaults on women in Cologne, Germany on New Year's Eve by men of Arab or North African appearance as justification for his online comments, in which he also wrote, "If anything happens to any young girl I will personally spit in the face of councilors who pushed and pushed to get them housed here..." He also wrote, "There's defo an Islamic invasion. Defo something going down. Just witnessed 15 Syrians in the local boozer... I opposed their arrival from the start."
Inspector Ewan Wilson from Dunoon police office told the Guardian:
"I hope that the arrest of this individual sends a clear message that Police Scotland will not tolerate any form of activity which could incite hatred and provoke offensive comments on social media."
In Germany, a married couple, Peter and Melanie M., were prosecuted in a criminal trial for creating a Facebook group that criticized the government's migration policy. According to news reports, the page stated, "The war and economic refugees are flooding our country. They bring terror, fear, sorrow. They rape our women and put our children at risk. Make this end!"
At the trial, Peter M. defended his remarks online and said, "One cannot even express a critical opinion of refugees without getting labelled as a Nazi. I wanted to create a discussion forum where you can speak your mind about refugees..." He said that in his role as an administrator of the group, he removed pro-Nazi or radical remarks, but since Facebook had deleted the page, he could not present the evidence to the court.
In his verdict, the judge said, "The description of the group is a series of generalizations with a clear right-wing background." Peter M. was sentenced to a nine-month suspended prison sentence and his wife to a fine of €1,200 with the judge adding, "I hope you understand the seriousness of the situation. If you sit in front of me again, you will end up in jail."
In Germany, being critical of migrants and the government's migrant policies can have other draconian consequences. In September 2015, Die Welt reported that people who air "xenophobic" views on social media, risk losing the right to see their own children. There need not even be a criminal offense for a court to consider the child's welfare to be endangered and to restrict the parents' right to see his or her child or to order "an educator" present during a meeting between parent and child, who can "intervene as required." It is also possible to forbid certain actions, expressions or meetings in the presence of the child. As a last resort, the court can take the child out of the parent's care entirely.
According to Eva Becker, Chairwoman of the Working Group on Family Law in the German Bar Association (DAV), "The decisive factor is a healthy understanding of people." Becker estimates that it would not be enough to consider the child's welfare endangered, if a parent said that he would rather not have any Syrian migrants living in his neighborhood. On the other hand, if a father or a mother makes comments that contain verbal threats against refugees in the presence of the child, he or she would "clearly exceed the critical limit."
It is not even relevant whether those comments are criminal according to German law. Even a comment that is not punishable under German law can push a parent over the "critical limit." It is not crucial whether the act is criminal, but whether it "influences" the child in a way that endangers its welfare. If a court establishes that the child's welfare is at risk, the parent may have his or her rights of access to the child initially limited.
Actions, rather than talk, are considered even more incriminating. According to Becker, it is one thing to talk disparagingly with acquaintances about asylum seekers in the presence of the child, but much worse to take the child to "xenophobic" demonstrations.
Becker never defines what is meant by "xenophobic." It seems implied that the talk is of one-way xenophobia, not Islamic xenophobia against non-Muslims, for example, but no attempt is made at a definition, although this is clearly the most crucial part of the matter.
While ordinary European citizens risk arrest and prosecution for "xenophobic" remarks, it is an entirely different matter for those at the top echelons of the European Union.
In a speech in Hamburg in October, Germany's EU Commissioner for digital economy, Günther Oettinger, called a visiting Chinese delegation of ministers "slant eyes" ("Schlitzaugen"), an expression that is generally considered racist. Oettinger did not even bother to apologize, but told Die Welt that it was important to see his comments in a "larger context."
The European Commission also refused to apologize for, or investigate, Oettinger's remarks (which were apparently also disparaging of women and homosexuals). Commission Chief Spokesman Margaritis Schinas told incredulous reporters that, "We have nothing to add." Asked if there would be an investigation into the remarks, he said, "We do not have an FBI at the Commission."
As recent as October 28, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker promoted Oettinger to the highly coveted and powerful position of vice-president with responsibility for the EU budget.
Clearly, the law is not equal. EU Commissioners can make "xenophobic" remarks and get a promotion; European citizens, for exercising their right to free speech, are arrested and prosecuted. | {
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BRISBANE is close to selling out its first game at the Gabba in nine years when it hosts Collingwood on Thursday night.
As of late Monday morning only 1000 tickets remained to be sold, which the club expects to offload prior to the match.
Channel Seven will broadcast the game live into Brisbane on its main channel, rather than 7mate.
The last time the 'house full' sign went up was in round two, 2010 when Brisbane hosted Carlton.
This was the game that saw Brendan Fevola face the Blues for the first time since departing the previous off-season.
On that occasion the crowd was 36,780, the Lions won, and Jonathan Brown booted seven goals.
LAST SEATS Click here to get your tickets for Brisbane v Collingwood
Brisbane CEO Greg Swann said he hoped selling the game out would be the first step to making the Lions-Magpies fixture a regular on Easter Thursday.
"We're trying to get the AFL to lock this away as a permanent fixture for the next three to four years," Swann told AFL.com.au.
"A sellout, good TV ratings and hopefully a great game would go a long way to helping."
Brace yourselves, Round 5 is here. Make sure you secure your throne. #Uncaged #GameofThrones pic.twitter.com/ZTt9XrTqBw — Brisbane Lions (@brisbanelions) April 15, 2019
On the eve of the season AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan was receptive to the idea.
McLachlan will be in attendance on Thursday night.
"They've got to deliver, they know that, but they're feel-good," he said of the Lions.
"We would love for that to be a permanent or semi-permanent slot.
"There's a bit to happen there yet but Collingwood are keen, I know that, and Brisbane are keen, but we need to have a look at this year and see how the game plays out.
"We know it can work. We know the people travel. We know the Brisbane supporters support the slot so if we can make it work, we'd love to do that."
BARRETT'S MARGIN CALL Superstar Cat plays a dangerous game
Brisbane and Collingwood played in the same timeslot in 2003 and 2004, following their Grand Final matchups from the previous years.
The capacity of the Gabba has been reduced to around 36,700 with the addition of a new scoreboard, extra space behind each team's bench and 'The Verandah' in recent years.
Find In the Game on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or Spotify | {
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In honor of the spookiest month of the year, YouGov asked Americans about their belief in various paranormal entities. Turns out that more than four in 10 Americans believe that ghosts, demons, and other supernatural beings do exist.
More than one in five (22%) say that demons “definitely exist” while slightly more (24%) believe that they “probably exist.” The numbers are similar when Americans are asked about ghosts: 20 percent say they “definitely exist” and 25 percent say they “probably exist.”
Far less common is the belief that vampires live among us. Only 13 percent of Americans say that vampires definitely or probably exist.
There are some slight partisan differences when it comes to a belief in supernatural entities.
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe supernatural entities of all kinds, particularly demons. Over half (54%) of Republicans say that they believe in demons, while far fewer (37%) Democrats say the same. Similarly, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe in ghosts (46% vs 41%), vampires (14% vs 8%) and other supernatural beings (50% vs 41%).
With 45 percent of Americans expressing a belief in ghosts, perhaps it’s unsurprising that many Americans also believe that ghosts and spirits can come back to haunt certain places on Earth. About four in 10 (43%) US adults say they think ghosts can come back and haunt people or places. Women (51%) are more likely than men (35%) to hold this belief.
More than one-third of Americans (36%) say that they have personally felt the presence of a spirit or ghost. Once again, women (41%) are more likely than men (31%) to say that this has happened to them. Just over one in ten (13%) Americans say that they have communicated directly with a ghost or spirit of someone who has died.
Related: What most Americans spend on Halloween
Methodology: Total unweighted sample size was 1,293 US adults. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all US adults (ages 18+). Interviews were conducted online between September 30 and October 1, 2019.
See the full survey results here. | {
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GREENVILLE, Mich. — The arrest of a newly-elected county commissioner in Michigan for suspected drunk driving is raising eyebrows after police say he blamed chicken nuggets for his arrest.
Montcalm County Commissioner Jeremy Miller was initially stopped in the early morning hours of December 18th for speeding. He was later arrested for suspected drunk driving.
When the officer asked Miller if he understood why he was being arrested, the officer said Miller responded, "because I was being stupid, those damn chicken nuggets," according to the police report obtained by FOX 17.
The arresting officer said he stopped Miller's vehicle after he was clocked driving 58 mph in a 30 mph zone, according to the police report. The location is within sight of Miller's home less than two blocks away.
The officer said he smelled alcohol on Miller. When asked if he'd been drinking, Miller responded he didn't know and it had "been a night." Miller couldn't walk in a straight line during his field sobriety test, the officer reported.
An initial breathalyzer test was administered at the scene, followed by two blood tests administered roughly an hour later once Miller had been taken to jail. His blood alcohol level was .13, according to the police report, nearly twice the legal limit.
Miller answered the door at his home Wednesday afternoon but refused to comment. He is charged with operating a vehicle while intoxicated. A bench trial is scheduled at the end of March.
Miller was elected to the Montcalm County Commission in Nov. 2016. The county website says he began serving as commissioner for the county's 1st District on Jan. 1, 2017, weeks after his arrest.
Among the committees Miller serves on, the county website lists him as an alternative on the Montcalm Substance Abuse Advisory Council.
Montcalm County Controller Bob Clingenpeel issued the following statement to FOX 17 on Wednesday:
"We will have no comment prior to the trial having taken place and a judgement rendered on the case. I can tell you that Commissioner Miller has not missed any meetings and has gone out of his way to reach out to our departments and learn for himself what their responsibilities are."
Recorded minutes show Miller has not addressed his arrest or pending trial publicly during any recent county commission meeting. | {
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(CNN) Authorities have arrested an 18-year-old Ohio man who the FBI says threatened to assault federal law enforcement officers in an online post and showed support for mass shootings.
A criminal complaint alleges that Justin Olsen of Boardman, just south of Youngstown, discussed the 1993 Waco siege on iFunny, a mobile app for memes and funny images, in June.
He blamed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for the deaths of scores of people living at the site, the complaint filed by an FBI agent says.
"In conclusion, shoot every federal agent on sight," Olsen wrote at the end of the discussion, the complaint says.
The FBI went to Olsen's house last Wednesday, where they found 15 long guns, 10 pistols, about 10,000 rounds of ammunition and camouflage clothes.
Read More | {
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A mother suspected of driving drunk and causing a crash that injured her three children, including an infant, pleaded guilty to felony DUI and child endangerment charges Friday.
The San Diego County District Attorney’s office said 29-year-old Mayra Troncoso had a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit when she drove her SUV into oncoming traffic on Camino Del Norte in Rancho Bernardo on Nov. 12 and hit another SUV head-on.
Troncoso's 9-month old daughter was riding unrestrained in the arms of her 8-year-old daughter at the time of the crash. The force of the collision threw the infant into the windshield leaving her with life-threatening injuries, including a skull fracture.
The 8-year-old suffered a broken bone and Troncoso's 2-year-old who was also in the SUV suffered facial injuries.
The driver of the SUV Troncoso hit was also injured.
Troncoso was taken to Palomar Hospital and was placed in custody. She was arraigned from her hospital bed a few days later.
The arraignment took place at the Escondido hospital. NBC 7's Dave Summers was the only reporter allowed in the room during the proceedings.
According to Deputy District Attorney Ramona McCarthy, Troncoso's license was suspended after a 2017 DUI conviction at the time of the November crash. She was also on probation.
In both DUI cases, Troncoso had a blood alcohol concentration of more than 0.20, McCarthy said.
Mayra Alejandra Gonzalez, 29, was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and child endangerment after the crash on Camino Del Norte in Rancho Bernardo.
A criminal protective order was filed preventing Troncoso from contacting her children in any way.
It was “for the safety of the children. We are very concerned for them,” according to McCarthy.
Troncoso faces up to 21 years and 8 months in prison if convicted. She is scheduled to be sentenced in late October. | {
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The 257 bottles of Kilchoman Private Single Cask 142/2006, bottled last summer, were being sent to owner Stuart Wilson in the Birmingham area, but were delivered to the wrong address and subsequently went missing, Kilchoman founder Anthony Wills said.
He added that the police had completed their investigations, with only three bottles found so far. ‘We went public once it became clear the bottles weren’t going to be recovered,’ Wills added.
Ten-year-old private single cask bottlings of Kilchoman are retailing for up to £150 including VAT, giving the haul a potential value of over £38,000.
The details of the bottling are as follows:
Cask number: 142/2006
Cask type: Bourbon
Distillation date: 12 July 2006
Bottling date: 24 July 2016
Bottle size: 700ml
Strength: 52.1% abv
Bottle number: x of 257
Anyone with information is asked to contact the distillery on +44 (0)1496 850011, or email [email protected]. | {
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Ms. Giffords’s hair, short and wispy for some time after her brain surgery, has returned to its natural bounce. Once heavily guarded by Capitol Police officers and a stream of medical professionals, Ms. Giffords now lives with Mr. Kelly and his 15-year-old daughter, Claire, and Nelson, her service dog, in a modern adobe-style house they bought in August, decorated with bright, large-scale paintings and sculptures.
Ms. Giffords’s ability to understand others is unscathed. During a two-hour interview here, she talked about whether she missed Washington (“a little”); explained, in short phrases, her positions on firearms; and made a sly one-word joke (“wasteland”) about one of her least favorite places. She revealed the provenance of some of her paintings (her old Congressional office), pointed out one that was PG-13 (a semiabstract nude), and lamented what a recent frost had taken from her garden. Once limited to two words — “what” and “chicken” — each month she gains more.
Speaking in full sentences is still a struggle, and she has regular therapy sessions to help recover her speech and to manage her other impairments. Her vision is impaired, and her right leg and arm are largely paralyzed. She can move her shoulder, her hip and slightly her foot.
The rest of her time is largely spent preparing for the legislative battles, political campaigns and potential face-offs with friends and former colleagues that will be waged through her month-old organizations. She and Mr. Kelly are already looking at governor contests, Congressional special elections and 2014 races. They hope to influence the outcome by leveraging the power of their names and their story, an effort presaged last month when Ms. Giffords lit up a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing with her brief and powerful plea: “We must do something.”
“Sometimes there will be some difficult conversations,” Mr. Kelly said. “There already have been.”
For nearly two decades, the National Rifle Association has succeeded in rewarding lawmakers who backed legislation supporting gun rights and firearm manufacturers and punishing those who did not. Those efforts largely overwhelmed the voices on the opposing side. | {
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Einer trug ein "Hass"-Tattoo, ein anderer "Ruhm und Ehre": Es war offensichtlich, welche Wachleute sich im Burbacher Flüchtlingsheim herumtrieben. Bereits im Sommer will der Bürgermeister auf die Missstände hingewiesen haben.
Von Bernd Dörries, Düsseldorf
Als Innenminister Ralf Jäger noch einfacher Landtagsabgeordneter war, kümmerte er sich genau um jenen Bereich, den er nun als Minister vertritt. Vielleicht gibt es Momente in Jägers Leben, in denen der Minister sich nicht mehr so ganz wiedererkennt in jenem Abgeordneten, der er auch mal war. Damals war alles einfach: wir gegen sie, klare Kante.
Ralf Jäger forderte in regelmäßigen Abständen, die Rücktritte verschiedener CDU-Minister. Er kreiste tief über der Regierung und suchte nach deren Fehlern, so sehr, dass man ihn bald "Jäger 90" nannte, wie das Kampfflugzeug. Über die Justizministerin sagte er: "an Peinlichkeit nicht zu überbieten". Als es in einer Haftanstalt einen Toten gab, brüllte er Richtung Regierungsbank, er verstehe nicht, "wie eine solch grausige Tat in einem nordrhein-westfälischen Gefängnis unbemerkt geschehen" könne. Das war nicht falsch, aber schnell gesagt.
In diesen Tagen muss Jäger selbst erklären, wie eine solch grausame Tat in Nordrhein-Westfalen geschehen konnte, wie private Sicherheitsdienste Flüchtlinge in mindestens drei Einrichtungen quälen konnten, ohne dass es das Land bemerkte. Jägers Antworten sind nicht eben überzeugend. Gegen die große kriminelle Energie Einzelner könne man nichts ausrichten, sagte Jäger.
Er verordnete das Standardrezept: Wachleute müssen sich jetzt durch den Verfassungsschutz und die Polizei überprüfen lassen. Dabei hätte man auch ohne Schlapphüte und Führungszeugnisse erkennen können, wer sich da so herumtreibt in den Flüchtlingsheimen. Einer der Beschuldigten hatte ein "Hass"-Tattoo am Hals, ein anderer sich "Ruhm und Ehre" unter die Haut stechen lassen. Sie sollen nachts durch die Flure des Heimes gelaufen sein, auf der Suche nach Streit, "SS-Trupp" wurden sie genannt.
Flüchtlinge wurden in Deutschland von Schlägern empfangen
Eines der großen Versprechen, die Minister Jäger im Landtagswahlkampf 2010 gegeben hatte, war, die "Privat vor Staat"-Politik von CDU und FDP zurückzudrehen. Das hat er auch eingehalten, zumindest, was den Teil der Landespolitik von Rot-Grün betrifft, die den moderaten Stellenabbau der Regierung von Jürgen Rüttgers gestoppt hat. Jäger hat einerseits darauf Wert gelegt, dass der Staat alle möglichen hoheitlichen Aufgaben behält, vom Verteilen der Parkknöllchen bis zum Eichamt. Ausgerechnet im sensiblen Bereich der Flüchtlingsbetreuung aber hat Jäger die Privatisierung unterstützt, sie zumindest geschehen lassen.
Er hat dabei zugesehen, wie Subunternehmer andere Subunternehmer beauftragten, wie Sicherheitsfirmen Wachleute anheuerten, die oft beide Seiten des Lebens kennengelernt haben: Sie hatten oft genug schon selber gegen die Ordnung verstoßen, nun aber sollten sie für einen Hungerlohn für diese Ordnung sorgen. Einige Beschuldigte von Burbach waren wegen Körperverletzung vorbestraft. Flüchtlinge, in ihren Heimatländern vom Staat misshandelt, wurden in Deutschland von Schlägern empfangen, die der Staat bezahlte - von Türstehern, die nicht vor der Disco standen, sondern an der Schwelle zur Freiheit.
Christoph Ewers, der Bürgermeister von Burbach, hat sich schon im Sommer einen Termin geben lassen im Innenministerium. Er habe, so sagt er, dem dortigen Staatssekretär berichtet, dass der Sicherheitsdienst in der Unterkunft "nicht seriös" sei. Es könne dort nicht so weitergehen, es herrsche totale Überbelegung. Der Staatssekretär habe verständnisvoll genickt, passiert sei nichts. Das könnte auch daran liegen, dass der Bürgermeister der CDU angehört, und die mag Jäger noch genauso so wenig wie zu Oppositionszeiten. Eine Sprecherin des Innenministeriums sagt nun, in dem Gespräch sei die Rolle des Sicherheitsdienstes gar nicht angesprochen worden; es sei nur um die Überbelegung des Heimes und das Sicherheitsbedürfnis der Bevölkerung gegangen.
"Wir werden nichts unter den Teppich kehren", sagt Jäger. Er hat die vier Jahre im Amt bisher souverän gemeistert. Er neigt aber auch dazu, die eigenen Leute zu sehr in Schutz zu nehmen, bevor die Faktenlage überhaupt bekannt ist. Nach dem Unglück auf der Loveparade stellte er sich bedingungslos hinter die Polizei, die keinen Fehler gemacht habe. Nun steht er hinter seinen Beamten - die hätten doch nur "Obdachlosigkeit verhindern" wollen. Sie stünden vor der fast unlösbaren Aufgabe, ständig neue Unterkünfte aus dem Hut zaubern zu müssen, für die vielen Flüchtlinge.
An diesem Donnerstag wird Jäger dem Parlament Auskunft über die Erkenntnislage geben. Man wird sehen, wie gut der Besen kehrt. Aufgeflogen ist die Affäre ohnehin nur durch Zufall. Weil ein Subunternehmer dem anderen kündigte, sollen ein paar Sicherheitsleute ein Handyvideo an einen Journalisten geschickt haben. | {
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Pyongyang has refused to participate in the Monday, December 22 UN Security Council meeting, which is set to discuss the DPRK's human rights issues, and accused the UN of maintaining double standards; China may block any resolution against North Korea.
MOSCOW, December 22 (Sputnik), Ekaterina Blinova — North Korea has refused to take part in a UN Security Council meeting set for Monday, December 22, which will address the DPRK's human rights issues. The 'hermit kingdom' has reproached the UN for maintaining double standards.
"Instead of a showdown, North Korea says it will not attend Monday's meeting. It accuses the United States and its allies of using the human rights issue as a weapon to overthrow the leadership of the impoverished but nuclear-armed nation," the Associated Press reported.
According to AP, the UN Security Council is most likely to raise the question regarding North Korea's human rights abuse in the International Criminal Court, since the situation "[threatens] to have a destabilizing impact on the region."
Although an official investigation has not yet been conducted in North Korea, the Security Council alleged that Pyongyang harshly suppresses its opposition in political prison camps, which are estimated to hold almost 120,000 detainees.
Pyongyang has repeatedly dismissed the accusations, insisting that evidence has been fabricated.
"The so-called 'human rights issue' in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is politically fabricated and, therefore, it is not at all relevant to regional or international peace and security," North Korea’s UN ambassador, Ja Song-nam, claimed as quoted by the Guardian.
Referring to the CIA Torture Report about the inhuman interrogation techniques being practiced by American security forces in their worldwide prison network which was released by the US Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this month, North Korea's ambassador pointed out that the United Nations was evidently turning a blind eye to US atrocities and human rights abuses.
On the contrary, the recently revealed CIA torture crimes committed by the United States, which have been conducted worldwide in the most brutal medieval forms, are the gravest human rights violations in the world," Ja Song-nam stressed, urging the UN to conduct "a thorough probe into the CIA torture crimes."
Meanwhile on Friday, December 19, the Obama Administration blamed Pyongyang for a hacker attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment, labeling it an "act of cybervandalism," amid growing international pressure on the DPRK. The US President said he has considered putting North Korea on its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Remarkably, China hasn't condemned North Korea for hacking Sony hacking due to a lack of evidence. However, Beijing said it strongly opposed any cyber attacks launched by nations or individuals, CBS News reported.
The Associated Press points out that China may also block the UN Security Council's resolution against its longstanding "troublesome" ally. | {
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Researchers at the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics have discovered an answer to the long-standing mystery of how brain cells can both remember new memories while also maintaining older ones.
They found that specific neurons in a brain region called the dentate gyrus serve distinct roles in memory formation depending on whether the neural stem cells that produced them were of old versus young age.
The study will appear in the March 30 issue of Cell and links the cellular basis of memory formation to the birth of new neurons -- a finding that could unlock a new class of drug targets to treat memory disorders.
The findings also suggest that an imbalance between young and old neurons in the brain could disrupt normal memory formation during post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and aging. "In animals, traumatic experiences and aging often lead to decline of the birth of new neurons in the dentate gyrus. In humans, recent studies found dentate gyrus dysfunction and related memory impairments during normal aging," said the study's senior author Susumu Tonegawa, 1987 Nobel Laureate and Director of the RIKEN-MIT Center.
Other authors include Toshiaki Nakashiba and researchers from the RIKEN-MIT Center and Picower Institute at MIT; the laboratory of Michael S. Fanselow at the University of California at Los Angeles; and the laboratory of Chris J. McBain at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
In the study, the authors tested mice in two types of memory processes. Pattern separation is the process by which the brain distinguishes differences between similar events, like remembering two Madeleine cookies with different tastes. In contrast, pattern completion is used to recall detailed content of memories based on limited clues, like recalling who one was with when remembering the taste of the Madeleine cookies.
Pattern separation forms distinct new memories based on differences between experiences; pattern completion retrieves memories by detecting similarities. Individuals with brain injury or trauma may be unable to recall people they see every day. Others with PTSD are unable to forget terrible events. "Impaired pattern separation due to the loss of young neurons may shift the balance in favor of pattern completion, which may underlie recurrent traumatic memory recall observed in PTSD patients," Tonegawa said.
Neuroscientists have long thought these two opposing and potentially competing processes occur in different neural circuits. The dentate gyrus, a structure with remarkable plasticity within the nervous system and its role in conditions from depression to epilepsy to traumatic brain injury -- was thought to be engaged in pattern separation and the CA3 region in pattern completion. Instead, the MIT researchers found that dentate gyrus neurons may perform pattern separation or completion depending on the age of their cells.
The MIT researchers assessed pattern separation in mice who learned to distinguish between two similar but distinct chambers: one safe and the other associated with an unpleasant foot shock. To test their pattern completion abilities, the mice were given limited cues to escape a maze they had previously learned to negotiate. Normal mice were compared with mice lacking either young neurons or old neurons. The mice exhibited defects in pattern completion or separation depending on which set of neurons was removed.
"By studying mice genetically modified to block neuronal communication from old neurons -- or by wiping out their adult-born young neurons -- we found that old neurons were dispensable for pattern separation, whereas young neurons were required for it," co-author Toshiaki Nakashiba said. "Our data also demonstrated that mice devoid of old neurons were defective in pattern completion, suggesting that the balance between pattern separation and completion may be altered as a result of loss of old neurons."
###
The work was supported by the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Otsuka Maryland Research Institute, Picower Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. | {
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“For the millions of Americans viewing today, the two most important facts are the following,” Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said on the first day of public impeachment hearings. “No. 1: Ukraine received the aid. No. 2: There was, in fact, no investigation into Biden.”
Stefanik’s side wants this to be the central point that sticks in our heads: The alleged quid pro quo, where Ukraine would receive military aid appropriated by Congress on the condition that it cooked up an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, did not actually occur because Ukraine received the aid — the quid — and never publicly announced an investigation into Biden — the quo.
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The extended media arm of the Republican Party has diligently recited this chorus, as well. The right-wing commentator Laura Ingraham said on her Fox News show, “Remember, Ukraine got its military aid. It was 14 days delayed — big deal. And, remember, Ukraine never made any public statement about any investigation.”
While those are both falsehoods — the aid was actually delayed 55 days, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was, according to CNN host Fareed Zakaria, scheduled to announce an investigation into Biden on Zakaria’s show on Sept. 13 — we can clearly see the ruse Ingraham seeks to advance.
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What is most alarming is not that the GOP is promoting this talking point, but that it appears to be working. Following the impeachment proceedings, The New York Times podcast The Daily concluded with an assessment by top national security reporter Michael Schmidt:
“It’s a reoccurring theme in the Trump story: The president tries to do something but ultimately is not effective enough to actually get it done. So, should we penalize him for those attempts? Does the attempt . . . reach that bar for Congress to remove the president?
“And that’s where the debate may be in the coming weeks for the rest of these hearings.”
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Schmidt was referring to President Donald Trump’s habit of trying to do horrible things and either forgetting — such as when economic adviser Gary Cohn reportedly took papers off of the president’s desk, causing him to forget he wanted to leave NAFTA — or being outright thwarted by his staff, like when he allegedly ordered White House counsel Don McGahn to obstruct justice in the Russia investigation but McGahn refused. The Ukraine scheme was not that: According to testimony from administration officials, Trump and his associates were successfully carrying out their scheme, which only ended once Congress used its oversight powers to stop it.
Nevertheless, Schmidt determines, “It didn’t happen, and that dilutes the importance of it.” This captures is what is so worrisome — not only that the GOP’s revision of history is untrue but that crucial mediating voices appear to be buying it.
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The truth lies in two key dates: On Sept. 9, news of the whistleblower complaint broke into the public sphere, and the House officially launched an investigation. Two days later on Sept. 11, the military aid was released.
Here is why this sequence of events is so important: Imagine someone broke into your home and stole your laptop. A month later, the cops nab the crook, find your laptop in their apartment and return it to you. The crime, in this instance, is robbery. The crime is not attempted robbery just because the laptop was ultimately released. When legal powers step in, the clock on justice begins.
Trump did not fail to extort the Ukrainians. He got caught in the act. Only after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the launch of an official investigation into his scheme did the aid flow.
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If we accept the GOP talking point that a crime did not actually happen because it ended once the president was caught, and that Michael Schmidt is, indeed, right that the debate over the coming weeks will be about an attempted crime, then America is in big trouble. Not only for the outcome of this impeachment inquiry but also for the fortitude of the institutions we trust to help us referee fact from fiction.
Schmidt’s acceptance of the GOP talking point — that what happened with Ukraine never actually happened — should remind us all once again of Orwell: “And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed — if all records told the same tale — then the lie passed into history became truth.” | {
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Castlevania animated series executive producer Adi Shankar is in talks to produce a TV series based on Nintendo’s The Legend of Zelda franchise, according to a report from TheWrap.
In an Instagram post earlier today with the caption “The success of Castlevania created this opportunity,” Shankar said, “I can confirm that I’m working with an iconic Japanese gaming company to adapt one of their iconic video game series into a series. On November 16 at 1:00 p.m., I’m going to announce what it is. I love you all. Thank you for following me on this journey. Entertaining you guys continues to be a privilege.”
According to TheWrap’s report, that series is The Legend of Zelda.
When contacted for comment, a Nintendo representative said, “We have nothing to announce on this topic.”
Other than executive producer of Castlevania, Shankar’s recent credits include producer of the rap battle satire Bodied and executive producer of biographical war drama Lone Survivor. He also acted in, but was not involved in the production side of, comedy crime thriller Get the Girl. | {
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On January 14, 2014 Young at Art opened its doors in Keizer, Oregon. Our family of three was really excited to bring art into a small town that rains most of the year. Finding something to do is always hard during those long rainy months. Not only was my family thrilled to bring in a new activity for our community's kiddos, but we also saw the need for more creativity and exposure to the art world. Art is my family's passion, and now that we've opened up the studio for almost a year it seems as if it's the passion of so many other families who truly need the studio to survive.
Young at Art is an arts and crafts studio for all ages. When you come in to the studio there is such a happy and creative atmosphere. The artists (mostly ages 2-12) are painting on the easels or on a kid's racecar that we took the motor and wheels out of, making jewelry, crafting with all types of fun and recycled items, or just building in our sandbox and play doh stations. There is so much for them to do. The little artists never want to leave. Parents/grandparents always apologize as they try to get their little ones out the door. I see it as a compliment. The kids love Young at Art! It's a ritual already for many families to come in once a week and create. It's such a great experience. It's a hands-on and creative studio that helps little artists express themselves. We also welcome artists of all ages that have disabilities. Creating a studio that is welcoming of all artistic creations without judgement is important. Freedom in creating whatever you want at the studio is also another reason why our artists continue to come back. Sometimes rules in art just doesn't make sense.
On October 10, 2014 I received a phone call from my landlord that was pretty disturbing. He reminded me that our lease was up at the end of the year and that he was unable to renew it. I asked him why, and he told me that they are opening up a smoke shop next to our studio, and that the smoke shop wanted our space as well for a lounge area. The space next to us shares a joining door and bathroom so it would be easy for the landlord to rent out both spaces for one business. Which is exactly what happened.
I along with the community took this news very hard. There are already two other smoke shops within a mile and a half of us. Why do we need another one, and why are we losing a great place for kids because of it? My landlord had already made up his mind, and on November 1st our new neighbors moved in next door, and at the beginning of next year they will have our space.
I have already had a few issues with the smoke shop next door. Not only have I had a few issues, but so have our artists. If we could pack up and move to a new location today we would. To get into our studio you most likely have to walk by our neighbors first. The windows are large with bright neon lights. Their inappropriate retail is very visible. Kids are asking what they are selling and why are they next to a kid's place.
The reason we haven't already moved is financial. Our family had put in all of our savings to start Young at Art, and now we do not have that to start all over. We are surviving month to month. First month, last month, and deposits to just get into a new place is just financially impossible for us. We need help or the studio cannot continue. I have gone back on the decision to start the studio all over many times. It's going to be extremely hard, but we can do it. Our community needs to show our kids how hard we need to fight for art and what we truly feel is important to our community!
Young at Art would love your help! We want a new home for our studio. A place that's safe, fun, and filled with creativity. Any amount helps and please spread the word to anyone you know that feels the same way as we do about art, kids, and their community!
Read more | {
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A Sacramento man has been arrested and charged with sending multiple death threats to Blizzard Entertainment, the developers of World of Warcraft and Overwatch.
Stephen Cebula, 28, is accused of sending messages “over the internet” on July 2 & 3 saying he “may or may not pay [Blizzard] a visit with an AK47 amongst some other ‘fun’ tools,” and “might be inclined to ‘cause a disturbance’ at [Blizzard’s] headquarters in California with an AK47 and a few other ‘opportunistic tools.’”
He was arrested on July 12 following an FBI investigation, and if found guilty faces a maximum penalty of five years jail and a $250,000 fine.
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韓国艦艇が海自哨戒機へ火器管制レーダーを照射したとされる件について、韓国側は哨戒機の飛行を脅威に感じたとし日本側へ謝罪を要求しました。日本に非はあるのでしょうか。そもそも哨戒機は、どのように飛ぶものなのでしょうか。
韓国側の動画はなにを主張しているのか？
2019年1月4日（金）、韓国国防部（国防省）は前年12月20日に発生した、韓国海軍駆逐艦「広開土大王（クァンゲト・デワン）」が海上自衛隊P-1哨戒機へ火器管制レーダーを照射したと見られる件に関し、公式見解動画を公開しました。この動画は、くだんのP-1哨戒機から撮影し、12月24日に防衛省が公表した動画への対抗措置と見られます。
韓国側が公開した動画の内容は、日本側の主張を真っ向から否定する内容であり、防衛省は「我々の立場とは異なる主張がみられます」という公式見解を発表しています。特に「日本の哨戒機が高度150m、距離500mまで接近し威嚇飛行をした。日本側は謝罪しなければならない」という韓国国防部の主張は、その最たるものと言えるでしょう。
韓国国防部は、P-1の接近を「乗組員たちが騒音と振動を強く感じる程に脅威的だった」としていますが、実際のところどうだったのでしょうか。
P-1の全長は約38m、これは哨戒機としては世界最大級ですが、旅客機と比較すると、ボーイング737やエアバスA320などの「小型機」とほぼ同等です。韓国側も認める、「広開土大王」とP-1の最接近距離は500mで、これは通常、水平方向の距離を表しますから、直線距離は522mと算出できます（底辺500m、高さ150mの直角三角形の斜辺）。そして522m先にある約38mのP-1は、10cm先にある7.3mmの物体と同じ大きさに見えます。つまり理論上、「豆粒大」にしか見えなかったはずです。韓国側が公開した動画の、韓国艦艇から撮影したと見られる部分においても、P-1とされるものは、機種さえ識別不可能なかろうじて飛行機だとわかる黒点にしか映っていませんでした。
また騒音についても、P-1は非常に静穏性に優れており、離陸時300mの地点から計測された騒音レベルでさえ70デシベルです。これは掃除機や騒々しい街頭のレベルに相当し、哨戒任務中のP-1が離陸時のようなフルパワーで飛ぶとは思えませんから、実際はもっと静かであったでしょう。 | {
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CNN president Jeff Zucker and his wife have split after 21 years of marriage.
Zucker, 52, and his wife, Caryn, confirmed with Page Six that things were over between them romantically as friends adding that the two 'grew apart'.
'It can't be easy being married to Jeff — he is a workaholic, and is obsessed with news, and obsessed with being the best,' said a source close to the couple.
'Caryn is much more laid back and social, spends a lot of time with their kids and enjoys being part of the Upper East Side social circuit.
Jeff Zucker, 52, and his wife, Caryn, confirmed with Page Six that things were over between them romantically as friends adding that the two 'grew apart'
'They've had their problems over the years. Things have been bad for 10 years, but they have now accepted their marriage is over, and he has moved out of their apartment.'
But for the sake of their four children, the couple plans to remain cordial.
'Together, we have made the difficult decision to separate, but do so as friends committed to our kids. They remain our sole focus,' the couple said in a joint statement.
But for the sake of their four children, the couple plans to remain cordial. 'Together, we have made the difficult decision to separate, but do so as friends committed to our kids. They remain our sole focus,' the couple said
Jeff and Caryn Zucker met while working at NBC and wedded at the extravagant Pierre Hotel in 1996.
At the time, Zucker was the executive producer of NBC's 'Today' while his wife was the supervisor at 'Saturday Night Live.'
The CNN Worldwide president has been under lots of pressure from President Donald Trump and conservative media, according to sources.
Zucker, however, commented that the animosity from Trump have only 'emboldened' the network and boosted ratings.
Zucker commented that the animosity from Trump have only 'emboldened' the network and boosted ratings
While working at NBC, he teamed up with Katie Couric and the disgraced Matt Lauer to build the 'Today' show up. Zucker would work with Couric again but then beef between the two helped prompt his move to CNN.
In an interview with New York Magazine in 2014, he shared that he was hoping to move pass the television industry.
'I'd like to run a professional football team,' he said.
'I'd love to run the USTA [United States Tennis Association], be the sports editor of the New York Times. Would I consider a run for political office? Yes.'
He continued, stating that it was a 'reasonable assumption' that CNN was his last job on TV.
Today, Zucker may have his sights on ESPN's president job following the sudden resignation of John Skipper.
Page Six reported that Disney's CEO Bob Iger called Zucker to discuss the move.
'Jeff loves his job at CNN and has no interest in running ESPN,' said a CNN spokesperson, last week. | {
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This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Highland Heights neighborhood is looking for answers after a shootout happened over the weekend.
Residents on Lamphier Avenue said they are tired of the crime in the area after the neighborhood turned into a war zone Saturday, with bullets flying in every direction.
No one was seriously injured, but residents said now is the time to take action.
“I’m tired of it,” resident Anthony Stokes said. “Too much stuff going on. Too much trouble.”
Stokes said he’s lived in this community for seven years, and this weekend’s shooting hit close home. He said his next door neighbor’s home was hit in the crossfire.
Memphis Police said Saturday night, several suspects were shooting at each other along Lamphier Avenue. According to the police report, a girl was shot in her left arm.
A man driving down the street was shot in the leg. Police said bullet holes covered his driver’s side door, and multiple windows on his vehicle were shot out. He’s expected to be okay.
“We heard shots for about an hour back and forth,” Melissa Miller-Monie said.
Miller-Monie said she’s lived in the community for 30 years, and at one time, she felt safe in her home.
“It’s starting to be more common, since more people are coming into the neighborhood,” she said.
She said she and several homeowners in the area have been going to the city for years to discuss ways to decrease crime in the community.
She said she wants to see her community grow, but there needs to be more support
“Just like Bartlett, Germantown, Lakeland, all of those communities, they have good schools and people who care about their community,” Miller-Monie said. “That’s what we want.”
As of right now, there have been no arrests. Anyone who knows anything is encouraged to contact CrimeStoppers at 901-528-CASH. | {
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Think Progress
"Committing sexual acts between man and man. And receiving the retribution of the things that they have done from straying away. And because they did not take God in count. God gave them over to reprimand their mind to do things that are not right, being against all justice, fornication, perversity, aberrations, malignity…those who practice such things are worthy to death, not only do they do it, but those who also practice it. God bless this earth. That is the word of God." | {
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The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in conjunction with Sandia National Laboratories has been working on a report to update and revise estimates of the number of people that would be killed or harmed as a result of a nuclear core meltdown at a plant in the United States. While currently still unavailable to the public, a copy of the report was obtained by the Union for Concerned Scientists, under the Freedom of Information Act; the group then gave a copy to the New York Times, which then ran a story on its findings.
In the report, a work in progress over the past six years, the research team finds that previous estimates of the number of deaths likely to occur due to a meltdown, to be much higher than new evidence suggests; this because they believe the amount of cesium 137 released would be far less than was last estimated by the agency.
After much study, the report suggests that only 1 to 2 percent of the cesium 137 in a reactors core would escape in a meltdown, as opposed to previous estimates of up to 60 percent. This finding has led the researchers to believe that rather than 1 person in 167 (within a ten mile radius) likely developing a latent cancer over time, the number should be more like 1 in 4,348; and 1 in 6,250 for those within fifty miles, rather than 1 in 2,128.
These projections are based on a complete blackout leading to a reactor core meltdown, which means a total loss of power from the grid, and the exhaustion of backup power from generators and batteries. They are also based on best-case scenarios and come from studying over a hundred reactors in the United States of two basic kinds, boiling water and pressurized.
In short, the report concludes that the number of deaths that would result from a nuclear plant core meltdown in the United States would be far lower than all other previous estimates, due to both the revised estimates of how much cesium would be released and the slow moving nature of such a disaster. The team suggests that because it takes time for a meltdown to occur as a result of a plant losing power, most people would have plenty of time to evacuate before being exposed to seeping radiation; though it doesnt address the big question of when exactly people might be told to evacuate in light of a power outage; a big concern in light of allegations about the timeliness of evacuation calls during the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
The report is due to be officially released to the general public some time next spring.
Via New York Times
© 2010 PhysOrg.com | {
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Hey guys. Today's post is an interesting one. As you guys may know, I've been accused of hacking Skeptical Science on occasion, and while it isn't true, I have had a history of finding things they post in publicly accessible locations which they would like nobody to see.
I've done that again. This time, I found a "CONFIDENTIAL" manuscript (archived here) the Skeptical Science group has apparently submitted for publication with a scientific journal. I don't know if the manuscript has been accepted, rejected or is still under review, but the fact they posted it in a publicly accessible location when it was supposed to be kept confidential is rather amusing.
I also found a copy of John Cook's PhD thesis (archived here), which I find incredibly lackluster. If it can earn him a PhD, then I don't think PhDs mean much of anything. I imagine he'll update it and improve it before actually submitting it, but I can't imagine any way in which it could be made not to... well, suck. And that's not just because he's wrong in a lot of what he says in it. Even if I agreed with his conclusions, I'd still say it was unimpressive.
In any event, this latest discovery has given me the motivation and material to finish an eBook I've been wanting to publish for a while now. You can find it here:
It's a bit more personal than the last two eBooks I wrote, as I was directly involved in much of what it discusses, but I'd like to think I found a good balance to keep it from just being a mini-biography. I hope you'll agree. If you don't want to risk 99 cents to find out, you can download a free PDF copy here
Now like my last two eBooks, this one is ~10,000 words long, so it shouldn't take too long to get through. Unlike the last two, it doesn't really cover any technical subjects so it should be easier to follow (though I'd like to think the others were easy enough to follow). It also doesn't cover everything as there are tons of topics and points I'd have liked to discuss but only so much room. I'd like to think I hit the most important points though.
Of course, with me having only recently discovered the latest paper by the Skeptical Science group, this eBook doesn't cover all the issues it might have. Because of that, I highly recommend people check out the paper themselves. The author list alone should prove it will be interesting:
John Cook1,2,3, Naomi Oreskes4, Peter T. Doran5, William R. L. Anderegg6,7, Bart Verheggen8, Ed W. Maibach9, J. Stuart Carlton10, Stephan Lewandowsky11,2, Andrew G. Skuce13, Sarah A. Green12, Dana Nuccitelli3, Peter Jacobs9, Mark Richardson14, Bärbel Winkler3, Rob Painting3, Ken Rice15
The normal Cook et al group is there, but so are people like Ken Rice, also known as the blogger Anders and Stephan Lewandowsky, famous for finding global warming skeptics are conspiracy nuts by taking basically no data and just assuming the lack of data proved his preconceived beliefs.
But what makes this paper truly remarkable is what these people say. For instance, while the Skeptical Science group had previously portrayed their consensus findings as being based on people having only read the title and abstracts for various papers, this paper now admits:
During the rating process of C13, raters were presented only with the paper title and abstract to base their rating on. Tol (2015) queries what steps were taken to prevent raters from gathering additional information. While there was no practical way of preventing such an outcome, raters conducted further investigation by perusing the full paper on only a few occasions, usually to clarify ambiguous abstract language.
The raters cheated. They looked at information they weren't supposed to look at when doing their ratings. They openly discussed having done so in their forums, with neither John Cook nor any other author of the paper speaking up to say it was wrong. And then, for years, they pretended this never happened.
But now, they insist everything is okay because the raters only cheated a few times. They offer no evidence for this claim, and it would be completely impossible to know the claim is true. Even so, they want to publish this under with expectation people should just trust them.
Similarly, they both acknowledge and distort another issue:
Raters had access to a private discussion forum which was used to design the study, distribute rating guidelines and organise analysis and writing of the paper. As stated in C13: "some subjectivity is inherent in the abstract rating process. While criteria for determining ratings were defined prior to the rating period, some clarifications and amendments were required as specific situations presented themselves". These "specific situations" were raised in the forum.
The raters didn't just talk to one another about clarifications and amendments. That's an obvious misrepresentation anyone who actually read what they said to one another in their forums would know is false. On a number of occasions, raters simply asked one another how they would rate papers, not saying a word about wanting any standards or guidelines clarified.
But even with that distortion in place, this admission is huge. The original Skeptical Science consensus paper stressed that the raters were independent of one another. That's a huge stretch given they were all members of the same activist group, were mostly friends with one another and were in direct communication with one another. It's an impossible stretch, however, once you admit they were talking to one another about how to perform the ratings they were supposedly doing independently.
What's perhaps most interesting, however, is Table 1 of this new paper. It lists a number of papers supposedly finding a consensus on global warming, and in it, there is a column for "Definition of consensus." This would have been a perfect opportunity to highlight and contrast the various definitions of the global warming consensus, explicitly stating what Cook et al had found. It doesn't. Instead of giving any explicit definition, they just copy the rating categories:
1. Explicitly states that humans are
the primary cause of recent global
warming
2. Explicitly states humans are
causing global warming
3. Implies humans are causing global
warming.
4a. Does not address or mention the
cause of global warming
4b. Expresses position that human’s
role on recent global warming is
uncertain/undefined
5. Implies humans have had a
minimal impact on global warming
without saying so explicitly
6. Explicitly minimizes or rejects that
humans are causing global warming
7. Explicitly states that humans are
causing less than half of global
warming
Intentionally not explaining what consensus definition you get when you combine these categories. This is interesting mostly because if one looks at the rest of Table 1, they see no other paper gets a 97% consensus without using a weak definition or arbitrarily limiting what portions of its results to use. Instead, you get values as low as 40% or as high as 93%. In many ways, this paper shows there is no meaningful 97% consensus.
Of course, its authors would never say so. They'll try to spin everything they find to support their consensus message, even if that means trying to excuse what were basically lies about the methodology of papers. Cook's PhD thesis is perhaps worse, with it repeating a number of falsehoods and even re-using at least one quote he knows fully well has been fabricated.
But to be honest, the thing I find most fascinating is I found these documents in the exact same way I found the Skeptical Science consensus paper's data. The Skeptical Science group called me a criminal who had hacked into their server to get that data. If what I did then was hacking, why would they still allow anyone to do it and find new material? Why are they posting "CONFIDENTIAL" material in publicly accessible locations then handing out the URL to that material?
It's mind-boggling. I'm sure some people will claim I've "hacked" Skeptical Science again, but come on! It's been over a year since I described exactly how I found the secret material last time. Why can I still find more secret material in the exact same way?! That the consensus message is being crafted by people this incompetent is dumbfounding.
Anyway, feel free to give my new eBook a look and tell me what you think. It's fine even if you want to tell me it is complete garbage. I think most writers tell themselves the same thing plenty of times about most things they write. | {
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