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Premier Doug Ford's government will freeze Ontario's minimum wage at $14 for another two years with a sweeping new bill that scraps many of the labour reforms brought in by the previous Liberal government in favour of a more pro-business agenda.
The omnibus legislation, unveiled Tuesday, is designed to fulfil one of Ford's central campaign promises, to make Ontario "open for business." It will change several provincial laws, notably employment standards.
The new act will repeal the bulk of the Kathleen Wynne government's Bill 148, labour legislation that gives all Ontario workers a minimum of two paid sick days and forces employers to pay part-time and casual staff at the same rate as full-time workers.
The bill announced Tuesday, called the Making Ontario Open for Business Act, scraps the two paid sick days legislated by the previous government. It also cancels 10 personal emergency leave days and replaces that with up to three days for personal illness, two for bereavement and three for family responsibilities, all unpaid.
The bill also eliminates pay-equity for part-time and casual workers.
Christine, a woman who the CBC News has agreed not to identify to protect her job, works four part-time minimum wage jobs in Richmond Hill, Ont.
"We knew that this was coming, but it still feels like I was kicked in the stomach," she said in an interview on Metro Morning. "How is he for the people if he's not increasing minimum wage?"
You can listen to the full interview in the player below:
'Invest, grow'
Three cabinet ministers announced the changes this morning: Economic Development Minister Jim Wilson, Labour Minister Laurie Scott and Training, Colleges and Universities Minister Merrilee Fullerton.
"We need to create an environment where businesses can grow and create good jobs," Wilson told reporters. "We have a real problem in Ontario with the high cost, delays and lost business associated with burdensome regulations."
Business groups such as the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Retail Council of Canada have been urging the Ford government to take away the new sick day and pay equity protections granted to Ontario workers this year.
On Tuesday, Ontario Chamber of Commerce chief executive Rocco Rossi said Bill 148 was a case of "too much, too fast."
In a statement, he said: "The compounding labour reforms and unintended consequences came at too high a cost to Ontario's economy. We are absolutely thrilled that the Government of Ontario is holding strong in its commitment to keep Ontario open for business."
Labour unions, however, were not enthused about the new bill.
'An enemy of workers'
"We've known for a long time that Doug Ford is no friend of workers, and with today's announcement he's proven exactly that," Chris Buckley, president of the Ontario Federation of Labour, said during a news conference at Queen's Park.
"In fact, he's proven he's an enemy of workers."
The Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario (ETFO) said the changes to labour laws will adversely affect precarious workers, such as occasional teachers.
"Ontario's economy is not going to grow when 40 per cent of working people do not have disposable income to fuel the economy nor the stability to feed their families," ETFO president Sam Hammond said in a statement.
"We've seen time and time again that 'open for business' really means that corporations and businesses get to operate carte blanche while suppressing wages and benefits needed by workers to survive."
Open for business
During his run for the Progressive Conservative leadership and during the election campaign, Ford frequently promised to put a neon sign at the border with the U.S. declaring Ontario open for business.
The PC government has already indicated it will not proceed with the scheduled increase in the minimum wage to $15 an hour on Jan. 1, instead freezing it at $14. Tuesday's announcement included word that the government will freeze the minimum wage until October 2020, with subsequent increases tied to inflation.
Rolling back previous hikes would be "immensely unfair to Ontario workers," said Labour Minister Laurie Scott.
But, she went on, "Ontario workers and businesses deserve a minimum wage determined by economics, not politics."
The bill unveiled Tuesday also repeals changes to the Labour Relations Act that had made it easier for workers in various sectors to join a union.
The bill will also make changes to how skilled trades are governed in the province designed to "address the backlog" in the system, including scrapping the Ontario College of Trades, which governs apprenticeships in Ontario.
The province would replace the college with a new model for the regulation of skilled trades and apprenticeships by early 2019.
About one in five new jobs in Ontario are expected to be trades-related positions, the Ford government said in its eight-page release. But employers are facing barriers to getting the skilled workers they need, the statement went on, so changes are coming to the ratios of journeyperson to apprentice in trades that are subject to ratios, putting it at one-to-one.
Wilson said Tuesday the PC government is working to reverse a "tsunami" of regulations by the previous Liberal government that brought unnecessary costs to businesses and stymied economic growth.
"We must get government out of the way of our job creators," Wilson said. | {
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Email is a thorn in everyone's side and none more so than Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. Since she began her campaign, Clinton's quest to become leader of the free world has been dogged by questions of whether she improperly used a personal server to receive sensitive emails while she was secretary of state. The issue has prompted an inquiry by the FBI as well as a review by the Department of State and has attracted congressional scrutiny. It remains one of the biggest vulnerabilities of Clinton's campaign.
This week, however, the Clinton campaign received some potential relief. The Department of State reportedly uncovered during its investigation classified emails that had been sent to the personal email addresses of former Secretary Colin Powell and staff of former Secretary Condoleezza Rice during their respective tenures in office. The findings seem like they should help neutralize the accusations against Clinton. After all, how can Republicans hold against her actions to which prominent members of the previous (Republican) administration were also party? The Clinton campaign has started to make just such an argument. According to The New York Times, "Mrs. Clinton's campaign team has cited the use of personal email by other secretaries of state to suggest that the controversy about her email server had been exaggerated for partisan reasons during the 2016 presidential campaign." Unfortunately for the Clinton campaign, the State Department's recent report is unlikely to quiet the issue.
There's a key difference between the Clinton emails and the ones involving the past secretaries, and that is the number of emails involved. The Times reports that between Powell and Rice's aides, a total of 12 emails were found that have since been classified as "secret" or "confidential." In Clinton's case, 18 emails have been classified as "secret" and 1,564 as "confidential," and an additional 22 emails have been classified as "top secret." The difference in numbers makes Clinton's violation look far more egregious, as does the presence of emails with the top secret designation, and mitigates any benefit Clinton might get from the State Department's finding.
Another factor working against Clinton here is that her Republican opponents probably care far more about attacking her than protecting Powell or Rice. Neither Powell nor Rice have been active in the current race, and I'm hard pressed to think of a single Republican candidate who would care all that much about keeping them out of the fray. On the other hand, ammunition against Clinton has great value. All of that ensures that the former secretaries' involvement is unlikely to be a deterrent in Republicans' continued discussion of the issue. | {
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KENOSHA COUNTY -- Kenosha County Sheriff's officials say four people were arrested as a search warrant was executed at a home in Kenosha on Tuesday morning, December 15th, and more than $1 million worth of meth disguised as cocaine was recovered. The search warrant was executed at the home on 50th Street in Kenosha around 6:00 a.m. (near 50th Street and 16th Avenue). The four men taken into custody are between the ages of 20 and 23. Members of the Kenosha County Sheriff's Department's Drug Operations Group located marijuana, cocaine, crystal meth, a firearm and a meth lab in the home. Due to the strong chemical odors and an unknown substance (brown liquid), a processing room inside the home was secured until a DEA agent arrived to the scene. The scene tested positive for meth -- and bagged kilos, assumed to be cocaine, actually tested positive for meth. Officials say these men that were taken into custody were actively working a meth lab while purposely giving the meth the appearance of powdered cocaine -- and selling it as cocaine. The processing lab was used to convert crystal meth into white powder that resembles cocaine. The men would then sell it as powered cocaine. Cutting agents were used to convert one pound of meth into four pounds of white power lookalike cocaine meth. Officials say the following was recovered from the home:
PHOTO GALLERY: Officials are requesting charges including possession with intent to deliver meth, possession with intent to deliver THC and keeper of a drug house against the men. | {
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Late-night host Stephen Colbert on Wednesday ripped into President Trump’s ban on transgender people in the military, saying Trump might as well have ended his tweet saying “F--- you.”
On “The Late Show,” Colbert read out loud Trump’s Wednesday tweets announcing that he would ban transgender people from serving in the military in a voice mocking Trump, noting that he finished the series of tweets with “thank you.”
“Thank you? F--- you.”
“Today I really think he’s off his meds, because today he went from crazy to cruel,” he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Colbert asked why Trump would make the decision, after promising during the campaign to fight for LGBT people. Reading a tweet that Trump made last year, Colbert mused that he could have not known what the "T" LGBT stands for.
“What the hell does he think the 'T' in LBGT stands for? Trump?" he said.
Colbert noted that transgender rights activist Caitlyn Jenner called out the president for his decision, warning that she should have expected him to lie.
“Caitlyn, I don’t know if I'm the first person to break this to you, but he’s a liar," he said. “I know he said he was your friend but he was using you, girl. You deserve better.”
He noted that there were 15,000 transgender troops that were “fired by tweet," comparing that decision to getting divorced via a "cookie bouquet." | {
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'The tempo and vibe they are coming from is unlike anything else that is happening in bass music right now,' Skrillex says of Koan Sound.
What makes Skrillex particularly exciting is his willingness to try new things, much as he did when collaborating with Benny Benassi and Gary Go on their "Cinema" remix, with the remaining members of the Doors on their track "Breaking a Sweat" and with "Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley on the upcoming single "Make It Bun Dem."
His label, OWSLA, has shed light on a versatile collection of non-cookie-cutter EDM rock stars like Porter Robinson, Zedd and Dillon Francis. So when Skrillex recently offered to introduce MTV News to two underground acts, we jumped at the opportunity.
First up was Jake Stanczak (stage name Kill the Noise). "He's been DJing for a while now and been in so many different projects in the drum-and-bass scene. I feel like he's finally found this really incredible sound that's his own. Not to say that he hasn't had his sound before."
Kill the Noise has heater remixes for Kanye West and Estelle, Rye Rye, and Yelawolf, and collaborated with Skrillex, 12th Planet, Datsik and Korn, in addition to his own series of successful bass singles. Throughout their friendship, Skrillex has been an ardent supporter of KTN, with OWSLA putting out his last EP, Kill Kill Kill, among other remixes.
"We've been working hard," KTN said. "I started sending him demos and then that's really kind of been my inspiration, is getting feedback from him, and obviously the rest of these guys too," he said, pointing to Koan Sound beside him. "But Sonny [Skrillex] has really kind of pushed me along."
"And this is Koan Sound," Skrillex said, indicating Jim Bastow and Will Weeks, a pair of Bristol, U.K., DJ/producers. "Theirs is an exciting, novel form of EDM: It's funky. It's hype. And it's slow. Like, 100bpm-slower-than-Moombahton slow, but in an exceptional way.
"They are just so incredibly talented," Skrillex said. "They come from Bristol. It's a really musical, kind of artistic city in the U.K., and the tempo and vibe they are coming from is unlike anything else that is happening in bass music right now. ... It's like hip-hop, and it's slow and it's got this really fresh vibe, where you can rock a rager and a pool party."
"This is our first real tour in America," Weeks said of their recent trip to Miami Music Week. "The reception we've been getting is pretty amazing. The stuff we released on OWSLA [Funk Blaster EP] just goes off!"
"It's kind of mind-blowing," Bastow said. "People recognize it instantly. That always encourages you, when you go to places that you've never been before and play to crowds that you've never played to before and they already know you're music."
Fans can expect Skrillex and Damian Marley to release "Make It Bun Dem" soon, and new EPs for both Kill the Noise and Koan Sound will likely be served up by OWSLA this summer. And Skrillex will leave the music completely in the hands of its creators.
"I do nothing but make sure their vision is exactly what their vision is," Skrillex said, "because as soon as you f--- with that, [that's] the minute it's not what you want them for. Both of these guys, I love them because they are making the tunes they make."
"Honestly, that's what I love about OWSLA," Weeks confessed. "Anything I send these guys, they take on board, and they just love anything I send them. I can be as creative as I want to be, which is perfect for being a producer." | {
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News, if you can call what the “dirt sheets” post as news, broke yesterday that AJ Styles is ready to leave TNA and not renew his contract once his extension is up. For many die hard TNA fans, of which it seems there are lesser and lesser of these days, it seems a shot in the heart as the face of TNA since it’s inception is now apparently gone. There are many different roads he and TNA could go down still, but the two easiest to see are WWE and RoH, and then the third which is still a possibility with what has happened over the passed year or so, a return to TNA.
The first and easily the one that causes most of the stir in the IWC as soon as the news broke, is the possibility of AJ signing with WWE. The biggest problem being his age. AJ is 36 years old and many would say his in ring ability has already been slipping for the past few years. If WWE were to sign him, they would send him down to nXt and see what he could do there for a year or two before he ever got his face on Raw or Smackdown. Putting him even closer to 40 and getting even slower in the ring. The WWE style is something not all wrestlers can easily adapt to either. This can be noted with the recent departure of Mistico(Sin Cara) from the company after he was put directly on TV without the time put into developmental. While there are a number of stories and matches with guys like The Shield, Punk, Bryan, and others that would be must see for any TNA fan, or wrestling fan for that matter. The timing just doesn’t seem right for AJ to go to WWE, that shipped has sailed, he is just getting to old to have the time to adapt and find a place in the WWE roster.
A return to ROH and with that the indies is the second road that Styles can go down. AJ has been there before and for now at least he seems to be going to them again. The indies will gladly pay AJ what he is worth to them to come and make a few appearances, and of course ROH will have a wide open door to bring him back. It seems like this will be the most probable path for AJ. The hurdle here would be the financial situation this would put him in. While the stories of TNA and low wages are a dime a dozen, the indies are not all they are romanticized as being. There will be times that he gets paid more for an appearance at an indie show than he would for an appearance for TNA, but for every one of those how many shows will pay him less than his TNA rate? This is the balancing act he is going to have to do as long as he continues to work the indies, and no doubt this will lead to more dates, and a tougher travel schedule than he would have to work with TNA.
The last option is return to TNA. Over the past year and half we have seen Matt Morgan, Devon, D Lo, and Mr. Anderson, along with others let their TNA contracts expire only to return to the organization a few months on down the line. This why TNA fans shouldn’t completely get their hopes dashed and feel AJ leaving isn’t a death nail for TNA. He could always return down the line, and with so many recent TNA figures doing the same in recent months AJ could just be the next name on the list.
The silver lining of the entire situation is Magnus. While it seems many fans are split down the middle on if they love him or not, he is now going to be the face of the company. While the title tournament is finished yet(I refuse to read spoilers and allow the show to speak for itself)it seems that while Hardy has a shot to win, the story going into the final match is going to be all about Magnus finally getting over the hump and winning his first world title. People want TNA to push new talent and with Magnus’ recent run since Bound for Glory, beating every Mafia member. A win against Hardy for the title, and then a win against AJ Styles, to pass the torch of being the face of the company, would be TNA doing everything right to move into the “post AJ” era, with a brand new poster boy who has proven himself in the ring not only over the past few months but over an entire year of building the next TNA star. | {
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De politie was vannacht uitgerukt voor een ruzie in het centrum van Spa. Daar stond een groep Nederlanders die een café niet binnen mocht en daar amok maakte.
Bij aankomst van de politie waren de Nederlanders in een taxi gestapt. Toen de politie hen wou controleren, werd er geschoten vanuit de auto door een van de inzittenden. Een van de agenten, een 38-jarige man, werd daarbij geraakt en overleed later aan zijn verwondingen.
De ordediensten zetten nadien een massale klopjacht naar de daders op poten, onder meer in de bossen in de buurt van Spa. Daarbij is een verdachte opgepakt. Het gaat om een Nederlandse man, die overigens zelf geraakt was door een politiekogel en gewond was aan de buikstreek. Hij is bekend bij de politie voor één feit van slagen en verwondingen. Uit het onderzoek blijkt dat hij één van de inzittenden van de taxi was, maar of hij ook de schutter was, is nog niet duidelijk. Hij kon al verhoord worden vandaag, maar dat heeft nog niets opgeleverd. Het verhoor is opgeschort naar maandag.
Het is nog niet helemaal duidelijk hoeveel mensen er in de taxi zaten en hoeveel mensen er dus nog worden opgespoord. Er zou vijf Nederlanders toegang tot het café geweigerd zijn, maar hoeveel er in de taxi stapten is niet duidelijk. Er zouden ondertussen nog twee verdachten geïdentificeerd zijn, mogelijk is de politie die al op het spoor, maar of ze al zijn opgepakt weten we niet.
Zeker is dat er ook nog wordt gezocht naar het wapen waarmee de agent gedood werd. | {
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Since November, there's been an uptick in interest for immigrating to Canada. Heaps of whiny, liberal Americans promptly flooded through the gates. Only to be denied (see LOL! Sore Loser Leftists Try Moving to Canada. Get Rejected for Being Dead Beats...). A discovery deserving of chuckles. But bed-wetting liberals aren't the only ones getting booted. Now that ICE is actually doing ICE things, Mexicans are skipping America and heading straight up north to the tolerant Canadian border of friendly people and maple syrup surpluses.
Enter delicious irony:
As Trump seeks to crack down on undocumented immigrants in the United States, about half of whom are Mexican, there are some nascent signs that more Mexican migrants see a future in Canada, which in December eased travel for visitors from Mexico. Canadian government data shows a tripling of Mexicans seeking to travel to Canada in the three months since the visa requirement was shelved. [But] more Mexican nationals were turned back from the Canadian border in January 2017 than the total number rejected each year in 2012, 2013 and 2014.
Truckloads of Mexicans didn't make the cut. Interesting.
So friendly "We love everybody" socialist Canada has a border policy in place after all. Good for them, eh? Nobody's saying Canada should be forced into open border policies and let anyone in. Leftists, not conservatives, are the ones who want to nix borders for the sake of the feels. More specifically, leftist utopias like Canada (read Dear Increasingly Liberal Canada: You Make Me Ashamed to be Canadian). See, Canadians like Justin Trudeau lob attacks at Trump and conservatives for seeking secure borders, while lecturing 300 Senor y Senora Pablo's of their own that no no, mi casa es no su casa.
The hypocrisy is astounding, but not surprising.
So how about we all keep our own borders secure, and everyone just stays where they are until legally permitted to leave their country for another? Gosh, kinda sounds like legal immigration to me. What a freaking concept.
NOT SUBSCRIBED TO THE PODCAST? FIX THAT! IT’S COMPLETELY FREE ON BOTH ITUNES HERE AND SOUNDCLOUD HERE. | {
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An indictment over campaign spending hasn’t shaken Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) from holding the lead in his re-election bid over Democrat challenger Ammar Campa-Najjar in California’s 50th congressional district.
Hunter led Campa-Najjar byeight points, 47%-39%, in a SurveyUSA poll released Monday that identified 13 percent as undecided (no margin of error was reported). Hunter’s support appears to have remained steady from California’s June primary election where Hunter took home 47 percent of the vote, the same percentage he received in the new poll.
Investigation into Hunter’s campaign funds were widely reported ahead of the June primary election and Hunter still achieved a commanding first place finish, with Campa-Najjar trailing in second with just over 17 percent of the vote.
On August 21, Hunter and his wife were indicted for alleged misuse of campaign funds. Monday’s poll was conducted after that indictment, from August 22-26, and shows at least three-quarters of those polled were aware of the new indictment at the time they were questioned.
A plurality of respondents, 42 percent, believed the charges were politically motivated. 36 percent believed they were not, and 22 percent were not sure. 64 percent of Republicans believed the charges to be politically motivated.
Hunter and his wife have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
The boost in support to Campa-Najjar could be because of the consolidation of support from Democrats, the San Diego Union-Tribune suggested.
Campa-Najjar’s 39 percent showing in the SurveyUSA poll stands close to just three points higher than the combined 36.4 percent of primary voters who supported one of the three Democrats running in the June primary.
Campa-Najjar has faced heat over his Palestinian terrorist grandfather, Muhammed Yusuf al-Najjar, who headed up the intelligence activities for the Fatah faction and was allegedly linked to the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the Summer Olympics in Munich in 1972.
Campa-Najjar has distanced himself from his grandfather’s views and actions.
Republicans took home a combined 62.4 percent of the vote between three candidates, including Hunter, in the June primary. A no party preference candidate received 1.2 percent.
Far-left Democrats Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and New York congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez encouraged their Twitter followers to support Campa-Najjar in the significantly Republican 50th congressional district.
Hunter’s father, Duncan Hunter, Sr., held the congressional seat prior to Hunter Jr. winning it in 2008.
Campa-Najjar previously served in the Labor Department under President Barack Obama.
Hunter and Campa-Najjar will face off as the only two names on the November ballot for 50th district voters to choose from to represent them in the House of Representatives.
Under California’s Proposition 14 top-two primary system, no write-in candidates are allowed, and there is no process for allowing political parties to remove a candidate.
Michelle Moons is a White House Correspondent for Breitbart News — follow on Twitter @MichelleDiana and Facebook | {
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Islamabad: Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan accused the government on Friday of placing him under virtual house arrest in Islamabad as his supporters in nearby Rawalpindi fought running battles with the police.
Police used tear gas and batons against rock-throwing protesters in Rawalpindi, 20 kilometres from Islamabad, as both sides prepared for Mr Khan's plan to shut down the capital next week to force Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resign.
There was no immediate report of injuries and the violence eased as darkness fell, but a handful of protesters defying a ban on public gatherings continued to clash with police.
Police also fired tear gas and clashed with protesters near Mr Khan's house in Islamabad. | {
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Donnarumma only made his first team debut for the Serie A side at the end of October but has since kept three clean-sheets and Milan have only lost one league contest that he has played in. | {
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In the early 1980s, paleontologists Jeff Eaton and Rich Cifelli started digging for fossils in one of the most inaccessible regions of the United States: the Kaiparowits Plateau of southern Utah. They were looking not for dinosaurs, but for ancestral mammals. Mammals almost litter the fossil record after dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago, but they were rare before then. Eaton and Cifelli ventured onto the Kaiparowits to comb its rocks for mammals’ tiny teeth and bones.
Not only did these two scientists find fossil mammals, they uncovered one of the most complete sequences of vertebrate fossils anywhere in the world from the time when dinosaurs still ruled. What Eaton and Cifelli discovered in Utah showed that life on land was unexpectedly becoming more diverse at a time when life in the oceans was being decimated by chemical changes.
Their work demonstrated the tremendous paleontological potential of the Kaiparowits Plateau and the nearby Circle Cliffs and Grand Staircase regions. Rocks in this remote region span the entire Mesozoic Era – the so-called Age of Reptiles – and by the early 1990s were producing scientifically important fossils from all three of its periods, the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous.
P. David Polly, 2018 , CC BY-ND
On Sept. 18, 1996, President Bill Clinton set aside these federal lands as Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. The goal was to protect their paleontological treasures, preserve their hundreds of archaeological sites and keep one of America’s last wildernesses intact.
Decades of ongoing research in this region have literally rewritten what scientists know about Mesozoic life, especially about the ecosystems that immediately preceded the final extinction of the dinosaurs. Paleontologists like me know that the still-pristine Grand Staircase-Escalante region has divulged only a fragment of its paleontological story.
But the Trump administration has systematically cut entire chapters of that narrative out of the national monument, including key segments of what Clinton’s original proclamation called “one of the best and most continuous records of Late Cretaceous terrestrial life in the world.” The changes not only are at odds with scientific goals for which the monument was created, but researchers contend they endanger the unique natural heritage that belongs to us all.
What national monument designation means
National monuments are not memorials to famous Americans. They’re a special category of federal land, used to conserve special historical, archaeological and scientific resources.
In the 1906 Antiquities Act, Congress granted the president power to establish national monuments on government land to protect these types of resources. In total, 640 million acres are held in trust for the American people. The majority of this land is available for mixed uses, including wildlife conservation, livestock grazing, mining and petroleum extraction, scientific study and recreation, as mandated by Congress in the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976.
National monuments come into play when historical or scientific resources on those lands are endangered by one or more of those uses or when special attention would enhance them. It was the value of the paleontological resources and the pristine condition of the wilderness around the Kaiparowits Plateau that triggered Bill Clinton’s Grand Staircase-Escalante proclamation in 1996.
Monument status confers funding through the National Conservation Lands System to restore, maintain and develop designated national heritage resources on federal land. At Grand Staircase, these funds help pay for paleontological field crews, for helicopter lifts of excavated specimens from inaccessible areas and for conservation of those specimens back in the lab. Just as Fort McHenry National Monument in Maryland would not realize its value as a historic site if its buildings were not maintained, so too would Grand Staircase fail to live up to its potential if its fossils were not studied.
The management plan for the original Grand Staircase placed priority on paleontological research. It established the position of monument paleontologist to coordinate field researchers from around the world, to survey and document paleontological sites, and to ensure that fossils collected from the monument are placed in museums and universities where they remain the property of the federal government and are accessible to those who wish to study them.
Shrinking the site
But now Eaton and Cifelli’s original dig sites are no longer part of the monument. President Donald Trump cut them last December, along with more than 700 other documented paleontological sites.
Based on a recommendation by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, Trump issued a proclamation that reduced Grand Staircase to almost half its original size. His text asserts that the cuts “take into account” the findings of two decades of paleontological research in order to determine “the smallest area compatible with the proper care and management of the objects of … scientific interest.”
Roughly 1 in 3 of the thousands of sites discovered at the monument have now been excluded. And many more sites remain to be found because large areas have not been fully surveyed. The change in status means that new research in the excluded areas will have lower priority and less support.
In August, the Department of Interior issued a draft management plan for the areas that have been removed from monument, now available for public comment. It offers options that range from protecting paleontological resources with the same rules as before, to actively prioritizing mineral and gas extraction in the excluded areas. The former would be great for science; the latter could be devastating. Some fossil-rich areas of the excluded parts of the monument could be targets for shale gas extraction, others could be singled out for coal or uranium mining.
Depending on the outcome of the current management plan consultation, areas now excluded from the monument may not receive the same priority for conservation and research.
Why ongoing protection is needed
Paleontology, like any science, rests on the principle of verifiability. Science is a process in which scientists revisit old data time and time again to verify earlier findings, to ask new questions and to apply new technology.
The scientific process means that paleontologists routinely return to sites where major discoveries were made in the past. For example, when Tyrannosaurus rex was discovered in 1902, scientists had no way of precisely dating the rocks in which it was found nor did they have any inkling that it was one of the last dinosaurs standing before a massive asteroid crashed into the Earth. Only by applying radiometric dating and rare earth element analysis at those classic sites more than 100 years later have we come to understand the demise of dinosaurs.
Paleontologists work at Grand Staircase because of its unique fossil record, of course, but also because they know the sites will remain intact. Verifiability has become increasingly important; every paleontologist has faced a situation where they cannot answer a pressing question because a key fossil has been misplaced or a critical site has been destroyed.
Scientific ethics dictate that we curate scientifically important specimens in accessible public repositories like museums and do our best to preserve the sites they come from. Places like national monuments and national parks that prioritize protection of fossil sites are therefore prime research areas. That permanent protection has been rescinded from more than 700 sites in active research areas is almost inconceivable to paleontologists.
Because of the potential impact the cuts are likely to have on science, the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology – of which I am the current president – joined with Grand Staircase Partners and Conservation Lands Foundation in a lawsuit to reverse them. The case’s argument is that presidents do not have the authority to unprotect resources at national monuments and that scientifically important paleontological resources have indeed been excised. The case is currently pending in U.S. District Court.
Vertebrate fossils are rare, so much so that each one usually tells a unique part of the story of life. Mammal species like the ones that Eaton and Cifelli discovered in the 1980s were probably spread over much of the continent in the Cretaceous, but precious few of them have ended up in the fossil record and only a few of those have been discovered. Grand Staircase is an extraordinary place with an unusual density of these rare fragments of life’s past, one where their geological context is still intact. That’s why paleontologists are concerned about its future. | {
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For the wealthy Chinese, it's no longer enough to look the part. They're now paying big bucks to learn how to act the part too.
Increased global travel, business expansions and mounting interest in Western education has led China's middle and upper classes to seek out etiquette professionals to expand their lifestyle repertoire.
"It used to be China's rich were all about buying luxury brands to show their status, but now the focus is on consuming knowledge as a way to differentiate," said James Hebbert, managing director of Seatton, a British culture and etiquette company in China.
Related: Jack Ma: Being rich is a 'great pain'
He travels across the country teaching clients how to shake hands correctly, how to tie a tie, use cutlery, make eye contact and dress for any occasion. "People, especially in Chinese culture, want to avoid losing face when conducting business or on holiday in the west."
China is No.2 when it comes to the most millionaires in the world, according to the Boston Consulting Group, with millionaire households rising to 2.4 million in 2013 from 1.5 million in 2012.
And as wealth levels grow, so do the needs and desires of the rich. "You see this with developing countries -- they go through a 'bling phase,' but then they move onto a more elevated level of discernment."
At finishing school Institute Sarita, founder Sara Jane Ho appeals to China's wealthiest. She is headquartered in Beijing and teaches a hostess class for older married women and a debutante class.
"My students were the ones who were buying Hermes bags 10 years ago. Now they are holding themselves to higher standards and have deeper desires."
The hostess class runs 12 days and costs $16,345. The women learn "high-end social etiquette" such as how to throw a dinner party, socializing tips, the rules of official and diplomatic protocol and proper hotel and restaurant manners. There's also a session on how to pronounce luxury brands.
Related: Meet Hong Kong's bagel banker
The 10-day debutante class is open to unmarried females ages 16 and up and focuses on dating etiquette, international introductions, how to hold a conversation and dressing tips.
Ho, who is a native of Hong Kong but went to boarding school and college in the U.S., said her experience is a major selling point. "Our students are leaders in their social and business circles and it's hard for them to find a teacher they respect. Our teachers live the life that our students are living and understand their needs."
Wealthy Chinese parents are increasingly sending their kids west for their education, either for boarding school or college, and they're doing whatever it takes to increase kids' admissions prospects.
Ho's hostess class also focuses on parenting techniques, and under her advice a group of parents recently flew to Belgium to pick out ponies for their 10-year-olds in hopes they become accomplished equestrian riders. "Children need that edge to get into a good boarding school or top university."
Related: Macau trumps Vegas with $270 minimum bet
London-based luxury lifestyle school Debretts works to get its foreign students ready for life outside of China. Debretts's classes for school-aged children focus on developing a personal brand, dining etiquette, social networking skills, interview techniques and conversation skills. The classes rely heavily on role playing and group work.
"Studying abroad can bring a heavy academic and cultural shock. We are teaching the students how to interact in any global environment," said Joanne Milner, CEO of Debretts.
Debretts launched training programs in Hong Kong and Shanghai this year, and many foreign students choose to attend the school in London. In July, its inaugural London program attracted 14 Chinese students.
The school's personal branding and dining etiquette courses each cost $735, and the interview techniques program is $850.
Related: China's booming $1.5 billion pet care market
"Some of what we do is very simple like eye contact and handshakes that aren't always something that comes naturally to young Chinese students. A lot of what we focus on is how to promote yourself, add to a discussion and ask questions," said Milner.
When it comes to expanding people's etiquette arsenal, Hebbert said it's not about teaching right versus wrong. "It's more about teaching and appreciating a different culture." | {
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膝おっぱい
Pressing your knees to your chest to pretend you have boobs. Usually a parody of a scene from Onee-chan no Te wo Totte in which the main character, Yumi, does this (post #70972).
See also | {
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The Sun goes down on a dark day for #HongKong pic.twitter.com/dfxiUEYE95
Citizens covered a black clad girl who was almost caught by riot police in Central with their bodies, despite rounds of pepper spray in super close range. pic.twitter.com/jtymh3WKio
#Followbackhongkong #hongkong Central, Hong Kong. If this is not police state I don't know what is. pic.twitter.com/zoHrpcZjdz
Hong Kong right now. My friend who is there now sent me this video... #HongKong #HongKongProtest pic.twitter.com/Ssv1ugysf4
#Hongkong protesters turned over a car and set it on fire. #HongKongProtests pic.twitter.com/E4rUJa0uKq
Rioters set fire in a subway car at Kawi Fong MTR station on Nov 11. #HongKong #香港 pic.twitter.com/SYWAlpGPDG
A man was doused in fluid and set on fire after what appears to be a confrontation during the #HongKongProtests Monday He is in critical condition in the hospital, according to Hong Kong police #香港 pic.twitter.com/Tgs2U7Uibw
Hong Kong police trying to mow protesters down on a motorbike. pic.twitter.com/AC8OsSFOyy
WARNING: Some videos contain images some may find disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.
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Archaeological dig of early whisky distillery in the Cabrach Published duration 10 April 2019
image copyright Cabrach Trust image caption The ruins at Blackmiddens in the Cabrach
Archaeologists have begun excavating one of Scotland's earliest legal whisky distilleries.
Blackmiddens was one of the first small-scale whisky farms to be granted a licence to produce the drink following the Excise Act of 1823.
Its ruins are in the Cabrach, on the border between Moray and Aberdeenshire.
The dig aims to record the "character and extent" of the distillery and its relationship with an adjacent ruined farm steading.
image copyright Cabrach Trust image caption The site is the focus of an archaeological dig
The Cabrach Trust is leading the dig with support from Forestry and Land Scotland and Historic Environment Scotland.
The trust was established to preserve the history of an area notorious for illegal whisky distillation and smuggling before the introduction of the Excise Act.
'White stallion'
Ancestors of local resident Joan Harvey were involved in smuggling illicit whisky to Aberdeen before the legal distillery was set up.
The 66-year-old, whose ancestors farmed at Blackmiddens, which lies between Rhynie and Dufftown, said: "I was always told that my great, great uncle was the head of the gang at the time. Stories about their adventures were passed down my family.
"Apparently my great, great grandfather had a white stallion and when the excisemen were billeted locally he would ride his white horse, alerting everyone that the excisemen were there so that the whisky smugglers could go to ground."
image copyright Cabrach Trust image caption The small distillery was one of the first to be established after the introduction ot the Excise Act
image copyright Cabrach Trust image caption The dig is being led by the Cabrach Trust
She added: "I was also told that, one time, the excisemen were trying to catch the smugglers and had set up barricades all around Aberdeen.
"My great, great uncle hired a horse-drawn hearse and loaded the coffin with whisky. When he reached the excisemen, they all took off their hats as a mark of respect for the dead, and the whisky went through."
Anna Brennand, chief executive of the Cabrach Trust, said the area was a place of "many secrets".
She added: "For decades local farmers secretly distilled whisky and smuggled it away under the noses of excisemen. Then, when the law was changed to make small-scale whisky production profitable, Blackmiddens was one of the first farms to take advantage of this."
Blackmiddens would have had a small 180 litre (40 gallon) still compared to whisky stills today which hold many thousands of litres.
Whisky production at the farm stopped just eight years after it began and the site fell into ruin.
image copyright Cabrach Trust image caption A member of the dig team and a friend enjoying the sunshine during the exacavation
image copyright Cabrach Trust image caption The ruins are in an area of north east Scotland called the Cabrach
Forestry and Land Scotland's national environment advisor Matt Ritchie said: "The hidden history of Blackmiddens is fascinating.
"Illicit whisky stills can be found throughout the Highlands but they were particularly common in the Cabrach.
"They are difficult to spot, but once you know what you are looking for, you can find them tucked away next to burns in the hills. | {
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A WOMAN who used homeopathy instead of taking her dogs to a vet has been banned from keeping animals for three years.
When the RSPCA received a call about Susan Lambert’s dogs, the 54-year-old claimed her two German Shepherds were suffering from a skin condition because they had been burnt by the sulphuric acid that a farmer had sprayed on nearby fields.
She was advised to seek veterinary treatment, but refused saying she would continue to use homeopathy.
Three months later, an RSPCA officer returned to find the dogs’ conditions had rapidly deteriorated.
Five-year-old male K had lost half his fur, while eight-year-old female Tee (pictured) was almost completely bald.
Eventually the RSCPA and police attended Lambert’s address in Colwall to seize the animals.
They were taken to a vet who found that parasitic mites had burrowed into the dogs’ skin and caused severe mange.
At Hereford Magistrates’ Court last week, Gaynor Sutton, prosecuting for the RSPCA, said Lambert had been “difficult to deal with”.
Lambert had accused the RSPCA of harassment and, when police called at her house, initially refused to let them in.
She was been found guilty of causing unnecessary suffering to animals during a hearing at Hereford Magistrates last month.
Lambert, who now lives in the Nottingham area, did not attend that trial and did not attend court to be sentenced due to illness, but in a letter to the court said she was now too sick to continue the fight to get her dogs back.
Since being taken in by the RSPCA, Tee has made a full recovery. She will soon be up for adoption through the animal charity.
Sadly K was put to sleep after vets found an inoperable tumour.
As well as being banned from keeping any animals for three years, Lambert was fined a total of £600 and ordered to pay £400 costs. | {
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Darlings, it’s a much bigger garden party than we thought! Because EVERYONE DIES AND THEY’RE IN HEAVEN TOGETHER.
Spoilers!
Now, Prepare yourselves for a facial blast of GROOVY.
Wow. Ken’s never gonna take that patch off, is he?
We think this one picture alone may kill the whole Peggy/Pete ship argument.
That is a metric fucktonne of plaid.
His tie matches her dress. They’re sleeping together, clearly.
Vincent Kartheiser deserves an Emmy just for letting them do that to his hair.
Serving up some serious Johnny Carson realness.
[Photo Credit:Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC] | {
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Un fonctionaire de la PAF (Police aux Frontières) a été arrêté ce matin en présence de ses collègues et placé en garde à vue. Il est soupçonné dans une affaire de trafic de cocaïne entre la Martinique et la France.
Martinique 1ère • | {
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USA TODAY Sports
During the Boston Celtics' 100-98 double-overtime victory over the Miami Heat, it was reported that star point guard Rajon Rondo had suffered a torn ACL (via CBS Sports). As a result of this debilitating injury, reports stated that Rondo had been ruled out for the remainder of the season.
Not so fast. Rondo is seeking a second opinion from world class doctors and consultation from Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson.
According to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSN New England, Rondo is searching for the best help he can find. Not only does that include Peterson, but one of the most reputable names in the sports medicine world.
Orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews.
"He [Dr. Andrews] is one that we're definitely considering," Rondo's agent Bill Duffy, told CSNNE.com. "If he's No. 1, there's a couple 1As and 1Bs we're looking at as well."
It doesn't stop there.
Rondo is not limiting his search for consultation to doctors, as he's also looking to players for aid in this pressing time. The athlete he is seeking to converse with is not an NBA peer, however, but an NFL Pro Bowler.
None other than Mr. Adrian Peterson.
In addition, Duffy said they are in the process of setting up meetings with other athletes who have had similar injuries.
Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is among those that Rondo's camp hopes to speak with very soon.
Just for the record, Dr. James Andrews performed surgery on Adrian Peterson's knee in 2011 (via Vikings.com).
For those unfamiliar with Peterson, he suffered a torn ACL on December 24, 2011 (via NFL.com). Peterson was active for the Vikings' opening game on September 9, 2012 (via NFL.com).
That is a margin of less than nine months in which Peterson was sidelined.
Not only did Peterson return to the NFL in such a short period of time, but he came back better than ever before. For perspective, Peterson was a four-time Pro Bowler and the 2007 rushing leader before this injury.
As for his return, Peterson finished the 2012 regular season with a career-best 2,097 rushing yards. It was the second-most single-season rushing yards in NFL history behind Eric Dickerson in 1984 (via Pro-Football-Reference.com).
For that reason, it is a seemingly logical step for Rondo to develop an understanding for what Peterson did during his recovery process. The results were positive as Peterson returned as a more productive player.
Even still, we'd be remiss to ignore the potential for a longer and more gradual recovery process.
Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose suffered a torn ACL on April 28, 2012 (via ESPN Chicago). Dr. Brian Cole speculated that D-Rose would miss 8-to-12 months, which is on par with Rose's current status (via ESPN Chicago).
Rose has now missed nine months for rest and rehabilitation.
Regardless of how much time Rondo is sidelined for, it is clear that he is prepared to cover all bases on the road to recovery. If we know anything about Rondo's work ethic, it's that he will do whatever it takes to come back better than ever.
Rondo's infamous return from a gruesome elbow dislocation in 2011 should provide evidence to such a theory. | {
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KuCoin has long been in the shadow of Binance, its better-known competitor. If token price is any indicator, however, KuCoin ($KCS) has been on the rise in both the eyes of investors and those of traders.
The KuCoin story is a curious one. Ask around and you’ll find that for many, KuCoin just suddenly appeared. No splashy market entrance, no glitzy press campaign — it simply opened its doors to traders, and that was that. Despite not entering the market with much fanfare, KuCoin did do one thing right from the very beginning — it offered tokens and trading pairs that couldn’t be found anywhere else.
When KuCoin came online in September 2017 — only a month after Binance’s debut — it hit the ground running at a very particular moment. The cryptocurrency market was still in the midst of a cool-off period after a parabolic spring campaign. ICOs were catching on in earnest and were helping to aggregate value in both BTC and ETH. Exchanges were still in their infancy — Coinbase, Bittrex, Poloniex, Kraken, and Bitfinex were the best known but had paltry altcoin offerings.
What happened next may have seemed like the obvious play, but no one until KuCoin had decided to do it — the KuCoin team put all those ingredients together and created what they dubbed “The People’s Exchange.” KuCoin knew that people were sick of having to gamble on shady exchanges like Liqui.io, EtherDelta, and others to buy obscure altcoins. They knew that if people had an option for buying those same altcoins on a legitimate exchange, then they wouldn’t hesitate to leave places like EtherDelta forever.
That’s exactly what happened — except the exodus away from low liquidity exchanges with bad customer service didn’t happen overnight, and it wasn’t only because of KuCoin. Several other exchanges formed around the same concept. Coss and Bibox debuted not long after KuCoin and went after the same market. Huobi expanded its offerings to try and grab more market share. Despite the market politics and turbulence, KuCoin came out strong and carved a place for itself by virtue of offering a no-nonsense user experience backed by an impressive array of tokens. | {
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Falling snow in Whiltey Bay, as heavy snowfall across parts of the UK is causing widespread disruption, closing roads and grounding flights at an airport (PA)
The Met Office has issued a Yellow weather warning across Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of England and Wales following another cold night that saw temperatures drop below zero.
Ice is expected to form on stretches of untreated roads, pavements and cycle paths from Wednesday afternoon through to well into Thursday morning.
Wintry showers will also spread from the west, with some snow expected at higher parts of western Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Temperatures in parts of the UK dropped to below those in Moscow on Tuesday, with the mercury registering as low as -13C in Shropshire.
Dozens of schools in the South West, West Midlands and Wales have also kept their gates closed for a third day following the bitterly cold conditions. | {
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Understanding YAML¶
The default renderer for SLS files is the YAML renderer. YAML is a markup language with many powerful features. However, Salt uses a small subset of YAML that maps over very commonly used data structures, like lists and dictionaries. It is the job of the YAML renderer to take the YAML data structure and compile it into a Python data structure for use by Salt.
Though YAML syntax may seem daunting and terse at first, there are only three very simple rules to remember when writing YAML for SLS files.
Rule One: Indentation¶ YAML uses a fixed indentation scheme to represent relationships between data layers. Salt requires that the indentation for each level consists of exactly two spaces. Do not use tabs.
Rule Two: Colons¶ Python dictionaries are, of course, simply key-value pairs. Users from other languages may recognize this data type as hashes or associative arrays. Dictionary keys are represented in YAML as strings terminated by a trailing colon. Values are represented by either a string following the colon, separated by a space: my_key : my_value In Python, the above maps to: { "my_key" : "my_value" } Alternatively, a value can be associated with a key through indentation. my_key : my_value Note The above syntax is valid YAML but is uncommon in SLS files because most often, the value for a key is not singular but instead is a list of values. In Python, the above maps to: { "my_key" : "my_value" } Dictionaries can be nested: first_level_dict_key : second_level_dict_key : value_in_second_level_dict And in Python: { "first_level_dict_key" : { "second_level_dict_key" : "value_in_second_level_dict" }}
Rule Three: Dashes¶ To represent lists of items, a single dash followed by a space is used. Multiple items are a part of the same list as a function of their having the same level of indentation. - list_value_one - list_value_two - list_value_three Lists can be the value of a key-value pair. This is quite common in Salt: my_dictionary : - list_value_one - list_value_two - list_value_three In Python, the above maps to: { "my_dictionary" : [ "list_value_one" , "list_value_two" , "list_value_three" ]}
Learning More¶ One easy way to learn more about how YAML gets rendered into Python data structures is to use an online YAML parser to see the Python output. One excellent choice for experimenting with YAML parsing is: http://yaml-online-parser.appspot.com/ | {
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Welcome back to the NFL regular season Eagles fans. Here at Inside The Eagles, I’ll be providing you with
All-22 recaps of each game every week. To any new fans here, welcome and I hope you enjoy the analysis provided. To my loyal followers, welcome back. Let’s get started.
The Eagles came away with a 34-17 win against the Jacksonville Jaguars in week one it what could best be described as an erratic and up and down performance. Miscues on defense and missed opportunities on offense made this game much closer than it should have been (and that’s saying something considering the Eagles won by 17 points). I’ll start off with the negative plays and then finish with the positive plays to show how the Eagles came away with the win.
Offensively, quarterback Nick Foles did not look comfortable early on and just did not look like he was seeing the field clearly as he took a few bad sacks. The Jaguars played zone defense on a majority of the Eagles’ passing plays, and I think that caught Foles and the coaching staff off guard as they may have been expecting to see more man coverage. Playing so much zone defense can be a risky proposition against the Eagles’ high tempo offense. With plays being run so quickly, it forces the defensive players to really be on the ball and focused. With a zone defense, one guy being in the wrong spot can result in a huge play being given up. That happened multiple times this game, it just so happens that the Eagles weren’t able to capitalize on all of them. Here were a few instances where the Eagles left big plays on the field.
This first play comes from midway through the first quarter. A blown assignment results in wide receiver Jeremy Maclin running free downfield, but Foles doesn’t see him and ends up taking a bad sack and fumbling the ball.
On this next play, Foles is able to freeze linebacker Geno Hayes with a playaction fake, but then is off the mark on his throw to wide receiver Jordan Matthews who gets open on a deep slant.
This next play comes from the third quarter. Once again Maclin is going to be open on a fly route, but Foles doesn’t pull the trigger. To make matters worse, Cooper ends up being left completely uncovered as Foles scrambles to his left. The end result is a five yard pass to runningback LeSean McCoy, but it could have been much more.
Now onto some positive plays. The Eagles went back to the same play I showed above where Foles missed Matthews on the deep slant. This time, it’s linebacker Telvin Smith who bites on the playaction fake, opening up a throwing lane for Foles to hit Matthews right in stride for a 30 yard gain. Unfortunately, this drive ended with Foles throwing an interception in the red zone.
With the Eagles trailing 17-0 early in the third quarter, a Darren Sproles 49 yard touchdown run sparked their comeback. This play highlighted the importance of the Eagles’ versatility on offense as well as showed why defending against a high tempo offense can be so difficult. On the play leading up to Sproles’ touchdown run, it was third down and nine to go. The Jaguars were in a nickle package to defend against the pass. The Eagles ran a screen pass to Sproles which resulted in an eight yard gain, setting up a fourth and one. The Eagles immediately got lined up without subbing, meaning that the Jaguars could not sub out of their nickle package. So now it’s fourth down and one yard to go and the Eagles have called a run right up the middle. The Jaguars are left defending a short yardage run play with the same package of players that were on the field to defend against a third and long situation. This puts them at a huge disadvantage because offensively, the Eagles have no problem running an inside zone run with the same package of players that was on the field for third down. To make matters even worse for the Jaguars, not only do not they not have a package on the field suitable for the situation, but the Jaguars coaches had little time to get a play in to their defense and the defenders have little time to get properly lined up as only 15 seconds elapsed from the time Sproles was tackled to the time that the Eagles offense was lined up to run the next play. Here is the play:
The Eagles made it a three point game on the very next drive when Foles hit tight end Zach Ertz on a seam route for a 25 yard touchdown on 3rd down. Ertz runs his route straight downfield getting in between linebackers Paul Posluszny and Telvin Smith, and Foles does a good job with the timing of his throw to drop it into Ertz before the safeties can make a play on the ball.
This next play lead to the Eagles tying up the game on a 51-yard field goal from rookie kicker Cody Parkey. Foles is able to freeze linebacker Posluszny with a play-action fake just long enough to open up a throwing lane as Ertz runs his seam route downfield splitting linebackers Posluszny and LaRoy Reynolds. The result is a 26-yard gain that puts the Eagles in field goal range.
On the Eagles’ first play of their very next drive, they run a play very similar to the one shown above (albeit from a slightly different formation). Once again the play starts off with a play-action fake and Zach Ertz is going to run a seam route with Maclin running a fly route next to him. The Jaguars are in zone defense with safety Chris Prosinski as the single high safety. As he sees the play develop, he charges forward towards Ertz thinking that the play is going to him again. By doing this, he abandons his deep coverage responsibility, and Maclin is left uncovered as he runs down the field. The result is a 68-yard touchdown pass.
Defensively, things started off a little shaky for the Eagles. The offense didn’t do the defense any favors by turning the ball over in their own zone, but the defense still allowed two 20+ yard touchdowns to undrafted free agent receiver Allen Hurns.
This play is the first touchdown pass to Allen Hurns. As Hurns runs downfield and gets into his post route, cornerback Cary Williams takes an outside position and it looks as if he’s expecting safety Nate Allen to have deep help to the inside. However, Allen steps forward to cut off tight end Mercedes Lewis on an out route, which opens up a window downfield for quarterback Chad Henne to lead Hurns to the end zone for the touchdown.
Two plays after the Eagles turned the ball over for the second time in their own zone, Henne connects with Hurns again for a 21-yard touchdown. Safety Malcolm Jenkins is going to move to his left after the snap as he’s reading the bubble screen to the slot receiver, however this opens up a window for Henne to throw to Hurns on a deep slant route, and Hurns picks up some yards after the catch to get into the endzone.
The Eagles’ defense settled down as they only allowed three more points for the rest of the game, and this played a huge part in their come from behind victory. One of the key factors to the defense’s success for the rest of the game was their ability to get off the field on third down. This was an area they struggled with in 2013 so it was good to see them show some early improvements here. The Eagles were able to stymie the Jaguars on third down as they stopped them from picking up a first down on 12 of their 14 third down tries. Here are a few third down plays from the game.
This first play comes from late in the first quarter on a third down and ten. Safety Nate Allen is going to come on a blitz, and Trent Cole (lined up as a defensive end on this play) is going to fake a rush but then drop back into coverage. Cole does an excellent job of selling the rush, causing left tackle Luke Joeckel to completely miss Allen as he runs by. Allen is able to get to Henne and knock the ball out of his hands which goes into the stat book as a nine-yard sack.
The Eagles defense stops running back Toby Gerhart from converting this play on third and one. Nose tackle Benny Logan does a great job of holding his ground and linebacker Conner Barwin does a an excellent job of crashing into tight end Mercedes Lewis, pushing him into the backfield to clog up the hole.
The Eagles were able to stop the Jaguars from converting another third-and-one in the second quarter. Newly acquired defensive end Brandon Bair does an excellent job of holding the point of attack on this play as he’s being blocked by two offensive linemen. Bair not only holds his ground against two blockers on this play, but actually surges through and ends up making the tackle with linebacker DeMeco Ryans coming in at the end to clean up any mess.
That does it for this week’s All-22 review. The Eagles head to Indianapolis for a Monday night showdown this week as the Colts look to rebound from their week one loss to the Denver Broncos. Be sure to check in during the week for my All-22 review of that game. You can also click the “follow” button on the right side of this page and you will get an email notification when it is up. | {
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A word of warning about the new sci-fi thriller Annihilation… if you’re expecting a straight-forward narrative adventure, you’re probably not going to like it. The latest from writer/director Alex Garland is adapted from a book series. Frankly, it doesn’t have the same sharpness found in his previous film Ex Machina or past screenplays such as Sunshine and Never Let Me Go. However, it does work a sort of strange charm as a trippy, gonzo fantasy with some borderline psychotropic imagery. If you’re able to simply take in the crazy visuals and allow your mind to ruminate on and fill in the many story gaps yourself, then you may appreciate it.
Lena (Natalie Portman) is a biologist reeling over the disappearance of her husband Kane (Oscar Isaac), who vanished more than a year ago while on a secret mission. When he reappears without warning showing symptoms of amnesia and then becomes physically ill, the protagonist finds herself roped into a follow-up trip to try and discover what happened. Led by Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and an all-female team enter a restricted area known as The Shimmer. As it so happens, Kane is the only person to have ever returned from the zone alive… not a hopeful sign for this new expedition.
And as you can imagine, as soon as they cross through a strange barrier, things go south. The story itself is narrated by Lena, slowly revealing bits and pieces of information about the people and their motivations. The film takes time to develop its characters as, well, smart but damaged individuals. This approach allows for some interesting thematic discussions about the self-destructive qualities of humanity and how it ties in to our biological make-up. And for those scientifically inclined, there’s additional talk about cell biology development and cancer, with a brief shout-out to the HeLa cell line.
Early sections of the movie exude a palpable sense of foreboding. Things get particularly eerie as the leads find themselves slowly losing their faculties and attempting to figure out all of the strange things they’re witnessing. A few scenes involving violent attacks are impressively handled, with some big jolts and effective audio cues (a bizarre, bear like creature with a human call is effectively rendered and sends chills down the spine). The movie makes a visual impact as well, with the new hybrid environments and lifeforms displaying unique and striking qualities.
One thing that the movie doesn’t master is effectively displaying the details of what is occurring. Early on, the characters share their desperation for answers to the questions plaguing them. By the close, comments about scrambled DNA are made in a general sense, although not with much clarity. Of course, this may be the point, but it does feel lacking in certain respects. Much of the dialogue between the knowledgeable group members describe the changes witnessed as being “impossible” (and indeed, they are) but there are never any concrete theories or clarifications. By the climax, events go even further into left field, taking on an impressionistic bent that is accompanied by wild visuals.
So, while there’s a lot of scientific talk, the major questions raised are left completely unanswered and ultimately unfathomable (at least, upon first viewing). However, it still appealed to me as a sort of strange fever dream. It isn’t in the same league as the filmmaker’s previous works, but Annihilation does offer interesting characters, intriguing ruminations about science, psychedelic visuals and a few old-fashioned scares. Brave souls in an adventurous and forgiving mood may find something to like. | {
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After having typically appeared in the very hallowed pages of Baseball Think Factory, Dan Szymborski’s ZiPS projections have been released at FanGraphs the past couple years. The exercise continues this offseason. Below are the projections for the New York Mets. Szymborski can be found at ESPN and on Twitter at @DSzymborski.
Other Projections: Atlanta / Chicago AL / Colorado / Detroit / Houston / Los Angeles AL / Los Angeles NL / Miami / Milwaukee / Oakland / San Francisco / St. Louis / Tampa Bay / Washington.
Batters
Mets batters produced 18.2 WAR collectively in 2014, an almost precisely average figure among the league’s 30 clubs. Given the projections below, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them replicate that effort in 2015. All eight of the team’s likely starters are forecast to produce something between 0.9 and 3.8 WAR — and six of them, between 1.8 to 3.1 WAR.
An area of some interest with regard to the club seems to be how Terry Collins et al. contend with Lucas Duda and Lucas Duda’s difficulties with left-handed pitching. Despite a strong 2014 season, the Mets first baseman produced only a 54 wRC+ against left handers. By way of comparison, the worst overall figure among the game’s 146 qualified batters in 2014 was Zack Cozart’s 56 wRC+. Either John Mayberry (333 PA, -0.1 WAR) or even Eric Campbell (416 PA, 0.5 WAR) are candidates to platoon with Duda.
Pitchers
The order in which the Mets starters appear in the depth-chart image below does not reflect their likely respective positions in the rotation, but rather their projected WAR figures. By this arrangement, one notes, Bartolo Colon descends from second to fifth among the group, while Jacob deGrom ascends from fifth to second. deGrom, a relatively anonymous prospect entering the 2014 season, now features a projection nearly identical — in strikeout rate and walk rate and other assorted metrics — to Matt Harvey’s.
New York recorded the worst and only negative bullpen WAR in the league last year. A combination of roster turnover and the probability of positive regression, however, have rendered the provisional 2015 bullpen a more competent one. Absent from the team almost all of last season due to a Tommy John procedure was Bobby Parnell. He’s absent from the depth-chart image below, as well, but only because he’s unlikely to return right at the beginning of the season. His presence is likely to help the relief corps.
Bench/Prospects
The Mets feature multiple prospects expected to begin the season in the minor leagues but, per ZiPS, capable of producing basically league-average numbers starting right now. Second baseman Dilson Herrera and catcher Kevin Plawecki both feature projections in the vicinity of 2.0 WAR, while other infielders Danny Muno and Wilfredo Tovar — each at 1.0 WAR or better — both profile as able bench pieces. Among pitchers, the triumvirate of Steven Matz (1.8 WAR), Rafael Montero (1.7 WAR) Noah Syndergaard (1.8 WAR) concede — again, per ZiPS — concede very little to the five pitchers expected to occupy spots in the opening-day rotation.
Depth Chart
Below is a rough depth chart for the present incarnation of the Mets, with rounded projected WAR totals for each player. For caveats regarding WAR values see disclaimer at bottom of post. Click to embiggen image.
Ballpark graphic courtesy Eephus League. Depth charts constructed by way of those listed here at site and author’s own haphazard reasoning.
Batters, Counting Stats
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Batters, Rates and Averages
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Batters, Assorted Other
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Pitchers, Counting Stats
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Pitchers, Rates and Averages
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Pitchers, Assorted Other
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Disclaimer: ZiPS projections are computer-based projections of performance. Performances have not been allocated to predicted playing time in the majors — many of the players listed above are unlikely to play in the majors at all in 2014. ZiPS is projecting equivalent production — a .240 ZiPS projection may end up being .280 in AAA or .300 in AA, for example. Whether or not a player will play is one of many non-statistical factors one has to take into account when predicting the future.
Players are listed with their most recent teams unless Dan has made a mistake. This is very possible as a lot of minor-league signings are generally unreported in the offseason.
ZiPS is projecting based on the AL having a 3.93 ERA and the NL having a 3.75 ERA.
Players that are expected to be out due to injury are still projected. More information is always better than less information and a computer isn’t what should be projecting the injury status of, for example, a pitcher with Tommy John surgery.
Regarding ERA+ vs. ERA- (and FIP+ vs. FIP-) and the differences therein: as Patriot notes here, they are not simply mirror images of each other. Writes Patriot: “ERA+ does not tell you that a pitcher’s ERA was X% less or more than the league’s ERA. It tells you that the league’s ERA was X% less or more than the pitcher’s ERA.”
Both hitters and pitchers are ranked by projected zWAR — which is to say, WAR values as calculated by Dan Szymborski, whose surname is spelled with a z. WAR values might differ slightly from those which appear in full release of ZiPS. Finally, Szymborski will advise anyone against — and might karate chop anyone guilty of — merely adding up WAR totals on depth chart to produce projected team WAR. | {
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Let me just start by apologizing for daring to criticize something that's clearly both magical and revolutionary.
I know, I know: With its snazzy new iPhone X, Apple just "innovated" the bezel-less smartphone. (It also "innovated" wireless charging — er, sorry, AirPower — along with fast charging, high-quality OLED displays, and gesture-based controls, among other things. But we'll focus on the bezels for now.) And hey, I'm certainly not one to get in the way of a good buzzword.
While this column is ostensibly about Android, though, there's no denying that Apple's take on the design trend du jour is bound to have an impact on all parts of the mobile spectrum. With a variety of low-bezel phones already available in the Android ecosystem and plenty more certain to appear in the months ahead, Apple's approach to the concept is likely to become relevant to us all at some level — whether directly or indirectly.
(About the term "bezel-less," by the way: You might have noticed that I said "low-bezel" instead of "no-bezel" a second ago. That's really more accurate, as all of these fancy new phones — including the iPhone X — most certainly do still have bezels. But I'll begrudgingly use the terms interchangeably for now, since the technically inaccurate "bezel-less" is the widely accepted nomenclature of the moment.)
By now, you've no doubt seen how Apple managed to create its "immersive," "entirely screen" iPhone X device: by cutting a prominent and rather sizable notch out of the nearly edge-to-edge display. That's where the company not-so-subtly stuffed the sensors, speaker, camera, and other assorted elements that have to reside on a phone's front.
Apple "Except for, y'know, that meaty notch at the top where it isn't."
The result? Pure, unadulterated irony: You've got your bezel-less phone, sure — but now you've got a bezeled interface instead.
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Not following? Look at some of the ways the iPhone X shows common types of content. In the device's horizontal orientation, websites by default end up with actual white bars — letterboxing — on either side:
The iPhone X's notched-out setup is so ill-suited for current web standards, in fact, that the folks behind WebKit — the rendering engine that controls how web pages are displayed in Safari on iOS — are actually asking web developers to add device-specific code into their pages so they'll be "optimized" for the phone's display. Such code can override the default letterboxing behavior seen above and cause a site to stretch out to the edges of the iPhone X's screen.
Notably, the code has to be carefully crafted to respect the device's "safe area" — lest a page's primary content get cut off by the cut-out and end up looking even worse than it did in the letterboxed view.
WebKit.org The iPhone X's "safe area" for web content — and what happens when you violate it.
"But I hardly ever flip my phone horizontally while viewing the web!" you might think, whilst casually sipping cream soda and guffawing at my gall. Maybe that's true — but it's not just the web that's affected here. The iPhone X's notch puts black bars on either side of videos by default, too, and those are bits of content most of us do tend to view horizontally on our devices.
To be fair, you also have the option to double-tap a video and make it go full-screen — well, full-screen minus the notch, anyway. It's debatable if that's better or worse.
Apple Even Wonder Woman's superpowers can't keep a chunk of her movie from vanishing out of view.
The same missing bite appears in games, which also tend to be viewed horizontally. And as for the phone's vertical orientation, that, too, causes an awkwardly prominent and intrusive tooth to jut into all types of content — common stuff ranging from websites to your own now-magically-notch-enhanced photos.
Apple Forget Portrait mode: Missing Notch mode is what all the cool kids are talking about.
Even iOS-specific apps look odd with the cutout at their top — an effect developers could theoretically work around, if Apple weren't actively discouraging it.
So, yes: The iPhone X's screen does extend almost to the edges of the device — but does that actually make for an "immersive" experience? One so immersive "the device itself disappears into the experience," as Apple alleges? That seems like a difficult argument to make.
If anything, the iPhone X's odd design makes you more aware than ever of the hardware's existence and the inelegant tramp stamp it forces onto your digital view. The most dedicated Apple devotees may defend the setup or do the "you'll get used it" dance, but just imagine what the reaction would have been if this same cutout-screen design had appeared on a Samsung phone instead of an iPhone.
Sure, you may get used to it — but that doesn't mean you wouldn't jump on the opportunity to drop the notch and get a full-sized, non-cut-out-screened version of the phone, if such an option were to become available. Putting up with something and thinking it's actually in any way good are two very different things. (Trust me on this one.)
So why am I rambling on about all of this, and what does it have to do with you? Good question, Gertrude. Aside from the inexplicable joy I get from hearing my own voice in my head, I'm doing it to drive home one key point: At the end of the day, creating a bezel-free phone — at this point, at least — requires a fair amount of compromise. And we, the stunningly attractive users of said phones, are the ones who have to shoulder that burden.
With Apple's iPhone X notch design, the compromises are substantial (and we haven't even gotten into the phone's loss of a fingerprint sensor, which is something I suspect a lot of folks will miss). But even with other less extreme bezel-less designs, ranging from the Essential Phone's similar-but-smaller-cutout approach to the Galaxy S8's a-little-more-bezel-on-the-bottom-and-top alternative, you're always giving up something in exchange for that eye-catching new look — even if it's something intangible like extra protection in the event of a drop or optimal ergonomics for holding the device. And appearances aside, the practical value gained from going edge-to-edge is questionable at best.
As I wrote in advance of the pending wave of bezel-less phone arrivals on Android earlier this year:
Here's the cold, hard truth: Like many gimmicks created with the goal of selling smartphones, the "no bezel" trend isn't about doing something that's meant to enhance your life in any meaningful way. It isn't about doing something that's going to be of any practical benefit. It's about prioritizing form at the expense of function in order to make a product seem fresh and different enough from its predecessor that you'll want to buy it.
That statement seems just as true with the iPhone X now as it was with Android phones then — perhaps even more so, given the elevated amount of compromise involved. A bezel-less phone looks fresh, futuristic, and sexy. And regardless of what types of tradeoffs it may require when it comes to real-world use, that alone is gonna get people to notice it and plunk down their hard-earned shekels to upgrade — an increasingly difficult feat in a world where smartphone hardware has gotten ho-hum and the differences from one generation to the next are rarely wow-inducing.
But you know what? While the bezel obsession may be relatively new, the notion of taking things to silly extremes for the sake of sales absolutely isn't. Think back to the thinness battles we saw with smartphones some years back. For a while, every new device had to be the "thinnest phone ever made" — even when that reached a point where said thinness provided no practical value and made the phone both uncomfortable to hold and unnecessarily short on battery life. After a while, most device-makers stopped obsessing over millimeters and found a sensible balance to strike.
With any luck, the same thing will happen with this current bezel craze. Of course squeezing more screen into a smaller footprint is a positive thing — up to a point. But taking that to the utmost extreme and attempting to eliminate bezels altogether, regardless of the tradeoffs, is a perfect example of doing something because we can rather than because we should. And the difference between those two methods is critical to consider.
At its most extreme iPhone-X-like end, after all, you'd have to work pretty darn hard to justify the value of awkwardly losing a chunk of your on-screen window — the area of a phone you spend the most time focusing on intently — in exchange for dropping a teensy sliver of surface around the display. Not convinced? Consider this slightly-more-bezeled iPhone X mockup, which shifts the dial one tiny notch (as it were) in the direction of practicality:
If there's one silver lining here, it's that silly trends like this one — just like the thinness craze before it — do seem to have a way of settling themselves into happy mediums eventually. It's almost like the companies have to push us to impractical extremes in order to test the limits and find the sweet spots.
Until such spots become standard, though, get ready for a whole lot of irritating compromise — and a whole lot of entertaining irony — on both sides of the smartphone fence. | {
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The first thing we thought of when we heard news of an upcoming MAC Simpsons collection was Marge's blue hair, amiright? Confess: how many of us envisioned a palette of blue eye shadow? Yellow lipstick? Hah. As the following promo and preview makeup snaps show, MAC always tries to do more than just satisfy expectation.
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mac simpsons makeup collection
It's the 25th Anniversary of The Simpsons this year, hence the hook-up with MAC. And see? There is blue eye shadow, and yellow, too. But the image of Marge herself is what ties the collection together -- her likeness is stamped all over it.
The MAC Simpsons makeup will include eye shadow palettes, powder blush, lashes, gloss and nail stickers. I snapped some photos with my Android at a recent media preview. I'm not sure how accurate the shades are -- the room was moodily dim and my camera phone is a bit off when it comes to colour (it has a whimsical red flare in the centre). But you'll get the idea.
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Two MAC Simpsons eye shadow palettes, one blues and purples, one yellow and green. The one at the forefront is Marge's Extra Ingredients.
MAC Simpsons That Trillion Dollar Look eyeshadow palette. Haven't a clue how close this is to the true colour of this eye shadow palette -- it's always hard to recall a hue accurately. We'll find out soon enough...
The false lashes.
MAC Simpsons Sideshow You Blush, a peach coral with a satin finish. Again, colour is probably a bit off -- sorry!
MAC Simpsons Pink Sprinkles Blush, also a satin finish.
I think the colour balance of these MAC Simpsons lip gloss shades is almost accurate. Love that there's a bright yellow. Surprised there isn't a transparent blue, but heartily approve of the other three shades. From left: Red Blazer, Grand Pumpkin, Nacho Cheese Explosion and Itchy & Scratchy & Sexy.
MAC Simpsons nail stickers! These should do well, yes? No?
The MAC Simpsons makeup collection will first go on sale for one day at a pop-up at Comic-Con on Saturday July 26th in San Diego. Totally appropriate.
Simpsons fans not attending Comic-Con will have to wait until August 28th when the collection becomes available on line; or September 4th when it hits counters.
Does anyone know if Marge Simpsons is in her 40s? Is this a 40+ beauty story? Would Marge wear any of this stuff? Has MAC met expectations or surpassed them? | {
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Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of resorting to a new strategy of “ethnic cleansing” to create a safe zone for his Alawite sect, in an interview published Wednesday.
“What concerned us about the Banias incident is that (Assad) has switched to a new strategy to reinstate influence by subjecting a certain area to ethnic cleansing,” Davutoglu told the Hurriyet newspaper.
He was referring to the Mediterranean city of Banias where rights monitors say dozens of people were killed in attacks in a Sunni neighborhood condemned by the international community.
“This is a so-called Plan B strategy based on sectarian clashes and opening a space or corridor for a certain sect,” he said, suggesting Assad was trying to create an all-Alawite zone stretching from the embattled city of Homs to Lebanon.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday he was appalled by the photographs of children massacred by the regime and called on the U.N. Security Council to “urgently convene” over the Banias killings.
Davutoglu said Banias was occupying a critical location in the corridor extending to Lebanon.
“This is a dangerous game. This is an ethnic cleansing,” he said.
“The goal is to intimidate the residents and to force them to leave. In fact, the majority of one million refugees who fled to Lebanon is Sunnis.”
Assad's minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, has dominated Syria for decades.
Sunni-majority Turkey cut contact with Damascus after the regime's deadly crackdown on opponents in a revolt erupted in March 2011.
Ankara has sided with the rebels fighting to topple Assad's regime, taken in around 400,000 refugees as well as army defectors and repeatedly called on the international community to act on the unfolding crisis.
Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:39 - GMT 06:39 | {
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50 Most Creative T Shirt Design as Inspiration for Your Next Tee!
by Steve 0 2759 / /
Click here -> Product Designer Tool (all e-commerce stores)
We know you have been looking for this a long time. So we have put together a huge collection of creative, iconic and trending t-shirt designs of this year. You can find some great examples at Amazon an also!
Find inspiration, to craft your next t-shirt prints and designs.
Top Creative T-Shirt Design
01. Sliced T-shirt
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02. Japanese Anime T-shirt
03. Striped Tshirt
04. Blue Painter T-shirt
05. Blood on T-shirt
06. Halloween Themed Maternity T-shirt
07. Space Paint T-shirt
08. Zombie T-shirt
09. Chalkboard T-shirt
10. FedEx T-shirt
11. Damp-proof T-shirt
12. Marshall Music T-shirt
13. Roland Semprie Personal Trainer T-shirt
14. Race Track T-shirt for Dad
15. Long hair T-shirt
16. Evian We are all Babies Inside
17. Whisk T-shirt
18. Electronic Drum Kit T-shirt
19. Zoo Safari T-shirt
20. Blinds T-shirt
Top Iconic T Shirt Design
21. Rolling Stones Tongue
22. Jurassic Park T-shirt
23. Superman T-shirt
24. Keep Calm T-shirt
25. Godfather T-shirt
26. Charlie Brown T-shirt
27. Led Zeppelin T-shirt
28. Bazinga T-shirt
29. Metallica T-shirt
30. Anarchy T-shirt
31. I Love NY T-shirt
32. Hard Rock Cafe T-shirt
33. Che Guevara T-shirt
34. Nirvana T-shirt
35. The Runaways T-shirt
36. Stüssy T-shirt
37. Frankie Say Relax T-shirt
38. Harley Davidson T-shirt
39. Mickey Mouse T-shirt
40. David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane
Top Trending T Shirt Design
41. Hawaiian print T-shirt
42. Photographs T-shirt
43. Sports-themed t-shirt
Sports-themed t-shirts are getting popular every day with growing interest in fitness and health. On the other hand, sports t-shirts come in a variety of fabric option that is functional as well as fashionable.
44. Feminist t-shirt
45. Awareness t-shirt
46. Word cloud t-shirt
47. Nautical Stripes
48. Creative Slogan Typography
49. Movie Characters
50. Space Themed T-shirt
Read more: | {
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PINOLE — Gunfire rocked an East Bay freeway again Sunday night, hospitalizing one person and reigniting concerns about people in cars shooting at one another.
Two moving vehicles were involved in the shooting, which happened around 9:30 p.m. on Interstate 80 near Appian Way, California Highway Patrol spokesman Officer Daniel Hill said in a statement. A third vehicle stopped along the right shoulder of the freeway also was hit.
The shooting was the sixth one on I-80 between Pinole and Berkeley since November.
The CHP’s early investigation indicated an altercation took place between two vehicles as they traveled west on I-80, and that during the conflict, at least one shot was fired, Hill said. The vehicle with the gunshot victim proceeded to a hospital, and the suspect vehicle took off, Hill said.
Authorities did not release any identifying information about the victim, nor did they have any word on the victim’s condition. They withheld that information, because the shooting remains under investigation, Hill said.
The suspect vehicle took off and got away. The CHP did not have any information on the vehicle.
Nobody else was injured.
The CHP closed all lanes of westbound I-80 for nearly an hour after the shooting to investigate, and the two right lanes remained closed for several hours, Hill said.
A teenage girl and man were wounded in a shooting on eastbound I-80 near the Richmond Parkway on Jan. 11, the most recent of the I-80 shootings before Sunday. All six of the shooting have happened since Nov. 2, and police have not arrested anyone in connection with them
Police have said gang activity is suspected in at least some of the shootings, and that many of the victims were targeted.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the CHP at 1-800-835-5247 or 707-551-4100.
Contact Rick Hurd at 925-945-4789 and follow him at Twitter.com/3rdERH | {
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We can argue exactly why DeSean Jackson was cut. We can debate whether it was a good thing or not. We can talk about how he’ll be replaced (coming soon in a post this week). One thing I think that isn’t up for debate is that Chip Kelly has a good feel for the pulse of the team.
Kelly has had some hot button issues in his year on the job. He had to decide whether to bring back Michael Vick last offseason and then how to handle a competition between Vick and Nick Foles. Kelly had the Riley Cooper incident to deal with. Now he’s had the DeSean Jackson situation.
In every case, Kelly made a tough decision, but one that the players got behind.
Kelly could have easily cut Cooper after the concert video got out to the public. Instead, Kelly let the players help him make the decision. Jason Avant stood up strongly for Cooper. Then Vick did the same thing. Not everyone was on board with the move, but there was enough support from enough veteran players that the team stuck with Cooper. They needed him on the field and that fact certainly played a part in the situation, for both players and coaches.
Cooper did and said the right things to get back in the good graces of his teammates and had a terrific season for the Eagles.
We have no idea how the DeSean situation will turn out, but so far his teammates are not exactly bemoaning his loss.
We just made an extremely unpopular decision, but I couldn't be more excited and happy with where this organization is going!! #FlyEaglesFly — Jason Kelce (@Jkelce) March 28, 2014
“@Jeff_McLane: Day 3 of Chip Kelly Watch: Request to interview #Eagles coach met with same response from team: " hint hint: quit asking lol — Brent Celek (@BrentCelek) March 30, 2014
I don’t think Kelce is ripping DeSean with his words, but rather he’s showing support for Chip Kelly and the overall direction of the team. In a later tweet, Kelce wished DeSean well with his new team.
Jeff McLane offered this nugget in a column from yesterday.
Two Eagles players who requested anonymity said that Jackson wasn’t a clubhouse cancer, but he had become a distraction. They would not offer specifics. Both questioned whether his loss would hurt the offense and opined that he wouldn’t be difficult to replace.
I’ve heard that Jackson wasn’t liked by more than a few teammates. This would certainly seem true by the lukewarm support he got from them publicly. No one came out and threw DeSean under the bus (insert Shady joke here), but no one really stood up for him in a compelling way.
Plenty of guys around the league and former players are standing up for DeSean, but the point is that they didn’t have to deal with him on a daily basis.
A big part of being a good coach is knowing your team. You can’t make bold moves unless you know how your players will react to them. So far Kelly has shown that he does have a good feel for his players. Heck, I think this goes all the way back to last year when Kelly was first hired. He replaced a very popular coach in Andy Reid. Kelly had some radical ideas on how to train and how to practice.
Kelly had to sell himself and his ideas to the team. He obviously did a good job as he had players buying in to his ideas, even though they were very different. Kelly, like all coaches, is a bit of a control freak and he’s got some very specific ideas on how he wants things done. His ability to communicate with his players and judge their attitudes is a big help as Kelly tries to build the Eagles into the kind of team he really wants.
_ | {
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Guantanamo detainee tortured into bombing confession
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
The Obama administration has been caught in a fresh torture controversy after it emerged that America threatened to cease all intelligence ties with Britain if it revealed that a British suspect held at Guantanamo Bay had been tortured into confessing to being part of a dirty bomb plot.
“Two senior British judges have expressed their anger and surprise that President Barack Obama’s Government has put pressure on Britain to suppress evidence of torture in US custody,” reports the London Times.
“Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones said they had been told that America had threatened to stop co-operating with Britain on intelligence matters if evidence were published suggesting that Binyam Mohammed, a British resident held at the US prison camp at Guantánamo Bay, had been tortured into confessing crimes.”
In their ruling, the judges, acting on behalf of the Foreign Office & Commonwealth Office, scorned the hypocrisy behind the Obama administration’s actions.
(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
“We did not consider that a democracy governed by the rule of law would expect a court in another democracy to suppress a summary of the evidence contained in reports by its own officials . . . relevant to allegations of torture and cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment, politically embarrassing though it might be,” they stated.
“We had no reason . . . to anticipate there would be made a threat of the gravity of the kind made by the United States Government that it would reconsider its intelligence-sharing relationship, when all the considerations in relation to open justice pointed to us providing a limited but important summary of the reports.”
Binyam Mohammed has been held at Guantanamo Bay since September 2004 after being kidnapped at the behest of U.S. authorities in Pakistan in 2002. He claims he was tortured and mistreated into confessing to being part of a dirty bomb plot. Reports written by U.S. intelligence officials apparently confirm Mohammed’s claims.
The British judges declined to publish the reports after America’s threat, but lambasted America for bullying Britain to conceal information that posed no threat to America’s national security.
“Championing the rule of law, not suppressing it, is the cornerstone of a democracy,” said the ruling.
“The suppression of reports of wrongdoing by officials (in circumstances which cannot in any way affect national security) would be inimical to the rule of law and the proper functioning of a democracy.”
The controversy follows the revelation that Obama, despite his superficial moves against torture which have been given much attention by the establishment media, has in fact signed an executive order that will ensure a continuance of the practice of “rendition,” the secret capture, transportation, and imprisonment of so called “enemy combatants” in countries renowned for carrying out torture.
Secret rendition “black sites” hit the headlines in late 2005 when U.S. and foreign intelligence officials blew the whistle on the CIA’s practice of hiding and interrogating “al Qaeda” captives at a Soviet-era compound in Eastern Europe.
The secret facility was revealed to be part of a covert CIA prison system, set up after 9/11, that at various times included sites in eight countries, including Thailand, Afghanistan and several democracies in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. The Washington Post refused to name the European countries involved after pressure from senior U.S. officials.
Horror stories of brutality and psychological torture of detainees at the secret prisons emerged soon after.
Many on the political left were fast and loose with their praise for Obama after he made moves to shut down Guantanamo Bay, but the real torture black sites and the process by which suspects are kidnapped and taken to them will remain in place thanks to Obama’s executive order.
This article was posted: Wednesday, February 4, 2009 at 11:36 am
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BISMARK — Like many rural churches, Bismarck United has watched its membership dwindle over the past few years.
The small but dedicated membership has tried to keep the doors of the 132-year-old church from closing, but they can no longer afford to do so. On Sept. 27 the final service will be delivered from the church alter. The service not only marks the end of the congregation, but its beginnings as well. Each year on the final Sunday of September, the congregation gathers to recognize its beginnings with an anniversary celebration. This year’s will be bittersweet for all who have attended mass in the little white church.
“The hardest part is that it will be gone,” said Joy Ecker, who has been attending the church since she married 63 years ago.
The church is situated on the road allowance which means it cannot be turned into a home, as was the case with the old Abingdon church. Instead the building, which is not protected by a heritage designation, will have to be moved or torn down, explained Ecker.
The congregation has discussed closing the church due to membership for several year. A vote taken in January sealed the fate of the church, which dates back to the early 19th century.
“We used to be a much bigger congregation,” said Esker, who remembers the mother daughter banquets held the Tuesday after Mother’s Day each year. “Now we’re down to hardly anybody.”
The Sundy Settlement, now Bismarck, was founded n 1830 by Christian Sundy, who came to Canada from Germany. Before there was even a church, there was church service, delivered in homes, barns and groves on nice weather days. Records show the first sermon preached in Bismarck was in 1838 and delivered by H. Sauer of Black Creek. The Sunday School was started in 1841.
The first church was built in 1851 and the present day one in 1883. For more than a century, the church shared ministers with Bethel Church, which closed in 1984 at which time the two congregations became one. The church was originally Evangelical. The denominational named changed to Evangelical United Brethren in 1949 before becoming just the United Church in 1968.
The congregations has gifted its two cemeteries to the Township of West Lincoln. The property on Silver Street is listed for sale.
The final service takes place Sunday, Sept. 27. | {
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AFRICAN consumers are underserved and overcharged, reckons Frank Braeken, Unilever’s boss in Africa. Until recently, South Africans who craved shampoo made specially for African hair, or cosmetics for black skin, had little choice besides costly American imports. Unilever spotted an opportunity: its Motions range of shampoos and conditioners is now a hit.
The Anglo-Dutch consumer-goods giant is making a big effort to tailor products for African customers: affordable food, water-thrifty washing powders and grooming products to fit local tastes. It is also helping other businesses. Last year Unilever opened the Motions Academy in Johannesburg. Each year it will train up to 5,000 hairdressers who want to open their own salons. It is also a laboratory to test products and to try out new business models. If it works, Unilever plans to replicate it elsewhere in Africa.
Africa already has a $1.8 trillion economy and is forecast to have a population of 1.3 billion by 2020. “Lion” economies such as Ghana and Rwanda have grown faster than South Korea, Taiwan and other East Asian “tiger” economies in five of the past seven years, albeit from a low base.
Unilever is not the only consumer-goods giant moving in. Africa accounts for only 3% of group sales of Nestlé, the world’s biggest food firm, but the Swiss behemoth is betting big there too: its African investments will total SFr1 billion ($1 billion) in 2011 and 2012 against a total capital expenditure of SFr4.8 billion last year. It has 29 factories on the continent and wants to build more. SABMiller, the world’s second-largest beermaker, is planning to invest up to $2.5 billion in Africa over the next five years to build and revamp breweries. In the year to March 2012, the continent (excluding South Africa) was SABMiller’s fastest-growing region, with volumes up by 13%.
Africa’s attractions stem from its new middle class, loosely defined by the African Development Bank as anyone who spends between $2 and $20 a day in purchasing-power parity terms. The bank estimates that more than 34% of Africans (326m people) fit this description, up from 27% in 2000 (see chart). The challenge is to make stuff such consumers can afford, says Sullivan O’Carroll, the boss of Nestlé South Africa. Nestlé offers wares called “Popularly Positioned Products”. The name may not be snappy but the products are cheap and address common nutritional deficiencies. For instance, Nespray, an instant milk powder, contains calcium, zinc and iron—all essential for children. It is sold in a 250g pouch that costs only a few rand. Designing products that appeal to locals is only part of the challenge. Even in South Africa, which has the best infrastructure, consumers may be eager but hard to reach. Nestlé delivers directly to spaza shops (informal convenience stores), that make up about 30% of the national retail market. Many of these are in remote areas and owners often cannot afford delivery vans. Nestlé has set up 18 distribution centres that deliver to spazas. It charges them the same prices as bigger outlets. Security is a problem too. Just as Nestlé’s milk powder is fortified with iron, so its distribution centres are fortified with steel. The boss of the one in Soweto (a formerly black-only township that is now part of Johannesburg), has been tied up and held at gunpoint by burglars and threatened several times. Delivery vehicles that collect the spaza owners’ payments, called “cash vans”, used to be adorned with branding. That was like sticking on a sign saying “rob me.” Today they are nondescript white cars.
Soweto’s spazas range from a hole in the wall on a dust road in a squatters’ camp to a proper mini-market with a bright-green façade. Many of the owners are canny in dealing with customers. But for the supplier, working with them is tricky. Few have much working capital—5,000 rand (about $600) is typical. Many have no ambition to grow. Some are hard to find. Nestlé views microdistribution as a marketing expenditure: its staff can talk spaza owners into trying new products and check that its wares are prominently displayed. The goal is to make what it calls “microdistribution” break even.
South Africa’s roads and railways are much better than the rest of Africa’s. Danone, a French food firm, delivers its yogurts and other delectables twice a week to 8,500 outlets in South Africa. “We cannot do this in Angola, Nigeria or Gambia,” says Mario Reis, its local boss. He adds that in most of the rest of the continent, firms need to dig their own wells and generate their own electricity. In Dar es Salaam in Tanzania electricity is on only for two unpredictable hours a day.
South Africa is a good base from which to penetrate the rest of the continent, but it is a mistake to assume that what works south of the Limpopo will also work north of it. More than two-fifths of all Africans still subsist on $1.25 a day. “Brands matter less than price in most of Africa,” says Simon Crutchley, the boss of AVI, a big South African consumer-goods firm with businesses across Africa. Many Africans are too poor to be brand aware, he says. They have not grown up bombarded with advertising and barely recognise even famous brands. But this is changing quickly, thanks to television and mobile phones.
Corruption is a huge headache. At the border of Tanzania and Kenya lorries are kept waiting for a week or more if the right palms are not greased. Companies shifting perishable goods risk losing the lot if they refuse to pay up.
Ports are a problem, too. Durban, in South Africa, is perhaps the most efficient: containers whizz through in a few days. In other ports, the process can drag on for weeks. The longer the delay, the greater the pressure to pay bribes, moans a long-suffering company boss. He adds that Dar es Salaam, the main port of Tanzania, could double its capacity by bringing its management up to Durban’s standards.
Gareth Ackerman, the boss of Pick ’n’ Pay, a large supermarket chain based in Cape Town, says that his company’s strategy is “African creep”—conquering new markets one at a time, moving steadily northward. “We need the supply chain,” he explains.
No longer the shopless continent
Unilever’s push into Africa is a return to familiar territory. The firm made a fifth of its profits in Africa until the 1970s, when it shifted its attentions to Asia. Now it is back, employing 30,000 people on the continent and shifting soap, soup and so on worth €3 billion ($3.7 billion)—out of total worldwide sales of €46 billion. It is already Africa’s biggest supplier of consumer goods, and aims to double sales in the next five years by beefing up investment and bringing in more of its brands.
In spite of the risks, businessfolk are upbeat. A couple of decades ago, most African governments made life very hard for business. Now policies are more market-friendly, albeit with frequent relapses: Zambia, for example, recently banned the use of American dollars in local transactions—a needless extra hassle for firms operating there.
Still, the corridor chatter at sub-Saharan conferences these days is cheerful. Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum, says that cynicism about Africa has turned to optimism. “We have a sense that things are really getting better,” says Mr Braeken. Africa is not only about mining and oil any more. But, he says, the continent still needs to overcome what George Bush, in another context, called “the soft bigotry of low expectations”. | {
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Amazon Studios has put in development Cleopatra, a drama series about the famous Egyptian queen, I have learned. The project hails from the Black Sails trio of co-creators/executive producers Jonathan E. Steinberg and Robert Levine and executive producer Dan Shotz.
Written by Levine, Cleopatra is described as a revisionist take on one of history’s most misunderstood women, The Godfather in Ancient Egypt. After nearly losing her life in a bloody coup, Cleopatra must use her natural wit and political genius to take back her throne and restore honor to her family and kingdom.
In addition to writing, Levine is executive producing alongside Steinberg and Shotz of Quaker Moving Pictures and Mary Beth Basile (Life Unexpected) of Basile Ring Entertainment.
Steinberg, Levine and Shotz are coming off Black Sails, a prequel to the classic Robert Louis Stevenson novel Treasure Island, which wrapped its four-season run on Starz last month.
There have been several attempts at launching a Cleopatra TV series in the past several years.
Most recently, David Ellender’s Slingshot Global Media put in development a Cleopatra TV series with Shekhar Kapur attached to write and direct. Before that, there was an NBC drama series project, which had a put pilot commitment, and Lifetime was developing a Cleopatra miniseries. And there is the long-gestating Cleopatra feature at Sony Pictures based on the Stacy Schiff bestselling book Cleopatra: A Life.
Levine, Steinberg, Shotz and Basile are all repped by WME. Additionally, Levine and Steinberg are repped by attorney Mark Wetzstein; Shotz by Barry Littman. | {
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BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission published on Thursday an updated draft text of the treaty that will regulate Britain’s exit from the European Union on March 29th, 2019, but some of the key sticking points remain unresolved.
European Union flags flutter outside the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, March 12, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman
The text, which includes both the terms of the divorce as well as of the two-year transition period that is to follow, has now been sent to London for further negotiations.
An EU official said the updated text contained legal clarifications, but no major or meaningful changes compared to the text published at the end of February.
(Full text: here)
European Union leaders will discuss progress in negotiations on the withdrawal treaty with Britain at a summit on March 23 and are to approve guidelines for the Commission on negotiations about a future relationship, after the transition period ends.
One of the key unresolved issues in the draft treaty is how to avoid establishing a physical border between the Republic of Ireland and the British region of Northern Ireland after Brexit.
Another is the issue of the rights of citizens arriving in Britain after March 29th, 2019 but before the end of the transition period which is set at Dec 31st, 2020.
The EU wants all such arrivals and their families to get the same rights as those who were in Britain before Brexit. London is willing to grant such rights to EU citizens, but not their families.
The final sticking point is the end-date for the transition period itself. The EU insists it needs a concrete date and that the end of 2020 is in line with Britain’s own wish to have a transition of “around two years”.
But talks on a future trade agreement that would regulate business between Britain and the EU after the transition is over could take much longer than two years and London would like the treaty to make provisions for that. | {
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What’s not to like about cheese? It’s delicious and available everywhere. On any restaurant menu it comes in as an appetizer, entrée, and even dessert. (Cheesecake anyone?) But do we love cheese so much because it’s actually addicting? Research suggests that eating cheese causes a release of opiates called casomorphins, which could be what keeps some of us coming back for more (and more, and more…) A naturally occurring opioid peptide from cow’s milk, beta-casomorphine-7, is a direct histamine releaser in man. Kurek M., Przybilla B., Hermann K., et. al., Department of Dermatology, Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, International Archives of Allergy Immunology. 1992;97(2):115-20. .
The String Cheese Incident — The Need-to-Know
In just 50 years, the average annual cheese consumption in America has increased an insane 287 percent. More than 50 percent of the cheese we eat also now comes in the form of commercially manufactured and prepared foods—in other words, we’re not just eating straight up natural cheese anymore. (Cheesy pizza rolls and bagel bites, anyone?). The USDA recommends Americans over the age of nine consume three cups of dairy per day — equal to about one cup of shredded Cheddar cheese or two slices of Swiss cheese. (See what else counts as one cup.) Sounds like one slice of classic cheesy pizza might just tip the dairy scales, right? To put it into caloric perspective, that one full cup of shredded Cheddar cheese is equal to a whopping 455 cheesy calories. Clearly we love our cheese, but studies suggests there may be a chemical reason some feel compelled to consume mass quantities of cheese and not, say, broccoli. Decades ago, researchers discovered an opiate-like compound in cow’s milk (which they assume is meant to keep calves coming back to their mothers for nutrition and bonding). More recent research suggests that digesting casein, a protein in milk, releases compounds called casomorphins into the stomach Effects of milk-derived bioactives: an overview. Shah N.P., School of Life Science and Technology, Victoria University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia, The British Journal of Nutrition. 2000 Nov;84 Suppl 1:S3-10. . Once absorbed, these casomorphins create the same type of response caused by opiate drugs (think pain relievers like Vicodin or OxyContin) A naturally occurring opioid peptide from cow’s milk, beta-casomorphine-7, is a direct histamine releaser in man. Kurek M., Przybilla B., Hermann K., et. al., Department of Dermatology, Ludwig-Maximilian-University, Munich, International Archives of Allergy Immunology. 1992;97(2):115-20. . And enough constant ingestion of these euphoria-inducing casomorphins can lead to dependence and — you guessed it — even withdrawal symptoms when going cheese-less cold turkey. (Finally — a legitimate excuse for those late-night mac and cheese binges!)
Hold the Cheese, Please — Your Action Plan
Wait just a minute before heading to Cheese Lovers Anonymous — not everyone’s ready to call that craving for an extra-cheese pizza an addiction. One study indicated that ingesting milk products with casomorphins is not enough to cause addiction (and we’re talking just cow’s milk here — goat cheese lovers can rejoice without fear of addiction!) An assessment of the addiction potential of the opioid associated with milk. Reid L.D., Hubbell C.L., Department of Psychology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, Journal of Dairy Science. 1994 Mar;77(3):672-5. . But it takes 10 pounds of milk to make just one pound of cheese, meaning there’s much higher concentration of casein (and casomorphins) — not to mention fat — in cheese. This higher concentration also makes it much easier to develop an addiction to the opiate-like compounds. The jury is still out on whether everyone who ingests cheese gets the same level of euphoric feelings (or any at all). The European Food Safety Agency’s study of literature surrounding casomorphins in cow’s milk indicated the amount of casomorphins our intestinal walls absorb can vary greatly depending on factors like stress levels and diet. But cheese isn’t necessarily unhealthy because of these absorbed casomorphins — it’s the high calorie, sodium, and possibly even sugar (lactose) content that make some cheese binges not so acceptable. Since it’s clearly not easy to quit halfway through a grilled cheese sandwich, try making those cheesy choices lighter by choosing part-skim options. (Part-skim Mozzarella contains 71 calories per ounce, compared to 84 per ounce in the whole-milk version!) Vegan cheese is another alternative, made from plant-based like soy protein and solidified vegetable oil. (Yum… we think?) But the amount of processing it goes through may just make it not even worth it. The key to getting that cheesy fix in any situation all comes back to moderation. Feel free to add a little sprinkle to the top of that pasta — just try not to get that whole daily dose of dairy with one dish.
The Takeaway
The casomorphins in cow’s milk cheese can create euphoric feelings for some (and even keep you coming back for more), but research can’t exclusively say that cheese can actually be addictive in the same way as opiate drugs. | {
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On Monday, environmental activists were criticized for throwing noxious liquids at Japanese whalers to protest a hunt in the Southern Ocean. The rash behavior does, however, have a silver lining: according to Paul Watson, a spokesman for the Sea Shepherd conservation society, the irritant chemicals were one hundred percent organic!
"I guess we can call this non-violent chemical warfare," Watson said in a statement from the Sea Shepherd. "We only use organic, non-toxic materials designed to harass and obstruct illegal whaling operations."
My question: why aren’t the radicals using more sophisticated less-lethal weapons?
During a skirmish, the protesters could fire a beam of energy that causes intense pain, launch tear gas canisters, or project devastating sound waves. But would that be in line with their hippie ethos? Probably not. It may even alienate people who would have otherwise supported their efforts, even though lefties deserve to be on the giving rather than receiving side of riot control hardware once in a while.
In by book, the whalers deserved to get zapped for killing animals under the guise of a research mission. Nonetheless, it may be best to let the readers decide.
Should environmental activists use less-lethal weapons on whalers?
Quote: Reuters | {
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Privacy doesn’t mean what it used to. That doesn’t stop the U.S. government from trying to eliminate it altogether. In the persistent pursuit of a level of national security that no modern global empire can probably ever truly enjoy, America’s intelligence apparatus is carrying out a full-fledged war on privacy, in the real world and cyberspace as well.
Facial recognition technology is the new frontier for an America still spooked by the threat of terrorism, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation says it’s now fully online with the best version of the technology yet. The Next Generation Identification system is touted as “a significant step forward for the criminal justice community in utilizing biometrics as an investigative enabler,” using mugshots and other photo databases to create “an investigative tool that provides an image-searching capability of photographs associated with criminal identities.”
The allegedly groundbreaking system generates a list of 50 potential matches for a face, a list which may include the actual suspect as little as 85 percent of the time – and even that low figure is an improvement on the facial recognition tech that was used when hunting for (and failing to find) the Boston Marathon bombers. So where do all those other photos come from? Of the 50 states, 26 have signed on to participate in the new system – and the data they’ve provided has some critics saying that innocent Americans are going to get caught up in criminal investigations as a result.
That’s a particular concern because the contractor responsible for the facial recognition software, MorphoTrust, is also the contractor maintaining DMV databases in 35 states, as well as enormous databases for the Departments of State and Defense. The Electronic Frontier Foundation noted that this could lead to a situation where “it is quite possible that the face templates at each of these disparate agencies could be shared across agencies — raising again the issue that the photograph you thought you were taking just to get a passport or driver’s license is then searched every time the government is investigating a crime.”
Cyberspace, too, is becoming a battleground for privacy. In the wake of Edward Snowden’s revelations that the U.S. government uses essentially every technological means at its disposal to spy on the world at large, the use of encryption and other privacy-enhancing technologies to protect online communications have hit new highs. Virtual private network (VPN) usage has shot up, and the EFF’s recent Tor Challenge featured three times as many participating relays as when it first ran in 2011. That has the government looking for ways around all the technological protections the people have mustered in the face of the all-seeing eye.
The Department of Justice is looking to make a target of anybody who uses Tor or VPNs. The vehicle for this power grab is a proposed change to Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which governs how the FBI uses Network Investigative Techniques – what everyone else calls “hacking.” At least one analyst says that the current wording of the proposed new rule “might give the FBI the power to use virtual force on any PC using anonymizing services.”
In practice, this means anybody using Tor, VPNs, proxies, or other privacy-protecting would be fair game for all sorts of security breaches – in the name of national security, of course. There are two major concerns. The first is that if the FBI doesn’t know where a computer is located and it launches an attack while fishing for information, that computer could be located in another country – and the FBI’s intrusion could spark a war. And the second is the FBI fishing around in Americans’ computers without any probable cause at all, looking for evidence of whatever crimes it can find. That’s usually called a “fishing expedition,” and the FBI wants to make it justifiable just because someone uses privacy-enhancing software.
If there’s any good news right now, it’s that the corporate entities that have been the conduits, wittingly or unwittingly, for most of the surveillance are starting to blush back against it to some degree. Google and Apple have both announced that, by design, they will no longer be able to unlock encrypted devices in the newest versions of their mobile operating systems. Still, that’s very little solace to the average American online, who doesn’t support the extremists the government is after but still wants to keep his communications to himself. The government has a tool for encrypted phones: they can just order you to unlock it yourself or face a contempt of court charge.
The nominal target may be extremists, but the end goal of programs like these is to make privacy, a long-treasured right in an open society, a thing of the past. Technology might be the only tool everyday people have to keep their privacy, but right now it seems like the forces aligned against them have the upper hand with tech. | {
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Finished the fusions in time for Anime Expo!
Prints are available on my Etsy!
⭐️ | {
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The U.S. campaign against the use of inhumane weapons began not with the interwar debates about the prohibition of chemical weapons after Somme and Verdun, or when the U.S. Senate refused to ratify the 1925 Geneva Protocol on Chemical Weapons, but with the arrival of the atomic age. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Americans viewed the bomb as the fruit of their own ingenuity, its use justified as the only means to end World War II at a minimal cost to American lives. In a poll conducted by Fortune magazine four months after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, more than four out of five respondents approved of the bombings, with nearly one in four wishing more bombs had fallen. (One woman explained: There “may be innocent women and children, but they only in my opinion breed more of the same kind of soldiers.”)
John Hersey’s issue-length account of six individuals struggling to survive in the ruins of Hiroshima, published in The New Yorker just over a year after the bombing, sought to subvert that callous narrative. Hersey set part of his piece in the city’s Red Cross hospital, where its shattered residents shuffled like zombies after the bombing. He concluded with a quotation from the diary of 10-year-old survivor Toshio Nakamura: “Next day I went to Taiko Bridge and met my girlfriends Kikuki and Murakami. They were looking for their mothers. But Kikuki’s mother was wounded and Murakami’s mother, alas, was dead.”
By humanizing the victims, Hersey helped inaugurate a reappraisal of total war’s morality; gradually, American approval for the atomic bombings declined. When former Secretary of War Henry Stimson told Harper’s magazine the following February that he and President Harry Truman had believed that dropping the bomb in Japan would provide “an effective shock [that] would save many times the number of lives, both American and Japanese, than it would cost,” he implicitly conceded Hersey’s basic point—human lives, regardless of nationality, were the only measure by which to judge such instruments of death.
American attitudes toward nuclear weapons would shift, however, after plans to place atomic energy under international control fell apart with the onset of the Cold War. When the Soviet Union entered the nuclear club in 1949, Truman refused to heed his General Advisory Committee’s counsel not to build the hydrogen bomb, which the body had likened to “a weapon of genocide.” Phrases such as “massive retaliation,” “brinksmanship,” and “megadeaths” entered the strategic lexicon as the nuclear arsenal mushroomed from 1,000 to 24,000 warheads under Dwight Eisenhower. The muscular grammar of deterrence, credibility, and risk-taking initiated a contest to see which politician could talk the toughest.
But Eisenhower saw the dangers that lay ahead. In his “Chance for Peace” speech in 1953, he called military spending “a theft,” complaining that “[t]he cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.” He warned in his farewell address that “we cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren” to feed the country’s growing military-industrial complex. Ironically, Eisenhower’s messages of caution, delivered in the language of domestic protection, laid the groundwork for what was to come. | {
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Posted on 2015 April 03rd
Friday 00:23am @ 5,588 notes
er, so has somebody in the fandom already done this | {
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Warning: character death
It took a long time and a lot of vagueness used as excuses, but Virgil managed to find the spell book buried in the dark depths of Thomas's mind. He didn't need the influence of the Light Sides spiking his uneasiness. Not only that, but, as far as the other Dark Sides knew, the storm cloud was suffocated by a never-ending panic attack upon entering the depths (hence why Remus used to always find it funny to dare Virgil to take a dive when they were in Thomas's teen years), so he didn't have to worry about them stopping him from achieving his plan with the artifact in his possession.
When Thomas was born, the book was made with multiple spells that were meant to be used in extreme situations within the Thomasphere; these situations would include leaving behind a shadow of power and being completely human for a finite period of time, as well as making Thomas have fainting spells as a way to stall for time to reevaluate a situation. As Virgil was skimming through the book, he eventually came across a spell that he knew would be in there: the spell for ridding Thomas of the Dark Sides for good.
If Virgil was the kind of person that would leap into action without thinking, he'd say the spell before returning home. However, a lot of thoughts were swarming in his head and he was almost surprised that he didn't end up with a headache. For the majority of Thomas's early years, Virgil grew up in the coldness of the Dark Side of Thomas's mind where there were lifeforms who wanted to take control without caring about who got hurt or if Thomas would lose more than he'd gain. When juxtaposed to the Light Side of Thomas's mind, well, neither side was exactly perfect, but there was a warmer and more loving aura from the Light Side while the denizens of the Dark Side either just tolerated each other or used each other in various ways. Virgil could only do so much on his own to protect Thomas and everyone else from that toxic atmosphere before he could somehow screw up again.
As Virgil gazed at the spell, some consequences popped into his head. However, he managed to push them aside and focus on his main goal: protecting Thomas and those he loved. Even with the determination, Virgil felt scared of his upcoming actions. He just wanted to curl up into Patton's arms and have his worries melt away with the power of the personified sunshine. However, he knew that Patton would have him reconsider his actions, so it felt bittersweet for Virgil that his best friend wasn't around to witness his deed. The emo took a deep breath and recited the spell before him.
Logan was the first to take notice, but they all eventually noticed there was some kind of change in the mind. They knew that it wasn't Thomas that interfered with something, so they figured that it was caused by some sort of... disturbance somewhere in the mind. Roman grabbed his sword and teleported himself to the Dark Side of the mind in case the fiends were planning something again. As Roman left, Patton felt bothersome to the point of grabbing Logan's arm without much thought. He was also thinking about the fact that Virgil would be a first responder if something bad was about to happen. Patton was about to let go of Logan's arm and head for Virgil's room when Roman returned with a pale face. With as few words as possible, he revealed that the Dark Sides possessed no pulse and there was a light there that grew brighter and brighter.
Logan led the way to Virgil's room, wordlessly, while Patton was still clinging to him. As Logan opened the door, what they saw in Virgil's room was... it was just like how the fanders knew it in the beginning: the three of them functioning as parts of Thomas's personality without worries about attacks from the Dark Side of Thomas's mind. Unlike the old days, however, they possessed the knowledge that, not only did Patton lose a parallel and Roman lose a brother, but they all lost whom they considered a friend, a son, a valuable member of the family. They did everything they could to assure Virgil he was heard and appreciated, that he could function without causing pain. As much as Nurture pulled Virgil into the light, however, he always had Dark blood courtesy of Nature. | {
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MrClansman1
Posts: 91
From: Slovak Republic
91Slovak Republic MrClansman1
Posts: 91
From: Slovak Republic
91Slovak Republic Well, now I know for sure that I'm going to Glasgow on 21st Dec... See you there! BUT... I just hope, he is just a temporary replacement for Nick in upcoming tour. Loading...
Unhealer
Eclecticist
Posts: 2302
From: Argentina
2302Argentina Unhealer
Eclecticist
Posts: 2302
From: Argentina
2302Argentina Hmmm, interesting. Might go to see them again when they are in town to check out how the band performs with Alissa and Loomis. Well, only if I see the setlist has decent amount of pre-Rise Of The Tyrant stuff. Loading...
BloodTears
ANA-thema
Posts: 11835
From: Portugal
11835Portugal BloodTears
ANA-thema
Posts: 11835
From: Portugal
11835Portugal Written by MrClansman1 on 17.11.2014 at 20:18
Well, now I know for sure that I'm going to Glasgow on 21st Dec... See you there! BUT... I just hope, he is just a temporary replacement for Nick in upcoming tour.
Chris is doing the last shows of the N. American tour and he joins on the European tour. Damn, now it's even worse that they are not playing in Portugal :/ Chris is doing the last shows of the N. American tour and he joins on the European tour. Damn, now it's even worse that they are not playing in Portugal :/
Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass.
My Instagram ---- Loading...
SlaytanicBacon
Posts: 304
From: UK SlaytanicBacon
Posts: 304
From: UK Wow, that was unexpected! Both Amott & Loomis in the same band?! I hope they keep Jeff and release an album with him ... Loading...
MrClansman1
Posts: 91
From: Slovak Republic
91Slovak Republic MrClansman1
Posts: 91
From: Slovak Republic
91Slovak Republic Written by BloodTears on 17.11.2014 at 20:24
Written by MrClansman1 on 17.11.2014 at 20:18
Well, now I know for sure that I'm going to Glasgow on 21st Dec... See you there! BUT... I just hope, he is just a temporary replacement for Nick in upcoming tour.
Chris is doing the last shows of the N. American tour and he joins on the European tour. Damn, now it's even worse that they are not playing in Portugal :/
Most of the bands probably missed Portugal, didn't they? It reminds me my home... When I was there, it was almost impossible to see well-known metal bands. Most of the bands probably missed Portugal, didn't they? It reminds me my home... When I was there, it was almost impossible to see well-known metal bands. Loading...
Mehdi Taba
Mehdi Taba
Posts: 407
From: Iran
407Iran Mehdi Taba
Mehdi Taba
Posts: 407
From: Iran
407Iran
Wow a big surprise, I love Jeff Loomis' works.
I'm really looking forward to it, I can't wait to hear new stuffs with this maestro, it's a great choice.
One of the best news that I ever read! Wow a big surprise, I love Jeff Loomis' works.I'm really looking forward to it, I can't wait to hear new stuffs with this maestro, it's a great choice.One of the best news that I ever read! Loading...
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Posts: 51091
From: Norway
51091Norway Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Posts: 51091
From: Norway
51091Norway Maybe media trick, we never will know real reason why Angele left now this, /(younger singer) super star guitarist ....
Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!
Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''
I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing ----Life is to short for LOVE, there is many great things to do online !!!Stormtroopers of Death - ''Speak English or Die''I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing Loading...
visiblenoise
Posts: 72
From: USA visiblenoise
Posts: 72
From: USA Wow, that is an interesting combo. I'm conflicted, because Jeff Loomis's usual style is kinda different, but maybe this will be good for Arch Enemy. I hope Jeff will end up contributing to the songwriting down the road. They used to be one of my absolute favorites, but I haven't been interested in their new stuff at all. Loading...
X-FrEaK
Posts: 226
From: Portugal
226Portugal X-FrEaK
Posts: 226
From: Portugal
226Portugal Written by visiblenoise on 17.11.2014 at 21:30
Wow, that is an interesting combo. I'm conflicted, because Jeff Loomis's usual style is kinda different, but maybe this will be good for Arch Enemy.
Agree... Also two lead guitarists and main songwriters... How much into the songwriting process will Amott allow Loomis.
Nevertheless War Eternal was a step up from the previous albuns, and Jeff Loomis help has everything to deliver something even better Agree... Also two lead guitarists and main songwriters... How much into the songwriting process will Amott allow Loomis.Nevertheless War Eternal was a step up from the previous albuns, and Jeff Loomis help has everything to deliver something even better
---- Loading...
Darkside Momo
Retired
Posts: 8951
From: France
8951France Darkside Momo
Retired
Posts: 8951
From: France
8951France Nice to be able to see Jeff Loomis shred at the end of the month!
"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you"
"I've lost too many years now
I'm stealing back my soul
I am awake" ---- My Author's Blog (in French)"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you""I've lost too many years nowI'm stealing back my soulI am awake" Loading...
Reaper_Redeemer
Posts: 640
From: Greece
640Greece Reaper_Redeemer
Posts: 640
From: Greece
640Greece I thought this was April's 1st... Loading...
nb
Posts: 248
From: USA
248USA nb
Posts: 248
From: USA
248USA I hope Jeff Loomis continues doing his solo stuff, or maybe even a new band of his own. Loading...
BlueDragon
Posts: 43
From: Portugal
43Portugal BlueDragon
Posts: 43
From: Portugal
43Portugal Jeff Loomis joining Arch Enemy!?!? I'm speechless... But anyway awesome news! What!?!?Jeff Loomis joining Arch Enemy!?!? I'm speechless...But anyway awesome news! Loading...
corrupt
With a lowercase c
Posts: 1928
From: Germany
1928Germany corrupt
With a lowercase c
Posts: 1928
From: Germany
1928Germany
Schwarzmetall! ----Schwarzmetall! Loading...
Apothecary
PsyCHEdelic
Posts: 5677
From: USA
5677USA Apothecary
PsyCHEdelic
Posts: 5677
From: USA
5677USA Hey, look on the bright side, at least it's not Portnoy joining Avenged Sev.... oh, wait. ----
Go tell that long tongue liar
Go and tell that midnight rider
Tell the rambler, the gambler, the back biter
You tell em that God's gonna cut em down Loading...
maglor
Posts: 62
From: Portugal
62Portugal maglor
Posts: 62
From: Portugal
62Portugal OH MY GOD. Yes ----
Maglor Loading...
Darth Satanious
Post Destroyer
Posts: 2143
From: Puerto Rico
2143Puerto Rico Darth Satanious
Post Destroyer
Posts: 2143
From: Puerto Rico
2143Puerto Rico Arch Enemy needs more riffs in their song. It would seem like most of their songs are just rhythm guitars going du du du du du, then short guitar lead, then pointless jamming filling in blank spaces that accompany those sing-along verses from that hot vocalist who old geezer guy from The Misfits is currently shagging. It doesn't sound awful but for me it tends to get boring.
Their latest album only had a couple of songs I liked at the last portion of the album.
Hopefully there will be more riffs coming forward.
I kind of liked Nick's guitar solos though. I look forward to his project with those other guys, may be interesting, who knows? ----
Christless Loading...
MrClansman1
Posts: 91
From: Slovak Republic
91Slovak Republic MrClansman1
Posts: 91
From: Slovak Republic
91Slovak Republic Written by deadone on 18.11.2014 at 02:24
I wonder if he'll stay on permanently or just play tours?
He could really reinvigorate Arch Enemy's sound if they let him write.
I rather would like to see him write next Conquering Dystopia record than write some stuff for Arch Enemy... Personally, I don't like Arch Enemy too much. It isn't my couple of tea.. too melodic.. And I kinda can't imagine Jeff Loomis style of playing mixed with Arch Enemy music... I rather would like to see him write next Conquering Dystopia record than write some stuff for Arch Enemy... Personally, I don't like Arch Enemy too much. It isn't my couple of tea.. too melodic.. And I kinda can't imagine Jeff Loomis style of playing mixed with Arch Enemy music... Loading...
psykometal
A staff guy...
Posts: 6101
From: USA
6101USA psykometal
A staff guy...
Posts: 6101
From: USA
6101USA I'm sure it's just touring, just like with Gus G. Arch Enemy is too straight forward and not enough strings for Jeff.
~Zep, Database and Forum Moderation~
----~Zep, Database and Forum Moderation~ Loading...
Cynic Metalhead
Atrocious Virgin
Posts: 6209
From: India
6209India Cynic Metalhead
Atrocious Virgin
Posts: 6209
From: India
6209India Written by Reaper_Redeemer on 17.11.2014 at 22:02
I thought this was April's 1st...
Even though you know its 5.5 months away from 1st April. What an idiot.
Back to the news, interesting move. Let see how Jeff fits in Arch Enemy camp. I hope Jeff gets raucous reaction from crowd. Even though you know its 5.5 months away from 1st April. What an idiot.Back to the news, interesting move. Let see how Jeff fits in Arch Enemy camp. I hope Jeff gets raucous reaction from crowd.
Best Of Metal In Spotify ---- Loading...
BloodTears
ANA-thema
Posts: 11835
From: Portugal
11835Portugal BloodTears
ANA-thema
Posts: 11835
From: Portugal
11835Portugal At least this will distract me from the fact that I don't like the new vocalist. Here take Loomis to entertain yourself with
Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29
Like you could kiss my ass.
My Instagram ---- Loading...
krrrrebets
Account deleted krrrrebets
Account deleted AE could use someone like him, hope to see him staying for longer and maybe bring some much needed innovation. Loading...
Angel N.
Evil Butterfly
Posts: 2356
2356 Angel N.
Evil Butterfly
Posts: 2356
2356 Oh Jeff, oh my dear Jeff, why? ----
The Fangirl. Loading...
Reaper_Redeemer
Posts: 640
From: Greece
640Greece Reaper_Redeemer
Posts: 640
From: Greece
640Greece Written by Cynic Metalhead on 18.11.2014 at 06:41
Written by Reaper_Redeemer on 17.11.2014 at 22:02
I thought this was April's 1st...
Even though you know its 5.5 months away from 1st April. What an idiot.
Such a great understanding on irony... But you still insult me within a forum, while speaking about "stupidity". Such a great understanding on irony... But you still insult me within a forum, while speaking about "stupidity". Loading...
foschino
Account deleted foschino
Account deleted I wonder what kind of benefit he will get as a guitarist. Every Loomis project (Nevermore, Conquering Dystopia, solo project) has always been more technical and more everything than Arch Enemy. The only reason I see here is a huge increase in his bank account Loading...
_deepblack
Posts: 211
From: Iran
211Iran _deepblack
Posts: 211
From: Iran
211Iran I bet they are paying him really well i like Jeff Loomis very much but i feel its going to be one of those ugly super groups in the next album i really hope that they dont ruin it Loading... | {
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A pair of rematches are slated to headline UFC 227 this weekend inside Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Former teammates-turned-rivals TJ Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt will meet in the main event Saturday in a rematch of a riveting fight at UFC 217 last November in New York. Dillashaw stunned then-champion Garbrandt with a second-round TKO to claim the bantamweight title.
In the co-main event, all-time great Demetrious Johnson will seek his record 12th consecutive title defense against Henry Cejudo, whom he defeated by TKO in 2016.
ESPN has you covered on everything to know ahead of UFC 227.
Demetrious Johnson and his knee made quick work of Henry Cejudo in their meeting at UFC 197. Rod Mar for ESPN
Odds: Johnson -600; Cejudo +425
Over the final leg of Johnson's historic run to an 11th consecutive UFC title defense, there was not always a ton of excitement around the opponents he faced.
The individual moments themselves, sure. It was exciting when Johnson recorded title defense No. 9 in late 2016, moving him within one of Anderson Silva's then-record. It was a big deal when Johnson tied that record in April 2017 and surpassed it in October.
But the challengers he faced in that stretch -- Tim Elliott, Wilson Reis, Ray Borg -- just didn't do much for the viewing public. Those fights were looked at as squash matches going in, and they generally played out that way.
In fact, the last time Johnson faced an opponent whom anyone really gave a shot to was at UFC 197 in April 2016, when he faced Cejudo. That's ironic, as Cejudo lasted less than three minutes with Johnson before he was knocked out by knees to the body.
Cejudo, who has changed camps since the first meeting and spent time training in Thailand, Singapore and Brazil, is quick to point out, however, he had been fighting professionally for only three years when he met Johnson the first time.
"I've thought about that loss for more than two years," Cejudo said. "I feel like I never really got a fair shake and I never gave him a fair shake of who Henry Cejudo is. I was a wrestler back then. I'm a mixed martial artist now. I've traveled the world to improve my game.
"I feel I did have the ability to beat him the first time, but I did not have the tactics or the skill. Ability is always there, but it's more of a maturity thing. This is Henry Cejudo 2.0. Not that many people get a second chance to fight for a title, and have that chance come against the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. There's a level of respect I have for him -- that's been driving me this entire time."
Johnson, 31, said it's "hard to say" how much Cejudo has improved in the past 28 months. Frankly, he's not one to obsess over such things. He noted that Cejudo's stance is still relatively similar to what it was and referred to him as a wrestler, before simply saying, "We'll find out."
"The first Cejudo fight was one of my favorites, because that's how a fight should look," Johnson said. "I didn't really have a game plan when I fought him. I never do. You work to become well-rounded and figure out an opponent when you get in there. I did that well in the first fight."
Henry Cejudo briefly got Demetrious Johnson to the mat in their first fight, but he'll have to set up his wrestling better this time around. Joshua Dahl/USA TODAY Sports
Fight breakdown
Look, there is no question Cejudo is a better fighter than he was two years ago. The experience and confidence he's gained alone makes that a true statement, but there's also evidence he's improved his standup and general fight preparation.
That said, Cejudo can't match Johnson's overall skill set. He just can't. No one can. But Cejudo is probably more capable now of landing a big shot on the feet or disguising his wrestling in ways that could make Johnson a bit uncomfortable.
One of the many, many challenges of facing Johnson is you just don't know where he is or what he's doing. He has an infinite amount of ways to beat you, and on top of that, no one is better at making in-fight adjustments. In other words, in addition to his well-roundedness, he's also the best at putting his skills into practice in ways that tip every scale in his favor. Intimidating, right?
Cejudo's most dangerous weapon in this fight is arguably his counter right hand -- and that's mostly because it's his fastest weapon. Johnson is so diverse, so fast, so unpredictable, we've seen respectable strikers empty their arsenal on him and hit nothing but air. It's not unreasonable to suggest that to beat the best fighter in the world, you have to land the perfect shot. Cejudo's right is his best bet.
His left hook is a good punch, too, but he tends to wind it up. And by the time you wind up even a millisecond on Johnson, he's long gone.
Cejudo needs to apply pressure from bell to bell -- otherwise he'll be at the mercy of Johnson's speed and angles. But he has to be efficient in doing so. Cut off the cage and constantly move forward, but pick your shots. Because swings and misses will quickly empty the tank.
As an Olympic gold medalist in wrestling, of course it'd be nice for Cejudo to get this on the mat. But he will probably need to have success on the feet first before he can wrestle in a real meaningful way. If he can't successfully close distance on Johnson and pose a threat with his striking, any takedown attempts likely will come up short.
Prediction: Johnson via TKO, fifth round. | {
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Benjamin Wallfisch (Blade Runner 2049, Hidden Figures, Annabelle Creation) is reteaming with director Andy Muschietti on the upcoming horror thriller It: Chapter Two. The film stars James McAvoy as Bill, Jessica Chastain as Beverly, Bill Hader as Richie, Jay Ryan as Ben, James Ransone as Eddie, as well as Andy Bean as Stanely Uris, Isaiah Mustafa as Mike and Bill Skarsgård as Pennywise. The movie follows the Losers’ Club as they must return to Derry, Maine, 27 years after the events from the previous movie to fight evil forces the circus unleashes on the town. Gary Dauberman (Annabelle, The Nun) wrote the screenplay based on Stephen King’s book. Barbara Muschietti (Mama), Dan Lin (Sherlock Holmes) and Roy Lee (The LEGO Movie) are producing the New Line Cinema production. Wallfisch has previously scored 2017’s first It movie. It: Chapter Two will be released on September 6, 2019 by Warner Bros. Pictures.
Wallfisch’s other recent projects include David F. Sandberg’s Shazam! and Neil Marshall’s Hellboy, both of which will be opening in theaters next month. The composer has also scored the National Geographic docu-series Hostile Planet, which is set to debut on April 1. | {
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Lightweight, Simple, Styleable jQuery + CSS Dropdown Menu Plugin
License You are free to use this script for commercial and non-commercial projects. I would love to hear from you if you use it or have input. If you find this dropdown script to be especially useful and can donate some funds, thank you and here is the link to donate:
Features Clean, minimalist design, ready to be styled. Ease of use and styling are the goals. This should be a great starting point if you are looking to create a similar menu.
Handles submenu items appearing outside the viewport/window
For mobile/touch devices, ensures an item's submenu is showing before allowing its link to be opened
Option for either horizontal or vertical menu
Supports variable-width menu items. Vertical menus must have a width defined at the root, but submenus are still variable.
Independent timers on open/close of submenus to reduce accidental menu operations
Option to automatically add arrows indicating submenus
Option to automatically apply a CSS3 drop shadow class to submenus
Customizable submenu display animation using jQuery's animate() effects
effects Functioning in tests with Chrome, Firefox, Safari, IE >= 7, Android WebKit, and Android Firefox
Usage Include the jQuery library, dropdown-menu.min.js and dropdown-menu.css on the page: <link rel="stylesheet" href="dropdown-menu.css" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="lib/jquery-1.10.2.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="dropdown-menu.min.js"></script> Use a standard UL/LI menu with anchors: <ul class="dropdown-menu"> <li><a href="#">Item 1</a></li> <li> <a href="#">Item 2</a> <ul> <li> <a href="#">Submenu Item</a> <ul> <li><a href="#">Submenu Item 1</a></li> <li><a href="#">Submenu Item 2</a></li> </ul> </li> </ul> </li> </ul> Apply the dropdown_menu() function in a Document Ready section: <script type="text/javascript"> $(function() { $('.dropdown-menu').dropdown_menu(); }); </script> See Example 1 and dropdown-menu-skin.css for styling hints. See Example 2 source code for complete configuration options.
Demonstrations
Acknowledgements By Daniel Upshaw. This script was inspired by the classic jQuery menu plugin Superfish, which was inspired by ALA's Suckerfish.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
danielupshaw.com | {
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YOUR NEW PROJECT GOES TO THE TOP OF THE LIST + VIDEO CONFERENCE + GOODIES: Your idea for a project goes to the TOP of the list. We will begin work on your simulation immediately and it will be released as part of the first set of 5 simulations marked for completion around December 2014. You name, company’s name, and/or logo will appear in big letters as “Sponsored By” on the simulation’s main page and credits. We’ll have a video conference with you where we can brainstorm the simulation and get your thoughts and recommendations for getting the HoloLibrary into classrooms worldwide. We’ll also send you up to 10 t-shirts and posters, and you’ll get to write the name of up to 10 people in the dirt on the 3D moon in our “1969 Moon Landing” simulation. Basically at this level of contribution, don’t feel shy about asking one of us for a kidney.
Less | {
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With the 2019 MLS SuperDraft Combine fast approaching, we look at some of the most interesting players on the invite list at each position
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Christmas is over, New Years is around here somewhere, and the MLS SuperDraft coverage time is upon us! The 2019 MLS SuperDraft will be held in Chicago on January 11th. We will get to some more fun specifics as we get closer to the big day, but right now the big focus is that about a week or so ago MLS released their initial list of 60 players to be invited to the MLS Combine down in Orlando.
It’s an initial list because they like to add in Generation Adidas players and random Youth International players later on in the process. For now, it’s these 60 college seniors. “But that’s a lot of names and a lot of research,” you might say. And I’ll say, “You’re gosh dang right,” because I did all of that research (Okay, most of it) for you and picked out some names to go into depth about.
Before we begin, I’d like to make sure that we all keep in mind that just like how it is with every other sport that has players going from college to professional, there’s always players whose games do not translate for whatever reason. Whether it be that they never got a chance on their drafted team or that they were just playing against really terrible competition and were just the best of a bad bunch. There’s all these different factors and in a league like MLS it’s very common for many of these guys to not pan out. This is why the job of scouting these players is so important so that you don’t miss out on a future MLS legend in the third round. I’d like to specifically shout-out Top Drawer Soccer, whose Top 100 lists help those of us who can’t watch every. single. college soccer game. and instead gives us a great framework to start from.
Now we can start:
Goalkeepers
Jimmy Hague, Michigan State University
One of the biggest things you want out a goalkeeper is consistency and especially consistency against quality opponents. Playing in the Big 10 means that Hague had to go up against at least two of the best teams in the country, sometimes twice a year. Despite that, he still managed to keep his Goals Against Average to 0.7, stood on the line for 26 career shutouts, and has a career save percentage of 0.812. This sort of experience will absolutely give him an advantage in the MLS Combine and hopefully an advantage for whatever team drafts him.
Rashid Nuhu, Fordham University
Of all the goalkeepers invited to the Combine, Nuhu has the most shutouts at 30. Not really spectacular anywhere else until you notice that he’s made 242 saves. With a save percentage of 0.771 we can use math to figure out that he was able to get those 30 shutouts while facing somewhere around 313 shots. These may be a lot of seemingly meaningless numbers, but at least they sound important. We’ll see what happens for him at the MLS Combine.
Dylan Castanheira, Columbia University
Speaking of “best invited to the Combine” stats, Castanheira has a GAA of just 0.53 and a save percentage of 0.842. That just screams “impressive”, but then we take a step back from the numbers and look at his competition. The Ivy League isn’t bad by any stretch, but the competition isn’t exactly top flight. If anything, he’s someone to pick up and develop on your USL squad. He’s on the list of people who will be interesting to see face bigger competition in the MLS Combine than in their college careers.
James Pyle, University of North Carolina
Pyle is some sort of mix of the other three reports I just gave. He comes from a team in heavy competition in the ACC, also has 30 shutouts, and has an insanely low GAA at 0.59. This past season was his best with his GAA at 0.51 and nine total shutouts. Really, just an overall performer between the sticks. The big question is how much of it is his defense. North Carolina is one of the best teams in the country and that means that they also have a great defense to go along with it. While it probably won’t be tested in the MLS Combine, the big question for him is can he maintain his same work rate with a less than stellar defense against an attack like Atlanta’s.
These have been some players to watch out for at the 2019 MLS SuperDraft Combine, which starts in Orlando on January 3rd. Be sure to keep an eye out here for more Draft coverage from me as we await the Generation Adidas player announcements and get deeper into draft season. | {
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Benjamin Villaroel, American Renaissance, February 25, 2017
Between the attacks against Trump supporters, thuggish protests against Milo Yiannopoulos at college campuses, and the murder of police officers by black militants, political violence appears to be here to stay. Scenes of black-clad protesters smashing windows and ATMs is frightening to Americans, but it’s common in other countries. As someone who has lived abroad, let me say that political violence is normal — and it can be useful.
The chaos in America today reminds me of time I spent in Chile — my father’s home country — during that country’s “student movement” in 2011-2012. Millennials were organizing mass protests to get the government to nationalize higher education and make it free, as in neighboring Argentina and in many European countries. At first, the movement was popular, and the sitting president, a Romney-style conservative named Sebastian Piñera, often had approval ratings of less than 30 percent.
Furthermore, higher education in Chile had been free within living memory — from the creation of the welfare state in the 1940s until the dramatic neoliberal reforms of Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s. In 2011, the student movement had the wind in its sails, and was regularly bringing out hundreds of thousands of people to march in a country of just 17 million. It seemed impossible that they wouldn’t win.
But the students did not win, and the movement ran out of gas years ago. The reasons for this are complex, but a large part of it was the fact that the moderates could not control and would not disavow the violent radicals in their ranks — and that scared away millions of potential supporters.
Without fail, every time there was a mass gathering of peaceful protesters, encapuchados (literally meaning “the hooded”), the Chilean equivalent of the “black bloc,” would show up and make trouble. Sometimes they just spray-painted anarchist symbols on public property. Sometimes they would knock down trees and set them ablaze to block traffic. Sometimes they would throw rocks and paint bombs at the police. Encapuchados and their equivalents throughout the West simply cannot resist violence and destruction “for a good cause.” Here they are in action:
Every march came to have the same rhythm: the march would start with smiling average citizens holding up clever signs, the encapuchados would show up and start burning things, the riot police would come out, the encapuchados would get violent, the cops would use tear gas and water cannons, everyone would go home, and the nightly news would play a highlight reel of the street fights.
The overwhelming majority of protesters were not like these violent radicals. Most were polite and well-meaning social democrats. Occasionally they even faced off with encapuchados. Here’s a video of a sort of “tug of war” over whether to set up a street barricade:
And just as Robert Reich has suggested that Steve Bannon is behind the violent anti-Milo protesters, there were rumors that every other encapuchado was an undercover cop.
The movement was never able to purge the encapuchados. None of the most prominent leaders ever publicly condemned them. No proof was ever found that the troublemakers were cops. No peaceful protester ever turned an encapuchado into the police. When trouble started, the peaceful protesters wouldn’t leave the area, but stayed to watch the show — which always allowed the encapuchados to disappear back into the crowd.
Average Chileans began to associate the whole enterprise with the thugs shutting down traffic and attacking cops. When asked about the violence, leaders of militant student groups would often just shrug and say that people should empathize with how angry students were, or that citizens should put street violence in the context of larger systematic violence, or refer to the “violence” of economic inequality. Indeed, the most famous student leader, Camila Vallejo, joined Chile’s Communist Party, a group radical enough to send condolences to North Korea when Kim Jong-il died in December of 2011. Leftwing twitter accounts and blogs were full of images of encapuchados with captions lauding their efforts.
This was too much for the average citizen. Under different circumstances, working class Chilean families facing the prospect of going into debt to send their children to college would have supported this movement. Instead, they began to fear that their children might join the protests, start skipping class to brawl with the police, and ruin their lives. By the beginning of 2012, national fatigue had set in. Chileans wanted their children out of the streets and back in school. When the 2013 presidential campaign began, no serious candidate wanted to be associated with the movement.
It is not an exaggeration to say that the encapuchados kept Chile’s college system in the private sector. If the nationalization movement had not been linked to violence, it probably would have succeeded. The initial push to nationalize education in the 1940s was divorced from violence, and was successful.
America is in a similar spot today. Without the nightly news showcasing the constant violence pouring from left to right in this country, figures like Donald Trump and Milo Yiannopoulos would have considerably less sympathy. When average Americans see television images of fans of Milo and Mr. Trump being pepper-sprayed or beat-up they side with the victim of the violence. The Civil Rights movement gained enormous sympathy because of news stories of civil rights activists and “Freedom Riders” being attacked.
Most Americans (especially white ones) believe in free speech, and they don’t like seeing anyone silenced by threats or violence. Furthermore, even if they dislike Milo or Mr. Trump, the dislike the kind of people who fight the police even more.
Violence also turns the left against itself. Whenever “antifa” successfully shut down an event, or the black bloc runs amok, a handful of leftists condemn the violence. Those who condemn it are in turn condemned for condemning it. This happened to leftist polemicist Chris Hedges back in 2012 when he called black bloc “the cancer in Occupy [Wall Street].” Just about every leftist publication spent a lot of energy arguing about why he was wrong or to what degree he was wrong. More recently, after Milo was shut down at Berkeley, progressive journalist Lee Fang criticized the violent tactics the left used. He’s been arguing about the validity of his criticism ever since on Twitter. The energy the left spends devouring itself is energy not spent recruiting new adherents.
Once election season comes, Democrats will have to condemn anti-Trump violence and alienate the segment of their base that supports it or scare away moderates by being ambivalent about violence. That helps us immensely.
I suspect political violence will become more frequent and intense. If ICE starts regular raids on illegal immigrants, there are sure to be anti-ICE riots. With chaos in the streets, the Democrats will try to strike an impossible compromise between being the party of radical opposition and the party of moderate good governance, just as they did in 1968. And just as in 1968, they’ll lose. I take no pleasure in seeing photos of bloodied Trump supporters; indeed, I’ve come close to being one. But for every punch a leftist lands, our side gains a few more sympathizers.
So, two cheers for the antifa. May the fires they set illuminate our path to victory. | {
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Overall, Tampa Bay’s general manager Jason Licht has a strong history in the NFL Draft. However, he is prone to big misses.
Of late, Jason Licht and the Buccaneers front office has used the Draft to add some top-tier talent on both sides of the ball. Foundational pieces like Jameis Winston, Mike Evans and Kwon Alexander have all come through the Draft.
At the same time, the Buccaneers have missed on some players who were projected to be major contributors. Licht has taken big risks in the early rounds on players who never panned out.
As good as some draft picks have been since the team’s inception, there have also been plenty of bad ones. The Bucs famously drafted Bo Jackson with the first overall pick in 1986, which was a disaster considering he never signed with them. More recently, Tampa Bay has drafted a few players that never quite panned out for them. Among those are Mark Barron, Johnthan Banks, Adrian Clayborn and Da’Quan Bowers.
After breaking down the best of Licht’s picks, it is time to look at the other side of things. | {
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WASHINGTON Donald Trump laid out economic ideas in a speech in Pennsylvania on Tuesday that did not always deal squarely with economic realities. A look at some of his statements and how they compare with the facts:
TRUMP: "When subsidized foreign steel is dumped into our markets, threatening our factories, the politicians have proven, folks, have proven they do nothing."
THE FACTS: Not exactly nothing.
The Obama administration slapped Chinese steelmakers with a combined 522 percent penalty this year.
Buttressed by government subsidies, Chinese mills churned out too much of the cold-rolled steel used for autos and other products. So the Chinese firms slashed steel prices and dumped their steel on U.S. shores. This prompted a complaint by five U.S. steelmakers in 2015, which the Commerce Department investigated as required before announcing the first of the new duties in March.
If Trump has any bone to pick, it might be that the required investigation took too long to protect U.S. mills fully from the Chinese dumping.
---
TRUMP: "We tax and regulate and restrict our companies to death, then we allow foreign countries that cheat to export their goods to us tax-free. As a result, we have become more dependent on foreign countries than ever before."
THE FACTS: Dependence cuts both ways.
Those same foreign factories depend on U.S. customers for their products. So the same argument could be made that China has grown more dependent on the United States.
This includes Wal-Mart shoppers who prefer lower prices, rather than products made domestically. The Associated Press confirmed this preference in a survey this year that found roughly two-thirds of Americans would rather buy $50 pants sewn in Asia than $85 pants sewn in the United States. If prices rise too high, Americans will spend less and economic growth will slow.
Nor are foreign and U.S. factories necessarily in direct competition. Roughly half of imported goods are used by U.S. companies to put together finished products, according to the American Action Forum, a center-right advocacy organization.
---
TRUMP: "Today, we import nearly $800 billion more in goods than we export. This is not some natural disaster. It is a politician-made disaster."
THE FACTS: That's in the ballpark, but not the whole trade story.
The trade deficit on goods was $762.6 billion in 2015. But he neglects to include the valuable services that foreigners buy from U.S. firms. Those services reduced the total trade deficit to roughly $500 billion, according to the Census Bureau.
It's hard to see the problem as the sole fault of politicians. Many businesses chose to relocate their factories abroad in order to increase their profits, while others kept their production in the United States. Trump himself outsourced the stitching of his neckties and branded clothing to China, among other countries.
---
TRUMP: "This wave of globalization has wiped out our middle class."
THE FACTS: He's right that some of the blame for setbacks suffered by the blue-collar middle class belongs with outsourcing and offshoring to countries with cheaper wages. But the global economy does not deserve all of the blame.
Trump's explanation ignores other seismic shifts in the U.S. economy.
Millions of routine jobs have disappeared due to automation, among them assembly line work and office jobs, such as executive secretaries replaced by email and voicemail. Research by economists Henry Siu and Nir Jaimovich found that jobs have been prone to elimination because of automation since recessions in the 1990s.
Employers have also placed a greater value on higher education, leaving in the lurch those who have only high school degrees. The unemployment rate for college graduates is a low 2.4 percent, while 5.1 percent for high school graduates and 7.1 percent for high school dropouts.
---
TRUMP: "We are one of the highest taxed nations in the world."
THE FACTS: This repeated claim by Trump is wrong. The U.S. tax burden is actually one of the lowest among the 34 developed and large emerging-market economies that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Taxes made up 26 percent of the total U.S. economy in 2014, according to the OECD. That's far below Sweden's tax burden of 42.7 percent, Britain's 32.6 percent or Germany's 36.1 percent. Only three OECD members had a lower figure: Chile, South Korea and Mexico. | {
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Pacific Stem Cell PRP is built on the collective experience, education and knowledge of trusted specialists in regenerative medicine in Torrance, California. We offer a treatment plan that is tailored specifically to each patient’s needs. We carefully assess your
and overall health and work with you to ensure you get the right treatment. We are committed to providing our patients with the best possible non-surgical solution for a pain-free life. | {
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The Affordable Care Act’s historic expansion of health insurance coverage has brought medical care within reach of millions of Americans who previously couldn’t afford it, new research shows.
The share of adults who skipped medical care because of costs dropped by nearly one-fifth between 2013 and 2015, according to a report from the Commonwealth Fund.
The gains were even more dramatic in the states that have most expanded coverage through the federal healthcare law, often called Obamacare.
“The Affordable Care Act’s health insurance coverage expansions are working to get people covered and help them afford healthcare,” said Sara Collins, vice president of the fund, a New York-based foundation that studies healthcare systems around the world.
“We know that health insurance is essential for people to get the care they need,” Collins said. “In this time of uncertainty about the ACA, it’s important to keep in mind the financial and health protection health insurance provides for families.”
President-elect Donald Trump and Republican leaders in Congress have pledged to vote to repeal large parts of the health law early next year, citing rising health insurance premiums, among other things.
Healthcare costs have risen sharply in recent years for some Americans, particularly those making too much money to qualify for government assistance.
But the new Commonwealth Fund report adds to growing evidence indicating that many consumers have seen dramatic gains in both health coverage and in access to medical care and prescription drugs since the 2010 law’s coverage expansion began in 2014.
Last year, 13% of adults reported that they went without care because of the cost.
That was down from 16% in 2013, a year before the debut of the healthcare law’s system of guaranteeing coverage to Americans, even if they are sick.
It remains unclear how Republicans plan to replace Obamacare. GOP leaders have not developed legislation that would protect the gains in coverage and access.
Since 2014, Obamacare has made hundreds of billions of dollars available to states to extend Medicaid coverage to poor adults, a population that once was largely excluded from the government safety net program.
Medicaid eligibility historically was limited to certain vulnerable populations, including low-income children, pregnant women, people with disabilities and the elderly.
Obamacare also has offered subsidies to low- and moderate-income Americans to help them buy private health coverage on new insurance marketplaces such as HealthCare.gov.
Nationwide, this system has brought health coverage to more than 20 million previously uninsured Americans and driven the nation’s uninsured rate to historic lows.
At the same time, residents of 38 states and the District of Columbia were less likely in 2015 than in 2013 to say costs prevented them from seeing a doctor when they were sick, the new report found.
The biggest declines were in states that expanded Medicaid through the law, an option that has been taken by 31 states.
Kentucky, which saw the largest decline in uninsured, also saw the most dramatic gains in access. The percentage of adults in the state who reported skipping care because of costs plunged from 19% in 2013 to 12% in 2015.
Also recording big gains were Arkansas and Oregon, which each saw a 5-percentage-point drop in adults who skipped care.
In California, the share of adults with cost-related access problems dropped by a quarter, from 16% to 12%, according to the report.
Researchers found that patients had the most trouble affording care in states that have resisted Obamacare the most, primarily in the South.
In Mississippi, 19% of adults reported skipping care in 2015 because of cost. In Texas, it was 18%. And in Alabama and Florida, the rate was 17%.
Elected leaders in all four states have rejected the Medicaid expansion and have been among the most vocal supporters of calls to repeal Obamacare.
By contrast, fewer than one in 10 adults reported cost-related access problems in states with the most affordable medical care, led by Iowa.
Twitter: @noamlevey
ALSO:
Trump and the GOP are charging forward with Obamacare repeal, but few are eager to follow
Rolling out Obamacare was chaotic, but a repeal could be much worse
Trump pledged to protect Medicare. His choice for health secretary has other ideas | {
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MOSCOW—Russia may reconsider its $15 billion bailout offer to Ukraine if the current government is removed, a senior official said Tuesday, hours after Ukraine's prime minister offered his resignation in an effort to calm a growing protest movement.
"There is no decision yet, but it is self-evident," that further distributions of the loan would be reviewed if the government of Mykola Azarov was to be dissolved, the official said speaking on condition of anonymity.
... | {
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A man who once advised former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was one of four alleged “johns” arrested by police in Citrus Heights, Calif., as part of a statewide human trafficking crackdown.
Daniel Pellisier was arrested by the Citrus Heights Police Department, in Sacramento County, as part of Operation Reclaim and Rebuild, a three-day sweep led by the Los Angeles County Regional Human Trafficking Task Force. The crackdown led to more than 500 arrests, including 30 suspected traffickers and 178 alleged “johns.”
Pellisier, 57, served as deputy secretary for energy and environment, where he advised Schwarzenegger and oversaw California’s Natural Resources and Environmental Protection agencies, according to a biography on UC Berkeley’s Institute of Government Studies. He later became president of an advocacy group called California Pension Reform.
Citrus Heights police used the internet and other tactics, including undercover operations, to make 10 arrests. The arrests were for prostitution and probation violations, as well as felony and misdemeanor warrant arrests, the Police Department said in a statement.
“Our efforts were focused on identifying and arresting the ‘pimps’ (those who were coordinating the services of victims) and ‘johns’ (those seeking to take advantage of those victims) and rescuing the victims of human trafficking,” police said. “The city of Citrus Heights and the community of Citrus Heights do not tolerate human trafficking and will continue to detect, deter, and hold those accountable for their involvement in prostitution and victimizing others.”
Other arrested “johns” included 39-year-old Hamel Yan of Elk Grove; 19-year-old Darrick Chavis of Vacaville; and 42-year-old Steven Birdsong of Antelope.
[email protected]
Twitter: @Brittny_Mejia | {
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Ecatepec, Méx. Elementos de la Guardia Nacional comenzaron los operativos de vigilancia en las calles de Ecatepec, en apoyo a la policía municipal, para reforzar las labores de seguridad en la localidad.
Desde la noche del martes, un grupo de 20 elementos de la nueva corporación se apostaron en las calles de Jardines de Morelos, una de las comunidades con mayor índice delictivo del municipio, donde comenzaron labores de revisión de los vehículos que transitaban por la zona.
El operativo denominado “Rastrillo” se extendió a las colonias Adolfo Ruiz Cortines, La Pradera, San Martín de Porres y Unidad Habitacional Llano de los Báez, entre otras. Durante las acciones fueron detenidas cuatro personas por faltas administrativas y la comisión de delitos, quienes fueron presentadas ante las autoridades correspondientes.
El presidente municipal, Fernando Vilchis Contreras señaló que el objetivo de los operativos policiacos es inhibir la comisión de delitos en las zonas que, de acuerdo al mapeo del Secretariado Ejecutivo del Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Publica, están marcadas como prioritarias.
En las acciones también participaron uniformados de la policía estatal y personal de la Fiscalía General de Justicia del Estado de México.
El alcalde señaló que en los próximos días arribarán al municipio un total de 400 elementos de la Guardia Nacional que llegarán a realizar labores de seguridad.
Recordó que el gobierno municipal de Ecatepec aprobó la donación de tres terrenos donde serán construidas las bases de la Guardia Nacional.
Los tres pedios se ubican en la colonia Haciendas y Parques de Aragón con extensiones de 3 mil 750 metros cuadrados; mil 679.92 metros cuadrados y 6 mil 500 metros ubicados, los cuales suman un total de 20 mil 700 metros cuadrados.
Los elementos de la Guardia Nacional se sumaran a los 600 elementos de la Sedena que actualmente operan en la localidad y se encuentran desplegados en las zonas de mayor incidencia delictiva de la localidad. | {
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As everyone is preparing for Trancegiving, Factor B stops by to discuss his young career, new projects, and his Dreamstate debut!
Factor B might be a new face on the trance scene, but he’s making a name for himself at lightspeed. He’s quickly found his home on some of the biggest labels in the business.
Over the last 18 months, his homeland of Australia, the UK, and Netherlands have all witnessed countless shows. At long last, Factor B makes his big stage debut in North America this November for Dreamstate SoCal. Fans of euphoric, uplifting trance rejoice!
Stream his set from Luminosity’s Showcase at ADE this year, and read on for our in-depth chat with him below!
Hello Brendan, thanks for stopping by and giving us the opportunity to talk with you today. How are you doing?
Very well thanks, just enjoying another day in the studio here in Amsterdam!
I’d like to start by giving our readers an insight into who Factor B is. How did you first come into contact with trance? What motivated you to start creating music?
The moment I first had contact with trance was hearing Ferry Corsten’s Trance nation CD at a friends place in the early 2000’s. “Robert Miles – Children” in to “System F – Out Of The Blue”. Stopped me in my tracks.
But ultimately there are elements of trance in a lot of music I was exposed to growing up. When I heard ‘trance’ it was like a more euphoric, up-tempo version of music I was already listening to. Once I learned about how it was created and performed – it was a natural journey into Djing. I then moved into learning production so I could make my own interpretations of the sound.
Australia is not known for having a big trance artist community. This can be rather inhibiting in the early days of a career in music. How did you find help and support when the going got tough?
Obviously, Australia is quite far away from the Trance hub that is Europe. It makes it a little more difficult to break through, but I always felt that the music would always end up doing the talking and if I kept working hard at my craft, things could happen.
To be honest, I worked quite an intense full-time job up until Jan this year, so it was never really a question of support. Nevertheless, Dan from Neptune Project & Solarstone were very helpful and insightful during this period.
More so, it was finding ways to continue to motivate myself to get into the studio and produce. I stepped away from a few other things in my life so that I’d have more time for the studio and so it happened, it ended up working out thus far.
Late last year you made the difficult decision to leave Australia and set up shop in Netherlands to be closer to the heart of the industry. How are you enjoying Amsterdam so far, and most importantly, how would you assess the move so far?
Absolutely loving Amsterdam. I’ve visited the city many times when I was residing in London in 2006-2009 – and knew that if I was going to come back to the EU to live, Amsterdam would be top of the list. The move has been great, accessibility to shows has helped a lot with tours and bookings. Safe to say – so far so good!
Even though you’re rather new to the scene, you’re already making waves with some of the biggest labels in trance with multiple releases on FSOE and Pure Trance. What have you done differently than other newcomers to warrant this recognition?
For me, it’s always difficult to compare to other artists. Everyone has their own journey and interpretation of the music they want to create. To be honest, I try to stay a little removed from what other artists are doing.
Creative identity is so important in music – especially trance music, you want to have your own style and feel – and I think the more you focus and listen to what others are doing (successfully or not), the more chance you’ll lose focus on the music you want to create.
I guess, in short, perhaps you could say I’ve made what I’ve wanted to make regardless of what’s all the buzz in the charts or what’s expected by the labels.
Speaking of Pure Trance, the latest mix compilation, Pure Trance Volume 6, included you as a guest mixer. You’ve premiered five new tracks and remixes as well as fresh music from your friends Neptune Project and The Noble Six. How did you go about making the track selection?
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – The Pure Trance compilation was the most exciting yet challenging project of my career to date! The whole journey from start to finish was an incredible experience.
I really got to understand the time and effort that goes into such an album. From reaching out to your favourite artists for exclusive music to the trials and tribulations of release dates & then actually mixing the compilation in a way that is to your liking.
I wanted to make sure the album was reflective of my sound and style, euphoric, uplifting and melodic. I was very lucky to land some amazing new music from Neptune Project, Activa, The Noble Six, Lostly & Cold Blue amongst others.
You’ve played at Pure Trance’s ADE party as well as at the Luminosity event. Both brands are great examples that sticking to the roots of trance instead of jumping on the commercial bandwagon works. How do you feel when such entities show incredible support for your career thus far?
It’s been such a buzz playing for these brands over the last year. They are supportive of my sound and outlook on trance. I’m very appreciative and proud to be able to perform for these guys and push the pure style of trance that I love.
Time for a few light-hearted questions. What’s the one thing that you miss about Australia?
Going to watch my AFL team the Essendon Bombers in front of 90,000 people at the MCG!
For anyone interested in Australian cuisine, what meal would you recommend? Preferably one without any vegemite. 🙂
Surely it’s a Parmigiana. I’ve been around the world but no one does a Parma like a good Aussie pub. Crumbed chicken breast, melted cheese, ham, gravy, fresh cut chips, side of veggies – get around it.
What’s the best memory you’ve had from one of your shows?
I think one of my best memories was during Luminosity beach festival earlier this year when I played “Luna Therapy”. It was this moment where I could see all the crowd REALLY knew the track. I had this feeling inside like “Holy shit, people are really starting to understand & know my music!” The video still gives me goosebumps. 🙂
Let’s jump back into the studio for the last few questions. We’ve seen you remix trance classics with the “Back To The Future” moniker. Compared to most modern updates, you manage to imprint your sound whilst also keeping the feel of the original mix. Firstly, how do you pick what classic to remix, and most importantly, how do you ensure that the essence of the song is maintained?
My “Back To The Future” remix series tries to encapsulate exactly that. I want to bring certain older trance tracks back into a modern feel, but not take away what makes them so special and unique.
I’m super picky about what tracks I remix. If I can’t add my specific sound & style to it to make it a better interpretation, then what’s the point? I feel a lot of ‘updates’ of old tracks are just that, updated kicks, basses etc. I really like to introduce new elements so people can still go on a new journey with the track but never lose the feel of what they loved about it in the first place.
Earlier in the year, we saw you working in the studio with Robert Nickson before the FSOE club night at Panama, Amsterdam. It’s been quite a while since then. What news can we expect from you two in the future?
You’ll just have to keep an eye out for that! 🙂
Outside of the material already featured on Pure Trance Vol. 6, what other projects are you able to share with us?
I have a lot of new music coming up over the next few months. However, there is something bigger in the works, but that’s all I can reveal about that right now!
Dreamstate SoCal marks the first big event for you in North America. With the show just around the corner, what can we expect from your set and why should those that are not familiar with you come and see you?
As it’s my first big event in the USA, I’m going to try to work around somewhat of a producer set. As a lot of people in the US have been waiting to see me play, I feel it’s important to not forget tunes over the last few years that have helped introduce people to my sound. Anyone who’s not familiar with my sound & style, expect proper trance! Energetic, euphoric, hands in the air – uplifting trance!
Before we let you, do you have any message for the crazy Factor BAE supporters out there?
Haha! I don’t know where this Factor BAE thing started, but any publicity is good publicity, right? 🙂
Absolutely, I’m incredibly thankful & appreciative of everyone’s support thus far. I appreciate all the niceties that have come my way. Hold onto your hats at Dreamstate because I’m coming with some serious uplifting trance & debuting some brand new Factor B material.
That concludes our interview. Thanks again for stopping by and looking forward to seeing you soon in California!
Pleasure, and can’t wait! 🙂
While the final schedule and stage breakdown is still to be released, we know that Factor B will play on Friday, the 24th of November at the festival. Fans of uplifting trance, mark your calendars!
Follow Factor B on Social Media:
Facebook | Twitter | SoundCloud | {
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Introduction
This build is based on using the unique item
Why should I use this build?
You might be able to get more tooltip DPS out of a rare bow or Windripper, however using Voltaxic has a number of inherent advantages. Firstly you cannot damage yourself with reflect as chaos damage doesn't reflect, but the most noticeable aspect is that Chaos Resistance is much rarer than elemental resistances and usually shows in lower percentages. This means that unlike elemental builds, both attack and spell based, who will often be slowed down substantially by elemental resistant mobs if they don't invest heavily in workarounds like penetration and curses, you will cut through elite and magic packs as well as resistance maps without noticing any difference.
Pros:
-very consistent output
-no reflect
-high rate of shocking
-good in parties
-runs all map mods
-easy to level
Cons:
-lower potential DPS than other weapons
-Voltaxic costs several exalts, though you can manage without it
-low defenses: reliant on high HP and keeping dangerous mobs at range
-no unique model on Voltaxic :(
Recommended Items
Static Electricity x3
Bonus items: Lightning Coil Bonus items: Drillneck
I've done LA builds before and I really struggled with upkeep for this build. I previously tried running EB to sustain LA's extreme mana cost but it wasn't too great, but I didn't like the idea of using Blood Magic with LGoH or high regen either. So I turned to Thief's Torment as the ideal solution, as it allows you to skip both Blood Magic and LGoH as supports and essentially socket 5 damage supports to LA without having to invest passives into sustain at all.
You might be apprehensive of losing both ring slots and not getting any offensive and very little defensive stats out of it, but for me the item has worked fantastically. You'll want to run a hybrid flask in case you do manage to run out of mana, but because we're only using HoT and Wrath we have enough spare mana to get 4-5 attacks out without running OOM even when hitting nothing. As a bonus, you can now run dual curse maps easily and even run Temp Chains maps without wanting to stab someone. And some bonus IIQ never hurts!
Passives at 83 https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgIAr-ubjQguGY7tg9N-AF7-un1173ruDqOKTZIj9jB8jX1_K3b3OdSgnzH6JP3nVFFH7T831L3mPs-NvwW1wuy0xWKsnapsjDY9G8jP3fGKbWy1SB9BBiMWvwMeYeImlYw2VUtwUioL8-pw1YnTFSD2o5AKW6_dDQ2NSn3jn4d2Z6C-pxm0LYNlTUd-vTaGsyzpSsg_JypNAO618m6q2L01kqZXTeP-j_4KOuHyRepidcvBM4bOIXZ59ipbUuxDNt74wdWkeLl8jAvssNQj_94=
Passives at 91 https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgIAr-ubjQguGY7tg9N-AF7-un1173ruDqOKTZIj9jB8jX1_K3b3OdSgnzH6JP3nVFFH7T831L3mPs-NvwW1wuy0xWKsnapsjDY9G8jP3fGKbWy1SB9BBiMWvwMeYeImlYw2VUtwUioL8-pw1YnTFSD2o5AKW6_dDQ2NSn3jn4d2Z6C-pxm0LYNlTUd-vTaGsyzpSsg_JypNAO618m6q2L01kqZXTeP-j_4KOuHyRepidcvBM4bOIXZ59ipbUuxDNt74wdWkeLl8jAvssNQjb_IyCWxGcmylywzypDki4kfi
We don't need to invest in Aura nodes at all because we don't want anything besides Lightning damage so Wrath and Herald of Thunder fill our needs. Using 3 Static Electricity Jewels in the allocated sockets gives us a total of 3-256 added lightning damage, which essentially is like running double Wrath!
Links
LA in order of priority: Lightning Arrow, LMP, WED, FA, Added Lightning, Increased Critical Strikes
Frenzy in order of priority: Frenzy, Blood Magic, WED, FA, Increased Critical Damage
Herald of Thunder - Curse on Hit - Assassin's Mark
Using Increased Criticals as last link for LA to achieve more consistency and Increased Crit Damage for frenzy to score longer shocks and higher single-target DPS on bosses and high HP targets.
I'm not really fond of Chain LA any more. Pierce seems much more efficient with 50% passive pierce chance from passives + quiver, and I believe Pierce gem with Drillneck would be the ideal setup for LA because pierce works so well with LA.
Bandits
Normal: Oak
Cruel: Kraityn
Merciless: Alira
Map mods
-all resist mods, EE, physical reduction: no effect on this build
-curses: substantially reduced by Thief's Torment, only about 17% overcap required for Ele Weakness
-blood Magic: turn off Wrath and Herald, about 30%-35% damage loss
-no regen: no effect, keep hallowed hybrid flask as usual
-reflects: no effect
-damage mods: until you get Lightning Coil I'd avoid running multiple dangerous mods solo in higher level maps, or if you do run them exercise caution if you see rhoas, avians and such.
-no leech: no effect
-chaining: drop golem
-status avoidance/immunity: acceptable damage loss
-hexproof: use Doedre's to keep up Power Charges as much as you can
Gear
Leveling
https://poebuilder.com/character/AAAAAgIAr-ubjQguGY7tg9N-AF7-un1173oVIPajkApbr90NDY1KfeOfh3ZnoL6nGbQtg2VNR369NoazLOlKyD8nKk0A7rXybqrYvTWSpldN4_6P_go64fJF6mJ1yyP2o4ruDk2SjX0=
Grab a Storm Cloud for a couple chaos and some Elreon Jewelry for first few acts and Tabula if you can get one. Run Wrath and Herald of Thunder and try to get an Int neck to keep up with the stat requirements. Use LA - LMP - WED - FA - BM - LGoH for links and you can spam health nodes all the way to Merciless while oneshotting mob packs. Easiest character you ever leveled.
TBD: Will add DPS and defense screens later. When I died at 83 I had 4,8k hp and 22,3k LA and 30k Frenzy tooltips with 4 power and 4 frenzy charges. Both were essentially 5-linked as I hadn't had time to replace my wrongly colored corrupted 6-link with a GGGRBB one.
I made this build for my second char in Tempest and it turned out to work so well I figured I might write a guide. Unfortunately I died to vastly underestimating a DD Strongbox in 76 map at level 83 so now I have to start from scratch to finish the build but I have much confidence in it. Apologies if this has been posted before, I didn't really study existing builds.This build is based on using the unique item Voltaxic Rift together with Wrath, Herald of Thunder and Static Electricity jewels to rapidly deliver chaos attacks that are capable of shocking and critically striking. Aside from Voltaxic, the rest of your gear can be relatively cheap rare items if you're low on currency.You might be able to get more tooltip DPS out of a rare bow or Windripper, however using Voltaxic has a number of inherent advantages. Firstly you cannot damage yourself with reflect as chaos damage doesn't reflect, but the most noticeable aspect is that Chaos Resistance is much rarer than elemental resistances and usually shows in lower percentages. This means that unlike elemental builds, both attack and spell based, who will often be slowed down substantially by elemental resistant mobs if they don't invest heavily in workarounds like penetration and curses, you will cut through elite and magic packs as well as resistance maps without noticing any difference.Pros:-very consistent output-no reflect-high rate of shocking-good in parties-runs all map mods-easy to levelCons:-lower potential DPS than other weapons-Voltaxic costs several exalts, though you can manage without it-low defenses: reliant on high HP and keeping dangerous mobs at range-no unique model on Voltaxic :(I've done LA builds before and I really struggled with upkeep for this build. I previously tried running EB to sustain LA's extreme mana cost but it wasn't too great, but I didn't like the idea of using Blood Magic with LGoH or high regen either. So I turned to Thief's Torment as the ideal solution, as it allows you to skip both Blood Magic and LGoH as supports and essentially socket 5 damage supports to LA without having to invest passives into sustain at all.You might be apprehensive of losing both ring slots and not getting any offensive and very little defensive stats out of it, but for me the item has worked fantastically. You'll want to run a hybrid flask in case you do manage to run out of mana, but because we're only using HoT and Wrath we have enough spare mana to get 4-5 attacks out without running OOM even when hitting nothing. As a bonus, you can now run dual curse maps easily and even run Temp Chains maps without wanting to stab someone. And some bonus IIQ never hurts!We don't need to invest in Aura nodes at all because we don't want anything besides Lightning damage so Wrath and Herald of Thunder fill our needs. Using 3 Static Electricity Jewels in the allocated sockets gives us a total of 3-256 added lightning damage, which essentially is like running double Wrath!Using Increased Criticals as last link for LA to achieve more consistency and Increased Crit Damage for frenzy to score longer shocks and higher single-target DPS on bosses and high HP targets.I'm not really fond of Chain LA any more. Pierce seems much more efficient with 50% passive pierce chance from passives + quiver, and I believe Pierce gem with Drillneck would be the ideal setup for LA because pierce works so well with LA.Will add DPS and defense screens later. When I died at 83 I had 4,8k hp and 22,3k LA and 30k Frenzy tooltips with 4 power and 4 frenzy charges. Both were essentially 5-linked as I hadn't had time to replace my wrongly colored corrupted 6-link with a GGGRBB one. Last edited by Mannistab on Aug 15, 2015, 6:07:55 AM | {
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If the interactive sheet appears broken, check here for a read-only copy.
You can find great tools by looking to older editions of Dungeons & Dragons. 4th Edition introduced skill challenges, which are an interesting way to run a narrative event (such as a chase or an escape from a collapsing building). The party is pitted against a series of challenges that can be solved with a skill check. They are required to amass a certain number of successes before failures, or face the consequences. If you want to learn more about how to run skill challenges, there’s some great videos out there by Matt Colville and Dungeon Dad.
When I started planning a skill challenge, it was easy to come up with events that would narratively fit a skill check. However, I had no idea how to plot these beats, how high to set the Difficulty Class (DC), and how many failures to accept. Basically, I was shooting in the dark with how hard the skill challenge would turn out. I knew I could adjust on the fly at the table, but there’s always a concern that lowering the final dramatic DC will not fit the narrative. You don’t want a DC 10 Athletics check for jumping off a cliff onto a dragon.
Wanting to know how skill challenges really work, I made a calculator.
How To Use
When planning, I assume that the player with the highest skill bonus will attempt the challenge. This doesn’t always happen in practice, but it is reliable for planning skill challenges that utilize the different skillsets of the party members.
While this is a useful tool in planning, it’s even better in practice. Players may find advantage in places you did not anticipate. Or, if they’re ahead of the game, you can check on whether throwing disadvantage on a particular roll will throw the whole skill challenge off the rails. If you want to see the odds update live as the skill challenge progresses, you can add each success as an acceptable failure. Knowing the odds gave me the comfort level to adjust DCs in situ. I hope it works for you! | {
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The technology recognizes and analyzes driving patterns to apply to Smart Cruise Control, creating a customized self-driving experience
The world’s first AI-based ADAS feature planned for upcoming HMG vehicle
SEOUL, Oct. 20, 2019 — Hyundai Motor Group announced the development of the world’s first Machine Learning based Smart Cruise Control (SCC-ML), a technology that incorporates the driver’s patterns into its self-driving behavior, creating a custom experience for the driver.
The technology, an industry first, incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) within the Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) feature. The system is planned for implementation in future Hyundai Motor Group vehicles.
“The new SCC-ML improves upon the intelligence of the previous ADAS technology to dramatically improve the practicality of semi-autonomous features,” said Woongjun Jang, VP at Hyundai Motor Group. “Hyundai Motor Group will continue the development efforts on innovative AI technologies to lead the industry in the field of autonomous driving.”
Smart Cruise Control (SCC) enables an essential self-driving feature and core technology for ADAS: maintaining distance from the vehicle ahead while traveling at the speed selected by the driver.
SCC-ML combines AI and SCC into a system that learns the driver’s patterns and habits on its own. Through machine learning, Smart Cruise Control autonomously drives in an identical pattern as that of the driver.
In order to operate the previous Smart Cruise Control, the driver manually adjusted driving patterns, such as the distance from the preceding vehicle and acceleration. It was impossible to meticulously fine-tune the settings to accommodate the diver’s individual preferences without machine learning technology.
For instance, even the same driver may accelerate differently in high-speed, mid-speed and low-speed environments depending on circumstance, but detailed fine-tuning was not available. Therefore, when Smart Cruise Control was activated and the vehicle operated differently than they prefer, drivers, sensed the difference, resulting in a reluctance to use the technology because it made them feel anxious and unstable.
Hyundai Motor Group’s independently developed SCC-ML operates as follows: First, sensors, such as the front camera and radar, constantly acquire driving information and send it to the centralized computer. The computer then extracts relevant details from the gathered information to identify the driver’s patterns. An artificial intelligence technology called machine learning algorithm is applied during this process.
The driving pattern can be categorized into three parts: distance from preceding vehicles, acceleration (how quickly it accelerates), and responsiveness (how quickly it responds to driving conditions). In addition, driving conditions and speeds are considered as well.
For instance, maintaining a short distance from the preceding vehicle during slow, city driving, and further away when driving in the fast lane. Considering these various conditions, SCC-ML makes analysis to distinguish over 10 thousand patterns, developing a flexible Smart Cruise Control technology that can adapt to any driver’s patterns.
The driving pattern information is regularly updated with sensors, reflecting the driver’s latest driving style. In addition, SCC-ML is programmed specifically to avoid learning unsafe driving patterns, increasing its reliability and safety.
With upcoming Highway Driving Assist system that features automatic lane change assist, SCC-ML achieves Level 2.5 self-driving.
###
About Hyundai Motor Group
Hyundai Motor Group is a global corporation that has created a value chain based on automobiles, steel, and construction and includes logistics, finance, IT and service. With about 250,000 employees worldwide, the group’s automobile brands include Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. Armed with creative thinking, cooperative communication and the will to take on all challenges, we are working to create a better future for all. | {
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Por Juan Contreras Jara / resumen.cl
Durante la primera semana de julio, el Ministerio de Economía puso a disposición la 5ta Encuesta de Microemprendimiento (EME 5), realizada por el Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas (INE). La encuesta, que abarcó el periodo comprendido entre la primera semana de mayo y la primera semana de agosto de 2017, se abordaron las realidades de las y los trabajadores que se desenvuelven por cuenta propia (83,0%) o son empleadores (17,0%), en el mundo de la microempresa.
En la actualidad, son casi 2 millones de personas las que trabajan desde el microemprendimiento. De esta cantidad, el 60,8% son hombres y el 39,2% mujeres. En la región del Bio Bío, existen 182 mil trabajadoras y trabajadores microemprendedores, los principales rubros en los que se desenvuelven son, según esta 5ta encuesta; el comercio, trabajos ligados al sector servicios y la manufactura.
Alguno de los datos entregados por dicha encuesta, tienen relación con los ingresos o remuneraciones obtenidas por las y los emprendedores en la Región del Bío Bío. Según el estudio, las ganancias de las y los microemprendedores se situaron, al contrario de lo que se cree, en los tramos de menores ingresos. El resultado revela que solo el 11,3% obtiene ganancias superiores a los $900.000, mientras que la mayoría -el 52,8%- no supera los 257 mil pesos.
Las cifras anteriores demuestran que lejos se está de las apologías que constantemente se hacen desde los gobiernos de turno, en cuanto a la potencialización del microemprendimiento como una opción para superar la línea de la pobreza o simplemente, alcanzar una mejor calidad de vida; las ganancias nos muestran otra cosa.
A esto se agrega que casi el 80% de las y los trabajadores en el mundo de la microempresa, afirman no haber recibido capacitación en estos últimos 5 años.
En el Bío Bío por ejemplo, un 38% declara la falta de financiamiento estatal, lo que se traduciría en que el 30,8% de los y las emprendedoras en Chile, han financiado de manera personal su formación microempresarial.
Con respecto a las cifras y la realidad del trabajo microemprendedor en Chile, conversó con Resumen, Benjamín Sáez, investigador de la Fundación Sol.
-¿Qué se entiende por trabajador o trabajadora micro emprendedora en Chile?
El concepto de emprendimiento, corresponde en buena medida, a una idea que se quiere instalar y lleva implícita la idea de que va a tener un pequeño negocio y en algún momento, va a convertirse en una empresa exitosa: eso es el trasfondo de lo que se intenta promover con la idea de lo que es el emprendimiento.
Se trata de formas de trabajo que están más bien en un circuito, que no es necesariamente hacia la formalidad o hacia constituir una empresa que vaya a crecer, eso no es lo que pasa con la mayoría de los casos, de acuerdo a lo que indican estas cifras, más bien son excepciones. En su mayoría no pueden generar ingresos importantes.
¿Qué significado tienen las últimas cifras, en cuanto a las ganancias de las y los microemprendedores entregadas por la EME 5?
En su mayoría, estas microempresas en el país, corresponden a las casi 2 millones de personas que, bajo la terminología de esta encuesta, declaran ser microemprendedoras.
Un 83%, son trabajadores a cuenta propia y solo el 17% alcanza a contratar a trabajadores y trabajadoras. Esta encuesta se caracteriza distintos aspectos de la formalidad de la microempresa, por ejemplo; si se observa el porcentaje, de todas estas microempresas que tienen una separación efectiva – que tenga una contabilidad formal- corresponden solo al tercio de las empresas. Hablamos en su mayoría, de actividades que se desarrollan con el presupuesto -a veces- del mismo hogar y que se pone como parte del capital de la misma actividad económica.
Esa situación trae una serie de consecuencias desde el punto de vista de cómo son estas actividades y que capacidad tienen para generar ingresos. Las cifras que pueden generar estas microempresas son bajísimas, prácticamente el 60% de las personas que dicen estar en la microempresa, están bajo los $300.000.
-Trabajar por cuenta propia ¿puede interpretarse como precarización del empleo, tomando en cuenta la realidad laboral en Chile?
No necesariamente tiene que ser precario, si vemos los salarios de las y los asalariados, no necesariamente son más altos de lo que vemos en el mundo de los trabajadores por cuenta propia, basta ver lo que pasa con el sueldo mínimo. En el análisis que hacen los economistas, habitualmente se pone el porcentaje de cuenta propia como un sinónimo de precariedad y se plantea que mientras menos trabajadores por cuenta propia y más asalariados haya, la economía está mejor. Esto es engañoso.
No es que sea más precario que el trabajo asalariado, más bien comparten muchas características y en muchos casos forman parte y se conviven en un mismo hogar; probablemente va a haber un trabajador asalariado y uno por su cuenta. La existencia de unidades económicas más chicas le conviene a las empresas grandes, porque en muchos casos pueden entrar en relaciones económicas, por ejemplo de enganches productivos, que pasa mucho en la industria textil.
Es precariedad, por ejemplo, si una trabajadora textil, esta con sus materiales en su casa, donde también está cumpliendo con el trabajo doméstico, aparte tiene a un proveedor que ejerce una presión en cuanto a lo que se paga, como de las formas de confección, los plazos de entrega, las fechas de pago a las empresas más pequeñas, etc.
Muchas veces, empresas del retail le compran insumos a pequeños productores pero les ponen las etiquetas del supermercado, lo que mantiene el monopolio de la gran empresa y se obtiene un buen producto, pero barato. Se aprovechan del trabajo que esta también ligado a los hogares.
-¿Qué se entiende en otros países por microemprendimiento? Y ¿en qué se diferencia con lo que pasa en Chile?
Tendríamos que remitirnos a la discusión de la microempresa. Si vemos la discusión en otros lugares sobre este tema, seria sobre las pequeñas empresas y también se podría debatir sobre la informalidad de unidades económicas autónomas en otros lugares. Por ejemplo, en España se habla de los trabajadores por su cuenta, como autónomos. En realidad se trata de la caracterización de unidades económicas pequeñas dependiendo del país.
-¿Qué se puede decir, tras conocer estas cifras, sobre el discurso de que el microemprendimiento es una forma de salir de la pobreza?
La verdad es que es bastante debatible, si vemos las cifras, más del 60% de los micoemprendimientos no podría generar los ingresos necesarios para sacar a una familia promedio, o sea, de cuatro personas, de la pobreza. Por lo tanto, lo que nos dice las cifras es que esta idea no se condice con la realidad, ésta más bien muestra que los hogares que están en este segmento están muy cerca de entrar y salir de la pobreza.
-¿Es una opción el microemprendimiento para superar la precariedad laboral?
Puede ser una opción de escapar de la dominación que se ejerce al entrar en una relación con el capital, que la relación laboral ejerce distintas formas de explotación directa sobre el trabajo. Sobre las posibilidades de tomar decisiones sobre tu trabajo, sobre la forma que quieres y donde quieres hacer tu trabajo, si podría permitir escapar de la precarización del trabajo común.
Pero esto sin duda implica correr el riesgo, que contrae iniciar una actividad económica por tu propia cuenta y muchas veces, integrada directamente con el trabajo y el espacio en el hogar o con la familia.
Foto: http://callechile.blogspot.com/2016/09/food-trucks-barrio-meiggs.html | {
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頑張れば家でも作れる？
｢kg（キログラム）｣、なにかと触れることが多い単位ではないでしょうか。体重とか、荷物の重さとか、体重とか。慣れ親しんだ質量の単位ですが、Techradarなどによれば2018年に定義が更新されそうなんです。
まず少し背景を。
世界にはさまざまな単位がありますが、その中でもSI基本単位である7つの単位は特に重要とされています。なぜかというと、その他多くの単位がこの7つを組み合わせや換算によって定められているからです。イメージとしては、単位界のボスたちという感じでしょうか。
さて、今回主役のキログラムもSI基本単位の1つですが、実は1970年代から定義の不安定さが問題視されていました。
他のSI基本単位は概念で定義されていて、安定しています。定義と概念の情報さえあればいつでも誰でも計り直せますし、情報は時間が経っても変わらないからです。対してキログラムは、｢国際キログラム原器｣という世界に1つしかない物体の質量として定義されています。原器もしくは原器の精密なコピーがないと正確なキログラムを知ることができないうえに、なんと時間が経つとともに質量が（汚れの蓄積と測量方法の変更によるものとはいえ）僅かながら変化してしまっているんです。ボスが意見のコロコロ変わってしまう人では困りますよね。
Image: Wikimedia Commons アメリカが保有している国際キログラム原器のコピー
そのような事情があり、2011年にはキログラムの再定義が決定しました。そしていよいよ2018年に新定義が採択される予定というわけです。
現在もっとも有望視されているキログラムの新定義は、概念で定義できる電磁力がベースとなっています。ここで鍵となるのが特殊相対性理論とプランク定数。特殊相対性理論は質量とエネルギー量を結びつけ、プランク定数は電磁波の光子のエネルギー量とその周波数を結びつけます。新定義ではプランク定数を固定することで、間接的に質量を定義しています。
しかし実用性で考えると質量は重さで測りたいですよね。そこで重要になってくるのがワット天秤（キブル天秤）という非常に正確な天秤。プランク定数と重さを電磁力を通して結びつけます。
仕組みとしてはこんな感じです。まず、永久磁石と電磁石の反発し合う力を、電流と電圧を調節することで、測りたい物体の重さと釣り合わせます。次に電流と電圧を測り、ワット天秤を校正したときに得たデータと照らし合わせることで、重さを割り出します。最後に、重さを重力加速度で割ることで、質量を計算。要は電流と電圧を測ることで、間接的に質量が測れる装置なのです。
Image: Wikimedia Commons ワット天秤
というわけで、定義が更新されそうなんですが、たとえ更新されたとしても日常生活に特筆すべき影響はありません。影響があるのは製薬会社や、物理学者、または警察組織の鑑識といった、ものすごい精度が求められる現場です。
ちなみに、再定義に使用されるワット天秤は、ドイツ物理工学研究所によって作成されていますが、こちらのD.I.Y.動画によれば誰でもミニチュアバージョンが作れるそうです。
いやぁ、難しそうですね。私は市販のはかりで十分です。
Image: ZM_Photo/Shutterstock.com, NIST, Wikimedia Commons 1, 2
Source: Techradar, YouTube
Reference：Wikipedia（1, 2, 3）
（西谷茂リチャード） | {
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“What’s the best smartphone?” It’s a question I hear at least once or twice a month.
That’s fine. It comes with the territory, really. I write about all kinds of technology all day, every day, but none so much as smartphones. I’ve reviewed many of the major ones released in the past year, from the dirt-cheap to the metal and glossy. They all have something to add in their own way, but only a handful really stand out.
And as you’d imagine, the answer is complicated.
The funny thing about buying a smartphone in 2016 is that it’s hard to go wrong. Not too long ago, even great phones could have terrible battery life, be bogged down by gobs of unwanted software, have an awful camera, or be missing a crucial feature or two. Now, we find almost every major handset will last till bedtime, take decent photos, display them on an excellent screen, blaze through apps with a speedy processor, and browse the web with fast LTE connectivity.
If you want a great smartphone, all you really need to do is avoid phones that pretend to be excellent, but aren’t.
So if all good phones are great phones, what makes a phone The Best? It simply had to be better than every other phone at providing something people crave. That was the bar we set.
The Best Overall: The Galaxy S7 Edge
The Galaxy S7 Edge (and its smaller sibling, the S7) are two remarkable phones. In 2015, the Galaxy S6 held our Best Smartphone accolade for many months until it was eventually dethroned by the impressive Nexus 6P.
But Samsung improves on the S6 in all the right places. It keeps the classy glass-and-metal design but adds on impressive waterproofing without compromising design. It actually makes you wonder what the Galaxy S7 Active, Samsung’s “rugged” Galaxy lineup, will have to offer. But the Galaxy S7 camera is also a cut above what’s come before it. With an f/1.7 aperture so you can take phenomenal photos in lowlight, and a redesigned photo sensor means the S7 is almost always in focus.
The reason I’m singling out the 5.5-inch Edge over the 5.1-inch S7 isn’t for it’s Edge-like features (which are ok but whatever). The bigger Edge device also means a bigger battery and I saw noticeable differences in how much time I would get out of the S7 and S7 Edge comparatively. If you’re not the biggest fan of large phones, Samsung packs in a lot of screen into a relatively small frame. It’s the smallest 5.5-inch phone I’ve ever held.
Factor in a great processor, display, and build quality, and it’s almost a no-brainer that the Galaxy S7 is the best phone you can buy right now. However, many companies like HTC and Apple, haven’t shown what’s in store for 2016 quite yet, so who knows how long the S7 will remain on top.
The Best For Android Purists: Nexus 6P
Huawei and Google’s team-up on the Nexus 6P has created a smartphone that’s built for everyone, and it’s the real good. The 6P fixes everything wrong with 2014's Nexus 6 and creates something that’s the perfect vessel for pure Android.
The 6P is Google through and through—from the hardware design, to the operating system, and even to the very carrier if you so desire. It leverages everything new in Android, like a fingerprint sensor, and includes new hardware like the Android Sensor Hub that can turn that usually terrible battery life into a guaranteed full days worth (and beyond).
Although it’s only $500, which is definitely expensive but not quite “premium” prices, it still retains the look and feel of an luxe piece of gadget. It’s a Nexus phone cloaked in metal, and its design fits nicely with all other smartphones of its caliber. But in a sea of Android that’s still full of sub-par skins and ROMs, the Nexus 6P shines with its bloat-free software. It’s incredibly fast, great-looking, and an all-around solid choice.
The Best Small Phone: Apple iPhone SE
The iPhone 6s used to occupy this hallowed position as best smartphone in a tiny package, then Apple packed all the best bits from the 6s in an even smaller, 4-inch frame. The same speedy processor and 12 megapixel, 4k-shooting camera all make an appearance, and while some tech like the arguably useful 3D Touch doesn’t make the cut, Apple still brought on its best feature—live photos.
That’s not to say the iPhone SE isn’t without its blemishes. For one, that small display has a sub-720p resolution and it’s not nearly as bright as the 6s. But the iPhone SE’s biggest sell is to people who cry foul at smartphones’ steady climb to bigger and bigger dimensions. The iPhone SE is a nostalgia throwback that puts modern technology into what was the undisputed King of small phones in 2013, the iPhone 5s.
But the iPhone SE is like voting for a local city councilman when only one candidate is running—there’s not much there to compare it to. But if your chief concern is going as small as possible without giving up the technological convenience that comes with bigger phones. Congratulations, you’ve arrived.
The Best Big Phone: Samsung Galaxy Note 5
Yes, the Nexus 6P is big but the Galaxy Note 5 is a different kind of big. Samsung’s been through five iterations of the Note series, trying to build an OS that takes advantage of that huge screen real estate, and the Note 5 is the best yet.
TouchWiz is the often bemoaned skin of Android that’s historically cluttered up the Android experience to a point of annoyance, but with the Note 5 and its included S Pen, some of those added software features are actually quite useful. Small tweaks have made the Note 5 better of the last year’s Note 4, including a quick launch feature for S Note and Samsung Pay, which uses NFC and MST technology to create the most widely accepted mobile payment system out there.
The premium Note 5 adopts the same look as our old smartphone champion the Galaxy S6, so it definitely looks the part and it also includes other forward-thinking features, including a YouTube livestream application build right into the camera app. Oh, and it also takes some of the best photos around. If you want to leverage every single inch of your smartphone display and don’t mind Samsung toying around with Android to make that possible, the Note 5 is a great, great pick.
The Best Modular Smartphone: The Moto Z Droid and Force Droid
This category is somewhat strange thanks it part to the weird gadgets themselves, and that right now, there aren’t many contenders. Really, the Moto Z’s only real-world competition is the LG G5, and when making that comparison, there isn’t much competition at all. Where the Moto Z really pulls ahead is that its modular components, known as MotoMods, work so much better than the LG G5. The MotoMods just snap on with magnets and immediately get to work. The G5 on the other hand needs to reboot every time you want to switch out a modular component.
But the category could be growing quickly. Google announced during its I/O conference this year that the long-awaited Project Ara smartphone, a modular device that has been in the works for years, will finally be available for purchase in 2017. It’s uncertain if these three phones will be enough to spark a whole new category of mobile devices or not, but if you want to get in on the ground floor, the Moto Z Droid is currently your best bet.
Unfortunately, as of July 2016, the phone is only available through Verizon, though a GSM capable variant is coming, and glimpsing the future will also cost a pretty penny around $624 to $730 just for the phone and the mods costing anywhere between $60 and $300. Turns out the future is expensive.
The OnePlus 3 is, by almost every degree, an upgrade over our former Best Cheap Smartphone champion, the OnePlus 2. After two years, OnePlus has finally outpaced the growing pains of making new hardware and combined powerful specs, smooth software, and a compelling price to form the new OnePlus 3.
For the purpose of this list, this phone exists to entice you to a price that might be just outside of what’s typically considered cheap. After all, $400 is nothing to sneeze at. However, compared to iPhones and Galaxies that can reach upwards of $1000+, it is significantly discounted for a premium phone. It also no longer uses the painfully terrible invite system, so this year you might be able to actually buy one.
The two big winners here are design and software. The OnePlus 3 fits comfortably as one of the best-designed phones out there with an all-metal design and a slimmer body. For software, OnePlus sticks with its own version of Android, Oxygen OS, and because the software is in-house, OnePlus has made several optimizations across the OS to make the phone feel faster. Seriously, compared to the Galaxy S7 or iPhone 6s this thing holds its own or even exceeds when it comes to speed. In every sense of the phrase, OnePlus has finally created a true “Flagship Killer.”
If you want a few more cheap options, check out our Cheap Smartphone Bests.
iPhone 6s/6s Plus (demoted 4/2016)
A fantastic smartphone. If you want iOS and don’t want something small, this is your guy. But newer Android phones slightly edge out Apple in performance. I expect this to change with the iPhone 7 this fall. Read the full review.
LG G5
The LG G5 is by no means a terrible phone. But it’s biggest selling point—it’s modular ecosystem—is half-baked at best. Also it’s industrial design is a step in the wrong direction. Read the full review.
OnePlus 2 (demoted 7/2016)
This used to be our favorite cheap smartphone, but the OnePlus 3 outshines it in almost every way. Better camera, battery life, and software. You had a good run OnePlus 2, but your time is up. Read the full review.
Huawei Honor 5x
The 5x comes in at an impressive $200 with an all-metal build quality. But its operating system, though designed to look like iOS, is only a mere shadow of Apple’s software when it comes to functionality and style. Read the full review.
Nextbit Robin
This guy is one of the most stylish phones available, and it’s got a processor that’s only a year out of date to keep the price down. It’s also has a feature to store you apps in the cloud. Read the full review.
LG V10
This guy is basically a powerhouse G4 in phablet form, a serious contender for big phone enthusiasts. But some of its hardware experiments border on gimmick-y than being genuinely useful. Read the full review.
Blackberry Priv
Blackberry made the move it should have made about 4 years ago and is now on Android, but it still has some issues to iron out. I’d pass on this first generation phone. Read the full review.
Moto X Pure Edition
A totally great smartphone for $400, but there are equally great phones for cheaper and better phones for only slightly more, so it kind of gets lost in the shuffle. Worth a look if you prefer a clean Android UI. Read the full review.
Nexus 6 (demoted 11/2015)
This phone held the Best for Pure Android (and Movies) category for its big screen and stock Android OS. But with the more manageable 6P, the Nexus 6 need no longer apply. Read the full review.
Sony Xperia Z3
The Z5 is out now, which is still tricky to find in the US but not impossible. You can even get the 4K-equipped Z5 Premium but that seems like the definition of overkill.
Lumia 950 and XL
Windows 10 on a phone doesn’t quite convert all the magic of the desktop experience to the palm of your hand. If you’re a Windows phone acolyte, sure, go for it. But for most others, there are better options.
Galaxy S6 (demoted 11/2015)
Still a fantastic smartphone with a swiss army knife of features, like a great payment platform and wireless charging capabilities. It’s just not quite as great an experience as the 6P in our opinion. But if you’re giving all the front runners due consideration, the Galaxy S6 still belongs in that group, benefiting a smartphone once considered The Best Overall.
Galaxy S6 Edge
The Best for Showing Off, perhaps. The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge is a fine phone, and it looks slick, but you’re paying an extra $100 for worse ergonomics while everything else stays the same.
Galaxy S6 Active
We tried it. Not bad, but you’d get better protection by simply buying a case.
HTC A9
The HTC A9 is impressive in many ways. It’s incredibly thin and has great build quality that’s synonymous with HTC, but man, it looks just like an iPhone. If you want the iPhone look running Android, this is a good pick, but if you don’t meet that exact definition, you’re almost certainly better served elsewhere.
Droid Turbo 2
The Droid Turbo 2 makes advancements in some areas, such as a better processor and a shatterproof display. But it doesn’t look very great, and it is absolutely filled with bloatware and branding from Verizon.
Sony Xperia Z3 Compact
Take everything awesome about Sony’s Z3, and shrink it down for smaller hands. Give it even better battery life—and, yeah, a lower res screen. Then tease poor Americans by only selling it off-contract, on GSM networks, for less than a year. We called it Android’s Best Kept Secret.
Microsoft / Nokia Lumia
Despite Microsoft’s latest woes, hardware’s never been the problem with Lumia devices. In fact, they have some of the best cameras you’ll find. But that software is just not as good as iOS and Android. Not even close. If you actually want to use lots of apps, look elsewhere.
HTC One (M8) for Windows
The HTC One M8 was great, sure—over a year ago. And while Windows Phone actually suits this device pretty well, a neglected app store as well as a neglected mobile OS means you’re much better off with practically any alternative.
BlackBerry
Not a chance. Even the best BlackBerry isn’t good enough. The BlackBerry operating system is a dead end. If you buy one, you’ll be sorry when BlackBerry moves to Android instead.
Amazon Fire Phone
LOL no.
UPDATES:
7/16/15: Original post
11/2015: Nexus 6P awarded Best Overall; iPhone 6s awarded Best Small Phone; Galaxy Note 5 awarded Best Big Phone; OnePlus 2 awarded Best Phone on a Budget. Xperia Z3, BlackBerry Priv, Moto X Pure Edition, Nexus 5x, Nexus 6, Droid Turbo 2, HTC A9, Lumia 950, and Galaxy S6 added to The Rest.
2/16: Nextbit Robin added to The Rest.
4/16: iPhone SE awarded Best Small Phone; Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge awarded Best Smartphone Overall; Nexus 6P awarded For Android Purists; iPhone 6s/6s Plus demoted to The Rest; Huawei Honor 5x added to The Rest
7/2016: Moto Z Droid awarded Best Modular Phone; OnePlus 3 awarded Best Cheap Phone; the OnePlus 2 and LG G5 added to The Rests.
Photos by Michael Hession and Alex Cranz
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Morgan Freeman speaks up in gay marriage fight The actor lends his vocal cords to an ad supporting marriage equality
Morgan Freeman, actor and voice of moral authority, is supporting marriage equality in a new ad. The spot from Human Rights Campaign comes after Freeman's (and his voice's) recent win supporting President Obama in a late campaign voiceover and days before the Supreme Court decides whether to take up the issue. Featuring images of the Statue of Liberty, the Constitution, Martin Luther King, the Washington Monument and the open road, the short video could leave discouraged opponents of marriage equality without even a scrap of patriotic imagery to energize their struggling cause.
Watch: | {
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As many Americans emerge from this week’s arctic blast and prepare for tomorrow’s Super Bowl game, the box office is shaping up to be as slow as previously expected. Fortunately, the narrative should begin to change next week with a slew of widely appealing new releases.
For now, though, Universal’s Glass held on to the top spot by a slim margin on Friday with an estimated $2.76 million, bringing its 15-day domestic total to $81.9 million. The M. Night Shyamalan sequel now stands 8 percent behind the pace of its predecessor, Split ($88.9 million through 15 days). It could be a close finish with Upside, but — for now — we’re projecting a third straight #1 finish for Glass with an estimated $9.1 million weekend.
Miss Bala opened to $2.755 million on Friday, just a hair outside first place for the day. For comparison purposes, Peppermint bowed to $4.65 million last fall and Proud Mary earned $3.2 million on its first day early last year. Sony expects Bala will pull around $6.1 million this weekend.
The Upside continues to over-perform for STX with another $2.53 million added to its haul yesterday, down just 18 percent from last Friday. The hit dramedy now stands at $69.3 million after 22 days. The studio expects around $8.65 million this weekend.
Likewise posting another strong hold, Green Book‘s exceptional word of mouth led to $1.27 million yesterday — easing a mere 10 percent from last Friday. The Oscar nominee has grossed $52.8 million stateside thus far as it continues to build momentum and earn repeat views as one of the year’s most discussed audience-friendly films. A $4.3 million weekend looks to be in play.
Meanwhile, Aquaman crossed the $320 million domestic threshold with another $1.27 million yesterday, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse crossed $172 million with a $1.12 million Friday take, and They Shall Not Grow Old expanded to 735 locations with an estimated $880K Friday estimate.
Early weekend estimates are below with studio updates to follow on Sunday.
Early Weekend Estimates (Domestic)
FRI, FEB. 1 – SUN, FEB. 3
WIDE (1000+) # TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST. 1 Glass $9,000,000 -52% 3,665 -179 $2,456 $88,120,100 3 Universal 2 The Upside $8,600,000 -28% 3,568 191 $2,410 $75,340,128 4 STX Entertainment 3 Miss Bala $6,100,000 — 2,203 — $2,769 $6,100,000 1 Sony Pictures 4 Aquaman $4,400,000 -39% 2,926 -208 $1,504 $323,142,240 8 Warner Bros. 5 Green Book $4,300,000 -22% 2,648 218 $1,624 $55,804,331 12 Universal Pictures 6 Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse $4,250,000 -30% 2,234 -149 $1,902 $175,126,069 8 Sony / Columbia 7 The Kid Who Would Be King $4,100,000 -43% 3,528 7 $1,162 $13,073,676 2 20th Century Fox 8 A Dog’s Way Home $3,400,000 -33% 2,962 -119 $1,148 $35,792,871 4 Sony Pictures 9 Escape Room $2,700,000 -35% 1,942 -250 $1,390 $51,889,300 5 Sony Pictures 10 Mary Poppins Returns $1,900,000 -43% 1,704 -281 $1,115 $168,181,840 7 Disney 11 Bumblebee $1,800,000 -40% 1,781 -327 $1,011 $124,153,188 7 Paramount Pictures 12 Serenity $1,700,000 -61% 2,561 0 $664 $7,536,031 2 Aviron Pictures 13 Bohemian Rhapsody $1,700,000 -31% 1,354 -69 $1,256 $208,436,373 14 20th Century Fox 14 The Favourite $1,400,000 -45% 1,554 14 $901 $28,497,605 11 Fox Searchlight 15 Vice $1,000,000 -46% 1,337 -220 $748 $43,916,530 6 Annapurna 16 The Mule $880,000 -48% 1,051 -344 $837 $101,707,862 8 Warner Bros.
LIMITED (100 — 999) # TITLE WEEKEND LOCATIONS AVG. TOTAL WKS. DIST. 1 They Shall Not Grow Old $2,600,000 — 735 — $3,537 $2,600,000 7 Warner Bros. 2 On The Basis Of Sex $980,000 -52% 917 -355 $1,069 $22,795,667 6 Focus Features 3 A Star is Born $870,000 -33% 952 -240 $914 $207,784,984 18 Warner Bros. 4 Ralph Breaks the Internet $740,000 -36% 795 -234 $931 $197,034,779 11 Disney 5 Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga $600,000 — 193 — $3,109 $600,000 1 FIP 6 If Beale Street Could Talk $430,000 -54% 454 -152 $947 $13,202,418 8 Annapurna 7 Destroyer $280,000 56% 235 158 $1,191 $1,257,628 6 Annapurna Pictures | {
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ISIS Publishes Propaganda Piece 'Explaining' Recent Antigay Atrocities
The self-proclaimed Islamic State militant group has published a grisly series of photos depicting the executions of allegedly gay men who died after being thrown from rooftops and stoned by waiting mobs on the ground.
The brutal murders of allegedly gay men by the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, which claims the killings were lawful executions for the "crime" of homosexuality under its unprecedented interpretation of Sharia Law, have been documented in what amounts to a perverse "explainer" article published by ISIS in its propaganda magazine last Thursday, reports NBC News.
The ISIS article and photos were published in its magazine, Dabiq. In addition to displaying images of the men's horrific slayings, the propaganda piece also spelled out the militants' rationale for committing the atrocities.
By "clamping down on sexual deviance," ISIS says it will save the Muslim world from the "downward spiral" of morality that the West has allegedly suffered since the sexual revolution of the 1960s.
Some LGBT and human rights activists and journalists have complained that mainstream have given the militant occupiers along the Iraq-Syria border only meager coverage in terms of the growing number of antigay atrocities, such as the tragic death of a middle-aged man last month.
That victim may have survived being pushed while seated in a plastic chair from a seven-story building, as was reported by numerous news outlets. News reports, video, and photos from that execution seemed to indicate that the man may not only have been alive after hitting the ground, but may have been conscious before he was finally put to death by a stone-hurling crowd.
NBC News' coverage Sunday of the recent executions of allegedly gay young men in ISIS-controlled regions of the Iraq-Syria border area put heavy emphasis on apparently newfound veracity of reports about the executions, based on the confirmation of the facts by a private security firm.
However, London's Daily Mail newspaper, several LGBT news organizations, as well as human rights groups (not least among them, London-headquartered Syrian Observatory for Human Rights) had previously reported many of the same details of the executions now being reported by mainstream news outlets.
Flashpoint Partners is the security firm that "verified" news of the executions for NBC News. As it disclosed in its report Sunday about the ISIS propaganda piece, NBC News retains Flashpoint as a consultant.
Reports of the atrocities ISIS has committed against people because they were perceived to be gay have now been published and broadcast by news organizations worldwide, ranging from interest-focused media outlets and now by major American network news organizations. Although it's not likely that will dissuade ISIS militants to change their ways, greater coverage of atrocities committed against LGBT people may send a message that much of society values human lives equally--regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.
NBC News cited an expert in the history of Shariah Law, who noted that the practice of throwing men accused of homosexuality to their deaths from the tallest building available is a "very obscure" reading of hardline Islam.
"What ISIS is doing in displaying this kind of thing is twofold," researcher, Charlie Winterof the London-based anti-extremism think tank, Quilliam told NBC News. "It's trying to shock and horrify the rest of the world but it's also trying to give the impression that the Shariah that it practices is the purest form of Shariah." | {
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We are often hearing about people shoehorning various OSes, games and apps onto new or old systems they clearly weren't designed for. Obvious examples are playing the classic FPS game Quake on a Hitachi V-422 oscilloscope, or installing Windows 95 on an Apple Watch. However, today I heard of a much more useful pairing that realistically offers some potential for the future; running the Linux version of Steam on the PlayStation 4, and being able to launch and enjoy games at what looks to be an acceptable gallop.
The video above shows the work of modder OsirisX, who has managed to install Linux on his/her PS4 and then run Steam in Big Picture Mode and play a game of Bastion. In operation the Steam interface and the game appear to respond slickly and quickly, as you might at least partly expect on a system based upon modern x86 hardware.
Linux was first demonstrated to be runnable on the PS4 back in December and OsirisX made use of the 'Fail0verflow' code behind that. First of all the PS4 was 'jailbroken' before Linux could be installed, OsirisX chose to install Arch Linux. Then, of course, the Steam Linux client was installed and some games downloaded and installed. You can read about the requirements and even find links to the system downloads here. Notably the PS4 in the experiment ran the rather long in the tooth PS4 firmware version 1.76. Sony doesn't make it easy for users to roll-back firmware as its patches often include measures to prevent hacks etc.
PS4 users are aiming to get Ubuntu up and running with hardware acceleration on the console, due to its close relation to Steam OS. If you follow the above method and install Linux on your PS4, the system is said to be able to play "most games… when running low to mid graphics setting," at an acceptable and stable frame rate.
Currently the above installation steps and the necessary old firmware mean that not many PS4 users are likely to fiddle with their consoles to get Steam running. However, it may be possible that the OS and system hacking above opens the door to people using Sony PlayStations as entry level Steam Machines. If an easy boot-to-SteamOS method was created it could provide a lot more gaming fun and flexibility for PS4 users. | {
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The term “koi” is derived from a Japanese word “nishikigoi”, which literally means brocaded carp. These include the ornamental varieties of common carp, which are used for decorative purposes in outside water gardens and koi ponds. However, “koi” is more of an English word and includes both brightly colored as well as dull, gray fish varieties. Koi, in Japanese, means love, affection or friendship. Hence, ‘koi’ are used as a symbol of love and good luck.
The exact origins of today’s koi are still unknown, yet there is a common belief that they originated around the areas of Western Asia and Persia. The carp exhibits exceptional capabilities to survive and adapt to a wide range of water conditions and climates. Owing to this reason, the common carp, found its way into Japan and China by means of natural waterways or trade.
Origins of Koi Breeding
It was discovered that the protein content of carp was very high. To that end, the rice farmers situated in the Niigata Prefecture, began with the harvesting of carp, so as to sustain themselves during the long winter months. Around the middle of the 18thcentury, these farmers observed certain kind of mutations (consisting of red and white blotches on the scales) on the carp. Then, these mutated fishes were separated from the ordinary ones, and selectively bred. This was the first instance of koi breeding, and after this it became quite a popular activity. In the 19th century, koi breeders exhibited their prized possessions in Tokyo, where people from all over Japan were present to take a look at these “living jewels”.
Raising Koi gains popularity
Over the years, breeders started coming up with new and different koi varieties. Koi enthusiasts could be found in every corner of the world. Many people went by the Chinese belief that koi brings in ‘ong’ which means, luck. Hence, they would build small koi ponds outside their homes as a part of feng shui, so as to fill their lives with good luck and prosperity. For others, having a koi pond in the backyard was more of a fun and relaxing thing to do. Regardless of the basic purpose, nothing could beat the charm and beauty of having a koi pond on one’s property.
Why Koi are revered
Koi are a highly social and playful variety of fishes. These are ideal for the water garden or a backyard pond as they are playful, hardy, beautiful and love to be hand fed. When you are in the process of choosing a koi to be added to your backyard pond, make sure to pick the variety of fishes which are active and friendly. Avoid fishes that show any signs of injury or are isolated.
The greater amount of time you spend with your koi, the more you will be able to observe their individual personalities and traits. Some koi varieties can have a life span as long as humans. In addition to this, keeping koi in a well maintained environment is also important in order to ensure that your fishes remain healthy, alive and playful. For an additional resource on Japanese koi fish koi follow the link. | {
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John Raoux/Associated Press
Confidence is always a good thing, but Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Malik Jackson might have gone overboard when he predicted a perfect season in 2018.
"I think we're going 16-0," Jackson said in an interview with TMZ Sports. "I'm calling it, 16-0. I don't think anybody can beat us as long as we stay healthy and do what we're supposed to do."
The Jaguars are coming off a 2017 season in which they won the AFC South and reached the AFC Championship Game. Still, Jackson's proclamation is bold, to say the least.
Jacksonville plays the New England Patriots at home in Week 2 and meets the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in Week 8. A matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 11 likely won't be easy, either.
And that's to say nothing of how much the Indianapolis Colts and Houston Texans will improve with Andrew Luck and Deshaun Watson back from injuries.
More than anything, it's hard to put a lot of faith in the Jaguars offense. Jacksonville ranked first in defensive efficiency and 16th in offensive efficiency in 2017, per Football Outsiders. As long as Blake Bortles is the starting quarterback, consistency will likely continue to be an issue.
There's no question the Jaguars are a Super Bowl contender. Bleacher Report's Chris Simms ranked them fourth in his power rankings after the 2018 draft.
Whether Jacksonville has the pieces to go undefeated is another matter entirely. | {
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Match of the Day pundit Alan Shearer discusses the difference in Manchester United's play in their 5-1 win at Cardiff, their first game since the Jose Mourinho left the club.
The former Newcastle striker says United's players "had stopped running for the previous manager".
MATCH REPORT: Cardiff City 1-5 Manchester United
WATCH MORE: Solskjaer delighted with reaction in 5-1 win over Cardiff | {
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Hackers backed by the Russian government have attacked energy networks running the national grid in parts of the UK, The Times has learnt.
The hackers, who targeted the Republic of Ireland’s energy sector, intended to infiltrate control systems, security analysts believe. This would also have given them the power to knock out parts of the grid in Northern Ireland.
Senior engineers at Ireland’s Electricity Supply Board (ESB) were targeted last month by a group understood to have ties to the Kremlin’s GRU intelligence agency. The hackers sent emails designed to trick staff by drawing on extensive surveillance of ESB practices and contained malicious software.
There is no evidence of disruption to the network, but security analysts monitoring Russia’s cyberintelligence groups said that the hackers probably | {
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Bank of England to work with new cybersecurity body By Gordon Corera
Security correspondent, BBC News Published duration 18 March 2016
image copyright Getty Images image caption The Centre's task will be to set cybersecurity standards for the whole UK financial sector
The first task of Britain's new cybersecurity centre will be to work with the Bank of England, the government has announced.
The work will involve setting standards for the financial sector in terms of resilience to the type of cyber threats which could undermine the UK economy.
The new body - now renamed the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) - was unveiled last year by the Chancellor.
It is designed to bring the UK's cyber expertise into one place.
Ciaran Martin, currently a senior official at GCHQ, will be the NCSC's first head.
"We need to have a one-stop shop that people inside and outside government can go to," Matthew Hancock, the Minister for the Cabinet Office told the BBC, saying that the NCSC will aim to be the authoritative voice on information security in the UK.
The new centre is designed to deal with criticism of the current arrangements as too opaque.
Wider access
GCHQ is the lead agency on cybersecurity but because it is a secret intelligence service based in Cheltenham, it has not always been accessible or set up to share information and communicate more broadly.
The new centre is designed to remedy that problem by having a foot in both the closed intelligence world and the public and corporate space.
The centre will work with regulators - such as the Bank - to provide advice for the private sector.
It will also work with other government departments, critical national infrastructure and the broader business community and the public.
The greater the potential risk to the country, the closer the centre is likely to be involved with a particular department or business.
In the event of future cyber breaches such as that of Talk-Talk last year , it is likely to be the Centre which acts as the focal point for communication and advice.
Those involved stress that the role of government will be to protect the country from cyber-attack and promote good practice but that the liability for any attack that does take place will still rest with whoever owns the data.
The NCSC will be based in London and is expected to fully open for business in October. | {
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In defense of Mt. Lebanon’s Walkers
By Eric Boerer, advocacy director
Instead of figuring out why so many people find the need to walk across the street at unmarked crossings in their business district, Mt. Lebanon officials voted to criminalize them with up to $300 in fines and fees.
Copious amounts of safe crossings are common fixture in walkable, inviting business districts. By reducing the amount of places where people can legally cross, officials are just making more people into “jaywalkers” and ceding even more ownership of the road to the automobile. This car-centric way of thinking treats pedestrians as a menace to cars, instead of the other way around. Fining pedestrians will never get to the root of the issue: signals and crosswalks in their current locations aren’t serving people.
“I’ve lived in the township for over 51 years, I jaywalk every singe day,” said a resident at the township’s meeting.
For the most part, people can judge when it’s safe to cross a street. Humans have a tendency to take the simplest, most convenient path of least resistance. For instance, if it’s clear and there are no cars coming, most people will weigh the cost, and cross instead of waiting in the rain or snow.
Instead of criminalizing pedestrians, officials should be looking into making the pedestrian experience as convenient as possible, especially in business districts.
– Is the signal cycle too long, leaving people impatiently waiting at a corner, even though there are no cars coming?
– Do the beg buttons even work?
– Are the walk signals long enough for an elderly person to cross in time?
– Is the crossing distance short enough?
– Are there enough well-marked crossings?
Considering that three of the four pedestrian fatalities along Washington Rd/West Liberty Ave (2003-2012) were people over 80, it’s surprising that officials failed to mention them, assuming their goal is actually to improve safety, and not just to serve cars’ needs.
Before criminalizing walking, decision-makers should look at the root indicators of a safe street: pedestrian visibility at intersections, street design, signal timing, and speeding. Especially when it’s previously been documented that a disturbing 77% of motorists speed through Mt. Lebanon, some reaching speeds up to 77 miles per hour on streets marked 25 and 35 mph.
It is a misplaced priority and a poor use of limited resources to legislate against the very things that we want more of and want to promote, namely people walking around, especially when solutions exist to actually improve your neighborhood.
Sign up for Bike Pittsburgh’s newsletter, The Messenger, to get the latest news on events, bike and pedestrian infrastructure, and fun, delivered straight to your inbox. Twice monthly emails, no spam. | {
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U.S. President Barack Obama speaks during an event in the Pullman neighborhood of Chicago February 19, 2015. Obama appeared side-by-side with his former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, on Thursday, an old friend who has faced declining approval ratings heading into a Feb. 24 mayoral vote. Emanuel introduced Obama at an event designating part of Chicago's Pullman neighborhood as a national monument. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS)
By Lesley Wroughton and Mark Hosenball
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday urged countries to tackle violent Islamist militancy around the world and rejected as "an ugly lie" suggestions that the West was at war with Islam and embroiled in a clash of civilizations.
Obama said there was a complicated history between the Middle East and the West and no one should be immune from criticism over specific policies.
"But the notion that the West is at war with Islam is an ugly lie," he said. "And all of us, regardless of our faith, have a responsibility to reject it," he told a conference convened by the White House on countering violent extremism.
"Muslim communities, including scholars and clerics, therefore have a responsibility to push back not just on twisted interpretations of Islam, but also on the lie that we are somehow engaged in a clash of civilizations," Obama said.
With violent groups like Islamic State, Boko Haram and al-Shabaab gaining strength in Africa and the Middle East, more than 60 countries and international organizations have gathered in Washington to come up with a plan for tackling the problem.
Obama announced that the United States would join the United Arab Emirates to create a new digital communications hub to work with religious and community leaders to counter "terrorist propaganda," and urged others to join the effort.
Political critics have accused the White House of shying away from tying extremism to the religion of Islam after the recent attacks staged by Islamist militants in Paris and Copenhagen.
Addressing the conference, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he would convene a meeting in coming months of faith leaders from around the world and warned that violent extremism posed a grave threat to international peace and security.
"Military operations are crucial to confront real threats. But bullets are not the 'silver bullet,'" Ban said. "Missiles may kill terrorists. But good governance kills terrorism."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said countries needed to promote tolerance and peace, while addressing social and economic inequality that militants use to recruit.
"You have to do everything. You have to take the people off the battlefield, who are there today," Kerry said. "But you’re kind of stupid if all you do is do that, and you don’t prevent more people from going to the battlefield," he added.
Nick Rasmussen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, a U.S. spy agency, said the threat of Islamist militants was constantly changing and the United States and its allies faced "more frequent low level attacks against all of us."
Islamic State has demonstrated an "agile and highly capable use of social media," Rasmussen said. The group's messaging has included both horrifying videos of executions and more enticing images of Islamic State fighters and their families, he said.
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Tom Brown) | {
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For Google, it was a historic announcement: a declaration that it had won the race to achieve “quantum supremacy” – the moment that a sophisticated quantum computer performed a task that stumped even the most powerful standard computer in the world.
But for all the fanfare, which saw Google’s CEO, Sundar Pichai, compare the feat to building the first rocket to reach space, the claim has sparked a bunfight. The tech firm’s rival, IBM, was swift to dismiss the excitement. Google has not, it asserts, achieved the highly prized goal of quantum supremacy.
Google published its claim in the journal Nature on Wednesday after an earlier report on the work appeared briefly on a Nasa website last month. The paper describes how a team led by John Martinis, leader of the research team working on quantum supremacy, built a superconducting quantum processor named Sycamore that harnesses the weirdness of quantum physics to crunch through thorny problems.
To demonstrate the device’s computational prowess, the scientists set it the deeply contrived task of checking the randomness of a sequence of numbers. What the quantum computer rattled through in three minutes and 20 seconds would keep the world’s most powerful supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Lab in Tennessee busy for 10,000 years, they claim.
“This experiment was kind of hard to do,” said Martinis. “When we proposed it in the group, people took a while to understand and get this to work.”
But get it to work they did. Writing in the journal, the authors state: “To our knowledge, this experiment marks the first computation that can be performed only on a quantum processor. Quantum processors have thus reached the regime of quantum supremacy.”
Not so, say the IBM researchers. In a blogpost written in response to the work, they argue that the Oak Ridge supercomputer could solve the randomness problem in 2.5 days, perhaps less, depending on how it was programmed. They add that because “quantum supremacy” requires a quantum computer to solve a problem that is beyond a classical computer, Google’s claim does not hold up.
“Google’s experiment is an excellent demonstration of the progress in superconducting-based quantum computing,” the IBM scientists argue. “But it should not be viewed as proof that quantum computers are ‘supreme’ over classical computers.”
Standard computers and quantum computers are radically different. While standard computers perform calculations with “bits”, which must be either 0 or 1, quantum computers have “qubits” that can take any value between 0 and 1. Another quirk of quantum physics allows qubits to be “entangled” such that the value of one is tied to the values of those around it. Make a quantum computer that is stable enough – a tough enough feat in itself – and it can, in principle, explore multiple solutions to a problem at once.
Since the advent of the first experimental qubits, tech firms have been racing to demonstrate what the US physicist John Preskill dubbed “quantum supremacy”. Preskill coined the phrase to define the turning point in computing history when quantum computers showed their true potential by trouncing standard machines.
Google’s Sycamore processor used 53 qubits to plough through the arcane task its masters gave it. According to Pichai, the breakthrough is a step towards using quantum computers to solve real-world problems, such as creating new drugs, designing more efficient batteries, and making fertilisers with less energy. “We’ve already peeled away from classical computers, on to a totally different trajectory,” a Google spokesperson said.
Asked about IBM’s reaction to the achievement, Sergio Boixo on the Google team said: “It’s very important to test the proposals on real supercomputers, because things don’t always work as expected.” Martinis added: “We’re looking forward to having them look at our data and validate our results some more.”
Christopher Monroe, a physicist at the University of Maryland and co-founder of the quantum computing startup IonQ, said Google’s paper might be a milestone in quantum computing, but it was an academic one. “The problem is not likely to be useful for anything, except showing something that appears to be really hard using normal computers,” he said.
But work towards useful quantum computers was “marching along”, Monroe added, saying the devices were likely to help solve a raft of problems, from logistics to understanding the structures of large molecules. “Problems like this can only be solved on a quantum computer,” he said.
Steve Brierley, CEO of the Cambridge-based quantum software company Riverlane, said: “It’s clearly an amazing achievement. I think this is going to be one of those moments when people look back and say, ‘That was the time that really changed this field of quantum computing.’ It is also a great moment in time to stop talking about quantum supremacy, which has unfortunate historical connotations, and move on to talking about quantum advantage, which has a useful application.”
In an accompanying article in Nature, William Oliver, a physicist at MIT, compares Google’s achievement to the first flights of the Wright brothers. The Wright Flyer was not the first airborne vehicle to fly, nor did it solve any pressing problem, but it demonstrated a radical new possibility, the implications of which became clear only decades later. “It is what the event represented, rather than what it practically accomplished, that was paramount. And so it is with this first report of quantum computational supremacy,” Oliver said.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest While standard computers perform calculations with “bits”, which must be either 0 or 1, quantum computers have “qubits” that can take any value between 0 and 1 Photograph: Hannah Benet
Quantum: the future of computing?
Computer scientists have some formidable hurdles to overcome to make quantum computers useful and commonplace. But with tech firms investing heavily – about $1bn (£780m) to date, with more in the pipeline – many researchers are now confident that rudimentary devices will be put to good use, in combination with standard computers, in the next decade or so.
Quantum computers lend themselves to problems that are essentially too demanding for classical computers to take on. One area where scientists expect them to make an impact is in drug discovery. In the search for new medicines, pharmaceutical companies call on computers to trawl through the structures of scores of molecules to see which might bind to biological molecules and have some useful action in the body. Quantum computers should run these searches much faster by analysing whole libraries of molecules at a time and identifying the most promising drug candidates.
Several startups see quantum computers as a means to design radically new materials, including better batteries, by modelling the quantum behaviour of the subatomic particles inside them.
Another area where the processing capability of quantum computers could prove itself is weather forecasting. The science and art of forecasting have steadily improved with greater computing power, but quantum computers could mean a step change in accuracy. The problem with the weather is that it is so complex that in the time it takes a standard computer to produce an accurate forecast, the weather has already happened.
Inevitably, quantum computers will also be used for financial modelling, where a huge number of variables dictate the movements of markets.
The arrival of quantum computers might not please everyone. Sophisticated devices could in principle crack encryption that is invulnerable to standard computers. But that would take machines with 100m qubits, nearly two million times as many as Google’s processor. | {
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Site will be undergoing maintenance and getting a spring clean over the next couple of weeks. Performance may be patchy as a result until everything is complete. | {
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Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) gave an impassioned speech in opposition to the passing of the Republican tax bill. The bill passed the Senate with a vote of 51-49. | {
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A cannabis company in Portland, Oregon is the latest marijuana business to raise money for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Sanders has been the most outspoken in terms of marijuana reform, drawing support from all corners of the industry.
Dispensaries Foster Buds and Glisan Buds, which are owned by the same parent company, are partnering with marijuana grower Farmer 12 for its "Burn One for Bernie" campaign. They're selling special one-gram joints for $10 apiece and will donate 10% of sales to the Sanders campaign.
They're selling special one-gram joints for $10 apiece and will donate 10% of sales to the Sanders campaign.
Individual donors can give up to $2,700 to a candidate (although they can give however much they want to super PACs). Each dispensary hopes to donate that sum to help Sanders win the nomination.
"[Sanders] wants to keep the medical program alive for the nation, which is awesome because without the medical program, we wouldn’t be where we are today," Foster Buds manager Ken Martin told KPTV.
Other businesses in the pot industry have also been championing the candidate. Just last week, a Portland-based pipe company announced its "Burners for Bernie" set of ceramic pipes and is donating 10% of the proceeds to the Sanders campaign.
While the legality of such efforts are questionable, it's unlikely a campaign would go after their own supporters. Even though Sanders has publicly disavowed super PACs, he can't stop his supporters from setting them up in his favor.
Sanders has proposed legislation to remove cannabis from the Controlled Substances Act and has been vocal in his criticism of the drug war. As the most cannabis-friendly candidate in the race, support for him from the marijuana industry will likely continue to grow. He needs it, too—after losing Massachusetts on Super Tuesday, Sanders is short of his delegate target to win the nomination.
This article originally published at High Times here. | {
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まだまだ寿命は延びる？
いまや人生100年時代などといわれ、100歳まで生きられる人も珍しくはない時代を迎えました。しかしながら、この長寿命が当たり前となり、もっともっと長く健康に生きられるようになるかもしれないそうですよ！
このほどReutersが報じたところでは、ミバエをターゲットにした実験調査にて、投薬の工夫次第で、なんと寿命を1.5倍に延ばせることが明らかになっています。それぞれ平均すると11％の延命効果も認められる精神安定剤、抗がん剤、免疫抑制剤を、ミバエに複数同時に投与する研究を実施。すると、単独で投与するより、2種類の薬を同時に投与したほうが、寿命を30％近く延ばせると判明したほか、3種類同時に投与するならば、なにも薬を投与されなかったものより、48％も長く生きることができたんだとか。
死から逃れることが目的ではありません。人生の末期に、人間が健康的かつ病気に悩まされず生きていけるよう助けることが目指されています。
同研究チームを率いた、ロンドン大学のInstitute of Healthy Aging（IHA）のLinda Partridge教授は、このように述べて、今回の研究成果が役立てられていくことを望んでいるようです。実験に使われた薬は、いずれもすでに承認されて広く医療に用いられているものばかりで、今後はマウスなどでも実験を進めて、早期の活用が目指されるみたいですね。薬には危険な飲み合わせもありますから、決して素人が勝手に早まって複数の薬を同時に飲んだりすべきではありません。しかしながら、この研究の解明が進めば、より長く健康に生きるうえで、新たな光が当てられることになるかもしれませんよね。 | {
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what if i told you adding nsfw gets more people to click on the link
163 shares | {
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Medic is under investigation after report finds drug was also slipped into the woman’s drink
A doctor is under criminal investigation over a potential breach of Dutch euthanasia laws after slipping a sleeping drug into a woman’s coffee before asking family members to hold her down to allow the insertion of a drip through which a fatal dose could be administered.
The Dutch medical complaints board has reprimanded the doctor, who retired in after her treatment of the 74-year-old patient, who had been suffering from severe dementia. The chief public prosecutor in The Hague is examining if there are grounds for criminal charges.
Should a prosecution be launched, it would be the first since Dutch laws on euthanasia were relaxed in 2002 to allow a doctor to euthanise a patient if it could be shown they were in unbearable suffering and making an informed choice to die.
The law was further relaxed in 2016, to allow doctors to administer a fatal drug to a patient with dementia if they had signed a euthanasia declaration under the supervision of their family doctor before their condition had deteriorated.
The doctor under investigation, who was not named, has been found to have breached official guidelines in her treatment of the patient.
The patient had been placed in a nursing home in Mariahoeve in The Hague after her condition became significantly worse, and it was there that a review by the on-site doctor concluded the woman was suffering unbearably from her condition.
The unnamed patient had completed a living will five years prior to her death, saying she wished to die when she considered the time was right, but it was not a formal euthanasia declaration.
A drug designed to make the patient sleep was put in her coffee, in breach of rules, it was found. The doctor, who is appealing against the ruling, also ignored the woman’s protests and inserted a drip into her arm, it was found. She further breached guidelines by asking family members to hold the patient down, according to an official report into the death. | {
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A couple of weeks ago, I attended the P9 Founder Summit in Malta organized by Point Nine Capital. One of the workshops was about remote work. Soon after, I led a webinar for the #p9family and I thought I would share our experience at Bearer thus far.
Discussing how to make remote work a success with the #p9family led by @cfabianski pic.twitter.com/8NTL1qKc4Z — Robin Dechant (@robindchnt) November 7, 2019
It's all about sharing and communicating
When you are small and in the same office, it's pretty easy to be aware of everything. The whole team spends a lot of time hanging out together—having lunch, grabbing a coffee, having discussions, and making decisions very quickly. As you scale up, more discussions take place, more decisions get made, and it becomes harder to keep up. You might even become successful enough that your office expands to a second floor or even a new branch in a different country.
At this point, processes are put in place to improve that internal communication. They are best practices that everybody ends up doing, but often after the fact. When you are remote-first, those processes need to be put in place from day one.
I've been lucky enough to be a remote worker for most of my career. Even my first internship was as a remote worker! My last experience at FreeAgent taught me a lot, and I'm applying many of those insights here at Bearer.
Remote as a first-class citizen
I, as Co-Founder and CTO, am myself remote most of the time. I'm visiting the Paris offices for customer meetings, board meetings, conferences, and so on 2 days every 2 weeks on average. I think it's very important for people to see that remote is something we really believe in and view us as an example of how it can be done right. I've attended TechRocks and during one of the talks, Julien Dollon, Director of Engineering at Oracle gave this tip:
If you want remote to work, start by cutting off the head
For him, this meant being the first to work remotely, while the rest of the team stayed in the office.
When the chief is remote, all of a sudden everybody is remote and everybody starts writing down everything. What used to be ephemeral and on a whiteboard became written down and stored.
That's what I saw at FreeAgent too and I think that's an important part of the process that shouldn't be neglected.
Write down everything!
Select a shared language. For us, that's English. All public communication needs to be in English. Even as French founders, this is something we have done from day one and that means that anybody can look back at why we've made a particular decision.
Use Requests for Comments (RFCs). The Open Source community has a lot of experience in being remote-first. The need to share information while working asynchronously from different timezones is no secret. Every decision made within the project needs to be documented and approved. When someone looks back on it later, they can understand what led to a particular technical decision. Here are a few examples:
Build a Knowledge Base. Having a meeting? Learning something new? Retrospective? How-Tos? These need to be documented and shared! My not-so-secret goal is that ultimately, everything that is in the knowledge base will be turned into a Blog Post like what we did with Understanding Auth Part 1: What is OAuth 2.0.
Every discussion longer than 10 messages in Slack needs to trigger a call in Zoom and a summary in Slack or the Knowledge Base.
Define your Culture, Vision & Mission. Every employee should be able to easily find the Culture, the Vision, and the Mission of the company. It keeps everyone working toward the same, shared goal and reminds us all what matters most as a company.
Organize Weekly Demos. Every week on Thursday at 5 p.m. CET we gather together and answer these questions:
- What are the numbers this week? - What has been done company-wise? - What has been done product-wise?
It's recorded and pushed to YouTube. If someone is off, in a timezone that makes it harder to join, or would like to come back to it later, they can watch it.
Send Out Weekly Notes. At the beginning of the week, send out a note to the team that recaps the week before and the goals for the coming week. Use the weekly demo as a foundation, and cover the following:
- News of the week - Goals of the week - Roadmap this week - Done last week - Team event (who is off, who is where) - Link to the recording from the weekly Demos
Make everyone feel connected
Connect in person. As a remote-first company, we spend most of our time reading our colleagues rather than hearing them. Some team members aren't native English speakers, and sometimes if you don't know the person well it can be easy to misinterpret the intent from their writing alone.
That's why we believe in getting together in-person at off-sites. The last one took place in Portugal.
Back from the offsite in #faro with the @BearerSH team. So proud of this team and what we can accomplish together 😘🐻 pic.twitter.com/dc9yTCrDxi — Cédric Fabianski (@cfabianski) September 14, 2019
This also means that you shouldn't expect to spend less money by setting up a remote company if you want to do it right.
I wouldn’t say waste money on vanity office space. People often think it’s going to cost less but it’s not true.
The money is simply going elsewhere (offsites, setup at home, travels, ...) #remote https://t.co/xleeLzTrNK — Cédric Fabianski (@cfabianski) November 9, 2019 Reply to a Tweet about money wasted money on vanity office space
Share a coffee break. When you are all in an office, you have those coffee machine moments. You discuss things like what you did last weekend, what you are up to outside of work, and so on. These moments are an important part of getting to know one another. At Bearer we put one on the calendar each week, but I also encourage the team to open up a meeting in our #coffee channel whenever they like.
Conduct smarter meetings. Meetings are expensive. Not just in the time they take, but also in the disruption of everyone's workflow before and after. Make sure to use this time wisely.
Before a meeting, send out an agenda to give everyone a chance to contribute. Whether that is an RFC, a Google Doc or a Notion note, there needs to be something sent beforehand. After the meeting, summarize in the outcome and list the actions that should come from it.
Perform daily check-ins/check-outs. It's important to share your progress with the team. Usually, that happens during a daily standup. While this is not mutually exclusive, some squads at Bearer do catch up every morning. What started as a squad initiative is now part of the Product & Engineering routine. We use Geekbot to allow each team member to answer the following questions each day:
- How did you feel today? - What have you done today? - What's your plan for tomorrow? - Have you been blocked by anything? - What have you learned today? - How efficient did you feel today? (1-5)
These questions help us measure not only productivity, but also the spirit and morale within the Team. We also encourage people to publish their learnings of the day by answering the question:
What have you learned today?
Like other remote companies, we rely on many tools to help with all of this. Here are a few that we've had success with:
Zoom and Slack are a great foundation to start with. You can trigger a call within Slack using this command /zoom and jump directly into a call for a pairing session, right from where you are.
Geekbot to trigger the checkin/checkout and to get a feeling about how the team is doing.
Notion is basically used as an entry point at Bearer. Everything you need to know is already there. GitHub is used for our code and as such is a great tool to keep track of the technical decisions (RFCs).
Geckoboard and Redash are great to share the metrics to the Team. It's important that everybody has access to the same level of informations that drive business decisions.
Miro is a great replacement for whiteboard and has the advantage that you can get back to it at any point without the fear of erasing somebody's else diagram by mistake.
Clocker is a menu bar on MacOS and that shows you what time it is in everyone's locations.
We're also considering a few more like OfficeVibe and 15Five to measure the Team happiness which is really important to us.
There's always more that can be done
We are only at the beginning of our journey. We will surely make mistakes along the way, but we will continue to learn from them.
Something that is working today may not work tomorrow as your company grows. You will need to adapt, and I'll continue to share our processes around and commitments related to remote work here at Bearer.
For instance, right now, we are mainly in the European Timezone and we ask people to have at least 6 hours overlap within that Timezone. That's a decision we've made intentionally to avoid loneliness and isolation. We also feel like that's the best way to be effective, at least at our stage. This might change later as more team members join in other timezones.
Discuss this article on Twitter and ping us @BearerSH. | {
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The Ireland women's team wrapped up a hugely successful showing at the Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament, finishing in sixth place after a 12-7 defeat to Spain.
A memorable vicotry against the English earned Ireland a quarter-final date with eventual champions New Zealand, who eased to a 45-0 success.
Ireland subsequently beat Russia to set up a fifth/sixth-placed play-off clash against the Spaniards, and though they lost at AT&T Park, plenty of positives will be taken from the performances in the States.
The Black Ferns became the first team in history to win back-to-back Rugby World Cup Sevens titles after beating France 29-0 in today’s final thanks to a hat-trick from 22-year-old Michaela Blyde.
Australia claimed the bronze medal with a hard fought 24-14 victory over hosts USA on a day when a a noisy and enthusiastic crowd of over 33,000 packed in to the spectacular AT&T Park, home of the San Francsico Giants.
France had earlier dug deep to overcome Australia 19-12 in a thrilling semi-final while the indomitable Kiwis came from behind to defeat a spirited USA side 26-21.
Meanwhile, Ireland's men can look forward to Challenge semi-final meeting with Wales this evening (7.34pm).
Jordan Conroy ran in for a hat-trick as Kenya were put to the sword 24-14.
Having edged past Chile Billy Dardis and Co were heavily defeated by South Africa in the round of 16 but can end the campaign on a high with two more wins.
Ireland women's squad
Kathy Baker (Blackrock/Leinster), Ashleigh Baxter (Cooke/Ulster), Claire Boles (Railway Union/Ulster), Aoife Doyle (Shannon/Railway Union/Munster), Katie Fitzhenry (Blackrock/Leinster), Stacey Flood (Railway Union/Leinster), Louise Galvin (UL Bohemian/Munster), Eve Higgins (Railway Union/Leinster), Lucy Mulhall (Rathdrum, capt), Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe (Railway Union/Munster), Deirbhile Nic a Bhaird (UL Bohemians/Munster), Audrey O'Flynn (Ireland Women's Sevens Programme), Hannah Tyrrell (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
Ireland men's squad
Robert Baloucoune (Enniskillen/Ballymena/Ulster), Jordan Conroy (Buccaneers), Shane Daly (Cork Constitution/Munster), Billy Dardis (UCD, capt), Ian Fitzpatrick (Lansdowne), Foster Horan (Lansdowne), Hugo Keenan (UCD/Leinster), Terry Kennedy (St Mary's College), Harry McNulty (UCD), Bryan Mollen (Dublin University), Jimmy O'Brien (UCD/Leinster), John O'Donnell (Lansdowne), Greg O'Shea (Shannon) | {
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Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersOutrage erupts over Breonna Taylor grand jury ruling Dimon: Wealth tax 'almost impossible to do' Grand jury charges no officers in Breonna Taylor death MORE (I-Vt.) on Monday questioned supporters of President-elect Donald Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE, asking why they would vote for “somebody who is lying.”
Sanders and MSNBC’s Chris Hayes spoke with Trump voters in a town hall in Kenosha, Wis., about the 2016 election.
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Asked about Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the U.S., several supporters said Trump just suggests controversial policies for attention and isn’t serious.
Sanders minced no words with his reply.
“Why do you vote for somebody who, in a sense then, is lying?”
Several Trump supporters speaking with Sanders said they would not support a Muslim ban, despite Trump touting it early in his campaign.
“I would never want to see anyone thrown out just because of their beliefs. I mean, that’s awful, no,” one supporter said.
“A lot of what he says is unimplementable rhetoric just to gain attention,” another said.
Sanders said Trump won the election because "there's a lot of pain in this country," especially in the middle class, that he was able to tap into.
"One of the arguments as to why Trump won is the belief that most or many of his supporters are sexists or racists or homophobes," Sanders said. "I happen not to believe that's the case. I think what he did do is he said, 'You know what, there's a lot of pain in this country, people are scared and people are worried.' People are tired of status quo politics. He broke through that."
Throughout Sanders' Democratic primary bid, he denounced income inequality and advocated for economic reform. Sanders backed Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonDemocratic groups using Bloomberg money to launch M in Spanish language ads in Florida The Hill's Campaign Report: Presidential polls tighten weeks out from Election Day More than 50 Latino faith leaders endorse Biden MORE after she won the Democratic nomination. | {
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Opportunity:
Male condoms are cheap, easy to manufacture, easy to distribute, and available globally, including in resource poor settings, through numerous well developed distribution channels. The current rate of global production is 15 billion units/year with an estimated 750 million users and a steadily growing market. Condoms have almost universal product recognition. There are few places on earth where condoms are not recognized or not available. When used properly, they reliably protect females from pregnancy and both partners from numerous STIs, including HIV transmission, making them a prime example of a multi-purpose prevention technology (MPT). Their use does not require a prescription, a skilled health provider or in fact any healthcare provider or healthcare delivery system. There are no adverse events associated with their use, a statement that cannot be made for any other contraceptive or STI-preventive product. They are user controlled, user applied devices that are simple to use and easily transported. These characteristics make male condoms the perfect MPT product, especially for low resource settings.
The one major drawback to more universal use of male condoms is the lack of perceived incentive for consistent use. The primary drawback from the male perspective is that condoms decrease pleasure as compared to no condom, creating a trade-off that many men find unacceptable, particularly given that the decisions about use must be made just prior to intercourse. Is it possible to develop a product without this stigma, or better, one that is felt to enhance pleasure? If so, would such a product lead to substantial benefits for global health, both in terms of reducing the incidence of unplanned pregnancies and in prevention of infection with HIV or other STIs?
Likewise, female condoms can be an effective method for prevention of unplanned pregnancy or HIV infection, but suffer from some of the same liabilities as male condoms, require proper insertion training and are substantially more expensive than their male counterparts. While negotiating use of female condoms may be easier than male condoms, this need for negotiation precisely illustrates the barrier preventing greater use that we seek to address through this call.
The Challenge:
Condoms have been in use for about 400 years yet they have undergone very little technological improvement in the past 50 years. The primary improvement has been the use of latex as the primary material and quality control measures which allow for quality testing of each individual condom. Material science and our understanding of neurobiology has undergone revolutionary transformation in the last decade yet that knowledge has not been applied to improve the product attributes of one of the most ubiquitous and potentially underutilized products on earth. New concept designs with new materials can be prototyped and tested quickly. Large-scale human clinical trials are not required. Manufacturing capacity, marketing, and distribution channels are already in place.
We are looking for a Next Generation Condom that significantly preserves or enhances pleasure, in order to improve uptake and regular use. Additional concepts that might increase uptake include attributes that increase ease-of-use for male and female condoms, for example better packaging or designs that are easier to properly apply. In addition, attributes that address and overcome cultural barriers are also desired. Proposals must (i) have a testable hypothesis, (ii) include an associated plan for how the idea would be tested or validated, and (iii) yield interpretable and unambiguous data in Phase I, in order to be considered for Phase II funding.
A few examples of work that would be considered for funding:
Application of safe new materials that may preserve or enhance sensation;
Development and testing of new condom shapes/designs that may provide an improved user experience;
Application of knowledge from other fields (e.g. neurobiology, vascular biology) to new strategies for improving condom desirability.
We will not consider funding for: | {
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「朝にゴミを出すのを見るぐらいで、町内会にも入ってへんみたいやし、全然、付き合いもないからわからんなぁ」
と、近隣の70代の女性は首をかしげる。
自ら交番に出頭
事件現場となったマンションの所有者は渋い表情で、
「毎月、うちまで（家賃の）お金をもってくるんやけど、遅れることもあったし、どうにか払っていた感じやったわ。会うたびに“生活保護が減らされた”“児童手当が減らされた”って嘆いとってね。7月に3万円払ったのを最後に、ずっと滞納しとるんですわ」
11月20日、大阪府寝屋川市の高柳交番に、ひとりの女が出頭してきた。
「午前9時半ごろ交番を訪れ、1992年から'97年にかけて4人の子どもを産み、その子どもをポリバケツに入れ、セメントを流し込んだと話した」
と捜査関係者。出頭を受け自宅を捜索したところ、供述どおりに押し入れの奥から4つのポリバケツが出てきた。
大阪府警は同21日、確認できた1人の遺体を遺棄したとして、その女、同市在住のアルバイト、斉藤真由美容疑者（53）を死体遺棄容疑で逮捕した。
斉藤容疑者は'15年夏ごろ、現在住む3階建てのマンションに息子と2人で引っ越してきたが、以前はそこから約2キロ離れた同市池田旭町のアパートに住んでいた（現在は取り壊され更地）。
当時は2人の息子と3人暮らしの“シンママ”だった。 | {
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Very good video with a lot of action between a very attractive interracial couple. It was so good that I kept on wishing that one of them would push away that damn pillow that was blocking a lot of the action. The BBC stud finally did so, but only at the end. | {
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She was told by nurses that the patient “meant no harm”
Woah, Nelly. I can’t…it’s just…that’s not…but what about…I never…damn.
On Friday, August 5th, Lory Beth Synder’s four-month-old daughter, Lorelai, was admitted to the pediatric unit at NEA Baptist Hospital in Jonesboro, Arkansas. Snyder eventually fell asleep with her daughter in her hospital room. When she woke up about an hour later, her daughter was gone.
In a post describing the incident on her Facebook page, she wrote that when she found her daughter, “…she was in another woman’s hospital room, in that woman’s arms, with a room full of six or seven nurses just laughing and playing with her and Lorelai.” Her diaper bag was in the room with some its contents removed, as well as the child’s crib and IV pole. She took her daughter out of the woman’s arms, despite the woman (who was apparently just another patient at the hospital) telling Snyder that she should leave the baby with her because Snyder “needed to just go rest.”
The most terrifying thing happened to my family two days ago. As many of you know Lorelai had been admitted to NEA… Posted by Lory Beth Snyder on Sunday, August 7, 2016
As if all of that isn’t terrifying and awful enough, the nurses, according to Snyder, were unconcerned. Wrote Snyder, “Three nurses followed me [out of the room]. They all trying to assure me that my child was in no danger, that they new [sic] the patient, and she meant no harm.”
Snyder and her family were then moved to a secure ICU room for the rest of their stay. She called the police, who told her that, according to Snyder’s Facebook post, “…no crime was committed because Harris didn’t ‘intend’ to rape or molest my child.”
As someone who worked in a hospital for over five years and taught people about privacy laws and how to respond in abduction scenarios, this entire incident flabbergasts me.
Flabber. Gasts. Me.
Based on the mother’s account, what happened here was that a bunch of nurses brought someone else’s baby to the room of a favorite patient so that she could play with it without the mother’s knowledge or permission. I would describe the many ways that this is wrong, but I am so stunned by it that my brain is not able to form the words needed. So let me just put it this way: this is 100% bad. And I mean “bad” as in “laws were broken and morals and common sense were disregarded.” Bad bad bad. No good. All bad.
For their part, the hospital has released the following statement:
An incident occurred in one of our patient care units (not labor and delivery) on Friday involving two patients, one of them a pediatric patient. While we cannot go into details because of patient privacy laws, two of our nurses acted immediately, followed all protocols, and rapidly brought the situation under control. Because of their quick work, all patients remained safe. Our nurses quickly secured the pediatric patient and mother and fully cooperated with police, who declined to take action against anyone. We are grateful that everyone is safe, and we wish everyone the best and continued good health.
Obviously, they have a different version of what happened. That’s not a surprise, though there is no reason right now to think that Snyder made up the details about the nurses’ reactions. Also, the fact that Snyder “declined to take action against anyone” means nothing. She had a sick infant and was probably too shocked, confused, and relieved to think about pressing charges at the time. It shouldn’t be on this patient to decide whether or not action needed to be taken. If this happened the way Snyder says it did then it is so egregious that the hospital should be on its hands and knees begging for her forgiveness and firing everybody.
In the meantime, Snyder (whose daughter was eventually diagnosed with a milk allergy) is grateful to have Lorelai safe at home. “We were lucky. Many parents do not get as lucky as we have. Child Abduction isn’t something that should be so easily dismissed.” | {
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Breitbart's chief operating officer, Jon Kahn, notified employees on Monday that former White House correspondent Michelle Moons would soon be taking a job with the Domestic Policy Council, according to CNN
"[Moons has] been an integral part of our DC team and we are very proud of her," Kahn reportedly said in a message to employees, adding that they could "reach out to her directly to offer congratulations."
Kahn also asked employees to "NOT comment about this publicly or on social media," CNN noted. ADVERTISEMENT A spokesperson for the White House later confirmed the hire to CNN. The White House and Breitbart did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Hill.
Once headed by Stephen Bannon, Breitbart became a highly popular source of right-wing political news during the 2016 campaign.
Bannon, who co-founded the news site more than a decade ago, served as White House chief strategist during most of President Trump Donald John TrumpSteele Dossier sub-source was subject of FBI counterintelligence probe Pelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Trump 'no longer angry' at Romney because of Supreme Court stance MORE's first year in office.
Bannon returned to Breitbart in August 2017 after leaving the White House. He later stepped down as chairman of Breitbart in January 2018.
CNN noted that another former Breitbart employee works in the Trump administration. Julia Hahn reportedly works as a special assistant to the president and director of surrogate and coalition communications. | {
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PowerMyLearning takes a three-pronged approach to help every kid reach their potential.
Elisabeth Stock has always been driven to work toward a more just world. It was what led her to volunteer as a teacher for the Peace Corps in West Africa in her early 20s, and it’s what ultimately motivated her to found PowerMyLearning, an educational technology nonprofit, in 1999. “I wanted to join the Peace Corps because I felt like there was this deep unfairness in society,” she says. “Is it just and fair that where you are born predicts whether you can reach your human potential?”
The key to providing equal opportunity for everyone, says Stock, is through education. To that end, PowerMyLearning uses technology to improve the relationships that are crucial to the learning process — namely, the impact that teachers and parents have on a student’s promise to excel. “What we’re really about is empowering all of them — the kids and the adults — to learn together,” she says. That empowerment is translating to real, measurable results. There is at least one teacher, parent or student registered with PowerMyLearning in 40 percent of the nation’s schools, and since 2012, partner schools have seen an impressive 6.9 percent increase in math proficiency.
Technology is a crucial part of this process, but the company approaches it in a decidedly different way than most ed-tech outfits do. A lot of people in the field try to essentially replace educators with fancy apps and platforms, says Stock. “They think, ‘Oh my goodness, I can build the most amazing code to do what the teacher does!’ But we’ve realized that that’s a mistake, that what you really need to do with technology is focus on the learning relationships.”
PowerMyLearning uses a combination of services and tools to reach everyone involved in a child’s education. The organization’s online platform, called PowerMyLearning Connect, curates the best available videos, interactive games and other online resources to help students master complex topics. PowerMyLearning also provides coaching to teachers, especially those who are early in their careers, and conducts workshops where families can learn about what their kids are doing.
Join the cause! Speak up for family engagement across the country.
Teachers rely on PowerMyLearning Connect for its “playlists” of materials to use in the classroom. They can also customize these playlists for different groups of students or even for just one student at a time. “Imagine that you’re a teacher and you are in a classroom, and you have a couple of students who are really behind,” Stock says. “How do you help them practice without their peers noticing that they’re so far behind, and teasing them?” But if a student is playing a fun game that enables him to catch up at the same time, his classmates will focus on the game, not the fact that the student might have a deficit of knowledge.
The platform is also used to engage families in the learning process and will soon roll out a texting feature that lets parents know what their kids are learning. After a student works through a particular playlist, they’ll be prompted to teach the material to an adult family member. The adult can then text back to the teacher to share how well the child understands the concepts. “So many families want to be helping their students and continuing to improve their learning, but a lot of people just don’t know where to begin,” Stock says. “PowerMyLearning Connect really gives them that starting point.” The platform, along with the workshops, further collaborative relationships between students, teachers and parents.
Azlynn Cornish, a special education math teacher at South Bronx Preparatory school in New York City, uses the platform in her classroom, and she has also received coaching. “Self-motivation is a huge thing with PowerMyLearning Connect,” Cornish says. “It brings students so much choice, and they’re able to really create their own learning environment, both inside and outside of the classroom.” Involving families also helps give kids the feeling that they’re in control of their own education, she adds. “It just creates that kind of cycle of learning that continues daily, and creates genuine lifelong learners.”
For parents, PowerMyLearning provides a window into what their kids are up to at school. Lisnel Rivera, a parent from The Young Women’s Leadership School of the Bronx, recently attended a Saturday workshop to learn more about the program. “I think it’s very important for schools to include parents in their child’s education, because while they go to school to learn, the majority of their time is spent at home,” Rivera says. “If I’m up to date on the assignments, and the essence of what my daughter is learning at school, I can help her at home.” It’s facilitating those learning relationships that is exactly what Elisabeth Stock — and PowerMyLearning — has been about from the beginning.
_____
The 2016 AllStars program is produced in partnership with Comcast NBCUniversal and celebrates social entrepreneurs who are powering solutions with innovative technology. Visit NationSwell.com/AllStars from November 1 to 15 to vote for your favorite AllStar. The winner will receive the AllStar Award, a $10,000 grant to help further his or her work advocating for change. | {
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Осмысливая эти годы в условиях трескотни «крымнашистов» о том, как эффективно мы встаем с колен, на которые были поставлены «национал-предателями» конца 1980-х, хотелось бы не только взглянуть назад, как сейчас принято делать, но и посмотреть по сторонам, так как 1985 год стал переломным в судьбе не только Советского Союза, но и ряда других стран. 15 января в Бразилии прошли первые свободные выборы после 20 лет диктатуры. 14 июня близ люксембургского городка Шенген лидеры пяти стран ЕЭС подписали договор, отменивший границы между их государствами. В сентябре в Китае состоялись пленум ЦК КПК и партийная конференция, обновившие руководство партии. 18 октября эмир Дубая повелел создать в порту Джебель-Али первую на Ближнем Востоке свободную экономическую зону. И наконец, в течение года Apple презентовала персональный компьютер Macintosh, а Microsoft — операционную систему Windows. Последствия этих событий ощущает сегодня весь мир.
Тридцать лет назад Бразилия импортировала ¾ применявшегося в экономике промышленного оборудования и экспортировала в основном кофе, сою и железную руду. Доля промышленности в ВВП не превышала 27%. Сегодня почти 80% всего нового промышленного оборудования, устанавливаемого на предприятиях страны, сделано в самой Бразилии, автомобилей производится в 6,7 раза больше, чем в 1985 году, а самолетов — в 14,2 раза больше (3-е место после ЕС и США). В стране добывают в 4,7 раза больше нефти, но при этом доля сырья в экспорте сократилась с 64,5 до 36,2%. Местные инженеры освоили технологии шельфового бурения на глубине до 7 тысяч метров, а 94% выпускаемых автомобилей оснащены двигателями, способными работать на биодизеле. В наши дни бывшая португальская колония — 8-я по размерам ВВП и 9-я по объему промышленного производства держава мира, страна демократических традиций и европейской культуры. Что сделало ее такой? Компетентность лидеров, открытость инновациям, диалог между народом, элитами и экспертным сообществом, готовность к международному сотрудничеству и вера власти в народ, его способность и право выбирать своих руководителей и ориентиры развития.
Ситуация в Китае в 1985 году была еще хуже. ВВП на душу населения составлял $310 в год, средняя заработная плата в индустриальном секторе — $40 в месяц, а по объему экспорта Китай отставал от… ГДР. Но китайские власти забыли об «особости» страны, сделав ставку на догоняющее развитие, заимствование технологий и привлечение иностранных инвестиций. Сочетание дешевой рабочей силы, недорогого сырья и благоприятного инвестиционного режима дало результат. В 2009 году Китай стал крупнейшим в мире экспортером, в 2010-м — второй по размеру экономикой мира, а к 2020 году обгонит США. Только за последние пять лет в стране построено 7,1 млрд кв. метров жилых и офисных зданий, 1,23 млн км автомобильных дорог с твердым покрытием (из них — 34 тыс. км автострад с 4 и более полосным движением) и 7,9 тыс. км железных дорог. В Китае сейчас располагаются 6 из 25 самых больших по пассажирообороту аэропортов и 12 из 25 крупнейших по грузоперевалке морских портов мира. Замечу: никто из глобальных держав не «зазывал» КНР в клуб развитых стран, но талант и компетентность властей в совокупности с упорным и ответственным трудом граждан сделали чудеса.
Ближний Восток в начале 1980-х купался в нефтедолларах так же, как и брежневский СССР. Но некоторые правители уже поняли, что нефтяное благополучие не бесконечно, и начали экономическую диверсификацию. Дубай, в частности, избрал стратегию превращения в крупный транспортный узел и финансовый центр, а также место притяжения туристов со всего мира — и «нишевая» стратегия оправдала себя. Привлекая дешевую рабочую силу из Индии, Пакистана и соседних стран, эмират становился финансовым, культурным и образовательным центром региона. С 1985 по 2013 год доля доходов от нефти в бюджете сократилась с 88,4 до 22,7%, грузооборот морской торговли вырос в 22,7 раза, а поток авиапассажиров — почти в 180 раз. Здесь появились самое высокое в мире здание – «Бурж Халифа» высотой 828 метров и самое большое сооружение по общей площади – 3-й терминал Дубайского аэропорта, открываются филиалы не только крупнейших банков, но и знаменитых университетов и музеев. Грамотное управление, низкие налоги и искусственно удешевленная рабочая сила — это сделало из кусочка пустыни самую преуспевающую страну региона.
В Европе прошедшие 30 лет стали временем движения в ином направлении. Старый Свет не расширил свою долю в глобальном валовом продукте (она даже сократилась с 24,3% в 1985 году до 20,2% в 2014-м), но претерпел эпохальную политико-социальную трансформацию. Отмена границ между отдельными странами стала прелюдией к расширению Сообщества с 12 до 28 членов, образованию ЕС в 1992 году, введению единой валюты в 1999-м и принятию Лиссабонского договора в 2009 году. Эти перемены превратили ЕС в квазигосударственное образование, основанное на ограниченном суверенитете участников, что стало самой крупной социальной инновацией последних столетий. С 1985 по 2013 год доля торговли между государствами — членами ЕЭС/EC выросла с 47,8 до 63,8%, количество европейцев, свободно владеющих языками других стран ЕС, увеличилось почти в четыре раза, а доля браков между гражданами разных стран ЕС подскочила с 0,6 до 5,8% всех семейных союзов. Европа, которая долго теряла заморские владения, терпела поражения в периферийных войнах и уступала позиции в экономике «развивающемуся» миру, сегодня получает шанс стать центром притяжения, местом, где создаются привлекательные образы будущего и пестуются представления о должном, адекватные целям ХXI века.
Перемены в технологической сфере революционно преобразовали мир. В 1970-х казалось, что будущее человечества связано с термоядерной энергией и покорением космоса, но направление прогресса определили иные новации. Вычислительная техника персонализировалась и превратилась в средство накопления информации и коммуникации между людьми. Если в 1985 году в мире выпустили 7,5 млн компьютеров, то в 2000-м — уже 132 млн, а в 2013-м — более 520 млн. Ведущие компании сектора вошли в первую десятку в списке самых дорогих корпораций планеты. Капитализация Apple с 1985 по 2015 год выросла в 156 раз, а Microsoft с момента ее выхода на биржу в 1990 году — в 208 раз (сегодня каждая из этих почти виртуальных корпораций стоит дороже, чем все компании России). При этом компьютерная и коммуникационная отрасли были единственными, цена продукции которых снижалась на фоне совершенствования ее технических свойств: средняя память жесткого диска персонального компьютера в 1985–2014 годах выросла в 2,6 млн раз, быстродействие — в 140 тыс. раз, а цена упала в 6-8 раз. Информационная революция перекинулась на мобильную связь и в интернет. Если в 1985 году число мобильников в мире не превышало 5 млн штук, то сегодня их уже 5,9 млрд, а интернетом пользуются 2,8 млрд человек. Это изменило суть экономической системы постиндустриального мира. Потребление информационных продуктов и знаний перешло из категории личного потребления в разряд капиталовложений, вследствие чего начали изменяться понятия инвестиций и потребления, позволяя западным обществам сокращать инвестиции без снижения темпов экономического роста.
За 30 лет мир изменился. Постиндустриальная его часть обнаружила потенциал технологической и социальной инновативности и воспользовалась им для поддержания своего лидерства. Отдельные страны периферии противопоставили этому стратегию нишевого развития и извлекли максимум выгод из деиндустриализации Запада и быстрого роста уровня жизни глобальной элиты.
Однако на фоне данных тенденций Советский Союз и Россия выглядели исключением. Радикальные реформы 1980-х и 1990-х годов проводились без должного плана и четких целей в экономической и технологической сферах. Популярность перестройки и сближение с Западом не были использованы для прочной интеграции в многосторонние структуры. Индустриальная политика была забыта ради интересов финансистов. В итоге слабая и «униженная» страна стала легкой добычей для реваншистов из КГБ — главного «неудачника» среди спецслужб ХХ века.
В 1985 году РСФСР производила в 2,14 раза больше электроэнергии, чем Китай, и выпускала «всего» в 2,1 раза меньше цемента, но сейчас мы отстаем от КНР соответственно в 3,9 и 38,5 (!) раза. По выпуску грузовых автомобилей, часов и фотоаппаратов мы опережали Китай в 1985 году в 1,2, 1,9 и 4,8 раза, а сейчас отстаем соответственно в 46, 310 и 2000 раз. В конце 1980-х (а затем на некоторое время в конце 1990-х) годов у России имелся шанс использовать в качестве главного конкурентного преимущества крайне низкие цены на энергоносители и сырье на внутреннем рынке, ограничить их повышение и максимально либерализовать перевод в страну обрабатывающих производств из европейских государств. Но решение о приватизации базовых отраслей и удовлетворение, которое правящая элита испытала от высоких нефтяных цен в 2000-е годы, обусловили те последствия, которые мы имеем и которые вполне устраивают нынешние власти.
Сравнивая Россию с большинством стран мира, начавших меняться в то же время, когда Михаил Горбачев оглашал в Кремле «новый курс», можно констатировать: мы оказались самыми большими неудачниками рубежа XX и XXI столетий. Именно эта неспособность «поймать в свои паруса ветер истории» порождает сегодня непреодолимое желание «идти против ветра», не участвуя в создании нового глобального порядка, а завершая разрушение прежнего. Уйдя от холодной войны в середине 1980-х, мы с сожалением вспоминаем о былом величии и намерены вернуть его, нападая на соседние страны и бряцая ядерным оружием. Но миру с нами просто не по пути. Не стоит надеяться на то, что вызов, который сегодня бросает ему Россия, будет принят. Нас скоро просто перестанут замечать — или, точнее, станут учитывать в полном соответствии с реальной ролью России в мире. Которая, принимая во внимание описанные тренды, быстро приближается к нулю. | {
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About
"Wew Lad" is an obfuscatory expression associated with circle jerking or shitposting, which is often accompanied by a poorly-drawn illustration of a man's face known as the "Wrinkle Face" or a digitally altered picture of the Doge Shiba Inu.
Origin
On December 14th, 2012, the network security blog SecurityMatters reported that a 13-year-old student from Philippines was murdered for replying to a Facebook post with the word "wew." The earliest known use of the phrase "wew lad" was submitted in a thread on 4chan's [s4s] (shit 4chan says) board on December 14th, 2013.
Spread
On May 29th, 2014, the single serving site Wew Lad was launched, featuring a photoshopped picture of Doge with an animated Wrinkle Face character spinning in the center and a remix of the theme song from the television show Hawaii Five-0 playing in the background. On January 21st, 2015, Redditor mememaster420xx submitted the page to the /r/FreshMemes subreddit.
On March 31st, a post featuring an illustration of the toast man's face along with the description "wew lad is 4chan's newest meme" was submitted to /s4s/ (shown below). On the following day, World of Warcraft Forums member Amberly submitted a thread titled "wew lad."
Search Interest
Know Your Meme Store
External References | {
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Wasserman Schultz’s IT Aide Arrested Trying To Flee The Country
Luke Rosiak
Investigative Reporter
Florida GOP Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s right-hand information technology (IT) aide was arrested attempting to leave the country just a few hours after The Daily Caller News Foundation’s Investigative Group revealed that he is the target of an FBI investigation.
Imran Awan, a Pakistani-born IT aide, had access to all emails and files of dozens of members of Congress, as well as the password to the iPad that Wasserman Schultz used for Democratic National Committee business before she resigned as its head in July 2016. He was apprehended while attempting to flee the U.S., Fox News first reported.
Bill Miller, spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, told TheDCNF that Awan “was arraigned today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on one count of bank fraud, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1344. He pled not guilty and was released pursuant to a high-intensity supervision program. The conditions of release are that he receive a GPS monitor, he abide by a curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and that he not leave a 50-mile radius of his residence in Virginia. Awan was also ordered to turn over all of his passports.”
Soon after Imran began working for Wasserman Schultz in 2005, four of his relatives appeared on the payroll of other Democrats — many from Wasserman Schultz’s home state of Florida — at inflated salaries, but Democratic staffers said they were rarely seen at work. They collected $4 million in total.
House authorities told members in February that Awan and his relatives were suspects in a criminal investigation into theft and IT abuses, and they were banned from the Capitol network.
Wasserman Schultz refused to fire Awan, despite being the suspect in a hacking probe, and has blocked Capitol Police from searching a laptop they confiscated because it was tied to Awan.
TheDCNF reported Sunday night that the FBI had joined the investigation and seized smashed hard drives from Awan’s home.
His stepmother filed court documents accusing him of wiretapping and extorting her (see p. 23 of court documents in that case), but Democratic members of Congress, including Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, suggested that police had framed the Pakistani-born brothers out of Islamophobia.
Wasserman Schultz’s spokesman, David Damron, did not immediately return a request for comment.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2017/07/25/wasserman-schultzs-it-aide-arrested-trying-to-flee-the-country/
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The woman who made headlines here and overseas after throwing a sex toy at a senior government minister yesterday has narrowly escaped charges.
The fake penis was thrown by Christchurch nurse Josie Butler during a television interview with Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce and the footage has since made its way around the world.
Ms Butler was protesting against the TPPA but was keeping a low profile at Waitangi's lower marae today.
"The statement's been made and we'll leave it at that," Ms Butler told ONE News reporter Helen Castles.
Ms Butler was also at the TPPA boyracer protest in Christchurch last weekend, telling ONE News then that as a nurse she thought it was really important to take a stand against the agreement.
An unharmed Steven Joyce is laughing the incident off as "a bit humorous".
But his boss is definitely not amused, with John Key saying it's appalling because the image has gone around the world and there are now people in other countries saying New Zealanders celebrate their national day by throwing a sex toy at a senior politician. | {
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Tammy Nemec sits outside in her lanai surrounded by the cats she loves.
They’re all over the place. Lounging on cat condos, climbing a series of wooden catwalks and munching Friskies cat food from over-sized platters.
Nemec strokes one particularly needy orange cat named Lucas as she talks about how much her life has changed in the last two months.
“It’s really been a whirlwind in the best, positive way,” says Nemec, the founder, president and live-in caretaker for nonprofit cat rescue Rescue Cats Rock. “And we’re only going to go up from here.”
Nemec and her approximately 80 rescue cats moved into their North Fort Myers mobile home in January, after a series of News-Press articles rallied cat lovers to donate enough money for her to a put a $35,000 down payment on the place.
Up until then, she and her cats had faced the possibility of being homeless when their lease ran out at their former rental house. “The outlook just looked horrible for her future and for the kitties,” says Rescue Cats Rock vice president Christy Stone.
© Andrea Melendez/The News-Press/USA Today Florida Network Tammy Nemec, founder and live-in caretaker for Rescue Cats Rock, tends to her 80 cats in her new mobile home and attached "catio". Things keep getting better for Rescue Cats Rock, the cat rescue that The News-Press helped raise enough money to buy a permanent home. An anonymous donor just wrote them a check for $100,000 and they’ve paid off the mortgage on their North Fort Myers mobile home.
Read more: 83 cats and nowhere to go: North Fort Myers charity Rescue Cats Rock could be homeless
And more: Rescue Cats Rock buys N. Fort Myers 'forever home' after donors rally to save its 79 cats
But then the good news kept coming for Nemec and her nonprofit. Now she and her beloved cats never have to worry about being homeless again — or even paying a mortgage.
Thanks to the generosity of one anonymous couple, the mobile home’s $75,000 mortgage was paid off just weeks after she made that down payment.
All of it.
The anonymous couple showed up one day with checkbook in hand, soon after Nemec had purchased the home. Then, right there in the middle of her new bedroom, they told Nemec they were writing her a check for $100,000.
To say Nemec was stunned is an understatement.
“I kind of lost my balance and sat down on the floor,” she says. “It was so surreal. … And, of course, I was crying.”
Nemec says she looked up at her friend and asked if she was dreaming. She wasn’t, her friend assured her.
It was all real.
“The man said, ‘My wife and I have been praying about this,’ ” Nemec says. “He said, ‘We believe this is God’s money. And we believe that God is telling us we should help you.’ "
Still, that's only the most extreme example of animal lovers' generosity. And Nemec and Stone say they’d never be where they are now without the help of donors in Southwest Florida and the rest of the country — whether they gave $5 or $10 or $100,000.
They all made a difference in the lives of those cats.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Stone says. “I’m grateful beyond words. And I’m rejuvenated by the thought that there are so many good people in this world.”
© Andrea Melendez/The News-Press/USA Today Florida Network Tammy Nemec, founder and live-in caretaker for Rescue Cats Rock, tends to her 80 cats in her new mobile home and attached "catio". Things keep getting better for Rescue Cats Rock, the cat rescue that The News-Press helped raise enough money to buy a permanent home. An anonymous donor just wrote them a check for $100,000 and they’ve paid off the mortgage on their North Fort Myers mobile home.
One of those donors, Crown Roofing of Fort Myers, installed a new roof for the mobile home’s enclosed patio — nicknamed “the catio.” The cats have free rein and can move easily through a cat door between the catio and the two-bedroom mobile home.
Nemec says she called 20 different roofing companies before she found Crown Roofing. She was looking for someone to donate roofing materials and labor. All said “no.”
But Crown Roofing likes to help out local charities, says Michelle Grojean, the company’s marketing director. And besides, co-owner Christopher Copeland loved the cause.
“He’s very, very fond of animals — and especially cats,” Grojean says. “Animals are near and dear to his heart.”
Nemec says the outpouring of donations puts Rescue Cats Rock in a good position to keep growing and help even more cats. But she doesn't want people to stop giving, either.
Most of that $100,000 check has already been spent on the mortgage, a reverse-osmosis water system and helping build the new catio. And Rescue Cats Rock’s bills never stop.
There’s a lot of work left to do, Nemec says. The new catio needs to be reinforced with hurricane straps and 2-by-12-foot beams to bring it up to code, for example. And the septic tank needs new drainage.
Plus there are the never-ending bills of about $2,500 per month, such as veterinarian visits for all those cats — including emergency visits for many of the sick and injured cats Nemec takes in — and about 80 cans of cat food every morning.
© Andrea Melendez/The News-Press/USA Today Florida Network Tammy Nemec, founder and live-in caretaker for Rescue Cats Rock, tends to her 80 cats in her new mobile home and attached "catio". Things keep getting better for Rescue Cats Rock, the cat rescue that The News-Press helped raise enough money to buy a permanent home. An anonymous donor just wrote them a check for $100,000 and they’ve paid off the mortgage on their North Fort Myers mobile home.
Rescue Cats Rock operates entirely on donations, Nemec says. She lives on a disability check of $771 a month (she broke her neck and back in a car accident when she was 21, she says). So it’s donors and volunteers who keep her beloved charity going.
Nemec started Rescue Cats Rock in 2015, and it officially became a nonprofit about one year ago. The goal: to save sick, injured or feral cats that might otherwise go un-adopted and euthanized.
She says she adopts out as many of the cats as she can — about 20 in the last month alone. But those cats who can’t find homes have a "forever home" with her, she says.
“It’s not my house,” she told The News-Press last month. “It’s the cats’. … This is their house.”
For Nemec, these cats aren’t just something she loves. She says they’re a mission from God.
Until those cats arrived, she says, she was living a troubled life involving drug and alcohol abuse, and she served six months of jail time in 2014. When she got out, she says, she knew she needed to make a change.
© Andrea Melendez/The News-Press/USA Today Florida Network Tammy Nemec, founder and live-in caretaker for Rescue Cats Rock, tends to her 80 cats in her new mobile home and attached "catio". Things keep getting better for Rescue Cats Rock, the cat rescue that The News-Press helped raise enough money to buy a permanent home. An anonymous donor just wrote them a check for $100,000 and they’ve paid off the mortgage on their North Fort Myers mobile home.
She says she's been sober now since Feb. 7, 2014, the day she was arrested for probation violation on drug paraphernalia charges.
At one point, Nemec's Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor told her to get a plant — something that could help occupy her mind. But she says she needed more than that.
And she found that in her cats — her new purpose in life.
“I needed something that I could hold and I could love and pour my heart into,” she says. “And these cats were it for me.
“It’s not about me. It’s about them. This has absolutely nothing to do with me. I’m just the instrument.”
Then God kept giving, she says, inspiring The News-Press to write about Rescue Cats Rock. And that, in turn, inspired animal lovers to open their checkbooks and their hearts.
Now she's excited about Rescue Cats Rock and its promising future. And about all the cats she'll be able to save.
“I’m grateful to every single person,” Nemec says. “Every single one. Every person who donated, everyone who said a prayer for us.
“This story really isn’t about me. It’s about God and his creatures.”
To learn more about Rescue Cats Rock, call 440-4073, email to [email protected] or visit facebook.com/RescueCatsRock.org or rescuecatsrock.org.
Connect with this reporter: Charles Runnells (Facebook), @charlesrunnells (Twitter), @crunnells1 (Instagram)
This article originally appeared on The News-Press: Rescue Cats Rock: 80 cats move into their new home. Then anonymous donor pays off mortgage | {
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Floods are among the most frequent and costly natural disasters in terms of human hardship and economic loss. The Regional Flood Risk Information System allows states to share and distribute flood risk information more effectively. | {
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