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The suspected ringleader of the group that kidnapped seven Estonians on March 23 has been arrested by authorities, according to Lebanese media.
It is not yet clear whether the detained suspect is Wael Abbasi, who Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, the head of the Lebanese Internal Security Forces, said was the kidnappers' leader, the Lebanese news agency naharnet.com reported. The father and brother of Abbasi were allegedly taken into custody earlier today.
Previously, media reports asserted that the leader of the kidnappers was Darwish Khanjar.
Rifi told the publication al-Liwaa that the assailants consisted of six or seven members and that four have been arrested. Yet high-ranking security officials told the newspaper An Nahar that more than seven people, including four involved in the kidnapping, have been seized.
A white van used to capture the Estonians was found by the authorities near the town of Majdal Anjar on March 30. A Mercedes used by the kidnappers was also found, according to the Voice of Lebanon.
"We won't allow Lebanon's security to be targeted," Rifi said to al-Liwaa, threatening the kidnappers that the army could send a "painful" message.
Authorities said they believed they were "hours" away from resolving the crisis, the Daily Star reported.
Earlier on March 31, an organization called the "Movement of Rebirth and Reform" sent an electronic mail to the website lebanonfiles.com, taking responsibility for the kidnapping of seven Estonian tourists.
Allegedly, the Estonians are in good health and the demands for their release will be given soon.
To support its claims, the organization included three photos of the Estonians' national ID cards. The pictures of August Tillo, Kalev Käosaar and Madis Paluoja can be identified on the website.
The publisher of the Lebanese website, Rabh Haber, told uudised.err.ee that he has never heard of such a group, adding that it was probably just created or a coverup name. Still, the statement needs to be taken seriously, he said, since the email sent to the website contained the photos of the Estonians' ID cards.
Ott Tammik | {
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Sometimes you are just too tired to play with your pets and give them the attention they need.
When this kind of situation happens, you are mostly busy and tired.
Good night sleep would do the trick BUT your pet decides that sleep is for weak and keep you awake the whole night just because they are too pumped up to rest because of no play in day time.
This project resolves all your problems.
Arduino board with simple shield. Two servos and a laser. Keeps your pet entertained the whole day if it has to.
The laser used is a typical red dot laser that you can find in pointers. It is low power >5mW so it wont blind you or your cat. But like always when playing with bright light or laser. Do not point it to your eye or your pets eye on purpose. | {
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Vape the Best EJuices | 100% American Made Best Vape Juice Flavors
Central Vapors is proud to bring you ejuice flavors made from the finest ingredients available. All American made eliquid is our specialty and creating these exceptionally great tasting e liquids flavors.
Quality counts at Central Vapors, and all eliquids are made with the utmost pure and fresh ingredients available.
Vape Flavors | Quality E-juice Products
We're on the ball, ejuices from Central Vapors are packed with quality flavor and prepared with professional passion. Need some flavor Ideas, check out the sample pack option if you're after a new favorite flavor. If you're willing to get your hands dirty, check out DIY Ejuice Kit which has all the essentials to Mix and create your very own Vape Juice flavors! | {
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PORTLAND, Ore. -- Trail Blazers guard Andre Miller is critical of the suspension that ended a consecutive games-played streak that dated back to 2003.
Miller missed Tuesday's 106-99 victory over the Suns because of the league-imposed one-game suspension for making "excessive and unnecessary contact" with Clippers forward Blake Griffin in a game Sunday.
The suspension snapped Miller's consecutive games streak at 632, the longest among active NBA players. He had not missed a game since Jan. 24, 2003.
Miller told reporters Wednesday the suspension wasn't justified. He says it showed that the league favors younger players and was without consideration for his accomplishment. | {
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A man who set his shirt on fire after threatening people on a BART train with a knife was arrested in Berkeley late Monday afternoon, authorities report.
According to a brief notice released by the BART Police on Monday night, the man was riding a Fremont-bound train when he began to threaten people with the knife.
BART officers responded to the Ashby station, at 3100 Adeline St., to intercept the train and detain the man at about 4:40 p.m.
According to BART, the man got off the train at Ashby, then set his shirt on fire on the platform.
When he left the platform, a train operator was able to extinguish the flames. (BART PD clarified after publication that the man was not wearing the shirt when he set it on fire.)
Officers found the man and took him into custody at gunpoint, according to the BART Police.
The man was found to have two arrest warrants, totaling $15,000, in connection with possession of narcotics.
He was arrested on suspicion of brandishing a weapon, negligent burning, terrorist threats and the warrants. He was taken to Santa Rita Jail.
His name, age and city of residence were not immediately available, but Berkeleyside has requested them from the BART Police and will update this post if that information is provided.
Subscribe to the Daily Briefing Don’t miss a story. Get Berkeleyside headlines delivered to your inbox. Don’t miss a story. Get Berkeleyside headlines delivered to your inbox.
Update, 2:39 a.m. The man’s name is Giovanni Lopez, also known as Giovani Francisco, according to Alameda County sheriff’s office records online. He is 27. Lopez is being held on a bail of $60,000 at Santa Rita Jail and is scheduled for arraignment Wednesday, July 13.
Have a question about a local public safety incident? Write to [email protected]. Photographs and videos are always appreciated.
Follow Berkeleyside on Twitter and Facebook. Email us at [email protected]. Get the latest Berkeley news in your inbox with Berkeleyside’s free Daily Briefing. | {
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At least five Palestinians, including a 1-year-old child, were killed Saturday as Israel responded with force to thefiring of 200 rockets earlier from Gaza into southern Israel, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Air-raid sirens sounded across southern Israel as the rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, according to the Israel Defense Forces, sending residents running for bomb shelters. The IDF initially said 200 rockets were fired but later increased the number to about 250. Dozens were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, and 70 percent of the rockets landed in open areas, it said.
Israel Police spokesperson Mickey Rosenfeld said there were heightened security measures in the south and increased patrols in cities after the wave of rockets. He said police bomb disposal experts were responding to rockets that have struck open areas in the south.
Rosenfeld said a house was damaged by a rocket in the town of Ashkelon, not far from the border with Gaza, but its occupants were safe.
Mourners carry the body of Palestinian militant Emad Naseer, who was killed in an Israeli air strike, during his funeral in the northern Gaza Strip on May 4, 2019. Mohammed Salem / Reuters
MDA, Israel's emergency medical service, said a 50-year-old man was treated for shrapnel wounds after getting injured in one of the town streets.
It also said a 50-year-old woman was "severely injured" in a nearby town of Kiryat Gat after suffering shrapnel wounds.
The IDF said on Twitter that its tanks had begun to strike Hamas military targets. It said later Saturday that it has struck approximately 30 targets along the Gaza Strip.
RAW FOOTAGE: Incoming rocket fire from Gaza at Israeli civilians, as filmed by the Israeli civilians that Hamas is targeting. pic.twitter.com/Kz1d1KwCle — Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 4, 2019
Saturday's missile barrage comes after the IDF said that shots were fired at Israeli troops from southern Gaza on Friday, injuring two soldiers.
In response, an IDF aircraft targeted a military post of Hamas, an Islamic militant group that has ruled over the territory since 2007. Hamas said that two of its members were killed and three were wounded in that strike.
Hamas would "continue to respond to the crimes by the occupation and it will not allow it to shed the blood of our people," its spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua said in a statement on Saturday. He made no explicit claim for Hamas having fired the rockets.
The escalation, which comes just before both the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and Israel's Independence Day holiday, prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to convene security chiefs, Reuters reported.
An explosion is pictured among buildings during an Israeli airstike on Gaza City on May 4, 2019. Mahmud Hams / AFP - Getty Images
The U.S. State Department in a statement Saturday said, "The United States strongly condemns the ongoing barrage of rocket attacks by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from Gaza upon innocent civilians and their communities across Israel," and that "we call on those responsible for the violence to cease this aggression immediately."
"We stand with Israel and fully support its right to self defense against these abhorrent attacks," the U.S. State Department said. The Israel Defense Forces also blamed the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas for the rocket attacks.
Israel and Hamas have managed to avert all-out war for the past five years. Egyptian mediators, credited with brokering a ceasefire after a Hamas rocket attack north of Tel Aviv in March triggered a burst of intense fighting, have been working to prevent any further escalation of hostilities.
Gaza, which is home to around two million Palestinians, has seen its economy suffer after years of blockades as well as recent foreign aid cuts. Unemployment stands at 52 percent, according to the World Bank.
Israel says its blockade is necessary to stop weapons reaching Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel in the past decade. | {
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The mood in Leafs Nation has been pretty somber lately, with the team only winning four of its last 11 games. As Dom Luszczyszyn recently pointed out, teams that go into the playoffs on a cold streak have a lower chance of advancing past the first round, which has a lot of fans tempering their expectations heading into another first round matchup with the Bruins. So, what exactly has been going on with Toronto lately?
In a word: goaltending (or as I like to call it – “voodoo”).
If you’re looking for a way to gauge fan optimism in one chart, there it is. We tend to be really happy when elite goaltending leads to unsustainably great results (e.g. the first few months of this season for Toronto), but when the save percentage pendulum swings the other way, it feels like the sky is falling. It’s important to note that every fan base goes through this in an 82-game season, but that doesn’t make it any easier on our blood... | {
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Ty and Dan walk back through a wild smorgasbord of home underdogs wreaking havoc on the college football universe, with stunning upsets of Clemson, Washington, and Washington State. Plus, LSU’s home thriller with Auburn, USC’s tester against Utah, Miami’s comeback in a monsoon, and a Red River Shootout for the ages.
| {
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Do you like this project?
Tell your friends. | {
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(Affiliate Notice: G-Central may earn a commission on sales made from its links to Amazon, eBay, and Reeds.)
Pure gold Dream Project G-Shock on public display in Tokyo G-Shock, News | {
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Actor Eddie Marsan has tackled the challenge of appearing in a new TV series while in lockdown by recruiting his family as film crew and performers.
The Happy Go Lucky star and his wife Janine juggled home-schooling their four children while capturing his scenes for ITV’s Isolation Stories, a four-part drama about families during the coronavirus pandemic.
Covid-19 outbreak restrictions saw Janine step behind the camera for the first time to help capture her husband’s performance while two of their children joined in the acting.
Marsan – whose career has seen him directed by Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and Mike Leigh – hailed his wife’s directorial debut.
He told the BBC Andrew Marr show on Sunday: “She was fantastic, she really took it on. She was moving the cameras, moving the lights, doing the sounds, cooking the lunches, everything.”
Janine explained she was given technical support by director David Blair and others via the video conferencing platform Zoom, but said she did not think she would start a new film career.
Marsan explained that he is due to appear in an episode entitled Karen, which sees him play a “heartbroken” man whose marriage has collapsed and is self-isolating at home with his two teenage sons.
His ex-partner’s father, played by actor David Threlfall, comes to his house to persuade him to let his former wife see the children.
Due to strict social-distancing rules, Threlfall had to remain in the Marsan family garden while performing his scenes.
“The whole premise is to tell stories about what’s happening in everyday people’s lives but within the context of isolation and the difficulties that that brings,” Marsan explained.
He said his children had grown up on film sets and he thought the challenge of helping film scenes at home would teach them to collaborate.
“They loved it. It was very hard work and they wanted to get off their school work, but we didn’t let them,” he said.
“So every time we said ‘cut’ and we had to change things, they had to go down and do some more work, and they wanted to just play on the Xbox or something. We didn’t let them.”
Isolation Stories airs at 9pm over four nights on ITV, starting on Monday. | {
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How to teach React.js properly? A quick preview of wroc_love.rb workshop agenda
Hey there! My name is Marcin and I’m a co-author of two Arkency books you propably already know - Rails meets React.js and React.js by Example. In this short blogpost I’d like to invite you to learn React.js with me - and this is quite a journey!
Long story short, Arkency fell in love in React.js. And when we fell in love in something, we’re always sharing this love with others. We made a lot resources about the topic. All because we want to teach you how to write React.js applications.
Workshop is a natural step further to achieve this goal. But how to teach React.js in a better way? How to take an advantage a stationary workshop gives to learn you in an optimal way? What can you expect from React.js workshops from Arkency?
Why you should learn React.js?
There are many reasons. First of all, React.js helps you write even the most complicated dynamic interfaces. Facebook uses it, your clients will demand it soon (if not demanding it today). React.js makes easy things easy and hard things achievable. The programming model of React.js scales very well with the growth of your application. From small projects to big ones it is always applicable.
The second thing is that React.js can be introduced gradually in your codebase. This is extremely important when you work on an existing code. You can take a tiny piece of your interface and transform it into the React.js component. It works well with frameworks. And speaking of frameworks - it is often way harder to introduce a JavaScript framework in such workflow-friendly way. Ryan Florence has a great talk about why React.js is well suited for legacy codebases. For us it is also very important - inside the team we’re working with legacy codebases all the time. It is inherent to the work of a consulting agency.
React.js is also a great gateway drug to an interesting world of modern JavaScript. You may hate JS - but it is one of the most developing communities nowadays. The new standard of JavaScript polishes a lot flaws the old JS had. Node.js tools can be great drop-in replacements even in your Rails apps. It is really worth giving it a try - and in my opinion there is no better way to enter this world than learning React.js.
Last, but not least - the learning curve of React.js is very smooth. You need to learn only a few concepts to start working. It only makes one job - managing your views. This is the biggest advantage and the biggest flaw the same time - especially for Rails people, who get accustomed to benefits the framework provides.
But as always there are things which are harder than other. Let me talk a bit about those “hairy” parts.
What is hard to learn in React.js?
Basically, there are three things that are needed to understand in order to master React.js:
What is a component, what are its basic parts - render method, lifecycle methods and so on.
method, lifecycle methods and so on. What are properties and what is their role in React components.
What is state and its role in the whole lifecycle of a component.
The third part is usually the hardest to grasp for React.js beginners. What you put into state? What you put into props? Aren’t they interchangeable? If you don’t get it right, you can get into some nasty trouble. Not to mention you can nullify all benefits React provides to you.
There is also a problem of React.js being just a library. People can learn creating even the most complicated component, but they can still struggle in a certain field frameworks give you for free - data management. Building the user interface is very important but it is nothing if you can’t manage the data coming out from using it.
What if you could get rid of both problems at the same time? That would certainly help you with getting into a right direction with your React.js learning. And you know what is the best part?
In fact, you can.
React.js and Redux is the solution
Initially React.js was published by Facebook and there was no opinionated way to solve problems of data management, nor cumbersome state management. After a short while Facebook proposed its own solution - a so-called Flux architecture.
The community went crazy. There was a massive EXPLOSION of libraries that were foundations to implement your app in a Fluxy way. Those libraries was often focused on different goals - there were type-checked-flux libaries, isomorphic flux libraries, immutable-flux libraries and so on. It was a headache to choose wisely among all of those! Not to mention the hype over Flux caused some damage - this is not a silver bullet and people followed the idea blindly.
Today this situation is more or less settled. Many libraries from this time just died, replaced by better solutions. It can be observed that this “flux libraries war” has a one clear winner - Redux library.
Redux won because many things. One is the most important - it is extremely simple. The second one - it needs a minimal amount of boilerplate. Third - it does only one job - and makes it right. The dreaded problem of most React.js and frontend beginners in general - data management.
Let’s make a thought experiment. Let’s take three main parts of React.js:
Component
Props
State
This is how React component works (in a great simplification):
You render a component by giving it properties and a place to render. The result is a piece of an user interface (a widget if that kind of naming is your thing).
if that kind of naming is your thing). A component has state. It is internal to it. User interaction (or an external world, generally) can modify state by calling component methods.
State changes, component gets re-rendered. The change is possible because a render method which produces HTML uses state and props to determine what is the output.
So state is something persisting within your component - hidden, yet important. This is a problem because to know exactly what is rendered on the screen you need to dive into the React component.
And what if there’d be no state?
You render a component by giving it props and a place to render. The result is a piece of an user interface.
To make change you need to render the component with different props.
Let’s rephrase it a little:
You get a result of a function by giving it arguments and a place to store the result.
To get another result you call a function with different arguments.
So, basically, without state React.js is just a pure function (that is: a function which return value is determined only by their arguments). This makes things even simpler than they are with standard way of doing React. It also takes away the last learning obstacle - state management.
Combo React + Redux is extremely efficient in working with components in a stateless fashion. That’s why it is my preferred way to learn people React.js on the upcoming workshop.
What you’ll do during the workshop?
I’m honored to make a workshop as a part of the wonderful wroc_love.rb conference in Wrocław, Poland. This is my little thank you to the community, as well as an another occasion to share my knowledge about React.js.
I wanted to make this workshop as Arkency-like as possible. You may know that we’re working remotely and we’re following async principles. You can learn more about it in Async Remote: The Guide to Building a Self-Organizing Team book which is our ‘manifest’ of workflow, culture and techniques. While a workshop form is not remote at all, I wanted to make it as async as possible.
In the workshop we’ll be developing an app. A real one - it’ll be an application to manage Call-for-Papers process which takes place before a conference. You’ll be presented with a working API, static mockups and working environment where you can just start writing React.js-Redux code. Your goal will be to develop an user interface for this application.
You can enter or leave anytime. During the workshop the questions & answers will be accumulated and available for you all time. Everything you’d need to jump in and code will be written on a blackboard. You can take only a first task and do it. You can just watch. I’ll be here to help you, answer your questions and make a quick introduction to React.js and Redux basics.
That’s all. You don’t need any prior React.js knowledge. It’d be great if you saw JavaScript code before - but not necessary.
Do you think it is a crazy idea? Or maybe it’s impossible to make a working app this way in such short time? This is why because you haven’t seen React.js+Redux combo in action ;).
You can enter the workshop free of charge (although the conference is a paid event). The event takes place in a lovely city of Wrocław, Poland - 11th of March at 11:00. Mark your calendars - I’ll be happy to see you there!
Oh, and don’t hesitate to reach me through an e-mail, Twitter if you have any further questions. Or maybe you have your story to share - for example what is the hardest part of learning React.js? I’ll be happy to hear them! | {
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MARMET, W.Va. — There were the beauty queens, ages 6 to 60, riding in style in the Labor Day Parade, including Teen Miss West Virginia Coal. There was the man driving a pickup truck memorial to 29 workers killed in a 2010 mine disaster, each victim’s portrait airbrushed on metal.
And there was Senator Joe Manchin, in a sky-blue shirt with the state’s craggy outline on its crest, walking the route and greeting voters who brought up his favorite issue themselves.
“Save our health care!” Barbara Miller shouted.
Mr. Manchin stopped to give her a hug. After he passed, she said she feared that Republicans in Washington will continue to try to repeal President Barack Obama’s health care law. “If they can’t overturn that, then they hope they can at least favor their big-insurance buddies by allowing them to block pre-existing conditions,” said Ms. Miller, a nurse educator. “I have a pre-existing condition.”
“We all do,” chimed in four other women seated with her on a porch.
In a state where approval of President Trump is near the country’s highest, Mr. Manchin, a Democrat, was once thought to be deeply endangered in his re-election this year. But the 71-year-old incumbent, who likes to say “Washington sucks,” has a 7- to 10-point polling edge over his Republican opponent, Patrick Morrisey. A lot can happen before Election Day, but for now, he is the envy of other red-state Democrats as the parties wrestle over control of the Senate. | {
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Brazil will be without injured superstar Neymar in Belo Horizonte, but black magic enthusiast Helio Sillman from Rio de Janeiro says his curse will hinder Joachim Loew's team in the semi-final.
"I'll take their top player and bind his legs so he can't run on the pitch," said Sillman, referring to the voodoo doll of an undisclosed German player that will be cursed in a ceremony before the game.
In his shop "World of Orixas" in the northern neighborhood of Madureira, Sillman carries out a ritual before each Selecao game.
Using a a small football pitch-shaped box as his alter, he puts inside lit candles in the colours of the opposing team and the voodoo doll of their most important player.
Sillman's curse on James Rodriguez did not stop the Colombian star from scoring in his team's 2-1 defeat to Brazil in Friday's quarter-finals.
And he was powerless to prevent Selecao star Neymar from suffering a fractured vertebrae against the Colombians that has ruled him out of the World Cup.
But Sillman points to Brazil's results against Cameroon, Chile, Croatia and Mexico as testimony to the influence of his magic.
Voodoo dolls representing a player from each of the Selecao's opponents sit in a bowl.
"Those are the four teams that Brazil have overcome," he said.
Germany's Thomas Mueller, Manuel Neuer and Mats Hummels have been warned. | {
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EXCLUSIEF - Ajax gaat zich verrassend versterken met Ricardo van Rhijn. De rechtsback werd vorig seizoen verkocht aan Club Brugge, maar keert na één seizoen terug in Amsterdam.
Dat weet VoetbalPrimeur. Ajax betaalt ongeveer hetzelfde bedrag als de club vorig jaar ontving uit België. Club Brugge maakte toen 1,8 miljoen euro over naar Amsterdam. Als alles volgens plan verloopt zet Van Rhijn vrijdag zijn handtekening onder een driejarig contract in de Johan Cruijff Arena.
Van Rhijn raakte in de tweede seizoenshelft zijn basisplaats kwijt bij Club Brugge, waardoor hij zelf aanstuurde op een vertrek. Zijn management bood hem deze zomer tevergeefs aan bij het Everton van manager Ronald Koeman. De 26-jarige vleugelverdediger werd ook gelinkt aan Racing Genk en zelfs Feyenoord.
Bij Ajax moet Van Rhijn de personele problemen in de verdediging oplossen. Door het vertrek van Kenny Tete (Olympique Lyon) en Jaïro Riedewald (Crystal Palace) heeft Marcel Keizer weinig te kiezen. "We hebben nog een smalle groep. Vooral verdedigend mag er nog wat bij", liet Keizer na de Champions League-uitschakeling tegen OGC Nice al weten.
Van Rhijn is de vierde aankoop van directeur spelersbeleid Marc Overmars deze zomer. Eerder haalde hij Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke 04), Benjamin van Leer (Roda JC) en Kostas Lamprou (Willem II) naar Amsterdam. Ajax zoekt nog naar een vleugelaanvaller na het afhaken van Richarlison, die voor Watford heeft gekozen. | {
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Income Tax department in India is looking at how they can impose tax on Bitcoin miners in India in the long run. However, they will not start this until RBI gives a clean chit to the coin which it had warned against recently.
IRS officers had visited the office of Sathvik Vishwanath, CEO and founder of Coinmonk and Unocoin around the same time ED raided offices of Buysellbit.co.in and RBItco. He had all documents in order and had been paying taxes, so it turned into a technical discussion. The officials then issued a summons and asked him how they could tax Bitcoin miners in India. These officials even took some of the Bitcoin related documents from his companies. Curiously, Vishwanath says that these same investigators had contacted him asking for free passes to the Bitcoin conference that was organized in Bangalore last year.
IRS is thinking of imposing tax based on the currency’s value at the time of mining. Vishwanath has asked them to authorize Bitcoin exchanges in India first, so that people can convert the currency they have mined into Rupees immediately. “I have also suggested that they accept taxes directly in the form of Bitcoin if a miner is finding it difficult to pay in rupees,” he says. The IT officials he met also asked him to deduct TDS while trading Bitcoin in India and pass on that amount along with the trader’s PAN details to the department.
Vishwanath says that it didn’t feel much like an investigation into his companies and was more of a technical discussion. He met Deputy Director of Investigation and Director of Investigation wing and they have asked him to submit a paper detailing how Bitcoin works, how it can be gauged, how many people in India has Bitcoin and how we were reporting our taxes etc. The income tax department apparently did not have any issues with the way his company was being run as he had been paying his taxes. However, they have asked him to seek legal advice before relaunching the site as there might be other departments who might have a problem with the currency.
Medianama take
The cost of mining a Bitcoin is very high because of the number of compute cycles that are needed to mine a single Bitcoin or even a block. Apart from the time taken, the amount of investment required to mine faster is very high and it’s no longer viable for a hobbyist. This is why a lot of miners pool their resources together to create the equivalent of a render farm. That being the case, it’s not clear if IRS will get anything at all from Bitcoin miners in India, because after deducting expenses incurred such as electricity and other utilities there will be hardly any profit in the short terms. Profit if any, will come in the long run when they sell the coin or use it to make a purchase.
That said, it is good that IRS is genuinely trying to understand how the system works and how they can be part of it instead of clamping down its operations out right. Hopefully their feedback on the ecosystem might soften ED’s and RBI’s stance on Virtual Currencies. | {
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Cracked: Why Was Lapis Lazuli in the Mirror?
People are mad at the Crystal Gems for imprisoning Lapis Lazuli in her mirror, but it turns out they never did that!
In the episode, Pearl shows Steven the mirror, stating “We found this Gem powered mirror at the Galaxy Warp!”, meaning that they found Lapis in that state after the war.
Let’s connect this to another strange Gem phenomenon, Gem Shards. When a Gem becomes cracked, they lose sentience and become mindless Gem Shards that can be used to power various items. Gem Shards so far have been stated to not have a mind or consciousness, but simply act on instinct.
Now let’s go back to Lapis: When Steven reveals that Lapis is communicating coherently through the mirror, the Crystal Gems are absolutely horrified. Why? Because they thought Lapis was a Gem Shard. They thought her Gem was completely cracked all the way through, and she therefore didn’t have a mind to suffer through thousands of years of entrapment.
Pearl is the first to realize that a sentient being was trapped inside the mirror, even covering her mouth in shock.
Amethyst, showing an out-of-character moment of pure fear, urges Garnet to “do something”.
The Crystal Gems had no idea Lapis was still alive. They thought she was dead and were using her Gem to power the mirror. And they were utterly terrified when they realize that Lapis has essentially been tortured for thousands of years and they did nothing to stop it.
Now, why was Lapis put in the mirror? My theory is this:
During the war, Lapis was fatally injured with a blow to the back. The healer or doctor or whatever the Gem equivalent of a nurse is decided that she was too far gone to save her and wrote her off for dead, imprisoning her in the mirror because they thought she was dead anyway.
But she wasn’t dead, she was still alive the whole time.
This is why you always double-check before you bury a corpse, people. | {
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Министр финансов Антон Силуанов ожидает наступления долгих «худосочных» лет. Об этом он сообщил в ходе Международного инвестиционного форума в Сочи, передает ТАСС.
«Улучшения, как в 2008-2009 годах, когда мы серьезно просели, а потом сразу отскочили, такого не будет. Будут длительные худые периоды. Тучные годы прошли, теперь худосочные будут. К этим периодам нам нужно готовиться», — сказал министр финансов.
Ранее в августе глава Минфина заявлял, что цены на нефть в $100 за барр. ушли в историю. Министр выражал уверенность, что в таких условиях Россия должна изменить бюджетное правило и направлять в Резервный фонд доходы от экспорта нефти, получаемые при подъеме цены выше уровня $50–60 за барр. Министр также сообщил, что уже в 2016 году доля нефтегазовых доходов упадет с 52% до 43% от общего объема доходов федерального бюджета.
В июне 2015 года Силуанов сообщил, что восстановление экономики России может начаться уже в конце года. По словам министра, финансовый сектор страны восстанавливается, а вслед за ним должно произойти и общее восстановление экономики. «Надеемся, что это произойдет к концу текущего, началу следующего года», — сказал глава Минфина. | {
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Cultura
Las tres salas de la nueva sede de Cinemateca, la sala B del Sodre, la Hugo Balzo, la Zitarrosa y Life 21 proyectarán diversos prestigiosos filmes. También habrá funciones gratuitas en la sala Tomás Berreta.
Montevideo Portal
La 37º edición del Festival Cinematográfico Internacional del Uruguay abrirá sus puertas este 17 de abril y se desarrollará hasta el 28 en las tres salas de Cinemateca, la sala B del Sodre, la sala Hugo Balzo, la Sala Zitarrosa y Life 21, además de haber funciones gratuitas en la sala Tomás Berreta.
Entre los filmes se destacan el reciente Oso de Oro de la Berlinane, Synonymes (2019), película con la que el prestigioso cineasta israelí Navad Lapid "vuelve a poner en tesitura los cimientos del nacionalismo extremo que gobierna su país".
Synonymes se disputará los premios de la competencia internacional con otras de las películas triunfantes en Berlín, la italiana La paranza dei bambini (2019), historia sobre los jóvenes cachorros de la Camorra con aclamado guion de Roberto Saviano, basado en su propia novela, y dirección de Claudio Giovannesi, y la china So Long, My Son (2019), de Xiaoshuai Wang, poderoso drama que se hizo con los dos premios de interpretación en la Berlinale.
También competirán títulos triunfadores en Rotterdam, Karlovy Vary, Venecia y Cannes, junto con filmes "descubrimientos" del propio festival.
En la competencia internacional, que está compuesta por 15 títulos, el festival anuncia las obras de dos de los grandes creadores del cine de la última década: el mexicano Carlos Reygadas, de quien se estrenará la controvertida Nuestro tiempo (2018) y el rumano Radu Jude, cuya película I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History As Barbarians (2018), ganadora en Karlovy Vary, ajusta cuentas con la desmemoria histórica de Rumania.
Otro autor de relevancia -aunque su cine no se haya estrenado hasta ahora en nuestro país-, el norteamericano Dan Sallitt, presentará Fourteen (2019), una indagación de la amistad y del dolor que ha situado a Sallitt entre los autores más aclamados del año.
Algunos de los títulos de la competencia iberoamericana son la nueva película de la chilena Dominga Sotomayor, Tarde para morir joven (2018), la ópera prima de la argentina Romina Paula, De nuevo otra vez (2019), y el filme del brasileño Gabriel Mascaro Divino amor (2019).
En la competencia por Derechos Humanos, estará la nueva película de Nanni Moretti, Santiago, Italia (2018), documental que se centra en un aspecto concreto sucedido tras el golpe militar contra Allende: la odisea de los refugiados en la embajada italiana en los momentos inmediatos a la asonada.
También una doble presencia española: La causa contra Franco (2018), de Lucía Palacios y Dietmar Post, estrenada justo cuando en España se reabre la posibilidad de exhumar al dictador de su mausoleo, y El entusiasmo (2018), una relectura de la Transición política española desde la siempre preterida visión del anarquismo, dirigida por Luis E. Herrero.
El 37° Festival Cinematográfico Internacional del Uruguay, con 240 películas en su programa, entre largos y cortometrajes, traerá a Montevideo a casi 50 personalidades del cine, en su gran mayoría directores y directoras de películas que compiten en esta edición.
En este link podrán ver toda la programación.
Montevideo Portal | {
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What goes around, comes around. The Democrats intend to turn-up the heat on the Impeachment of Trump. That is all they have to run on in the midterm elections in November. They voted against any tax reform and simply oppose anything offered by the other side. Politics has just degenerated into the obstruction and neither side seems willing to work together. With the Democrats trying to use the Impeachment Card to trump Trump, the game is now afoot and the niceties are off the table.
Now the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has reportedly targeted the foundation of former President Bill Clinton on suspicion of political favors in exchange for donations to the Clinton Foundation. The allegations refer to the period from 2009 to 2013, when Hillary was US Secretary of State. A spokesman for Hillary Clinton told “The Hill” that the FBI investigation was “fraud.” This is really an insult to common sense. As soon as Hillary lost the election, all the foreign governments, including Saudi Arabia, withdrew their “donation” for a smoke-screen charity.
The Clinton Global Initiative was their pretend centerpiece to which they claimed its goal “convenes global leaders to create and implement innovative solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges.” This was their claimed effort to influence world leaders while, of course, raising cash for the Foundation from world leaders. As soon as Hillary lost the election, her position of “influence” came to an end. The Clintons began immediately laying off all staff as of April 15th, 2017. The Clinton Foundation said in a filing with the New York Department of Labor reporting it will layoff all staff citing the discontinuation of the Clinton Global Initiative.
It really would be nice to see this exposed for what it is. Bill sold Presidential Pardons to the highest bidder. Not only Marc Rich, but there were countless others. I knew of one kid in Federal Prison in Fort Dix, New Jersey who was bragging he would be released because his father paid the Clintons $250,000 for a Pardon. The corruption of the Clintons has been notorious and probably has never been surpassed by any political figure in the history of any nation. | {
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Curiosity finds boron on Mars
The rover Curiosity has been trundling across the Martian landscape for more than four years. But recently, the plucky robot rolled onto a patch of ground with veins of calcium sulfate, in the form of the mineral gypsum, running through it. Hiding within those veins was the element boron, which usually appears only in once-flooded sites where the water has evaporated away.
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According to scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the discovery in Mars's Gale Crater suggests that there was once liquid water on the Red Planet — and that the water was habitable. The calcium sulfate and boron could only precipitate out of water that was between 32 and 140 degrees Fahrenheit and was not too acidic.
The boron was identified by a ChemCam built at Los Alamos. The camera works by shooting a laser at a rock, exciting the electrons of the atoms within it. Those electrons then emit distinctive wavelengths of light, depending on the element; by reading the spectrum that shines back at it, the instrument can figure out what elements the rock contains.
This was the first discovery of boron on Mars, and the latest finding suggesting that Mars used to be much wetter, warmer and far less hostile than it is now.
Gale crater — a 100-mile-wide canyon with Denali-sized Mount Sharp at its center — is thought to be the site of a former lake. As Curiosity climbs the slopes of Mount Sharp, it has found varying levels of clay, boron and other types of rock. These variations could hint at the lake environment that may have existed there billions of years ago.
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“There is so much variability in the composition at different elevations, we’ve hit a jackpot,” Caltech geologist John Grotzinger, Curiosity's chief scientist, said in a statement.
Scientists have been seeking evidence of past or present life on Mars for four decades, without success. But the boron finding adds to the evidence that the planet may have had the kinds of dynamic environments that are known to support organisms on Earth.
“A sedimentary basin such as this is a chemical reactor,” Grotzinger said. “Elements get rearranged. New minerals form and old ones dissolve. Electrons get redistributed. On Earth, these reactions support life.”
Dawn detects hidden ice on Ceres
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In the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the space probe Dawn has been surveying the rocky, icy body known as Ceres. The dwarf planet is the largest thing in the asteroid belt, and it's pocked with craters deep enough that their interiors are cast in permanent shadow.
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Dawn scientists announced at AGU that they have new evidence that some of Ceres's craters act as cold traps that accumulate pockets of permanent water ice. In addition, the protoplanet has huge amounts of ice just below its rocky surface and may even have a slushy ocean of liquid water in its interior.
This means that Ceres is less like fellow asteroid-belt inhabitant Vesta, a dry rocky world that Dawn visited before the current phase of its mission, than it is like the icy moons that exist in the outer part of the solar system.
“It's pointing toward Ceres being a really interesting object,” Carol Raymond, Dawn's deputy principal investigator, said at a news conference. “Similar to Europa or Enceladus in terms of its habitability potential.”
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Europa and Enceladus, moons of Jupiter and Saturn, respectively, are thought to contain liquid water oceans in their interiors and are considered prime targets in the search for life beyond Earth.
During its approach in early 2015, Dawn spotted two extremely bright spots inside craters that looked as if they could be highly reflective ice. But further investigation revealed that the bright patches contained salt, not water — drying up NASA's hopes that Ceres might be a wet place.
But the dwarf planet does have about 600 other “persistently shadowed regions” — craters whose interiors never see the sun. Astrobiologist Norbert Schörghofer called them “Ceres' darkest secrets.” Once Dawn arrived in orbit, it was able to probe these secret spots — and found that they did have water ice hiding within them.
Ice has been found in craters on other worlds, like Mercury and the moon, but that water was thought to have arrived via impacts from space. The origins of Ceres's crater ice is more mysterious. One theory is that it comes from water frozen in Ceres's crust.
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A second investigation by Dawn found that the dwarf planet has huge amounts of hydrogen in the form of frozen water (water molecules have two atoms of hydrogen and one oxygen). This ice is hiding just below the surface, filling pores in the planet's rocky crust. Data from Dawn suggests that about 10 percent of the weight of the planet's top meter of material comes from ice.
The discovery of abundant ice supports the idea that Ceres once held liquid water that was heated by a radioactive core. As the body cooled, Ceres's heavier rocks fell to the interior, while lighter water rose to the surface, then froze.
Dawn scientists say that further investigation of this ice could reveal clues about Ceres's past and the role of water in the early history of the solar system. | {
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BETELGEUSE LEVEL - 2 sterling silver pendants with leather cord (color is your choice of either red or blue,) each customized to your choice of location and date.
(International customers please add $10 shipping)
Less | {
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Yes Jordan!
FIFA 16 fans are angrily threatening to boycott the 2016 version if Jordan Henderson wins the vote to appear on the front cover.
Over the years the FIFA cover has become synonymous with the world’s best footballers, with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham and even Ronaldinho appearing on the UK version of the release.
Having had seven years of Wayne Rooney as the cover boy, FIFA committed to Leo Messi who has been the mainstay since 2013 and was joined by Eden Hazard last season.
But now EA Sports have decided to let the UK fans vote on the Premier League star to join Messi on the cover this year with Sergio Aguero, Harry Kane,Thibaut Courtois and Jordan Henderson the available options – and guess who is winning…
Amazingly the new Liverpool skipper is leading the race to be the latest cover star and the gamers are NOT happy about it:
If Jordan Henderson is on the cover of FIFA 16 I will not be buying — Sam Eaton (@SamEaton_EFC) June 17, 2015
If Jordan Henderson is on the cover of Fifa16 before Kane or ageuro I'm never buying Fifa again — Eoin Horgan (@EoinHorgan26) June 17, 2015
Rather have Sepp Blather on cover of FIFA than Henderson. — Garvo (@kiltimaghlad) June 17, 2015
I literally refuse to buy FIFA 16 if Henderson is on the cover. — Chelsea & Youth (@chelsandyouth) June 17, 2015
Jordan Henderson is top for the cover of #FIFA16 if that happens. I will NEVER EVER buy a fifa game again. ?? #VoteCourtois — C H L O E (@chlowills_) June 17, 2015
Like I'm not gonna lie I will literally not buy Fifa 16 if Jordan Henderson is on the cover. Literally. — Brienna Johnson (@cheesey_j) June 17, 2015
I'm not playing fifa again if Henderson is on the front cover — Döm (@dombennettj) June 17, 2015
I might not buy that new FIFA if Jordan Henderson really is on the cover — J. #TooUrstyyy (@TheOneBeforeK) June 17, 2015
If Jordan henderson is on the cover of Fifa 16 i will not be buying it. — God. (@_CallumClark) June 17, 2015
I simply won't purchase FIFA 16 if Jordan Henderson is on the cover. Simple — Zaid Eideh (@TheOGBigZ) June 17, 2015
If Jordan Henderson is on the cover of Fifa16 before Kane or ageuro I'm never buying Fifa again — Eoin Horgan (@EoinHorgan26) June 17, 2015
MORE: Will Brendan Rodgers survive Liverpool’s nightmare start to the season? | {
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Syndrome - When Everyone's Super, No One Is
when everybody is in the passing lane
nobody is in the passing lane | {
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Australian man 'walks 100km' through outback after crash Published duration 4 September 2017
image copyright Getty Images image caption Police estimate the man walked between 100km and 120km
A tradesman who crashed his car in the Australian outback has survived after walking more than 100km (62 miles) in search of help, authorities say.
Thomas Mason, 21, had been driving on a remote track on Wednesday when his car hit a camel and rolled, police said.
Although not hurt, he was stranded about 150km from the nearest town in the Northern Territory.
He trekked for more than two days and resorted to drinking his own urine before being rescued, police said.
Authorities said he had walked between 100km and 120km when he was found by a search party late on Friday.
"I knew I was either going to be out there and die or get back to the highway and see somebody," Mr Mason told Nine News
"[I was] thinking how long would it take for someone to realise I am not actually coming any more."
He said he came across a water tank and a water bottle on the road, but resorted to drinking his own urine when supplies ran out.
Mr Mason had been driving from a job in the Pipalyatjara community, in remote South Australia, towards Alice Springs, in the Northern Territory, when the car accident happened.
His parents raised the alarm on Friday after noticing he had missed a flight from Alice Springs to Darwin.
He was found later that night on a small road about 37km from the Northern Territory town of Yulara. | {
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Once again Ted Cruz doesn’t back down on Hannity when talking about McConnell’s lies, saying the Senate is currently run by the McConnell-Reid leadership team who are pushing for the same priorities. He calls them part of the ‘Washington Party’ and argues they are working together to grow government, whether it is cronyism and corporate welfare or fighting to confirm Loretta Lynch as AG, which he points out Republican leadership did.
Make sure you watch to the end: | {
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To these ranchers, the federal government overreaches its authority, and to Cliven Bundy, specifically, the government has no right to charge him fees to graze his cattle, even though the land belongs to the public, not him. | {
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One of North America’s most successful motorsports operations could have an increased presence in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship next year, while also making a debut appearance in the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Sportscar365 has learned that Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (Team RLL) is evaluating an expansion into the Prototype class that would see the Ohio-based sports car squad field a P2-based prototype alongside its current GT Le Mans class factory BMW effort.
“We’re in the process of looking into entering the Prototype class in addition to GTLM,” team co-owner Bobby Rahal told Sportscar365 in an exclusive interview. “We’d like to win events like Daytona and Sebring on an overall basis.”
Rahal, who made two starts at Le Mans in the 1980s, is also hoping to take his team to the French endurance classic in the not-to-distant future.
The former sports car and open-wheel driver said Team RLL’s current BMW Z4 GTE, while eligible for the GTE-Pro class, would be uncompetitive on the high-speed circuit, therefore putting the focus towards the proposed LMP2 program instead.
“For me, that’s an unrealized goal, to go to Le Mans as an entrant,” Rahal said. “There’s potentially some opportunities, but all of the pieces have to be in place. We’re not there yet but it’s something we’re certainly looking into.
“I’d like to see Graham [Rahal] do more sports car racing and do more of the big events. He loves endurance racing. He’s won Daytona overall and he’d love to win Sebring and I’d love to see him at Le Mans one of these days as well.”
Rahal said he’s currently working on raising the necessary budget for the single-car program, with a deadline of October to finalize a deal for 2015. No decision has been made on a chassis or engine choice.
A partial-season program around the Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup, and/or running the car in association with an existing prototype team, are also considerations, according to Rahal.
“We want to make sure if we’re going to do it, we’re going to do it the right way,” he said. “That means finding the money to have the best drivers out there.
“Sponsorship anywhere is tough to sell. It’s tough to find the money it really takes. Prototype, or any of those categories… they aren’t cheap. The budgets are a pretty good size, so finding the right level of money is crucial.”
While into the sixth year of its factory program with BMW, Rahal doesn’t see anything changing in the short-term with the works GTLM operation.
“We’re pretty happy with that relationship,” he said. “We’d like to continue with them for many years down the line. But who knows where they end up a couple of years from now.
“All it takes is a different direction from somebody at [BMW] Motorsport, down the line… you never know.”
Coincidently, BMW was known to have been developing a diesel-powered LMP2 engine prior to the ACO’s rules reversal to ban diesel powerplants in the cost-capped class. | {
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All-time upset in Columbus as they grab the brooms and sweep Tampa out of the playoffs
The Islanders, too, snag some brooms and usher Sidney Crosby and the Penguins to the offseason
Connor the hero for Winnipeg after scoring overtime winner to even series vs. Blues 2-2
Pacioretty continues second-line dominance for Vegas vs. Sharks
New York Islanders 3, Pittsburgh Penguins 1 (NYI wins series 4-0)
The Islanders just don’t quit, and it proved to be too much for the inconsistent Penguins, who simply couldn’t answer New York’s relentless pace and persistence. Jordan Eberle had a great game. Robin Lehner was solid in net once again, and the Islanders continued their stingy defensive style that Barry Trotz has implemented to near perfection so far. The Isles deserve to move on, plain and simple.
Columbus Blue Jackets 7, Tampa Bay Lightning 3 (CBJ wins series 4-0)
The first signs of life from the Lightning since the first period in Game 1 were seen in Game 4 on Tuesday, but it didn’t matter one iota. The Blue Jackets were simply too good outside of the first period in Game 1. Forechecking at its finest. Goal scoring from everywhere. Tampa couldn’t breathe and was forced to tap out in just four games after winning a record-tying 62 in the regular season. It’s an all-time upset in NHL history.
Winnipeg Jets 2, St. Louis Blues 1 (Series tied 2-2)
A clean slate heading back to Winnipeg? The Jets could have only dreamed of that after dropping the first two games in their own barn. But they made a statement in Game 3 and may have done some psychological damage with a 2-1 overtime win in Game 4 on Tuesday. The Jets were not deterred after Vladimir Tarasenko gave the Blues a 1-0 lead early in the third. Mark Scheifele‘s tying goal was a product of hard work and the overtime goal by Kyle Connor was much of the same. Game 5 should be a dandy in this tightly contested affair.
Vegas Golden Knights , San Jose Sharks (VGK leads series 3-1)
Hard not to think that San Jose is done in this series. Vegas put the Sharks on the brink of elimination with an easy 5-0 win. They chased Martin Jones for the second time in the series. Their second line is unstoppable at the moment and now the Sharks can’t score. You can point to some issues they cannot control. Injuries, specifically. But when your goalie is playing at a worse caliber than he did during the regular season, there’s simply no chance.
Three stars
1. Max Pacioretty, Vegas Golden Knights
Two goals and two assists from Pacioretty meant another feast for the Golden Knights’ second line. After combining for 12 points in Game 3, the line returned for Game 4 and combined for another seven. Pacioretty got his moment after Paul Stastny and Mark Stone each had five-point outings in the previous game. Vegas looks unstoppable when San Jose can’t stop that line. Also, shoutout to Marc-Andre Fleury who turned aside 28 shots for the shutout.
2. Kyle Connor, Winnipeg Jets
Connor fed Mark Scheifele with a slick cross-ice feed to tie the game up 1-1 in the third period. From there, he was in front of the net when a loose puck found its way in front of him and quickly into the back of the net to give the Jets a 2-1 win in overtime. Connor had two goals in Game 3 and is producing in the clutch for Winnipeg at the moment.
3. Alexandre Texier, Columbus Blue Jackets
He entered the game with no playoff goals and left with two. Texier, 19, was impressive in a game where the Blue Jackets swept up the Tampa Bay Lightning, building off a Game 3 where he picked up an assist. In six total NHL games, Texier has three goals and an assist now. He’s an exciting young player.
Highlight of the night
This is extremely filthy.
Awkward moment of the night
Panarin just doesn’t care:
Factoids of the night
Fleury moved into the seventh spot on the all-time postseason wins list on Tuesday. (NHL PR)
More Vegas history: they became the first NHL team to score in the opening 90 seconds in three straight playoff games. (NHL PR)
A very good omen for the Columbus Blue Jackets, who became the fourth team in NHL history to sweep the NHL’s No. 1 team in the regular season. Guess what the three others who did the same thing ended up doing later that spring? (NHL PR)
Wednesday’s games
Game 4: Boston Bruins at Toronto Maple Leafs (TOR leads 2-1), 7 p.m. ET, NBCSN (Live Stream)
Game 4: Nashville Predators at Dallas Stars (NSH leads 2-1), 9 p.m. ET, USA (Live Stream)
Game 4: Calgary Flames at Colorado Avalanche (COL leads 2-1), 10 p.m. ET, NBCSN (Live Stream)
Scott Billeck is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @scottbilleck | {
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If you missed the glorious display from a blood red moon and radiant Mars during the weekend's early morning eclipse, there's another opportunity to get a good glimpse of the red planet tonight – Mars will be the closest to Earth it's been in the last 15 years.
Unlike the eclipse, (which was more lengthy than usual but still a tough one to catch if you're usually in bed at 5.30am on a Saturday), this planetary performance can be enjoyed over the course of several hours tonight – and in the next few nights too.
The red planet is closer than usual. Credit:NASA
"Mars is at its closest to earth in 15 years [tonight], but tomorrow and the next day and the next day it will be pretty good as well," says University of Sydney astronomer Tim Bedding.
Viewing it is easy, he adds. "Mars will be rising as the sun sets, and rising higher and higher in the eastern sky during the evening. Later in the evening it will be more prominent, passing overhead at midnight. | {
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There's a manhunt on – or womanhunt, if that's your gender preference – for "racists" in Massachusetts, Ohio, Louisiana, Washington, Alabama and Canada who had the audacity to terrorize by posting signs and stickers that read, "It's OK to be white."
It all started out as an idea on the 4chan and endchan online forums to troll the left, universities and the media and demonstrate a double standard when the issue of discrimination is involved.
Would-be trollers were encouraged to print out signs and anonymously post them, particularly on campuses, while wearing Halloween costumes to avoid being identified.
According to the plan: "The next morning, the media goes completely berserk. Normies tune in to see what's going on, see the posters saying, 'It's okay to be white,' and the media & leftists frothing at the mouth. Normies realize that leftists & journalists hate white people, so they turn on them. Credibility of far-left campuses and media gets nuked, massive victory for the right in the culture war, many more /ourguys/ spawned overnight."
TRENDING: In the end, the rioters are Obama's army
Basically, it worked. The intended targets took the bait – hook, line and sinker.
Political correctness is just the beginning. The situation on college campuses is worse than you could ever imagine – and America's future is at stake. Don't miss the political blockbuster of 2017 – "No Campus For White Men" by Scott Greer.
Police were called out to Boston's Cambridge Common and Harvard Square Wednesday morning to investigate approximately 20 stickers with the "racist" message stuck to light poles and electrical boxes. The Department of Public Works was tasked with removing them with putty knives, reported the Boston Globe.
Signs reading "It's OK to be white" were also found on telephone poles the same day in Rocky River, Ohio, a neighborhood of Cleveland. Postings were reported on campus at Auburn University, Tulane University and at Western Washington University.
"This story is developing. Updates will be made as more information is made available," the Tulane Hullabaloo ominously reported.
The biggest reaction came from the University of Alberta, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, after the dreaded sign was found Tuesday, posted to the door of the native studies building. The day before, a jack-o-lantern sporting a crude feather headdress, found at the campus center quad, sparked cries of racism.
"It's been bothering me all day. It's a stupid little pumpkin, but it's been bothering me," grad student Chelsea Vowel, who found the object, told Toronto Metro News.
"I didn't want other students to see it, but on the other hand I wanted people to see it and realize that we're still facing these ridiculous micro-aggressions."
University President David Turpin released a statement saying: "[T]he university is aware of several incidents of racism that have occurred on north campus in recent days. Messaging or displays that target or marginalize any individuals or groups will not be tolerated. We are working with University of Alberta Protective Services to find the parties responsible."
Turpin emphasized that the university is a "welcoming and safe environment for all people," where we "proudly celebrate our Indigenous heritage, including the ancestral Treaty 6 lands and the Metis homeland on which our university is located."
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Responding to the poster he found when he came to work Tuesday morning, native studies Dean Chris Andersen called it "juvenile."
"These are the kinds of petty imbecilities that are symbolic of feelings of fragility and frailty present in mainstream society," he said.
"It's supposed to make us feel a certain way, and the way we feel is unsafe," added Vowel.
Meanwhile, the hunt continues for those responsible for the "disturbing racist Halloween pumpkin" and the "It's OK to be white" signs. | {
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Partagez !
228 Partages
Temps de lecture estimé 3 minutes et 0 secondes
Alger, cette ville dont on croit tout connaitre, cache quelques anecdotes et mystères qui font tout son charme. Voici 10 choses que vous ne saviez peut-être pas à propos de notre capitale millénaire.
1-La plus grande rue d’Alger n’est pas celle que vous croyez
Si la rue Didouche Mourad est le centre de toutes les attentions, une autre rue- située non loin – est la plus grande d’Alger. S’étalant sur 4 KM, la rue Hassiba Ben Bouali est la seule à traverser 3 communes, à savoir Sidi M’hamed, Belouizdad et Alger-Centre.
2-Le Paradou AC doit ses couleurs à la Suède
Le club du Paradou Athlétic Club, formé en 1994, doit ses couleurs… à la Suède. Située au niveau du Paradou, l’Ambassade de Suède est l’instigatrice du jaune et bleu qu’arborent les joueurs du PAC depuis. Ainsi, c’est au moment où les dirigeants discutaient afin de trouver la charte du club qu’une voiture de l’Ambassade scandinave a fait son apparition. Autre fait à souligner, l’Ambassade de Suède se trouve rue Olof Palme, connu pour être l’ancien premier ministre…de la Suède.
3-Le quartier PLM a une signification :
Le célèbre quartier populaire d’El Harrach « PLM » a une signification. Ainsi, PLM vient de « Compagnie de chemin de fer Paris-Lyon-Méditerranée », à qui l’on attribua l’exploitation de 1287 km du réseau ferroviaire algérien, avant la création des Chemins de Fer Algériens (CFA) en 1938, année où PLM est devenu un certain…SNTF.
4-Un nom, deux communes
Le comte Eugène Guyot ayant beaucoup donné pour l’actuelle Bologhine, les habitants de l’époque avaient nommé la localité « St-Eugène ». Une autre commune, située non loin, a quant à elle pris pour nom le patronyme du comte : « Guyotville », actuelle Aïn Benian, était née.
5- Hydra aime les cités romaines :
Si vous faites bien attention, vous remarquerez que nombre de rues d’Hydra portent les noms d’anciennes cités romaines. La rue Timgad vous mène rue Tidis, tandis que la rue Djemila n’est pas si loin de la rue Cirta. | {
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Everyone, this is Sadie! Sadie loves two things: Her Rapunzel dress and her baby brother, who she has just learned has to grow up and be less cute in the near future. Uh-oh, here come the waterworks.
It's difficult to learn the harsh truths of growing older at a young age and Sadie is actually handling this remarkably well. My baby brother was also remarkably cute when he was a baby (he is still cute now, and single. Leave your # in the comments, ladies!) and if I had paid more attention to him then, I would have also probably lost my shit when I realized that he wasn't going to be a baby forever. But I was too busy biting him to worry about that. (Man, I loved to bite.)
Best of luck to you, Sadie. Your baby brother may have to grow up, but I bet the fact that you're about to be on every television station known to man will soften the blow a little. Try to get on Ellen. I hear she gives good presents. | {
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- Nella vita degli italiani entra un nuovo numero telefonico: è il 1510. Il Garante delle Comunicazioni (l'AgCom) lo assegna formalmente all'Istat. Ed ora il nostro Istituto di Statistica utilizzerà questo numero personalizzato (il 1510) ogni volta che contatterà una famiglia oppure un impresa per condurre le sue indagini e rilevazioni.L'Istat ha in piedi 101 diverse indagini statistiche che le permettono di fotografare la situazione dell'Italia in ogni suo aspetto. Queste indagini si reggono sulla collaborazione di migliaia tra famiglie e imprese che rispondono a dei questionari, anche via telefono. Queste telefonate sono fatte, nella maggior parte dei casi, da call center privati che agiscono su mandato dell'Istat. E adesso questi call center chiameranno, come l'Istat, dal 1510 una volta che il sistema sarà a regime.
Non solo. Anche gli italiani potranno chiamare questo nuovo numero e fornire le loro risposte alle domande dell'Istat, si immagina attraverso un risponditore automatico.E' stata la Presidenza del Consiglio, il 4 luglio del 2018, a scrivere al Garante per le Comunicazioni perché assegnasse un numero speciale all'Istat. E l'Istat ha rafforzato la richiesta in un'audizione davanti ai funzionari del Garante e al commissario Mario Morcellini, questo ottobre.La missione del nuovo numero è molto chiara. Da un lato, il 1510 aumenta la trasparenza. Quando vedremo questo numero materializzarsi sul dispaly del cellulare, a colpo d'occhio sapremo che ci sta contattando l'Istat oppure un call center, su suo incarico.Nello stesso tempo, la persona, la famiglia e l'impresa chiamate a collaborare con l'Istat difficilmente potranno sottrarsi a questo dovere. Difficilmente potranno dire: non abbiamo risposto perché non abbiamo capito che era l'Istat. Il numero personalizzato renderà subito chiaro che è l'Istat a cercarci.Le indagini dell'Istat hanno un'importanza strategica per la vita economica e le scelte politiche del Paese. Per questo, l'Istituto di Statistica ha bisogno di contare sulla disponibilità dei "rispondenti". Rispondenti che sono obbligati per legge a collaborare, pena una multa.Il meccanismo funziona così. L'Istat pesca - dagli elenchi ufficiali, dalle banche dati - i nomi degli italiani e delle aziende che vuole intervistare, creando dei campioni attendibili e rappresentativi. Questi italiani e queste aziende ricevono poi una lettera del presidente dell'Istat oppure del loro sindaco, che invitano a collaborare con i funzionari o con i call center dell'Istituto, ovviamente nel pieno rispetto del diritto alla riservatezza.Questa procedura genera - in capo alle persone e alle aziende - un obbligo di risposta e collaborazione. Questo obbligo è previsto dal decreto legislativo 322 del 1989 (all'articolo 7). Le sanzioni amministrative (scritte all'articolo 11) - in caso di mancata collaborazione - possono arrivare fino a 2000 euro per le persone fisiche e fino a 5000 euro, per le aziende.Chi paga entro 60 giorni, una volta ricevuta la contestazione con la multa, beneficia di uno sconto. Verserà il "doppio della multa minima", come permette la legge 689 del 1981.Chi riceve una contestazione per la mancata collaborazione con l'Istat - con tanto di multa - può presentare ricorso al Prefetto oppure al Giudice di Pace, quando la contestazione prende la forma di una ordinanza ingiunzione.Nel caso il Prefetto o il Giudice di Pace respingano il ricorso contro la multa, non resterà che pagare utilizzando il modello F23.L'Istat invece non può annullare la multa, né ridurla né concedere un pagamento rateale. La persona e l'azienda, dopo aver ricevuto la contestazione, non possono più sanare la loro posizione fornendo la risposta ai questionari che prima avevano negato. | {
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IV Equipment Market Overview and Introduction
The global IV Equipment Market was valued at US$ 10.0 billion in 2017 and is anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 5.8% during the forecast period. The IV equipment market is majorly classified on the basis of product, end user, and region.
(IV) Intravenous Equipment are medical devices which are used for delivering blood products or fluids directly into the veins of patients. IV Equipment deliver medications faster as compared to other delivery methods since these are inserted directly into the circulation system. Besides faster infusion, IV equipment also offers easy monitoring and simultaneously prevents probable negative effects to the GI system for patients suffering from chronic disorders.
Some of the major factors driving the global IV equipment market are rising number of chronic disorders, growing geriatric population, rising incidences of chronic diseases, increasing number of surgical procedures worldwide, and increased patient awareness among others. Moreover, IV therapy reduces intake of pills or tablets, thereby promoting its preference among patients. However, side effects associated with equipment and medication errors like incorrect dosing is may hamper the market to a certain extent.
IV Equipment Market by Product
In terms of product, IV equipment market is classified into IV catheters, infusion pumps, stopcocks & check valves, needleless connectors, administration sets, securement devices, drip chambers and other IV equipment. Securement devices segment held larger share of the market in 2018 owing to maximum adoption of peripheral IV catheter devices and central venous catheter devices.
Technological advancements in catheter securement devices are also expected to augment its demand in the coming years. IV Equipment offer minimal infection risk, pain, and trauma to the patients. In addition, introduction of fixation devices which overcome drawbacks of traditional devices are also gaining popularity owing to its advantages like safe and fast performances.
According to NHS, more than 1 million catheters are used annually, in UK which accounts for approximately 12% of hospitalized patients. It is further anticipated that, one in three individuals are diagnosed with one or more chronic disorders, which directly increments the need for securement devices. Hence growing use of catheters due to increased hospitalization and rising incidences & prevalence of chronic disorders are anticipated to significantly contribute to the growth of the global IV equipment during the forecast period.
IV Equipment Market by End Users
By end user, IV equipment market is categorized into hospitals & clinics, ambulatory care centres, & home care, and other end users. Hospitals and clinics segment registered significant share of the market in 2018 owing to favourable government regulations, well developed infrastructure and increasing number of patient hospitalizations among others.
According to Journal of Hospital Medicine, across 51 countries around the world, approximate 14% hospitalized patients required peripheral intravenous catheters. Hospitals & clinics have abundant medical devices in store for use by large number of patients. Hence, growing patient pool is anticipated to further drive the hospitals and clinics segment during the forecast period.
IV Equipment Used Home care segment is also expected to grow considerably during the forecast period owing to rising demand of home treatments by patients worldwide. Home care provides optimal treatment to patients with better comfort, minimal risk of HAI (Hospital Acquired Infections) and improved personal care among others.
IV Equipment Market by Regions
Geographically, IV equipment market is segmented as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World (ROW). North America accounted for the major market share in the global IV equipment market owing to growing geriatric population, high prevalence of chronic disorders, and well-established hospital infrastructure.
Europe is also expected to grow considerably over the forecast period owing to rising elderly population, substantial disposable income, and rising admissions in hospitals. IV Equipment used in Surgical operations in Europe has been rising at a significant pace. In 2016, approximate 1.32 million surgeries were performed in Europe.
Asia Pacific is expected to grow lucratively in the forthcoming years owing to growing geriatric population prone to several disorders, steady adoption of advanced medical devices, and growing spending power of consumers. Moreover, growing medical tourism in Asia Pacific is anticipated to further propel the growth of the market in the coming years.
IV Equipment Market Prominent Players
The prominent players in the global IV equipment market are BD, B. Braun Melsungen AG, Baxter, Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, ICU Medical, Inc., Smith Medical (Smiths Group plc.), TERUMO CORPORATION, MOOG INC., AngioDynamics, and Medline Industries, Inc. | {
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Should "Fuck D&D" flair be added on r/freefolk? | {
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Anthropologists tell us that the human race has gone through distinct phases in its development. The hunter-gatherer phase was the first and apparently the longest-lasting, and was characterized by a sharp division of labor and roles between males and females. The males, for the most part, were responsible for the capture of game and those chores associated with this task, such as making weapons and planning tactics and strategy of the hunt. In reciprocation for his exposing himself to the mortal dangers of stalking and killing game, the male was likely to rest during most of his time in camp.
In camp, the female was master: she was responsible for the care and rearing of children, the construction of huts and hovels, gathering and foraging for edible plants, and the physical transportation of camp supplies. In this respect (carrying supplies) primitive women were quite strong, almost the physical equal of their male counterparts. Even today, in primitive societies in Asia, Africa, and the South Pacific, it is incredible to see just how much weight native women are able to carry on their heads and backs. In carrying out her tasks about camp, women were also likely the inventors of sewing, basketry, pottery, weaving, woodworking, and primitive construction.
Written accounts of white settlers in North America often marvel at the astonishing capacity for work displayed by native women. Being feminine at this state of civilization meant something very different than it does now: women were expected to be useful, to pull their weight, and to earn their keep. For tens of thousands of years—perhaps even hundreds of thousands—human society existed and preserved itself roughly along these lines, all across the globe. Our current instincts and behavioral inheritances as men and women are traceable to this crucial period of history.
The invention of agriculture (roughly 10000 B.C.) brought a revolutionary change in human society and social organization. Perhaps by observing nature (bees storing honey, birds dropping seeds on fertile soil that later sprouted, etc), humans eventually began to realize that edible material could be coaxed out of the soil, and seed could be saved during winter months. Slowly, over a great deal of time, more efficient and reliable tools were invented to do agricultural work. The digging stick or spear eventually gave way to the modern hoe. As food supplies increased, populations increased, and social organization became more complex and differentiated. Finally, a major step was made with the domestication of animals which could assist in agricultural tasks, such as oxen. Cattle became a source of wealth.
The rise of agriculture was critical to the establishment of patriarchies around the world. Man, due to the physical strength needed to control the plow and domestic cattle, was able to accrete the benefits of agriculture to himself. Land became the measurable source of wealth, which was to be passed down by inheritance through the male line of descent. Female fidelity was demanded, and marriage came to be seen as a device for ensuring that property would be transmitted to offspring of the husband. Ultimately, women and children came to be subordinate to the man, who found himself in permanent control of the sources of agrarian wealth: land and domesticated animals. We should not overstate this, however. In both primitive and agricultural stages of development, sex roles were strongly differentiated. At all stages of social development, the family has been the fundamental social institution; and women and men performed different but equally valuable roles.
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These different sex roles, described above, have withstood the test of time. Their longevity has been demonstrated over many thousands of years. They have persisted so long because they fulfill an instinctive need present in all humans. It is a serious mistake to neglect this fact, and to believe that we, in the comfort of our “modern” era, are somehow different from humans in previous eras. We are now paying a high price for our arrogance. Failure to respect these traditional sex roles has corroded the bases of First World societies, with predictable results.
It was the Industrial Revolution which shattered hundreds of thousands of years of social precedent, and re-wrote the rules on a grand scale. It was even more revolutionary than the passage from the primitive stage to the agricultural stage. For our purposes, the major social result of the Industrial Revolution in Europe in the 18th century was the gradual replacement of an old ethic by a new one. The development of factories and industry favored the growth of cities; and in big cities it was easy for traditional checks on human behavior (family, religion, clan) to wither away. The primacy of the family began to be replaced by the primacy of the individual. Moral codes that had been based on family controls and religious sanction began to lose their power, as the individual, rather than the family, began to be seen as the basic unit of society.
Women were drawn into industrialized city work as traditional modes of life became less glamorous; rural depopulation began, and is still proceeding steadily. For both men and women, city life enabled the pursuit of pleasures more and more easily; men and women postponed marriage to achieve economic security, and found themselves unable to adhere to traditional religious guidance on premarital sex. This put additional pressure on ancient moral codes that valued premarital continence and female virginity.
The Industrial Revolution continues today, although it seems to have entered a post-industrial phase characterized by biotechnology, genetic engineering, and highly accelerated development of computers and machines. The traditional moral codes are under constant attack. Sex roles, we are constantly told, are as out of date as the demons and infernos of medieval theology.
Or are they?
In surveying history, what is most surprising to me is the resilience and persistence of traditional human social behaviors. Despite all our technology, we are at our core not tremendously different from our remote ancestors walking the savannas of East Africa tens of thousands of years ago. Despite all predictions of its demise, the family persists as a social unit. Sex roles have endured. The very fact that these ingrained, sex-specific behavior traits of men and women—dating from the most primitive stages of human development—have survived so long is proof of their worth in maintaining social order.
The past has not vanished. It is still here with us. The primitive phase and the agricultural phases of development are still here. It is easy to forget that the majority of humanity on Earth lives in conditions far different from those prevailing in the urban First World. This majority—the hundreds of millions living in Asia, Africa, and South America—still adhere more or less to traditional ways of doing things. It is remarkable that most of humanity is still governed by the same instincts and impulses that were found in mankind during the earlier phases of human social development. And the fertility of the simple will ensure that their numbers continue to grow, at the expense of the relatively infertile, aging populations of the First World.
The future, it seems, will belong to the past.
Are you on Twitter? Use #BackToTheKitchen to discuss your thoughts on this issue.
Read More: The Abolition of Man | {
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A new five-year plan to help Pennsylvania residents out of government-assisted housing and into communities was unveiled by the Office of Governor Tom Wolf.
The heads of the Department of Human Services (DHS), the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA), and the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) released the strategy on Monday at Shepherd’s Crossing in Mechanicsburg.
“Too many Pennsylvanians live in institutions when they could live at home with the right supports. Too many are rent-burdened and too many Pennsylvanians experience or are at risk of homelessness,” said Governor Wolf. “Today is about working together to find ways to make better use of our resources so that we can make affordable housing a reality for more Pennsylvanians.”
According to the plan, 53,574 state residents are living in government-assisted institutions who could live in the community.
Moving just 500 people out of nursing homes to independent living could save the state $15.7 million annually, according to DHS.
Department of Human Services/
Additionally, 15,421 state residents were experiencing homelessness or are at-risk of homelessness during 2015.
The rate of homelessness in the state has been increasing since 2012, even though the national rate has been declining.
Compounding the problem is the average renting cost for one-bedroom housing in the state, which is $739/month.
Housing is considered affordable if no more than 30% of the household's income pays for housing. So a person would need to make $14.21/hour to afford the rent of an average one-bedroom residence.
The plan calls for state agencies to collaborate with all levels of government and private agencies to connect people to affordable housing.
“There is no quick fix to addressing these issues,” said DHS Secretary Ted Dallas. “This is a marathon and not a sprint. Comprehensively addressing housing issues will take more than the steps we are announcing today and will take some time to complete. The strategy we announced today lays out our vision for the next five years and the steps we will have to take to bring this vision closer to reality.”
The goal of the program is to help many of the affected Pennsylvanians by 2020. | {
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The first month of the season is officially in the books. Seven more to go until we reach the playoffs.
Throughout the last few months, going back to the offseason, there's been whispers of how MLS just feels different this year. Part of that is expansion, and part of it is the targeting of new kinds of DPs, and part of it is the sudden, unmissable influx of Homegrown talent. The league has clearly changed.
What hasn't changed is the need to protect your home turf, especially out west. Western Conference teams above the red line went 10-0-3 at home through Week 5. Those below went 3-5-3. It's not as pronounced in the Eastern Conference, but the pattern's still there.
I made some pretty, pretty pretty bad predictions based upon what dropped home points meant for both NYCFC and Sporting KC early last season, and will not be repeating that mistake. I will say, however, that teams who can't figure out how to get the job done at home at this time of year more often than not spend November watching the rest of the league play for trophies.
I will also note that NYCFC are 9-1-2 in their last 12 home outings across all competitions dating back to last summer, so... yeah. Disastrous starts aren't necessarily fatal, and can be flipped immediately into quality and sustained runs of form.
So don't panic. But don't ignore warning signs either.
Let's head to the Bronx:
Gloves Off
NYCFC are, though four games, sitting relatively pretty and playing undeniably good soccer. There are some personnel issues yet to be worked out in midfield, but for the most part they seem to have banished the memory of that historic drubbing by Toronto FC in the playoffs and have improved upon the form that got them to the 2016 postseason in the first place.
And for this group it means the same patient, steady, build-from-the-back ethos that sets them apart stylistically from just about everybody else in the league:
Team Possession Passes Own Half Passing Accuracy Own Half New York City FC 61.91 1253 92.74 Atlanta United FC 61.21 983 88.91 LA Galaxy 58.37 786 92.24 New York Red Bulls 56.30 962 79.42 Columbus Crew SC 55.22 1139 89.99 Toronto FC 55.06 891 86.76 Seattle Sounders FC 54.63 861 88.15 San Jose Earthquakes 54.60 817 87.52 Sporting Kansas City 54.26 810 90.62 Philadelphia Union 52.37 735 86.94 Colorado Rapids 50.16 575 85.57 Minnesota United FC 48.46 1041 84.73 Real Salt Lake 47.36 659 78.76 New England Revolution 47.11 509 90.37 Portland Timbers 46.73 750 90.67 Orlando City SC 44.34 494 89.47 Montreal Impact 43.90 839 87.96 D.C. United 43.55 657 86.76 FC Dallas 41.17 492 84.35 Chicago Fire 39.70 800 87 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 39.03 591 87.14 Houston Dynamo 38.66 497 83.9
That possession number is obscene and will drop throughout the year, as will Atlanta's. What won't drop, though, is that second number, the "Passes Own Half" column. The only teams within 250 passes in their own half of NYCFC's total have both played five games to NYCFC's four, and as you can see from the final column, NYCFC also lead the league in passing accuracy in their own half.
It's who they are. They got in trouble when they tried to change that last autumn, and have learned the lesson.
The next lesson is one we might've gotten a glimpse of in Saturday's 2-1 win over San Jose:
Good things happen when you pressure. Marco Ureña loves to pressure. #ForwardAsOne | #NYCvSJ pic.twitter.com/s6wlnioCZQ — San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) April 1, 2017
For what it's worth I do not think the Fire will win the World Cup. I also think they're not done adding pieces this year.
4. D.C. United got their first goal, second goal, and first win of the season in a closer-than-it-should've-been 2-1 win over visiting Philadelphia on Saturday at RFK Stadium.
The win is obviously nice and absolutely necessary, and who can argue with two goals, even if they were very much products of Philly mistakes? Still, United aren't even a shadow of what they were late last season when they blitzed the league for better than 2.5 goals per game over the final three months. It didn't really matter that Bobby Boswell was back in central defense, or that Lucho Acosta is once again fully fit and pulling the strings at attacking midfield.
D.C. just haven't found their magic.
3. Did Gregg Berhalter mean to ring Justin Meram's bell with the acquisition of Kekuta Manneh late last week? If so, it worked. Meram was the star man with both goals as Columbus handed visiting Orlando City their first loss of the season in a 2-0 win.
Crew SC may have found something in youngster Artur at d-mid and Homegrown rookie center back Alex Crognale. Even as others get healthy it'll be hard to justify taking either player out of the lineup.
2. Our Pass of the Week goes to Clint Dempsey, and just go ahead and take your pick:
A post shared by Major League Soccer (@mls) on Mar 31, 2017 at 10:04pm PDT
Neither the Sounders nor Atlanta United could find paydirt on Friday in one of the more entertaining scoreless draws you'll see in this league.
1. Both Portland and New England found paydirt in Sunday night's weirdly low-intensity 1-1 draw at Providence Park. For a pair of teams with so many attacking options and so many classy, skillful midfielders, this match-up underdelivered on the entertainment scale.
Know who won't care at all? The Revs, who will cross the continent with an unexpected point and three of their next four at home. | {
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KABUL, Afghanistan -- Tucked deep inside the compound of Afghanistan's paramount foreign and domestic intelligence agency is a detention facility that houses the country's most hardened accused terrorists. It's a quiet place of old pale buildings, few windows and layers upon layers of security.
Outside, a low-profile, gray Toyota Hilux pulls up and two freshly captured terrorists, blind-folded, are carefully pulled from the back of the pickup and led into their new confinement at the National Directorate of Security (NDS) facility.
Inside, a young Taliban fighter is brought upstairs from the cell he shares with several others and led into a small, dimly lit ground floor room. Wearing his prison garb of black flip-flops and a deep green, orange-trimmed shalwar -- the traditional men's Afghan dress -- he sits down, appearing nervous. There are neither handcuffs nor blindfolds.
His name is Haibatullah, and like many Afghans only uses one name. He is 18 years old. Haibatullah agrees to speak to Fox News, of his own will, to detail his descent into the dark path of Taliban terrorism, which started when he was 17, some 10 months ago.
A friend, he says, convinced him to travel more than 300 miles from his home in the southeastern province of Ghazni to the Pakistan border city of Quetta, a city known to be a haven for Taliban members and one filled with people who support the group's hard-line ideology.
"He said that the Americans and foreigners do whatever they want to our country," Haibatullah says, referring to his friend's "motivation" speech. "And we must fight the foreigners."
Once in the Quetta camp, which he refers to as the "secret brick camp," the indoctrination of hate only went deeper. For two months, Haibatullah was trained to use an array of guns and weapons and recite verses from the Quran to convince him that it was "mandatory to use jihad against foreigners" and "fight the infidels."
Haibatullah -- a timid, unshaven, almost child-like figure -- cowers a little more and suddenly announces that he has something to say. He buries his head in his hands and weeps silently. For long moments, nothing is said.
During training, a mullah told him to prepare to be a suicide bomber, but he refused on the grounds that he "was not ready." He says he was repeatedly told to engage in sexual acts with the mullah, but he continued to say no. Then one day after lunch, Haibatullah -- just 17 at the time -- claims that the mullah called him away. He woke up in a state of confusion and excruciating pain some time later, his legs covered in blood.
"After that," Haibatullah goes on, fidgeting and grief catching his voice. "He told me that he filmed the rape and if I didn't follow his orders and bomb myself, he would reveal the tape."
Haibatullah was raped two more times after that. The mullah, he says, called his parents and told them that their son was with the Taliban and because of that he had nowhere to go, nobody wanted him. Haibatullah suspects others also were drugged and raped, but he never said a word and nor did anyone else.
According to a NDS official, who was present in the room during the detainee interview but requested to not be named, Haibatullah's story is almost certainly true and not unique. Drugging victims and filming rapes for blackmail has become a standard weapon of coercion used by Taliban leadership. Another high-ranking NDS official also pointed out that the mullahs generally separate the "most vulnerable minds" for such atrocities, and that they also are witnessing an increase in detainees who have been intravenously administered large amounts of human growth hormone.
After training and filled with silent shame, Haibatullah crossed freely back with others into Afghanistan, where he spent several more weeks in the eastern Laghman province, awaiting mission orders. The instruction came in November. Their target was the German Consulate in the northern province of Mazar-e-Sharif. They were told to kill, that only foreigners would be inside and that they must kill each and every one of those foreigners.
So Haibatullah and four Taliban comrades took a private car north to
Mazar-e-Sharif, believing it to be their last day on earth.
On the morning of Nov. 11 last year, one of his crew -- adorned with a suicide vest -- rammed a truck into the consulate. The blast overturned nearby cars, blew out shop windows and left a crater in the ground. The others, including Haibatullah, opened fire.
Of the assailants, Haibatullah alone survived. The attack remains something of a blurry horror movie. He remembers the chaos, the body parts, the burning building and the smell of smoke. He remembers running across the street, reeling with shock and fear of what he had just done. He remembers his head pounding with the sound of the "big bang" repeating over and over. He remembers walking a little way, unable to control his legs.
And then in the midst of it all, Haibatullah curled up on the hard ground and fell asleep. He doesn't know how long he slept, but when woke up he wasn't sure whether he was alive or dead.
Then the shout of an NDS Special Forces soldier rang out, ordering him not to move. Haibatullah's "fight for freedom against foreigners" had just ended in handcuffs.
That attack left 20 civilians dead and more than 120 wounded. Although the target, no members of the German Consulate staff were injured.
While Haibatullah says he is still not sure whether having Americans and other NATO forces in Afghanistan is a "good or bad thing," he reiterates multiple times that one thing is for certain: His acts in Mazar-e-Sharif, the killing of his own countrymen, was a mistake.
"I am 100 percent regretful," he says.
The Taliban leaders did not pay Haibatullah or his cohorts a salary, but their expenses such as fuel and food were covered. Before carrying out the German Consulate attack, they were each given $50.
In his pre-Taliban life, Haibatullah had completed his education up until ninth grade and then joined his father selling vegetables at a local bazaar. He says no members of his family or extended family belonged to the Taliban or any associated group, and that they were a poor, yet proud, family.
"My father even used what money he had to enroll me in a private school," Haibatullah recalls.
He says he did not inform them that he was leaving for a jihadist camp, but once he had arrived in Quetta he called to say he was attending a madrassa to further his religious studies. His father cried with disappointment that he had abandoned his family.
Since Haibatullah's capture, his devastated parents have traveled to see him at the detention facility, yet those visitor moments are filled with dishonor and sadness. Nonetheless, he rejects the notion that he should be considered a terrorist.
Haibatullah is currently awaiting trial and will be moved to another detention facility after sentencing. Typically, notes an NDS official, terrorists found guilty receive anything from a 20-year sentence, to life behind bars, to execution, depending on their crimes.
"The Taliban are puppets of Pakistan. They are coming into Afghanistan to fight a proxy war and they are all bad people," Haibatullah says, looking around at the dirt-smeared walls and the bare sliver of afternoon sunlight from the small high window. "It is because of them, I am here."
His head low and flanked by guards, the detainee prepares to be led away.
"It is better I am here," Haibatullah adds. "Because if I ever see that mullah again, I will kill him." | {
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IBM, the company that just weeks ago said it was doing away with its work-from-home policy, is now preaching the benefits of telecommuting to customers.
Big Blue's Smarter Workforce Group says a recent panel it hosted at the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP) conference concluded that customers who work remotely are "more engaged, have stronger trust in leadership and much stronger intention to stay."
"These findings mirror what an IBM Smarter Workforce Institute study found," the group wrote.
"Challenging the modern myths of remote working shares employee research revealing that remote workers are highly engaged, more likely to consider their workplaces as innovative, happier about their job prospects and less stressed than their more traditional, office-bound colleagues."
This is posted without any apparent sense of irony, as IBM said just weeks ago that remote workers were not part of its "recipe for success" and could no longer be permitted to work anywhere other than its six regional offices in various techie hubs around the US.
"There is only one recipe I know for success, particularly when we are in as much of a battle with Microsoft and the West Coast companies as we are, and that is by bringing great people with the right skills, give them the right tools, give them a mission, make sure they can analyze their results, put them in really creative inspiring locations and set them free," IBM marketing head Michelle Peluso said at the time.
"That's the recipe I have always relied on and counted on, and I know if we do that we can achieve extraordinary things."
Apparently, while IBM may only know one recipe for success, it is perfectly willing to pitch others on a suite of products made for an approach it is trying to kill off internally. Then again, given its run of twenty straight quarters of declining revenues, perhaps it's best that customers opt for their own recipes. ® | {
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Nearly 25 years after his murder alongside Nicole Brown Simpson, Ron Goldman remains one of the world’s most famous innocent bystanders. As the man they call ‘the killer’ is granted parole, Goldman’s father and sister explain why they are ready to start fighting all over again
The Goldmans on their pursuit of OJ Simpson: ‘We were called racist for not agreeing with the verdict’
The Goldmans on their pursuit of OJ Simpson: ‘We were called racist for not agreeing with the verdict’
Ron Goldman put up a fight before he was murdered – on that much everyone agrees. On 13 June 1994, the young waiter was found slumped against a gate, a few feet away from the body of OJ Simpson’s ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson. Now, 23 years on, he remains one of the most famous innocent bystanders of all time. Goldman had gone to Brown Simpson’s house to drop off a pair of sunglasses her mother had left at the restaurant where he worked; he arrived either during the murder of Brown Simpson or immediately after. Instead of fleeing, he went towards her.
That is when the killer attacked him. Goldman, 25, had always looked after himself – worked out, ate right – but the body of which he had been proud was so brutalised during his killing – he was stabbed more than two dozen times – that when photos of it were shown in court jurors cried, gagged and fled the courtroom; Judge Lance Ito had to call a recess. The Simpson trial remains one of the most divisive cases in US history, but on two matters the defence and the prosecution agreed: Goldman fought desperately for his life and his death was terrifying, protracted and brutal.
If his killer was surprised by how much of a fight Goldman put up, then Simpson has been similarly taken aback by the tenacity of the Goldman family. Ron’s father, Fred, and his younger sister, Kim, attended almost every day of the murder trial in 1995 and their devastated expressions were a constant reminder of the human cost of a case that quickly became about everything – race, celebrity, the Los Angeles police department, the US – but the murders themselves. When the jury declared Simpson not guilty, prompting a wail of despair from Kim audible to the 150 million Americans (57% of the population) watching on TV, she and Fred set out to find justice. They filed a wrongful-death civil suit against Simpson; he was found responsible for the murders of Ron and Brown Simpson and ordered to pay their families $33.5m. Simpson claimed he was bankrupt, so the Goldmans have been pursuing him indefatigably for his assets ever since.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘He was happy-go-lucky, the clown in the room’ ... Fred Goldman on Ron Goldman in 1991. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
They have seized, among other things, the rights to Simpson’s notorious book, If I Did It, in which he describes hypothetically how he would have killed Ron and Brown Simpson. Simpson’s original publishers dropped it after a public backlash, but the Goldmans decided to publish it themselves, considering it Simpson’s long-overdue confession. They have said repeatedly that they do not care about the money and that they have recouped less than 1% of it. But they want to ensure that the man they insist killed Ron will be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life. (The Brown family has been much less aggressive with Simpson, at least partly for the sake of the two children Brown Simpson had with him.)
Simpson used state and federal laws to evade his financial obligations to the Goldmans, moving to Florida, where state laws prevented the Goldmans from taking his home. But even legendary athletes can run only for so long. In 2008, he was convicted of multiple felonies after he stole sports memorabilia from a collector in a Las Vegas hotel room. In recordings made before the robbery, Simpson referred to the Goldmans as “the gold-diggers” and said he did not want to commit the crime in California, because state laws meant the Goldmans would be able to seize the mementos. On 3 October 2008, 13 years to the day after he was acquitted of double murder, he was found guilty and sentenced to 33 years’ incarceration.
“We feel very strongly that, because of our pursuit of him for all these years, it did drive him to this,” Kim told reporters after the sentencing. When asked how she would feel when Simpson came up for parole in nine years, she replied: “We’ll be there, waiting and watching.”
***
It is 20 July 2017 and Fred is in a hotel room in midtown Manhattan, New York. The TV is tuned to a 24-hour news channel. Suddenly, an egg-timer appears on screen, counting down the hours to Simpson’s parole hearing, which will, of course, be televised. “Coming soon: OJ’s hearing, where we’ll hear from OJ himself!” says the presenter. Fred turns off the TV. The moustache, curled at the ends, that became a familiar sight during the murder trial in 1995 is a little sparser these days. Dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and jeans, a Star of David necklace resting against his broad chest and hearing aids hooked over his ears, Fred, 76, looks like a typical Jewish-American grandfather. He has the warm demeanour to match, but today his face is furrowed with anxiety. He did not sleep well last night – “of course”. When I ask how he is feeling, he considers the question carefully. “I’m gonna say apprehensive,” he replies.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Nothing ever takes away from the grief’ ... the Goldmans today. Photograph: Tim Knox/The Guardian
His daughter, Kim, 45, comes in from her room across the hall. Where her father is solemn, she is edgy. “I’m preparing myself for what I believe is going to be a release,” Kim says. Her voice is calm, but her hands are tightly wrung together. She looks a little like Celine Dion, but, with her long face, deep-set eyes and narrow nose, the person she really resembles is her brother. It is a sunny day outside, but the mood in the room is claustrophobic and gloomy. How will they feel if the man they are certain killed Ron is on the streets again?
They are silent for a few seconds.
“We’re gonna go after him the way we did in the preceding years, before he went to jail. Unless we honour the judgment, he’s never gonna be punished,” says Fred.
Do they really feel that way?
“Oh, absolutely,” he says, his voice getting stronger. “That’s the punishment. So we’re gonna try to make sure the killer is punished.” The Goldman’s never utter Simpson’s name. He is always “the killer”.
Americans’ feelings about Simpson during and immediately after the murder trial were divided notoriously along race lines: most African Americans thought he was innocent; most Caucasians thought otherwise. Today, the vast majority of people, whatever their race, take his guilt as a given. The loss of the public’s love must be crushing for the deeply narcissistic and needy Simpson. Do the Goldmans find some vindication in that?
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘There will still be people who will seek him out for pictures’ ... a man celebrates Simpson’s acquittal in 1995. Photograph: Eric Draper/AP
“There will still be people who will seek him out for pictures. He wasn’t as ostracised from society [after the murder trial] as I thought he would be,” says Kim.
“There was always someone who would play golf with him and there still will be,” agrees Fred.
Despite the change in attitude about Simpson, both Goldmans – Kim especially – have been harassed and abused, online and offline.
“I get called all sorts of names – antisemitic, racist, sexual things. I ignore most of it,” Kim says.
“Report it all,” her father says, anxiously.
This abuse gets worse when Simpson is back in the spotlight, as with today’s parole hearing and last year’s high-profile re-examinations of the case, the schlockily compulsive TV series The People v OJ Simpson: American Crime Story and the majestic documentary film OJ: Made in America. Although he appears in the latter, Fred avoided watching both: neither said anything he did not already know and both reduced his son to a bit part. Kim watched some of The People v OJ Simpson, which she thought was “gross”.
I ask if it helps that Ron’s murder remains infamous. “Look, I feel very ... fortunate isn’t the right word, but honoured that people know who my brother is. But you don’t ever get a moment’s break from it and it is always so weird to see Ron’s picture on TV and to think: ‘Oh, this is us. This is actually us,’ you know? You never get used to it,” Kim says.
***
Fred raised Ron and Kim on his own in Illinois, after his divorce from their mother. “The three musketeers,” Fred says, an old family joke. Kim was always the studious one, whereas Ron was more of “a free spirit”, Kim says. “He was happy-go-lucky, the clown in the room.”
“He didn’t fit into a mould,” they say, in near-perfect synchronicity.
They were the kind of family who shared everything. Ron would talk about his girlfriends with his father and sister; when he was planning to open his own bar, he asked his father for help with “a new business”. Fred agreed instantaneously without even asking what the business was, but Ron died before he could show his father the plans. There has long been a tabloid insinuation that Ron and Brown Simpson were sleeping together, although there has never been any evidence of this. “Ron was always pretty open about who he was dating. I’m sure he would have said something if they were,” says Fred.
OJ: Made In America – the Oscar winner that's the most in-depth look at race in America yet Read more
Today, Fred lives in Arizona and works in real estate, while Kim, who has a 13-year-old son, lives in California and runs a non-profit organisation that provides counselling for teenagers. The closeness that people saw between them during the murder trial is still there: Fred rubs Kim’s shoulders when she talks about difficult subjects; she swats his knee fondly when he gets dates mixed up.
I ask what they find harder: Ron’s absence from their tight-knit family or the brutal way in which he died.
“I know how Ron died, but I’ve never seen the pictures,” says Kim.
Was she not in court when the photos were shown?
“I was, but the photos were facing the jurors, so I just watched their reactions to them, which was surreal. I know how vicious it was and I know he died with his eyes open,” she says, looking down.
“I constantly think how I didn’t get to share all the things I wanted to with Ron, like him getting married, having kids,” says Fred. “These thoughts, they’re always there. Always, always, always.” He starts to cry.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘There were all these things going on in the courtroom that he allowed to happen’ ... Judge Lance Ito, whom the Goldman’s hold partly responsible for the not guilty verdict in the murder trial. Photograph: Lee Celano/WireImage
The Goldmans barely knew who Simpson was when they learned he was accused of killing Ron. Fred vaguely recognised his name (“I was never a sports fan”), Kim not even that. What they saw of him in court repulsed them: his cocky jokes with his lawyers, his arrogant expressions. He used to stare at Kim and, during the civil trial, eye her up and down. At other points, Fred says, he would make hand gestures at young women in court, like he was grabbing their backsides.
“That is who he is. He is a pig who belittles women,” says Fred, full of disgust.
After an 11-month-long trial, the mostly African American jury spent fewer than four hours deliberating before declaring Simpson not guilty. In OJ: Made in America, one of the jurors, Carrie Bess, said that “probably 90% of [the jury]”, including herself, saw this as payback for the Rodney King case in 1992, when four white LAPD officers were found not guilty of using excessive force on King, who was African American, despite video evidence. How does hearing such things make the Goldmans feel?
“The same way I felt [in 1995]. My dad and I were called racist for not agreeing with the verdict. But we disagreed with the verdict not because the jury was black, but because they didn’t do what they were ordered to by the judge, which was to look at the evidence. They told us they stopped listening at some point during the prosecutor’s case. I didn’t think they’d fall for all the race stuff,” says Kim.
But the Goldmans hold the judge more responsible for the verdict than the jury.
“Johnnie Cochran [Simpson’s lawyer] wore an African motif tie and pocket square every day – a very subtle message. But we weren’t allowed to wear pins with Ron’s face on them. So there were all these things going on in the courtroom that he allowed to happen,” says Fred.
Do they think Simpson got such a long sentence for the robbery as payback for being found not guilty for the murders? “Deep down, maybe, and that’s fine,” says Kim. “In other cases, my dad and I are able to see the inequities in the system. But here I reserve the right to be hypocritical in my thinking.”
The People v OJ Simpson: Ryan Murphy delivers a real American horror story Read more
“It’s personal here,” adds Fred.
There is an appealing straight-talking candour to the Goldmans; they are smart, self-aware and open. But I wonder if they are hurting or helping themselves by making Simpson such a focus in their lives; their relentless pursuit of him is a kind of life sentence for them. They have always given short shrift to the idea of forgiveness – Kim’s memoir is called Can’t Forgive – but could they contemplate cutting him out of their lives?
“We don’t get that choice. The way social media is, the 24-hour news cycle, the pop culture – there isn’t a way to opt out,” says Kim.
“The late-night comics will make a zinger about him. It’s out there all the time,” adds Fred.
“Look, it’s not like I walk around with anger in my life. I live my life in a way that works for me, that doesn’t make me abusive to myself or addicted to drugs. I have an amount of anger that I think is appropriate and I’ve learned how to manage it,” Kim adds.
Perhaps the most unavoidable – and unlikely – legacy of the murder trial is the Kardashian family. The late Robert Kardashian, the father of Kourtney, Kim and Khloe, was Simpson’s best friend and a public supporter. It must be weird for Fred and Kim to see that name on every newsstand now, I say, and to think how few of the Kardashians’ fans know about their connection to Ron.
“I don’t make that connection. Kim Kardashian is famous because of a sex tape,” says Kim.
“But she got a boost because of her name,” Fred replies, making a nothing-surprises-me-any-more shrug.
***
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘He is a pig who belittles women’ ... Ron Goldman on OJ Simpson, who was granted parole last week after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence for armed robbery and kidnapping. Photograph: Jason Bean/Getty Images
It is almost time for the hearing. The Goldmans want to see on their own, so I go around the corner to watch it in a bar. As the news presenter promised, Simpson does indeed speak. It is remarkable how little he has changed over years. He is 70 now; if he is still almost as handsome as he was, he is also just as shifty. If I Did It is an astonishing insight into the mind of a man who has never taken responsibility for his actions. When writing about the time in 1989 when he beat Brown Simpson so badly that she required hospitalisation, Simpson says: “It’s possible she hurt herself.” On what he calls “the night in question”, Simpson claims that a person called Charlie, who had never been mentioned anywhere before, persuaded him to go to Brown Simpson’s house and then handed him the knife. Today, at the parole hearing, he insists other people got him into trouble during the burglary and that he led a “conflict-free life”. As predicted, he is granted parole. I head back to the Goldmans’ hotel.
The atmosphere in the room is completely different now. The gloom from earlier is cut through with white-hot anger. It feels, to be honest, like a relief – or at least a release.
Fred is taking apart Simpson’s testimony line by line. “On one of the tapes, the killer said was he was getting back his stuff to keep it away from the Goldmans, which is totally different from: ‘I was just getting my stuff,’ which is what he told the parole board,” he says, his voice firmer than before, as though he is taking strength from having a focus.
I ask if the anger is a distraction from the sadness. Fred and Kim shake their heads firmly.
“Nothing ever takes away from the grief. You have a situation like this and it just adds to the feelings,” Fred says.
How did it feel to see Simpson again?
“The same. When I look at him, I think: ‘That was my brother’s last view,’” Kim says.
She had planned to visit Simpson in prison at one point, but decided against it when his lawyer imposed various restrictions on her, including that she would have to deny it had happened.
“It was important for me to see him in jail, to see him small. He had taken up so much space in my life; I just wanted to shrink him,” Kim says.
“I couldn’t grasp why she wanted to be near him. Nothing he could say to me would ever matter,” says Fred.
I ask him if he ever has fantasies about confronting Simpson.
“No. You can have all these thoughts about wanting to blow his brains out, but that’s just a moment of fantasy. The reality is you’d never do it, because that’s not who we are,” he says.
I tell them I think the way they went after him was more effective – after all, their pursuit of Simpson arguably drove him to commit the robbery that sent him to prison.
Fred shrugs.
“Well, he’ll be out again,” he says with a heavy sigh, “and we’ll start the process all over again.” | {
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Welcome to Cool Comics in My Collection Episode 35, where we take a nostalgic look at six cool comic books I currently own, and one that I let get away.
For each of the comic books below, I list the current secondary market value. This is according to the listings at the website www.comicbookrealm.com. They list out the near mint prices, which are on the comic book grading scale of 9.4. If you go to the website to look up any in your collection, you can click on the price and see the value at different grades. Not all of my comics are 9.4. Some are probably better, and some are worse. But to simplify it, that’s the grading price I use here. And remember, a comic book is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it.
Have you considered being a guest host for Cool Comics? You can do a theme or just pick any of your comics for inclusion (this blog is for all ages, so please keep that in mind), as long as there are seven comics in your episode (you can still own all seven, or do it like me and include one you no longer own). Send your completed blog to [email protected].
If you have any questions or comments, please scroll to the bottom of the page to where it says, “Leave a reply.” I hope you enjoy seeing these as much as I do writing about them. And now, Episode 35…
Cool comics in my collection #225: The Six Million Dollar Man #2, August 1976.
Charlton Comic’s The Six Million Dollar Man comic book started in 1976 and lasted just 9 issues, and I can’t believe I somehow missed this when it originally came out. I loved the show and bought the original novel and a sequel, and made sure to always watch the adventures of Steve Austin on TV. Another thing I owned was the Six Million Dollar Man action figure and Bionic Transport Station, which plays into this comic book issue, because the bad guy has a doll made that looks just like that action figure, and he is able to control Steve Austin with it. All told, it’s a pretty silly issue, but reading it was worth every penny I paid, as memories of watching the show and talking about it with friends flooded my mind. I bought this issue in the back issue bins at Kenmore Komics, in Akron, Ohio, for just $2. The cover price of The Six Million Dollar Man #2 is 30 cents, while the current value is $15.
Cool comics in my collection #226: Gomer Pyle USMC #1, July 1966.
Gomer Pyle aired from 1964 until 1969, and though I never saw the show in primetime, the reruns could be found constantly throughout the seventies. When I was a kid, it seemed like everyone watched those reruns and knew all about Gomer and Sgt. Carter. Today, I really don’t know how many people are familiar with the character, let alone the star, Jim Nabors, who was also famous for his singing voice. He appeared on variety shows quite often, and also showed up as a guest on TV every once in a while taking a trip on The Love Boat. For those who don’t know, Gomer was a down-home spun character who drove Sgt. Carter crazy. Things would get out of hand, but Gomer usually found a way to make everything come out all right, and seem like a top notch Marine. I bought this issue at Kenmore Komics for $4 earlier this year. The cover price of Gomer Pyle USMC #1 is 12 cents, while the current value is $125.
Cool comics in my collection #227: The Courtship of Eddie’s Father #2, May 1970.
The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, starring Bill Bixby, Brandon Cruz, and Miyoshi Umeki, aired from 1969 to 1972, and had a great theme song. I admit that I also liked the show because it had my name in it, but what kid wouldn’t appreciate that? Last summer while strolling around the Hartville Outdoor Flea Market, my wife happened to find this issue. She was also a fan of the TV show (is that why she married me?), and since it cost just $2 from a person selling comic books there, we bought it. A couple months ago, when I was flipping through some comic books in a box, I saw this one and decided to do a theme week on comic books based on TV shows. Not surprisingly, the stories focused around Eddie trying to find a new wife for his father, since he wanted to have a mother. Reading this issue really brought the past back to life for me. The cover price of The Courtship of Eddie’s Father #2 is 15 cents, while the current value is $50.
Cool comics in my collection #228: Daniel Boone #9, May 1967.
Daniel Boone, starring Fess Parker, aired from 1964 to 1970. I really didn’t see many episodes of it, but I remember it had lots of fans. I’d probably appreciate watching it now much more than back when I was a kid, as I have a greater appreciation for history today, especially for great American heroes like Daniel Boone. The comic, which I bought at Kenmore Komics in Akron, Ohio, for $7.50, had good stories and I was glad to add it to my cool comics. I also like the picture cover used in so many of the older movie and TV comic issues. The cover price of Daniel Boone #9 is 12 cents, while the current value is $30.
Cool comics in my collection #229: Ben Casey #5, April 1963.
Ben Casey ran on TV from 1961 to 1966, and though I know it was a popular show, I never saw a single episode. Obviously I was too young in the sixties to watch a show like this (I was born in 1962), but I watched a lot of shows from before my time in syndication during the seventies. If Ben Casey reruns took place, I never knew about it. Doctor/hospital shows have always been popular, from soap operas to nighttime dramas, and since I’d heard what a classic Ben Casey was, I decided to pick up an issue to introduce me to the character. I love these old Dell comics with the photo covers, and this is a good one to show the gruff exterior of this confident doctor. I bought this issue at Kenmore Komics earlier this year for $2.50. The cover price of Ben Casey #5 is 12 cents, while the current value is $50.
Cool comics in my collection #230: Adam-12 #8, August 1975.
Adam-12 was a successful half hour police drama that aired from 1968 to 1975. There were a total of 174 episodes. I knew it was on for a while, but never realized just how long until I read this comic book and looked up some information. For those who grew up during the show, it was hard to avoid, considering that we didn’t have many channel choices back then, but mostly because it was a good program and we wanted to watch it. Who knew they’d made a comic book series of it? I sure didn’t until a recent trip to Kenmore Komics in Akron, Ohio, where I found this issue for just $2.50. Though unlike the TV show, this comic book series lasted just 10 episodes. Gold Key, Dell, and Charlton were not comics I paid any real attention to back when I was first collecting comics as a kid, but since I started this blog, they’ve gotten my attention, taking me back to yesteryear, and hoping you feel a little nostalgic reading about them, too. The cover price of Adam-12 #8 is 25 cents, while the current value is $45.
Cool comics in my collection #231 (one that got away): Welcome Back, Kotter #2, January 1977.
If you grew up in the seventies, it was hard to avoid this TV show, which ran from 1975-79. It started John Travolta along the path of popularity, and to top it off, the character Arnold Horshack carried around a Planet of the Apes lunchbox. Frankly, even though I watched the show for the most part, I’m surprised that I bought an issue of the comic book series. By 1977 my comic purchases were down, so why did I pick this one up? I certainly can’t remember, but I do recall having a good time talking about the show with my friends, back in Martins Ferry, Ohio. The cover price of Welcome Back, Kotter #2 is 30 cents, while the current value is $15.
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Steve Hansen has criticised the citing system in rugby union after Sean O'Brien's case was dismissed
New Zealand head coach Steve Hansen has criticised the citing system in rugby union which saw British and Irish Lions flanker Sean O'Brien's case dismissed, with him free to play in the series-deciding Test in Eden Park.
While All Blacks centre Sonny Bill Williams was shown a red card in the second Test, O'Brien was retrospectively cited by commissioner Scott Nowland for a swinging arm which left Waisake Naholo concussed.
The incident occurred in the 59th minute of Saturday's 24-21 Lions victory against New Zealand in Wellington, and no action was taken at the time by referee Jerome Garces, who did review the incident with his TMO.
O'Brien was cited for dangerous play after appearing to catch winger Waisake Naholo with a swinging arm
Williams received a four-week ban at a hearing last Sunday for his shoulder charge offence on Anthony Watson, but O'Brien was cleared after his case was dismissed by the same judiciary committee.
Hansen, whose own flanker Sam Cane went through a similar process to O'Brien in November after his citing case was dismissed for a shoulder charge on Robbie Henshaw which left the Ireland centre knocked out, has now criticised the lack of clarity and reasoning behind decisions.
All Black flanker Sam Cane had a citing dismissed in November in similar circumstances to O'Brien
"It's a hell of a job for them to ref because there's so much happening," Hansen told the Telegraph.
"Last Saturday was a pertinent example. No problem with the red card [for Sonny Bill Williams]. You have a guy [Vunipola] who did something he shouldn't have done, but because he didn't hit him [Barrett] in the head he wasn't red carded. We all know what he was trying to do, but you can't deal with that.
"Then you have a situation where a guy [O'Brien] later gets cited, and we don't know why he got off. That's not good for the game.
Sonny Bill Williams was red carded by referee Jerome Garces and subsequently banned for four weeks
"They should just come out, you get told and then say, 'Well I can accept that or I can't accept it, but we have to get on with it because that's what they've decided'. Those things should be automatic."
Hansen, who has been All Blacks head coach since 2012, also criticised the usage of non-specialist assistant referees in rugby, and claimed referees are becoming too influential in matches at the top level.
"Then we ask referees in the game to see off-side, see the ruck. Then we talk about ARs [assistant referees], but they're all referees and their skill is not watching what they have been asked to watch," he added.
"Their skill is to watch what's happening at the breakdown because that's what they do. If we are really genuine we would say, 'You are the ref, you two are the ARs for the season'. That's one thing they do well in football, so you're a team and you get judged as a team.
O'Brien's citing was dismissed after a four hour hearing by the same judicial committee that heard Williams' case
"I will get into trouble for saying this, but the referees need help because they can't do what we're asking them to do, and then they become overly influential in a game.
"If you have a tight game and it becomes a major factor, you as a fan, you as a journalist, me as a coach, me as a fan, become frustrated by that - and it just chips away at the game. Rather than adding to the game it takes a bit away from it." | {
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(CNN) An off-duty police officer died Thursday in southwestern Kentucky after a man impersonating an officer shot him -- and hours later police killed the suspect in neighboring Tennessee, authorities said.
Officer Phillip Meacham, 38, was driving his personal vehicle in Hopkinsville when he was pulled over and shot by a man pretending to be an officer Thursday evening, CNN affiliate WSMV in Nashville reported, citing local police.
Meacham was taken to a hospital, but he died from his injuries, said Trooper Rob Austin with the Kentucky State Police.
After an hours-long manhunt, law enforcement shot and killed suspect James K. DeCoursey early Friday outside a hotel in Clarksville, Tennessee, about 30 miles south of Hopkinsville, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said.
Police said DeCoursey, 34, had run away after the shooting in Kentucky and then stole a white Chevrolet pickup.
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PORTLAND, Maine – U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said on Wednesday she’s open to using a subpoena to investigate President Donald Trump’s tax returns for potential connections to Russia.
Collins, a Republican who has served as a U.S. senator from Maine since 1997, sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. She appeared on Maine Public radio to talk about issues including the investigation.
READ MORE: Republicans block Democrats attempt to use obscure law to get Donald Trump’s tax returns
Collins was asked if the committee would subpoena Trump, who’s also a Republican. She said she hopes for “voluntary co-operation” but is open to using a subpoena if necessary.
“This is a counter-intelligence operation in many ways. That’s what our committee specializes in,” she said during the radio appearance. “We are used to probing in depth in this area.” Tweet This
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Trump’s refusal to disclose his tax returns is a break with presidential tradition. He has said he would be happy to release them after the completion of an Internal Revenue Service audit.
Using a subpoena to get access to the tax returns would be a more aggressive move than members of Congress have taken on the subject so far. House and Senate leaders have thus far shown no interest in taking such a step.
READ MORE: Donald Trump will not have to provide tax returns to US house committee
Last week, House Republicans blocked an attempt by Democrats to use an obscure law to obtain the tax returns from the IRS. Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee tried to frame the issue as a matter of national security, questioning whether Trump has any investments in Russia.
Collins also said during the radio appearance that she and other intelligence committee members will call for former national security adviser Michael Flynn to testify before the committee. Flynn resigned following reports that he had misled officials about his contacts with Russia.
Collins said the committee is in the midst of a “broad investigation” about Russian interference and it’s too early to speculate about the results.
She touted the “bipartisan” nature of the committee’s probe and pledged: “We will get to the bottom of this.”
Story continues below advertisement | {
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Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Shadow Vanguard for Android is very popular and thousands of gamers around the world would be glad to get it without any payments. And we can help you! To download the game for free, we recommend you to select your phone model, and then our system will choose the most suitable apk files. Downloading is very simple: select the desired file and click "download free Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Shadow Vanguard apk", then select one of the ways you want to get the file. Just a few easy steps and you are enjoying full version of the game for tablet or phone! Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Shadow Vanguard apk free for android, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Shadow Vanguard mod apk, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Shadow Vanguard play.mob.org cheats unlocked hack obb, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Shadow Vanguard torrents , Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Shadow Vanguard unlimited, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Shadow Vanguard apk+dataTom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard – a tactical shooter from Gameloft in which you will assume a role of an elite fighter of S.W.A.T. and in the process of game you will release hostages.Click Here Download button below, and see Next page on the 1mobile2u.info click here server link apk + data File sometime only apk just click the download sever file will be Download or other servers1. Install Apk File First2. And place data folder in SDCard/Android/Obb/If there is no Obb folder in Android folder then make new one and place data folder in Obb folder.3. Play the game4.Install Blocked?Go to your Settings > Security >Unknown sources (check it if there’s no mark)IF Download server Not Working Writ Massage in comments | {
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This recipe is inspired by one of the bartenders at my favorite pub. She gave me some of her homemade bean salad to try and it was so yummy that I wanted to make one of my own. So I did; with beer, of course.
This salad is super easy and so tasty. It keeps really well, so you can make it and enjoy it all week long with lunch or as a side dish.
I used Two Roads No Limits Hefeweizen , but you can use any good wheat beer.
One-beer Three-Bean Salad
1 12-oz Bottle Wheat Ale
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
3 Tbsp White Wine Vinegar
4 Oz Grape Seed Oil
Salt And Pepper
1 16-oz Can Cut Green Beans
1 16-oz Can Kidney Beans, Rinsed & Drained
1 16-oz Can Garbanzo Beans, Rinsed, & Drained
1 Small Sweet Onion, Minced
1 6-oz Can Sliced Black Olives, Drained
1 Cup Cucumber, Peeled, & Chopped Cucumber
1/2 Cup Fresh Parsley, Chopped
1 Cup Crumbled Feta Cheese
Pour the beer into a small saucepan and cook over medium heat. Cook until reduced to a thin syrup. Set it aside to cool.
Combine the beans, onion, olives, parsley, and cucumber in a large bowl.
Pour the cooled beer into a jar or small bowl and mix in the mustard, oil, salt and pepper. Mix well.
Drizzle the vinaigrette over the bean mixture. Mix in the feta cheese; toss to coat.
| {
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Amman (AFP)
Jordan and Russia said Monday a ceasefire brokered with the United States for southern Syria was "successful" and the next step would be to set up a safe zone there.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov made their remarks at a joint news conference in Amman.
Jordan shares a border of more than 370 kilometres (230 miles) with Syria, where upwards of 330,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since its conflict broke out in 2011.
A ceasefire brokered by Jordan, Russia and the United States in the southern Syrian provinces of Daraa, Quneitra and Suweida has largely held since it came into force on July 9.
Both Safadi and Lavrov told reporters the ceasefire had been "successful".
"We discussed issues pertaining to setting up a de-escalation zone in southeastern Syria," Lavrov said, according to an Arabic translation of remarks he made in Russian.
Safadi said Jordan, Russia and the United States were "determined to meet the objective" of setting up a safe zone in the area "as soon as possible".
He said talks were under way between the three countries to establish the zone.
De-escalation in southern Syria is part of a broader Moscow-backed plan to create four "de-escalation zones" in rebel-held parts of the country.
Russia and Iran, main allies of the Syrian government, and rebel-backer Turkey agreed in May to create the four zones in a deal aimed at bringing about a lasting truce.
Last month, Jordan government spokesman Mohamed Momani said Amman was hoping to reopen border crossings with Syria, noting that relations between the neighbours had been going in the "right direction".
The economy of Jordan, a country devoid of natural resources, has been severely affected by the closure of its borders with Iraq and Syria, which are both at war.
The United Nations says Jordan is hosting more than 650,000 Syrian refugees, but authorities in the kingdom put their actual number at 1.4 million.
© 2017 AFP | {
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The Democratic National Committee failed in its latest bid to charge the president with campaign hanky panky, despite support from a liberal Federal Election Commission member.
In a series of newly release memos, the FEC voted 3-1 behind closed doors last month against taking action against President Trump, son Donald Trump Jr., and Trump lawyer and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in a case that charged illegal collusion.
The DNC had charged that a super PAC that backed Trump, Great America PAC, illegally coordinated with the Trump campaign when it ran an ad titled “leadership” featuring Trump supporter Giuliani urging Americans to dump Hillary Rodham Clinton for Trump.
The DNC alleged that in the collusion, the group provided an in-kind donation to the Trump campaign. In addition to the PAC and its director, the DNC listed Trump, son Donald Jr., and Giuliani.
In its vote, the FEC rejected the claim that Giuliani was an “agent” of the campaign, and thus was disallowed from helping the PAC.
Only longtime Democratic FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub sought further investigation.
“Although Giuliani advised Trump regarding his campaign as early as February 2016, he publicly emphasized that he was only providing informal advice as a personal friend and not campaign strategy as an officer or employee of the Trump Committee,” said the FEC report on the case.
Giuliani this month joined Trump’s legal team fighting the Russia probe.
The FEC’s legal team struck down the DNC’s charges and recommended no further action.
The FEC’s legal counsel concluded:
“Because the available information does not support the conclusion that Giuliani was an agent for Trump or the Trump Committee when he appeared in ‘Leadership,’ Giuliani's actions do not satisfy the conduct prong of the coordinated-communications test. Therefore, the Commission finds no reason to believe that GAP made, and Trump and the Trump Committee knowingly accepted, a prohibited or excessive in-kind contribution, and finds no reason to believe that Giuliani violated the Act or Commission regulations in connection with the allegations raised in this matter.” | {
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The Pentagon is doing a broad review of how military forces use exercise trackers and other wearable electronic devices, in the wake of revelations that an interactive, online map can pinpoint troop locations, bases and other sensitive areas around the world.
Army Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, said Monday that the review will determine if there should be additional training or restrictions on the use of the devices, such as Fitbits.
The Global Heat Map, published by the GPS tracking company Strava, uses satellite information to map the locations of subscribers to Strava's fitness service. The map shows activity from 2015 through September 2017.
Heavily populated areas are well lit, but warzones such as Iraq and Syria show scattered pockets of activity that could be caused by military or government personnel using fitness trackers as they move around. Those electronic signals could potentially identify military bases or other secure locations.
The Global Heat Map was posted online in November 2017, but the information it contains was only publicized recently. The issue was first reported by The Washington Post.
Manning said he was not aware of any compromise to U.S. security by the map and he did not believe there was any move yet to ban the devices. He also said he wasn't aware of any Pentagon effort to reach out to the company or request that the data be taken off line.
The Defense Department already has policies and guidelines for the use of social media accounts and other technology.
"The rapid development of technology requires constant refinement of policies and procedures to enhance force protection and operational security," said Manning. He said department personnel receive training and are advised to place strict privacy settings on their wireless devices and social media accounts. Also, those devices are not allowed in certain department locations, including classified areas. | {
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VIENNA (Reuters) - Austria’s Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said on Monday benefits for migrants should be cut and capped, tapping into concerns about immigrants among voters ahead of an Oct. 15 general election he is favorite to win.
FILE PHOTO: Austria's Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz addresses the media in Vienna, Austria June 26, 2017. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo
The plan would cut payments to refugees to 560 euros a month per person, or around half of the poverty threshold according to a consensus of 40 social groups, while payments per household would be capped at 1,500 euros.
Tens of thousands of people from the Middle East, Afghanistan and Africa have arrived in Austria in the past two years, raising public spending on social benefits and fuelling support for policy makers who advocate cutting migration.
Kurz’s conservative People’s Party has led opinion polls since he took over as its chief in May at around 33 percent. The far right Freedom Party and Chancellor Christian Kern’s Social Democrats have 25 percent each.
“We must secure our welfare state and our systems ... in the long term. To achieve this, we must protect our social system from further immigration,” Kurz, 31, said in a statement.
“Many receive basic social benefit payments ... without having paid into the social system yet. Those who work and pay taxes must not be disadvantaged,” he said, echoing policies of the Freedom Party.
Three provinces in highly federalized Austria have introduced rules similar to Kurz’s proposals since the influx began. The Freedom Party, which has gained support because of opposition to immigration, accuses Kurz of copying its ideas.
The benefit cuts in the provinces are being scrutinized by the constitutional court, which is unlikely to rule until early next year. The U.N. refugee agency says the cuts breach EU and international law.
The benefit threshold for a household of two adults and two children should be around 2,500 euros, according to the consensus of the Armutskonferenz, or poverty conference, that makes recommendations on social affairs.
It was not clear how much refugees would get if they have children under the proposal. Kurz’s campaign did not immediately reply to a request for clarification.
In the province of Vienna, where more than 60 percent of payments for basic social benefits are made, one person, regardless of their nationality, is currently entitled to around 840 euros a month.
Immigration is a key concern for voters. Kurz also wants to reduce the tax burden on companies to make any profit a company reinvests tax free. Corporate tax would only be applied to profit paid to shareholders. The corporate tax rate is 25 percent. | {
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The former Uber engineer who published a viral account of sexual harassment and discrimination said her former employer had hired a law firm to investigate her.
Susan Fowler, whose blogpost about sexism and misconduct sparked widespread debate about the mistreatment of women in Silicon Valley, said on Thursday that Uber was investigating her and that she had hired the law firm Baker Curtis & Schwartz to represent her.
An Uber spokesperson told the Guardian that the law firm Perkins Coie was “investigating Susan’s claims, not Susan personally”.
Fowler’s claim on Twitter comes a week after she said she had learned of some kind of “smear campaign” and that investigators had reached out to contacts of hers for “personal and intimate” details of her life.
Shortly after Fowler posted her account last month – which claimed that a manager immediately propositioned her for sex when she joined the company and that HR refused to hold him accountable despite clear evidence – Uber said it was launching an “urgent investigation” into her claims. The company subsequently hired the former US attorney general Eric Holder to assist with the process.
Uber’s CEO, Travis Kalanick, also said that “anyone who behaves this way or thinks this is OK will be fired”. But a week later, Fowler tweeted: “Research for the smear campaign has begun. If you are contacted by anyone asking for personal and intimate info about me, please report asap.” She added: “I don’t know who is doing this or why.”
An Uber spokesperson on Thursday said the company was not behind those inquiries: “Uber is in no way involved. This behavior is wrong.”
The company added: “The law firm Perkins Coie is looking into the specific allegations raised by Susan. They will report into Eric Holder, who is responsible for the overall investigation into Uber’s workplace practices.”
Fowler and her attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
Fowler’s story has fueled the extensive #DeleteUber campaign, which spread on social media earlier this year centered on Kalanick’s involvement on Donald Trump’s economic advisory council.
Users who have recently attempted to delete their accounts received a form letter that referenced the controversy, saying: “Everyone at Uber is deeply hurting after reading Susan Fowler’s blog post. We believe in creating a workplace where a deep sense of justice underpins everything we do and it’s everyone’s number one priority to create change in the coming months and years.”
Fowler seemed to criticize this response on Thursday, writing in her tweet: “Uber names/blames me for account deletes.”
Uber names/blames me for account deletes, and has a different law firm -not Holders - investigating me. I have hired https://t.co/IBL14Vj4o1 — Susan Fowler Rigetti (@susanthesquark) March 2, 2017
An Uber spokesperson claimed that the message about Fowler only went to a small handful of users and was designed to target those who indicated they were deleting the app because of Fowler’s story. The company is no longer sending that letter.
Uber has a long history of allegedly targeting its critics with questionable tactics. In 2014, Uber’s head of business suggested that the company dig up dirt on reporters and reveal personal details of a specific female journalist. Another reporter also claimed that a manager tracked her movements through the app.
The company’s former forensic investigator also recently claimed that employees had frequently used the corporation’s “God view” to spy on politicians, celebrities and ex-partners.
The company also hired a CIA-linked intelligence firm to investigate the plaintiffs and lawyer involved in a class-action lawsuit against Uber. A judge ruled the resulting evidence constituted “a reasonable basis to suspect the perpetration of fraud”, according to the Verge.
Fowler’s recent claims are the latest bad news for Uber, which has dealt with a steady wave of controversy in recent weeks.
Kalanick was forced to apologize earlier in the week when video emerged of him berating an Uber driver who questioned him about fares.
The company is also facing a lawsuit from Google that alleges Uber stole trade secrets from Google’s self-driving car company. | {
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Vice President Joe Biden this week released a plan to combat the opioid epidemic, the deadliest drug overdose crisis in US history.
The plan is the most detailed and expansive proposal on the opioid crisis released by any of the presidential campaigns, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, Biden’s current Democratic rival in the primary, or by President Donald Trump.
It would put $125 billion over 10 years — the largest funding commitment of any 2020 campaign — to scaling up drug addiction treatment and other prevention and recovery programs, paid for with higher taxes on pharmaceutical companies’ profits. It would take steps to stop the overprescription of opioid painkillers while encouraging better care for chronic pain, and it would try to slow the flow of illicit drugs from China and Mexico. It would also move to “reform the criminal justice system so that no one is incarcerated for drug use alone.”
The opioid crisis remains a huge problem across much of the country. Although 2018 saw the first decline in drug overdose deaths in decades, more people died of drug overdoses that year than of gun violence, car crashes, or HIV/AIDS at its peak, and the toll of more than 67,000 was still the second-highest drug overdose fatality rate, after 2017’s, in US history. Meanwhile, there are signs that drug overdose deaths involving stimulants, like cocaine and meth, and synthetic opioids, particularly illicit fentanyl, are still rising. That’s why experts argue a much more ambitious investment is required to fight the crisis and prevent future ones.
Previously, Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s $100 billion opioid epidemic plan was widely considered the strongest in the Democratic field. But with Warren out of the race, that’s left an opening — and Biden’s plan actually commits even more funding than Warren’s.
The Rehab Racket is Vox’s investigation into America’s notoriously opaque addiction treatment industry. We’re crowdsourcing patients’ and families’ rehab stories, with an emphasis on the cost of treatment and quality of care. If you’d like to help our reporting by sharing your story, please fill out this survey.
Looking toward the general election, Biden’s plan can also chip away at one of Trump’s potential advantages. The president has a decent narrative on the opioid crisis, largely because overdose deaths fell in 2018. This issue also may have helped Trump in 2016: Historian Kathleen Frydl found that many of the Ohio and Pennsylvania counties that went from former President Barack Obama to Trump that election year were hit particularly hard by the opioid crisis.
But Trump also hasn’t actually done much about the opioid crisis. His administration has signed bills boosting funding by a few billion here and there, but the money has fallen far short of the tens of billions that experts say is necessary and the $125 billion Biden is now proposing. Despite Trump hyping up an emergency declaration about the opioid crisis, the Government Accountability Office found the declaration led to almost nothing. And Trump’s proposal to use the death penalty on drug dealers and build a wall at the US-Mexico border have been widely panned by experts as ineffective means to stop the flow of drugs.
This is where a plan like Biden’s could come in. With a lot of communities still suffering from the brunt of the opioid crisis and a potentially rising stimulant epidemic, Biden could draw a contrast with Trump and, in the context of the ongoing primary, attempt to show he’s more prepared to take on the opioid crisis than Sanders is so far.
More importantly, the opioid crisis is also one of the areas where there seems to be a real desire from both parties in Congress to get something done — and potentially save tens of thousands of lives in the process.
What Biden’s plan would do
Biden’s plan is quite long and detailed, but it effectively breaks down a response to the opioid crisis into five categories: boosting treatment, combating overprescription, holding drug companies accountable, reducing the flow of illicit drugs from other countries, and reforming the criminal justice system to stop incarcerating people for drug use.
On treatment, Biden’s plan emphasizes the role of the Affordable Care Act in expanding access to addiction treatment. Researchers estimate that Obamacare expanded health care, including treatment, to hundreds of thousands of people with addictions, and a recent study linked Obamacare’s Medicaid expansion to a 6 percent fall in opioid overdose deaths. Biden promises to continue that trend by building on Obamacare, particularly with a public health insurance option that anyone could buy into.
The plan then goes further, however, by calling for $125 billion to be spent on the opioid crisis. These funds could go to drug addiction treatment, including medications like buprenorphine and methadone that are considered the gold standard of opioid addiction care. They could also go to addiction and overdose prevention, such as the opioid overdose antidote naloxone and new education campaigns, and recovery services, like peer support networks and recovery coaches.
Separately, Biden promises to improve enforcement of existing laws that require insurers to cover and pay for addiction treatment, and do more to hold misleading addiction treatment providers accountable.
Biden also vows to crack down on the overprescription of opioids, which helped fuel the first wave of the current crisis. He promises to regularly update federal guidelines on when the drugs should be given out, and he will tie the $125 billion in funds to states requiring every prescriber to check a prescription drug monitoring program database “every time they write a new opioid prescription.” He also promises to scale up non-opioid alternatives to pain treatment so medical professionals don’t feel as compelled to resort to opioids.
Biden calls for more accountability of drug companies, which have been accused — and in some cases convicted — of misleadingly marketing opioid painkillers to get more people to prescribe and use them even when they weren’t truly necessary. The plan would direct the Justice Department to conduct civil and criminal investigations into the issue, get the Drug Enforcement Administration to better track and stop suspicious opioid painkiller shipments, and “ban drug manufacturers from providing payments or incentives to physicians and other prescribers.” And the $125 billion in funds would also come from higher taxes on pharmaceutical companies’ profits.
On illicit drugs, Biden promises to work with other countries, particularly China and Mexico, to slow the flow of drugs into the US and increase resources at home to help government agencies, such as the Postal Service, catch shipments of illegal drugs.
Finally, the plan would push to stop the incarceration of anyone for drug use alone — directing people who use drugs to treatment through drug courts and social services instead of jails and prisons at the federal level, plus encouraging municipalities and states to do the same. This would be a significant shift not just in US drug policy but for Biden, given that he led much of the federal efforts that culminated in the war on drugs in the 1980s and ’90s (although Biden was supportive of drug courts back then too).
Biden’s plan puts him ahead of his presidential rivals
Although Trump initially claimed on the campaign trail that he would “spend the money” to fight the opioid crisis, his funding boosts have fallen far short of what experts have called for, and a bill he signed to tackle the crisis was criticized as “simply tinkering around the edges.”
Instead, what Trump has focused most of his personal attention and speeches on has been “tough on crime” and “tough on drug” approaches. There’s his call to use the death penalty on drug dealers, which is discredited by research showing that tougher criminal penalties don’t slow the flow of drugs into the US. There’s his effort to build a wall at the US-Mexico border to stop drugs from coming into the country, which experts have panned in large part because most illicit drugs come into the US through legal ports of entry that the wall does nothing about.
Biden, meanwhile, wants to put less emphasis on the “tough on crime” approach to drugs. And while he promises to work to stop the flow of drugs into the US, he also commits to a sizable boost in funding to treatment and prevention — dozens of times over what Trump has implemented or himself proposed.
Compared to Democratic primary rival Bernie Sanders, Biden’s plan is much more detailed and comprehensive. Sanders has not put out a plan to fight the opioid epidemic; he’s instead told reporters and activists that his Medicare-for-all plan would boost access to treatment, while signing onto Warren’s $100 billion bill, emphasizing alternatives to prison and support for harm reduction strategies like needle exchanges and safe injection sites in his criminal justice reform plan, and introducing legislation that aims to “hold CEOs of drug companies criminally liable for illegal advertising, marketing, or distribution of opioids.”
One element that’s missing from Biden’s plan: It doesn’t provide much detail about what he would do to ensure not only that treatment is more accessible and affordable but that it’s evidence-based — something that’s often not true in addiction treatment. Experts, activists, and providers have called for stronger regulation and oversight of the treatment industry to ensure higher quality, but so far Congress has taken no significant action to address the issue. (Biden’s campaign didn’t respond before publishing time to questions about his plan.)
President Biden could actually get this done
The Democratic primaries have focused quite a bit on ambitious policy proposals, from Medicare-for-all to the Green New Deal, that are frankly not likely to get done even if a Democrat wins the White House, especially if Republicans keep control of the Senate. Biden’s opioid epidemic plan, however, signals at one policy area in which something could really happen.
Several Republican senators, including Rob Portman (OH) and Shelley Moore Capito (WV), have shown a lot of interest in getting work done on the crisis. Among the few major bills that Trump has signed, an opioid epidemic bill was among them — even if it was criticized by experts for being too little, too late.
There’s good reason to be skeptical about whether Biden could get the full $125 billion he’s proposing to fight the opioid epidemic. One of the things I have heard quite consistently from sources on the Hill is that Republicans in particular are very skeptical of spending too much money on addressing the drug overdose crisis. That dynamic will continue into a Democratic administration, likely even more so as Republicans become resistant to giving a Democratic president a victory.
But starting from a place in which some Republicans and all Democrats are willing to work on an issue is certainly much better than a place in which no Republicans and not even all Democrats are willing to do something significant.
It’s also possible that the issue could become even more pressing in the next few years. If opioid painkiller overdose deaths plateau and deaths involving fentanyl, meth, and cocaine continue to increase, the next few years of overdose deaths could top records once again. That wouldn’t be unprecedented, as overdose deaths plateaued in 2012 before increasing to record highs in subsequent years. And experts are already warning about the continuing spread of illicit fentanyl and a potential stimulant epidemic.
So the next president, whoever it may be, will likely get a chance to act on the opioid crisis. Biden’s plan gives him a serious framework to do that. | {
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Life Changes.
Changes are inevitable. Our lives change everyday. We cannot block the change or divert it, we only have to accept the change and move on with it. The changes can be on the negative or positive part. Today I`m going to talk about how you can deal with these life changes.The first thing you should understand, everyone keeps on growing and as you grow, responsibilities changes. The growth is also a part of a change in our lives. If you observe keenly, you will notice your body size changes, your thinking capacity also increases and more of the new things keep on coming into your life.When you were young, you never thought you can one day be held up on the responsibilities now you are holding on. Things in life gets complicated. The way your life changes also you have to change some of your habits, and put on the new ones. The behaviors you had when you were still a kid, cannot comply with behaviors when you are a teenager. You will need to shed of some of the behaviors for you to fit in the current situation.Change always comes with its own price one has to pay for. When the changes comes in a negative way, you have to look for a positive way to encounter it. When the change comes a positive way, you should look for a means to uphold it.Remember, when your life has no changes, you are having a problem. Let me say for instances you have been living for about five years, and there is no change you made or came in your life, you must find what it is not working right in your life. Try to check your goals. Are you really working on them? Are you following the right path?You are stagnating, because you have something you have not worked on. When you live your life, you always expect a better change, an exciting one, this will make your life colorful. You will never get stressed.When you find that there is no change in your life, don`t wait for someone to bring the change, take initiative, change the conditions on your own. Walk bare feet. Sleep in the kitchen, eat cereals for supper, talk to a stranger, spend time in an orphanage, go beach , paint your room purple or any color you like. Make your lifestyle amazing. This will make you some significant change.The changes in your life should be at a moderate pace. This will enable you to adjust and learn new skills to handle the recent changes. Every change that comes, usually is accompanied by new tactics that require new skills to handle them.The pace if it will be too high, then you will get yourself stressed, when you are trying to apply something in your current situation, things don`t work out. At the same time you have about thousands of changes you have to fit in.You see, it will be so hard. You will spend so much time trying to fit, you will be wasting your time without understand how the situation goes.The only solution you have it to say no to some of the changes. Though it may sound so hard. When your friends call you for a party you can say no, when people want to give you new task tell them you have a task to handle. Saying no to these new changes will give you sufficient time to work on the changes that are currently driving you crazy. Consuming your mind and time.There is also a situation where you will find that your life changes goes in a wrong turn. This is because not all changes will be positive. When you are not careful, you can lose your mind and control too. This may consume you and feel so drawn. This is the cause of pain in life. This brings tears, hopelessness, helplessness and despair in life. Here, is where depression comes in, hatred arises and every look you have on different things turns negative.Let me give you a perfect way to deal with such a life change. You don`t need new plans to implement in your life. You need to go back to your last code, where you felt your life was on the right turn. Hold on, on your previous code. Be strong and try to negative issues one by one, do not enter the whole you in such a change. This would burn you up. One foot to the older life you were, and one foot in the current change.Take your time working on one by one on the problem, have a positive look on the negative change, this will give you the energy to work on this change. Never lose hope no matter how hard it is. Seek advises from people who have experience, people you trust can give you a hand.When the change that comes in your life is amazing. Enjoy your life. Don`t waste even a single second of it. Take notes, do the things that you wished to do. Give charity, thank God. Shape every objective that will drive you at your desired place. Help the people who have negative changes, show them how they can get positive outcomes from their lives too. Don`t mess it up.To finalize, the changes that comes in our lives, they do come for a reason. We cannot change our destiny, but we can find better way to deal with the changes that they do arise. Note, we also play a big part in the changes that comes to our lives. So let us play it safe and we will enjoy whatever befalls on us. | {
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Hozier weekly highlights include a Cork gig announcement, World Café interview and performance, and the beloved Advent calendar commentary has returned! It’s a Christmas miracle!
All this and more In A Week, our look back at Hozier highlights and happenings from the previous week.
News
Hozier announced a show at Irish Independent Park in Cork on 25 June with support, Maggie Rogers, who is also supporting him at Belsonic in Belfast on 27 June. Maggie Rogers gained attention when her song Alaska was assessed by Pharrell Williams during a master class at New York University.
The stadium is home to football in Cork and has announced a summer concert series that also includes headlining shows from George Ezra and The Coronas. Tickets went on sale 6 December.
Looking forward to playing at the Irish Independent Park in Cork with @MaggieRogers. Tickets are out on Thursday! pic.twitter.com/a7mmY1OjG4 — Hozier (@Hozier) December 3, 2018
The year-end Spotify Wrapped stats were released this week, and considering Hozier only had new songs out for 3 months of this reporting period, it’s clear that fans were thrilled to be listening to them on repeat.
Seeing a lot of tweets about @Spotify's #Wrapped2018 and just want to say thank you so much for listening. A lot more tunes coming to you early in the new year 🖤 — Hozier (@Hozier) December 6, 2018
Charts
National Public Radio (NPR) in the United States placed Nina Cried Power at #11 on their top 20 Best Songs of 2018. All Songs Considered and Tiny Desk host, Bob Boilen said, “This is an anthemic cry of both love and righteous anger.”
Meanwhile in Billboard charts, Movement placed #24 on Rock Digital Song Sales, after peaking at #4 last week.
This week’s Americana/Folk chart had Hozier at #6 after 179 weeks on that chart.
On the year-end Billboard 2018 Top Rock Albums chart, Hozier’s debut album was #38, an astounding result considering it was released in 2014. (#33 in 2017, #39 in 2016, #2 in 2015, #27 in 2014).
Appearances
Released this week: Hozier recorded an in-depth interview with Talia Schlanger at WXPN in Philadelphia last October when he and the band performed a stripped-back set of Nina Cried Power, Shrike, and Take Me To Church for World Café.
While in Copenhagen at the end of November, Hozier stopped by Nova radio and had a chat with Daniel Caesar.
Hozier and band also visited 3FM in Utrecht, Netherlands for performances of Movement and Nina Cried Power in their Livebox and a chat with host, Angelique. See videos of the interview and performances.
Prior to his two-night run in London, the Evening Standard published this excellent interview with Hozier where he talks about how some of his songs are inappropriate in the context of a wedding.
Gigs
Last week Hozier played the brand new event hall, Carlswerk Victoria, in Cologne (Köln), Germany on 3 December, and the TivoliVredenburg in Utrecht, Netherlands on 4 December. See our gig highlights for more.
Life
It’s been a few years since Hozier treated us to his interpretations of Advent calendar chocolate. It’s long been a festive highlight for us and we are absolutely thrilled to see him bring it back this year. (Here’s our 2014-2016 recap of chocolate interpretations for you.)
A bit behind, but if anyone wants to learn more about the symbolism of the Advent Calender, I’ll be explaining on my instagram stories this year.
Friends
Irish music blog The Last Mixed Tape selected Saint Sister’s debut album, The Shape of Silence, as their album of the year. The album was co-produced by Hozier’s bassist and Musical Director, Alex Ryan.
Thank you to @TheLastMixTape for choosing 'Shape of Silence' as their record of the year. It is such a scary thing to release a big body of work into the world, especially a debut, so this really means the world to us. What brilliant company too! We are shook. X https://t.co/0ZwAKA6uzq — Saint Sister (@Saint_Sister_) December 6, 2018
Someone New co-writer, Loah, is releasing one-remixed track from her debut EP, This Heart, every Wednesday on Nialler9’s blog. This week’s track is taken from an interlude on the EP and expanded into a full song, Keep Your Heart, featuring God Knows from Rusangano Family, Bantum, Ben Bix and Dunny. Loah was also featured in a video from Other Voices after her appearance there last week.
Saint Sister, Loah, Roísin O, Bono, and many more artists are featured on a cover of Homeward Bound, the single from the album, Street Lights, to raise funds for the Peter McVerry Trust which works to help the homeless in Ireland.
Also on the album is Saint Sister’s cover of The Cranberries, Dreams, recorded live in Dolan’s Limerick.
This album is out today, featuring lots of incredible artists and for a brilliant cause. We are so delighted to have our version of ‘Dreams’ (live from Dolans, Limerick) by The Cranberries in amongst it all. https://t.co/uDWCEedb1f — Saint Sister (@Saint_Sister_) December 7, 2018
In Ireland, text STREET LIGHTS to 50300 to donate €4.
Thanks to Hozier’s Guitars contributors @Megn0481, @literarypengke, @AInabsentia, @aenroute, @FYeahHozier, Biljana J, and more.
Want more from Hozier’s Guitars? Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr.
Featured image: Photo: @Hozier Instagram. Graphic: Hozier’s Guitars. | {
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Over the past 24 hours, almost half of the nation's governors — all but one of them Republicans — have said they plan to refuse to allow Syrian immigrants into their states in the wake of the Paris attacks carried out by the Islamic State....That stance has been greeted with widespread ridicule and disgust by Democrats who insist that keeping people out of the U.S. is anathema to the founding principles of the country.
Kevin Drum of Mother Jones is an old hand on the left and has seen enough politics that he realizes what a big loser of an issue the Syrian “refugee” inflow is for the Democrats and the left. He cautions his fellow progs:
....Think what you will, but one thing is clear: The political upside for Republican politicians pushing an immigration ban on Syrians and/or Muslims as a broader response to the threat posed by the Islamic State sure looks like a political winner.
I pointed out this out a couple of days ago, in fact. And Chris Cilizza of the Washington Post agreed:
The political upside for Republican politicians pushing an immigration ban on Syrians and/or Muslims as a broader response to the threat posed by the Islamic State sure looks like a political winner. The Pew Research Center did an in-depth poll looking into Americans' view on Islamic extremism in the the fall of 2014 — and its findings suggest that politicians like Cruz have virtually nothing to lose in this fight over how best to respond to ISIS's latest act of violence.
Fellow progs are not reacting well to this does of reality (but then, when has reality ever been a major factor in prog thinking?) Ryan Cooper, writing in The Week, goes for outright denial of the threat of Islamic terrorism.
Islamist terrorism is a fairly minor threat. Yes, the Paris attacks (like 9/11, Madrid, Mumbai, and countless atrocities in Iraq and Syria) were a terrible tragedy. But we need to be realistic about how strong ISIS really is. It's true that decently organized young men with simple explosives and cheap automatic weapons can easily massacre hundreds of civilians and terrorize millions. But that is not even close to a "an organized attempt to destroy Western civilization," as Jeb Bush ludicrously claimed. Compared to Nazi Germany, or the Soviets with their hundreds of long-range nukes, ISIS is pathetically weak.
I suppose this falls under the “acceptable damage” school of thought, though it ignores dirty bombs and the delivery system of suicide jihadis. Radioactive contamination of the hearts of half a dozen or a dozen American cities, for instance.
Others, like somebody who calls himself BooMan, double down on the insults while wrapping themselves in virtue:
if we're compelled to take the losing political argument because it's the right thing to do, then we should at least point out that our opponents are bedwetters who become incontinent every time they think of a Muslim terrorist- even when that Muslim terrorist is shackled in Guantanamo and being fed orange-glazed chicken, rice pilaf and two kinds of fruit.
Oddly enough, BooMan joins Rush Limbaugh in seeing Gitmo as a pretty spiffy prison, not a hellhole of torture, as is leftist dogma.
Still others, like Charles P. Pierce of Esquire attempt to distinguish good (i.e., liberal or blue state) concern from bad (i.e., conservative) concern over the dangers.
We can dismiss Governors Greg Abbott of Texas, and Robert Bentley of Alabama, and Scott Walker of Wisconsin, and Phil Bryant of Mississippi, all of whom went quickly for the chest-pounding end of the xenophobic scale. (snip) Charlie Baker is not a bigot. Neither is Maggie Hassan. Their concerns are not posturing. They are not for show.
Still others stress how rigorous the screening will be. Yeah, trust the federal government, because we can see how well the TSA does catching bombs and weapons every time a test is run. The voting public will react to “Trust us: we’re the feds” in an entirely appropriate fashion, I believe.
I say, let the circular firing squad form up on the left. Keep emphasizing, like Obama, that we need to feel good about ourselves as enlightened people, and let in potential jihadis. The Tsarnaev brothers were once youngsters who passed screening. How did that work out? | {
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Superior is your PTAC unit specialist, pricing PTACS for less. The best in class warranty assures owners they are receiving the highest quality when buying replacements for current or out of production models. Suburban’s Dynaline is the original PTAC with gas heat and provides longer operating life expectancy as well as the lowest operating cost.
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While the company would love for us to believe that this $11 million “loss” is a real problem that justifies dramatic changes, the reality is that it’s all smoke, mirrors, and accounting tricks. MEC remains a very profitable and growing company with money to invest in new buildings and restructuring.
Last year, MEC’s “property and equipment” assets (real estate, buildings, vehicles, etc.) grew by around $18 million. They could literally operate their retail business at a loss and still be profitable. But don’t worry, the retail business is actually doing fine, despite what management says. MEC’s sales increased by $12 million while their cost of sales (mainly overhead, inventory, and wages) only went up about $2 million. So what accounts for this $11 million “loss”?
There are two major sources: “assets under construction” ($29 million increase) and “restructuring” (which cost $8.5 million). The “assets under construction” are just investments in the business that will in the future be “property and equipment”. They don’t represent loss, they represent growth and reinvestment of profit. MEC just wishes it had more of it. “Restructuring” basically consists of modernizing the online sales side of the business and, presumably, paying the “Chief Transition Officer” Nancy Blair top dollar to cook up this new round of layoffs.
This kind of deceptive bookkeeping-as-public relations foolishness is standard operating procedure in the corporate world where CEO Phil Arrata and his cronies all come from. All of this information is available in MEC’s financial statements, which are on its website – the company just assumes you’re too lazy to look them up or too stupid to understand them if you do, and instead will take their word for it when they say they’re broke and had to fire your friends
One thing from all this is clear: MEC is not laying people off because it’s losing money. MEC is making an absolute fortune. MEC is laying people off because its board of corporate executives wish it were making even more money. They put profit ahead of their workers and they should be ashamed of themselves. We, on the other hand, should be angry. | {
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7 Can’t-Miss Honolulu Concerts to Check Out in January 2018
Whether you’re craving sounds of the harmonica or piano, or want to listen to Hawaiian or reggae, there’s a concert for you this January.
By Lennie Omalza
John Popper of Blues Traveler
JAN. 4 to 6
Photo: Courtesy of John Popper
Known as one of the most phenomenal harmonica players in history, John Popper formed his band, Blues Traveler, with high school friends in the late ’80s. Following Blues Traveler’s mainstream success, Popper released a solo album in 1999. He has shared the stage with everyone from Eric Clapton to Metallica and will be performing on Oʻahu for three consecutive nights.
$25 to $45, 6:30 and 9 p.m., Blue Note Hawaiʻi, 2335 Kalākaua Ave., bluenotehawaii.com
Disney in Concert: A Dream is a Wish
JAN. 5 & 6
Photo: Courtesy of Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra
Transport the whole family into the magical world of Disney. Fulfill the kiddos’ dreams (and yours, too!) as scenes from some of your favorite animated films—including Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid and more—are projected on screen as the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra performs the score live.
$27 to Blaisdell Concert Hall, 777 Ward Ave., blaisdellcenter.com
Keauhou
JAN. 9
Photo: Courtesy of Keauhou
Kamehameha Schools graduates Kahanuola Solatorio and brothers Nicholas and Zachary Lum find their passion and joy in the performance, preservation and perpetuation of traditional Hawaiian music. The Nā Hōkū Hanohano award-winning group performs for one night only at Blue Note Hawaiʻi.
$15 to $35, 6:30 p.m., Blue Note Hawaiʻi, 2335 Kalākaua Ave., bluenotehawaii.com
As One
Jan. 11, 13, 14, 16
Held at Hawaiʻi Opera Theatre’s newest venue, Aloha Tower Pier 10, As One depicts the journey of Hannah, a transgender person who strives for and manages to achieve self-fulfillment. The 75-minute opera stars Sasha Cooke and Kelly Markgraf, who are married in real life and created the roles of “Hannah after” and “Hannah before” back in 2014, when As One premiered.
$35 to $65, 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday, 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, Aloha Tower Pier 10, hawaiiopera.org
Diana Ross
JAN. 12
Photo: Courtesy of Diana Ross
Global music icon Diana Ross brings her Endless Memories Tour to Hawaiʻi for one night only. Her last Island performances were in 2015, to sold-out crowds on Maui and Oʻahu. This tour is set to feature newly released songs, breathtaking costumes, as well as her talented band and backup singers.
$45.50 to $255.50, 8 p.m., Blaisdell Arena, 777 Ward Ave., blaisdellcenter.com
Jim Brickman
JAN. 19 & 20
Award-winning solo pianist Jim Brickman is celebrating two decades of music with Pure Piano: The Greatest Hits LIVE! His two Oʻahu shows will bring entertainment and romance to Hawaiʻi Theatre with songs including “Valentine,” “Angel Eyes,” “Love of My Life” and more.
$35 to $65, 7:30 p.m., Hawaiʻi Theatre, 1130 Bethel St., hawaiitheatre.com
HIRIE
JAN. 26
Photo: Courtesy of HIRIE
HIRIE is a seven-piece band led by frontwoman Hirie, who was born in the Philippines and spent years in Italy before settling in the Islands with her family. The award-winning group is bringing their uplifting reggae tunes and soundtrack of hope to The Republik.
$20 ($25 day of show), 8 p.m., The Republik, 1349 Kapiʻolani Blvd., #30, jointherepublik.com | {
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Say what you will about the way things went down last night in San Jose for FC Dallas, this team has some serious heart in them.
Being down 2-0 on the road to the league's best club is never easy and FC Dallas found a way to get back in the game with a late goal from Hernan Pertuz. Dallas nearly had a chance to leave the Bay Area with a point but a penalty kick miss from Jair Benitez did them in.
Head coach Schellas Hyndman shoulders all the blame for the loss - particularly with the decision to let Benitez take the kick of someone else on the field.
"You know Brek [Shea] usually takes them, so does David Ferreira and Daniel Hernandez has taken them," said Hyndman. "But for us at the moment after subbing Shea and Ferreira off, it was, ‘Who can take it?' We had three guys in mind and looking back on it, I probably should have gone with one of the other two."
Who were the other two? That's a question FC Dallas fans will continue to debate all day and likely half of tomorrow before the focus shifts to the Portland Timbers.
Zach Loyd drew the penalty in the dying minutes of the game due to a foul from San Jose's Simon Dawkins.
In my mind Loyd was probably one of the guys that should have taken the kick of Benitez. And given the group of players on the field at that moment, Jackson Goncalves was the other.
Hyndman also probably would have been wiser with his substation selection on the night. Subbing in James Marcelin in extra time instead of a more offensive player like Bryan Leyva or Ricardo Villar had some folks scratching their heads.
I won't even go into the mess with Brek Shea - and his lack of well...happiness - in last night's effort. Sometimes a kid like that just needs a game that frustrates him so much to turn his season around. He didn't handle it well - it is as simple as that.
Overall the result while disappointing showed plenty of promise. Julian de Guzman made his debut and Ferreira once again showed his worth on the field for the 80-or-so minutes that he put in. Dallas once again found ways to frustrate the MLS leading scorer Chris Wondolowski.
"The guys keep showing up and we keep fighting to the last whistle," said Loyd on the club's performance. "I don't think there has been a game this year where we haven't fought to the last whistle. It shows a lot of character from the guys and hopefully going forward, we get results. We were unlucky not to get a result tonight."
For those that need some silver lining to hang your hats on this morning, this was the first loss for FC Dallas in five games - or better yet in a month.
The club returns home for an important home stand against Portland and the LA Galaxy to finish out the month of July. That is six big points that Dallas needs to remain in the hunt out West for the fifth and final playoff spot. | {
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SEOUL, South Korea — The American-led U.N. Command in South Korea on Tuesday accused North Korea of planting land mines near a truce village inside the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas.
Much of the border, one of the world's most dangerous flashpoints, is strewn with land mines and laced with barbed wire. But South Korean media said no land mines had been planted in the area of the truce village of Panmunjom until North Korea placed an unspecified number there last week.
The U.N. Command said in a statement that it "strongly condemns" any North Korean action that jeopardizes the safety of personnel in the DMZ.
It said it wouldn't speculate on why North Korea placed the mines there. Yonhap news agency, citing an unidentified South Korean government official, said the North apparently planted the mines to prevent front-line North Korean soldiers from defecting to South Korea via Panmunjom.
North Korea's state media didn't immediately respond to the U.N. Command statement.
Panmunjom, jointly overseen by North Korea and the U.N. Command, is where an armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War was signed and is now a popular tourist spot for visitors from both sides.
Under the Korean War armistice, the two sides are barred from carrying out any hostile acts within or across the 4-kilometer (2.5-mile)-wide DMZ. Still, they have accused each other of deploying machine guns and other heavy weapons and combat troops inside the zone.
More than a million mines are also believed to be buried inside the DMZ. North Korean mines occasionally have washed down a swollen river into South Korea, killing or injuring civilians. In August 2015, land mine blasts maimed two South Korean soldiers and caused tensions between the two Koreas to flare.
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The U.N. Command statement came a day after U.S. and South Korean troops began annual drills despite North Korean threats to retaliate against the exercises, which it says are a rehearsal for an invasion. This year's drills come at a time of intensified animosity between the rivals over the defection of a senior North Korean diplomat in London and a U.S. plan to install a sophisticated missile defense system in South Korea.
On Tuesday, South Korean officials said three North Koreans who were found on a boat off South Korea's western coast earlier this month have expressed a desire to resettle in the South. More than 1,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea each year between 2012 and 2015. | {
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A personal account of the battle of Waterloo, when Anti Fascist Action trashed a gig by neo-nazi label Blood and Honour by disrupting their redirection point at Waterloo station.
This was probably the biggest anti-fascist battle since Lewisham (1977). It was even covered on national TV news, radio, tabloids etc. It was to oppose a ‘Blood and Honour’ concert. Blood and Honour was a fascist music organisation that promoted racist bands such as Skrewdriver and No Remorse (previously called Dead Paki in the Gutter). They could attract crowds of 500-2,000 mostly skinheads.
In fact anti-fascism would be much easier if all the fascists wore the skinhead ‘uniform’ because (a) we can spot them more easily than the ‘casuals’, and (b) the skinhead scene, being a branch of fashion, is guaranteed to remain a small phenomenon.
Blood and Honour had advertised that they were holding a massive gig with all their top names at an undisclosed venue. They advised their followers (not trusting them with the information, and to avoid anti-fascists) to go first to Waterloo station to be re-directed. This was a common fascist tactic.
That morning about a hundred of us anti-fascists met at The Old Bell in Kilburn. We took the tube to Waterloo and emerged up the escalators to the concourse. I don’t know about anyone else but I was very nervous. I thought we were going to be slaughtered. Everyone knew that Blood and Honour could muster ten times more people than we had.
The station concourse was nearly deserted. We discovered afterwards that British Rail had given Black and Asian workers the day off – pandering to racism. A small group of Red Action went into the station buffet and found a couple of skinheads who had been enjoying a quiet cup of tea. There was some loud rumbling and smashing sounds, then the Reds emerged unscathed and blended with our crowd. Five minutes later an ambulance arrived to cart off the two hapless fascists. (Rumour has it that they might have been, in fact, plain clothes coppers).
We spent the rest of the afternoon ambushing groups of fascists as they arrived, and trying to avoid the police. For example, four fascists arrived by car and were set upon until every window was broken, and the rest of the car was not exactly in showroom condition. The battles raged in all the surrounding streets. A comrade from Norwich and myself piled into a group of three fascists by the Waterloo roundabout. One of them turned to attack my comrade and I stuck my foot out to trip him up and with wonderful luck it was perfectly timed and he keeled over and hit his head, crack, on the pavement. He was unconscious I think, but in the heat of the moment I went and booted him in the head as hard as I could anyway. In fact I was a bit worried afterwards in case I’d killed him. I kept checking the TV news for a few days. The two other fascists were still there and I suppose we could have steamed into them some more, but we ran back to the main group.
Cheeky persons have summarised the anti-fascist events at Waterloo by saying “we closed more stations than the IRA”! | {
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Download it here or read more about it here
ProjectRIK is an FPS style racing game focused entirely around different types of movement.
There is no fragging or killing.
The basis of the game is competing for the fastest time on different 'runs'. In addition to the fairly challenging methods of gaining speed, there is also a wide variety of tricks you can perform. Multiple types of walljumps, halfjumps, crouchsliding, sloperunning, doublejumps, powerjumps, and so on. Surfing, along the lines of Counter-strike is also possible!
Oh, and it's completely free! | {
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Just before a midnight deadline on Wednesday, the government filed its legal brief responding to the ACLU’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit seeking information about the legal and factual basis for the deaths of three U.S. citizens in targeted killing drone strikes last fall. Our initial reaction to the brief is here, but the government’s position is so remarkable that it warrants further comment.
th hour and 57th minute) was originally due on April 13, but the government sought a series of extensions of that deadline, • We filed this lawsuit on February 1, 2012, after the government responded to our Freedom of Information Act request by refusing to confirm or deny whether it had records about the legal authority or factual basis for the targeted killing of U.S. citizens. The brief the government submitted on Wednesday (literally at the 11hour and 57minute) was originally due on April 13, but the government sought a series of extensions of that deadline, twice telling the court that delay was required because “the Government’s position is being deliberated at the highest level of the Executive Branch.” And what did two and a half months of deliberation produce? Virtually nothing. Not disclosure of the Office of Legal Counsel memorandum that provided purported legal justifications for killing U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki. Not information about the process by which U.S. citizens are added to “kill lists.” Not the evidence the government relied on to justify the targeting of al-Awlaki. Not information about how and why it killed two other American citizens, including a 16-year-old boy, in drone strikes last fall. Not even an acknowledgment that the CIA conducts targeted killings at all, or that the military took part in the targeting and killing of the three U.S. citizens last year.
Here’s the change in position that officials at the “highest level” decided on: They pointlessly acknowledged that the CIA has in its files copies of recent public speeches by Attorney General Eric Holder and the President’s chief counterterrorism advisor, John Brennan. And they acknowledged that they have identified other documents relevant to our request, but refuse to discuss what those documents are about or even how many there are. The government’s brief amounts to a total secrecy snow job. In every relevant respect, the government’s stonewalling continues. Although in public speeches and in the press government officials have repeatedly acknowledged the CIA and military targeted killing programs and discussed the U.S. responsibility for killing al-Awlaki, in court the government continues to cling to a patently implausible invocation of official secrecy.
• The government’s position is strikingly broad. The government’s brief says that “whether or not the United States government conducted the particular operations that led to the deaths of Anwar al-Aulaki and other individuals named in the FOIA requests remains classified.” But if U.S. responsibility for killing al-Awlaki is classified, someone forgot to tell the Department of Defense. Within hours of al-Awlaki’s death, DOD published a news article stating that “[a] U.S. airstrike . . . killed Yemeni-based terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki early this morning.” President Obama and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta have both acknowledged that the U.S. killed al-Awlaki. At this point, refusing to say whether the U.S. was responsible for killing al-Awlaki at all, not even whether the CIA or the military was responsible, is absurd.
• The government goes even further: Incredibly, it appears not to acknowledge even that Anwar al-Awlaki is dead. In a sworn declaration filed with the government’s brief, a representative of the Department of Defense states: “I am not aware of any Executive Branch official having officially acknowledged the nature, depth, or breadth of DoD’s interest or involvement in the deaths, or lack thereof, of Anwar al-Awlaki, Samir Khan, or Abdulrahman al-Awlaki.” Deaths, or lack thereof? Maybe this is just a badly constructed sentence, but if the military is now refusing to acknowledge even that al-Awlaki is deceased, it has truly become unmoored from reality.
• More generally, the government’s claim that it cannot respond to our request “without revealing classified . . . information about the nature and extent of the U.S. government’s interest in” targeted killing of U.S. citizens is belied by the volume and frequency of statements by named and unnamed government officials about the targeted killing program generally and the killing of U.S. citizens in particular. The government is ducking its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act by attempting to selectively disclose information to bolster its image, but refusing to provide meaningful transparency when challenged in court. As we recently explained in a related FOIA case , this is precisely what FOIA was intended to prevent.
The government’s filing is beyond disappointing. Our government persists in carrying out a policy of killing people, including U.S. citizens, far from active battlefields and in violation of international and domestic law. A handful of speeches by government officials roughly outlining legal theories do not constitute adequate transparency. The government must do better.
Learn more about targeted killing: Sign up for breaking news alerts, follow us on Twitter, and like us on Facebook. | {
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My Bloody Valentine delivered a Christmas surprise to fans, announcing on Facebook this evening that the band finished mastering its 21-years-in-the-making follow-up to the 1991 classic Loveless three days ago. Whether the record still will be released online before year’s end, as Kevin Shields previously pledged, remains to be seen.
According to the post on MBV’s official Facebook page: “On 21-12-12 we finished mastering the new album!” There was no elaboration on any release dates or other plans.
The news follows recent announcements that My Bloody Valentine will tour next year, with shows announced so far in the U.K., Australia and Japan.
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS | {
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RELATED: State House Candidate Reports He Was Assaulted in Benton County
Mekeland say his assailant made remarks that suggested the attack was politically motivated.
In another case in Plymouth, Rep. Sarah Anderson says a man punched her in the arm after she confronted him about kicking some of her yard signs Sunday.
Anderson says police have tentatively identified the man she captured on her cellphone and planned to interview him Tuesday. | {
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Investment bank UBS' run-in with the Baird government over the sale of NSW's poles and wires electricity assets has sparked an extensive review of investment bank practices and the results are not pretty.
So ugly is the result the Australian Securities and Investments Commission has warned the people often known as the smartest men and women in the room it will take action against the culprits if the poor behaviour continues.
ASIC has been reviewing conflicts of interest at Australia's largest investment banks. Credit:Jim Rice
The ASIC review of investments banks found that not only do the heavyweights of Australia's financial system have difficulty in managing their conflicts of interest they also financially reward staff for potentially conflicted behaviour.
Managing conflicts of interest are crucial for investment banks because often one part of the bank is advising on an asset sale or an initial public offering while the bank's research arm is producing research for the investment banks' investor clients about the quality of the assets or the IPO. | {
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Sniper Detection System
$37,389.00
About the Newcon Optik LAS 1000 The Newcon Optik Sniper Detection System is capable of detecting various passive optical and electro-optical devices such as binoculars, night vision devices, weapon sites, range poles, datum optical markers and leveling rods equipped with optical reflectors. Utilizing an eye-safe laser scanner, LAS-1000 detects lenses and reflectors in its line of site even if these objects are covered behind bushes, windows or windshields. Detector can be handheld or mounted on a tripod. An operator examines the area in the same way as it would be done with a common binoculars. When an optical reflector of any kind is detected, its position is marked with a red dot visible through the viewfinder of the LAS-1000. For added convenience, an audio signal can be activated. The detected object's distance from the detector is then measured, displayed and can be spoken. Newcon Optik LAS 1000 Includes Newcon Optik Sniper Detection System Soft Carrying Case Lens Cleaning Cloth Manual Newcon Optik Warranty Newcon Optik LAS 1000 Specifications Laser Type 910nm Measuring Range Minimum 100m Maximum Up to 2,000m Angular field of View 6° Exit Pupil 5.7mm Eye Relief 22mm Distance Measuring Accuracy ±10 m Target Position Measuring Accuracy 0.1°x 0.1° Detection Zone (Horizontal x Vertical) 0.1°x 1.8° Scanning Speed Up to 45° per second Optical Magnification 7x Diopter Adjustment ±4 Operating Temperature Range 20 to +50°C / -4 to +122°F Transportation Temperature Range 40 to +65°C / -40 to 149°F Environmental Protection Shockproof, Waterproof Power source 6xAA Dimensions 185 x 175 x 95mm / 7.28 x 6.88 x 3.74" Weight 2 kg / 0.9 lbs | {
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Update: People asked for a graph. Marcus Nunes has one for a very similar (but slightly different) data set.
I’m working on turning my blog into a book, and in order to do that I need to give readers an idea of how I ended up where I am today. One obvious need is to explain how I adopted a quantity theoretic approach to monetary analysis, rather than some alternative like the interest rate approach. For me it all goes back to the Great Inflation of the 1960s to the early 1980s.
As an aside, the quantity theory can be defined in several ways:
1. An X% rise in M will be associated with an X% rise in P
2. An X% rise in M will be associated with an X% rise in NGDP
3. An X% rise in M will cause both P and NGDP to be X% higher than otherwise, in the long run.
The third definition is probably the most accurate, and the first is the least accurate.
The following data set (from a Macroeconomics textbook by Robert Barro) is so rich in information, that we will spend many posts investigating all the implications. It shows average inflation, money growth and real GDP growth rates over 30 or 40-year periods around 1950-90, for 79 countries:
Right off the bat one notices the strong correlation between the growth rate of M (the monetary base) and P (the price level.) David Hume didn’t have this data set in 1752, but just using his brilliant mind he was able to figure out that if you double the money supply, the only long run effect is for prices to double. Money is just a measuring stick. For about 40 years Argentina and Brazil were doubling the money supply, on average, once every 14 months. And prices were doubling just as Hume predicted. All good, the Quantity Theory of Money (QTM) is triumphant.
Except it’s all downhill from here. I’ve just provided the best possible data set for convincing you of the QTM. Suppose I had only given you the bottom half of the data set? Now the correlation is much harder to see. Or suppose we’d looked at shorter time periods. Again, not so good. Or suppose we’d looked at countries at the zero bound? Now the QTM would have major problems.
The key to understanding the QTM is to hold two thoughts in your mind at the same time. In one sense the theory is logical, indeed blindingly obvious. It’s incredibly powerful, incredibly true. But in all sorts of situations it seems to fail. That’s what we need to figure out.
Before moving on, let’s remind ourselves why it’s the bedrock of monetary theory, and why all other theories fall short. In this data set we are doing the economic equivalent of when scientists expose objects to great heat, pressure, or speed, to get at the essential qualities. We’re looking at what happens with very fast money growth
No other model can explain the correlations we see. Yes, the growth in the money supply might have “root causes” elsewhere, such as budget deficits. But you can’t figure out that Brazil and Argentina would have 75% inflation for 40 years, whereas Iceland would have 19% and the US would have 4% by looking at budget deficits, you need the money supply growth rates to even get in the right ballpark. Note that some countries (the US in the 1970s) printed lots of money w/o big budget deficits.
Nor do interest rate models work. Ironically the only interest rate model that would even come close is NeoFisherism, as the nominal interest rates in these countries would also be highly correlated with inflation. But that model doesn’t tell you how you get those high nominal interest rates. Again, you need money supply data.
Nor will an exchange rate model work. Yes, the (depreciating) exchange rate for Brazil and Argentina was closely paralleling their inflation rate. They saw the local currency price of US dollars rise at around 70% per year over those 40 years. But that doesn’t explain how you cause the currency to depreciate so rapidly over 40 years. Again, you need money supply data. Both the Fisher effect and PPP are just appendages of the QTM.
Let’s finish today’s post with the first of several regressions that I’m going to give you–all provided by Patrick Horan of the Mercatus Center:
This is the Mona Lisa of macro regressions. The t-statistic on money growth is 45.2. Yup, I’d say there’s some truth to the QTM. The P-value? One over . . . umm . . . how many atoms are there in the universe? And the coefficient is pretty close to one, within two standard errors. When you raise the money supply at 75%/year for 40 years, you’ll get roughly 75% inflation.
Later we’ll see there’s a reason the coefficient is slightly greater than one. Can you guess? (It’s a very hard question.) But let’s finish up by noticing the coefficient on real GDP growth (delta Y). You’ve all been taught that economic growth is inflationary. The people at the Fed tell us that inflation will rise as we approach full employment. Maybe it will, but not because growth is inflationary. As you can see from the regression, economic growth is deflationary, indeed almost exactly as deflationary as money growth is inflationary. So are the Keynesians wrong?
Yes they are! And they are wrong in an interesting way. Let’s suppose their predictions turn out right, and inflation does rise as we approached full employment. Will I admit that I’m wrong? Of course not!! I’m an arrogant economic blogger. Instead I’ll claim that this bizarre outcome is proof of the Fed’s incompetence. They so botched monetary policy that they made inflation procyclical. Indeed they do this so often that some of my commenters think this is natural. Poor Mr. Ray Lopez found a dictionary somewhere that says inflation naturally falls during recessions and rises during booms.
And it’s all a myth. Don’t worry, we’ll explain the mystery of deflationary growth in the next post. And we’ll explain why the coefficient on money growth was a little bit bigger than one in the post after that. All our money/macro questions are answered in this data set, if we know where to look. Put on your David Hume thinking hat, you have lots more info to work with than he had. Indeed Milton Friedman became the second most famous economist of the 20th century mostly by figuring out how this data set allowed us to go “one derivative beyond Hume.”
PS. Here are the two “money quotes” (pun intended) from Friedman:
Double-digit inflation and double-digit interest rates, not the elegance of theoretical reasoning or the overwhelming persuasiveness of serried masses of statistics massaged through modern computers, explain the rediscovery of money.” (1975, p. 176.) As I see it, we have advanced beyond Hume in two respects only; first, we now have a more secure grasp of the quantitative magnitudes involved; second, we have gone one derivative beyond Hume.” Friedman (1975, p. 177.)
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In 2006 I reported on the war in Lebanon, where for virtually the first time in its history the Israel Defense Forces, the IDF, realized that it was not infallible and invincible.
Not that the war was a defeat for Israel – its military is stronger than most of its neighbours combined – but its generals suddenly realized that they did not have carte blanche in the region.
Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shia militia armed and trained by Iran, inflicted serious numbers of casualties and amounts of damage, and while southern Lebanon was devastated by the Israelis and the Lebanese people were once again the victims, the game had changed. As one senior IDF staff officer said to me afterwards, "This must never be allowed to happen again."
In September, IDF's Northern Command conducted its largest military exercise in 20 years (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty)
Israel's response at the time was initially to send in groups of Special Forces, backed by fleets of attack helicopters. They didn't use the strength that they were capable of, and they were certainly less than efficient. Their intelligence was flawed, they had no idea how well trained and dug-in Hezbollah soldiers were, and they were over-confident. Allowing troops to take cell phones with them into Lebanon, for example, was absurdly slack.
The next war in the north will likely involve prolonged artillery attacks followed by massive infantry and tank infiltration. It will not be pretty. And it's likely to happen sooner rather than later, and directly or indirectly involve Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and even Russia.
Reasserting Israeli authority
There are several factors to consider. First, in September, IDF's Northern Command conducted its largest military exercise in 20 years, involving tens of thousands of troops, tanks, aircraft and even the navy. Such planning takes an incredibly large amount of time and the manoeuvres themselves are extraordinarily costly.
The imagined enemy was Hezbollah. Israel has also attacked Syrian positions several times in recent months, partly to remind Damascus who is the boss of the block, but also to test how they will respond. Syria has always regarded Lebanon as a virtual province and Israel is determined to teach it — and Hezbollah — a lesson, and to reassert its authority.
Second, the Sunni superpower of Saudi Arabia is in an increasingly hot war with the Shia world and in particular, Iran. Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman is heir to the throne and while young, he is the effective ruler of the country. He's economically progressive, internationally connected and determined to modernize the country and also have it throw its weight around.
The civil war in Yemen, for example, is now almost three years old and had led to the deaths of at least 5,000 civilians, many of them children. Saudi Arabia backs the government, in particular with its air force, while Iran supports the Houthi rebels.
Signs of conflict
The country's involvement in Lebanon is less direct, but equally evident. Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who also holds Saudi citizenship, travelled to Saudi recently where he denounced Iranian manipulation of his country and then resigned. Bin Salman has called for all Saudi citizens to leave Lebanon, which is generally an ominous warning of imminent conflict. The Saudis have also demanded that Hezbollah disarm; they will never do so of course, and the Lebanese security forces do not have the will or the ability to force them. But it is a further formal, legal prerequisite for a possible state of war.
Israel and Saudi could never form a tangible and open alliance, but they are doubtless in contact. If Lebanon were attacked by Saudi Arabia, it would provide Israel with the perfect opportunity to bring Hezbollah to account.
Bin Salman has called for all Saudi citizens to leave Lebanon, which is generally an ominous warning of imminent conflict. (Presidency Press Service/Pool Photo via AP)
Several of the IDF's senior commanders have recently been replaced, including the head of the Intelligence Corps – a vital role for such an operation. A Saudi intervention would also deal with the Syrian threat, with Damascus now having the most battle-hardened army in the region due to the war against ISIS.
One of the reasons that Arab armies have fared so badly against the Israelis over the years is that they were trained more to oppress their own people than to fight foreign enemies of similar strength. Syria's military is nowhere near as well armed as Israel's, but it now has troops that will not be easy to defeat.
As for Iran itself, at one time it was the U.S. pressuring Israel and Saudi Arabia to hold back. But times have changed and the superpower now calling for peace is Russia, which enjoys a warm friendship with both Iran and Israel. But Moscow has implied that it's Iran, and by extension Syria, who it regards as its closer partner, and that's something that Israel cannot ignore. Russia won't send troops to fight Israel but it could well arm Iran, which in turn will arm its allies in southern Lebanon.
But those concerns aside, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under strong domestic pressure and drenched in scandal, and nothing distracts more effectively than a war against a despised enemy. Hezbollah fits that bill perfectly. Middle Eastern politics makes for strange bedfellows. Always has, always will.
This column is part of CBC's Opinion section. For more information about this section, please read this editor's blog and our FAQ. | {
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Per the tables below Jaylen Brown leads the gang of three in scoring per 100 possessions, rebounding, effective field-goal percentage, and defensive DRtg. He’s closer to first than to third in most counting and advanced stats.
The only statistical categories Brown trails both Butler and Thompson in is, you guessed it, free throw shooting. (And note, Brown is shooting .720 from the line since Jan. 1, and .900 since the all-star-break.)
Rising stars by the numbers
By Ken Brock
Since our most recent comparison, Brown has closed the gap in assist percentage, blocks, and and win shares.
It’s worth noting that Thompson played nearly 36 minutes per game in his second year; Brown plays 31, and Butler played 26. So the per-game numbers are skewed in Thompson’s favor, especially compared to Butler. But if we’re entering caveats, remember also that Brown is 21, Thompson was 22, and Butler, 23.
You can draw your own conclusions from the numbers. Three different players, different teams, different roles. Still, at this point in his career, and with his work ethic, Brown is not far from providing comparable value and promise in his sophomore season. And for his age- — well, he’s got another year or two to go.
Dare to compare
They grow up so fast. It’s been some time since 247 compared the development of Jaylen Brown, Jimmy Butler, and Klay Thompson in their respective sophomore campaigns.
Enter a lot of howling on social media by some observers who, with respect, don’t seem to understand the meaning of the word “compare.” (It’s “to note the similarities and differences between two or more things.”) How can one compare an apple to an orange? Well, they’re both fruits, both pretty juicy. Oranges (generally) have much thicker skin, and apples (unlike oranges) are featured in the logo of a highly successful corporation founded by Steve Jobs. Some similarities, some differences. | {
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MINSK, 25 May (BelTA) – Children will begin ice hockey training at the age of six in Belarus, Chairman of the Ice Hockey Federation Semyon Shapiro said after the session to discuss the development of ice hockey in the country hosted by Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on 25 May, BelTA has learned.
“Our ice hockey training schools used to accept seven-year-old children. Taking into account the opinions of specialists, the Healthcare Ministry, the Sport and Tourism Ministry, the Education Ministry decided that it is possible to begin ice hockey training at the age of six. This is global experience,” Semyon Shapiro said.
To make it easier for parents to buy necessary equipment, the president gave an instruction to solve these issues, for example, to set up the production of sports uniform and other gear, for instance, ice hockey sticks in Belarus.
It is also needed encourage experienced coaches from Minsk to train youth and junior teams in regions. However, it is essential to create all conditions for their work, including decent salaries.
Besides, the head of state gave an instruction to improve the process of educating and training at ice hockey schools. As it turned out, certain directors of such schools prefer to provide services for amateur games and mass skating. As a result, the quality of training of young ice hockey players is worsening because they have less time for training. | {
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Tim Cahill: Australia forward's goal celebration prompts 'sponsor' debate Published duration 13 October 2017
image copyright Getty Images image caption Tim Cahill made his international debut in 2004
Australia's football association will not take action against Tim Cahill after it was claimed he used a goal celebration to promote a sponsor.
The striker made a "T" sign after scoring for Australia in the World Cup qualifying win over Syria on Wednesday.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, a travel agency hailed the gesture and Cahill replied with eight emojis.
"We don't believe Tim's breached any laws," a Football Federation Australia (FFA) spokesman told the BBC.
Cahill, who plays for Melbourne City and previously had spells with Millwall, Everton and New York Red Bulls, later tagged the sponsor in an Instagram post of his own.
"Another chapter written and plenty more to come. Amazing team performance and really proud of everyone tonight, team, staff and fans," Cahill wrote, before tagging the agency.
World football's governing body, Fifa, told BBC Sport it is "reviewing and analysing the reports from the referees and the match commissioners for all matches in Fifa competitions". They added that "any events which require further attention may be communicated accordingly".
Fifa's laws of the game prohibit advertising on some garments and on the field of play.
The FFA says it has not been contacted about the matter.
In 2012, Danish footballer Nicklas Bendtner was fined 100,000 euros (£80,000) by European football's governing body, Uefa, for exposing sponsored underwear.
The win earned Australia a 3-2 aggregate win over the Syrians and a play-off against Honduras, with the victors earning a place at next summer's World Cup in Russia.
image copyright AFP/Getty Images image caption Cahill's goals kept Australia's World Cup chances alive
Related Topics Australia
Fifa | {
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Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) wants answers. Security researchers today revealed the existence of a file on iPhones and on their computer backups that logs detailed cell phone triangulation data—and has ever since iOS 4 was released last summer. The information is stored unencrypted by default, and is simple to access. That announcement led Franken to fire off a two-page letter (PDF) today, asking nine pointed questions of Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
Franken first outlines scenarios in which the release of this data could pose a problem. "Anyone who gains access to this single file could likely determine the location of the user's home, the businesses he frequents, the doctors he visits, the schools his children attend, and the trips he has taken over the past months or even a year," he writes.
Which raises the obvious question: how would an attacker get access to the data? “It is also entirely conceivable that malicious persons may create viruses to access this data from customers' iPhones, iPads, and desktop and laptop computers," the letter continues.
"There are numerous ways in which this information could be abused by criminals and bad actors. Furthermore, there is no indication that this file is any different for underage iPhone or iPad users, meaning that the millions of children and teenagers who use iPhone or iPad devices also risk having their location collected and compromised.”
The letter concludes with a list of questions.
Why does Apple collect and compile this location data? Why did Apple choose to initiate tracking this data in its iOS 4 operating system? Does Apple collect and compile this location data for laptops? How is this data generated? (GPS, cell tower triangulation, Wi-Fi triangulation, etc.) How frequently is a user's location recorded? What triggers the creation of a record of someone's location? How precise is this location data? Can it track the users location to 50 m, 100 m, etc.? Why is this data not encrypted? What steps will Apple take to encrypt the data? Why were Apple consumers never affirmatively informed of the collection and retention of their location data in this manner? Why did Apple not seek affirmative consent before doing so? Does Apple believe that this conduct is permissible under the terms of its privacy policy? To whom, if anyone, including Apple, has this data been disclosed? When and why were these disclosures made?
Franken “would appreciate your prompt response to these questions." | {
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Cite This Psychreg, (2018, October 10). Memory ‘Brainwaves’ Look the Same in Sleep and Wakefulness. Psychreg on Cognitive Psychology. https://www.psychreg.org/brainwaves-sleep-wakefulness/
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Identical brain mechanisms are responsible for triggering memory in both sleep and wakefulness, new research at the University of Birmingham has shown.
The study sheds new light on the processes used by the brain to ‘reactivate’ memories during sleep, consolidating them so they can be retrieved later. Although the importance of sleep in stabilising memories is a well-established concept, the neural mechanisms underlying this are still poorly understood.
In this study, published in Cell Reports, scientists have been able to show for the first time in humans that distinctive neural patterns in the brain which are triggered when remembering specific memories while awake, reappear during subsequent sleep. The findings provide further evidence of the beneficial effects of sleep on memory formation.
Gaining a more sophisticated understanding of these mechanisms also enhances our understanding of how memories are formed. This could ultimately help scientists unravel the foundations of memory disorders such as Alzheimer’s and lead to the development of memory boosting interventions.
Working in partnership with researchers at the Donders Institute, in the Netherlands, the team used a technique called Targeted Memory Reactivation, which is known to enhance memory. In the experiment, previously learned information – in this case foreign vocabulary – is played back to a person while asleep.
Using electroencephalography, the brain signals of the participants were recorded while learning and remembering the foreign vocabulary before sleep. Subsequently, the researchers recorded the distinct neural pathways activated as the sleeping volunteers’ brains reacted to hearing the words they had learned.
Comparing neural signals fired by the brain in each state, the researchers were able to show clear similarities in brain activity.
Dr Thomas Schreiner, of the University of Birmingham’s School of Psychology, who led the research, says: ‘Although sleep and wakefulness might seem to have little in common, this study shows that brain activity in each of these states might be more similar than we previously thought. The neural activity we recorded provides further evidence for how important sleep is to memory and, ultimately, for our well-being.
‘If we can better understand how memory really works, this could lead to new approaches for the treatment of memory disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease.’
Dr Tobias Staudigl, of the Donders Institute, is co-lead author of the study. He said: ‘Understanding how memories are reactivated in different states also provides insight into how these memories could be altered, which might for example be interesting in therapeutic settings.’
The team are planning a follow-up study, devising ways to investigate spontaneous memory activation during sleep. Using advanced machine learning techniques, the researchers can record and interpret neural patterns in the brain, identifying where memories are activated without the need for an external prompt.
The study was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and the European Research Council. | {
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Mixed martial arts fans are in for a treat this upcoming weekend, as the UFC is bringing a stacked card to Rogers Arena. Topping the bill is a potential Fight of the Year candidate, as fan favorites Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone goes up against Justin Gaethje.
You can’t make a more fan-friendly fight than Cowboy vs Gaethje, as neither man seems capable of having a boring fight. Half of Cerrone’s 32 UFC fights have ended with him winning an end-of-night bonus, while Gaethje is a perfect five for five earning bonuses in his octagon career. Fireworks, guaranteed.
So who do the bookies like in this one? “The Highlight”, Mr. Gaethje, is currently a -205 favorite at My Bookie. Surprisingly, this rather modest number still makes him one of the biggest favorites on the card. About half of the 12 fights on the card currently sit as basically pick ’ems, with only Antonio Carlos Junior (-220), Marvin Vettori (-300), and Louis Smolka (-215) and Gaethje above -200. Stacks up to be a night full of exciting, close fights.
After going three for three with our picks last week, let’s see if we can keep the good times rolling.
Justin Gaethje (-205) vs Donald Cerrone
Gaethje was in the -190 range when we first checked these lines a few hours ago, so you might want to jump on it before it gets higher than it’s current -205 level. His relentless pressure could overwhelm Cowboy, especially earlier in the fight as Cerrone is a notorious slow starter. He’s also notoriously susceptible to body shots, so Gaethje would be wise to target him there. Add in Gaethje’s terrific wrestling (which he never utilizes), and Cerrone should also have a hard time getting this fight to the mat.
Augusto Sakai (-110) vs Marcin Tybura
Don’t let Augusto Sakai’s “soft” physique fool you – he’s a very dangerous heavyweight fighter. In his eight year pro career, he’s gone a very impressive 13-1-1. He’s currently on a four-fight win streak, including going a perfect 2-0 in the UFC. And he’s a finisher – 10 of his 13 wins are via (T)KO. Which is all bad news for his opponent on Saturday, Marcin Tybura. While Sakai is on the rise, Tybura is sinking fast. He’s gone a middling 4-4 in his three-year UFC career, including only getting his hand raised one time in his past four fights. He’s also been TKO’d in his last two fights. All adds up in Sakai’s favor.
Miles Johns (-135) vs Cole Smith
We’re going with an octagon newbie here in Miles “Chapo” Johns. Technically, he has fought in the octagon before, as he earned his way into the UFC by winning on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series. He’s got great high-level experience, against only fighters with winning records, and comes from one of the top camps in the sport, Dallas’s Fortis MMA. While his opponent in this one, Cole Smith, will be fighting in his hometown, Chapo’s relentless pace and superior wrestling should carry the day.
Overall Results for This Column
Record: 15-13
Earnings (based on $100 bet per): ($144.19)
Return on Investment: N/A | {
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Image caption Police are at the burnt-out cottage in Trumpets Hill Road, Reigate
The bodies of a man, woman and a child have been found following a house fire.
They were discovered in a double bed among the ruins of an isolated farm cottage in Reigate, on Tuesday morning, Surrey Police said.
Officers were called to the property in Trumpets Hill Road following concerns for the safety of the occupants.
On arrival, at about 11:10 GMT, they found the building had suffered serious fire damage. It is believed the fire had burned all night.
An investigation into the cause of the blaze is under way.
Next of kin have been informed of the deaths.
The three people who died have not been formally identified, Surrey Police said.
Insp Richard Hamlin said: "Fire officers been working hard to ensure the scene and structure of the building is safe to enter, and we will continue working with them today to maintain the scene.
"We are still investigating with the fire service to determine a cause of the fire which remains unexplained at this time."
Image caption The remote cottage is at the end of a long private drive
Image caption Forensic experts have been at the scene of the blaze
Resident Christine Beard said: "The houses are few and far between here, so we weren't aware of anything.
"The police have been round but I don't think they know how the fire started or what time it started.
"It's terrible news. We had seen comings and goings from there with horses, and had taken in the odd parcel for them, but that's it."
At the scene: Peter Stewart, BBC Surrey reporter
The cottage is in a remote spot at the end of a long drive.
It is perhaps not surprising that neighbours did not spot the fire when it broke out on Monday night. The closest other house is several hundred yards away set back from the road and behind tall trees and hedges.
More than half a dozen forensics experts were at the scene of the blaze. There was a controlled demolition to protect the investigators who were trying to establish the cause of the fatal fire.
A few neighbours have come to the scene. One woman openly sobbed at the sight of the cottage. A woman who regularly delivered catalogue purchases to the house told me how shocked she was when she came to make a delivery on Tuesday morning. Another neighbour brought two bouquets of flowers which he handed over to officers at the police cordon.
Police and fire investigators are still picking through the remains of the building. There is no roof, and you can see right through what was a family home from one window at the front through the remains of the building to the garden at the back. | {
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As we’ve been hinting at all week, Home 1.0 is now available for existing beta testers. We couldn’t get past the “initialising” screen, presumably it’s busy with lots of people trying to get on (great stress test indication) so we’ll check later. It’s worth mentioning that Home is now a proper part of the XMB, next to the Store, as can be seen in our photograph above.
– ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW –
So, get on, download the client (still about 80MB) and see if you can connect up. If we ever get as far as the EULA we’ll be able to see if we can finally talk about Home. If not, well, we’re sure the open beta isn’t far away. | {
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This photo rules because it looks like Burrows and Getzlaf are combining to hold one super long stick.
Photo Credit: Mike Blake REUTERS
The Canucks fell behind early to the Ducks in preseason action this evening, eventually losing by a score of 3-2. It was the first game of the preseason in which the Canucks dressed a majority of legitimate NHL skaters, and the "core of the team" looked rusty in spots, but were still generally effective – out-shooting the Ducks by a wide margin.
Jonas Hiller made thirty one saves in the win, several of the larcenous variety, while Luongo looked particularly rusty allowing two weak goals and three goals on twenty-two shots in the loss. The Canucks got goals from Henrik Sedin, Sami Salo on the two man-advantage, and Mark Mancari (who tipped a dangerous cross-crease feed from Cam Fowler into his own team’s net). In the last couple of minutes in the game, the Canucks failed to capitalize on a 6-on-3 advantage with Luongo on the bench and two Ducks skater in the penalty-box.
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It was a frustrating loss from the perspective of Vancouver fans – or at least for those Vancouver fans who pay Shaw to provide them with cable. But it was refreshing to see the Sedins and Burrows skate together again, and they looked pretty damn good. Result be damned, fans of the team should also be pleased that players like Hamhuis, Edler and Samuelsson – all of whom spent most of the summer hobbled by nagging injuries left-over from last season – looked healthy and up to speed. Hamhuis in particular was back to his old tricks, and I have no doubt that he’ll be going about his business and quietly being as good a defensive defenseman as exists in the league by this time next week.
Stars and Goats:
Ducks:
Star – Cam Fowler had a very good game against the Canucks. On the Ducks first goal, he intelligently drew Mike Duco to the point before pulling a spin move and cutting down the side boards towards the net. Edler and Bieksa got their signals crossed and Fowler was basically able to create a two on one situation with Mancari in between himself and Bobby Ryan. Schroeder, Bieksa and Edler all blew assignments on this play – probably a sign of rust – and Mancari, used to tapping in goals from the slot in the AHL, deflected Fowler’s pass attempt past Luongo. Fowler would also add a power-play assist on Lubomir Visnovsky’s power-play winner. Production aside, all night Fowler had one extra move up his sleeve for every situation and impressed me greatly.
Goat – Nate Guenin had a pretty good evening playing limited minutes at even-strength, but then he took a dumb penalty with his team already short-handed and just over ninety seconds left in the game. Inexcusable stuff from a fringe defenseman who otherwise was pretty good this evening, I’ll bet Carlyle doesn’t soon forget that.
Canucks:
Star – Henrik Sedin had a two point evening for the Canucks and looked like his usual, cerebral, dominant self. His goal was a bit of a flukey tip, he deflected a Bieksa point shot high up into the air and over Jonas Hiller. His assist came on the two-man advantage, Henrik handled the puck just long enough for Salo to collapse into the high-slot. All Hank had to do was feed the Finnish "5-on-3 specialist" for the gimme. Henrik drew a couple of penalties and set up his teammates for a number of choice opportunities that they failed to capitalize on, and he was one of only three Canucks to finish in the black in terms of plus/minus.
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Goat – Roberto Luongo, who else? Yeah he didn’t have a good first outing of the regular season and was chewed up by fans on twitter who are still emotional about his performance in games six and seven of the Stanley Cup Final – same old, same old. It’s going to be a long season if every time Luongo lets in an early goal we all start to argue about whether he’s "trust-worthy" or not – so let’s just let it ride and try to be supportive of the Canucks Vezina nominee starting goaltender, okay? Alternatively we can all bring up game six, and every playoff loss the team has ever dealt with during the Luongo era after every bad goal. Whatever.
Here’s my take on why it’s not a big deal that Luongo posted a sub .900 save percentage in his first NHL action in three months – it was his first game back in three months! Luongo is a rhythm goaltender and a notorious slow-starter, and this game didn’t mean anything. He was out-classed by Jonas Hiller sure, but Jonas Hiller has had some warm-up appearances this preseason, and is one hell of a goalie!
Luongo got caught out of position, and was screened by Andrew Alberts who gave Bobby Ryan about 800 square feet worth of space, which Ryan used to pick a corner in the first period. Then a Visnovsky slapper on the power-play squeaked through Luongo in the third period. So yeah – it wasn’t a great outing – but it also wasn’t worth chewing the guy up over. Trust him, or not – Luongo is a really good goalie. But he’s a goaltender, which mean’s he’ll basically do two things: make saves, and allow goals. It’s the nature of the position -he’ll have some great games but it’s a long season and he’ll let in some softies too. That said, he’s still tonight’s goat.
Notes:
Though it’s impossible to say the power-play looked "good" when the first unit failed to score with nearly a minute of 6-on-3, but I thought it was a promising start for a group of players that hadn’t played together in months. The first unit has lost main-stay Christian Ehrhoff, and usual net presence Ryan Kesler, so an adjustment period is to be expected – but I doubt it will take very long. With a playmaker like Hank quarterbacking the umbrella, I suspect Vancouver’s power-play effectiveness will continue to drive their success this season.
I was especially impressed by Burrows’ work in front of the net. The second coming of Claude Lemieux has never been provided much power-play time during Vigneault’s tenure – but he looked solid in the net presence role and set a particularly nasty screen on Salo’s game-tying goal in the second period. In general I thought the power-play’s puck movement was solid, they looked very dangerous and they generated some quality chances. The goals will come.
Minor, minor quibble – it happened at the end of tonight’s game and it has happened a few times – Cody Hodgson and Alex Burrows on the ice on the power-play at the same time, Cody playing a net presence role, while Burrows plays rover. I don’t get it – it’s so flipping obvious which one of these guys is a talented puck-handler, and which one of them has an artful nose for the net. Hodgson should be dishing the puck, not battling in front of the net – and Burrows – as good as he is – shouldn’t be handling the puck on the power-play. Newell Brown and Alain Vigneault are smart guys – why haven’t they figured this one out?
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That minor quibble aside, Hodgson had a solid game and looks to have that second line center spot all but wrapped up. His line with Samuelsson and Sturm had a number of really nice shifts throughout the game – though I was surprised to see that Hodgson didn’t register a single shot. I see Hodgson making intelligent decisions ever time he has the puck. Though we’ll know more as we get into the regular season, I really like what Hodgson has shown, and he continued to impress tonight.
In general I thought the Canucks defense looked really good the entire game (with the exception of the Fowler goal). Bieksa and Hamhuis were physical and effective, Tanev and Alberts were generally reliable and Salo and Edler moved the puck well and were particularly good in the offensive zone with the Sedins. Tanev stood out again with his composure, constant winning of puck-battles and overall intelligence. Hamhuis is just the best Canucks defender, he makes scrambling possession and turning pucks the other way look easy sometimes. Andrew Alberts had a partial breakaway in the third, and though he looked brutal on the Bobby Ryan goal, he looked quicker than he ever has in a Canucks uniform.
Victor Oreskovich would have probably had the fourth line winger position all but lined up regardless of how well he played tonight (especially after Volpatti’s bad hit on Cogliano, and Mancari’s own-goal this evening). But he played really well anyways – demonstrating some heretofore unseen skill with the puck and putting in a couple of borderline dominant shifts in the game. Good to see him earn it.
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Le patron de Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, au salon VivaTech consacré aux nouvelles technologies, à Paris, le 24 mai. GERARD JULIEN / AFP
En quelques heures, 125 milliards de dollars de capitalisation se sont évaporés – l’équivalent de la valeur boursière d’IBM ou de quatre fois celle de Twitter. Avec Facebook, les proportions sont souvent effarantes. Le réseau social de Mark Zuckerberg a été durement puni par les investisseurs pour avoir fait état, mercredi 25 juillet, de signes de ralentissement de la croissance du nombre de ses utilisateurs et de son chiffre d’affaires. La sanction est à la hauteur des attentes, stratosphérique.
Beaucoup de gens s’attendaient à ce que Facebook continue à croître insolemment, malgré les polémiques sur les données personnelles ou les fake news (fausses informations) à l’image de Google. La firme de Mountain View (Californie) avait en effet publié la veille des résultats impressionnants : 8,3 milliards de dollars de résultat net pour 32,2 milliards de chiffre d’affaires au deuxième trimestre, contre « seulement » 3,5 milliards et 26 milliards un an plus tôt. Un tel excédent lui a permis d’avaler en deux mois l’amende historique de 5 milliards de dollars que vient de lui infliger la Commission européenne pour pratiques anticoncurrentielles.
Les chiffres publiés par Facebook pour le deuxième trimestre ont toujours de quoi faire pâlir la quasi-totalité des entreprises de la planète : un chiffre d’affaires en hausse de 42 %, à 13 milliards de dollars, et un résultat net en croissance de 31 %, à 5,1 milliards de dollars. Soit une marge brute de 44 %.
Même le cours de Bourse reste, à 173 dollars, proche de ce qu’il était début mars, avant la révélation du scandale d’exploitation indue de données par le prestataire britannique Cambridge Analytica. Le titre a perdu 20 % en une soirée, mais il avait atteint son record historique quelques heures plus tôt, à 217,5 dollars.
Lire aussi Comment une entreprise proche de Trump a siphonné les données de millions d’utilisateurs de Facebook
Un ralentissement des revenus se profile
Toutefois, les investisseurs ont des motifs d’inquiétude. Certains sont liés aux reproches faits à Facebook sur sa gestion de la publicité ciblée ou du contenu nocif sur sa plate-forme ; d’autres ont des causes plus structurelles. Le réseau social vient ainsi de connaître la plus faible croissance trimestrielle du nombre de ses utilisateurs : + 1,54 %, contre + 3,14 % au premier trimestre. Facebook a 2,23 milliards d’utilisateurs et même 2,5 milliards, en comptant ceux des autres plates-formes qu’il possède, comme Instagram, WhatsApp ou Messenger.
Il vous reste 46.73% de cet article à lire. La suite est réservée aux abonnés. | {
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The owner of a voter-registration company pleaded guilty Tuesday to voter-registration fraud, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.
Laguna Beach resident Mark Jacoby, who collects signatures for petition drives, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to three years' probation and 30 days of service with the California Department of Transportation.
Jacoby, owner of Young Political Majors, registered to vote at Los Angeles addresses that were not his own. State law requires petition circulators to be qualified voters. Jacoby will also be required to show proof he is registered at his correct address.
--Sam Quinones | {
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Babel Plugin for Named Function Parameters
About
This is a Babel transpiler plugin for transforming non-standard named function parameters in ECMAScript 2015 source code. In particular, it transpiles the following input constructs...
fn ( a = " foo " , 42 , d = " bar " , 7 ) baz . quux . fn ( a = " foo " , 42 , d = " bar " , 7 )
...to the output constructs...
T ( undefined , fn , [ 42 , 7 ] , { a : " foo " , d : " bar " } ) T ( baz . quux , baz . quux . fn , [ 42 , 7 ] , { a " foo " , d : " bar " } )
...where T is the "trampoline" function of the corresponding run-time module babel-runtime-named-params . Assuming the function fn was declared as function fn (a, b, c, d) { ... } , these output constructs under run-time finally translate into...
fn . apply ( undefined , [ " foo " , 42 , 7 , " bar " ] ) baz . quux . fn . apply ( baz . quux , [ " foo " , 42 , 7 , " bar " ] )
...or the equivalent of the regular calls:
fn ( " foo " , 42 , 7 , " bar " ) baz . quux . fn ( " foo " , 42 , 7 , " bar " )
Motivation
This plugin is motivated by the wish of the author to have a more elegant approach to named parameters in JavaScript than the usual convention of passing an object argument provides. For such a conventional ECMAScript 2018 function declaration...
function foo ( arg1 , arg2 , options ) { let { opt1 , opt2 } = { opt1 : " def1 " , opt2 : " def2 " , ... options } console . log ( arg1 , arg2 , opt1 , opt2 ) }
...in addition, to the regular usage...
foo ( " val1 " , " val2 " , { opt1 : " val3 " , opt2 : " val4 " } )
...you can now use it with less boilerplate...
foo ( " val1 " , " val2 " , opt1 = " val3 " , opt2 = " val4 " )
...and even make the function declaration more elegant:
function foo ( arg1 , arg2 , opt1 = " def1 " , opt2 = " def2 " ) { console . log ( arg1 , arg2 , opt1 , opt2 ) }
Additionally, similar to Unix command-line option arguments ( -x or --xx ), which most of the time can be mixed with positional arguments, one can now mix named and positional function arguments, too.
Features
The following particular features are provided:
Parameter Syntax: Named parameters are syntax-wise just ECMAScript assignment expressions <identifier> = <expression> inside function argument lists. But instead of assigning to a variable in the lexical scope of the function call, this now assigns to a parameter of the function call.
Parameter Ordering: Named and positional parameters can be provided in an arbitrary order. For a function declaration function fn (a, b, c) { ... } all of the following function calls result in a call fn(x, y, z) : fn ( a = x , b = y , c = z ) fn ( x , b = y , z ) fn ( b = y , x , z ) fn ( x , z , b = y ) In other words, the algorithm for determining the function call parameters is: first, the parameters (names and positions) of the target function are determined via the function source code ( Function.prototype.toString() ). Second, all named parameters are translated to resulting positional parameters at their particular positions. Third, all original positional parameters are translated to resulting positional parameters at still unused positions (from left to right). All remaining unused positions are filled with the value undefined .
Options Parameter: In the JavaScript world, there is the convention of having an options function parameter which receives an object of options. In case a named parameter in the function call is not found in the function declaration, but such an options parameter exists, the named parameter is passed as an option parameter field. For a function declaration function fn (a, b, c, options) { ... } all of the following function calls result in a call fn(x, y, z, { foo: 42, bar: 7 }) : fn ( x , y , z , options = { foo : 42 , bar : 7 } ) fn ( options = { foo : 42 , bar : 7 } , x , y , z ) fn ( x , y , z , foo = 42 , bar = 7 ) fn ( foo = 42 , bar = 7 , x , y , z ) fn ( x , y , z , options = { foo : 42 } , baz = 7 ) fn ( x , y , z , baz = 7 , options = { foo : 42 } ) fn ( a = x , b = y , c = z , foo = 42 , bar = 7 )
Caveat Emptor
Function Declaration and Transpilation: Although the named parameters need a Babel-based transpilation theirself, the function declarations should not be transpiled to a target environment below ECMAScript 2015, as Babel would remove parameters with defaults from the function declaration. To be able to use function declarations of the form fn (a, b, c = def1, d = def2) { ... } you have to at least target an ECMAScript 2015 environment like Node 6 with the help of @babel/preset-env or the underlying func-params utility function will to be able to determine the c and d parameters.
Increased Code Size: As the determination of function parameters is done under run-time (to support arbitrary existing code which is not part of the transpilation process itself), the resulting code size of your application increased by about 26KB. This is harmless for applications and libraries in the Node environments or applications in Browser environments, but can hurt you for libraries in Browser environments. Hence, try to not use this feature for libraries intended to be used in Browser environments or accept that their size increases by about 26KB.
Decreased Run-Time Performance: As the determination of function parameters is done under run-time (to support arbitrary existing code which is not part of the transpilation process itself), the run-time performance decreases somewhat. At least on the first function invocation. Internally, the source code of the target function is parsed and the result cached in memory. So, on the first function invocation, the parsing causes the function invocation to be much slower than the regular invocation, while on the second and all subsequent function invocation, the indirect function invocation is just slightly slower than the regular invocation.
Assignment Expression: As explained above, this plugin changes the semantics of the assignment expressions inside function argument lists. By definition, in foo(id = expr) the expr is assigned to a variable with the identifier id in the lexical scope of the function call. With this plugin, this is no longer the case. Now expr is assigned to the parameter with the identifier id in the function declaration. This is a change is semantics, of course. On the other hand, an assignment expression inside a function argument list could be considered a strange coding practice anyway.
Installation
$ npm install @babel/core $ npm install @babel/preset-env $ npm install babel-plugin-named-params $ npm install babel-runtime-named-params
Usage
.babelrc :
{ " presets " : [ [ " @babel/preset-env " , { " targets " : { " node " : " 6.0 " } } ] ] , " plugins " : [ [ " named-params " , { " options " : true , " caching " : true } ] ] }
sample.js :
const f1 = ( a , b , c = " foo " , d = " bar " ) => { console . log ( ` a=< ${ a } > b=< ${ b } > c=< ${ c } > d=< ${ d } > ` ) } f1 ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ) f1 ( 1 , 2 , d = " 4 " , 3 ) f1 ( 1 , 2 , d = " 4 " , c = " 3 " ) f1 ( a = " 1 " , 2 , c = " 3 " , d = " 4 " ) const f2 = ( a , b , options = { } ) => { console . log ( ` a=< ${ a } > b=< ${ b } > options=< ${ JSON . stringify ( options ) } > ` ) } f2 ( 1 , 2 ) f2 ( 1 , 2 , { foo : " bar " , baz : " quux " } ) f2 ( 1 , 2 , options = { foo : " bar " , baz : " quux " } ) f2 ( 1 , 2 , foo = " bar " , baz = " quux " ) f2 ( 1 , 2 , baz = " quux " , options = { foo : " bar " } )
$ babel-node sample.js
a=<1> b=<2> c=<3> d=<4> a=<1> b=<2> c=<3> d=<4> a=<1> b=<2> c=<3> d=<4> a=<1> b=<2> c=<3> d=<4> a=<1> b=<2> options=<{}> a=<1> b=<2> options=<{"foo":"bar","baz":"quux"}> a=<1> b=<2> options=<{"foo":"bar","baz":"quux"}> a=<1> b=<2> options=<{"foo":"bar","baz":"quux"}> a=<1> b=<2> options=<{"foo":"bar","baz":"quux"}>
License
Copyright (c) 2018-2019 Dr. Ralf S. Engelschall (http://engelschall.com/)
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. | {
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Maine will become the first state to let residents use ranked-choice voting in a statewide primary election after state officials said Monday that a petition drive had gathered enough valid signatures to allow the system to be used in the June elections.
Voters also will be asked June 12 whether they want to keep the ranked-choice system for federal elections in November. If that “people’s veto” measure is approved, it would nullify the Legislature’s vote to delay and then repeal the law passed by voters in 2016 unless the Maine Constitution is amended.
In November 2016, 52 percent of voters approved a ballot initiative that would make Maine the first state in the nation to implement ranked-choice voting. But lawmakers passed a bill last year delaying the effective date until December 2021 and then repealing the ranked-choice voting process altogether if a constitutional amendment hasn’t been passed by then to address legal concerns.
Supporters of repealing the Legislature’s repeal of the law turned in 77,305 signatures to the Elections Division of the Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions, according to a news release Monday from Secretary of State Matt Dunlap’s office. Dunlap’s staff said 66,687 signatures were from valid registered voters, and 10,618 signatures were not valid. To get on the ballot in June, supporters of the voting law needed a minimum of 61,123 signatures from registered Maine voters.
“The veto question will now go before voters at the primary election on June 12, 2018 and the primary elections for U.S. Senate, Governor, U.S. Congress, State Senate and State Representative will be decided by a system of ranked-choice voting,” Dunlap’s release said.
Under the ranked-choice system, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no one has more than 50 percent of the vote after the first count, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated. Voters who chose the eliminated candidate would have their ballots added to the totals of their second-ranked candidates, and the ballots would be retabulated. The process continues until one candidate has a clear majority and is declared the winner.
Opponents of ranked-choice voting have argued that the voter-approved 2016 law is, at least in part, in conflict with the state’s constitution.
In May 2017, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court issued a unanimous advisory opinion suggesting parts of the ranked-choice law applying to races for governor and the Legislature are unconstitutional because the Maine Constitution calls for candidates to be elected by a plurality of voters. A proposed constitutional amendment failed to pass the Legislature, resulting in the deeply divided but successful votes to delay the law and then potentially repeal it.
Advocates for ranked-choice voting heralded the news Monday, highlighting the winter weather that those gathering voter signatures have endured.
“There’s just no stopping the Maine people,” Kyle Bailey, campaign manager for the Committee for Ranked Choice Voting, said in a prepared statement. “During the coldest months of the year, the Maine people collected at least 66,687 valid signatures in 88 days to restore ranked-choice voting and insist on more voice and more choice in our democracy.”
The vote in June will mark the first time in Maine history that voters will be asked to repeal a Legislature-approved law that essentially repealed a law passed by voters.
“The people of Maine want a system that works for us, and for our children and our grandchildren,” Cara Brown McCormick of Cape Elizabeth said in a prepared statement.
Brown McCormick, who collected more than 900 signatures, said: “Together, we stood up to the politicians who wanted to take away our right to choose the way we elect our leaders. I’m excited to rank my choices in June and to vote ‘yes’ for the People’s Veto to keep Ranked Choice Voting moving forward.”
Scott Thistle can be contacted at 713-6720 or at:
[email protected]
Twitter: thisdog
Send questions/comments to the editors.
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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court today asked the government to ensure that 160 million Indian subscribers are not "entrapped" in any manner by service providers like WhatsApp , which is providing free services to its users.The government also told the apex court that it was in the process of evolving a regulatory regime on data protection which would be binding in nature."State has a duty to protect the citizenry rights. Since service providers like WhatsApp and Facebook say we are giving it free, the state has to ensure that 160 million citizens who are using the service, are not entrapped in it," a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra said.The remarks by the top court came at the fag end of the day-long hearing after WhatsApp, while opposing the maintainability of the plea challenging its 2016 privacy policy, explained the nitty-gritty involved in it.The bench, which is hearing a challenge to the privacy policy of WhatsApp, also questioned whether the instant messaging platform can impose any condition on its users here which violated any part of the Constitution.While questioning the instant messaging platform why the world has "reacted" to its current privacy policy, the bench said nobody wants to share his or her data in "entirety"."The issue is that you (WhatsApp) have framed a policy inviting customers for the purpose of availing the service. In that sphere, can you impose any condition which violates any part of the Constitution," the bench asked WhatsApp, which was acquired by Facebook in 2014."Why has the entire world, and a country like Germany, reacted to it? If it is such a laudable project, why are they reacting," the bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri, Amitava Roy, A M Khanwilkar and M M Shantanagoudar, asked and observed, "we undertand the concept of charity".Senior advocate K K Venugopal, representing Facebook, told the bench that they were not sharing any sensitive or personal data and since India was shifting to digitisation, the service provided by WhatsApp was beneficial as it was end-to-end encrypted."There are privacy laws in those countries. It is a matter which should be left to the government here," he said.Meanwhile, the Centre told the apex court, which would now hear the matter on July 21, that they were in the process of making a regulatory regime to deal with the issue."At the outset, the central government is committed to freedom of choice and right to privacy of citizens. This is non-negotiable and we are committed to this," Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta said, adding, "We are already in the process of doing it (regulatory regime).""We are in the process of making either a statutory rule or executive guidelines, which would be binding in nature, on data protection," he told the bench.During the day-long hearing, Venugopal said there was no legal framework at present to deal with the issue but most of the prayers sought by the petitioners were covered under the 2011 rules of the Information Technology Act."These rules have the framework, an issue which has been raised. My submission is that the petition is not maintainable," he said, adding that it was a matter of policy.He also said they were complying with the provisions of the rules which were in place in India.Senior advocate K V Vishwanathan, appearing for Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF), an intervenor in the case, said that though these rules would apply to WhatsApp and Facebook, but the entire issue, including the aspect of metadata, pending before the apex court, was not covered under it."We find that the rules prescribe that there has to be a consent if you are sharing sensitive personal data. Suppose the consent is not taken effectively, what is the role of the constitutional court," the bench said and asked Venugopal,"are you collecting any sensitive personal data at all?".Responding to the query, the senior counsel said they were not collecting any personal or sensitive data and only phone numbers, device ID, registration details and the last seen status were shared."These are totally non-sensitive and neutral data and no consent is required for it," he said while refuting the claims of the petitioner that they produce or use metadata. | {
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March 10, 2013 at 7:00 PM EDT
Phil Keoghan threw a wrench in the mix last week on The Amazing Race 22 and the leg of the race continued from the check-in with him, but things were left up in the air as Dave battled his ruptured Achilles tendon and unsure if he could continue on in The Amazing Race Season 22. The teams are about to take on the longest leg in the history of the race tonight on The Amazing Race 2013, so prepare yourself for tears and breakdowns! Watch it all happen during our The Amazing Race 22 Live Recap and see who was eliminated from The Amazing Race 2013 with us!
The teams, once they all complete this current portion of the leg, will head out to Bali for the continuation of this long leg. Will Dave and Connor be on that flight to Bali?
Come back at 8/7c for our The Amazing Race 22 Live Recap and find out with us! See which teams will crack under pressure and see if Dave can handle the heat of Bali!
Here we go…the teams will now head to Bali, where they will go to Monkey Forest for the next clue. Dave and Connor will be moving along and Dave will deal with the pain. Jessica and John finish in second and move on. Bates and Anthony are third, Pam and Winnie are fourth, Joey and Meghan are fifth, Caroline and Jen are sixth, Mona and Beth are seventh and Max and Katie are eighth.
Max was able to purchase tickets on the phone and pick up at the airport. Dave and Connor bought their ticket. The other teams are making their way to the travel agent to buy tickets. Pam and Winnie were able to get their tickets online.
The teams are now flying to Bali: Max and Katie, Dave and Connor, Caroline and Jen and Pam and Winnie are on first flight to land in Bali at 8:35 am. Mona and Beth, Bates and Anthony and Chuck and Wynona are on second flight and will land in Bali at 12:05 pm. Joey and Meghan and Jessica and John are on third flight that will arrive in Bali at 12:05 pm, but then found a new flight to arribe earlier.
The teams start arriving in Bali and take taxis to the Monkey Forest for their clue. The teams will get a coconut and take to a monkey and the monkey will open it with the clue inside. Dave and Connor get their clue first. They can either do Sandy Bottom, which they will collect sand in the water and transport it up 200 yards and must get a certain amount before getting the clue. Or they can do Fruity Top to create a religious symbol out of fruit.
Max and Katie are next then Pam and Winnie, Caroline and Jen and they are all doing Fruity Top. The teams arrive and start working on the fruit and building it. All the teams have arrived in Bali now. Now Bates and Anthony’s taxi driver is lost and must ask for directions, so they will probably go down to last place now!
Chuck and Wynona get their clue next and are in fifth! Beth and Mona are next. Winnie and Pam get approved first and then Dave and Connor and then they head over to get it blessed on The Amazing Race 22. They get the next clue, which is to head to Uluwatu Surf Beach for the next clue.
Max and Katie finish the fruit and then Caroline and Jen and go to get it blessed. Jessica and John go to the wrong place and start building some flower thing in someone’s backyard. They put skirts on and realize they are in the wrong place…I love it! They head to the right place and meet Joey and Meghan there and get started.
Bates and Anthony are at the monkeys and Beth and Mona are doing the Sandy Bottom. Bates and Anthony get their clue and do Fruity Top, since the driver knew where it was.
Pam and Winnie get to the clue, which is a Road Block, and they must find a surf board shop and get a surf board with a proper picture on it. Surf and pick up their partner and go to the check-in, but with a correct surf board on The Amazing Race 22.
Pam gets a correct board, but Connor is struggling to find a picture. Jessica and John do not get their fruit approved, which they claim they would do great and have to start over. Bates and Anthony get to the fruit. Connor gets a clue from Pam’s board and they head out. Pam can’t find a way out and is lost. Connor passes them and they check in with Phil first and they won $5,000 each on The Amazing Race 2013. How crazy is that?
Pam and Winnie check in second, Max and Katie third. Back at the fruit, Joey and Meghan get approved and Jessica wants to use the Express Pass, but John says no! Do you think they should?
Jessica and John decide to switch Detours and go to the Sandy Bottom. Chuck and Wynona get their fruit approved. Caroine and Jen try to check in, but have the wrong surf board. Beth and Mona finish the Sandy Bottom and try to find the surf board shop. Joey and Meghan go to the wrong beach!
Caroline has a mini breakdown and must cry, but then gets another surf board. Chuck and Wynona get to the surf shop next and then Joey and Meghan. Caroline is right this time and check in as team number four. John and Jessica are working on the sand and Bates and Anthony get the fruit done.
Chuck has a surf board, but gets lost.
The others are finding a board and Joey and Meghan check in as team number five, but Beth and Mona are wrong and Joey tells them the correct board. They get it and get it right that time, so are team number six. Bates and Anthony are team number seven.
Chuck comes back and they have the correct board and they are team number eight, so John and Jessica will finish in last place. We get to see John struggle with the boards He finally gets the right one and they check in as the last team and have been eliminated from The Amazing Race 2013! Phil said they might be the first team to be eliminated with an Express Pass they didn’t use and then John says he feels no regrets and they don’t need the million dollars! Jessica, however, looks pissed! I love it!
How do you feel about their elimination?
Join us tonight on RealityRewind.com for our The Amazing Race 22 Live Recap. Let’s see who was eliminated from The Amazing Race 2013 together! Subscribe to our Email and RSS or like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all our latest updates. | {
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All You Need to Know
Brewery: LoverBeer
Style: Sour RIS
ABV: 8.5%
Cost: $18 (12oz)
Glassware: Snifter
Temp: 50°F
Availability: Year Round
Purchased@: Hunger N Thirst
Quick Take: This is the KFC bowl of beers. A mish mash of flavors and aromas, one has to wonder if this was brewed from the runoff from other beers along with a pot of day old coffee and the leavings of a tossed salad. Glad to try it, but a beer for the adventurous only as the cost vs risk is far too financially weighted for what you get.
Brew Facts: I will simply list the ingredients/brew process of this Russian Imperial Stout as that is interesting enough: coffee, rhubarb, saffron, cinchona (shrub/tree with medicinal bark), gentian (another medicinal plant also know as bitter root), and spices, aged in oak barrels for 12 months that also has a sour element. Oh those Italians…
Appearance: Pours out a quickly aggressive and stubbornly thin head that hangs on the surface and swirls slowly as it bubbles down. The bubble cloud that floats on this one looks like a warped boot of Italy, the land from which this beer hails. Otherwise, it’s the usual dark beer with brown highlights on the upper edges that is typical to a Russian Imperial.
Aroma: I take the smell into my nose and immediately wish that I didn’t. Used coffee grounds, spice, soy sauce, and decaying vegetables fill out this brutal aroma. Maybe some malt and sugar, but I’m hard pressed to power through the vegetal funk to find it. What did I get myself into?
Taste/Mouth Feel: I’m one to embrace the new and strange, so I suck it up and let this have at my insides, mouth first. The mouth feel isn’t thin, but on the lighter side. The small bubbled carbonation gives this a peppery effervescence. The flavors seep into my tongue and my brow furrows involuntarily. The burnt malt and coffee combine with the tangy, vinous raisin/plum of a merlot, and the metallic sour elements of a Gueuze to melt part of my brain. The finish is where you get some spices on the way to a vegetable, garbagey flavor that isn’t entirely awful if you can imagine. I’m guessing the vegetal layer is due to the rhubarb, but this beer is a little more than rough around the edges. Definitely a sour, coffee RIS, something that De Molen does on occasion, and I’m still not sure the human tongue is ready for this combination. Although probably no one will understand this reference, but it reminds me of Pizza Boy’s Angel of Death, however that added a bourbon barrel and huge 18% ABV.
Final Thoughts: This is the KFC bowl of beers. A mish mash of flavors and aromas, one has to wonder if this was brewed from the runoff from other beers along with a pot of day old coffee and the leavings of a tossed salad. Whatever they scraped together turned into one of the stranger beers I’ve had. If you are bored with the same old beers that try the same old things, well here you go. A beer for the adventurous only as the cost vs risk is far too financially weighted for what you get. Glad to try it, but I don’t see a reason to revisit it other than to scramble the minds of other beer drinkers. | {
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Was this a shock result? More like deserved.
-By Sagar
This was the fixture where Barca could give it’s B-teamers a chance. A chance at for them to show that they can lay claim to a position in the A team in the near future….A chance they fluffed. Quite spectacularly at that.
The back-line had Douglas, Bartra, Vermaelen, Mathieu. Midfield had Gumbau, Koptoum, Samper. Front three were Munir, Sandro, Adriano.
With a hybrid of bench players and B-teamers, Barca went out for an adventure which was a bit of an anti-climactic affair.
A majority of the 22 players on the field were from the 3rd division, and the quality showed.
There was no sense of tactics or game-plan as such from any team, and if there was, it was not followed. The ball was pinged up the pitch, players huddled around the ball, and even veterans like Vermaelen made basic, amateur-worthy mistakes by slicing the ball straight up into the air while clearing.
Contrary to popular belief, that when average players play with good ones they increase their skills, the situation was stark opposite, as the good ones made cringe-worthy plays and mistakes.
Is this why the Barcelona-B team has been suffering so badly? The players seem devoid of spark, and the ones who do have it, more often than not, were overworked as they were scrambling to cover for their team-mates. That was the case with Samper and Koptoum as they were always out of position trying to cover for Gumbau and Douglas.
A shout-out to the players from Villanovense as they put their hearts out to show the 10,000 people that they can play some exciting football. They put in quite a shift as they gave the hybrid-Barca team a lot of scares in the 90 minutes.
Barca for their part, were all over the place. The B-teamers were so focused on trying to win the match with individual brilliance; they forgot that the first team look for anything but that. They need players who fit into their system in a smooth manner without any fuss. This is not how you convince the first team coach.
Having said so much about the B-teamers, one shouldn’t glaze over the average performance of the first-team players in the squad. Douglas had a tough, and an exhausting game against an opponent from the 3rd division, and he didn’t come out successful from the match-up. Vermaelen was composed enough in the defense, bar a few scrappy clearances, and Adriano was almost an invisible entity.
Mathieu and Bartra were on their best behavior, and created quite a few chances when they went forward, but no one else seemed to have the ability to finish those chances.
Letting a spark inspire you to bring out a special play is always a plus, but when you try forcing it and hope that it will eventually just….pay out, is just ridiculous.
The youth players should know that, and ingrain it in their brains. Winning with a team-play>individual inspiration. Don’t they bump into Messi? They should ask him.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Villanovense:
Best: Javi Sanchez (B+): The passion, the hunger and the intensity. This is what the youngsters from Barca should learn. Big occasion, and he stepped up, no, he jumped in. He put his body against shots and players, and made sure his team had a solid player in front of the goalie. Although this match was devoid of quality, it was not devoid of ‘heart’. Also the MotM.
Questionable display: Miguel Trinidad (C-): Where the intensity helped Javi, it backfired on Miguel as his overzealous attitude more often than not resulted in fouls. He was more focused on the player rather than the ball, and lucky for him that these set-pieces did not result in anything dangerous.
Barca:
Best: Samper (B): His first half performance is up for debate, but barring the 2 times he lost possession, he kept his head down and did what needed to be done, and more when he was needed to cover for Gumabau and Douglas. Second half saw him go a little more up front and his decision making was always fast and accurate. Short of sprouting wings and becoming Messi, there was nothing more he could do.
Questionable display: Douglas (D): He had a tough time. He could not show any quality going forward or while tracking back. Beyond disappointing.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
What Say You?! | {
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Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.
Cyntoia Brown, a Tennessee woman who was convicted as a teenager of killing a man while she said she was a sex trafficking victim, was granted clemency Monday by Gov. Bill Haslam.
Brown was granted a full commutation to parole. She will be eligible for release on Aug. 7 after serving 15 years in prison and will remain on parole for 10 years.
Haslam, a Republican, said the decision comes after careful consideration of "what is a tragic and complex case."
"Cyntoia Brown committed, by her own admission, a horrific crime at the age of 16," Haslam said in a statement. "Yet, imposing a life sentence on a juvenile that would require her to serve at least 51 years before even being eligible for parole consideration is too harsh, especially in light of the extraordinary steps Ms. Brown has taken to rebuild her life."
Haslam added: “Transformation should be accompanied by hope."
Brown thanked the governor and her supporters in a statement released Monday by her attorneys.
"Thank you, Governor Haslam, for your act of mercy in giving me a second chance," Brown said. "I will do everything I can to justify your faith in me."
Brown said she is grateful for the support, prayers, and encouragement she has received, including from Tennessee Department of Corrections officials.
Her case inspired a 2011 documentary titled "Me Facing Life: The Cyntoia Brown Story" that thrust her into the spotlight.
The Morning Rundown Get a head start on the morning's top stories. This site is protected by recaptcha
Brown’s attorneys told NBC News they met with Haslam ahead of his decision, which they said is rare in a case like hers.
“I would have to say the strongest persuasive point with him was the remarkable rehabilitation record she showed,” attorney Edward Yarbrough said after the governor’s announcement. “Very few people are able to retain that. Some are good in school. Some could have good behavior. Some are able to help in the prison and help other people.”
He said Brown has the rare combination of all those things.
Joseph Walker, senior pastor at Nashville’s Mt. Zion Baptist Church, told NBC News he provided spiritual counsel to both Brown and Haslam. He said he met with Brown just before Christmas at the Tennessee Prison for Women and spoke with the governor by phone two weeks later.
"I felt so passionately about this case," Walker said. "It was a way to raise the conversation on restorative justice."
The pastor said he and Haslam discussed what the decision could mean "from a moral perspective."
"He said he respected my opinion," Walker said.
Brown's attorneys said they were notified last week that she would be granted clemency. She learned of the decision early Monday morning, Walker said, adding that she was "jubilant."
Brown, now 30, was tried as an adult in 2006, convicted and given a life sentence for the death of Johnny Mitchell Allen, who paid Brown for sex. She was also convicted of aggravated robbery.
Brown previously said that she had feared for her life and pulled a gun from her purse and shot Allen, 43, while in bed with him because she believed he was reaching for a gun. Prosecutors argued the motive was robbery.
At the time, Brown was a runaway and living with her 24-year-old boyfriend, a pimp known as “Kut Throat,” who Brown said raped her and forced her into prostitution.
Last month, the Tennessee Supreme Court ruled Brown must serve 51 years in jail before she is eligible for release. The ruling sparked outrage online among Brown’s supporters, including lawmakers and many celebrities who have called for her release.
More than half a million people have signed petitions for Brown's freedom online and a slew of celebrities including LeBron James, Rihanna, Kim Kardashian West, Meek Mill and Amy Schumer have rallied for her release on social media with the hashtag #freecyntoiabrown. Rihanna was among the first celebrities to weigh in on Brown's case in a November 2017 Instagram post that helped highlight the need for criminal justice reform.
While in prison, Brown has earned a GED and an associate degree through the Lipscomb Initiative for Education Program with a 4.0 GPA, Haslam said. She is scheduled to earn her bachelor's degree in May.
Brown said Monday she is committed to live the rest of her life helping others, especially young people.
"My hope is to help other young girls avoid ending up where I have been," she said. | {
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Image 1 of 3 Fabio Aru and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 2 of 3 Fabio Aru (Astana) (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 3 of 3 Fabio Aru (Astana) (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
What he may lack in experience, Fabio Aru makes up for in raw unadulterated talent and this weekend the 22-year-old from Sardinia will make his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d’Italia.
The first year professional, who shone brightly in the U23 ranks before being snapped up by Astana, has enjoyed a smooth transition into the pro ranks and will line-up as one of Vincenzo Nibali’s most valued support riders.
“At the beginning of the season the directors gave me a schedule of races that were all worked up to point at the Giro, but after that I had to go out and earn my spot. All my placings at these races were all part of earning this Giro spot, and I feel really confident that I have done just that,” Aru told Cyclingnews from his home in Sardinia before heading to Naples for the start of he Giro.
Aru started well this year with a notable performance on one of the hardest stages at the Tour de San Luis in Argentina, pacing Nibali during stage 6, before pushing ahead and leaving his leader once he’d been given the nod to ride his own race.
From there Aru built on his promising start before netting fourth and the white jersey in the Giro del Trentino, a race Nibali won.
“Trentino was really important, because after racing at Tirreno-Adriatico and our training camp at Tenerife, it was a chance to test my condition in the same peloton that is headed for the Giro. In the end I was really happy with that race, because the team was so good around me, we really held it together, and because everything went well.”
With those results under his belt and a growing sense of confidence, Aru has turned his attention to the biggest challenge yet.
“This is really significant, because the Giro, for an Italian, is the most important race in the world. We're all really motivated to work for a captain like Nibali, who is on his own really strong, and for whom we can all fully get behind.”
“The team's expectations are for Vincenzo to go for victory, to try and find it on the road and keep it. For this reason everybody in the squad, from the riders to the staff, has been chosen with this in mind.”
Astana has put all their eggs in Nibali’s basket and Aru will be well aware of the expectation on his shoulders. Since signing to the team he and Nibali have become closer, developing their bond of leader and young domestique. Aru is consider a future heir to Nibali's crown.
“We have become close colleagues this season, and he has done a lot to get to know me and my strengths as a rider who can help him. The primary goal is to get Vincenzo into the maglia rosa. That's number one from the start - anything else is just extra.” | {
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A young woman has somehow survived a 25-metre fall from a balcony railing while performing yoga.
Alexa Terrazas Lopez, 23, fell from the side of Torres Mizza apartment building in Nuevo Leon in Mexico’s northeast on August 17, local newspaper El Imparcial reports.
She’s said to have suffered severe fractures in her legs, arms, hips and nose after losing her balance.
Authorities said the balcony railing wasn’t damaged after the fall and sources told the paper Ms Lopez regularly practises yoga on her balcony.
Alexa Terrazas Lopez, 23, fractured both her legs after falling from a balcony. Source: Instagram/ Alexa Terrazas More
The 23-year-old has also had to have her legs completely reconstructed following an 11-hour surgery.
She may not walk for another three years.
According to Argentinean news site Infobae, she suffered more than 100 fractures and will remain in a coma for two weeks.
A photo circulating on social media shows Ms Lopez hanging from a balcony by her legs.
Some news outlets reported the photo was taken moments before she fell, however this is yet to be confirmed.
Do you have a story tip? Email: [email protected].
You can also follow us on Facebook, download the Yahoo News app from iTunes or Google Play and stay up to date with the latest news with Yahoo’s daily newsletter. Sign up here. | {
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Experts in Italy are planning to build a seismic resistance museum for the artistic and cultural treasures of Florence following the earthquake that shook the country last year and caused the death of nearly 300 people as well as the destruction of many cultural values including the 14th century St. Benedict Basilica in Norcia.According to an article published in the Art Newspaper, the debate over the "weak ankles" of Michelangelo's "David," which is currently located at Galleria Dell'Accademia in Florence, surfaced once again following last year's earthquake disaster. In 2014, geoscientists from Italy's National Research Council raised the alarm that the five-ton statue shows micro-fractures in its lower legs and risks toppling under its own weight. In order to preserve Florence's treasures, which attract millions of visitors from all corners of the world every year, the architects and art historians of the city are working on establishing a new museum that will resist huge earthquakes.Furthermore, the Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, the 700-year-old organization in charge of the Duomo in Florence and its surrounding monuments, will carry out the first comprehensive analysis of the building, including its foundations, construction materials and seismic stability. The study, which is planned to be finalized towards the end of 2017, will map cracks in the 85-meter-high structure and survey the land on which it stands in the heart of Florence's historic center.Meanwhile, the Italian government officially applied to the European Union for financial support to rebuild and restore the artifacts located in touristic centers. The European Commission decided to provide 30 million euros from the EU solidarity fund last month. The fund that the European Commission granted to Italy is the highest sum that the EU can offer. | {
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New Zealand's Minister for Women, Julie Anne Genter, has revealed she rode her bike to Auckland City Hospital to give birth because there "wasn't enough room in the car".
A photograph showing New Zealand's heavily pregnant Minister for Women at the end of a bike ride "to finally have this baby" has made headlines around the world.
Ms Genter posted the image of her posing a with her e-bike at the Auckland City Hospital from her Instagram account.
The 42-week pregnant Green Party MP said it was "mostly downhill to the hospital".
"Beautiful Sunday morning for a bike ride, to the hospital, for an induction to finally have this baby," she posted.
"My partner and I cycled because there wasn't enough room in the car for the support crew… but it also put me in the best possible mood!"
The majority of comments on the post were congratulatory and positive, labelling her as a "legend" and a "wonderful role model".
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The latest post is just part of a well established theme where Ms Genter uses every opportunity to promote cycling — the keen cyclist even employed pedal power when first announcing her pregnancy.
"We're going to have to get an additional seat for the bikes — in the first week of August we're expecting our first child," she wrote in a Facebook post earlier this year.
Ms Genter and her partner previously had two "very sad" miscarriages that she has spoken about in New Zealand media interviews.
She is expected to take three months of parental leave and return to Parliament in early November.
This comes shortly after New Zealand was in the international media spotlight when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gave birth to a baby girl, becoming the first elected world leader to take maternity leave.
"I hope for little girls and boys there's a future where they can make choices about how they raise their family and what kind of career they have based on what they want," Ms Ardern said.
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Police in Burnaby are investigating after a stabbing inside a karaoke bar near Metrotown early Sunday morning.
Officers were called to Gal Chae Karaoke on Imperial Street at around 4 a.m. for reports of a stabbing. When they arrived, they found a 23-year-old man who had been stabbed in the leg.
Burnaby RCMP Staff Sgt. Ken Moe told CTV News the stabbing appeared to be the result of a dispute between people who knew each other.
The victim’s injuries were not serious, Moe said. He was taken to hospital, treated, and released.
Moe said the victim is not cooperating with police, and investigators have so far been unable to determine a suspect because of the lack of cooperation, as well as a lack of clarity from those inside the bar about what happened.
“There were several independent witnesses,” Moe said. “However, the story’s not clear.”
Anyone who may have been inside the bar at the time of the altercation is asked to call Burnaby RCMP at 604-646-9999, or to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or solvecrime.ca.
This is not the first time Gal Chae Karaoke has been the scene of an incident like this. In January 2018, police responded to an early morning stabbing that happened in the facility’s parking lot.
Two men were transported in ambulances after that incident, including one who was seen wearing a blood-soaked shirt before being taken away. | {
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Top Five Misquotations Of The Qur’an
The recent surge in negative sentiments towards Islam and Muslims has resulted in many attempts to depict the religion as inherently violent. This has also resulted in absurd accusations against the Qur’an. What are the five most frequently misquoted passages in the Qur’an? Do accusations of violence stand up to academic scrutiny, or are the verses being distorted to suggest the opposite of what they actually say?
Religion has always been a convenient scapegoat for violence. Genocidal maniacs and extremists throughout history have frequently invoked religion to grant cosmic significance to their earthly conflicts. The political conflicts, brutal dictatorships, and warfare involving Muslim countries in recent decades have led to the emergence of modern extremist groups attempting to justify violence in the name of Islam. Chaos, instability and prolonged warfare create a political vacuum where power-hungry groups vie for control. Such groups will raise whatever banner draws support for their cause, whether it be the banner of ethnic identity, cultural identity, nationalism, or a particular ideological or religious identity.
One should immediately be skeptical of the political instrumentalization of religion by such groups, and of the attempt to shift blame to a religion that has been around for 1400 years and is practiced by almost two billion adherents around the world. Nevertheless, certain verses of the Qur’an have been tossed around by radicals and by islamophobes alike, alleging that there is some Qur’anic support for violent activity. The slightest familiarity with the verses in question would demonstrate that nothing could be further from the truth.
It is fairly easy to misquote a text. All one must do is cherry-pick partial sentences and delete the surrounding context. What makes the five most misquoted Qur’anic verses so interesting is that the supposed violent nature of such verses immediately dissolves with a quick glance at the textual and historical context. All one needs to do is simply complete the sentence, or read the preceding or following verse, and it becomes evident that the verse in no way preaches violence. In addition, this perspective is further substantiated when one looks at the other passages in the Qur’an and statements of the Prophet Muhammad, which are unequivocal in their condemnation of violence and affirmation of peace. Furthermore, 1400 years of scholarly analysis of the Qur’an dispels the misinterpretations of contemporary radicals and islamophobes.
MISQUOTATION 1 – Verse 2:191
The phrase “kill them where you find them” is by far the most frequent phrase that is misquoted by ardent Islamophobes and radical extremists. But this battlefield exhortation comes right after the verse which states “fight against those who fight you, but do not commit aggression” and it comes right before the part which states “but if they cease fighting, then let there be no hostility except against oppressors“!
What is the historical context of verses 2:190-3 and who does it refer to? Ibn Abbas, the famous companion of the Prophet and Qur’anic exegete, says that this passage was revealed in reference to the Quraysh. The Quraysh had persecuted the Muslims and tortured them for thirteen years in Makkah. They had driven Muslims out of their homes, seized their properties and wealth, and fought battles against them after the Muslims sought refuge in Madinah. The Muslims were apprehensive about another attack occurring during their sacred pilgrimage when fighting was prohibited. This is why these verses were revealed to reassure them that they would be able to defend against a Qurayshi attack during pilgrimage. Such fighting never ended up occurring between them and Quraysh, for a peace agreement was upheld and the pilgrimage was permitted.
The phrase “do not commit aggression” was explained by Ibn Abbas to mean, “Do not attack women, children, elderly, or anyone who is not fighting against you“, and thus harming any non-combatants is deemed a transgression against God Almighty. The erudite Qur’anic exegete Ibn Ashur (d.1393H) states, “If they desist from fighting you, then do not fight them for verily God is Most Forgiving and Most Merciful, and so it is only befitting that the believers show mercy”. In this regard, this verse is very similar to 4:89 which prescribes fighting the enemy but is immediately followed by the statement in 4:89, “So if they remove themselves from you and do not fight you but rather offer you peace, then God has made no way for you to fight them.”
Returning to 2:190-3, the Qur’an refers to fighting to eradicate fitnah – the word fitnah in this passage means religious persecution (as used in 85:10) and punishing someone for their faith, and coercing them to disbelieve or commit idolatry. The great Qur’anic scholar Imam al-Kisaa’i (d.189) explains that fitnah here means “torture (‘adhaab) because the Quraysh used to torture those who accepted Islam.” Ibn Jarir al-Tabari (d.310H) explains that the phrase “fitnah is worse than killing” means that “to persecute a believer for his faith until he recants it and becomes an idolater is worse and more painful to him than being slain while holding onto his faith.”
Therefore, the passage clearly prohibits fighting against those who are not fighting. The particular misquoted phrase describes fighting in defence against perpetrators of anti-religious persecution and torture.
MISQUOTATION 2 – Verse 9:5
The next phrase that is frequently misquoted is quite similar – “slay those pagans wherever you find them”, but again the slightest familiarity with the historical and contextual context would immediately dispel this misquotation. The verse immediately before speaks of upholding peaceful agreements with those who are at peace and never supported enemy warriors against the Muslims – so who is verse 9:5 in reference to? Qur’anic exegetes al-Baydawi (d.685H) and al-Alusi (d.1270H) explain that it refers to those pagan arabs who violated their peace treaties by waging war against the Muslims (nakitheen) , and thus Abu Bakr al-Jassas (d.370H) notes that these verses are particular to the Arab polytheists and do not apply to anyone else. These comments are substantiated by what the Qur’an itself says. Verse 13 of the same chapter states, “Will you not fight against those who violated their peace treaties, plotted the expulsion of the messenger, and initiated the fighting against you?” and verse 36 states, “and fight the pagans collectively who wage war against you collectively.” The textual context is abundantly clear that verse 9:5 is not a random instruction out of the blue but relates to the pagan tribes of Arabia, who were in a state of war with the Muslims. Therefore, to interpret the passage in any other way is to contradict the very text of the Qur’an.
Moreover, what is fascinating is that the very next verse (9:6) states that if any enemy warrior suddenly demands protection, one is religiously obligated to provide that individual with protection, explain the message of Islam to him, and if he refuses to accept, escort him to a place of security. This instruction to protect and escort enemy combatants to a safe haven makes it blatantly obvious that this passage in no way, shape or form, can be construed as violent.
MISQUOTATION 3 – Verse 8:60
Another favourite text to misquote is the passage that states, “Prepare against them all you can of power and steeds of war..” but again, the very next verse reads, “If they incline towards peace, then incline towards peace as well” – hardly a violent passage!
Moreover, one must again ask who is being referred to in this citation? The historical context clearly places these verses again in reference to the ongoing war between the Muslims and the enemy forces of the Quraysh of Makkah and their tribal allies. This chapter was revealed in reference to the Battle of Badr which took place between the Muslims who sought refuge in Madinah and the Quraysh who had persecuted them and driven them out of their homes in Makkah. The same chapter describes the pervasive warfare in Arabia and lack of security suffered by the early oppressed Muslim community. “And remember when you were few and oppressed in the land, fearing that people might abduct you, but He sheltered you, supported you with His victory, and provided you with good things – that you might be grateful.” (8:26)
Note also that sometimes Islamophobic bigots cite verse 8:12 from this same chapter “strike above their necks”, somehow completely missing the fact that the verse describes what God said to the angels during the battle of Badr. The first half of the verse reads, “When your Lord inspired the angels, ‘Verily, I am with you, so strengthen the believers…’”. To take a description of God’s inspiration to angels during a historical battle against the Quraysh oppressors and somehow distort that into a generic command for Muslims to attack non-muslims is profoundly dishonest, to say the least. Moreover, exegesis of the very next verse states that the reason the angels were sent in battle against the Quraysh warriors was because they had waged war against the Muslims!
MISQUOTATION 4 – Verse 47:4
This is perhaps the most outrageous of all misquotations. A phrase in the middle of a passage about battle is ripped out of its context and presented ludicrously as, “When you meet disbelievers, smite their necks.” To even the most casual reader who bothers to glance at the passage, the verse is talking about a meeting in mutual battle between warriors (Ar. “fi’l-muharabah” as al-Baydawi explains ) that comes to an end “when the war lays down its burdens” as the verse itself states. This verse is specifically discussing mutual battle with those disbelievers engaged in warfare as noted by Ibn Jareer al-Tabari. This is clear from the opening line of the chapter which states, “Those who disbelieve and prevent people from the path of God“, which as Ibn Abbas has stated, is in reference to the pagans of Quraysh, who oppressed the believers by denying them the freedom to practice their faith and then went to war with them to exterminate their community.
With respect to the phrase, “until the war lays down its burdens“, Imam Qatadah (d.117H) explained it saying, “until the enemy warriors lay down their burdens” – a phrase that was echoed by many scholars throughout history, including Ibn Qutaybah al-Daynuri (d.276H). Note also that this verse provides Muslims with only two options for prisoners of war – unconditional release, or acceptance of ransom. The verse mentions no other option, and indeed scholars have pointed out that this is the general rule, for the Prophet Muhammad only punished those war criminals guilty of treachery or gross violations, but otherwise he almost universally would pardon people even his most ardent opponents, as he did with the war chief Thumamah ibn Uthal, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, Habbar ibn al-Aswad, Ikrimah ibn Abi Jahl, Umayr ibn Wahb, Safwan ibn Umayyah, Suhayl ibn Aamir, and the list goes on.
MISQUOTATION 5 – Verse 9:29
One of the most interesting citations is 9:29, along with the claim that it instructs Muslims to fight people of the Book “until they pay the jizya and feel subdued”. But this verse as well has a historical context that is neglected. The very early exegete, Mujahid ibn Jabr al-Makhzumi (d.104H) explained that this fighting was revealed in reference to the Prophet Muhammad’s campaign against the Byzantine empire. The Prophet Muhammad sent al-Harith ibn Umayr al-Azdi as an emissary to the Byzantine vassal state of the Ghassanids, but the chieftain Shurahbeel committed the shocking crime of tying up the emissary, torturing him, and murdering him. When an army was dispatched to confront the Ghassanids for their crime, the Vicarius Theodorus summoned a large force of Roman soldiers to engage in war against the Muslims in the Battle of Mu’tah.
Thus, this verse was revealed in regards to fighting within an existing war against an enemy political entity, namely the Byzantine empire, which lead to preparations for the expedition of Tabuk. The hostility of the group in question is mentioned in this very Qur’anic passage itself, which goes on to state (9:32) that this instruction refers to those “who attempt to extinguish the light of Islam with their mouths“, which al-Dahhak (d.105H) stated meant “they attempt to destroy Muhammad and his companions.”
As history went on, imperial conflicts continued between the Byzantine empire and the subsequent Muslim empire of the Umayyads. Many of those who were writing within the historical setting of imperial conflict assumed that this verse characterized a generic state of perpetual warfare with opponent political entities. However, as noted in Tafsir al-Maraghi, all of the Qur’anic conditions of warfare mentioned earlier still apply to this verse. Thus, the verse means, “fight those mentioned when the conditions which necessitate fighting are present, namely, aggression against you or your country, oppression and persecution against you on account of your faith, or threatening your safety and security, as was committed against you by the Byzantines, which was what lead to Tabuk.”
CONCLUSION
The Qur’an is a message to humanity that repeats 114 times, “In the Name of God the Most Compassionate the Most Merciful.” The Qur’an instructs Muslims to show goodness to those who do evil (41:34), to speak words of peace to those who are hostile (25:63), to call to the way of God with wisdom and beautiful preaching (16:125), to treat peaceful non-muslims with the utmost kindness and justice (60:8), to be the best of people towards other people (3:110), and to respect freedom of religion (2:256, 10:99). There is simply no plausible way to understand the Qur’an in a manner bereft of mercy, compassion or peace. Any sincere and reasonable person looking at these passages must necessarily recognize that the Qur’an stands for mercy, not for destruction and violence.
Attempts to portray the Qur’anic text as preaching violence do not stand up to academic scrutiny, and in fact, can be dispelled by simply reading the entire sentence and the immediate context. Dishonesty abounds in the selective chopping of sentences by both Islamophobes and radicals alike. Knowledge of the historical context of these verses clearly demonstrates that all of these passages without exception relate to fighting against those engaged in warfare. A careful examination of the scholarly analysis of these passages provides abundant statements clarifying the meaning of these verses.
One may ask, why does the Qur’an contain such phrases to begin with? Does it not render itself susceptible to misquotation? This question misses two key points. First, anything can be misinterpreted if sufficiently distorted and misapplied outside of its original context, given that subjectivity and ambiguity is inherent in the nature of all language itself. Second, it is important to understand that Qur’an means ‘recitation’ – an oral message, communicated by God to Prophet Muhammad in piecemeal fashion over 23 years. The Qur’anic revelation was instantaneous, addressing situations immediately as they arose in the lifetime of the Prophet. Obviously, the language needed by a person facing the blade of a vicious tyrant on the battlefield must carry the requisite power and potency to enable bravery, and will differ considerably from the far softer language used in other contexts. The Qur’an caters to the full spectrum of human experience, and wields vocabulary that harnesses the full range of human emotions. Moreover, the Qur’an tells its reader how to correctly interpret it (3:7) – to always interpret ambiguous contextually-contingent passages in light of unequivocal explicit passages.
At this point, it should be obvious that one of the best ways to combat misuse of scripture is by propagating the voluminous evidences which necessitate an understanding of scripture that is peaceful, merciful, and tolerant, and empowering those who advance this understanding. To insist on characterizing the religion as inherently violent is to play right into the hands of extremists on both sides who wish to incite hatred and perpetuate war. | {
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I have compiled virtually every camera movement in Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows. Camera pans, and the like I did not include (I’m lying, there’s a few there, lol) because the main concern of the Movements series is exactly that – camera movements – which include any kind of physical movement of the camera from point A to point B, such as a tracking shot or a dolly – mostly the dolly. The point is to get as many examples of camera movements in various films to get a better understanding of how a camera can be used and why.
If you missed the first episode – you can check it out here. For the first one, I did not provide any kind of analysis, but I feel – because of my own growth as a filmmaker – I wanted to do one for The 400 Blows. Just remember, the analysis is all based on my own understanding of cinema from watching films, and reading a lot of books on cinema.
I will simply list the numbers of shots in chronological order and you can watch the video and read this analysis if you’d like to hear my breakdown on them all – right now I cannot upload reference screen captures, but I will do so most likely by the end of the week.
THE 400 BLOWS – ANALYSIS OF CAMERA MOVEMENTS
1. – The movement of the camera is motivated simply by an action – the passing of the calendar, however it is also in part an introduction of the main character. There is a slight push in on the main character to a MCU. Also when the teacher calls – the camera acts as a quick pan to the teacher in a sense acting as the sudden movement of the eyes. If the previous MCU was us observing the drawing, objectively – then the pan signifies also a subjective shot, as if to yank our attention and place it at the teacher. The camera pans as it follows our main character, and it even pans back at the teacher after Antoine shakes his fist at the guys who got him caught. Think for a moment why that pan happened? If you remember your school days and you were doing something like passing notes – you never wanted to get caught and you’d always look at the teacher, to see if he’s looking. The camera pan is doing essentially that – acting as your eyes. So after the shaken fist, you’d look at the teacher to see if he noticed it because you wouldn’t want to get caught.
2. – Camera movement is motivated on physical movement of the teacher, however not limited to. It is also showing you a classroom of kids – in that sense it is geography based. Little details like the three kids who are looking up and to the left (our left). Truffaut obviously wanted you to see those details because he wants the audience to relate to being that kid who’s thinking during the assignment.
3. – Movement is pulled back as the kid approaches another to get the assignment from him – it goes from a tight shot to a slightly wider one to include in the frame more details. If it remained close as the kid approached you wouldn’t see those details, but you’d also be concentrating attention on the small space within the frame and in a sense underlining something here. Such as the intensity of the other kid writing – but we pull back to reveal he’s not the only one. For instance the two kids at the front (right of the frame) are done with the assignment and the kid who approached to get the assignment later turns around, facing us. We wouldn’t get him in that MS if it remained tight. So the movement is therefore just a link between two various shot sizes. There’s no deeper meaning there. It’s also geography based.
4. – Movement is simply based on physical movement of the characters. Why? Well, the two characters are walking as well as talking. If they were standing still and talking, like a slight moment when Antoine and his friend are talking to the goggles kid – the camera would stay static (it slightly moves in this shot as it aligns itself to a two-point perspective, as well as for the motion to come). But the movement is simply a physical one.
5. – Minimal movement but there is a slight dolly in on when Antoine grabs the money out off the table. These are the little things you do when you want to underline something. It’s a very slight movement, but it’s there nonetheless. It goes in a bit tighter because we need to see what he’s grabbing. If that shot stayed in its original, slightly wider position – the impact wouldn’t be the same. Afterall, those money are a detail and you always want to underline a detail. Hence, without cutting – you’re linking once again, shot lengths.
6. – Is a nice blend of geography, and subjective shot. When Antoine walks into the room and it cuts to this, you have the camera slightly dollying and panning as if to show you the eyes and the physical movement of Antoine, before the shot goes from subjective (Antoine’s eyes, and ours as an audience) to an objective one with him walking into a frame. Two birds with one stone. Go you, Truffaut and Decae! Filmmaking at its finest.
7. The camera acts to show geography. When Antoine goes to pickup his folder – the camera moves based on the idea that it wants to actually show us what he picked up. You always want to be clear with your shots. Just imagine how lazy it would have been if – after the pan from the table on to the hallway, you didn’t slightly dolly to the left like in the film. You’d immediately have the folder obscured. You want to always be clear with the audience, no matter how small it is. Unless you’re leaving out some piece of information you don’t want the audience to know at a given point in time – that’s when you can allow yourself to be ambiguous. Here we have something casual and not necessarily a big plot detail – but it’s just the courtesy to the audience that is shown by this simple movement.
8. – A pan, don’t know why I included it in movements. Oops. Though in the film it’s used to show you how the mother doesn’t even have time for her kid… the pan goes from a mother getting ready to leave to an underline of Antoine doing reading…
9. – This is a classic example of an unmotivated camera movement – a movement that is simply based on an emotion or a filmmaker’s commentary on a character or an event. The term unmotivated, however, isn’t entirely correct. There is a motive always, it’s just that there’s a distinction between two types of movements. One that is motivated is when a character moves and another when a character is feeling something such as in this case, Antoine feels nauseous because of the story of the two women he overhears.
For more on unmotivated camera movement watch John McTiernan’s commentary video below where he discusses it, starting @ 2 minutes 12 seconds
https://vimeo.com/58272963
10. – Perfect example of a motivated camera movement – as a contrast to the previous one, so you can see the difference right away of what the camera is doing and the reasons. Characters are slowly moving through their own apartment up to the table, and so is the camera.
11. – This movement is not as distinct, to me it’s a mixture of two things. 1. The unmotivated and a simple linkage of a wide shot to the MS of Antoine getting his plate filled with soup. Unmotivated because, there’s a real emotion that can be felt by it. The linkage however is probably the more correct version of the meaning behind the movement. Andre Bazin, a French film theorist largely responsible for the French New wave film movement stressed the importance of capturing reality without cutting. Essentially he said that you don’t need to do a lot of cinematic engineering – such as montage – to show what’s already there. So instead of cutting from that wide shot to the medium shot – they are linked in real space and real time by a camera movement.
The next shot, as it transitions, pretty much follows the same idea – it now shifts attention from Antoine to his mother.
13. – Movement is of Antoine looking in the mirror. Its only purpose is to compose the image in such a way so that when the father comes into the frame, we can see him in the mirror along with the environment of the scene – a bathroom.
14. – You don’t need to understand what the father is yelling about to see that he’s not happy with Antoine. You’ve got an unmotivated camera movement going on here as it slowly pushed in tighter on Antoine, isolating him from the world. The sudden pull back is when Truffaut decides to “cut” the moment of that emotion he wants us to experience as an audience and focus again on the father filling in the frame. Effective, simple, clear.
15. – This movement is another example of linking a wider frame with a tighter – which is a MCU – wide enough in the beginning to show us the environment, the geography, and immediately linking us with a shot that is standard for conversations.
16. – Unmotivated camera movement as the attention is all on Antoine, something serious – and Antoine knows this and feels it too. Hence Truffaut uses the movement wisely. I’ve included what comes after the movement to contextualize it.
17. – Movement based on geography, slight dolly in, to show us the environment in which Antoine will spend the night in. What’s interesting here is that because the characters have left the frame and the camera continued to dolly in – you can easily call this movement an unmotivated one, because they’re not always used just on people. This movement is a perfect example of one that can be used on an event, environment that still carries emotional weight here. That weight is the fact that we know this kid is gonna be sleeping in some factory, and that in itself is sad. Hence this particular movement is based on emotion.
18. – Is a tracking movement which is motivated on physical movement of the characters.
19. – Unmotivated movement here signifies a thought. Should be a no-brainer by now! 😉
20. – Another movement based on linking two shots – in this case, two locations of this building, a hallway and a staircase. I hope you’re seeing by now how camera movement can be a powerful tool in many ways, and a substitute to editing. Whenever possible, Truffaut gives you that uninterrupted look at the environment. This philosophy is driven by Bazinian theories on film.
21. – This movement is pretty much the same as that of the very first movement. Motivated on the physical passing of the goggles around a classroom, instead of cutting – a substitute is called on to do the job – camera movement. Real space, real time. Film is really the changing of a composition in space and time, you can afford to use movement of a camera to do something you can’t do in any other art (except for animation, but that’s part of film anyway)
22. – This movement comes straight after the previous shot. It can be read as a linkage of two shots, the kind that are based on geography since there’s no distinct sense of it being motivated on emotion (unmotivated). The teacher accuses Antoine of cheating as the camera slowly pulls back to a wider shot of the teacher to reveal his surroundings a bit better – the pan to the left of the screen gives us a view of the attentiveness of the students in a classroom that’s ruled by a strict teacher, finally it ends on Antoine and his answer of “I didn’t cheat”. You have essentially, three shots connected by movement. This movement also gives us an uninterrupted look at the spatial relationship between Antoine and the teacher because right after his answer, the nature of the conversation is edited in a back-n-forth fashion. So, it really is a geographical link.
23. – It begins with a motivated movement of Antoine as he walks into the room, however the next cut – what he sees – is also seen as an unmotivated movement. It’s Antoine’s sense of wonder as he sees the horse, something so completely new to him that it strikes an emotion in him. One can also argue that the push in on the horse is a subjective POV of Antoine as he approaches it – that’s true, it is in a way a subjective shot, but it truly is a movement based on emotion moreso than anything else. Also notice how the horse is shot from a lower angle, which gives the horse statue importance and power. All of this combined is an effective use of camera technique in general to illustrate to the viewer – subconsciously – a variety of emotions Truffaut wants the audience to feel.
24. – This push in on the door lock is motivated by an action. Had the camera stayed at its original, wider position it wouldn’t have the same impact as the dolly up to the lock – which underlines, as well as shows what is being done in a clearer way. This underline is important because it shows how ingenious the young boys are to escape rules and situations they’re in. Afterall, the film is about youth, and its experiences.
25. – As the father of Antoine’s friend walks in, we are tight on him – a MS – however the camera pulls back to reveal Antoine’s friend in the frame. In this sense, it’s a link – much in the same way as the movement previously on with the boy finishing an assignment as another walks into a frame to collect it. There begins a conversation between the father and his boy.
26. – A lengthy shot motivated by the physical movement of Antoine, however – it’s important to notice how this motivated movement shifts into becoming an unmotivated one when Antoine notices the typewriter. The camera suddenly dollies up as Antoine picks up the pace to approach to it – and then, cut to a close up of Antoine by the typewriter. This is a very interesting shot mainly because of this shift – it’s sudden, and quick, but it’s undoubtedly there.
27. – The next shot is a perfect blend of an introduction of a character through a closeup and a motivated camera movement. As you can see it simply tracks alongside Antoine as he – incognito – tries to return the typewriter, but gets caught.
28th, 29, 30, and 31 – Are movements motivated by physical movement, nothing more. The movement shows us the surrounding environment as well.
30 and 31 are movements that simply show us the environment. 31 and 32 are also linked shots that show the passage of time when the transition happens in between. Eventually 32 turns into a somewhat unmotivated shot as it pushes in on Antoine to show him surrounded by a cell.
32. – Is a linkage movement – the previous two shots are pretty much the same. It’s movement that simply connects shots without cutting while showing you – constantly the environment in real space and time.
33. – Doesn’t need much of a description or analysis – it’s a subjective POV shot through the eyes of Antoine – where his reality becomes apparent. Truffaut used this shot as to give the audience an emotional jolt by letting us see where Antoine is truly at now – a cell. The faces of other people in the cell across – the pan to the police… and finally we have a pull back from Antoine emphasizing how isolated, alone, and helpless he is in that cell.
34. – Camera movement through linkage, and geography – however, there is true emotion when the car itself drives away from the camera. What the main purpose of this movement is that it goes from wide to a tighter shot to get us closer to Antoine – to show him to us closely, intimately – a boy in a cell – then as the car drives off the audience subconsciously feels how alone he is inside that car, behind bars. It doesn’t try to follow – it does so in subsequent shots, but this time it just emphasizes the fact that he’s really being taken somewhere. The car goes further into the distance, away from us…as if we are the people standing there and seeing him being driven away.
35. – A nice transition from a closeup to a movement that reveals a jail – emphasized by the concrete wall that passes through our eyes as the camera tracks along it to then reveal the true authority – waiting behind bars. Just think about Shawshank Redemption for a second…the opening sequence when Andy is entering the prison – you have shots that track alongside the fences – this is the new reality for our character.
36. – this is a movement that is slowly creeping in on Antoine as he takes out all that he has out of his pockets. There really is no movement that is motivated by a physical movement of someone – in a sense it’s a movement based on linkage of a wide shot (geography based) and a much tighter shot of Antoine – to get us real close to him so that we can observe him and get out of it whatever emotions we may feel ourselves when seeing this kid in such a harsh environment at young age – jail. So what we have here is not only linkage, but in a way a movement based on emotion – it’s not exactly, distinctly a movement that screams “I want you to feel this way RIGHT NOW” – it’s not as obvious, but it’s there… these kind of movements can be linked, linking shots as well as in the process evoking an emotion out of you. Because think about it this way. You could have had this exact shot go from WIDE and CUT to that Medium Shot, and you’d have in a way the same emotion out of a Medium Shot if you cut to it – but you’re losing an enormous amount of information in the process. Remember, that French film theorists emphasized the importance of not cutting, but just showing you the reality in real space and time – so the movement shows you a scene that takes place in real time – the unloading of material from his pockets as we get a sense of where he is. There’s a staircase, a policeman sitting down behind a table, then we get to see another policeman standing behind Antoine… yet all of it is seen through a camera movement without CUTTING from that WIDE shot, to a MEDIUM SHOT. Pay attention to movements like that, it’s about showing to the viewer the information you want them to see with doing the minimum amount of cinematic engineering – although camera movement is cinematic engineering in itself – but it’s not “constructed” through cutting from one shot to another – what John McTiernan would call “print logic” that occupied a lot of Hollywood films during the Golden Age.
37. – Now we get a movement motivated by emotion – Antoine is laying there in this cold room – staring at the ceiling, thinking, pondering. This is a clear, distinct example of an unmotivated camera movement – movement based on emotion.
38. – This is a subjective POV shot, through movement. The camera are the eyes of the boys marching through, seeing those girls behind bars. It’s tight on the girls, a Medium Close Up – because Truffaut is emphasizing the simple fact these little girls are behind bars and how fucking sad it is.
39. – This is one of the movements that link two shots without interrupting – the focus is on the boy behind the cell. Without cutting from a wide, to a tighter shot – Truffaut achieves it through movement. Remember; real space and time.
40. – Another movement that gives you a sense of geography, it’s not so much a movement based on emotion because as you can see it simply moves from one side to the other, ending at a point where the man walks in to take away the boy talking to Antoine and in the process – showing you some of the geography of the place.
41. – This movement is in a sense motivated by physical movement – Truffaut doesn’t show the people walking outside the window the boys are staring at, but it’s implied in a shot before when we see the parents of the children enter the ground of this facility. He’s also showing you a bit of a geography, by moving the camera in such a way that you can see the trees reflecting in the windows. You could do this shot by using a static camera – but it wouldn’t have the same “oomph” to it, nor emotion.
42. – I wanted to include this pan, it’s not a dolly or a physical movement of the camera from point A to B – but the pan is a perfect example of how you can use it as the eyes of the character. Giving you information, and emotion – the character, in this case Antoine – sees and feels. Notice how the camera pans up to the fancy hat – you know, that Antoine knows his mother is no longer with his dad… and with just a simple camera movement and a cut back to Antoine – you have more information and emotion than you could get in a full page of written description. Again, we only know this based on everything we’ve seen throughout the film. This simple shot, out of context – doesn’t say much, I mean it says that he’s looking at a hat, but we wouldn’t know anything beyond it – like what is the reason for him looking up? Is he bored? Does he like the hat? It’s only because we know up to the point of this shot, what we know, that we can take away so much information just by seeing this on screen.
Phew… I hope you found this informative. I did, through writing it. 😉
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A deadly shootout erupted Monday near the Texas A&M University campus when a man being brought an eviction notice opened fire on a Texas law enforcement officer, leaving three people dead, including the officer and the gunman.
Police say Thomas Alton Caffall, 35, opened fire on Brazos County Const. Brian Bachmann just after noon as the lawman brought an eviction notice. Both men were later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Police said Chris Northcliff, 43, was the third person killed in the shootings at an off-campus home not far from the university's football stadium in College Station, 145 kilometres northwest of Houston. Three other law enforcement officers and a 55-year-old woman were wounded, Assistant Police Chief Scott McCollum said.
Caffall's sister said Monday night the family was "shocked" by the violence.
Police say Thomas Alton Caffall, 35, opened fire on a law enforcement officer shortly after noon on Monday. (City of College Station Police Department/Reuters)
"Our hearts and prayers go out to the families and this is just a senseless tragedy," said Courtney Clark, Caffall's sister, reached Monday evening at her mother's home in Navasota, about 32 kilometres to the south. "We are just distraught by the havoc that he has caused."
She declined additional comment.
Officers responding Monday afternoon to reports of an officer down saw Bachmann wounded on the ground in the front yard, then got into what McCollum described as an extended shootout with Caffall, who eventually was shot.
Police spokeswoman Rhonda Seaton said Northcliff was outside the home when he was shot, as was the wounded woman, whose name had not been released by Monday evening.
The woman was hospitalized in serious condition following surgery. One of the injured officers, Justin Oehlkee, was treated for a gunshot wound in the calf and was in stable condition, Seaton said. Two other officers — Brad Smith and Phil Dorsett, were treated for "shrapnel injuries" and released, Seaton said.
Police declined to speculate on a motive for the gunfire.
Bachmann a 'pillar in this community'
The shootings prompted Texas A&M to issue an emergency alert warning students and residents to stay away from the area. Most of the university's 50,000 students were not on the campus because the fall semester doesn't start until Aug. 27, university spokeswoman Sherylon Carroll said.
Brazos County Const. Brian Bachmann, 41, died in hospital on Monday after a shooting in College Station, Texas. (City of College Station Police Department/Reuters)
Diana Harbourt, 27, who lives about a block from where the shootings happened, said she heard five loud popping sounds from a back room of her home. She said she saw an officer park his vehicle on the street and crouch in front of another vehicle.
"We heard him exchanging some words with the person and then shots being fired," Harbourt said. "And then we heard more sirens and more officers and fire trucks came and they were keeping their distance, kind of slowly moving in. More officers showed up and told us to stay inside."
Officers, meanwhile, were dealing with losing someone McCollum called a respected colleague.
"Brian Bachmann was very close to everyone in law enforcement," McCollum said. "He was a pillar in this community, and it's sad and tragic that we've lost him today."
Bachmann worked more than 19 years in law enforcement, according to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education. He started out with the Hempstead Police Department before spending most of his career with the Brazos County Sheriff's Office. He had been a constable since January 2011, after winning election to the post the prior November.
In a February 2010 candidate profile in the Bryan-College Station Eagle, the married father of two said he wanted to bring "constables back to the community" by actively patrolling neighbourhoods to discourage crime.
Constables are law enforcement officers similar to sheriff's deputies who are elected to serve in specific county precincts. They primarily serve warrants and official paperwork or act as courtroom bailiffs.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, an A&M alumnus, said at an event in Florida that his "prayers are with any of those that have been injured." A&M President R. Bowen Loftin issued a statement calling Monday a "sad day in the Bryan-College Station community." | {
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ACT police have been left red-cheeked after their Twitter account re-tweeted pornographic photos.
The @ACTPolicing account followed up a series of messages about safe and enjoyable celebrations of New Year's Eve with the promotion of a tweet by "Katie Sanders".
Her message said: "One good thing about winter ... these boots! #ThonglessThursday" and included three photos of a woman naked but for a pair of black furry boots.
It caused some confusion among ACT Policing's followers.
Police later deleted the nude photos from their feed and apologised.
"Thanks to those who brought an untoward tweet to our attention," they said.
"Not sure how it got on our page, but it's deleted and our account is secure."
There are more messages by Katie Sanders containing nude photos on the ACT Policing's favourited tweets page. | {
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