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Zoe Quinn, the Depression Quest creator and co-founder of support group Crash Override, spoke at a congressional briefing this morning about cyberstalking and online threats.
The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence, National Council of Women's Organizations and The National Organization for Women are holding the congressional briefing in partnership with U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.)
During the briefing, experts will discuss the prevalence of cyberstalking and online threats and how to combat them.
According to today's Congressional briefing:
Cyberstalking and online threats are serious issues in our digital age. According to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, nearly one in five (18 percent) of all internet users have experienced severe forms of online abuse, including physical threats, stalking, sustained harassment and/or sexual harassment. Young female internet users (age 18-24) experience the most severe online violence.
Others scheduled to attend include Michelle Garcia, director of the Stalking Resource Center; John Wilkinson, attorney advisor at AEquitas: The Prosecutors' Resource on Violence Against Women; and Danielle Keats Citron, author of Hate Crimes in Cyberspace and professor at the University of Maryland School of Law.
The presentations and follow up questions and answers session was live streamed on Periscope. But you can watch Quinn's introductory talk below:
Quinn's harassment has been associated with the GamerGate movement, a Twitter hashtag and social campaign defined by most supporters as a call to effect change in video game journalism, and to defend the "gamer" identity.
The movement is difficult to define because what it has come to represent has no central leadership or agreed-upon manifesto. The hashtag was first used by actor Adam Baldwin in August after intimate details of a personal relationship between Quinn and a video game journalist were posted online, leading to widespread allegations of cronyism between press and developers.
GamerGate also has been accused of harassment of women in video games, including Quinn, Anita Sarkeesian and Giant Spacekat head Brianna Wu, though many of GamerGate's supporters deny the campaign should be blamed. | {
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GEELONG captain Joel Selwood will have surgery on his left ankle after scans confirmed he suffered a syndesmosis injury in Friday night's 46-point loss to Sydney.
However, the club expects the 29-year-old to be available in time for the finals in just over a month.
Selwood will miss home and away matches against Richmond, Collingwood and Greater Western Sydney in a massive blow to the Cats' top four hopes.
Geelong is currently in fourth place, a game and half clear of Port Adelaide, Sydney and the Western Bulldogs.
The Cats released a statement on Sunday evening, saying surgery was deemed the best option after "consulting with specialists in the field".
Selwood, who was on crutches over the weekend, hurt ankle in two separate incidents against the Swans.
He first rolled the outside of his ankle when he stood on teammate Zac Smith's foot in a marking contest late in the second quarter.
Selwood was unable to put weight on his left foot as he left the field in the hands of the club's medicos.
He had his ankle strapped and performed a fitness test in the rooms during the main break, before starting the third quarter on the ground.
Selwood then suffered the more severe injury to the same ankle late in the third term as his leg got caught under a Buddy Franklin tackle – this time twisting inwards – which left him hobbling at three-quarter time.
The tough skipper began the last term on the ground but was wrapped in cotton wool a few minutes later, with the club deciding to not risk him further.
Selwood has played all but one game this season, missing the round 15 draw with the Giants due to concussion he suffered a week prior against Fremantle. | {
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Welcome to MDJ Insider, a recurring column in which ELLE Accessories Director Maria Dueñas Jacobs peeks inside our favorite tastemakers' jewelry boxes to discover the pieces that inspire—and accessorize—their extraordinary lives.
When I walk into Erin Wasson's eclectic East Village loft, I'm immediately at ease. If you've ever seen Wasson's serene face staring out at you from the pages of a glossy magazine, know that she's just as calm in real life: dressed all in white, hair in messy undone waves, and barefoot, naturally.
Her sun-drenched apartment is filled with vintage and antique finds, treasures she's amassed over years of traveling. Half-melted candles and crystals adorn her mid-century modern coffee table and a jagged-edged chandelier hangs from the exposed beams in the ceiling. Each piece has its own story.
And it's that idea—that our possessions should tell a story—that is a key tenet of Wasson's new collection of fine jewelry launching this fall.
The Erin Wasson Fine Jewelry collection is comprised of pieces made of gold, silver and pearls; they're intended to be pieces you can "wear forever." This marks Erin's second jewelry line, following the success of her Low Luv line of costume jewelry, and it reflects her own personal growth. "I'm more focused now. I think naturally you have to follow the evolution of yourself. Now I'd rather buy one of something special, than a bunch of stuff that's inexpensive"
It's no surprise that this collection—full of special, personal pieces—feels a lot like Erin: cool, considered, and confident. Put simply, this is jewelry for a girl who wants to make an impression in an effortless way.
Tyler Joe
You've been a jewelry lover, collector, and designer for quite some time. Tell me a bit about your new line:
My designs, more often than not, are very architectural. Like, this piece right here is based on something from the 1950s, like a headlight of a car.
Have you always loved jewelry or is it something you grew to appreciate and love?
I remember back in the day, I'd save up my money, and go to the bead section at Michael's. I was always pulling jewelry apart, and putting it back together again. I don't know when it started, but I've always been obsessed with collecting it, and touching it, adoring it.
You've juggled modeling and designing jewelry for so many years. How did you begin and what was the first piece you ever designed?
I had designed all these little body chains for the second collection that I styled for Alexander Wang's show. The first collection, I just used my personal jewelry on the runway on the girls. Then Alex said, "What do you think about just making something?" So in between doing fittings on the girls, I was literally working with a mannequin in the studio with Alex, putting together these diamond chains—well, I was sort of putting the chains together, and then sending them off to have them soldered together in a factory. It was weird, because I remember somebody coming up to me backstage, and doing a story, and being like, "Well what's this new jewelry collection?"
Getty Images
That's wonderful that it happened unplanned and naturally. How did it evolve?
I did the diamond body chains for about a year and sold them exclusively to Maxfield's in the beginning. Then I just had an opportunity with costume jewelry. I loved the idea, and it was at the time that I was doing RVCA. So the marriage of the demographic was important to me. Here I was selling sort of street wear through RVCA, but the diamond body chains were retailing for like $9,000—[it was] such a different demographic. Then I met [jeweler] Pascal Mouawad and I obviously liked the price point, and I liked the idea of being able to design more pieces. But then after seven years of that, just pumping SKUs out, it starts to hinder you. I was doing upwards of 120 to 150 pieces every year. Spring, summer, fall, winter, and then a holiday collection. I reached a point where I wanted to go back to precious stones, and metals. I wanted to start doing collections that were smaller, more focused.
When I started out doing costume jewelry, my aesthetic was different. I was in a different phase in my life. I think naturally you've got to follow the evolution of yourself. Now I'd rather buy one of something special than a lot of stuff that's inexpensive.
Tyler Joe
When it comes to your own personal jewelry collection would you say it is mostly comprised of gifts or pieces you've purchased?
Both. Just recently, my mother gave me a beautiful ring that my grandmother had left for me when she passed away. When I turned 13 and became a teenager my mom gave me these little diamond studs. Like a coming of age [gift]. That's obviously so much of the romance of jewelry
I don't have a problem purchasing things that I know are going to be with me for life. Like, it's not a trend piece, it's not something that's just "of the moment." I can literally look at it and be like, "I will be wearing this piece for the rest of my life."
I think it's nice, if you're a woman, if you work really hard, and if you go in [to a store], and you know jewelry and it speaks to you then you should buy it.
I agree and it's empowering! You don't have to wait around for someone to give it to you.
Precisely! Precisely. It's funny, because I've always worn rings on all four of my fingers, and people are like, "Are you engaged?" And I'm like, "To myself!"
Tyler Joe
Lets go over a little bit of the things that you're wearing. Do they have any personal stories? I noticed you wear your watch turned inwards?
I tell time like that. It just feels right, underneath like that. It took me a long time to warm up to the idea of wearing a watch. The idea of time ticking away on my body was a really strange thing for me to wrap my head around. This was a gift from a lovely man. It's an old piece.
This ring is from one of my favorite jewelers—he's an Austin jeweler, named Nak Armstrong. I love the idea that it's sort of something precious, but it looks like you may have dropped it in the garbage disposal.
This ring I bought as a celebration gift, when I was living in New Orleans shooting a film (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer). On my days off, I'd go all up and down the corridors in the French Quarter. There was this antique store, and I remember I'd looked at this ring, like, three times because I love signet rings. So when we finally wrapped after four months, I was like, "That's going to be the ring that's going to celebrate the fact that I played a vampire for four months of my life."
That's what's so amazing about jewelry! That you can look at something, and you have that memory.
Absolutely! I liked that idea of personal celebration. When you're marking a time—I either get a tattoo or I buy a piece of jewelry.
Tyler Joe
Tell me about your jewelry style, do you accessorize according to outfits or do you have a uniform of sorts?
At this point in my life, I'm a creature of habit. I wear the exact same pieces of jewelry, pretty much every day. I'll change out maybe a bracelet, or add a necklace. But this necklace, these rings, and these hoops in my ears never leave my body. Whereas, I used to take a whole Mr. T mentality to my approach of jewelry, where I was literally 12 bangles on each wrist, I had like four rings on every finger, I was like a crazy, crazy pirate.
But one of the nice things about jewelry is that unlike clothing you're not forced to purge because it doesn't take up too much space. You can put it away, then maybe a year, or a few weeks from now, you might decide to wear it.
I think that for me, being in the fashion industry, permanence was never something that was a part of my lifestyle. I remember being asked to take off everything, every time I went to work. What if I could wear that ring every day of my life, and never have to take it off? Again, tattoos and jewelry—I like the idea of permanence.
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For years, Arizona State and Arizona fans have clamored about how underrated their college football rivalry is.
That might change.
A recent article from the New York Times noted the ASU-Arizona rivalry as one of the biggest in sports and the No. 1 rivalry in all of college football, according to a study conducted by two college professors and published at KnowRivalry.com.
Yes, the Sun Devils and Wildcats were No. 1.
You can't be underrated after being named No. 1, can you?
The New York Times' Victor Mather detailed how the study came to name ASU vs. Arizona the best rivalry in college football.
"The professors sought out hard-core fans of North American professional teams and college football teams and asked them to allocate 100 points among their most hated rivals," Mather wrote. "A Minnesota fan might allocate 50 points to Wisconsin, 40 to Iowa and 10 to Michigan. Other fan bases might target their dislike more sharply. A U.C.L.A. fan might give 80, 90 or even all 100 points to Southern California. Rather, they are the ones where neither team has any other significant rivals to steal away points. Topping the college football chart is Arizona-Arizona State. With no other serious rivals, Arizona fans gave an average of 89 points to their cross-state rival, and Arizona State averaged 83 points back."
Know Rivalry also named the ASU-Arizona rivalry No. 1 back in 2014.
"I was surprised it (ASU-UA) was No. 1 but not surprised it was in the top 10," Joe Cobbs, one of the professors, said at the time. "Like most college football fans, you think Ohio State and Michigan. I thought Oklahoma and Texas (No. 9) might be a little higher."
He said Army and Navy did not make the list because those military academies did not have enough respondents. There were 5,317 full usable responses, Cobbs said.
Ohio State vs. Michigan came in as the second biggest rivalry, according to the study.
Some other Arizona teams came up in a different part of the study, a part that weighed unbalanced rivalries, fans of one team that hated another team much more than that team hated them.
According to the study, the Arizona Coyotes and Arizona Diamondbacks led their respective leagues in "Largest Rivalry Gap."
Coyotes fans perceive the Los Angeles Kings as their main rival, but Kings fans don't feel the same way, ranking the San Jose Sharks, Anaheim Ducks, Chicago Blackhawks and Vancouver Canucks higher than Arizona.
Same goes with Diamondbacks fans and the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Mather wrote: "The Diamondbacks cannot get any attention from their perceived chief rival, the Dodgers, who rank the Giants, the Cardinals and the Angels higher."
You can read the New York Times' writeup on the biggest rivalries in sports here.
You can find the data on your favorite team's rivals here. | {
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LONDON — A simmering dispute within South Africa’s political establishment moved closer to a showdown on Monday when the country’s biggest labor union announced that it would break with the governing African Nation Congress and form a new socialist political party.
The move by the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, known as Numsa, dealt a significant blow to the coalition of labor and political forces that has dominated the country since the formal end of apartheid in 1994. It threatened to speed the realignment of political forces in South Africa and strengthen the government’s adversaries on the left.
But, as the country’s leaders and factions maneuvered on Monday, the full impact of Numsa’s step remained unclear.
“We decided to break with the alliance, and we resolved to form a united front and explore the possibility for socialism in South Africa,” Numsa said in a statement, quoted in news reports, that gave no further details. | {
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New DJs and new styles. Rusko has 360 degrees of total dubstep.
It's a 3 hour solid mix special this week, uninterrupted!
2 Hours of our very own man of the moment, Dubsteps busiest man - Rusko.
And an excellent hour of guest mixes from Mrk 1 and Stenchman.
If you're a dubstep fan you do not want to miss this - what other station gives you 3 hours uninterrupted?! | {
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Article argues that the legalization of gay marriage is further evidence that the end times are nigh. Photo: Wikimedia
Article argues that the legalization of gay marriage is further evidence that the end times are nigh. Photo: Wikimedia
Right Wing Watch reports that World Net Daily has published a story by news editor Leo Hoffman that suggestions marriage equality could cause the “obliteration” of America.
In a piece titled “Why Did God Order Obliteration of Ancient Canaanites?,” he attests that “God ordered the Israalites to wipe out the Canaanite society” because it approved of homosexuality.
He interviews several “Biblescholars” for the article, including antigay author Michael Brown, who tells Hoffman he suspects homosexuality caused Noah’s flood. Baptist minister Carl Gallups says, “Not only has the Supreme Court passed an unconstitutional and illegal gay marriage law, but also the current U.S. administration is exporting the Sodom spirit, in some cases by threat and force, throughout the world of its reach and audience.”
To cite an example of this so-called “Sodom spirit,” Gallup mentions President Obama discussing LGBT rights with Kenya’s president. “If this is not a prophetic end-time occurrence slapping us in the face,” Gallup says, “I don’t know what is.” | {
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Thousands of unaccompanied, undocumented immigrant minors are currently in the custody of the United States federal government, which is legally obligated to provide them with health care. Some are pregnant and wish to obtain an abortion. In March, however, the Office of Refugee Resettlement announced that federally funded shelters are barred from taking “any action that facilitates” abortion for these unaccompanied minors without “direction and approval” from ORR Director Scott Lloyd. And according to the ACLU, Lloyd, a Trump nominee, is now prohibiting minors from accessing abortion care—and instead sending them to “crisis pregnancy centers” that urge them not to terminate their pregnancies.
The ACLU is suing on behalf of one such woman (“Jane Doe”) and all others similarly situated—possibly dozens or even hundreds of women, the ACLU says. Its motion for an injunction against the new policy argues that the Trump administration is violating Doe’s constitutional rights.
Doe came to the United States without her parents at age 17 and was taken into federal custody, then placed at a shelter in Texas. (Doe’s lawyers aren’t saying where she came from in order to protect her anonymity.) She arrived pregnant and requested an abortion. Her shelter, which gets its money from the federal government, refused, since Lloyd had decreed that “grantees should not be supporting abortion services … only pregnancy services and life-affirming options counseling.”
The shelter then took Doe to an anti-abortion crisis pregnancy center, where she was compelled to undergo an ultrasound and forced to listen as counselors tried to talk her out of an abortion. Doe did not change her mind, but she faced another roadblock: In Texas, a minor cannot terminate her pregnancy without the consent of her parents, or the approval of a judge. With the help of a court-appointed guardian and guardian ad litems tasked with investigating the best interests of a child, Doe received the necessary judicial bypass. She scheduled a counseling appointment at a real health care center, which Texas requires at least 24 hours before a women receives an abortion. But she alleges that her shelter refused to let her attend the appointment and informed her that she still could not terminate her pregnancy. A staff member then called Doe’s mother and told her that Doe was pregnant. As of this writing, the shelter continues to prevent her from obtaining the abortion.
This is not the first time that the Trump administration has intervened in an immigrant minor’s efforts to terminate her pregnancy after receiving judicial assent. The ACLU alleges that in March, a different unaccompanied minor at a federally funded Texas shelter obtained judicial bypass and state-mandated counseling. She requested a medical abortion and took her first pill, a dose of mifepristone, which halts the pregnancy. Two days later, she was supposed to take her second pill, a dose of misoprostol, which expels the fetus.*
But before she could take this second dose, ORR intervened and forced her to go to an emergency room “to determine the health status of [her] and her unborn child.” The acting director of ORR at the time, Ken Tota, decreed that “if steps can be taken to preserve the life of … her unborn child, those steps should be taken.” Eventually ORR allowed the woman to take her second dose and complete the abortion. (Tota is not just a Trump guy: He briefly served as acting ORR director in 2006, 2015, and 2017. The Obama administration never stopped unaccompanied minors from obtaining abortions, though the ORR has long given federal funds to religious shelters that expel women who ask for an abortion.)
The Trump administration has taken a keen interest in the pregnancy status of unaccompanied immigrant minors at federally funded shelters. According to the ACLU, Lloyd, the current ORR director, has personally called pregnant minors in an attempt to talk them out of terminating their pregnancies. He has also formalized the agency’s anti-abortion policies through various regulations. Shelters are, for instance, proscribed from taking “any steps that facilitate future [abortion] procedures,” including “scheduling appointments, transportation, or other arrangement,” without Lloyd’s “written authorization”—which he consistently refuses to provide. Under the current policy, minors who want to get an abortion must also be taken to a crisis pregnancy center to be “counseled” out of their decision.
In its motion to block the government from denying Doe abortion access, the ACLU claims that these policies violate immigrant minors’ constitutional right to access abortion care. The Trump administration obviously disagrees, as do a handful of states that have filed an amicus brief supporting the government’s refusal to let these women get abortions. Penned by the Texas Attorney General’s Office and joined by Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, and South Carolina, this brief argues that these women do not have the right to an abortion because they are “unlawfully-present aliens” who lack “developed substantial connections with this country.”
It seems unlikely that the federal courts will agree with Texas and the Trump administration that women can be denied their constitutional right to an abortion because of their alien status. No court, let alone the Supreme Court, has ever held that undocumented women lack abortion rights. This argument certainly finds no purchase in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, in which the Supreme Court declared that the right to an abortion is “central to the liberty protected by” the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. That clause speaks of “person[s],” not citizens, and the court has never said that an immigrant living in the United States may be deprived of her constitutionally protected liberty to terminate her pregnancy because she is undocumented.
That might change in the near future. Texas’ amicus brief is co-authored by Jeff Mateer, the state’s first assistant attorney general. Mateer has said that transgender children are part of “Satan’s plan” and described same-sex marriage as “disgusting” “debauchery.” Trump has nominated him to a federal district court in Texas. He is one of many extreme anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ judges whom Trump is elevating to the federal judiciary. By the end of his term, Trump will have placed hundreds of judges, many with similar views, on the federal bench to serve lifetime appointments.
*Correction, Oct. 11, 2017: This post originally misstated the second drug in a medical abortion. It is misoprostol, not mifepristone.
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A chat with golf hottie Blair O’Neal
Blair O’Neal is used to turning heads. The 27-year old hottie does so all the time during her work as a model (cruise on over to www.blairgolf.com to check out more of her gorgeous body of work), and is doing the same this spring as a contestant on “Big Break Prince Edward Island,” the 11th installment of the Golf Channel’s elimination-style reality show. An avid golfer since the age of 11, the blonde bombshell was a standout at Arizona State University where she won two NCAA long-drive contests, and has since played on a number of professional tours. She’s also a perennial contender in every “World’s Hottest Female Athlete” competition known to man. Before she sets her sights on the U.S. Women’s Open Qualifier and getting her LPGA Tour card later this year, Blair chatted with us over the phone about balancing her two careers, doing her best to keep the show’s results a secret, and the most nerve-wracking three-foot putt of her life.
Note: “Big Break Prince Edward Island” is currently three episodes into an 11-episode season. For more on the show, visit www.thegolfchannel.com.
The Scores Report: So tell me, how is it that you ended up on the Big Break?
Blair O’Neal: (Laughs) Well, it’s kind of a funny story. Basically, about three years ago I got a call from the Golf Channel that they were having a casting call out in L.A. I live in Arizona, so I drove out to California with a friend and went to the golf course and did the interview, and at the casting they have you hit different golf shots. So I went through the process and I got a call that I was picked to be a semifinalist for the show at that time. So they flew about 20 of us out to Florida, and I played golf and met everyone at the Golf Channel, and then I came back home and got a call saying that I wasn’t picked for the show. So I was really disappointed, and that was that, and then this summer I got a call from Paul Schlegel, who started “Big Break,” and he just said that they had been casting for a new “Big Break” and they wanted to know if I would be available and if I would want to be on the show, and I said ‘of course.’
TSR: How would you describe the show to someone who hasn’t seen it before? Is it “Survivor” for golfers?
O’Neal: Yeah, basically. It’s a reality golf show, but it’s based on challenges that are all about hitting different types of golf shots. It’s kind of the same as other reality shows – you’ve got 12 people and they’re all kind of fighting for the same prize, and one person gets kicked off every episode.
TSR: In the first episode, the very first challenge was to make a three-foot putt, and any contestant who missed went immediately to the elimination challenge. What was going through your head when you heard that?
O’Neal: (Laughs) That first challenge was so nerve-wracking. First off, we didn’t know what our challenge was going to be. And then you’re all by yourself, it’s so quiet, and you’re walking up that fairway reading these signs. When you finally get to where you can see the green, there’s so many people and it feels like there’s 30 cameras on you, and you’re mic-ed, and you know that the show has started now and you have this putt to make. The pressure is just crazy. Your hands are shaking and you can hear your heart beating, and it was a very, very intense feeling.
TSR: So after you made the putt, you nailed the next challenge as well, which meant you got to move onto the next episode. And then in the second episode, you had a little bit of trouble with that draw/fade pole they placed right in front of the tee box. What was that challenge like for you?
O’Neal: That challenge was tough actually. Watching it on TV doesn’t do it justice, because that wall feels like it’s right in front of you and it’s just huge. So when you’re standing up there with the wall in front of you and all the cameras on you, what should be just a typical, easy golf shot – just a draw or a fade – is actually really tough.
TSR: You are something of a unique case in that you’ve spent time both as a professional golfer and as a professional model. Could you describe what that dynamic has been like for you and how you manage to balance these two very different careers?
O’Neal: Well I grew up playing golf, and my goal when I was younger was to play professional golf. So I played in college at ASU, and after I graduated I turned professional and played all over Asia and all over the U.S. After college was also the time when I started modeling and began to realize that I could make some decent money modeling. So basically I did it to support my golfing and to have another income to help pay for all my travel fees and entry fees – and it was also something that I really enjoyed doing. But the last couple of years I had stopped competing on tour in order to pursue more of the modeling and see where I could go with that, and now this year I’m definitely fully focused on my golf career and getting my LPGA Tour card and going to Q school. I think it is a unique situation that I can do both. I want to do as much as I can, but my passion is definitely golf.
TSR: Did you think your modeling experience helped you out on the show in that you weren’t too camera-shy having had that experience?
O’Neal: I think it probably did help me. In modeling, you have the cameras on you all the time and in a sense you have to perform by giving the photographer or the client the look they are expecting. It’s definitely the same sort of thing in golf when all eyes are on you in a tournament and you have to perform. See the thing is, I love competing and I love golfing and people coming out to watch. It’s exciting and fun when people are watching you perform. It adds a little extra pressure, and I like that.
TSR: Did you ever feel as though any of the other contestants held any resentment toward you because you were a model, or perhaps that they were underestimating you?
O’Neal: I think definitely in the beginning when I first got there some of the players who I hadn’t played golf with before heard, ‘Oh, she’s a model,’ and maybe didn’t think I was as serious, and didn’t know how my game was. Some of them probably did underestimate me. In last week’s show, I won the challenge, and Brenda says ‘Oh, she’s not just a pretty face.’ But I think as episodes go on people see that I can perform and that I do have a good golf game, and that sort of speaks for itself.
Author’s note: Our interview is briefly interrupted by the sound of barking dogs coming from Blair’s end of the conversation.
O’Neal: Hold on. (Long pause) Sorry about that. I have three dogs – a lab, a yorkie and a dachshund. They’re barking because somebody came to the door. They all started freaking out. Sorry, I wasn’t expecting that.
…
TSR: What was the dynamic like among all the contestants? Where there any feuds between people, anybody that you didn’t particularly care for?
O’Neal: I think it was interesting with our show because there were so many characters and so many personalities, but I can’t say there was anybody I disliked. I actually made some friends during the show that I still talk to. Sometimes we’ll text during the show.
TSR: Who in particular have you stayed in touch with?
O’Neal: I talk to Kim, of course, because she and I grew up together. I talk to Brian, Robert, Nicole and Derek.
TSR: Did the contestants spend a lot of time hanging out while the show wasn’t shooting?
O’Neal: Well the thing is, we don’t really have a lot of time when we’re not on the golf course. You wake up really early, go to breakfast, then you’re out on the golf course all day long because the challenges take a long time to set up. Then you eat and you do hours of interviews, so sometimes you don’t even get back to your room until midnight or 12:30 and then you’ve got to get up early the next day and do it again, so they keep you busy.
TSR: Now the show was shot back in September, and it’s only just started airing, so what has it been like for you having to keep quiet about everything that happened on the show? Could you tell your family and close friends?
O’Neal: No, we weren’t even allowed to talk to anybody about it until they started airing stuff on the Golf Channel. You have to sign a contract saying that you’re not going to tell anybody about it, and that keeps it interesting, so that people don’t know what happened. That’s the tough part. And now everybody wants to know and tries to trick you and ask questions about how players did and I’m just like, ‘I’ve heard it all, that one’s not going to work. I can’t tell you anything.’ (Laughs) I get asked all the time, and it’s funny the way they’ll switch the questions around to see if I’ll slip up and give them any info.
TSR: All right, I won’t try to trick you then.
O’Neal: (Laughs) Thanks.
TSR: I know you won a couple of longest drive competitions in college when you were at Arizona State, how would you describe your game as a golfer?
O’Neal: Yeah, I won two long drive contests at NCAAs and that’s a big strength of my game – my distance and accuracy off the tee. I’ve always been a long hitter. But I also think putting is my strength. When my putting is on, it’s on. Sometimes when it’s on, I’ll make anything I look at. So right now I’m just really focusing on improving my short game and getting that going.
TSR: Do you have any golfers you look up to?
O’Neal: I would say definitely Tiger Woods. I think his focus and his mindset is just – I mean, obviously he’s an amazing golfer, but mentally he’s very, very focused and that’s what it takes to be a good golfer. It’s a very mental game.
TSR: Other than golf, are you a big sports fan?
O’Neal: Yes. I love going to games and watching sports in person, rather than just watching them on TV. I love going to basketball games, I really like going to hockey games. Those are probably my two most favorite sports to watch, other than golf of course. And of course here in Arizona, we have spring training which is always fun.
TSR: So tell me, without giving away any specifics obviously, what were the best and worst parts about being on the Big Break?
O’Neal: (Laughs) The best part I would think is experiencing that type of pressure. All of us have played a lot of tournament golf, and every one of us left there saying we had never experienced that type of pressure ever, in any golf tournament. When you have the cameras on you, and you’re playing for such a huge prize, and you literally have to hit the shot or you’re going home, that just adds a whole other element. I think for me playing under that kind of pressure and experiencing that kind of feeling was scary, but at the same time it was awesome and it was just such a cool thing. Because there’s no way you could practice that or prepare for that, really. As for the worst part about the show, that’s hard to say. I’d say the worst thing about it is probably watching somebody getting kicked off the show. Every single player really wants their big break, and to see somebody get eliminated is the tough part, especially because you spend so much time together and you get to know them. Nobody wants it to happen to them, but seeing it happen to somebody else, you just feel bad.
TSR: What has the experience been like for you watching the episodes on TV and seeing yourself on TV?
O’Neal: It’s been exciting. It happened so long ago that you kind of don’t remember everything. And it’s so interesting to see the interviews, because you didn’t always know what the other players where thinking when they’re out there. It’s definitely fun to watch.
TSR: So what’s next for you: modeling, golfing, or both?
O’Neal: What’s next is in two weeks I have the U.S. Women’s Open qualifier. I’ve played in a few Cactus Tour events. And then this summer I’ll just keep competing and working on my game and my main thing is going to LPGA Qualifying School at the end of September. I’ve been playing professional golf for a few years, but I haven’t been to Q School yet, so that’s definitely the next step: getting my tour card for next year. And of course the modeling. I’ll always do the modeling, too.
TSR: What do you think your chances are at the U.S. Open qualifier?
O’Neal: I think they’re good. I’m just working on my game and getting prepared.
TSR: Well best of luck to you, we’ll be pulling for you.
O’Neal: Thank you so much. | {
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Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler has been ruled out for Thursday's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, but still plans to travel to All-Star weekend in New York.
Chicago Bulls guard Jimmy Butler has been ruled out for Thursday's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, but still plans to travel to All-Star weekend in New York, Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau told reporters on Thursday.
Butler's status for Sunday's All-Star game, the first of his career, is undetermined. He declined comment to reporters on Thursday.
Butler has a strained shoulder and was ruled day-to-day after an MRI on Wednesday. The fourth-year guard will pull out of the All-Star Skills Challenge, Shams Charania of RealGM reports. Atlanta Hawks guard Dennis Schroder will replace him in the contest.
• Kings, George Karl agree to four-year, $15 million deal
Tony Snellwill start in Butler's place for Thursday's game against the Cavaliers. The Bulls have lost both of their games to the Cavaliers this season; the most recent one came Jan. 19 when the Bulls lost 108-94 without Joakim Noah and Mike Dunleavy. In the first meeting with the Cavs — the second game of the season on Oct. 31 — Butler sat out and the Bulls lost 114-108 in overtime.
Guard Kirk Hinrich will also miss Thursday's game — his third straight — with a toe injury.
Butler leads the Bulls in scoring with 20.4 points per game and has also averaged 39.3 minutes per game, four more than any of his teammates. He is also averaging career highs in rebounds (5.8 per game) and assists (3.2).
• 2015 NBA All-Star predictions: Dunk Contest, Three-Point, MVP and more
The Bulls (33-20) enter Thursday in third place in the Eastern Conference, 9.5 games behind the conference-leading Atlanta Hawks. Chicago has won three straight and six of its last 10.
On Wednesday, New Orleans Pelicans power forward Anthony Davisannounced that he will skip the All-Star Game due to a right shoulder sprain. Dallas Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki was named his replacement by NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
Houston Rockets guard James Harden and Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompsonwere also announced as All-Star injury-replacement starters for the Western Conference.
- Mike Fiammetta | {
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Help when you run into problems or limitations with your HTC EVO 3D
Tips and Notes to help you get the most from your HTC EVO 3D, the Android OS, and the 4G service
Full-color, step-by-step tasks walk you through getting and keeping your HTC EVO™ 3D working just the way you want.
Learn how to:
• Quickly get comfortable with EVO 3D, glasses-free 3D, and the Android OS
• Customize your EVO 3D’s hardware and software
• Play music and videos, and sync media with your computer
• Capture stunning 3D and 2D photos and video
• Connect to Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and secure VPNs
• Communicate, manage, and synchronize contacts and appointments
• Capture, store, view, and share photos with both EVO 3D cameras
• Set up and maximize Gmail, POP3, and IMAP email accounts
• Optimize your web browsing experience
• Configure the phone application and Google Voice
• Efficiently manage all your calls, contacts, and messages
• Video chat with EVO 3D’s front-facing camera
• Find, choose, install, and work with new Android apps
• Squeeze out more hours of battery life
• Properly maintain and troubleshoot your EVO 3D
• Keep your HTC EVO 3D up-to-date and running smoothly | {
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Wasted potential: Imprisoned Arthur Booth had the chance to do so much more said judge and family
An unexpected class reunion occurred inside the unlikeliest of places - a criminal courtroom.
Miami, Florida judge, Mindy Glazer, was presiding over the case of a man arrested for burglary and theft on Thursday.
But she suddenly realized she had seen the man before - years ago in middle school.
The judge and the suspect had once been playmates at Nautilus Middle School, reports Local10.
Asking the suspect standing before her if he had attended the same middle school she did, the man instantly perked up and seemed to recognize the judge.
The suspect breaks into a huge smile when he spots his old pal.
But then remembering the embarrassing circumstances of their reunion, he immediately breaks down and repeatedly wails, 'Oh, my goodness! Oh, my goodness!'
Awk-ward! Judge Mindy S. Glazer asks the prisoner if he went to Nautilus Middle School.
Is that you? Burglary suspect Arthur Booth suddenly realizes he was childhood playmates with the judge.
In the heartrending scene, the man seems to realize the shambles he's made of his life and his smile of recognition turns to tears as he bows his head in front of the judge while she expresses her dismay at his circumstances.
'I always used to wonder what happened to you, sir,' she tells him.
'I'm sorry to see you here.'
Unexpected reunion: Booth is suddenly shamed by the circumstances of their meeting
Embarrassing realization: Booth seems to totally break down when he recognizes the judge
From awkward to heartbreaking: Booth breaks down and cries with shame in front of the judge
Not judgmental: The compassionate judge wished her childhood pal luck and that he would turn things around
Booth covers his head and cries as Glazer tells the court, 'This was the nicest kid in middle school.
'He was the best kid in middle school. I used to play football with him. Look what has happened.'
Booth's cousin, Melissa Miller, says Booth used to be a scholar and athlete, but that drugs took over his life and he eventually turned to crime.
Miller says the scene in the courtroom 'broke [her] heart' and that the family is trying to find Booth help.
Miller says the reunion was fortuitous in that they hope it sparks the wake-up call that Booth needs to get back on the right path.
Miller speculated that when Booth saw his old pal, he was thinking, 'Wow, I had those possibilities and those opportunities ... that should have been me up there.''
The judge wished him luck and told him she hopes he turns his life around. She then set his bail at $44,000.
Booth reportedly remains behind bars for the time being. | {
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Our warranty/ return / exchange policy is very simple. If the item we sent you is defective when you received the shipment from us (NOT AFTER USE), you can report to us by email for return / exchange / refund arrangement.
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*** If you used / flew the product, or crashed product, no matter what the reason. We are sorry but we can not be responsible for your crash or use. Hobbypartz.com will not be responsible for incidental or consequential damages including bodily injuries and property damages arising from the use of any product(s) that it sells. Hobbypartz.com reserves the right to refuse service to anyone. Remote controlled products and accessories can be very dangerous. Please read the operating manual before use. We have no control over the correct use, installation, application, or maintenance of our products, no liability shall be assumed nor accepted for any damages, losses or costs resulting from the use of the products. Any claims arising from the operating, failure or malfunctioning etc. will be denied. We assume no liability for personal injuries, property damages or consequential damages resulting from our products.
*** These terms applied to all sales made from our website, email, phone, or fax. If you do not agree to our terms, please do not make the order.
We reserves the right to amend this policy without further notification(s). | {
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Local hip-hop bon vivant, Slug, has become a regular visitor to The Current studios. On his most recent trip he's joined by the rest of the band to discuss their music videos, letting go of some artistic control and building a musical community in Minnesota.
Songs played: "Became," "Blamegame," and "The Abusing of The Rib."
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Atmosphere performs in The Current studios Rapper Slug from Atmosphere thinks that he might be becoming better at promoting records than making records. The new full-length album, "When Life Gives You Lemons..." comes out April 22, 2008 after a plethora of EPs and an internet-only album have released within the past year.
Atmosphere performs in studio Slug of Atmosphere joined Mary Lucia in the Current studios to perform songs from his latest album, You Can't Imagine How Much Fun We're Having, that is once again putting Atmosphere and local hip hop label Rhymesayers at the forefront of the hip hop scene.
4 Photos | {
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Dr. Ford — accuser of Kavanaugh — flunks basic decency standards including APA guidelines for psychologists. That is, don’t exploit or harm others & avoid relationships that could reasonably impair their professional performance.
What about the legal standards of presumption of innocence and preponderance of evidence? A research Ph.D. psychologist knows how to add up the overall picture of “facts” of her case. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s facts — best we know — are weak.
Ford, a registered Democrat who signed a letter opposing Trump’s immigration policies, joins other Democrats & progressives who turn American due process upside down. See Presumption of Guilt published in the Wall Street Journal 9/22/18.
American Psychological Standards (APA) standards for psychologists are not put on akin to a business suit for the 8 to 5 day.
For many professionals what they do – whether doctor, lawyer, psychologist becomes interweaved with the essence of who they are as a person and how they interact in general with people.
Read in their entirety, APA ethical guidelines and standards expect psychologists to show care towards all persons equally and to provide options and ways for persons to respond back. The thinking that underlines guidelines for psychologists and doctors: do no harm
Concerning the APA ethical guidelines:
Psychologist Ford failed to treat persons equally by a) failing to notify all parties e., President Trump, Republicans, the Judiciary Committee. Dr. Ford is a registered Democrat who only notified other Democrats.
by a) failing to notify all parties e., President Trump, Republicans, the Judiciary Committee. Dr. Ford is a registered Democrat who only notified other Democrats. Psychologist Ford failed to provide the entirety of her Therapist Notes for general inspection by neutral parties. Her therapist notes state 4 boys and Dr. Ford opines fewer. No names are included in the therapist notes.
Her therapist notes state 4 boys and Dr. Ford opines fewer. No names are included in the therapist notes. No highly specific identifiable information is provided i.e., what the boys looked like, their clothing, the color of room, how Dr. Ford got there or got home (as she did not drive)
Self-care by Psychologists is is part and parcel to providing care towards others:
Dr. Ford states in her publications that mentoring future psychologists is her primary goal. Dr. Ford presumably has professional / clinical interactions with her students. For trauma Dr. Ford states that she incurred sometime in 1983-85, Dr. Ford first sought professional help roughly six years ago.
What were the Therapist Treatment Goals related to the trauma Dr. Ford says she experienced 36 years ago? Diagnosis is the flip side of treatment. If you go to a MD and he/she determines that you have a torn ligament and not a broken leg then there’s one treatment and not another.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) may have been the diagnosis? If that was the diagnosis, what were the treatment goals and are they in the clinical notes of the therapist Dr. Ford and husband saw in 2012 or so for couple’s therapy? Those clinical notes could and should be released by Dr.Ford.
Aptos Psychologist opines:
Dr. Ford fails to meet basic decency standards as well as general APA guidelines for psychologists. Do no harm, take care in all your interactions with people and provide multiple means for feedback are part and parcel of APA guidelines and standards.
Dr. Ford is a research/ clinical psychologist. Psychologists measure — carefully –small differences using standardized tests in conjunction with behavioral observations and other information. Finding commonality in all of the information (standardized test data, reports from different sources and behavioral observations) is the hallmark of what clinical / research psychologists do best. It’s what psychologist are particularly trained to do.
What psychologists are trained to do best — fit together the “big picture” from all available information — Dr. Ford fails to do. I give Ford an F.
written by Cameron Jackson, Ph.D. Monterey Bay Forum
Monerey Bay Forum 127 Jewell Street Santa Cruz , CA 95060 United States (US) Phone: 831 688 6002
Fax: 831 688 7717
Email: [email protected]
0 0 vote Article Rating | {
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I'm Armageddon it
Episode 13 — The Perfect Pear will presumably be the episode with Applejack's parents. There's been talk of a guest appearance of William Shatner and Felicia Day .. they could be Apul's parents.The episode is said to feature the parents in a Romeo and Juliet setting of feuding families (Apples vs. Pears) with a song to boot. It's going to be fantastic and with Canada's Treehouse being significantly ahead of Discovery Family, it's quite possible we'll see them next weekend. | {
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Trip report: July 2019 ISO C++ committee meeting, Cologne, Germany
A few weeks ago, the C++ committee descended upon Cologne, Germany, to finalise the C++20 Committee Draft (or in other words, our “release candidate” for C++20).
We will now have two more meetings, in Belfast and Prague, to iron out any last-minute bugs and address national body comments, and to then actually ship the new C++20 standard.
As usual, my trip report does not aim for completeness at all. Instead, it focuses on a few particular areas that I was involved in personally and/or things that might be relevant for the audio community.
If you want a complete and thorough report, please head to the Reddit report or the one by Herb Sutter. There’s also one by Botond Ballo and Guy Davidson.
No contracts in C++20
Let’s address the big news first: We removed Contracts from C++20. It was already obvious at the last meeting in Kona that there were significant issues with Contracts as they were in the C++20 draft (for example, that unchecked contracts are always assumed, potentially injecting unwanted undefined behaviour with no possibility to opt out of that; and issues with the term “axiom”). It was further obvious that there was no consensus among the original authors of contracts how those issues should be fixed for C++20.
In Cologne, we then had over a dozen papers on the table in EWG, pointing out those and other issues, and suggesting different, mutually incompatible solutions. Some of them were minor fixes; others were more significant redesigns of Contracts. One of those, P1607 (“Minimizing contracts”), was a proposal to do away with contract levels and build modes and replace them with literal semantics, i.e. specifying the desired behaviour of every contract check directly there in the code ( assume , ignore , etc.). This proposal eventually got a narrow consensus in EWG. I was in favour of this design, because it would give you the elementary building blocks for specifying what a contract checking statement should do, while leaving the door open to add higher-level features like contract levels later, after having gained some user experience with this facility.
However, it is arguably a significant redesign, and the committee ultimately agreed that it was too late in the C++20 release cycle to approve such a redesign now. An evening session with the authors of contract-related papers was convened to figure out a way forward. I was in the room. In this meeting, we talked in great detail about different use cases of contracts, and learned that we don’t actually yet understand each other’s use cases well enough to be able to make any decision confidently. This realisation then led to the only possible decision: We unanimously agreed to remove contracts from C++20.
Instead of shipping contracts in C++20, we formed SG21, a new Contracts Study Group chaired by John Spicer, with the aim to come up with a better contracts facility for C++23. I expect that we will first meet at the next committee meeting in Belfast this November. The first task of SG21 will be to gather different use cases for contracts, make sure we understand them, and get consensus on which of those we actually want to support. Hopefully this will then lead to a clearer understanding of the feature, and ultimately a better design that can win a greater consensus. I think this is a very positive outcome of Cologne. Work on collecting, describing, and categorising those usecases is already underway. Expect a paper in the pre-Belfast mailing.
I will participate in SG21 to help with that effort, not least because I have my own domain-specific interest in contracts. I would like to have a standardised C++ facility to replace non-portable compiler built-ins like __builtin_assume . Having such portable optimisation hints would be great for optimising DSP algorithms and other low-latency applications, and unlike the other contract semantics, this “assume” semantic is something that you cannot do portably in today’s C++ at all. I have a proposal in the race, P1774 – proposing std::assume – and I hope to get it into C++23. It could either be a standalone feature, or could be covered by a future contracts facility. It is currently unclear yet which one it should be, but I am sure SG21 can help figure it out. There’s also a larger background story here: we could probably have had std::assume in C++20, if things had been different with the way contracts went. (You can read more about that in P1773 and P1774 if you’re interested.)
Concepts
The other big language features in the C++20 working draft: Concepts, Coroutines, Modules, and operator<=> , are doing well. The latter three needed only minor fixes this time around, and are good to go. Concepts received a larger change: we voted in Cologne to rename all C++20 concepts from PascalCase to snake_case , to be consistent with all other names in the C++ standard library. LEWG then did another pass over those names, making them more consistent and avoiding name clashes. They ended up with a very nice and coherent result in my opinion. We now have an interesting situation where many concepts have a corresponding type trait (metafunction) starting with is_ , for example std::copy_constructible is now the (new) concept, and std::is_copy_constructible is the corresponding type trait (which has been around since C++11).
Overall, we are now in a really good shape for all those language features, and I am really excited about being able to use them soon. Concepts in particular are badly needed for C++ library design, and my own work on audio software would look a lot better if I could already portably use them today.
Formatting
We managed to get std::format library into C++20, which I am really excited about. Finally there is a sane, typesafe library for text formatting in C++, and we never again have to use things like sprintf and iomanip . The new library also supports positional arguments (great for localisations), is optimised for performance, and has a low binary footprint. Here’s what the syntax looks like:
std::format("The answer is {}.", 42);
Cool, huh? You can read more on Victor Zverovich’s homepage.
Multithreading and synchronisation
The other really large library that we landed in Cologne is the C++20 Synchronisation Library. You get semaphores, latches, barriers, and lots of other useful synchronisation and thread coordination facilities. This library is pure gold for people who write multithreaded, high-performance software. And if that wasn’t enough, you also get a stop token and jthread, which let you asynchronously request that a thread stops execution, and automatically join threads (instead of crashing when they go out of scope).
A lot of stuff didn’t make it into C++20
This was a really busy committee meeting. In fact, the busiest I attended so far (and this is my 8th meeting). And it was the last meeting to finalise wording for the C++20 committee draft. As a result, many features didn’t make it into C++20 simply because we ran out of time and didn’t get around to review and finalise the wording. Unfortunately, they will now all have to wait for C++23. The list is long and includes many things particularly interesting for low-level and low-latency work, like what we do in the audio world. In particular, for C++20 we won’t have std::flat_set and std::flat_map (cache-friendly associative containers based on a sorted vector), we won’t have std::any_invocable (useful alternative to std::function ), we won’t have the compile-time for... “loop”, and we won’t have Richard’s fixes to the C++ object model which would have provided a legal way to achieve some popular type punning-style tricks that today have undefined behaviour. This last one is particularly painful, and means that I will have to significantly re-arrange my upcoming CppCon talk on that particular topic…
CTAD
Another paper I was involved in, P1021 (Filling holes in CTAD), finally made it into C++20, but not to 100%. The way I had presented it at C++Now 2019 (“Better CTAD for C++20“), we were supposed to get CTAD for aggregates, CTAD for alias templates, and CTAD from inherited constructors in C++20. In the end, after having spent a considerable amount of time in Cologne getting all that wording right, we did get the first two into C++20, however the third (inherited constructors) will have to wait until C++23. I am quite happy about that, because out of the three, that last one is by far the least common use case anyway. I will be talking again about CTAD at the ACCU Autumn Conference in Belfast, and I’ll make sure to update my slides accordingly.
Audio
Last but not least, here’s an update on the std::audio proposal. I poured quite a lot of work into this over the last few months, and even though this is yet a long way away from getting into the C++ standard, I am happy to report we are making great progress.
Here in Cologne, we discussed revision P1386R2 in SG13 (the study group for graphics, audio, and other forms of I/O). There was again a lot of useful feedback on our API. We made some tweaks to our audio_buffer class, which I now believe is really awesome: it now elegantly handles all common memory layouts for multi-channel audio buffers (interleaved vs. de-interleaved, contiguous vs. pointer-to-pointer, etc). We will now also be looking into unifying the way we do callbacks with the efforts of the Executors folks, who were kind enough to show up in SG13 and talk us through the way they do it.
There was also very interesting feedback from Apple audio engineers (P1746). We addressed many of the points they raised. In the next revision, we will have to clarify further that this proposal is for a low-level hardware abstraction API, and not a higher-level “audio experience” API like the one you would find on a mobile platform, designed around audio sessions (rather than devices).
We are still missing some other features. Over the next months, we will need to add things like handling various multichannel layouts, a proper error handling mechanism (we will use std::error_code , following what std::filesystem does), and a proper device settings negotiation API to replace our current somewhat crude std::audio_device::get/set functions. Some things we don’t know yet how to solve, such as how to support 24-bit integers and reversed-endianness integers as the sample format (which is a thing in some native audio APIs, but unfortunately not something the C++ standard really supports).
Our optimistic plan at the moment is to address all of the above and to produce a feature-complete revision R3 for the Belfast meeting. If that goes well, we will then hopefully be able to move the proposal forward to LEWG, In parallel, we will propose our implementation of P1386 for inclusion into Boost as Boost.Audio, so y’all can get your hands on a proper, reviewed and test implementation of std::audio as soon as possible. Watch this space.
That’s all, folks! The next update about committee work will come after Belfast in November 2019. | {
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FILE PHOTO: An advertisement poster promoting Heathrow airport is seen on the boundary of the airport, west London, March 5, 2015. REUTERS/Toby Melville
LONDON (Reuters) - Heathrow Airport announced a public consultation on the proposed development of a third runway at Europe’s biggest airport, saying it aimed to mitigate the environmental impact of expansion.
Prime Minister Theresa May backed a $22 billion expansion of the London hub in October 2016, after decades of government indecision.
But the plan has been controversial, with critics highlighting the possible impact on air quality in London and noise levels in the local community.
Heathrow said it would seek the views of locals on the environmental impact of expansion and how the airspace around Heathrow is managed.
“Over the past year, we’ve been working hard to evolve our expansion plans and have come up with several new options to deliver it more responsibly and affordably,” said the airport’s Executive Director for expansion Emma Gilthorpe.
The new discussions are separate from a previously announced government consultation on a National Policy Statement on airports, and is focused on the airport’s plans for infrastructure and the impact on the local community.
Transport secretary Chris Grayling has said that the government aims to give the go-ahead to the new runway in the first half of 2018.
The latest consultation will launch on Jan. 17 and run for 10 weeks. | {
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Stelios Mousarris, the Cypriot-based furniture designer behind the brilliantly executed Inception-inspired coffee table, has crafted a new coffee table that nostalgically recalls the designer’s own childhood. The Rocket Coffee Table is a round glass table with feet that are comprised of four playful mini-rockets balancing on its own cartoonish 3-D printed exhaust, well in the midst of blast-off.
(and we have a lift off)…I wanted to recreate that feeling of carefreeness and nostalgia with the Rocket Coffee Table. The design is visually playful bringing cartoon-like clouds and aerial rockets from a personal toy collection to life, in the form of a table. Combining various techniques from lathe to 3d printing, resin casting and traditional hand curved pieces, this table is fashioned to draw a smile on the face of nostalgic adults, children, and children trapped in adult bodies. The rockets are not attached to the glass giving the opportunity to each owner to form their own desired structure of the table. Take a trip down memory lane and enjoy your childhood once again. | {
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Start your journey here.
We have great opportunities for people who want to help keep our community safe. | {
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Fans of true country music were very happy to hear that Willie Nelson was tapped to perform at the CMA Awards in 2019—the first time the country legend has taken the CMA stage since 2012. The CMAs paired him up with Kacey Musgraves, who was one of the big winners on the night, bringing home the trophy for Female Vocalist of the Year. Kacey had always dreamed of singing “Rainbow Connection” with her fellow Texan—the song made famous by the banjo-playing Kermit the Frog. And Kacey got her opportunity Wednesday night (11-13) in front of a national audience.
However it was fair to say that happiness and appreciation for Willie Nelson’s presence on the usually contemporary-minded and pop-oriented CMA Awards turned to concern when Willie Nelson started attempting to sing, and was clearly struggling for breath. Fans of Willie who have seen him perform lately know that he can sometimes be a little breathy, which at 86-years-old, is completely understandable. But his struggles Wednesday night seemed especially concerning.
The truth is Willie Nelson has been struggling with his breathing issues for years, and at times it has resulted in some cancellations of shows around prolonged illnesses. In August, he had to postpone the final six shows of a tour with Alison Krauss due to breathing concerns. But then the news was that he’d recovered and was “doing great.” Willie resumed touring in September, and generally speaking, his performances have been fine, and there hasn’t been any widespread concerns or complaints beyond the obvious observations that he’s not as strong as he once was.
In 2015, Willie Nelson had a stem cell procedure for his lungs to help with his breathing issues, saying at the time, “Over the years I’ve smoked a lot of cigarettes, and I’ve had emphysema and pneumonia four or five times, so my lungs were really screwed up, and I had heard that this stem-cell operation would be good for them. So I said, ‘Well, I’m gonna try it out.’”
Part of what could be behind Willie’s struggles on the CMA Awards was that he normally doesn’t sing “Rainbow Connection.” Those who’ve seen Willie recently will tell you his set list is pretty regular, and this helps him know when to breathe, and how to sing the songs in his standard set list with his limited lung capacity.
Nonetheless, Willie Nelson’s mere presence on the CMA stage made you appreciate what a gift it is that we continue to get to share this mortal coil with not just a legend of country music, but someone recognized and revered around the world as a man of peace and wisdom. That’s also what causes an outpouring of love and concern for the 86-year-old when you see him struggle. Willie Nelson has said before that he wants to die on stage, and regardless of how breathy he may be, or how much he battles with his breathing issues, it appears nothing will keep him off the stage.
Watching Willie Nelson on the CMA Awards Wednesday night should not be a reason for folks to give pause or postpone their plans to see Willie Nelson live, especially if you’ve never seen him before. It’s underscores why you should not let that opportunity pass you by, whether it’s the first time, or the last time you will see him. Because this is Willie Nelson, and when he’s gone, the world will be an entirely different place, in country music and beyond. He won’t live forever, but he’s living right now, and future generations will look back with envy at the people who got to share the planet with Willie Nelson, and see him perform.
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Today marks the third straight day in a row that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has not appeared at the high court for oral arguments. Prior to this week, she had never missed a day of work in her more than 25 years as a Supreme Court justice.
Just before Christmas, Justice Ginsburg had a pulmonary lobectomy to remove two cancerous nodules from her lungs. People are concerned about her health, and rightly so, but as noted by Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Ginsburg is working from home, and will participate in all opinions via the parties’ previously submitted briefs and the argument transcripts that will be provided to her.
The 85-year-old justice may be absent from even more oral arguments as she recovers, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s really not such a big deal if she misses a few days of work. After all, it’s unlike Justice Ginsburg, but there’s precedent for this sort of thing. For example, the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist missed weeks of work in 2004 after he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and underwent a tracheotomy. In fact, then-Chief Justice Rehnquist missed oral arguments in 44 cases, all of the conferences on those cases, and still wrote the majority opinion in four of them.
Justice Ginsburg is now a three-time cancer survivor, and according to the American Lung Association, most patients are back to their usual lifestyles within a month after a lobectomy. It’s been just under three weeks since the Notorious RBG went under the knife, so while she’s theoretically still got a little more recovery time, the odds are that this beloved workaholic will be back on the bench before you know it.
Ginsburg’s absence on bench renews concerns over health [The Hill]
Ginsburg misses third consecutive day at Supreme Court [The Hill]
Earlier: Ruth Bader Ginsburg To Miss Oral Arguments For The First Time
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn. | {
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Le ofrecemos lo siguiente: usted abandona la casa en la que ha vivido toda su vida y, a cambio, le damos un dinero con el que ni siquiera puede pagar la mitad de lo que cuesta un apartamento de protección oficial.
¿O prefiere este trato? Usted se muda a un piso similar al que ya tiene pero deja de ser propietario, sigue debiendo al banco la mitad de la hipoteca que firmó y además tiene que pagar un alquiler social de unos 500 euros al mes.
También existe esta otra opción: usted abandona su apartamento a diez minutos del Paseo de la Castellana a cambio de 45.000 euros y se va a vivir a su segunda vivienda, en un pueblo de Murcia.
En los últimos años decenas de familias se han visto inmersas en negociaciones similares en las obras del madrileño Paseo de la Dirección (Madrid), donde las grúas de Dragados (del grupo ACS, de Florentino Pérez) trabajan de manera frenética para completar dentro de plazo un “ensanche” que está siendo faraónico en todos los sentidos. La pirámide de Keops no sufrió tantos retrasos.
Las grúas son ubicuas en al barrio (Salvador Fenoll)
Gentrificando desde 1985
En 1985 se aprobó la orden de expropiación para gentrificar lo que era un área cuajada de casitas humildes y focos chabolistas. A los vecinos se les comunicó entonces que sus edificios serían derribados y que, a cambio, iban a recibir una indemnización y una opción de realojo en casas de protección oficial. De entrada, algunos lo vieron incluso como una oportunidad de mejorar su vivienda y modernizar el barrio. Pero las obras se fueron retrasando año tras año en un tortuoso proceso burocrático que dura hasta hoy.
"En 2005, la Comunidad de Madrid se retiró y el Ayuntamiento, viendo lo que se le venía encima, vendió todo el terreno a Dragados-ACS para que ellos se encargaran de todo, incluida la negociación de las expropiaciones y sus indemnizaciones, algo que es la primera vez que se ha hecho en Madrid. Nunca había visto algo así en toda mi vida y llevo muchos años en esto. Y es tan desesperante que empezaron siendo 320 familias y el censo ha bajado a 200", dice Luis Romero, arquitecto y técnico en urbanismo, elegido hace meses como presidente de la Asociación de Afectados para intentar buscar una solución.
La constructora empezó a desplegar las grúas, a ejecutar las expropiaciones y a realojar a algunas familias. Pero lo hizo manejando unas cifras que los afectados recitan de memoria, mascando la indignación. Acogiéndose a la legislación vigente y a sendas sentencias judiciales, se indemniza a 868 euros por metro cuadrado y se ofrece a cambio vivienda de protección oficial a unos 1.700 euros el m2. "Es de sentido común que el trato es absolutamente injusto y un robo de nuestro patrimonio. Aquí ya no hablamos de ganar nada en el proceso, sino de no quedarnos arruinados y en la calle”, se queja Marisa Ostoya, una de las vecinas.
Los planos del proyecto urbanístico en construcción (Salvador Fenoll)
Pensionistas e hipotecados
Muchos afectados son pensionistas que, tras perder su casa, están condenados a quedarse como arrendatarios de alquileres sociales en los que consumen en torno a un tercio de sus ingresos, ya que no pueden optar a una hipoteca. De hecho, en el edificio del primer realojo, donde hay 114 viviendas, sólo 9 han podido comprar. En el cúmulo de infortunios que es ser propietario en este barrio, los expropiados han quedado aplastados por dos sucesivas leyes (una del PSOE y otra del PP) que encarecieron las viviendas de protección oficial y disminuyeron las indemnizaciones por expropiación.
Al menos una decena de familias sufren situaciones aún más kafkianas y pelean con todo lo que tienen a su alcance para conseguir un trato mejor. "Yo me metí con mi pareja en una hipoteca de unos 200.000 euros en 2005 para comparar esta casa de 49 metros cuadrados. Al año me enteré de que la tasación se hizo mal y que el piso que había comprado tenía colgando una orden de expropiación. Así que de pronto me encuentro con que me ofrecen 56.000 euros por abandonar mi casa y aún le debo 160.000 al banco. Si no lo paran, me quedo sin nada y con una deuda de 100.000 euros. Y la vivienda de protección oficial que me ofrecen es tan cara como un alquiler libre, así que tampoco es una opción”, explica uno de los vecinos, Ángel Sánchez, que actualiza a diario una cuenta de Twitter donde denuncia la situación e interpela a políticos y empresarios implicados.
La vivienda de protección oficial que me ofrecen es tan cara como un alquiler libre
El arquitecto Romero identifica otro de los problemas derivados de la gestión del proyecto: la degradación que ha sufrido la zona en estos 30 años en los que no se han podido realizar obras de mantenimiento a causa de la orden de desalojo pendiente. En la última década, además, las casas que se iban desocupando se llenaban de okupas, complicando aún más la situación. “La tasación de las viviendas ha bajado mucho a causa precisamente de la orden de expropiación que ha estado tres décadas sin ejecutarse. Y cuanto más se retrasa, más se deteriora”, dice.
Los afectados culpan a partes iguales a Dragados-ACS y a los sucesivos ayuntamientos que han venido gestionando el problema, al menos hasta las elecciones del pasado 24 de mayo. “Lo que hizo el PP de Madrid aquí no tiene nombre. Y luego está lo de Dragados, que piensa como una empresa lógicamente, y cuenta con la fuerza que tiene Florentino Pérez. Aquí los vecinos salían por la noche a hacer pintadas en su contra y a media mañana ya habían desaparecido todas, sobre todo en las que había alguna referencia a él”, asegura uno de los vecinos. El Confidencial se puso en contacto tanto con ACS como con la concejalía de urbanismo del Ayuntamiento, pero declinaron hablar para este reportaje.
Manuel, en la puerta de su casa, rodeado de obras (Ángel Villarino)
Casas clavo
Los vecinos de Tetuán llaman "la cornisa" a la curva con las mejores vistas del Paseo de la Dirección, desde donde se obtiene una panorámica magnífica del norte de Madrid y de sus cuatro torres. En su curva más pronunciada solo quedan ahora tres casas en pie, y sus inquilinos esperan la demolición rodeados de excavadoras y camiones que van tragándoselo todo a su alrededor en una ruidosa digestión. "Tienen hasta octubre de plazo y para llegar a tiempo están cometiendo todas las irregularidades, como tirar casas con vecinos que duermen pared con pared".
Uno de los que lo sufre esta situación es Manolo, un señor septuageniario que se pasa las mañanas sentado en la puerta de casa con la esperanza de que algún día le paguen los 62.000 euros que le prometieron. El problema, dice él, es que las escrituras del solar aledaño se sobreponen con las de su casa. "Estos cabrones vendieron dos veces el terreno", se queja.
Y en la casa de al lado vive José Fernández Pozal con su mujer, su hija, su yerno, sus nietos y varios perros que nos ladran al entrar. Él también está esperando a que ACS pague los 86.000 euros que le corresponderían cobrar por su vivienda, un caseron aún habitable, aunque muy deteriorado por la falta de mantenimiento. "Nací en esta casa y he pasado un total de 41 años de mi vida. El solar era de mi abuelo y ahora dicen que hay un error en los contratos de arrendamiento y por eso tardan en pagar. El 11 de enero tengo que entregar las llaves y nos iremos a un piso de alquiler social que le han dado a mi hija en el edificio de protección de aquí al lado. A mí no me dan alquiler porque tengo una casa en un pueblo, en Robledo de Chavela", asegura.
José Fernández Pozal en la puerta de su casa (Ángel Villarino)
Esperanza y alternativas
Los afectados están convencidos de que los sucesivos ayuntamientos han dado un trato favorable a Dragados, incluida la última renegociación. "Se han conseguido ahorrar la mitad de lo que tenían presupuestado para pagar las indemnizaciones porque muchos han desistido o se han muerto". Con la llegada del nuevo ayuntamiento de Ahora Madrid, sin embargo, esperan un cambio. "Hay más diálogo, nos escuchan y prometen que lo van a arreglar. También la oposición que hay ahora en la Asamblea de Madrid parece sensible aa la situación. Y que conste que toda esta lucha es para empatar, para no perder nuestro patrimonio, no para ganar nada", insiste Sánchez.
Dando por perdida cualquier opción de compensar los daños morales ("son noches y noches de insonmio, depresiones, la imposibilidad de mudarse o vender..."), los afectados piden una rebaja del precio de la vivienda social que les permita comprar una nueva casa con la indemnización que reciban. "Eso está en manos del Ayuntamiento. Es un proceso que puede tardar, pero es lo más factible. Mientras tanto, segurián con esta pesadilla, que no se acaba nunca y que va consumiendo a la gente", dice Romero, el arquitecto. | {
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TORONTO — It has been over five years since curler John Epping told family, friends, and peers in his sport’s community that he was gay.
"I got a ton of messages," he said. "And the way people tried to relate it to me was just to say, ‘Hey it’s OK, we’ve got your back.’ It came in so many different ways. It was pretty special."
Epping knew there was growing interest in his story about being a gay athlete in a men’s team sport, but held off on sharing the news more widely as he didn’t want it to be a distraction for his team. So there was no news conference, no statement, no television feature.
"If somebody asks, I just talk about it," Epping told The Canadian Press in his first in-depth interview on the subject. "And I know I probably should do more of these because it can help people. But I just look at it like, I haven’t thought about going around broadcasting that I’m a gay person curling.
"This is my life. This is me … it’s a part of life, it’s what it is."
The number of active elite male athletes who have revealed that they’re gay has risen in recent years, although it’s still a rarity at the professional level and in the curling world. For Epping, it’s a bonus to weigh in on a subject that could make things easier for someone — a curler, athlete, or anybody — who might be thinking about following his lead.
"If it can make a difference for one person reading this story or even just one person in my life, if I can influence or help in a positive way — right on," he said. "That’s fine with me. That’s great."
While it was difficult to initially come out, Epping felt it worked out very well. The three-time Grand Slam winner said he received "loads of support" from teammates, friends, family, and sponsors.
"I would say I was very, very lucky and spoiled," he said after a recent practice session at the Leaside Curling Club. "I hope it would be that way for everybody but I know it’s not. I know we still have a long way to come in sports in general."
Epping, a 33-year-old native of Peterborough, Ont., won his first Grand Slam in 2008 — The National — as a second on Wayne Middaugh’s team. His first Slam title as a skip came in 2012 at the Players’ Championship and he won the Canadian Open in 2015 with his current lineup of Mat Camm, Patrick Janssen and Tim March.
The 2006 Canadian mixed champion has also played in the last two Olympic Trials.
"I think it’s big to see somebody maybe that’s in the prime of their sporting career right now," Epping said. "On that end, I think I (should be) in my prime the next four or five — or eight years hopefully — I hope people see that as a good thing or a positive thing, that there’s a gay athlete out in their sport, in their prime. I think that’s good to see."
His rink is currently ranked seventh in the world. Epping also plays mixed doubles — a discipline that will make its Olympic debut next year — and holds the No. 8 spot in the Canadian rankings with Lisa Weagle of Ottawa.
Epping serves as an ambassador for You Can Play, an organization that works to ensure safety and inclusion for all who participate in sports, including LGBTQ athletes, coaches, and fans.
"It’s great to be involved with an organization like that, and trying to promote that and spread that," he said. "But like I said I’ve been lucky. The locker-room culture — nothing changed. But like I said I’ve been very spoiled and it’s curlers, curlers are the best people around. What other sport do you see the curlers after a game in the Patch (party area) or hanging out after with the fans. You don’t see that in a lot of sports.
"It’s a very unique sport that way. But that’s the type of people I think curlers are too."
Gay curling leagues are quite popular throughout the country and the 12th edition of the Canadian gay curling championship is on tap next month in Montreal. Epping threw out the first stone at the 2015 playdowns in Toronto.
"We really take pride as an organization that curling truly is a welcoming and inclusionary sport, regardless of age, ethnicity, level of ability or sexual orientation," said Curling Canada chief executive officer Katherine Henderson. "The labels really don’t matter. You’ll always be welcomed into a curling centre with a handshake and a smile.
"We’ve never thought of John as a gay athlete. He’s an athlete, plain and simple, and one of the world’s best, who would do us proud if he wins the right to represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics."
Epping, who will be getting married in June, is playing in this week’s Ontario men’s curling championship in Cobourg. A victory would allow him to participate in the Tim Hortons Brier for the first time.
He also has his eye on landing a berth in the Olympic Trials in December.
"I know the support isn’t always there in every person’s situation that they face," Epping said of coming out. "In mine it was, and I’m very fortunate for that so I owe a lot of gratitude to those people. But I think it says a lot about curlers and I also think maybe it says something about the people I’ve surrounded myself with too in my life.
"So thank you to them and if anybody ever needs to talk about these things, I’m always there for anybody, for any person that is having difficulty with that side of it. You can always pop me a message somehow." | {
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The Syrian Armed Forces repelled several attacks of terrorists of the Islamic State (IS) group on the two main airfields of the Syrian Army in Deir ez-Zor and Sweida.
Several attacks, planned by terrorists of the Islamic State (IS) group on the two main airfields of Syrian troops in Deir ez-Zor and Sweida, were disrupted by the Syrian Armed Forces. As result, terrorists suffered heavy losses.
Syrian fighter jets struck IS terrorists, stationed near the Deir ez-Zor Airport, while they were preparing for an offensive on Syrian troops, deployed inside the airport. Terrorists’ positions in al-Rashidiya, al-Hwaiqa and al-Hamidiyeh districts of Deir ez-Zor, as well as their gatherings in Panorama, located west of Deir ez-Zor, were also attacked by the Syrian Air Force. As result, a number of terrorists were killed and wounded, and their military hardware was destroyed.
Several airstrikes were also carried by Syrian aircraft on positions of the IS terrorists in al-Hosseiniyeh and Hatla in eastern Deir Ezzur, as well as in Jabal al-Tharda and al-Jafreh, located south of eastern Deir Ezzur province. Several militants lost their lives during the airstrikes, which also destroyed their military equipment.
At the same time, offensives of the IS terrorists in the vicinity of Tal al-Sheikh Hassan and the al-Tha’ala airbase, located in Western Sweida, were repelled by the Syrian Army. About two dozen of terrorists were killed in fierce clashes with Syrian soldiers. Positions of terrorists in Tal al-Ashayhib also were shelled by Syrian troops. Scores of militants were killed, while many more of them were wounded.
On Wednesday, the Russian Aerospace Forces also pounded IS terrorists’ positions, located in the east of the province of Deir ez-Zor. As a result, militants suffered heavy losses. Russian fighter jets struck defense lines of the IS on the Thardah mountain. Several terrorists were killed and wounded.
At the same time, the Thayyem oilfields and a power station, located near, were also attacked by the Russian air power. As a result, two technical trucks, equipped with anti-aircraft machine guns, were destroyed and more than 20 IS terrorists were killed and injured.
The military situation in Deir ez-Zor remains stable, as the Syrian Army is always alert in this area, while fighting in the city of Palmyra in Homs province has intensified, as Syrian troops let their guard down.
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This isn't the first time a phone maker has offered a TV with a new smartphone, but the size of the prize has definitely gotten larger. Samsung only offered 32-inch TVs with the purchase of its Galaxy S7 at Best Buy last year.
The new G6 handset will be available on April 7 at all four major US carriers. Prices for the device will range from $650 to $720 with various monthly payment options, depending on which convoluted pricing plan you opt for. Verizon will give you a 43-inch Smart TV with your pre-order, while Sprint super sizes their deal with a 49-inch LG HDTV.
Neither AT&T nor T-Mobile have a television on offer, but AT&T will give you a free LG Watch Sport with your pre-order. T-Mobile will hand you a Home device but no TV -- they've got the lowest price for the G6 at $650. If you're looking to add to your gadget pile at home, you can pre-order the LG G6 at AT&T, Sprint and Verizon right now, with T-Mobile pre-orders starting soon. | {
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CIA director Gina Haspel has named Cynthia "Didi" Rapp to the agency's senior-most position atop the Directorate of Analysis. Rapp, a career intelligence official with an analytic background, is not the first woman to hold the role, but she is the third female official and the fifth career intelligence official Haspel has named to a leadership post at the agency in recent months.
"Didi Rapp brings broad, deep expertise from across the agency and the intelligence community to her new role as the head of our Directorate of Analysis," said CIA Director of Public Affairs Brittany Bramell. "With her engaging leadership style and reputation for objectivity, Didi will excel in leading our talented analytic cadre."
Rapp previously served as deputy chief operating officer at CIA and headed up intelligence integration at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, where she helped oversee the production of the President's Daily Brief (PDB). The third woman to hold the post since 2002, Rapp succeeds longtime incumbent Richard Hoch, who will serve as chief strategy officer for the agency.
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As head of the Directorate of Analysis – which was once known as the Directorate of Intelligence – Rapp will oversee the agency's efforts to synthesize intelligence from the CIA's operations arm and other elements of the intelligence community, including open source data and satellite imagery. Agency analysts take raw intelligence from abroad, offer regional expertise and put it into context. They interact directly with policymakers throughout government and play a lead role in informing the PDB.
"The Deputy Director for Analysis is one of the most important positions at CIA," said Michael Morell, a former CIA deputy and acting director who also served as the agency's head of analysis from 2008 to 2010. "Didi has extensive experience as an analyst, she has deep integrity, and she has the confidence of the director — all things necessary for someone to effectively lead the DA." Morell is also a CBS News senior national security contributor.
Rapp will be the first to newly assume the role since former CIA Director John Brennan's modernization push, which shifted some oversight away from larger directorates and funneled them into discrete Mission Centers focused on some of the thorniest issue areas in national security. Under that structure, analysts and operations officers work side by side.
"Analytic issues facing the agency range from the threat posed by near-peer competitors like Russia and China, to persistent proliferation concerns from North Korea and Iran, to the national security implications of climate change, to incorporating big data and other analytic inputs into its assessments," said David Priess, a former analyst and daily intelligence briefer during the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. "The new DDA will have to see how well analysis is being incorporated into ops, and vice versa."
Rapp's appointment, announced internally last month, underscores Haspel's apparent commitment to guiding the agency down a trajectory rooted in stability and deep institutional knowledge. A former clandestine operations officer who in May became the first female director of the CIA, Haspel has surrounded herself by officials with whom she has worked for decades. Seldom in history have the agency's most senior ranks been filled with as many CIA veterans and insiders.
Thirty-four-year agency veteran Beth Kimber became the first woman to lead the agency's directorate of operations earlier in December. Sonya Holt, who likewise spent over three decades at CIA, assumed the role of chief diversity and inclusion officer in August, when similarly long-serving CIA officials Vaughn Bishop, now deputy director, and Andy Makridis, now chief operating officer (COO), were also named.
"You've got a director, deputy director and COO who are all career intelligence officers, and two-thirds of whom are analysts – you'd have to go back decades for that to be true," Priess said. "This is also leadership at CIA at a time of unprecedented institutional tension with the president – it's meaningful that it's not being run by the president's own people, but by career officers. This could have gone in a very different direction."
Haspel's immediate predecessor, Mike Pompeo, who is now secretary of state, named Haspel as his deputy, but brought in his longtime business partner, Brian Bulatao, to serve as COO. Brennan chose associates from within the Treasury Department and National Security Council to be his deputies.
Though some former intelligence officials have raised concerns about excessive insularity and the risks of creating an echo chamber at the agency, others praised the relative conservatism of Haspel's choices at a time when the churn of personnel at a number of other government institutions have plunged them into turmoil.
"The leadership positions that she has filled give tremendous credibility to the idea that she is trying to keep the agency down a professional, honest path," said Ned Price, a former CIA analyst who resigned in protest and with some controversy at the start of the Trump administration. "They help ensure the agency remains a bastion of unvarnished analysis and operational proposals that are in our best interest."
"Now is not the time to radically remake the agency," Price, who is now a fellow at the New America Foundation, said. "There's enough going on outside its walls."
Although the CIA and Haspel herself have been occasionally thrust into fundamentally political controversies – including those surrounding President Trump's decision to revoke Brennan's security clearance last August; the ongoing, highly-charged fallout from the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi; and, especially during her confirmation hearings, Haspel's own involvement in the CIA's post-9/11 enhanced interrogation and rendition programs – she has consistently avoided public exposure. In doing so she has arguably bucked a trend set in motion by her more press-friendly predecessors.
Pompeo, during his year-long tenure as CIA director, made both public appearances and unusually personal statements with some regularity. He sent a letter to the Harvard Kennedy School announcing his withdrawal from a speaking engagement and denouncing the school's decision to name Chelsea Manning, a former soldier convicted of leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks, a visiting fellow.
Pompeo also personally wrote and sent a condescending missive to Benjamin Wittes, the editor-in-chief of Lawfare, after Wittes publicly questioned the contents of a holiday card Pompeo distributed to CIA's workforce.
For her part, in the nearly eight months since she became director, Haspel has issued only a handful of brief statements and made public remarks essentially once – at her alma mater, the University of Louisville, in September.
"I think Director Haspel's decision to largely stay in the shadows is the right one," Morell said. "In this political environment, where most public statements are labeled as pro-Trump or anti-Trump, it is wise to stay silent, particularly when running an agency whose credibility depends as being seen as an independent voice at the policy table."
Former senior CIA official Carmen Medina, who spent over three decades at the agency and served as Deputy Director of Intelligence, agreed.
"With this administration maybe the best thing she can do is make sure all the 'I's are dotted and 'T's are crossed – it's a difficult time," Medina said. "You need a really firm foundation and to make sure everything is being done well before you have the space to innovate."
Medina also applauded Haspel's decision to name both more experienced analysts and more women to senior leadership roles. Overall, about half of the agency's analysts are women, as are about half of the directorate's senior managers, according to those familiar with the agency's make-up.
"It's unfortunate we still have to talk about gender, because it's not really relevant to the quality of the work – it's relevant to the diversity of the work. But I think she's very brave for appointing so many women," Medina said of Haspel's leadership choices.
"She doesn't have to do that, and the fact that she is doing it is kind of awesome." | {
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Apology and moving forward
I would like to apologize for my recent behaviour in solo queue, both to the community and to the people I flamed. I regret what I did and I let my ego get the better of me. I hurt other people and I understand that this is not acceptable. Something I didn't realise before joining Fnatic is that being a pro player is more than just performing in-game. I need to also be a good person and set an example to others too. I will be working with our management and teammates to improve my behaviour inside and outside of the game. It is my responsibility to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again.
I am really excited and proud to have joined Fnatic, this is something I have been working towards for a long time. I’d like to thank all of the fans and teammates who believe in me and I am determined to prove them and the community that I’m worthy of this huge opportunity.
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Hello folks, welcome to the 8th Five for the Fifth of the year!
As is customary for this monthly feature, I get to post five random news item, observation, trailer, actor/director spotlight, etc. and then turn it over to you to share your take on that given topic. You can see the previous five-for-the-fifth posts here.
1. August 5th is Neil Armstrong‘s birthday. The first man on the moon would’ve been 82 today. When he died almost exactly a year ago on August 25 (see my music-themed tribute here), some articles (like this one) reported on an [inevitable] biopic on his life. Not sure what have become of that project, which is baffling to me as Hollywood LOVES biopics, and Armstrong seems to have a story worth telling, aside from his accomplishments in space engineering.
This Guardian article from 2008 had some casting ideas, but I think some of those might be moot at this point. One name they threw out was Viggo Mortensen, which would be awesome, even if at 54 he’s too old to play Armstrong when he first landed on the moon, which was 38.
Thoughts on this project? Who do you think would be a good fit to play Neil Armstrong?
2. In my June Five for the Fifth, I mentioned about 2 Guns in my question about Mark Wahlberg. Well, that movie tops box office this weekend with $27 mil. Not bad considering its budget is only $61 mil. I guess both Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg can open a movie on their own, so combine the two together, I’m not surprised the film does well.
The movie is more of a rental to me though. Terrence gave it a 3 out 5 stars, so it’s not horrible, but not something I have to see on the big screen. I quite like buddy action flicks though, that’s a tried-and-true genre that relies on the charm and chemistry of the cast. Some of my fave buddy action/comedy flicks are Lethal Weapons, Tango & Cash, The Other Guys, Hot Fuzz, and most recently, 21 Jump Street.
How about you, what are YOUR favorite buddy action flicks?
3. Some of you who’ve read my July Recap knows that The Act of Killing documentary is my Movie of the Month. I’m still mulling it over after seeing it last week.
After chatting with the filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer and attending his Q&A at Walker Art Center this weekend, I have a better appreciation of the filmmaking process, though it’s certainly a film one would be hard pressed to comprehend. I will post my review and interview w/ Joshua later this week, but here’s the trailer:
So far the film has garnered all kinds of accolades and awards from all over the world. It’s Rotten Tomatoes rating is currently 97%, the summary reads like this: Raw, terrifying, and painfully difficult to watch, The Act of Killing offers a haunting testament to the edifying, confrontational power of documentary cinema. Trust me, it’s no hyperbole and it’s easily THE most haunting documentary I’ve ever seen, and I’m not saying that because the subject matter focuses on my homeland Indonesia. I can’t recommend this enough folks, especially if you like history or simply compelling stories that’s told in an inventive way. I certainly hope it’d be nominated for an Academy Awards next year.
Speaking of recommendations, what has been the most memorable documentary you saw in the last 12 months?
4. Actors venturing into directing films are nothing new. We’ve certainly seen some movie stars garnering accolades for directing AND starring in their films (George Clooney, Ben Affleck, etc.), and now Chris Evans is attempting to do just that. Per SlashFilm, the Captain America star reportedly will direct and star in a romantic drama called 1:30 Train. Here’s the initial plot of the film:
Two strangers who meet in Manhattan and spend one night together as the conflicts in their own lives become the basis for their exploration of each other and themselves.”
Some sites are describing it as being in the vein of Richard Linklaters’ Before Sunrise, which intrigues me, Hollywood needs more compelling romantic dramas instead of rom-coms. Now, I’m warming up to Evans as an actor, I mean he’s not a stellar actor by any means but I like that he tries to mix up different genres. He’s fitting in an apocalypse thriller Snowpiercer (hopefully it’ll get a US release date soon), and now this, in between his Avengers gig. Curious who’d be cast as the love interest, but in any case, I wish him the best of luck on this project!
What do you think of Chris Evans’ directorial debut idea? Does the film appeal to you?
5. Now, I know it’s only August, nominations isn’t going to start for another four months. But hey, since they’ve already announced that Ellen DeGeneres will host the Oscars next year (which is awesome as she’s FUNNY without being mean-spirited!), I think it’s fair game to talk about Oscar predictions… or wish list.
The one film that’s a shoo-in come award season is Steve McQueen’s Twelve Years A Slave.
12 YEARS A SLAVE is based on an incredible true story of one man’s fight for survival and freedom. In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty (personified by a malevolent slave owner, portrayed by Michael Fassbender), as well as unexpected kindnesses, Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist (Brad Pitt) will forever alter his life.
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The cast is incredible, but I’m especially thrilled to see Chiwetel Ejiofor in the lead role!! I’ve been championing the talented Brit for years, he was on my list of foreign actors to watch (along with his co-star Michael Fassbender!). I’m sincerely hoping that this film would come to Twin Cities Film Fest in October (ahead of its limited release on December 27), as MN-native Bill Pohlad is one of the film’s producers.
Oh man, I cried just watching the trailer! I better pack a box of tissue when I watch the film. I LOVE that Benedict Cumberbatch is in this as well, this is the second time he’s doing a slavery-themed film, the first one was Amazing Grace, which I highly recommend if you haven’t seen yet.
Our resident Oscar expert Josh @ Classicblanca has put up his Oscar predictions last week, and I’m thrilled to see he’s predicting Ejiofor under the Best Actor noms. I’d love to see Fassy get a nom in Best Supporting Actor category too, since he was overlooked last year, but I REALLY want Ejiofor to finally get his dues after years of memorable, supporting performances. I know that after seeing him in Endgame, he’s definitely a capable leading man.
P.S. In the Best Actress category, I’d love to Cate Blanchett get a nom as well. I mean, just from seeing a trailer and clip of Blue Jasmine, she’s certainly in top form being the chameleon actor that she is!
Well, now my last question to you is: Which actor (or actress) would you love to getting a nomination come award season?
That’s it for the AUGUST 2013 edition of Five for the Fifth, folks. I’d love to hear your thoughts on any of these subjects.
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Each and every man has attempted to converse his lady into letting him get in some deep ass-fuck dicking however in most cases the dolls don’t seem to be into it. Smartly, now not the ass hoes on this video! They backside’t wait to have their cock-squeezing sphincters crammed with spear! Witness as the ones soft fuckholes are torn up and opened up to the max! | {
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Uber express POOL, a new ride-share option that allows passenger to save money on their ride, has launched in Hudson County and other parts of North Jersey.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Uber Express POOL allows riders to wait a few minutes before their trips begin and then walk a short distance to a nearby spot for pick up and drop off.
This allows the app to find more optimal matches and provide better, straighter, faster routes with fewer detours, delivering an even more affordable and consistent option than the standard POOL option that was first introduced in 2014, Uber said in a news release.
“In keeping with #3 of the Shared Mobility Principles, the future of transportation in cities includes a shift towards more space-efficient modes of transportation and away from personal car ownership,” Zipcar Co-Founder Robin Chase said in a statement.
“Express POOL, in combination with public transit, cycling, carsharing and more, can help us get towards this shift, and I’m extremely excited about the potential impact this product can have on cities.”
App users will see Express POOL next to POOL in the app. Once requested, we’ll spend the next few minutes selecting the most compatible co-riders and a driver nearby, and the best spot for pickup within a few blocks of your location.
When the ride details are finalized, the passenger will be given walking directions and an estimated time of arrival so he/she knows when and where to meet the driver and co-riders.
Towards the end of each trip, Uber will choose a drop off spot, notify the rider and provide walking directions for the last few blocks to your final destination.
In addition to Hudson County, Uber Express POOL is now available in Newark, Elizabeth, and parts of Essex and Bergen Counties. | {
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WATERLOO REGION—If you’re a tenant who shares your building with other renters, you’ll likely have to hold off on sparking up in celebration of legalized marijuana next month.
When recreational cannabis becomes legal on Oct. 17, one of the few places Canadians can legally smoke will be in private homes. For renters who live in multi-dwelling buildings, where they’re allowed to light up is a bit more complicated.
Landlords across the country are trying to enact rules for their properties they say will balance Canadians’ new freedom to consume marijuana, while protecting tenants’ right to live in a smoke-free environment. That’s easier said than done.
“I think it’s going to take years of conversations, and challenges,” said Andrew Macallum, president of the Waterloo Regional Apartment Management Association.
He expects it could be a long time before the battles over where tenants can and can’t smoke marijuana are settled, and predicts those disputes will bog down Ontario’s Landlord and Tenant Board in the process.
“The board is already overwhelmed with cases and challenges. These marijuana challenges are likely going to inundate the board,” Macallum.
Read more:
Ontario landlords want right to ban pot in rentals immediately after legalization
Toronto Community Housing plans to go smoke free — including pot
Condo boards move to ban pot smoking
Many condo corporations are also passing bylaws that prohibit smoking marijuana in their buildings. Those rules already are facing legal opposition from people with prescriptions for medicinal marijuana. Tenants with smoke allergies are launching legal fights of their own.
The Region of Waterloo, meanwhile, is updating its lease agreements for tenants in 2,800 affordable housing units to ban the smoking of marijuana in any of its residential buildings.
The only exception will be for people with medical marijuana prescriptions who are residents of the region’s Sunnyside Home long-term care facility — and they’ll need to light up in designated outdoor smoking areas.
Even tenants in affordable housing units who have grandfathered smoking rights for tobacco won’t be able to burn marijuana. The new bans won’t include things like edible pot or oils, or growing up to four marijuana plants per person, however.
“They’ll be allowed to grow plants, they just can’t smoke them within their unit,” explained Kris Fletcher, regional clerk for the Region of Waterloo.
“Basically, there will be an extension of our no-smoking laws to include cannabis, unless it’s medicinal cannabis.”
Fletcher said the regional government will release more details about the new restrictions on cannabis in the coming weeks. She anticipates some wrinkles will still need to be ironed out after legalization arrives.
“Are we perfect? Probably not. Will there be hiccups? There might be,” she said. “But I think we’re progressing.”
Macallum said landlords are being forced to decide whose rights trump whose. Complicating matters are older buildings where some longtime renters have the right to smoke tobacco in their units — in which case the rules for smoking pot may vary depending on the landlord.
Only newly built apartment complexes can be declared entirely smoke-free before tenants move in. That means most landlords will need to consult with their existing renters before bringing in across-the-board bans on cannabis smoke — something that won’t be easy because some tenants have strong feelings on both sides of the issue.
“For landlords big and small, you’ve got people put in the middle of these contradictions. You’ve got one neighbour who wants a smoke-free environment, and you’ve got another who says ‘I’m entitled to my right to smoke,’” Macallum said.
There is much less concern among landlords around edible pot or cannabis oils, Macallum said. The biggest worry is around smoke in buildings where people share walls, hallways and ventilation systems.
Landlords also have worries about tenants who plan to grow marijuana in their units, and what that might mean for things like humidity damage or increased hydro use, he said.
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“The big question there is who is supposed to police the number of plants?” he said. “If a landlord suspects someone is growing more than four plants, should they be phoning someone?”
The easiest solution from many landlords’ perspective, he suggests, is for the province to enact a smoke-free law across all multi-dwelling rental properties.
“I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch, to be perfectly honest,” Macallum said. “If your goal is to have a healthy and safe community, then smoke that is impacting other people, including children, is not part of that.” | {
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A wave of gun thefts across New South Wales has sparked calls for a crackdown on weapons in homes.
At least 50 guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition have been stolen from registered gun owners across the state in just over a fortnight.
In at least three cases in the past month, entire gun safes have been taken.
On Tuesday night, bandits broke into a house at Tumut, in the state's south, and removed a safe containing four rifles while a man and woman were asleep in their beds.
The same day, robbers stole 16 registered pistols and rifles from a property at Kenebri, in north-western NSW.
Police are investigating whether the same criminals stole two safes containing a total of 19 guns from a property and a shipping container at nearby Coonabarabran.
Detectives have no doubt some of the gun owners have been targeted and are investigating how the robbers tracked them down.
All firearms used by permit holders in the state must be registered with the Commissioner of Police, but police insist the information is secure.
The Commander of the Firearms and Organised Crime Squad, Ken Finch, says there is no evidence the registry has been compromised.
"I'm quite confident that the processes and systems that are in place at the firearms registry are robust and their audit systems are transparent," he said.
Detective Superintendent Finch says in many cases, the robbers knew what they were looking for.
"Very often in rural areas, the local population know who own guns within communities and very often, people who have multiple firearms are in fact members of gun clubs," he said.
"So the fact is, information about who actually possesses firearms in communities can come from a variety of sources."
Greens MP David Shoebridge is calling for urgent laws to cap the number of weapons people can own.
"We propose a limitation of three, similar to that in WA, but the NSW Police Minister is captured by the Shooters Party and is refusing to act," he said.
"While there are private arsenals around NSW, criminals will target that.
"The average number of guns per licence owner is now five. That's a honey pot that criminals are targeting."
Det Supt Finch says police would welcome any moves to restrict the number of guns accessible to the public.
The State Government is not planning to limit gun ownership any further but it is considering tightening the rules on weapons storage.
A spokesman for NSW Police Minister Mike Gallacher says he is also holding talks with the Federal Government and counterparts across the country to develop a uniform response to gun crime.
Opposition leader John Robertson says while the discussions roll on, the thefts are continuing to fuel Sydney's wave of shootings.
"While we continue to see illegal firearms on the streets and our police numbers down, people in western and south-western Sydney are being failed by this Government," he said.
Earlier this week, police announced they had seized and destroyed nearly 1,500 guns from criminals in the past two months.
But they concede gun theft has been a growing problem for at least a decade. | {
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Sought-after free agent outfielder Bryce Harper has been on the free agent market officially since October 29 of 2018, according to the MLB website. But that was 17 weeks ago, and at least according to a USA Today report, the 26-year-old six-time All Star is finally expected to make his decision on which team he will join by the end of this, his 18th week on the open market.
But according to one new report on Monday night — a report that has yet to be independently confirmed — another team may have entered the chase for Harper at what appears to be the last minute. The Twitter account MLB Insider, which appeared to be the first outlet to report on the Los Angeles Dodgers’ sudden interest in Harper over the weekend, reported at 9:49 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday that none other than the New York Yankees were now prepared to jump into the Harper free agent race.
But at 10:31 on Monday night, Pacific Time, the MLB Insider Twitter feed made another bold but unconfirmed claim. “The Los Angeles Dodgers are finalizing a deal with free-agent Bryce Harper, according to league sources involved,” the MLB Insider claimed.
Earlier on Monday, one unconfirmed report, cited by The Inquisitr, claimed that the team widely considered the frontrunner to sign up the right-fielder’s services, the Philadelphia Phillies, had given an ultimatum to Harper’s agent, Scott Boras — tell your client to make up his mind within 24 hours or our $350 million offer is no longer good.
New York Yankees General Managing Partner Hal Steinbrenner Featured image credit: Jason Szenes Getty Images
“Another owner has reached out to Boras in the hopes of attaining his own meeting, sources tell me,” MLB Insider wrote Monday night. “Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner spoke to Boras earlier today, and made the request.”
If true, the news would turn the Harper saga on its head, and likely render the Phillies’ bid moot, with both Los Angeles and New York competing for the 2015 National League MVP. But the report appeared puzzling in light of the fact that earlier on Monday, the Yankees had signed another outfielder, namely, their own center fielder Aaron Hicks, who would have become a free agent after the 2019 season had the Yankees not inked him to a seven-year contract extension, according to The New York Post.
With power-hitting sensation Aaron Judge remaining in right field, the Yankees appear to have a full outfield and no need for Harper there. The one wild card would be left-fielder Brett Gardner, who is now 35-years-old and has only two years remaining on his contract, per Baseball Reference. If the Yankees dumped Gardner, or relegated him to a backup role with a hypothetical signing of Harper, either Judge or Harper would be forced to convert to left field. | {
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The First Ever Ethereum Sweatshirt Will be Sent to Space
The First Ever Ethereum Sweatshirt Will be Sent to Space
About The Author
The writer of this post is a guest. Opinions in the article are solely of the writer and do not reflect The Merkle's view. | {
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What Is Chainlink?
Chainlink (LINK) is a decentralized oracle network which aims to connect smart contracts with data from the real world. Chainlink was developed by Sergey Nazarov, with Steve Ellis as the other co-founder. It held an ICO in September 2017, raising $32 million, with a total supply of 1 billion LINK tokens. LINK, the cryptocurrency native to the Chainlink decentralized oracle network, is used to pay node operators. Since the Chainlink network has a reputation system, node providers that have a large amount of LINK can be rewarded with larger contracts, while a failure to deliver accurate information results in a deduction of tokens. Developers describe LINK as “an ERC20 token, with the additional ERC223 'transfer and call' functionality of transfer (address, uint256, bytes), allowing tokens to be received and processed by contracts within a single transaction.” Following the 2017 $32 million LINK ICO, 32 percent of LINK tokens were sent to node operators to incentivize the ecosystem and 30 percent stayed within Chainlink for development (35 percent were sold in the public token sale).
What Are Oracles?
Chainlink is a platform that aims to bridge the gap between blockchain technology-based smart contracts (made widespread by Ethereum), and real world applications. Since blockchains cannot access data outside their network, oracles (a defi instrument) are needed to function as data feeds in smart contracts. In Chainlink's case, the oracles are connected to the Ethereum network. Oracles provide external data (e.g. temperature, weather) that trigger smart contract executions upon the fulfillment of predefined conditions. Participants on the Chainlink network are incentivized (through rewards) to provide smart contracts with access to external data feeds like API information. Should users desire access to off-chain data, they can submit a requesting contract to Chainlink’s network. These contracts will match the requesting contract with the appropriate oracles. The contracts include a reputation contract, an order-matching contract and an aggregating contract. The aggregating contract gathers data of the selected oracles to find the most accurate result.
Where Can You Buy Chainlink?
You can buy Chainlink (LINK) on any exchange that supports the digital currency. For the latest list of exchanges and trading pairs for this cryptocurrency, click on our market pairs tab. | {
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O Plenário do Conselho Nacional do Ministério Público (CNMP), por maioria, aplicou a penalidade de advertência contra a procuradora da República Monique Cheker por descumprimento do dever funcional de manter decoro pessoal. A decisão foi tomada nesta terça-feira, (11/06), durante a 9ª Sessão Ordinária de 2019, no julgamento de um processo administrativo disciplinar relatado pelo conselheiro Marcelo Weitzel.
CNMP adverte procuradora que acusou ministros de corrupção pelo Twitter.
O motivo foi uma postagem no Twitter que imputa a algumas autoridades, ainda que indeterminadas, o recebimento de vantagem indevida para atender interesses de terceiros, que é crime de corrupção passiva. Cheker, porém, não especificou de quem se tratava, nem mencionou qualquer prova ou indício do que afirmou.
Para o relator, a exposição de pensamentos, opiniões e críticas de membros do Ministério Público está abarcada pela liberdade de expressão, que, apesar de ser direito fundamental, não é absoluta na medida em que, entre outras limitações, "não pode ser utilizada para justificar a prática de condutas que desrespeitem ou menosprezem o funcionário público, seja ele civil ou militar".
Ainda segundo o conselheiro, "ao descumprir um dever funcional ou incorrer em vedação legal, o membro do Ministério Público, enquanto agente político dotado de independência funcional, não age como mero representante da instituição, ele é, dentro de suas atribuições, a própria instituição. Daí surge a necessidade de guardar decoro pessoal, pois o que está em jogo é a forma como a sociedade enxerga o órgão, sua legitimidade democrática". Com informações da Assessoria de Imprensa do CNMP.
PAD 1.00645/2018-24 | {
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After a two-year trademark battle, Sendle has won a case against Australia Post to trademark the slogan “Post without the office”.
In May 2015, Australia Post formally opposed a trademark application by the Sydney-founded parcel delivery platform, which raised $5 million in August last year, for the tagline.
Australia Post claimed the “Post without the office” slogan breached the Trades Marks Act by being “deceptively similar” to a number of the postal giant’s own trademarks.
During the ensuing trademark dispute, Australia Post told IP Australia “Post without the office” is a manipulation of its brand and used examples like “Louis without the Vuitton” and “Hungry without the Jacks” to make its case.
But Sendle argued there would be “no prospect of confusion” if it was able to register the trademark, as “the mark itself directs people away from Australia Post”.
On May 12 this year, IP Australia found in favour of Sendle at a hearing at its Canberra office, and ruled that Australia Post has no grounds to oppose the trademark application.
“I do not find that the Opponent’s hypothetical treatment of other well-known trade marks is analogous,” hearing officer Debrett Lyons wrote in the decision.
“In the hypotheticals, HUNGRY WITHOUT THE JACKS and LOUIS WITHOUT THE VUITTON, the interposition of the words “without the” results in an expression which has no hint of a meaning.
“The added words merely intersect with the known trade mark with no new meaning. The hypothetical, COCA WITHOUT THE COLA, is simply mystifying since the introduced words result in an expression which might cause consumers, if they thought of the beverage giant, to wonder what the product might be.”
Speaking to StartupSmart, Sendle co-founder and chief executive James Chin Moody describes the decision as a win for “common sense”.
“From the very beginning, we were never intending to create confusion that we were the Post Office but to do the opposite of that,” Moody says.
According to Moody, “Post without the office” is simply a “great tagline that talks about what we do and what we don’t do”.
He says he was surprised to “suddenly” get a letter from lawyers representing Australia Post back in 2015, but knew Sendle would stand its ground.
“[I] was a little taken aback [but] in the same way small business stands up to big business everyday, and because our purpose is to help small businesses thrive … we were going to stand up for ourselves and not be intimated,” he says.
Moody says the best thing Sendle did at the time was to not use the tagline and seek professional legal counsel.
“That was the thing we did immediately because we respect the process, we respect the law,” he says.
And while a trademark battle is the last thing a startup needs, Moody says, it hasn’t distracted Sendle from its mission.
“It’s money that you don’t necessarily want to spend in the early days and I’d have to spend a lot of time because you have to prepare evidence,” he says.
“I think this [case] by itself won’t make a big difference to [the delivery startup sector],” he says.
“I think it does give us confidence to keep pushing ahead.”
In addition to last year’s funding raise, Sendle has recently appointed former eBay Australia executive Apurva Chiranewala as its head of growth and is servicing “tens of thousands of customers”, says Moody.
“We’re helping them to do $100 million worth of business,” he says.
Sendle is now able to proceed with its application to trademark the “Post without the office” slogan, however, Australia Post has the option to appeal IP Australia’s decision.
A spokesperson for Australia Post told StartupSmart the mail carrier is considering what it will do next.
“Australia Post has built our brand over the past 208 years and we are committed to protecting it,” the spokesperson said.
“We believe that use of the phrase is confusing, or likely to confuse customers. We are currently considering the decision and our next steps. ”
A word of advice to new startups
Reflecting on the trademark dispute, Moody says his best advice to startups facing similar challenges would be to “rely on common sense”.
“From our perspective we didn’t believe it made sense and in some ways we don’t see this as a victory for us; it’s more a victory for Australian competition in this market space and it’s a victory for common sense,” he says.
“Stay true to your values and your purpose. That helps guide you through some difficult decisions.”
Moody also believes getting good advice from trusted legal professionals before problems arise is crucial.
“Getting the right advice is really critical in the early days,” he says.
Follow StartupSmart on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and iTunes. | {
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Update: UT changes the press release I quote below to remove the word de-tenure.
President Joe DiPietro and the UT Board of Trustees voted yesterday to make the tenure process, tenured compensation, and de-tenuring a key element of its plan to cut costs and expand revenues in the wake of reduced state support for higher education.
The Board of Trustees held its winter meeting on February 25-26 in Memphis. In recent meetings, the System President DiPietro has been talking up plans to deal with the University’s “failed business model.” This model, according to DiPietro, is based on replacing state dollars with tuition dollars. I’ll start off here by saying that that is not a “business model,” but rather a response to a “political problem.” The governor and state legislature, over the course of the last 10 years, have failed to fully fund the state’s own formula that determines its contributions to the university system.
At the June meeting, DiPietro forecast a $155M shortfall over the next ten years due to falling state contributions to the system. That forecast shortfall at the winter meeting has grown to $377M, a convenience in the context of the President’s presentation of a plan to cut costs and increase revenues. For most of the last year, I believed that DiPietro was playing a shame game with the legislature and governor (whose family name adorns myriad buildings and programs at UTK), prodding them to fully fund the state’s own formula.
Until today.
The plan DiPietro presented, and that the Board approved, centers on six points to address tuition shortfalls, forecasted salary gaps, and decaying infrastructure in the system:
Program realignment and consolidation: campuses will address low-performing programs to fund program reinvestment and perform a feasibility analysis and develop a plan for program consolidations to save costs. Allocation and reallocation plans: set aside 3 percent of base year’s total unrestricted E&G expenditures to address strategic initiatives, address deferred maintenance and identify cost savings from voluntary retirement and other workforce development options. Unfunded mandates for tuition waivers and discounts: the UT System Administration will study these discounts, estimated to be $7.4 million annually System-wide. Tuition structure review: Options include expanding differential tuition, increase enrollment of out-of-state students and the 15-4 tuition plan. Non-formula fee structure: Non-formula units (Health Science Center, Institute for Public Service and Institute of Agriculture) will review whether outreach efforts are capturing actual cost of delivery and determine whether fees should be charged. Tenure and post-tenure review process: To be conducted by UT System Administration and with involvement by the Faculty Council, to look at awarding of tenure, post-tenure compensation and enacting of a de-tenure process.
The first five points read like standard responses to fiscal cuts– realignment and consolidation of programs (read, cutting departments?), fee structures (raising student costs without raising “tuition”), moving money around, etc. The last one caught my attention.
What in the world is a “de-tenure process”, and what place does tenure, a bulwark of academic freedom and security for the risks of academic training and employment, have in a conversation on cutting costs and increasing revenues?
To understand more, I watched DiPietro’s presentation of the plan to the Board of Trustees. The President noted to the board that from now on, in response to this manufactured economic crisis, all actions by the System must either cut costs or increase revenue. Here is a transcription of DiPietro’s comments on point six, which begin at 24:01 in the linked video:
The last item on the list which will be led by the System is to take a look at tenure and post-tenure review process and it will be conducted by us at the System level. This will be a review and make recommendations on needed revisions regarding post-tenure review. I would like it to include adjustments for compensation for high performers in that post-review time frame and also to look at policy for termination based on unsatisfactory performance. I will do this in concert with the Faculty Council and a group of people. We will keep them tuned in. But the reality is the post-tenure review processes that we currently have from the standpoint of the CPR program is not very effective.
So, here we have it. In a move that I don’t know any faculty were forewarned of, DiPietro has opened the door for the Board of Trustees to undo the protections of tenure at the University of Tennessee.
I tweeted that transcription, which immediately elicited a harsh response from the academics I know over there because they see it for what it is… a blatant attack on tenure in the name of cutting costs. DiPietro responded to @historianess on twitter, who called “de-tenure process” what it plainly is, an attack on tenure, with this:
UTPresidentJoe
@historianess I fully believe in the concept of tenure.
2/27/15, 5:55 PM
I’ve asked him to clarify how that is, on twitter, but you know, he hasn’t answered yet:
parezcoydigo
@utpresidentjoe @historianess Could you explain, then, how a tenure and a de-tenure process has any place in a convo on cost-cutting?
2/27/15, 5:59 PM
This is in direct conflict with the Knoxville campus’s push towards being a Top 25 public university, our current campaign to improve UTK. It’s in direct conflict with many of the most cherished values of the academy and higher education. And, I’d love to provide DiPietro’s explanation for how his belief in the concept of tenure squares with having a “de-tenure process” that is not connected to disciplinary issues. If he provides one, I will post it immediately here, or provide a forum for him to do so directly. I’d really like to know, in the context of budget discussions, what the meaning of “de-tenure” actually is. | {
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Automatic cuts in federal spending will cost the economy more than 2 million jobs, from defense contracting to border security to education, if Congress fails to resolve the looming budget crisis, according to an analysis released Tuesday.
The study, obtained by The Associated Press, was conducted for the Aerospace Industries Association, but it examined the shared pain for defense and domestic programs from the across-the-board reductions slated to kick in Jan. 2. The cuts would reduce the nation's gross domestic product by $215 billion next year while consumer confidence would plummet, said the report by Dr. Stephen Fuller of George Mason University and Chmura Economics and Analytics.
"If they are allowed to occur as currently scheduled, the long-term consequences will permanently alter the course of the U.S. economy's performance, changing its competitive position in the global economy," said the report.
The analysis is similar to other cautionary reports that have emerged in recent months from independent organizations that analyze federal spending and the process known in Washington as sequestration. All the reports carry a degree of uncertainty as the government hasn't spelled out where it would make the cuts.
The Aerospace Industries Association is a trade group that represents manufacturers of military and business aircraft, space systems and other technology. At stake for these companies are billions of dollars of contracts and they are campaigning hard against the spending cuts.
Its report comes amid a cacophony of election-year demands and partisan backbiting over how to avert the impending cuts that will only grow louder in the coming weeks.
Republicans are certain to seize on the dire numbers as they insist that President Barack Obama is ignoring a critical problem and is willing to make deep cuts in the military. Democrats will use the estimates to demand that the GOP accept tax increases on high wage earners as part of any alternative to implementing the cuts.
Story continues
The House is scheduled to vote this week on legislation forcing the Obama administration to explain how it will impose the automatic cuts. Top officials from major defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, EADS, Pratt and Whitney and Williams-Pyro are slated to testify before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday as they clamor for Congress to avoid the cuts.
Then, on Aug. 1, Jeffrey Zients, acting head of the Office of Management and Budget, and Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter will be questioned by the panel on how the administration plans to make $55 billion in defense cuts next year.
Unless Obama and congressional Republicans and Democrats can agree on a plan to stave off the cuts, the military will face a reduction of $492 billion over a decade, with a $55 billion cut beginning in January, three months into the fiscal year. Domestic programs also would be reduced by $492 billion over 10 years.
The automatic cuts, known as sequestration, are the result of the failure last year of a bipartisan congressional panel to come up with a plan to cut the deficit by $1.2 trillion over 10 years. The panel had been created in the hard-fought budget law passed last summer that reduced government spending while raising the nation's borrowing authority. Decisions on across-the-board reductions, the expiration of Bush-era tax cuts and another effort to increase the country's borrowing authority are part of a packed congressional agenda after the November elections.
Using the issue as leverage, Democrats have signaled they are willing to allow the automatic cuts if Republicans continue to rebuff calls to raise taxes on those Americans making more than $250,000 a year.
Based on analyses by the Congressional Research Service and other data, the report estimated that the automatic cuts would translate into a 1.5 percentage point increase in unemployment, which now stands at 8.2 percent in a sluggish economic recovery.
The report estimated a loss of 1.09 million jobs from the defense cuts next year, with almost 70 percent from manufacturing and professional and business service jobs. Cuts in domestic spending would result in 1.05 million jobs lost, the report estimated.
"The federal agencies haven't said what they would cut back," Fuller said in an interview of the domestic cuts. "They don't have too many choices because most of their budget is payroll, where the Defense Department has more choices because most of its budget isn't payroll."
Republicans and Democrats remain deeply divided over how to stave off the cuts, though various groups of senators have been trying to come up with a resolution.
Sen. John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been talking privately with the panel's chairman, Democrat Carl Levin of Michigan, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and other lawmakers about various options to avert the cuts, including a $110 billion, one-year plan that would include closing tax loopholes.
He faces a tough challenge in securing strong bipartisan support, a reality underscored by House Speaker John Boehner's contention that closing tax loopholes should be part of a deal for tax reform rather than a way to avert the defense cuts.
Marion Blakey, president and chief executive officer of the Aerospace Industries Association, said the industry did not want to offer an opinion on what solution would be best.
"We would expect that in this situation, rational behavior will take hold," she said in an interview. She said it was imperative because the cuts only provide a short-term benefit.
"This isn't addressing the fundamentals in any way," she said. "What it's doing is driving our economy back into a recession for an anticipated short-term nick on the debt. That's all it is." | {
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A one-of-a-kind mass spectral imaging instrument built at Colorado State University (CSU) lets scientists map cellular composition in three dimensions at a nanoscale image resolution of 75 nanometers wide and 20 nanometers deep — more than 100 times higher resolution than was earlier possible, according to the scientists.
The instrument may be able to observe how well experimental drugs penetrate and are processed by cells as new medications are developed to combat disease, customize treatments for specific cell types in specific conditions, identify the sources of pathogens propagated for bioterrorism, or investigate new ways to overcome antibiotic resistance among patients with surgical implants, according to professor Dean Crick of the CSU Mycobacteria Research Laboratories.
Crick’s primary research interest is tuberculosis, an infectious respiratory disease that contributes to an estimated 1.5 million deaths around the world each year. “We’ve developed a much more refined instrument,” Crick said. “It’s like going from using a dull knife to using a scalpel. You could soak a cell in a new drug and see how it’s absorbed, how quickly, and how it affects the cell’s chemistry.”
The earlier generation of laser-based mass-spectral imaging could identify the chemical composition of a cell and could map its surface in two dimensions at microscale (about one micrometer), but could not chart cellular anatomy at more-detailed nanoscale dimensions and in 3-D, Crick said.
The research is described in an open-access paper in Nature Communications and was funded by a $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health as part of an award to the Rocky Mountain Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Disease Research. The optical equipment that focuses the laser beam was created by the Center for X-Ray Optics at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif.
A special issue of Optics and Photonics News this month highlights the CSU research as among “the most exciting peer-reviewed optics research to have emerged over the past 12 months.”
CSU College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences | Nanoscale Mass-Spectral Imaging in 3-D at Colorado State University
Abstract of Three-dimensional nanoscale molecular imaging by extreme ultraviolet laser ablation mass spectrometry
Analytical probes capable of mapping molecular composition at the nanoscale are of critical importance to materials research, biology and medicine. Mass spectral imaging makes it possible to visualize the spatial organization of multiple molecular components at a sample’s surface. However, it is challenging for mass spectral imaging to map molecular composition in three dimensions (3D) with submicron resolution. Here we describe a mass spectral imaging method that exploits the high 3D localization of absorbed extreme ultraviolet laser light and its fundamentally distinct interaction with matter to determine molecular composition from a volume as small as 50 zl in a single laser shot. Molecular imaging with a lateral resolution of 75 nm and a depth resolution of 20 nm is demonstrated. These results open opportunities to visualize chemical composition and chemical changes in 3D at the nanoscale. | {
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WASHINGTON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - The U.S. derivatives regulator said on Friday it would allow CME Group Inc. and CBOE Global Markets Inc. to list bitcoin futures, after the rival bourses were able to show their proposed contracts and trading arrangements met the necessary regulatory requirements.
The announcement by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) paves the way for CME and CBOE to become the first traditional U.S. regulated exchanges to launch trading in bitcoin-related financial contracts, in a watershed moment for the cryptocurrency that should lead to greater regulatory scrutiny.
Trading in the CME and CBOE bitcoin futures contracts, which will be priced against and settled in the cash bitcoin market, should begin by year end, a CFTC official said.
Bitcoin soared above $11,000 for the first time this week, up 10-fold year-to-date and prompting multiple warnings of a bubble.
To guard against volatility, CME and CBOE will put in place stricter than usual risk-management safeguards, including initial margin requirements of between 35 percent and 40 percent.
The exchanges have also agreed to enter into information sharing agreements and to send the CFTC data on the settlement process so the regulator can conduct its own surveillance.
CFTC Chairman Christopher Giancarlo warned investors, however, that the nascent underlying bitcoin cash markets remain largely unregulated and mostly beyond the CFTC’s purview.
“We expect that the futures exchanges, through information sharing agreements, will be monitoring the trading activity on the relevant cash platforms for potential impacts on the futures contracts’ price discovery process, including potential market manipulation and market dislocations due to flash rallies and crashes, and trading outages,” he said in a statement.
“Nevertheless, investors should be aware of the potentially high level of volatility and risk in trading these contracts.”
CFTC regulations allow designated contract exchanges such as CME to list products for trading without prior CFTC approval by filing a written self-certification with the regulator.
Under the self-certification process, which is a quirk of the futures market, the exchanges file a submission to the CFTC confirming the product complies with the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations - including a key provision that requires the contract is not susceptible to manipulation.
The CFTC has the power to block the contract but will not do so in this instance.
CME has been vying with CBOE to launch the first bitcoin-related financial product. Nasdaq OMX Group is also eyeing a contract launch before year end, Reuters reported this week. (Reporting by Michelle Price and John McCrank; Editing by Leslie Adler) | {
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(Reuters) - Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin is forming a public movement in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is all but certain to seek a new term in office next year.
Slideshow ( 2 images )
Ovechkin, a Russian national team forward, made ice hockey history last month, scoring four goals to become the first player in a century to claim back-to-back hat-tricks to open a season as the Capitals routed the Montreal Canadiens 6-1.
“Personal awards and prizes - all this is great, but in hockey, just as in any business, a team is more important for a victory,” Ovechkin wrote on Instagram on Thursday.
“I have never hidden my attitude towards our president, always openly supporting him,” he added. “I am confident that there are many of us, supporting Vladimir Putin. So let’s unite and show everyone a united and strong Russia!”
He made no mention of Russia’s next presidential election in March, in which Putin, with public approval ratings in Russia hovering at above 80 percent, is widely expected to run.
Putin, a 65-year-old former KGB spy, has not said if he will seek his fourth term as president.
Ovechkin said his movement would be called “Putin Team”, an idea derived from a cliche “Putin’s team” used by Western media.
“I liked very much this definition. I am personally ready to be part of such a team,” Ovechkin said.
“It’s like that feeling when you put on a jersey of Russia’s national team, knowing that the entire country will be rooting for you.”
Ice hockey is a relatively recent sporting passion for Putin, a black belt in judo whose other hobbies include mountain skiing, horse-riding and diving.
Together with former Soviet and Russian hockey players, ministers and showbiz celebrities, Putin founded an “NHL” of his own - the Night Hockey League - and he often wins its annual cups.
Putin is not yet aware of Ovechkin’s initiative, TASS news agency cited a Kremlin spokesman as saying. | {
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At the moment, there are four teams on pace to finish the 2015 college football season without a win: UCF, Kansas, North Texans and New Mexico State. It’s a special season, and not just because the Aggies can become the only team since 2005 with more than one season without a single win.
Over the last ten seasons, we’ve never had more than two teams going winless in one season. In 2005, the New Mexico State (who we’ve just mentioned) and Temple combined for 0 wins. The Aggies were playing in the WAC for the first time, moving in from the Sub Belt. Temple were beginning their time as an independent. Syracuse had 0 wins in 2005 and 2006, but that was due to them being vacated, not actually going winless on the field for an entire season.
In 2006 Duke and Florida International were the bottom feeders of college football. Duke were shut out in three of their four first games that season. They lost their final game of 2006 to North Carolina in the Battle for the Victory Bell by one point.
No one had 0 wins in 2006. In 2008, Washington under Tyrone Willingham ended the season at 0-12. That brutal year included a 56-0 loss to USC, a double overtime loss to Washington State and the season ending with a 31-point defeat at the hands of California. Willingham was fired at the end of that season, which led to the Steve Sarkisian era, which wasn’t embarrassing, but wasn’t anything special as well.
In 2009 we went back to the tradition of two awful teams not being able to win a single game. Western Kentucky in their inaugural Sun Belt season went 0-12 although they were quite competitive in the end, losing the final three games by a combined 13 points; and Eastern Michigan, who lost senior starting quarterback Andy Schmitt in week 3 against Michigan. They also had an 0-12 season, and after Schmitt went down, they were rarely involved in any close games.
We’re getting closer to the end of our story, bringing us to 2013. Yes, three years of every team in the land winning at least one of their games, we got back to having two distinct losers amongst the FBS members. Who this time? Miami (Redhawks) and Georgia State. For Miami, the endless losing meant firing Don Treadwell midway through the season after two 4-8 years. For the Panthers, it was their first season as FBS members, so losing a lot was more understandable. Trent Miles was the head coach that first year, and he’s still their head coach, leading them to three wins since.
And before we sign off, is there a win in sight for this year’s candidates? Kansas are a lost cause, and so are UCF. What about New Mexico State? Their only hope is the Louisiana-Monroe game that ends the season, a team that’s winless in the Sun Belt action and 1-6 overall. North Texas? They haven’t been in a single close game this year. Maybe against UTSA, maybe. | {
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Unprofessional Fridays: 11/20/2015
Jason's blood goes bad, Brad's harassing, Drew's all like "pew pew pew", and Dan gets his revengeance.
The end of the week is here! You made it! Let's sit back, relax, and close the week out in style with some video games.
Nov. 20 2015
Cast: Brad, Drew, Matt, Dan, Jason
Posted by: Jason | {
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Main ContentPlaceholder
Kotimaa
Rehtorien ehdotus: Kesäloma alkamaan vasta viikko ennen juhannusta
Alkukesä on usein kylmä ja sateinen, loppukesä usein lämmin ja aurinkoinen, rehtorit perustelevat. Kansalaisaloite lomien siirrosta on kerännyt toistaiseksi vain vähän nimiä.
Facebook Twitter Sähköposti Kopioi linkki Jaa Facebook Twitter Sähköposti Kopioi linkki Tallenna Kommentoi
Lomien siirrolla kesäloma osuisi Suomessa suuremmassa määrin samaan aikaan muiden pohjoismaiden ja muun Euroopan kesälomien kanssa. Kuva kuhmolaiselta kesämökiltä.
Kesälomien alkua pitäisi siirtää kahdella viikolla eteenpäin peruskouluissa ja lukioissa, ehdottaa ruotsinkielinen rehtorien yhdistys. Södra Finlands svenska rektorsförening ry:n hallitus on tehnyt kansalaisaloitteen lukuvuoden koulutyön päättämisajankohdan siirtämiseksi peruskoulussa ja lukiossa. | {
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Last month, Obsidian (the studio producing ‘South Park: The Game’) was hit with layoffs and a few members of the South Park team were affected. Today, Danny Bilson, the EVP for Core Games at THQ (the publisher), revealed that the game is still on track and says it will “absolutely be the funniest game ever made.”
Via Michael Futter at RipTen:
MF: You mentioned games that people are really excited for. One of the games that has been on people’s radar since December of last year is the South Park RPG that was announced. I have two questions about that. First, is that still on track and moving forward with Obsidian.
DB: Yes. It absolutely is.
MF: When it was announced, it was slated for a 2012 release. Is that still going to happen?
DB: Potentially, but it’s going to be very close. It’s all about… because that game is being written by Matt [Stone] and Trey [Parker]… some of the production process ebbs and flows with their schedule. They are in the middle of a season right now, and as soon as they are done, they get back to the game, and their season takes them out for a couple of months at a time. Again, it’s like I said about Darksiders. We can’t afford to ship it until it’s perfect.
Matt and Trey won’t ship until it’s their vision of this ultimate role playing game, where you’re the new kid in town and it’s like being in a South Park episode. Once all the pieces are together, we’ll announce a date and we’ll ship it. I can tell you from progress and process. I’ve got sections of the game that they’ve completed; they are phenomenal. If you like South Park, and I love South Park, it’s South Park! It’s incredible and it’ll absolutely be the funniest game ever made. There’s no two ways about it.
[Later in the interview…]
MF: We received confirmation that an Obsidian project was canceled in the same week that it was announced the studio had missed their Metacritic bonus by one point. They had to lay off people, as well. It appears, based on what we were able to find, that some of the staff affected worked on the South Park RPG. Obviously, that game is still moving forward, so you weren’t the publisher that canceled the project. It seems like your relationship with Obsidian, and the project they are working on with you, might have been affected by this. How do you deal with that when two other publishers making decisions affect a project you are working on?
DB: It had no effect. Just like any studio, when you downsize, you keep your best people. Think about it. If South Park becomes the lead sku in the studio, it’s just going to have all the most experienced people on it. It didn’t affect us in any way. Obsidian isn’t our studio. If people were removed from that team, they were replaced by more senior people. There was no negative, except for the negative of any studio having to lay off employees. It’s incredibly painful. It wasn’t a game of ours that was canceled there, and I do like Obsidian. I want to see them succeed, and I don’t want to see them stressed by not having enough games, but Feargus seems to feel that he has a pipeline of stuff coming in. So, the answer is, really, that it had no effect. | {
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Ghiotto will share the #5 Ginetta G60-LT-P1 with Ben Hanley and Egor Orudzhev, with Charlie Robertson moving across to the sister #6 car alongside Mike Simpson and 2003 Le Mans 24 Hours winner Guy Smith.
Robertson takes the place vacated by Chris Dyson, who will skip the WEC’s Japanese round due to clashing commitments in the Trans-Am Championship in the USA.
Dyson had also missed the Silverstone opener due to an injury and will now make his first appearance of the 2019/20 season at Shanghai in November.
Team LNT had recruited ex-Audi LMP1 star Oliver Jarvis as Dyson’s replacement for Silverstone.
“We’re delighted that Luca can join us in Japan, he’s a real talent and loved the car at the Prologue but was unable to join the team at Silverstone as he had a clashing F2 fixture," Team LNT owner Lawrence Tomlinson said.
“Combining his talents with those of Ben and Egor will, I’m sure, help to unlock even more of the potential of the Ginetta AER on a circuit that will suit a car with good top speed.
“And with three very good drivers in the #6 Ginetta AER too we are going to be looking for a very strong result in our very first flyaway race with the new cars.”
Ghiotto tested for Team LNT for the first time during the WEC Prologue at Barcelona, placing the Ginetta squad fourth quickest in the final session - just over half a second down on the pace-setting Toyota.
Speaking after the test, the Italian admitted that WEC was his ‘Plan B’, should his F1 dream fail to materialise. He currently sits third in the F2 drivers’ standings, 70 points off championship leader Nyck de Vries with two rounds to go.
“For now the confirmation is for Fuji only,” Ghiotto told Motorsport.com. “There are no other races clashing with F2, if I had the chance to do more races I would be happy to do them.
“I know the car after the test but I’ve never even been racing in Japan, I’ve just driven Fuji a couple of times in a simulator. That will be the most difficult thing to learn.
"There’s a lot of time in the car in practice so it should be enough to learn everything I think.”
Following a fourth-place finish in the LMP1 class at Silverstone last month, the #5 Ginetta Ghiotto will be driving at Fuji will carry a weight penalty as part of the series' new performance handicap system. | {
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2) I haven't felt this dirty since the time I was getting a lap dance from a stripper and her water broke.[/b]
Click to expand... | {
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Op-Ed See Dick. See Dick Call Bitcoin a Pyramid Scheme. Wrong, Dick. Wrong.
In an interview with CNBC earlier Tuesday, former Wells Fargo CEO Richard ‘Dick’ Kovacevich denounced Bitcoin as a pyramid scheme.
First, it was economist Robert Schiller calling Bitcoin a “bubble”. Then JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon added his pontificating opinion to the mix, labeling it a “fraud.” Now it looks like Wall Street talking heads are doubling down on the stupid.
Yesterday, in an interview on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street, former Wells Fargo CEO Richard Kovacevich pronounced Bitcoin a pyramid scheme:
I think it’s a pyramid scheme. It makes no sense. I’m just surprised it isn’t even lower.
Bitcoin vs. Pyramid Scheme
To paraphrase a quote from one of my favorite movies, Mr. Kovacevich, you keep using that word (pyramid scheme). I do not think it means what you think it means.
Investopedia defines a pyramid scheme as:
A pyramid scheme is an illegal investment scam based on a hierarchical setup. New recruits make up the base of the pyramid and provide the funding, or so-called returns, the earlier investors/recruits above them receive. A pyramid scheme does not involve the selling of products. Rather, it relies on the constant inflow of money from additional investors that works its way to the top of the pyramid.
It also notes that pyramid schemes are fraudulent because:
People are deceived into believing that by giving money, they will make more money; however, no wealth has been created, no product has been sold, no investment has been made, and no service has been provided.
Here’s where the wheels come off of Kovacevich’s argument:
1. Bitcoin is not based on recruiting. There is no funnel, no downline, no single fat cat at the top getting rich off of percentages of the investments of people under him or her.
2. Early Bitcoin investors, who could arguably be considered to be at the top of the investment food chain, aren’t realizing profits from the funds of investors who came after them. Any profits realized come from traditional investing strategies of early adoption, knowing when to hold and when to get out, and buying low and selling high.
3. When an investor buys bitcoin, they are doing one of two things:
Converting fiat currency to its equivalent value in bitcoin to use as a medium of exchange, much like a visitor to a foreign country might convert their own native currency to that of their host country;
Investing in it either as a store of value, like gold, oil, etc., or speculatively, with the expectation that its value will increase while understanding that it could decrease as well.
Neither of these two use cases meets the definition of a pyramid scheme. In the former, something is being purchased, and in the latter, an investment is being made.
Why is the Old Guard so Resistant to Bitcoin?
Cryptocurrency is a new financial animal that doesn’t behave like anything that traditional finance experts have seen before. They don’t understand cryptocurrency, so rather than make an attempt to educate themselves, they criticize and denounce it out of hand. It doesn’t make sense to them, so naturally, it must be a fraud.
If you watch the video clip below, you can hear the confusion and exasperation when Kovacevich declares:
The fundamentals make no sense.
Even Warren Buffett, a legend in financial circles and vocal Bitcoin critic, admits his lack of understanding:
I get into enough trouble with things I think I know something about. […] Why in the world should I take a long or short position in something I don’t know anything about?
Personally, I think that a sense of elitism and fear of losing control are also at play to some degree. One of the greatest things about cryptocurrency is that it is open to everyone and controlled by no one. You don’t have to be rich to get into crypto and everybody has an equal chance of profiting (or losing) from their investments. It’s the great equalizer and I think it bugs the hell out of some of these guys that crypto investing lets “just anybody” in.
The moral of the story? Educate yourselves, be open to new ideas, and don’t be a Dick.
What do you think of Kovacevich’s claims? Why do *you* think so many mainstream financial experts are critical of Bitcoin? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of The Princess Bride/Twentieth Century Fox, sheilapic76/Flickr | {
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L’enquête fut longue (1), mais aujourd’hui les « ichnologues », ces géologues spécialisés dans l’analyse des traces fossiles animales, ont trouvé le coupable : un dinosaure d’au moins 35 m de long et de plus de 35 tonnes, présent il y a 150 millions d’années.
Découvertes en 2009, dans le massif du Jura, sur le site de Plagne (Ain) près d’Oyonnax, par deux naturalistes amateurs, ces traces ont été ensuite longuement étudiées par plusieurs équipes de géologues (universités de Lyon, Saint-Étienne, Clermont-Ferrand, ENS, CNRS, IRD, et musée de la Plage aux ptérosaures) et notamment par Jean-Michel Mazin.
Une prairie aux nombreuses traces de dinosaures
Les fouilles ont révélé que cette « prairie » de 3 hectares contenait de très nombreuses autres traces de dinosaures. Surtout, les empreintes découvertes en 2009 s’insèrent sur une piste de 110 pas successifs, sur 155 mètres de long : un record mondial pour des sauropodes, c’est-à-dire des herbivores, les plus imposants des dinosaures.
« La datation des niveaux calcaires montre que la piste remonte à 150 millions d’années, à une période du jurassique appelée tithonien inférieur, et que le site de Plagne se situait alors sur une vaste plateforme carbonatée (calcaire), où s’étendait une mer chaude et peu profonde, explique Nicolas Olivier, chercheur au laboratoire de géologie de Lyon. La présence de grands dinosaures indique que la région devait être parsemée de nombreuses îles, à la végétation suffisamment fournie pour nourrir de telles créatures. Au gré des fluctuations du niveau marin, ces chapelets d’îles devaient se connecter afin que ces grands vertébrés puissent migrer depuis les terres émergées du massif rhénan. »
Des fouilles pour affiner l’étude des empreintes de dinosaures
Des fouilles complémentaires ont permis d’affiner l’étude des empreintes. « Celles des pieds mesurent de 94 à 103 cm, mais peuvent atteindre jusqu’à 3 mètres en incluant le bourrelet de boue périphérique expulsé lors de l’impact », précise le géologue. Ces empreintes portent cinq marques de doigts elliptiques, tandis que les mains présentent cinq marques de doigts circulaires, organisées en arc de cercle.
Les analyses biométriques décrivent un animal d’au moins 35 m de long et de 35 à 40 tonnes, avec des enjambées de 2,80 m en moyenne et une vitesse de 4 km à l’heure. Il appartient à un nouveau genre : le Brontopodus plagnensis. Le site comprend également différentes pistes, dont une de 18 pas et 38 mètres, laissée par un carnivore du genre Megalosauripus. | {
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Did the community organizer from Harvard Law just deliver some personal payback to the IDF commando? So it would seem.
By abstaining on that Security Council resolution declaring Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem illegal and invalid, raged Bibi Netanyahu, President Obama “failed to protect Israel in this gang-up at the UN, and colluded with it.”
Obama’s people, charged Bibi, “initiated this resolution, stood behind it, coordinated on the wording and demanded that it be passed.”
White House aide Ben Rhodes calls the charges “falsehoods.”
Hence, we have an Israeli leader all but castigating an American president as a backstabber and betrayer, while the White House calls Bibi a liar.
This is not an unserious matter.
“By standing with the sworn enemies of Israel to enable the passage of this destructive, one-sided anti-Israel rant and tirade,” writes the Washington Times, “Mr. Obama shows his colors.”
But unfortunately for Israel, the blow was delivered by friends as well as “sworn enemies.”
The U.S. abstained, but Britain, whose Balfour Declaration of 1917 led to the Jewish state in Palestine, voted for the resolution.
As did France, which allied with Israel in the Sinai-Suez campaign of 1956 to oust Egypt’s Colonel Nasser, and whose Mysteres were indispensable to Israel’s victory in the Six-Day War of 1967.
Vladimir Putin, who has worked with Bibi and was rewarded with Israel’s refusal to support sanctions on Russia for Crimea and Ukraine, also voted for the resolution.
Egypt, whose Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was welcomed by Bibi after his coup against the Muslim Brotherhood president, and who has collaborated with Bibi against terrorists in Sinai and Gaza, also voted yes.
China voted yes, as did Ukraine. New Zealand and Senegal, both of which have embassies in Tel Aviv, introduced the resolution.
Despite Israel’s confidential but deepening ties with Sunni Arab states that share her fear and loathing of Iran, not a single Security Council member stood by her and voted against condemning Israel’s presence in Arab East Jerusalem and the Old City. Had the resolution gone before the General Assembly, support would have been close to unanimous.
While this changes exactly nothing on the ground in the West Bank or East Jerusalem where 600,000 Israelis now reside, it will have consequences, and few of them will be positive for Israel.
The resolution will stimulate and strengthen the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel, which has broad support among U.S. college students, Bernie Sanders Democrats, and the international left.
If Israel does not cease expanding West Bank settlements, she could be hauled before the International Criminal Court and charged with war crimes.
Already, J Street, the liberal Jewish lobby that backs a two-state solution in Palestine—and has been denounced by Donald Trump’s new envoy to Israel David Friedman as “far worse than kapos,” the Jewish guards at Nazi concentration camps—has endorsed the resolution.
The successful resolution is also a reflection of eroding support for Israel at the top of the Democratic Party, as a two-term president and a presidential nominee, Secretary of State John Kerry, were both behind it.
Republicans are moving to exploit the opening by denouncing the resolution and the UN and showing solidarity with Israel. Goal: replace the Democratic Party as the most reliable ally of Israel, and reap the rewards of an historic transfer of Jewish political allegiance.
That Sen. George McGovern was seen as pro-Palestinian enabled Richard Nixon to double his Jewish support between 1968 and 1972.
That Jimmy Carter was seen as cold to Israel enabled Ronald Reagan to capture more than a third of the Jewish vote in 1980, on his way to a 44-state landslide.
Moreover, U.S. acquiescence in this resolution puts Bibi in a box at home. Though seen here as a hawk on the settlements issue, the right wing of Bibi’s coalition is far more hawkish, pushing for outright annexation of West Bank settlements. Others call for a repudiation of Oslo and the idea of an independent Palestinian state.
If Bibi halts settlement building on the West Bank, he could cause a split in his cabinet with rightist rivals like Naftali Bennett who seek to replace him.
Here in the U.S., the UN resolution is seen by Democrats as a political debacle, and by many Trump Republicans as an opportunity.
Sen. Chuck Schumer has denounced Obama’s refusal to veto the resolution, echoing sentiments about the world body one used to hear on America’s far right.
“The U.N.,” said Schumer, “has been a fervently anti-Israel body since the days [it said] ‘Zionism is racism’ and that fervor has never diminished.”
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham says he will urge Congress to slash funding for the United Nations.
If the folks over at the John Birch Society still have some of those bumper stickers—“Get the U.S. out of the U.N., and the U.N. out of the U.S.!”—they might FedEx a batch over to Schumer and Graham.
May have some converts here.
Patrick J. Buchanan is a founding editor of The American Conservative and the author of the book The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose From Defeat to Create the New Majority. | {
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Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Indian Government on Wednesday denied visa to former Pakistan President and Military Chief, General Pervez Musharraf to visit India.
Musharraf was invited by Young’s President Organization. He was to travel to India to attend a seminar.
Some Musharraf`s supporters had also applied to the
Indian High Commission in Islamabad for a visa to visit India
around the time he was planning to travel here and the three
other metros, the sources said.
The decision was taken after the Home Ministry expressed
reservations over the visit of the former Pakistani military
ruler due to his recent anti-India statements, official
sources said.
Besides, the government also did not want convergence of
elements opposed to the present regime in Pakistan on Indian
soil for their activities. He was planning to stage a comeback in Pakistan politics.
However some other sources said that the Government of India doubted Musharraf’s real intentions of visiting India.
Musharraf, currently living in self-exile in Britain,
had recently said that India was responsible for creating
unrest in Pakistan`s south-western Baluchistan province and
authorities have "solid evidence" in this regard.
He claimed that the involvement of India and Afghanistan
in Baluchistan was creating unrest in the province. He was
also the key architect of the Kargil war.
Almost a decade ago, Musharraf had visited India for the
Agra summit and made two more visits in 2005 and 2009. In
2005, he visited India as President for watching an Indo-Pak
one day cricket match and in 2009 to attend a media event
after shedding power.
After 26/11, Zardari told US Pakistan will retaliate if India attacks
Washington: In the wake of 26/11 terror attacks, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari told the US that Islamabad would retaliate if India attacked, but assured that it would not permit non-state actors to dictate state policy, leaked US diplomatic cables reveal.
Asserting that many in the West did not understand the importance of Kashmir in Pakistani public opinion, Zardari told the then US ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson that there was no way that he could let India attack Pakistan, according to the secret cable released by WikiLeaks.
"Zardari emphasised he had no problem making decisions, recalling that we had asked him to refuse the release of detainees in the context of `peace deals` when the Army and ISI were pressing to do so," he told Patterson when she called on him on Jan 2, 2009 to discuss the follow-up to the Mumbai investigation.
"But he said there was no way that he could let India attack Pakistan: many in the West did not understand the importance of Kashmir in Pakistani public opinion," says the leaked US cable dated Jan 5, 2009 and signed off by Patterson.
"Zardari confirmed again at the end of the conversation that Pakistan would not allow non-state actors to dictate state policy, but that the GOP (Government of Pakistan) would respond if the Indians attacked.
"Zardari said he had been briefed by Lt General Shuja Pasha (the ISI chief) on his meeting with DCIA (Director of the Central Intelligence Agency), and he had approved the release of `tearline` information to the Indians," the cable from the US embassy in Islamabad said.
He also wanted to emphasise that he and Pakistan army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani were fully committed to better relations with India.
"He (Zardari) reminded the ambassador that it had only taken a `phone call` from the US to ensure that Pakistan did not oppose the US/India civil nuclear deal at the Nuclear Suppliers Group," it said.
"He also recommended a report done in India which indicated that Indian Muslims were treated poorly and were among the least prosperous members of society," the cable said.
"He said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trying to whip up anti-Muslim sentiment. Moreover, there were plenty of extremist groups in India that could have assisted Lashkar-e-Taiba," it said.
( With agencies inputs) | {
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The suicide bomber as shown in Islamic State’s propaganda release
The Islamic State West Africa (ISWA), formerly known as Boko Haram, released a statement claiming responsibility for yesterday’s suicide bombing in Maiduguri, the capital of the northeastern Borno State. There are conflicting reports about the damage from the attack.
In the statement, the jihadist group claimed “no less than 15 were killed” and that 20 other people were injured in the suicide bombing. It went on to say that “after planning in advance, it was possible for the brother Abu Anas al Ansari (pictured above) to detonate his explosive belt in the middle of the apostate Nigerian parliament gathering in Maiduguri.” However, the numbers given by the Islamic State have widely differed with press reports from the region.
While the media corroborated the ISWA’s information that two police officers were killed in the attack, the number of civilians killed has ranged anywhere from two to five people. Reuters, quoting rescue workers from the scene, reported five people were killed in the blast and that 19 others were left wounded. Nigerian news outlet The Vanguard reported only the two policemen at the gates of the Borno State Government Secretariat were killed in the attack.
Discrepancies in numbers have occurred previously as the government attempts to play down the impact of attacks.
Just hours before the attack at the Secretariat, another suicide bomber was confronted in the village of Sulaimanti just outside of Maiduguri. According to Nigerian officials, the bomber was attempting to enter a local mosque to detonate during early morning prayers. Residents attempted to restrain him before he detonated himself, which left five people badly injured.
Maiduguri has been frequently hit by suicide attacks in recent months. In late March, ISWA killed more than 20 after two female suicide bombers detonated their explosives at a mosque in the village of Ummarari outside of Maiduguri. In late December, ISWA first launched a coordinated assault on Maiduguri by setting in motion at least two female suicide bombers. The two detonated as part of a wider assault, killing at least 15 people. As fighting raged on to a second day in the city, another woman detonating herself near a mosque, killing 20.
To the north of Maiduguri, the small village of Dawari was also attacked in the assault. However, Nigerian security officials have said their forces intervened and were able to kill 10 other would-be suicide bombers. (See LWJ report, Islamic State West Africa launches coordinated assaults in northeast Nigeria.)
The two suicide bombings come after the Nigerian military has claimed several successes in recent weeks. On Apr. 26, the military said it killed a top ISWA commander in Borno. While on May 1, the Nigerian military claimed it captured a key bomb making facility of ISWA in the town of Ngala. Additionally, the army has said it recaptured seven villages in northeastern Nigeria last week. But, in retreating in other areas of Borno, ISWA burned down two villages in recent days.
Yesterday’s suicide bombing is intended to show that ISWA retains the operational capacity to strike in the heart of major, well protected cities like Maiduguri despite being pushed back elsewhere in the country. The rate of major attacks have waned in recent months as the Nigerian military continues to make gains in recapturing ISWA-held territory. This includes the use of female suicide bombers, which has slowed drastically compared to last year. However, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal, ISWA has used at least 113 female suicide bombers since June 2014.
Caleb Weiss is a contributor to FDD's Long War Journal.
Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here. | {
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メカメカしいウェアラブルが苦手な人も、これなら貼ってみる気になるかも。
マックスプランク研究所とザールラント大学の科学者が、肌にぺたっと貼るシール型タッチパッド｢iSkin｣を開発しました。もともとはロボット向けに開発された電子皮膚を、人間のために応用したとのこと。生体適合性の高いシリコンから作られていて、柔軟でとっても薄いんです。共同開発者のMartin Weigelさんは次のように話しています。
今の電子機器は硬い素材からできているため、着けていて心地よいものではありません。それに、身につけることのできる場所も手首や頭などに限定されています。わたしたちのセンサーは柔軟に形を変えるので、どこにでも身につけることができます。耳の裏やおでこなど、コンピューターへの入力を行なえる場所の範囲はどんどん広がります。
VIDEO: Advances in electronic skin - for on-body mobile computing: http://t.co/xmG6FhOaFtpic.twitter.com/ZwVvML2sUe — Reuters Tech News (@ReutersTech) August 10, 2015
センサーはタッチだけではなく、曲げたり伸ばす動作にも反応します。現在のプロトタイプでは電話を受けたり、音楽をかけたり、ボリュームを調整したり。スマートウォッチとほぼ同じような機能を備えています。
開発者は、体を使ってデバイスを操作する上で｢iSkin｣こそが最も理想的なプラットフォームだと考えています。現在はコンピューターに接続して使っていますが、マイクロチップを搭載することも検討中だそうです。将来的に開発者のWeigelさんは、身につけた人の体温や血流で発電させることも考えているのだとか。はやう使ってみたいなあ...。
image by YouTube via Reuters
source: Reuters、Quartz
（Haruka Mukai） | {
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Story highlights Judge in Aurora shootings approved use of drugs for competency evaluation
Arthur Caplan: No drug can shed light on mindset of shooting suspect Holmes
He says "truth serum," or sodium pentothal, is used as anesthesia for surgeries
Caplan: Only Hollywood likes the idea of "truth serum," not scientists
Back in the 1950s, Hollywood fell in love with the idea of truth serum. All manner of spies, murderers and other bad guys were given a needle containing sodium pentothal on the big screen and soon were babbling away uncontrollably as to their guilt or complicity with Red China or the Soviet Union.
As recently as 2004 in "Meet the Fockers," a former CIA agent played by Robert De Niro injects his would-be son-in-law, played by Ben Stiller, with the stuff to get the lowdown on his love life. Stiller's character confesses, in a foreshadowing of Arnold Schwarzenegger's amorous ways, to having had a child with his housekeeper, although whether he did or not is far from clear.
Harry Potter knew all about truth serum. Veritaserum was used on a variety of miscreants and by evildoers. It was so powerful and feared that its use was strictly controlled by the Ministry of Magic.
In reality, magical thinking is all it really is. There is no such thing as truth serum. But that news has apparently not reached Colorado. The judge in charge of the mass murder trial of James Holmes seems to think Hollywood was onto something with its fascination with truth serums.
Arthur Caplan
He has approved the use of a " narcoanalytic interview " -- such as a " truth serum " like sodium pentothal -- as part of a competency evaluation to determine whether Holmes was legally insane at the time he allegedly went on a rampage in a theater in Aurora, Colorado. Holmes is charged with killing 12 people and injuring many more.
Sodium pentothal -- the original " truth serum " -- was discovered in 1936 by Ernest H. Volwiler and Donalee L. Tabern working in Chicago at Abbott Laboratories. They were trying to create an injectable drug for use in general anesthesia. Their discovery was a success and had a huge impact on surgery. Sodium pentothal is still used today to knock out patients before they are given another, longer-lasting anesthetic to keep them unconscious during surgery.
Sodium pentothal made surgery far less painful. It also has an interesting side effect. People under its influence lose their inhibitions and babble on about all sorts of things, leading to some amusing moments for surgical teams. This loss of inhibition gave a few researchers hope that the drug or something like it could be used to get the truth out of people in police stations, security interrogations or trials.
But outside of Hollywood, no drug passes muster as a potion capable of getting accurately at the truth. People do get uninhibited and talk more freely, but they don't necessarily stop lying or fantasizing. They also grow more compliant, tending to agree with those asking them leading questions.
There is no solid evidence that what is said under the influence of a "truth" drug correlates reliably with the truth. For the most part, people yammer away. If anything, they behave as if they were drunk rather than diligently affirming the sober truth.
There is no drug that is going to shed trustworthy light on Holmes' state of mind last year when, police say, he donned a gas mask as well as full body armor and grabbed a rifle, a pump-action 12-gauge shotgun and at least one .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol to launch a heinous attack . No drug can tell us what he was really thinking.
In giving permission to use drugs, the judge has opened the door to a line of defense in which Holmes' lawyers can argue that if drugged, he is being forced to testify against himself against his will.
As much as some might hope for a thing such as a truth serum, none exists. Whether Holmes was bad or mad when he allegedly caused so much misery to so many people will not get resolved by a technique beloved by Hollywood movie directors but not by scientists. | {
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Terrorism in Syria and Iraq is receiving direct support from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, France and Great Britain, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to Sputnik.
DAMASCUS (Sputnik) — Terrorism in Syria and Iraq is receiving direct support from Turkey, Saudi Arabia, France and the United Kingdom, Syrian President Bashar Assad told Sputnik.
"Terrorism — that’s the real problem. We must fight it on the international level, because terrorism affects not only Syria. Terrorism exists in Iraq. It is directly supported by Turkey. It is directly supported by the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia, as well as a number of Western states, especially France and the United Kingdom," Assad said.
"As far as other states go, they are watching, observing. No serious work on this issue is being conducted from their side. I think that with regard to this questions, the problem far larger than the problem of the actual figures," he added.
Syrian Losses Due to War Surpass $200 Billion
Syria's infrastructure has suffered damages amounting to over $200 billion in the course of the war that has raged in the country for five years, Syrian President Bashar Assad told Sputnik.
"The economic losses and damages to infrastructure surpass 200 billion dollars. Economic issues can be resolved right when the situation in Syria stabilizes. But the reconstruction of the infrastructure needs a lot of time," Assad said.
Syrian Refugees to Begin Returning Home When Hope for Improvement Appears
Syrian refugees will begin returning home when they see hope for improvement, Syrian President Bashar Assad told Sputnik.
"We’ve started infrastructure reconstruction work before the crisis is over, to soften, as much as possible, the influence of economic losses and infrastructure damage on the Syrian people and at the same time reduce the migration flow out of the country," Assad said.
"Maybe some will want to return when they see that there is hope for the amelioration of the situation," he added.
The president noted that the cause of migration is not only terrorism and the security situation, but also the blockade and Western sanctions introduced against Syria.
"Many people have left safe areas where there is no terrorism because of the life conditions. Citizens can no longer provide themselves with all that is necessary. So we, as a state, must take steps, at least the most basic ones, to improve the economic situation and the service sector in Syria. That’s what we are currently doing in terms of reconstruction," he stated.
Damascus to Lean on Russia, China, Iran in Rebuilding Syria
Damascus will lean primarily on Russia, China and Iran in rebuilding the country following the war, Syrian President Bashar Assad told Sputnik.
"The reconstruction process is in any case profitable for companies that are participating in it, especially if they manage to get loans from the countries that will support them. Of course, we expect that the process will rely on the three main states that have supported Syria during this crisis — that’s Russia, China and Iran. But I suppose that a lot of countries that were against Syria, I mean first of all Western countries, will try to direct their companies to take part in this process. However, for us in Syria there is absolutely no doubt that we will ask, first of all, our friendly states," Assad said.
According to the president, it is "absolutely certain that if you were to pose this question to any Syrian citizen, his answer, political and emotional, would be that we welcome, first of all, the companies from the three countries, primarily from Russia."
"If we’re speaking of infrastructure, it spans, perhaps not even dozens, but hundreds of different areas and specializations. So I think that Russian companies will have a very broad space for contributing to the restoration of Syria," he added.
Syria Needs National Unity Government for Transition Period
The transitional period in Syria must occur under the current constitution and include a national unity government comprising various political forces, Syrian President Bashar Assad told Sputnik.
"First of all, regarding the definition of the 'transitional period,' such a definition does not exist. We in Syria assume that the term political transition means the transition from one constitution to another, and a constitution is what defines the form of the needed political composition in the next stage. Thus, the transition period must be under the current constitution, and we will move on to the new constitution after the Syrian people vote for it," Assad said.
"Before that, what we can work on, as we see it in Syria, is the government," he added. "This transitional structure or transitional format is a government formed by various Syrian political forces — opposition, independent, the current government and others."
The unity government's main goal would be to work out a new constitution and let the Syrian people vote on it, after which a transition to the new constitution could take place, Assad explained.
"Neither the Syrian constitution, nor the constitution of any other country in the world includes anything that is called a transitional body of power. It’s illogical and unconstitutional. What are the powers of this body? How will it govern the daily lives of citizens? Who will be assessing it? Today, there is the People’s Council [Syria’s parliament] and the constitution that regulates the work of the government and the state. That’s why a solution is a government of national unity that will prepare a new constitution," the president underlined.
The full text of Assad’s interview to Sputnik will be posted on the Sputnik website on March 30-31. | {
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Pirelli World Challenge officials have abandoned plans for tire changes in its SprintX series, following a nearly unanimous vote from teams ahead of the season-opening round at Virginia International Raceway.
The 60-minute two-driver format, which sees a 35-car capacity field this weekend, was set to feature a mandatory four-tire change in the GT Pro-Pro class, similar to the Blancpain GT Series Sprint Cup, but had come under fire from teams, citing the increased costs related to the equipment and personnel needed.
“The teams voted at Long Beach that they didn’t want that,” PWC Director of Competition Marcus Haselgrove told Sportscar365. “The rules got adjusted based on the feedback and the team owners meeting.”
The mandatory pit stop will now feature only a required driver change, with no time limit for the all-Pro class and a 60-second minimum for Pro-Am and Am-Am driver pairings, added onto an expected 30 to 35-second pit lane delta for those classes.
PWC stalwart Peter Cunningham has supported the decision, owing to the additional expenses needed to equip his RealTime Racing team for pit stops.
“It was a pretty unanimous vote from the participants, so I didn’t have a problem with it,” Cunningham said.
“We weren’t the only ones that were asking questions on the feasibility of it.”
Absolute Team Bentley team director Ingo Matter added: “As a racing person, of course I want to go flat out and do whatever.
“But it’s a lot more money to get the right equipment and transport the equipment. If you want to do it, you have to do it properly.”
A handful of teams, particularly with endurance racing experience, however, were supportive of the initially planned format.
“We were in favor of it,” K-PAX Racing’s Darren Law said. “We felt it was to our advantage, with our experience with that. We had been practicing for it all winter long, getting ready for it.
“It’s disappointing that we don’t get to try and execute it. But as long as it’s the same for everybody, we’ll deal with it.”
Haselgrove said the pit stop format has been locked in for the entire SprintX season, but will remain open for possible changes next year.
“We won’t change it in the middle of the season,” he said. “That’s what they’ve requested, so I’m actually good with that.” | {
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أعلن وزير الصحة الدكتور سعد جابر، الجمعة، عن عدم تسجيل اي حالات جديدة بفيروس كورونا.
وأكد وزير الصحة، أن عدم تسجيل اي حالات جديدة. لا يدل على ان الوباء قد انتهى، مؤكداً ان هذا هو ناتج التزام الاردنيين بالاجراءات المتبعة لمواجهة كورونا.
وبعد إعلان عدم إرتفاع الإصابات في الأردن، يكون المجمل كالآتي:
مجموع الحالات : ( 372)
حالات جديدة: (0)
حالات الوفاة: (7)
المتعافون: (170)
المصابون حاليا والمتواجدون في العزل (195) | {
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* French experts support ASN findings on Flamanville reactor
* Source says EDF in talks to order new reactor cover
* Japan’s JSW, not Areva’s own foundry, would forge new cover
* Greenpeace calls on minister to halt reactor construction (Adds detail, Greenpeace reaction, ASN press conference)
By Geert De Clercq
PARIS, June 28 (Reuters) - Utility EDF’s Flamanville 3 nuclear reactor in northwest France has been cleared by a group of experts for start-up despite weak spots in its steel, confirming the findings of the ASN nuclear regulator, a source close to the situation told Reuters.
Completion of the third unit at Flamanville, where two reactors have been operating since 1986-87, had been thrown into doubt after the discovery in 2015 of weak spots in the steel prompted an extensive safety review by the ASN.
The ASN report on the reactor, which has yet to be released but a copy of which has been seen by Reuters, concludes that the reactor is fit for service, though it will need to be monitored throughout its lifetime and the lid of the containment vessel will probably need to be replaced in a few years.
The “Groupe Permanent” experts, appointed to provide an independent second opinion, discussed the report on Monday and Tuesday and drafted its recommendation late on Tuesday evening, the source said.
The group’s non-binding recommendation, which will be used by the ASN to formulate a final ruling on Flamanville this autumn, is expected to be published by the ASN at a news conference at 1400 GMT on Wednesday, along with its report.
The source also said that representatives of EDF had told the group of experts that the utility had started a procedure to order a new reactor cover from manufacturer Areva.
The new cover would be forged by Japan Steel Works, not by Areva’s Creusot Forge foundry, which manufactured the piece with carbon concentrations that were found to have made the steel more brittle. The new cover will still be tooled by Areva, the source added.
EDF plans to build two of the same Areva-designed European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) models in Hinkley Point, Britain.
EDF declined to comment.
HIGH STAKES
The stakes are high for EDF and Areva because it would cost billions of euros and take years to repair the vessel if ASN rules that the steel is too brittle.
The ASN’s green light for Flamanville, slated for start-up in late 2018, is also a European Commission precondition for approving EDF’s planned takeover of Areva’s reactor business.
The source said that the ASN may publish a provisional ruling on Flamanville on its website around July 11 for public consultation.
Following input from the public and industry, it will then publish its final ruling in the autumn. Industry watchers say it its unlikely the final ruling will differ much from the original report and the experts’ recommendation.
Greenpeace called on energy and environment minister Nicolas Hulot to halt the Flamanville construction.
“The ASN is no longer able to decide on safety in all independence and cannot resist industry pressure, simply because the survival of the entire French nuclear industry is at stake with the approval of this reactor vessel,” Greenpeace said.
Greenpeace and other anti-nuclear activists argue that the group of experts is too close to the ASN and the nuclear industry to be able to contest the ASN’s conclusion that Flamanville will be safe to operate.
The ASN does not detail the experts’ professional backgrounds, but a spreadsheet obtained by Reuters shows that eight of them work or have worked with the ASN or IRSN, the technical arm of the regulator. Another eight work or have worked for EDF or Areva.
Critics say that only three of the experts are independent of the nuclear industry.
“The ASN is using an expert committee that is at its feet, with a text it has drafted itself, to legitimise a highly controversial decision on the safety of a device whose failure could have implications for millions of people,” said Mycle Schneider, author of the annual World Nuclear Industry Status Report. | {
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Last week, six steers bolted through St. Louis in a desperate attempt to save their lives. After escaping from a neighborhood slaughterhouse, the steers dodged police and animal control officers for more than five hours, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports
Trucked in from Illinois, the steers arrived at Star Packing Company in St. Louis, Missouri, to be housed for a day before being sent to another slaughter facility. Luckily, a handler left the trailer unlatched, giving them a chance at freedom.
Police and animal control officers eventually recaptured the animals late Thursday evening. While the steers awaited their fate, various groups worked to send them to a sanctuary.
For these six, the dash for freedom paid off. The Gentle Barn animal sanctuary will take care of them, including one dubbed Chico. They will be able to live the rest of their lives in peace. Jay Weiner, founder of The Gentle Barn, flew to St. Louis to oversee the transfer of the steers, stating that they were penned together and clearly frightened, breathing deeply and backed into a corner.
Stories like this are not uncommon. Like Chico and his five friends, all animals will struggle to save their lives. While these six found sanctuary, billions of other animals are not so lucky
Vegetarian Starter Guide today. The best thing you can do to help animals like these is to leave them off your plate. Click here to get your freetoday.
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I have heard that St. Petersburg is Russia’s most European city or that Moscow is Russia’s most Western city. Both are absolutely fantastic cities, but what if you are looking for a slower pace over a weekend? A city for tourists, that isn’t overrun by tourists… at least for now.
If you are driving to or from Finland or if you are in St. Petersburg and feel you have seen all of the sites and are looking for a change of pace, I highly recommend a day or two in the ancient city of Vyborg.
Tracing its roots back to the 13th century, Vyborg was at one time ruled by the Swedes, then was a part of Finland, as a largely autonomous area of the Russian empire. Following the Soviet Revolution of 1917, Finland declared independence, together with Vyborg. During the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland, Vyborg became a part of the Soviet Union, and then Russia, after the fall of the Soviet Union.
This certainly isn’t a history blog. But the broad and rich history of the city, boiled down to one paragraph above, has left its indelible fingerprint on Vyborg today, making it one of the most unique cities, and yes the most European city, I have visited in Russia.
There are the narrow cobblestone streets of Vyborg, the heavy influence of Finnish architecture, and the only medieval castle in Russia. You might be mildly surprised, as I was, that much of the city is still being renovated. I found this to be a welcome alternative to St. Petersburg or Moscow, where everything was renovated long ago. Vyborg today is a photographer’s paradise, and I also look forward to visiting again in a few years and seeing the changes.
If you are traveling from St. Petersburg, there are many trains to Vyborg, most of which will take between one and one and half hours for the journey. The Vyborg train station is a stone’s throw from the old city. And if sightseeing and photography at a slower pace are your cup of tea, you certainly won’t leave Vyborg disappointed.
If you know that you will never be able to visit Vyborg, but would like to check it out, never fear. I visited Vyborg recently and shot some video for my Russian language blog. But I found the city to be so fascinating that I made English subtitles. Take a ten minute walk around Vyborg with Zhenya and me (Click CC on the bottom right of the Youtube screen for English subtitles). Enjoy! | {
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The semiconductor sector saw some mixed earnings in the third quarter. Intel (INTC) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) reported their strongest quarterly earnings in a while. And Intel’s and AMD’s Computing segments reported strong growth because of an uptick in PC demand in the third quarter.
It remains to be seen if NVIDIA (NVDA) can continue this momentum in its upcoming third-quarter earnings. It’s due to report on November 15. | {
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Conservation officials in New York are hoping to locate an “exotic,” non-native species of the elk family that has reportedly been spotted in the central part of the state and may have potential to infect the native white-tailed deer population with a deadly disease.
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation has purportedly received multiple trail camera photos of a male sika deer, a species of small elk that is native to Japan and Eastern Asia, New York Upstate reported. At least two separate sources have sent the photos to officials.
HUNTER BOASTED ON DATING APP ABOUT POACHING DEER – NOT REALIZING HER POTENTIAL SUITOR WAS A GAME WARDEN
One man interviewed by the publication, Jerry Grigonis, of Fulton, said he first noticed the deer on his trail camera in Granby, a small town in Oswego County, in November.
The sika deer has not before been found in New York except for on a private hunting reserve on Long Island, New York Upstate reported, citing a 2003 report from Newsday. Other states where the sika deer can be found include Texas, Virginia and along the eastern shore of Maryland.
Officials are concerned the sika deer could carry chronic wasting disease, “a fatal, neurological illness occurring in North American cervids (members of the deer family), including white-tailed deer, mule deer, elk, and moose,” according to the U.S. Geological Survey. If it does, there is potential that this species could spread the illness to the local white-tailed deer population.
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Licensed hunters are now being encouraged to kill sika deer — which typically weigh 70 to 90 pounds and have a white-spotted dark brown or black coat — if they come across one. The deer, which is not a protected species in New York, can then be tested for the disease.
More details on the policy can be found here. | {
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The Saudi ministry of finance is offering five-and-a-half-year notes at around 315 basis points (bps) over US treasuries, ten-and-a-half-year bonds at around 325 bps over, and 40-year notes at around 5.15 percent, according to Reuters.
Fund managers cited by the London-based news agency said they expect a multi-billion dollar transaction.
The debt sale, which will be concluded on Wednesday, involves Citi, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Bank of China, Mizuho, MUFG, SMBC and Samba Capital.
Last week, neighbouring Qatar and the emirate of Abu Dhabi successfully sold a combined $17 billion of bonds.
Read also: Saudi orders restrictions on basic foodstuffs sold at supermarket, sparking fears of food shortages
Hit by coronavirus lockdowns and low prices for oil and gas, Gulf sovereign wealth funds are bringing billions of dollars back home to combat slowing economic growth.
According to the Institute of International Finance, Gulf funds could lose more than $300 billion this year.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to stay connected | {
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Kompromissversuch bei der Armeereform Um die Armeereform WEA zu retten, baut die Sicherheitskommission des Nationalrats der SVP eine Brücke. Doch diese beharrt auf 5 Milliarden Franken Militärbudget pro Jahr.
Armeereform WEA: Der Teufel steckt im finanziellen Detail, denn die sicherheitspolitische Kommission hat noch nicht über Geld geredet. (Bild: Christian Beutler / Keystone)
(hä. Bern)
Es war die Überraschung der Junisession, als die Weiterentwicklung der Armee (WEA) an einer unheiligen Allianz der SVP mit den linken Parteien scheiterte. Die SVP lehnte die Armeereform ab, weil sie vergeblich auf Garantien für ein Militärbudget von 5 Milliarden Franken gepocht hatte. Nun haben sich bürgerliche Politiker auf einen Kompromiss verständigt. Dieser Kompromiss sieht so aus: Das Parlament soll zeitgleich mit der Armeereform WEA einen einfachen Bundesbeschluss beschliessen, der für die Armee einen Vier-Jahres-Rahmenkredit für 2017 bis 2020 festlegt. Mit diesem Rahmenkredit hätte die SVP ihre finanziellen Zusicherungen; im Gegenzug soll sie der WEA zustimmen.
20, 19 oder 18 Milliarden?
Die Sicherheitspolitische Kommission des Nationalrats hat diesen Kompromiss am Dienstag formalisiert: Mit 15 gegen 10 Stimmen hat sie den Bundesrat beauftragt, bis im November einen entsprechenden Bundesbeschluss vorzulegen. In der Dezembersession soll der Nationalrat den Bundesbeschluss und die WEA dann behandeln. Die FDP-Nationalrätin Corina Eichenberger glaubt, dass sich die WEA mit diesem Vorgehen retten lässt: «Ich bin zuversichtlich, dass dieser Bundesbeschluss den Weg zu einer Verabschiedung und zur Inkraftsetzung der WEA öffnet.»
SVP-Fraktionschef Adrian Amstutz signalisiert seine Unterstützung. «Ich bin im Bild über dieses Vorgehen», sagt er. Der Plan der Kommission entspreche «der Forderung der SVP zur Sicherstellung der Armeefinanzierung». Dass der Finanzrahmen nun nicht im Gesetz, sondern in einem Bundesbeschluss fixiert werden solle, sei nicht entscheidend. Zwar räumt Amstutz ein, dass der vierjährige Finanzrahmen nicht sakrosankt wäre: Das Parlament könnte ihn in der jährlichen Budgetdebatte jederzeit unterschreiten. Amstutz glaubt aber, dass das Parlament sich dies nicht getrauen würde. «Das Parlament könnte es dem Schweizervolk nicht erklären, wenn es nach all seinen Beteuerungen und Entscheiden für ein 5-Milliarden-Budget von seinem eigenen Vier-Jahres-Rahmenkredit abweichen würde.» Der Teufel steckt allerdings im finanziellen Detail. Denn die Sicherheitspolitische Kommission hat noch nicht über Geld geredet. Es ist also noch offen, welcher Betrag am Ende im Bundesbeschluss stehen wird.
Lange Zeit ging man davon aus, dass der erste Vier-Jahres-Rahmenkredit rund 19,5 Milliarden Franken betragen würde. In den letzten Monaten haben sich die Finanzperspektiven aber stark verdüstert; derzeit arbeitet der Bundesrat an einem neuen Sparpaket, das auch die Armee betreffen dürfte. In der Bundesverwaltung kursieren provisorische Zahlen, die für die Armee einen Vier-Jahres-Rahmenkredit von deutlich unter 19 Milliarden vorsehen. «Im Wissen um diese Schlaumeierei», sagt Amstutz, habe die SVP die WEA in der ersten Runde abgelehnt. Er verlangt deshalb ultimativ 20 Milliarden, also 5 Milliarden pro Jahr. «Unter 20 Milliarden stimmt die SVP der WEA nicht zu.»
Neues Gesetz auf Zielgerade
Ausser der WEA hat die Sicherheitspolitische Kommission auch das neue Nachrichtendienstgesetz behandelt und mehrere Differenzen zum Ständerat ausgeräumt. So spricht sich die Kommission jetzt ebenfalls für eine neue, unabhängige Aufsichtsinstanz aus. Sie ist auch einverstanden damit, dass nur die Polizei Personen anhalten und befragen darf. Dem Nachrichtendienst soll das nicht erlaubt werden. Kommissionspräsident Thomas Hurter (svp., Schaffhausen) gibt sich zuversichtlich, dass die beiden Räte in der Septembersession alle Differenzen bereinigen und das Gesetz definitiv verabschieden können. | {
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Marcelina Zawisza, fot. Partia Razem
Unia musi niwelować nierówności między krajami członkowskimi. To nie jest jedynie kwestia wartości: chodzi o więcej solidarności wewnątrz UE po to, żebyśmy byli skuteczniejsi w konkurencji z Chinami czy Stanami Zjednoczonymi.
Wesprzyj nas Potrzebujemy Waszego regularnego wsparcia Przekaż darowiznę
Jan Smoleński: W swoim spocie wyborczym w poruszający sposób mówisz o zmaganiach z chorobą nowotworową. Dlaczego zdecydowałaś się aż tyle powiedzieć o sobie?
Marcelina Zawisza: Przede wszystkim dlatego, że w ogóle nie rozmawiamy o naszych motywacjach. Uderza mnie to, że w debacie publicznej w ogóle nie mówi się, dlaczego politycy i polityczki zaangażowali się w działalność polityczną, co chcą zrealizować i dlaczego. Na raka zachorowałam, jak miałam trzynaście lat. To, że zachorowałam na raka, jest powodem, dla którego zaangażowałam się w działalność polityczną, czerpię z niego siłę do dalszego działania.
Ty tego nie ukrywałaś, ale mam wrażenie, że wcześniej Razem częściej stawiało na programy niż na twarze.
Faktycznie, ale teraz postanowiliśmy to zmienić. To jest dobra zmiana. Spójrzmy na światowy trend. Polityczki i politycy, którzy rozbijają mainstream, którzy realnie chcą coś zmienić i odnoszą sukcesy, przedstawiają siebie, mówią, co popycha ich do działania. To jest też fair w stosunku do wyborców, dzięki temu mogą zrozumieć, dlaczego zajmujemy się tym, czym się zajmujemy.
Janis Warufakis Porozmawiajmy jak dorośli 69,90
Czy ta zmiana nie przychodzi za późno? W wyborach samorządowych nie stawialiście tak na ludzi i nie poszły one wam dobrze.
Uczymy się na naszych błędach. Szwedzka Partia Piratów, zanim weszła do Riksdagu, przez osiem lat była poza nim. Jesteśmy w stanie przebić ten sufit nad nami i to pokazują badania Kantara, które Lewicy Razem dają 4–5 procent poparcia. Polskim problemem jest głęboka polaryzacja polityczna i jej skutki było widać podczas wyborów samorządowych. Słabo wypadł każdy, kto startował przeciwko duopolowi PiS–PO. Jeszcze przed rozpoczęciem kampanii Janowi Śpiewakowi w Warszawie dawano 5–7 procent poparcia. Nad urnami część jego potencjalnych wyborców zagłosowała na Rafała Trzaskowskiego, bo za wszelką cenę nie chcieli dopuścić, by w Warszawie wygrał Patryk Jaki.
Bardzo bym chciała, aby ludzie głosowali zgodnie z sercem i rozumem, a nie wybierali mniejsze zło. Obecna kampania do Europarlamentu pokazuje, że my, Razem, jesteśmy jednymi z nielicznych – choć przyznaję, że nie jedynymi – którzy są gotowi rozmawiać o Europie, Polsce w Europie, przyszłości Unii Europejskiej. Główni gracze nawet nie udają, że chodzi im o coś więcej niż pokonanie PiS-u czy Platformy. Korzystają na tej polaryzacji i podsycają ten spór.
My jesteśmy trzecią możliwością. Pokazujemy, że kandydujemy, bo chcemy walczyć o coś, co realnie wpłynie na życie Polek i Polaków. Ta motywacja jest naprawdę ważna. Gdy patrzę na polityków w mediach, to naprawdę nie wiem, dlaczego zajęli się działalnością polityczną. Chcieli zmiany świata czy nie mieli lepszego pomysłu na siebie, a teść, szwagier czy inny tata kolegi wciągnęli ich na listy?
Czyli chcecie skuteczniej przekonywać ludzi, dlaczego warto na was głosować.
Z jednej strony chcemy pokazać, że Europa za 10–15 lat może być bardziej demokratyczna, bardziej socjalna. Może budować mieszkania na wynajem, wyrównywać nierówności w dostępie do ochrony zdrowia czy realnie dbać o prawa pracownicze. Ale chcemy też pokazać, że ta demokratyzacja działalności politycznej oznacza też to, że polityka jest dla każdej i każdego z nas, a nie tylko dla panów w garniturach zarabiających 40 czy 250 tysięcy miesięcznie. Moja choroba nowotworowa i całe doświadczenie z nią związane pchnęło mnie w kierunku zainteresowania kwestiami zdrowotnymi.
Opowiedz o tym więcej.
Kiedy byłam w szpitalu, widziałam, że bardzo dużym problemem jest to, jaką umowę masz i ile zarabiasz. Jeśli rodzice byli zatrudnieni na umowę o pracę, to mogli wziąć urlop i być z dzieckiem w szpitalu. Rodzice pracujący na czarno lub na dopiero pojawiających się śmieciówkach nie mieli takiej możliwości. Musieli zrezygnować z pracy po to, żeby być z dzieckiem. Co często się po prostu nie działo. I dziecko zostawało samo.
Chemioterapia trwa aż tak długo?
Leczenie dziecięce jest trochę inne od leczenia dorosłych. W szpitalu dla dorosłych często organizowane są wlewy chemioterapii i wysyła się pacjentów do domu. W systemie dziecięcym przez kilka dni leży się w szpitalu. To długotrwałe, wyczerpujące leczenie i bardzo dużo czasu spędza się z dala od bliskich, z dala od domu. A w procesie wychodzenia z choroby wsparcie najbliższych jest bardzo ważne. Dla wszystkich – ale dla dzieci w szczególności. Do tego dochodzą wydatki.
Jakie?
Na przykład na lepsze jedzenie, na dodatkowe leki czy sprzęt rehabilitacyjny. W Polsce wypożyczenia sprzętu do rehabilitacji się nie refunduje. Jakość jedzenia i leków ma wpływ na rekonwalescencję. Dzieci pochodzące z biedniejszych rodzin, które nie mogły sobie pozwolić na wypożyczenie sprzętu za kilkaset złotych miesięcznie, nie wychodziły z choroby tak szybko jak ich rówieśnicy z zamożniejszych rodzin. Nie miały pieniędzy na lepsze jedzenie, na leki wspomagające. Widać było, jak zapadają się w sobie. To było przerażające i sama zaczęłam się zastanawiać, co zrobić, żeby do takich rzeczy więcej nie dochodziło.
Ty się nie zapadłaś.
Tak, ale wielkim kosztem dla mojej rodziny. Moi rodzice mieli umowy o pracę, ale zużyli wszystkie oszczędności, żeby mnie wyleczyć, i musieli sięgnąć po dodatkowe środki.
Zadłużyć się.
Tak. Podczas mojej choroby widziałam mnóstwo takich przypadków. Widziałam również rodziny, które nawet nie mogły się zadłużyć, bo nikt by im nie udzielił kredytu. Wtedy w grę wchodziły lichwiarskie chwilówki. Naprawdę straszne. Nie dość, że dziecko walczy o życie, to jeszcze rodzice zakładają sobie pętlę lichwiarskiej pożyczki na szyję.
ZDROWIE. PRZEWODNIK KRYTYKI POLITYCZNEJ 34,90 zł
Państwo polskie ma konstytucyjny obowiązek zapewnienia obywatelom dostępu do ochrony zdrowia.
Tak, ale szczegóły określa ustawa. I tu jest pies pogrzebany. Moja historia to przykład tego, jak w takich szczegółach polski system ochrony zdrowia nie domaga nawet w sytuacjach, gdy rodziny nie są biedne.
Jak?
Pochodzę z Katowic i pierwszą część leczenia przeszłam tam. Moi rodzice mieli umowę o pracę, więc mogli wziąć wolne, by spędzać czas przy mnie. Ale potem musiałam wyjechać do Warszawy, bo tam są specjaliści od wszczepiania endoprotez dziecięcych. Moi rodzice musieli wynajmować pokój w stolicy, żeby być blisko mnie. Do tego dochodziły koszty życia, takie choćby jak jedzenie – kiedy siedzieli przy mnie w szpitalu, to przecież nie mieli jak gotować w domu, tylko jedli na mieście – czy bilety komunikacji miejskiej. O kosztach generowanych przez zwykłe życie w takich sytuacjach w ogóle się nie mówi. A jeśli ktoś musi wyjechać na leczenie za granicę, to te koszty są jeszcze wyższe, niemal nie do udźwignięcia z polskich pensji. Dlatego chcemy europejskich standardów ochrony zdrowia.
Sporo tej krytyki polskiego systemu ochrony zdrowia…
Bo jest co krytykować.
Mam ochotę spytać, jakim cudem nie zostałaś zatem korwinistką nawołującą do prywatyzacji ochrony zdrowia.
Bo to publiczna służba zdrowia ocaliła mi życie. Miałam wokół siebie niesamowitych lekarzy i fantastyczne pielęgniarki i pielęgniarzy, którzy otaczali mnie wspaniałą opieką. Byłam podopieczną świętej pamięci profesora Wojciecha Woźniaka. On leczył przypadki, których nikt inny się nie podejmował.
Pamiętam jednego chłopaka. Trafił do mojego szpitala, gdy nowotwór już zajął mu oba płuca, miał nowotwór na biodrze, w udzie, w łokciu, na kręgosłupie. Lekarze wycinali mu tego raka kawałek po kawałku i poddawali chemioterapii. Ten chłopak do tej pory żyje właśnie dzięki publicznej ochronie zdrowia, choć pochodził z biednego środowiska. Jego mama często opowiadała o tym, jak przyjazd z nim do Warszawy był dla niej bardzo dużym wydatkiem. Tam naprawdę działy się cuda.
Gdybyśmy mieli system prywatny, tak jak w USA, to po tych dwóch nowotworach, które przeszłam, nie stać byłoby mnie na żadne ubezpieczenie. Rodziny tego chłopaka by nie było stać na leczenie – to by skazało go na śmierć! Stany Zjednoczone wydają bardzo dużo w stosunku do swojego PKB na ochronę zdrowia, a mimo to bardzo wiele osób nie ma ubezpieczenia lub ma ubezpieczenia śmieciowe.
Gdyby kryterium były nie same wydatki na ochronę zdrowia, tylko to, jak skutecznie system zapewnia usługi obywatelom, USA nie należałyby do krajów rozwiniętych, tylko wciąż rozwijających się.
No właśnie. Polski system ochrony zdrowia ma swoje problemy, ale nie jest nim to, że jest publiczny czy powszechny, tylko to, że jest chronicznie niedoinwestowany i przez to niewystarczająco dostępny.
To porozmawiajmy o waszych pomysłach na naprawę tego systemu. Polityka zdrowotna leży w gestii państw członkowskich, leki na receptę – które zgodnie z twoim postulatem powinny być za darmo – też refunduje państwo. Co ma do tego Unia?
Unia musi ustalić standardy opieki zdrowotnej i zachęcać państwa członkowskie do ich wdrażania.
O tym mówią wszyscy. Poza tym standardami darmowych leków się nie zapewni.
Ale dopłatami już tak.
To znaczy?
Unia może stworzyć dopłaty do systemów ochrony zdrowia w taki sam sposób, w jaki stworzyła dopłaty do rolnictwa. My – jako Razem i międzynarodowa koalicja Europejska Wiosna – będziemy walczyć, żeby budżet unijny zakładał również dopłaty do ochrony zdrowia.
Gdybyśmy mieli system prywatny, tak jak w USA, to po tych dwóch nowotworach, które przeszłam, nie stać byłoby mnie na żadne ubezpieczenie.
Dopłaty do rolnictwa stworzono po to, żeby nie doprowadzić do kryzysu nadprodukcji produktów rolnych na unijnym rynku wewnętrznym i zarazem uczynić europejskie produkty rolne konkurencyjnymi na rynkach międzynarodowych, a nie po to, żeby wyrównywać nierówności.
Co nie znaczy, że Unia nie może wykorzystać podobnego mechanizmu dopłat w tym celu. Unia musi niwelować nierówności między krajami członkowskimi. To nie jest jedynie kwestia wartości: chodzi o więcej solidarności wewnątrz UE po to, żebyśmy byli skuteczniejsi w konkurencji z Chinami czy Stanami Zjednoczonymi. To kwestia skali. Podobnie jak w przypadku negocjacji z korporacjami farmaceutycznymi.
Unia miałaby negocjować ceny leków?
Tak. Obecnie każdy kraj członkowski negocjuje ceny leków na własną rękę. Jego siła negocjacyjna jest bardzo ograniczona, bo firmy mogą zrezygnować z wprowadzenia leku lub w ogóle wycofać wszystkie swoje produkty. Za tymi firmami często stoją rządy innych krajów – przypominam listy ambasadorki Georgette Mosbacher w sprawie listy leków refundowanych czy Ubera.
Mosbacher zrugała premiera Mateusza Morawieckiego jak małego chłopca, bo mogła – polityka międzynarodowa PiS zrobiła z nas pariasa chodzącego na pasku USA – i wiedziała, że z tak słabym rządem będzie to skuteczne. Trudno mieć też do niej pretensje, że reprezentowała interesy firm ze swojego kraju.
Nie mam o to do niej pretensji, nie jest przedstawicielką organizacji charytatywnej. Mam pretensje do rządu PiS, że tak łatwo ustąpił. Ale nie zmienia to postaci rzeczy, że pojedyncze kraje mają naprawdę niewielkie szanse w negocjacjach z korporacjami – niektóre firmy farmaceutyczne mają budżety porównywalne z polskim. Mogą sobie pozwolić na zatrudnienie wielkich firm lobbingowych. W dodatku bardzo często zatrudniają byłych polityków, którzy byli im przychylni, jako „ekspertów”. Perspektywa takiej kariery potrafi naprawdę zamknąć usta.
Gdyby natomiast to Unia była podmiotem negocjującym, to firmy farmaceutyczne nie mogłyby tak łatwo szantażować wycofaniem się z rynku, nie mogłyby tak łatwo podkupywać ludzi. Unia z kolei mogłaby też zmienić sposób, w jaki funkcjonują patenty na leki.
To znaczy?
Obecnie obowiązujące prawo patentowe, a szerzej – sposób, w jaki tworzymy innowacje w lekach, powoduje, że firmy, zamiast skupiać się na wynajdywaniu nowych leków, stawiają na pierwszym miejscu maksymalizację zysków. Proponujemy odejście od obecnie obowiązującego porządku w kierunku już powstających alternatyw: szerszego publicznego finansowania badań, a w przypadku badań prowadzonych przez prywatne koncerny – przekazywania patentów do domeny publicznej w zamian za jednorazowe „nagrody” za wynalezienie leku zamiast wieloletnich monopoli. Bo obecnie jest tak, że firmy mogą dzięki opatentowaniu leku przez 20 lat narzucać ceny. Dowolnie.
Dowolnie?
Te firmy mogą zarabiać na tych lekach tyle, ile chcą, bo nie można wprowadzić na rynek podobnych leków generycznych. Jedynym celem tutaj jest zysk, zdrowie i życie ludzkie się nie liczą. Ja się na to nie godzę. Prawo patentowe w tym zakresie powinno być renegocjowane. Jako Europejczycy i Europejki powinniśmy domagać się wpływu na to, ile leki kosztują. Żeby to zrobić, Unia musi finansować badania nad nowymi lekami, które będą trafiały do domeny publicznej, i stworzyć publiczny podmiot produkujący leki.
Joseph Stiglitz Cena nierówności 69,90
Europejskie standardy ochrony zdrowia, dopłaty unijne redukujące różnice między krajami, UE negocjująca z korporacjami farmaceutycznymi, fundująca badania nad lekami i produkująca leki – to nie jest wykonalne w jednej kadencji.
W wyniku kryzysu gospodarczego 2008 roku zwykli Europejczycy bardzo ucierpieli, elity się z tego wykaraskały. Obecne nastroje antyunijne i ksenofobiczne są z tym doświadczeniem związane. My musimy zacząć tworzyć wizję Unii, do której zmierzamy, żeby wiedzieć, w jakim kierunku idziemy, i po to, by pokazać ludziom, że ta Unia może być lepsza. Że tak jak UE była w stanie budować autostrady, tak będzie w stanie budować mieszkania komunalne: Unia powinna mieć taki fundusz. Że tak jak była w stanie stworzyć system dopłat do rolnictwa, tak też będzie mogła stworzyć system dopłat do ochrony zdrowia. Unia Europejska już zrobiła dużo – wystarczy przejechać się po Polsce i zobaczyć, że ze środków unijnych finansowano nie tylko drogi, ale też szkoły czy przedszkola. Zbudowaliśmy dzięki Unii infrastrukturę, to teraz czas na krok dalej i zrobienie czegoś, co realnie odbije się na codziennym życiu Europejczyków.
To jest oczywiście kompleksowa wizja i do zrealizowania stopniowo w przyszłości. Dlatego na razie naszym pierwszym postulatem są darmowe leki na receptę. To jest możliwe i Unia może w tym pomóc.
***
Marcelina Zawisza – polityczka społeczna, feministka, współzałożycielka Partii Razem, od 2015 roku członkini Zarządu Krajowego partii. W 2018 roku umieszczona na liście Forbes 30 under 30 w kategorii „Prawo i polityka” za działalność na rzecz praw kobiet. Liderka listy dolnośląsko-opolskiej w wyborach do Parlamentu Europejskiego.
***
Materiał powstał w ramach projektu Gra o Europę, gra w Europie finansowanego ze środków Fundacji im. Róży Luksemburg. | {
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President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner will appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee in a closed hearing on Monday, ABC News reported.
“As Mr. Kushner has been saying since March, he has been and is prepared to voluntarily cooperate and provide whatever information he has on the investigations to Congress," Kushner's lawyer Abbe Lowell told ABC News.
"Working with and being responsive to the schedules of the committees, we have arranged Mr. Kushner's interview with the Senate for July 24. He will continue to cooperate and appreciates the opportunity to assist in putting this matter to rest.”
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Kushner has emerged as a person of interest in ongoing investigations into Russia's role in the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
He has faced scrutiny over his previously undisclosed meetings with Russian nationals and officials, including a meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak and the CEO of a Russian state-run bank during the presidential transition.
More recently, it was revealed that the senior adviser attended a meeting last summer with a Russian lawyer who had reportedly promised compromising information to the Trump campaign about Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Democratic super PAC to hit Trump in battleground states over coronavirus deaths Battle lines drawn on precedent in Supreme Court fight MORE.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has said since March that it wanted to interview Kushner. | {
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The massacre in Gaza and imperialist war policy
16 May 2018
May 14, 2018, the day the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) carried out the systematic massacre of over 60 unarmed men, women, and children, will live in infamy. For hours on end, Israeli forces fired thousands of rounds of live ammunition at unarmed Palestinian demonstrators, injuring more than 3,000 people and killing eight children, the youngest of whom was just eight months old.
As Palestinians buried their dead Tuesday, Israel continued its massacre, injuring scores and killing one. In the course of the past seven weeks, the IDF has shot approximately 6,000 people with live rounds and thousands more with rubber bullets and tear gas. Over that period, some 109 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli sharpshooters, who have been filmed cheering at every headshot.
Within the Israeli political establishment, the massacre has prompted not horrified self-reflection and inquiries into how a state supposedly founded in response to the Holocaust could carry out actions worthy of the Nazis, but rather the open language of genocide.
“The IDF has enough bullets for everyone,” said Avi Dichter, a chair of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the Knesset, in response to the massacre.
Both the language and actions of Tel Aviv give the distinct impression that large sections of the Israeli state and military would not hesitate to implement, in the language of the 1930s, a “final solution” to the Palestinian question.
But the reaction of the imperialist powers, which have all issued statements supporting Israel’s “right to defend itself,” has internationalized this crime. By giving legitimacy to Israel’s massacre, the imperialist powers have made themselves complicit in it.
In a speech reminiscent of the shameless and blatant lying that characterized international relations in the Nazi period, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley declared, “No country in this chamber would act with more restraint than Israel has.”
She painted the massacre as the fault of the Palestinians themselves, supposedly working in conjunction with Iran. “In recent days, Hamas terrorists, backed by Iran, have incited attacks against Israeli security forces and infrastructure,” she said.
Haley’s statements, while particularly vile, were of a piece with the declarations of other imperialist governments. Without exception, every official statement included a variant of the phase used by Israel’s murderous prime minister to justify the mowing down of unarmed Palestinian civilians: “Israel has the right to defend itself.”
The German Foreign Ministry, while expressing its “concern” about the use of live rounds against peaceful protesters, declared that “the right to peaceful protest” must “not be abused” by the Palestinian leaders, who, it implied, used the demonstrations as a pretext to “deploy violence.”
“Those who wield power in the Gaza Strip must renounce violence and the Palestinian Authority must once again be in control in Gaza,” the Foreign Ministry added.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May echoed these sentiments, declaring, “We are concerned that extremist elements” within Gaza “may be seeking to hijack peaceful protests to further their own objectives.”
French President Emanuel Macron, who went further in criticizing Israel’s actions than other leaders, reaffirmed his “commitment to the security of Israel.”
Within the United States, the entire political establishment lined up behind the Israeli massacre. Even as Israel was slaughtering protesters, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer declared, “In a long overdue move, we have moved our embassy to Jerusalem… I sponsored legislation to do this two decades ago, and I applaud President Trump for doing it.”
Bernie Sanders, the leader of the supposed left wing of the Democratic Party, held a town hall discussion Monday on the Middle East featuring a panel of pro-war State Department figures.
Lara Friedman, a former US diplomat, declared that Hamas’s actions give Israel "a sometimes legitimate, sometimes not legitimate excuse to say this, all terrorism, this is an act of war, and under the laws of war we have the right to use lethal force against unarmed people, who are near the fence, which if they were to damage that fence and breach it they could come into Israel and be a threat to us.”
Rather than denouncing such a statement as a monstrous justification for a horrible war crime, Sanders praised Friedman’s expertise on Israel, which he said she knows “upside down, sideways.”
The argument that the murder of Palestinian civilians was effectively a legitimate, if overly aggressive, form of self-defense on the part of the Israelis permeated both the reporting and commentary in the American press. In an article heavily promoted on Google News, the Washington Post declared “the protests appeared to have a more violent edge than in previous weeks. Some young men brought knives and fence cutters… Israeli snipers were determined not to allow a breach.”
The New York Times, in an editorial on the massacre, declared, “Israel has every right to defend its borders, including the boundary with Gaza.” It added, “Led too long by men who were corrupt or violent or both, the Palestinians have failed and failed again to make their own best efforts toward peace. Even now, Gazans are undermining their own cause by resorting to violence, rather than keeping their protests strictly peaceful.”
What utter hypocrisy! This is a newspaper that has justified war after war on the grounds that civilians either were, or might be, in danger. What has happened to the principle, used to justify countless regime-change operations, bombings and wars, of the “responsibility to protect” civilian life?
Seven years ago, the New York Times justified the US-backed regime-change operation in Libya on the grounds that, “Unless some way is found to stop him, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya will slaughter hundreds or even thousands of his own people in his desperation to hang on to power.”
The newspaper mustered all of its canned moral outrage, deploying a phalanx of columnists, including David Brooks and Nicholas Kristof, to make the case that the very threat of “hundreds” of civilian deaths justified a bombing campaign that ended up destroying an entire society. Where is their outrage over the massacre in Gaza?
There is no greater demonstration of the principle spelled out by Friedrich Engels that “morality has always been class morality.” The moral outrage of the New York Times is deployed only in the service of the interests of American imperialism.
Fifty-eight years ago, on March 21, 1960, the Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa, in which forces of the apartheid regime shot dead 69 unarmed demonstrators, was met with international outrage and revulsion. The event marked a turning point in the history of South Africa, setting in motion a colossal radicalization of the masses throughout the African continent. It was the beginning of the end of the apartheid regime.
In that period, amid an upsurge of the masses, the oppressed countries of Africa, Asia and the Middle East were undergoing decolonization. Now, recolonization is the order of the day. All of the imperial powers are once again salivating over the carve-up of the Middle East. Israel forms the linchpin of the US-led offensive against Iran, and, as Haley argued, the defense of Israel’s war crimes in Gaza is inseparable from countering Iran’s “destabilizing presence” in the region.
There are more than tactical questions at stake. The wars involved in the neocolonial carve-up of the Middle East will be inseparable from mass murder, and even genocide. All of the imperialist powers can envision themselves, in the near future, carrying out similar massacres of restive and subject populations in the Middle East and elsewhere.
Marxists have always seen in foreign policy the concentrated expression of domestic class relations. The mass murder of unarmed Palestinians today will become the mass murder of striking American workers tomorrow.
After all, if Israel’s actions are justified, would not US forces deployed on the Mexican border be justified in opening fire on refugees walking toward US territory? Would the European border police not be justified in sinking boats of migrants fleeing to Europe?
The answer to both of these questions would obviously be "yes." The universal defense of Israel’s actions makes clear that the imperialist powers have adopted the mass murder of unarmed civilians as a legitimate policy tool.
Andre Damon
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Myer said the slide towards concession stores had gone too far. Credit:Bloomberg The figures were "not at all" surprising for Ben Duval, who manages Carwyn Cellars bar and bottle shop in Thornbury, in Melbourne's gentrifying northern suburbs. "You look at history, even in times of depression there hasn't been dips in alcohol sales," Mr Duval said. Sales in his own store were up about 30 per cent on last winter, he said, which he put down to its specialising in beer, wine and spirits produced by small, independent producers. The ABS measures sales by dollar value – not volume – and Mr Duval said drinkers of mass-produced beer were increasingly picking up "craft" ales, which can retail for up to $40 a bottle.
"Definitely quality over quantity is the trend, and particular if it's a product that's well presented and it's got a bit of a story". Separate figures the ABS released last week showed alcohol consumption in Australia had risen for the first time in 10 years. Hospitality has been one of the most resilient sectors in retail more broadly, and Thursday's figures showed spending at cafes, restaurants and on takeaway was growing at 6.5 per cent year on year. That compares with 1.3 per cent growth for clothing, footwear and accessories, and sales falling 0.7 per cent at department stores year on year. Department stores were down 2.8 per cent in July alone.
ANZ senior economist Jo Masters said the influx of online and foreign fashion chains, such as H&M and Uniqlo, were creating more competition and driving down prices. Ms Masters said consumers meanwhile faced record low wage growth, relatively high job insecurity and high household debt, making them reluctant to spend. She said consumption growth had previously run ahead of wage growth because shoppers had felt wealthier as the value of their houses grew, but that was easing. "Every time they open the newspaper they're being told that household growth is slowing and it's going to slow a lot further, so that wealth affect through the housing market has dissipated," Ms Masters said. End to pain in sight? Macquarie analysts on Thursday said the poor consumer sentiment plaguing retailers could soon improve, albeit slowly, predicting that the recent "near recessionary levels" of income growth – 3 per cent over the past five years and dipping to 2 per cent over the past 12 months, compared to the long-term average of 6 to 7 per cent – were likely to start tending upwards.
Wage growth should return to 2.5 per cent over the next three years, unemployment will trend down and consumers will continue to dig into their savings to spend, Macquarie told clients. That would translate to real consumption growth of about 2.5 per cent in the years to 2020, the investment bank said. The five-year average is 4.3 per cent. | {
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While Dorothy, blue-skirted and pigtailed, clutching a wicker basket and a bewildered dog under her arm, surveys the weird flowers and pygmy huts around her, she’s sure of just one thing: she’s not in Kansas any more. L Frank Baum’s character was, it turns out, born slightly too early. In 1901, a year after the publication of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Baum wrote The Master Key, a novel credited with the invention of augmented reality via a pair of imagined spectacles that could map information on to whatever or whomever its wearer looked at. Had Dorothy owned a pair, she might have learned that she’d been whisked to Oz, or that her new friend the Tin Man was in need of a heart, even, perhaps, that a wicked witch is burned not by fire, but by water.
It was almost a century until Baum’s invention gained a label. In a 1992 research paper, the Boeing engineers Thomas Caudell and David Mizell described a pair of “see-thru virtual reality goggles”, a device that would enhance the vision of factory workers with the complicated task of piecing together a jumbo jet’s nests of internal wiring with dynamically changing labels and information. Caudell termed this principle of annotating the seen world “augmented reality”, thereby formalising for Silicon Valley’s mavens and investors a fresh and unplundered field of technological opportunity, one that would eventually lead to the invention of Google Glass, a pair of information-spewing spectacles built, unbelievably, to Baum’s century-old definition.
Who wouldn’t like a natural history programme where the dinosaurs roam across your room?
If the breathless press releases are to be believed, 2016 has been the year of virtual reality – a discarded technology that, thanks to the revolution in low-cost components heralded by smartphones, is currently enjoying a lavish revival. Sony, Facebook and HTC have all launched expensive, miraculous visors that transport us into fabricated realities, fooling the brain into believing that, like Dorothy, we’ve been bodily transported to another place. At its best, VR allows us to visit places too remote, too dangerous or too expensive to otherwise reach. Documentarians are using the nascent medium to allow us to experience life through the eyes of another. But VR technology also has numerous drawbacks. As well as the cost (just 3% of Britons are expected to invest in a serious headset this year, the cheapest of which costs £350, even without the PlayStation needed to run it) there’s also the sense of vulnerability that wearers experience while sitting blind in front of the television, as well as the perils of bumping into furniture. As one Microsoft spokesperson put it, VR users are “best advised to stay seated or keep still to avoid collisions”.
AR, while not having quite the same transporting effects, gets around this issue by layering its simulated elements over the real world. Through a pair of AR glasses, or a smartphone’s camera, you are able to see both the elbow-y chair and teetering lamp in front of you, and the data that overlays it. Microsoft’s apparent scepticism about VR is understandable; the company has instead focused millions of R&D dollars into AR (or, as the company prefers to term it, “mixed reality”) via its HoloLens, a see-through PC-in-a-visor that launches in November for the precise and gargantuan cost of £2,719.
Star Chart lets you annotate the night sky using GPS positioning on your smartphone. Photograph: Escape Velocity Ltd
Microsoft believes that HoloLens is the next evolution for AR, technology that we have seen for years whenever, for example, a weather reporter gestures toward a virtual map behind them in a television studio, or a football pundit offers an assessment of the starting 11 in a football match, as digital versions of the players magically appear in front of them on the desk. In HoloLens the data isn’t merely layered on top of the world you’re looking at. It’s conjured and anchored into the environment around you. In this way, you can play Minecraft on the dining room table, walking around the room in order to get a different perspective on your creation. For Microsoft, it’s a way to pull the software on which we rely from our smartphone screens into the room, a holographic conjuring act that, as the spokesperson puts it, enables us to “interact with them in the same way we interact with physical objects”.
For Caudell, who coined the term AR, the technology, which he believed would be adopted across industries such as architecture, automotive design, building construction and even medicine never quite took off in the ways he expected. “There were technical and cultural issues at that time that kept it in the research lab,” he says. “In that sense it was probably ahead of its time.” The pervasiveness and power of smartphones has, however, “drastically opened up the market,” he says.
Meanwhile, the success of AR games such as Pokémon Go!, which was downloaded more than 100 million times in its first month, reportedly earning $10m per day at the height of its popularity, has attracted widespread attention and investment. “It’s hard to say whether all the attention is warranted,” says Caudell. “But the potential for benefit is huge.”
At the BBC, which has been using AR elements in its programming for more than a decade, the next generation of technology is opening up extraordinary possibilities. “It’s becoming possible to break down all the aspects of a traditional programme – like a presenter, an overlay and even the sound – and treat them as separate objects,” explains Graham Thomas, from the corporation’s R&D department. This could enable, Thomas claims, new kinds of TV programming. “It might be as simple as swapping out the usual presenter of a show for one who uses sign language, or automatically editing a news report to fit the time you have available. Or it might allow you to create AR experiences by reusing the objects from a TV show in a novel way. Who wouldn’t like a natural history programme where the dinosaurs roam across your coffee table?”
This kind of speculative pitching may sell AR to venture capitalists (according to Digi-Capital, investment in VR and AR in the 12 months from March 2015 to March 2016 exceeded $1.7bn) but consumers soon tire of gimmickry. “As with any emerging technology, the experiences need to be compelling enough once the novelty has worn off,” says Thomas.
Besides, simplicity, rather than ambition, is where AR has proved itself. Snapchat, the social media platform beloved of tweens, where your messages self-destruct after a few seconds, has produced perhaps the most widely used AR app in the world via its novelty camera filters which, for example, add dog ears and a lolling tongue in real time to the camera feed of one’s face.
Inkhunter allows you to visualise how a tattoo might look on your body. Photograph: Inkhunter
For Alex Fleetwood, the designer of Beasts of Balance, a forthcoming boardgame that uses AR to complement the play experience, Snapchat’s AR filters show how the technology can remain compelling, at scale. “Adding fun things to video has become a natural extension of putting emoji at the end of your DMs,” he says.
While some point to HoloLens and MagicLeap (another AR headset that accounts for the majority of that $1.7bn in investment) as the future of AR, for Fleetwood Snapchat’s lighter, less invasive approach is a better vision. “I believe in AR much more than VR, which in my view really is a bubble. But we need to get away from the idea that AR means wearing a computer on your face. Smartphones have already intervened in our social dynamics in ways we’re still coming to terms with. I think faces are going to be a big no-go area for most people.”
For AR’s architects, the possibilities of further democratising information, and placing relevant facts and directions on to the real world, may be enough to convince us to move technology from our palms to our faces. “I consider accurate, readily available information a human right,” says Caudell. “Maybe AR technology will help spread the information riches to everyone. But, yes, as with any invasive technology, I remain concerned about the unintended consequences.” As with so many technological breakthroughs and refinements in the past decade, humanity’s engineers are realising science fiction’s blueprints, without reconciling them with science fiction’s accompanying warnings.
In Baum’s The Master Key, which was subtitled with a phrase that offers a rather delicious description of Silicon Valley – An Electrical Fairy Tale, Founded Upon the Mysteries of Electricity and the Optimism of Its Devotees – the protagonist is given the magical spectacles by a demon. After a fortnight’s adventuring, he concludes that neither he nor the world is ready for the specs. On the third week, he returns the invention until, he says, that time when humankind knows how to use them.
“There are competing notions of what AR is going to be,” says Fleetwood. “There are the people who think we’re going to be living in some mass consensual Neal Stephenson novel. I’m very against that. I hope we’ll see those companies that put design and empathy at the heart of what they do with AR winning out.”
From star-gazing to bone-labelling... 10 apps that enhance reality
Quiver lets characters from children’s colouring pages come to life.
This crowdfunded adaptor attaches to your smartphone, allowing you to instantly print out 2x3in photos. Also when you take a picture, the Prynt app automatically records a digital video and creates a link to that photo on your phone.
This CBBC programme, broadcast between 2004 and 2010, provided an early large-scale glimpse into the potential of AR. Children could create digital creatures on a website that were then pitted against each other in a TV studio, while the audience watched via a graphics system that mixed the creatures into the real world. There is talk at the BBC of a similar programme returning, one that potentially allows children to pit their creatures against each other on the kitchen table or in the playground.
Most Lego stores now feature widescreen TV on the wall, relaying a continual live feed of the view directly in front of the screen. If you step into the camera’s field with a box of Lego, a virtual, animated representation of the kit inside the box will come to life in front you.
This simple app lets you see what a tattoo will look like on your body by superimposing the image on to the camera feed from your smartphone. The app comes with a range of tattoo designs that can be edited and shared with friends. It’s also possible to upload your own designs to see how well they suit you.
An elegant and hugely popular AR app for smartphones that annotates the night sky. Simply angle your phone toward the heavens and, by using GPS positioning, the app will label the stars, moons and planets above you. A quicker and potentially more effective way of learning about our galaxy than any text book.
In the past year, the social media platform, whose videos are reportedly watched more than 6bn times a day, subtly shifted its focus on to AR through a selection of lenses. These lenses modify the phone’s camera feed in humorous ways, swapping people’s faces, “embiggening” their eyes, allowing them, for example, to puke rainbows. Snapchat became the first company to make a profit from AR on a large scale by selling and allowing companies to sponsor lenses.
Google’s revelatory translation technology, underpinned by computer learning to constantly improve its interpretation, can now be used to annotate foreign text on the fly, using your phone’s camera feed. While the technology isn’t great at handling reams of text, particularly in non-roman scripts, it can prove invaluable at handling signage.
8. Arnatomy
Perhaps the closest to Tom Caudell’s original vision [see main story] for AR, ARnatomy is able to identify and digitally label bones and muscles for medical students.
It uses the camera to identify replicas of human bones, and when the user places a bone in front of the camera, it identifies which bone it is and adds visuals pointing to the parts of the bone, such as where muscles attach.
SmartSpecs enhance the visual appearance of everyday objects to augment vision for partially sighted people. By a combination of a 3D camera and Android-powered software, the specs highlight the edges and features of nearby objects – from walls, tables, doorways, signposts, buggies, and even faces – to enhance visibility.
This relatively simple yet effective use of AR brings colouring books to life. Print out the black and white drawings, colour them in in the traditional manner. When you view the completed picture through your phone’s camera using the Quiver app the picture comes to animated life on screen. Touch the screen and you can interact and play games with the character you have created. | {
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Ten senators led by Sen. Tom Udall wrote to HHS that the Trump administration had failed to recognize the unique legal status of Indian tribes. | Al Drago/CQ Roll Call Senators rebuke Trump administration over challenge to Native Americans’ health care
A group of senators today pushed back against a Trump administration plan that could require Native Americans to find jobs to keep their Medicaid coverage, warning against "potentially devastating" ramifications for tribes’ access to care.
The growing fight over Native Americans’ health care, detailed in a recent POLITICO report, centers on tribes’ request to be exempted from new Medicaid work rules being introduced in several states, citing Native Americans’ status as separate government.
The Trump administration is failing “to recognize the unique legal status of Indian tribes and their members under federal law, the U.S. Constitution, treaties, and the federal trust relationship,” 10 senators — led by Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) — wrote HHS Secretary Alex Azar. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) was the only Republican to sign the letter.
The Trump administration has rejected the tribes‘ request, telling them in January that they were seeking an illegal racial preference.
“HHS believes that such an exemption would raise constitutional and federal civil rights law concerns,” an HHS spokesperson told POLITICO last week. The department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the senators’ letter.
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The senators said there’s longstanding legal precedent that established Native American tribes as separate governments.
“[F]ederal classifications fulfilling federal obligations to Indians are not based on race but instead on a political relationship between the tribes and the federal government,” they wrote.
The senators also asked the administration to share the documents explaining why Native Americans would be subject to Medicaid work requirements, which HHS has yet to publicly produce despite requests from the tribes and POLITICO.
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ENGLEWOOD, Colo. – Even after roughly a month of free agency has passed the Denver Broncos' biggest roster need has not changed.
And despite the team having signed guard Ronald Leary and tackle Menelik Watson among their acquisitions on the open market, the Broncos still have a glaring hole at left tackle. Executive vice president of football operations/general manager John Elway has promised “we’ll get it fixed,’’ but the pickings are slim among veteran players.
Garett Bolles excelled as a run-blocker at Utah but has some work to do in pass protection. Ron Chenoy/USA TODAY Sports
Elway and coach Vance Joseph have floated the idea either Watson or Donald Stephenson, who played right tackle for the Broncos last season, getting a look at left tackle. But Stephenson was benched briefly late last season because of the Broncos' struggles up front in the offensive line, and neither player would be the preferred option at this point.
Which is why when ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay worked their way through a two-round mock draft, both said the Broncos would make their first pick – currently No. 20 – a potential rookie starter at left tackle. Kiper gave the Broncos Wisconsin tackle Ryan Ramczyk, who had hip surgery in January, while McShay offered the Broncos should take Utah tackle Garett Bolles.
Some personnel executives see Bolles as a better potential left tackle over the long haul because of his athleticism, but others say Ramczyk is more versed in a pro-style offense, especially in the run game. Ramczyk said at the scouting combine he expected to be ready for training camp.
In three previous mock drafts Kiper has said the Broncos would take a tackle two times – it was Bolles both times. The two-round mock was the second time McShay has said Bolles would be the Broncos’ first-round pick.
The Broncos have also taken a long look at a deep group of pass catching tight ends in their pre-draft work, and both Kiper and McShay said that position will be the target in the second round. Both also said Ashland tight end Adam Shaheen would be the pick.
In a group where there are players who are either top-quality receivers or high-end blockers – but not both – Shaheen is considered by many teams to be the best size-speed combination at the position.
Shaheen was both the tallest – 6-foot-6 ½-inches -= and heaviest (278 pounds) player at the position who was invited to the scouting combine. His 4.79 40-yard dash showed quality movement skills for a player that size as well. | {
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UPDATE: Two teenage boys have been charged over an attack on Hugh Sheridan’s brother and castmate outside a theatre in Perth last night.
The actor, who is currently appearing in the musical HAIR, revealed in an emotional social media post that his castmate Matthew Manahan was “glassed in the street” during an apparent random attack.
Sheridan said his brother was also targeted by the same man as the group left the venue.
“Tonight this kind soul pictured here with me was attacked for no reason, he was glassed in the street,” Sheridan wrote.
“Minutes later my beautiful brother was attacked by the same person, just after leaving the theatre with me. I’ve just got back from the police station in North Bridge.”
Police said the first incident occurred about 10.30pm near the intersection of Murray and Barrack Streets, closely followed by an attack near the intersection of Hay and William Street and along Hay Street Mall.
Police arrested and charged a 14-year-old-boy from Swan View with aggravated assault occasioning bodily harm, common assault in circumstances of aggravation, disorderly behaviour and possession of stolen property in relation to the incidents.
A 15-year-old from Northam was also charged with two counts of common assault in circumstances of aggravation, carrying an article with intent to cause fear, disorderly behaviour and possession of stolen property.
Both are due to appear in the Perth Children’s Court today.
Sheridan, a three-time Logie winner, described the two victims as “the sweetest people” and said he was in shock over the “aggressive” and “fast” attacks.
“I don’t know what will happen for opening night tomorrow, Matt is still in hospital and my understanding is he’s still awaiting a cat scan,” Sheridan said.
“If my brother wasn’t there I would’ve been completely caught unaware and both Matt and myself would be in hospital”.
“I can tell you now, our amazing tribe have rallied around each other and these events only bring us closer together.”
The 34-year-old is top billing alongside singer Paulini in the musical’s 50th anniversary production which will tour Australian stages until October. | {
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) blasted President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE's policies as "anti-American" in an interview broadcast Sunday, arguing that the president should focus less on partisan divisions.
Speaking with John Catsimatidis on AM 970 in New York, Cuomo said the focus ahead of next month's midterm elections should be on the "red, white and blue wave" instead of differences among political parties.
"To govern, to live together, it can’t be red or blue. It can’t be conservative or liberal. You have to bring everyone together. You have to have an agenda that brings everyone together," Cuomo said.
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"I think, frankly, that’s the point the president misses time and time again," he added. "He plays to the polarization and exacerbates the polarization. … It’s a red white and blue wave."
Cuomo cited the Trump administration's family separation policy and its treatment of women as issues on which the federal government has further divided Americans. Cuomo argued that the focus should be on policies that unify the country.
"Once you start to demonize our differences, you unleash a cancer on the body politic that you can’t control. And that’s what is happening right now," Cuomo said. "And that’s why we have to start talking about the red, white and blue wave."
While Cuomo on Sunday urged bipartisanship and a focus on common ground, he has been among the most outspoken critics of Trump. He has decried the president's "hate-filled agenda" and blamed Trump for "fanning the flames of racism" in the wake of violent clashes in New York City connected to the right-wing group the “Proud Boys.”
Cuomo, who is considered a potential 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, is up for reelection in November. After defeating actress and activist Cynthia Nixon in a primary last month, the governor will face Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro (R) in the general election. | {
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An NHS hospital effectively paralysed a young boy for life and then tried to “gag” his family from speaking out.
Bosses at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust threatened legal action unless the child's father watered down his account of the event on the grounds it was “too emotional and too critical”.
This came after a botched operation to deal with intestinal problems left his two-month-old son, who cannot be named, with catastrophic brain injuries, causing quadriplegic cerebral palsy, blindness and double incontinence.
Despite admitting negligence, lawyers for the NHS then spent years wrangling over the amount of damages to be paid while trying to protect the trust’s reputation.
During this time the family were forced into poverty after the patient’s businessman father had to give up work to help look after his son.
Last night medical safety campaigners branded the trust’s behaviour “incredible”.
In comes two years after the Health Service Ombudsman warned hospitals were putting PR concerns ahead of complaints, and six years since a review ordered by David Cameron revealed a culture of “delay, deny and defend” in the NHS.
The boy, who was diagnosed with a bowel obstruction shortly after birth, was grievously injured in July 2014 when doctors accidentally tore a major vein while trying to insert a catheter | {
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Do More Than Say ‘No’
Peter Ould
All good pastoral theology begins with Jesus. The Gospels give us clear examples of how Jesus interacts with those who lifestyles are not holy. He dines with tax collectors, hangs out with prostitutes, and dares to speak to unclean foreigners. Jesus has absolutely no problem doing things with sinners.
Based on this reasoning, then, we might conclude that Christians should have no problem attending a gay wedding, even if they do not agree with it. Jesus in his pastoral engagements hardly ever judged. Surely as God’s salt and light, we are called to go among unbelievers, live with them, and pray for them through their joys and sorrows in hopes of witnessing for Christ.
But there’s another perspective: Marriage is a God-given ordinance that speaks to more than just the love between two people. Biblical teaching on marriage shows us that the union of a man and woman is the icon of the union of Christ and his church. The Book of Revelation envisions the great wedding feast at the end of time, the union of the Bridegroom and his bride.
So doing marriage incorrectly is an act of idolatry. It’s a rejection of both the ordinance God has given and the meaning of that ordinance. Since the gender of the participants in marriage is important, mixing those sexes up destroys the point marriage was meant to represent. How can a Christian be involved in such a thing?
Like many Christians, I find myself torn on this pressing issue. I describe my perspective as “postgay.” Today, I have a wife and family. Years ago, I decided that my same-sex orientation would not define me. I refused to accept the idea that same-sex attraction validates same-sex behavior. ...
1 | {
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KATOWICE, Poland (Reuters) - The Maldives will do all in its power to keep “our heads above water”, the head of its delegation at U.N. climate talks said on Thursday in an impassioned appeal for nations to overcome their divisions over how to tackle global warming.
The low-lying Maldives is among countries most vulnerable to the effects of climate change such as rising sea levels and coral reef deterioration.
“We are not prepared to die. We are not going to become the first victims of the climate crisis. Instead, we are going to do everything in our power to keep our heads above water,” Mohamed Nasheed told delegates at the talks in Katowice, Poland.
“Climate change is a national security issue for us. It is an existential threat,” he said, adding that a rise in global temperatures could still be avoided but countries had to unite.
Nasheed was the Maldives’ first democratically elected leader but was ousted in 2012 in a coup, imprisoned then granted asylum in Britain.
The Maldives’ current president, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, invited Nasheed to head the country’s negotiating delegation at the Katowice talks, which are aimed at agreeing rules for implementing the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.
With less than two days until the conference is formally scheduled to end, delegates are still grappling with many issues - not just how the accord will be implemented - including finance, strengthening emissions cuts and monitoring action.
A draft, more concise text of the deal should be available later on Thursday but it is expected to still be laden with brackets for wording to be decided on and gaps.
Since last addressing a U.N. climate conference in 2009, Nasheed said he had been deposed in a coup, imprisoned and then forced into exile.
“But almost 10 years since I was last at these climate negotiations, I must say, nothing much seems to have changed. We are still using the same old, dinosaur language,” he said.
“Carbon emissions are rising, rising and rising and all we seem to be doing is talking, talking and talking.” | {
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These simple veggie skewers are packed with flavour thanks to their soy balsamic marinade and herby vegan green goddess dressing. Don’t worry if you don’t have a grill, these vegetable kebabs are baked in the oven!
Colourful vegetable kebabs are every vegan’s barbecue go-to, am I right? They’re easy to prepare, great for a crowd and taste great when they’re grilled.
Too bad I live in an apartment with no balcony in a country where barbecuing in public spaces is prohibited. So I made my veggie skewers on a grill pan or roasted in the oven.
The oven roasting method allows you to do a large number of skewers all at once rather than standing over a pan doing them in batches. Depending on how large you chop your veggies, they only need to be cooked for ten or fifteen minutes in the oven.
You can make your choice of whichever summer vegetables you like for your kebabs. I used red and yellow pepper, zucchini, red onion, cherry tomato and mushrooms.
To make the most delicious veggie skewers I first marinated the vegetables in a simple mix of soy sauce and balsamic vinegar. Once roasted, this marinade left them with a tasty sweet and savoury flavour.
I served my veggie skewers with a vegan green goddess dressing, which I made without avocado (bet you weren’t expecting that!). I used the homemade aquafaba mayonnaise from my vegan potato salad recipe and a vegan cashew yogurt that recently appeared in my supermarket.
Blend those up together with a clove of garlic, lemon juice and a combination of herbs for a deliciously creamy and herby dressing that’d go well with salads, roasted veggies, Buddha bowls , wraps, etc.
If you’re not into vegan green goddess dressing, I’ve also previously served these veggie kebabs with my vegan tzatziki recipe, which I swear tastes EXACTLY like non-vegan tzatziki (I served it to meat-eaters and they couldn’t tell the difference), or the spicy red curry peanut sauce from my Thai Buddha bowl recipe.
Veggie Skewers with Vegan Green Goddess Dressing These simple veggie skewers are packed with flavour thanks to their soy balsamic marinade and herby vegan green goddess dressing. Don’t worry if you don’t have a grill, these vegetable kebabs are baked in the oven! Print Pin Recipe Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes Servings: 6 Calories: 205 kcal Ingredients For the veggie skewers 1 small red pepper cut into squares - $0.79
1 small yellow pepper cut into squares - $1.17
1 small zucchini cut into rounds then quartered - $0.21
½ red onion cut into chunks - $0.18
12 button mushrooms halved - $0.99
15 cherry tomatoes - $0.89
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar - $0.18
2 tablespoons soy sauce - $0.12
1 tablespoon olive oil - $0.10
A few grinds of pepper - $0.02 For the vegan green goddess dressing ½ cup vegan mayo - $0.40
½ cup unsweetened vegan yogurt - $1.52
½ cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley - $0.40
¼ cup tarragon or basil - $0.50
¼ cup roughly chopped chives - $0.50
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice - $0.18
1 clove of garlic - $0.08
½ teaspoon salt - $0.01 Instructions First chop all your veggies. My skewers are small (15 cm / 6 inches) so I chopped my veggies quite small at about ¾ inch.
Toss the chopped veggies into a bowl and pour over the balsamic vinegar, soy sauce, olive oil and a few grinds of pepper. Mix well and marinate for 15 minutes, stirring them up from time to time.
Meanwhile combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a food processor and blend until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Preheat the oven to 400°F / 200°C.
Skewer your veggies and place them on an oven rack over a pan to catch the drips or directly on a baking pan. Bake for 10 – 15 minutes or until the veggies are tender.
Let them cool for a couple of minutes then serve with the vegan green goddess dressing. Find us on Instagram @cilantro_and_citronella Find us on Facebook @thestingyvegan Nutrition Calories: 205 kcal | Carbohydrates: 13 g | Protein: 3 g | Fat: 15 g | Saturated Fat: 1 g | Sodium: 653 mg | Potassium: 451 mg | Fiber: 2 g | Sugar: 6 g | Vitamin A: 1480 IU | Vitamin C: 90.7 mg | Calcium: 50 mg | Iron: 1.3 mg Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is approximate only. Please refer to our nutrition disclaimer for more information.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
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Two Hours of Bowling for Two Guests with Shoe Rental | {
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NBA superstar Kobe Bryant is driving hard to the basket in China, inking a wide-ranging deal with Alibaba Group.
Under the agreement, Alibaba Group will release the L.A. Lakers shooting guard’s documentary, “Kobe Bryant’s Muse,” on Saturday, Aug. 8, exclusively through its Tmall Magic Box Internet set-top box (priced at 8 yuan, or about $1.30). The film, an account of Bryant’s life on and off the court, aired in the U.S. on Showtime earlier this year.
In addition, Alibaba Pictures will work with Bryant’s Kobe Inc. to create a series of Kobe-branded products. Those will be sold via Alibaba’s retail platforms, including Taobao Marketplace and Tmall.com, which are accessed by over 350 million active buyers across China.
See More: The NBA and Hollywood Unite for the Premiere of ‘Kobe Bryant’s Muse’
Finally, the pact calls for Alibaba and Sina to collaborate with Kobe Inc. to create a new social-media platform aimed at “connecting China’s young people directly to Kobe and his philosophies.” The two Chinese companies said the project with Bryant will be a model for other “Star, Media, Platform” properties they plan to launch together.
“I believe there is power in understanding the journey of others to help create your own,” Bryant said in a statement. “This narrative is an intimate look at who I am as a person, not what I am. My dream is that others are inspired by my personal story and create epic life stories of their own.”
Alibaba chairman Jack Ma, who attended a Lakers game last fall in the company of WME’s Ari Emanuel and Patrick Whitesell, positioned his deal with Bryant as providing inspiration to China’s digital generation.
“Kobe is an innovative entrepreneur who has established a legacy that extends far beyond the basketball court and is someone who can bring positive impact to the players and fans of basketball in China,” Ma said. “As the champion of entrepreneurs, Alibaba is proud to welcome Kobe into our ecosystem to work together on this meaningful project which we hope can have a positive impact on the youth in China.”
According to Sina, Bryant has more than 3 million followers on his Sina Weibo account. | {
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IOST is proud to announce and confirm the exact dates for IOST’s final Testnet version 2.0 and official launch of Mainnet version 1.0!
Staying true to our roadmap, with Testnet 2.0 scheduled for Q4 2018 and Mainet scheduled for Q1 2019, we will once again be hitting our ambitious goals and development timeline with these timely releases.
The exact dates of these releases will be as follows:
Testnet v2.0 ‘ Everest’ — December 20th 2018
— December 20th 2018 Mainnet v1.0 — February 25th 2019
We have so much planned for the run-up to Mainnet launch, and Testnet v2.0 will be a vital step in that plan. Developers and projects can now prepare for DApp launches on this final testnet version, which will then migrate onto Mainnet in February.
Last week we released the first of our Developer Bounty programs, which coincides with the run-up to Mainnet to make sure we bring in as many developers as possible who are interested in working with and contributing to the IOST ecosystem.
If you are a developer or team and interested in getting involved, check out the announcement or join the developer slack.
Additionally, over the next several weeks we will be releasing a series of articles giving a complete overview of the IOST network, protocol and ecosystem. The first in this series will be details about IOST’s consensus mechanism and decentralized committee election process — to be released tomorrow!
Make sure to subscribe to our Medium, Twitter and Telegram to stay up to date with all the upcoming announcements.
We are so excited to be drawing closer to these big releases and can’t wait to share everything we have been working on over the last year with the IOST community. We hope you are as excited as we are to start using the IOST network and see this project move from concept to reality!
We really appreciate everyone’s support and contribution to the community and ecosystem over this year and especially to those that provide their continued support across our social channels and communities!
Best,
The IOST team. | {
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It was a week of notable firsts, although not always welcome ones. Israel responded to a Hamas cyberattack by blowing up the building that apparently housed the responsible hacking group, a new escalation in cyberwar doctrine. Google for the first time lets you limit how long it keeps your data—so go do that. And the CIA became the first intelligence agency to establish an official presence on the Tor anonymous network. For some reason.
We also took a look inside China’s draconian surveillance of the Muslim Uyghur population, and explained why yet another major dark web takedown hasn’t actually rattled the underground internet drug trade. We explained why artificial intelligence doesn’t actually “hallucinate,” as had previously been thought, and what the practice known as application shielding does—and doesn’t—do to keep code safe from hackers. We traced the strange journey of a wicked NSA zero-day that multiple hackers got their hands on illicitly, and detailed the failings of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, currently being used to prosecute WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Elsewhere, a new indictment raises questions about the motives behind major health care hack. And in perhaps the least surprising news of the week, major cryptocurrency exchange Binance got hacked to the tune of $40 million.
And there’s more! Each week we round up the news that we didn’t break or cover in depth but that you should know about. As always, click on the headlines to read the full stories. And stay safe out there.
While a firm date hadn’t been set, special counsel Robert Mueller had been widely expected to testify about his report on Russian election interference—and Donald Trump’s obstructive tendencies—as early as May 15. Alas, it’s not to be. After Trump himself flip-flopping on whether he’s OK with it and the Justice Department sending mixed signals, House Judiciary chair Jerry Nadler confirmed Friday that Mueller won’t be making an appearance that soon. Discussions are still active, though, and Nadler has indicated that he’ll subpoena for Mueller to appear if he has to. Given the discrepancies between Mueller’s report and Barr’s interpretation of it, hopefully we won’t have to wait long to hear from the special counsel himself.
Antivirus software occupies a controversial place in the security sphere. To do its job correctly, it requires absolute access to a system. Why is that a problem? Look no further than reports this week that a hacker collective known as Fxmsp compromised three unnamed US antivirus companies, and is selling the purported source code and network access online for $300,000. Less helpful: The researchers who identified the sale listings have not named the implicated companies. Which makes sense, but also makes it hard to know at this point who to trust.
Two years ago almost to the day, Chelsea Manning was freed from the military prison that had held her for seven years. She found herself back in jail two months ago, after refusing testify against WikiLeaks. The reprieve may be short lived, though; The New York Times reports that a new grand jury will convene on May 16, where she will be asked the same questions she had previously refused to answer. Which, presumably, will once again land her back in jail.
Millions of people use Ever, a photo storage app. Presumably very, very few of them do so knowing that the photos they upload are then used to as training data for a facial recognition algorithm. And even fewer probably realize that Ever sells that facial recognition tech to third parties, as NBC News reported this week. We’re talking over 13 billion images in all. All of this is unideal for a host of reasons, but if nothing else, let it underscore the slow creep of facial recognition technology, which continues to be used in ways and places that the average photo uploader can’t be expected to understand.
More Great WIRED Stories | {
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One day I had a thought… something about an angel getting its wings when a bell rings.
I promptly googled that up and here’s what I discovered:
The classic 1946 movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” is featured during Christmas every year. In it, a young girl named Zuzu Bailey says “Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.”
Well, I couldn’t help but think of wings as in the deliciously edible chicken kinds.
But before I leave you there, I just wanted to share an epiphany I had.
My sister-in-law’s cat is named Zuzu Bailey! I HAD NO IDEA SHE NAMED IT FROM THIS MOVIE!!!! Mind Blown!!! I thought she just really liked the zoo and Bailey’s Irish Cream. :p | {
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It took two hours and three votes, but the City Council unanimously approved a change to the inclusionary zoning ordinance, cutting the percentage of affordable housing units required in residential development projects.
It was an ordinance that had not even been in effect for one year, but one that City officials said was already discouraging developers from bringing large building projects to Everett.
The current proposal had cleared the Planning Board some months ago after much discussion and several changes, with that Board settling on 10 percent across the board affordable requirement for all development.
Under the original ordinance, there was a sliding scale of affordable units required depending upon the size of the residential development. Developments from six to 13 units required 10 percent of the units be affordable, from 13 to 49 units required 15 percent affordable units, and projects of 50 units or more upped the requirement to 20 percent.
The deal finally brokered by the Council calls for any development of more than 10 units to provide 15 percent of those units at affordable rates. However, developers of contaminated sites in the city (those with state Activity and Use Limitations – AULs) only need to provide 5 percent of those units at affordable rates.
Administration officials argued that the inclusionary zoning ordinance put in effect about a year ago has stifled development in the city.
“It’s detrimental to the ability of the developer to make a profit, and the developer has to make a profit,” said James Soper, the city’s inspectional services director. “It’s pushing developers out of our community and into other communities.”
In the year since the affordable housing requirements have been on the books, Soper said there have been no affordable units added to the City’s stock.
“This is pushing people to go to Revere, Malden, and Medford,” said Ward 5 Councilor Rose DiFlorio. “It’s stopped growth. It took 30 years to grow Everett, and now we are pushing developers out.”
Soper noted a developer looking to build on the Harley Davidson site was hesitant to move forward with the restrictive affordable housing requirements.
“His next development is in Revere,” he said.
DiFlorio backed the Planning Board’s recommendation to cut the affordable housing requirement to 10 percent across the board, and also added an amendment that development on AUL sites only require that 5 percent of the units be marked affordable.
That measure failed to get the 8 of 11 council votes needed to make a change to the City’s zoning ordinance.
Leading the opposition to the Planning Board recommendation was Ward 1 Councilor Fred Capone.
Capone argued that cutting the affordable housing percentage leaves the city vulnerable to Chapter 40B affordable housing developments. Under state law, developers can bypass many local zoning bylaws and restrictions if they build a development that has at least 25 percent affordable units in communities that do not have 10 percent of their housing stock earmarked as affordable.
“The reality is that all this growth is happening and all this development is coming in and we are not creating affordable housing,” said Capone. “Under the ordinance, we are not gaining ground and we are holding the City exposed to 40B because we are not stepping up our efforts.”
Tony Sousa, the city’s planning and development director, said that with the 20-percent threshold, there have been no affordable units added in the city. Lowering the threshold, he said, would encourage development and incrementally add affordable units.
Speaking before the Council, Mayor Carlo DeMaria took issue with the argument that the City isn’t doing enough to bring in affordable housing.
“We are working our hardest to get affordable housing to the city of Everett,” said the mayor.
DeMaria said he understands people are being forced out of the community because of rent and housing prices.
“There’s a great demand and little supply,” DeMaria said. “We need to create more housing; that’s how you get rents to go down.”
After the amended change to the ordinance proposed by DiFlorio failed, Capone presented his own amended change putting the affordable housing percentage at 15 percent for all developments over 10 units and giving the Planning Board discretion to lower the percentage to 10 percent on contaminated properties. DiFlorio opposed Capone’s amendment, stating she wanted to see the guaranteed 5 percent rate for contaminated sites, and Capone’s amendment failed by one vote.
The Council unanimously approved the amended change that included Capone’s 15 percent affordable housing percentage and DiFlorio’s request that the percentage for contaminated sites be a guaranteed 5 percent. | {
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LATE SHOW WITH LINDSAY ANDERSON
Whatever he thought of this country he railed against it he was never happy out of it he was very British he was Scott’s also his background very English in his concerns and institutions and was trying to create images of this country.
Clip: After they finish work the boys usually make for Albert’s one of the cafes around the garden that is open late at night.
It was quite clear to Lindsay Anderson and his friend (name) it was impossible to break into the British cinema coming straight out of the university the only way to get into cinema was to make documentaries.
We were all sort of socialist but the films weren’t at all in sense bulimic or programmatic or anything like that they were they actually took their queue from I suppose the cinema from Humphrey Jennings that is to say working from observation of unrehearsed human details.
We were very conscious of, I was very conscious of the need to be what I call ethic to fashioned the material into something and not suddenly sit down and have a lot of talking heads blathering into the camera lens pretty uninteresting I think.
It was never a school or an organization or an office or a company it was an idea and everybody went on to do other things, I mean Lindsay for instance went on to do a lot of theatre.
I was assigned to Lindsay as an assistant at the Royal Court I had never met him before and my first memory rather than even been about the play was he taking me to the transport cable rather than putting me on the mat to find out if I was going to work out alright with him and as I remember he was very anxious to kind of challenged anything he thought of as being middle class bully minded conventional, but I think everyone felt that something new and exciting was happening.
We were going to change things perhaps naïve at that point which of course excited Lindsay very much and I think he really thrived on that atmosphere and probably the court was as nearer spiritually as Lindsay has ever found.
CLIP: I don’t know in the process of this and you putting it down and then we got stuck and we don’t have any more to do.
I thought I would take it off and put it over my arm wait for Bill to finish his.
It gave him much greater experience and a very useful one of dealing with actors which he didn’t have much of before this was of course extremely valuable for him when he came to make his feature film.
CLIP: Man: I know much about you to keep you in the rubber room for the rest of your life.
Lady: You don’t know nothing about Eddie or me you don’t know nothing about Eddie.
Man: I know he put the file through his guts.
He directed in a way that there was almost non directorial every time you turn the corner he was there facing you every time you turn around he was at your shoulder, he was always under your bed when you went to bed, always with you always with you always talking about it always investigating it always planting seeds and one day you thought you were on your own you were part of his world.
He was a great free spirit Lindsay and is a great emotional Lindsay which if you ever touch it wonderfully free and embracing.
Stories book is in a tradition of a DH logs because it was about people who have great difficulty in articulating their emotions and in the way and to bring this out was to convey this stylistically in the movie.
Lindsay’s difficulty and the generosity in making it were really focused around that and trying to get inside and some very personal experience from the outside and finding his rational and being able in somewhere to understand it and not seem to objectively or too objectively so it became an objective almost an expressionistic technique.
One would have thought that after the sporting life that Lindesay would have been in great demand as it happened the film did not make a great deal of money and so he wasn’t a bankable director, the British ran in quite a lot of trouble the London cinema came out (5:26) which he greatly despise and eventually he had the opportunity to make if which came in with the revolutionary of the late sixties.
CLIP: You mustn’t think that I don’t understand it is a natural characteristic of adolescent.
Interestingly Peter Jeffers Donald in this scene was to a large extent lifted from the book called How Eating Works but I didn’t.
CLIP: I think you boys know I keep an open mind on most things and one thing I am certain short hair is no indication of (inaudible 6:08) so often I noticed hair rebels who stepped in the British whether there is a fire in the house or to sacrifice in order to give a holiday party to slum days in the country.
The country was arthritic in the sense that it was arthritic and yet it was the particular young people who were after change so the school pubic school would be a very good place to would be precisely where you set the (6:36) and that it was both traditional and yet somehow trading people who were discontent.
CLIP: You done it. like here really it comes out of documentary background you know you shoot in here it’s just a record of what it is like to being in this room and he also done a lot of theatre work so he knows how to dramatize the area but it’s still draws line in a way you know that Hollywood director would have started. He would have built all this and he wouldn’t have bothered to address the detail of it.
It is a film which conveys I think what I feel about life which is certainly a suspicion of all institutions and authorities and as for it hitting the right moment of that, it was absolutely astonishing because you could see it was transparently what everybody was interested in what went to the center of their lives and in that way it sometimes happens.
The film came at a time for Lindsay his careeralmost(8:22) from 1945 when as a young army officer he put the red flag out above the officers mess in India where he was then serving right through his disillusion with labour.
CLIP: Good morning say hello to Mr. Travis, please to meet you Mr Travis Barlo name), please to meet you at your service oh, this is Mavis be nice to Mr Travis Mavis, but not too nice, happy to greet you. Great pleasure, Come here come here. We have come to the part of the show you have all been waiting for.
I think Lindsay was some of the needed support and encouragement despite there is apparent self sufficient ironic defiant exterior and I think this starting collapsing and I think the subjects for the films really went out of fashion out of politically fashion and when once the agency came Lindsay is much too radical and to subversive about what he said about society about England.
No artist is worth much as name change the world of course no artist can be judge by his success or failure but to change the world since none of us have succeed we can only hope to change or to influenced likeminded spirits or hearts by telling the truth.
Hanson as a film critique and as a film director do these two things come together is one of the great English (10:21) he is a person who calls us as readers and …to see that film is of the utmost social importance. This is the kind of cinema he wanted to create and despite all he should not have the opportunity to stick around and making movies, but the sad thing was that his own writing his own example meant so little to the younger film makers so certainly neglected.
CLIP: Would you like standard or golden, standard or golden what the difference, well the golden service they retexture and hand finish. Okay, golden service. We are on it keep the crease in the trousers? “keep the crease yes and don’t forget I am a shareholder”. Do you ever let us forget? I certainly can’t afford to.
You can see Lindsay Anderson’s last film Is That all There Is on BBC 2 on Saturday and indeed that is all there is for the late show for Night.
CHRONICLE OF A SUMMER
Subsequent to this festival where they met each other ..claims some critical writing where they Cinema Verite or cinema of truth which often gets interpreted it is in a sense homage to the work of (name 14) the Russian film maker who claimed the term KINNO-NPBBA meaning also the truth of cinema in both cases their meaning not that the film is showing us the truth but the film provokes its own kind of truth that within the film we see a kind of truth emerging.
So very differently the that direct cinema folks in the US at the time who were like the camera will tell the truth it’s the fly on the wall that will just follow people the idea of interfering and showing people making up a film and at the same time was you know completely shocking and often the two movements are considered to be very much the same and they are not they are very much in dialogue.
So they were very interested in creating these kinds of scenario to evoke a kind of explanation of what the truth might be and the lives of parishioners at this time and just by the fact that diversity of people in the film they were already anticipating there were many ways to imagine what that might be.
Bruce believed that people in performance or in ritual or any form of dramatization people only become more of they really are so there is not a lack of truthfulness because people are performing because people are in ritual I mean he sort of extends this from his view of ritual they are just revealing another aspect of themselves.
I think that they were somewhat naively hopeful that somehow all these people would come to really love each other through the film and be comfortable with each other’s representations and that actually did not occur. It is part of what I think makes the film successful from most viewers. | {
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K-pop singer Minzy from 2NE1 shared a photo of herself Monday wearing a gold headband and matching makeup.
The 21-year-old singer wears a leopard print top and gold headband. She also sports smoky eye makeup with gold glitter that matches her outfit.
Her group is set to return to the stage in the second half of this year.
By Ko Ji-seon ([email protected])
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Racers from around the world begin pre-running today at 8:00 am (PT) for the grandpappy of desert races, next month’s 50th annual BFGoodrich Tires SCORE Baja 1000.
Registration is ongoing but to date, there are a total of 218 entries from 35 U.S. states and 18 other countries. Nearly 300 entries are expected in the 1134-mile event which starts with bikes and quads at 12 midnight (PT) on November 15th. Car, truck, and UTV classes follow with a start on November 16th at 10:00am Pacific Time.
READ MORE: 2017 Baja 1000 Race Course Revealed in Detail
Pre-running gives teams a chance to run part of the course on which the race is run before the drop of the proverbial green flag. Big-buck teams often build a special pre-runner vehicle, similar in concept to the machine they’ll be using during the Baja 1000, allowing the driver to replicate race-day conditions where possible. This avoids the possibility of binning the actual race vehicle before the event even starts.
Practice officially starts at Ojos Negros – 20 miles away from the actual start point – and stretches all the way down Mexico’s magnificent Baja California peninsula to La Paz. The race course has long been mapped out and GPS information prepared for this year’s massive 1134 mile route.
READ MORE: Vintage Classes Added for 50th Baja 1000
Well-known desert racers who have already signed up include Robby Gordon, B.J. Baldwin, and Larry Roeseler who is notable for his 12 overall wins in the SCORE Baja 1000. Rod Hall, the only person who has raced in all 49 Baja 1000s held to date, is also fielding an entry. Mr. Hall, who turns 80 on November 22nd, has 24 class wins and will be competing again this year in the Stock Full category with his eldest son, Chad.
Jumpstarting the festivities for this year’s Baja 1000 will be the massive SEMA SCORE Baja 1000 Experience at the Las Vegas Convention Center during the SEMA Show. It’s the fourth time around for this massively popular addition to the Baja, held Oct 30 – Nov 3.
Racers and fans know the Baja 1000 has changed its route over the years, so organizers have cooked up something special for the event’s 50th running. Starting in the heart of Ensenada, competitors will hammer over a 20-mile stretch to Ojos Negros, then head south before going back on Highway 1. The first checkpoint is at Coco’s Corner just after a new stretch of trails.
Three other checkpoints are located along the peninsula on the way to the fifth and final checkpoint at Loma Amarilla. The last stretch of the race is a blast towards the finish line in La Paz.
Qualifying for the first 40 Trophy Trucks registered for the event will be held at the Off-Road Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on October 31st. Off-Road.com will be there to bring you all the action live from the track. | {
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A transcript from a heated debate on advertising’s dark secret
The following is a transcript of a live debate held at the Kaufman Music Center on New York City on March 20, 2015.
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Debaters:
Sam Roarke, CEO and Founder, RoarkeSmith & Partners
Kiet Som Kwok, Chief Creative Officer, Anagram8
Moderator:
John Phillips, Host of NPR’s Media Runs
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John Phillips: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Live Debate Series at the Kaufman Center. Tonight, we’ve invited two esteemed guests to verbally joust about, what may be, the biggest secret of a multi-billion dollar industry. No, we’re not talking about Wall Street, or energy, or politics. Folks, tonight, we’re talking about advertising. Yes, folks, advertising.
Today, more than ever, advertising is all around us. eMarketer estimated that $546 billion dollars — billions with a “b” — was spent last year in advertising and media worldwide. With that much money at stake, controversy is inevitable to arise and arise one has.
It’s what advertising people call “scam advertising.” Fabricated, un-commissioned ads created with the explicit purpose of grabbing prospective clients’ attention…and business. Ads for the sake of ads.
Scam ads. Some despise it, others see it as a necessary — even virtuous — part of a cutthroat business.
But which is it?
Well, that sounds like the makings of a lively debate. Tonight, we have two titans of advertising to settle this motion once and for all: Scam ads healthy for the creativity.
JP: Introducing our first debater, Sam Roarke, arguing against the motion. Sam, last year, Fast Company named your agency, RoarkeSmith & Partners, one of the ten most influential companies in media. Your campaigns have graced the covers of Time and Wired, drawing both public acclaim and controversy. So, my question is this: how do you do it?
Sam Roarke: With a lot of drinking.
(Applause)
But seriously, John, I’ve been very lucky throughout my career to be surrounded by very passionate people who love what they do. And who believe in doing “real” work…
JP: Hang on, hang on. Sounds like you’re already jumping into the action — just hang on a second while I introduce our other guest.
Ladies and gentlemen, arguing for the motion, is the Chief Creative Officer at Anagram8. It’s safe to say that Anagram8 has been this decade’s rocket ship in advertising — rising from relative obscurity to top of the Cannes Creativity Awards tables in just five years. And that success has be the led by our next titan: Kiet Som Kwok. Kiet, what does that kind of meteoric ascension feel like?
Kiet Som Kwok: Honestly, thrilling and terrifying. I have to agree with my friend Sam, drinking helps.
(Applause)
JP: I sense a theme here but let’s go with it.
Tonight will be an Oxford-format debate. Which means we will start with opening statements followed by dialogue and questions from the audience. Finally, I will give each guest two minutes to make his final argument. Ladies and gentlemen, this is a debate — there will be a winner and a loser.
You’ve already been asked for a vote at the beginning of the night. At the end of the night, you’ll be asked again and whichever debater has moved the most votes — wins the night.
Our debaters have flipped a coin backstage and fate has decided that Sam will be first to make his opening statement. Sam, you have two minutes to argue against the motion: Scam ads healthy for the creativity.
SR: Thanks John. Folks, this is a complex issue for which I have an extremely simple argument: We are professionals and professionals should not be rewarded for doing fake work. That’s what scam advertising is — fake work. It is deceit, plain and simple. Let’s not sugar coat what it is.
Let me back-up for a second and define the term “scam ad.”
Normally, in advertising, a client pays an agency to create a piece of work — a TV ad, a radio ad, a digital banner — to help sell whatever it is they’re selling. It can be a gruelling process as conservative Clients often limit how creative the agency can be. Because of this tension, the vast majority of an agency’s work does not get what any agency creative — like any creative person — really wants: fame and recognition.
A scam ad is simply a ploy to cheat this reality. It’s an ad that an agency conjures up out of thin air. It is unpaid and unauthorized by the client. A brand logo is simply slapped on and it is submitted to win one of many industry awards.
Yes, a scam ad is free from the constraints of the client’s conservative-ness, but ultimately, it is also free from truth. It is not a real piece of work. It is not a professional product.
Multiply this behavior by the tens of thousands of agencies in the world all doing scam and you arrive the sad state of affairs we have today: an industry infected by fake work and shiny awards created to reward that work.
Folks, is this what we want to be known for? Is this what we want to be? A multi-billion dollar, professional industry that rewards itself on doing fake work? If it sounds dirty, that’s because it is. That’s why I ask of you to vote for against the proposition: Scam ads are not healthy for creativity.
(Applause)
JP: Thank you, Sam. Kiet, it’s your floor to offer your side of the issue. You have two minutes.
KSK: Thanks John and thank you for everyone for coming tonight.
I have to admit, I agree with a lot of what Sam says. But I’ll also say, that this is not a simple black-or-white, right-or-wrong issue. I am also first to say that scam ads do exist. But I can’t help to feel like Sam’s outlook on creativity is — simply outdated.
Now, I’ll tell you what Sam is going to tell you. He’s going to say that scam ads are to advertising like steroids to major league baseball. It’s a form of cheating and the industry’s obsession on winning awards diminishes advertising’s true value as a business tool.
It’s true that as a creative leader, I am constantly thinking about winning awards. But the question is this: is that an unhealthy obsession?
Absolutely not.
The fact of the matter is, our industry’s “Super Bowl” event is called Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity for a reason. It’s a celebration of creativity. Unadulterated brilliance. It’s not a festival for best client relationships or a festival for the biggest media budgets, it’s a celebration of creative possibility. Of big ideas. It’s a platform for inspiring clients and the industry as a whole. And in that way, all ideas — scam or not — should be fair game.
Sam uses the word “scam” like dirty word. I don’t see it that way. I love work that is demonstrates what a brand can do without shackles. I love brave work. It’s proof that great work is always possible — right below the surface — and the optimism that that injects into the industry should be rewarded. To me, it’s not scam, it’s proactive creativity. It’s the best way to raise the tide of the entire industry which otherwise would be doing the same, boring things year after year.
So yes. Vote yes to the motion: scam ads — or proactive creativity, as I see it — are healthy for creativity.
(Applause)
JP: Thank you to both debaters. I can tell already that we will have a spirited debate tonight. Now, we’re entering the open dialogue part of the debate and I’d like to start with a question to Sam. Actually, a question that seems to be at the heart of this debate for both sides.
Sam, you see scam ads as a black or white issue where Kiet sees it as a complex issue. Can you tell Kiet — and us — why it’s much simpler than he’s making it out to be? Why scam ads are, without question, bad for creativity?
SR: I’ll say what I said before: fake work is wrong work. Advertising is the only professional industry that rewards itself on completely fabricated work. Should doctors be rewarded for doing fake surgeries? Or exterminators rewarded if they pretend to exterminate your bedbugs but — just kidding, they didn’t?
And it’s become so obvious to everyone what is scam and what is real. You look at the media plan and if the ad has only run once on some obscure channel at some obscure time — I mean, no marketer would do that. It’s delusional to reward work like…
KSK: I just want to jump in for a second. I hear this argument a lot — how a scam is scam because it only airs once. I just don’t see that a reason to call something a scam. Consider the biggest advertising event in the world — the Super Bowl. Tens of millions of people watching the ads — all of which…just…air…once.
(Applause)
If Super Bowl ads are scam — which they are clearly not — but if they were, then scam is all I want to do.
SR: I think we can all agree that Super Bowl ads are the exception in our business. By definition, they cannot be scam because…
KSK: Again, definition is important here. Sam, what you’re calling “scam,” could just be an agency being very proactive with a client and bringing ideas to him without being asked. That’s the level of assertiveness needed to do great work and it should be acknowledged.
Sam, the only thing separating what you’re defining as “scam” and what I’m calling “proactivity” is how willing you to put yourself out there.
Is it scam to bring an idea to a client outside the typical process? What if that idea is actually effective? What if the client ultimately likes it and approves it? What if it makes a real difference to the brand? To the real world? No, that’s not scam, that’s what I call an front-footed approach to producing great ideas.
SR: Being proactive is one thing. Making ads with the sole purpose of winning awards is another.
Advertising is a business tool that, when done well, has real impact of brands. Scam ads — ads made without considering the client’s stated objectives — diminish the value of real ads that do.
You poked fun at client management before. But the truth is, it’s much harder to make a “real” great ad, than a fake one — and that’s what should be recognized. That’s the real value of real advertising — the ability to get a crazy idea into the real world despite a client’s concerns. Just making things up disrespects that process. It’s the easy way out. It’s cheating.
Frankly, I’d take a mediocre “real” ad over a great scam any day — because authenticity matters. When real client money is at stake, real ads should be the only thing that win these awards.
(Applause)
KSK: Sam, you talk so much about “real.” You do realize that all creativity, all advertising is made up, right? Sure, it’s a business tool, but is it’s also art. It’s art for commerce. It’s made up. If “real” is all you want, we’d have ads that just state facts — cleans faster, works better — that’s not creativity, that’s not what inspires people and that’s not what helps brands.
(Applause)
JP: Let’s take a question from the audience. I know we must have some people from the industry here tonight and I’d love see what they have to say.
Over there, in the third row.
Audience Member: Hi, my name is Dan Kapur and I’m currently an art director working in Singapore. I’m a fan of both of your work, but my question is this…actually, it’s more for Kiet.
I’m often asked by my creative director to do nothing but what Sam is calling “scam ads” — especially when awards season rolls around. He knows it’s not real client work and I know it, too — but honestly, I’m open to do it because it helps my portfolio. But at the same time, I know what’s happening. I mean, my question is…what am I supposed to do in that situation?
JP: I feel like that’s a really good question. At the end of the day, there are real, hardworking people behind these ads — real or not. So Kiet, what would say to Dan?
KSK: Do it. Like I said, I see these award shows as a global platform for the best creative work, period. You have to admit, most of the time you’re doing work you’re not particularly proud of — this is your opportunity to put your best thinking forward. You’re competing with the best in the world and if you win, it’s good for you personally, good for your creative director and good for your agency…
SR: I simply cannot believe Kiet is saying this. We, the industry, are breeding an entire generation of creative people who don’t know how to make real ads. Who believe the only way to advance their careers is to win meaningless metal statues for work that clients didn’t ask for. That’s not advertising, what you’re encouraging are art projects.
(Applause)
KSK: You know what? My friend over there is being a bit naive. Really naive, actually. This is simply not how the advertising industry works these days. Winning awards — like it or not — is one of the most important vehicles to attracting new clients in our business. To grow an agency. And trying to win awards — like it or not — is a cost of business. It’s an agency’s R&D — it’s an business investment. And that’s not meaningless.
Sam, if I told you that for every one million dollars you invested in trying to win these awards, you’d get a five million dollar return in attracting new business — you’re telling me you wouldn’t do that? That, you wouldn’t invest that money? Because that’s how most agencies see what you’re calling “scam” — proactive creativity that can have a real impact on an agency.
SR: In a word, no. I would not do that…
KSK: Then, my friend, maybe not today or tomorrow — you will be left behind. The industry has changed…
SR: That’s probably what A-Rod thought. Listen, scam ads is a form of cheating and, for me, no amount of supposed glory is worth cheating for.
(Applause)
JP: Let’s take one more question from the audience. Ma’am, in the back.
Audience Member: Hello, my name is Ivy Beck. I’ve got to admit, I don’t work in advertising — so I’ve never even heard about this scam ad issue until tonight.
It’s interesting, but I guess my question has to do with addressing the original proposition about if it’s healthy for creativity. As an outsider, I can you both take this on directly? I haven’t heard that yet.
JP: I’ll let Kiet tackle this first.
KSK: It’s a good question. To me, as a creative leader of an organization, the best way to raise the creative bar amongst my guys is to have them compete with the best. That’s what these awards are: competitions. Healthy competitions, because it forces you, as a creative, to step back and up your game. It’s motivating, challenging and when you succeed, incredibly rewarding.
You know, creativity is like a muscle. You have to work it to strengthen it and that’s what these competitions do — exercise that muscle. So, for me, it’s, quite literally, healthy for creativity because it’s ups everyone’s game.
SR: I’ll make the baseball analogy again. Did steroids “up everyone’s game?” Indeed, it did. Was it healthy for the game of baseball? Absolutely not. It almost destroyed it.
Look people, I have no issues with competition, but that competition cannot exist for its own sake. And most importantly, the competition has to be fair.
If you’re an agency, like ours, that refuses to do scam ads — you are competing with cheaters. How fair is that? And the more the happens, the less and less real work will compete and the more and more ridiculous these awards will become. That vicious cycle has already started and it’s hurting our industry as a whole.
KSK: Sam, that’s simply not true. Except for the Great Recession, advertising spend has steadily increased every year since the 1970's. The industry has never been more dynamic or creative. Digital, social, mobile are creating more possibilities to grow brands than ever before because there are more canvases than ever before. Developing countries are thriving. Call me an optimist, but scam ads, awards shows — you and me — won’t slow that down. Creativity is more valuable than ever.
(Applause)
JP: And with that we close the dialogue segment of tonight’s debate.
It’s been a spirited debate and now it’s time for closing statements. Each of you will have two minutes to make your final argument. Sam, you had the first word, so I’ll give Kiet the final say. That means, Sam, you’ll make the first closing statement. You have two minutes.
SR: Twenty-eight million dollars. That’s how much Cannes collected last in award submissions…the largest ever and growing at 5% a year. It’s not an award show, it’s big business. And I’m sad to say, as long it continues to be big business, scam ads will continue to tarnish the value of creativity.
We cannot honestly call ourselves a professional industry when we obsess over things that have nothing to do with our client’s real problems. No client hires an agency for fake work, this is not artistic patronage — advertising is a service business that deserves real creative work.
Scam ads, awards shows, judging panels — the current industry apparatus — have warped what it means to “do” advertising. It delegitimizes us all.
Yes, getting clients to buy ideas is hard. Yes, great ideas are rare. Yes, why suffer when there’s an easier way out? But we have to ask ourselves, what kind of industry we want to be? An industry that rewards big ideas that have real results? Or one, so inwardly focused, that it champions beautiful lies?
So, I ask you — no I beg of you, please vote against the motion. Scam ares are not healthy for creativity.
(Applause)
JP: And now, Kiet, you have the final word. Two minutes.
KSK: Thanks John and thanks to Sam for engaging in such an important issue with such passion. I just want to say this: I wasn’t always the Chief Creative Officer of a big ad agency.
My first gig in advertising was an a tiny shop in Hong Kong nobody ever heard of.
The truth of the matter is: great creativity is the ultimate equalizer. Awards are the little guys’ sling shot. Awards shows are one of the few places where the best ideas do shine through, period. It is a slingshot. It was my slingshot.
Without these awards and without the opportunity to showcase your creativity without constraints, the big agencies will simpler get bigger and the small guys will never have a chance.
What Sam’s calls “scam,” I call pluck. I call proactivity. I call purity. I call punching above your weight. I salute the junior creative doing scam because I salute, not only his talent, but his ambition. And if scam ads are his best chance in this crazy, super competitive, unfair industry, then so be it. I salute scam ads, too.
Vote for the motion: Scam ads — no, proactivity— are healthy for creativity.
(Applause)
JP: And with that, I conclude the main segment of tonight’s debate.
Ladies and gentlemen in the audience, the choice is yours. Please pick up the voting devices in front of you and enter your second vote of the evening.
Again, the debater who moved the most votes will be declared tonight’s winner. The motion is this: Scam ads are healthy for creativity. Please enter your vote.
///
(This debate is, itself, a scam. However, the issues are real and affecting the advertising industry today.) | {
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Amanda Dias/BHAZ
A última semana do inverno será com temperaturas típicas do verão. A massa de ar quente e seco continua atuando sobre Minas Gerais e fará com que os termômetros em Belo Horizonte cheguem aos 37ºC. O calor está tão forte que o Estado registrou a maior temperatura de toda a sua história: 41,8ºC na última sexta-feira (13), na região Norte de Minas Gerais. Fique tranquilo, pois a tão aguardada chuva está prestes a chegar, após mais de 100 dias de secura na capital.
Ao BHAZ, o meteorologista Ruibran dos Reis disse que até esta segunda-feira (16) o começo da manhã foi fresco, devido a uma frente fria. “Tivemos essa frente fria no litoral do Sudeste que acabou mudando a direção dos ventos e isso fez com que tivéssemos uma ligeira queda na temperatura no final de semana. A partir de terça o cenário muda”, disse.
A temperatura mínima em BH hoje foi de 15ºC e a máxima deverá alcançar os 30ºC. Com a atuação da massa de ar quente e seco é esperado um novo recorde de temperatura na capital mineira. “Entre quinta e sexta podemos ter máximas de 36ºC e 37ºC é muito calor nesta reta final de inverno”, destacou. O dia mais quente do ano foi registrado na última sexta quando atingiu-se os 36,4ºC.
Dia mais quente e chuvas chegando
Se em Belo Horizonte o calor já está demais, no Norte de Minas está ainda mais intenso. Prova disso é o recorde histórico de temperatura que foi registrado na última semana. “A tarde mais quente do ano em toda a história de Minas Gerais foi registrada em São Romão onde chegou-se aos 41.8ºC. O recorde anterior era de Arinos, em 1997, com 41,5ºC”, disse. As medições no Estado começaram em 1912.
Para refrescar o calor nada melhor do que uma chuva, e, segundo Ruibran, ela está prestes a chegar, após 104 dias de secura. “A partir da semana que vem teremos uma mudança no clima com a chegada de uma frente fria. Teremos chuvas acompanhadas de raios, trovoadas e rajadas de ventos. Serão boas pancadas”, concluiu.
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It has been a great year for SENS rejuvenation biotechnology, both for funding and for results delivered by ongoing research programs. The 2015 fundraising continues apace, with yet another organization taking up the baton to offer a matching fund. Following on from our successful $250,000 Fight Aging! 2015 fundraiser to support the work of the SENS Research Foundation, the Foster Foundation has announced a matching fund of their own. They have put up a $50,000 fund to match all donations to the SENS Research Foundation made between now and the end of the year, just two weeks away. From the latest SENS Research Foundation newsletter:
We are pleased to announce that the Foster Foundation, a longtime supporter of SENS Research Foundation, has offered us a final year end challenge. They will match dollar for dollar up to $50,000 raised from December 14th to 31st. Formerly the Rose and Winslow Foster Family Foundation, the Foundation has provided over $150,000 in donations to SRF this year. We thank them for their amazing support of our mission. Help us secure this challenge grant by donating today and helping enable SRF's critical work to end age-related disease. So far we have received $8,402.61 towards this challenge.
The rejuvenation research programs running under the auspices of the SENS Research Foundation, and related efforts conducted by a few other organizations, represent the best of current approaches to the treatment of aging. Aging is caused by forms of cell and tissue damage, and therefore the fastest approach to building effective therapies, medical technologies capable of preventing and reversing aging, is to repair this root cause damage. Sadly all too little of modern medical research is focused on this goal, and the mainstream research community has so far only broadly undertaken work for cancer, stem cell therapies, and amyloid clearance, the latter mostly in the course of efforts to treat Alzheimer's disease. These are just three slices of the seven or more broad categories of repair technology needed, and much of the present mainstream work in these fields is either not directed at the treatment of aging, or is not likely to produce meaningful outcomes in terms of repair. This is why non-profit initiatives like the SENS Research Foundation are vital to the future of our health and longevity. Non-profits undertake the work that is overlooked, unprofitable, or unpopular in the existing funding ecosystem, and as a result can unblock logjams and enable progress and adoption of specific lines of research in the broader scientific community.
The SENS Research Foundation can point to success as a patron of mitochondrial repair research over the past eight years or so, helping to build the foundation for allotopic expression - placing backups of mitochondrial genes in the cell nucleus - to the point at which Gensight is now devoting tens of millions of dollars to development of the technology. The SENS Research Foundation has also recently funded the startup Oisin Biotechnology to proof and develop a method of senescent cell clearance, and transferred some of the promising results of their lysosomal aggregate clearance research to another startup, Human Rejuvenation Technologies, for the development of treatments for atherosclerosis. They are also in the process of unblocking work on clearance of glucosepane cross-links in humans, funding the development of the tools needed for effective research and development in that area.
These are all programs with concrete results that aim at repair of causes of degenerative aging and age-related disease. Few other organizations can claim to be doing as much with such a modest yearly budget. The more that we can help the SENS Research Foundation to grow, the faster we will see real, working rejuvenation treatments. The clock is ticking and none of us are getting any younger yet - a lot of work is left to accomplish before that starts to happen, and here is the chance to help make it happen. | {
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Ammar Khan's pipeline dream is to resurrect Wonderland.
The Mt Druitt property developer wants to rekindle the memories he had while working at the former western Sydney theme park by creating Sydney's Wonderland.
It will go up against Wet 'n' Wild, which is due to open this summer.
"I worked there for nine years, up until it closed, and even tried to approach big business to keep the park alive," he told The Standard.
"I'm realistic - this isn't going to happen overnight. But I'm going to go back to the businesses I've been working with to try and get this started."
What are you Wonderland memories? Comment below.
Mr Khan said the project would take three years to complete stage one, which would include hotel operations, cinemas and restaurants, as well as a multi-themed attractions and amusements.
"The timing on when this $150 million project starts depends on when I get confirmation from stakeholders that they want to invest," he said.
media_camera Sydney's Wonderland - the latest theme park for western Sydney.
RELATED: Wet 'n' Wild nears completion
Urban Estate Developments, which Mr Khan is the managing director for, is part of the joint development. He said the park would be "instrumental in providing numerous economic growth opportunities".
"It's time to bring back the fun in our lives and provide a vibrant place where people can enjoy themselves again," he told The Standard.
media_camera Visitors outside the entrance to Australia's Wonderland in Sydney, Picture: Tracee Lea.
Mr Khan said the park would operate as a tourism precinct with a series of recreational tourism facilities and mixed commercial activities.
Since 2009, Mr Khan has been working on the project and he hopes to incorporate aspects of the old Wonderland.
RELATED: Employment boost at theme parks
media_camera Wonderland Sydney...back in the day.
"We're looking at land at the moment, and the ideal location looks to be north Marsden Park or Riverstone, where the land release is," he said.
Alternative land could be acquired in the Western Sydney Parklands around Eastern Creek or towards Hoxton Park.
"When I was still working at Wonderland, I was becoming a property developer," he said.
"I would think about how I would do things as manager to keep the park alive and I think I did as much as I could as a 25-year-old to try and keep it open.
"The feedback I've had so far from potential major investors is that it's a great idea."
media_camera Sydney's Wonderland - a pipeline dream for Mt Druitt property developer Ammar Khan.
Mr Khan said the park would have a huge flow on effect in the community, with employment during the construction and once open.
Plans for stage two of the park include a golf course and live music venue.
"All of this can't happen without investment - and that's where we're at now."
media_camera Families enjoy the last day at Wonderland Sydney in 2004. Picture: Jeff Herbert.
Expressions of interest are now being sought from interested investors and partner businesses.
Mr Khan is an independent candidate for the seat of Chifley in the Federal election this September.
media_camera Flash back to Wonderland entertainment.
WET 'N' WILD: Check its progress through images
Details: visit sydneyswonderland.com.au | {
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CNN’s Jim Acosta apparently decided the day after the midterms was a good day to make himself the story once again. Today, Acosta’s “question” was about the migrant caravan current making its way through Mexico toward the U.S. border. I put the word question in quotes because this is not how questions usually work:
“Thank you, Mr. President, I want to challenge you on one of the statements that you made in the tail end of the campaign, in the midterms,” Acosta said.
“Here we go,” Trump replied. When Acosta started to hem and haw, Trump waved his hand in exasperation, “Come on, let’s go.”
“…that this caravan was an invasion,” Acosta said.
“I consider it to be an invasion,” Trump resplied.
“As you know, Mr. President, the caravan was not an invasion, Acosta said. He continued, “It’s a—it’s a—a group of migrants moving up from Central America towards the border with the U.S.” You may have noticed that sentence didn’t end in a question. Acosta is the guy who comes to the mic during a Q&A to make a rambling statement instead of ask a question.
“Thank you for telling me that, I appreciate that,” Trump responded dryly.
“Why did you characterize it as such?” Acosta asked, even though Trump had already answered that question.
“Because I consider it an invasion. You and I have a difference of opinion,” Trump replied calmly.
“But do you think that you demonized immigrants…?” Acosta asked.
“Not at all, no. Not at all,” Trump replied.
Acosta continued to argue over with the president over whether his campaign ad had been fair, pointing to images of people climbing over a wall. Trump replied that no one seen in the ad was an actor, i.e. these are things that really happened.
“They’re hundreds and hundreds of miles away though. They’re hundreds and hundreds of miles away. That’s not an invasion,” Acosta said. You’ll notice, once again, that this is a statement, not a question. The implied question, i.e. ‘Why did you call it that?’ has already been answered twice. Finally, Trump lowered the boom.
“You know what, honestly, I think you should let me run the country, you run CNN and if you did it well, your ratings would be much better,” Trump said.
At this point, Acosta has had a minute and a half for his “question.” As the president tried to move on to another reporter, Acosta kept demanding more time for himself. Trump said, “That’s enough” at least five times, pointing directly at Acosta but Acosta kept talking over him, demanding to ask a question about the Russia investigation. At one point, some intern or White House staffer actually came up to Acosta and tried to take the microphone away from him. When he refused to let it go, she squatted down in the front row and let the Acosta show continue.
https://twitter.com/Houston_53/status/1060233079787261952
Trump answered Acosta’s second question saying, “I’m not concerned about anything with the Russia investigation because it’s a hoax.” And again, Acosta kept arguing with the president as if this were a debate between two candidates at a town hall event.
Trump, clearly exasperated, finally walked away from the podium until Acosta sat down. When he returned to the podium he said, “I tell you what, CNN should be ashamed of itself having you working for them. You are a rude, terrible person. You shouldn’t be working for CNN.” Here’s the clip:
https://twitter.com/Harlan/status/1060232442060197890
Here’s the thing about this. I actually agree with Acosta that the caravan is not an invasion, though I do think it represents a serious problem if those people a) sneak across the border as seems possible or b) encourage several more caravans to follow their example (as is already the case). But put the underlying question aside for a moment and just look at this exchange. Acosta has stopped even pretending to be trying to ask questions and has become something closer to a left-wing protester. He’s been doing this for months. He behaved this way when the president was in England a few months ago and he’s done it when the president couldn’t possibly hear or respond to him.
He’s not reporting at this point, he’s performing resistance theater for the cameras.
In the past, there have been a few voices saying that Acosta was not acting like a professional, but you can bet Acosta’s virtue is going to be defended from the rooftops all day today. In fact, as you can see in the clip above, the very next reporter got the ball rolling by praising Acosta right after this happened. I’ll be surprised if there’s a single note of concern that maybe, just maybe, telling the president his answer to your question is wrong is a bit beyond the role of a reporter. Acosta could start doing funny voices during his questions at this point and it wouldn’t matter. So long as he has Trump as his foil, the left will love him and the media will defend him.
All you have to do to see how much media bias is involved her is imagine a conservative reporter getting up and behaving exactly this way toward President Obama, i.e. telling the president he’s wrong and refusing to move on for two full minutes while interrupting him. The left would be savaging that reporter before the room had even cleared. No one at CNN would think this was acceptable if the party labels were reversed, not even Jim Acosta.
Update: Consequences…
White House @PressSec says it is suspending @Acosta WH credentials (called a “hard pass”) after today’s press conference. — Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) November 8, 2018
Naturally, Acosta recorded this.
The US Secret Service just asked for my credential to enter the WH. As I told the officer, I don’t blame him. I know he’s just doing his job. (Sorry this video is not rightside up) pic.twitter.com/juQeuj3B9R — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) November 8, 2018
To be clear, I would not support the White House freezing out an entire news outlet because it didn’t like their coverage. Obama tried that with Fox News and it was wrong. But pulling the credentials of one reporter who behaved badly during today’s press conference, i.e. talking over the president and refusing to move on when asked repeatedly, seems fair game.
That said, I suspect CNN is going to go full court press on this now. Is there anyone there who can separate the principle of showing some respect the office from the left-wing imperative to afflict the current office holder? I don’t think so. It’s too personal now.
The next Democratic president is not going to enjoy it when the right does exactly the same thing that Acosta is doing now. Not at all. | {
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The smartphone revolution comes with a hidden cost. A joint investigation by FRONTLINE and ProPublica explores the hazardous work of independent contractors who are building and servicing America’s expanding cellular infrastructure. While some tower climbers say they are under pressure to cut corners, layers of subcontracting make it difficult for safety inspectors to determine fault when a tower worker is killed or injured. | {
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For maps with gore. Please sort by hot (all time) to see the general theme of this sub. Note that these aren't maps made to be horrible, we got r/cursedmaps for that | {
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Occupy Oakland plans more antipolice rallies Oakland
Tensions between Oakland police and Occupy protesters escalated Sunday, a day after an antipolice rally downtown turned violent and resulted in six arrests.
Protesters pledged to hold weekly demonstrations against the police, who they say have been overzealous in enforcing no-lodging, trespassing and other laws to break up Occupy encampments.
"The solution is very obvious. All (Mayor Jean Quan) has to do is stop enforcing these laws," said Occupy Oakland activist Phil Horne. "If they set reasonable rules, we'll abide by them."
Clashes with police have been a hallmark of Occupy Oakland since October, when police made their initial clearance of a camp in front of City Hall that had become a gathering spot for economic injustice protests modeled on Occupy Wall Street.
Saturday night, protesters marched peacefully from City Hall seven blocks to police headquarters carrying "F- the police" banners, hoping to draw attention to what they described as ongoing police harassment, oppression and abuse.
As protesters approached the police station, officers in riot helmets stopped marchers along Washington Street near Seventh Street, where protesters started a bonfire and some threw bottles at officers from the back of the crowd. During the protest, protesters spray-painted a letter "A" with a circle around it - the symbol for anarchy - on a media van, and broke windows at a Starbucks coffee shop and on patrol cars, authorities said.
Police chased protesters to Ninth and Washington streets and made arrests. Officers penned in the other protesters on Ninth Street between Washington and Broadway before declaring an unlawful assembly. The remaining protesters decided to leave.
Officer Johnna Watson, an Oakland police spokeswoman, said six people were arrested for a variety of offenses, including assaulting officers, resisting arrest and vandalism. One protester was carrying a quarter stick of dynamite and was booked for possession of an explosive device, Watson said.
Protesters said officers failed to give a dispersal order before chasing them down and beating some of them. At least two protesters were hit by bean-bag bullets, and one was treated at Alta Bates Medical Center for a broken arm and lacerations, protesters said.
"The police are doing to us exactly what they do to a lot of people in this city," said Occupy activist Jaime Omar Yassin. "This isn't just about police brutality against Occupy - it's a rejection of the way the police work generally."
To address the increased hostility between police and protesters, Oakland's Citizens' Police Review Board is hosting a forum Feb. 9 to discuss alleged police misconduct and possible solutions.
Ideally, the protesters would stop confronting the police and start focusing on broader political and economic challenges, said board member Thomas Cameron.
"If they really want to see some changes, they need to get their ass out and vote. And get their friends to do it, too," said Cameron. "Complaining about the police is just misplaced energy. I think a lot of these people are just being unreasonable."
Occupiers don't plan to participate in the forum because they distrust city organizations, Yassin said. In addition, they don't support any Occupy-related discussions between city officials and members of the Interfaith Council, like the one that occurred Thursday which city staff touted as a productive step toward allowing ongoing demonstrations.
Meanwhile, lawyers for the protesters are gearing up to fight charges against those who've been jailed.
"It's ironic - (the mayor) wanted to clear away the protests but they've become bigger than ever," Horne said. "We're front and center." | {
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Sesame Street… What was once a vibrant and happy place. is now under the boot of communism. All thanks to their new leader... Kim Jong Elmo. Because as you more than likely already know, (Unless you never paid attention in history class) Kim Jong Il was actually a spiritual being that was made of pure Communism. So when he died he needed a new host. Unfortunately for us, the host he chose was one of our greatest Murican heroes, Elmo.
When the spirit of Kim Jong Il took over Elmo, Elmo began to enforce new rules for Sesame Street. He created focus time camps, segregated humans and puppets, turned the Swedish Chef's kitchen into a nuke kitchen, turned the cookie monster into the veggie monster, and so much more.
At first the citizens of Sesame Street thought Elmo was just joking around. However when they started to notice that all the humans have gone missing, and that anyone who asked Elmo about the humans whereabouts were immediately captured by Elmo secret service agents. They knew that this was not a prank bro!
After Elmo had complete power over Sesame Street, it was time for phase two of Elmo's plan. Elmo announced that he would be giving a televised speech, and that he would love for all the world to watch. The world was unaware that Elmo had become a Communist bastard, so people were happy to see what Elmo had to say. Including a certain long time fan…
Meanwhile Dick Cheney was enjoying his favorite new hobby. Looking at Steven Universe rule 34 fanart. More specifically, the Lapis Lazuli section of it. When Dick Cheney first laid eyes on her in the episode where she tried to murder two children, Dick knew he was in love with her.
However as he was looking through all of the amazing porn, he got an email from his acquaintance Harry Whittington. Dick opened up the email, and the email read "Hey Dick, did you hear that Elmo will be giving a live speech on television today?" Dick Cheney was happy and surprised. Elmo had always be a great Murican role model, and Dick was excited to see Elmo speak again. Mainly because Elmo has such a way with words.
Dick Cheney quickly turned on his small TV that he keeps on his desk, and changes the channel to Sesame Street, There he saw Elmo, however something seemed off… But Dick just ignored it since Elmo looked like he was about ready to give his speech.
Elmo got the ok from the ESSA (Elmo Secret Service Agents), and began to speak. "People of the world, but specifically the Yallnited Steaks of Murica! Elmo has a message for you!" Dick Cheney started to get worried, Elmo's tone was so bitter and heartless. "Elmo wants all of you to know that Sesame Street is no longer a friendly neutral street, but we are now a Communist street!" A tear began form in Dick Cheneys eye. "And for those of you deny Elmo's power!" Elmo then pushes a red button that was on the podium. At first it seemed like it did nothing, but then the camera pans over to the swedish nuke kitchen. The building opens up, and a missile shoots out of it at lightning speeds.
The camera then pans back to Elmo, who is now telling two of his ESSA members to grab something. About a minute later, the two ESSA members return with a large flatscreen TV, and place it next to Elmo for all to see. One of the ESSA members turn on the TV, revealing the Muppets. It appeared to be a live show, with no sound. Miss Piggy and Kermit appeared to be talking to each other, but suddenly they stopped. They began to look around in confusion, and just as Kermit looked up in horror, there was a large explosion. The connection died a second later. The Muppets were dead, and Elmo just stood there and smiled.
Dick Cheney couldn't take any more. He quickly turned off the TV, and began to cry. Dick was hoping that this was just a bad dream, but he knew it was all too real. Dick Cheney cried for about a minute. He didn't know how to deal with this. "Why Elmo! Why have you forsaken us!?" Cryed Dick Cheney at the top of his lungs. He had to do something, but what? Dick Cheney was about to send an email to George W Bush jr, but realized that he forgot to close his Lapis Lazuli porn. Dick decided that one last look would not hurt, and began to look at a picture of a completely nude Lapis.
However as he stared at her blue naked body, he got an idea. "I know what I must do." Dick Cheney said to himself as he went on to Amazon. After about a minute of searching, he found what he was looking for. A Lapis Lazuli gem.
To be continued... | {
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A handout picture taken on January 16, 2014, and released by the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur shows a farmer working in a dry field in the outskirts of al-Fasher, North Darfur
Global warming is not being taken seriously and time is running out to avoid consequences like flooded cities and dried out farmland, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said Thursday.
"We are quickly coming to the point where we are not going to be able to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius," Kim said at the start of the IMF-World Bank spring meetings in Washington.
"Warming by two degrees Celsius is going to have major implications.... 40 percent of the arable land in Africa will be gone at two degrees Celsius; Bangkok could very well be underwater at two degrees Celsius," he said.
The World Bank is making efforts in several areas to fight climate change, including developing carbon pricing and trading schemes, financing for renewable energy, and pressing governments to remove energy subsidies.
But Kim expressed worry that many had stopped thinking about climate change as an urgent problem.
"This is one of those things we here... we have talked ourselves out of taking it seriously," he said.
"But in 10 years, 15 years, when battles break out because of lack of access to water and food, we are all going to be sitting there, thinking: Gosh, why didn't we do more back then?"
"I am extremely concerned about it. I don't think the world is taking it seriously enough yet."
Explore further World Bank warns global warming woes closing in
© 2014 AFP | {
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