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Генпрокурор Юрий Луценко раскрыл подробности схемы покупки буровых установок для Черноморнефтегаза
У следствия нет прямых доказательств участия Юрия Бойко в преступной схеме покупки буровых установок для Черноморнефтегаза. Об этом сегодня на брифинге сообщил генпрокурор Юрий Луценко, передает LIGA.net.
"Господин Бойко с первого момента возбуждения этого уголовного дела является фигурантом в деле. Он был допрошен и будет допрашиваться. Однако в настоящее время у нас нет прямых доказательств его участия, кроме одного важного элемента - когда он подписывал изменение финансового плана... На данный момент у нас нет прямых доказательств того, что он был ознакомлен с преступной схемой, и главное - у нас нет доказательств того, что он получил деньги преступным путем", - сообщил Луценко.
Генеральный прокурор Юрий Луценко рассказал о промежуточном этапе следствия по делу о так называемых "вышкам Бойко" и раскрыл подробности схемы покупки буровых установок для Черноморнефтегаза.
По данным прокуратуры, в 2011-2013 годах происходили незаконные сделки с госсредствами Нефтегаза и Черноморнефтегаза.
"Один из свидетелей дословно говорит: "Я могу засвидетельствовать, что присвоение этих денежных средств и их дальнейшая легализация спланирована и реализована следующими лицами: бывшим президентом Украины Януковичем, бывшим главой Нацбанка Арбузовым, собственником и председателем правления латвийской компании судоверфи Rigas Kugu Buvetava Мельником, председателем правления НАК Нефтегаз Украины Бакулиным, зампредседателя правления НАК Нефтегаз Юрьевым и Корнийчуком, главой правления Черноморнефтегаз Ясюком, его заместителем Кацубой, начальником управления коммерции Черноморнефтегаз Кудиком, собственником ПАО Вернум Банк Игнатченко, директором киевской дирекции Украинский бизнес-банк Коваленко и ее доверенным лицом по имени Александра, сотрудником Нефтегаза Шевченко, сотрудниками Черноморнефтегаза Сахилашвили и Савченко", - рассказал Луценко.
По его словам, в декабре 2010 года Янукович с делегацией осуществил визит в Латвию для налаживания бизнес-контактов. Украинскую сторону представляли Янукович и Прутник, латвийскую - собственник компании Судоверфи Мельник. Результатом встречи стало создание украинско-латвийского предприятия ООО Украинско-латвийский торговый дом.
Стороны договорились об участии подконтрольной Мельнику латвийской компании в закупках НАК Нафтогаз Украины буровых установок, в частности, "создание видимости предоставления Судоверфью услуг по транспортировке этих установок на территорию Украины". Стоимость установок колебалась от $150 до $300 млн.
"По достигнутым договоренностям, стоимость каждой установки планировалось завышать на $150 млн, из которых $130 млн должны были идти... Януковичу и его окружению, а $20 млн - вероятно, Мельнику и гражданину Латвии", - сообщил он.
По словам Луценко, Янукович дал указание Арбузову организовать схему присвоения средств Нафтогаза при закупке установок. Учитывая дефицит собственных средств Нафтогаза для закупки установок, Арбузов как глава Нацбанка обеспечил предоставление Нафтогазу необходимых оборотных средств на сумму около $800 млн для покупки первых двух установок из семи необходимых на тот момент. Арбузов передал указание Януковича Бакулину о проведении тендера на закупку, и тот организовал процедуру через Черноморнефтегаз.
"Таким образом Бакулин хотел создать впечатление того что, что Черноморнефтегаз якобы самостоятельно инициировал вопрос закупки необходимых им буровых установок и самостоятельно якобы потом установили цену установок", - сообщил генпрокурор.
По материалам следствия, Бакулин довел до ведома главы Черноморнефтегаза Ясюка требования Януковича и Арбузова об организации покупки двух самоподъемных грузовых установок компании, которую укажет Мельник, с завышением их стоимости на $190 и $219 млн. "То есть, организовать подделку тендерной документации Черноморнефтегаз и создать видимость проведения процедуры тендерной закупки", - отметил Луценко.
Ясюк, по данным прокуратуры, согласовал покупку двух буровых вышек из Сингапура стоимостью $210 и $179 млн, а проплачено за них было $400 и $398 млн соответственно.
"При этом из запланированных 300 млн долларов фактически удалось присвоить... 144 млн долларов с покупки первой буровой установки Б312, так как после этого в СМИ поднялся скандал, начались журналистские расследования, и детали сделки стали достоянием гласности", - добавил он. В связи с этим Янукович дал указание доукомплектовать второй буровой установки Б319, чтобы создать видимость, что ее реальная цена соответствует рыночной. "Этим вопросом занимались Ясюк, Кацуба, Кудик, в публичной плоскости - вице-премьер Бойко", - сказал он.
Поскольку скандал замять не удалось, пять остальных установок так и не были закуплены.
Напомним, ранее стало известно, что Генпрокуратура объявила в розыск бывшего премьер-министра Николая Азарова и экс-руководителя Национального банка Сергея Арбузова. Луценко также заявил, что глава набсовета Вернум банка Наталия Игнатченко задержана по подозрению в отмывании средств.
В июле 2017 года Луценко заявлял, что дело о так называемых "вышках Бойко" продвигается, идет следствие в отношении действующего народного депутата по показаниям заключившего сделку со следствием бывшего заместителя главы правления НАК Нафтогаз Украины Александра Кацубы.
Подписывайтесь на аккаунт LIGA.net в Twitter, Facebook и Google+: в одной ленте - все, что стоит знать о политике, экономике, бизнесе и финансах. | {
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Moscow (AFP)
A Russian tabloid on Thursday published what it said was an audio recording of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, who was poisoned along with his daughter in Britain last year.
The Skripals were discovered unconscious in the English town of Salisbury in March 2018 after they were poisoned by what investigators said was a highly toxic nerve agent.
UK authorities say the Skripals recovered from the attack and are kept in a secret location under the protection of the British state.
The popular Moskovsky Komsomolets daily published the 30-second recording on its website, saying it was the voice of the former double agent talking to his Russia-based niece, Viktoria Skripal.
If authentic, the audio would be the first the outside world has heard from the former spy since the attack in the English city of Salisbury that sparked a diplomatic crisis between Moscow and London.
While his daughter Yulia Skripal released a video statement last May, calling for her family's privacy to be respected, her father has not addressed the media and his whereabouts are unknown.
But Viktoria Skripal has given frequent interviews to Russian press and TV.
The Russian tabloid said Skripal called his niece to wish her well on May 9, the day Russia celebrates the victory over Nazi Germany, and left a message on the voicemail.
"Everything is fine with me, with us, with Yulechka (diminutive for Yulia) also," the male voice in the recording is heard saying.
"I wanted to know how you are."
"Phone calls between Sergei Skripal and his family are a private matter," a spokesperson for the British Foreign Office said.
It was "disturbing that their privacy appears to have been abused in this way," the spokesperson added.
The mass circulation daily claimed it was the second time Skripal had contacted his relative, who lives in Yaroslavl, a city northeast of Moscow.
He first called his relatives, the paper said, after Viktoria's husband was beaten, allegedly after a man had insulted her for being related to a defector, in April.
After the attack, the British government said the military grade nerve agent was produced in Russia and the attempted assassination was "almost certainly" approved by the Russian state.
Moscow has denied involvement.
? 2019 AFP | {
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A coalition of groups plans to block access to some 26 United States-Mexico border crossings beginning September 20 to protest American immigration and other policies.
Shut Down All Ports is a protest that will attempt to shut down the border “until our goals are met,” says a message on the coalition’s website. It wants to see a “permanent and legitimate” solution for dealing with illegal immigration and the blockades will remain in place until that and nine other issues are addressed.
Those nine range from freeing a U.S. Marine being held in a Mexican jail to deporting all illegal aliens.
Coalition spokesman and organizer Rob Chupp said protesters will use vehicles to block access to border crossings in both directions 24 hours a day. He said more than 1,000 people will be involved, representing groups such as Secure Our Borders, California Coalition for Immigration Reform and American Border Patrol, and civil militia groups such as Patriots and Oathkeepers.
The shutdown will prevent the movement of US $1.4 billion per day between the two countries, Chupp said.
Heading the list of “non-negotiable” goals is the immediate release of Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi, the Marine who was arrested March 31 after crossing the border with firearms in his possession.
Other demands include sealing the border with an electric fence and razor wire, allowing border patrol officers to detain and remove illegal aliens, that Mexico pay 50% of border control enforcement costs and immediate deportation of all illegal aliens.
The protest action will affect about half of the 47 international crossing points.
Meanwhile, authorities in Texas issued a warning to law enforcement agencies that Islamic State militants were showing “growing interest” in crossing the border to initiate a terrorist attack, according to Fox News.
The report said the Texas Department of Public Safety warned on Thursday that social media messaging by the recently-formed Islamic State in the Middle East indicated increased interest in using the Mexico-U.S. border to enter the country.
The information appears to have originated from the political watchdog group Judicial Watch, which warns on its website of an “imminent terrorist attack,” and that Islamic terrorist groups are operating in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez.
The Ciudad Juárez newspaper El Diario reported that federal authorities in the U.S. said there was no evidence of any attack being planned, while Mexican authorities dismissed the suggestion that terrorists were gathering in the Mexican city.
Sources: Excélsior (sp), El Diario (sp), Fox News (en) | {
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Just before 2:30 on the afternoon of Feb. 9, the Beatles got the signal to take their places for the first of two full dress rehearsals in front of a full, hysterical audience. If they seemed daunted at making their American debut, it didn’t show. They plugged in and waited patiently behind a curtain, exchanging relaxed, easy grins, as Ed Sullivan wandered onstage.
Sullivan was an improbable TV star. Stiff as cardboard and about as endearing, the 62-year-old emcee had, a profile in TIME said, as much charisma as “a cigar-store Indian.” He was painfully awkward in front of the camera, but he had an uncanny instinct for spotting talent and the ability to give it a national showcase. As such, he was a powerful star maker, to say nothing of an American icon. If you tuned in on Sunday nights, as a majority of TV watchers did, you were in for “a really big shew.”
If the audience left the dress rehearsals in ecstasy, the Beatles were anything but satisfied. “We weren’t happy with the … appearance,” said Paul, “because one of the mikes weren’t [sic] working.”
John’s vocals were muffled and often lost in the mix.
That evening, when the Beatles returned to Studio 50 for the live broadcast of The Ed Sullivan Show, George lit into Bob Precht, Sullivan’s son-in-law, who produced the show. The sound quality, he argued, was unacceptable.
In the midst of their heated exchange, visitors and dignitaries began streaming backstage to size up the four boys from Liverpool. Dizzy Gillespie, who was playing down the street at Birdland, “just stopped by to get a look at them,” as did various Capitol Records execs.
The Beatles were already feeling pinched by the crowd. But when Leonard Bernstein swept in with his daughters, babbling about a visit to Washington and “singing rounds with Jackie [Kennedy] at breakfast,” the boys had heard enough. John ordered the entire bunch chucked out and put the dressing room on lockdown.
As it was, the theater felt under siege. The crowd outside stretched over eight blocks, giving the place the revved-up energy of a Broadway opening. CBS had received more than 50,000 ticket requests; it seemed as though half that number were trying to get inside. Among those who did were Walter Cronkite’s and Jack Paar’s daughters, as well as Richard Nixon’s 15-year-old daughter Julie.
At 8 p.m. on Feb. 9, an unheard-of 60% of American TVs were tuned to CBS. The Beatles had caused a run on the airwaves that set all broadcast viewing records. Everyone wanted to have a look at the source of all that hoopla. How could four pop musicians—four boys from England—create so much excitement? It was beyond most American parents, who had watched the buildup with wary eyes.
The audience in living rooms may have been split down the middle, but the makeup of the theater belonged to the Beatles. As the credits rolled, the camera scanned the audience: wall-to-wall teenagers, mostly girls who were wound a bit tight. Passionate female fans were a staple of pop heartthrobs, but this gang was something else, on the edge of frenzy.
At last! The curtains swept open and America had its first look at the band—not in black leather and stagy scowls, not intimidating, as some had feared, but neatly groomed, all smiles, vaguely harmless: a pleasant surprise. The Beatles! Without hesitation, they launched right into a crisp if workmanlike version of “All My Loving,” a cut from their freshly minted LP, Meet the Beatles, which topped Billboard ’s charts the following week and remained there until it was knocked off by their second album.
More than a few eyes widened during their next number as the camera lingered on each of the Beatles’ faces and a crawl appeared at the bottom of the screen, identifying them by name. Paul McCartney, doe-eyed; George Harrison, jug-eared and stoic; Ringo Starr, grinning earnestly. When John Lennon got his close-up at the very end, an unexpected postscript revealed, “Sorry, girls, he’s married.”
That let a big cat out of the bag. Until that moment, John’s marriage had been not only hush-hush but hotly denied by the Beatles’ management. Band manager Brian Epstein had decided early on that the presence of a girlfriend—and especially a wife—would turn off the female fans. As such, Cynthia Lennon was forced to deny her marriage, even her name, to anyone who asked. She kept a low profile, never wore a wedding band, learned how to blend into the crowd. At shows, John would often stash her at the back of the hall, where she would watch like any other desperate fan. Moreover, they carefully avoided going out together in public.
If news of John’s marriage sucked the energy out of the performance for a few lovestruck fans, the boys quickly sent them airborne again. A clatter of drums erupted into “She Loves You,” jolting the audience. The last two numbers were even more riveting. Both “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” delivered on the promise of something thrilling.
Copyright 2013, Time Home Entertainment.
The phenomenon unfolded in living rooms across the country. According to the A.C. Nielsen Co., the viewing audience was estimated at about 74 million people, reflecting a total of 23.24 million homes, a record for any TV show.
This is the third installment in a series of excerpts from the new TIME book, The Beatles Invasion: The Inside Story of the Two-Week Tour That Rocked America, by Bob Spitz. Copyright 2013, Time Home Entertainment. Available wherever books are sold.
First installment: The Beatles Invasion, 50 Years Ago: Friday, Feb. 7, 1964
Second installment: The Beatles Invasion, 50 Years Ago: Saturday, February 8, 1964
Get The Brief. Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Now Check the box if you do not wish to receive promotional offers via email from TIME. You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Thank you! For your security, we've sent a confirmation email to the address you entered. Click the link to confirm your subscription and begin receiving our newsletters. If you don't get the confirmation within 10 minutes, please check your spam folder.
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All key creation should be performed on a live booted machine without network access. A common way is to live boot Tails and perform all key generation steps inside it. Then copy the generated keys to a USB-stick that is kept in a safe place offline. From here on out all commands should be performed on a live booted Tail machine without network access.
Like mentioned in the goals section, we'll start by creating a GPG key that has primary key pair that can only Certify. To start the process we run:
$ gpg2 --expert --full-generate-key
(We use the flag --expert and --full-generate-key to get all available options when generating our key.)
The first prompt asks what kind of key we want to generate, here we select (8) RSA (set your own capabilities), so that we get to choose what actions the key can perform. In the actions prompt we untoggle all actions except for Certify. In the keysize prompt we input 4096 bits. The Yubikey supports storing keys that are 4096-bits so we will use 4096 bits on all key pairs.
After the GPG key has been created we can verify that it actually exists:
$ gpg2 --list-keys gpg: checking the trustdb gpg: marginals needed: 3 completes needed: 1 trust model: pgp gpg: depth: 0 valid: 1 signed: 0 trust: 0-, 0q, 0n, 0m, 0f, 1u gpg: next trustdb check due at 2018-09-17 /home/me/.gnupg/pubring.kbx ---------------------------- pub rsa4096 2017-09-17 [C] [expires: 2018-09-17] FAB89F7D27C399063F600B036B3D0050CAE0C3C4 uid [ultimate] Richard Zetterberg <[email protected]>
Next step is to create our 3 subkey pairs from that primary key pair. We use the key ID from the previous step and run:
$ gpg2 --expert --edit-key FAB89F7D27C399063F600B036B3D0050CAE0C3C4
When starting that command we are presented with a overview of the key and a gpg> prompt that accept commands. We start by entering:
gpg> addkey
We are now shown the key creation prompt again. This time we also select (8) RSA (set your own capabilities) for key type. However, this time we only select Sign capability. Same key size as before, 4096-bits.
After creating our Sign subkey, we should see the overview and the gpg> command prompt again:
sec rsa4096/6B3D0050CAE0C3C4 created: 2017-09-17 expires: 2018-09-17 usage: C trust: ultimate validity: ultimate ssb rsa4096/425E1FD67112482A created: 2017-09-17 expires: 2018-09-17 usage: S [ultimate] (1). Richard Zetterberg <[email protected]> gpg>
By the way, when gpg list keys, it uses the following terminology:
sec SECret key ssb Secret SuBkey pub PUBlic key sub public SUBkey
Next we perform the same addkey steps for the separate Encrypt and Authenticate keys. When done we should see this:
sec rsa4096/6B3D0050CAE0C3C4 created: 2017-09-17 expires: 2018-09-17 usage: C trust: ultimate validity: ultimate ssb rsa4096/425E1FD67112482A created: 2017-09-17 expires: 2018-09-17 usage: S ssb rsa4096/5993DBCB1C9AC33B created: 2017-09-17 expires: 2018-09-17 usage: E ssb rsa4096/8DB918AB30C19F1C created: 2017-09-17 expires: 2018-09-17 usage: A [ultimate] (1). Richard Zetterberg <[email protected]> gpg>
We then save our changes:
gpg> quit Save changes? (y/N) y
Now when listing keys we will see our primary key pair and 3 subkey pairs:
$ gpg2 --list-keys /home/me/.gnupg/pubring.kbx ---------------------------- pub rsa4096 2017-09-17 [C] [expires: 2018-09-17] FAB89F7D27C399063F600B036B3D0050CAE0C3C4 uid [ultimate] Richard Zetterberg <[email protected]> sub rsa4096 2017-09-17 [S] [expires: 2018-09-17] sub rsa4096 2017-09-17 [E] [expires: 2018-09-17] sub rsa4096 2017-09-17 [A] [expires: 2018-09-17] | {
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Red Bull's motorsport advisor Helmut Marko considered putting a camp together where his drivers could get infected with the coronavirus before the 2020 Formula One season resumed.
Vettel to join Aston Martin in 2021: Reaction and analysis Sebastian Vettel is staying in Formula One! But is Vettel worth the money? Should Sergio Perez feel hard done by? Lenny Wermke joins the show to help decipher the big news.
Listen to the latest episode
F1's season has been indefinitely suspended by the global pandemic. Marko, who runs the famous Red Bull programme which brought the likes of Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen into F1, said this period of inactivity was the perfect time for the company's drivers to contract the virus to ensure they would not fall ill later in the year.
Mercedes F1 team helps create breathing aid for coronavirus patients
"The idea was to organise a camp where we could bridge this mentally and physically somewhat dead time," Marko told Austrian TV station ORF. "And that would be the ideal time for the infection to come.
"These are all strong young men in really good health. That way they would be prepared whenever the action starts. And you can be ready for what will probably be a very tough championship once it starts."
He added: "Let's put it this way: it has not been well received."
Helmut Marko gave the likes of Max Verstappen their break in Formula One. Mark Thompson/Getty Images
When approached by ESPN, Red Bull's F1 team declined to comment on Marko's quotes.
As well as the Red Bull team of Verstappen and Alex Albon, the Austrian company's second team Alpha Tauri also competes in F1 with drivers Daniil Kvyat and Pierre Gasly. It also has 10 junior drivers in various categories of racing affiliated to the programme in some way.
As with sports across the globe, F1's 2020 race calendar has effectively been torn up by the coronavirus pandemic. Seven of the first eight races have been postponed, while the Monaco Grand Prix has been cancelled outright after organisers realised they could not fulfil their original date of May 24.
F1 CEO Chase Carey still hopes to put on 15-18 races this year in a best-case scenario based on starting at some point in the summer. Ongoing talks include the season extending into January next year in order to get through the backlog of rearranged races.
However, former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has suggested the championship will fail to put any races on this year.
Speaking to Reuters about what he would do if he was still in charge, Ecclestone told Reuters: "I think I'd have to say we're going to close down talk of having any races this year. That's the only thing you could do safely for everybody so nobody starts making silly arrangements which may not be able to happen." | {
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Fairfax Media revealed in September that the attack on the film was fuelled by a Presbyterian minister who had the scripture classes he oversaw at the school cut back last year. A still from Maya Newell's film Gayby Baby Credit:Gayby Baby After the film's ban in August, 85 complaints were received by the Department of Premier and Cabinet "shocked and appalled" at the actions taken by the Education Minister. "Today you did something unconscionable. Today you told thousands of children across this state that they should be embarrassed about who they are," wrote one voter. "The ramifications of this are on your shoulders".
In total, 55 messages were received congratulating the Premier and the Minister for their "courageous decision" and for being "men of principle" in preventing the film from being shown in school time. A still from Maya Newell's film Gayby Baby "God bless you for standing up to protect our lovely children from those who in the name of the 'freedom to be naughty' would seek to enslave them into a lifetime of weird unproductive sexuality," wrote one member of the public. "This is outrageous, this is not education, this is brainwashing," wrote another. Correspondence between the Department of Education and Burwood Girls High School over a letter to parents Credit:Department of Education
A separate set of internal documents, also obtained under freedom of information laws, reveal that at 7:42am on August 26, just hours after the Daily Telegraph had called the film a "Gay class uproar" Mr Piccoli wrote to Department of Education heads Michele Bruniges and Gregory Prior to initiate the state-wide ban. "Confirming our earlier conversation where I have directed you that the movie in question at Burwood Girls High School is not to be shown during school hours," wrote Mr Piccoli. The inner-west school was at centre of the uproar surrounding the 20 NSW schools that had planned to show the film as part of a celebration of sexual diversity on "Wear it Purple day". Internal emails reveal that after the film was banned at Burwood Girls, the department would not allow guest speakers to attend a morning tea that was organised to replace the viewing. "[Morning tea] Okay if there is no guests or speakers," wrote Deputy Secretary Mr Prior to the Executive Director of NSW Public Schools, Murat Dizdar.
A letter to parents explaining the decision to not show the film in the name of Principal Mia Kumar was also edited several times by departmental heads. Words such as "tolerance," and "celebration" were deleted from the final communication to parents, while the whole sentence: "We celebrate our respect for diversity, tolerance and understanding of the broad society we live in and contribute positively to," was also cut. A spokeswoman for Mr Piccoli said that the decision to direct the Department of Education that the film Gayby Baby must not be shown in school time was not related to the number of complaints received. "Screening the film may be considered if it is an integral part of the planned curriculum for an age appropriate year group," she said. A spokesman for the NSW Department of Education said: "NSW public schools are neutral grounds for rational discourse and objective study. They are not arenas for opposing political views or ideologies." | {
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For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement renewed its contract with the software company Palantir, according to new government documents made public on Monday, and it could be worth some $49 million over the next three years.
But that number isn’t intentionally public.
The documents, posted online, were redacted to hide information about the size of the contract for case management software. However, through what appears to be a mistake in the redaction process, when copy-and-pasting text from the government document into a word processor, the financial figures are revealed. (A similar embarrassing screw up happened earlier year in a filing in the Paul Manafort case.)
The first year of the deal, from Sept. 2019 to Sept. 2020, is worth $16 million. The contract appears to give ICE the option to renew through 2022, and if it does, Palantir will make a base of over $14 million each year with a possible extra $2.5 million from 2020-2021 and $1.6 million from 2021-2022.
The deal is for Palantir’s Investigative Case Management or ICM software. Palantir has tried to distance its work with ICE from the agency’s work of deportations and family separations. However, documents revealed earlier this year show how Palantir’s software does in fact play a part in ICE’s deportations.
ICE’s current contract with the company founded by Trump ally Peter Thiel was worth $41 million and has provided the software to the agency since 2014. | {
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Banii din Fondul de rezervă al Guvernului sunt împărţiţi discreţionar. Aceasta deşi fondurile pot fi folosite doar în situaţii de urgenţă. Biserica a primit la ultima şedinţă de Guvern 10 milioane de lei, după ce, pe 11 decembrie, Guvernul a mai transferat 20 de milioane de lei la Secretariatul pentru Culte. Sute de milioane de lei s-au dus şi către administraţiile locale.
Spre exemplu, au fost daţi bani pentru finalizarea unor spitale, pentru şcolile din mai multe judeţe şi pentru penitenciare, dar şi pentru uniformele poliţiştilor.
Situaţiilor de urgenţă le-au revenit mai puţin de două procente din suma totală. Cheltuirea unor sume mari din acest fond pentru proiecte ale autorităţilor locale este însă un obicei vechi al guvernaţilor.
Cel mai mare Fond de rezervă a fost în 2008, în timpul Guvernului Tăriceanu, când primăriile au primit sume mari pentru investiţiile de campanie. De atunci, fondurile la dispoziţia Guvernului s-au redus an de an, însă direcţia pe care au luat-o banii nu diferă.
De altfel, în ultimii ani, atât Consiliul Fiscal, cât şi Curtea de Conturi au criticat de mai multe ori modul în care au fost alocaţi aceşti bani. | {
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This blog is the spiritual successor to my previous similarly titled blog post that debunked a widely-reported study claiming America was one of the top ten most dangerous countries for women. As I pointed out at the time, the report heavily weighted the subjective judgements of "experts." The result is that a bunch of Westerners polled at the height of the #MeToo failed to look beyond their bubble and declared the U.S. the third-worst country in the world for "sexual violence." Seriously.
Now we have another drastic finding being picked up and spread by the media.
United States added to list of most dangerous countries for journalists for first time https://t.co/R2NAYvS1jl — NBC News (@NBCNews) December 19, 2018
Report: US joins ranks of world's most dangerous places for journalists for first time https://t.co/P0UAin3chj pic.twitter.com/oR861HKkrz — The Hill (@thehill) December 18, 2018
These stories are based on a report put out by Reporters Without Borders, a group that does a lot of good calling attention to threats to journalism worldwide. Unlike the violence against women report, it actually relies on things like numbers and data. So there's that.
What the report actually found was, yes, the U.S. had the fifth-most journalists killed in the line of duty in 2018, tied with India and behind Afghanistan, Syria, Mexico, and Yemen. But it's mathematically illiterate to take that datapoint and claiming it proves more abstractly America is the fifth "most dangerous country for journalists," behind countries such as Russia and North Korea.
First, it makes little sense to use the raw number of deaths in country-by-country comparisons, rather than the rate of journalists killed. The U.S is the third-most-populous country in the world. Even if the rate of journalist deaths remained consistent across all countries, the U.S. would rank in the top five of total deaths. It might sound bad to hear the U.S. had six times as many journalists killed this year as Slovakia, but when the U.S. has around sixty times the population, Slovakia is actually ten times more dangerous.
Second (and I don't want to come across as glib here, because even one death is a tragedy), the grand total of journalists killed in the U.S. this year was six. The global total was sixty-three. The death of a journalist is a very, very rare event, rare enough that even a small number of unlikely incidents is enough to catapult a nation into the ranks of the "most dangerous."
Of course, that's exactly what happened. On June 28th, a deranged man with a vendetta against local Maryland newspaper Capital Gazette walked in and killed four employees in the single worst attack on journalists in modern U.S. history. The other two deaths were journalists covering Tropical Storm Alberto in North Carolina, killed when a tree fell on the highway. Both tragedies, but clearly outliers rather than barometers for the level of danger faced daily by American journalists.
Here we hit upon the third point; the number of journalists "killed" was compiled regardless of the manner of their death or the perpetrators. When it comes to calculating threats to journalism, no one would say that a freak accident like a tree falling should be treated like an ISIS execution, or that a local crazy is like a Saudi prince. But that's the result if you use the raw number of deaths as a stand-in for "danger."
Lastly, murder is only one form of state-imposed "danger" faced by journalists. The Reporters Without Borders report also tracked the number of journalists imprisoned, taken hostage, or "disappeared" on the job. Unsurprisingly, the U.S. appears on none of those lists. By using only verified deaths as a metric for "danger," countries like Turkey, China, Iran, and Egypt get a pass because they prefer to merely imprison and torture journalists.
As a post-script, I'll note that it's particularly wrongheaded to use this isolated finding to attack President Trump. "Calling us the enemy of the people and ‘fake news' has led to this," froths CNN's Brian Karem above, racking up thousands in retweets. Again, there were exactly two deadly U.S. incidents cited in the report, and neither the insane Maryland killer nor the tree were inspired by the president's rhetoric.
It's insulting to the journalists who do report in the face of death every day to act as though we've got it just as bad in America. America is one of the safest countries in the world to be a journalist, and protects freedom of the press to a high degree even by Western standards. That's something we should be proud of. | {
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Miami (AFP) - US Navy hospital ship the USNS Comfort sets out this week to the Caribbean and Latin America as part of a mission to help Venezuelan migrants, Vice President Mike Pence announced Tuesday.
Pence and Admiral Craig Fuller, head of US Southern Command, joined a group of Venezuelans at a Miami pier where the ship is docked to draw attention to the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela.
"We are with you," Pence said in Spanish, to shouts of "Amen!" from the Venezuelans.
The deployment, slated to begin Thursday, would be the ship's second mission to the region in six months to render medical assistance to Venezuelan refugees.
During a five-month voyage, the Comfort will make stops in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, the Dominican Republic, St. Lucia and St Kitts and Nevis.
An estimated 3.3 million people have left Venezuela, many on foot through neighboring countries, propelled by a worsening political and economic crisis.
Pence blamed the debacle on the socialist policies of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro who has so far survived a US-backed push to oust him from power.
Maduro in turn blames Washington, which has placed sanctions on the regime, for the virtual collapse of the country's once rich, oil-fueled economy.
The US and some 60 other countries recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's interim president, but opposition attempts to spark a coup have failed and many of its leaders are in prison or exile. | {
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Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney campaigned against Donald Trump for several months this year.
in June Mitt Romney told CNN Donald Trump will bring “trickle down racism” to America.
How disgusting!
Via Last Tradition:
Mitt’s dad did the same thing to Goldwater during the 1964 elections.
Despite the vicious attacks Donald Trump reached out to Mitt Romney after his historic election win.
TRENDING: BREAKING: Senate Finance and Homeland Security Committees Release DEVASTATING Report on Hunter Biden, Burisma and Corruption -- CROOKED BIDEN FAMILY ENRICHED THEMSELVES AND OBAMA KNEW!
Trump called Mitt Romney on Tuesday morning after he won the election.
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Australian electronic giants RÜFÜS DU SOL have released their full 45-minute concert live from Joshua Tree.
A live concert film show and recorded in the desert, “Live from Joshua Tree,” sees the infectious and iconic harmonies of RÜFÜS DU SOL welcome with a desert sunrise. The film takes the viewer through some of the band’s most recognizable tunes, presented in an immersive and awe-inspiring format.
The special live performance was captured in audio and video which you can watch in HD below. The audio edition is available as a live album out now on Rose Avenue Records and you can stream here.
Featuring an array of scattered LED beams throughout the Mojave Desert, the beautifully shot performance is everything you would expect from RÜFÜS and the set list features everything from “Eyes” and “New Sky” to “Innerbloom” and more.
“The idea for a film was born out on a writing trip in Joshua Tree when we were trying to finish SOLACE. We stayed up all night writing as the sun rose, this creeping light over the valley made its way into the room. We climbed these wild rock formations to a little vista at the top, about 100 feet above where we were writing and sat to take in the sunrise. We were listening to tunes on a speaker and someone put on Time by the Pachanga Boys. Watching dawn break with this epic 15 minute journey playing out, we started joking about putting together a sunrise set in the desert where we would play to no one,” explains drummer James Hunt.
Watch the full performance in HD below!
Tracklist
RÜFÜS DU SOL – Eyes
RÜFÜS DU SOL – New Sky
RÜFÜS DU SOL – Desert Night
RÜFÜS DU SOL – Solace
RÜFÜS DU SOL – Underwater
RÜFÜS DU SOL – Innerbloom
RÜFÜS DU SOL – No Place | {
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Trump and Sessions: In a relationship aEU" and itaEUs complicated
Attorney General Jeff Sessions at Port of Miami Terminal E, on August 16, 2017. (Pedro Portal/El Nuevo Herald/TNS)
CHICAGO -- In a ruling with national impact, a federal judge in Chicago on Friday blocked the Trump administration's rules requiring so-called sanctuary cities to cooperate with immigration agents in order to get a public safety grant.
U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber wrote in his 41-page ruling that Chicago has shown a "likelihood of success" in its arguments that U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions exceeded his authority in imposing new standards governing Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants across the country.
He also said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration has shown the city could suffer "irreparable harm" in its relationship with the immigrant community if it were to comply with the U.S. Department of Justice's new standards.
This is not just a victory for Chicago. This is a win for cities across the US that supported our lawsuit vs Trump DOJ defending our values. pic.twitter.com/H6pN36JsuD — Mayor Rahm Emanuel (@ChicagosMayor) September 15, 2017
"Once such trust is lost, it cannot be repaired through an award of money damages, making it the type of harm that is especially hard to rectify" if he were to wait until the lawsuit is settled, Leinenweber wrote.
The preliminary injunction granted by Leinenweber applies to districts nationwide.
Emanuel and City Corporation Counsel Edward Siskel were scheduled to speak Friday about the ruling at a news conference at City Hall.
Representatives of the Justice Department did not immediately return messages seeking comment.
The ruling comes a little over a month after the Emanuel administration filed suit against the Justice Department over its new requirements for sanctuary cities such as Chicago, that want federal funding, to give notice when immigrants in the country illegally are about to be released from custody and allow immigration agents access to local jails.
The new regulations, announced by Sessions in July, would also require local authorities to give 48 hours' notice "where practicable" before releasing from custody people who federal immigration agents suspect of being in the country illegally.
In oral arguments last month, lawyers for the city argued that keeping people longer than 48 hours is unconstitutional and that the move by Sessions represented a slippery slope that could lead to other strings on federal money tied to administration priorities.
Chicago has already applied for $1.5 million in Byrne grants for next year, and other local municipalities and Cook County have requested about $800,000 more as part of the same application.
It's a minuscule piece of Chicago's roughly $9.8 billion municipal budget. Politically, however, the issue has taken on importance for the mayor, who wants to establish himself as a leader among the country's mayors.
The ruling Friday means the mayor gets to claim a victory over the Trump Justice Department that could appeal to Chicago's sizable Latino community and the city's overwhelmingly Democratic electorate.
And with Leinenweber's ruling being applied nationwide, he can point to a signature moment in the movement of big-city mayors across the U.S. taking steps to oppose Trump's immigration agenda.
Emanuel has been declaring himself a protector of immigrants in the U.S. illegally since before Trump was sworn in, appearing with U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez within days of Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton to promise he would stand up for Chicago's "values and principles as it relates to inclusion."
It's a theme he has hammered in the months since, sponsoring various pro-immigrant measures in the City Council and declaring Chicago a city that will continue to welcome immigrants.
Arguing for the city last week, attorney Ronald Safer said the Byrne grants were set up specifically by Congress to give local governments leeway to decide how best to allocate money to meet their law-enforcement priorities. Sessions is attempting to "sweep away the goals of the (Byrne) JAG program," Safer said.
If Sessions is allowed to take this step, he could conceivably try to exercise much broader authority over what cities have to do to qualify for this or other grants, Safer said.
"This attorney general could say, 'We believe building a wall is related to law enforcement, so unless you send four squads of Chicago police to help build the wall, you will get no JAG money,'" Safer said.
Assistant Attorney General Chad Readler countered there are already several strings attached to the Byrne grants, among them an Obama administration requirement that cities don't use the money on military-style weapons. Standards are also in place for the types of police body armor that can be purchased with the money, Readler said.
If Chicago doesn't like the rules, the city can simply opt not to apply for the money, Readler said.
(c) 2017 Chicago Tribune. Written by Jason Meisner and John Byrne. | {
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Duration: 4min 59sec Views: 4 071 Submitted: 1 year ago
Description: Beautiful blonde sits half naked on her knees and she makes her boyfriend cum fast on her face. | {
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Signs outside the Supreme Court during the March for Life in Washington, D.C., January 18, 2019. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
Philip Jeffery, writing in First Things, criticizes me and other writers for advocating an incrementalist strategy against abortion. His article is heavy on ad hominem attacks and light on engagement with anything I have actually said. I will extend to him a courtesy he did not extend me, and quote his actual words.
Some may dismiss pro-life dissenters from the Alabama law as desperately trying to earn bona fides from pro-choice opinion-makers. That may be true. . .
Yes, I wrote The Party of Death—and have written countless articles making the case for legal prohibitions on abortion—because I am so desperately seeking accolades from pro-choice opinion-makers. I’ve been doing it for decades without getting such praise, but surely my luck will turn eventually.
. . . but I’m more interested in the fact that arguments for an incrementalist strategy largely come from so-called ‘moderate’ conservative voices—conservatives who now advocate incrementalism for everything except democracy promotion abroad.
I can’t remember the last time I wrote anything about democracy promotion. I don’t associate any of the other writers he criticizes with that topic, either; it sounds like Jeffery’s got a hobbyhorse. For the record, though, I think more democracy overseas would generally be a good thing and, to the extent the U.S. has a role to play in promoting it, it should do it incrementally.
The law is always a teacher. . . . The constriction of political debate has in turn limited the cultural debate. Pro-abortion laws help make for a pro-abortion populace. By the same token, pro-life laws could be helpful in the battle for public opinion.
These comments are presented as though they are in some way at odds with my argument, although what I said fairly obviously presupposes their truth. From the article of mine to which Jeffery links: “[T]he fight for [a pro-life amendment to the Constitution] created an insoluble chicken–egg dilemma: The culture would have to change immensely for it to be ratified, but the law as it stood made it hard to envision, let alone foster, any such change.” But there are more and less effective ways to teach, and laws that actually take effect may do a better job of it.
Pro-life critics of the Alabama law make a mistake common among conservatives of all kinds: They confuse political strategy with cultural strategy. Even while assuming a sharp boundary between the political fight against abortion and the cultural one, they propose an incrementalist strategy in the law as the way to victory in both battles.
I would like to see exactly how I make this mistake. I don’t assume any such sharp boundary, as my previously quoted words demonstrate.
Accustomed to seeing the world in terms of a sharp dichotomy between artificial, government-imposed order and spontaneous order constructed by individuals, conservatives too easily condemn government action while championing civil society, markets, culture, and personal choice as the proper spheres of their activity. . . .
All these boundaries and dichotomies are very interesting, I’m sure, but what exactly do they have to do with the proposition that pushing for a ban on abortion after six weeks is a better way to move the country in a pro-life direction than pushing for a ban after 20 weeks?
Incrementalism is a losing cultural strategy. The left did not gain the cultural upper hand by incrementalism. The sexual revolution that gave us the current abortion regime did not come about by baby steps.
I doubt very much that incrementalism is either a winning or losing cultural strategy in all situations, as I suggested in the linked article. But the sexual revolution did, in fact and obviously, proceed in stages. Legal and cultural change made contraception within marriage first tolerable and then normal; the laissez-faire attitude toward contraceptive sex within marriage was then extended to non-marital sex. I could go on—but I assume anyone who has been reading First Things for any length of time is familiar with the story. I suppose, though, that not everyone can be trusted to be an attentive reader of anything. | {
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Image copyright Peri Vaughan Jones Image caption The fine weather brought queues of people to the summit of Snowdon
Three of the UK's nations have recorded their highest ever Easter Sunday temperatures, the Met Office has said.
Scotland's peak was 23.4C (74F), in Edinburgh, while that same temperature was also the high point in Wales - coming in Cardiff.
Northern Ireland beat a 95-year-old record when the mercury hit 21C at Helen's Bay near Bangor.
England's highest temperature was 24.6C at Heathrow airport - just shy of the record of 25.3C.
The good weather has brought people in droves to beaches, parks and other outdoor attractions, while people queued to reach the top of Snowdon and Pen y Fan.
In Glasgow, hundreds of bikers - many in costume - gathered for the 40th annual charity Easter Egg Run.
The previous record in Northern Ireland was set on 20 April 1924 in Armagh, when the temperature reached 19.4C.
Wales has had its hottest Easter since 22 April 1984, when it was 21.6C in Brynamman in the Brecon Beacons.
But Scotland's record had only stood since 5 April 2015, when 20.7C was recorded at Aboyne in Aberdeenshire.
Image copyright PA Image caption Punters enjoyed the warm weather in Canterbury, Kent
Image copyright PA Image caption Sunbathers headed for Swansea Bay as Wales basked in record Easter Sunday temperatures
Image caption More than 800 bikers rode through Glasgow to deliver treats to the Royal Hospital for Children
The Easter Sunday record in England - and the UK-wide record - is 25.3C (78F), which was set in Solent, Hampshire, in 2011.
But on Holy Saturday in 1949, temperatures reached 29.4C (85F) in Camden Square, London.
Monday is set to be another hot day, but after that temperatures are likely to fall back to the seasonal average.
The Met Office said that while the UK has been enjoying plenty of sunshine, holiday destinations such as Spain are seeing showers, heavy downpours and cooler temperatures of 17C (63F). | {
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Rainbow Dash: What was it all for? If the Boss has a plan, let's hear it. Or have you gone completely dishonest?
Applejack: The Real Twilight is working separate from us. Working on the true Outer Heaven, a nation not ruled by the cycle of hatred, revenge, or supremacy. Twilight is building a new nation, that is Big Boss' plan.
Rainbow Dash: So, that's how it is. Nine years ago, I thought everything had been taken from me, now I really have lost it all. The Boss, the future we were building together.
Applejack: Until it's complete, we support the other Big Boss, the Phantom Moondancer carries on her legend, her meme. The age of Big Boss' daughters will come, they will most likely want to settle the score with her. We have to shape that age. We'll both have parts to play. Building the foundation for the revolution lead by the real one, and the phantom.
Rainbow Dash: No, thinking about it, Twilight can go to Hell! I'll make the Phantom and her Daughters strong enough to send her there! For that, I'll play my role.
Applejack: You know, sooner or later there be only one Boss. There is only room for one Boss. The day will come when her daughters will face eachother. If you decide to go back to Solar, I'll aid the other daughter. And you and I will be enemies too. One of us, will have to kill the other.
Rainbow Dash: Fine by me, I'll be ready for the new age. Until then, we better get used to coexisting! | {
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Earlier today at the Beijing National Aquatics Center, VIVO unveiled two new smartphones that will be of great interest to those who place priority on solid specs, metal bodies, and Super AMOLED displays: the VIVO X6 and the VIVO X6 Plus. Earlier this November, the new product line had been teased by the Chinese OEM, and more recently one of the two had been sighted taking a certification stroll through China’s TENAA.
The VIVO X6 has a 5.2-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, a 1.7GHz MediaTek MT6752 Octa Core SoC with Mali T760 graphics, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of on-board storage, a 13-megapixel rear camera and 8-megapixel front camera, microSD support, a fingerprint sensor, a 2,400 mAh battery, 4G LTE, and Dual SIM support. It measures 147.9 x 73.8 x 6.6 mm and weighs 135 grams. The X6 Plus runs VIVO’s own Funtouch OS layered above an Android 5.1 base.
The VIVO X6 Plus has a 5.7-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display, a a 1.7GHz MediaTek MT6752 Octa Core SoC with Mali T760 graphics, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of on-board storage, a 13-megapixel rear camera and 8-megapixel front camera, microSD support, a fingerprint sensor, a 3000 mAh battery, 4G LTE, and Dual SIM support. It has ES9028 and Yamaha YSS-205X Hi-Fi Audio as well. The X6 Plus runs VIVO’s own Funtouch OS layered above an Android 5.1 base.
While the phones have slightly different specs, both are made of an aluminum-magnesium alloy which the company indicates takes 57 different steps to produce, including laser engraving and polishing by hand. Each has a fingerprint sensor that VIVO claims will read 360 degrees and unlock the device in 0.4 seconds.
With respect to photography, the rear camera on both the VIVO X6 and VIVO X6 Plus have Phase Detection Auto-Focus, HDR, and a f 2.2 aperture lens.
VIVO’s official site for the pair of phones specifically calls the display “Super AMOLED” which is Samsung’s branding for the EL technology. To this end it can be assumed Samsung has, therefore, supplied the panels.
Both phones will be released on December 7th. The VIVO X6 will cost 2,600 Yuan full retail (roughly $406 US) or 2,500 Yuan (roughly $390 US) on contract with China Unicom. The VIVO X6 Plus will cost 3,200 Yuan (approximately $500 US) full retail, or 3,000 Yuan (approximately $470) on contract with China Unicom.
The pair of smartphones will be sold in a Silver color variant, a Gold color variant, and a Rose (Pink) color variant.
Rumor Control
It should be noted that the final specs clearly differ from the rumors that had been floating around, and do so rather significantly. While VIVO itself had confirmed the inclusion of 4GB of RAM, the full specs had previously been unknown. Some had suggested the device would come with a QHD 6-inch display with curved glass, a Deca-Core MediaTek Helio X20 64-Bit SoC, a 21-megapixel rear camera and a 12-megapixel front camera.
This serves as a reminder, once again, that rumors need to be taken for what they are, and that one need not get too wrapped up in any which one so as to ultimately avoid being disappointed.
Wrap Up
With the VIVO X6 and VIVO X6 Plus now official, we would love to hear your thoughts on this promising pair of new products out of China. Could one (or both) become your next purchase? Let us know in the comments below! | {
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why the fuck does the holodeck even have an option to remove safeguards
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Both the Senate and the House of Representatives have passed a new tax credit proposal to save overworked Americans money on their taxes. The tax credit will finally reduce the operating costs for businesses who suffer as a result of large fines for doing nothing more than performing necessary business activities. The burden in recent times has become virtually unbearable.
Pictured above: Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Jamie Diamond of JP Morgan Chase, John Brock of Coca-Cola Company.
This article is from the parody section, as if you can’t tell.
THE NEW ACT REPAIRS THE TAX SYSTEM
The 2016 Financial Employment Opportunities Tax Repair Act (FEOTRA) was inspired by the unprecedented governmental interference in micromanaging quality companies. Companies are running to hide their money in Panama due to no fault of their own. The new refundable credit will be available for any company who receives fines of five billion dollars or more. That is some well-deserved relief for overtaxed small businesses, scholars say.
In prior years, government fines were deductible from expenses but the deduction was limited to total tax paid or to a maximum of only 35 percent of the fine. This rule forced companies to resort to fair market practices. To protect the free market, companies had to send money to tax havens in Panama. Some even resorted to stashing money in the United States, which is as far out of reach from the government as possible. Television economists all agree that these fines cost America 600,000 jobs per year — money out of workers’ pockets.
Under the new FEOTRA law, companies may now apply for a refundable credit of the entire fine face amount, first and foremost, and without regard to taxes paid, taxes due, or other considerations. A company just checks off the box at the top of the tax form and prints in the amount of the fine. Then, the new IRS Fine Refunds Bureau issues the check within 20 minutes including nine percent interest per month from the date the enforcement action began.
TWO CONTROVERSIAL PROVISIONS REJECTED
The bill was very long and cumbersome, with so much bureaucracy that compliance could have been a nightmare, further incentivizing companies to leave America. Two particular proposals were of concern. Fortunately, both provisions were rejected.
First, the section on “Certification of Payment” was removed, leaving fewer words in the overall legislation.This oppressive section would have required an officer of the corporation to certify that a certain amount of the fine was actually paid and limit the credit to that amount. The Tax Foundation issued a statement, “Where there are fewer words, the law is always better except if we disagree with it. We applaud the removal of these words no matter what they said because we know what they said.”
Second, the “Deduction for Fine Repealed” section was removed. This onerous section would have disallowed taking a deduction for fines paid — costing companies small fortunes and costing employment opportunities for you. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said Economist Lawrence Tinkeroff. “The transition from allowing deductions for fines that are refunded in full by removing lines of code from accounting programs just to charge companies more taxes would have been like slapping a puppy.”
GOOD INTENTIONS, BAD RESULTS
While many people were happy about this long-overdue correction in the tax law, Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs is still angry. “This doesn’t go far enough,” he said. “If they are going to hold onto our five billion dollars, we should get double back. What about all those sleepless nights? How about our reputation? What are those things worth? I want reparations!”
A spokeswoman from British Petroleum was furious too. “Why wasn’t this program available when we enhanced the Gulf of Mexico with oil? That area needed a good shake-up. The ecology was becoming boring. But no. We had to pay instead. They need to make this law retroactive or else.”
Jamie Diamond of JP Morgan Chase complained about the entire fine process. “They called me and inquisitioned me in Congress a few years ago, just because of a few bad mortgages. Anyone can make a mistake. We were forced to reveal confidential trade secrets to the whole world. How much value is that worth?” Jamie Diamond makes only $13,500 per hour, near the poverty rate of $19,000 and well-below US household median income of $53,657.
Finally, a loophole in the new tax bill provides unfair benefits to some companies compared to others. John Brock of Coca-Cola Company and many others do not pay enough taxes to take advantage of the deduction. He pointed out, “Hey! Some companies don’t pay much in taxes. Some don’t pay anything. Why should those companies have to suffer without the 35 percent deduction on top of the credit? It’s just not fair at all. The refund should be the fine plus 35 percent for everyone — not just a selected few. How can we compete with these privileged companies?”
Expect more legislation to repair these remaining problems for the good of our country. | {
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Mark Madden has been body slammed by World Championship Wrestling.
A color commentator with a bad-guy persona, Madden lost his high-profile job on TNT's Monday Nitro.
Madden -- a combative Pittsburgh personality with a talk radio show and a weekly Post-Gazette column -- ran afoul of WCW management for on-air remarks about the company and several of its performers.
Madden declined comment on the dismissal in late December.
Officials at WCW, a subsidiary of Time Warner's Broadcasting System, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
But Dave Meltzer, editor of the San Jose, Calif.-based Wrestling Observer Newsletter, said Madden was dismissed after he made a flip remark about the rumored sale of the financially troubled WCW and called for the return of fired superstar Scott Hall. Meltzer said wrestlers such as Kevin Nash have repeatedly crusaded for Hall's return to TNT broadcasts, but Madden was singled out.
"The company is totally out of control," Meltzer said. "They felt they needed to send a message. Madden was a scapegoat. He is no angel. He probably should have been reprimanded over the Scott Hall remark. But for him to be fired, when no one else is even reprimanded, is mind-boggling."
Meltzer said Madden also had been suspended recently for calling Diamond Dallas Page "leather- face."
Madden's abrupt, in-your-face persona -- one that Pittsburghers tend to love or hate -- might have hurt his chances to stay in the lucrative, trashing-talking world of wrestling. Meltzer said Madden also lost his job as a reporter for WCW's hotline, Internet site and a magazine.
"He is not shy about giving his opinions," Meltzer said. "He is not shy about complaining. In wrestling, they just want sheep who don't complain."
On a Web site called http://www.pwtorch.com/, Madden defended himself by saying: "When I was told to stop talking about the sale of [WCW], I did stop talking about the sale. When I was told to stop talking about Scott Hall, I did stop talking about Scott Hall a month before anyone else did. If those are the reasons I was let go, frankly, they don't hold water."
He also said: "I'd love to work in wrestling again. If I don't ... I think I did very well for myself."
Meltzer estimates Madden made about $150,000 a year as a WCW announcer.
He was hired as a color commentator a year ago but was first hired by the company in 1994 and has worked for the wrestling magazine, a phone hotline and an Internet site. He was fired once before in the spring of 1997 but was rehired seven weeks later.
In the past year, Madden even climbed into the ring a few times, but Meltzer called that wrestling experiment, concocted by management, a disaster.
Like his persona on his sports radio talk show on WEAE-AM (1250), Madden's ringside personality was viewed as wickedly funny or thoroughly obnoxious. He called himself the best-looking big guy in wrestling.
Meltzer's newsletter has an annual poll rating the best and worst pro wrestling announcers, and Madden garnered many votes in both columns.
"People either loved him or hated him," Meltzer said. "There is no in between with Mark Madden." | {
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Flare still burning at North Sea gas leak Elgin platform Published duration 28 March 2012
image caption A new image of the platform was released 76 hours after the incident was first reported
A flame is still burning in the stack above a North Sea platform from which gas has been leaking for three days.
Experts expressed concern that escaping gas could connect with the naked flame in the flare stack and explode.
Oil company Total said a cloud of escaped gas at sea level was at a much lower height than the flare on the Elgin platform, 150 miles off Aberdeen.
A spokesman said the flare was left burning when the platform was evacuated on Sunday.
He said the flare had been doing an important job taking excess gas off the production platform.
It was hoped it would burn itself out but the oil giant did not know when that would happen.
A cloud of escaped gas was reported to have bubbled up through the sea and was surrounding the base of the platform.
A sheen of between two and 23 tonnes of gas condensate, measuring six nautical miles in length, was reported on the water nearby.
The flare was said to be 90 metres (295ft) above the gas leak.
David Hainsworth, health, safety and environment manager for Total, told the BBC that earlier information provided by the company about the flare was wrong.
Mr Hainsworth said that the flare was "still alight", adding "we don't believe it has been reduced in size".
He said he could not put a timescale on the flare being extinguished.
Mr Hainsworth said it was not possible to say whether that would be "an hour, or 24 hours or two days" - or even longer.
He said there had not been time to extinguish the flare when the Elgin platform was evacuated, as the safety of staff had been the priority.
But had there been time they would have considered putting it out, he said.
It was not possible to do that remotely.
Jake Molloy, from the RMT union, said it was "beyond comprehension" that the flare was still burning.
Mr Molloy, who represents offshore workers, said the potential remained for "catastrophic devastation".
Dr Martin Preston, a marine pollution expert at the University of Liverpool, said: "The flare is obviously at the top of the platform and the gas is leaking out round the legs of it so there's some physical separation of a few hundred feet, probably, between the two.
"But obviously if you get a swirl of wind it might raise the gas up higher then it could ignite.
"But it is very difficult to predict and it's obviously going to mean that nobody can get near the platform to do any work until that flare is out.
"It's just not going to be safe. If it just keeps burning then they're going to have to find a plan B. But the plan B which involves drilling a relief well is going to take a very long time."
Oceanographer Simon Boxall told BBC Scotland's Newsnight Scotland programme that the gas would explode if it connected with the flare.
He said: "It would not just go on fire, it would be a fairly volatile explosion."
Exclusion zones
UK government energy minister Charles Hendry said he had been advised by Total that the flare was "well-above" the level of the gas.
He said: "Clearly, when you have a significant amount of gas escaping, there is a case for trying to burn some of it off to get rid of it rather than leaving it as a hazard elsewhere, so there has to be a decision made on the balance between safe operation and flaring off the gas that can be flared off and closing down the full platform."
Mr Hendry said the government was "very comfortable" that Total had been exercising the emergency plan as agreed.
Mr Hendry said the first concern had been to remove workers and then activate an exclusion zone.
He said they would now move on to trying to "remediate" the problem.
Exclusion zones have been put in place around the platform.
Coastguards said shipping was being ordered to keep at least two miles away and there was a three-mile exclusion zone for aircraft.
Shell has moved 120 non-essential staff from the Shearwater platform and Hans Deul drilling rig, about four miles from the Elgin, because of the drifting gas.
Shell later said it was bringing forward plans to carry out maintenance at Shearwater.
The Scottish government said ministers were being kept "fully informed of developments".
Scottish Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said: "Any gas leak on an evacuated offshore installation is, of course, deeply worrying.
"Therefore it's critical both Total and the UK government ensure absolute transparency, with all information placed in the public domain.
"This should include not just details on the level of risk, but also how this is calculated."
He said the Scottish government was responsible for the marine environment.
"The gas condensate is expected to disperse naturally and - as the situation currently stands - environmental risks are minimal," Mr Lochhead said.
"However, we're not complacent and are continually reviewing the situation."
Total said it was looking at several options to stem the flow of gas following Sunday's incident.
Earlier, it revealed it could take six months to drill a relief well to stop the leak.
The Elgin platform was not a deepwater drilling rig and platform but it was unusual in that they were drilling down 5km (3.1 miles) into the sea bed.
All 238 workers were removed from the Elgin installation and the nearby Rowan Viking drilling rig by helicopter on Sunday. | {
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The White House announced President Trump's new policy to ban most transgender people from serving in the US military. However, a local veteran spoke out against the policy saying we should have the the best of the best protecting our country, no matter how they identify.
Friday's announcement said that troops who question whether they are a man or woman may require medical treatment and that presents risks to our country's "lethality."
"Justin" used to work on top secret missions, but Justin now goes by Carla Lewis.
"I was in the United States Air Force, I worked for space command in a top secret unit in Alamogordo, New Mexico. I was discharged in 1991 when it was discovered that I was transgender," said Lewis.
She said life in Middle Tennessee began to look much different after her transition to Carla.
"If you were transgender it was believed that you could be blackmailed into giving away government secrets. And during that day and age it was probably a really valid concern," she said.
President Trump's new memorandum stated only people who have "...been stable for 36 consecutive months in their biological sex..." can serve.
"What that basically means is a transgender person can't serve," said Lewis.
Lewis said she feels the military should have the best of the best protecting our country, no matter how they identify.
Lewis said, "In fact I was the best that there was, but they got rid of me anyway."
The transgender community feels like this memorandum is a personal attack.
"Women with a hysterectomy can serve in the military. Men that have had a vasectomy can serve in the military, but transgender people can't whether they've had surgery or not," Lewis said.
Officials have said they are concerned about the cost of transgender healthcare.
"Cost cannot possibly be an issue it's just pure bigotry," she said.
Service members who are already serving may continue in their "preferred gender" according to the memorandum. However, Lewis fears this ban will affect morale for transgender troops.
"You have people that happen to be transgender, that are serving in the military right now. They're standing up and they're defending this country all over the world. When are you going to stand up and defend them," Lewis said. | {
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The work will start from January 14 and the area will be made ‘No Vehicle’ zone.
INDORE: Indore’s famous food street – ‘ Chhappan Dukaan ’ is all set to get a smart makeover. Indore Smart City Development Limited (ISCDL) will redevelop the entire area as ‘smart food street’. The entire project would cost around Rs 4 crore and the plan would be implemented in 45 days.
The work will start from January 14 and the area will be made ‘No Vehicle’ zone.
“Entry of vehicles on 56 Dukaan street between MG Road and Chandni Chowk will be restricted from January 14 on a trial basis. A mechanised parking facility with capacity to accommodate at least 200 two wheelers and 80 four-wheelers has already been planned in the area, and people visiting the area will have alternative space at Vivekanand School and garden space near Gadi Adda till parking facility is ready,” ISCDL project in-charge DR Lodhi told TOI.
Lodhi said that besides a foot-over-bridge has also been planned near Dolphin Hospital area to provide connectivity from RS Bhandari Marg area.
“The restriction on this stretch will only be from 56 Dukaan end,” he added.
Detailing about the re-development plans, officials said that the entire area will be developed as smart food street with façade development of all shops, LED lightings, designer pavement space, plantation and greenery.
"In addition to this, an open air theatre would also be developed in the area for hosting public events and gatherings,” they said, adding that there would be water dispensers near food outlets to prevent visitors from using plastic water bottles.
“A private agency has already been engaged for the project work. The entire project has to be completed before Holi which falls on March 9 this year,” added officials.
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Authored by Adam Andrzejewski via Forbes.com,
Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced President Donald Trump's plan to distribute military gear to state and local law enforcement agencies.
The rule change means weapons typically reserved for war-time use – tracked armored (tank-like) vehicles, weaponized aircraft and vessels, grenade launchers, bayonets, and firearms with ammunition of .50-caliber or higher – will start flowing to local law enforcement agencies through the Department of Defense’s 1033 Program.
Yes, the story is familiar. In 2016, we sounded the alarm at Forbesabout the Obama administration sending heavy weapons to local police departments.
We noted that people of good faith on both the left and right were raising serious concerns regarding civil liberties and the growth of government.
Today, the same questions are valid: What’s the legitimate law enforcement purpose for these weapons? Does the militarization of local police threaten our civil liberties?
Search our OpenTheBooks interactive map for all weaponry transferred to the 6,500 local, state and other federal police agencies across America since 2006.
See it all – in your hometown, park district, forest preserve, junior college, university, county, state police – or federal agency such as Homeland Security, Interior and the Justice Department – across any ZIP code!
What military gear will you find in your local police department? Here’s a sample of our findings:
In Illinois, the College of DuPage received 14 fully automatic M16 rifles. The police department in Wheaton (pop. 53,000) picked up 68 M16 and M14 rifles plus five pistols (.45 caliber). Evanston – a small community known to promote gun control ordinances – procured 20 M16 rifles.
Paducah County, Kentucky, (pop. 25,000) received 78 M16 rifles and one mine-resistant vehicle while the Georgetown Police Department (pop. 33,000) procured 77 M16 and M14 rifles, 40 pistols (.45 caliber), and one mine-resistant vehicle.
In California, the Cotati Police Department (pop. 7,500) received 13 M16 rifles and Del Norte County (pop. 27,000) received 25 M16 rifles. The Los Angeles County Sheriff Department procured $3.6 million in surplus equipment including 768 M16 rifles.
In Ohio, the Department of Natural Resources received 240 fully automatic M16 and M14 rifles. Why? To enforce hunting laws?
Mine-resistant armored vehicles (49) were transferred to many small towns and counties in Florida including Baker County (pop. 27,000), Leesburg (pop. 22,400), Hallandale Beach (37,113), and Suwannee County (pop. 43,000).
Even sovereign Native American police agencies are procuring serious military gear. Here are some examples:
In Oklahoma, the Comanche Nation Police Department received nearly $3.5 million in military gear including mine-resistant vehicles, military cargo trucks, tractor trucks and night vision goggles.
The Chickasaw Nation Lighthorse Police received nearly $435,000 in gear including mine-resistant vehicles, infrared illuminators, night vision goggles, a mine-detecting set, and thermal sights.
The Cherokee Nation Marshal Service received two mine-resistant vehicles ($1.1 million).
In Colorado, the Indian Tribes Police Department received a helicopter worth $190,817.
Last year, citizen outrage helped shut down a local police departmentin Illinois after we released our OpenTheBooks Snapshot Report – The Militarization of Local Police Departments. We revealed that the police in London Mills (pop. 381) acquired $201,445 in military equipment including rifles, generators, trucks, and Humvees.
Here is an updated summary of the 1.5 million pieces of military weaponry and equipment distributed to law enforcement agencies from 2006 through June 30, 2017:
7,828 trucks ($458.9 million), 865 mine-resistant vehicles ($593 million); 502 helicopters ($170.2 million); 335 armored cars and trucks ($22.5 million); and 57 airplanes ($293.5 million).
83,122 M16/M14 rifles (5.56mm and 7.62mm) ($31.2 million); 8,198 pistols (.38, .40, and .45 caliber) ($491,769); and 1,385 riot 12-guage shotguns ($25,357).
20,297 night-vision sights, sniper scopes, binoculars, goggles, and image magnifiers ($108.2 million); 6,388 infrared, articulated, panoramic and laser telescopes ($2.1 million).
875 mine detecting sets, marking kits, and probes ($913,044) and 58 grenade launchers ($41,683).
6,020 bayonets ($308,175) and 57 swords and scabbards.
Florida ranks first among states in the receipt of military gear since 2006 (more than $292 million in gear). Items include 4,198 transfers of M16 and M14 rifles (5.56mm and 7.62mm) across the state. For example, the state highway patrol received 1,815 M16/M14 rifles, plus six military-armored vehicles, three Mine Resistant Vehicles and three Complete Combat/Assault/Tactical Wheeled Vehicles.
Over the past 18 months, however, Tennessee has led the charge by receiving $52 million in military equipment. In just 18 months, 26 mine-resistant vehicles have been distributed to small town police departments in Tennessee such as Waverly (pop. 4,100); Pigeon Forge (pop. 6,200); Perry County (pop. 7,900); Lenoir City (pop. 9,100); and Brownsville (pop: 9,780).
California has received nearly $43 million while Texas and Alabama have procured about $33 million each.
In the first five months of 2017, local and state law enforcement agencies received mine-resistant vehicles, taser guns, rifles, bayonets, armored vehicles, helicopters and thousands of other types of military equipment. The Department of Defense distributed 275,999 pieces of surplus military equipment worth $127 million.
Last week’s policy change announced by AG Sessions puts prohibited war weapons back on the table. It is therefore more important than ever that citizens investigate and ask hard questions of their local police departments.
We must demand answers: What is the legitimate public purpose for local police agencies to possess military weaponry? Is this in best interests of taxpayers? And is it in the best interests of our civil liberties? | {
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There is an impressive amount of VR content available already, considering there are only something like 25,000 Oculus Rift developer kits out there so far, and no new consumer-grade VR devices have been released yet. There are also a number of software solutions to force a “virtual reality mode” with mixed results. With enough tweaking, you can play Skyrim in VR, for example, but it’s not a very immersive experience. For this list, I’m only going to be considering made-for-VR apps that stand out from the crowd. I’m also not going to bother numbering them - they’re all worth checking out if you’ve got the gear.
Riftmax Theater
This one is… hard to explain. It’s a theater! That’s it, really, but the community around Riftmax is one of the most exciting things going on in VR right now, and that’s what makes it stand out. Being a theater, it has all kinds of theater capabilities… like raising the curtain to reveal a stage! And you can place a podium or microphones on that stage. Or even a talk show set. You can dim the lights, or put a movie up (2D or 3D). You can invite your friends to join you in a private theater, or you can look for a public one. You can leave the theater and walk around the hallway and lobby. The potential for this type of VR meeting space is huge, and is already being realized by the community, who host regular talk show nights, karaoke nights, and more. The audience takes their seats (in their avatar form), a speaker takes the stage and gets on the mic, and they can even lower a smaller projection screen and throw video up on it while he speaks (or sings karaoke). As a bonus, Riftmax supports the Razer Hydra, so you are free to emote with your hands, which takes the immersion and social interaction to another level. If you’ve got the gear, check out the Riftmax website for their schedule of live events. If you’ve read Ready Player One, it’s hard not to see Riftmax as an early VR chatroom. This will absolutely be one of the first of many. Even as a solo experience, though, checking out the assortment of theater spaces (including a small home theater) is enjoyable, and even with the low resolution of the DK1, it’s still fun to load up a movie and check it out from the back row.
The Stacks
Made by a huge VR enthusiast over the last year, The Stacks is an homage to VR and some of the coolest VR worlds from fiction. It draws more inspiration from Ready Player One than others, but there are sets from The Matrix and old Asimov mixed in. In the spirit of RPO, the game is a big sandbox that you can explore to locate hidden cubes and even the keys to 3 gates.
While some of the environments seem amateur (10’ tall lamps, textures that break immersion inside the Rift DK1) it’s still a very early release, and right now most VR devs are trying to gather community interest for their projects while developing for the DK2 and future VR devices, rather than for the DK1. The coolest thing about The Stacks is the passion for VR that’s evident in the presentation and how you navigate the metaverse of the game. Check out the latest build if that sounds up your alley - and if you get stuck in the crate maze at the beginning, just remember the content that inspired the book that inspired the game. (spoiler: the maze is the Adventure maze from the Atari 2600 game)
Crashland
Don’t bother if you don’t have a Razer Hydra controller (and you probably don’t, given how rare/expensive they’ve gotten) - this experience is designed to be had with both a VR display and motion controllers. Thankfully, the Sixense STEM system should also be compatible once that hardware launches later this year.
You have crash landed on an alien planet that is (gasp) full of giant, alien spiders that want to kill you. You have two guns, one in each hand, and one of them has a radar screen you can activate.
It is an incredible feeling to look down and see your virtual reality arms, moving and twisting and bending in time with your actual meatbag arms. Twisting a gun around and looking down its barrel made me shudder the first time I tried it - it’s so cool it feels wrong. You can activate the radar on your secondary gun, which prevents it from firing but is crucial for detecting where the next wave of spiders is going to attack from. You can view the radar while the gun is at arm’s length, but pulling the gun closer to your head brings the radar map into clear view, a great example of how natural motion control can add so much to the immersion factor.
It’s also worth noting that aiming by holding your arm out at full length, looking down the barren of your gun and pulling a physical trigger is incredibly fun. Crashland is one of the few VR experiences out there for the DK1 that has polish and replayability, and I can’t wait to play an updated version for the DK2. (protip: check out your shadow - you have a cape!)
Lunar Flight
Here’s a rare, full-fledged game with complete support for the Oculus Rift DK1 built-in, playable from Steam with no hacks necessary. Additionally, it’s a nearly perfect fit for VR - you’re in the cockpit of a lunar lander (cockpit views drastically reduce VR sickness), and when you look down, you actually see yourself in a space suit, holding a bulky Xbox 360 controller. It’s campy, but also thoughtful. Seeing a VR representation of your seated position, complete with the controller in your laptop, is an incredibly honest solution to a big problem facing VR devs right now: interacting with virtual object is weird unless you’re going through the motions.
The user interface is also completely different in VR mode - you now simply look to the left or right side of your cockpit to view different monitors or readouts, and focusing your view (pseudo eye-tracking) on a handful of available buttons will activate them, changing the readout on a particular screen, for example. As a full package, Lunar Flight nails the VR experience on the head. It’s thoughtfully designed and perfectly functional, even with the low resolution of the DK1. It’s a challenging simulation while still remaining accessible. It has achievements, multiplayer and a host of other modern features. If only I was better at it.
Dreadhalls
Everyone should try a horror game in virtual reality. It’s hard to expand on that, really - you just need to try it. And the good thing is, there’s already something for everyone. Feint of heart and don’t think you could handle a fully interactive experience? That’s okay, there are “on rails” haunted houses and rollercoasters for you to enjoy. Prefer to walk around a haunted house at your own pace? VR has that, too. Maybe you’d like to walk around a haunted forest, using a wiimote or other motion controller as a flashlight? Good luck, because that one nearly had me in tears before I tore off the headset. Dreadhalls, though, is a simple game, appropriately made during the 2013 VRJam. You are dropped inside of a dungeon, with nothing but a map and a lantern to cast light a few feet in front of you. You have to look down to view the map in your hands, which you might not think is scary until the first time you look back up into the eyes of a gargoyle (DON’T BLINK). If you take your time and are cautious, you can avoid the monsters crawling the darkness and find the exit. (note: the creator is working on a full version release, but you can still download the original VRJam game)
Notable omissions:
Spacewalk - I’ve spent a few hours in this game, blissfully floating around the ISS, pretending I’m an astronaut. For space nerds, this is the ultimate escapism. Bonus: the game will occasionally drop in another player from the internet to be your silent spacewalk companion, which always leads to the [unofficial] game mode: ASTRONAUT JOUST. Ram each other as hard as you can. If you bounce off into space, you lose (just like real life).
JanusVR - Appropriately named after the goddess of portals, Janus is an early imagining of what the future metaverse might look like. It’s essentially an internet browser, re-imagined for VR, with navigation (browsing) controlled by actually moving your avatar through the internet, from one place to another. It’s nerdy, it’s ugly, and there’s not much content, but it’s worth checking out just to say you were there. It’s hard to say “this is teh future” with a straight face, but it’s harder to laugh it off completely when you’re zipping around the metaverse version of a Reddit sub.
Proton Pulse - Classic Breakout gameplay, but controlled with your face. It’s fun! And not as nauseating as you might think. | {
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Oh goodness do I love this exchange. I spent a good part of the day looking online for Spider-Man action figures to put in my room and wouldn't you know it, my SS sends me a package of them. This gift is perfect, I love it. Thank you thank you thank you. | {
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The remarkable ecological and demographic success of humanity is largely attributed to our capacity for cumulative culture1,2,3. The accumulation of beneficial cultural innovations across generations is puzzling because transmission events are generally imperfect, although there is large variance in fidelity. Events of perfect cultural transmission and innovations should be more frequent in a large population4. As a consequence, a large population size may be a prerequisite for the evolution of cultural complexity4,5, although anthropological studies have produced mixed results6,7,8,9 and empirical evidence is lacking10. Here we use a dual-task computer game to show that cultural evolution strongly depends on population size, as players in larger groups maintained higher cultural complexity. We found that when group size increases, cultural knowledge is less deteriorated, improvements to existing cultural traits are more frequent, and cultural trait diversity is maintained more often. Our results demonstrate how changes in group size can generate both adaptive cultural evolution and maladaptive losses of culturally acquired skills. As humans live in habitats for which they are ill-suited without specific cultural adaptations11,12, it suggests that, in our evolutionary past, group-size reduction may have exposed human societies to significant risks, including societal collapse13. | {
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Archain, a decentralized and uncensorable archive for the internet is nearing the end of its successful pre-ICO. With Archain’s browser extension, your favorite web pages can become a permanent part of history with just a few clicks.
Cryptos R Us had an exclusive interview with CEO Sam Williams and CTO Will Jones to learn more.
Can you guys please share a little bit about your background and how you came up with the idea for Archain?
Sam: Both Will and I are Ph.D. students, nearing the end of our degrees at the University of Kent. Will’s background is in graph theory, statistics and neural network modeling. My background is in distributed systems design. In particular, as part of my Ph.D. I developed an ‘internally distributed’ operating system from scratch in Erlang (HydrOS).
I came up with the core of what has become Archain while walking up a mountain in Scotland. I had to briefly stop and type out the ideas on a phone in the pouring rain! By the time we came down the other side of the mountain, the idea was reasonably fleshed out.
It was only later, when talking with Will, that we came up with the Blockweave and Proof of Access algorithms that really allow Archain to scale to the sizes we desired. This is when we realized that Archain could become something truly special.
Archiving the internet seems like a no brainier, can you explain how the process works? Do people have to select the page they want to archive or will your platform scan the entire internet?
Will: Archain’s archiving is user driven, it crowdsources the selection of important information on the internet to archive. From the user’s point of view, becoming a part of this crowdsourcing effort is extremely simple. Users can download the Archain web extension (alpha version available now) and from there on, pages can be archived in just a couple of clicks.
Under the hood, however, Archain is taking some extra steps to verify the contents of each web page. Using a distributed consensus algorithm, Archain attempts to verify the contents of each page before it is submitted to the weave. With a few extra pieces of work, this allows Archain to build up a “virtual” archived internet of guaranteed validity — links and all.
Furthermore, users are not limited to tackling this problem on their own. Users can also create special interest archiving groups that work towards storing some particular type of content together. Users can also write programs that interface with the Archain directly to automatically store pages, for example, at a given time every day. Users need not even use the verification functionality if they don’t want to!
While Archain is designed with strong cryptographically verified internet archiving in mind, it will also take pretty much any other kind of data, just without the extra web page verification step. Overall, Archain is designed to be as flexible as possible and put the power of permanent archiving into the hands of the user.
What other uses do you see Archain being able to provide? Are there other business cases?
Sam: Absolutely! The Archain is essentially a permanent, distributed hard drive offering ‘Permanence as a Service’ (with an internet archive built on top). Archain is a solution to any problem that requires the storage of information for long periods of time and will be available to companies without any startup costs — simply pay for the amount of data that you store.
An example usage would be an accountancy or solicitors firm that is legally required to keep certain files and documents for many years. This is typically a costly and risky affair, as each individual firm must essentially design and implement its own system of redundant and fault tolerant storage.
With Archain, they could simply upload encrypted copies of their documents to the blockweave, paying only the small storage fee. This provides incredible industry-wide efficiency savings.
We also expect that Archain will lead to the development of an entirely new ecosystem of permanence-based apps. For example, using the Archain Developer Toolkit (already available), startups will be able to build censorship-resistant social networks, microblogging platforms and even potentially human-memory augmentation systems. Archain makes it possible for anything important to be remembered eternally, cheaply.
Further to all of this, the Archain Developer Toolkit allows the creation of custom Archain nodes that can monitor and analyze the contents of the network in real time. These apps essentially receive a hand-collated feed of important documents from the internet.
These ‘passive monitoring nodes’ could be used for projects as varied as automated traders, brand management, open source intelligence analysis and societal trend analyzers. There are example implementations and work through about how to build such systems on our website.
When is the alpha testnet going to become live and who can participate? And when do you expect the main network to launch?
Will: Currently we are on schedule to release the alpha testnet in December this year (2017). Initially, only those who have reached our “developer” rewards package will be eligible to participate in the alpha testnet, but it’s likely that, closer to the full release of the product, that we will open it to more and more of our contributors to enable us to get the best feedback about Archain possible.
Speaking of the main release, our current schedule is a release of the full network in late March next year(2018). This will be preceded by approximately three months of our main sale.
Are there any other things you want to talk about?
Sam: Our token pre-sale (including a 25% bonus) is nearly over, the main token sale will start later this year. We are always available via email ([email protected]) or on our Slack channel (linked on our website) to answer any and all questions. | {
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NEW YORK — A Pac-12 team has made the College Football Playoff just twice in six seasons and none of the last three.
If anyone should be leading the charge toward expanding the current four-team model, you would think it would be Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott.
"I completely get that it would really release the pressure of being the one that's been on the outside looking the most in the first six years to say that automatically we've got our champion (in),'' Scott said Thursday. ''But we also have agreements through 2026 (the championship game) that I think will be very challenging for us to all agree how we're going to amend and change."
Scott, in New York for a forum on college athletics sponsored by Sports Business Journal, said while changes to the playoff are already being discussed behind the scenes, being halfway through the current 12-year television rights contract with ESPN means there is no urgency.
"I've tended to see in my 10 years here these things don't change until they have to," Scott said.
Last year at this time, speculation about playoff expansion was the loudest it has been since this postseason format was implemented in 2014. The Big Ten having its champion left out for a second consecutive season had Commissioner Jim Delany and coaches and athletic directors in that conference grumbling publicly about the selection process.
The university presidents who oversee the playoff released a statement the day of last season's national championship game that tamped down the chatter, saying it was ''way too soon'' to know if expansion was even a possibility.
This year, the four teams for the playoff fell into place without controversy after Utah lost the Pac-12 title game to Oregon. That left the Pac-12 as the only Power Five league with a champion that had lost more than one game.
"The committee's gotten a little luck," Scott said.
Scott called getting left out of the playoff "painful."
''And this year, to be the one league of the five that doesn't have a team in it, that's harmful to our positioning, our brand and everything we've got," he said. "First and foremost, we've got to be better. And we're engaged in: Is there a better mousetrap going forward?''
Scott said the Pac-12 would only support expansion if it meant guaranteeing spots for the champions of each Power Five conference. The Pac-12 would also be protective of the Rose Bowl, its longtime partner and a showcase that dates to 1902.
Scott added he would like to see more consistency among the conferences in how they schedule if the playoff format is going to change.
The Pac-12, Big 12 and Big Ten all play nine conference games. The Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Conference each play eight conference games. The SEC and ACC have never missed the playoff.
Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby said he would like each conference to require its members to play at least 10 games against Power Five competition, regardless of whether those were conference or nonconference opponents.
Scott said he would support that, but he also noted much more goes into scheduling than playoff positioning. Across major college football, schools are trying to schedule more appealing games as a way to reverse declining attendance trends.
"I think people assume that our athletics directors and our football coaches are fixated on the playoff more than they are,'' Scott said. ''So when it comes to schedule, they're focused on: What do the student-athletes want? What's going to attract them to my school? What does my fan base need and require? How does where I play and who I play affect student recruitment and alumni engagement?''
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey has generally steered away from talk of playoff expansion. He said this week that four teams works.
“There is a reason four was the number chosen,” Sankey said. “That doesn’t mean it’s perfect for everybody, but certainly it’s fulfilled the expectations.” | {
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A group for women who want to connect with other women achievers, ideal for women who love to laugh and empower themselves and others. Idea is to meet for lunches and exchange ideas on profession, life anything!!! | {
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The Chicago Cubs felt they were in the beginning stages of a dynasty three years ago.
The Cubs ended a 108-year drought in 2016 by winning their first World Series since 1908. With a talented young core of hitters, Chicago thought it would be the first of multiple trips to the Fall Classic.
But the Cubs haven't returned to the World Series, and this year they will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2014.
The collapsing Cubs were eliminated from playoff contention shortly before losing their eighth straight game, falling 4-2 to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.
Back-to-back wild pitches by David Phelps in the eighth inning enabled Pittsburgh to score the winning run. Just before Phelps' bout with wildness, Milwaukee clinched the second NL wild card with a 9-2 victory at Cincinnati.
"Any time you don't go to the postseason it's a weird feeling," Cubs starter Jon Lester said in a quiet clubhouse. "We just flat out didn't get it done. Teams played better than us and it (stinks). It really (stinks)."
President of baseball operations Theo Epstein hinted at midseason that he might make major changes to the roster if the Cubs didn't start playing better. That possibility now looms over the franchise.
"Theo and his guys will make those decisions," Lester said. "They might ask for some of the players' input but there's no way you can predict the future. We've got to wait and see what happens."
The Cubs could also be without manager Joe Maddon in 2020, even though he led them to the postseason each of the last four years. His contract expires at the end of the season, and there has been speculation he would not return if Chicago missed the playoffs.
Maddon said before the game that he and Epstein had not discussed his future. Epstein declined to comment on Maddon's status.
"I can't say enough positives about what Joe has done," Lester said. "No matter what happens, if he continues here, it's gravy. If he doesn't, he should be revered (in Chicago) for a long, long time."
The Cubs have four games remaining. They finish the three-game series with the Pirates on Thursday, and then play the NL Central-leading Cardinals — who hold a 1½-game lead over Milwaukee in the division standings — in a three-game series starting Friday night at St. Louis.
"We're not used to this," Maddon said of playing games that only mean something to the opposition. "It's been a while and it's a really non-fun way to end the season."
Phelps entered in relief with the score tied 2-2 and walked Pablo Reyes to put runners on first and second with one out. José Osuna drew a walk from Brad Wieck (1-2) before scoring on the wild pitches, and Erik González added a sacrifice fly.
González was 3 for 3 with two RBIs as Pittsburgh won for the second straight night over the Cubs following a nine-game losing streak.
Michael Feliz (4-4) pitched a scoreless eighth inning and Keone Kela worked the ninth for his first save of the season. Kela has taken over as closer after All-Star Felipe Vázquez was arrested and jailed last week on felony charges including sexual assault of a minor.
Ian Happ homered and drove in both Cubs runs.
Both starters, Lester and Pirates rookie Dario Agrazal, pitched six innings and allowed two runs.
Happ's homer leading off the seventh pulled the Cubs into a 2-2 tie and chased Agrazal.
"It's my last outing of the season and I wanted to finish strong," Agrazal said through a translator.
EPSTEIN STAYING PUT
Epstein said he has no plans of returning to the Boston Red Sox.
Speculation in Boston has centered on Epstein possibly replacing Dave Dombrowski, who was fired Sept. 8 as the president of baseball operations. Epstein is finishing his eighth season as the Cubs' president of baseball operations.
Epstein oversaw Boston's baseball operations for eight seasons from 2003-10 before leaving to join the Cubs. The Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, their first title since 1918, then won again in 2007.
HURDLE COMING BACK
Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said he has received assurances from team management that he will return next year for his 10th season. There was some question about Hurdle's job security with the Pirates assured of their first last-place finish in the NL Central since 2010.
"Every conversation I've had with (general manager) Neal (Huntington) is how we come back and get better, and anybody in the organization," Hurdle said. "So, my mindset is I want to come back. I plan on coming back. The opportunity for us to improve and get better is important to me, as well as everybody I've had conversations with."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Cubs: 3B Kris Bryant (sprained right ankle) and SS Javier Báez (fractured left thumb) will not play again this season.
Pirates: OF Bryan Reynolds left in the first inning with right hamstring discomfort after being injured while trying to beat out a grounder. ... All-Star 1B Josh Bell (strained left groin), CF Starling Marte (sprained right wrist), C Elias Díaz (sprained right knee) and INF Cole Tucker (strained left knee) have been declared out for the season. ... RHPs Chad Kuhl and Edgar Santana, both recovering from Tommy John surgery, have thrown two-inning simulated games at instructional league camp in Bradenton, Florida.
UP NEXT
Cubs: LHP José Quintana (13-8, 4.55 ERA) will start Thursday night. Quintana has pitched a combined 8 2/3 innings and allowed 16 runs in his last three starts, though he did not factor in the decision in any of them.
Pirates: RHP Joe Musgrove (10-12, 4.49) is 2-0 with a 2.86 ERA in his last four starts. | {
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I wanted to draw Mangle/ Funtime Foxy as a pirate, so I did itHere are some other posters I made - there will be more! I also plan to use this designs when I will make Fnaf World fanartsIf you like it, buy this design in my webshop as a t-shirt or a real poster! | {
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A CHANNEL 4 film will portray the Royal Family as callous and neglectful in their treatment of five “hidden cousins” of the Queen who were locked away in the same mental asylum for decades.
At the heart of The Queen’s Hidden Cousins is the emotional story of two royal relatives, Katherine and Nerissa BowesLyon, nieces of the Queen Mother, who were never visited by the Royal Family nor invited to any royal event at Buckingham Palace.
Indeed, the Bowes-Lyon family, into which the Queen Mother was born, announced in Burke’s Peerage that Nerissa had “died in 1940″, even though she was alive in the asylum; the same publication also published that Katherine had died. The family would later put these errors down to “vagueness”.
Nerissa did die in 1986 but her sister Katherine is still alive in a Surrey nursing home. She is 85, the same age as the Queen.
The scandal of the Bowes-Lyon sisters is all the more striking given that for many years the Queen Mother had a special interest in mental health as the patron of charity Mencap.
Katherine and Nerissa were two of five children born to John “Jock” Bowes-Lyon, the 12th Earl of Strathmore and the Queen Mother’s brother.
Glamis Castle, the seat of the Bowes-Lyon family, was famous for the alleged “Monster of Glamis”, the “deformed” Thomas Bowes-Lyon who was said to have been kept there in seclusion in the early 19th century.
Almost 100 years later it became apparent that the young Katherine and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon were also severely handicapped and were virtually unable to speak.
Both Katherine, then 15, and Nerissa, 22, were diagnosed by doctors as “imbeciles”. They had a mental age of six.
The Channel 4 programme interviews several nurses who worked at the Royal Earlswood and who directly treated the Bowes-Lyon sisters.
Dot Penfold walked the wards for 20 years. She has one early memory of Nerissa.
She says: “I decided to take them all for a picnic. Nerissa came running down the front stairs [of Earlswood], she knew we were going out.
“She came barging down them and the coach was pulling up outside. I dived out to grab her and I missed the last three steps.
I injured my ankle. So I will never forget her, bless her heart.
“I didn’t see any visitors [for the sisters]. I never saw birthday cards or Christmas cards, not while I was there.” An academic specialising in mental health tells the programme: “They [asylums like Earlswood] were convenient places to put inconvenient people.
“There was a belief that if you had someone in your family like that there was something wrong.”
The two sisters were well liked and “endeared themselves” to staff. Katherine even-earned the nickname of “Tinky”.
Another nurse, Theresa Gainsford, says: “It was a bit of a shock when we found out who they were. No one could quite believe it. And they did look like Margaret and Elizabeth.”
There were wards of up to 40 people with beds side by side. Two staff cared for each ward.
One was Bridey Tingly. She says: “You gave them a bath, cut their nails, fed them if they needed help. You had to dress them prior to that. That was all in a day’s work but there was no connection with royalty. At Christmas time they never got a sausage but, do you think, that’s no great credit to the royalty?” Gainsford says: “The sisters were lovely,” and adds: “They would pootle off down the corridors or walk around the grounds. Sometimes one of them would clear off and we would have to catch her.
“They never spoke. They just used to make noises. They couldn’t hold a conversation or say hello to you, just probably come up and give you a hug if they felt like it. Nerissa was the distant one.”
All three nurses agree, “they got few if any visitors”. The BowesLyon family say the sisters’ mother Fenella “visited occasionally” until the early Sixties but Bridey insists: “I never saw a visitor. I’m not condemning the family but I don’t think the royalty played their part.”
Nurse Onelle Braithwaite tells the programme: “They would have loved a visit. You only had to look at how they reacted when their family was on the television.
“She [Katherine] would stand there for a good few minutes and salute. She was really listening to what the Queen had to say.
“When it came on they would both walk up to the television, curtsey very nicely.
“We were quite surprised that they recognised the Queen Mother was a relative, even with their disability. If things had been different they would have been present at the occasions.”
The sisters’ reaction to the royals was emphasised in 1981. “They were all keen to watch the wedding of Charles and Diana and, of course, Katherine and Nerissa couldn’t contain their excitement.
“When the Queen’s car came on the TV and the Queen got out, Katherine and Nerissa were waving back, no curtsey then, because they were older, just waving. It was a nice morning to see the excitement on their faces.”
Not only weddings would prompt their attention, says Dot Penfold. “Any time there was anything royal Nerissa would stand up and salute. It was quite amusing.
“Nerissa would only have to hear the national anthem on the radio and she would stand up and salute.”
The staff were very affected when Nerissa died in 1986.
Nurse Onelle Braithwaite says: “I felt very sad about it. It’s like a member of your family has gone.”
Bridey explains: “They could have given her a lavish funeral but they gave her a pauper’s grave. It just had Nerissa’s name on it.”
Another carer Sheila Rule adds: “At the funeral Katherine was quiet. She must feel there was something not quite right.
“Katherine would just look around for Nerissa. We would tell her that she was resting. They were very close.
“Their beds were next to each other. After a while Katherine was back to normal.”
THE death of Nerissa brought the shocking revelation that not only was her sister Katherine in Royal Earlswood but three sisters from the Fanes family lived at the hospital. They were connected to the Bowes-Lyons on mother Fenella’s side.
At the same time a private detective then infiltrated the home, taking secret footage of Katherine which is shown on the programme.
Nerissa now has a proper headstone, although the rumours are that the “grave was dug deep enough for two”. The eventual gravestone was paid for by their niece Lady Elizabeth Anson.
Katherine was moved to Ketwin House in Surrey where patients were charged only £770 a year at the time of its closing after allegations of physical abuse.
She is now resident in another nursing home in Surrey where “she has been taken on holidays around Britain by the staff”.
To this day, however, she has never been visited by a member of the Royal Family.
Neither Buckingham Palace nor Glamis Castle wished to contribute to the Channel 4 programme.
The Queen’s Hidden Cousins, Channel 4, Thursday, 9pm
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/283852/283852 | {
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Each season Big Brother producers cast a mix of personalities drawn from a variety of sources. Some are past houseguests, many apply through open casting, and several are recruited — with little or no knowledge of the Big Brother game.
Jozea Flores is best known so far as the self-proclaimed “messiah” of the newbies on Big Brother 18, a declaration that prompted veteran Da’Vonne Rogers to put a target on his back. He found himself up for eviction this week, with Nicole Franzel doing the deed.
If Jozea doesn’t know a lot about the strategy of Big Brother — his official CBS bio said he plans to get into other people’s heads and use his “love and caring” to win — that might be because he very recently had another reality show in mind. The celebrity make up artist is also a model who tapped famed designer Marc Jacobs to promote him for a spot on America’s Next Top Model.
Please support my friend Jozea in his efforts to be Americas Next Top model cycle 23 #antmisback Good Luck to you Jossie! @j_.flores A photo posted by Marc Jacobs (@themarcjacobs) on Mar 6, 2016 at 7:23pm PST
As Variety reported, America’s Next Top Model was revived by VH1 after its cancellation by the CW. Nyle DiMarco, who also went on to win Dancing With the Stars, was widely touted to have been the “last” winner of ANTM before it was revealed that the show wasn’t quite done yet. The new season of ANTM will debut in the fall, but the cast has yet to be announced. Tyra Banks, the show’s long-running host, is executive producer for Cycle 23, but won’t appear in front of the camera.
Tyra Banks... you beautiful soul... Thank you for coming to #DWTS set. This week means so much more. A photo posted by Nyle DiMarco (@nyledimarco) on Apr 14, 2016 at 1:46pm PDT
If Jozea was recruited, or applied to be on Big Brother 18 just for the reality show exposure, he wouldn’t be the first. Last season former wrestler Austin Matelson was open about his desire to restart his career, and third-place finisher Vanessa Rousso — whose nearly identical sister Tiffany is in this year’s cast — recounted in a post-season interview that she and CBS had been looking for a show to do together. For CBS and Rousso, Big Brother fit the bill.
In its pre-season spotlight of Jozea Flores, Carter Matt mocked the model for not knowing much about the Big Brother game and predicted he would be quickly evicted. The site assumed production was behind him because of his obvious ignorance about what makes Big Brother tick — strategy, competitions and a social game.
“Probably the most surprising thing is that he actually comes off a little closed-off, and some of his answers feel rehearsed. He’s not making a huge effort to connect, and we almost feel like he is overly cognizant of the presence of the cameras and it will inhibit how he comes across as a human being.”
His apparent arrogance came across in his bio, as he seemed to underrate the potential for the Big Brother house to be a stressful environment, where everyone is on-camera 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for several months.
“Nothing will really be difficult about living in the ‘Big Brother’ house. I’ve had roommates before and I’m accustomed to living with roommates; the only thing that’ll be difficult is sharing the bathroom because I like to take a shower every morning and not wait.”
It is true that Jozea seems to have made himself an early target, specifically of Da’Vonne and her current alliance members: Head of Household Nicole and fellow veterans Frank Eudy and James Huling. Ironically, as Buddy TV pointed out, the one person Jozea might have the most in common with is Paulie Calafiore — who, like Tiffany is the sibling of a former houseguest and allied with the veterans — as both are underwear models.
Although it may be unlikely that Jozea will be on America’s Next Top Model at this point, it is possible he will be on the hunt for another on-camera gig that doesn’t involve posing for still shots.
Big Brother 18 airs Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday on CBS.
[Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images] | {
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The U.S. dollar was fetching 1.3552 Canadian dollars at 8:47 a.m. HK/SIN, compared with around C$1.3408 just before the announcement.
Canada's dollar, known as the loonie, dropped to its lowest since December after the U.S. announced plans to impose tariffs on its Northern neighbors' exports of softwood lumber.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Monday that anti-subsidy tariffs averaging around 20 percent would be imposed, affecting $5 billion worth of imports of softwood lumber imports from Canada, Reuters reported.
In total, Canada exported around C$8.6 billion (around $6.37 billion) worth of softwood lumber in 2015, according to Canadian government data, which indicated the country was the world's fourth-largest forest product exporter.
In 2015, the U.S. imported a total of $325.4 billion in goods and services from Canada.
Khoon Goh, senior foreign-exchange strategist at ANZ, said there could be scope for more weakness in the loonie, particularly if it fell below C$1.36 against the dollar.
"It's not just the lumber," he said, noting the U.S. administration had also been rumbling about potential tariffs on dairy products. "Any further escalation of this situation between the U.S. and Canada could well see the Canadian dollar weaken further."
In 2016, Canada exported around C$112.6 million (around $83 million) worth of dairy products to the U.S., while it imported around C$557.3 million worth of dairy products from its Southern neighbor, according to Canadian government data.
Goh noted that the news appeared to have also depressed the . The U.S. dollar was trading under 18.48 pesos before the news broke, but rose as high as 18.8410 pesos afterward.
"It's really the sentiment around it," Goh said, noting that trade concerns had eased after the U.S. declined to label China a currency manipulator earlier this month.
"It appeared the U.S. administration was backing down on earlier trade threats. Suddenly, it's announced [tariffs] on Canadian products. Concerns were raised once again on the potential for trade frictions," he said.
During the presidential campaign, Trump also threatened trade tariffs on Mexico.
—By CNBC.Com's Leslie Shaffer; Follow her on Twitter @LeslieShaffer1 | {
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O FC Porto anunciou, esta quinta-feira, a venda de Éder Militão para o Real Madrid, por 50 milhões de euros.
O central brasileiro assinou um contrato válido por seis temporadas com o clube "merengue", até junho de 2025. Éder Militão vai cumprir o resto da temporada de dragão ao peito, e rumará ao Real Madrid para o arranque da próxima temporada.
Militão é o primeiro reforço de Zinedine Zidane, treinador francês que regressou ao Real Madrid esta semana, e que terá carta branca para reestruturar o plantel.
O internacional brasileiro foi o reforço mais caro do FC Porto esta temporada, e custou um total de 8,5 milhões de euros, 7 milhões pagos ao São Paulo pela aquisição do passe, e 1,5 milhões em encargos adicionais. FC Porto detém um total de 90% do passe do central brasileiro.
O elevado rendimento de Militão no FC Porto valeu a sua estreia pela seleção principal brasileiro. O brasileiro estreou-se em setembro, frente a El Salvador, como lateral direito, e repete presença na mais recente convocatória de Tite, numa lista em que está incluído como defesa central.
Militão soma um total de 34 jogos com o FC Porto e três golos apontados. | {
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"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
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This is the fourth article in our series about building microservices on .NET Core. In the first article we introduced the series and prepared the plan: business case and solution architecture. In the second article we described how you can structure internal architecture of one microservice using CQRS pattern and MediatR library. In third article we described the importance of service discovery in microservice based architecture and presented practical implementation with Eureka.
In this article we are going to focus on another fundamental concepts of microservice based architecture – api gateways.
Source code for complete solution can be found on our GitHub.
What is API Gateway
One of the advantages of microservice based approach is that you can compose big system out of smaller services, each responsible for one business capability. This approach, when applied to big and complex domains like e-commerce, insurance or finance, results in solution made of several to tens microservices. Taking into account that this landscape is dynamic, new instances of services are started when workload increases, new services are added, some services are split into multiple ones, you can imagine how hard it would be if you would like to access each service directly from your client application.
API Gateway pattern tries to resolve problem of accessing individual services from client applications, by adding a single point of interaction between client application and backend services. API Gateway works as a facade that hides complexity of the underlying system from its clients.
API Gateway is another microservice running in front of your backend services and exposing only operations needed by given client.
API Gateway can do more than just routing requests from client application into proper backend services. However you should be careful not to introduce business and process logic that may result in overambitious api gateways issue.
Apart from routing API Gateways are usually responsible for security. We usually do not allow unauthenticated and unauthorized calls to get through gateway, so it is gateway responsibility to check if required security tokens are present, valid and contain required claims.
Next thing is handling CORS. API Gateway must be prepared to be accessed from web browsers running single page applications from different origin than API-Gateway.
API Gateways are often responsible for request and response transformation like adding headers, changing request formats to translate between data representations used by the client and by the server.
Last but not least API Gateway can be used to change communication protocols. For example you can expose your services as HTTP REST on API Gateway, while these calls are translated by API Gateway into gRPC for example.
In our IT company it is common practise to build separate API Gateways for each type of client application. For example if we have microservices based system for insurance we would build: a separate gateway for insurance agents portal, a separate gateway for back-office application, a separate gateway for bank-insurance integration, a separate gateway for end customers mobile application.
Building API Gateway with Ocelot
There are many solutions for building API Gateways in the Java land, but when I was searching for solutions in the .NET space the only viable solution, apart from building your own from scratch, is Ocelot. It is a very interesting and powerful project, used even in Microsoft official samples.
Let’s implement API Gateway for our sample insurance sales portal using Ocelot.
Getting started
We start with empty ASP.NET Core web application. All we need is Program.cs and appsettings.json files.
We start by adding Ocelot to our project using nuget.
Install-Package Ocelot
In our project we also use Ocelot service discovery and cache features, so we need to add two more NuGet packages: Ocelot.Provider.Eureka and Ocelot.Cache.CacheManager. Finally our solution should look like on the picture below.
In next step we need to add ocelot.json file which will host our Ocelot gateway configuration.
Now we can modify Program.cs to properly bootstrap all required services including Ocelot.
public class Program { public static void Main(string[] args) { BuildWebHost(args).Run(); } public static IWebHost BuildWebHost(string[] args) { return WebHost.CreateDefaultBuilder(args) .UseUrls("http://localhost:8099") .ConfigureAppConfiguration((hostingContext, config) => { config .SetBasePath(hostingContext.HostingEnvironment.ContentRootPath) .AddJsonFile("appsettings.json", true, true) .AddJsonFile($"appsettings.{hostingContext.HostingEnvironment.EnvironmentName}.json", true, true) .AddJsonFile("ocelot.json", false, false) .AddEnvironmentVariables(); }) .ConfigureServices(s => { s.AddOcelot().AddEureka().AddCacheManager(x => x.WithDictionaryHandle()); }) .Configure(a => { a.UseOcelot().Wait(); }) .Build(); } }
The most important parts here are: adding ocelot.json configuration file, adding Ocelot service with Eureka and Cache manager support.
If you remember from previous part of this series we use Eureka as service registry and discovery mechanism. Here we want to take advantage of it and tell Ocelot to resolve downstream services urls from Eureka instead of hard-coding it.
We are also using caching support in Ocelot to present how you can configure api gateway to cache same slowly changing data.
In order for all of this to work we must now fill configuration files properly.
Let’s start with appsettings.json, where we add Eureka configuration.
{ "spring": { "application": { "name": "Agent-Portal-Api-Gateway" } }, "eureka": { "client": { "serviceUrl": "http://localhost:8761/eureka/", "shouldRegisterWithEureka": false, "validateCertificates": false } } }
Now it’s time to have a work on ocelot.json – central configuration part of our api gateway. ocelot.json consist of two main sections: ReRoutes and GlobalConfiguration.
ReRoutes defines routes – maps endpoints exposed by api gateway to backend services. As part of this mapping security, caching and transformations can also be defined.
GlobalConfiguration defines global setting for the whole api gateway.
Let’s start with GlobalConfiguration:
"GlobalConfiguration": { "RequestIdKey": "OcRequestId", "AdministrationPath": "/administration", "UseServiceDiscovery" : true, "ServiceDiscoveryProvider": { "Type": "Eureka", "Host" : "localhost", "Port" : "8761"} }
Key things here are: enabling service discovery and pointing to right Eureka instance.
Now we can define routes. Let’s define our first route that will map request coming to api-gateway as HTTP GET for /Products/{code} to downstream service ProductService that exposes product data as HTTP GET [serviceHost:port]/api/Products/{code}.
"ReRoutes": [ { "DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/Products/{everything}", "DownstreamScheme": "http", "UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Products/{everything}", "ServiceName": "ProductService", "UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "Get" ] } ]
DownstreamPathTemplate specifies backend service url, UpstreamPathTemplate specifies url that is exposed by api gateway, Downstream and Upstream Schema specifies schema, ServiceName specifies name under which downstream service is registered in Eureka.
Let’s see another example. This time we will configure offer creation service, which is exposed by PolicyService as HTTP POST [serviceHost:port]/api/Offer
{ "DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/Offer", "DownstreamScheme": "http", "UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Offers", "ServiceName": "PolicyService", "UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "Post" ] }
Advanced features of Ocelot
Cors
This is not related to Ocelot per se, but it is often required to support cross origin request at api gateway layer. We need to modify our Program.cs. “In ConfigureServices() we need to add”:
s.AddCors();
In Configure() method we need to add:
a.UseCors(b => b .AllowAnyOrigin() .AllowAnyMethod() .AllowAnyHeader() .AllowCredentials() );
Security
Next we will add JWT token based security to our api gateway. This way unauthenticated request won’t pass through our api gateway.
In our BuildWebHost method we need to add a key we will use for JWT validation. In real world application you should store this key in a secure secret store, but for demonstration purposes let’s just create a variable.
var key = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes("THIS_IS_A_RANDOM_SECRET_2e7a1e80-16ee-4e52-b5c6-5e8892453459");
Now we need to setup security in ConfigureService():
s.AddAuthentication(x => { x.DefaultAuthenticateScheme = JwtBearerDefaults.AuthenticationScheme; x.DefaultChallengeScheme = JwtBearerDefaults.AuthenticationScheme; }) .AddJwtBearer("ApiSecurity", x => { x.RequireHttpsMetadata = false; x.SaveToken = true; x.TokenValidationParameters = new TokenValidationParameters { ValidateIssuerSigningKey = true, IssuerSigningKey = new SymmetricSecurityKey(key), ValidateIssuer = false, ValidateAudience = false }; });
With this settings we can now come back to ocelot.json and define security requirements for our routes.
In our case we require that user is authenticated and token contains claim userType with value SALESMAN.
Let’s see how this can be configured:
{ "DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/Products", "DownstreamScheme": "http", "UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Products", "ServiceName": "ProductService", "UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "Get" ], "FileCacheOptions": { "TtlSeconds": 15 }, "AuthenticationOptions": { "AuthenticationProviderKey": "ApiSecurity", "AllowedScopes": [] }, "RouteClaimsRequirement": { "userType" : "SALESMAN" } }
We added AuthenticationOptions section to link authentication mechanism defined in Program.cs with Ocelot and then we specified in RouteClaimsRequirement which claim with which value must be provided in order for the request to be passed to backend service.
Service Discovery
We’ve already presented usage of Eureka for service discovery. You don’t have to use service discovery and can map upstream request to backend services using hard coded urls, but this will remove many advantages of microservice based architecture and make your deployment and operations very complex, as you have to keep in sync your backend microservices urls with ocelot config.
Apart from Eureka Ocelot supports other service discovery mechanism: Consul and Kubernetes.
You can read more about this subject in Ocelot service discovery documentation.
Load Balancing
Ocelot provides built-in load balancer which can be configured per each route. There are four types of it available: least connection, round robin, cookie sticky session, first available service.
You can read more about in in Ocelot documentation.
Caching
Ocelot provides out of the box simple caching implementation. Once you include Ocelot.Cache.CacheManager package and activate it
s.AddOcelot() .AddCacheManager(x => { x.WithDictionaryHandle(); })
You can configure caching for each route. Let’s for example add caching to route that fetches product definition with given product code:
{ "DownstreamPathTemplate": "/api/Products/{everything}", "DownstreamScheme": "http", "UpstreamPathTemplate": "/Products/{everything}", "ServiceName": "ProductService", "UpstreamHttpMethod": [ "Get" ], "FileCacheOptions": { "TtlSeconds": 15 }, "AuthenticationOptions": { "AuthenticationProviderKey": "ApiSecurity", "AllowedScopes": [] }, "RouteClaimsRequirement": { "userType" : "SALESMAN" } }
This configuration tells Ocelot to cache result of given request for 15 seconds.
Ocelot also gives you ability to plug-in your own caching opening possibilities to extend simple cache with more robust options like Redis or memcache.
You can read more about it in Ocelot caching documentation.
Rate Limiting
Ocelot supports rate limiting. This feature helps you protect downstream services from overloading. As usual you can configure rate limiting per route basis. In order to enable rate limiting you need to add the following json to your route:
"RateLimitOptions": { "ClientWhitelist": [], "EnableRateLimiting": true, "Period": "1s", "PeriodTimespan": 1, "Limit": 1 }
ClientWhiteList lets you specify which clients should not be limited, EnableRateLimiting enables rate limiting, Period configures period of time to which limit applies (can be specified in seconds, minutes, hours or days), Limit configures number of requests permitted in given period. If in given Period client exceeds number of request specified in Limit then they have to wait PeriodTimespan before another request is passed to downstream service.
Transformation
Ocelot allows us to configure header and claims transformation. You can add headers to request and response. Apart from static values you can also use placeholders: {RemoteIpAddress} client IP address, {BaseUrl} ocelot base url, {DownstreamBaseUrl} downstream service base url and {TraceId} Butterfly trace id (if you use Butterfly distributed tracing). You can also find and replace header values.
Ocelot also allows you to access claims and transform them into headers, query string params or other claims. This is very useful when you need to pass information about authorized user to backend service. As always you specify these transformations per route basis.
In the example below you can see how you can extract sub claim and put it in CustomerId header.
"AddHeadersToRequest": { "CustomerId": "Claims[sub] > value[1] > |" }
You can read more about this topic in Ocelot header transformation documentation and Ocelot claim transformation documentation.
Summary
Ocelot offers us feature rich api gateway implementation with almost no coding required. Most of the work you have to perform is related to properly defining routes between exposed api gateway endpoints and backend services urls. You can easily add authentication and authorization support and caching.
Apart from features described in this post, Ocelot also supports request aggregation, logging, web sockets, distributed tracing with Butterfly project and delegating handlers.
You can check out complete solution source code at: https://github.com/asc-lab/dotnetcore-microservices-poc.
Author: Wojciech Suwała, Head Architect, ASC LAB
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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On Dec. 1, 1973, Black Sabbath unleashed their fifth, and final, universally adored masterpiece, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. Universally adored by loyal fans, that is, since rock critics hated it as a matter of course -- just as they had every Sabbath record before it.
For Sabbath members Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommii, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward, recording the follow-up to 1972’s Vol. 4 was anything but a cakewalk, since drug abuse and hard partying had by then begun messing with their focus, and the sheer fatigue associated with four years of non-stop touring had also taken its toll.
The band’s initial attempts to write and record in the sunny but toxic environs of Los Angeles, in the summer of 1973, proved fruitless, so they hastily retreated to their more familiarly gray-skied English homeland and rented out a Gothic medieval castle in Gloucestershire. Their hope being that working in the castle’s dungeon would spark the inspiration needed to conjure up a new spate of occult-laced doom metal along the same, brutally fancy-free lines of what had come before.
But Black Sabbath had other plans, and just as soon as Iommi broke through his writer’s block by crafting the mighty riff powering Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’s signature title track, the new album’s creative process began gathering serious steam and moving in unprecedented directions, to boot, marked by increased experimentation and sophistication.
Even familiarly bruising heavy metal wonders like "A National Acrobat," "Looking for Today" and "Killing Yourself to Live" were possessed of a newfound confident maturity, thought-provoking lyrics and increased melodic sensibilities, while "Sabbra Cadabra," "Who Are You?" and "Spiral Architect" incorporated both synthesizers (courtesy of Yes legend Rick Wakeman) and orchestral arrangements to great effect. And in "Fluff," Iommi’s typically “throwaway” acoustic interludes of previous LPs found sweet, baroque redemption.
In other words, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath wasn’t just another Black Sabbath album, but a clear dividing line in their career; a significant creative leap inaugurating phase two of the band’s career and promising much of albums still to come. But, as history showed, ever-increasing substance use and continued exploitation by label and management taskmasters would duly exhaust Sabbath’s artistic powers and undermine the quality of subsequent albums to varying degrees.
By the time Osbourne was ousted from the group five years later, Sabbath Bloody Sabbath was already being recognized as perhaps the final great stand of the original, founding foursome. | {
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To watch the full documentary from The National, click the video at the bottom of the story.
There has been a long-standing tension in Peel Region, a diverse middle class suburb just west of Toronto, where members of the black community have spoken out for years about alleged police racism and discrimination.
Until recently, many of the complaints centred on the controversial police practice known as carding. Officers' questioning of certain individuals on the street, seemingly without cause, was widely seen as a type of racial profiling.
Carding was criticized for being ineffective and discriminatory toward minority groups, and the Ontario government restricted its use earlier this year, barring officers from collecting personal information from such stops.
Peel police have said there's a lot of misunderstanding about how they do their jobs, and they deny any kind of racial profiling happens within the region.
CBC's The National decided to take a closer look at the issue by asking a young black man to switch places with a white Peel police officer for one day.
The swap
Lance Constantine is a 28-year-old musician and motivational speaker who lives in the Malton neighbourhood of Mississauga, a suburb west of Toronto. The Humber College student believes he's often racially profiled and says young black men fear the police.
Constantine, right, speaks about race relations with Marshall's uncle, Scott Milne, at the Marshall family home in Mississauga, a Toronto suburb. (CBC)
Adam Marshall is a 31-year-old Peel police constable who lives alone in Hamilton. He acknowledges there's miscommunication between police and the black community.
The two men had never met before, but on Sept. 9, they switched lives for one day to get a sense of what it's like to walk in the other's shoes.
Constantine's experience began by having dinner with Marshall's family in Mississauga's Port Credit neighbourhood. He heard about their fears of having a loved one who works as a police officer and not knowing what might happen to him.
"Well, everybody fears for the life of a police officer. You never know who's crazy that you're going to meet on the other side of the door when you get the call," Marshall's grandmother, Moyna Marshall, said.
"I'd hope that they'd go back to the good old days where the people treated authority as authority. But nowadays, when you arrive, there is no such thing. They are looking to shoot the policeman or knife him or run away."
Constantine got in a heated debate with Marshall's uncle, Scott Milne, when the conversation moved to race and whether police patrol differently in different communities.
Milne repeatedly referred to Malton — the diverse neighbourhood where Constantine has lived with his family for a decade — as "a place like that."
"That's the issue, though. It's the preconception that this area is bad," Constantine said in response. "I went to school in that area. I became who I am because of that area."
Constantine defends his neighbourhood from harsh criticism 0:42
Milne admitted to having racist ideas about black people, though he said he's trying to change.
'If I see two black youth coming out of a variety store...' 0:45
Talking with students
Meanwhile, Marshall headed to Castlebrooke Secondary School in Brampton, Ont., where Constantine mentors students.
The students talked with him about their views on police.
"I've had a family member that was killed by police back in 2011 — Junior Alexander Manon ... And it was shocking, you know, because growing up ... you look up to police, and it was rough," said 17-year-old Shawn Cadena.
Cadena said the death of his 18-year-old cousin made him fear the police.
Young man's cousin died during arrest in 2011 0:34
On patrol
Shortly after 6 p.m. ET, Constantine arrived at Peel Regional Police headquarters in Brampton. He suited up in a bulletproof vest and prepared for a night patrolling the streets with police Sgt. Josh Colley.
Friday nights are known to be "hot" in Peel region, with more partying, more dangerous driving and an overall increase in calls.
The pair responded to emergency calls, pulled over dangerous drivers and patrolled different neighbourhoods across the region.
Peel Regional Police Sgt. Josh Colley, left, on patrol with Constantine. (CBC)
Constantine told Colley about his own violent run-in with police when he was 18. He said officers stopped him and his younger sister while they were leaving a McDonald's restaurant. Constantine said he was cuffed for no reason and chipped his tooth when he was thrown against the police car.
He was eventually released without charges.
"That moment really, really did scar me," Constantine said.
On the court
In another part of Peel, Marshall played basketball with Constantine's friends outside a community recreation centre in Brampton. He talked with them about the challenges of being a police officer and explained why he feels it's necessary to have a strong police presence in certain Peel communities.
Marshall played basketball with some of Constantine's friends. (CBC )
"When a crime happens in a neighbourhood, whether it's a nice neighbourhood or not a nice neighbourhood, we have to respond, we have to come," he said. "We don't have a choice to say, 'Well, I'll just go later.'"
Marshall denied police target certain demographics or neighbourhoods and said they show up where they are called — and the calls keep coming.
But the message to Marshall from Constantine's friends was clear: they feel they are treated differently because of the colour of their skin.
Young man describes how it feels to be black in Peel region 0:27
Police challenges
Back on the patrol, Constantine and Colley talked about carding, police discrimination and the fear that many in the black community have of police.
I feel like people only think there's one side of a police officer, and they completely disregard the human side of that. - Peel Regional Police Sgt. Josh Colley
They also discussed the fears police themselves have while on the job and the challenges they face: gruelling shift work, assaults and constant exposure to crises and violence.
"You're normally only called when people are in crisis or in trouble or need help," Colley said.
"I feel like people only think there's one side of a police officer, and they completely disregard the human side of that."
'I feel like people only think there's one side of a police officer, and they completely disregard the human side of that,' Colley told Constantine. (CBC)
CBC INVESTIGATES | Police diversity fails to keep pace with populations
The meeting
The next day, Marshall and Constantine met for the first time at Studio 89 café in Brampton.
"Do you feel that young black males are treated differently?" Constantine asked Marshall.
"I could tell you that certainly did used to exist ... It used to exist in a big way," Marshall said.
"Am I saying it doesn't exist in some small way now? It's possible. It's definitely possible. But I think it's getting better, and for me, I want it to get better." | {
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Marianne North painting a Tamil boy in Ceylon, 1877. (Photograph by Julia Margaret Cameron)
This is the first part of a five-part series about early female explorers.
Born into wealth in 1830 as the eldest daughter of an English member of parliament, like many upper class women of the time, Marianne North devoted herself to painting flowers. Unlike other Victorian women, though, North could not be satiated by roses. At age 40, she set off alone to travel the world, braving rough ship and living conditions to document over 900 plant species in just 14 years. She has four plant species named after her.
It helped, of course, that she was both rich and single. Financially independent following the death of her father, North used her spinster status and the freedom it allowed her to her advantage when she embarked on the first of many far-flung trips to paint the world’s flowers. “Marriage? A terrible experiment,” she once wrote.
North’s great journey started in 1871 with a trip to Canada, the US, and Jamaica. She then moved on to Brazil where she bushwhacked through the Amazon for eight months to paint its as yet undiscovered flora. Over the next 13 years of travel—an odyssey that would take her around the world twice over—North would discover numerous plants.
“Honeyflowers and Honeysuckers” (1882), South Africa (via WikiPaintings)
But unlike most male naturalists of the time, she didn’t stuff rare flowers in her suitcase to show off back home. She simply painted what she saw with a scientific accuracy that would make her paintings vital botanical records. And by eschewing ‘ladylike’ watercolors for oil paints — all the better for capturing the rich colors of the tropics with — and painting flora in their immediate environment rather than as individual plants against a white background, North’s style was unique.
Marianne North knew how to live: Wherever she was in the world, her days would begin at dawn when she would take her tea outside to watch the world awaken. She would then paint frantically outdoors till noon, consumed in what to her was “a vice like dram-drinking, almost impossible to leave off once it gets possession of one.”
Rainy afternoons were spent painting indoors, while evenings were given over to exploring outdoors and returning home well after dark. Her life, as she described it, was one of “wander and wonder and paint!”
North may have been privileged — her family name granted her letters of introduction to ambassadors, viceroys, and rajahs all over the world; she even traveled to Australia on the personal recommendation of Charles Darwin — but by traveling mostly alone (she found company tiresome) and battling her way through hostile terrain, often on rickety transport, there’s no doubt that Marianne was an adventurer.
Marianne North (courtesy A McRobb/RBG Kew)
Despite her connections, North preferred a simple life: Rather than travel with trunks full of clothes to serve her well at colonial soirees, North’s entire wardrobe could be contained in one small suitcase. In fact, the thought of having to appear at formal dinners in sticky evening dress was akin to torture for her, and she wrote to her sister from Jamaica: “These unthinking croqueting-badminton young ladies always aggravated me and I could hardly be civil to them.”
In 1882, a gallery of North’s work opened at England’s Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Funded by North at a time when photos were still in black and white, North’s paintings provided the scientists at Kew and the general public an intriguing glimpse of the world beyond Europe.
With her health failing, no doubt as a result of the harsh conditions she endured during her travels, North died at home in Gloucestershire in 1890. She was 59.
Over 130 years later, North’s 832 paintings are still on show in the same tightly packed formation—like a giant postage stamp album—as when the gallery first opened. The only permanent space dedicated to a single female artist’s works in Britain, the Marianne North Gallery is also one of the most important collections of botanical art in the world.
The Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens. (Photograph via Wikipedia Commons)
Pitcher plants of Borneo (1876) (via Wikimedia) | {
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Am I the only one around here who thinks this should be used for things other than complaining about atheists
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The Jamaica Now Action Plan is already starting to change the landscape of downtown Jamaica and promises to bring even more benefits to the community before it is complete.
The 21-step plan, which was introduced in April 2015, aims to revitalize the downtown area of Jamaica through a bevy of development projects — both commercial and residential — and with an added boost to the community’s already diverse arts and cultural scene, transportation sector, and many more aspects, making Jamaica a true hub of the borough.
City officials, including Mayor Bill de Blasio and Borough President Melinda Katz, worked closely with community leaders and organizations such as the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation (GJDC) with the hope of create 3,000 new housing units, 500,000 square feet of retail space, and 800 hotel rooms to the neighborhood in the $153 million five-year plan.
“I think that the Queens Borough President Melinda Katz was brilliant in creating this platform to support the changes already happening in Jamaica,” said Hope Knight, president and CEO of GJDC. “It is a systematic way to measure the progress of many actions in a coordinated way.”
The revitalization of the area really began back in 2003 with the creation of the $1.9 billion JFK AirTrain, and the rezoning of 368 blocks in the the downtown area in 2007 that led to the creation of increased development in the area.
The Jamaica Now Action Plan looks to expand on these improvements through a trifecta of goals to increase quality jobs and small business support, promote commercial growth and economic development, and to improve the livability of both residents and visitors to the area.
“The plan will make Downtown Jamaica a more vibrant community on a number of dimensions,” Knight explained. “It will create more residential facilities, elevate the arts and cultural institutions, provide more commercial activities to happen, and training for both youths and adult. All of the elements that help create a more economically vibrant community.”
In the way of residential facilities, the city is already in the process of getting rid of an underutilized NYPD parking garage at the corner of 168th Street and 93rd Avenue in order to erect a new 450,000-square-foot mixed-use building that will feature more than 350 affordable apartments, parking and retail space.
Earlier this month the Queens Borough Board voted to approve the sale of the parking garage. Construction is planned to begin on the new facility this winter, and is expected to be complete in approximately three years.
The Jamaica Now Action Plan will also help connect homeowners, tenants and property owners to educational programs to create neighborhood stability, expand opportunities for affordable homeownership, create small, affordable, multifamily rental buildings, and other benefits and programs to spur community development.
In all, Knight expects to see the creation of nearly 2,000 new residential units spring up across downtown Jamaica in the next few years.
An influx of new residents means increased opportunities for new businesses to come to the area, and for existing businesses to grow further.
The Action Plan looks to implement street improvements along Jamaica Avenue, unify and bolster the downtown Business Improvement Districts (BID), and fund redesigns for storefronts of businesses along Sutphin Boulevard, and release a Business Guide for Hillside Avenue and other important commercial corridors.
Owners of vacant or derelict lots within Jamaica’s downtown core will also be urged to activate those sites for potential residential or retail businesses.
The creation of hotels are a major part of the revitalization of downtown Jamaica, with its proximity to the borough’s airports and its own major transportation hub which is served by more than 50 city and regional bus lines, four subway lines, and 10 Long Island Rail Road lines.
“[Business owners] can look forward to a larger and more diverse clientele since more people will be living downtown,” Knight said. “And with the hotel rooms coming online, there will be more visitors inclined to shop downtown while staying at those hotels.”
Many other improvements besides buildings and businesses will be coming to downtown Jamaica that will improve the livability of residents and visitors alike.
The city is preparing to implement a new Select Bus Service (SBS) route from Jamaica to Flushing to better move commuters. The area will soon be getting WalkNYC directional maps, and some of the neighborhood is already connected to the LinkNYC network, which replaces old payphones with touchscreen kiosks that provide free public Wi-Fi, phone calls, directions and charging stations for mobile devices.
More changes are coming for downtown Jamaica each day and the future is bright for residents, visitors, business owners, developers and entrepreneurs.
“I am very excited about the plan and believe that significant progress has been made,” Knight added. “I am looking forward to all these projects coming to fruition to create a more vibrant and economically healthy community.”
As an added boon to downtown Jamaica, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Wednesday, July 12, the seven winning projects in the state’s $100 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI), which aims to further transform Jamaica into a vibrant economic and cultural hub for the city.
Because of the funds from the DRI, Jamaica will receive the following improvements:
A 10,000-square-foot co-working space run by GJDC;
high-speed broadband internet access;
improvements to the Downtown Jamaica Gateway;
funding for improved dining options in downtown Jamaica;
a public space around the Archer Archways at 159th Street;
funds for an expanded entrepreneurship training program; and
funding for improvements in the Career and Technical Education programs at Thomas A. Edison Career and Technical Education High School.
“This critical investment in Jamaica’s downtown will help it grow into a major economic hub that boosts small businesses, expands economic opportunity for residents, and draws new residents and visitors to the community,” Cuomo said in a statement. | {
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Disclaimer: Our trip was sponsored by Homewood Suites. All opinions here are purely my own. Homewood Suites TravelMANager
Here’s Why You Need to Make Up for It
It’s happened to just about every guy before. You passed on going to the movie your wife wanted to see, waited until the last minute to get her birthday gift, never made it home in time to read that bedtime story to your kids, or decided to stay at home on Saturday instead of going on an outing with the family. I get it, because I’ve been there. There are only 24 hours in a day, you’re tired, and so you’ve let things slip. But here’s what happens when you make a habit of doing that:
– Your wife can start to harden her heart towards you and become emotionally distant, because she’s tired of being disappointed.
– Your kids may stop asking you to read bedtime stories to them or do anything else, because they stop counting on you to be there.
– Your family could simply stop asking you to go on outings with them and get used to not spending quality time with you.
Seriously, don’t let any of these things happen. We guys will never be perfect, but we can totally make an effort to make up for it. Good news: Home2 Suites by Hilton and Homewood Suites have partnered together to make it easier for you to do right by those you love and make some great memories by taking an awesome trip.
Giveaway is over. | {
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Unmanned boat Snoopy Sloop crashes in Atlantic bid Published duration 28 November 2012
image caption Snoopy Sloop was launched from Barton-on-Sea beach on Tuesday
An unmanned boat has crashed into rocks off the Isle of Wight hours after it was launched in a bid to cross the Atlantic Ocean.
Retired Nato scientist Robin Lovelock's 4ft (1.2m) boat Snoopy Sloop set sail from the Hampshire coast on Tuesday.
But its tracking system placed it on land near The Needles at 18:45 GMT.
Mr Lovelock blamed a strong tide for pushing the boat eastwards and hoped, if it was undamaged, it could restart its quest to reach the Bahamas.
He wrote on his website: "Snoopy is wrecked near The Needles. We have an off shore north wind now bashing him against rocks."
Mr Lovelock has developed the £450 boat on Bray Lake near his home in Sunninghill, Berkshire, over the past four years.
'Very unlucky'
A Global Positioning System (GPS) computer was designed to pilot the boat for the 5,000 miles (8,000km).
He urged members of the public not to put themselves in danger by trying to rescue the craft.
image caption The boat's tracking system showed it on the Isle of Wight, instead of on its way to the Bahamas
"Depending on damage, he can either be relaunched... or be fixed to sail again soon," he added.
"However, this seems increasingly unlikely. The good news is that he worked well - and he was very unlucky.
"A launch an hour earlier, or from a few hundred yards further west, and he might have made it past The Needles."
It is thought no unmanned boat has ever crossed the Atlantic. Recent attempts hit weather and technical problems.
Travelling at 3mph, it would take Snoopy Sloop about six months to complete the trip.
Alongside the home-built technology on the boat is a model of cartoon dog Snoopy at the bow, which Mr Lovelock said showed he was not taking the project "too seriously". | {
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Tax minimisation by large companies far outweighs that of small and medium-sized businesses and has a disproportionately large effect on eroding the tax base. The 90-page look at the the tax contributions of the S&P/ASX 200 between 2004 and 2013 – the first research of its kind attempted – claims up to $80 billion was foregone by the taxman over that period; a sum of money that could all but wipe out the government's past two budget deficits. It details the widespread and growing use of subsidiaries in tax havens and so-called "thin capitalisation", where local entities are saddled with huge debts to reduce tax liabilities in Australia. Almost 60 per cent of the ASX 200 declare subsidiaries in tax havens. For example, global broadcaster 21st Century Fox has 117 and logistics group Toll Holdings 72 in low-tax jurisdictions, including Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands and Singapore.
Nearly a third of companies have an average "effective tax rate" of 10 per cent or less. James Hardie pays an effective rate of 0 per cent tax, Sydney Airport 2 per cent and Echo Entertainment – owner of Sydney's Star Casino – 5 per cent, the report found. Many of the lowest paying companies are real estate investment trusts, which pass some of the tax burden onto investors, the report said. Before its release on Wednesday, the Corporate Tax Association, which represents much of the ASX 200 on tax issues, dismissed the report, saying "usually there are logical explanations for low effective company tax rates". But the authors of the report said the scope of their research made it clear that "tax minimisation practices of a minority of very large companies have a significant and disproportionate impact on Australia's corporate tax revenue base".
When asked about the report on Monday, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said Australia had some of the toughest anti-tax avoidance laws in the world. "Having said that, obviously we are very conscious of the fact that we need to continue to be vigilant and we're working very hard to build a stronger tax administration and to pursue whatever policy response is required, domestically and internationally, through the G20," he told ABC radio. Senator Cormann later said he was constrained by what he could say in relation to the individual companies accused of dodging their entire tax obligations. "I'm very confident that the tax commissioner Chris Jordan will be looking very closely at those reports," he said on Sky. David O'Byrne, national secretary of the union United Voice, which sponsored the report along with the Tax Justice Network - a group of charities, unions and churches - said "the corporate tax system is broken".
"When 29 per cent of Australia's largest listed companies are paying an effective tax rate of 10 per cent or less, it's clear that the system is broken," he said. "In the last five years the proportion of total tax revenue from business shrank from 23 per cent to 19 per cent, while the proportion from individuals rose from 37 per cent to 39 per cent. Working people across the country are doing all the heavy-lifting because many of our biggest companies are shirking their responsibilities and it's costing all of us billions of dollars a year." The Tax Justice Network and United Voice will call for a parliamentary inquiry into the corporate tax take after briefing federal MPs. But they will face stiff resistance from the corporate world, which points to Australia's place at second on the list of countries for company tax take to GDP ratio. Business leaders complain that foreign competitors pay far less in their home countries even though countries like the US have a higher corporate tax rate, of 35 per cent. Corporate Tax Association executive director Frank Drenth said: "Financial journalists and some civil society groups don't have a great track record of analysing tax information from published accounts. Financial accounts were never specifically designed to facilitate a detailed analysis of a company's tax performance."
In a detailed response, he listed seven reasons why a company's effective tax rate can fall below 30 per cent, including taxed foreign income not being subject to additional Australian tax, tax offsets for expenditure on research and development, and restructures. "I completely understand what people mean when they say that companies (especially very large multinationals) should pay their fair share of tax. But as a practical concept that isn't very useful because different people will have different ideas about what someone's fair share of tax actually means," he said. "The CTA believes there should be a cohesive and clear legal framework that enables all taxpayers, large and small, to be confident that they are complying with their legal obligations. The upcoming white paper on tax reform should present an opportunity for these kinds of issues to be considered." The report, which was reviewed by tax and accounting lecturer Dr Roman Lanis from the University of Technology Sydney, does not allege illegal tax avoidance by any company – nor does Fairfax Media – but calls for greater transparency and a national debate on the system. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development this month unveiled plans to tackle profit shifting and tax avoidance by multinational corporations and Australian companies will be forced to provide more transparency to the Australian Tax Office from next year.
The ATO declined to comment. A spokeswoman for James Hardie said the company's consolidated statement of cash flows showed it had paid $US$495 million. But Michael Kobetsky, an adjunct professor at the Australian National University and fellow of the Taxation Institute of Australia said it was unclear where that tax was paid because James Hardie was domiciled in the Netherlands and had subsidiaries in tax havens, including in Bermuda. "We know they are not paying tax in Australia because their dividends to shareholders are completely unfranked," Professor Kobetsky said. A spokeswoman for Sydney Airport said: "We comply with all Australian tax laws and pay taxes including payroll tax, stamp duties, fringe benefits tax, council rates, GST and other levies, as well as collecting GST on behalf of government." A spokeswoman for Treasurer Joe Hockey said: "Companies should pay tax where they earn the profits and that has been [Mr Hockey's] agenda through G20 negotiations. He will work co-operatively with his global partners for a fair tax regime."
Fairfax Media's estimated tax rate is 25 per cent, according to the report, and it has subsidiaries in Malaysia and Singapore. Labor assistant treasury spokesman Andrew Leigh said: "This data suggests that if all ASX 200 companies paid the full 30 per cent rate of company tax, the budget would gain around $8.4 billion more revenue a year. That is more than the total savings the government expects to make next year by unfair measures like slashing pensions, bringing in its GP tax and cutting programs for indigenous Australians." with Latika Bourke | {
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Level Editor Beta [Update History & Release Notes]
June 10th, 2016 - Patch #4, Hotfix 2
All three platforms have been updated with another hotfix. This means the June 10th fixes are now also available on Mac and Linux. In addition to these fixes one more issue has been addressed where playing a level from within the editor would sometimes give a 'LEVEL CLEARED' prompt on the first floor while more floors are present in the level. | {
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Update: Last month, we told you about a sexting scandal at Canon City High School.
A football game was cancelled after reports about the widespread nature of sexting among students was made public — the fear being that there wouldn't have been enough uninvolved players to field a full squad — and the school's administration floated threats of felony charges against participants.
In our previous coverage, on view below, we quoted Amy Hasinoff, a CU Denver professor and author of a book entitled Sexting Panic. Hasinoff is critical of law enforcement attempts to criminalize behavior like sexting, deeming it counter-productive for, among other things, the way it treats potential perpetrators and victims in the same way.
In this case, however, cooler heads appear to have prevailed. Even though the sexting reports went national, district attorney Thom LeDoux has decided against charging any of the participants with a crime.
And there were a lot of participants.
At a press conference covered by KRDO, LeDoux revealed that 351 photos featuring at least 106 identified students were found on three confiscated phones.
LeDoux noted that some of the students referred to the photos as "Pokemon cards" because of the way they were being traded.
However, LeDoux added that the investigation failed to reveal aggravating factors that would have led to criminal charges. Those presumably include coercion or the sharing of photos in ways meant to harm or belittle those pictured.
If the students involved are caught distributing such photos again, LeDoux hinted that their behavior could be viewed as such a factor. But for now, the only thing they'll be receiving is a letter from the DA stressing the seriousness of the matter and warning them against taking part in sexting again.
Look below to see KRDO's report, followed by our previous coverage.
Original post, 8:02 a.m. November 5: Earlier this year, we interviewed Amy Hasinoff, a CU Denver communications professor and the author of Sexting Panic, a book highly critical of the way our society deals with the sexting phenomenon — often by criminalizing teens who take part in the activity.
"One of the reasons we have such terrible teen-sexting laws is that people think any girl who would do this must be deviant or mentally ill or pathological," Hasinoff told us. "And that really denies the reality that teenagers are sexting. And it's not just a couple of them."
That certainly appears to be true at Canon City High School.
A community announcement credited to Canon City School District Superintendent George Welsh reveals that "a number of our students have engaged in behavior where they take and pass along pictures of themselves that expose private parts of their bodies or their undergarments."
Participants are said to include members of the CCHS football team, whose final game for 2015, scheduled to take place this Saturday, has been cancelled, reportedly because there might not have been enough players who definitely weren't involved to field a full squad.
We've reproduced Welsh's letter in its entirety below, but here's an excerpt that outlines the possible law-enforcement consequences of sexting:
The matter has been turned over to the Cañon City Police Department who explain the legal issues involved as follows: A person can be charged with a class 3 felony if they have taken a picture of themselves showing a naked private body part and sent it to another person, have received such a picture and forwarded it to another person, or have received such a picture and retained possession of it over time. Police representatives have said the primary focus of their investigation will be to determine if any adults were involved, and to determine whether any photos were coerced. Formal charges will be determined by the DA's office.
In Hasinoff's view, these laws potentially create more problems than they solve.
From a criminal perspective, she told us this past February, "sexting can be treated as child pornography, which is a really harsh crime to be charged with and the penalties are huge," Hasinoff notes. "And it seems illogical to me that the child pornography laws don't make a distinction about whether the sexting was consensual or not.
"You can be sending a sext to your partner with consent and be charged with child pornography — and then, if your partner sends it to friends or so forth, that person can be charged with child pornography, too. But in the first case, the partner is presumably happy to get that image, and in the second case, the person is maliciously violating the first person's privacy."
The difference in these intentions is key, Hasinoff feels. "Laws in a lot of states essentially say that whether you sext with consent or with malicious intent, we're going to give you the same penalty. And studies have shown that about 30 percent of teenagers sext. So we're talking about something that's essentially normal for about a third of teens and turning it into child pornography."
More immediately, the Canon City High School Tigers' season was terminated one week early due to the situation. Coach Tom O'Rourke tells the Canon City Daily Record the game was canceled because "we've decided to err on the side of caution instead of getting caught after the fact that we knew ahead of time, played these kids, then there was a problem."
Still, he regrets the de facto punishment against those who didn't take part in sexting — particularly seniors whose high school gridiron career is now over.
"I feel as badly as I could feel about anything," he said in his Daily Record interview. "I told them that — that I know that there were kids that were not involved...and to the bottom of my heart I apologized.
"Obviously, that's the not the way anybody wanted the season to end," he conceded, adding, "Kids are kids and they're going to make stupid mistakes. We were all kids, and we all made stupid mistakes. This one's up there."
Whether any or all of these teens should face felony charges for such a mistake is another question entirely.
Here's the aforementioned community announcement, originally shared on the school district's Facebook page.
| {
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Export/Download Printable Text (.txt) CSV Multiverse id (.txt) Markdown/Reddit MTGO (.dek) MTG Salvation
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3 Ash Zealot (RTR) 4 Blood Crypt (RNA) 245 4 Desecration Demon (MM3) 66 4 Diregraf Ghoul (M19) 92 4 Dragonskull Summit (XLN) 252 4 Dreadbore (E01) 83 4 Hellhole Flailer (RTR) 7 Mountain (ZNR) 275 4 Pillar of Flame (JMP) 355 4 Rakdos Cackler (RTR) 67 2 Rakdos, Lord of Riots (RTR) 187 4 Reckless Waif (ISD) 3 Rix Maadi Guildmage (RTR) 1 Stensia Bloodhall (ISD) 4 Stromkirk Noble (ISD) 164 6 Swamp (ZNR) 272 1 Elixir of Immortality (MYS1) 209 2 Mind Rot (M21) 115 2 Rakdos Charm (C17) 190 2 Ultimate Price (DTK) 124 2 Underworld Connections (C17) 128 4 Vampire Nighthawk (C20) 140
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In TappedOut's comments/forums
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This will require TappedOut.js included in your blog. | {
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Dave Bautista in last year’s Hotel Artemis. Photo : Global Road
Things just got spicy for Dave Bautista. He’s reteaming with his Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve for the upcoming remake of Dune.
Variety reports that the former WWE wrestler turned Guardians of the Galaxy megastar will join Timothée Chalamet and Rebecca Ferguson in the upcoming film. It’s based on the classic 1965 Frank Herbert novel that was famously turned into a 1984 film by David Lynch. Eric Roth wrote the script.
Chalamet is playing the film’s lead, Paul Atreides, who attempts to lead a revolution to regain control of the planet Arrakis as well as the valuable spice trade take from his family. Ferguson is his mother, Lady Jessica, and Bautista will play “Beast” Rabban, the “the sadistic nephew of a baron who oversees Arrakis,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.
While Bautista is an excellent addition to basically any cast , the better news here is the idea that more casting means Villeneuve’s film is getting closer to production, which means closer to release too. Maybe we’ll see Dune in the summer or fall of 2020?
When we do, though, that probably won’t be the last of it. According to Herbert’s son Brian, the film will only cover the first half of the book—so Legendary, which is producing, obviously sees this as the start of a franchise. That’s good news for Bautista, who may be on his way out of another big franchise.
Dune does not yet have a release date but Bautista will next be seen (by his own admission, so it’s not a spoiler) in Avengers: Endgame.
For more, make sure you’re following us on our new Instagram @io9dotcom. | {
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A brand new full-length trailer for next summer's big Disney/Marvel blockbuster Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 has been released online, right before its expected premiere during the ACC Championship Game. The footage, synced to Sweet's 'Fox on the Run' (which should be showing up on the new Awesome Mix), doesn't give a lot of concrete story details, but does provide several instances of crazy antics and action involving Star-Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Rocket (Bradley Cooper), and a baby-sized Groot (Vin Diesel).
Check out the trailer below: | {
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Due to medical problem, painting long hours is proving to be very strenuous.
But I'm glad I got it done!
I hope you like it!
P.S. Apparently, the artist (me) has never heard of something called a ruler (referring to the chair)
Credits:=============Based on figure from here > www.kotobukiya.co.jp/product/p… From the series Oregairu.------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The figure is really beautiful, and the price tag is really "awesome".Since I cannot buy it, then I just have to draw it! Haha...The reference picture is really small, so it is really hard to draw based on it. Well, I tried my best.I spent approx 2 hours on sketching the outline and another 5+ hours on painting. | {
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An article questioning whether a Trump mail server was secretly communicating with Russia quickly fell apart Monday after security experts, journalists and the FBI weighed in.
The article from Slate, entitled “Was a Trump Server Communicating With Russia?,” discussed research from numerous computer scientists and the eventual allegation from a renowned DNS expert that the business server in question was covertly conversing with Alfa Bank – Russia’s largest private commercial bank.
“The parties were communicating in a secretive fashion. The operative word is secretive,” Paul Vixie told Slate. “This is more akin to what criminal syndicates do if they are putting together a project.”
The Clinton campaign, potentially aware of the story’s impending publication, immediately began spreading news of Trump’s alleged Russian ties across social media.
It’s time for Trump to answer serious questions about his ties to Russia. https://t.co/D8oSmyVAR4 pic.twitter.com/07dRyEmPjX — Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 31, 2016
Sam Biddle, journalist for The Intercept, noted soon after that his news outlet and at least 5 others had passed on the story upon deciding that “it didn’t add up.”
FWIW at least five outlets including The Intercept have been looking at this for weeks and decided it didn’t add up https://t.co/iU19ejgIVW — Sam Biddle (@samfbiddle) November 1, 2016
Even as Clinton pinned the allegations to her Twitter profile, security experts, the vast majority opposed to Trump, began dismantling the story piece by piece.
Former GCHQ operator Matt Tait, who regularly analyzes breaking security news under the handle @pwnallthethings, demystified the story in a series of tweets.
So, ok. This is all a very exciting story, but it is almost entirely smoke when you actually dig into it. https://t.co/aorvPnX03L — Pwn ███ The █████ b5 (@pwnallthethings) November 1, 2016
Don’t get me wrong. I would love story to be true. But it is technical swiss cheese. Eg “were the DNS lookups MX (mail) ones?” not answered. — Pwn ███ The █████ b5 (@pwnallthethings) November 1, 2016
Naadir Jeewa, an employee at DevOps consulting group “The Scale Factory,” noted the “secret server” was actually run for Trump by Cendyn, a hotel marketing company.
There’s no private server, just an outsourced marketing server from Cendyn, used by loads of hotel chains. — Naadir Jeewa (@randomvariable) November 1, 2016
Robert Graham, another renowned security expert, similarly debunked the claim in a post on his blog.
When you see this as outsourced marketing campaigns, you see a vastly different picture of “trump’s secret server”https://t.co/mI2hhK9uw3 pic.twitter.com/AhFZpxZt2z — Rob Zombie Graham🎃 (@ErrataRob) November 1, 2016
“The response from the Trump campaign is overwhelmingly the most logical explanation,” Graham writes. “Trump hotel business outsourced marketing campaigns, who created the domain and setup (through Listrak) the servers.”
“It’s Cendyn who controls the servers, and not the Trump campaign. It’s unbelievable that the Trump campaign would even have access to those servers, much less be using them. Far from being ‘secret” or ‘private,’ this [sp] servers are wide open and obvious.”
According to a New York Times article released shortly after the Slate piece, the FBI had been aware of the allegations for weeks but found nothing of interest upon investigation.
“F.B.I. officials spent weeks examining computer data showing an odd stream of activity to a Trump Organization server and Alfa Bank,” the Times writes. “Computer logs obtained by The New York Times show that two servers at Alfa Bank sent more than 2,700 ‘look-up’ messages — a first step for one system’s computers to talk to another — to a Trump-connected server beginning in the spring.”
“But the F.B.I. ultimately concluded that there could be an innocuous explanation, like a marketing email or spam, for the computer contacts.”
FBI finds no evidence to suggest that a Trump owned server was communicating with a Russian bank https://t.co/Qo71sksElX pic.twitter.com/pTjppz7gsh — Mikael Thalen (@MikaelThalen) November 1, 2016
Given how quickly the story disintegrated, it remains unclear whether or not the Clinton camp will face any lasting damage in the remaining days of the election season.
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today! | {
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Kyiv
Are you in Kyiv during the Eurovision Song Contest? A programme of approved cultural events that fans will be able to enjoy when they travel to Kyiv in less than two weeks, has been released. Here is what you need to know.
There has been a special programme of approved cultural events that fans will be able to enjoy when they travel to Kyiv at the end of this month or early next month. Amongst these include workshops, festivals, exhibitions and even a karaoke contest. The press service of the Kyiv State Administration (KCSA) announced.
From April 30th to May 14th Kyiv will operate:
The Fan Zone in Sofia in St Sofia Square will accommodate up to 10 thousand visitors. The zone will be divided into the following areas: cultural, artistic, background information, recreation, food court and entertainment.
The entertainment area at Trinity Square, which will present the best examples of national music, contemporary works of music, theater, Kiev and acquaint guests with the unique Ukrainian culture. It also will operate a food court area, workshops, sales exhibitions, children’s entertainment, photo zone, tourist information centre.
Entertainment area Feel Ukraine will include exhibitions and workshops. Films will be screened and will include a large children’s section. Each day will be devoted to a separate theme: Jazz masters, Day of Ukrainian literature, fine arts day, a day of costumes, decorations and so on.
Entertainment area Eurovision: Retrospective which will be located on Poshtova Square. There will be karaoke festival that introduces visitors to the history of “Eurovision”. The festival everyone can take part in a karaoke competition. The contest will start from 18:00 to 20:00. These are the preliminary heats. The Finalists will perform again from 20:00 to 21:00 and be listened by a professional jury formed of stars from the pop and rock scene. At 21:00 every day will be special prizes awarded to each winner of the day.
Art
Entertainment area Kyiv Art Fort 2017 and will open at the National Historical and Architectural Reserve (street. Hospital, 24 A). The space is equipped with temporary tented structures with Eurovision logos and those of other countries. On the main floor a large open-air act Art Hall, which will feature exhibition of contemporary artists of Ukraine.
4th to 7th May will be the International Festival “Kyiv Art Week”. The event will take place in Kiev exhibition galleries, conferences, concerts, parties, involving the most interesting musicians. The main location of the festival in 2017 will be the business center “Toronto-Kyiv”.
From 5th to 14th May in Kyiv city art gallery “Lavra” will be the International Art Festival. The exhibition encompasses the exhibition “Amazing confusion” on the results of a residence in the art gallery “Lavra” special project of the Foundation “Anti-AIDS – Kissing Does not Kill”. There will be video installations from Yevgeny Chernyshov, art group “Tenpoint” and modern Ukrainian theater performances. These will be performed by famous musicians, members of the alternative music scene and more.
Light shows
In addition, from 12th to 14th May the Poshtova Square, and the park area will be shown in Kyoto 3D-mapping-show «Kyiv Light Fest». For three days from 19:00 to 23:00 at the sites, post, Michael’s Square, Kontrakova Square. Ukrainian and foreign Video Artists convert spectacular images to projection screens on buildings. In addition there will also be light shows on Andrew’s Descent from 20:00 to 23:00.
Please stay tuned for other important information for those travelling to Kyiv for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. | {
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tips bartender with $2 bill she says she collects them and gives you back a boner dollar
174 shares | {
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От Путина резко отвернулась фортуна. 15 лет человеку везло, как сумасшедшему: и высокие цены на нефть, и война в Ираке в его пользу сработала, и ничтожность западных лидеров, и Буш, и идиот Янукович – всё шло ему в копилку. Но вдруг, как в сказке о рыбаке и рыбке, «золотая рыбка» отвернулась и всё пошло наперекосяк, пишет российский журналист Леонид Радзиховский для НВ .
Мало того, что в Украине его планы провалились, так еще и цены на нефть рухнули. Вещи не связанные, но произошли одновременно. И ничего с этим не поделаешь.
Не везет российскому президенту. Тем не менее, внезапно на горизонте снова появился призрак былого везения: в тот самый момент, когда он находится в самой неприятной ситуации, в Сирии происходит резкое обострение конфликта. В Европу рвутся сотни тысяч беженцев.
Для Путина всё складывается отлично. Во-первых, Европе не до Украины. Во-вторых, там не знают, что делать. В-третьих, у него в наличии военная база в Сирии и особые отношения с Башаром Асадом. Так что он снова у руля и может выступать не в роли жалкого оправдывающегося, а в роли хозяина положения.
Таким образом, единственная карта, которую Россия может разыгрывать на предстоящей сессии Генассамблеи ООН в Нью-Йорке – это, конечно же, не украинская карта (где сказать абсолютно нечего и рассчитывать на чье-либо сочувствие не приходится), а сирийская.
Эту сирийскую карту Путин обязан разыгрывать. Но только, что это за карта? Никто уже не понимает, что там происходит: война всех против всех, сотни тысяч убитых, миллионы беженцев и т. д. Что может сказать Россия, кроме рассказов о том, что ИГИЛ – это плохо? Что она может предложить?
Насколько я понимаю, теоретически РФ могла бы предложить три вещи.
Во-первых, облегчить европейское бремя по размещению беженцев и принять часть из них в России. Европа, конечно, подобному предложению аплодировала бы, однако интернациональные граждане России и ярые антифашисты — нет. Кроме глубокого и искреннего возмущения и удивления, это заявление ничего бы не вызвало.
Вся психология российского общества по отношению к Сирии ограничивается одним злорадством (не к проблемам Сирии, на которые всем глубочайшим образом наплевать, а по отношению к Европе), слезами невинных сирийских детей страну Достоевского не проймешь. Мол, получите гады. Вы пляшете, а мы в уголке сидим и лапки потираем. Это консенсусная позиция среди россиян, поэтому решение принять беженцев означает пойти против общественного мнения. Да и сколько их принять? Несколько тысяч – пожалуйста. Несколько сот тысяч – да вы что, с ума сошли?
К этому нужно добавить, что сирийские беженцы меньше всего стремятся в Россию. И заставить их сюда приехать можно разве что под оружием. Ведь беженцы бегут даже не в Венгрию, а исключительно в Германию и не плохо, чтобы в Швецию с Данией. То есть, они хорошо понимают, с какой стороны масло на бутерброде, поэтому в Россию ты их и калачом не заманишь.
Таким образом, этот вариант отпадает.
Во-вторых, присоединиться к коалиции, воюющей против ИГИЛ. Тоже неплохо, как для Запада, так и для Путина, который окажется хорошим парнем. Но только есть маленькая деталь: западная коалиция, которая воюет против Исламского государства, одновременно воюет и с Асадом.
Воевать против Асада Путину не с руки. Ему, конечно же, плевать на него (как, впрочем, и на Украину, и на ИГИЛ, и на Сирию), но ему не плевать на свое слово. Терять престиж, терять амбиции и военную базу, терять союзника и свой личный виртуальный капитал – этого он не может себе позволить.
Наоборот, он всячески защищает Асада. Его предложение может звучать следующим образом: если коалиция переменит свой фронт в отношении Асада и полностью сосредоточится на внешнем враге (ИГИЛе), то мы вполне можем c ней сотрудничать. Но это поставит в то же неудобное положение господина Барака Обаму и прочих. Им-то с какой радости терять свое лицо, менять свою политику и отказываться от своих слов? Они не собираются этого делать. Первое же усиление военного присутствия России в Сирии на стороне Асада и против ИГИЛа вызвало отнюдь не благодарность со стороны американцев, а критику, одергивание и дополнительное недовольство.
Так что вариант вступить в коалицию прекрасен, и все сразу забудут, что Путин нерукопожатный и переступят через ситуацию с Украиной. Ты только вступай в нашу коалицию, которая и против ИГИЛ, и против Асада, но отнюдь не в ту, которую придумал ты.
В-третьих, самая главная помощь, которую Путин теоретически может предоставить в Сирии – это направление военного контингента для борьбы с Исламским государством.
Ведь что русские будут делать в антиигиловской коалиции? Давать умные советы? Спасибо, не нужно. Дипломатически осуждать ИГИЛ? Сами умеем. Бомбить? Да, в общем, тоже не нужно, сами умеем, и самолетов хватает.
Запад ничего не может сделать с Исламским государством по одной простой причине: он воевать не хочет. Никто не хочет посылать своих американских, и уж тем более европейских парней на войну в Сирию и принимать у себя дома цинковый конвейер. Если ты своими русскими «ваньками» можешь эту амбразуру закрыть, так вперед. Большое спасибо, Нобелевскую премию мира и относительно Украины мы сильно сделаем вид, что сильно ничего не происходит, даже санкции снимем. Ты нам русскую парную телятину, а мы тебе сыр.
Но Путин не может слать парную телятину. Не поймут-с. Ведь в Сирии гибридная война не пройдет. Там не отделаешься тремя сотнями или тремя тысячами головорезов и психически больных добровольцев, играющих в реконструкторов, и одномоментными «укусами» регулярных войск. В Сирии нужно воевать, потому что армия ИГИЛ – это не Вооруженные силы Украины. Это армия, которая к гибридной войне не приспособлена и таких тонкостей не понимает. Сотни тысяч психически больных шахидов приехали со всего мира в Сирию и Ирак отнюдь не с целью поиграть в реконструкторов и обмениваться громкими речами в ООН. Они приехали с целью умирать. Это настоящие шахиды. И воевать с ними нужно, по меньшей мере, как в Афганистане.
То есть, Россия должна не комсомольцев и добровольцев посылать в Сирию, как это происходит в Донбассе, а большую армию. И воевать там нужно долго и упорно – так, как воевали американцы во Вьетнаме, Советский Союз в Афганистане или немцы в Беларуси. То есть, когда из кишлака кто-то выстрелил, его окружают, сжигают и добивают всех, кто не погиб сразу.
Как известно, американцы проиграли во Вьетнаме, русские проиграли в Афганистане и даже немцы проиграли в Беларуси – правда, не советской армии, а партизанам.
Таким образом, война против ИГИЛ – это долгая и невероятно кровавая, а также совершенно бессмысленная война. Если вы еще хотите воевать против ИГИЛ более-менее гуманно, то тогда вы должны положить сотни тысяч своих. Потому что в Афганистане русские положили 15 тыс., а американцы во Вьетнаме положили 50 тыс. только благодаря тому, что местное население клали миллионами. За одного своего сто местных. Просто выжигали все кругом, как немцы в Беларуси.
Тогда можно отделаться для своих относительно небольшими потерями. Но если вы хотите воевать по-европейски, то своих нужно класть сотнями тысяч.
Тем не менее, это всё пустые разговоры. Путин свою армию в Сирию никогда не пошлет. Это стопроцентно исключено. Это будет Афган-2, который стал катастрофой для Советского Союза, и Путин это прекрасно понимает. Поэтому он не будет воевать в Сирии.
Военные и технические специалисты, какие-то отморозки и Моторолы, которые удрали из Украины, — это можно. Но это ничто. Если Путин хочет показать себя хорошим парнем, развернуть к себе Запад, то за счет дешевки этого не сделаешь. Счет у тебя слишком большой. Гасить кредиты нечем, кроме как большой русской кровью. Но в России тебя никто не поймет. Это не Украина.
Воевать в Украине – это для россиян понятно. Это же не война – так, ерунда, войнушка. И потом, это же Украина, это же братья. Воевать против братьев – это дело житейское и это по-человечески. Но воевать в какой-то Сирии? Да еще и вместе с американцами? Класть наших парней против какого-то ИГИЛа? Этого в России не поймет ни один человек. Тем более к Исламскому государству в России нет никакого отношения – ни плохого, ни хорошего. Да, они вроде бы плохие и всех убивают, но, с другой стороны, они против американцев.
Иными словами, не наше это дело. Наше дело сидеть в холодке, потирать лапки и тихо радоваться, что они там друг друга истребляют.
Такова психология русского человека. А что касается мусульман, которых в России 20%, то там ситуация еще «лучше». Влезть в мусульманскую войну – это то, чего сейчас особенно остро «не хватает» России. В Советском Союзе можно было воевать в мусульманской войне, потому что мнение узбеков и таджиков никого не интересовало. А в России картинка совсем другая. И втягивание в мусульманскую войну с российской армией, которая в большой степени состоит из мусульман, — это полностью исключено.
Так что же может сделать Путин на Генассамблее ООН? Об Украине говорить нечего, нужно говорит о Сирии. Но что именно? Беженцев мы принять не можем, в антиигиловской коалиции участвовать не можем (потому что она не пойдет на наши условия) и воевать своими силами в Сирии, взвалив на себя основную тяжесть войны, Россия уж точно не будет.
В таком случае остаются только общие разговоры о союзе всех государств, о борьбе с терроризмом, о том, что мы готовы присоединиться, что нужно поддержать законное правительство Сирии и т. д. и т.п. Ну что ж, неплохо. Для речи вполне сойдет. Но изменить реальную ситуацию внешнеполитического тупика подобная речь не сможет. Она предоставляет возможность без улюлюканья отстоять в ООН, сорвать какие-то аплодисменты, вежливые улыбки и выкрутиться из ситуации. Иными словами, отстоять урок у доски без двойки. Но никакого реального политического продвижения это не даст. | {
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Democratic Rep. Don Beyer (Va.) recommended Friday that President Trump Donald John TrumpHR McMaster says president's policy to withdraw troops from Afghanistan is 'unwise' Cast of 'Parks and Rec' reunite for virtual town hall to address Wisconsin voters Biden says Trump should step down over coronavirus response MORE expel the Turkish ambassador to the United States following a violent clash between protesters and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's bodyguards.
“President Trump should immediately expel the Turkish Ambassador to the United States,” Beyer said in a statement Friday. “President Erdogan’s attacks on human rights and democratic institutions in Turkey are disgraceful, but condoning such attacks on American soil betrays our deepest values.”
Nine people were taken to local hospitals Tuesday following violence that erupted between protesters outside the Turkish Embassy and Erdogan's bodyguards.
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The Turkish Embassy said on Wednesday that Erdogan's bodyguards were acting in "self-defense” during the incident and the protesters were affiliated with the Kurdish terrorist group PKK. A protest leader denied that anyone involved had any ties or sympathies to the PKK.
Beyer, a former ambassador to Lichtenstein and Switzerland, added that the clash violated diplomatic norms.
“As someone who has represented my country abroad as an ambassador, I have a special appreciation for the vital role that envoys play and the expectations for honorable behavior that comes with this responsibility. These actions fall grievously short of that standard, and the US must take a stand.”
Video emerged Thursday showing Erdogan watching the fracas unfold.
Tuesday’s incident involved about two dozen demonstrators and occurred after President Trump hosted Erdogan at the White House. | {
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TORONTO -- One day into Boston's seven-game road trip, Josh Beckett is packing his bags and heading home.
The right-hander will return to Boston on Tuesday to see a doctor about the sore right ankle that forced him out of Monday's 1-0 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Beckett left in the fourth inning after feeling pain in his ankle on consecutive pitches to Blue Jays rookie Brett Lawrie, whose 11th inning homer provided the only run of the game.
"It's always concerning," Beckett said. "That's my power leg."
Beckett said he slipped and fell while warming up in the bullpen, but didn't think that had anything to do with the pain that forced him out.
"I felt it on the second to last pitch and then it felt a little bit different on the last pitch I threw," he said. "I didn't feel it till those last two pitches."
"It felt like it was locked up and then it popped in and out of the socket or something," Beckett added.
Catcher Jason Varitek didn't notice anything out of the ordinary until Beckett missed with a 1-2 fastball to Lawrie.
"He seemed to make a funny face and kind of came off the mound funny on that pitch," said Varitek, who promptly called manager Terry Francona and trainer Mike Reinold out of the dugout.
After a brief discussion, Beckett walked off the field without assistance and was replaced by right-hander Alfredo Aceves.
"It was getting stiff and it was getting sore so we got him out of there," Francona said.
Beckett was able to stand and walk after the game, but said his ankle was still sore.
"It's bad timing, but who knows?" he said. "I could be back out there in six days. We'll see."
An All-Star for the third time this season, Beckett came in having won his past three starts. He allowed three hits in 3 2/3 scoreless innings with six strikeouts and one walk.
After 10 scoreless innings, Lawrie won it with a two-out drive to center off Dan Wheeler (2-2), his eighth homer since being called up from Triple-A Las Vegas on Aug. 4 and the first walk-off hit of his career.
"My head is still going a mile a minute," Lawrie said. "It's one of those things that's very, very cool and I'll treasure it forever."
Wheeler said he missed with his location on the decisive pitch.
"It was a fastball, just kind of flat," Wheeler said. "It went right down the middle. It was supposed to be down and away but didn't quite get there."
Shawn Camp (3-3) pitched one scoreless inning for the win as the Blue Jays snapped a three-game losing streak.
Boston lost for the fifth time in seven games.
Blue Jays right-hander Henderson Alvarez pitched six scoreless innings, extending his shutout streak to 14. Alvarez allowed four hits, walked one and struck out four.
"He had tremendous movement, just natural movement," Francona said. "The ball was diving all over the place."
Carlos Villanueva replaced Alvarez and walked Kevin Youkilis to begin the seventh. After Carl Crawford flied out, Josh Reddick singled to right and both runners advanced on Varitek's grounder. Scutaro ended the inning by grounding out to shortstop.
Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-out double off Casey Janssen in the eighth and David Ortiz was intentionally walked to bring up Youkilis, who struck out looking.
Toronto put a runner at third base three times in the first four innings. Edwin Encarnacion struck out to end the first, Jose Molina grounded out and Dewayne Wise struck out in the second and, after Aceves walked Lawrie in the fourth, Molina ended the inning by flying out to right.
Aceves left after walking Mike McCoy and hitting Eric Thames with one out in the eighth. Daniel Bard came on and got Jose Bautista to fly out, then struck out Adam Lind.
Jonathan Papelbon struck out Lind on three pitches to leave the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th and has not allowed a run in 18 innings.
Game notes
Boston recalled C Ryan Lavarnway and RHP Kyle Weiland and purchased the contract of INF Nate Spears, all from Triple-A Pawtucket. Infielder Drew Sutton was designated for assignment to open a roster spot for Spears. ... Red Sox LHP Erik Bedard (left knee) will be skipped in his next scheduled start, Friday at Tampa Bay. ... Francona said RHP Bobby Jenks (back) is unlikely to pitch again this season. ... Blue Jays SS Yunel Escobar (left wrist) missed his second straight game. ... Toronto reinstated RHP Dustin McGowan (shoulder) off the 60-day DL. McGowan last pitched in the majors July 8, 2008. ... Blue Jays manager John Farrell returned after missing 10 games with pneumonia. ... Wise made a superb diving catch on Crawford's sinking liner to center to begin the ninth. ... Toronto's five stolen bases were a season-high. | {
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Washington, Minnesota, New York and Oregon have joined a lawsuit to challenge the latest iteration of President Donald Trump's travel ban in court, Politico reported.
Trump's original travel ban was blocked by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in February, which meant it was back to the drawing board for an administration bent on restricting the travel and visa privileges of anyone hailing from seven Muslim-majority countries.
On Monday, Trump announced a revised ban to go into effect on March 16, which excludes restrictions for people from Iraq and removes the indefinite ban on Syrian refugees. But if Trump had hoped to avoid legal troubles with the new revision, Thursday's news spells trouble.
Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson told reporters it's his belief the revised ban suffers from the same problems as the old one.
"We're asserting that the president cannot unilaterally declare himself free of the court's restraining order and injunction," Ferguson said during a Thursday press conference, according to Politico.
Washington was the first state to file a suit over Trump's original travel ban and succeeded in temporarily blocking the ban on Feb. 3 when James Robart of Federal District Court for the Western District of Washington handed down his decision.
"It's our view that temporary restraining order that we've already obtained remains in effect."
New Yorkers protested Trump's travel ban in February. Andres Kudacki/AP
Hawaii has filed its own lawsuit against Trump's new ban, which a federal judge is slated to hear just hours before it will go into effect.
According to CNN, Hawaii Attorney General Douglas Chin's suit alleges two sections of Trump's order are in violation of constitutional and federal laws, which forbid discrimination based on nationality.
"The executive order means that thousands of individuals across the United States and in Hawaii who have immediate family members living in the affected countries will now be unable to receive visits from those persons or to be reunited with them in the United States," Chin wrote in the filings.
Ferguson said there may still be other states ready to legally challenge Trump's revised ban, meaning Trump's all-caps promise to "See you in court" may come true in ways he never expected. | {
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Quesito 13). Hai un’ora per scrivere un algoritmo in C++ con input e output standard e tutte le prove del caso. | {
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On Tuesday, anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks dumped a cache of files claiming to expose a war chest of tools the CIA used to hack devices running operating systems (OS) like iOS, Android, and Windows.
The CIA allegedly exploited “zero-day” flaws — vulnerabilities in software that are unknown to the vendor — to gain access to a multitude of functions on phones, connected TVs, and routers. WikiLeaks has shared these vulnerabilities online, meaning that the tools are available to any user globally. The CIA has yet to confirm the accuracy of the documents.
The zero-day exploits can supposedly be used to break into devices' operating systems, making the devices vulnerable to direct hacks. While the documents indicate there’s no way for hackers to penetrate end-to-end encryption — one of the most secure and popular methods of securing digital data while it’s in transit — hackers can access the text or audio messages on a user’s phone before encryption is applied. End-to-end encryption is particularly popular with messaging platforms, including Apple’s iOS, Signal, WhatsApp, and Telegram.
WikiLeaks’ findings could negatively impact the way mobile and connected devices are used. Data privacy is a major concern for both consumers and businesses, and the exposure of such robust vulnerabilities serve as a stark reminder that digital security is never ensured.
Tasks that require sensitive information on mobile devices today could take a downturn. The threat of third parties having access to a growing volume of sensitive data stored on smartphones could make consumers and businesses more reluctant to use these devices for everyday tasks such as mobile purchases, B2B communication, or talking to family and friends.
The threat of third parties having access to a growing volume of sensitive data stored on smartphones could make consumers and businesses more reluctant to use these devices for everyday tasks such as mobile purchases, B2B communication, or talking to family and friends. The introduction of new mobile tasks that rely on even more sensitive information could see diminished traction. Digital health and connected homes both necessitate connecting previously analogue parts of a consumer’s life to digital formats. If mobile and connected environments aren’t reliably secure, consumers may shy away from using them.
Digital health and connected homes both necessitate connecting previously analogue parts of a consumer’s life to digital formats. If mobile and connected environments aren’t reliably secure, consumers may shy away from using them. Connected speakers and voice assistants may not be as readily welcomed into homes. One segment of the WikiLeaks dump stated that the CIA was able to trigger the listening mode in connected TVs, speakers, and smartphones, enabling it to eavesdrop on conversations.
Companies will respond by patching the vulnerabilities that were brought to light. For its part, Apple argues that many of the CIA vulnerabilities aren’t effective on its devices. The company states that it's patched most of the holes already and is working on fixing new vulnerabilities, according to TechCrunch. The security of iPhones is of particular importance to Apple CEO Tim Cook. Apple spent a large portion of 2016 combatting efforts by the FBI to gain access into an iPhone involved in the San Bernardino shooting. Meanwhile, Android's heavily fragmented ecosystem will likely make it much more difficult to roll out patches for any existing vulnerabilities.
It's no surprise that companies are more worried than ever about the looming threat of hackers penetrating their networks. In the last year, the number of records exposed in data breaches rose 97%, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center.
The frequency and sophistication of cyber attacks are at an all-time high, and the costs associated with data breaches continue to rise. While companies are investing more in cybersecurity to ward off attacks, they know they won’t be able to spend their way to absolute security. A cybersecurity team of more than 1,000 staffers with a budget of $250 million wasn’t enough to save JPMorgan Chase from getting hacked in 2014. As a result, companies are turning to cyber insurance to help mitigate the costs of a potential breach.
However, insurers have been slow to extend cyber insurance to many businesses, as they have yet to develop proven tools to help them assess the risks and costs associated with cyber attacks. Cyber insurance policies also often have high premiums and low coverage limits to help protect insurers from incurring too much exposure to a cyber attack.
BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on cyber insurance that examines the growth of this market and identifies the key factors driving that growth. It also identifies the commercial sectors that are underserved in the cyber insurance market, which present a unique opportunity to insurers. Finally, it explains how insurers can find creative ways to cover these underserved markets while still limiting their overall exposure.
Here are some key takeaways from the report:
Cyber insurance plans cover a variety of costs related to cyber attacks, including revenue lost from downtime, notifying customers impacted by a data breach, and providing identity theft protection for such customers.
Annual cyber insurance premiums will more than double over the next four years, growing from to ~$8 billion in 2020.
However, many insurance companies have been hesitant to offer cyber insurance because of the high frequency of cyber attacks and their steep costs. For example, Target’s notorious data breach cost the company more than $260 million.
Insurers also don’t have enough historical data about cyber attacks to help them fully understand their risks and exposures.
There are large underserved markets with very low cyber insurance adoption rates such as the manufacturing sector, where less than 5% of businesses have cyber insurance coverage.
In full, the report:
Projects the growing demand and premiums for cyber insurance in comparison to other common forms of commercial insurance.
Illustrates how cyber attacks are growing more sophisticated and more costly, which is driving more companies to consider cyber insurance.
Explains the obstacles that insurers face in extending cyber insurance coverage to different types of businesses.
Provides insights on how insurers can overcome these challenges to grow their cyber insurance business without incurring too much risk.
To get your copy of this invaluable guide to cyber insurance, choose one of these options:
Purchase an ALL-ACCESS Membership that entitles you to immediate access to not only this report, but also dozens of other research reports, subscriptions to all 5 of the BI Intelligence daily newsletters, and much more. >> START A MEMBERSHIP Purchase the report and download it immediately from our research store. >> BUY THE REPORT
The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of cybersecurity. | {
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Dr Erica McAlister, of London's Natural History Museum, talks to Jim Al-Khalili about the beauty of flies and the 2.5 million specimens for which she is jointly responsible.
Dr Erica McAlister, of London's Natural History Museum, talks to Jim Al-Khalili about the beautiful world of flies and the 2.5 million specimens for which she is jointly responsible.
According to Erica, a world without flies would be full of faeces and dead bodies. Unlike, for example, butterflies and moths, whose caterpillars spend their time devouring our crops and plants, fly larvae tend to help rid the world of waste materials and then, as adults, perform essential work as pollinators. Yet they are rather unloved by humans who tend to regard them as pests at best and disease vectors at worst.
2019 is international Year of the Fly, and dipterists and entomologists around the world are working to raise the profile of the many thousands of species so far known to science.
Erica tells Jim about her work in the museum, cataloguing and identifying new species either sent in from other researchers or discovered by her and her colleagues on swashbuckling trips around the world. Modern gene sequencing techniques are revealing new chapters in the life histories of species, and her collection of 300 year old dead flies continues to expand our knowledge of how the world works.
Perhaps in the future, she argues, we will all be eating pasta and bread made from fly-larvae protein, or using small tea-bag like packets of maggots in our wounds to clean out gangrenous infection.
Producer: Alex Mansfield | {
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*The following is the complete manuscript of my paper I presented last Thursday at the annual Evangelical Theological Society’s annual meeting. I was one of four participants who presented on “Just War in an Age of Terrorism.” Two of the panelists were Just War theorists, and I was one of two “pacifists,” though as you’ll see, I don’t prefer this term.
I want to begin my brief talk by acknowledging the complexity of this topic. Pulling together and synthesizing the diverse Scriptural witness concerning violence and nonviolence, and then applying it to our 21st century age of terrorism, is not an easy feat.
Now, having spent several years reflecting on the strongest arguments on all sides of this multifaceted debate, I have cautiously concluded that absolute nonviolence is the most faithful expression of a Christocentric worldview. But I hold onto this conclusion with an open hand, always eager to be corrected where I am wrong, which is why I’m grateful to participate in this discussion this afternoon.
Before I argue for my position, I want to first acknowledge that there are dozens of different brands of “pacifism,” most of which I disagree with. In fact, I don’t like the term “pacifism” and I rarely use it to describe my position, largely because the term is so often misunderstood. When most people hear the term “pacifism,” they think of “passiveness;” they imagine people standing around with their fingers interlocked behind their backs as they self-righteously watch evil run rampant. This may depict a brand of pacifism, but it is not the brand that I endorse.
I also find non-Christocentric versions of pacifism, or nonviolence, to be ethically and theologically anemic. If Jesus does not walk out of a grave and sit at the right hand of the Father, then we have no business loving our enemies. Unless Christ defeats evil by submitting to violence—by dying rather then killing—and rises from the dead to tell the tale, I will most certainly destroy my enemy before he destroys me. Without the death and resurrection of Jesus, all forms of nonviolence, I believe, are uncompelling.
To be clear, I believe in Christian—or more explicitly, Christocentric—nonviolence. Christocentric nonviolence says that we should fight against evil, we should wage war against injustice, and we should defend the orphan, the widow, the marginalized, and oppressed. And we should do so aggressively. But we should do so nonviolently.
In other words, Christocentric nonviolence does not dispute whether Christians should fight against evil. It only disputes the means by which we do fight.
Now, rather than asking the questions: Are some wars just or should a nation wage war as a last resort, I want to ask and answer the question: should Christ-followers use violence as a means of confronting evil or defending the innocent.
My answer—as expected—is no. Or more specifically: there is little to no biblical evidence that Christians should use violence to confront evil.
To articulate my view, I want to give 4 brief theses and then address 4 common challenges to my position.
4 Theses
1. Jesus never acted violently to fight injustice or defend the innocent.
Jesus endured unjust accusations and physical attacks, and yet he never responded in kind. He was spit upon, punched, slapped (Matt 26:67), and had his head pounded with a stick (Matt 27:30), yet he never used violence to defend himself or attack his perpetrator. Jesus therefore models his own command to not “resist evil…but turn the other cheek.” When the Pharisees were about to use violence on the woman caught in adultery, instead of violently protecting her, Jesus jumps in front of the firing squad.
He ends up being tortured and crucified unjustly for treason, yet he offers only forgiveness and love toward his enemy, again practicing what he preached. Jesus’s life is peppered with violent attacks, yet He never responds with violence. He embraces suffering, not because he is weak, but because suffering contains more power in defeating evil than using violence, and suffering is the pathway to resurrection glory (Rom 8). In doing so, Jesus shattered all Jewish expectations of how a Messiah should act. It’s not that Jesus just happened to act nonviolently. Rather, he directly and intentionally demilitarized the meaning of messiah and kingdom.
2. Jesus taught his followers to follow the same rhythm of nonviolence and enemy-love
“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also” (Luke 6:27-29). Whenever violence is mentioned, it’s always shunned. There’s no evidence that only some of our enemies are to be loved, or that we should love our nonviolent enemies, but kill the ones who are trying to harm us or our nation. Jesus’s countercultural commands are unqualified and absolute. And whenever the apostles try to confront evil with violence, they are rebuked (Luke 9; 22).
Now, some will say that Jesus’s nonviolent journey to the cross was necessary for Jesus to atone for our sins. He had to suffer; he had to die. His nonviolence was theologically necessary not practically mandatory.
But the Bible says that it was both.
3. Jesus’s nonviolent journey to the cross was both theological and ethical
Yes, Jesus had to die, so he chose not to resist his death. But NT writers view his nonviolent journey to the cross as a pattern for believers to follow. 1 Peter 2, Romans 12, Philippians 2, and other passages draw upon Jesus’s nonviolent journey to the cross as a model for believers to follow.
When NT writers themselves ask the question WWJD, their most consistent and pervasive response is: don’t fight evil with evil, endure suffering, don’t retaliate, love your enemies—because that’s what Jesus did. Jesus fought against evil through suffering.
The book of Revelation expounds this theology of suffering through its use of the key word and theme nikao (“conquer”). The word nikao conjures up warfare imagery from its typical usage in the Greco-Roman period. John also uses the verb nikao to describe how Jesus has “conquered” the beast and his empire. But unlike the Roman rulers, Jesus conquers not with swords and spears but with a cross. The Lamb conquers by being conquered, by suffering and dying (Rev 5). And the followers of the Lamb conquer evil by the same means: “they have conquered him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for/because they loved not their lives even unto death” (Rev 12:11).
In Jesus’s upside down kingdom, there is more divine power infused in the suffering and death of Christians than in 10,000 pounds of C4. (One of the problems with fighting evil with violence and killing is not that it’s too powerful but that it’s too weak. America could nuke ISIS and Al Qaeda to hell, and Satan would walk away untouched. You can’t fight a non-flesh and blood enemy with flesh and blood weapons. It’s like squirting a raging fire with a squirt gun. In any case, Jesus calls us to faithfulness before a worldly perceptive of effectiveness. But I digress.)
4. Even though injustice and evil were rampant in the first century, there’s no verse in the NT that commands or allows believers to use violence to confront evil or defend the innocent.
The New Testament was written in the face of violence and persecution. There were innocent people suffering. Evil was widespread. Most of their Jewish brothers and sisters had no problem using violence against evil. All the ingredients are there for Christians to use violence to confront evil or defend the innocent. But they don’t. There’s nothing in the NT that suggests that violence is an option—even a last option—for believers to use to fight against evil. And given the previous 3 theses, there are many reasons to believe that the opposite is true; that nonviolence is actually a more powerful means of defeating evil.
But, we should probably hurry on to those passages you’re thinking of that appear to contradict this claim.
The “What about…” passages.
Again, as we turn to these “what about” passages, we are asking the question: Do these passages challenge or disprove the claim that Christ-followers should not use violence as a means of confronting evil or defending the innocent?
1. Romans 13: The Sword of Rome
Romans 13:4 says that Rome “is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” (13:4).
I’ll make two observations, which show that Rom 13 does not challenge my central claim.
First, Paul’s statement reflects a widespread Old Testament notion that God works through secular nations to carry out His will.
For instance, the Old Testament calls many political figures “God’s servant,” such as Cyrus king of Persia (Isa. 44—45), Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon (Jer. 27:6; 43:10), and the ruthlessly wicked nation of Assyria (Isa. 10:5), which God calls the “club of my wrath” and the “rod of my anger.”
Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar were pagan dictators. The phrase “God’s servant,” therefore, does not sanctify Roman policy, but celebrates God’s ability to use Rome as an instrument in His hands.
Just because God uses secular—and sometimes quite evil—institutions to carry out His will, does not mean that God approves of everything they do.
Much of what they do—whether it be Assyria’s sadistic practice of skinning civilians alive, or Rome’s crucifixion of thousands of people in the first century—does not reflect the law of Christ. But God can still use such godlessness, because God channels evil to carry out His will. This doesn’t mean that He approves of the evil itself.
Revelation 17-18 serves as a healthy compliment to Romans 13. In Rev 17-18, God destroys his so-called “servant” for the evil they have committed.
In fact, in Scripture, most nations and people who once served as ministers of God’s wrath become the objects of God’s wrath themselves precisely for their violence when they were the “rod” of his anger.
Second, Romans 13:4 must be read in light of (indeed, after) Romans 12:19. Compare these two statements, which are only a few verses apart:
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Rom. 12:19, emphasis added) For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out the wrath of God on the wrongdoer. (Rom. 13:4, emphasis added)
Romans 13:4 is an extension of Romans 12:19. When Paul says that God executes vengeance through Rome, it is to further prohibit Christians from doing so. There’s nothing in, under, or even near Romans 13 that sanctions Christians to use violence.
2. John 2: The Tempe Cleansing
If you look at the story in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, nothing suggests that Jesus acted violently in driving them out. The gospel of John, however, seems to suggest that Jesus used violence when he tossed out the money-changers:
In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. (John 2:14-15)
I’ve used the ESV translation here, but it’s not quite accurate. It says that Jesus makes “a whip of cords” to “drive them all out of the temple” and then it says “with the sheep and the oxen.” The ESV implies that Jesus used the whip to drive out the people along with the animals. The only problem is that the word “with” is not in the Greek. This may seem insignificant, but a literal translation reads:
“And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, the sheep and oxen.”
The phrase “them all” refers to the “sheep and oxen.” Jesus drove out the animals with the whip, not the people. I guess Jesus could have lacerated a few money-changers along the way, but the text doesn’t say this. None of the Gospels say that Jesus acted with violence against people in the temple cleansing.
3. Luke 22: Go Buy a Sword
And he said to them, “When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.” He said to them, “But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one. For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me has its fulfillment.” And they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” And he said to them, “It is enough.” (Luke 22:35-38)
So, Jesus tells them to go buy a sword, and lo and behold, two of them (probably Peter and Simon the Zealot) had swords already. “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” Jesus ends the discussion with a curious phrase: “It is enough.” Which raises the question: enough for what?
I’ve heard some people say this passage proves that Jesus advocated for violence in self-defense. This has always struck me as odd, since two swords for 11 disciples are not enough for self-defense, especially if they go out two by two as they did before. Plus, nowhere else does Jesus allow for violence in self-defense. Is Jesus now adding some footnotes to his Sermon on the Mount?
Just to see if I was the only one that had problems with the self-defense view, I looked at 10 of the most respected commentators on Luke—many of whom definitely aren’t pacifists—to see if I was all alone. I wasn’t. Of the 10, I found only 1 that took the self-defense view. And he didn’t give any scriptural support for this view.
There is little—if any—support from the text that Jesus all of the sudden advocates for violence in self-defense.
If self-defense isn’t the point, then what does Jesus mean when he tells his disciples to buy a sword? Most scholars offer one of two interpretations. Some think that Jesus is speaking symbolically here. New Testament scholar I. Howard Marshall says that the command to buy a sword is “a call to be ready for hardship and self-sacrifice.” Darrell Bock says that the command to buy a sword symbolically “points to readiness and self-sufficiency, not revenge.” Catholic scholar Joseph Fitzmyer writes, “The introduction of the ‘sword’ signals” that “the Period of the Church will be marked with persecution,” which of course we see throughout the book of Acts. And the popular Reformed commentator, William Hendrickson, puts it bluntly: “The term sword must be interpreted figuratively.”
So when Jesus tells them to buy a sword, he was speaking figuratively about imminent persecution. According to this interpretation, when the disciples eagerly reveal that they already have two swords, they misunderstand Jesus’ figurative language (this wasn’t the first time). When Jesus sees that his disciples misunderstand him, he ends the dialogue with, “It is enough,” which means something like “enough of this conversation.”
This interpretation makes good sense in light of the context. But there’s another interpretation that I think does slightly more justice to the passage.
Notice that right after Jesus says “buy a sword,” he quotes Isaiah 53:12, which predicts that Jesus would be “numbered with the transgressors” (Luke 22:37). Then, the disciples reveal that they already have two swords, to which Jesus says “it is enough.” Now, Rome only crucified those who were a potential threat to the empire. For Jesus to be crucified, Rome would have to convict him as a potential revolutionary. And this is the point of the swords. With swords in their possession, Jesus and His disciples would be viewed as potential revolutionaries and Jesus would therefore fulfill Isaiah 53 to be numbered with other (revolutionary) transgressors. If Rome didn’t have any legal grounds to incriminate Jesus, there would have been no crucifixion.
This interpretation makes good sense of the quote from Isaiah 53 and the flow of Jesus’ ethical teaching. Up until Luke 22, Jesus has prohibited his followers from using violence, even in self-defense. Is Jesus now changing his mind by telling his followers to use the sword in self-defense? It seems better to take his command to buy a sword as we have suggested: Jesus is providing Rome with evidence to put Him on the cross.
So we could view Jesus’ command as a figurative expression about their coming suffering or as a way of ensuring His own crucifixion. Either way, it’s highly unlikely that Jesus encourages violent self-defense here. In fact, just a few verses later, Peter wields one of the two swords and Jesus rebukes him: “No more of this!” (22:51). Peter, along with some interpreters, misunderstood Jesus’ previous command to buy a sword.
Whatever Jesus meant by his command to buy a sword, it doesn’t seem that he intended it to be used for violence.
4. Revelation 19: Violent Jesus?
Some people say that while Jesus was nonviolent in his first coming, he’s going to be violent in his second coming. And therefore—so goes the argument—Jesus’s violent second coming disproves the nonviolent position.
This is probably the weakest pushback against Christocentric nonviolence for one main reason: The Bible clearly uses Jesus’s first coming (suffering and death) as an example for believers to follow, but never draws on images of his second coming as an example for believers to follow. Even if Jesus does act violently to punish evil in the end, this only strengthens my view. After all, Paul says “never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Rom. 12:19, emphasis added).
Jesus’s violent punishment of evil in the end is exactly what we are not to imitate. We are not to imitate God’s wrath and vengeance on evil.
So, I’m perfectly confortable with God’s vengeful, even violent, punishment of evil. I still have questions, though, about Revelation 19, which says that Jesus is pulling swords from his mouth. Now, either Jesus is running a carnival and if we wait long enough he’ll even pull a rabbit from his hat, or the sword being drawn from his mouth is figurative. Indeed, whenever we see a “sword from the mouth” in Revelation, it refers to a word of judgment, not a literal sword. That is, Jesus will defeat his enemies in the end by issuing an authoritative declaration that he has conquered them through the cross.
Conclusion
In a first-century world swimming in violence, in a land where “messiah” meant militancy, Jesus never acted violently. Whenever violence is addressed, Jesus condemns it. Whenever his followers try to act violently, they were confronted. Whenever Jesus encountered people who deserved a violent punishment, Jesus loved them. And in doing so, he left his followers with a non-violent example to follow.
When people around the globe think that American Christians are pro-war, enamored with violence, and fascinated with military might, something is terribly wrong. No one in the first century would have made the same conclusion regarding Jesus and his followers. | {
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Nelson Mandela’s hands were immortalized by how he changed the course of history, so maybe it’s destiny that solid gold casts of his hands will go to a bitcoin buyer. Ontario-based cryptocurrency exchange The Board of Arbitrade is buying what’s believed to be the last remaining set of gold artifacts comprised of Mr. Mandela’s hands for $10 million in bitcoin.
The set, which weighs 20 pounds of 99.999 pure gold, is comprised of a trio of “life-size impressions” of Mr. Mandela’s hands and a pair with his palm and fist. Malcolm Duncan, a Canadian entrepreneur who knew Mandela, is the seller and reportedly paid 3.6 million South African Rand for the set to Harmony Gold Mining, which cast the items in 2002. Duncan couldn’t turn them over until striking a deal with the cryptocurrency exchange, he seems a little skittish about transacting in cryptocurrencies.
The gold artifacts are a treasure for many reasons, not the least of which is because they are one of a series of 27 sets — each one of which reflecting a year that Mr. Mandela was imprisoned. Duncan owned every set of the golden hands for each year between 1964 and 1990, from when Mandela entered the prison cell block to when he was eventually freed before becoming South Africa’s first black president. The other gold pieces are said to no longer exist, at the behest of Mr. Mandela.
Golden Hands of Nelson Mandela Tour
To understand why the exchange would want the golden hands, it helps to know a little more about the trading platform. They are developing a cryptocurrency mining operation for their own coin as well as support trading of other cryptocurrencies. Their Dignity (DIG) coin will be backed by gold.
The golden hands are not yet paid in full, as the exchange has provided a $50,000 deposit in bitcoin that has since been converted to fiat money, according to reports. The buyer and seller agreed to a schedule in which the exchange will make quarterly payments of $2 million per piece in the set. But the exchange doesn’t get the physical items until physical money converted from bitcoin is deposited into the seller’s account.
“At two-and-a-quarter million at a time, they take one hand at a time,” according to Duncan quoted in Bloomberg.
The timing of The Board of Arbitrage’s acquisition is serendipitous, as the former owner agreed to part with the gold-cast hands just weeks ahead of the exchange’s upcoming ICO. They are milking the opportunity, launching a Golden Hands of Nelson Mandela Tour in which they plan to teach millennials about the abolition of apartheid that Mr. Mandela led in conjunction with their vision for the exchange.
Nelson Mandela died in 2013. We can only wonder how he would have felt about decentralization, but then again, maybe he already told us.
Featured image from Shutterstock. | {
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At 81, Disney's First African-American Animator Is Still In The Studio
Enlarge this image toggle caption Michael Flore Films/Falco Ink. Michael Flore Films/Falco Ink.
If you've seen Sleeping Beauty, The Jungle Book or the Toy Story movies, you've seen the work of animator Floyd Norman; for decades, he has helped bring Disney and Pixar classics to life.
Now 81, Norman still works for Disney, where he has plied his trade, on and off, since he became the studio's first African-American animator in the 1950s.
Norman's love of art began long before his Disney job, as he reveals in a new documentary, An Animated Life. "Any empty surface was a blank canvas for me," he says. His mother was constantly scrubbing scribbles off the walls. "I was drawing on everything," he recalls.
Norman grew up in Santa Barbara, Calif., a place that, he says, sheltered him from much of the racial tension and segregation of the time. He tells NPR's David Greene he experienced no racism — "none whatsoever."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Michael Flore Films/Falco Ink. Michael Flore Films/Falco Ink.
"We lived in a Pacific paradise," he says. "I didn't know it at the time, but my experience as a child was probably a good deal different from many, many people. We had access to everything — good schools, concert, theater."
Thanks to that upbringing, it never occurred to Norman that he couldn't apply for a job as a Disney animator.
"I think the thought just never occurred to a lot of young black talent to apply for a job in the film industry," he says. "And it wasn't just Walt Disney. I'm sure the same thing happened at other film studios as well. There was a perception that opportunities were not available for people of color."
So he applied, and in the mid-1950s he became Disney's first black animator. Many saw that as a big deal — but not Norman.
"There were about half dozen of us came to work at Disney that same week," he says. "We came from different parts of the country. We were all from different backgrounds. ... We were Asian, we were Latino, we were black, we were white. Nobody thought about that because that was not the issue at hand. Nobody thought of themselves as being a trailblazer for their race or their group. We were just a bunch of young kids looking for a job."
Still, many have accused Walt Disney and his studio of making racist films, often lampooning minority groups, including African-Americans. Norman downplays that view.
"There just wasn't the same sensitivity there as we have today," he says. "A lot of this happened, it's unfortunate, but that was just the times in which we lived. I don't think we should go back and try to erase the past. This was part of our history, this is part of what happened, and so we should be able to deal with that."
Norman also worked on the animated series Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, which aired in the 1970s and '80s. It was based around Bill Cosby's memories of growing up in Philadelphia and featured a cast of African-American characters.
"Keep in mind that Bill Cosby, who created Fat Albert, was simply reflecting on his childhood ..." Norman says. "It was just making fun of ourselves and there's nothing wrong with that ... I think when others do it, it might be viewed as insensitive, but I see nothing wrong with poking fun at yourself, and as a cartoonist that's what I do every day.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Michael Flore Films/Falco Ink. Michael Flore Films/Falco Ink.
When Norman turned 65, he says Disney tried to force him to retire, but he wouldn't have it. "I wanted to continue to work," he says. "You see, creative people don't hang it up. We don't walk away, we don't want to sit in a lawn chair, we don't want to go out and play golf, we don't want to travel the world. We want to continue to work."
And so he did — given the opportunity to contribute as a freelancer, Norman found his way back into the studio. Most freelancers work at home and only come into the office once the job is complete, but not Norman.
"I decided I didn't want to work at home," he says. "I missed the camaraderie of the big studio. I missed talking to people. I miss being around the action. And so ... I found an empty office and I moved in. I was probably in violation of some rule or law or whatever, but there I was."
He continued to work in the office, and his colleagues affectionately coined the term "Floydering" — it rhymes with loitering — in his honor.
Norman — who has met and worked with Tom Hanks — has been compared to Hanks' famous character, Forrest Gump. Norman says it's not so far off:
"Forrest was the guy who just sort of showed up everywhere," he says. "So a lot of people have looked at me when it came to the animation business where I was the guy ... just popping up all over the place. That's because I love this business, and I never wanted to be apart from it." | {
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Sex on the beach: It's a delicious beverage, and also a crime. A Florida man convicted of having it (sex, not the drink), is expected to get 15 years in prison, while his girlfriend will serve jail time. Both must register as sex offenders.
The man, Jose Caballero, faces a harsher sentence because he is a repeat offender subject to mandatory minimum sentencing: he was previously convicted of trafficking cocaine and spent eight years in prison. His next stay in prison will likely be twice as long, however, for the comparatively less serious crime of getting intimate with his girlfriend on a public beach in Bradenton, Florida.
According to The Miami Herald, the couple were noticed by a 3-year-old girl. Exactly what the girl saw is unclear; it's not even obvious that the two were actually having sex, according to video footage of the encounter:
Family members who witnessed the act and a Bradenton Beach police officer, as well as Caballero, testified in the case. The defense argued that the two weren't actually having sex, but that Alvarez had been dancing on Caballero or "nudging" him to wake him up. "She wasn't dancing," [Assistant State Attorney Anthony] Dafonseca said during closing arguments. "It's insulting your intelligence to say that she was dancing." [Defense attorney Ronald] Kurpiers said since the witnesses had not seen genitals or penetration, and neither was visible in the video, either, that saying the two had sex was speculation. "You folks cannot speculate," Kurpiers told the jury. "And in order to say they had intercourse, you would have to speculate." Brodsky said they weren't calling it the crime of the century, but it was still a violation of Florida law. "Did they try to cuddle, or do it discreetly? Did they go in the water, where people couldn't see?" Brodsky asked the jury. "Did Ms. Alvarez try to drape a towel over herself, or anything? They didn't care."
Excessive PDA? Maybe. Felony carrying a 15-year sentence? No way in hell. They should have gotten off (pardon the pun) with a warning or a fine, but discretion is impossible when judges are bound to follow insanely harsh sentencing laws. | {
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Formula 1 is delighted to announce that the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix will continue to be held in Mexico City until at least the end of 2022.
The agreement between Formula 1, the Corporacion Interamericana de Entretenimiento (CIE), the promoter of the event, and the Government of Mexico City was formally signed today in a press conference held in the Antiguo Palacio del Ayuntamiento in Mexico City.
The agreement means the city will carry on staging a round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, which first hosted the race in 1963. There is an incredible enthusiasm for Formula 1 in Mexico demonstrated by the fact that over 1.3 million fans have attended the race since 2015, the global cumulative television audience from 2015 to 2018 was 380 million and there is an F1 fan base of 45 million across the country. The Grand Prix is one of the most spectacular of the year, loved by the drivers and the fans. This year, the race, which has seen the drivers’ title decided five times in the past, celebrates its 20th edition. From 2020 the official event title will change to Mexico City Grand Prix to emphasise the support given by the Government of Mexico City.
Mexico City is one of the most buzzing and vibrant cities in the world, and the renewal of the contract for a further three years represents a new opportunity to continue to position itself as a world class tourist destination, whilst continuing to support the development of the local economy. With the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez located just to the east of the city, with a metro station ready to whip you downtown at the end of each day’s racing action, the Mexican Grand Prix is a fantastic chance to mix sport, entertainment and culture.
Chase Carey, Chairman and CEO, Formula 1, said:
“We are pleased to have renewed our partnership with Mexico City, which will now host the Formula 1 Mexican Grand Prix until at least 2022. Ever since it returned to the championship calendar in 2015, this event has always proved to be amazingly popular with the public and fans, not just in Mexico, but also around the world. Proof of this is the fact that the race promoter has won the FIA award for the best event no fewer than four years in a row and, in those four years, over 1.3 million spectators have attended the Grand Prix. The Grand Prix has also been an important economic driver for the city, reinforcing its credentials as a centre for tourism. I would like to thank the Mayor, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo and the entire government of Mexico City for all their efforts in ensuring that Formula 1 continues in Mexico and I look forward to seeing another big crowd of fans at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez from 25 to 27 October for the Formula 1 Gran Premio de Mexico 2019.”
Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, Mayor of Mexico City, said:
“The presence of Formula 1 in the city for further three more years, was achieved for the first time through a new financing model in which public resources are not used. Previously the Federal Government collaborated with the payment for the event. The Mexico City government will be an intermediary, creating a trust that will raise the private investment required to deliver this international event. The price of the tickets will remain the same as in previous years.”
Alejandro Soberon, President and CEO of CIE, said:
“I want to deeply thank Dr. Claudia Sheinbaum and the Government of Mexico City for the vote of confidence they have entrusted in us. At CIE, we remain committed to promoting and operating the highest quality events in the world. Through this international platform, we have the opportunity to showcase the diverse cultural wealth of this fantastic city. We look forward to welcoming the thousands of tourists, both domestic and foreign to this award-winning event. In addition, I want to thank the Formula 1 fans both in Mexico and abroad - without a doubt, your energy and passion has made our Grand Prix a very unique and special experience.” | {
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Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
Is Jeff Glor headed out CBS’ door?
Page Six is told that just six months after Glor took over as the anchor of “CBS Evening News,” execs at the network are already thinking about replacing him.
Sources say that after Glor lost nearly 1.5 million viewers since his debut in December 2017, top brass told Glor and his producers that they need to turn things around quickly.
Insiders say that CBS News president David Rhodes even called a meeting on Tuesday night to address the situation.
“He unleashed on the team,” an insider told Page Six. “He said how disappointed and frustrated he is with how things have gone.”
We’re told some of the ire has been directed at new executive producer Mosheh Oinounou — who replaced veteran Steve Capus at the helm in January.
Many in the industry were surprised when relative unknown Glor got the storied gig — which has been held by marquee names such as Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather and Katie Couric — after Scott Pelley exited under bizarre circumstances.
With Pelley out, numbers spiked during Glor’s first week anchoring “CBS Evening News,” jumping from an average of 6.4 million viewers to an impressive 7.1 million. But the ratings have dropped alarmingly since. Numbers for the week of May 21 reveal the show drew 5.7 million viewers, down 9 percent from the same week in 2017, according to TVNewser.
A CBS News executive told us, “We’re building a new team and going in a new direction, and that may not sit well with everyone,” adding that Oinounou recently signed a multiyear deal.
Meanwhile, a CBS News spokesperson said: “CBS News couldn’t be more excited about the direction that Jeff and Mosheh are taking the ‘Evening News.’ The meeting as described never happened. What did happen was a discussion centered on editorial and production, not ratings, which is not unusual.” | {
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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday voiced skepticism about Jeffrey Epstein’s apparent suicide in his Manhattan prison cell, telling the Fox Business Channel that his death is “way too convenient.”
A partial transcript is as follows:
HOST DAVID ASMAN: Jeffrey Epstein’s death was extraordinarily strange. There are a lot of parts to this that most Americans want answers to. I know it was in a federal jail, it wasn’t controlled by the city itself, but the city is involved in a lot of these federal jails. What is your opinion on what happened, how it’s being investigated, etcetera?
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO: This is way too convenient. This makes no sense. He’s one of the prominent prisoners in America, at that point. He had either attempted suicide previously or been assaulted. Either way, it is the same reality. He needed to be watched 24 hours a day. It’s one of the premier federal facilities in the country. It belongs to the Justice Department. Come on. How on earth do they miss this.
HOST KRISTINA PARTSINEVELOS: What are you implying, then?
DE BLASIO: I have been saying this all week. I’m not a conspiracy theorist by nature.
PARTSINEVELOS: But you just said it’s too inconvenient. What does that mean?
DE BLASIO: It means sometimes there are a series of events you cannot give a normal explanation for and there needs to be a full investigation.
ASMAN: [Attornery General William Barr] has said there is going to be a full investigation. He looks pretty ticked off about it. Do you believe he will get to the botton of it? What more needs to be done.
DE BLASIO: I want believe, but I believe all Americans would be more comfortable if their would be an independent element to that investigation… I’m going to say it a little more simply from my point of view. The one thing I do not think is possible here is pure tradition human error, some guard fell asleep or someone didn’t cover their shift. That’s the one thing I would rule out given the prominence of the case and the nature of the situation, which means something else happened. I don’t know what that something else is. But it needs to be investigated. | {
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Pen Turning Tutorial
So here we are, getting ready to set out on the long “pen turning” road ahead. Depending on the tools you have at your disposal and how serious you are about turning a really high quality pen, the traditional slimline pen kit (typically $3.00-$5.00 whether you buy it from Woodcraft, Wood Turners Catalog, or Penn State Industries) will probably take anywhere from 45 minutes to three hours of hands-on labor to turn.
This tutorial has five sections which will walk you through every fine detail using text and highly detailed pictures. The sections are:
What You’ll Get Out of this Pen Turning Tutorial
If you’re putting on a CA finish like I will be toward the end of this walk-through, there will be an extra few hours where the pen sits on the lathe while the finish cures. Any way around it, you’ll be taking a raw set of parts and a chunk of wood like the ones above and turning them into a beautiful, handmade wood pen like this:
In this tutorial I’m going to give you step-by-step instructions to turn a pen about as flawlessly as one can be turned. There are A LOT of things that can go wrong when trying to carve one of these little guys out, but when I was making this pen my wife helped me by taking over 400 pictures to make sure every step was documented as clearly as possible for you. About half of those were duplicates just in case there was something wrong with the first snapshot, so this tutorial will have around 150-200 pictures total.
Not All of These Steps Are Necessary for Turning a Pen
As we go through, I’ll do my best to point out the steps that some might consider “excessive” so that you can take them out if you’d like. I’ll also do my best to explain the reason for each of those steps, and the possible consequences of skipping them if you choose to cut them out.
So here we are. You’re on this page to learn one of two things: 1) How to turn a pen or 2) How to turn better pens. I’ve put a little over 80 hours of labor into this tutorial to help you do exactly that. I’m sure I’m nowhere near the best pen turner in the world, so if you have advice as you go through please feel free to comment on the page so I can improve.
And if you find anything in this tutorial helpful, I’d love it if you left a comment to let me know that all of this work was worth something. And if you REALLY enjoy it, I’d be eternally grateful if you share it with fellow pen turners or friends/family.
Proceed to Step 1: Preparing Your Pen Blanks for the Lathe >>> | {
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Imagine a city where cars roam free, dropping off their relaxed occupants and then sliding back into a sea of slow-moving but non-stop traffic. Cyclists weave through, unmolested, and pedestrian crossings flip to the green Walk sign often, almost magically syncing up with gaps in traffic.
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The promise is seductive. You’ll never get hit by a drunk driver, a texting teen, or just someone distracted by their bad day. You’ll never have to circle the block looking for a parking space. Sidewalks will double in size because on-street parking is no longer needed outside of residential areas. Sean Pavone via Shutterstock A driverless future seems more and more likely. It’s not just the success of Google’s self-driving cars, or the promise of huge environmental benefits. Today, our cars all but drive themselves already. Cruise control and anti-lock brakes have been joined by lane-detection, and some cars will put a computerized foot brakes if the car in front suddenly slows. “Look at adaptive cruise control, lane departure warnings,” says Christian A. Strømmen, an interaction designer from Norway. “Once you get used to it, it feels so awkward driving without.” That is, every aspect of the cars we drive “ourselves” is already automated: steering, speed, braking. Famously, Google’s self-driving cars have clocked up 1.7 million miles over six years, all without major incident. “In more than a million miles of real-world testing, autonomous vehicles have been involved in around a dozen crashes (with no major injuries),” says John Nielsen, AAA’s Managing Director of Automotive Engineering and Repair, “all of which occurred when a human driver was in control, or the vehicle was struck by another car.” Self-driving cars are already way better than people-piloted cars, so what’s the trouble?
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“Current laws never envisioned a vehicle that can drive itself, and there are numerous liability issues that need to be ironed out,” Nielsen says. “If an autonomous vehicle gets in a collision, who is responsible? The “driver,” their insurance company, the automaker that built the vehicle, or the third-party supplier that provided the autonomous control systems?” How will the laws adapt? And how will we adapt? People are hesitant to embrace change, but the change that driverless cars will bring to our cities and lifestyles is enormous. What will it take to get there? Stuart Monk via Shutterstock You Are A Bad Driver Human-driven cars are one of the most dangerous things in the world today, but despite that fact we’re still–irrationally–scared of careening through the streets with a computer at the wheel. This is false perception. Self-driving cars are overwhelmingly better drivers that humans. A robocar “doesn’t get distracted or tired, misjudge traffic conditions, talk or text on a cell phone, or suffer road rage,” says Nielsen. And all those potential distractions are more dangerous than you probably think: In 2013 alone, there were nearly 6 million vehicle crashes in the U.S. that resulted in 32,719 deaths, more than 2 million injuries and 200,000 hospitalizations. All those deaths make vehicle collisions the leading cause of death for Americans under 34. These are deaths we could stop. According to the AAA, government and safety experts say an estimated 80% of crashes could be avoided by self-driving cars. And this is on current roads, which are shared with regular cars. An all-self-driven city would fare even better. But people remain hesitant:
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“The one death caused by a malfunction will weigh heavier in people’s minds than the 100,000 deaths automation stops,” says Strømmen, neatly summing up the problems of public perception, the other barrier to fully driverless cities. But when 1,500 drivers in Boston were asked if they would buy a fully autonomous car in the future, only 44% said yes. Songquan Deng via Shutterstock The Future City Is Really Nice Self-driving cars have benefits beyond safety. If all we did was switch out human drivers for computers, we’d miss many of the later steps. A look at a hypothetical future city where all cars are self-driven is more than just free of preventable car-related deaths. The first thing you’d notice is the space. Today, cars spend 95% of their time parked, doing nothing. If those cars were employees, you’d fire them. But self-driving cars can be put to work. At the very least, they could park themselves in underground or multi-story lots away from busy downtown, where space is scarce. But why stop there? Your car could spend its day working as hard as you, operating as an Uber-style taxi, or a delivery vehicle. This all leads to fewer parked cars, which in turn means more space for bike lanes and larger sidewalks. Instead of parked cars lining every downtown street, we might see park benches or street vendors, making the whole space much more livable for humans. Now take a deep breath. The air will be cleaner. One recent study claims a 94 percent reduction in emissions if all taxis were self-driving and electric. Multiply that by all the cars on the road and city air could be as fresh as country air, and probably better-smelling. The Driving Park Banning drivers ignores one big aspect of car use: driving for pleasure. Stephan Legrand, runs Exotics Racing, a race track in Las Vegas where anyone can take a Ferrari, Aston Martin, or other supercar for a spin. His service is useful and fun today, but may be essential to car enthusiasts in a driverless future.
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“One might own a 600 hp exotic car,” says Legrand “but in city traffic, one can’t use that power to its full potential.” “For me, driving is my meditation,” says IT consultant Samer Farha, “It’s just me, my music, and the road. I only have to think about the road.” Legrand disagrees. “Driving in a city can’t be relaxing,” he says. “It’s only nerve racking, as drivers must avoid wary pedestrians, cyclists, animals, and other obstacles.” I asked Legrand if he might consider building replica city blocks for people like Farha to tootle around, but he didn’t think it would prove popular. Flickr user Owen Byrne “It will become a status thing” Switching will come slowly, and not just because today’s manually-operated cars will be on the roads for another decade or two. Strømmen again: “My guess is that we’d stick with our own car, but probably use [a self-driving] car instead of a car number two.” That second car might be lent to the kids instead of letting your teens take out the family car, and eventually it may become the main family car, in much the same way our phones have replaced our cameras and iPods. There might be social pressure, too. In our hypothetical future, you’ll be accustomed to zipping from place to place with no traffic jams and few bad drivers. Then you see a human holdout, somebody insisting on driving their own car. It hurtles through the placid waves of robot-piloted transport, causing your own car to swerve. You look up from your newspaper, tutting and shaking your head. “Go back to 2015, you moron,” you think as loud as you can, before returning to your sudoku.
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Now imagine you are at dinner with friends, and somebody confesses that they’re driving themselves home. The reaction may be the same as a smoker or drink-driver might get today. Social pressure may be the biggest propellant of change in the world today. Sydney, Australia-based radio content director Charlie Fox says “I think if you drive your own car, you’ll be perceived [as] lower class. It will become a status thing.” We might not need our own cars at all. With so many vehicles buzzing around and offering rides while their owners are at work, you could forget about owning your own. We already dial up an Uber from a phone app, so the experience wouldn’t change, other than that you wouldn’t have to talk to a driver, and the drivers won’t be paid a pittance to work. In big European cities like Barcelona and Berlin, people already use the local equivalents of ZipCar and pay by the hour only when they need a car. Some cities, like Leipzig, have integrated municipal-transport systems which include car sharing. Leipzig’s TeilAuto can be used by anyone, but if you use it along with the city’s trams, buses, and bike-share scheme, you get cascading discounts. Flickr user Doc Searls Car Hacks A final barrier is data security. The AAA’s John Nielsen says that currently “One in five new cars sold have the ability to collect and transmit data outside the vehicle, in order to improve safety and convenience for drivers.” Think crowd-sourced traffic updates like Waze, or security systems like LoJack. “Future autonomous vehicles will likely generate even more data,” Nielsen told us. “Questions about who owns this data–and has the right to control its distribution and use–are not well addressed in current laws.”
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So we’re back to the legality of self-driving cars. If the problems faced by Tesla, whose attempts to sell cars direct to consumers have been blocked by dealer-friendly legislation in some states, are anything to go by, the law–and the entrenched interests that support the status quo–could be the biggest barrier to a safer, cleaner future. | {
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Although women over age 50 who become pregnant via egg donation are at an elevated risk for developing obstetrical complications, their complication rates are similar to those of younger recipients, according to a study by Columbia University Medical Center researchers to be published in the February 2012 issue of the American Journal of Perinatology. This is contrary to epidemiological data suggesting that these women are at greater risk of certain complications of pregnancy, including hypertension, gestational diabetes, premature birth, and placenta abnormalities.
In the largest single-center study of older women who became pregnant from egg donation, Mark V. Sauer, MD; Daniel H. Kort, MD; and colleagues studied 101 women age 50 and over. They compared their pregnancy results with those of egg-donation recipients age 42 and younger. The two groups were evaluated for significant differences in perinatal complications, gestational age at delivery, baby's birth weight, and mode of delivery. Although the women all received their fertility treatment at Columbia University Center for Reproductive Care, their prenatal care and delivery often took place elsewhere.
Both older and younger women had similar rates of gestational hypertension, diabetes, cesarean delivery, and premature birth. Two women in the older group experienced a serious adverse effect. A 56-year-old woman developed heavy vaginal bleeding at 29 weeks of pregnancy and had to deliver by emergency cesarean hysterectomy at 2 weeks later. She recovered with no further complications. A 49-year-old woman (who would have been age 50 at term) died following acute cardiac arrest in her first trimester. The researchers believe that her death was unrelated to her pregnancy and more likely attributable to her heavy smoking habit, which she had not disclosed to her doctors.
The study concluded that all women who use egg donation to become pregnant are at an elevated risk for obstetrical complications, particularly hypertensive disorders and cesarean section; but women over age 50 do not appear to face any greater risk than their younger counterparts.
"It is imperative that all older women undergo thorough medical screening before attempting pregnancy to ensure the best possible outcome," said Mark Sauer, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). "But, really, that should apply to younger women, as well."
"Although many social and ethical questions surround the use of assisted reproductive technology by this age group, the current study confirms the high success rate and relative safety of such pregnancies in well-cared-for women," said Daniel H. Kort, a postdoctoral fellow in obstetrics and gynecology.
The study's authors are Daniel H. Kort, MD (CUMC); Jennifer Gosselin, PhD (CUMC); Janet M. Choi, MD (CUMC); Melvin H. Thornton, MD; Jane Cleary-Goldman, MD (Mount Sinai Medical Center); and Mark V. Sauer, MD (CUMC). | {
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Major League Baseball has indefinitely suspended its Papa Slam promotion with Papa John’s pizza, Yahoo Sports has confirmed.
The pizza chain is under scrutiny after founder John Schnatter admitted to and apologized for using the N-word in a May training session, an event that became public Wednesday. In the aftermath, Schnatter announced his resignation as the company’s chairman late Wednesday night. He previously resigned his seat on the board of trustees at the University of Louisville.
Now Major League Baseball is distancing itself from Papa John’s. Their relationship began in 2016, when baseball started dubbing grand slams “Papa Slams.” Each one allowed baseball fans to get 40 percent off their order at Papa John’s the next day by using a Papa Slam online coupon code.
MLB’s web page for Papa Slams says that 20 have been hit in 2018, the last one being Dexter Fowler’s on Tuesday. However, Greg Bird of the New York Yankees hit a grand slam in the third inning of Wednesday’s game against the Baltimore Orioles and it was not celebrated as a Papa Slam by MLB.
Many MLB teams have their own promotions with Papa John’s outside of the league-wide Papa Slam promotion. For instance, Chicago White Sox fans get 50 percent off after a White Sox win with a special Papa John’s coupon code. Those types of deals are unaffected by MLB’s decision to suspend Papa Slams. Each team that has a deal with Papa John’s — whatever the discount may be — can decide whether to continue or suspend those deals.
MLB has suspended its Papa Slam promotion with Papa John’s. (AP)
The racist incident that spurred this was brought to light by Forbes, which reported on a May PR training session involving Schnatter. According to Forbes, Schnatter tried to downplay his past controversies by saying that Colonel Sanders — the founder of KFC — called black people the N-word.
In a statement issued Wednesday by Papa John’s, Schnatter said:
“News reports attributing the use of inappropriate and hurtful language to me during a media training session regarding race are true. Regardless of the context, I apologize. Simply stated, racism has no place in our society.”
Schnatter founded Papa John’s but stepped down as CEO last year after a different controversy. He blamed the company’s declining sales on protests in the NFL during the national anthem. While he stepped down as CEO, he’s still on the company’s board of directors.
– – – – – –
Mike Oz is a writer at Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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• Caught on camera: Pacman Jones attacked at Atlanta airport
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A man was punched to death while attempting to break up a brawl outside of a Bronx deli, police said Friday.
The 57-year-old intervened in a fight on the sidewalk in front of 5 East Mt. Eden Ave. in West Concourse at 1:20 a.m., police said.
Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea told reporters the attack began as a fight between two people inside the bodega.
“When they step out of the bodega, there is a third, uninvolved person that attempts to intercede and one of the two guys [partaking] in the fight turns and strikes with a punch,” Shea said. “He goes down, strikes his head on the sidewalk.”
The victim suffered severe head injuries after falling to the ground and was transported to Bronx-Lebanon Hospital where he died, cops added.
The identity of the victim is still pending family notification. | {
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In his 18th interview with FOX on Wednesday, President Trump attacked pretty much every other network as "so false," then essentially congratulated himself for having "really started this whole fake news thing."
"If you look at it from the day I started running to now, I'm so proud that I have been able to convince people how fake it is—because it has taken a nosedive," Trump told FOX Business Network's Lou Dobbs.
The president added that while it might seem like he loves Twitter, firing tweets off into the void is a real burden. Still, he sees it as his duty to deliver "the truth" to the American people.
"I would love to not do it at all," he told Dobbs, a sentiment that most Americans share. "But at least I can put out the truth. And I can put out the real word. And people agree."
Despite the fact that Trump might not think there's anything "more fake than CBS, and NBC, and ABC, and CNN," the fake news phenomenon really took off during the election thanks to people who make a living writing phony stories for bogus outlets that go viral on Facebook. But Trump often uses the term to attack unflattering stories that he believes "have so-called sources that, in my opinion, don't exist."
It's a tactic that has grabbed hold of the collective American psyche. Nearly half of American voters actually believe the media makes up phony stories about him. Meanwhile, the president has a track record of consuming and blowing up stories that are totally bogus—a habit that's also rubbed off on some of his closest colleagues.
But as he tells it, Trump is such a great arbiter of the truth that he shouldn't just be credited with starting "fake news"—even the word "fake" was pretty much his own invention.
"I think one of the greatest of all terms I've come up with is 'fake,'" he told Mike Huckabee in an interview earlier this month, according to the Hill. "I guess other people have used it, perhaps over the years, but I've never noticed it."
It's a claim Merriam Webster says is actually fake news.
Follow Drew Schwartz on Twitter. | {
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Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
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none of my friends have hot moms | {
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Brazil election: Bolsonaro hands out tough anti-crime message Published duration 7 October 2018 Related Topics Brazil general elections 2018
image copyright AFP image caption Pro-Bolsonaro supporters took part in rallies in Brasília and many other cities
The far-right candidate and frontrunner in Brazil's presidential election, Jair Bolsonaro, has vowed to tackle crime and reduce record high murder rates.
On the eve of Sunday's vote, he said his government would hand down the tough punishments offenders deserved.
According to the latest opinion polls, about 38% of the electorate will vote for Mr Bolsonaro.
He is in favour of relaxing gun ownership laws and has spoken of torture as a legitimate practice.
He also wants to restore the death penalty.
"We need to be really tough on crime to make criminals understand that they won't enjoy impunity," wrote Mr Bolsonaro on Twitter.
Nearly 150 million Brazilians are eligible to vote in the country's most polarised election for many years.
If no candidate gets more than 50% of the valid votes, there will be a second round in three weeks' time.
People will also cast ballots to elect all Brazil's state governors as well as two-thirds of the senators and all lawmakers in the chamber of deputies.
More 1,000 seats in state legislatures across the country are also being contested.
'Military dictatorship'
Mr Bolsonaro has missed the final part of the electoral campaign, after being stabbed at a campaign rally in September.
image copyright AFP image caption Not him, reads the banner carried by anti-Bolsonaro demonstrators on Saturday
His main rival is the left-wing candidate for the Workers' Party, Fernando Haddad.
They are both expected to advance to the second round run-off on 28 October.
"I don't believe in violence, in military dictatorship or the lack of liberty," tweeted Mr Haddad.
Haddad, the former mayor of Sao Paulo, is backed by former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
image copyright Reuters image caption Haddad is hoping to take the Workers' Party back to power
Lula left office in 2011 with high approval rates. He was jailed earlier this year, for taking bribes from a construction company.
He denies the allegations and says they were fabricated to prevent him from running for office again.
Lula wrote a letter of support to Mr Haddad on the eve of the vote: "Hope has previously beaten fear. Love has beaten hatred. And truth will now beat the lies. Truth is now called Haddad."
Hundreds of women marched through the streets of São Paulo on Saturday, accusing Mr Bolsonaro of being sexist, racist and a homophobe. | {
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Rubio’s Rally in Dallas — Klyde Warren Park
Are runoff elections inherently unfair or dishonest? Not all elections have them but here in Texas at least I know I’ve been through a few runoff elections including for Mayor of Dallas — when Tom Leppert won in 2007 — and again when Ted Cruz won his Senate seat. In 2011 we had a pretty crowded field packed with a lot of really good candidates, among those was Ted Cruz and David Dewhurst. During the primary voting Dewhurst had the plurality of votes edging out Cruz and the rest of the field by many points. Because he didn’t have a clear majority though, Texas throws the primary race into a runoff with the top two candidates. When Cruz faced Dewhurst one-on-one he took the race easily with a 14-point spread. I remember this election clearly because, although I have followed and been into politics for a long time, this was the first time I’ve actively been involved in trying to get a particular candidate elected — on the side of Cruz.
That’s right, I was a Cruz guy as he ran for Senate here in Texas because I didn’t want to hand the seat over to another politician that would get to Washington and go back on conservative promises he made. I still like Cruz and support him for the same reasons I did back in 2011. I support Cruz as a Senator because I really think that’s where he fits well and can make the biggest difference. Rubio on the other hand I’ve also always supported, and still support. I backed Rubio for President because his talents uniquely qualify him for that job and he’s just as conservative as anyone else. Of course, now that Rubio has dropped out — I’ve already cast my vote in the primary — I’m backing Cruz over Trump.
This brings me back to the original question about runoff elections. At this point, my vote is lost. I have no further say even though the race has changed dramatically but we don’t have runoff elections for Presidential candidates. Or do we?
Everyone has been paying close attention to the brokered/contested convention rules and processes during this cycle. It has been clear to a lot of people, for a while now, that this could come right down to the convention. The more these rules and processes are talked about the more angry and divided people seem to become. I’ve heard many, even in conservative circles, scream that if the election is “stolen” from Trump that it would be unfair or wrong but let’s look at the process. If Trump doesn’t get the majority of the votes, from the delegates, during the convention then we, in essence, go into a runoff. One difference here is that it doesn’t necessarily have to come down to the top two delegate holders, although it probably would, and of course it’s the delegates themselves that cast the ballots instead of the race being thrown back to the people in each state.
To me, this sounds like a completely reasonable way to handle the circumstance because if it was thrown back to me, a Rubio diehard, and it was down to only Trump vs Cruz — I’d choose Cruz in a heartbeat. Trump may be upset about that, and his voters rightfully so, but there’s nothing inherently unfair or dishonest about it. If there is, then should we get rid of the runoff rule and just have elections decided by a plurality vs a majority? | {
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若生西方，
庶可与佛光寿同一，
无量无边矣。 – 净土宗十三祖印光大师 Be born in the Western Pure Land,
so that you can attain the same light and life of Āmítuófó,
that is immeasurable and boundless. – The Pure Land Tradition’s 13th Patriarch Great Master Yìnguāng
… If out of breath, thus should you only recite the four words ‘Āmítuófó’ [Amitābha Buddha’s name, verbally or mentally]. Wholeheartedly seek the Buddha’s loving-kindness and compassion, to receive and guide you to be reborn in his Western Pure Land. Other than this one thought, in your mind, you must not again give rise to a bit of other kinds of thoughts [or yearnings].
… If you are willing to let go of attachment to everything [worldly], and wholeheartedly [single-mindedly] recite the name of Buddha [Āmítuófó], if your worldly lifespan is yet to exhaust, you will be swiftly healed. If your worldly lifespan is already exhausting, you will immediately be reborn in his Western Pure Land. However, you must not seek swift healing from sickness, and should only seek swift rebirth in Pure Land. Seeking healing from sickness, if your lifespan is exhausting, you thus cannot attain rebirth in Pure Land. Seeking rebirth in Pure Land, if your lifespan is yet to exhaust, you can thus swiftly attain full healing.
Of rebirth in the Western Pure Land, its benefits cannot be spoken exhaustibly. Compared with others born in the heavens above, to become heavenly emperors and heavenly kings, this still highly surpasses by innumerably immeasurable tens of thousands of tens of thousands of tens of thousands of tens of thousands of times… If you are willing to rely on what I have said for recitation, you will definitely be reborn in the Western Pure Land, to be liberated from birth and death, to transcend the ordinary and enter the realm of sages.
The Pure Land Passport: The Three Great Essentials When Approaching Death (临终三大要)
The Pure Land Tradition’s 13th Patriarch Great Master Yìnguāng
(净土宗十三祖印光大师) | {
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Health-care workers in Madagascar and dozens of other countries have faced new obstacles since Trump signed an order tying U.S. aid to antiabortion rules.
Nana thought for a second, and then shook her head. Donald Trump? No, never heard of him.
Her humble, earthen home and field of cassava are about as far from Washington as it gets. She lives in Madagascar, an impoverished island hundreds of miles off the coast of Africa — and tiny Betsingilo is a week-long trip by bus from the country’s capital.
ASIA AFRICA Detail Antananarivo Indian Betsingilo Ocean 100 MILES
The distance has not stopped Trump’s foreign policy from affecting people’s lives here.
Madagascar is one of dozens of countries where health providers are facing cutbacks or other disruptions after a dramatic change to foreign aid by the Trump administration. Little noticed by many Americans, the shift could have profound consequences in rural communities like Nana’s.
The policy change was one of Trump’s first acts as president. On Jan. 23, 2017, he signed an executive order that denied U.S. assistance to any foreign-based organization that performs, promotes or offers information on abortion.
A similar plan, known as the Mexico City policy, was in effect under past Republican presidents. But Trump expanded it exponentially to apply not just to around $600 million in overseas family-planning funds, but to the entire $8.8 billion in annual U.S. global health aid.
It will take years to gauge the full impact of the policy, which will affect aid groups as they renew grants or seek new U.S. funding. In many of the more than 60 countries that receive U.S. health assistance, the impact could be minimal. But the change has resulted in tens of millions of dollars in funding cuts to two of the developing world’s biggest providers of women’s health care, including Marie Stopes International — which runs a mobile family-planning clinic serving Nana’s village.
More broadly, the policy has created a wave of uncertainty in aid-dependent countries. For the first time, groups that treat HIV, malaria and other illnesses will also have to pledge to have no role in promoting abortion — or forgo American aid. Many organizations will face a dilemma, advocates say, since abortion-related services are often integrated into general health care in poor nations. Disentangling them can be difficult.
“This is now a massive, potentially devastating experiment with people’s lives,” said Asia Russell, executive director of Health GAP, a global AIDS and human-rights advocacy group, who is based in Uganda.
The Post’s Max Bearak visited a remote village in Madagascar to see how President Trump’s antiabortion policy might make it difficult for women there to access family planning services. (Carolyn Van Houten,Max Bearak,Joyce Lee/The Washington Post)
American officials say they don’t believe the new policy will ultimately reduce the availability of health care. “We are not changing funding amounts by one dollar,” said Alma Golden, a deputy assistant administrator for USAID, the government’s foreign-aid agency. Funds denied to some organizations will be redirected to others that provide similar services and promise to follow the new policy, officials say.
But it can take weeks or months for that to happen. In some remote areas, there are few, if any, other health groups that could readily step in. Madagascar is especially vulnerable because it has relatively few foreign donors.
“There are still many women in Madagascar who want contraception but don’t have it,” said Marie Georgette Ravoniarisoa, director of the family health division of Madagascar’s health ministry. “Marie Stopes was beginning to reach more of them, but it looks like the Trump administration will make things go backwards.”
In Betsingilo, Marie Stopes is the only provider of family-planning services — something Nana felt she desperately needed.
Nana, who like many Madagascar residents goes by one name, is a 24-year-old single mother of two. She already struggles to grow enough cassava and maize to feed her children. Having another child, she says, could prove disastrous. So when Marie Stopes’s mobile clinic reached a nearby village last year, Nana walked eight miles and became the first woman from Betsingilo to get long-term contraception — a hormonal implant in her arm that can last three years. “I was trembling,” she later recalled. But she was determined to have the procedure. What she didn’t know was that the political earthquake that had occurred earlier that year, thousands of miles away, might spell the end of that clinic and others, potentially leaving her and many other poor women with few options for treatment.
Trump’s aid policy reflects a larger administration push to defund groups that provide abortions, referrals or information on the procedure. Overseas, a key component of that is the Mexico City policy, named for the city in which it was drafted in 1984. President Ronald Reagan brought it into law, and each Democrat in the office after him rescinded it, while each Republican reinstated it.
Congress has long prohibited the use of U.S. foreign aid for abortions. But under Democratic presidents, foreign groups could still qualify for family-planning funds as long as they used non-U.S. funds for abortions. Under the Mexico City policy, groups have to forswear not just performing abortions but promoting them in any way. Critics call it the “global gag rule.”
Antiabortion advocates say the policy will save the lives of the unborn.
“This is a welcome step toward restoring and enforcing important federal policies that respect the most fundamental human right — the right to life,” said Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, when Trump reinstated the policy.
Academics have questioned whether the Mexico City policy effectively decreases abortions. A 2011 study by Stanford University researchers suggested the policy has actually been “associated with increases in abortion rates in sub-Saharan African countries.” One possible reason for that: Some organizations that had provided contraceptives lost funding, which may have led to more unwanted pregnancies, the researchers wrote.
Since Trump’s expanded policy took effect in May 2017, most foreign health groups have committed to following the new rules. But a small group refused to sign, including the International Planned Parenthood Federation and Marie Stopes, a London-based aid group named for an early 20th-century family-planning pioneer. They, in turn, have hundreds of local partners.
International Planned Parenthood says it has had to make reductions in clinics, staffing, services or health supplies in 29 countries.
Marie Stopes, which works in 37 countries, says it lost around $30 million in U.S. aid in 2017. That was equivalent to 17 percent of its donor grants, and 7 percent of its total income.
Although the group eventually got funding from other donors, it has still had to cut services in countries like Madagascar, Uganda and Zimbabwe to conserve its funds for leaner years ahead.
“It was painful, but at the end of the day, it was a no-brainer not to sign,” said Marjorie Newman-Williams, president of Marie Stopes’s U.S. branch. “The right to safe abortion is core to our mission. To sign it would’ve been walking away from who we are.”
In addition to family-planning funds, the policy — as expanded under Trump — applies to programs that fight diseases like AIDS and malaria. In rural areas in the developing world, such programs might be run from the same clinic that provides family planning, with the aid intermingled.
Asked why the administration chose to broaden the Mexico City policy, the White House said in a statement the move recognized that “when we design programs to end malaria or HIV/AIDS or maternal mortality, we don’t intend to fund the abortion industry.”
Most groups are expected to sign the policy, officials said.
Golden, of USAID, said the U.S. government remained committed to expanding family planning. “We recognize the timing and spacing of children is critical to women’s health and the health of their children,” she said.
The roughly $3.5 million that USAID was giving annually to Marie Stopes in Madagascar was redistributed to organizations like Population Services International that agreed to comply with the new policy. USAID remains the biggest supplier of family-planning methods such as condoms in the country, but Madagascar’s government had come to rely on Marie Stopes to provide services in certain areas.
“The ministry can’t cover everywhere on its own,” said Ravoniarisoa, the health ministry official.
Countries affected by the expanded Mexico City policy are home to some of the world’s most vulnerable people. They tend to be places with fragile governments and rudimentary health care, struggling to cope with rapidly growing populations. Madagascar is a case in point. While beautiful, it is poor and beset by periodic coups, endemic diseases, droughts and cyclones. Women in rural southern Madagascar, where Nana is from, have the shortest average number of months — 24 — between pregnancies nationwide, and they typically start giving birth in their teens, according to official data. Government surveys in Madagascar show that most women want to use contraception to plan their pregnancies. Tema Razanavahony, 29, lives in a village near Betsingilo. “My boy was just 8 months old, and I was already pregnant again,” she said. Like Nana, she got a three-year implant. “Because of this, I am strong.”
Marie Stopes doesn’t provide abortions in Madagascar, as they are illegal in most cases. But it does advocate for the legalization of abortion. The end of USAID funding for at least the next three years has hit the group hard. Its administrative staff in Madagascar is taking a mandatory five days unpaid leave per month. A voucher program that provided free contraception to 170,000 women and girls was eliminated.
Marie Stopes is especially concerned it might have to suspend its 21 mobile clinics, which rove Madagascar by truck, boat and sometimes even hovercraft. They used to be fully funded by USAID and are now running on shoestring budgets. Where a team of four health professionals once went to a village, now it’s often two, and the number of operations performed has declined by half, the group says. An additional mobile clinic has already been eliminated.
The group estimates there are 350,000 women in Madagascar who can only get family-planning services like implants and tubal ligatures from its mobile clinics.
Jean Rangomana, a surgeon for Marie Stopes whose clinic packs up neatly into a Toyota Land Cruiser, said some women had already received hormonal implants or IUDs, and “they have been promised checkups in case anything goes wrong.”
When Rangomana’s clinic visited a village near Betsingilo in April, six women, assured by Nana that the procedures wouldn’t hurt, walked for miles with their children in tow to get there. Four decided to get some form of long-term contraception. “There’s nothing to worry about,” Nana told the women. Rangomana chose not to tell them that it was possible he might not return. “I tell them, ‘This is simple. It is about having a better life,’ ” Rangomana said. “I also tell them, ‘You can always change your mind. We’ll come back and take it out.’ I hope that I have not lied to them.”
Organizations that advocate for access to abortion have always known that U.S. government funding is insecure. But under Trump’s expanded policy, groups that were once far removed from America’s abortion politics are facing that same uncertainty.
Among them are recipients of funding from PEPFAR, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, which was started under President George W. Bush and is considered a U.S. success story.
Many health facilities in the developing world, particularly in rural areas, offer a broad range of services — everything from tuberculosis treatment to HIV testing to family planning — under one roof. In part, that’s because of a lack of resources. But AIDS researchers have long argued that integrating health services is vital in stemming the spread of the virus.
“The idea is, if pregnancy prevention gets them in, let’s get all their needs there,” said Chloe Cooney, director of global advocacy at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “If you disqualify them in that space, there’s a massive ripple effect.”
Some local organizations are already feeling the impact of the policy on HIV and AIDS treatment.
In Mozambique, a southeast African country heavily dependent on aid for its health care, a Planned Parenthood affiliate called Amodefa lost 60 percent of its funding, though some of its work can be transferred to other groups, said Santos Simione, its executive director.
The group has closed clinics across the country that were funded through PEPFAR, many in rural areas with a high prevalence of HIV where it was the primary provider of care, he said. It has laid off a third of its staff.
“The U.S. government and Planned Parenthood helped us build capacity for almost a decade. We became the organization people in our communities could trust to get information and care,” Simione said in an interview.
He said that he has offered to help train new organizations that did sign on to the Mexico City policy, but they have declined for fear their funding could be jeopardized. “It will take years and years before some places in Mozambique get the same quality of care we gave,” he said.
Another illustration of the Trump policy’s far-reaching impact is how it affected an international charity, WaterAid, focused on sanitation, hygiene and drinking water.
In some countries where it operates, women face the risk of sexual assault as they walk to fetch drinking water. If its staff referred them to a clinic, “the chances of it being a Planned Parenthood or Marie Stopes clinic were really quite high,” said Lisa Schechtman, director of policy and advocacy for the group. It didn’t sign the policy and lost the opportunity to apply for USAID funds for health and nutrition programs in six countries, she said.
The U.S. State Department has been studying the expanded policy’s impact, but Deborah L. Birx, the U.S. global AIDS coordinator, said there is not yet sufficient data to say whether concerns raised by public health advocates were warranted.
Claudia Rasolomamy, a community health worker in the town of Besakoa, enters the consultation room between patient appointments to talk to Jean Rangomana, a surgeon for Marie Stopes International, which runs a mobile family-planning clinic.
In the 21 months since Trump took office, private donors as well as governments in Europe and elsewhere have increased their assistance to family-planning groups that became ineligible for U.S. aid. Last year, four European nations — Sweden, Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands — launched the SheDecides initiative to raise money for sexual and reproductive health programs, in reaction to Trump’s policies.
But some organizations have faced months of turbulence as they try to nail down new funding.
In Madagascar, Rangomana and the other doctors have relied on stopgap aid to operate their mobile clinics. There is no guarantee, however, that Marie Stopes can support them beyond this fall.
“Our staff are losing focus on their work because they are worried about their futures,” Lalaina Razafinirinasoa, Marie Stopes’s director in Madagascar, said in late August.
She was cautiously optimistic that the group would find the needed money. But she has drawn up termination letters in case she’s wrong. | {
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On Feb. 28th, Fujian Province IoT Industry Association was established, and the First Session of the First Member Congress was held in Mawei District of Fuzhou. The Waltonchain Project Director Mr. Lin Herui was elected vice president of the Association.
Fujian Province IoT Industry Association establishment and the First Session of the First Member Congress
Fujian IoT Industry Association works in the fields of industrial policy research, solving the key technological problems, personnel training and provision of public IoT services, which includes：
·Establishment of IoT associations & enterprises to participate in the Cross-Strait IoT Application Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition;
·Building a docking platform for industry, academia & research and
·Building IoT technology incubator to promote organic integration of such innovative elements as talents, technology and capital
·Serving the optimization and upgrading of the IoT industry transformation and to create IoT brands.
Entitling of Vice President Unit at the first Council session (1st to the right: Waltonchain Project Director Lin Herui)
With China IoT Industry Research Institute being the Vice President Unit of the newly established Fujian IoT Industry Association, and Mr. Lin Herui being its Vice President, Waltonchain will partner with the Association to speed up industrial reformation and upgrading and promote the well and orderly development of the IoT industry. At the same time, relying on the Association’s platform, it will promote and build the Value IoT + Blockchain ecosystem. Waltonchain will continue its growth as the fundamental blockchain within the infrastructure of the future. | {
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Dark Souls Patch v1.04 is not yet out in WEST, however the developer “From Software” has already began work on the next patch v1.05 for the game. A representative of From Software confirmed on Twitter tht a new patch v1.05 will launch at somepoint this week for PS3 version of Dark Souls in Japan.
According to the details revealed by developer on their Japanese blog, this upcoming patch will feature fix for online issues with summoning summon signs being non-existent and resulting lack of players being summoned.
From Software does not revealed any details regarding NA and European launch date for the patch. Check out our Dark Soul Review | {
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Last week the privacy invasive CISPA bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives, taking it one step closer to becoming law. The proposed bill allows warrant-less spying by Internet companies on behalf of Government agencies. Turning the tables, TorrentFreak decided to "spy" on download and browsing habits at the House and other prominent Government institutions, using publicly available data.
Since the SOPA and PIPA uproar last year the Internet has become increasingly aware of the U.S. Government’s attempts at meddling with the web.
One of the bills currently meeting resistance, after it failed to pass last year, is the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA). Despite public protests the bill passed the House last week, and it’s now on its way to a Senate vote.
As the title suggests the main goal of the bill is to deal with “cybersecurity,” but with a lack of definition as to what that actually entails, this term is also one of its major weaknesses.
In short, CISPA would allow companies to spy on Internet users and collect and share this data with third-party companies or Government agencies. As long as the company states that these privacy violations are needed to protect against “cybersecurity” threats, they are immune from civil and criminal liabilities.
Critics of the bill point out that it would allow companies to spy on Internet users, and with flexible definitions of cybersecurity it could potentially be used to monitor the download habits of Internet subscribers.
A wide variety of citizen rights groups are continuing with anti-CISPA actions to prevent the bill from becoming law. Starting off today, Anonymous is holding a CISPA blackout with a few hundred websites participating. Undoubtedly other protests will make headlines in the weeks to come.
In light of the above, we thought that it would be interesting to turn the tables on some of the pro-CISPA forces. How would they like it if their download habits ended up exposed? And what if everyone could see their Google searches or the websites they visit?
As it turns out, no CISPA is needed to do the above. With help from BitTorrent monitoring company Scaneye and the privacy invasive ExtremeTracking service we found plenty of information to expose.
The House
Let’s begin the search with the House of Representatives, who voted in favor of CISPA. Data from public BitTorrent trackers shows dozens of House IP-addresses linked to pirated content. Below is a small selection of the alleged downloads we found.
Interestingly, no more downloads were recorded after November last year. While Scaneye only covers a small percentage of all BitTorrent downloads, the lack of hits may be the result of a new anti-P2P policy which also blocked Spotify on the Hill.
Aside from BitTorrent data it’s also possible to search for the browsing history of House staff. Through ExtremeTracking alone we found hundreds of hits, showing browser versions, screen resolutions, visited websites and search queries. To highlight one, here’s a House IP-address searching for an adult video site.
House IPs linked to piracy
The Senate
Next up is the U.S. Senate who will soon have to decide on the fate of the cybersecurity bill.
The Senate results mimic the House findings. Again there are plenty of employees who allegedly downloaded copyright material. Copies of recent TV-shows and movies are relatively popular.
The Senate’s browsing habits also reveal some information, and show that articles about Wikileaks revelations are on the public reading list.
Senate IPs linked to piracy
The CIA
Finally we took a look at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), one of the organizations which will use CISPA information. Gathering intelligence on the CIA is not as hard as it sounds, since their employees use public facing IP-addresses that can be directly linked to the agency.
Again, the BitTorrent tracker data mostly turned up pirated video content that were allegedly downloaded at the CIA, with some titles nicely fitting agency’s niche. Unlike at the congressional offices, we also saw some more recent hits.
Looking at their browsing data we found only a few hits for the CIA via ExtremeTracking. However, this does include a referral from a video store selling rather perverted material.
CIA IPs linked to piracy
The above is of course no argument against CISPA. Instead, it shows how much sensitive data is already out there. The question is, do we really want companies to have the ability to spy even more?
For those who want to learn more about CISPA and what action can be taken to stop it, FFTF and EFF are required further reading.
Finally, a word of advice to anyone who doesn’t want their private browsing and download habits out in the open, including Government workers. Get a VPN while you still can, or stop using the Internet altogether. | {
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Thanks to many readers in the Twin Cities area who wrote this morning with the welcome news that Tommy Mischke will again have a live radio show. Starting next Monday, he'll be on WCCO four nights a week from 10pm to midnight Central time. Details here, in Star-Tribute item that includes this not-overly-flattering pic:
My Atlantic article about Mischke and his idiosyncratically brilliant show, from ten years ago, here. Most recent of many subsequent web-site mentions of his activities here. There are lots more, but this is what our "search" function is for...
As always my motto is, we take our good news where we can find it. Congrats to WCCO, Mischke, and diaspora of Mischke Nation.
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It appears that a lot of college football players are smoking pot. And Oregon is one school that ESPN Magazine reports is doing it a lot.
Does this surprise me? No.
Do you have kids in college? Do you think they smoke pot?
If you said, "No way, not my kid!" It's probably 50-50 whether you are wrong. For a lot of young people, pot has replaced alcohol as the first-choice recreational drug of choice.
First, let's deal with this: Smoking pot is not only illegal, it's also against the rules for, my educated guess posits, every college football team IN THE ENTIRE WORLD, including Oregon.
So, while many folks, most particularly ardent Ducks fans, will react with a shrug, it's important to note that Oregon players are -- allegedly -- breaking rules set down by coach Chip Kelly, as well as the United States of America. How often do you think Kelly overlooks players doing the opposite of what he requests?
No matter your opinion on marijuana laws, the allegation that many Oregon players are routinely breaking a team rule is not good, even if it's likely that many schools also see the same team rule frequently broken.
In Oregon's defense, its situation is different than most football programs, due to state laws that restrict drug testing. For one, there is no random testing, and probable cause can't just be just a "hunch" that a player who smells of sandalwood incense has been sucking some bowls -- and not Rose Bowls.
Here's a statement from athletic director Rob Mullens:
“Student-athlete welfare is of the utmost importance to the University of Oregon. Similar to many college campuses wrestling with the same issue, the University of Oregon actively works to address potential use of any illegal substance through a combination of education, prevention and enforcement activities. Student-athletes at the University of Oregon are tested for illegal substances to the full extent possible under existing Oregon state law, which prohibits random testing. We continue to work diligently to educate our student-athletes on the harmful impact of illegal substances. In addition, we have articulated our illegal substances policy to our student-athletes and have clearly defined sanctions for a positive test.”
As for the Ducks policy, the first two positive tests only get counseling. On a third positive test, "The student athlete will be immediately ineligible for competition. They will remain ineligible until they have missed the equivalent of 50% of a season," according to the school. A fourth positive test, and the athlete is dismissed from the team and loses his scholarship.
No, that doesn't sound very strict, particularly when you consider testing can't be random due to state law.
Now, after 430 words, comes my, "But."
As a sports writer with the latitude to opine on such matters, I often try to advise fans how they should "feel" about certain issues -- the option to take it or leave it being plainly available. If I were an Oregon fan, I would worry about this for 17 minutes. Perhaps 20. For a powerful booster with access to Kelly and Mullens, you would be perfectly justified expressing sentiments to them that "I'd rather not read a story like this again."
Question: Is Oregon graduating its players?
Yes.
Question: Are Oregon's players among the best conditioned in all of college football?
Yes.
Of course, breaking the law is breaking the law. It leads to plenty of embarrassing moments for a program -- hello, Cliff Harris.
That said, alcohol is legal, and it's the common denominator for a vast majority of bad headlines for college football programs -- such as this and this and this. How often do you read about someone under the influence of pot doing something like this?
You can legally purchase grain alcohol in this country while pot is illegal. Not to get too political, but that is nonsensical.
Yes, creating more reasonable drug laws lingers on the periphery of this conversation. Many folks in the 18-25-year-old bracket certainly no longer buy anti-marijuana arguments that have since been found to be medically untrue.
But that's the periphery. Today, the issue is a slightly embarrassing one for Oregon.
The Ducks player should know that they just made Kelly's life a little bit more difficult. It's possible he might shortly return the favor. | {
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Looking for a motorcycle to complement your classic Ferrari? Most guys would opt for something that’s also Italian and red—like a Ducati. But one collector wanted something truly unique, so he reached out to Art Henschell of One-Up Moto Garage with a very special brief.
In his collection is something even more rare than the Testarossa in these photos; a 1965 NART Le Mans Ferrari racing car. He wanted a bike inspired by his beloved vintage racer, with one caveat: it had to be powered by a Honda CB600F motor.
“He already owns another of my Honda CB600F builds,” explains Art, “and he loved the power, feel and reliability of that engine so much, he wanted this one to have the same qualities. I tried to get him to go with a Ducati, but he just wasn’t having it.”
“Silver lining: you probably won’t see another Honda-based ‘Ferrari bike’ ever again!”
Art runs One-Up Moto Garage as a one-man-band, out of his home workshop in Fayetteville, Arkansas. There, he began gathering together the parts that would eventually become ‘Rosso Corsa.’
“There wasn’t any one donor bike to begin with,” he explains. “My inventory is almost entirely a collection of Craigslist finds that I store for future work.”
The starting point was a 2006 Honda CB600F Hornet motor and frame. Then Art sourced a VFR800 from a salvage yard, and pillaged it for its swing arm, rear shock and wheels.
“I chose the race-inspired single sided swing arm because of its track-based origins and the car-like rear wheel aesthetic,” he says. “It also allowed me to tuck the twin pipes up behind the rear sets, so they don’t get in the way of a good corner lean.”
Getting the rear end to look (and sit) right took a little thinking. Art designed a new subframe and shock mounts, then plasma cut the final parts and assembled it. The frame and swing-arm were powder coated black, and the wheels gold. “Gold rims are a tradition for race Ferraris,” he quips, “so of course I had to powder them appropriately.”
Up front, Art mounted a set of rebuilt and shortened CBR upside-downs. They’re held in place by custom-made triple trees—specifically designed with an integrated smartphone mount. (An app on the rider’s smartphone now handles speedo duties.)
Up top is a hand-shaped, 18-gauge steel fuel tank. “Gas tanks are the focal point of a bike, so I created one that had both the smooth curves and the hard edges of this build’s muse,” says Art.
There’s a new seat just behind the tank, custom-made by Art from start to finish. It consists of a PVC base, closed cell neoprene foam with gel inserts, and a two-tone leather cover.
“I went with the classic diamond stitch tan on black because it is a common finish in vintage Ferraris,” he says. “I upholstered it on a walking-foot JUKI industrial sewing machine that sits in my living room.”
On the performance side, Art has left the motor mostly stock, But he’s vapor-honed the carbs, rejetted them, and fitted UNI pod filters. He then pie-cut and TIG-welded a new stainless steel four-into-two exhaust system, terminating it with a pair of Lossa Engineering mufflers.
He’s showed the electrical system some love too, rewiring everything around his own “secret power hub design,” which hides under the tank. Upgrades include a lithium-ion battery from Shorai, a MOSFET regulator/rectifier, and Motogadget turn signals.
Two rows of LEDs under the new seat act as a taillight, but it’s the headlight shroud that caught our attention first. “I made it out of stainless rod and perforated metal,” says Art. “The engine shrouds on Ferraris often have a mesh cover, so I made it to reflect that. On all my builds, creating a unique faceplate is a fun challenge for me.”
Clip-ons and custom-made adjustable rear sets (with neat carbon heel guards) round out the package. There are more details lurking, but Art wants to keep a few secrets to himself. What’s remarkable though, is that everything you see here he handled himself.
“Only thing I don’t do is the powder coating,” he says. “I live right by an industrial powder coater and they do an unbeatable job.”
He even took care of the paint, shooting the tank in Ferrari’s signature Rosso Corsa. Eric Snodgrass added a final touch, with a hand-painted Ferrari shield on the swing arm, modded with the One-Up logo.
With the bike all buttoned up and ready to ship, Art had one small problem left to tackle. His client lives in Miami, so he couldn’t shoot the Honda alongside the car that inspired it. Luckily Ehrlich Motorwerks jumped in with this 1986 Testarossa for our viewing pleasure.
It’s refreshing to know that the owner could simply have gone out and bought a Superleggera. Instead, he chose the autostrada less traveled and got something truly hand-built…and arguably more charming.
One-Up Moto Garage | Instagram | Images by FOR THE LOVE OF AUTO, a division of Blk Elk Media | {
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Mohammed Hashim hid in the hills and watched as his brother begged for his life, his arms bound behind his back as soldiers marched the 35-year-old teacher away. It was the last time he saw him alive.
It was 26 August, the day after Rohingya Muslim separatist attacks on military outposts in the group’s homeland in western Myanmar. In their wake, Myanmar’s military and local Buddhists would respond with a campaign of rape, massacre and arson that has driven about 700,000 Rohingya into Bangladesh.
But more than a dozen teachers, elders and religious leaders told The Associated Press that educated Rohingya – already subject to systematic and widespread harassment, arrests and torture – were singled out, part of Myanmar’s operation to drive the Muslim Rohingya from majority Buddhist Myanmar.
Soldiers targeted the educated, they said, so there would be no community leaders left willing to speak up against the pervasive abuse.
It’s an old tactic, according to those who study genocide – and often a precursor to killing.
“My brother apologised and pleaded with the military not to kill him; he showed them his ID card and said, ‘I’m a teacher, I’m a teacher.’ But the government had planned to kill our educated people, including my brother,” Hashim said.
He was interviewed at one of the teeming Bangladesh refugee camps that have sprung up along the hilly border with Myanmar since the Rohingya exodus grew in August. Hashim, who is also a teacher, ran for the hills and hid after the military surrounded his hamlet in northern Rakhine state, where most of the Rohingya lived. Others told similar accounts.
After the 25 August attacks, soldiers in Maung Nu village, the site of a massacre, asked villagers: “Where are the teachers?”
Rahim, a 26-year old high school science and maths teacher who was known to many soldiers because he taught their children at the local battalion school, saw the military coming and fled.
“I knew I was dead if I got caught. They were hunting me,” said Rahim, who, like some Rohingya, uses only one name. “They knew that I would always speak out for the people. They wanted to destroy us because they knew that without us they could do whatever they wanted to the rest of the Rohingya.”
Researchers see comparisons between what is happening in Myanmar and other genocides, including the Holocaust.
“Listening to these stories, it sounds so similar. First you take out the religious or the political leaders, and then you start going down to the civilian population and you start tightening things more and more,” said Karen Jungblut, research director at the USC Shoah Foundation, who has conducted interviews in the Bangladesh camps.
A military official who refused to give his name and bristled when asked about the Rohingya statements, saying Tuesday that he “couldn’t accept the term Rohingya, which does not exist in Myanmar”. He said Myanmar had not targeted educated members of the ethnic group in “clearing operations,” which is how the government has described the crackdown.
Interviews with about 65 refugees in a September report by the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner indicate that “the Myanmar security forces targeted teachers, the cultural and religious leadership, and other people of influence in the Rohingya community in an effort to diminish Rohingya history, culture and knowledge.”
The Buddhist majority has long reviled the Rohingya as “Bengali interlopers” in northern Rakhine state and suppressed their ability to maintain their culture and go to school.
World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 11 August 2020 French Prime Minister Jean Castex is helped by a member of staff to put a protective suit on prior to his visit at the CHU hospital in Montpellier AFP via Getty World news in pictures 10 August 2020 Locals harvest their potatoes as Mount Sinabung spews volcanic ash in Karo, North Sumatra province, Indonesia Antara Foto/Reuters World news in pictures 9 August 2020 Doves fly over the Peace Statue at Nagasaki Peace Park during the memorial ceremony held for the 75th anniversary of the atomic bombing EPA World news in pictures 8 August 2020 Anti-government protesters try to remove concrete wall that installed by security forces to prevent protesters reaching the Parliament square, during a protest against the political elites and the government after this week's deadly explosion in Beirut AP World news in pictures 7 August 2020 A protester throws a stone towards Israeli forces in the village of Turmus Aya, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, following a march by Palestinians against the building of Israeli settlements AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 August 2020 A woman yells as soldiers block a road for French President Emmanuel Macron's visit the Gemmayzeh neighborhood. The area in Beirut suffered extensive damage from the explosion at the seaport AP World news in pictures 5 August 2020 Damage at the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon Reuters World news in pictures 4 August 2020 A large explosion in the Lebanese capital Beirut. The blast, which rattled entire buildings and broke glass, was felt in several parts of the city AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 August 2020 A general view shows the new road bridge in Genoa, Italy ahead of its official inauguration, after it was rebuilt following its collapse on August 14, 2018 which killed 43 people Reuters World news in pictures 2 August 2020 Empty stall spaces are seen hours before a citywide curfew is introduced in Melbourne, Australia EPA World news in pictures 1 August 2020 People take part in a demonstration by the initiative "Querdenken-711" with the slogan "the end of the pandemic - the day of freedom" to protest against the current measurements to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Berlin, Germany AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 July 2020 Pilgrims circumambulating around the Kaaba, the holiest shrine in the Grand mosque in Mecca. Muslim pilgrims converged today on Saudi Arabia's Mount Arafat for the climax of this year's hajj, the smallest in modern times and a sharp contrast to the massive crowds of previous years Saudi Ministry of Media/AFP World news in pictures 30 July 2020 The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission lifts off at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The mission is part of the USA's largest moon to Mars exploration. Nasa will attempt to establish a sustained human presence on and around the moon by 2028 through their Artemis programme EPA World news in pictures 29 July 2020 A woman refreshes herself in a outdoor pool in summer temperatures in Ehingen, Germany dpa via AP World news in pictures 28 July 2020 Malaysia's former prime minister Najib Razak speaks to the media after he was found guilty in his corruption trial in Kuala Lumpur AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 July 2020 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un poses for a photograph after conferring commemorative pistols to leading commanding officers of the armed forces on the 67th anniversary of the "Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War". Which marks the signing of the Korean War armistice KCNA via Reuters
An Amnesty International report from November documented a system of institutionalised discrimination and segregation of the Rohingya that was meant to erase their identity. Since an outbreak of Buddhist-Muslim violence in 2012, Rohingya children have been prevented from attending Buddhist schools, and official government teachers often refuse to come to Rohingya villages because of purported safety worries, the report said.
In the months before 25 August, informers made it too dangerous to teach Rohingya language or culture, even in secret, according to a longtime headmaster at a middle school who spoke on condition of anonymity because of safety worries if he’s ever allowed to return home.
Four days before the 25 August violence, he says about 300 soldiers surrounded his home. He was handcuffed with his son and brought to the school, where they saw other teachers and five mullahs. His son was kicked and beaten.
The headmaster fled to Bangladesh soon after the August killing began.
“There are some educated people left in my village, but they will never raise their voices,” he said, as another man wept silently, listening to him speak. “Things will get worse for the Rohingya because no one will speak out for them.”
The penalty for standing up to authority can be harsh.
Months before the August crackdown, the military called a meeting in the village of Chein Kar Li to demand more money from villagers who wanted to fish the local rivers. Kafait Ullah, a 26-year-old primary school teacher, took a breath, steadied his shaking hands and rose to ask a question.
“Why do we need to give you so much money?” he asked.
The retaliation began immediately. He said he was fined and made to go every morning to a military camp and sign a piece of paper, so the soldiers could monitor his actions. They searched his home and threatened him with jail.
Others interviewed also described repression. They said the government monitored teachers, mullahs and other educated people, claiming they were working with outsiders to collect and send abroad information about human rights abuses meant to make Myanmar look bad.
“They didn’t want us to speak out, and we didn’t. We couldn’t. I wanted to raise my voice, but they would have arrested me and tortured me,” said Maulana Rahmat Ullah, 53, a mullah from Khular Bil village who was tortured in 2016.
“There are not enough people who know our history now to pass it down to the people. I am one of the last. We were under so much pressure for so long that it’s almost all gone. Who’s left to tell it?” | {
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Derrick Rose didn’t make his highly anticipated return this past season with the Chicago Bulls. But now that the Bulls are eliminated from the NBA Playoffs, it’s almost certain he will be back for the start of the 2013-2014 NBA season. With his return comes the latest model in the adidas Rose signature shoe model, the D.Rose 4.
Today we give you a first look at the adidas D.Rose 4 via mackham. This look brings us a colorway entitled “Chicago” sports a few different tones of blue, a red tongue and lace structure and is complimented with white on the Rose logo.
The colorway comes from the Chicago flag which features blue, red and white on it. No details on the full structure of the shoe are available yet, but stay tuned to us as information becomes available. | {
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C’en est fini pour les dépôt non-officiels Getdeb et Playdeb qui permettaient à des milliers d’utilisateurs d’Ubuntu d’installer des tas de logiciels beaucoup plus à jour que ceux disponibles dans les dépôts officiels.
En effet, le serveur sur lequel se trouvaient ces dépôts a subit un crash de base de données très important et malheureusement, la personne qui maintenait ces dépôts à jour a décidé de baisser les bras.
Getdeb étant sans aucun doute le dépôt Ubuntu non officiel le plus célèbre au monde. Cependant, tout Getdeb et Playdeb ne part pas à la poubelle, puisqu’il existe un miroir de ces dépôts :
http://mirror.informatik.uni-mannheim.de/ubuntu/pool/
Il a aussi placé tous les scripts de package sur Github ainsi que les codes pour l’interface web du site et les petits scripts qui permettaient de maintenant Playdeb et Getdeb.
Also all the package script (i.e. the debian directory) for every package in the precise and quantal repository are available in my GitHub repositories:
* https://github.com/ckorn/GetDeb
* https://github.com/ckorn/PlayDeb
* For special upstream watchers there is this repository: https://github.com/ckorn/Upstream-watchers The web interface of both GetDeb and PlayDeb is called apt-portal which is specialised for viewing the information in an apt repository:
* https://code.launchpad.net/apt-portal And finally there are the scripts and little helpers of the automated build process:
* https://code.launchpad.net/debfactory The entire repository of Debian packages can be downloaded with this script:
* http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=JaVkvFFZ
L’intégrale de Getdeb et Playdeb vous demandera plus de 84 GB si vous souhaitez tout récupérer et prendre la relève.
Ce qui est sûr, c’est que ces dépôts vont nous manquer. | {
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White Professor Says All White People are Evil, Some Only ‘Less Bad’ Than Others
Another example of why our system of miseducation needs to be torn down and rebuilt raises its ugly face at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey where a white professor has decided that all white people are evil and that some are only “less bad” than others.
As the country began to debate the situation surrounding race faker Rachel Dolezal, a black wannabe professor named Kevin Allred began attacking white people with this Tweet…
until the entire system changes – THERE ARE NO GOOD #WHITEPEOPLE. THERE ARE ONLY LESS BAD WHITE PEOPLE!!! — Kevin Allred (@KevinAllred) June 12, 2015
Trending: The 15 Best Conservative News Sites On The Internet
This so-called professor teaches one of those useless college courses that make colleges looks silly. He teaches a course about pop singer Beyonce… because THAT is a worthy field of study.
Anyway, he is one of those goofballs who dresses like black hip hop artists do and acts like he’s a black person himself even though he’s white.
The folks at The College Fix interviewed him over his hate-filled comment and he stands by his hate speech.
“Our system was built on the labor of many while few benefited from that labor – those few were typically and still typically are rich, straight, white men,” Allred continued in his email to The Fix. “This is a basic conversation about privileges, which I know from our exchange we have different opinions on.” “I was trying to point out the irony that stereotypes affect people of color so that they are never seen as individuals, they are always answering for the stereotype that is applied to an entire group,” Allred said in his email. “That doesn’t happen to AllredTweetwhite people as a whole. … I was using ‘white people’ as a group to point out the ways that other people of color and other marginalized groups are usually lumped together.” “And I didn’t say there are ‘no good white people’ – I meant until the system changes completely to erase these stereotypes in general (which was the condition on my tweet that you’re taking issue with) no white people should be seen as de facto good. We (white people) should be seen in grades of ‘less bad’ to balance out the ways other groups are unfairly seen.”
Of course, he’s lying. He did say there are no good white people. His Tweet was pretty straightforward in that respect.
Just another example of a “teacher” filled with hate for this country. | {
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Odessa Young (Assassination Nation) and Ella Rumpf (Raw) are the latest to join HBO Max’s forthcoming series Tokyo Vice as series regulars. Michael Mann cast the pair and they join previously announced cast members Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe in the adaptation of Jake Adelstein’s book of the same name. Mann is set to direct the pilot with a script written by Tony-winning playwright J.T. Rogers. Endeavor Content is set to produce.
The 10-episode series is based on Adelstein’s real-life, first-hand account of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police beat. Elgort is set to play Jake Adelstein, an American journalist who embeds himself into the Tokyo Vice police squad to reveal corruption. It chronicles Jake’s daily descent into the neon-soaked underbelly of Tokyo, where nothing and no one is truly what or who they seem.
Young will step into the role of Samantha, an American expat living in late 90s Tokyo. She makes her living as an upscale club hostess in the alluring and wild district of Kabukicho, deftly navigating both salarymen, high-end customers, and the Japanese Yakuza on a nightly basis. Sexy, wry, fluent in Japanese — she keeps Jake and everyone else continually in play.
Rumpf will play Eastern European Polina, a new hostess at the club with Samantha. She came to Tokyo to work as a model and slowly got pulled into the underbelly of Kabukicho. She’s bright, funny, and gorgeous—but struggles as a hostess.
Mann will executive produce the series along with Rogers, John Lesher, Emily Gerson Saines, Alan Poul, Elgort, Destin Daniel Cretton and Watanabe.
Young most recently appeared in the feature Shirley, and next will be seen in CBS All Access’ adaptation of Stephen King’s novel The Stand. She’s repped by CAA, Echo Lake Entertainment, Australia’s Shanahan Management and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.
Rumpf led the cast of Julia Ducournau’s 2016 Cannes selection Raw, which won her the Révelation prize at the 2018 César Award and Jakob Lass’s 2017 Berlin title Tiger Girl. Rumpf will also appear in upcoming German Netflix series Freud. | {
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ONE: THOU Magnus
There is a deep tradition of heavy, slow, dirty music that has originated from Louisiana. From the legendary sludge acts, like EyeHateGod and Crowbar, to heavy rockers Down and all the way to more holistic approaches of Acid Bath, the scene has a distinct sound that makes it so enticing. Thou come from Baton Rouge and through their releases they have become part of this lineage, offering some crushingly heavy music. Starting of in 2005 the band begun to produce its own brew of drone/doom/sludge music, filled with overwhelming distortion and slow, processional pacing. The turnaround at first was impressive with Thou releasing three albums, Tyrant, Peasant and Summit between 2007 and 2010. But, since then the band has taken a parser approach to their full-length records, something that has allowed them to more fully explore their music. The result of that process was the excellent Heathen, released in 2014, revealing an exploratory side of Thou and producing a truly complete offering. Four years later, the band follows the same path and launches its Sacred Bones debut, Magus.
-Read full review here
Magus by Thou
TWO: ABSTRACTER Cinereous Incarnate
Oakland, California’s Abstracter return with their 3rd full length album, Cinereous Incarnate on 8th June. This latest offering further refines the band’s blackened crusty doom approach to new levels.
There were some mammoth, gargantuan tracks that made up their previous two albums Tomb of Feathers (2012) and Wound Empire (2015). Cinereous Incarnate is bolstered by two, shorter instrumental tracks, whilst maintaining the band’s established theme of monster song lengths.
-Read full review here
Cinereous Incarnate by Abstracter
THREE: CULT OF OCCULT Anti Life
Cult of Occult’s guitarist makes his instrument sound like a haunted ghost. The prologue to a pulsating riff that throws off a physical feeling of poignancy and despair to the listener leaves me speechless. The sound of the guitar twisting the feelings inside me to unbearable extremes, and the vocals reach incinerating rage that add an extra dimension to the music. The reverberating bass notes in collaboration with the prolonged screams of hate and the deep ritualistic drums pounding make the music earth-shakingly heavy.
-Read full review here
ANTI LIFE by Cult Of Occult
FOUR: MOLOCH a bad place
Unholy triple DOWN TUNED fuck!
a bad place by moloch
FIVE: FISTER No spirit within
Fister’s last full length release featured one torturous track that spread itself like the bubonic plague across 45 minutes. Bell Witch did something similar last year, of course, although the latter’s even longer Mirror Reaperdid have shades of white cushioned alongside the black. With Fister there is no white, just occasional spots of pebble-dashed grey. No Spirit Within is their fourth full length although the St Louis trio have been releasing a fairly constant stream of distorted doom since forming about a decade ago. This includes an assortment of split releases alongside like-minded destructors including Chrch and Dopethrone.
-Read full review here
No spirit within by FISTER
SIX: LEECHFEAST Neon Crosses
Without a doubt, the new LEECHFEAST record Neon Crosses is going to be on our Top 10 Sludge list for 2018. After you hear this beautiful beast in full, you will know exactly why! This band is at the top of their songwriting game – they have grown so much over the years, it’s totally blowing my mind. Neon Crosses is a record that die-hard sludge lovers will go bonkers for, but humans that don’t even dig this genre will also like this collection of songs.
-Read full review here
Neon Crosses by Leechfeast
SEVEN: DOPETHRONE TRANSCANADIAN ANGER
The threesome has been breaking shit and setting it on fire since 2009, with Demonsmoke, then a hiatus till Dark Foil in 2011, III in 2012, then a further 3 years for them to release 2015’s Hochelaga. Their latest effort is album number five. It’s called Transcanadian Anger, and it’s the best Dopethrone album to date. As a matter of fact – it’s one of the raddest releases of the year so far.
-Read full review here
TRANSCANADIAN ANGER by DOPETHRONE
EIGHT: BRAINOIL Singularity to Extinction
This is it: the best sludge metal album you’ll hear all year. Singularity to Extinction is Brainoil‘s first album since 2011, following a rarities comp that same year and a split with Dropdead in 2014. The Oakland-based trio aren’t afraid to change up their tempos, varying from the more upbeat “Preface to Madness” to the miserable, crawling “Blank Static Void.”
Words via Decibel Magazine
Singularity to Extinction by Brainoil
NINE: FORN Rites of Despair
Rites of Despair starts with what is essentially an introductory track, though it is essential to creating the mood of the album going forward. A female voice gives throat to beautiful, yet agonizing sounds, as the ambient music builds beneath her. 涂地, as the track is titled, shares little musical similarity with the rest of the album, though it is an absolutely necessary harbinger of the emotions which will unfurl through the remainder of the hour plus album. Without wasting a moment, Fórn take every necessary second to create a mood made heavy by both what is played and what isn’t. As is suggested in the fictional paragraph above, Fórn, for me, started off slow, but have they ever hit their stride!
Words via Mosh Pit Nation
Rites of Despair by Fórn
TEN: Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean I Carry My Awareness of Defeat like a Banner of Victory
Drag me down into the filth Drag me down into the unknown Drag me down into a beautiful world that I have never seen before. Why is my brain feeling so Heavy right now? It’s because I am listening to what I think will be one of the sickest Sludge LP released this year called “I Carry My Awareness of Defeat like a Banner of Victory” by the young band Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean.
-Read full feature here
I Carry My Awareness of Defeat like a Banner of Victory by Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean
ELEVEN: BODY VOID I Live Inside A Burning House
I feel haunted right now by the ghosts of my ancestors who died at the hands of White Slave Masters. I also feel haunted by the ghosts of my brothers and sisters that have died at the hands of the police, and I want it to end!!! Right now, the new BODY VOID song “Haunted” is the soundtrack to the anger and disdain I have inside for the Cops of Amerikkka.
Read full feature here
I Live Inside A Burning House by Body Void
TWELVE: YARROW REBIRTH
Slow moving beautiful morbid doom covered in sickness. I can not get enough of this band! All I want to do when I hear them is get high as FUCK and tune out. Burning Witch and Graves at Sea got together and created a HATE child which goes by the name YARROW!
REBIRTH by YARROW
THIRTEEN: ORYX Stolen Absolution
The two-piece metal group is a risky venture: for every stellar example that incorporates multiple registers, tones, and intimate dynamics (Bell Witch, NEST, Obsidian Tongue) there are a dozen that do not sound like anything except an inept demo tape (which I politely won’t call out here). Thankfully Oryx, the Colorado by way of Santa Fe two-piece, fall solidly into the former group: a balanced collaboration that sounds like a symphony of savagery. While “Stolen Absolution” is a sophomore release, this marks their first album as a two-piece – a sort of second debut, more distinct, assured, and unique than their prior effort,
Words via The Sludgelord | {
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By Jung Min-ho
Joshua Cooper Ramo
An NBC Sports analyst has come under criticism here after making an ignorant comment about Korea, the host country of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
During the live broadcast of Friday's opening ceremony, Joshua Cooper Ramo, a commentator for the U.S. broadcaster's coverage of the Olympics, said, "Now representing Japan, a country which occupied Korea from 1910 to 1945. But every Korean will tell you that Japan is a cultural and technological and economic example that has been so important to their own transformation."
His incorrect and insensitive comment about Korea's history has enraged many of its people.
Tens of thousands of Koreans and non-Koreans alike have criticized Ramo and NBC Sports on their social media, urging them to correct this misinformation and apologize.
"Your comments about Korea are absolutely rubbish. After decades of human rights violations, exploiting our resources, and attempts to destroy our heritage, Japan is nowhere close to being thanked, but absolutely despised," one person wrote on NBC News Facebook.
"NBC should have hired an unbiased and culturally sensitive commentator," said another on his Twitter.
During Japanese rule (1910-1945), many Koreans suffered enormously, often from rape, forced labor, torture and death. The issue of the comfort women, the victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, is one of the many atrocities that occurred during that period. Few Koreans would agree with what Ramo said of Japan.
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Män trängde sig in i husvagn – rånade och våldtog kvinna
Polisen efterlyser tips från händelsen
Av: Adam Westin , Jamshid Jamshidi
Publicerad: 27 september 2019 kl. 00.04
Uppdaterad: 05 oktober 2019 kl. 14.15
En kvinna ska ha blivit grovt rånad och våldtagen utanför Västerås.
Enligt uppgifter till Aftonbladet ska två maskerade män ha trängt sig in en husvagn på en camping och där utsatt henne för sexualbrottet.
Innan de flydde rånade de henne.
Polisen spärrade under onsdagen av en camping utanför Västerås och genomförde en kriminalteknisk undersökning.
– Brotten anmäldes till oss vid 22-tiden på tisdagen, men händelsen ska ha skett något tidigare, säger Daniel Wikdahl, presstalesperson hos polisen i region Mitt, och fortsätter:
– Det gäller två brott som inträffat samtidigt och mot samma målsägande, rubriceringarna är grovt rån och våldtäkt.
Ingen gripen
Enligt uppgifter till Aftonbladet har målsägande, en kvinna, anmält att två maskerade män trängt sig in i hennes husvagn.
Gärningsmännen ska då ha våldtagit henne och rånat henne på olika föremål, enligt anmälan.
– Jag kan inte uttala mig mer än den information jag gett, säger Daniel Wikdahl.
Ingen person är gripen i ärendet. På fredagsmorgonen gick polisen ut och efterlyste vittnesiakttagelser från händelsen.
”En uppgift som du bedömer som ointressant kan för utredningen vara värdefull”, skriver polisen på sin webbplats.
Tips och iakttagelser kan lämnas till polisen via telefonnummer 114 14 eller på hemsidan.
FAKTA Har du sett något? Tipsa polisen på telefon 114 14. LÄS MER
KOPIERA LÄNK
Publicerad: 27 september 2019 kl. 00.04
LÄS VIDARE | {
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Missing child found in good condition, transported to hospital for evaluation
Saturday afternoon, at approximately 3 pm, the Walker County dispatch center was notified by family members that their 3 year child had wandered away down a trail near their campsite in the National Forest and they could not locate him.
Walker County Sheriff’s, EMS and the New Waverly Fire Department responded to the scene located in a remote part of the Sam Houston National Forest off Forest Rd 208. This area is several miles away southwest from the Lake Stubblefield area on the North end of Lake Conroe.
Emergency personnel from across the region and state soon joined in as the search area expanded and continued to search overnight, both from the ground and from the air. This morning, fresh search and rescue teams from Walker County, Montgomery County and Texas Equi-Search are on the ground conducting a large search operation, involving everything from Helicopters, drones, canines, ground vehicles and foot search teams.
This afternoon, nearly 24 hours after he went missing, little Ezra was found in dense thicket of briars approximately 400 yards from the last place he was seen by his family the day before. New Waverly Firefighter/EMTs were the first EMS personnel to reach the area where searchers had located the child. They assessed him and quickly moved him to a waiting Walker County EMS unit for further evaluation. He was treated at the scene for minor scrapes and scratches and dehydration, but was otherwise alert and in good spirits.
Officials were about to begin a scheduled 2pm media conference when word was received that Ezra had been found safe. Word quickly spread amongst the family members and emergency personnel on scene and there was a joyous atmosphere on scene as crews began the task of demobilizing and returning to their home agencies.
On behalf of the family and all our search crews, we would like to express our appreciation to the community for all their support and prayers.
The following agencies participated in the search and rescue operation:
Walker County
Sheriff’s Office
EMS
New Waverly Fire Department
Community Emergency Response Team
Office of Emergency Management
Huntsville PD
Huntsville FD
Sam Houston State University PD
Walker County Constables
Montgomery County
Montgomery County EMS
Montgomery County ESD 1 Fire Department
Montgomery County Search and Rescue
Montgomery Fire Department
State resources
DPS
Texas Department of Corrections
Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Wardens
OIG
Federal Resources
US Forest Service
US Forest Service Law Enforcement
DEA
Customs and Border Protection
Coast Gaurd
Search Teams
Montgomery County Search and Rescue
Alpha Search and Rescue
Texas Equi-Search | {
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EMBED >More News Videos Lots of questions surrounding the death of Jordan Davenport in Cypress Towne Lake
CYPRESS, Texas (KTRK) -- Homicide investigators are now looking into the mysterious disappearance and death of Jordan Davenport, 29. His body was recovered from the Towne Lake community in Cypress on Halloween.Family of the father of three tell ABC13 he was there for a Halloween party, then escorted a friend home and vanished."How do you tell kids that their daddy's gone? How do they understand it, you know?" said Davenport's ex-wife.When he was not heard from over the weekend, the family made flyers and began posting on social media.They tell us when he did not show up for work at an AT&T store Monday they knew something was wrong."He always made sure he had fun with his kids when he had time to do it because he was always working," said his ex-wife, who did not want to release her name.She describes Davenport as a family man and provider.Investigators say he was last known to be at the Boardwalk at Towne Lake in Cypress on Oct. 27, around 8 p.m. That same night, residents reported a suspicious person matching Davenport's description in their backyard.They told investigators they chased him to a bridge and lost sight of him.Sources told Eyewitness News that homicide investigators are looking into whether Davenport was beaten by residents during an altercation in the neighborhood before he died.Davenport's parents spoke exclusively to ABC13 on Thursday about his death."Jordan is sweet, humble, and respectful. He's going to be dearly missed," said his mother. "Right now, it hurts so bad. He's just going to be missed. I love him."They said there are still so many unanswered questions. They asked us to conceal their identity."I just don't know the whole story," said his father. "We're going to get to the bottom of it. We're left with a big void."The investigation is ongoing, and homicide investigators ask anyone with information to call 713-274-9100. | {
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