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Did a Brockton man hack the Twitter page of Migos rapper Takeoff? | Someone identifying themselves as Andy Gomes took over the Twitter account of a member of the famous rap trio Migos. A man claiming to be Andy Gomes of Brockton later said he was being "framed." BROCKTON A member of the hottest rap group on the planet had his Twitter hacked by someone identifying himself as a man from Brockton. The Twitter account for Takeoff, one third of the world-famous Migos, was hijacked on New Year's Day, with the account description listing "Andy Gomes" of Waverly Street in Brockton as its holder. The "@1YoungTakeoff" Twitter account then spat out several messages urging followers to call a phone number that supposedly belongs to another Migos rapper, Quavo. The hacked account also sent out profane messages directed toward rap stars Drake and Cardi B, who is the estranged wife of third Migos member, Offset. The Enterprise reached out for comment through Reservoir Media Management, which lists Takeoff and Quavo as clients, but did not immediately hear back on Wednesday. A man claiming to be Andy Gomes of Brockton later contacted The Enterprise through Facebook and said he was being "framed," while declining to comment any further on the matter. As of Wednesday afternoon, the Twitter account for Takeoff, which has 1.2 million followers, no longer featured the profile picture of the man identified as Andy Gomes from Brockton. Instead, the avatar for the Twitter account was left blank, while the account keeps automatically retweeting a set of the same 11 messages. The offensive messages have been taken down, but not before other Twitter users from Brockton noticed the apparent hack. "Funniest part about this whole situation is that there's like 6,000 Andy Gomes living here," wrote one man. Another woman chimed in, "Why is my city so wild?" "Damn Takeoff really just got hacked from someone in Brockton," another man wrote. It's not clear at this time if anyone from Brockton was truly involved in the hack. The Enterprise sent a message to the Twitter communications team seeking comment. "Unfortunately, we can't comment on individual user accounts," said Twitter spokesperson Jen Santamaria. | https://www.enterprisenews.com/news/20190102/did-brockton-man-hack-twitter-page-of-migos-rapper-takeoff |
Are We Brave Enough for the New World of Reproduction? | A new medical device may change almost everything we think about making babies. It may also sweep away the current controversy over abortion while creating new ethical dilemmas. We speak of the artificial womb. Also called a biobag, an artificial womb is a big plastic sack filled with synthetic amniotic fluid. A tube going into the bag supplies the fluid, and another tube drains it. Artificial wombs have been used to bring lambs to full term outside the mama sheep's belly. It's just a matter of time before the artificial womb is ready to gestate a human fetus. The biobag's developers say their only goal is to help premature babies thrive. Instead of using mechanical ventilation and other equipment to salvage those born much too early, nurses in neonatal units could put the premature babies in bags mimicking the pre-birth environment. That would allow the baby to continue developing as peacefully as it would in its mother's womb. Biobags could also save extremely premature babies from dying or suffering brain damage, lung disease and other serious conditions. You see where this could go. It could go to ectogenesis. A fixture of science fiction, ectogenesis is the growing of an embryo or fetus outside the mother's body. The 1999 movie "The Matrix" featured a network of biobags with fetuses growing inside. Right now, scientists are able to nurture embryos conceived through in vitro fertilization for almost 14 days. Two weeks is the voluntary limit placed on human embryonic research because that is when the "primitive streak" -- a forerunner of the nervous system -- appears. There are new calls to extend the cutoff to 28 weeks. It's inevitable. Embryos grown in dishes will eventually be put into biobags. Baby made, uterus not required. Women would be spared the pain, physical risks and economic losses of child bearing. Gay men -- or anyone, really -- could have children without securing the services of a female's womb. The abortion debate would change radically. For example, a state could require that women having abortions transfer the fetus to an artificial womb. The woman could keep the resulting baby or let someone adopt it. Such a system, one imagines, would lead to a large supply of adoptable infants, perhaps more than there are parents for. Many may find the idea distasteful and unnatural. They may argue that removing the physical tie between mother and baby could undermine their emotional bond. (Others would counter that fathers and adoptive parents connect just as closely with their children.) Some say a developing fetus needs to hear the heartbeat and voice of the mother, but those sounds could be reproduced and provided. The subject of what happens to embryos often produces emotional responses. Consider the debate over using embryos for embryonic stem cell research. (Never mind that IVF clinics routinely discard thousands of unused embryos.) Scientists can already manipulate genes to make "designer babies." Soon they will be able to gestate them in biobags. Any number of startling scenarios arise. Humans wanting large numbers of children via one partner are currently constrained by the fact that women usually bear only one child at a time. Laws would -- or could. Before laws can be made, though, societies will have to decide what may be ethically done. And societies will disagree. O brave new world. Biotech is creating it faster than our imaginations can travel. COPYRIGHT 2019 CREATORS.COM | https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2019/01/03/_are_we_brave_enough_for_the_new_world_of_reproduction_139069.html |
Was halten Sie von der Discomeile? | Am Montag, 7. Januar, starten die Arbeiten fr einen entscheidenden Teil der Clubmeile am Breitenweg. (Symbolbild) (Christina Kuhaupt) Stau auf der Hochstrae, umgestellte Verkehrsbarken und Absperrungen, Umleitungen fr Fugnger und Radfahrer die Situation an der Bremer Discomeile ist fr Verkehrsteilnehmer nicht einfach. Und dabei geht es nun erst richtig los. Am Montag, 7. Januar, starten die Arbeiten fr einen entscheidenden Teil der Clubmeile am Breitenweg. Der Partybereich soll dadurch in der Nacht sicherer und attraktiver gemacht werden. In der Bremer Verkehrsbehrde wird zudem geprft, ob statt der kleineren Sperrgitter an Meile und an der Baustelle am Gewoba-Gebude nun ein groer Bauzaun errichtet werden sollte. | https://www.weser-kurier.de/bremen/bremen-stadt_artikel,-was-halten-sie-von-der-discomeile-_arid,1796083.html |
Is Band of Brothers on Netflix? | Band of Brothers is an Emmy-award-winning war drama series based on historian Stephen E Ambroses book of the same name that tells the story of E Easy Company, a regiment of paratroopers that fought in the Second World War. Advertisement Produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, it follows the chaos that the regiment witnessed, and their heroic activity from their initial training to the wars end. Each episode focuses on different characters, played by award-winning actors including Damian Lewis and Ron Livingston. Originally airing in 2001, at the time it was the most expensive TV miniseries ever to have been made, with a reported massive budget of $125 million for its 10 episodes. Those who want a slice of the action can stream the show on HBO GO in America or Amazon Instant Video in the UK. It is also available to stream on Now TV. Advertisement However, Band of Brothers is not currently shown on Netflix in the UK. | https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-01-03/is-band-of-brothers-on-netflix/ |
How Far Into President Trumps Finances Will Democrats Dig? | In July 2017, President Trump told The New York Times that if special counsel Robert Mueller investigated his personal finances, he would be crossing a red line. I think thats a violation. Look, this is about Russia. So I think if he wants to go, my finances are extremely good, my company is an unbelievably successful company. And actually, when I do my filings, peoples say, Man. People have no idea how successful this is. Its a great company. But I dont even think about the company anymore. I think about this. Cause one thing, when you do this, companies seem very trivial. I really mean that. They seem very trivial. But I have no income from Russia. I dont do business with Russia. The president might be averse to having his finances scrutinized, but change is afoot in Washington and that could mean change for the parameters of the Mueller probe, too. Democrats have won control of the House of Representatives, giving them subpoena power and authority over the chambers committees. One such committee is the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, led by Representative Adam Schiff, D-CA. CNN chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin recently profiled Rep. Schiff for The New Yorker, and the new chair has made it clear he has plans for President Trump. Schiff went on, At the end of the day, what should concern us most is anything that can have a continuing impact on the foreign policy and national-security policy of the United States, and, if the Russians were laundering money for the Trump Organization, that would be totally compromising. Schiff hypothesizes that Trump went beyond using his campaign and the Presidency as a vehicle for advancing his business interests, speculating that he may have shaped policy with an eye to expanding his fortune. Theres a whole constellation of issues where that is essentially the center of gravity, Schiff said. Will new Democratic leadership give the green light to cross the presidents red line? Produced by Avery Kleinman. Text by Kathryn Fink. | https://the1a.org/shows/2019-01-03/jeffrey-toobin-crossing-trumps-red-line?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=storiesfromnpr |
How Many Kardashian Babies Will There Be in 2019? | Welcome to You Know What I Heard, the Cuts weekly celebrity gossip column about the peregrinations of the rich and famous. Photo: Getty Images Congratulations to Us Weekly for getting the first big scoop of the year: The tabloid reported yesterday that Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are having another baby via surrogate. This will be their fourth child, and Us Weekly already has all the important details: the surrogate is due in May, the baby is a boy, and he will be the couples last child as they are now out of embryos. The Wests just had their third child, Chicago, via surrogate last year. According to TMZ, they are using a different surrogate this time around because Chicagos was unavailable. Another season of multiple pregnancies and births, perhaps. The Kardashians personal KCNA, E! News, reported yesterday that Kim is heavily influencing her sisters pregnancy plans, and that she would like everyone to have children together again, like last year. (Kylie Jenner gave birth to daughter Stormi in February, and Khloe Kardashian gave birth to daughter True in April.) They all loved being pregnant at the same time and everyone wants all of the kids to be close in age, a source told the site. Everyone jokes about having another round of triplets all the time. We already know that Khloe wants to have another baby with her boyfriend Tristan Thompson, despite the fact that he publicly cheated on her throughout her pregnancy. Kylie, too, has said that she would like to have another child with her boyfriend, Travis Scott. If I had to guess, Id say at least one of them will get pregnant this year. But what would make for a truly great season of reality TV, I think, is if Kourtney Kardashian had a fourth baby with Scott Disick. They have been spending a lot of time together lately. Sofia Richie can babysit! Well, according to photos she posted from her New Years Eve costume (?) party, Lena Dunham and Karlie Kloss are OUT, and 16-year-old Iris Apatow is IN. A quick social-media search reveals that Swift has been friendly with Apatows parents, Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow, for many years. And now she is hosting their teenage daughter at her late-night party sponsored by Ryan Reynoldss gin company. (Swipe through those photos, youll see.) Im excited to see where this all goes. Well, she is still dating him: They spent New Years Eve together at a dinner party hosted by super-manager Scooter Braun. He posted many photos of them cuddling together: Munns old rumored flame Chris Pratt, meanwhile, spent New Years with his girlfriend Katherine Schwarzenegger in Cabo. According to E! News, Schwarzeneggers siblings and her mom, Maria Shriver, came on the trip, as did Pratts 6-year-old son, Jack. That sounds like an engagement trip to me. And our pal Jennifer Lawrence, who starred with Pratt in the truly abominable Passengers in 2016, rang in the new year with her newish boyfriend, Cooke Maroney. Us Weekly reported this morning that she is getting very serious with the 33-year-old New York art dealer, whom she started dating in June. Theyve already moved in together and appear to be in it for the long haul, per a source. How romantic! Photo: JD Images/REX/Shutterstock One small blessing from this week: Lindsay Lohan pays off $100K in taxes before new show premieres. And heres an interesting blind item from this week, care of Enty at Crazy Days and Nights: This foreign born former A+ list tweener has been using friends to try and contact his ex again. Finally, Ill leave you with this photo of Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn enjoying their New Years vacation in Aspen. They never disappoint! Photo: DUNKIND / BACKGRID Thanks so much for gossiping with me this week. Dont forget to email me at [email protected], send me a message on Twitter, or contact me on Signal if youd like to chat. | https://www.thecut.com/2019/01/how-many-kardashian-babies-will-there-be-in-2019.html?utm_source=nym&utm_medium=f1&utm_campaign=feed-part |
Should schools teach the national anthem and how to avoid knife crime? | Over the last year, there have been calls for each of these topics to be taught in schools. The practice is known as curriculum dumping. Every time something terrible happens in our society, we expect schools to pick up the pieces. If only pupils learnt about the dangers of knife crime, acid attacks, revenge porn or gambling, wed manage to nip these problems in the bud. All well and good if schools have the time and expertise. But with a packed curriculum, they usually dont. Now a campaign group, Parents and Teachers for Excellence, has scoured social media, newspapers and other sources to unearth 213 examples of suggested new subjects in 2018 alone. It points out schools would need hundreds of additional hours to teach them. You have to laugh. Well, thats if you agree with putting humour on the timetable. More OTT ideas floated by the public include sado-masochism and swearing. It also raises concerns over schools becoming catnip for lobby groups and policy-makers. The top three themes to make the list are health, finance and technology. It emerged this week that one of the most worthy topics first aid skills has already won the Governments backing and will be introduced from 2020. Other hobby horses include the Commonwealth, workers rights, litter picking, the RAF, marriage, how to avoid dog bites, oceans and feminism. And thats before you get to using trampolining to teach literacy skills, or tapping into Love Island to critique celebrity culture. Parents and Teachers for Excellence concludes: We believe that teachers and schools are the ones best placed to decide what their students need to know. Yet sometimes just sometimes policy-makers do come up with good suggestions. Education Secretary Damian Hinds has just revealed he will be sending a list with a difference to schools. Its a bucket list of activities for primary pupils to tick off, largely in their spare time. The new passport includes 20 activities for each year group. The point is learning doesnt have to take place in the classroom. Its there in everyday life and doesnt need a teacher to teach it. Parents can be the natural educators. Tasks for reception pupils include visiting a farm, painting a self-portrait, making a paper boat, re-telling a story to an audience and posting a letter. For older children, they range from taking a train ride, visiting a museum and keeping a diary through to building a bridge and sleeping under canvas. A curriculum for a happy life. | https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/local-news/should-schools-teach-national-anthem-2387862 |
Can James Harden Keep His Dominance Going? | Steph Gifts Fan Who Asked for Girls UA Kicks with New Curry 6s Happy 34th Birthday to LeBron 4 Years Ago, Kobe Passed Jordan on the NBA Scoring List Drummond and Embiid Reignite Rivalry Happy 24th Birthday to Giannis Antetokounmpo D-Rose Turned Back the Clock and Put Up 50 Dubs Trolled Fergie So Hard It Became a Challenge CP3-Rondo Blowup Was a Long Time Coming NBA Let Players Know They Have to Cover Branded Tattoos The NBA Is Back and the Soccer World Is Pumped Boban Is Back to Break It Down for Another Season Players Battle Campers in Rivalry of the Summer Happy 30th to KD! Andrew Bynum Is Making an NBA Comeback Kobe's Hottest Kicks The Kyrie-I.T. Trade Shook the NBA 1 Year Ago Today Dyckman Courts Are the Red Carpet of Streetball Giannis' Youngest Brother Could Be the True 'Greek Freak' #JamesGang Got AAU Hoops on Lock 11 Years Ago, KG Joined the Celtics Right Arrow Icon James Harden is entering 2019 on a tear. He became the first player with 35+ points and at least five assists in eight consecutive games. Harden has played a pivotal role in the Houston Rockets' run and jump to the No. 4 seed in the West. Watch the video above for more of Harden's stats during this run. Bleacher Report is the go-to destination for basketball fans everywhere. B/R's NBA coverage delivers must-see on-court analysis and highlights on a daily basis. Connect to the NBA stories, teams, athletes and highlights that make the game more than a game. Download the free Bleacher Report app to catch all the moments that matter in one place. Get the app to get the game. | https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2813782-can-james-harden-keep-his-dominance-going |
Have Gigi Hadid And Zayn Malik Split Again? | Power couple Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik have reportedly not spent any time together since November sparking rumours of another split after the pair parted for the first time in March last year. Gigi Hadid might be stepping out alone from now on The 23-year-old model and 25-year-old singer announced their separation two years after they first became a couple but the twosome were back together by June with both posting several social media pictures of the other or them as a duo. However, since the end of last year, the couple have not appeared on each other's Instagram accounts and it seems former One Direction member, Zayn has unfollowed Victoria's Secret star, Gigi. MORE: Ten Of Gigi Hadid's Best Looks An insider at E! News said the two think that 'time apart is best for the sake of their relationship right now'. The source said: "Both been really focused on themselves and their separate careers. "Zayn has been in the studio recording new music and pushing out his new album, while Gigi has been focusing a lot of time on herself." Gigi spent the festive season sharing throwback pictures of herself, sister Bella and mother Yolanda with Santa, but no pictures of Zayn. December 12 saw the singer release a new track titled There You Are, an intense love song about relying on people. Some of the lyrics include: 'Friends that I rely on / Don't come through / They run like the rive / But not you. 'Only you know me the way you know me / Only you forgive me when I'm sorry / Even when I messed it up / There you are'. Fans are convinced the song is about Gigi and their on-and-off relationship. The duo were first linked in November 2015, shortly after his split from fiance Little Mixer, Perrie Edwards and her split from singer Joe Jonas. | http://www.contactmusic.com/gigi-hadid/news/have-gigi-hadid-and-zayn-malik-split-again_6264068 |
Do large human crowds exhibit a collective behavior? | By observing the collective movement of thousands of Chicago Marathon runners queueing up to the starting line, researchers find that the motion of large crowds is fluid-like and mathematically predictable. According to the new study, the collective behavior of large crowds can be described solely using principals based in hydrodynamic theory by applying a fluid-like model to crowd dynamics. The findings suggest that the predictive power of hydrodynamic crowd modeling may provide quantitative guidance in crowd management - particularly important in situations where crowd dynamics can turn dangerous, like in a panic situation created by accidents or violence. Understanding the collective movements of animals has largely been based on complex interactions between individuals within the group - each with a set of "rules" and motivations that govern behavior. For humans, however, this agent-based approach is limited in its ability to describe the movement of crowds. Presenting a different approach, Nicolas Bain and Denis Bartolo ignore individual agents and instead treat the crowd as an entity itself in order to establish a hydrodynamic theory of large-scale human movement free of behavioral assumption. Bain and Bartolo observed the motion of runners moving slowly towards the starting corrals of the Chicago Marathon and then stopping as small groups began the race. With each movement, the authors identified waves in crowd density and velocity cascading from the front of the line. What's more, these waves traveled throughout the crowd at a constant speed. The dynamics were able to be predictively modeled in other races that the researchers evaluated, including in Paris and Atlanta. "The success of Bain and Bartolo's approach opens many avenues or future work for collective behavior researchers more generally," writes Nicholas Ouellette in a related Perspective. Ouellette says this work lays the foundation for an empirically grounded theory of group behavior. ### | https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-01/aaft-dlh010219.php |
Should CNY Copy New York Citys Ban on Single-Use Styrofoam? | One of the many new laws going into effect in New York is a ban on single-use Styrofoam in New York City. Single-use Styrofoam is everywhere - you use it once, throw it away...and some estimates say it could lay around in a landfill for nearly 1 million years if it's not exposed to sunlight. As Styrofoam breaks down into small pieces, it can get into waterways - poisoning wildlife. In 2014, NYC trash collectors say they collected approximately 28,500 tons of expanded polystyrene (EPS) and Styrofoam and estimates that approximately 90 percent of that is from single-use food service products like cups, trays and containers. Now, NYC has enacted a ban on single-use EPS and styrofoam, including packing peanuts - and beginning in July - will issue fines to businesses and restaurants that continue to use the product. The ban will affect Styrofoam coffee cups, take-out and to-go containers, and other items like foam bowls for ice cream. Of course, restaurants are opposed to the change because Styrofoam and EPS products are relatively cheap in the short term. Legislators, however, felt the long-term cost to the environment was too great. We're close to several major watersheds and waterways, and the cost of disposing of all the foam waste is significant as well. Let us know by commenting on Facebook, or sending an email to [email protected] | http://wour.com/should-cny-copy-new-york-citys-ban-on-single-use-styrofoam/ |
What Is The Way Forward For The Gambia In 2019? | 0 SHARES Share Tweet QUESTION OF THE DAY Foroyaa has been trying to interview the Secretary General of each of the political parties that went to Congress to find out what they have outlined as the way forward. The Secretary General of the PPP has promised to talk to the paper and we are following the promise. On his part Halifa Sallah indicated that the election of 1 December 2016 has given rise to the liberation of the Gambian voter who never believed until the results were declared that change could come through the ballot box after 52 years of attaining the right to self-determination and independence. According to him, the new Gambia does not arise automatically. He said that before a new Gambia could emerge a new Gambian must first arise and be counted. He said that regime change does not automatically lead to the eradication of poverty. This would require system change, which he said, is the fundamental objective of PDOIS. We will publish all the interviews once they are done. | https://foroyaa.gm/what-is-the-way-forward-for-the-gambia-in-2019/ |
Why would anyone print out an entire website? | That's what Kris de Decker did with Low-Tech magazine and it makes a lot of sense. Prior to TreeHugger becoming part of MNN in 2012, many of us also wrote for another website, Planet Green. I must have written a thousand posts about frugal green living (this was just after the Great Recession), all of which were lost when they simply pulled the plug five years of my work just gone. My wife Kelly Rossiter, who wrote about food, is still angry about losing everything she wrote all these years later. The lesson learned is that nothing is permanent on the internet; the Wayback Machine doesn't capture everything. It is all just ephemeral bits and bytes that can be gone in a millisecond. That is why this book is so interesting. It is essentially a printout of the content of a wonderful website, Low-Tech Magazine, written from Barcelona mostly by Kris de Decker. He is not terribly prolific, publishing about 12 stories per year, but they are important (and controversial) and for me, have been incredibly influential. The powered website (there is also a solar powered one)/Screen capture The powered website (there is also a solar powered one)/Screen capture Low-tech Magazine questions the blind belief in technological progress, and talks about the potential of past and often forgotten knowledge and technologies when it comes to designing a sustainable society. Interesting possibilities arise when you combine old technology with new knowledge and new materials, or when you apply old concepts and traditional knowledge to modern technology. The future we want: high density living and clotheslines./Public Domain The future we want: high density living and clotheslines./Public Domain A great example is Bedazzled by Energy Efficiency, which starts off complaining that energy efficiency initiatives will never be enough (with a diversion into the very controversial issue of rebound effects) but raises the principle of sufficiency. Sufficiency can involve a reduction of services (less light, less travelling, less speed, lower indoor temperatures, smaller houses), or a substitution of services (a bicycle instead of a car, a clothesline instead of a tumble drier, thermal underclothing instead of central heating). It's a hard sell, as I have noted- "Sufficiency vs efficiency is what we have been talking about on TreeHugger for years; live in smaller spaces, in walkable neighborhoods where you can bike instead of drive. Our posts on Teslas are more popular." But it is critical if we are actually going to effect change. Surprisingly, he has not used old tech in producing this book, but is using the latest, most modern tech, printing it on demand through Lulu. It seemed odd at first, but makes sense. Kris explains: Just like the solar powered website, the book is designed for maximum sustainability. To fit as many articles in one volume as possible, the book has tight margins, justified text, and a gutter that adjusts for the effects of "perfect" book binding. Printing happens on demand, meaning that there are no unsold copies. Lulu.com works with printers all over the world, so that most copies are produced locally and travel relatively short distances. It is a very simple book, with no illustrations. "To fit as many articles in one volume as possible, the book has tight margins, justified text, and a gutter that adjusts for the effects of "perfect" book binding." However I find that the gutter is not quite large enough, and it seems odd to get pages like this, full of blank space, when trying to fit in as much as possible. But these are minor quibbles. Kris explains: First of all, many people prefer to read longer texts on paper: it is easier on the eyes than a computer screen, it offers distraction-free reading, and it is always immediately ready for use. Second, reading on paper is the most resilient practice: the content is accessible without the need for a computer, the internet, or a power supply. Indeed, that is the reason I will treasure this book, along with my Whole Earth Catalog and Fortunes in Formulas when the power goes out and the internet no longer connects, it teaches you how to do important things using low tech, from heating your body instead of your house, from using hydropower and wind, from using ropes and knots, hand powered tools, and running tools on stationary bikes. If you can get to this content on the internet, then you probably don't need it. If you don't know Kris de Decker and Low Tech Magazine, look here at the last few years of posts, or check out the related links below for my favourite posts based on his writing. It quickly becomes very clear why you need the hard copy backup. If you don't buy the book, consider supporting Kris on Patreon. I do. | https://www.treehugger.com/sustainable-product-design/why-would-anyone-print-out-entire-website.html |
Why are some homeowners insurance premiums so much higher? | Q: We put in a bid on a 1920s home for $275,000. I called my insurance company to get a quote, and they told me it would cost around $1,800 a year. My parents pay only $800 a year for their homeowners insurance policy, and their home is worth over $500,000. A: The age of the home is only one part of the puzzle when it comes to how insurance companies determine what you will pay for your homeowners insurance premium. And, were not really surprised that youre confused over the way premiums get priced. When Sam deals with homeowners insurance companies, he is also typically somewhat confused and puzzled. But lets start by talking about the characteristics an insurance company will evaluate when pricing your insurance policy: the homes size, the materials with which its built, the location, the age and the type of property (condo vs. single-family home). In addition, you might earn a discount off the policy if you buy your homeowners insurance policy and auto insurance policy together or if you install an alarm system. Lets start with size. If your parents home is twice as big as your home, youd expect your parents homeowners insurance policy to cost roughly double what yours might cost. But there are other considerations, like the cost to reconstruct the home if it is totally destroyed. Lets say your parents home burns down and so does yours. Your home is 2,000 square feet and your parents home is 4,000 square feet. The insurance company might look at its charts or computer models and figure out that it will cost about $200 per square foot to rebuild each of these homes. So, the insurance company would have to shell out $400,000 to rebuild your home and $800,000 to rebuild your parents home. But if one of the homes has top of the line finishes and the other is in lousy shape, the cost differential to rebuild might be even greater and it might even be more than the market value of the property. Thats why insurance companies look at the age, type of construction, the finishes, the amenities, location (because the cost to rebuild might be greater in one location than another due to local building codes and extreme weather hazards) and a multitude of other factors to come up with a number. Say your home is in a remote area, and getting supplies and contractors to that remote area is costly; wed expect your homeowners insurance premium to be higher than if the insurance company had to rebuild the same property in a lower-cost area where supplies and tradespeople are readily available. Insurance companies may also look at your credit score, credit history and past claims history to determine pricing. Still, you need to make sure youre buying the proper type of insurance and amount of coverage so that you can build should catastrophe strike. Some insurance policies will indicate that the policy covers replacement cost, but you need to know what the limitations are on the amount they will pay. They may pay only up to the insurance limit. In some cases they may cover a tad over the insurance limit; and in others, the insurance company will pay whatever it takes to rebuild your home. Each one of these policy limits might cost different amounts. Your parents policy may have one type of coverage, and your policy might be better than your parents policy. And then theres the bundling with other coverages, such as sump pump and backup sewer, inflation endorsements, and myriad other coverages. Ilyce Glink is the CEO of Best Money Moves and Samuel J. Tamkin is a real estate attorney. Contact them through the website ThinkGlink.com. | https://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/realestate/sc-housing-0109-glink-tamkin-20190103-story.html |
When will Upstate NY get some real snow again? | Syracuse, N.Y. -- Here in Americas snowiest large city, during the traditionally snowiest month of the year, the sidewalks and lawns and evergreens are bare. After a big start in November, snowfall fizzled in December, when Syracuse got less than half the usual amount. And the first week of January looks to be relatively snow free in Central New York. (Tug Hill and the hills of Western New York are, as usual, a different matter. More on that later.) Meteorologists say snow is coming to Upstate New York, but not all that much and not all that soon. Im afraid it may not turn out to be a very nice January for snow, said Mark Wysocki, New York state climatologist and an atmospheric sciences professor at Cornell University. I dont see anything on the horizon for at least the next couple of weeks in terms of anything major. Thats good news if you dont like shoveling; bad news if you like snowmobiling. The problem, Wysocki said, is that the polar jet stream has split into a northern and southern branch. The southern branch is bringing moisture up from the southeast, but the northern branch is blocking cold air up in Canada. The problem is the atmosphere is really giving us mixed signals, he said. CNYs 2018 weather was so extreme it turned out perfectly normal Snow flurries are in the forecast for this weekend, and theres also a good chance for snow late next week and again later in the month and into early February. But meteorologists say those storms probably wont bring Syracuse anywhere near the January average of 34 inches. There are a couple systems in January that could produce a little bit of snow, said Paul Pastelok, a meteorologist with Accuweather. "It may be just colder with flurries getting into February, not heavy accumulating snow." The bottling up of cold air in Canada means that there wont be much lake effect snow, either, Pastelok said. Were in a pattern where theres lot of west-to-east air flow across the Pacific and the nation, he said. "Thats not very good to get lake effect snow, which is the bread and butter for you guys." Tug Hill, traditionally the snowiest populated place east of the Mississippi, and Western New York have gotten much more snow this year, as usual. Most of that fell in November, though, and there isnt much snow around. Oscela, on Tug Hill, has had 38 inches of snow since Dec. 1, but theres only 5 inches on the ground. And even Tug Hill snow this year is nowhere near what it was a year ago. By this time in 2018, Redfield, also on Tug Hill, had gotten 199 inches of snow. This year, its had 81.5 inches. Snow scarce with mostly quiet weather this week | https://www.syracuse.com/news/2019/01/when-will-upstate-ny-get-some-real-snow-again.html |
Is just being honest enough for bureaucrats? | However, for bureaucracy to thrive, honesty alone is not enough. Honesty is a necessity, but not a sufficient condition for the welfare of the people. By Anil Swarup Bureaucracy has not withered away in any part of the world. We may condemn, criticise, castigate and ridicule it, but it is indeed an essential tool to carry out the programmes of the government. In order to do that effectively, it has to not only survive, but has to thrive in the interest of our country and our people. However, for bureaucracy to thrive, honesty alone is not enough. Honesty is a necessity, but not a sufficient condition for the welfare of the people. The government pays the bureaucrat to perform, to deliver. It is a different matter that, on account of the emerging sociopolitical environment, this performance is not always expected to be in public good. It is also a pity that, on occasions, the bureaucrat is expected to perform in the interest of a few. Unfortunately, such occasions are increasing by the day and those bureaucrats who do not conform are not only shown the door, but are also harassed. What is even more appalling is the fact that far from recognising good performance, there are instances of officers being penalised for performing well. Such signals do not augur well for the system and the society. However, there is still a huge area where such pressures either do not exist or, if they do, can be managed. Whatever be the situation, honesty alone may not serve the desired purpose. There are several categories of honest officers. There are those who are honest, efficient and non-pliable. Then there are those who are honest, efficient but pliable. These categories also include those who are honest but think that the entire world around them is falling apart. They then take upon them the task of cleansing the system. The crusader in them gets the better of them and the media attention adds fuel to the fire. A campaign is launched against those whom such honest officers perceive as dishonest. Honesty becomes an end on itself. Such officers forget the fact that they are paid not merely to remain honest, but to perform as well. They evaluates their own performance in terms of punitive actions that they have taken against the others, the number of people or institutions they have exposed (becoming a quintessential whistle-blower that brings name and fame), the number of disciplinary proceedings they get initiated, and the number of FIRs they get lodged. In fact, in the ultimate analysis, such precipitate actions do not even serve such officers professed goal of cleansing the society, as no effort is made to evolve systems that can reduce, if not eliminate, the incidence of corrupt practices. Evolving systems is a time-consuming process and may not provide immediate fodder for publicity. Also Read: How Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella led companys biggest turnaround in 2018 As mentioned earlier, a bureaucrat has to deliver, as he/she is the prime instrument available with the state to deliver. The honest-only bureaucrat does a huge disservice to this noble cause. He/she smells a rat everywhere and in every file. Hence, nothing gets delivered, and, if it does get delivered, it is too late for the desired impact. There is a paralyses of analyses. For him/her, honesty pays because he/she leads an honourable life as an honest officer and is recognised by many as a crusader against the dishonest. However, through an honesty-alone approach, he/she would have done precious little to encourage initiative or motivate those working with him/her to perform. Such officers do not have much to write home about their own performance except proudly displaying the trophies of the victims of their crusade. In order to perform, a bureaucrat, especially in the higher echelons, has to evolve as a leader and has to cultivate such leadership qualities that do not inspire awe or fear, but respect. This is done through leading by example, focus, objectivity, consistency, empathy, commitment to the tasks and an ever-burning desire to deliver. All these are necessary virtues that need not necessarily be consumed in the crusade against the dishonest. The virtues need to be used for evolving better systems and for inspiring colleagues to perform. Fortunately, there are indeed a number of bureaucrats who are honest and efficient. They may not be as visible as those that are going hammer and tongs against the dishonest. They are not crusaders. They are the doers. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan led by the redoubtable Parameswaran Iyer is creating an impact. Fortunately, it is becoming visible as well. The thrust on efficiency and integrity in the Indian Railways by its chairman Ashwani Lohani, who retired this week, is already yielding results. One can witness the impact of the changes he has brought about in the functioning of the Railways. He has not gone to town with what all he has done, but it is all visible. The team of Indu Bhushan and Dinesh Arora, engaged in implementing the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana Abhiyan as part of Ayushman Bharat, provides another example of honest and efficient working. What was done by the technocrat E Sreedharan to usher in metro railway revolution is legendary. These are honest and efficient bureaucrats committed to the cause for which they are paid for from the public exchequer. They are performing their tasks as professionals. Their crusading spirit is directed towards the tasks assigned to them. However, unfortunately, there are an equal numbers of bureaucrats who stop at just being honest. | https://www.financialexpress.com/opinion/is-just-being-honest-enough-for-bureaucrats/1432842/ |
What will happen? | The future is uncertain and often out of our control. Things just happen, no matter how much we prepare for them. Rich or poor we all meet the day the same way but what we do within that day is the matter we end up in. A wise heart discerns both time and judgment because for everything there is a time and judgment. In the midst of our discerning whether this or that would be good, life happens, and the fear of uncertainty creeps in making us question the very will of God in our life. That is truth. It is only one way. The truth road is so narrow that men can seldom walk together with locked arms, its as if we walk in a single line, believing in a general truth: Me! Back in the 1500s, William Tyndale spent all his income to print 6,000 Bibles in English only to have a bishop buy them because he disagreed that everyday people should have Bibles that they could read, and he burnt them on the church steps. That only fueled the fire for William and brought more income in to make more! But the truth cant die, the sun rises on the evil and the good, and it rains on the just and the unjust. Im tired of my judgment, my way of doing things. I fail again and again, but Gods mercy is made new every morning. The outcome can be good but we have to choose to repent, life and death is a war that has no release, its a path were all on for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. This is a foretelling of things to come. A whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved no matter what this world has said or how awful it is, or how our hearts are hardened; the tears have run out, and your voice may be gone! We cant let what happens in our life break us! Cry out to the Lord, and He will save us, help us, and understanding will come to restore a LIFE. That will happen! https://www.sidneydailynews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/47/2019/01/web1_Budde-Benjamin.jpg By Benjamin Budde Contributing columnist The writer is a husband, father, preacher, writer, artist, musician and songwriter. Ben and his wife, Missy, reside with their three sons in St. Marys. The writer is a husband, father, preacher, writer, artist, musician and songwriter. Ben and his wife, Missy, reside with their three sons in St. Marys. | https://www.sidneydailynews.com/opinion/columns/129537/what-will-happen |
Why does Mellanox have four potential suitors? | It looks like Microsoft is looking to give itself the gift of networking in the form of an acquisition Mellanox. But it may have to get in line. An Israeli financial publication called TheMarker reports that Microsoft not only has an interest in acquiring the network chip maker, but it also has reportedly engaged Goldman Sachs to handle negotiations. The rumors first popped up before Christmas, and understandably there has been little activity since. But Microsoft may not be the only vendor looking to grab Mellanox. Data Centre Dynamics in the U.K. reported last month that three other firms Xilinx, Intel, and Broadcom could also be interested in acquiring the company. As far back as October, CNBC was reporting that Mellanox was looking for a buyer. One things for certain, when a company has that many suitors, it gets bought. The last time I saw this much activity around a firm it was cloud provider SoftLayer, which IBM eventually bought and made a central component of its cloud strategy. Those three non-Microsoft companies would make more sense, as Mellanox is a hardware firm, but there is a good reason for Microsoft to want Mellanox, as well. Its a major customer of Mellanox, whose claim to fame is extremely high speed and bandwidth connections between server hosts. Mellanox is based in Israel and was founded in 1999 by former Intel and Galileo Technology executives. It was one of the successful companies at bringing the InfiniBand fabric to market. Its equipment is used in half of the top 500 most powerful supercomputers. Mellanox was first to market with 100 Gb/sec InfiniBand and Ethernet connections, and more recently the company introduced 200 Gb/sec InfiniBand switches and server adapters that should be coming to market soon. And thats what Microsoft wants for the Azure network, since it buys so much of it already. I cant imagine they would buy such a popular product and promptly yank it from the market that has never been Microsofts style. But if it gives them a leg up on Amazon and other cloud providers, then it would be worth it to write a big check. Whoever acquires Mellanox will have to jump through some hoops because international acquisitions are never easy, and given the geopolitics, might be even worse in this case. A protracted merger would not be good for either party or its customers. For now, there has been no further word so well wait and see. | https://www.networkworld.com/article/3330566/techology-business/why-does-mellanox-have-four-potential-suitors.html |
Why buy local? | Shopping locally isnt always the most convenient or cheapest way to buy groceries. But when you buy seasonal vegetables, handmade bread, pasture-raised eggs and other goods from the 120 farmers and food makers at the Mill City Farmers Market, your neighborhood food co-op and other local retailers, you are paying for the whole cost of the product. Local, sustainable farmers and makers dont externalize the costs onto the environment, our communitys health or poor wages and working conditions for their staff and themselves. Shopping locally also has many other benefits and supports a healthier environment and community while providing safer, more nutritious food for you and your family! Read on to learn exactly what you are supporting when you buy local. For the environment: Protects sustainable, diverse farmland from mono-cropping and development Reduces the distance food travels, cutting down on fossil fuels, air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions* Preserves crop and livestock genetic diversity and disease resistance Decreases landfill material with less food packaging and waste Maintains soil integrity * Most food items travel 1,2002,480 miles before they reach an average American table. For the community: Locally owned companies return more than three times as much revenue back into our local economy Farmers selling locally create four times as many full-time jobs compared to those selling to nationally Local farms preserve Americas rural livelihood and identity Shopping local is an investment in the future of our communitys health Farmers markets build spaces for community to gather, learn and grow For the vendors: Farmers and food makers selling directly to consumers keep a greater portion of their revenue Farmers markets provide one of the only low-barrier entry points for new farmers and small businesses, allowing them to learn and test the market efficiently Small businesses educate the public about their specialty and offer a variety of unique and multi-cultural products For you: Learn more about your food, including how and where it was grown Build relationships with growers and makers to stay closer to the seasons, the land and your food Find healthier, fresher and safer options for you and your family** ** Studies have shown that local produce contains up to 50 percent more vitamins and minerals. Challenge yourself to eat locally one night a week throughout the winter! Mill City Farmers Markets chefs are here to inspire your #WeeklyMarketMeal throughout the frozen months with the recipe below and our recipe archive at millcityfarmersmarket.org. Mill City Farmers Markets next winter market is 10 a.m.1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 12 inside the Mill City Museum, 704 S. 2nd St. Honey ricotta pancakes Recipe courtesy of Mill City Farmers Market. Makes 4 large pancakes. Ingredients 1 cup ricotta cheese from Shepherds Way Farm or Cosmic Wheel Creamery 3 eggs from Sunshine Harvest Farm, slightly beaten 3 Tablespoons melted butter 1/3 cup flour from Sunrise Flour Mill 2 teaspoons honey from Ames Farm 1/4 teaspoons salt Method Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until smooth. Butter a heavy frying pan and fry large dollops of batter over medium heat. Turn cakes once small bubbles appear. Serve pancakes with more honey, thawed frozen berries or even chopped dried lavender or other herbs. The possibilities are endless! | http://www.southwestjournal.com/focus/mill-city-cooks/2019/01/why-buy-local/ |
How do critters survive Minnesota winters? | After living in Minnesota for more than 30 years, I finally bought myself a serious coat, the kind that looks like a giant, puffy sleeping bag with a huge faux fur hood. Its hideous, and I couldnt be happier or more comfortable. Now, rather than fretting over whether Ill freeze to death before I make it all the way around Lake Harriet, Im free to ponder how in the hell living creatures can possibly survive outdoors for months in our unforgiving climate. In case youre wondering too, I did some reading, and here is some of what I learned. Birds Sure, a lot of birds head south for the winter. But here in Minnesota, many birds stay put, including house sparrows, woodpeckers, blue jays, American goldfinches, Northern cardinals and black-capped chickadees, to name a few. Well, not all of them do. When we go through long periods of terribly harsh cold, only the strongest birds make it. And they do it by doing some of the same things we might, like shiver, especially through the night when its really cold, so they can maintain their body heat. Some birds also squat down to cover their legs and feet as best they can. (Oh, those tiny little bare legs.) Because all that shivering burns off fat, birds are really hungry in the morning. So if youd like to help out with a meal, fill a tray or platform feeder with a nice mix of black oiler sunflower seed, peanut pieces, safflower seeds and cracked corn. To offer a little something for everyone, consider having a tube-style feeder with a similar mixture in it for birds that prefer to eat that way. While youre at it, maybe throw in a suet feeder or two and a finch feeder packed with tiny bits of thistle and sunflower pieces (they love sunflower pieces). Plug in a heated dog dish or birdbath. Birds bathe all year long to keep their feathers clean, which helps them hold in warmth. Ground squirrels and chipmunks While chipmunks hibernate in the winter, sleeping in their burrows where they wake up every now and then to have a snack and poop and pee, eastern gray squirrels must survive the cold on food theyve either hoarded or can forage somehow. They often stay in their nests for several days when its bitterly cold, but otherwise theyre out and about hunting for all of those nuts they carefully buried. A gray squirrel can hide 25 nuts in a half an hour and can later find roughly 80 percent of the those it buried, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Im impressed. Frogs Hibernation means different things for different creatures. In the case of frogs, many aquatic frogs hibernate in the water. But rather than burrowing deep into the mud like turtles, they hang around near the bottom of a pond or stream where they breathe oxygen from the water through their skin. (Fun fact: extremely cold water holds more oxygen than warm water.) Other frogs, like tree frogs and wood frogs, endure a more sci-fi experience in that they pretty much freeze solid for the winter months. Hibernating under logs or in leaf litter, they wait out the winter as little frog popsicles that reanimate once the weather warms up. Wild turkeys Its hard to take a nature walk in the city these days without running into at least a few wild turkeys. Huge and strangely prehistoric looking, those turkeys are as tough as they look and can usually survive our brutally cold weather as long as they can find food, particularly fruit-bearing shrubs and trees as well as grasses and seeds. The biggest hardship they face is deep powdery snow that can make it too difficult for them to forage. If those conditions persist for more than a couple of weeks, many turkeys can starve to death, which totally makes me want to set up a Little Free Wild Turkey Emergency Feeding Station in my front yard. I know. Youre super-glad youre not my neighbor. Meleah Maynard is a writer, editor and master gardener. For more gardening ideas and tips, visit her blog, which has been renamed Livin Thing. | http://www.southwestjournal.com/voices/livin-thing/2019/01/how-do-critters-survive-minnesota-winters/ |
Could Police Have Prevented 7-Year-Old Jazmine Barnes Death? | Its true of every case of white supremacist violence, every senseless and unprovoked shooting that causes the death of innocent people, and it may very well be the case here: We could have prevented this. Prominent civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who has in the past represented slain innocents Jemel Roberson and Botham Jean, posted a Twitter thread detailing an unsolved 2017 crime that was horrifyingly similar to the Sunday shooting attack on LaPorsha Washington and her daughters, which resulted in the death of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes. Advertisement Merritt linked to an article about AVonta Williams, who was shot while driving in the exact same area in which Washingtons family was accosted, also by a white male in a pickup truck. Police could have taken Williams case seriously as a white supremacist threat to public safety, especially since, according to Merritt, local activists cited a similar incident before Williams. Advertisement Of course, thats not what the police did. Who did I rob? said Williams... They just kept asking questions, like, making me feel like I had done something bad. On Thursday after calls for answers from community activists Deric Muhammad and Gerry Monroe Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez promised the family at their Aldine-area home that his agency would complete the investigation of the shooting Williams and his relatives said they reached out to the sheriffs office on multiple occasions. His sister, Amber Williams, said she visited a substation twice but was told to bring her brother in person for information. When his mother, Kisshima Williams, called, she also was told to bring her son for an interview. She said she could not because he was in a wheelchair and in pain. Advertisement White supremacists keep getting bolder, more dangerous. This is a fact. We also know that the police have always had ties to these supremacists, making justice for racist violence complicated at best and hopeless at worst. Its fully possible that neither of these horrific crimes was a result of these things. Unlikely, in my mind, but possible. And its also possible thatdespite their dismissive and, frankly, racist insistence that Williams was responsible for the harm inflicted upon himthe sheriffs office did everything they could last year to find the person who shot him, as they said they did. But at a certain point, we have to focus more on the bigger picture: Black people have always been in danger in this country, from our elders to our children, and we have to keep a running record of the ways weve been harmed and the way we handle those who harm us. Hopefully, the overwhelming public outcry to Jazmine Barnes death is a sign that were taking these crimes more seriously. Advertisement Even still, while theres uncertainty, Muhammad hit the nail on the head: We believe this was race-related and if you dont believe it wasthis goes to law enforcement and everybody elseprove us wrong. The reward offered by Merritt and Shaun King for turning in Jazmine Barnes killer has increased to $75,000. A community rally will be held Saturday, and a purple balloon release in Jazmines honor will be held after her funeral Tuesday. | https://www.theroot.com/could-police-have-prevented-7-year-old-jazmine-barnes-1831459355 |
Can A Socially Aware Traveler Visit Countries That Commit Genocide? | Unsplash / Uproxx Its 2019 and the world feels like its on fire. From the Trump White House to Brexit to a 24-hour news cycle obsessed with tragedy, people are very aware of the pain around them. Add in the instant access to information from around the world via the internet and it can get overwhelming. We know more about the world than ever before. Some background: A few weeks ago, I heard that Jack Dorsey of Twitter went to Myanmar on vacation. A practitioner of Vipassana meditation, he tweeted about the SE Asian nation and challenged intrepid travelers to visit. Immediately, alarm bells went off in my head. Right now, Myanmar is killing its most vulnerable citizens over their preferred religion. Its classed by the UN as an ongoing genocide. Dorseys travels seemed like some sort of implicit acceptance of that. Especially because of his celebrity. But there was a second set of bells that chimed as I discussed the issue with fellow Uproxx travel writers. The hypocrite bells. Ive been to Myanmar (its the country I feel most guilty about visiting). Ive also traveled to other countries committing war crimes. So the idea of me passing judgment on someones hard-earned vacation seemed suspect from the gate. Still, this case seemed different to me. I think so. And if youre willing to travel a bit, go to Myanmar: https://t.co/9qKm78uq7o jack (@jack) December 9, 2018 If you dig into the links above, youll discover that whats happening in Myanmar isnt a fringe group of extremist a la ISIS or the Taliban trying to force their fundamentalist views on an entire country via warfare and terror. This is the government of Myanmar using social media outlets, government services, and military to commit mass rape, murder, and dispossession of a million of their own people who happen to be Muslim instead of Buddhist. To be clear: We do not use the term genocide lightly here. Policy groups, news organizations, the United States State Department, and even the United Nations have all come to the same conclusion and branded this event as a genocide being carried out by the government of Myanmar. 900,000 people have been forced to flee their homes. At least another 150,000 are in concentration camps. And tens of thousands have been murdered and are still missing after Myanmars government launched their Clearance Operation in summer 2017. Thats before we even get to the evidence of organized mass rape being carried out by the military. Moreover, this atrocity is, as mentioned, on-going and likely going to get a lot bloodier this year as hundreds of thousands of refugees are forced to return to Myanmar. So, when Dorsey coyly tweeted, and if youre willing to travel a bit, go to Myanmar, it felt deeply wrong. Dorseys 4.1 million followers received a message that its okay to travel to a country thats openly raping and murdering children with their military. Naturally, I wasnt the only person who was bothered. There was an immediate backlash to Dorseys tweet calling him everything from insensitive to out-of-touch (and more that doesnt need repeating here). | https://uproxx.com/life/jack-dorsey-myanmar-travel/ |
Can Trumps New Science Adviser Convince Him That Climate Change Is Real? | (CNN) In the eleventh hour of the outgoing Congress term, the Senate confirmed one of President Trumps nominees that could have a profound impact on the future of our planet. Kelvin Droegemeier, a meteorologist and former University of Oklahoma professor, was confirmed to be director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy on Wednesday a role commonly referred to as science adviser and the top scientific office in the country. The position has sat vacant since Trumps presidency began nearly two years ago. Droegemeier, an expert on extreme weather that has served as The University of Oklahomas vice president of research since 2009 and has conducted atmospheric research for over 35 years. His extensive background in weather provides some hope among the science community that he can influence the administration, which has disputed the scientific communitys view that the planet is warming and that humans are the primary cause of the change. It is encouraging to see that this position is finally filled, and by someone with solid scientific credentials and extensive experience in connecting cutting-edge science to policy decisions, according to Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist with Texas Tech University. Droegemeier was nominated by the President at the end of July and breezed through hearings with the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, receiving bipartisan support and a unanimous approval vote in early September. But it took almost four months for the Senate to confirm Droegemeier, despite the bipartisan support. In that time, a number of alarming reports have come from the United States as well as the UNs Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, reiterating that global warming is occurring, that impacts are already being felt and that it will become much more significant in the not-too-distant future. Asked about his opinion on the National Climate Assessment, a scientific report administered by the federal government and released the day after Thanksgiving, Trump said, I dont believe it. He said he had read only some of the report that found, among other projections, that the warming planet would reduce the US economy by 10% by the end of this century. Trump has a history of dismissing his own experts, whether they be top intelligence reports or senior military officials, so many are skeptical that Droegemeier will have much influence over Trumps view on climate. No one should expect that he will be advising this president on any meaningful manner, said Roger Pielke Jr., a professor at the University of Colorado who studies the intersection of science and politics and who has published on the history of US science advisers. He has worked with Droegemeier for more than 20 years. This president does not appear to seek advice, Pielke said, adding that the primary function of the science adviser has historically been to coordinate budgets and support science and technology programs that cross agency boundaries. Science advisers have historically had little, if any, impact on major policies, Pielke said. This goes for John Holdren under Obama and all others before him. Though Droegemeier has noted that observations show that the planet is warming and the evidence suggests that it is human-induced, he has been quick to indicate that there is much left to learn about how the planet will react to the warming. In a 2014 talk he gave to climate scientists at the University of Oklahoma, Droegemeier said his feeling is that the planet, you can kick it in the butt really, really, hard, and it will come back. He continued to point to the uncertainty in the science of climate change during his Senate confirmation hearings, saying, science rarely provides immutable answers about anything. I think we have to have everyone at the table talking about these things and let the science take us where it takes us. One thing Droegemeier has been consistently clear on, however, is that science must remain free from political influence, something many have feared within the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior. I believe science is extremely important in informing policy, Droegemeier told the Senate. I think science needs to be conducted free from political interference. According to Renee McPherson, the university director of the South Central Climate Science Center at OU, who has worked directly with Droegemeier for over 30 years, he is the right person for the job. Its likely that the Democrats in the House will bring climate change to the forefront, and Ive worked with many Republicans who desire to address climate change without all of the political hype that the issue unfortunately has become charged with, McPherson said. I believe Kelvin can bring everyone together to focus on what the science tells us and how both parties can cooperate in moving forward. | https://5newsonline.com/2019/01/03/can-trumps-new-science-adviser-convince-him-that-climate-change-is-real/ |
Who should start for Ireland at the Rugby World Cup? | THERES A LOT of rugby to be played between now and 22 September. A lot of form to hit dips and peaks, tonnes of players to be tackled, heaps of rucks to be hit, more injuries than wed like to imagine and an innumerable crucial little details to get right in the final days of the Joe Schmidt era. Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO Still, no harm in us having a wee peak at what way Ireland could/should line up when the World Cup campaign kicks off against Scotland. Sean Farrell I havent necessarily picked the strongest team, but a team to meet Scotland. That means Ive favoured mobility and dynamism when trying to tip the balance of one player over another. It could be a different story for a possible quarter-final meeting with South Africa or New Zealand. So with that in mind, I think opening night at the World Cup will be an ideal stage for Tadhg Beirne to flex his muscles in green and, first game up, I would lean towards Sean Cronin and save a 37-year-old Rory Best for later tests in the tournament. Most of the team picks itself, with major competition for the midfield and openside slots. Bundee Aki up against Blair Kinghorn in the 2018 Six Nations. Source: Bryan Keane/INPHO For this clash, the handling and line-breaking ability of Bundee Aki and Chris Farrell would be a tall order for Scotland to deal with in midfield defence. In the seven shirt then, Im just a Tullow Tank loyalist. Through good times and bad for Ireland, Sean OBrien has continually been among our world class performers, a gamechanger of the highest order. 15. Rob Kearney 14. Keith Earls 13. Chris Farrell 12. Bundee Aki 11. Jacob Stockdale 10. Jonathan Sexton 9. Conor Murray 1. Cian Healy 2. Sean Cronin 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Tadhg Beirne 5. James Ryan 6. Peter OMahony 7. Sean OBrien 8. CJ Stander Murray Kinsella The unfortunate reality of professional rugby means that Joe Schmidt is almost certainly not going to have an entirely full deck of fit players to choose his World Cup squad from, but lets pretend that wont be the case for this exercise. With Irelands closing two pool fixtures coming against Russia and Samoa, Schmidt is likely to be able to chop and change front-liners in those games. Scotland are a major threat in Irelands opener, while the meeting with hosts Japan the following weekend is also very dangerous. With that in mind, Schmidt is likely to frontload for the two opening games and attempt to start with a bang. 15. Rob Kearney 14. Keith Earls 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Jacob Stockdale 10. Johnny Sexton 9. Conor Murray 1. Cian Healy 2. Rory Best 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Devin Toner 5. James Ryan 6. Peter OMahony 7. Sean OBrien 8. CJ Stander Ryan Bailey With this being the Ireland team we think Joe Schmidt will name for the World Cup opener, it wont be the side that takes to the field against Scotland at Yokohamas International Stadium on 22 September. Two variables, form and injury, will colour Schmidts selection, but for the purpose of this exercise, the Kiwi has a full panel to choose from, which presents a number of fascinating selection headaches. The Pool A opener against Gregor Townsends Scots being the first of four outings in a two-week period, Schmidt will also have to be cognisant of the intense tournament schedule, while trying to achieve the right selection balance to ensure Irelands passage through to the knockout stages. With this in mind, and the fact there are games against Russia and Georgia to follow, Schmidt will surely select his strongest hand for the opening outings against Scotland and hosts Japan, before rotating his resources thereafter. The big decisions come in the second and back row, as the backline when all fully fit largely selects itself. Iain Hendersons untimely finger injury is a setback for his chances but presents Tadhg Beirne with a golden opportunity to push his credentials during the Six Nations. However, the first-choice pairing of Devin Toner and James Ryan is hard to overlook for a game of this magnitude, as Ireland will look to start their campaign on the right foot and lay down a marker for the rest of the tournament. In the back row, Schmidt has a plethora of options and despite Sean OBriens likely return from injury in the coming weeks, his lack of big game minutes in the last two years sees the number seven shirt handed to the ever-reliable and hard-working Josh van der Flier. 15. Rob Kearney 14. Keith Earls 13. Garry Ringrose 12. Robbie Henshaw 11. Jacob Stockdale 10. Johnny Sexton 9. Conor Murray 1. Cian Healy 2. Rory Best (captain) 3. Tadhg Furlong 4. Devin Toner 5. James Ryan 6. Peter OMahony 7. Josh van der Flier 8. CJ Stander Subscribe to our new podcast, Heineken Rugby Weekly on The42, here: | https://www.the42.ie:443/ireland-start-team-world-cup-scotland-4386492-Jan2019/ |
When will Atherton Street construction stop for the winter? | Construction on North Atherton Street is scheduled to shutdown for the winter next week, according to PennDOT. The plan for the project, which is ahead of schedule, is to continue work through Jan. 11 before shutting down the following day. Work is scheduled to pick back up full time in March and continue throughout the year. In the meantime, PennDOT crews plan on completing minor work between West Aaron Drive and Park Avenue from Monday through Jan. 11. Crews also plan on removing concrete blankets and performing minor grade adjustments to driveways from Cherry Lane to Hillcrest Avenue. PennDOT also said there is a chance contractors return before March for traffic signal work, but that has not been finalized. $20 for 365 Days of Unlimited Digital Access Last chance to take advantage of our best offer of the year! Act now! Should the signal work take place, it would be completed during daylight hours and entail only short-term lane closures, PennDOT said. Construction causes slow moving single lane traffic in both directions on North Atherton Street near Hillcrest Avenue on Dec. 5, 2018. Abby Drey Centre Daily Times, file Potters Mills Gap project Motorists that frequent Route 322 and Potters Mills Gap, however, wont be as fortunate. Traffic stops are expected to continue as PennDOT attempts to finish work on the third and final phase of the project that dates back to 2015. Through Jan. 11, eastbound and westbound motorists may encounter stops of up to 15 minutes as rock fall work continues between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. The crossover from Decker Valley Road to Sand Mountain Road will remain in place throughout the winter with one lane available in each direction. | https://www.centredaily.com/news/local/community/state-college/article223868250.html |
What will Democrats do with control of the House? | The new congressional session gavels in Thursday, Jan. 3 at noon. In the midterms, Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives. MPR News host Kerri Miller was joined by three political experts to talk about the legislative priorities for Democrats, divisions within the party and how they plan to resolve the current shutdown. Guests: Wendy Schiller Chair of political science at Brown University Khalilah Brown-Dean Associate professor of political science at Quinnipiac University Mary Kate Cary Senior fellow for presidential studies at the University of Virginia's Miller Center and former speechwriter for President George H.W. Bush. To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above. | https://www.mprnews.org/story/2019/01/03/miller-what-will-democrats-do-with-control-of-the-house?refid=0 |
Which Netflix show was most popular in New York in 2018? | STATEN ISLAND, N.Y -- The most popular Netflix show in New York state in 2018 was Marvels Daredevil, according to a report by HighSpeedInternet.com. And while the show is also popular in Florida, Kentucky, South Dakota and Virginia, Netflix recently announced it is cancelling the show, which is about a guy who was blinded as a young boy and is a lawyer by day and a super hero by night. The favorite show for most states was 13 Reasons Why, which was popular in seven states -- Connecticut, Illinois, Mississippi, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Rhode Island. The End of the F***ing World was the most popular show in six states -- Arizona, Iowa, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina. When compiling the report, the team at HighSpeedInternet.com used Google Trends to find and rank the most searched Netflix shows in every state. | https://www.silive.com/news/2019/01/which-netflix-show-was-most-popular-in-new-york-in-2018.html |
Why should anyone care about trucking? | Trucking makes everything possible, from here to tomorrow. This is the message of the Manitoba Trucking Associations (MTA) new public relations campaign, set to officially launch in 2019. With movement as the main theme, the MTA has begun to unveil its message on our website and YouTube channel. The message is a powerful one, and we hope with this campaign the MTA will get the public thinking about how profoundly their lives are impacted by trucking. For those of us in the trucking industry, this comes as no surprise. Anyone who has worked in our industry as a driver, dispatcher, technician, or sales knows the numbers: 95% of goods in Manitoba are shipped by truck, trucking contributes more than $2 billion to Manitobas GDP, and it employs (directly and indirectly) approximately 4.6% of the provincial labor force. Thats why the trucking industry isnt the intended audience of the MTAs new campaign; the general public is. Too often the attention our industry gets from the media isnt for the good news stories. They say any publicity is good publicity, but I think trucking might be the exception to that rule. Generally, we are an invisible industry, except for when we make the news. Then all of the good, safe, on-time work we have done becomes irrelevant. We want the general public to see that we are a safe industry, and that what they do, for work or pleasure, relies on us to do our jobs right. John Erik Albrechtsen, president of the MTA, agrees. One of his beliefs about how the trucking industry can achieve some of its goals is to get the public on board. An example of this is mandatory entry level training, or MELT. Currently, Ontario is the only province with such a program for the trucking industry in place. In Manitoba, the trucking association has been advocating for a driver training standard for years, even going so far as to develop a program with MPI, the provincial driving insurer. This program, Manitoba Entry Level Professional Truck Driver Training, trained drivers through a six-week course plus mentorship, meaning it took two full years before commercial drivers were qualified and on the road alone. While a new, equally popular program has been developed to replace the original, there remains no provincially legislated training standard in Manitoba. However, due to last years tragic accident in Humboldt, public will toward a commercial driving training changed. Alberta announced a new standard, as did Saskatchewan. In Manitoba, the government claims to be moving toward implementing one, however, as of this writing, the MTA has not received any definitive answers from anyone in the provincial government. With public will providing the fuel for provincial governments to get this done, the trucking industry in some provinces is gaining the training standard for which it has long advocated, and the MTA wants to ensure that Manitoba becomes one of those provinces. Trucking makes everything possible, from here to tomorrow. *** Terry Shaw oversees the planning and priorities of the MTA, is the lead for political liaison and relations with all levels of government, media relations, and acts as a spokesperson for the industry. He is a member of several MTA committees and represents the association through his involvement with Trucking HR Canada, the Manitoba Employers Council, and the Winnipeg and Manitoba Chambers of Commerce. Terry also engages on national issues as a regional vice-president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, of which he is a board and executive member. | https://www.trucknews.com/features/why-should-anyone-care-about-trucking/ |
What's Next For Apple (AAPL) After It Slashed Its Q1 Sales Forecast? | Shares of Apple AAPL plummeted over 9% Thursday morning after the firm lowered its quarterly sales guidance for the first time in more than a decade Wednesday. Apples announcement during the vital holiday shopping period is hardly a good sign for investors already worried about slowing iPhone sales. So, lets see whats next for Apple. Holiday Quarter Guidance Apple CEO Tim Cook in a letter to investors late Wednesday afternoon revised the firms fiscal first quarter 2019ended on December 29revenue guidance to roughly $84 billion. This marked an approximately 6%, or $5 billion downturn from the low-end of Apples previous quarterly outlook that called for revenues between $89 billion and $93 billion. The move marked the first time in over 15 years that Apple lowered its quarterly guidance. The iPhone giants chief executive pointed to a difference in iPhone launch timing, as well as a strong U.S. dollar and supply constraints, due to a massive number of new products, as some of the reasons for its lowered guidance. Yet, Cook said slower sales in emerging markets, such as Greater China, as well as fewer iPhone upgrades, were the two main reasons for Apples newly dimmed quarterly sales outlook. Shares of Apple opened down 8.7% at $144.29 on Thursday, which marked their lowest level since April 2017. Meanwhile, Apple suppliers Micron MU, Lumentum Holdings LITE, and others saw their stock prices fall. Other tech giants, including Facebook FB, Alphabet GOOGL, and Microsoft MSFT also dipped in morning trading. Chinese Worries Cook said that the slowing Chinese economy and the impact of the continuous trade war between the worlds two largest economies led to poor sales. While we anticipated some challenges in key emerging markets, we did not foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in Greater China, Cook wrote. In fact, most of our revenue shortfall to our guidance, and over 100 percent of our year-over-year worldwide revenue decline, occurred in Greater China across iPhone, Mac and iPad. Apples CEO tried to put a positive long-term spin on the companys prospects in China. Still, it is tough for investors to hear since the region accounted for roughly 18% of overall revenues in each of the last two quarters. The announcement also highlights how Apples high prices have held the company back in markets where a plethora of much cheaper smartphones are available. Overall iPhone Sales Lower than expected iPhone revenue, mostly in Greater China, accounts for for all of our revenue shortfall to our guidance and for much more than our entire year-over-year revenue decline, according to Cook. On top of that, iPhone upgrades were weaker than Apple anticipated in developed markets. The company pointed to macroeconomic challenges in some markets, along with strong U.S. dollar-related price increases, and some customers taking advantage of lower iPhone battery replacement costs as the main factors for fewer upgrades. | https://news.yahoo.com/whats-next-apple-aapl-slashed-183606894.html |
What Is the 'Bird Box' Challenge & Why Does Netflix Advise Against It? | Over the holidays, Netflix had yet another viral hit with the Sandra Bullock-starring original film Bird Box. Likened to 2018's hit thriller A Quiet Place, the movie follows Bullock's character Malorie as she tries to evade an evil entity. Anyone who looks at the entity (which viewers never see) becomes infected and either commits suicide or forces others to look at the entity by removing their blindfolds. Throughout the film, viewers follow Malorie on her harrowing, blindfolded journey down the river with two young children named Boy (Julian Edwards) and Girl (Vivien Lyra Blair). Since the film's December 21 debut, Bird Box has garnered over 45 million viewers, making it one of Netflix's highest-viewed original films. But viewers aren't simply watching the movie some have come up with something called the #BirdBoxChallenge. Well, basically just doing activities while blindfolded. Unfortunately, this challenge has proven dangerous for some participants willingly impairing their sense of sight. One particular video circling the internet includes a man taking his child and toddler (who are also blindfolded) by the hand, only to accidentally lead the toddler into a wall. Needless to say, Netflix's response to these viral craze showed their disapproval for such behavior. "Can't believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE," tweeted the U.S. Netflix page. "We don't know how this started, and we appreciate the love, but Boy and Girl have just one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes." Cant believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE. We dont know how this started, and we appreciate the love, but Boy and Girl have just one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes. Netflix US (@netflix) January 2, 2019 But that hasn't slowed people down. Below are a few examples of the meme and the rebuttals the challenge has provoked on social media: We know Spongebob would have kill the Birdbox Challenge. thats the only way he know how to drive #BirdBoxChallenge pic.twitter.com/rFXSKIf4eZ Keion Steel Cage (@keioncage) December 25, 2018 | https://www.tvinsider.com/741878/bird-box-challenge-rules-warning-netflix/ |
Will 2019 Fulfill The Promises Of 3-D Printing? | If 2018 was a big year of promises for 3-D printing (and it was), perhaps 2019 will be the year we start to see those promises fulfilled. The technology, developing since the 1980s, is now leaning toward manufacturing applications. These days, youre more likely to hear those in the industry discussing facets of additive manufacturing, of which 3-D printing is one part of a larger process. Design and pre-processing precede the 3-D printing of a part, which must then be post-processed and finished. This end-to-end workflow comprises additive manufacturing, though the terms are used relatively interchangeably in casual conversation. These conversations are changing, though, as the technology matures. The Promise: On-site 3-D printing. The Reality: In development. Digital manufacturing solutions including additive manufacturing foresee workflows where a design created in one location can be zapped over for manufacturing in one or more different locations. Useful for remote operations (e.g., mining in the Australian outback, onboard ships, in-the-field with deployed troops, oilfield) and particularly for spare and replacement parts as well as maintenance and repair, 3-D printing enables agility in getting the parts needed where they need to be -- by producing them there. Digital inventory is developing as a strong concept, and one we can expect to hear much more about in 2019. R&D is ongoing, with field tests increasingly examining the technology to validate processes and materials for use. Meeting or exceeding existing standards at a lower cost, and in a shorter time frame, is a tall order. The Promise: Standardized best practices. The Reality: In progress. Because 3-D printing is still a nascent technology, it has a long way to go to catch up to conventional manufacturing processes. With seven ASTM-recognized 3-D printing processes to date (and several others arising recently with claims for new categories), regulation is a big need. Each process needs to be thoroughly vetted and understood to establish best practices. Reliability and repeatability are necessities for production processes, and industrial 3-D printing has, in most cases, a ways to go yet. Standards organizations like ASTM International are working with industry partners to further develop procedural, materials and safety standards. Investments into such efforts showcase industry willingness and readiness to close these gaps, and 2019 should see more headway made in standards development. The Promise: Complexity is free. The Reality: Nothing is free. 3-D printing enables more geometric freedom of design than do conventional manufacturing processes. Lattice structures, generative design, complex internal structures, part consolidation, lightweighting, mass customization: the benefits of building up rather than removing material abound. So much so that youll often hear sales pitches that with additive manufacturing, complexity is free. Yes, more is possible, but that 'more' comes with several asterisks. Design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) is an area requiring significant upskilling and training before full advantage of the capabilities of this equipment can be leveraged. There are also ripples from design overhauls that may create new complexities in the supply chain by removing now-superfluous parts and workflows. On the 3-D printer itself, all parameters must be calculated and calibrated precisely as certain design elements -- like high aspect ratios, thin walls and overhangs -- may pose in-build problems. Failed prints add to costs and time, and until these can be minimized to acceptable levels, especially for longer builds (which can last for weeks), complexity is certainly not free. The Promise: Serial manufacturing. The Reality: Its already there (and it will never be there). Volume manufacturing via 3-D printing is already a reality -- and has been for a number of years. Most hearing aids on the market today are made with 3-D printing technologies; adoption in this application was famously quick, with more than 90% of the US hearing aid industry moving to 3-D printing in just 500 days. Orthodontic aligners are another major use case. Shoes and insoles are also on the market today, both mass manufactured and mass customized. Consumer products are also hitting shelves with 3-D printed components, including frames for eyewear and handles on razor blades. But. Most volume production is the domain of conventional technologies: injection molding, milling, casting. Additive manufacturing still has a long road ahead in meeting necessary milestones. Speed, price and quality all need to see improvements for 3-D printing to compete with traditional processes. For now, this relegates most applications to those that require the specific qualities 3-D printing delivers. In many cases, of course, traditional technologies will maintain their dominance. 3-D printing is a new set of tools, but thats just expanding the available toolbox. 3-D printing is a complex technology suite, and the promises are many. These four barely scratch the surface of some of the issues the industry faces today -- and also provide a glimpse at some of the progress already being made. Theres a lot we hope to see this year, and trade press is awash with predictions and expectations as 3-D printing continues to mature and evolve. The industry is young, and the road to mainstream manufacturing remains a long one; advances made in 2018 are paving a strong foundation for major strides forward in the year ahead. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahgoehrke/2019/01/03/will-2019-fulfill-the-promises-of-3-d-printing/ |
Are Home Health Aids The New Turing Test For AI? | For decades, the common answer that question has been to pass the Turing test. This test, named after famed mathematician Alan Turing, says that if a machine can carry on a conversation with a human via a textual interface such that the human can not tell the difference between a human and machine, then the machine is intelligent. But theres a problem: we were able to create chatbots that could pass the Turing test a long time ago. We know that the intelligence they display is narrow and limited. Today AI is making great strides in any number of applications, chiefly through data-based approaches labeled machine learning. These approaches are successful and productive and display aspects of intelligence. We have come to realize that we can create many kinds of intelligence and that intelligent does not necessarily mean human. Today, AI is no one thing, but a variety of machine intelligences. Still, researchers remain interested in the larger problem of human-like intelligence, or Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) which also seems to be the source of much of the cultural fascination and anxiety surrounding AI. In a series of provocative blog posts , my MIT colleague Rodney Brooks proposes new ways of thinking about AGI that go way beyond the Turing test. Brooks has long been a leader in robotics, and as a founder of iRobot and inventor of the Roomba vacuum cleaner, rightly claims to have made millions of robots that actually operate in the world (maybe more than anyone). He is also a member of the Research Advisory Board for a Task Force that I co-chair (along with economist David Actor) at MIT on the Work of the Future, which is seeking new approaches to AI, work and the social sciences. Brooks proposes a new goal for AGI not the simple, textual Turing test, but rather the home health aid or elder care worker, what he calls ECW. By this he does not mean a friendly companion robot, but rather something that offers cognitive and "physical assistance that will enable someone to live with dignity and independence as they age in place in their own home. Think about what this entails, and the test an AI would have to pass. To begin with, an ECW requires an intelligence that is physically embodied (a theme long running through Brookss work). The disembodied software agent of the Turing test is no longer adequate. Moreover, this robot must do tasks that are currently beyond the reach of robotics, but simple for humans with relatively little training, like safely assisting a human being to emerge from a bathtub. The ECW robot will need to negotiate a physical environment, the home, which could be changing in subtle ways on a daily basis. It will also need to negotiate a social environment, beginning with its relationship to the person under its care (who Brooks refers to as Rodney). "ECW will need to use all sorts of context and something akin to reasoning, Brooks writes, "in order to make sense of what Rodney is trying to convey. The ECW will need to correlate the observed behaviors and conversation with medical records and other data, and possibly alert humans or other machines to unusual changes. The social environment ECW will need to negotiate involves the persons children, other human caregivers, or others who enter the home. ECW will need a model of family and social dynamics. Much of what he describes as the requirements for ECW intelligence are well beyond the reach of todays AI systems, cognitively, physically, and especially socially. Brooks is not trying to naysay, but rather to point out a newly rich set of problems for AGI researchers to attack, problems whose solutions could make a positive impact on the world. (Whether a fully automated home health aid is the right solution to eldercare is another question altogether). Brooks is also clear that the choice of ECW is but one of a host of possible models for AGI in another posting he also uses a Services Logistics Planner (a more software oriented solution) as an example. While we could think of other tasks, the two Brooks chooses are indeed highly relevant for making an impact on the future of work in todays economy. Beyond his selection of these two tasks, however, Brookss point is that he is redefining the quest for intelligence around the idea of work . Work is a rich, multidimensional human activity, embedding cognition and skills within webs of social and economic relationships. Its also something that humanists and social scientists know a great deal about, knowledge that is rarely built into robotic or AI systems. Work as a model for AI is a provocative idea, perhaps the ultimate goal, of an Artificial General Intelligence for the twenty-first century. In this era of anxiety about AI technologies changing the nature of work, Brooks proposes us that everything we know about work should also change the nature of AI. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidmindell/2019/01/03/are-home-health-aids-the-new-turing-test-for-ai/ |
Is Using Algorithms In Human Resources A No-Brainer--Or Something More Sinister? | Laszlo Bock is one of those figures who tend to divide academics, or at least those of us open to criticism: during his decade-long tenure as the head of people management at Google, Bock ended the companys practice of requiring candidates to score high marks throughout their training process, concluding after rigorous analysis that there was no link between those scores and how good they were at their job, an attack on a key variable in the educational process the academic world has yet to respond to conclusively. After leaving Google and writing a best seller on the subject, Work Rules!, Bock cofounded a company called Humu with two other former Google colleagues to create algorithms aimed at improving employee satisfaction. This involves feeding data garnered from internal surveys and the work environment, then identifying critical aspects that could help improve the workforces experience and, respecting the employees' confidentiality, sending them small messages that act as nudges or reminders, with recommendations to try to improve their satisfaction or their team members. In light of data revealing, for example, frustration about a departments decision-making processes, managers might be given suggestions on how better to involve their teams, thus improving transparency and contributing to a better work environment. Humus messages, generated by machine-learning algorithms from the information extracted from the employees, are sent from the address of one of the founders of Humu, Wayne Crosby, and are an attempt to remind workers of actions that, without being either compulsory or coercive, could improve satisfaction or chances of achieving personal goals or could create a better work environment. Bock and his colleagues say their nudges are not about getting people to do things they dont want to do, but instead are simply recommendations to implement small changes that for whatever reason havent previously been suggested. That said, intention is one thing, and consequences are another. The response to this type of advice will depend, very possibly, on the type of business culture within a company. Whether messages are seen as suggestions for improvement, as coercive or as an attempt to reduce labor disputes may not depend so much on Humus intentions as the related work environment or context. At a time when corporate culture and internal activism seem to be increasingly central concerns, a tool like Humu could be seen as a way to look after employees and align their objectives with those of the company with a level of granularity and attention that is practically impossible for human managers; equally, it could be interpreted as a way to defuse protest at a companys practices. | https://www.forbes.com/sites/enriquedans/2019/01/03/is-using-algorithms-in-human-resources-a-no-brainer-or-something-more-sinister/ |
Can Trump's new science adviser convince him that climate change is real? | In the eleventh hour of the outgoing Congress' term, the Senate confirmed one of President Trump's nominees that could have a profound impact on the future of our planet. Kelvin Droegemeier, a meteorologist and former University of Oklahoma professor, was confirmed to be director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy on Wednesday-- a role commonly referred to as "science adviser" and the top scientific office in the country. Business and industry sectors Business, economy and trade Climate change Donald Trump Energy and environment Energy and utilities Environment and natural resources Government and public administration Government organizations - US Political Figures - US Politics Science US Congress US Senate The position has sat vacant since Trump's presidency began nearly two years ago. Droegemeier, an expert on extreme weather that has served as The University of Oklahoma's vice president of research since 2009 and has conducted atmospheric research for over 35 years. His extensive background in weather provides some hope among the science community that he can influence the administration, which has disputed the scientific community's view that the planet is warming and that humans are the primary cause of the change. "It is encouraging to see that this position is finally filled, and by someone with solid scientific credentials and extensive experience in connecting cutting-edge science to policy decisions," according to Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist with Texas Tech University. Droegemeier was nominated by the President at the end of July and breezed through hearings with the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, receiving bipartisan support and a unanimous approval vote in early September. But it took almost four months for the Senate to confirm Droegemeier, despite the bipartisan support. In that time, a number of alarming reports have come from the United States as well as the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, reiterating that global warming is occurring, that impacts are already being felt and that it will become much more significant in the not-too-distant future. Asked about his opinion on the National Climate Assessment, a scientific report administered by the federal government and released the day after Thanksgiving, Trump said, "I don't believe it." He said he had read only "some" of the report that found, among other projections, that the warming planet would reduce the US economy by 10% by the end of this century. Trump has a history of dismissing his own experts, whether they be top intelligence reports or senior military officials, so many are skeptical that Droegemeier will have much influence over Trump's view on climate. "No one should expect that he will be advising this president on any meaningful manner," said Roger Pielke Jr., a professor at the University of Colorado who studies the intersection of science and politics and who has published on the history of US science advisers. Pielke has worked with Droegemeier and known him for more than 20 years. "This president does not appear to seek advice," Pielke said, adding that the primary function of the science adviser has historically been to coordinate budgets and support science and technology programs that cross agency boundaries. "Science advisers have historically had little, if any, impact on major policies," Pielke said. "This goes for John Holdren under Obama and all others before him." Though Droegemeier has noted that observations show that the planet is warming and "the evidence suggests that it is human-induced," he has been quick to indicate that there is much left to learn about how the planet will react to the warming. In a 2014 talk he gave to climate scientists at the University of Oklahoma, Droegemeier said his "feeling is that the planet, you can kick it in the butt really, really, hard, and it will come back." He continued to point to the uncertainty in the science of climate change during his Senate confirmation hearings, saying, "science rarely provides immutable answers about anything. ... I think we have to have everyone at the table talking about these things and let the science take us where it takes us." One thing Droegemeier has been consistently clear on, however, is that science must remain free from political influence, something many have feared within the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of the Interior. "I believe science is extremely important in informing policy," Droegemeier told the Senate. "I think science needs to be conducted free from political interference. The science has to lead the way in terms of telling us whatever the facts are." According to Renee McPherson, the university director of the South Central Climate Science Center at OU, who has worked directly with Droegemeier for over 30 years, he is the right person for the job. "It's likely that the Democrats in the House will bring climate change to the forefront, and I've worked with many Republicans who desire to address climate change without all of the political hype that the issue unfortunately has become charged with," McPherson said. "I believe Kelvin can bring everyone together to focus on what the science tells us and how both parties can cooperate in moving forward." | https://www.kimt.com/content/national/503861612.html?ref=612 |
Has the iPhone 5 been spotted in the wild? | Given we're likely around a month away from the iPhone 5 being announced, the rumours are really starting to fly - but this could be a big one. A mystery Apple device has been spotted in the wild, and looks every bit like it could be the iPhone 5. A chap on a train in San Francisco (well, we think it's a train judging by the photo - but let's be honest, that's not the bit we're assessing here) was spotted playing on an Apple phone, with covert photos taken and sent in to 9to5 Mac. According to the nosey tipster, he got a good look at the device the guy was using, and said he wasn't able to see a front/home button. Bigger screen, thinner phone The screen was a lot larger, although the chassis remained the same size, corroborating theories Apple will be making an edge-to-edge display - plus the device was thinner than the iPhone 4. The phone was curved, again as rumoured, and the edges were rounded metal 'like a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1' - which all seems to fit with the design specifications for the iPhone 5 being bandied about at the moment. We're not sure if this makes it more real or not, but the user was apparently trying very hard to cover the apple logo on the back of the phone - let's hope, for Jobs' sake, that didn't make the signal drop. Either way, we're not far away from the announcement, so you can expect plenty more rumour, myth and speculation throughout August. In the meantime, check out our round up of features we're desperate to see in the iPhone 5: | https://www.techradar.com/au/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/has-the-iphone-5-been-spotted-in-the-wild-985011 |
Is er meer aan de hand bij Apple? | Tegenvallende verkopen van de iPhone in China dwongen Apple gisteren tot een voor dat bedrijf unieke mededeling. Na jarenlang de verwachting van analisten (vaak ruimschoots) te hebben overtroffen, kondigde Apple nu aan dat de omzet fors lager zal zijn dan eerder aangekondigd. Apple wijst de inzakkende economische groei in China aan als belangrijkste oorzaak. De handel in aandelen Apple werd woensdagavond laat kortstondig stilgelegd, in afwachting van een bericht van het bedrijf. Dat kwam er in de vorm van een brief van topman Tim Cook aan de aandeelhouders, waarin de omzet in het vierde kwartaal wordt geraamd op 84 miljard dollar. Analisten die het bedrijf volgen rekenden op een omzet van 91,5 miljard dollar, en ook het bedrijf zelf zei eerder uit te gaan van een bedrag tussen de 89 en 93 miljard. Uitverkoop Hoewel beleggers het aandeel Apple vervolgens flink in de uitverkoop deden, kwam het bericht niet helemaal onverwacht. De afgelopen maanden waren er al signalen dat de verkoop van met name de iPhone, nog altijd de kurk waarop Apple drijft, tegen zou vallen. Toeleveranciers voor het bedrijf uitten eerder al winstwaarschuwingen. En ook het besluit van Apple zelf, in november, om voor-taan geen inzicht meer te geven in het aantal verkochte iPhones deed analisten vrezen dat de verkoop over het hoogtepunt heen is. In de brief aan beleggers wijt topman Cook de tegenvaller vrijwel geheel aan teruglopende verkopen in China. Hoewel we rekenden op moeilijkheden in belangrijke opkomende markten, hebben we de omvang van de groeivertraging onderschat, vooral in China. Verreweg het grootste deel van de lagere omzet is te wijten aan dat land, aldus Cook. Om dat te illustreren liet de Apple-baas meteen weten dat de omzet in veel westerse landen, waaronder de Verenigde Staten, Duitsland en ook Nederland, juist op recordhoogte is uitgekomen. De vraag voor beleggers is in hoeverre de agressieve prijsstrategie van Apple het probleem verergerd heeft analist James Cordwell van Atlantic Equities Handelsoorlog Volgens Cook heeft China veel last van de handelsoorlog met de Verenigde Staten, die inmiddels ook het consumentenvertrouwen in China zou aantasten. De interesse voor nieuwe smartphones is flink teruggelopen, zoals vorige maand ook bleek toen concurrent Samsung aankondigde n van zijn fabrieken in China te sluiten wegens teruglopende vraag naar zijn producten. Verschillende analisten wijzen echter ook op Apples eigen strategie als n van de mogelijke verklaringen voor de tegenvallende omzet. Zo zet het bedrijf nieuwe producten tegen torenhoge prijzen in de markt. Voor nieuwe iPhones moet bijvoorbeeld meer dan duizend dollar worden neergeteld. Chinese concurrenten als Huawei en Xiaomi floreren juist met modellen die (veel) goedkoper zijn, en hebben daarom veel minder last van de groeivertraging in het land. De vraag voor beleggers is in hoeverre de agressieve prijsstrategie van Apple het probleem verergerd heeft, zo citeert persbureau Reuters analist James Cordwell van Atlantic Equities. China kan wat dat betreft een voorbode zijn van wat Apple te wachten staat in andere belangrijke markten, waar consumenten eveneens aanhikken tegen de hoge prijzen voor Apple-producten. Wereldwijd raakte Apple het afgelopen jaar zijn tweede plaats als verkoper van smartphones kwijt aan het Chinese Huawei, achter marktleider Samsung. Dat is een teken dat Apple op zijn belangrijkste markt aan populariteit inboet. Cook schrijft aan beleggers dat hij zich geen zorgen maakt over de toekomst. De strategie voor Apple voor de toekomst is tweeledig: allereerst wil het concern zich toeleggen op die onderdelen waar nog wel flinke groei plaatsvindt. Afgezien van de iPhone groeide de omzet van het bedrijf met 19 procent. Die zit vooral in diensten die het bedrijf aanbiedt op zijn producten, zoals Apple Music of Apple Pay (een betaaldienst). Daarnaast wil Apple blijven profiteren van de vele huidige gebruikers van iPhones, door het voor hen aantrekkelijker te maken om een nieuw model aan te schaffen. Oude iPhones krijgen dan een inruilpremie en in de winkels moet het makkelijker worden om gegevens over te zetten op nieuwe telefoons. Daarnaast wil het bedrijf betalingsregelingen gaan aanbieden zodat consumenten hun nieuwe aankoop over een langere periode kunnen afbetalen. Alles in de hoop dat Apple, op zijn minst, de bestaande klantenkring langer aan zich weet te binden. Koersval Apple resoneert wereldwijd De omzetwaarschuwing van Apple dreunde gisteren (DONDERDAG) na op de aandelenbeurzen. Beleggers vragen zich af of de tegenvallende verkopen van Apple in China een signaal zijn dat ook andere bedrijven met teruglopende omzet te maken gaan krijgen. Apple zelf verloor ruim 9 procent op de beurs. Het bedrijf was in augustus nog het eerste bedrijf dat meer dan 1000 miljard dollar waard werd op de beurs, maar inmiddels is dat al onder de 700 miljard gezakt. In zijn kielzog trok het bedrijf wereldwijd de beurzen omlaag. Vooral technologieaandelen en chipmakers waren de gebeten hond. Die bedrijven waren het afgelopen jaar juist goed voor een snelle stijging van de indices, maar leverden de afgelopen maanden al weer fors in toen het sentiment begon te keren. In november waarschuwden toeleveranciers van Apple al over teruglopende winst. | https://www.trouw.nl/home/is-er-meer-aan-de-hand-bij-apple-~a69f28dd/ |
What's new in king cakes for Mardi Gras 2019? | Bittersweet Confections chocolate king cake Bittersweet Confections, 725 Magazine St., New Orleans, is adding a satsuma bourbon pecan king cake to its lineup. Our braided brioche is filled with cinnamon butter, glazed with a satsuma icing and garnished with bourbon soaked pecans, the baker said. It's most popular cake is the chocolate one (pictured here). Breads on Oak, 8640 Oak St., New Orleans, teamed up with Louisiana Pepper Exchange on Tchoupitoulas Street for a VooDoo King Cake, which has a hint of ghost and cayenne peppers infused with the house-made vegan cream cheese. Also new will be a praline pecan king cake and a rum and coconut cream king cake with a citrus glaze. At this shop, the king cakes are vegan and made with organic ingredients, including the plant-based Mardi-Gras coloring made from natural fruits and vegetables. Bywater Bakery, 3623 Dauphine St., New Orleans, is adding savory king cakes for 2019, including crawfish, spinach and artichoke and one filled with boudin. The bakery also will introduce new sweet cakes to its eight standard flavors. These will be available on a rotating basis, so check with the bakery if there is a specific one you want to try. The flavors will be pineapple, passion fruit, butterscotch ripple, and lemon cream. | https://www.nola.com/expo/life-and-culture/g66l-2019/01/ea5728c24a2973/whats-new-in-king-cakes-for-ma.html |
Will women win fight to worship in Hindu temple? | Protests paralyse the southern Indian state where two women defied an ancient ban on entering shrine. The state of Kerala has been at a standstill following violent protests against the lifting of a ban preventing women of reproductive age from entering one of Hinduism's holiest temples - Sabarimala. The Supreme Court made the ruling in September but conservative groups backed by India's ruling party -- the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - objected and blocked attempts by women to gain entrance. But on Wednesday, under the cover of darkness and escorted by police officers, two women got in. Protests began soon afterwards. Hundreds of thousands of women have formed what they called "The Women's Wall" - a 600 kilometre human chain - to raise awareness of their plight and to campaign for women's rights. Presenter: Laura Kyle Guests: Rahul Easwar - president, Ayappa Religious Army Madhavi Menon - director of the Centre for Studies in Gender and Sexualty in India. Rushda Siddiqui - executive committee member, National Federation of Indian Women. Source: Al Jazeera News | https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/insidestory/2019/01/women-win-fight-worship-hindu-temple-190103191032443.html |
Could graphene see metal-air batteries rise to the top? | Indian startup Log 9 Materials seems to think so the firm, which is a spin-off from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, suggests the wonder material could solve the issue of range anxiety frequently associated with battery-powered vehicles. Founder Akshay Singhal says metal air batteries could help revolutionise clean energy generation powered by water, air and metal, they actually generate energy in much the same way as a fuel cell, in contrast with conventional lithium-ion batteries, which store energy rather than producing it. The technology has ten-times more energy density than traditional alternatives, meaning it is able to provide a range of more than 1,000 kilometres. Mr Singhal says his company aims to use graphene to make such batteries commercially viable and economical. He adds: The energy generated is completely clean, zero emission and this is a truly environment-friendly battery technology built with sustainable raw materials. The metal itself is recyclable once it has been used in the battery to generate energy. | https://www.energylivenews.com/2019/01/03/could-graphene-see-metal-air-batteries-rise-to-the-top/ |
Why are Iranians willing to risk their lives fleeing France for Britain? | Given the reaction in some quarters, over the past few weeks its at times felt as if no democracy has faced such a Persian threat since ancient Athens fought the battle of Marathon. Obviously the situation on the Channel is serious and we shouldnt be complacent about border security. But the number of illegal migrants, purportedly Iranians, attempting to sail across to the UK has been small and far lower than the huge numbers of legal migrants that arrive from the EU each year over which we have no control. There has been another reaction, however: incredulity. To a certain type of Remainer, it is unimaginable that anyone would seek to cross the Channel to make their way to Britain. And yet... | https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/01/03/iranians-willing-risk-lives-fleeing-france-britain/ |
Can anyone beat Benjamin Netanyahu? | (JTA) Israeli police want him to be indicted in three separate corruption cases. Hes embattled from left and right for his attacks on Gaza and his policy in the West Bank. Hes made a point of cozying up to controversial right-wing nationalist leaders, from Brazils Jair Bolsonaro to Hungarys Viktor Orban and especially to President Donald Trump. Many American Jewish leaders say his policies are driving away Diaspora Jews. And if the upcoming Israeli election were to be held today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would almost definitely win for the fourth time in a row. Probably in a landslide. In a sentence, its because enough Israelis trust him with their security. To his voters, everything else is commentary. They think that if he may have received bribes or played with Israels telecom market to have personal gain, this has nothing to do with the way he confronts Iran or the way he handles things in Syria, said Israeli political journalist Tal Schneider, referring to some of the corruption allegations against Netanyahu. I think in Israel, you win elections on security issues only, she said. Its very easy to speak to peoples fears because in Israel, fears are real. Its in peoples lives on a daily basis. Polls ahead of the April 9 election have Netanyahus Likud party holding a wide lead over a growing group of competitors in the opposition. Likud is slated to win around 30 seats in Israels 120-seat parliament, the Knesset, putting Netanyahu in the best position to form a ruling coalition. His closest opponents would get half that number. Its the security, stupid Netanyahus international critics the United Nations, the European Union, the former Obama administration, liberal American Jewish groups, leading liberal newspapers have portrayed him as too aggressive in Gaza, too cavalier with the lives of Palestinian civilians and unwilling to make peace with the Palestinian Authority. Thats not to mention the protests over his policies on African asylum seekers, religious pluralism in Israel or the status of Arab Israelis. But in Israel, polls show that most Jews think Netanyahu is not aggressive enough in Gaza. In November, his defense minister resigned, complaining that Netanyahu was too risk-averse in deploying the military. When it comes to the army, his centrist rivals have only tried to talk tougher than the prime minister. In 2014, following a war in Gaza that saw Israel pilloried in international forums, a left-leaning group of former generals praised Netanyahu for his level-headed leadership. Jewish Israelis tend to see their fighting in Gaza as a necessary response, not a war of choice. On the diplomatic front, both Israelis and Palestinians have despaired of any hope for a peace accord anytime soon. The other topics from minority rights to religious policy generally dont even register as election issues in Israel. Security is pretty much always the number-one issue for Israeli voters, and it comes before the diplomatic front when Israelis rank their priorities in polls, Lahav Harkov, a senior contributing editor for The Jerusalem Post, wrote to JTA. He keeps the focus on security and his credentials as an expert on that front, as much as possible. Its true that two former Israeli generals, both chiefs of staff, have founded new parties this year specifically aiming to oppose Netanyahu. But so far, neither is attacking Netanyahu directly on security issues. Moshe Yaalon, one of Netanyahus former defense ministers, said his party would represent the good, values-based, clean-handed land of Israel. Benny Gantz, a former general, has only begun to open up about his platform. In a television interview Thursday, he said he would leave several West Bank settlement blocs in place but that an agreement with the Palestinians would bolster Israels security. We need established, ongoing efforts, in light of any challenge, to reach a diplomatic accord, with the understanding that this is part of our resilience, this is part of our security, Gantz told Israels Channel 16. There needs to be a real diplomatic effort, without being suckers and without being irresponsible. A fragmented opposition A chorus of other candidates has also failed to match him at the polls. Yair Lapid, a one-time news anchor and finance minister who leads the centrist Yesh Atid party, has a strong base but hasnt been able to broaden his appeal. The once-robust Labor Party, headed by former telecom executive Avi Gabbay, is mired in the single digits. If anything, the multiplicity of new parties may only help Netanyahu by fragmenting his opponents. The past few elections have seen several new parties spring up, all competing for the same bloc of voters. Meanwhile, the right has remained relatively united around Netanyahus leadership. Netanyahus opponents say the only way to beat him is by joining together. Ehud Barak, Israels most recent left-wing prime minister, said Netanyahu would be defeated only if, in the center-left camp, a bloc comes together. He called for Yaalon, Gantz and several other opposition parties to unite. But only the opposite has happened: A center-left alliance, the Zionist Union, split in dramatic fashion this week. The center-right is competing to lead the state, while the center-left is competing in an internal primary to see who has the most power within its camp, Ovad Yehezkel, a former centrist Israeli government official, wrote on the Israeli news site Ynet. In that sense, the fragmentation of parties helps the center-right win elections. And paradoxically, the center-left rolls out the red carpet to the Prime Ministers office for its rivals. Corruption fatigue Netanyahus main problems of late have been the potential indictments against him and a growing aura of corruption. Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (he ended up going to prison) resigned even before police recommended that he be indicted. But that has already happened for Netanyahu and he shows no signs of backing down. He has vowed to remain prime minister even if he is formally charged with a crime. Probably not, Harkov said. Netanyahu frequently demonizes the Israeli press (and, like Trump, often claims that negative articles are fake news). At this point, Harkov said, Israelis are just tired of the back-and-forth. Netanyahus opponents, as well as government watchdogs, have called his decisions dangerous to Israels democracy. But if Israelis are feeling squeamish, it isnt showing in the polls. Theres so much news about Netanyahus investigations that they dont take it seriously anymore, Harkov wrote. Yes, there are corrupt politicians who go to prison, but enough people seem to be willing to shrug the latest things off as just champagne and cigars or point to the incessant leaks to the media as a sign of bias by both the press and the police. Netanyahus last election campaign, in 2015, also was plagued with scandal though he was not indicted. Leading up to Election Day, it appeared he could lose. But he pulled off a comeback victory, emerging in a stronger position than before. And the longer he stays in power, Schneider said, the more inevitable his victories seem. In Israel, there are no term limits. The people of Israel dont see anyone else in Israel who can do it, she said. With the time passing, hes getting stronger and stronger because when you sit in that chair, youre the incumbent. You can use all the facilities to keep promoting yourself. | https://www.jta.org/2019/01/03/israel/can-anyone-beat-benjamin-netanyahu |
Did mistress dispose of missing mums phone? | A 32-year-old Idaho nurse is being investigated for her role in the missing Colorado mum's disappearance and possible death, reports said. The Twin Falls nurse is suspected of ditching Kelsey Berreth's cellphone in Idaho, sources told ABC News, which is declining to identify the woman until law enforcement releases her name. Patrick Frazee leaves the Teller County District Court in Cripple Creek, Colorado. Picture: AP Investigators had previously said the 29-year-old missing woman's phone pinged from an Idaho cell tower on November 25, three days after she was last seen publicly, hundreds of kilometres from her Colorado home. Berreth's fiance, Patrick Frazee, was charged on Monday in connection with her possible death and is accused of trying to find someone to kill her on three separate occasions, prosecutors said. Kelsey Berreth and fiance Patrick Frazee. Picture: Supplied Reports suggest that Mr Frazee had started an affair with the nurse as far back as 2016 - prior to the birth of his daughter, Kaylee, with Berreth. If the nurse did in fact dispose of Berreth's mobile phone it would explain why it ended up so far away without Mr Frazee ever leaving the state. Woodland Park Police Chief Miles De Young answers questions about the disappearance of resident Kelsey Berreth, while her mother, Cheryl Berreth, stands in the background. Picture: AP The Twin Falls police department declined to provide any details on the nurse, aside from saying it helped officers serve search warrants related to the mum's disappearance. The nurse and her lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment by ABC News. Patrick Frazee. Picture: AP | https://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/news/kelsey-berreth-missing-nurse-may-have-had-affair-w/3614506/ |
What next for rash Eric Bailly amid Solskjaer rejig? | The centre-back might be sweating over his chances of breaking into the side following his silly dismissal against Bournemouth COMMENT By Seye Omidiora Follow on Twitter By The appointment of a new manager naturally brings about an upturn in players' performances, and it was certainly expected that playing personnel at Manchester United would thrive once they had seen the back of the doom and gloom of the Jose Mourinho regime. Results have been good since mid-December and, even more importantly, the performances have followed. Uniteds final fixture of 2018, against an out-of-sorts Bournemouth, was going well until a crude Eric Bailly tackle tainted what was a near perfect evening at Old Trafford as the resurgent Red Devils win 4-1. So much is made about the importance of first impressions, and how much they can go a long way in peoples opinion down the line, so that moment might prove to be one to forget for the central defender. Having failed to come off the bench in Ole Gunnar Solskjaers first pair of games in charge, against Cardiff (5-1) and Huddersfield Town (3-1), the Ivory Coast international finally got his chance against the Cherries, replacing Phil Jones in the starting XI. With Chris Smalling and Marcos Rojo sidelined through injury, Solskjaer couldnt afford losing another centre-back given his dearth of options in that position. With the clock having just gone past the 36th-minute mark and half-time nearing, Ashley Youngs overly forceful challenge on Josh King, which saw the right-back get in the book, might have passed as strike one. A few minutes later Bailly made a mildly strong, yet fair, tackle on the same player. In the second-half, and only a few minutes before receiving his marching orders, the centre-back was involved in an unspotted flashpoint with Charlie Daniels. Having cleared the ball away from harms way, the defenders foot inadvertently caught the Englishman chest high. Mason may have failed to spot it in real time, but Bailly was lucky to still be on the pitch as the challenge fell into the seen them given category, and the fourth official may have communicated that to the ref. Perhaps those scenarios ensured Mason didn't think twice before brandishing the red card after the Ivorians reckless tackle on Ryan Fraser less than 10 minutes after the Daniels incident. While some officials might have simply booked the defender, the fact that Bailly had got away with a couple of incidents during the encounter left the ref with no other choice than to send the defender in for an early bath. The sending off has intensified calls for the Manchester giants to strengthen in defence (after all, Solskjaer has only two fit central defenders), at the Africans expense. However, the dismissal shouldnt taint what was actually a reasonably good defensive performance from the West African, who had impressed upon his return to the side. He made regular blocks and clearances, which prevented Eddie Howes side from scoring more than once. Two instances, in each half, particularly illustrated this: in first-half stoppage time, he made a last-ditch block to prevent a low Junior Stanislas cross from making its way to either Callum Wilson or King, while a really impressive block stopped the latters goal-bound effort from going on target. Eric Bailly | 2018-19 Premier League stats United may have been 3-1 in front at the time of King's second-half effort, but having their lead halved with 20 minutes left on the clock might have brought about some nerves. Howes side had an expected goals of 0.50 in the encounter and that meager figure was, in part, down to the heroics of Bailly who proved that, irrespective of his over-exuberance, he can still show his undoubted quality on occasion. Article continues below Electing to dip into the transfer coffers to strengthen at the back, with Kalidou Koulibaly linked with a move to Old Trafford, would further shatter the confidence of a defender who went from being both solid and spectacular at times in his early days at United to tentative and error-strewn in the last few months under Mourinho. What Bailly needs right now is an arm around the shoulder from someone willing to help him play to the best of his ability, and not a signing thatll push him down the pecking order at Carrington. In Solskjaer, he may well get that. | https://www.goal.com/en-za/news/what-next-for-rash-bailly-amid-solskjaer-rejig/hlpeb41oe01n145stgdt0fvnv |
What Message Is Bill Belichick Preaching To Patriots In Playoff Bye Week? | FOXBORO, Mass. It can be easy to tell what message New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is sending to his team each week. Prior to Sundays win over the New York Jets, it was that the Patriots Week 17 matchup essentially was a playoff game, because a win would mean not playing wild-card weekend. This week, it seems Belichick is preaching how every play in the postseason is paramount. You never know whats going to come in the playoffs, wide receiver Phillip Dorsett said Thursday. These games always come down to the last I think Bill said something about the last couple playoff games have always come down to the last play of the game. I didnt realize that, but thats big, because you never know when youre going to have to be in a situation, and you havent been over it. You dont want to be in that. Of 11 playoff games last season, eight were one-score wins, including the Patriots victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Championship Game and their loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII. Quarterback Tom Brady also talked Thursday about the importance of each individual play in the postseason. Theres been so many plays that Ive seen in my career that had we not made that one play, which could be just an extra effort, could be an arm tackle, could be just one extra push of the pile that ends up being the difference in an entire game and really, an entire season, Brady said. Thats what its all about. Its great when it comes out for us and I think you just try to express that I dont think you can compete any less than what youre ultimately capable of competing at. That level, thats intense and its every play and its just, you max out. You cant leave everything behind. Youve just got give everything youve got. The Patriots have a bye this week and will play either the Houston Texans, Baltimore Ravens or Los Angeles Chargers in the divisional round of the playoffs Sunday, Jan. 13 at 1:05 p.m. ET at Gillette Stadium. Thumbnail photo via Winslow Townson/USA TODAY Sports Images | https://nesn.com/2019/01/what-message-is-bill-belichick-preaching-to-patriots-in-playoff-bye-week/ |
Has Trump Been Outmaneuvered on Syria Troop Withdrawal? | Trumps possible backtracking on withdrawal from Syria means he may have been once again outmaneuvered by the Deep State, says Virginia State Senator Dick Black. Following the outcry after President Donald Trumps announcement that he was pulling U.S. troops from Syria, it appears that Trump may be succumbing to political pressure. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) visited the White House on Dec. 30 and afterward told reporters: We talked about Syria. He told me some things I didnt know that made me feel a lot better about where were headed in Syria, Graham said. Trumps withdrawal plans are slowing down in a smart way, Graham said, according to NBC News. The Washington Post added: Graham described Trumps decision as a pause situation rather than a withdrawal, telling reporters, I think the presidents taking this really seriously. Graham said: He promised to destroy ISIS. Hes going to keep that promise. Were not there yet. But as I said today, were inside the 10-yard line, and the president understands the need to finish the job. By Senator Dick Black Virginia State Senate, 13th District The mainstream media refuses to acknowledge that the hardest fighting against ISIS and al Qaeda has been done by Syria and its allies. Indeed, we label Irans fight against Syrian terrorists as malign activity, ignoring the fact that al Qaeda in Syria [al Nusra] is the progeny of the al Qaeda force that highjacked jets and flew them into the Twin Towers and Pentagon, killing 3,000 Americans on 9-11. Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Seymour Hersh, wrote that a Defense Intelligence Agency review of Syrian policy in 2013 revealed that clandestine CIA Program Timber Sycamore, had degenerated into a program that armed all terrorists indiscriminately, specifically including ISIS and al Qaeda. I seriously doubt that this was merely a program failure. There is strong evidence that the U.S. planned to overthrow Syria in 2001; the U.S. Embassy in Damascus issued a detailed strategy to destabilize Syria in 2006long before the so-called Arab Spring; and that our focus has consistently been on toppling the duly elected, constitutional and UN-recognized government of Syria. Its sickening to hear these clowns repeatedly claim that Assad murdered 500,000 of his people, as though the U.S.-backed terrorists have played no role in the killings. Ive viewed hundreds of beheadings and crucifixions online but none committed by Syria troopsall were proudly posted by the hellish filth that weve recruited, armed and trained for the past eight years. Major war crimes, like beheading 250 Syrian soldiers after running them across the desert in their underpants, were scarcely mentioned by the MSM. During a five-hour drive across liberated Syria this September, I spoke with many people, from desert shepherds, to nuns and Muslim religious. There were palpable expressions of joy that the Syrian armed forces had liberated them from the terrorists. That was coupled with broad-based, unequivocal support for President Bashar al Assad and the Syrian Armed Forces. This disastrous war would never have occurred without American planning and execution. And it would have ended years and hundreds of thousands of casualties ago had we closed our training and logistics bases in Jordan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The Syrian War had little to do with the Arab Spring and much to do with clandestine actions of CIA, MI-6, Mossad, Turkish MIT, French DGSE, Saudi GID and others, working with the savage Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. We trained and recruited far more terrorists than we killed, and we will encounter those survivors again, at other times and places. It is instructive that, despite President Donald Trumps strong directive on a rapid Syrian pull-out, apparently not one soldier or Marine has departed Syria. And the argument that theyre tied up with fighting ISIS doesnt hold water. On Syrias southern border, across from Jordan, lies the U.S. base at al Tanf. ISIS is nowhere around. Al Tanfs sole purpose is to hold and defend the sovereign territory of Syria (using a 55 km no-fly zone). It denies Syria the right to restore order and provide aid to starving Syrians trapped in the American zone. Al Tanf is the canary in the Syrian coal mine. If Trumps pullout has any credibility, the 800 or so troops and equipment assigned there could be withdrawn across the Jordanian border within 24 hours. Their failure to do so suggests duplicity by our foreign policy shadow government. The Pentagon seems unresponsive to the Commander-in-Chief, and he has surrounded himself with advisors whose allegiance does not lie with himor with the American people. Republican Senator Richard H. Black represents the 13th district of Virginia, encompassing parts of both Loudoun and Prince Williams Counties in northern Virginia. | https://consortiumnews.com/2019/01/03/has-trump-been-outmaneuvered-on-syria-troop-withdrawal/ |
Is Who Wants To Be A Millionaire live? | Get daily updates directly to your inbox Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email The revamped Who Wants To Be A Millionaire returns for 2019 and it's once again fronted by Jeremy Clarkson. This will be the second season the ex-Top Gear presenter has hosted and there will be a total of 10 episodes. Speaking on his decision to return, Clarkson said: I absolutely loved hosting the anniversary shows and cannot wait to spend a few precious hours away from James May and Richard Hammond, making the new ones. Despite its fairly limited 10 episode run, the show is not live. (Image: Manchester Evening News) The casting period for the show was between September and December and is thought to have been recorded around that time. The show is now filmed here in Manchester at dock10 Studios in Media City. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire airs at 9pm on ITV 1. | https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/tv/who-wants-millionaire-live-15627704 |
Who will the Vikings hire as their next offensive coordinator? | Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer says he is still evaluating everything when it comes to hiring his next offensive coordinator. Yes, that means hes still considering interim offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski, though if it sounds as if hes going to get the job on a permanent basis it will happen sometime early next week. Well, hes technically under contract until Tuesday, so we have exclusive rights, Zimmer said. Obviously, Ill decide before then. There is a sense of urgency at this point in the process since Stefanski reportedly already has interviewed to be the next head coach of the Cleveland Browns. He can also start fielding calls from other teams that are looking for an offensive coordinator. I think Kevins a really good football coach and a very smart guy, Zimmer said. I thought he did a good job for the three weeks in a tough situation that we had to (deal with). Still, its fair to the organization, to myself, to the fans, that we look at everybody. If the search does extend beyond Stefanski at any point, Zimmer is putting more pressure on himself to do a better job compared to when he hired former offensive coordinator John DeFilippo last offseason. DeFilippo was sold to the fan base as an innovative hot-shot offensive mind on the rise, only to be fired in the midst of a late-season tailspin that culminated with an ugly Week 14 loss at Seattle. He was replaced by Stefanski for the final three games, though the offense only showed minor improvements the rest of the way. I still think Flip is a good football coach, Zimmer said. I just didnt like the direction that it was going at the time and I was trying to (do) something to get us going again. Though the experiment with DeFilippo ended badly, Zimmer feels as if he is better equipped to handle the hiring process this time around. Ive thought about this a lot, Zimmer said. Ive learned a lot about the questions, the interview process, and about the things that I probably should do a lot better than what I did. Hopefully Ill do better. Asked to provided more clarity about that, specifically whether he feels as if he missed something during the interview process with DeFilippo last offseason, Zimmer tried his best to sidestep the question. Not necessarily that, Zimmer said. I just dont think I asked enough questions as far as what we were trying to get done. That somewhat-veiled response from Zimmer was pretty much as far as he would go into his plans for the next offensive coordinator. He instead chose to speak broadly about what he wants in the person, rather than who he wants as the person. I think the biggest thing is weve got to score points, Zimmer said. We didnt score enough when we were in the red zone. Obviously I want to be able to run the football and play-action pass because I think thats the most effective way to affect a defense. Theres a lot of things we need to improve on there, so thats going to be big. Lets get innovative with this so we can protect, be able to throw the ball, or be able to run the ball to a different spot. Related Articles John Shipley: In a Vikings season of disappointment, Kirk Cousins stands out Mike Zimmer vows Vikings will get their nasty back in 2019 The Loop NFL Picks: Wild Card Weekend Vikings sign all 10 members of practice squad to future deals Mr. Touchdown Aldrick Robinson hopes Vikings bring him back While most people assume that Zimmer would like to have some familiarity with his next offensive coordinator cough, cough Hue Jackson he tried his best to nip those rumors in the bud. Its become a talking point in the Twin Cities at this point only because Jackson has been rumored to be a lead candidate to be the next offensive coordinator if hes not hired to be the next coach of the Cincinnati Bengals. Its a good question, Zimmer said with a smile before adding a caveat perhaps to try to throw reporters off the scent. Youre fishing in the wrong pond. | https://www.twincities.com/2019/01/03/who-will-the-vikings-hire-as-their-next-offensive-coordinator/ |
Are Entrepreneurs Wired Differently? | September 8, 2014 4 min read Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Successful entrepreneurs are different from the very start. The most important manifestation of this trait is their having a different attitude, which I believe happens because they are wired differently. French economist Jean-Baptiste Say, who started circulating the word "entrepreneur" around 1800, is quoted as having said, The entrepreneur shifts economic resources out of an area of lower and into an area of higher productivity and greater yield. Failures galore may acculmulate in the life span of an entrepreneur. But an unsullied faith that defines his (or her) attitude keeps this person tethered to the tedious uphill path of entrepreneurship. Related: 50 Signs You Might Be an Entrepreneur No doubt education helps, but the instinctive knack that an entrepreneur is born with allows him or her to seek out and pursue manifold risks and be prepared to lose it all if needed. The top business schools around the world are churning out top-level managers, but most never become entrepreneurs for the simple reason that they lack those wired differently qualities. Even the definitions of entrepreneur support the risk-taking factor along with the trait of taking initiative. Merriam-Webster defines entrepreneur as one who organizes, manages and assumes the risks of a business or enterprise. Dictionary.com opts for a person who organizes and manages any enterprise, especially a business, usually with considerable initiative and risk. A walk down history lane reveals tales of failure by entrepreneurs who have top management pedigrees and success trajectories of people sans fancy degrees. Risk taking and intense concentration powers enable successful entrepreneurs to trust their gut feelings, learn from experience and crystalize their ideas into success strategies, all by converting challenges into opportunities. Present a very successful idea (say the proposal for Facebook) to a graduating class of, say, 50 students at a top business school. Fifty percent of the students will outright reject the idea, saying that it won't work. Others will think about things and contemplate it but finally barely five will start working on the notion. Sadly, experience has shown that 4 out of those final 5 will also abandon the idea because of various reasons, such as a girlfriend, parents or the lure of a stable job. But one will pursue the idea with unflinching dedication and a one-track mind in pursuit of the defined goal. This outcome is exactly like the narrative of the emergence of a leader, which prompts the rise of followers. Related: 5 Quotes on Risk That Will Have You Ready to Take Action The inherent zeal to risk all to get all doesn't come from bookish knowledge. Indeed scholastic activity blunts the allure of risk taking and diving into the unknown. Schooling provide tools to avoid risk and instead turn toward a stable and successful business. On the other hand, "differently wired" humans listen to their intuitive inner feelings and take risks in the right direction to move forward, lacing their decision with determination as they foresee the future. The risk-taking quality that's essential can also lead to failure but there is always the possibility of another try. Never giving up in the face of failure and adverse circumstances brings the crowning glory of success to entrepreneurs. Over the years, people with and without top formal business education have become entrepreneurs if they have the intelligence and adaptability, pursue risk taking with clarity and have the sense to grab an opportunity when it presents itself. Related: The 4 Factors to Making the Best Decisions for You | https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/237169 |
Will the never-ending war in Afghanistan ever end? | As 2018 wound down, President Donald Trump reminded his Twitter followers of one of his most solemn promises. I campaigned against the NEVER ENDING WARS, remember! The tweet sought to address criticism of his sudden decision to pull U.S. troops out of Syria. But the real target may well have been the longest of Americas never-ending wars the conflict in Afghanistan. Lost amid the fallout from Trumps Syria decision were reports that the commander in chief had also decided to withdraw half of the 14,000 U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan. While a White House spokesperson later denied the report, there is no doubt that the president would like to end Americas involvement in Afghanistan sooner rather than later. On this, Trump is right more so than the many generals and other national security officials who for many years have argued that staying just a little longer, deploying just a few more troops and using just a little more force will guarantee ultimate success in what is by now Americas longest war ever. Though initially skeptical, Trump bought that line in 2017 when he agreed not only to stay in Afghanistan, but to increase the overall troop presence for an indefinite period. My original instinct was to pull out and, historically, I like following my instincts, Trump said in announcing that decision. But my Cabinet and generals had convinced him that walking away risked a repeat of 9/11. We cannot repeat in Afghanistan the mistake our leaders made in Iraq, he said in a thinly veiled swipe at his predecessors. But Trumps generals are now all gone. Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, his second national security adviser who made staying Afghanistan a top priority, left months ago. And Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and chief of staff John Kelly, both retired Marine generals who had likewise pushed the president to remain in Afghanistan, left office at the start of the new year. As the Syria decision showed, Trumps instincts are now likely to be a better guide to future policy than whatever his advisers might argue. And his instinct is to end the never-ending wars. In the case of Afghanistan, he has a point. The war in Afghanistan has lasted more than 18 years, and the overall situation has improved little over those years. The United States has spent more than $130 billion in aid to Afghanistan, including $80 billion to train and equip its security forces. And yet, Afghan government forces control barely half the country, with the Taliban insurgents currently controlling or contesting more territory than at any time since 2001. Indeed, despite the deployment of thousands more U.S. troops and a sharp escalation in U.S. bombing raids, Afghan forces control less territory today than they did in early 2017. Meanwhile, the cost of the war for the Afghan people has been rising steadily. In 2018, civilian casualties were higher than in any other year in the war. Afghan security forces have born the brunt of the fighting, with more than 28,000 soldiers and policemen killed in the last three years alone. Afghanistan is truly a never-ending war. A major reason is that we have never been clear about the overall mission of our engagement. At times it has been any one of these goals; at others all of them at once. President Trump and the nation would be well served by a thorough, bottom-up review of our entire Afghan strategy. The Obama administration conducted such a review in 2009, but ultimately settled for a compromise policy that failed to agree on clear goals. The 2017 review led by McMaster mainly aimed to convince Trump not to act on his instincts to get out. And if the review concludes that success is not possible or the costs of getting there are too high as seems likely then lets follow the advice of the late Sen. George Aiken: Declare victory and go home. Ivo Daalder is the president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and a former U.S. ambassador to NATO. Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Board and on Facebook. Submit a letter to the editor here or email [email protected]. | https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-afghanistan-war-never-ending-trump-ivo-daalder-0104-20190103-story.html |
Will Google's disruptive US cellular service ever connect the globe? | From its groundbreaking efforts to provide free high-speed internet to underserved communities in Africa to the US city-hopping fiber optic internet service, Fiber, it's clear that Google is no stranger to trying to connect the world. Different as they might be, each of these projects is sewn with the same string of fabric, one that aims to wrap around the globe and loop in as many people as possible. As of 2015, another idea called Project Fi came into the fold that could eventually have a massive impact on how wireless carriers operate on a global basis. Project Fi, like Cricket, MetroPCS, Tesco Mobile, Virgin Mobile and many more, is a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that provides its pay-per-gigabyte service by utilizing the signal coverage of other, much larger carriers. In Fi's case, that currently includes Sprint, T-Mobile, and U.S. Cellular. For folks in the United States, nearly every possible avenue has been explored to easily migrate onto Fi from their previous carrier. It's affordable, it doesn't bind you to a contract, and its service covers most of the United States. Not so muchbut don't count it out just yet. The appeal of Project Fi isn't so much in where it stands today, as an affordable option for Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P users in America, but where it could grow to be tomorrow. Imagine the impact of a single global carrier that transcends borders with affordable data. One SIM card that can travel with you wherever you go without getting roaming charges. As one of the most powerful companies in the world, Google could make it happen. Let's break it down into basics first. An experimental service at heart Compared to giant wireless carriers like Verizon and AT&T, an MVNO is a more nimble operation that can more quickly make changes to its service and implement improvements that benefit its batch of users. To that end, Google's approach with Fi isn't much different to that of other popular MVNOs. But, it's unique in the sense that it's all just one big, commercial-grade experiment. Speaking with Simon Arscott, the product manager at Project Fi, he referred to the network of networks the service's cheeky tagline as a "testbed to push the boundary of innovation in connectivity, and share innovations back with carriers, manufacturers, and developers." Here's a small example. The nano SIM included along with a subscription to Project Fi looks like any ordinary one. But when used in tandem with the unique cellular radio setup built into the small group of Nexus phones, it's capable of some cool stuff. Stuff like automatically switching between Wi-Fi (even public hotspots via VPN) and LTE cellular signals to give you the fastest transfer speeds all without dropping out of a call. To test this out in more depth, I downloaded an app called Fi Info, which specializes in logging each and every data switch that Project Fi makes. In New York City, T-Mobile has me covered nicely. But on a day that I traveled east to Massachusetts, Fi Info showed me that the service had intelligently switched between each of the three available providers along the way. (Less) money talks The Fi innovation that's the easiest to get onboard with is its pricing structure, which makes having a data plan something that doesn't have to gut your bank account. Each plan is US$20 flat, with each gigabyte costing an extra $10. Google won't front your termination fee if you're looking to switch, but it will knock $150 off the price of an unlocked Nexus 5X when you sign up for Fi. I'm a Fi customer after having switched from Verizon, and now usually pay less than $40 per month, which is down from about $75 on a shared plan. So long as Fi exists, I'm never going back. Servicing a larger community The opportunity to connect the globe with affordable data plans seems too ripe to pass up. And recently, Google took a sizable step toward bringing its Fi service outside of US soil. Project Fi recently added LTE coverage in over 135 countries around the world by partnering up with Threean unprecedented move for a US-based MVNO. But, even if your home country is now blanketed in Fi coverage, you're still out of luck. Yes, the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P are widely available across the globe, but still no dice for Fi. There's obviously more that can be done, but something is standing in Google's way. Expanding a unified cellular service across the globe is a costly missioneven for a company as large as Google is that is steeped in unique challenges. The right to internet access was declared as a basic human right a few years ago and since then, we've seen bold initiatives come to life, like Aquila, Facebook's solar-powered drone. When it launches, it is said to be able to remain in flight for three months, beaming free wireless internet to people in Africa, many of whom have never logged online even once. By comparison, an all-encompassing cellular solution is a more stubborn issue to address. First off, many regions around the world lack the networking infrastructure to provide 4G LTEor even 3Gto its customers, which is a marquee feature of Google's cellular service. In the countries that are prepared for Fi on a technological basis, Google would then need to negotiate with the regional carriers of each country in its sights to play nice with each other, allowing Project Fi customers the world over to switch between them at a moment's notice. As much as I, and a ton of people on the internet, have voiced that we want Project Fi to graduate into a global carrier, it's easy to see why it's notat least in its current state. According to Google, the focus is still solely on US users. But, a recent partnership with Three in the UK shows that it is branching outward, even if it's just a small step toward the gargantuan goal of connecting the globe. | https://www.techradar.com/au/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/will-google-s-affordable-us-cellular-service-ever-connect-the-globe-1326739 |
How many kids does Kanye West have? | Musical genius, provocateur, fashion mogul, and slightly erratic and politically uninformed are all ways that you could describe Kanye West. Since marrying the fashion and entertainment icon and perhaps a little more politically plugged-in Kim Kardashian in 2014, the two have started to build up their legacy. with the news that Kanye and Kim are now expecting a new baby to their ever-growing family, maybe it's high time to get acquainted with the Kardashian-West children before they take over the world. Photo: Getty Images North "Nori" West North "Nori" West was the first child this super-powered couple welcomed in June of 2013. They had welcomed their first child before their media coverage engulfing wedding on May 24th, 2014 in Florence Italy. Saint West Two years later, the couple welcomed the birth of their son Saint West in December of 2015. Chicago West In January of 2018, Kanye and Kim gave birth to their second daughter Chicago West through the use of a gestational surrogate. This famously influenced Kanye's self-effacing verse on Pusha T's track "What would Meek do?" from last year's excellent album DAYTONA. "Everything Ye say cause a new debate," Kanye declared. Adding "You see, he been out of touch, he cannot relate. His hallway too long, bitch too bad. Gotta surrogate his kid, get two dads." As for the name, this could have been a somewhat symbolic gesture for West. He announced last year that he would be moving back to his hometown of Chicago full-time and moving his entire recording and studio and operation there. "Untitled Kanye West Baby Project" And that brings us to the newest member of the Kardashian-West empire. It was reported yesterday that the happy couple will be expecting their fourth child via a surrogacy sometime this year. So, while the iron is hot, it might be time to figure out an office pool of what Kim and Kanye will name the new baby. My guess: this is the "Yandhi" project he has been promising all along. | https://www.metro.us/entertainment/how-many-kids-does-kanye-west-have |
How well has Raiders GM Mike Mayock done at evaluating quarterbacks? | One of the great things about the Raiders hiring former NFL Network star Mike Mayock is that we have access to all of his player rankings since the 2006 NFL Draft. With all of that information, we may be able to find trends and make educated guesses throughout the draft process as to who Mayock may like, but also, what positions he knows bests. While we have all offseason to run through the tape and his draft boards, this piece is going to be a little less comprehensive. Instead, this simply a list of Mayocks top quarterbacks for each draft since 2006. Here is the full list via the NFL.com archives: 2006 1. Jay Cutler, Vanderbilt 2. Matt Leinart, USC 3. Vince Young, Texas 4. Charlie Whitehurst, Clemson 5. Brodie Croyle, Alabama 6. Tarvaris Jackson, Alabama State 2007 1. JaMarcus Russell, LSU 2. Brady Quinn, Notre Dame 3. Drew Stanton, Michigan State 4. John Beck, BYU 5. Trent Edwards, Stanford 2008 1. Matt Ryan, Boston College 2. Joe Flacco. Delaware 3. Chad Henne, Michigan 4. Brian Brohm, Louisville 5. John David Booty, USC 2009 1. Mark Sanchez, USC 2. Matthew Stafford, Georgia 3. Josh Freeman, Kansas State 4. Pat White, West Virginia 5. Stephen McGee, Texas A&M 2010 1. Sam Bradford, Oklahoma 2. Jimmy Clausen, Notre Dame 3.Tim Tebow, Florida 4.Colt McCoy, Texas 5. John Skelton, Fordham 2011 1. Blaine Gabbert, Missouri 2. Jake Locker, Washington 3. Cam Newton, Auburn 4. Ryan Mallett, Arkansas 5. Christian Ponder, Florida State 2012 1. Andrew Luck, Stanford 2. Robert Griffin III, Baylor 3. Ryan Tannehill, Texas A&M 4. Brandon Weeden, Oklahoma State 5. Kirk Cousins, Michigan State 2013 1. Geno Smith, West Virginia 2. Matt Barkley, USC 3. Mike Glennon, N.C. State 4. Ryan Nassib, Syracuse 5. Landry Jones, Oklahoma 2014 1. Johnny Manziel, Texas A&M 2. Blake Bortles, Central Florida 3. Derek Carr, Fresno State 4. Jimmy Garoppolo, Eastern Illinois T-5. Zach Mettenberger, LSU T-5. Teddy Bridgewater, Louisville 2015 1. Marcus Mariota, Oregon 2. Jameis Winston, Florida State 3. Bryce Petty, Baylor 4. Brett Hundley, UCLA 5. Sean Mannion, Oregon State 2016 1. Carson Wentz, North Dakota State 2. Jared Goff, California 3. Paxton Lynch, Memphis 4. Connor Cook, Michigan State 5. Christian Hackenberg, Penn State 2017 1. Deshaun Watson, Clemson 2. Mitchell Trubisky, North Carolina 3. Patrick Mahomes II, Texas Tech 4. DeShone Kizer, Notre Dame 5. Davis Webb, California 2018 1. Sam Darnold, USC 2. Josh Allen, Wyoming 3. Josh Rosen, UCLA 4. Baker Mayfield, Oklahoma 5. Lamar Jackson, Louisville For the most part, Mayock has done a good job of identifying the top talent in each class. There are some years in which he has struggled (2011 in particular), but its not all that awful. Excluding the 2017 and 2018 draft, I would argue that Mayock found the top quarterback in the class 7 out of 11 times. That is a pretty impressive hit rate. That is better than what most of the teams do across the NFL. | https://raiderswire.usatoday.com/2019/01/03/how-well-has-raiders-gm-mike-mayock-done-at-evaluating-quarterbacks/ |
How has the Kawhi Leonard-DeMar DeRozan trade worked out for the Raptors and Spurs? | Five months ago, the Toronto Raptors traded DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a 2019 first-round draft pick to the San Antonio Spurs for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. Tonight, the two teams meet for the first time since the trade. Before they do, let's take a closer look at how the deal has worked out for both sides as we near the midpoint of the NBA season. Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green The Raptors took a risk in trading DeRozan, the franchise's all-time leading scorer, for Leonard after a quadriceps injury limited him to only nine games with the Spurs last season, but you wouldn't know it based on how the two-time All-Star has been playing so far this season. While he has sat out a number of games for precautionary reasons, Leonard looks like an MVP candidate again with averages of 27.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.6 steals per contest. The points and rebounds are the best marks of his career and he's only dished out more assists once. "That is such an anomaly," Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra told Bleacher Report when asked about Leonard's play recently. "I don't think the average fan knows how difficult that is to miss that much time and then step in and be every bit of who you were before if not more." MORE: This simple possession shows why Kawhi is an MVP candidate The one part of Leonard's game that has regressed slightly compared to his most productive years with the Spurs is his 3-point shooting. Between 2015 and 2017, Leonard made 1.9 3-pointers per game at a 40.7 percent clip. This season, he's making 1.7 3-pointers per game at a 36.1 percent clip. The encouraging sign for the Raptors is he's been much better as the season has progressed, going from connecting on 12.5 percent of his 3-point attempts in preseason to 28.9 percent in the month of November and 39.1 percent in the month of December. Leonard's ability to create his own offence and play off of his teammates has the Raptors scoring at a rate of 114.0 points per 100 possessions with him on the court as opposed to 105.4 with him on the bench. He's already had a number of signature performances in the first half of the season, such as when he led the Raptors to an overtime victory over Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors with 37 points. More recently, Leonard scored a career-high 45 points against the Utah Jazz to open the new year. All in all, Leonard is averaging more points, rebounds, steals and blocks than DeRozan did in his final season with the Raptors, doing so with greater efficiency and basically the same usage. The only thing DeRozan did more frequently was set up his teammates for scoring opportunities he averaged nearly double the amount of assists last season than Leonard is averaging this season. That, however, has been less of an issue with Lowry dishing out a career-best 9.8 assists per game and Pascal Siakam developing into a potential All-Star. Leonard also more than makes up for it with his play on the other end of the court. The Raptors actually have a worse defensive rating with Leonard in the lineup, but he brings a level of versatility that Toronto never came close to having with DeRozan. It shows in matchups with teams like the Philadelphia 76ers, as Leonard has the size and length to guard multiple positions. The other player the Raptors acquired in the deal was Green. The veteran has started at shooting guard in all 38 games he's appeared in with the Raptors and he's fit in perfectly. Not only is he back to being one of the best 3-point shooters in the league following three subpar seasons, Green is playing the sort of defence that helped him make the All-Defensive Second Team in 2016-17. Green doesn't carry nearly the same load as Leonard and Lowry, but he's been almost just as important as them to the team's early season success. According to NBA.com, he currently has the second-highest offensive rating (116.7) in the league and one of the best defensive ratings (101.6). With the Raptors outscoring opponents by a margin of 15.1 points per 100 possessions in Green's minutes on the court, he has the highest net rating in the league. Green has even come up big in the clutch for the Raptors in making a couple of game-winners, one against the Orlando Magic, the other against the Miami Heat. Not bad for someone who was seen as a throw-in at the time. DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl When San Antonio's starting point guard Dejounte Murray went down with a torn ACL in preseason an injury that is expected to sideline him for the entire regular season DeRozan was tasked with taking full control of the Spurs' offence. By averaging a career-high 6.3 assists per game. The Spurs are scoring 15.3 points per game off of those assists, putting DeRozan on the same page as the likes of Mike Conley, Kyrie Irving and Devin Booker. DeRozan made strides as a playmaker last season. He's just kicked it into another gear this season. He dished out 10-plus assists only three times in his time with the Raptors and he already has two such games with the Spurs, the first of which came against LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers in an overtime win in the first week of the season. "He's turned out to be maybe the best passer on our team, frankly," Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said of DeRozan earlier in the season. DeRozan is still scoring the ball at a high rate, too. His 22.9 points per game is down slightly from the last couple of seasons and he's back to rarely shooting 3-pointers again, but he's getting to the basket at one of the higher rates of his career while trailing only Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson in makes from midrange. DeRozan is also averaging a career-high 5.9 rebounds per game, up from 3.9 last season. He still has not recorded a triple-double in his career, but he's come close to reaching the mark on a handful of occasions this season alone. The combination of his volume scoring, passing and rebounding had DeRozan looking like an MVP candidate to start the season. Even though he hasn't been able to maintain that hot start, he has helped the Spurs win seven of their last 10 games, putting them back in the Western Conference playoff race following an inconsistent month of November that saw them go 5-10. Whether or not it's enough for DeRozan to be an All-Star in the loaded Western Conference remains to be seen, but he's having one of the best seasons of his career. Poeltl's season has trended in a different direction. Whereas he came out of the gates slow in October, he almost doubled his playing time in December and made the most of his extended minutes with averages of 7.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.0 blocks per game. After setting a new career-high with 20 points against the Utah Jazz on Dec. 4, Poeltl admitted that it's taken him some time to adjust to his new surroundings in San Antonio. I think playing with a new team, playing with new teammates in a different system is definitely weird at first," Poeltl told reporters last month. "I have to get used to my new teammates, how to play with them, how they like to play, what can I change to my game to adapt to that," he continued. Poeltl was a part of something special in Toronto last season. Unlike many teams, the Raptors gave consistent minutes to an all-bench unit made up of Fred VanVleet, Delon Wright, CJ Miles, Pascal Siakam and Poeltl, and it was one of the more effective lineups in the NBA. With a less defined role to start the season, it's no surprise that he's only now starting to find his footing. The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA or its clubs. | https://www.sportingnews.com/au/nba/news/kawhi-leonard-return-san-antonio-spurs-trade-demar-derozan-toronto-raptors-danny-green/d5ayiqmofer01o7uz24dmipiz |
Is de NS cht de duurste spoorvervoerder van de EU? | Uit cijfers van EU Statline zou blijken dat de kosten van het openbaar vervoer in Nederland de allerhoogste van de gehele Europese Unie waren. RTL Nieuws schreef hierover en sprak een hoogleraar die dit duidde. Hierin wordt nog genuanceerd gebracht dat het om een algemeen prijspeil van al het openbaar vervoer gaat. Juist, de NS en haar karakteristieke geel/blauwe huisstijl, zoals is te zien bij onder meer Nu.nl, Hart van Nederland, FUNX en Linda Nieuws. Wij zochten het uit. Eurostat Vergelijking Waar de cijfers van de Statline-onderzoekers exact op gebaseerd zijn, is moeilijk te achterhalen. In de verantwoording staat dat de prijzen van alle vormen van openbaar vervoer zoals trams, metro's, bussen, veerdiensten en taxi's zijn meegenomen. Op deze manier zou het Nederlandse prijspeil op 32,5 procentpunt boven het Europese gemiddelde zitten. Zoals in het diagram hierboven is te zien, het allerduurste van de voltallige Europese Unie. Metro besloot de proef op de som te nemen en te kijken of dit bij een treinreis het geval is. In tien verschillende landen werd een directe enkele treinreis van ongeveer 150 kilometer lang op vol tarief geboekt met als vertrekpunt de hoofdstad. Sneltreindiensten werden hierbij uitsloten omdat deze vaak een toeslag hebben. Voor Nederland is gekozen voor de verbinding tussen Amsterdam Centraal en het Limburgse Weert. Deze directe reis met een Intercity duurt ongeveer een uur en 39 minuten en een enkeltje op vol tarief kost 22,80. Hiermee scoort de NS eigenlijk heel gemiddeld. Vooral Groot-Brittanni en Denemarken zijn een stuk duurder. In de tabel hieronder is te zien hoe duur elke rit is. Een ritje met de NS staat op een gedeelde vijfde plaats met Frankrijk. Hierbij is de recente btw-verhoging van 6 naar 9 procent meegenomen. Wellicht zijn de taxi's in ons land aan de prijzige kant of zijn onze busritten duur. Er wordt in veel artikelen de suggestie gewekt dat vooral de NS heel veel vraagt. Dit is op zijn minst misleidend te noemen want het kan met een eenvoudig vergelijkend warenonderzoek weerlegd worden. Een rit van ongeveer 45 kilometer is een tweede meetpunt; dit is voor Nederland van Amsterdam Centraal naar Leiden Centraal, deze kost 9,60. Ook op deze kortere afstand zijn Groot-Brittanni (London-Harlow: 14,63 euro), Denemarken (Kopenhagen-Kge:13,42 euro) en Oostenrijk (Wenen-Wiener Neustadt: 11,60 euro) prijziger. Wel is Duitsland bij korte ritjes aanzienlijk goedkoper; voor Berlijn naar station Bestensee betaal je 4,30. Frankrijk (Parijs-Meaux 8 euro) en Zweden (Stockholm-Knivsta 7,30) zijn hierin iets minder prijzig. Volle mep, dikke nep Natuurlijk zijn onze nationale spoorwegen altijd een dankbaar onderwerp voor nieuws en geklaag. Er is ook nog genoeg te verbeteren, maar treintickets in Nederland zijn niet beduidend duurder dan in vergelijkbare landen. Bovendien betaalt nagenoeg niemand de volle mep, aangezien bijna iedereen die vaak met de trein reist een voordeelabonnement heeft. Toegegeven: elk land zal op deze manier wel zijn handigheden hebben. Het Verenigd Koninkrijk, dat berucht is om haar dure treinreizen, spant de kroon. Omdat dit land de EU gaat verlaten vanwege de #brexit, telt deze hierna niet langer mee. Na maart zal Denemarken het duurste land van de Unie worden om 45 of 150km te reizen met de trein, op de voet gevolgd door Oostenrijk. Ierland en Belgi zijn wel beduidend voordeliger dan Nederland. Maar de Belgische spoorwegen hebben - net als hun snelwegen - niet bepaald een goed imago. | https://www.metronieuws.nl/in-het-nieuws/2019/01/is-de-ns-echt-de-duurste-spoorvervoerder-van-de-eu |
Who's running for government seats in Fond du Lac County's spring elections? | Polls in Wisconsins 20th Senate District primary election close Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. (Photo: AP) FOND DU LAC - Several newcomers have thrown their hats into the ring to vie for open government seats in Fond du Lac County's April 2 spring election. Candidates had until 5 p.m. Wednesday to file their candidacy papers with clerk's offices in order to be placed on the ballot. Four newcomers, a former council member and an incumbent will vie for three open spots on Fond du Lac City Council. Brian Kolstad, elected to the council in 2015, will face off with James Lorrigan, Stephany O'Malley, Daniel Degner, Alicia Hans and Derek TerBeest. The latter served on the council already, but was defeated in the April 2018 election. Council member Greg Giles, appointed in May 2014, chose not to seek reelection and Catherine Block, elected in April 2013, has reached the council's term limits. Two incumbents on the Fond du Lac Board of Education are facing two newcomers over three open seats. Current board president Mark Jurgella, who has served the board since 2011, and Peggy Breister, elected in April 2016, are running against Richard Gedemer and Nick Teifke. Elizabeth Hayes chose to retire after more than three decades on the school board. RELATED: FDL School District asks public to vote on referendum RELATED: Elizabeth Hayes retires after three decades on FDL School Board Fond du Lac School District is asking voters living in the district to approve a $98.5 million referendum, posed in two questions. The first referendum question is will ask voters to authorize up to $91.5 million to make improvements across the district, including: building systems, capital maintenance and building exterior improvements at district facilities; safety and security updates at district schools, including upgrade secure main entrances; classroom and support area improvements and Americans with Disabilities Act updates at certain district schools; site improvements; and acquisition of related furnishing, fixtures and equipment." The second question asks to authorize up to $7 million to adding air conditioning to schools in the district. North Fond du Lac Village Board has two open seats and trustee Ann Price is seeking a full term after being appointed to the board last year. She is challenged by former trustee John Duffy and retired village administrator Chuck Hornung. Duffy resigned from his role as a trustee in January to apply for Hornungs job, but he wasnt chosen for the position. Trustee Keith King chose not to seek reelection after a decade on the board. Lakeside Municipal Court Judge Jerome J. Jaye, who has served as judge since the court's inception in 1997, faces competition for the judgeship from newcomer Doug Iverson, an attorney and alderman in the city of Ripon. In a new twist this year, the Village of Rosendale has broken away from Lakeside Municipal Court and decided to start its own municipal court. Rosendale residents Deborah Duel and Mark Simon are vying for the new seat. Read or Share this story: https://www.fdlreporter.com/story/news/2019/01/02/newscomers-vie-seats-april-2-2019-fond-du-lac-county-elections/2464726002/ | https://www.fdlreporter.com/story/news/2019/01/02/newscomers-vie-seats-april-2-2019-fond-du-lac-county-elections/2464726002/?from=new-cookie |
What Is Salvation? | John Wesley was consistent in how he understood salvation. In The Scripture Way of Salvation, he asks, What is salvation. He answers, The salvation which is spoken of is not what is frequently understood by that word, the going to heaven, eternal happiness . It is not a blessing that lies on the other side of death . No, he says, it is not something at a distance: it is a present thing, a blessing which, through the free mercy of God, ye are now in possession of (I.1). It is a gift of God in this life, a gift that death cannot take from us. In its broadest sense it is a process that begins with prevenient grace. In Working out Our Own Salvation, Wesley says it is then carried on by convincing grace, usually in scripture termed repentance, which brings a larger measure of self-knowledge, and a further deliverance from the heart of stone. Following this is the proper Christian salvation, whereby through grace we are saved by faith, consisting of those two grand branches, justification and sanctification. By justification we are saved from the guilt of sin, and restored to the favour of God: by sanctification we are saved from the power and root of sin, and restored to the image of God (II.1). Salvation, then, is the project of God, with the goal of restoring us to the condition in which we were originally created. The heart of this divine renovation is love: God is love, and salvation enables us to love as God loves. We receive this new life as a free gift. I think there are two misunderstandings that keep persons from the fullness of life that God promises. Both have one thing in common: they understand Christianity as fundamentally about the life to come about what happens when you die. The most common of these misunderstandings is that most people are basically good enough that a loving God will let them into heaven. Most Americans believe that being good enough is fairly easy it is simply being a nice person. If someone is a mass murderer, most believe the case is hopeless God would never forgive such a person. But most of us arent mass murderers. We are ordinary people who are not perfect but good enough to make the cut. The second misunderstanding has been called by Dallas Willard a bar code faith. The scanner at the check-out line reads only the bar code on a product. If the bar code for ice cream is placed on dog food, the scanner will read ice cream. The content of the package is irrelevant. Willard says a bar code faith operates much the same way. We take some action we have faith, get baptized, join the church and that gives us a new bar code. God then pays no attention to our actual sinful content. When we are scanned across the divine scanner, it reads Christs righteousness. We remain the same, only now we go to heaven. As Willard says, our present life has no necessary connection with being a Christian as long as the bar code does its job (The Divine Conspiracy [Harper Collins, 1998], 37). Wesley faced both misunderstandings. The first was common in his Church of England. For many, by a religious man is commonly meant, one that is honest, just and fair in his dealings; that is constantly at church and sacrament; and that gives much alms, or (as it is usually termed) does much good (Journal, 25 November 1739). Persons who met these criteria would go to heaven when they die. The second was found among preachers in the evangelical awakening who offered forgiveness without new life. Wesley said, let a preacher bawl out something about Christ, or his blood, or justification by faith, and his hearers cry out, what a fine Gospel sermon! Surely the Methodists have not so learned Christ. We know no Gospel without salvation from sin (Letters to Miss Bishop, 18 October 1778). For Wesley this was missing the point of salvation. He and his Methodists were grieved at the sight of persons with no religion at all or with a lifeless, formal religion. They sought to convince them that there is a better religion to be attained, a religion worthy of God that gave it. And this we conceived to be no other than love: the love of God and all mankind: the loving God with all our heart and soul and strength, as having first loved us, as the fountain of all the good we have received, and of all we ever hope to enjoy; and the loving every soul which God hath made as our own soul (An Earnest Appeal to Men of Reason and Religion, 2) This is the life God wants to give us. It is a life that mends broken relationships, infuses us with hope, has a peace and joy that abides, and motivates us to worship God and serve others. To proclaim the promise of this life was at the heart of Wesleys Methodism. | https://www.catalystresources.org/what-is-salvation/ |
What is machine learning? | One of the hallmarks of human intelligence is to be able to incorporate learning, and to get smarter over time as new data gets integrated into your brains knowledgebase. Traditionally, computers are not considered intelligent, as while they have spectacular computational abilities, they must be programmed quite precisely to harness this power, and do not have any ability to integrate learning. Rather, they must be reprogrammed to encompass improvements often indicated as Program 2.0 to designate the newer, and hopefully better version of the software running on the computer. Machine learning is the branch of computing that incorporates algorithms to analyze data which is inputted, and via statistical analysis can make a prediction on an output, while incorporating new data as it becomes available, to update the predicted output. In other words, the algorithm allows the computer to incorporate new data, and update its algorithm over time, so that learning is effectively taking place. A closely related, and sometimes considered almost synonymous term, is artificial intelligence although some would argue that artificial intelligence is considered the broader term of which machine learning is a subtype. The phrase machine learning dates back to 1959, when Arthur Samuel, a pioneer in the fields of computer gaming and artificial intelligence and a research professor at Stanford University, defined it as the ability to learn without being explicitly programmed. Checkers champ He had an interest in machine learning with regards to checkers, which he perceived to be an ideal subject due to the simplicity of the game. Due to the lack of available computing power at the time, rather than attempt to run every possibility, his algorithm used alpha-beta pruning (a variant of the Minimax algorithm) to choose a move based on the position of the pieces, including the location of king pieces, and the likelihood of a win. He put his theories into practice in 1961 when his program won a match against the Connecticut state checkers champion, considered the fourth ranked player in the nation at the time, lending credence to his work. This paved the way for more ground-breaking work in the field of machine learning. This includes the famous 1997 match where IBMs supercomputer Deep Blue, after an initial loss the year before, was able to beat world champion Garry Kasparov in a series of matches in the more complex game of chess. Even more recently in 2016, Google took on the even more complicated game of Go, a popular Chinese board game known for its high level of strategy. Using the AlphaGo algorithm for machine learning, a product of Google DeepMind, a professional player was beaten in an impressive five consecutive games. Machine learning has been applied to more than just games. In 2012 at Google X Labs, a machine learning algorithm was designed to go through YouTube videos, and independently identify those that have a cat in the video stream. By 2014, Facebook had a machine learning algorithm, DeepFace, that could match images of faces to a person with over 97% accuracy, which approaches the performance of a typical human when it comes to that task. In order to facilitate more projects, in 2015, Microsoft debuted its Distributed Machine Learning Toolkit, which currently includes Distributed (Multi-sense) Word Embedding for high quality natural language processing. The technology of machine learning has also been applied to robots and their ability to carry out complex tasks autonomously. There has been interest in military applications, and this has caused many tech luminaries, including Stephen Hawking and Steve Wozniak, to send an open letter to the UN. Their concern is that weaponized machine learning represents a third revolution in warfare. On the other hand, autonomous technology promises to make cars safer to drive, and this was recently showcased with the tech implemented in a classic vehicle, a 1965 Ford Mustang, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Business benefits Businesses have also embraced machine learning, and an example of this is automated chatbots that reduce levels of customer interaction with more expensive customer support employees. Theres also a trend to move away from phone interaction menus (press one for this, press two for that) that generally annoy customers, towards text interaction. For example, late in 2017 the Royal Bank of Scotland debuted its new AI chatbot, Luvo, a web chat tool that pops up on the banks website and inquires about whether the customer has any questions. The goal is to have Luvo help 10% of customers, with the ability to answer simple questions directly, and direct others with more complicated issues to the correct human agent to provide more definitive help. The thinking is that by having Luvo handle the simpler tasks, this frees up human advisors for the more complicated customer issues. This particular virtual chatbot is powered by IBMs Watson Conversation tool, widely regarded as one of the most advanced AI engines, with a particular strength in natural language recognition. This incorporation of machine learning in the form of a chatbot at the Royal Bank of Scotland, driven by cost and time savings for customer service, is part of a wider trend, which other companies have embraced with obvious dividends. However, Facebook shut down its text-based chatbot, M, earlier this year, so the transition is hardly seamless as viable applications for this technology are sought. Music to your ears Machine learning has also been applied to online music streaming. Over at Spotify, the sprawling on-demand music service with over 100 million users, the firm applies machine learning to stream music that matches your musical taste. Especially popular is Spotifys Discover Weekly feature that has what appears to be a handpicked list of songs based on your listening habits kind of like a good friend who knows your listening habits making a mix tape to introduce you to new artists. However, this is achieved through machine learning algorithms that incorporate data from collaborative filtering which analyzes your listening behavior and similar fans, along with natural language processing which incorporates text, and audio analysis of the tracks directly. All of this data goes through the companys machine learning algorithm to generate these music picks, and this undoubtedly contributes to Spotifys popularity while some competing services, like Songza and Pandora, choose songs based on manually tagging them without the additional data that Spotify employs. With machine learning able to best human champions at multiple strategic board games, the power of these algorithms that can incorporate new data into their decision-making process has been clearly demonstrated. And now, diverse industries, from customer service, through autonomous driving, to curated music streaming, have shown the power of incorporating machine learning algorithms as well. | https://www.techradar.com/news/what-is-machine-learning |
Is Meghan Markle planning a tribute to the Queen with her birth? | Meghan Markle and Prince Harry s child will be the seventh-in-line to the British throne. The royal baby is bound to have a charmed life, which will start even with their birth. The royals have large sums of money to pay for the best possible health care, including when it comes to births. Kate Middleton has had her three children in the pricey Lindo Wing in Paddington. However, Meghan Markle was recently reported to be planning a different birth style. The LA actress is said to be considering a home birth. Vanity Fairs royal correspondent Katie Nicholl said the couple have been looking at their options. There is even some talk that Meghan, who has had a straightforward pregnancy so far, might opt for a home birth, although given this is her first baby, doctors will likely advise a hospital birth, she said. When the baby is born Meghan and Harry will be living in Windsor at Frogmore Cottage, in Windsor. They may be choosing between a home birth and hospital close to Frogmore Cottage. If Meghan opts for a home birth the experience may being her closer to the Queen. | https://www.express.co.uk/life-style/life/1066892/meghan-markle-news-latest-baby-pregnant |
How Can Progressives Do Better When it Comes to Sexism and Sexual Harassment? | As Bernie Sanders gears up for a likely second presidential bid, accounts of sexism, harassment and pay disparity from female staffers on his 2016 campaign have surfaced, raising questions about his progressive bona fides, the New York Times reported on Wednesday. In an interview with CNNs Anderson Cooper on Wednesday evening, Sanders said he was unaware of these issues during the 2016 campaign, both because it exploded from just a few staffers to over 1,200 over the course of a few months, leading to a lack of organization and formal avenues for such complaints, and because he was a little bit busy running around the country trying to make the case. I am not going to sit here and tell you that we did everything right in terms of human resources, in terms of addressing the needs that Im hearing from now, that women felt disrespected, that there was sexual harassment which was not dealt with as effectively as possible, he said. What I will tell you is that when I ran for reelection in 2018 in Vermont, we put forward the strongest set of principles in terms of mandatory training, in terms of women, if they felt harassed, having an independent firm that they can go to. I certainly apologize to any woman who felt that she was not treated appropriately, and of course if I run, we will do better next time, he said. Womens rights in general, and workplace sexual harassment specifically, have been major topics of discussion for Democrats and the Left in the Trump era from the Womens March to #MeToo. So if Sanders isnt able to make a convincing case for his promise to do better, it could hurt his standing in whats shaping up to be a crowded, competitive Democratic primary. Indeed, the Sanders campaign isnt the only progressive organization to come under fire recently for failing to bring their work culture up to par with their public message and core values. Progressive groups and activist organizations, especially those that have formed since 2016, preach a level of inclusivity that were not fully living up to, Asher Novek, an organizer who works in progressive local and national politics, tells Rolling Stone. While the movement itself is comprised of women and people of color, leadership roles are still predominantly white and predominantly male. Also during the 2016, while the Center for American Progress, a core organization of the Democratic establishment, was putting out policy memos for how to deal with sexual harassment in the workplace and speaking out loudly in opposition to Donald Trumps continued success even after the Access Hollywood tape was leaked they were also dealing with a workplace sexual harassment scandal of their own. A 2018 report by Buzzfeed News revealed that staffers faced not only sexual harassment, but retaliation for reporting. In an exit memo explaining why she was quitting after management failed to take action when she reported harassment, one former junior staffer wrote that CAPs culture obscures its mission, and that she surely expected better out of an organization that housed a national campaign on sexual assault. CAP told Buzzfeed News that the memo was the first time the outgoing staffer reported retaliation, and that it had investigated her initial allegations. We found no retaliation, no additional cases of harassment, and no further inappropriate conduct on the part of CAP employees, CAP said. Just last month, the New York Times reported on a pregnant employee at Planned Parenthood who told the newspaper she wasnt given time to take breaks, despite providing nurses notes saying that her high blood pressure was putting her pregnancy at risk and she needed to rest as much as possible. I had to hold back tears talking to pregnant women, telling them to take care of their pregnancies when I couldnt take care of mine, the medical assistant told the Times. It made me jealous. The article about Planned Parenthood also included several other organizations and companies that bill themselves as supporting women, and then mistreat, sideline, or discriminate against pregnant employees. Some of those employers saw accommodating expecting mothers as expensive and inconvenient, the report reads. Others were unsympathetic to workers seeking special treatment. These incidents present a challenge for progressive organizations to lead by example by reforming their own approaches to the very issues theyre fighting for. We need to be looking internally and doing more internal work around equity and inclusion, Novek says, and realize that disenfranchised groups have been doing this work and facing these issues for decades. | https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/bernie-sanders-planned-parenthood-progressives-sexual-harassment-774656/ |
Why are moths attracted to flame? | You might have heard the saying like a moth to a flame to describe a fatal attraction. The fact is, entomologists that is, scientists who study insects arent sure. One idea is that moths arent so much attracted to the light of a flame or other bright light as they are disoriented by it. Heres how it works. Like many flying insects, moths are able to find their way partly by using light as a compass. When the source of light is the sun or moon, that light source is very distant, and the incoming light rays that strike the insect arrive just about parallel to each other. So moths and many other flying insects have evolved to expect to receive light at a fixed part of the eye (transverse orientation). As long as the moth flies more or less in a straight line, this visual pattern remains unchanged. But, when the light source is a nearby candle, for example, then the angle at which the light strikes the moths eye quickly changes while the moth holds to a straight-line course. The moth tries to do what it has evolved to do under the light of the sun or moon that is, maintain a constant angle to the source. As it does so, it spirals in toward the light and might end up drawn into the flame. Another theory says that light sources which emit ultraviolet light as well as visible light attract moths. Humans cant see ultraviolet, but its important to insects because many flowers have patches of ultraviolet color on them to guide their pollinators. Moths may mistake the floods of ultraviolet light from such sources as bug zappers for a lush field of tasty flowers and follow the spurious signal to their doom. In yet another theory, infrared (heat) radiation from light sources may look like the infrared reflection from moth pheromones chemicals released by insects to attract mates. In this case male moths may be fooled into thinking a sexy female awaits them, once again being fatally deceived. In 2016, two biologists published a study in the journal Biology Letters on the possible evolutionary consequences of our modern, artificially-lit world on moths. They tested the flight-to-light behavior of 1048 adult ermine moths, whose larvae theyd collected in 2007, just after the insects had just completed their first molt. Some were rural moths, with 320 from populations that lived under largely dark skies. The other 728 were urban moths, gathered in light-polluted areas. All the moths were then raised in a lab with 16 hours of daylight and 8 hours of darkness daily while they completed their life stages. A report in Science explained: Two to three days after emerging as moths, they were released in a flight cage with a fluorescent tube at one side. Moths from high light pollution areas were significantly less attracted to the light than those from the darker zones Overall, moths from the light-polluted populations had a 30 percent reduction in the flight-to-light behavior, indicating that this species is evolving, as predicted, to stay away from artificial lights. That change should increase these city moths reproductive success. But their success comes at a cost: To avoid the lights, the moths are likely flying less, say the scientists, so they arent pollinating as many flowers or feeding as many spiders and bats. And so, even among moths, we have another example of how humans are affecting nature! Bottom line: There are several theories as to why moths and other flying insects are attracted to light. | https://earthsky.org/earth/why-are-moths-attracted-to-flame |
What Will Ariana Grande Wear to Headline 2019 Coachella? | In terms of her career (and only her career not her personal life), Ariana Grande had a stellar 2018. And it looks like shes about to have an even better 2019: It was announced yesterday that the pop star is set to headline Coachella, the buzziest music festival of the year that will run from April 12 to 21, along with Childish Gambino and Tame Impala. The pint-sized star shared the lineup on her Instagram, captioning the post, humbled and excited as hell, coachella thank u. While theres no doubt that the thank u next singer will deliver an incredible performance, the question as to what she plans to wear remains. Given her penchant for outsized hoodies and thigh-high boots with needle-thin heels, its hard to imagine that her signature uniform will lend itself to the Indio, Calif., desert heat. But then again, the Reebok ambassador has also been known to favor strapless bubble-hemmed minidresses like the lavender cloudlike Christian Siriano creation she wore to Billboards Women in Music event in December or babydoll tops like the sweet Cecilie Bahnsen design that she turned into a very, very short dress for an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon both of which could work in 90-degree temps. Ariana Grande performing at <em>Billboard</em>s 13th annual Women in Music event in New York. CREDIT: Todd Williamson/January Images/Shutterstock Grande battles Fallon in the Musical Genre Challenge. CREDIT: Andrew Lipovsky/NBC Nevertheless, its her preferred footwear over-the-knee styles from brands that include Le Silla, Stuart Weitzman and Sergio Rossi that poses a potential overheating problem. We have about four months until we find out. Click through to view all the times Ariana Grande went pantless in an oversized top and thigh-high boots. Kanye West Slams Ariana Grande in Latest Twitter Rant Ariana Grandes Favorite Stuart Weitzman Thigh-Highs Are 50 Percent Off Ariana Grandes thank u, next Music Video Is Here & the 00s Fashion Is Really Good | https://footwearnews.com/2019/fashion/celebrity-style/ariana-grande-coachella-2019-fashion-1202725827/ |
How different is the BBCs Little Women from Louisa May Alcotts original novel? | Little Women was first published almost 150 years ago, and since then Louisa May Alcotts tale of the four March sisters has been passed from generation to generation of young girls. Each of those millions has fallen in love with Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy in their own particular way. Advertisement The novel has been adapted again and again, from the first silent movie a century ago to the beloved 1994 film starring Susan Sarandon, Winona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst and Claire Danes. The BBC has also adapted the novels as a serial three times before. And now, starting on Boxing Day, Call the Midwife creator Heidi Thomas has turned Little Women into a three-part drama to bring the story to a new audience. Thankfully the drama stays true to the spirit and the plot of Louisa May Alcotts most famous novel in this loving adaptation. When the story opens, it is Christmas Eve and Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March are bemoaning their lack of Christmas presents with the first lines of the first chapter almost perfectly recreated as a homage to the original. Over the next three hours we see the sisters go through much heartache, joy and romance as they grow from childhood to adulthood: there is birth, death, marriage, rejection, loss, and by the end so much has changed even if the sisters love for each other remains the same. But with just three hours to play with and so much material to get through, Heidi Thomas has had to distill the story down to its essence and take an axe to some of the more fanciful and less plot-driven scenes. Luckily she has been wise enough to preserve all the key moments that readers will remember no matter how many years have passed since they last picked the novel off their bookshelf. So [and of course here come some SPOILERS!] We have the introduction of boy-next-door Laurie Laurence. We have Jo refusing to let Amy accompany her to the theatre, and Amy burning her book in retaliation. We have Amys dramatic fall through the ice. We get that awful moment when the telegram comes and Mr March gets injured in the American Civil War, forcing Marmee to abandon her girls and rush to his side. And we have the defining moment of Little Women, the one that has made millions of girls cry into their pillows and left Friends character Joey Tribbiani so upset he had to put the book in the freezer: Beth dies. One of the backbones of Little Women is John Bunyans The Pilgrims Progress, a Christian allegory from 1678. The March sisters construct the framework for their own narrative using this story, which guides them on their moral mission to be better people. Each sister declares what their burden is (a quick temper; vanity; shyness; selfishness) and the stages of the story are marked by their journey as pilgrims together. Their game begins when they are still children and helps to guide them into adulthood. But we live in a more secular age, and much of the religious content of Little Women has been laid aside. Probably wisely, this includes The Pilgrims Progress: the story survives perfectly well without it, and few people know the ins and outs of that narrative any more. More generally, Heidi Thomas has scaled back the preachier, more godly aspects of the book: all those musings about Jesus love and Marmees religious moralising. For example, when in the TV drama Marmee hides four little leather-bound books under her daughters pillows on Christmas Eve, you wouldnt necessarily even know they were meant to be bibles. I had forgotten until I looked back at the novel, where we read how the girls wake up in the morning to discover their presents and then snuggle up in bed to read the Word of God together. As Beth lies suffering from scarlet fever, Jo promises to devote her life to God if only her sister will get better but if she dies she will struggle to believe how God could be so cruel. But theres less of it, and its less about instructing the reader or viewer, too. Also missing is some of the more fun, meandering, less plot-driven material including the Pickwick Club, which meets so merrily in the novel, and all the girls amateur dramatics. We dont see the family newspaper, or the bird-box for letters both of which were included in the 1994 film. These things are sad losses, but Little Women survives without them. Yes largely. The main difference is that, when the story starts, the March sisters are meant to be 17, 15, 13 and 12 but in this adaptation they are played by young adults, and it shows. In the 1994 version Young Amy was played by cute little Kirsten Dunst and was then aged up when Samantha Mathis took over the part, making it much less creepy when [spoiler alert] Laurie fell in love with her. But Heidi Thomas has made a bold decision to keep the same actress all the way through, and has opted to have a 20-year-old play a child who is not yet even a teenager. Now, Kathryn Newton does a terrific job of playing the littlest March kid, but she looks the age she is, and at the beginning of the story that is a problem (though not at the end!). In the novel, Amy starts out with the wide-eyed innocence of the indulged child who yearns to impress her friends with pickled limes; she endears herself to the reader with her love of trying out long words in sentences that dont make sense, and her selfishness and lack of self-awareness is that of a little girl. That is why we forgive her silliness. But by seeming older in the TV version, this Amy is much, much less likeable. Her childishness is unnatural. She burns Jos book in such a knowing way and with so much malice feeding the pages into the fire and petulantly refusing to be sorry that, while Jo might forgive her in the end, the viewer wont. Talking of Jo, Maya Hawke is spot-on as everyones favourite tomboy and aspiring writer. Meg (Willa Fitzgerald) is very pleasing as domestic and motherly with her yearning for luxury and her pride in her looks, and Beth (Annes Elwy) couldnt be more exactly how she is in the book. The danger in casting and writing the character of Beth would be if she was so perfect and selfless that she crossed over into being irritating. But this Beth, with her freckled face and dreamy eyes and quiet reserve with her musical talent and shy friendship with Mr Laurence will break your heart all over again. Advertisement Emily Watson is, of course, Marmee through and through with her wise face and secret smile, and Michael Gambon steps in well as Mr Laurence. But if anything, Angela Lansbury actually takes the part of Aunt March and (if we may say so) actually makes her better than in the novel, giving this crotchety rich old great-aunt so much hidden humour and comic timing that you cant help but love her. | https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-01-03/how-different-is-the-bbcs-little-women-from-louisa-may-alcotts-original-novel/ |
Could 2019 Be The Year For Retro Bikes? | It's a slow time of year for motorcycle news, but that doesn't stop us from indulging in some wild speculation. We stumbled across a piece from a Japanese website predicting a modern revival of the classic Kawasaki H1 Mach III, as well as retro-styled versions of the Z650 and Z400. Another piece from the same site proposed a new Honda CB750 or CB900. I could find no concrete evidence to back up these theories, but there are some reasons why Kawasaki might choose to pursue either of these retro models. Let's start with the H1 Mach III, which was also known as the Widowmaker thanks to its high (for the time) horsepower, poor steering, and drum brakes. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the model's introduction in 1969. Despite having been somewhat overshadowed by the even more powerful Honda CB750's introduction that same year, it's still the prime time to launch a revival of this model, particularly among other retro bikes like the new Suzuki Katana. Possibly a naked and/or retro version of the Ninja H2. Its supercharged drivetrain is certainly worthy of the Mach III's legacy. It would probably be slower than the Ninja H2, due to being less aerodynamic and possibly a more upright riding position, but that's okay. Perhaps call it the "Kawasaki H2 Mach V," since "Mach IV" name was used on later versions of the original bike. Give it similar styling as the original, and there you go. As for retro style versions of the Z650 and Z400, we don't need to look much further than the existing Z900RS and Z900RS Cafe for inspiration. Both of them look great. When I sat on the Z900RS at New York IMS it reminded me of the Universal Japanese Motorcycles of the early 1980s that I learned to ride on. These bikes appeal to nostalgic riders like me, as well as younger riders hopping on the hip retro bandwagon. Kawasaki already has some solid smaller displacement bikes in the Z650 and Z400. It would take little more than a new skin to create Z650RS and Z400RS models appealing to riders who don't want a big 900. It would also be an easy way for Kawi to create a naked bike out of the smaller Zs, which may appeal to riders who don't want something as sporty, or newer riders who don't want to worry about breaking bodywork if they drop it. Honda already follows a similar formula with the CB1100 EX, CB650R, and CB300R. Each of these is a retro-styled version of Honda's large, midsize, and small platforms, respectively. It would make sense for Kawasaki to follow this same formula, and perhaps gain an advantage with a Z400RS. Given the existence of these three models, however, I'm not sure there would be room for a CB900 or CB750 in the lineup. Honda doesn't currently offer any engines in these displacements, meaning they would need to be new models rather than modifications of existing ones. A 750 would be too close to a 650 to be worth producing, and a 900 would be too close to Honda's 1000 and 1100cc engines. Despite the speculation, I doubt we'll see a second coming of the CB750 for its own 50th anniversary. Once again, this is all just wild speculation, with absolutely no basis in fact (except for this year being the 50th anniversary of the H1 Mach III). Not that Kawasaki will listen to an old man shouting at a cloud on the internet, nor should they, but I'd love to see any of these hypothetical models become a reality. Source: Young Machine | https://www.rideapart.com/articles/299691/could-2019-year-retro-kawasaki/ |
Where is Little Women filmed? | The answer is: very, very carefully and with a LOT of attention to detail. Advertisement The BBCs beautiful new adaptation of the classic Louisa May Alcott novel Little Women is set in Civil War-era America, but the three-part drama was filmed at a location far, far away from Concorde. Little Women was filmed in Wicklow, Ireland which stands in for Concord, Massachusetts. Wicklow is a region south of Dublin in the east of Ireland with plenty of mountains and a long stretch of coastline, and shooting took place in Ardmore Studios and the surrounding area in Bray. The adventures of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March take us through snowy winters and idyllic summers. They feature iced-over ponds and snow-laden trees as well as overgrown fields and row-boat races on the water. Ex-Doctor Who producer Susie Ligat has taken on plenty of weird challenges through her career but Little Women particularly troublesome. This was probably the biggest challenge that Ive ever had to face, she told the audience at a preview screening in London. Planets easy. Fine. Different galaxies, kind of fine. Because you dont have people with an invested or a native interest in it. Every scene they shot Ireland had evoke a real place, in a real time in history. And that was extremely tricky. Our ambition was to make it feel real, Ligat said. Everything that the women touched, their world, the house, where the house was, how the house related to the inside and the outside, the seasons and then as soon as we had the mantra of real, it was the hardest things to do. Ive done a lot of snow. Its hard. Its really hard to do that authentically, its hard to do seasons authentically and the effects guys in Ireland were amazing. Advertisement She added: It was a big challenge, but Id like to think nobody watching this would have said that you shot it in Wicklow. In August. Id like to think that nobody thought that | https://www.radiotimes.com/travel/2019-01-03/little-women-location-guide/ |
Was Abortion the Leading Cause of Death in 2018? | On 31 December 2018, the Breitbart.com website reported under the headline Abortion Leading Cause of Death in 2018 with 41 Million Killed that there have been some 41.9 million abortions performed in the course of the year, making abortion the number one cause of death worldwide in 2018, with more than 41 million children killed before birth. That article spawned a ripple of similar reports on various other sites, most of which referred back to the Breitbart piece, which itself rested on a figure gleaned from Worldometers, a real-time tool that analyzes the available data, performs statistical analysis, and builds our algorithm [to feed our] real time estimates. Worldometers states that its abortion figures refer to induced abortions (as opposed to miscarriages), and that: The data on abortions displayed on the Worldometers counter is based on the latest statistics on worldwide abortions published by the World Health Organization (WHO). According to WHO, every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day. However, the most recent figure on abortions from WHO we could locate dated from 2014 and was slightly higher than Worldometers tally. WHO estimated that between 2010 and 2014, an average of 56 million induced abortions occurred worldwide each year. If WHOs estimate of 56 million abortions annually held steady through 2016, when they released their survey on the top ten leading causes of death globally, it would be true that the number of abortions worldwide outnumbered overall deaths from heart disease and stroke, the top two causes of death that year. In 2016, ischemic heart disease and stroke killed a total of 15.2 million people worldwide, according to WHO, noting that These diseases have remained the leading causes of death globally in the last 15 years: We can infer from WHO statistics that the difference between the number of abortions worldwide versus the number of deaths from heart disease and stroke worldwide is not a new dynamic, although viral stories proclaiming that abortions now outnumber deaths from those other causes imply that fact is a recent development. Stating that abortion is the leading cause of death worldwide (as opposed to a medical procedure) is a problematic pronouncement, because that stance takes a political position, one which is at odds with the scientific/medical world. The medical community does not confer personhood upon fetuses that are not viable outside the womb, so counting abortion as a cause of death does not align with the practices of health organizations such as WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), as Heather Boonstra, director of public policy for the reproductive health research organization Guttmacher Institute, told us: Abortion is a legal, constitutionally protected medical procedure in the United States. Its not considered a cause of death by CDC, WHO and other leading authorities, and statistics on induced abortion are excluded in the CDCs national fetal-death statistics. The legal, philosophical, religious, and scientific arenas provide no definitive answers as to when personhood begins. Medical advances continue to push the stage at which a fetus can be considered viable outside the womb, as Wired reported in 2015: When life begins is, of course, the central disagreement that fuels the controversy over abortion. Attacks on abortion rights are now more veiled and indirect like secret videos pointing to Planned Parenthoods fetal tissue donations, or state legislation that makes operating abortion clinics so onerous they have to shut down. Here, modern science offers no clarity. If anything, the past century of scientific advances have only made the answer more complicated. As scientists have peered into wombs with ultrasound and looked directly at sperm entering an egg, theyve found that all the bright lines they thought existed dissolving. Concluding an entry on the topic, RationalWiki quotes developmental biologist Scott Gilbert in saying that The entity created by fertilization is indeed a human embryo, and it has the potential to be human adult. Whether these facts are enough to accord it personhood is a question influenced by opinion, philosophy and theology, rather than by science. Although the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the landmark 1973 Roe. v. Wade case held that unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion was unconstitutional, fetal personhood very much remains a legal issue and not merely an abstract philosophical one. As the New York Times reported, the enactment of fetal personhood statutes in some states has resulted in the prosecution of women over circumstances that ended or endangered their pregnancies: | https://www.snopes.com/news/2019/01/03/abortion-leading-cause-of-death/ |
Can Someone Please Explain the Basic Plot of Game of Thrones to Donald Trump? | On Wednesday, our adult president brought an actual picture of himself photoshopped on a Game of Thrones-type poster that misused the show's tagline "Winter Is Coming," to a meeting with his adult colleagues. That made it clear that neither Trumpnor whatever White House staffer is in charge of shitty meme creationhas even read the Wikipedia plot synopsis of Game of Thrones. It was bad enough the first (and the second) time he used this meme. But now, in the fashion of some sort of FuckJerry post from Hell, he's once again leaned into the ill-conceived Game of Thrones meme, sharing on Instagram on Thursday a deranged photo of himself with the words "The Wall Is Coming" written in the signature Game of Thrones font. So, let's just begin with The Wall in Game of Thrones. Clearly, in his post, Trump is warning everyone that he's going to build his big beautiful wall. Someone, somewhere in his administration must be vaguely aware that there's a wall in Game of Thrones. Unfortunately, the Game of Thrones Wall represents humanity's desperate attempts to isolate itself from its own failures, and in the end of Season Seven, the wall inevitably fell, making everything very bad for the foolish humans. On top of that, George R.R. Martin has explicitly stated that his series A Song of Ice and Fire is an allegory for climate change. There isin a very broad sensea certain parallel there, Martin told the New York Times. The people in Westeros are fighting their individual battles over power and status and wealth. And those are so distracting them that theyre ignoring the threat of winter is coming, which has the potential to destroy all of them and to destroy their world. He continued: Were fighting over issues, important issues, mind you foreign policy, domestic policy, civil rights, social responsibility, social justice. All of these things are important. But while were tearing ourselves apart over this and expending so much energy, there exists this threat of climate change, which, to my mind, is conclusively proved by most of the data and 99.9 percent of the scientific community. And it really has the potential to destroy our world. And were ignoring that while we worry about the next election and issues that people are concerned about, like jobs. Jobs are a very important issue, of course. All of these things are important issues. But none of them are important if, like, were dead and our cities are under the ocean. So really, climate change should be the number one priority for any politician who is capable of looking past the next election. But unfortunately, there are only a handful of those. We spend 10 times as much energy and thought and debate in the media discussing whether or not N.F.L. players should stand for the national anthem than this threat thats going to destroy our world. In other words, in every fundamental way, Trump is as wrong about Game of Thrones as he is about virtually everything else. It should be noted that I am not mad that Trump does not understand even the basic premise of a nerdy fantasy show I watch. I'm mad that no one on his team even bothers to quickly Google the show that they're using as a propaganda tool. This man and his administration are in command of the most powerful military in the world, yet they fail to even research a show about dragons before posting official White House messages. Folks, this is a meaningless post on Instagram and Donald Trump found a way to fuck even that up. | https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/tv/a25740578/donald-trump-game-of-thrones-the-wall-is-coming-instagram/ |
Have We Learned Nothing From 2016 About How to Cover Women in Politics? | No sooner had Elizabeth Warren (all but) announced her 2020 presidential candidacy than the same old sexist narratives began: How does Warren avoid a Clinton reduxwritten off as too unlikable before her campaign gets off the ground? wondered a now much-shared and much-eye-roll-inducing Politico report published on New Years Eve. On Thursday, on the occasion of Nancy Pelosi becoming only the second person in American history to be named Speaker of the House again after losing the title, Politico weighed in with an op-ed that could have been titled How to Be Speaker for Dummies: How to Talk so Trump Will Listen: A GOP Guide for Pelosi . . . as if she might be clueless to the art of bipartisan compromise after more than 30 years in Congress. In other news, it appears at least some members of the media have learned exactly nothing from recent history. Its been a little more than two yearsand what feels like a lifetime of demoralizing policy decisionssince Hillary Clintons emails became a media obsession: A Columbia Journalism Review study found that in just six days, The New York Times ran as many cover stories about Hillary Clintons emails as they did about all policy issues combined in the 69 days leading up to the election. Which is to say nothing of male pundits who complained that Clinton shouted" at rallies (have they met Bernie Sanders or Howard Dean or pretty much anyone of any gender addressing cheering crowds of thousands?) and treated her case of pneumonia as a sign of such weakness, it may as well have been a fatal character flaw. And yet, here we are again: still treating women in politics like idiots, picking apart their personalities, and taking deep dives into their likabilitya word that, like shrill, seems to be reserved especially for women. Never mind the policy issues at play amid an ongoing government shutdown, a slumping stock market, and a border crisis in which two migrant children have died while in U.S. custody. Or the fact that, as Time politics editor Ryan Teague Beckwith pointed out, two very notable male political leadersPaul Ryan and Mitch McConnellare battling their own favorability ratings. Lets not forget, either, the quandary of electabilityanother metric that seems disproportionately attached to women candidates. See: the chatter in the ether that Warren and Sen. Kamala Harris, who has yet to announce a presidential bid, are too liberal to win a general election in Trumps America . . . even if Barack Obama, who shares much of their Democratic blueprint, won in 2008 after two terms of George W. Bush. The subtext here is not just that Warren or Harris are too liberalbut that they are too female (and in the case of Harris, a woman of color). Which brings us back to where we started. Is the lesson of Clintons historic run and Electoral College loss to a repeatedly misogynistic candidate . . . Not only is this approach stale and boring, its also divorced from reality and the realeven if incrementalprogress in the U.S. since 2016. For one, women are mighty electablelook no further than the more than 65 million people that secured Clinton the popular vote, and the historic success of women across the country in the midterm elections, many of them sworn in today to the most diverse Congress ever. Politico wants to know how does Warren avoid a Clinton reduxwritten off as too unlikable before her campaign gets off the ground? Heres an idea: start covering her like you do her male counterparts. | https://www.vogue.com/article/women-in-politics-news-media-coverage-elizabeth-warren-nancy-pelosi |
Are the White Sox offering anyone a ten-year deal or not? | Yesterday morning Jeff Passan, who is now at ESPN, wrote this: The Phillies and White Sox are the other two teams known to be willing to guarantee Harper the decade-plus-long deal he and Machado, each 26 years old, are seeking. Yesterday evening Bruce Levine, of 670 The Score in Chicago, reported this: Reports of the White Sox offering ten plus years for Manny Machado or Bryce Harper are Without any substance and flat out wrong according to high ranking industry sources . Wh Sox will not be giving offer of more than 7 years for either player. Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) January 2, 2019 Someones got some bad information. No, I have no idea who. There are reasons why someone may embellish a teams willingness to do or not do something and there are reasons for them to deny things that are, in fact true. The entire public-facing part of the hot stove season is an exercise in spin, p.r. and leverage-creation. Never let anyone tell you different. While were on this general subject, lets also remember something about reports of what a team is or is not doing and why. We often hear that so-and-so team cant afford so-and-so player. That may be true and it may not be true, but we have no idea if it is or not because baseball is the only place where people talk putatively intelligently about what teams budgets and financial limitations are with no real knowledge and zero disclosure of what teams actual budgets and financial limitations are. Every story you see about a team being unable to afford a player is either rank speculation or is sourced to a team saying that, likely for self-serving reasons. We never see teams actual financials and, the luxury tax notwithstanding, we never know how high they can/will go financially. We have just as much insight into the actual bottom line and budget of most teams as we do into the bottom line and budget of a strip mall carpet store. Sure, we can guess fairly intelligently, based on past history, what a team is willing to do the Nationals, generally, will offer a Scott Boras client a big contract, the Rays will not but we have no idea what they are actually able to do. We simply do not know and are never told what the denominator is in their calculations. I think that distinction matters. The willing vs. able thing. Its not just semantics. So much of what is written about the business of baseball, large markets and small markets and so on assumes its all about able and not about willing. Teams want you to assume that so that, if and when they do not spend a lot of money on players, they cannot be blamed for making a choice. Theyd prefer you to believe they did everything within their power. Sure, there are limits to what teams can spend. But we dont know those limits because they wont tell us. Unless and until they do, they shouldnt get the benefit of the doubt. Follow @craigcalcaterra | https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2019/01/03/are-the-white-sox-offering-anyone-a-ten-year-deal-or-not/ |
What Happens When the Economy Collapses on Trumps Watch? | President Trump doesnt have many tentpole accomplishments to tout as his presidency enters its third year. He does have the economy, though, which has boomed since he assumed office back in January 2017. He might not have it much longer. On Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook warned that the company wasnt going to earn as much as expected in the coming financial quarter. While we anticipated some challenges in key emerging markets, we did not foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in Greater China, he wrote in a letter to investors. We believe the economic environment in China has been further impacted by rising trade tensions with the United States. As the climate of mounting uncertainty weighed on financial markets, the effects appeared to reach consumers as well, with traffic to our retail stores and our channel partners in China declining as the quarter progressed. On Thursday morning, the markets responded as expected. The DOW plummeted over 600 points, the S&P 500 fell 2.2 percent and the Nasdaq dipped 2.6 percent as concern swelled over the impact the presidents trade war will have on the global economy. Since Trump began imposing tariffs last year, economists, politicians and several corporations have warned of their impact, and its unclear how much longer the economy will be able to stand the strain of Trumps trade policy. Over the past year, the president has excoriated suffering companies like Harley-Davidson and, most recently, GM for not having more patience. As the markets sank on Thursday morning, Trumps own economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, predicted that the tech giant that in 2018 was valued at $1 trillion wont be the only American company to experience a downturn. Its not going to be just Apple, he said Thursday on CNN. There are a heck of a lot of U.S. companies that have sales in China that are going to be watching their earnings being downgraded next year until we get a deal with China. BREAKING: Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett predicts "a heck of a lot of'' U.S. companies will join Apple in announcing lower than expected earnings because of trade war, per @ToluseO Mike Dorning (@MikeDorning) January 3, 2019 As David Frum of The Atlantic pointed out on Twitter, Hassett in June assured Americans that Trumps tariffs were very much a good thing and that everybody should just remain calm. Theres a massive amount of activity coming home, Hassett said at a Washington Post event shortly after Harley-Davidson announced it was moving some of its production overseas as a result of the tariffs. Harley-Davidson is an interesting story, he continued, but if you look at the data, the opposite is happening. Hassett is admitting Trumps tariffs are hurting American companies because he, like Trump, believes things will rebound once a trade deal is worked out with China. This is a big if, though. China hasnt budged since Trump first placed tariffs on Chinese imports in June. In September, he imposed another round of tariffs while threatening to raise import taxes on $200 billion in Chinese goods from 10 to 25 percent, and slap new 25-percent tariffs on an additional $267 billion in goods, if the two nations couldnt come to a new trade agreement by January 1st. Trump and Chinese President Xi agreed to extend the deadline 90 days while dining at the G-20 summit in Argentina last month, and Trump has repeatedly assured Americans that a deal is imminent. He did so again on Thursday morning. The United States Treasury has taken in MANY billions of dollars from the Tariffs we are charging China and other countries that have not treated us fairly. In the meantime we are doing well in various Trade Negotiations currently going on. At some point this had to be done! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2019 Its true that the U.S. has taken in billions of dollars as a result of the tariffs on foreign imports, but its ultimately at the expense of American consumers, not China and other countries. The president has never seemed to grasp this, nor much of anything about how tariffs, which he has on multiple occasions referred to as interest, work. Theres also been little indication that progress has been made on a new trade deal. Trump and Hassett think that Chinas economic troubles and, in turn, those of Apple and other American companies that sell their products in China are a good thing in that they will force China to give in to Trumps demands. This hasnt been the case so far. According to the New York Times, U.S. trade representative and chief China negotiator Robert Lighthizer has told the president he may need to impose more tariffs in order to force China to surrender. | https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/us-economy-recession-774588/ |
Do filmmakers realize Gerard Butler is box office poison? | In 2013, Hollywood punished us with Movie 43, a starry series of sketches that The Post compared to being waterboarded. Three years later, Gods of Egypt was projectile-vomited into cinemas. That incomprehensible mess turns the deities Horus and Ra into rippled action heroes and holds a 15 percent approval rating on RottenTomatoes. Hot on its chariot was 2017s Geostorm, a Day After Tomorrow rip-off that makes you wish for tomorrow like youre Little Orphan Annie. Gerard Butler. The 49-year-old Scottish actor, who stars as a lighthouse keeper in the shockingly decent new thriller The Vanishing, has made so many awful movies, the C in his CV should stand for crapola. Every star has a few career dips: Eddie Redmayne now laughs off his husky-voiced villain role in Jupiter Ascending in interviews, and Academy Award winner for Last King of Scotland Forest Whitaker once found himself trapped with John Travolta in Battlefield Earth. Say 10 Hail Marys and try again, boys. But for Butler, its the opposite. Of the 23 movies he has made in the past 10 years, just five are fresh on RottenTomatoes. That sad quintet includes How To Train Your Dragon, How To Train Your Dragon 2 and next months How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World all CGI family films you probably didnt even know he was in. The fourth is Shakespeares Coriolanus and the fifth is Guy Ritchies RocknRolla. And yet, despite his many bombs, Butler continues to get a steady stream of work. Whether the consistently poor quality is a result of his cringe-worthy eyebrow acting or factors outside of the mans control, like hackneyed writing and direction, hes become the go-to-guy for tastelessness; an actor who makes Nic Cages career look dignified. Adding to the Butler head-scratcher is the fact that his films rarely make a significant buck. Other than a few notable big hits 300, How To Train Your Dragon his projects tend to flop or barely sneak into profitability. Gods of Egypt, for instance, made $150 million on a $140 budget, thanks to $119 million of international tickets. Perhaps its because hes a stud. The actor has made Glamour UKs and the UKs Heart radio stations sexiest men alive lists multiple times. And there are several fan sites devoted to The Hot Scot, such as GerardButlerGals.com and the now-defunct Gerrylicous.com. But his brooding Euro-style manliness, with a speaking voice to match, begs the question why he was cast as the titular mask-wearing creep in The Phantom of the Opera movie-musical. Unfortunately for us, the part required a bit of singing. Sure, he does solid, subdued work in The Vanishing, but a careers worth of numbers dont lie. Butler will surely be serving us schlock for many years to come. | https://nypost.com/2019/01/03/do-filmmakers-realize-gerard-butler-is-box-office-poison/ |
Are internet cafes magnets for crime? | People in the Mayport area say Lucky Charms Arcade is the internet cafe where a robbery occurred Wednesday afternoon before an officer was hit by a vehicle. Police tape surrounded the cafe, where detectives responded. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Internet cafes are seemingly a bull's-eye for bad guys. The News4Jax I-TEAM began looking into the reason why internet cafes are frequently held up after Wednesday's chaotic crime spree that started Wednesday afternoon when, according to police, an armed man robbed the Lucky Charms Arcade, an internet cafe on Mayport Road. It's not the first time the business has been robbed. People who frequent the internet cafe say its an easy target. "(I come) to get money -- like everyone else," said Ivory Washington, a customer at Lucky Charms Arcade. Customers say money is the motivator at internet cafes. Customer James Natale estimated how much money he thinks comes through the doors of Lucky Charms Arcade on any given day. "From my pocket, a lot," Natale said. "As far as other people, I'm sure a lot, too. I'd say probably a couple thousand, maybe." It could be the reason why the Lucky Charms Arcade has been robbed twice in a span of about two months. Police are stilling looking for a man who they say robbed the location in November. On Nov. 1, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, the man entered the Lucky Charms Arcade, sat at a gaming table and, while an employee was occupied, he showed a handgun and demanded money. After getting the money, the man ran from the area, police said. Wednesday's stickup turned out to be far more serious. After robbing the internet cafe at gunpoint just after 2 p.m. Wednesday, the suspect then abducted an elderly man to use his SUV as a getaway vehicle and struck two police officers -- one on foot and another in his cruiser -- before crashing into a concrete pole, according to JSO. A Lucky Charms Arcade employee told the I-TEAM, "I've been asked not to talk to you guys so I have to respect that." Management could not be reached by phone. Washington said she sees why internet gaming businesses could be targets for crime. "People watch as they go by and see exactly what everybody else is spending," she said. According to the American Gaming Association, Floridians spend more than $1 billion a year at internet sweepstakes cafes. There are more than 1,000 locations statewide. Greg DiFranza, a retired Jacksonville sheriff's officer, weighed in. "That particular business, that type of business, deals with large sums of money all the time and they are very busy all the time, so you have more of an occasion to have the threat of more money there for the effort, so to speak," DiFranza said. News4Jax has covered numerous crimes at local game rooms over recent years. A month ago, a security guard shot and wounded a suspected robber at a 103rd Street game room. In March, according to police, a security guard at a Beach Boulevard sweepstakes shot and killed two robbers. Police arrested a third man. According to Lucky Charms Arcade patrons, the location has security, but does not have a guard. "I'm not quite sure why they don't at this moment," Washington said. Neighbors, such as tattoo artist Bo Dillard, agree. "I don't know what that business attracts, really," said Dillard, who works nearby at True Till Death Tattoos and Records. "Maybe I should look into it." Local leaders have been debating the legality of gaming centers for years. At times, theyve shut them down, but recently the I-TEAM found theyve been opening up all over the area, with a total of 94 internet cafes allowed to operate in the city of Jacksonville. Interactive map of permitted adult arcades in Jacksonville Zoom into your neighborhood to find the nearest gaming businesses. Copyright 2019 by WJXT News4Jax - All rights reserved. | https://www.news4jax.com/news/investigations/are-internet-cafes-magnets-for-crime |
Should Netflix have turned a blind eye to the Bird Box Challenge? | One year after Tide enlisted Gronk to dissuade teens from participating in the Tide Pod Challenge, Netflixs Bird Box film has, too, become part of the growing list of idiotic social media dares. The Bird Box Challenge requires participants to attempt to do things such as walk on stairs and drive while blindfolded, like Sandra Bullocks character in the horror film. Last week, media outlets such as HuffPost and Inside Edition reported that the challenge was going viral. On Wednesday morning, Netflix tweeted a message warning people not to hurt themselves by doing the Bird Box Challenge. Cant believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE. We dont know how this started, and we appreciate the love, but Boy and Girl have just one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes. Netflix US (@netflix) January 2, 2019 The tweet has garnered 47,375 retweets, 238,000 likes, and over 4,000 comments. | https://www.prweek.com/article/1522029/netflix-turned-blind-eye-bird-box-challenge |
Is Anthony Davis Latest Comment Sign Trade Request Is Coming? | Anthony Davis continues to do everything in his power to will the New Orleans Pelicans to victory, but lately it hasnt been enough. Davis scored 34 points and pulled down a franchise-record 26 rebounds in Wednesday nights loss to the Brooklyn Nets that dropped New Orleans to 17-22, which is good for 14th place in the Western Conference. The 25-year-old star has been the focus of trade speculation for a while and his latest comments might not do much to silence the whispers. Davis was asked after the loss if he thinks there will be a time when he envisions playing for a team that is better than 14th place in the Western Conference. I dont, Davis said cutting off the question, per The Advocate. Next question. Questions about Davis future will hang over the Pelicans for the remainder of the season. The star forward wont be a free agent until 2020, but he will be eligible for the five-year, $239 million extension July 1. If he were to turn down the extension, it would be a massive blow to the Pelicans and they would be forced to start fielding trade offers for the superstar. If Davis does finally hit the trade market, there will be no shortage of teams interested in throwing assets at the Pelicans to acquire the generational talent, with the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers being chief among them. Of course, there always is the possibility that Davis becomes fed up with the losing this season and asks for a trade prior to the February deadline. Davis has every right to be upset with his situation in New Orleans. A season ago, the Pelicans swept the No. 3 seed Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the playoffs. With the 2018-2019 NBA season at the midway point, the Pelicans have lost seven of 10 and are 4.5 games back of the eighth and final playoff spot in the West. New Orleans has gotten solid play from Jrue Holiday, Julius Randle and Elfrid Payton, but it hasnt translated into wins. Three years ago, Davis inked a six-year extension with the Pelicans, hoping to help them take over the Western Conference. As he begins to enter the prime of his career, New Orleans is worlds away from being a legitimate threat in the NBA and Davis time in the bayou could be ending as a result. Thumbnail photo via Chuck Cook/USA TODAY Sports Images | https://nesn.com/2019/01/is-anthony-davis-latest-comment-sign-trade-request-is-coming/ |
Are animal shelter returns up this year? | Below is the closed-captioning text associated with this video. Since this uses automated speech to text spelling and grammar may not be accurate. a consumer alert at this hour.. that has local animal shelters reeling in the holiday spirit. the terre haute humane society says this year was a big one for christmas adoptions. in fact.. in the "2"-weeks leading up to the holiday.. "89"-animals were adopted. officials tell us.. so far.. only three animals have been returned. the shelter says it discourages people from buying pets as surprise gifts to prevent the need of return. instead.. they suggest bringing their loved one to the shelter to pick their gift out themselves. "so when we encourage them to bring in the people that their wanting to get this animal for its really helped because then those people are actually picking out the animal that going to fit their lives best." even though there were quite a few adoptions made last month.. the shelters intake numbers continue to rise. if you would like to learn more about adopting a pet we'll have that information on our website | https://www.wthitv.com/content/video/503868262.html?ref=262 |
Is Network Marketing Just a Scam? | There's a huge difference between network marketing and pyramid schemes. Learn the truth here. December 25, 2000 5 min read Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Q: Some friends continue to try to recruit me into network marketing deals that seem like some type of money game or pyramid. Other friends tell me they're illegal and I'll get into trouble. A: To help you understand what network marketing is, I must first explain what it isn't. First, network marketing isn't a pyramid scheme. Pyramids are programs similar to chain letters where people just invest money based on the promise that other people will put in money that will filtrate back to them and somehow, they'll get rich. A pyramid is strictly a money game and has no basis in real commerce. Normally, there's no product involved at all, just money changing hands. Modern-day pyramids may have a product, but it's clearly there just to disguise the money game. Network marketing is a legitimate business. First, it's based on providing people with real, legitimate products they need and want at a fair price. While some people do make a lot of money through network marketing, their financial benefit is always the result of their own dedicated efforts in building an organization that sells real products and services. Pyramids are illegal and are based on taking advantage of people. For a person to actually make money in a pyramid scheme, someone else has to lose money. But in network marketing, each person can multiply his or her efforts, skills and talents by helping others be successful. Network marketing has proved itself as part of the new economy and a preferred way to do business here and around the world. Network marketing isn't about taking advantage of your friends and relatives. Only a few years ago, network marketing meant retailing to, and sponsoring people from, your "warm list" of prospects. Although sharing the products or services and the opportunity with people you know is still the basic foundation of the business, today we see more people using sophisticated marketing techniques such as the Internet, conference calling and other long-distance sponsoring techniques to extend their network across the country. Network marketing isn't a get-rich-quick scheme. Of course some people do make large amounts of money very quickly. Many would say those people are lucky. But success in networking isn't based on luck. (Unfortunately, money won't sprout wings and fly into your bank account no matter what someone has promised you.) Success in network marketing is based on following some very basic yet dynamic principles. Now let's discuss what network marketing is. Network marketing is a serious business for serious people. It's a proven system where the design, creation and expense the corporate team has gone through becomes a road map for your own success. Just follow the simple, proven and duplicable system that the good companies provide. The real key is this: Network marketing is all about leverage. You can leverage your time and increase the number of hours of work effort on which you can be paid by sponsoring other people and earning a small income on their efforts. J. Paul Getty, who created one of the world's greatest fortunes, said "I would rather make 1 percent on the efforts of 100 people than 100 percent on my own efforts." This very basic concept is the cornerstone of network marketing. For example, most successful people building a network marketing business do so in an organized method. They work a few dedicated hours each week, with each hour of effort serving as a building block for their long-term business growth. Then they sponsor other people and teach those people how to sell the company product and sponsor others who duplicate the process. By helping the people you personally sponsor to sponsor others, you duplicate yourself. As this process continues, you create compound growth that can lead to hundreds or even thousands of people coming into your business. You leverage your time by helping others be successful and earn an income from all their efforts. With network marketing, there are no big capital requirements, no geographical limitations, no minimum quotas required and no special education or skills needed. Network marketing is a low-overhead, homebased business that can actually offer many of the tax advantages associated with owning your own business. Network marketing is a people-to-people business that can significantly expand your circle of friends. It's a business that enables you to travel and have fun as well as enjoy the lifestyle that extra income can provide. Learn More Read On The Level for more information on how to investigate a multilevel marketing opportunity. Michael L. Sheffield is the founder of Sheffield Resource Network, a full-service multilevel marketing consulting firm in Tempe, Arizona. He is also the co-founder and chair of the Multi Level Marketing International Association (MLMIA), whose members represent companies throughout the world. | https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/35744 |
Will there be empty seats at the CFP National Championship game? | SAN JOSEA mere 2,286 miles separate Tuscaloosa, Alabama from Levis Stadium in Santa Clara. Tack on an additional 276 miles and thats the distance 2,562 miles between Clemson, South Carolina and the home of the San Francisco 49ers. In most years, that mileage would only be relevant for Alabama and Clemson football players with hopes of playing in the NFL. This year, however, is different. On January 7, Levis Stadium will host the 2019 College Football National Championship game featuring the sports two primary juggernauts. Fans of the Clemson Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide are familiar with one another as the two sides will meet for the fourth time in four years. Now, the CFP administration is hoping fans of the two teams will become familiar with the Bay Area. At first glance, plummeting ticket prices suggest the CFP organizers might be overly optimistic. Alabama is competing in its fourth consecutive National Championship while Clemson has reached the title game for the third time in four seasons. While matchup fatigue and travel costs have helped drive ticket prices down, a cheap seat doesnt necessarily mean the Bay Area is a terrible place to host the game. Theres still a possibility there could be empty seats. But Levis Stadium wont look like it did during the Pac-12 Championship Game or the RedBox Bowl. According to Adam Budelli, a StubHub spokesman, this years game is drawing more demand on the companys site than the matchup between Alabama and Clemson in Glendale, Arizona in 2016. The average prices are actually up 71 percent from 2016 when they met in Glendale so theres obviously a significant increase there, Budelli said. Though Budelli said ticket prices for games of this nature often continue to drop as the date of the event approaches, its possible that increased media attention highlighting the low cost of attendance could inspire more Bay Area residents to make a last-minute purchase. Given the unique situation with where we are with the ticket prices being low, were going to continue monitoring but we do think theres a possibility that we could see the opposite effect, Budelli said. As more and more media and local newspapers pick up this information of where the ticket prices are, the local community now might have an affordable championship game to go to and the opportunity to see a thrilling game. Residents of 44 different states have already purchased tickets to Mondays championship game on StubHub, with 29 percent of purchases coming from buyers in California and nearly 15 percent from the Bay Area. As of Thursday, 9,000 tickets remained available on StubHub, with the cheapest ticket available costing $114 and the cheapest lower-level ticket advertised at $185. Though the average price of tickets sold had dropped from more than $1,000 on Wednesday to $733 by midday Thursday, that price is still higher than the $593 average ticket price fans paid when Clemson and Alabama met in Glendale in 2016. If ticket prices do increase in the final days leading up to kickoff, its possible the average price paid will also climb above the $807 average price fans paid on StubHub for tickets to see No. 4 Ohio State defeat No. 2 Oregon at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas in 2015. Data provided by SeatGeek, another digital ticket marketplace, reveals that prices of National Championship game tickets continued to drop in the days immediately preceding title games in 2015 and 2016. However, ticket prices on SeatGeek remained relatively stagnant in 2017 when No. 2 Clemson met No. 1 Alabama in Tampa, Florida and they increased by an average of more than $500 in the final four days before the 2018 matchup between No. 4 Alabama and No. 3 Georgia in Atlanta in 2018. While the Bay Area isnt considered a robust college football market and wet weather is expected on Monday, its difficult to forecast if the resale value of tickets will continue to fall. Though most Alabama and Clemson fans traveling across the country have already made arrangements for the game, Bay Area residents have the luxury of continuing to monitor the market to determine whether attending a National Championship game is in their future. A lot of fans might have been scared away when they heard the CFP was coming because prices may have been a little out of their budget, but we would certainly recommend using the tools and technologies that are out there, Budelli said. | https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/01/03/will-there-be-empty-seats-at-the-cfp-national-championship-game/ |
How many 2019 NFL Draft picks do the Saints have? | The New Orleans Saints will not know where they pick in the 2019 NFL Draft order until after their playoffs journey has run its course (hopefully, ending with a Super Bowl 53 championship). But they do have a rough idea of which rounds they will make their selections in, thanks to several player-for-pick trades they worked earlier in the year. Heres how their future draft picks shape up: 2019 2nd round 5th Round 6th Round (via New York Jets) 6th Round 7th Round (via Cleveland Browns) 7th Round 2020 1st round 2nd round 3rd round 4th Round 5th Round 6th Round The Saints exchanged their 2019 first round pick for defensive end Marcus Davenport, and their 2019 third round pick for quarterback Teddy Bridgewater (who came along with a 2019 sixth round pick). New Orleans swapped their 2019 fourth round pick and a 2020 seventh round pick for New York Giants cornerback Eli Apple. They also picked up a 2019 seventh round pick from the Cleveland Browns for nose tackle Devaroe Lawrence. Theres still many months and a long offseason to go until the 2019 NFL Draft begins, and plenty of time for the Saints to make more trades. Its unlikely that they go into draft day with just these few selections. Saints head coach Sean Payton commented earlier in the season that, Well find a way to get a draft pick back. Thats easy to do. In the past, thats meant trading away a key piece of the offense; guys like tight end Jimmy Graham, running back Darren Sproles, and wide receivers Kenny Stills and Brandin Cooks. | https://saintswire.usatoday.com/2019/01/03/new-orleans-saints-2019-nfl-draft-picks-order/ |
Should the US hand over Minnesota's Northwest Angle to Canada? | Image copyright Jacob Norlund/Flickr It's a geographic curiosity - a bit of US land at the top edge of Minnesota, disconnected from the rest of the state. The Northwest Angle is known to local residents, people who love to fish - the region is famous for its walleye - and geography buffs. It is accessible by land only through the Canadian province. Now, someone has anonymously launched a petition urging the US to hand the land over to its northern neighbours. "Make America great by correcting this critical survey error," states the petition posted on 30 December on the White House "We the People" site, which allows citizens to petition Congress on issues that matter to them. The petition is titled "Give Canada back the Northwest Angle located in Manitoba". The nub of Minnesota state is roughly 123 square miles (318 square km) and is farther north than any other part of the contiguous United States. Living above the 49th parallel, Angleites - as local residents are known - are the northernmost American citizens, barring Alaskans. It can be reached by driving through Canada or by boat across the Lake of the Woods. Image copyright BBC News Image caption The Northwest Angle borders Canada's province of Manitoba The protrusion of land is due to a historic mapping mistake. When the American Revolutionary War ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1783, Britain and the US agreed on the new border based on a map maker's error about the source of the Mississippi River, which was used to help draw the boundary. The boundary line was redrawn in 1818 to address the snafu, shaping the Northwest Angle. So far, the petition is just shy of 2,500 signatures, a far cry from the 100,000 signatures needed to get a response from the White House. And at this point, the effort is being greeted with something of a shrug by Angleites. Image copyright Tony Webster/Flickr Lisa Goulet, who owns Angle Outpost Resort with her family, told the BBC that while it's a fun story, when she came across the petition she "didn't really give it another thought". She says the roughly 100 residents are on "absolutely nothing but friendly terms" with their Canadian neighbours - but she isn't about to add her signature to the petition. "We understand it was a mistake, that it wasn't on purpose that the United States or that Minnesota was gifted this area, but we are blessed and so grateful for this area and we don't take it for granted," she said. "So it's not like we're just willing to say 'Oh, right, you can have it back', because it's our home." It's not the first time the threats of secession has been raised. Some residents brought up the idea in the late 1990s during some tension between Canada and the US over fishing regulations, though the two countries eventually came to an agreement. Image copyright DeAgostini/Getty Images Image caption The Lake of Woods, pictured here in Ontario, occupies the boundary between Minnesota and Manitoba and Ontario Ms Goulet is happy her remote corner of the world is getting some attention and says she's is proud to hail from the Northwest Angle. She calls it "a conversation starter". "Even if you're not a fantastically interesting person, you come from an interesting place, you have something interesting to say." | https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46741175 |
Why Are the NYT and CNN Stoking Gender Warfare on the Left? | From Reader Supported News Bernie & Jane Sanders with supporters (Image by Gage Skidmore) Permission Details DMCA So CNN's Anderson Cooper and The New York Times's Sydney Ember and Katie Benner are on the case of gender-based dysfunction within the 2016 Sanders campaign. Apparently they have discovered that progressive women take gender issues seriously. The NYT report references Anderson Cooper's segment on the issue, but struggles to establish inappropriate conduct on Sanders's part, although Ember and Benner seem to want pretty badly to get there. In totality, it's remarkably thin in terms of documentation for a feature piece about a leading presidential contender. It appears that Sanders and other 2016 campaign officials, including Jeff Weaver, did respond and seemed to acknowledge the need for greater attention to the matter. Ember and Benner nonetheless found it necessary to define many Sanders supporters as "Bernie Bros," a politically based smear label intended to polarize, which draws attention to the ad hominem and away from the very important issues on which Sanders's movement is focused. For some reason, the piece did not quote any of the high-ranking women officials in the Sanders organization. The piece makes a cursory case that some women in the campaign felt salaries were skewed but does little to establish a pattern factually. In a broader sense, however, gender-based divisiveness presents a number of unique perils for the entire progressive movement and is not any place progressives want to go if meaningful progress is the objective. Senator Elizabeth Warren's interview with Rachel Maddow aired at almost the same moment the NYT piece on Sanders went live. Warren was strong and showed once again that she has depth, substance, and mettle on progressive issues and that she is a viable option for President. Clearly, Warren and Sanders are at the head of the progressive class. For the progressive base, that's good news. It's a luxury and a benefit to have two well-established, well-respected progressive leaders as legitimate contenders for the 2020 Democratic nomination. Both will need broad-based, energetic, and sustained support from women and men if they are going to focus the Democratic campaign season on a progressive agenda. Buying into gender-based divisiveness at this stage of the process is highly counterproductive for the progressive movement. Neither Sanders nor Warren is new to the American political scene. Both have long track records and resume's. Redefining them at this stage is a tactic for defeating them. They are who progressives have known them to be all along. They will be challenged for suggesting that the system be changed fundamentally. Be prepared. | https://www.opednews.com/articles/Why-Are-the-NYT-and-CNN-St-by-Marc-Ash-Bernie-Sanders_Elizabeth-Warren_Gender-Equality_Issues-190103-169.html |
Why aren't there more Republican women in Congress? | The 116th Congress sworn in Thursday is the most diverse in U.S. history: 126 women took office, including 43 women of color. Yet, as many have noted, this new diversity is confined to one side of the aisle. The number of Republican women in Congress is actually dropping from 23 to 13. Only one out of 36 freshman female representatives is a Republican. So while 2018 certainly was the Year of the Woman, Republican women are watching from the sidelines. Whether you are progressive or conservative, this is bad news. As political scientists, we strongly believe that both democracy and feminism work best when there is a critical mass of women in each major political party. A democracy should reflect the diversity of its society. Considering that women make up over half of the U.S. population but only 23 percent of Congress, American democracy already underrepresents women. For Republican women, the mismatch is even more pronounced. Nearly half of all women in this country regularly vote for Republican candidates. For example, Donald Trump won 41 percent of the female vote in 2016 and Mitt Romney won 44 percent in 2012. Yet the overall numbers of Republican women candidates and elected women has stagnated at around 15 percent for the past two decades and is now declining. This is important for many reasons. For one, Republican women, both as voters and legislators, often have different policy views and priorities than their male counterparts have. Elected Republican women have provided crucial voices in setting policy. For example, Republican women were vocal in their support to reauthorize the 1993 Violence Against Women Act last year. Republican women also have been able to speak about womanhood in a language that fellow conservative lawmakers could relate to. Further, GOP women have forged bipartisan compromises in the past few decades with Democratic women. More generally, research has shown that women on both sides of the aisle provide excellent constituency service and are more effective lawmakers than men. In other words, it is a problem for all of us from Republican districts and for democracy more generally if women are mostly concentrated in one party. Most important, we should dispel the myth that the decline of women in the GOP is a Republican war on women with the GOP actively trying to keep women out of the party. Instead, our research shows that Republican women face greater barriers to entry compared with either Democratic women or Republican men. First, Republican women have more limited access than Republican men to campaign dollars at the crucial primary stage when fundraising numbers signal candidate viability. Both in individual donations and political action committee, or PAC, giving, the picture looks bleak for Republican women. In 2018, Republican women raised about $19 million from women donors. Compare that to $159 million Democratic female candidates raised from women. One of the biggest problems for Republican women is that they do not have access to an established and well-funded PAC network. While Democrats have EMILYs List, which supports pro-choice Democratic women as candidates, and many more well-funded progressive womens PACs, conservative womens PACs are fragmented and underfunded. One conservative counterpart to EMILYs List is the Susan B. Anthony List, which supports pro-life candidates of both sexes. In 2018, EMILYs List spent almost $69 million in support of Democratic pro-choice women. In contrast, the SBA List spent around $799,000 in support of pro-life candidates including Democratic and Republican men. In addition to limited funds, conservative women PACs lack visibility and viability. The Wish List, supporting pro-choice Republican women, faltered within 10 years and ShePAC within two years. Research by political scientists Rosalyn Cooperman and Melody Crowder-Meyer show that few GOP donors have heard of these efforts. Low visibility and limited funds mean that an endorsement of such PACs carries little weight compared with the endorsement of EMILYs List, which is widely seen as a signal of viability and leads to an influx of donations from other sources. Other efforts to increase the number of Republican women such as the National Republican Congressional Committees Project GROW which stands for Growing Republican Opportunities for Women also have fallen short. As the first female head of recruitment for the National Republican Congressional Committee, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik recruited more than 100 women to run for the Republican Party. Only one of them won office. Second, Republican women have a pipeline problem. Typically, candidates first run for local or state office before making a run for Congress. Yet as of 2018, only 37.6 percent of all female state legislators across the U.S. are Republican. Fewer Republican women in lower offices means that fewer women will run for Congress. But that lack of a good bench is not due to a lack of ambition. Political scientist Abbie Erler of Kenyon College shows that Republican women are as ambitious as Democratic women. Instead, Republican women tend to live in states where opportunity structures are limited, meaning congressional delegations are small and turnover is low. Third, Republicans reject identity politics. As political scientist Cathy Wineinger of Western Washington University shows, the Republican Party traditionally emphasizes individualism, social conservatism, a free-market economy and national security. The GOP dismisses group-based representational claims about identity or diversity, which the Democratic Party embraces. This ideological bent hampers internal discussion of why electing women is important and makes it harder to establish a positive mechanism to address the lack of women in the party. This is why Stefaniks push for a new conservative womens PAC is so important. She correctly identified the most important step to getting more women elected: early financial and logistical support in primaries. Without an entity that provides training, access to experienced campaign staff and fundraising, the GOP will never remedy its women deficit. | https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-women-congress-republicans-democrats-0104-20190103-story.html |
Do kogo genera Kiszczak wysya listy w III RP? | Zdjcia, ktre SB robia podczas spotka w Magdalence, po latach jej byy szef rozsya do uczestnikw tych rozmw. Spotkania przedstawicieli rzdu PRL z opozycj w Magdalence rozpoczy si w poowie wrzenia 1988 roku. Rozpdu nabray pod koniec stycznia 1989 roku, ale w rzdowym orodku spotykano si take w czasie obrad Okrgego Stou. W sumie odbyo si 13 spotka. Wszystkie skrztnie dokumentowaa Suba Bezpieczestwa. Uczestnikw rozmw fotografowano, krcono filmy. Lwia cz tych materiaw znalaza si u gen. Czesawa Kiszczaka, ktry po latach postanowi wykorzysta je dla podtrzymania kontaktw z poznanymi wwczas opozycjonistami. Kopi kilku listw odnalelimy w archiwum Hoovera w USA. Poniej dalsza cz artykuu Szperajc w szufladach W listopadzie 2002 roku dwa dni po wyborze Lecha Kaczyskiego na prezydenta Warszawy byy szef komunistycznej bezpieki wysa do stoecznego ratusza list. Gratulowa nowemu prezydentowi wyboru, a przy okazji informowa, e szperajc w szufladach" znalaz troch zdj z rozmw w Magdalence, ktre utoroway drog do Okrgego Stou, do przemian ustrojowych w Polsce. Pozwalam sobie je Panu przekaza. Niechaj klimat tych spotka i obrad towarzyszy Panu w Jego dalszej subie Ojczynie" pisa. Lech Kaczyski odpowiedzia na list miesic pniej tu przed witami Boego Narodzenia. Podzikowa za fotografie, ktre jak podkreli, miay dla niego wan warto osobist, ale te niewtpliw warto historyczn". yczy te generaowi zdrowia, spokoju i wielu dobrych chwil w Nowym Roku". Dobra robota Lech Kaczyski uczestniczy we wszystkich sp otkaniach w Magdalence. W pniejszych latach by mocno krytykowany, take przez swoje rodowisko, m.in. za stwierdzenie, e nie byo tam adnego spisku, lecz milczcy kompromis", polegajcy na wczeniu dawnych notabli w proces budowy nowej Polski i ich uprzywilejowanie. Lech Kaczyski nie by jednak jedyn osob, ktrej Kiszczak sa zdjcia z Magdalenki. W lutym 2004 roku trzy dni po 15. rocznicy rozpoczcia obrad Okrgego Stou bliej nieznane nam fotografie z Magdalenki trafiy te do Adama Michnika, redaktora naczelnego Gazety Wyborczej". Drogi Adamie. Porzdkujc biurko znalazem troch zdj z naszych spotka i rozmw w Magdalence. Pozwalam sobie przesa Ci je" pisa genera. Dodawa, i ma nadziej, e po upywie 15 lat od rozmw nikt nie bdzie kwestionowa zasug Magdalenki i Okrgego Stou". Myl, e wbrew temu co mwili z okazji rocznicy niektrzy durnie i asekuranci, zrobilimy tam, dla Polski, kawa dobrej roboty" podkrela. List do naczelnego Gazety Wyborczej" zakoczy prob o kontakt: Jeli yczliwi nie zdoali jeszcze zmieni o 180 stopni Twojego stosunku do mnie odezwij si". Nie wiadomo, czy Michnik na list odpowiedzia w archiwum Hoovera w USA nie znalelimy adnej odpowiedzi. Genera w nieasce Korespondencj z Lechem Kaczyskim mona traktowa jako kurtuazyjn wymian uprzejmoci, ewentualnie prb przypomnienia wczesnemu prezydentowi stolicy, e on take bra udzia w rozmowach w Magdalence. List do Adama Michnika ma inny charakter. Nie jest tajemnic, e w latach 90. gen. Kiszczak utrzymywa z nim kontakty, take na gruncie prywatnym. Michnik bywa w domu Kiszczaka, a amy GW" byy dla generaa otwarte. W 2001 roku Michnik w rozmowie z Agnieszk Kublik i Monik Olejnik uzna generaa za czowieka honoru". Okrelenie to sprawio, e spada na niego fala krytyki i powoli zacz si z tego twierdzenia wycofywa. Osabieniu ulega wi z generaem. Wedug Jana Osieckiego, autora wydanej w 2016 roku biografii generaa, Michnik przesta odwiedza byego szefa MSW. Czesaw Kiszczak, ktry wielokrotnie twierdzi, e wie wszystko o wszystkich, ze smutkiem skonstatowa, e absolutnie nie jest w stanie zrozumie przyczyny zmiany stosunku naczelnego GW do swojej osoby" pisa Osiecki. List do Michnika z 2004 roku naleaoby zatem traktowa jako prob generaa o odnow przyjacielskich stosunkw. Warto przy tym zauway, e w licie tym Kiszczak zwraca si do Michnika per ty", podczas gdy cztery lata wczeniej w roku 2000 pisa: Szanowny Panie Adamie". Chocia w archiwum Hoovera nie ma odpowiedzi Michnika na prob generaa, to mona przyj, e jednak odpisa. Zrobi to na amach GW" w maju 2004 roku w eseju Polska na zakrcie". W odniesieniu do gen. Kiszczaka pisa, e jako szef aparatu bezpieczestwa mg storpedowa Okrgy St. Nie dopuci do tego, ocali kompromis Okrgego Stou. Myl, e o tym nie wolno zapomina wyjania. Dlatego w rozmowie z gen. Kiszczakiem, przeprowadzonej przez dwie znakomite dziennikarki, na pytanie, czy gen. Kiszczak jest czowiekiem honoru, odpowiedziaem: tak! Ta odpowied bya bez sensu. Nie do mnie naley wyrokowanie, kto jest, a kto nie jest czowiekiem honoru, powinienem odpowiedzie: rola gen. Kiszczaka w epoce stanu wojennego bya negatywna, ale rwnie pozytywna bya jego rola w epoce Okrgego Stou. (...) Gdybym tak odpowiedzia, to moe uniknbym wielu krytyk, za ktre wysok cen zapacili moi przyjaciele i wsppracownicy z Gazety Wyborczej. Dzisiaj ich za to przepraszam" konkludowa. Genera Kiszczak nie mia chyba zudze: przyja definitywnie si skoczya, cho w listopadzie 2010 roku, gdy Michnik zosta udekorowany Orderem Ora Biaego, przeama si i napisa do niego list gratulacyjny, ktry rozpocz formu: Drogi i Szanowny Adamie". Fotografie dokumentujce rozmowy w Magdalence zostay przejte przez IPN w lutym 2016 r. od wdowy po gen. Kiszczaku. Cz nagra filmowych rwnie znajduje si w zasobie IPN. Ale kilka kaset z nagraniami tych spotka znalazo si w archiwum Hoovera w USA. | https://www.rp.pl/Historia/301039860-Do-kogo-general-Kiszczak-wysylal-listy-w-III-RP.html |
Are Chinese drivers making a foray towards F1? | Dev Tyagi FOLLOW ANALYST Feature 14 // 04 Jan 2019, 03:40 IST SHARE Share Options Facebook Twitter Flipboard Reddit Google+ Email F1 Grand Prix of China Ayrton Senna, James Hunt, Niki Lauda, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, Sebastian Vettel, Fangio. The list grows longer and wider and the names of Formula 1 world champions do not stop. The easiest thing, however, to note from the above is that most F1 world champions happened to have hailed from Europe or the Americas. We know that the bandwidth of the sport here, in these regions, given its popularity vis-a-vis those in regions that aren't essentially linked with a motor-sport culture or history is high. And that is essentially the reason why one doesn't see a lot many drivers from Asia or other parts of the world making a foray into an arena that's not only among the most dangerous sports on the globe but also a really expensive one. But surely, the way Formula 1 is changing now in its bid to cater to geographies, reach markets, create a theatre for participation for the remainder of the world, things are going to change and one hopes, for the better. In these lines, therefore, when one hears the news about an increasing culture of motor-racing in geographies like China, then things appear bright on the horizon. Here's what you need to know. So far, there hasn't been a Chinese driver who made his way into F1. Although, the same cannot be said for the Dragon land's neighbour, Japan. With guys like Nakajima and Kobayashi, there's always been participation from Japan in Formula 1. Advertisement But where it comes to China, then it seems, the road toward joining Formula 1, arduous and complex that it may be, might not be an existential unreality after all. Well, just like in other mainstream European countries where the path toward F1 often goes through the narrow and demanding lanes of go-karting, the same can be said for Thailand. Right now, in China, the automatic choice for getting into F1 seems to be through one and only conventional albeit essential way: Go Karting. Drivers, despite being in the late twenties are taking to Go-Karting. In this regard, a lot of private Go-Karting clubs are opening to retain some unique talent, that can possibly be utilized for the pinnacle in the world of motor-racing. A local but domestically well-bred system of producing possible, future-ready F1 talents. For instance, Ryan Liu from Shanghai just won a highly-followed league: the China GT4 Champion. He was quoted on the following,: "This is a beautiful dream, for me, as it is for many other people," Liu said. "Whether or not one can get into F1 depends on maximizing resources in all areas." To add more fuel to the fire of Chinese drivers, and possible future F1 stars, the presence of many Karting clubs in places like North East Beijing adds that extra bit to at least make the sport dear and not 'beyond everyone's reach in China. And, quoting from onlookers in China, it appears that they aren't going to leave out early or suddenly, in the cold like promise und "We aren't like Italy or Europe where they have professional academies. They'll have professional teams, coaches and engineers or technicians," said He Wei, a go-karter. Advertisement | https://www.sportskeeda.com/f1/are-chinese-drivers-making-a-foray-towards-f1 |
Is Generation Z Saying 'Goodbye' to Leftist Universities in Favor of Trade Schools? | It is impossible for any student to go through high school without hearing about the benefits of going to college. However, new reports reveal that a number of students are turning to a different option trade school. For many students in Generation Z those who were born between the mid-1990s and early 2000s college is just too expensive. According to a Barnes and Noble College study, most students solve this problem by aiming for high-earning careers that will pay off those loans. Meanwhile, 22 percent of Generation Z-ers are opting out of college and going to trade and vocational schools. Vice reported in October that several states have noticed the trend and are investing more money into trade programs. RedState writer Brandon Morse argues vocational students will be less exposed to radical Left ideology. "For the Left, colleges and universities are where they can finally begin injecting their politics into your child and convincing them that the country they grew up in is an evil empire filled with greedy capitalists and racist right-wingers," he writes. While 89 percent of Generation Z high school students still believe college is valuable, Morse hopes the renewed interest in trade schools will sway students away from radical political ideologies. "If Gen Z is turning its back on all of this, then you might actually start to see the edge the Left currently has on the populace begin to dull," Morse explains. | http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2019/january/is-generation-z-saying-goodbye-to-leftist-universities-in-favor-of-trade-schools-nbsp |
What if the crisis is coming from inside China? | Winter is coming. That was the New Years message chief executive Robin Li delivered to the 42,000 employees of his search-engine company, Baidu, in a melodramatic letter to staff Wednesday. With the song of ice and fire" looming in 2019, Chinas economic rebalancing, he wrote, is as forceful and real as winter for any enterprise. He wasnt talking about the game of thrones between Beijing and Washington. Nor, primarily, was Apple CEO Tim Cook when he sent markets reeling the same day by slashing 2019 sales projections for iPhones, tablets and computers, a drop he attributed to a loss of Chinese consumer confidence. Over 100 per cent of our year-over-year worldwide revenue decline occurred in Greater China, he wrote, where the magnitude of the economic deceleration had taken the California company by surprise. At first, these corporate dramas might look like effects of international tensions. After all, 2019 began with China at odds with much of the world. U.S. President Donald Trump continued to hammer away at his very personal trade war. Canada was trapped in a de facto hostage crisis with Beijing over its response to a U.S. extradition warrant against a Chinese executive. If that werent enough, Taiwan received a direct order to reunite with communist China Wednesday from President Xi Jinping, who added ominously: We make no promise to give up the use of military force. Story continues below advertisement Those clashes have played no small part in the current worldwide collapse in market capitalization and economic growth. But it would be overly optimistic to think that international disputes were the cause of the global slowdown; it would be a simple matter of resolving them and, with the possible exception of Taiwan, the current clashes with China are temporary phenomena, unlikely to last beyond one aberrant presidential term. As both CEOs hinted in their warning letters, the problem with China is not being triggered from outside; theres a lot of evidence that the larger problem is coming from within China. When we hear that China is pulling the world economy on a downward trajectory, we tend to think of its exports. For the past two decades, thats all China was to the world: During the decade of globalization, from 1998 to 2008, the world economy ticked along to the value of the yuan, the trillions of dollars in Chinas trade surplus and the shiploads of running shoes and touchscreens pouring out of Guangzhou and Shenzhen. The past five years were supposed to change all that. China had found itself caught in a middle-income trap too prosperous to remain a low-cost export manufacturer, but lacking the consumer-centred economy it needed to become a self-sustaining middle-class country. Mr. Xi exhorted the country to turn inward, to become a higher-wage consumer economy fuelled by domestic real-estate and stock markets. In 2015, Premier Li Keqiang announced his Made in China 2025 policy, aimed at giving domestic production a 70-per-cent share of all goods within a decade. Long before Mr. Trump began to threaten the transpacific goods trade, it was apparent that this national rebalancing was getting wobbly. Chinese consumers except for the prosperous few in the top 1 per cent just werent spending. Sales of key commodities such as instant noodles and beer (except expensive brands) have actually declined over the past couple of years, and domestic consumption has remained stuck at little more than a third of the economy, a share that actually dropped in 2017. (By way of comparison, Canadas domestic consumption sits at 60 per cent.) Home sales in many cities went flat as overbuilding drove prices down, infuriating buyers. And consumers have stubbornly been saving and investing rather than spending in large part, presumably, because they sensibly want to hedge against the uncertain future under Mr. Xi, but also because Chinas social safety net and health-insurance systems remain very flimsy. Yet their household-debt levels have also soared as middle-class incomes have not kept pace with prices. In the past couple of months, these trends have become more acute. In December, Chinas manufacturing sector saw its first decline in almost two years, and analysts attributed it as much to weakening domestic demand as to a Trump-hit export sector. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement Chinas leaders have responded the only ways they know how: by exhorting regions and cities to pump up consumer demand, by removing barriers to home ownership, by dumping stimulus funds into the economy and by making aggressive gestures across the Pacific and the Taiwan Strait. The larger threat to the world economy is not global tensions but the force of a billion people frustrated with a regime that hasnt given them the lives they expected. We shouldnt be dragged into an international conflict merely to mask that reality. | https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-what-if-the-crisis-is-coming-from-inside-china/ |
Is Elizabeth Warren the populist Democrats need to out-Trump Trump? | Elizabeth Warren had no sooner announced this week that she had formed a presidential exploratory committee, the first step toward launching her candidacy for the 2020 Democratic nomination, than some pundits began wondering whether she reminds voters too much of Hillary Clinton to win. That might seem ridiculous, considering that each woman has represented opposite wings of her party in recent years. Ms. Warren, the Massachusetts senator, is a no-holds-barred progressive whose strident critique of capitalism and free trade puts her on the far-left of the U.S. political spectrum. Ms. Clinton, the 2016 Democratic nominee, lost the last election in part because she was seen as too much of an establishment apologist for globalization and too hawkish on foreign policy. Yet, beyond their policy differences, Ms. Warren, 69, and Ms. Clinton, 71, do share certain characteristics that lead many voters to consider them alike. They suffer from perceptions, sexist to be sure, that they are cold and aloof women who have developed a likeability deficit. Story continues below advertisement In November, Ms. Warren won a second Senate term by beating her Republican opponent by 24 percentage points. Yet her margin of victory was considered underwhelming given her states strong Democratic orientation and an overall swing to Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections. Given those factors, Ms. Warren should have won by 39 points, a FiveThirtyEight analysis concluded. But the former Harvard law professor strikes a divisive pose even on her home turf. In aiming to get voters to warm up to her, Ms. Warren conducted a Q&A on Instagram from her Boston kitchen on Dec. 31, during which she declared: Hold on a second Im gonna get me a beer. Her attempt at relatability came off as cringeworthy and contrived. After her release of DNA test results confirming her native-American ancestry, which sparked criticism she had taken President Donald Trumps bait, the beer incident raised more questions about her political judgment. As unfair as it seemed, Ms. Clinton discovered that she could not compete in the likeability sweepstakes against Barack Obama (who beat her in the 2008 Democratic race) or Bernie Sanders, whom she bested in the 2016 primaries even though he captured the hearts of Democratic activists. Ms. Warren will have to accept that she cannot beat Mr. Sanders, former vice-president Joe Biden or Texas congressman Beto ORourke all of whom have acknowledged they are considering running for the nomination if the question comes down to with whom voters would most like to share a beer. She must instead persuade Democrats that she is the best candidate to win back working-class Americans who voted for Mr. Trump in 2016. Indeed, it is not enough for Ms. Warren to rely on her appeal among progressive Democrats, especially if Mr. Sanders decides to run again. A devastating New York Times piece this week on the alleged climate of sexism that prevailed inside the 2016 Sanders campaign was a gift to Ms. Warren as she attempts to establish an early advantage over the Vermont senator. Still, Ms. Warren needs to give Democrats a reason to get excited about her candidacy all on its own. She and Mr. Sanders are on the same page on many issues. Both favour a single-payer U.S. health-care system that would eliminate private insurance, and major campaign-finance reform. Both Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders also suffer from weak appeal among African-American voters, a critical constituency that any Democratic nominee needs to mobilize to beat Mr. Trump. And with two African-American senators Kamala Harris of California and Corey Booker of New Jersey expected to run for the nomination, Ms. Warren may struggle to get traction among minority Democrats. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement Despite her disadvantages, Ms. Warren should not be underestimated. If Democrats decide they need a candidate who can take on Mr. Trump in industrial states without turning off female voters as he does, she may just be their woman. Like Mr. Trump, Ms. Warren is critical of trade deals that she says have lifted the boats of the wealthy while leaving millions of working Americans to drown. But unlike Mr. Trump, who has slashed regulations and cut taxes for the wealthy, Ms. Warren is no friend of big business. She would break up the big banks and corporations and raise taxes on the rich. The central conceit of her campaign that 21st-century capitalism is rigged against the working class provides her with a message tailor-made for Rust Belt states that voted for Mr. Trump in 2016. And Democrats likely cant win in 2020 without taking back states such as Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. | https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-is-elizabeth-warren-the-populist-democrats-need-to-out-trump-trump/ |
Is Hungary becoming a rogue state in the center of Europe? | A demonstrator holds a banner with likenesses of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Russian President Vladimir Putin in front of the Hungarian presidental palace in Budapest on Dec. 21 to protest a law about overtime work and pay. (Peter Kohalmi/AFP/Getty Images (Peter Kohalmi/AFP/Getty Images) James Kirchick, a visiting fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution, is the author of The End of Europe: Dictators, Demagogues, and the Coming Dark Age. Most of the international criticism directed at Hungary over the past nine years has focused on domestic indicators such as the rule of law, separation of powers and press freedom. Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been remarkably blunt about his designs for Hungary, citing China, Russia and Turkey as models. After an election in April widely deemed free but not fair, he sounded a triumphal note, declaring that the era of liberal democracy is over. Since Orban won reelection, however, his behavior has called into question not only his democratic bona fides, but also his basic trustworthiness as an ally of the United States and member of the democratic Western world. Increasingly, Hungary is behaving like a rogue state. Consider the actions that Orban and his Fidesz Party government have taken in the past few weeks. Last month, at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, the Hungarian envoy did his best to sabotage any improvement in relations between the Western alliance and Ukraine. As its excuse the Budapest government is using a recent language-law reform in Ukraine that allegedly threatens the Hungarian-speaking minority. By exploiting such a frivolous issue to obstruct NATO support for Ukraine whose land Russia seized in the first armed territorial annexation on the European continent since World War II Hungary is doing Moscows bidding. Nor is this the first time that the Hungarians have done so. In late November, Hungary denied a U.S. request to extradite a pair of Russian arms dealers who had attempted to sell antiaircraft missiles to Mexican drug cartels. Instead of handing over the father-and-son weapons traffickers to a fellow NATO ally, Orbans government allowed the men safe passage back to Russia. Though Hungary formally supports European Union sanctions on Russia, Orban has been the most vociferous internal critic of the measures, frequently calling for them to be dropped. At a time when Europe has shunned Russian President Vladimir Putin for his aggression against Ukraine and manifold other abuses, the Russian leader has made multiple, friendly visits to the Hungarian capital, where Orbn has embraced him. Today Hungary is considered by some in the intelligence world to be the main conduit for Russian influence-peddling within the Western alliance. There is tremendous concern that Russia is basically using Hungary as an intel forward operating base in NATO and the EU, a former official at the U.S. Embassy in Budapest told Politico in 2017. Orban shares with Putin a dark predilection ostensibly proscribed by membership in Western institutions such as the E.U. and NATO: revanchism. A century after Hungary lost two-thirds of its territory as a result of World War I, inflaming nationalist sentiment among the Hungarian diaspora living in the region remains a priority for the Hungarian right. Last summer, at the same political festival in Romania where, four years earlier, he had hailed the onset of the illiberal state, Orban delivered a disturbingly irredentist speech to the local Hungarian community. Repeatedly referring to the Romanian territory on which he stood by its Hungarian name, Szkely Land, he attacked the Romanian government for allegedly saying that Szkely Land doesnt exist and insisted that Szkely Land will still exist when the whole of Europe has already submitted to Islam. Long discounted as a marginal figure on the periphery of Europe and the leader of a small country with an obscure language, Orban has emerged as one of the most consequential political figures of the 21st century. Years before Brexit, President Trump and other manifestations of national populism rose across the West, Orban was already in power, busily transforming Hungary into a one-party state and distancing it from traditional democratic allies. Stephen K. Bannon, Trumps former top strategist, lauds Orban as Trump before Trump. Only 55, Orban is a political visionary, plotting a potential post-Atlantic, post-NATO, post-E.U. future for his country. Anticipating a time when the West will be disintegrated and overrun by Muslims, he is reorienting Hungary toward the authoritarian East. We all sense its in the air that the world is in the process of a substantial realignment, he giddily declared during a 2017 visit that Putin made to Budapest. Speaking in Brussels last month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized powerful countries and actors whose ambition is to reshape the international order in [their] own illiberal image. Pompeo was targeting American adversaries such as Russia and China, revisionist powers trying to overturn the international liberal order constructed and sustained by the United States. But his words also describe what Orban is doing within the Western alliance itself. If Orban were a reliable ally of the United States, then perhaps his democratic backsliding could be excused. During the Cold War, the United States was willing to overlook authoritarian tendencies even outright military dictatorships among its NATO allies, provided they were anti-communist. Today, however, the central geopolitical struggle in Europe is no longer between capitalism and communism, but democracy and authoritarianism. And it is increasingly difficult to tell which side Viktor Orban is on. Read more: The Posts View: The ouster of Central European University marks a dark day for Hungary Anne Applebaum: Hungary is thumbing its nose at the U.S. by following Trumps cues The Posts View: The European Unions next democracy task begins at home Max Boot: Liberal democracy isnt dead after all Lally Weymouth: An interview with Viktor Orban, prime minister of Hungary | https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/01/03/is-hungary-becoming-rogue-state-center-europe/ |
Who paid for Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker's inauguration? | BOSTON -- Gov. Charlie Baker's inauguration featured an official swearing-in ceremony, an interfaith service and three big parties, in Boston, Worcester and Springfield. Private donors paid, through a special political committee. Inaugural committees are not subject to the same campaign finance restrictions as campaign committees. Baker self-imposed a contribution limit of $25,000 on individuals and businesses. He chose to cap contributions from lobbyists at $200. The committee has raised a total of $3.4 million, but that also includes fundraising from 2014-2015, which paid for his first inauguration. Since January 2018, the committee has raised $1.1 million in donations. Many of those who contributed have business interests with state government. For example, Baker is planning to introduce a major health care bill. Secretary of Health and Human Services Marylou Sudders has said she wants to curb the growth of drug prices. Tufts Health Plan, Blue Cross Blue Shield Massachusetts, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and hospital operator Steward Health Care all gave $25,000 to Baker's inauguration. (Baker is a former executive of Harvard Pilgrim.) The pharmaceutical lobbying group PhRMA and Fallon Community Health Plan each gave $10,000. As Massachusetts is considering whether to legalize and regulate sports betting, the fantasy sports company DraftKings gave $25,000 to Baker's inauguration. As Baker is pushing for a bill that would incentivize communities to build more housing, real estate developer Winn Development gave $25,000. Niraj Shah, the CEO of Wayfair, which recently received millions of dollars in state tax breaks for a Massachusetts expansion, gave Baker $25,000. Other businesses that donated $25,000 include Arbella Insurance, New Balance Athletics, Cumberland Farms, Comcast and others. Individuals who gave at that level include Suffolk Construction CEO John Fish and Bain Capital senior adviser Paul Edgerley, among others. "The Inaugural Committee is grateful to have support from across the Commonwealth, continues to comply with the letter and spirit of all Massachusetts' campaign finance laws and has implemented self-imposed limits on individual donations and donations from lobbyists," said Terry MacCormack, a spokesman for Baker's political operation. A full list of donors to Baker's inaugural committee can be found on the Office of Campaign and Political Finance website. | https://www.masslive.com/politics/index.ssf/2019/01/who_paid_for_gov_charlie_baker.html |
Was will China auf der dunklen Seite des Mondes? | "Die dunkle Seite des Mondes" Kommentar der Fuldaer Zeitung zur chinesischen Mondlandung Knftige Kriege werden im All gewonnen. Das wissen und betonen chinesische Militrexperten, auch ungefragt. Jetzt ist eine Sonde aus dem Reich der Mitte auf der dunklen Seite des Mondes gelandet, die in Wirklichkeit genauso hell ist, wie die der Erde zugewandte Hlfte. Wohl beides. Im Jahr des Erdschweins mit Saatgut zum Mond - das verspricht Glck und Reichtum nach dem chinesischen Horoskop. Ob der Mond sich allerdings als gewinnbringende Gemseplantage eignet, ist eher fraglich. Aber fr die Chinesen ist die Macht wichtiger noch als Reichtum, und deren Erlangung berlassen sie nicht dem Glck, sprich Zufall. Sowohl auf der Erde als auch im All geht das Reich der Mitte dabei einen konsequenten Weg. Den haben beim Bau der neuen Seidenstrae aber auch bei der Annahme teurer Kredite und dem berlassen von Bodenschtzen Entwicklungslnder in Afrika und Ostasien zu spren bekommen. Die wirtschaftliche und technische Eroberungsarmee von Xi Jinping lsst dort keinen Stein auf dem anderen, vernichtet Traditionen und bringt die Lnder und ihre Bewohner in Abhngigkeit. Wie weit die Chinesen - auch militrisch - im All sind, zeigt die Landung auf dem Mond, wo nicht nur Saatgut getestet wird. Auch wenn aktuell die Kritik an den USA und ihrem merkwrdigen Prsidenten angesagt ist, darf der Westen die bedrohliche Einflussnahme Chinas in vielen Bereichen nicht ignorieren. Wer sich mit einer Verbrderung mit den Machthabern in Peking fr Donald Trumps riskante und ignorante Politik revanchieren wollte, ginge denn auch einen gefhrlichen Deal ein. Die Chinesen haben lngst den Fu in der Tr Deutschlands, wo sie nach und nach kreative Unternehmen in Schlsselindustrien aufkaufen. Und sie verdienen an zum Teil hchst fragwrdigen Exporten. Es macht jedoch keinen Sinn, Peking zu verprellen, auch wenn die Menschenrechtsverletzungen dort eigentlich nicht hinnehmbar sind. Aber die diplomatische Bereitschaft zur kommunikativen Annherung sollte eine Sicherheitsdistanz nicht unterschreiten. Der perfekte Kontrollstaat, den China gerne auch auf andere Lnder ausdehnen wrde, ist die dunkle Seite des Mondes im Land des Lchelns. Und die hat nicht den liebenswerten Charme von Pink Floyds Musik oder Martin Suters Roman. | https://www.mmnews.de/vermischtes/108077-was-will-china-auf-der-dunklen-seite-des-mondes |
Have Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid Split (Again!) After Rekindling Romance? | Just months after revealing their rekindled romance on social media following a brief split in March, Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid may have called it quits for the second time. Multiple outlets report that the two recently ended things again. The high-profile couple first started dating in November 2015, but stirred up the first inklings of their split when Malik, 25, didnt sit in the audience of the Victorias Secret Fashion Show in November to cheer on Hadid, 23, as he has done in previous years. The pair have not appeared on each others social media feeds over the past few months, and most recently appeared to spend the holidays apart. Malik is also no longer following Hadid on Instagram. Get push notifications with news, features and more. On Dec. 12, the model was noticeably absent from the party that Malik hosted for his new album, Icarus Falls. On the same day, Hadid instead posted photos to Instagram of herself cuddling up to a horse with the caption, Preferred house guest, and made no mention of Maliks music. Malik also appeared to be a no-show at mutual pal Taylor Swifts New Years Eve party, where Hadid dressed as Mary Poppins. The last photo of the former One Direction member that appeared on Hadids Instagram was from Oct. 21, and while it might seem that the fact Malik doesnt follow Hadid on the platform at all was a sign, Hadid has addressed that in the past. In July, Hadid responded to an Instagram account who pointed out that Malik doesnt follow her by saying, for someone who is virtually inactive on the app, I dont need his follow my eyes are tattooed to his chest. For the 2019 Pirelli Calendar, which was released in December, Hadid posed with designer Alexander Wang and played the part of a woman who just broke up with her companion though the calendars photographer, Albert Watson, said she was acting. Most recently, Malik spoke out about his relationship with Hadid for the December issue of British Vogue. Everything is great, he said. Shes super-organized and Im really not. It helps that she can get things together for me a little bit. I lean on her a lot. RELATED: Everything Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid Have Ever Said About Each Other In the cover story for GQs July issue, which was released in June, Malik said that he and Hadid dont feel a need to put a label on their relationship. Were adults, he said. We dont need to put a label on it, make it something for peoples expectations. Explaining how he had a very negative outlook on things following the release of his debut solo album, Mind of Mine, Malik said that Hadid helped me to look at things from a positive angle. RELATED VIDEO: Gigi Hadid Confirms Her Eyes Are Tattooed on Zayn Malik as She Claps Back at Relationship Haters Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid When Malik and Hadid broke up for the first time in March, they each shared separate statements to their social media accounts. Gigi and I had an incredibly meaningful, loving and fun relationship and I have a huge amount of respect and adoration for Gigi as a woman and friend, Malik wrote in his statement. She has such an incredible soul. Im grateful to all of our fans for respecting this difficult decision and our privacy at this time; we wish this news could have come from us first. We love you all. xZ Added Hadid, Breakup statements often seem impersonal because there is really no way to put into words what two people experience over a few years not only in the relationship, but in life in general. Im forever grateful for the love, time, and life lessons that Z and I shared. I want nothing but the best for him and will continue to support him as a friend that I have immense respect and love for. As for the future, whatevers meant to be will be. xG | https://people.com/music/gigi-hadid-zayn-malik-split-again-after-rekindling-romance/ |
How long will gas prices stay under $2? | Gasoline prices are lower because oil prices are lower. Gasoline prices in Stark County are below $2 for a gallon of regular, but how long prices remain that low is anyone's guess. Prices fell below $2 in early December and have been less that $2 per gallon for a couple of weeks, even after a 25 cent per gallon increase at most area stations Wednesday afternoon and evening. Lower oil prices are the reason. The price on a barrel of oil has been dropping worldwide because of increased supply. Concerns about a global economic slowdown and trade disputes also have driven oil prices lower. Prices stood in the $75 per barrel range in early October, but have fallen to less than $50 per barrel. The cost of crude oil accounts for 57 percent of gasoline production expenses, according to the American Petroleum Institute. Changes in the price of oil generally have a direct impact on prices at area gasoline stations. (Click here to see latest gas prices in Ohio) Around Ohio drivers were paying an average of $1.931 per gallon on Thursday, while the national average was $2.249 per gallon, according to the AAA fuel statistics. That compared with $2.127 in Ohio and $2.459 nationwide in early December and $2.463 per gallon in Ohio and $2.486 nationwide a year ago. Current prices are the lowest since 2016. In late 2015, the price of regular gasoline fell below $2 per gallon and dropped to less than $1.40 per gallon before passing $2 in early March 2016. Prices dropped below $2 per gallon again in August and September. Whether prices remain low depends on future oil prices. Reuters reported Thursday that a survey by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas shows energy industry executives expect oil prices to rise but not to the levels seen in October. Prices will range between $50 and $65 per barrel as the year progresses, survey participants indicated. Experts with GasBuddy, the smart phone app that tracks prices at gas stations, predict oil prices as well as gas prices could start to rise soon as OPEC limits production. The strong U.S economy also could push prices up. Patrick DeHaan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, suggests the national average could pass $3 per gallon in major metropolitan areas, while edging close to that price in Northeast Ohio. | https://www.cantonrep.com/news/20190103/how-long-will-gas-prices-stay-under-2 |
What triggered murder at Caledon mansion of ex-Dragon's Den Star? | They had been friends since childhood. The two men played as kids and went into business as they got older. Now, one is dead and the other faces a murder charge in a shocking slaying that took place at the sprawling Caledon mansion of former Dragons Den star Michael Wekerle. What led to the killing of 18-year-old Tyler Swartz, of Thornhill, remains a mystery. And cops are being tight-lipped. They wont even say how the popular teen died, citing a court-ordered publication ban. His family is absolutely devastated, a source told the Toronto Sun. Crushed. What OPP detectives have revealed is only the most spartan of details about what went down on Dec. 27 at the mansion. Wekerles daughter was friends with the suspected killer. On that terrible night, officers located the body of Swartz on the uber-private King St. property. Jonathan Weir, 20, of Caledon, is charged with first-degree murder and made his first court appearance last Friday. They had been best friends since childhood and had even gone into business together, the source told the Sun. The pair started a company that ploughed driveways and cut grass. Swartz had initially intended to go to Florida with his mother for at least part of the Christmas break. But she insisted that he stay up north to help Weir plow and shovel snow. Now his mother is beside herself because if she hadnt insisted he stay, this might have never happened, the source added. Miami-Dade Police gave Swartzs mother the bad news but she couldnt fly home immediately because her Jewish faith forbade it as it was the Sabbath. Instead, she made the long, sad flight back to Toronto the next day. Cops have not suggested a motive for the murder but a first-degree charge indicates detectives believe the slaying was premeditated. Everyone is confused, the source said. Swartz graduated from the prestigious private Blyth Academy in 2017. According to the Caledon Enterprise, Swartz had been studying at Sheridan College to be a plumber but dropped out in the fall of 2017. The young man was also a devoted volunteer in Thornhill since he was a child with the Friendship Circle, a group that helps special needs kids. He was honoured in 2017 for his volunteer work. He was a very caring individual, program co-ordinator Esther Grossbaum told the newspaper. An angel of a kid. Swartzs family held a private funeral on Dec. 31. The investigation continues. | https://torontosun.com/news/crime/what-triggered-murder-at-caledon-mansion-of-ex-dragons-den-star |
What is an Equipment loan used for? | People with small or large scale businesses make use of equipment to carry out their daily production activities. While some want to start businesses but they do not have enough money to get equipment that they need for business. Also at a point in time, you might need money to get new equipment, to change damaged or old equipment, and you might not have the money to do this. An equipment loan is an amazing solution you need. An equipment loan is a type of loan that is used to purchase equipment or change equipment that you need for your business to grow when you are short on cash. This business loan mostly helps individuals who just want to start up a business, and they have little at hand. It can be a secured loan depending on the lender. If it is a secured loan, the lender will use the equipment you want to get as collateral. If you as the borrower is unable to pay back, then the lending company sells the equipment to get their money back. Sometimes, the lending company might just give you an unsecured equipment loan; this means that they will not demand any collateral. However, there will be an agreement or the terms and conditions attached to it. What do you need to consider before applying for an Equipment loan The price of the equipment: before you go for an Equipment loan, the first thing to do is to make inquiries about the price of the equipment you wish to purchase. This will give you an insight into the amount of money you should borrow. The terms and conditions for the loan: You have to know what terms come with the loan, then read and understand them properly. The interest rate of the loan: check if you are okay with it or not. Someone lenders attach high interest to their loans while some interest rates are low. So make sure you go with the interest rate that will be convenient for you. Make sure you have all the qualifications and certificates that you need for the loan, your lender might ask you to submit information about your business. So make sure you have all the necessary information ready. If you are purchasing more than one equipment, make sure you have a laid down plan for the money, so that you won't misuse the money when your loan request is accepted. How Smarter Loans Can Help For the past few years, Smarter Loans have worked towards providing a well organized online medium that helps to connects lenders and borrowers in Canada together. One the most important fact to consider before applying for a loan is looking for a reputable company that gives loans or a trustworthy loaner, and this will be very stressful. So, this is where Smarter Loans works for You; they provide a medium where borrowers can look for suitable lenders, and contact them. With Smarter Loans, getting loans for your equipment purchase has never been easier! Conclusion As a business owner in Canada, you have to always think ahead on ways to ensure that your equipment are functional and updated. You can not run your business efficiently without good equipment. Thus, you can rely on Smarter Loans to help you get a trustworthy and reliable equipment loan company to make your business thrive than ever. This item was posted by a community contributor. To read more about community contributors, click here. | https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sofla-ugc-article-what-is-an-equipment-loan-used-for-2019-01-01-story.html |
Are we ready for extreme weather? | THIS time last year a headline in theSun read Washed out. It reported a total of 2,834 students from 21 schools were unable to attend the first day of the new school session due to the worsening flood situation. The schools were in Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Johor and Sarawak. There are no surprises in the listing. They are the usual ones expected to suffer the same fate year in and year out. Only that it is worsening each time. Again this is to be expected given the climatic condition and the overdue infrastructural neglect. The usual response to this is that the authority was working with the relevant body to assess the flood situation. One wishes that such assessments are done very much earlier so that some real mitigation work can be undertaken to spare the students from missing lessons. This calls for forward planning. If we can think of a lucrative East Coast Rail Link project to that part of the country to the tune of billions, and plan ahead despite the phenomenal cost and complexity in engaging foreign investors, how can we miss a more linear problem-solving project at the same location. Maybe it is not as prestigious but it is just as deserving (if not more so) for the locals who have been facing such inconveniences for many years. The floods have become an annual irritant to say the least. It becomes worse when schools are used as relief centres; this makes restarting classes more complicated. It somewhat compounds the already strained situation causing more lost schooling days. Not at all a good start especially when the majority if not all of the affected students are from the lower social strata. The Malaysian Meteorological Department director-general said the Northeast monsoon was expected to last until March and has already brought heavy rainfall to Kelantan and Terengganu. Rain will make its way to Pahang and Johor before shifting to Sabah and Sarawak later in the season. These states are expected to experience four to six heavy rainfalls as in previous years, he said. The situation could be worsened by spring tides that take place during new and full moons. While the east coast is typically the worst hit by floods during the rainy season, west coast residents should also be on the alert. Although this is considered minor in comparison to what happened in the Sunda Straits last week, it cannot be left unattended. We must count our blessings and do better because while we were sheltered from the Sunda tsunami that claimed more than 400 lives and left more than 1,000 injured, this may not be the last of natural disasters. A UN panel issued a warning that the consequences of climate change might be another factor to worry about if the temperatures rise by 1.5C come 2030. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) sounded the warning in a report seen as the main scientific guide for policymakers on how to implement the 2015 Paris Agreement. A rise of 1.5C would carry climate-related risks for nature and humankind, although said to be slightly lower than the 2C ceiling above the pre-industrial levels. The IPCC called for rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented change in land and energy use, industry, buildings, transport and cities which leads us to wonder if these have been taken into account in the first place as agreed in Paris. Even then it is said to be insufficient no matter how large or ambitious the cuts are. These are the issues that should concern policymakers now if future generations are to be protected beyond the normal flooding that we seem helpless to manage. As we step into the new year this must be our main preoccupation going forward when the slimmest of opportunities are indeed the real challenge ahead in our attempt to make a difference at all levels not limited to just (un)natural calamities. This therefore must be our collective resolution for the new year. Happy 2019. With some four decades of experience in education, the writer believes that another world is possible. Comments: [email protected] | https://www.thesundaily.my/opinion/are-we-ready-for-extreme-weather-DC334324 |
Can lawmakers really suspend their pay during the shutdown? | As the government shutdown continues, lawmakers are shooting off a lot of rhetoric about their own salaries from the federal coffers. Reps. Dave Joyce (R-Ohio), Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), John Curtis (R-Utah) and French Hill (R-Ark. ), for example, all wrote letters to House Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) requesting their pay be withheld starting Dec. 22, until the government reopens. The thought is to stand in solidarity with the federal employees who are not being paid during the shutdown. Most congressional salaries clock in at $174,000 a year. Its unclear if the CAO can actually withhold pay. Officials there did not answer questions in time for publication. Advertisement But the politicians sentiments may be in conflict with the Constitution itself. Article 1, section 6 specifically requires compensation for members of Congress. That differs from other federal employee pay, which is determined by Congress in annual appropriations bills and other statues. It could be argued that its unconstitutional not to pay members of Congress unless a law is passed forebidding it. Then there is the 27th amendment. The amendment is the nations newest to take effect, and is pretty short: No law varying the compensation for the services of the senators and representatives shall take effect, until an election of representatives shall have intervened. That sentence means if lawmakers vote to change their pay, those changes cant take effect until after an election. Its meant to keep politicians from getting into office and then immediately padding their own pockets with a pay raise. Other congressional members found more creative ways to spurn their salaries while some federal workers went without a paycheck. A spokeswoman for Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he will donate his pay during the period of the shutdown to charity if federal workers are not paid during the shutdown. The most recent pay period ended before the shutdown, so federal employees were expecting to see a full paycheck on Dec. 28. To make that deadline, however, Congress would need to pass a law in order to pay employees who were furloughed during the shutdown. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) said they will do the same as Kaine. During the 2013 shutdown, The Washington Post reported 237 lawmakers pledged they would either ask the government to withhold their pay or donate their pay to charity. The Post followed up with those lawmakers months later and found dozens of lawmakers went through with their donations, and 14 sent money back to the U.S. Treasury to pay down the national debt. Lawmakers also want to cut luxuries of the office during the 2018 shutdown. Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) filed legislation to close the Capitol gym during the shutdown. Not only are Members still able to access the taxpayer-funded gym, sauna, and steam room while tens of thousands of federal employees remain furloughed, but janitorial staff are still required to clean the gym and restock it with towels and other essential items, Foster said in a release last week. | https://federalnewsnetwork.com/government-shutdown/2018/12/can-lawmakers-really-suspend-their-pay-during-the-shutdown/ |
What does China want to do on the Moon's far side? | Here are a few things the mission is designed to do. Learn about the Moon's history No space mission has ever explored the far side from the surface. As such, it's the first chance to explore a mysterious region of Earth's natural satellite. The "face" that's never seen from Earth has some key differences to the more familiar "near side". The far side has a thicker, older crust that is pocked with more craters. There are also very few of the "maria" (dark basaltic "seas" created by lava flows) that are evident on the near side. Chang'e-4 has reportedly landed at a site known as Von Krmn crater, a 180km depression located in the far side's southern hemisphere. But Von Krmn lies within a much bigger hole punched in the Moon - the South Pole-Aitken basin. It's the oldest, largest and deepest such basin on the Moon and formed when an asteroid - perhaps 500km across, or more - collided with it billions of years ago. This event was so powerful that it is thought to have ploughed through the Moon's outer crust layer and through into the zone known as the mantle. One of the mission's objectives is to study any exposed material from the mantle present at the landing site. This would provide insights into the internal structure and history of the Moon. Image copyright NASA Image caption The South Pole-Aitken basin was formed by a giant impact billions of years ago Indeed, data from orbiting spacecraft show that the composition of the basin is different from the surrounding lunar highlands. But exposed mantle material on the surface is just one possibility among several to explain this observation. The rover will use its panoramic camera to identify interesting locations and its Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (VNIS) to study minerals in the floor of the crater (as well as of ejecta - rocks thrown out by nearby space impacts). Additionally, the Lunar Penetrating Radar (LPR) instrument will be able to look into the shallow subsurface of the Moon, down to a depth of about 100m. It could probe the thickness of the lunar regolith - the broken up rocks and dust that make up the surface - and shed light on the structure of the upper lunar crust. After the huge impact that created the South Pole-Aitken basin, a large amount of melted rock would have filled the depression. The science team wants to use Chang'e-4 to identify and study variations in its composition. Filling an astronomy gap The far side of the Moon has long been regarded as an ideal spot for conducting a particular kind of radio astronomy - in the low-frequency band - because it's shielded from the radio noise of Earth. There's a frequency band (below about 10MHz) where radio astronomy observations can't be conducted from Earth, because of manmade radio interference and other, natural factors. Chang'e-4's lander is carrying an instrument called the Low Frequency Spectrometer (LFS) which can make low frequency radio observations. It will be used in concert with a similar experiment on the Queqiao orbiting satellite. The objectives include making a map of the radio sky at low frequencies and studying the behaviour of the Sun. Speaking in 2016, Liu Tongjie, from the Chinese space agency (CNSA), said: "Since the far side of the Moon is shielded from electromagnetic interference from the Earth, it's an ideal place to research the space environment and solar bursts, and the probe can 'listen' to the deeper reaches of the cosmos." Thus, the mission will fill a gap in astronomical observation, allowing scientists to study cosmic phenomena in a way that has never been possible from our planet. Radiation on the Moon Image copyright Science Photo Library Image caption Understanding the radiation environment will be vital for future human exploration Several space agencies want to land humans on the Moon in the not-too-distant future, and might send astronauts there for longer than we've ever stayed before. So understanding the potential risks from radiation are vital. Earth's thick atmosphere and strong magnetic field provide adequate shielding against galactic cosmic rays and energetic charged particles travelling from the Sun. But astronauts on the Moon will be outside this protective bubble and exposed to particles travelling through open space at near the speed of light - with potentially damaging consequences for their health. The Lunar Lander Neutrons and Dosimetry (LND) experiment, supplied by researchers in Germany, will aim to fill in some gaps in our understanding about the lunar radiation environment. It will provide dosimetry (measure the ionising radiation dose that could be absorbed by the human body) with a view to future exploration, and contribute to understanding of particles originating from the Sun. Follow Paul on Twitter. | https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-46748602 |
When is American Gods back for season two? What will happen and who is in the cast? | Season one of American Gods left us at a key moment in the story and with a long time to wait before we discovered what was next for Shadow (Ricky Whittle) and Mr Wednesday (Ian McShane). Advertisement The drama, adapted from Neil Gaimans beloved fantasy novel, debuted on Amazon Prime Video in April 2017 and was renewed for a second season shortly after. There have been big changes to the cast and crew since then, including the departure of the series showrunners and star Gillian Anderson. Series two of American Gods will launch on Starz in the US on Sunday 10th March 2019 and will air in the UK and internationally on Amazon Prime Video. The show was recommissioned in May 2017 and season two began filming in April 2018. Production was reportedly pushed back following the departure of the series showrunners and star Gillian Anderson. In November 2017 some big news broke: Michael Green and Bryan Fuller, the showrunners behind Amazons big budget sci-fi series American Gods, had left the show ahead of the second season. At least half of the scripts had already been written, but filming had yet to begin. Variety suggested that the pair had quit after clashing with producer Fremantle Media over budget and direction. The production company was reportedly concerned about the series becoming vastly more expensive. The announcement came as a bit of a surprise, because when American Gods was renewed for a second season the duo were enthusiastic. Jesse Alexander has joined American Gods as showrunner, taking over from Michael Green and Bryan Fuller. He actually previously worked with Bryan Fuller on shows including Hannibal and Star Trek: Discovery. Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that the production company planned to start over from scratch with Alexander, binning the existing scripts and returning more closely to Gaimans novel as the source material. May I extend the most heartfelt of welcomes to @kahyunkim257 or rather, #NewMedia We'll be playing together a whole bunch, can't wait. Allready a fan Major shout out to the whole #Godsquad as well. My word I love you all. #Americangods @AmericanGodsSTZ @GodsOnAmazon pic.twitter.com/ctCvLbcJQa Bruce Langley (@BruceJLangley) June 4, 2018 Hollyoaks star Ricky Whittle will return as Shadow, with Ian McShane as Mr Wednesday. Yetide Badakis sex goddess Bilquis will be absolutely pivotal in season two, while Emily Browning is expected to return as Laura Moon Shadows dead wife. The cast also includes Bruce Langley (Technical Boy), Orlando Jones (Mr Nancy) and Pablo Schreiber (Mad Sweeney). But Gillian Anderson will NOT play Media in season two. She told The Hollywood Reporter: Im not doing any more American Gods. Bryan and Michael Green arent either, as has been announced. Instead, her character has been recast: New Media, the successor to Andersons Media, will be played by South Korean actress Kahyun Kim. Also joining the show are Dean Winters as Mr Town and Native American actress Devery Jacobs as Sam Black Crow. Heres the basic concept: American Gods shows a gloriously surreal version of reality based on the concept that immigrants to America over thousands of years have brought their gods with them. Over time they forgot about the gods they once worshiped, abandoning the old deities to the edges of American society. Now those old gods are fighting back against the newer gods (media, technology) that threaten to destroy them forever. Ex-con Shadow Moon (Whittle) gets thrown right into the middle of this war by his new boss, the mysterious Mr Wednesday (McShane). The House on the Rock. What Season 1 #AmericanGods was leading up to. Now Season 2 is happening. Watch this! You'll be able to see it all in 2019 on @STARZ in the US, and Amazon Prime Video in the rest of the world. @AmericanGodsSTZ @GodsOnAmazon pic.twitter.com/ILShexh3kK Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) April 30, 2018 In a video announcing the return of the production, Gaiman teased, Things are going to get darker, things are going to get more dangerous. The first eight episodes of American Gods only took us a fifth of the way through the novel, so theres plenty of material left over for a second season (and a third, fourth and fifth). Speaking ahead of the series premiere,Whittle told RadioTimes.com: This show really has got legs to go for numerous years. Even though American Gods is adapted from a novel, its impossible to say for sure what will happen in season two considering all the ways the TV version was different from the book. And the story may change direction AGAIN now that Michael Green and Bryan Fuller have left as showrunners. But with the book in hand and clues from Twitter, we can make some predictions about what will happen in season two. Well definitely be visiting the Biggest Carousel in the World found in a tourist attraction known as The House on the Rock in Wisconsin, a bizarre real-life location that was briefly referenced at the end of season one. Here, Shadow and all the gods find themselves inside the mind of Mr Wednesday (or Odin) as his boss tries to rally the Old Gods for war. Oh, just hanging out with gods and mortals at the House on the Rock. Why, yes, that is the Biggest Carousel in the World. Nothing special. (YES, IT WAS AMAZING. YES, IT WAS AS AMAZING AS YOU WOULD THINK.) @GodsOnAmazon @AmericanGodsSTZ pic.twitter.com/BhLEPLTp7d Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) April 30, 2018 As the casting announcement reveals, we will also be meeting Sam, short for Samantha Black Crow. In the novel, shes a hitchhiking college student who is intrigued by Shadow and joins him on part of his journey. The next chunk of the novel includes kidnappings, lots of Mr Ibis and Mr Jacquel, Shadows reinvention as Mike Ainsel, the disappearance of Mr Wednesday and the downfall of Mad Sweeney. Looks like we are in for quite a ride, and not just on the Biggest Carousel in the World Advertisement This article was originally published in June 2018 | https://www.radiotimes.com/news/on-demand/2019-01-03/when-is-american-gods-back-for-season-two-what-will-happen-and-who-is-in-the-cast/ |
Who is The Little Drummer Girls Florence Pugh? | I dont think Im going to be an international sex symbol, Florence Pugh tells Radio Times. I mean, I know Im not going to be an international sex symbol. But there is a big potential that when this series comes out, life will be very different And I am aware of that. The sex symbol will have to wait a bit. Advertisement The Oxford-born actress, 22, is sipping tea in a Bloomsbury courtyard, contemplating what her starring role in BBC1s star-studded John le Carr adaptation, The Little Drummer Girl, will do for her profile. A daring rescue here, a flash of buttock there and suddenly he was everywhere. Described as the next Kate Winslet, Pugh made her screen debut in creepy boarding school drama The Falling in 2014. Since then, shes starred in Lady Macbeth based on Nikolai Leskovs 19th-century melodrama Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, only with the action transferred from provincial Russia to the moody Northumbrian moors. Pugh plays a taciturn saucepot named Katherine, who is married off to a weird landowner and put under the watch of his sadistic father. It unfolds a little like Wuthering Heights meets Parks own 2003 cult revenge drama, Oldboy, with a delicious performance from Pugh as a watchful, lustful, ruthless woman who refuses to submit to her fate. Its a cheeky film, isnt it? she says. It gives in to all your secret hopes about what you want stories to turn into. Youre like: OK! Cool! Kill EVERYONE! Love it. Weve recently seen a less murderous side of Pugh as Cordelia (the good daughter) in Richard Eyres BBC adaptation of King Lear, alongside Anthony Hopkins, Emily Watson , Jim Broadbent and her childhood idol, Emma Thompson. Pugh comes from a large, boisterous family where you had to be loud to be heard; her father Clinton runs a number of restaurants in Oxford; her mother Deborah was a dancer. Were all drawn to the stage like a magnet, she says. Her older brother, Sebastian (stage name Toby Sebastian), is a musician who has lately appeared in Game of Thrones; her two sisters, Arabella and Rafaela, both have acting ambitions. Florence herself was still at school, St Edwards in Oxford, when she was cast by director Carol Morley in The Falling and its not hard to imagine her as a grande dame in years to come. (Im getting old! Im in my 20s! she bemoans at one point). Its partly because she has such a rich panna cotta of a voice: close your eyes and you could imagine her doing Hedda Gabler or Dervla Kirwans M&S advert. But its offset by a filthy laugh and an infectious sense of mischief. Florence Pughs breakout role was in The Falling with Maisie Williams. You can watch the trailer below. Unlike a lot of her friends, she was forbidden from using social media until she was 14, and says she learnt more about the world through face-to-face conversations and it shows. I sense a lot of her self-possession comes from her close-knit family. She has a place in London, but returns home to Oxford regularly. My little sister is still there. I get desperate calls when Im back: Come back home! The parents are killing me! So I do my best to keep her from going insane. But Ive been really lucky to have been filming and travelling a lot. She is circumspect on her romantic life. I dont really like discussing that. I remember the news going around that they were going to do this series, Pugh says. It was like forbidden fruit. Everyone knew that they werent going to get it, but everyone knew it was going to be amazing. Even when I was filming The Little Drummer Girl in Greece, I found it hard to believe. This doesnt happen usually. She didnt think she stood much of a chance of winning the part of Charlie Ross a rare le Carr heroine until her agent passed on a felicitous piece of news. The cult South Korean film-maker, Park Chan-Wook, had been announced as the director of the BBC/AMC co-production; and it so happened that Park had been an admirer of Pugh ever since their respective movies, The Handmaiden and Lady Macbeth, were shown at the London Film Festival in 2016. Director Park (as Pugh diligently refers to him) had called her in for a breakfast meeting back then, with his right-hand man and translator, Cheong Won-Jo. It was very surreal, she recalls. There he was, this master of cinema, eating eggs with soldiers. And he told me, I want to direct you in something and I dont know what it is, but when I do I will find you. She assumed it wouldnt come to anything, but then a year later he told her he wanted her to be his Charlie Ross. She didnt even have to audition. Park has described The Little Drummer Girl as his favourite le Carr At the core of this story is an extremely painful, but thrilling, romance and Pugh as the ideal actor to bring it to life. What particularly appealed to Pugh about her character Charlie in The Little Drummer Girl is that shes an ordinary woman, as opposed to some seasoned spy. Or at least, shes an actor, with a virtuosos ability to lie. We meet her on stage, she says. Shes being watched from afar by this mysterious golden man she means Skarsgards character, Israeli intelligence officer Gadi Becker and so she gets caught up in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, as you do. Its a little bit heartbreaking. But six episodes later, you end up in more or less the same place, with lots of people hurt. Park has retained the novels late- 1970s setting, so there are lots of wonderful clothes and dodgy haircuts and Pugh seems determinedly downbeat about her glamour in the role. I tried to look as mousey as possible and blend into the background, she says. It would be ridiculous to wear a red dress and red lipstick as a spy. Its a hands-on role, and Pughs character does receive some training during the show. Pugh doesnt hold back when it comes to her gorgeous co-star Skarsgard. Hes so tall and hes so golden, she says. Like, hes golden everywhere, she adds meaningfully, before emitting one of those hiccuppy giggles. His character is so cool with everything and Alexander is like that anyway. Everything he had to do in a scene would simply be effortless. Meanwhile, Im clanking around, stubbing my toe, pushing over a chair. The Little Drummer Girl has no equivalent to the famous Hiddleston barebottom scene which Pugh assures Radio Times has nothing to do with director Park (who is notorious for his naked bodies) or her, and more to do with the fact that bums dont go down well in the US. America is scared of nudity... such strange people America is quite scared of bums, she says. And nipples. We had to make sure there were no bums and nipples out. I dont know why. Such strange people. It made filming sex scenes challenging. There was one scene we did where Alex and I were under the duvet and supposedly naked. I was wriggling down one end and Alex is wriggling down the other. Halfway through, I hear: CUT! CUT! Director Park says: Florence, youve got to hide your nipples more! Im like: OK! So we do it again, and again I hear: CUT! CUT! Florence! It looks like youre hiding your nipples. Im like: Arrrgh! Just let me get my breasts out, I dont care! But America does care. She has complained before that Hollywood imposes ridiculous expectations on what a female body is supposed to look like she is happy to put her own curves on the line to challenge those expectations. My parents were very cool and made sure we watched lots of European films when we grew up, so nudity has never been a problem for me, as long as its done beautifully, she says. When I came into the industry, I never had a problem with it. Pugh is excited to be entering the film business post #MeToo when, finally, gender expectations are changing. Its funny, its not like any of that was news to me when all of that happened last year, she says, referring to the Harvey Weinstein revelations. Even at the age of 20 I knew there was something up and it had needed fixing for a long time and I was very lucky not to be affected by it. At the very least, Pugh hopes The Little Drummer Girl will put paid to those Kate Winslet comparisons. Its actually embarrassing now, she sighs. I really hope she hasnt ever read any of them. But she is one of the reasons I wanted to act. I re-enacted Titanic over and over again. I love her because she has a normal, beautiful face with creases on her forehead and proper cheeks and everything. I love that her face is how it is in that moment, theres nothing funny in it. Shes not hiding. Shes just raw. I love watching faces as they grow up. Its the difference between so many strong British actresses compared to what America does to women. Pugh would like to appear on stage at some point. And shed love another role like Lady Macbeth. Give me some more confused, dazed women who are locked up in mental homes on an island somewhere, she says. Id love a Hannibal Lecter. The Silence of the Lambs is my favourite book, favourite film. Yes! she shrieks. I could be his daughter. Who is also completely insane and happens to enjoy eating flesh off peoples faces. Daddy! she calls in a terrifying cutesy voice. Gross. Lets make it happen! The Little Drummer Girl airs on Sundays at 9pm on BBC1 Advertisement This article was originally published in the 27 October-2 November 2018 issue of Radio Times magazine | https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-01-03/florence-pugh/ |
How is THAT Ordeal by Innocence ending different from the Agatha Christie novel? | Advertisement The solution: you risk the wrath of the Agatha Christie purists and change the ending. The final episode of screenwriter Sarah Philips Ordeal by Innocence takes a dramatic turn away from the 1958 novel and (SPOILER ALERT) gives us a different killer entirely. Its not housekeeper Kirsten Lindstrom who walloped Rachel over the head and then murdered the meddling Philip, as in the book; instead its daddy Leo Argyll who did the deed. In short, no. In the book, it was Kirsten who killed Rachel. Young delinquent Jack was a prolific seducer of older woman and an expert at manipulation, and so he charmed middle-aged housekeeper Kirsten and made her believe he was in love with her. Then, when his adoptive mother refused his requests for cash to pay off his debts, Jack persuaded Kirsten to pop in to her office, steal the money and murder Rachel on his behalf. Jacks plan was to establish his alibi for Rachels time of death by hitchhiking into town. But he had the misfortune to be picked up by Dr Arthur Calgary, who failed to come forward to the police in time to save Jack partly because hed soon be battling concussion and amnesia, and partly because he was about to head on an Antarctic expedition. So Jack was arrested with no alibi and plenty of motive and a wallet full of Rachels money! He was convicted and died in prison of pneumonia six months into his sentence, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone, that is, except Kirsten. She only realised shed been fooled when Jacks secret wife Maureen turned up the morning after the murder (yes, Jack was married!) and threw herself on the kindness of the Argylls. Jack, the man Kirsten had killed for, had never loved her at all. It was a bitter pill to swallow. There was more bad news for Kirsten when Dr Calgary made his belated appearance and announced, with much fanfare, that he was poor innocent Jacks alibi. The revelation that Jack couldnt have killed Rachel meant that another member of the household had done the terrible deed and suddenly everyone was suspicious of everyone else. No one knew anything much except for Tina, who had driven over and walked towards the house on the night in question. Shed overheard two people (later revealed to be Kirsten and Jack) making a whispered plan, but didnt know exactly who. At one point she wondered if it was her dad Leo and his secretary and soon-to-be fianc Gwenda, but she couldnt be sure. Kirsten panicked. When Marys polio-stricken husband Philip started poking around and asking too many questions, she tried to warn him off but when he wouldnt listen, she thought it was only fair to stab him in the back of the neck. And when Tina came running in and spotted damning evidence, Kirsten stabbed her too. (Dont worry: Tina survived. Just.) With two murders and one attempted murder under her belt, Kirsten very cleverly framed Mickey. And she would have got away with it if it werent for that meddling Calgary. In the end it was Dr Calgary the venerable physicist who gathered the family together to reveal who was guilty. Hed cracked the case by delving into Jacks romantic history and discovered his habit of seducing and fleecing middle-aged women, which threw Kirstens actions into a whole new light. The murderer fled, but it is assumed didnt get far. In the TV adaptation everyone freaked out when they discovered Tina and Mickeys secret relationship. Sure, they might not be biologically related but theyd been raised as siblings! So weird! This storyline originates from the book, although the idea that theyre in love is only raised in the last couple of pages and we never see them actually get together. But everyone seems strangely chilled out about it. When Calgary asks if Tina has the hots for her adoptive brother, Hester says: I suppose she might be. I never thought about it. Theyve always been brother and sister, of course. No. But looking at Christies version of Hester, you can see where this storyline comes from. When we meet her in the novel, flighty and fragile Hesters rebellion is in the past, when she ran away to become a terrible actress and had an affair with a middle aged married man. She wasnt particularly keen on either the acting or the lover, but she was very keen on spiting her mother. Rachel, who was actually a really attentive mother with a tendency to smother her kids with love, stepped in to save the day, breaking up the affair and offering to send her to a proper drama school. Her kindly interference left Hester furious, because her mother was always so annoyingly right about everything. No, absolutely not. This is a real twist in the TV adaptation. Phelps story makes Kirsten into Jacks mother, not his lover. She conceived Jack with her boss Leo when she was only 15, and stayed on in the household to watch him grow up as Rachel and Leos adpoted son, thinking hed been abandoned by his parents. But in the novel, Jack was truly an abandoned and unwanted kid just like the rest. In the TV adaptation, Calgary declines to get the police involved firstly because he has only just been discharged from the asylum, and secondly because when he does ring them, paedophilic police boss Bellamy tries to run him over in a car and kills himself in the process. Thats enough to put anyone off. But in the book, the police were involved they were just pretty ineffectual compared to amateur detectives Philip and Calgary. Superintendent Huish did his best to get to the bottom of the case, uncovering new evidence and establishing that Tina drove to the house after all. But it was Calgary who put it all together and cracked the case. No. Dr Arthur Calgarys account of the night was a lie in the TV version, but true in the novel. In Christies version of events, he was a physicist who had been on his way back to the train station after visiting friends in the area. He gave a lift to hitchhiker Jack, but shortly afterwards was hit by a car and suffered a terrible concussion, inconveniently losing his memory of the evening. As soon as he recovered he went off on an Arctic research expedition and didnt hear about the whole murderous affair until he spotted an old newspaper on his return and the memories came flooding back. Advertisement So book version Calgary didnt have to be rescued from an asylum and never suffered a meltdown about his contribution to nuclear destruction. Instead, he was the one to uncover the truth, and the reward for his labours was the love of Hester. I think Id like to marry you, she declared. And then they lived happily ever after. (Probably.) | https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-01-03/how-is-that-ordeal-by-innocence-ending-different-from-the-agatha-christie-novel/ |
Who is Ordeal by Innocence star Christian Cooke? | Ordeal by Innocence actor Christian Cooke stepped in to film reshoots after the series was dropped from the Christmas schedules. Find out more about the late addition to the BBC1 cast below. English actor Christian Cooke, 30, stars as Mickey Argyll in the BBCs Agatha Christie drama Ordeal by Innocence. Mickey is one of Rachel and Leo Argylls five adopted children. Three-part drama Ordeal by Innocence was originally lined up to broadcast over Christmas 2017. But in November, one of its stars Ed Westwick was accused by two women of sexual assault. Ed Westwick denies the allegations. The BBC made the decision to remove Ordeal by Innocence from the schedules, but later confirmed that scenes involving Westwick as Mickey Argyll would be re-shot. Christian Cooke joined the rest of the cast on location at Ardgowan Estate in Scotland in early 2018. Credits include Where the Heart Is, Demons, Trinity, Magic City, Witches of East End, and Cemetery Junction. He previously starred in Channel 4 drama The Promise, directed by Wolf Halls Peter Kosminsky, and took on the role of Stewart Gilmour in Iain Banks adaptation Stonemouth. The actors film credits include Electricity, Romeo & Juliet, and Love, Rosie. Advertisement Bonus fun fact: Cookes cousin is Mel B from the Spice Girls. | https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2019-01-03/ordeal-by-innocence-christian-cooke-mickey-argyll-ed-westwick/ |
Are Gun Rights the Next Target of Corporate Censorship? | Ever since Dicks Sporting Goods and banks such as Citigroup made business decisions in line with the mainstream medias push for gun control, some opponents of gun control have debated whether private companies pose a bigger threat to gun rights than government does. In the case of Dicks Sporting Goods, the outdoor company decided to stop selling rifles like the AR-15 and banned the sale of firearms to individuals younger than 21. In response to the Parkland shooting in Florida, banks like Citigroup also crafted their own anti-gun policies as reported in The New York Times: Citigroup is setting restrictions on the sale of firearms by its business customers, making it the first Wall Street bank to take a stance in the divisive nationwide gun control debate. The new policy, announced Thursday, prohibits the sale of firearms to customers who have not passed a background check or who are younger than 21. It also bars the sale of bump stocks and high-capacity magazines. Its not just gun owners who are experiencing limited shopping choices. Gun rights lobbies like the National Rifle Association have faced opposition from corporate America. Rental car companies like Avis and software companies like Symantec have severed their affiliate programs with the NRA in the wake of the Parkland shooting hysteria. It appears the next fad in virtue signaling in the corporate world may be gun control gun. Why More Laws are Not the Answer US Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana recently filed the No Red and Blue Banks Act that would prohibit the federal government from giving contracts to banks that discriminate against lawful businesses based solely on social policy considerations. Kennedy does raise a valid point about how the government should put the brakes on business subsidization. Unfortunately, Kennedy falls for the modern-day conservative trap of attacking government contracts because they benefit corporations who espouse leftist causes, rather than categorically opposing all forms of government intervention. For starters, all state contracts and privileges to businesses should be cut off, regardless of their stated goal or purpose. However, many well-intentioned conservatives are stuck on myopic thinking and fail to notice the implicit state coercion in the background. For them, ironically, more government is the answer. Thinking Beyond Stage 1 Most people see the capitalistic faade of the US economy, but they dont recognize the implicit threats of state force. Corporations these days are trying to beat the government to the punch when it comes to disassociating with politically maligned groups like gun owners. If corporations continue to lag, theyll receive veiled threats from the government to either ban these businesses or else have laws slapped on them. This was on display with the latest social de-platforming scandal. Justin Raimondo detailed Senator Chris Murphys threats to social media companies during the de-platforming mania: All this wasnt good enough for Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), who demanded to know if the plan was to only take down one website. No doubt he has a whole list of sites hed like to take down. Even more ominously, it was revealed that a direct threat had been made to these companies by Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia), who sent out a memo listing all the ways the government could crack down on Big Data if they refuse to go along with cleansing the internet of divisive material. In many regards, politically-connected corporations decisions to discontinue business with certain political organizations provide cover for control-freak politicians. Instead of having to pass laws themselves, of which they can be held accountable for during election time, politicians can just pressure and even extort a corporation into carrying out their agenda. No controversial laws or regulations necessary at least for the time being. It Goes Back to Culture It would be nave to believe that these forms of dissociation and censorship are going to be confined to the private sector. At the end of the day, politics is downstream from culture. What were seeing now is a manifestation of this degenerative process in real time. No matter what the naysayers claim, political correctness and state-linguistic complex are tools of the political establishment in its campaign to legitimize political universalism. Once businesses embrace state-linguistic complex hook, line and sinker, this same behavior will then permeate to other parts of society. The political realm will eventually be one of the last sectors to embrace these trends. This has become apparent with the incoming Congress, which is already proposing a slew of gun control bills ranging from universal gun registration to red flag gun confiscation schemes. America Needs De-Politicization Yes, business decisions to disassociate with gun groups are not qualitatively the same as state-based gun control. In fact, state-imposed gun control is heavy-handed and much harder to repeal due to institutional inertia in government. In the long-term, gun organizations can at least turn to other banks and service providers for their daily operations. In some cases, certain entities will emerge to serve the needs of niche organizations that find themselves ostracized by legacy institutions. The controversial social media outlet Gab comes to mind. Other alternatives such as seeking legal remedies through the courts could be valid options for those affected by controversial business decisions. Plaintiffs could cite breach of contract actions such as violations of terms of service or defamation of character should they decide to take these companies to court. One thing is certain: adding more bureaucracy is not the answer in fighting corporate Americas political correctness agenda. America desperately needs a political detox, and decentralization might just provide the cure. | https://www.infowars.com/are-gun-rights-the-next-target-of-corporate-censorship/ |
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