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LOS ANGELES >> Few remnants of the nation’s recession have been as painful as the big-box stores that were left vacant by companies that downsized or went out of business.
Many Southland cities say they are no longer grappling with as many empty stores, but a new wave of big-box vacancies is about to hit.
Blockbuster, the video rental chain that has been hammered by the rise of digital and on-demand entertainment, announced Wednesday that it will close its remaining 300 stores by early January.
“This is not an easy decision, yet consumer demand is clearly moving to digital distribution of video entertainment,” said Joseph P. Clayton, president and CEO of DISH Network Corp., Blockbuster’s parent company. “Despite our closing of the physical distribution elements of the business, we continue to see value in the Blockbuster brand, and we expect to leverage that brand as we continue to expand our digital offerings.”
The move will result in the closure of numerous stores throughout Southern California. The company’s website lists Blockbuster locations in Santa Clarita, Mission Hills, Simi Valley, Canoga Park, Van Nuys, South Pasadena, Glendora, Temple City, Burbank, West Covina, South Gate, West Los Angeles, Sherman Oaks, Carson, South Gate, Rancho Cucamonga, Mira Loma, Fontana and Riverside.
Blockbuster isn’t the only retailer that has left big stores sitting empty.
Eric Duyshart, Pasadena’s economic development manager, said his city has two big vacancies. One is an empty Macy’s department store at the Paseo Colorado mall that eventually will be demolished to make way for a hotel and additional retail. The other is a 45,000-square-foot, three-story building that housed a Borders bookstore on Lake Avenue.
“That was on the market for quite a while and someone bought it, but they’ve been sitting on it,” Duyshart said. “They’re not superactive about looking for another tenant because they will have to share the parking area with the adjacent Macy’s store, so that provides some obstacles. It’s been a little bit of a struggle because we would really like to have that occupied. But several parties have been eager to take on the space.”
Pasadena may have two big-box vacancies now, but there will soon be a third. On Wednesday a representative with Barnes & Noble confirmed rumors that the company’s Pasadena store will be closing on Dec. 31.
David Deason, vice president of development for Barnes & Noble, released a statement about the pending closure.
“We have operated the Pasadena location for the past 20 years,” Deason said. “Our lease is expiring in February 2014 and we worked diligently to come to an agreement with the property owner, but were unable to come to terms to extend the lease. As a result, the store will be closing at the end of this year.”
Deason said the company opened five new stores and closed 12 during 2013.
John Andrews, Ontario’s economic development director, said his city also has seen changes.
“When it comes to empty big-box stores, we really don’t have too much of a problem,” he said. “We just had a Wal-Mart open. That’s about 190,000 square feet, and we’ve also got a Home Depot, Target and Lowe’s. We’ve been pretty fortunate that all of those are open.”
Andrews acknowledged, however, that an Albertsons grocery store on Grove Avenue closed about a year ago and has yet to be re-occupied. A former Best Buy store in the eastern portion of Ontario also remains vacant, he said.
“There’s been activity in terms of tenant interest for the Albertsons space, but it’s still an ongoing process that’s being reviewed and discussed by the property owner,” Andrews said.
Another former Borders bookstore on 1 Mills Circle has been scoped out as a possible location for an Ashley Furniture Homestore, Ashley spokesman Jason Lockington said.
“We have looked into that but there’s no confirmation at this point,” he said.
Ashley Furniture did take over a former Borders store at Montclair Plaza in Montclair, however. The company has 32 stores in California, most of which are independently operated.
There are several other success stories of big-box locations throughout Southern California that have been repurposed for new tenants.
A 121,000-square-foot Wal-Mart store that opened late last year in the Eastland Center in West Covina occupies what used to be a Mervyns department store. Mike Lee, West Covina’s Community Development Commission director, said the city was glad to see Wal-Mart move in.
“When big stores like that are vacant they don’t generate any tax revenue,” he said. “We like to see them re-tenanted.”
Lee said another Blockbuster in the city is being readied to accommodate two or three new tenants.
In Santa Clarita, a former Borders bookstore is now occupied by Gold’s Gym, and a Wal-Mart in Simi Valley was once home to a Mervyns department store.
In Hesperia, Stater Brothers scooped up a closed Albertsons on Main Street, but closed a smaller location less than a mile away. However, 99 Cents Only then turned around and took over the smaller Stater Brothers store.
Andrews said property owners have learned to become flexible when leasing or selling large, vacant spaces.
“It can sometimes present a challenge for property owners to bring in a similar tenant,” he said. “If it was a supermarket, you might see it divided into two spaces, and the city is open to that. It really becomes what the individual property owner or ownership group wants to do with the space. A lot of times the vacant buildings were primary or secondary anchors for a center.”
Andrews said the supermarket sector is especially challenged these days because mega retailers like Wal-Mart and Target have beefed up their grocery sections. That trend also helped fuel the closure of many Fresh & Easy markets.
“It’s not surprising to see some of these spaces remain vacant for a period of time,” Andrews said. “In a perfect world we would like to see all of the shopping centers totally occupied, but the retail business is a challenging one these days.”
That challenge was clearly reflected in some of the mergers and downsizing announcements that took place earlier this year.
In late January, Barnes & Noble announced plans to shutter up to one-third of its stores over the next decade.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Mitchell Klipper, who heads the company’s retail group, said his forecast was based on the assumption that the bookseller will close about 20 stores a year over that period. The company was operating 689 stores when that announcement was made.
“In 10 years, we’ll have about 450 to 500 stores,” Klipper said.
The company closed its Woodland Hills store in the Westfield Promenade on New Year’s Eve, leaving just three locations in the San Fernando Valley — Calabasas, Studio City and Burbank.
But the company still operates numerous Southern California locations, including stores in Chino Hills, Glendale, Glendora, Long Beach, Manhattan Beach, Marina Del Rey, Montclair, Newport Beach, Palmdale, Pasadena, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, Rowland Heights, Santa Monica, Temecula, Thousand Oaks, Torrance and Valencia.
Southern California was dealt another blow in August when Lowe’s Companies Inc. announced that it had completed its acquisition of the majority of assets of Orchard Supply Hardware, including 72 Orchard stores for $205 million in cash, plus the assumption of debts owed to nearly all of Orchard’s suppliers.
Orchard Supply had earlier filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after being weighed down by years of declining sales, an overcrowded California market and the massive debt it inherited from parent company Sears Holding Corp.
The move has resulted in the closure of several of the company’s Southland stores in such locations as Santa Clarita, Burbank, Canoga Park, Long Beach and Torrance.
But at least one Southern California city doesn’t seem to have a problem with big-box vacancies.
“I talked with Majestic Realty today,” said Don Sachs, executive director of the Industry Manufacturers Council. “I thought our vacancy rate was under 5 percent — that’s the figure I’ve been using for the past year. But Majestic said the actual vacancy rate is under 2 percent. We have companies that want to stay or relocate here that want larger accommodations but can’t find them.” |
Are you worried about the digital TV transition? Concerned about whether consumers will be confused now that Congress has switched the last day of analog broadcasting from February 17 to June 12? Nervous that the government's set-top box coupon program has run out of money despite having a waiting list of 3.7 million people?
Well, here's something else for DTV nail biters to chew on: a top retailing expert says that the nation's electronic appliances stores could sell out of analog-to-digital converter boxes around, roughly, this month.
"The worst case scenario is that there only 3 million boxes in current inventory and daily redemptions stay at 115,000," Consumer Electronics Association Vice President Michael Petricone told the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday. "We will then run out of box inventory by the end of February." Maybe even sooner, he suggested.
But that's probably not what will happen, Petricone assured the FCC. Chances are that the stores will run out of the boxes in 52 days (from when Petricone spoke on Thursday). Then, around the Ides of April, new product will start showing up the shelves.
How does Petricone figure this latest cliffhanger? Most converter box manufacturers, bless their souls, actually believed the government when it passed a law making February 17 the last day of analog broadcasting. So they stopped producing the boxes around January of this year. CEA estimates that, at present, there are about three to six million boxes in the stores.
At this point, Petricone warns, "it is extremely difficult for manufacturers and retailers to anticipate demand levels for boxes between now and June 12." That's the new last day of analog broadcasting, as established by the recently enacted DTV Delay Act.
Unknown variables include when Congress will pass the White House's proposed stimulus package, which contains $650 million to replenish the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) coupon program. The Delay Act also lets the NTIA issue replacements for expired coupons, but only after the program is refunded by Congress.
If the NTIA suddenly gets funded and issues all its coupons, consumers could deplete the stores within weeks. But Petricone predicts that manufacturers will probably be able to fast track the production of the boxes, in large part because the recession has shut down demand for other products. The economic downturn has created "a virtually unprecedented level of excess manufacturing capacity," which means that "manufacturing lines can be turned on immediately" for set top boxes.
"Therefore," Petricone concludes, "we believe that new converter boxes will arrive on store shelves in mid-April." As of this writing, the Senate is expected to pass its stimulus bill on Tuesday. It will then have to be reconciled with the House package. |
Members of the public were invited to grope the breasts of Japanese porn stars for eight hours in Tokyo as part of a fundraising event apparently endorsed by an AIDS prevention charity.
On Saturday, adult film stars posed as people queued up for the event, which was also broadcast on live television.
Men and women who took part in the so-called drive were expected to donate to the Japan Foundation for Aids Prevention, News.com reports.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 $0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.
The unusual event was reported to be part of larger 24 hour campaign called Stop! Aids and apparently raised “thousands" for charity.
Despite the nature of the fundraiser and the criticism it has attracted, the actresses defended it to the local media. One actress told the Tokyo Sport she had no issue with the controversy surrounding it or participating in it, saying: “it’s for charity”.
“Squeeze them, donate money — let’s be happy.”
It comes after Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe was forced to apologise for yelling sexist comments at a fellow politician as she was giving her first speech at the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly.
The incident highlighted wider issues of gender equality within Japan, including the extremely low number of women in managing roles and the 30 per cent discrepancy in average salaries between men and women.
In January, the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence journal drew criticism when it featured a female robot holding a broom on its front cover.
The image was intended to show how artificial intelligence could affect day-today life, the BBC reports.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
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BANGALORE/BELGAUM: A few days after a man was picked up in Goa for posting anti-Narendra Modi messages on a social networking site, the Central Crime Branch of the Bangalore city police on Saturday night took a 24-year-old MBA student in custody for offensive messages against the prime minister-designate.The Bangalore arrest was based on a complaint lodged in Belgaum district by RTI activist Jayant Mukund Tinaikar. In his complaint, Jayant alleged that he received an offensive message against Modi on WhatsApp on May 16. Belgaum police forwarded the complaint to the Bangalore police commissionerate and the central crime branch was given the case. During investigation, police found that the message originated in Bangalore and was sent by Sayed Waqar, an MBA student from Anjuman Institute of Management in Bhatkal, Uttara Kannada district. Waqar was in Bangalore for internship for a month.On Saturday, sleuths of the central crime branch raided a flat in Hoysala Apartments, Vasantnagar, Bangalore where Waqar was staying. Four others living with him were questioned and let off but Waqar was arrested.Hemanth Nimbalkar, joint commissioner of police, crime said Bangalore police only assisted Belgaum in the arrest and had no jurisdiction. "We were requested by Belgaum police to make the arrest. Following the raid and questioning, we learnt that the four people living with Waqar had no role in the case. So we only arrested Waqar. We have handed him over to Belgaum police," he said.Nimbalkar said Waqar claimed to be an Aam Aadmi Party worker but they could not verify it.Waqar has been booked under Section 505 of the IPC for issuing statements amounting to public mischief with intent to cause fear or alarm and Section 66 of IT Act for sending offensive messages through communication service.Jayant, whose complaint to police resulted in the cracking of the multi-crore stamp paper scam involving Abdul Kareem Telgi, said: "I received an offending image that also showed BJP leaders LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Baba Ramdev, Maneka Gandhi, Varun Gandhi and others. I called back the sender's number and came to know that it was from Bhatkal. I immediately brought it to the notice of senior BJP leaders in Delhi, who in turn told me to immediately approach the superintendent of police and file a complaint."The accused is likely to be produced before a court in Khanapur, Belgaum district on Monday. |
The Oregon basketball teams have announced they will play a pair of charity exhibition games Saturday morning at Matthew Knight Arena that will help bring relief to those affected by the catastrophic wildfires that impacted the State of Oregon this summer.The women's team will play Portland State at 9:30 a.m., followed by the men's team against Idaho at 11 a.m.This will be the public's first opportunity to see either 2017-18 squad. The men's team is coming off its first Final Four appearance since 1939, while the women return the starting five that led the Ducks to the first Elite Eight appearance in school history.Admission to watch both exhibitions is a $10 donation to the American Red Cross Oregon Wildfire Fund. Fans should either bring cash or write a check for their donation, as credit cards will not be accepted. Doors will open at 9:00 a.m., and all seating is general admission.The money donated on Saturday will be directed to regions damaged by fires in the state of Oregon."The NCAA has given us a unique opportunity to give back to our state, and we are honored to be able to do that," said Oregon head coach. "We want to encourage those fans who are coming to Eugene for the football game to come early and watch basketball for a good cause.""This is a great opportunity for our fans to get a look at two exciting teams," said women's coach. "While at the same time, we are joining forces with Portland State to help with the recovery efforts in fire-damaged areas of our great state."Both games will feature four 10-minute quarters with a 5-minute halftime. Mindful of the 2:45 p.m. kickoff for the Oregon-Utah football game, timeouts will be shortened as well, with the intent of ending the exhibition by 12:30 p.m.There will also be no television, radio, or web broadcast of the exhibitions, meaning the only way to see Saturday's games is in person. |
WSI, a division of The Weather Company, issued their January through March 2016 outlook update, and both forecast temperatures and precipitation have the fingerprints of the current strong El Niño, the strongest in 18 years, all over them. The forecast includes the potential for a significant cold snap in parts of the central and eastern states starting in the middle portion of January.
Stronger El Niños typically exhibit their peak influence on North America's weather pattern during the core winter months.
Keep in mind, however, there are several other factors in the atmosphere, operating on shorter time scales, that can, at times, oppose the overall three-month trend.
We'll go into more detail on those patterns following the outlooks a bit later. First, let's take a look at the latest outlooks for average temperature and total precipitation across the U.S. for January through March 2016.
These predictions do not project when and where individual storms may occur. An individual cold front or an upper ridge of high pressure can lead to a brief period of colder or warmer weather, respectively, that bucks the overall three-month trend. The same front or area of high pressure can bring a brief period of enhanced precipitation or dry spell that may or may not be indicative of the overall trend that is forecast.
Temperatures
For the first three months of 2016, WSI says the best chance of colder-than-normal temperatures lies in roughly the southern half of the Lower 48 states, from Southern California into the Southern Plains, Deep South, Florida and the Carolinas.
Meanwhile, a large swath of the western and northern United States from northern California into the Pacific Northwest eastward into the Midwest, Great Lakes and Northeast is expected to be warmer than normal, overall.
However, there's a January catch.
"We expect a 'tale of two months', with a cold-West, warm-East first half of the month, followed by a reversal during the back half of the month towards potentially much colder eastern U.S. temperatures," wrote Dr. Todd Crawford, WSI chief meteorologist, in their outlook released Friday.
Interestingly, one factor in this pattern reversal may have been brought about by an Icelandic storm that tugged above-freezing air to the North Pole between Christmas and New Year's Eve.
"The rapid and unexpected destruction of the tropospheric polar vortex, via the historically strong North Atlantic storm this week, has thrown a significant monkey wrench into the January forecast," said Crawford.
(MORE: Icelandic Storm Sent Warm Air to the North Pole )
Specifically, the more "blocked up" the upper-level flow is in the higher latitudes, the more likely cold air is going to be forced south into the U.S. The stronger and more persistent the blocking, the longer the cold air will stick around.
Crawford said whether the colder East pattern relents later in January is uncertain, as upper-atmospheric blocking, such as is forecast for mid-January, often lasts longer than numerical models suggest.
"It would not surprise us if the second half of the month was quite cold across much of the East, and there are clearly cold risks to our forecast."
(MORE: Warmest December on Record For Hundreds of Cities )
Beyond January, the basic warmer-than-average North, but colder-than-average South outlook still holds.
In a typical strong El Niño winter, a warm South in December eventually transitions to a colder-than-normal January, February and March, while the northern tier of states remains relatively mild, by winter standards.
But that's not always the case. The winters of 1972-73 and 1965-66 were considerably colder in much of the northern tier of states during those strong El Niños, and the winter of 1957-58 was very cold in the Northeast.
Precipitation
NOAA expects January through March 2016 to trend wetter than usual over much of the southern tier of the nation, from California into the Desert Southwest to the southern and central Plains, as well as the Gulf Coast and Southeast coast, including Florida.
Parts of the Northeast seaboard from the Mid-Atlantic states into southern New England, may also see more precipitation than a typical winter.
Conversely, a relatively dry winter is expected over parts of the Pacific Northwest, northern Rockies and into the far northern Plains, Great Lakes and Ohio Valley.
This precipitation outlook owes to the typical dominance of the subtropical or southern branch jet stream during a strong El Niño winter, bringing more frequent and vigorous low-pressure systems along the nation's southern tier.
(MORE: El Niño and Seasonal Snowfall | Your Typically Snowiest Month )
This should at least deliver a significant dent in California's exceptional drought, but even a strong El Niño winter doesn't assure that.
As we discussed in an early December article about the winter outlook , one of the five previous strong El Niño seasons was drier than average in the Golden State (1965-66).
The aforementioned subtropical jet stream usually brings an increase in Pacific storms to California in January and February.
Conversely, drought may either hold steady or expand during the winter in the northern Rockies and northern High Plains, thanks to persistent warmth and expected drier conditions.
El Niño Not the "Be-all and End-all"
The current strong El Niño has peaked, but its influence on the atmopshere and subsequent temperature and precipitation impacts is most strongly felt in the northern hemisphere winter months.
However, three variables, in addition to El Niño, could play an important role in early 2016, including the North Atlantic Oscillation, the Arctic Oscillation and the Madden-Julian Oscillation. These features can be difficult to forecast more than a few weeks in advance.
The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) basically describes the degree of blocking of the jet stream over the North Atlantic Ocean, frequently in the vicinity of Greenland. The NAO's negative phase features high pressure aloft blocking the west-to-east flow of the jet stream, forcing it to buckle south over the eastern U.S., ushering in prolonged cold air. The positive phase is just the opposite; no blocking means Canadian cold air mainly drains west-to-east across the content, not plunging deep into the U.S.
The Arctic Oscillation is a climate pattern characterized by the strength of counterclockwise winds around the Arctic. Its positive phase confines cold air to the polar regions, while its negative phase is associated with cold air penetrating farther south, as well as an increased chance of nor'easters.
(MORE: Winter Storm Names 2015-2016 | The Science Behind Naming Winter Storms )
The Madden-Julian Oscillation is associated with variations in tropical thunderstorm activity (convection) and is characterized by an eastward-moving pulse of atmospheric features affecting cloud formation, precipitation and pressure patterns. This pulse circles the globe roughly once every one to two months. In turn, the jet streams over the North Pacific and South Pacific can be impacted during the winter due to large-scale changes in tropical convection. This can contribute to blocking activity which impacts the amount of precipitation across the Pacific Northwest.
MORE ON WEATHER.COM: The Best Photos of 2015 |
Press Conference: ODU football coach Bobby Wilder
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ODU football Bobby Wilder talks with reporters on Monday. The Monarchs open the 2015 season on Saturday at Eastern Michigan.
“Good morning Monarch Nation! We are excited to get started with our 2015 season. First I’d like to welcome all the members of our armed services who are here today as a part of our Wounded Warriors program. We are absolutely honored to have you all here today with us, and on behalf of myself, Old Dominion University and our entire coaching staff, we thank you for everything you do in protecting us, making us feel safe, and allowing us to feel good about ourselves living in the greatest country in the world. So thank you all, very much.”
“I’d also like to announce that we, here at Old Dominion University, are excited about our partnership with EDS Inc. For a second year in a row, we are going to provide tickets to ODU athletic events to active and retired military members and their families throughout Hampton Roads. This Tickets for Troops program is something we are all very proud of. It’s something that we feel like, in a very small way, we can continue to say thank you to all of our military personnel. With that being said, let’s get started on this year’s football team.”
“We reported on August 9, and these last 22 days we’ve spent preparing the team for the September 5 opener at Eastern Michigan. We had 105 players that reported to camp on August 9, and we added 10 more players the first day of classes. We have a roster right now of 115 players, but only 10 are seniors. The good news is we have 43 players who have played before and have experience. We are the youngest team in Conference USA, and statistically, we are the fourth youngest team in the country. But we feel as a coaching staff, this is the most talented team we’ve had thus far here at Old Dominion.”
“Starting with special teams, I feel like this is an area that we, as coaches, feel that we will be greatly improved in from last year. We now have much greater depth on offense and on defense, so that will benefit us greatly with special teams, too. We welcomed Reed Buce, a junior college transfer long-snapper from Glendale Community College in Arizona. He had an outstanding preseason; we feel like he is as good as the two guys we had before at this position in Dustin Phillips and Rick Lovato. Both of those guys were outstanding for us, so we definitely welcomed Reed to the team.”
“Defensively, we have really good experience on this side of the ball. Eight of our 11 starters have game experience on defense. We have 18 guys total who have played on that side of the ball. We currently have more depth than we ever have had on defense, which is a real good feeling. We feel as though at this point, there are 13 guys that can play on the defensive line, which is probably twice as many players that we’ve ever had at that position who can competitively get out on the field and play good football. We also have 10 linebackers that we feel really good about and nine guys in the secondary. So we feel like there’s going to be a lot of competition on defense early in the season. There are 32 guys right now that are going to travel, and we feel like all of them can be good players for us.”
“On offense, we have a lot of good experience coming back as well. We have 10 of our eleven starters have played. We have 18 guys on offense who have played before for us. Shuler Bentley, our quarterback, is the only player at this point who hasn’t played a college football game yet, but he redshirted and had an outstanding offseason. He also just had his best performance in our last scrimmage this past Saturday, so we feel really good about Shuler. Offensively, there are 10 guys up front that we feel good about. We have four running backs who have been competing; all of them had good camps. We have nine wide receivers that we feel like can play, and we feel good about all three of our quarterbacks.”
“Speaking to this week’s opponent, Eastern Michigan, we have a lot of respect for their head coach, Chris Creighton. This is his third job, and he has won everywhere he’s been. Generally, it’s taken him a minute to get it started, but then he gets it going pretty well. He has won 70 percent of his games as a head coach. When you go on the road to open the season, you’re always a little bit concerned because it’s not something we’ve done a lot of. Unlike with other sports, we can’t have scrimmages against other teams, so our first competition against another team is our first game. When you’re doing it with a young team, it makes it a little bit more challenging. They played well at home last year, so we know we have our work cut out for us.”
“Offensively, they are led by Reggie Bell, their quarterback. Interesting stat about Reggie is that he was one of only seven quarterbacks that led his team in both passing and rushing last season. He had an outstanding rushing game, and ran for over 200 yards in their home win over Buffalo last year. So defensively, we know we will have to focus on him as both a passer and as a rusher. He is a very explosive player. They return five starters on offense, so we are going to see a lot of new faces. But we, as a coaching staff, can appreciate what they’re doing. They’ve got a lot of transfers in and are playing a lot of young players to build their program around.”
“Defensively, they return six starters and are led by linebacker Great Ibe. He had 133 tackles last season; he was one of the leading tacklers in the nation. So, this will be a challenge for us, going out there with a relatively new team. We know it’s going to take a solid effort from all three phases to come back with a win and start the season off 1-0. At this point, I will take questions.”
Q: Coach, at the beginning of every season you have begun to crystallize a saying or a few-word phrase about what the season is going to be all about. Have you made a new one this year?
A: Yes, I think the best way I can answer that question is by saying we have a lot of youth, but we have a lot of talent. The majority of the time, that is a good combination. We’re going to need to be very patient as a coaching staff. This is going to be a learning process early on. The good thing about the first month of the season is that there’s only one game away from home. We come back for three straight home games after Eastern Michigan. So, the young talent and how we develop that young talent will probably be the key to how the outcome will be this season.
Q: Talk about how your quarterback, who you mentioned hasn’t played yet, is ready to handle this situation?
A: The best thing for Shuler is that he has a lot of experience around him. We have changed the dynamics of what we’re going to be doing on offense, and the offensive coaching staff has done a great job emphasizing to all the players around him that this is a different team. So, we will be much more run-oriented, which always helps develop a quarterback’s confidence. A lot of experience around him will help him; he’s got plenty of veterans on the offensive line, at running back and at wide receiver. We’ve made it very clear to Shuler that the number one thing he needs to do is manage the operation. If he does that, he will have success and be able to develop throughout the season.
Q: With Melvin Vaughn going down, did you have to make more changes on offense?
A: Well, we’ve always had the philosophy here that the best 11 are going to play. If something happens, such as an injury or performance suffers, then it’s our job as coaches to get the twelfth best player on the field. We were planning on being more tight end-oriented based on Melvin’s talents, but now we will have to make some adjustments with that. We’re not going to be completely four-wide; we’ve got some other things in the plan that we will work to develop. Finding that combination of who we are as a team, early on, is going to be critical for us.
Q: Last year you were bowl eligible, kind of. This year it’s a little different. Can you talk about how important that is this year?
A: That was a major accomplishment last year for us, to become bowl eligible. Unfortunately, there were too many teams, so we didn’t get to go based on those transition rules, but that did a lot to infuse confidence into our program. For our first season playing an FBS schedule with 11 FBS games and to end the way we did on a three-game winning streak and to beat the best team in the west, Louisiana Tech, that gave us a lot of confidence. So, the players in the program and the coaches already know that we can get bowl eligible. But the goal for this year’s team isn’t just to get to a bowl game but to compete for the eastern division championship in Conference USA, which will be a major challenge with Western Kentucky and Marshall, both of which are picked pretty high in our division. But we know that if we accomplish that, then we will be playing on December 5 in the Conference USA championship and will already be guaranteed a pretty good bowl game. This team already knows it can become bowl eligible, but the goals and expectations will always be higher than that.
Q: While opening up on the road with such a young team is not ideal, do you see it as a good challenge for them to have to face that kind of adversity?
A: It definitely is a good challenge, and sometimes there are advantages of having a young team open up the season away from home. You travel and get into a hotel, so there is more of a sense of comradery because you have the whole team together. I will use that part to our advantage. From the time we practice on Friday, then go to the airport and get on the plane and then get to the hotel, it will be all about that rallying cry of “it’s us.” We’ve got to be together to win this football game.
Q: Is there anything you learned about this team just from camp and the practices leading up to now?
A: Yeah, I learned they are a lot of fun to be around. This group has a lot of energy; you generally get that out of a youthful group. Our coaches did an excellent job explaining to the guys the importance of competing at practice. We set up our drills purposely to make it very competitive. The only thing we don’t know about this group, which is probably also true of every team in the nation, is how are they going to react when they get punched in the mouth? How we react when we have some adversity will be critical. But, we have proven as a staff and with our returning players that we can handle those adverse situations. All four of our league wins last year came on the last play of the game; it doesn’t get any more adverse than that. But I have a lot of confidence in this group and our coaching staff going into this season, but I think it will take us a minute to get to who we are going to be. We are not going to be as good in week one as we’re going to be later on in the season, so it will be a measure of patience for everyone.
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By Aatif Zubair, Delhi Technological University, India
What goes into creating dreams is a subject of great interest to almost everyone—including scientists. Here are some things which they've discovered can influence what happens after you close your eyes.
1. Sleeping on your belly gives you erotic dreams
People who sleep on their fronts are way more likely to have erotic dreams compared to those who go to sleep in other positions. According to a study, people who sleep on their tummy tend to get short of breath at night, and because of that, they often get dreams of wild sex. The people who sleep in such a position often experience racier dreams, like those involving being “tied up” or “locked up.” Another interesting fact to note is that most people who have experienced such dreams report that they also often involve a really famous personality.
2. Nightmares can be Shared/Genes influence your nightmares
Identical twins may usually have the same interests and habits, but scientists have discovered that their genetic basis is much stronger than anyone can imagine. It’s so strong that they can even experience nightmares on almost the same frequency. In a large study that involved nearly 2700 identical twins and 4200 non-identical twins, scientists found that identical twins are twice as likely to have the trait of having frequent nightmares as fraternal twins, which is both awesome and slightly creepy.
3. Earth’s magnetic field triggers weird dreams
It's possible that the Earth’s magnetic field has a profound effect on dreams in people. Psychologist Darren Lipnicki has been recording his dreams for over eight years and concluded that low geomagnetic activity caused weirder dreams, but when the geomagnetic activity was high, the dreams got more normal and sensible. His findings are strictly anecdotal but have provided the impetus for further controlled studies.
4. Black and white television gives you black and white dreams
Trying to think of a world in black and white might sound impossible, but some people actually do so in their dreams. A study published in 2008 by psychology student Eva Murzyn at the University of Dundee has shown that the type of television you watched as a child has a profound effect on the color of your dreams. Murzyn found that her respondents aged 55 and over had colorless dreams 20 percent of the time, leading her to believe that children who were exposed to black-and-white film and TV from ages three to 10 are more likely to dream in greyscale throughout their life. Other studies have shown that since the 1960s, 83 percent of the population dreams in color, a timeline that coincides with the advent of color TV—so it is possible that media has as much influence on our subconsciousness as life experience.
5. Different Cheeses affect your dreams
This might be a bit hard to digest, but a study has found out that different types of cheeses can affect your dreams. All cheeses contain an amino acid called tryptophan, which is helpful in normalizing sleep and reducing stress levels. A 2005 study conducted by the British Cheese Board discovered that the subjects who normally ate cheddar cheese dreamt more about celebrities; the people who ate Blue cheese (Blue Stilton) experienced bizarre dreams. Cheshire gave the best night's sleep, but it caused dreamlessness. The people who ate Red Lancashire had nostalgic dreams about their families and childhood and the ones who ate Blue Lancashire dreamt mostly about their work.
6. What you hear and smell influences your dreams
Our mind interprets the noise occurring around us while we’re asleep, and makes it a part of our dreams. This means that sometimes in our dreams we hear a sound from reality which is incorporated it a way that makes sense to our subconscious. For example, you may be dreaming that you are in a concert while your brother is playing a guitar during your sleep. In one study, researchers found that there was a significant difference between the dreams of the people who heard no music and the people who did. The ones who did hear reported that they had heard music in their dreams.
Even smells have an influence on dreams. Similar to noise, our brain interprets smells as a signal and incorporates it in dreams. For example, the scent of rose gave people pleasant dreams while the scent of rotten eggs gave weird dreams to people. |
CHICAGO, July 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Employees who make frequent contributions to the swear jar may lose more than loose change; they may lose out on a promotion. Sixty-four percent of employers said that they'd think less of an employee who repeatedly uses curse words, and 57 percent said they'd be less likely to promote someone who swears in the office. The nationwide survey, which was conducted by Harris Interactive© from May 14, 2012 to June 4, 2012, included more than 2,000 hiring managers and 3,800 workers across industries and company sizes.
Half (51 percent) of workers reported that they swear in the office. The majority of those (95 percent) said they do so in front of their co-workers, while 51 percent cuss in front of the boss. Workers were the least likely to use expletives in front of senior leaders (13 percent) and their clients (7 percent).
Comparing genders, men are more likely to report swearing at work – 54 percent compared to 47 percent of women.
Bad Words Leave Bad Impressions
Employers are inclined to think less of an employee who swears at work for a variety of reasons. Most (81 percent) believe that the use of curse words brings the employee's professionalism into question. Others are concerned with the lack of control (71 percent) and lack of maturity (68 percent) demonstrated by swearing at work, while 54 percent said swearing at work makes an employee appear less intelligent.
Pot Calling the Kettle
While many employers may think less of an employee who curses too much in the office, one in four employers (25 percent) admitted to swearing at their employees. Roughly the same amount (28 percent) of workers said they have sworn at other co-workers.
Cities Most Likely to Swear
Among top markets in the U.S., workers in the nation's capital were the most likely to report that they swear at work, with Denver and Chicago rounding out the top three.
Washington D.C. – 62 percent
– 62 percent Denver – 60 percent
– 60 percent Chicago – 58 percent
– 58 percent Los Angeles – 56 percent
– 56 percent Boston – 56 percent
– 56 percent Atlanta – 54 percent
– 54 percent Minneapolis – 50 percent
– 50 percent Phoenix – 47 percent
– 47 percent New York – 46 percent
– 46 percent Philadelphia – 44 percent
Swearing By Age
Comparing age groups, younger employees were the least likely to swear at work, while employees ages 35-44 are the most likely to curse while on the job.
Employees ages 18-24 – 42 percent say they swear at work
Employees ages 25-34 – 51 percent say they swear at work
Employees ages 35-44 – 58 percent say they swear at work
Employees ages 45-54 – 51 percent say they swear at work
Employees ages 55 and over – 44 percent say they swear at work
Survey Methodology
This survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive© on behalf of CareerBuilder among 2,298 U.S. hiring managers and human resource professionals and 3,892 U.S. workers (employed full-time, not self-employed, non-government) ages 18 and over between May 14 and June 4, 2012 (percentages for some questions are based on a subset, based on their responses to certain questions). With pure probability samples of 2,298 and 3,892, one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/-2.04 and +/-1.57 percentage points, respectively. Sampling error for data from sub-samples is higher and varies.
About CareerBuilder®
CareerBuilder is the global leader in human capital solutions, helping companies target and attract their most important asset - their people. Its online career site, CareerBuilder.com®, is the largest in the United States with more than 24 million unique visitors, 1 million jobs and 49 million resumes. CareerBuilder works with the world's top employers, providing resources for everything from employment branding and talent intelligence to recruitment support. More than 10,000 websites, including 140 newspapers and broadband portals such as MSN and AOL, feature CareerBuilder's proprietary job search technology on their career sites. Owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), Tribune Company and The McClatchy Company (NYSE: MNI), CareerBuilder and its subsidiaries operate in the United States, Europe, South America, Canada and Asia. For more information, visit www.careerbuilder.com.
Media Contact
Jennifer Grasz
773-527-1164
[email protected]
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SOURCE CareerBuilder |
Winter 1996
Chris Beck was never one of your gargantuan-type Navy SEALs. There are those types, of course, men chiseled from granite at 120 percent human scale, men who seem to drain several drams of testosterone from everyone else when they walk into a room. But you’d be surprised at the body types you find in the SEAL teams. Your smaller fellows, your stringy fellows, the guy with almost literally zero percent body fat who had to eat two Papa John’s pizzas every day through SEAL training just so he wouldn’t die of hypothermia in the water. Chris himself was on the smaller side, more like an undersized walk-on linebacker who lacked the size and pedigree of some of his more highly recruited peers but played with an intensity and pain tolerance that endeared him to coaches and TV commentators.
And yet, as he slipped on a pair of panty hose in his sailboat on this night in 1996, Chris couldn’t help wishing he were more petite, more womanly. He always wanted that when he wore women’s clothing. To be just a little bit prettier. It felt good even to wish that.
Chris finished putting on his outfit and walked barefoot up the ladder and onto the deck of his boat. Dusk was fast disappearing in San Diego Bay, the red lights of the Coronado Bridge blinked on, the weaponized beachhead of the naval station loomed cloud-colored to the west. Chris was 30 years old then, living on a 48-foot wooden William Garden ketch that he’d bought in a state of disrepair for $12,000 and fixed himself. He opened a Sam Adams, the beer of patriots, and had a seat. He was wearing a wig, and the way it felt in the wind called up a pleasant feeling of longing. Chris loved the deck of his boat at night. He could feel the inhuman mass of the ocean shifting beneath him and hear the clanking of the rigging and the water against the timber hull, which just sounded better than it does on fiberglass. But otherwise he was erased from the world. “Being invisible,” he thought, “is a relief.”
He’d flown back from a training deployment in Thailand earlier in the week. He’d taken a taxi from the base to a garage he rented, picked up his motorcycle, and ridden it down to Fiddler’s Cove. He’d undressed to his shorts, stuffed his clothes in a plastic bag, and swam the half mile to the sailboat he lived on—it was cheaper than sharing a house, like most of the other, younger SEALs stationed in Coronado did. He’d found his boat, as always, sealed up tight. He would leave it spotless, because he never knew when fate would dictate that he wouldn’t be the one opening it up. It was part of the process of shipping out, a ritualized preparation for death that would always have a kind of dreadful power over him. The washing of bedclothes, the bleaching of sinks, the removal of any speck of organic matter, the rewriting of his “dead letters” to be distributed to his friends and relatives should he not return, all of them signed with that quote from the end of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “Thanks for all the fish.” Of course, Chris also had to purge all his panty hose and dresses and wigs and shoes—“I want to have honor in death” was how he thought about it.
Over the course of his 20-year career, Chris would serve in the Balkans during the civil war there. He would serve during the first Gulf War; fight pirates across the Horn of Africa; drive into Iraq in 2003 ahead of the invasion. He would spend years on small firebases in Afghanistan, snatching Taliban leaders; operate alone in the tribal belt along the Pakistan border, wearing a long beard and Pashtun garb, convening with Taliban agents and tribal warlords. Though it’s certain he’s killed people, I’m not privy to the details, because I know that to ask such questions is to reveal something truly base in myself. But I know Chris would be awarded the Bronze Star with valor, the Purple Heart, the Meritorious Service Medal, and about 50 other ribbons and medals. He would dislocate a shoulder, shatter a kneecap, be hit by a rocket-propelled grenade on his fortieth birthday, break two vertebrae in his back on a boat near Somalia and complete the mission anyway, and fly home sleeping among the flag-draped coffins of 19 of his brothers.
But even coming back from a training deployment in Thailand, it would usually take Chris a few days to find the release valve on his psyche. And by tonight he’d gotten the boat all opened up and aired out—made a run to get beer and another to a vintage store where he bought his dresses and shoes. And now, sitting there on the deck, he finally felt relaxed. |
Thank you for visiting SmokinJs.com. Founded in 1997, we are the oldest alternative pipe and tobacco store in SW Washington, and we want to extend the Evergreen State hospitality to smokers everywhere. We are Real People offering Real Products at a Real Value. We feature 100% American made hand blown glass pipes. A lot of the glass pipes found at Smokin Js comes from glass blowers making pipes for us for over 10 years! Aside from all of your smoking utensils and accessories, we offer over 2,000 products from drinking games and puzzles to tapestries and incense. We have something for every member of the family. At Smokin Js you will experience outstanding customer service, the way it should be. Our knowledgable staff is here to help you seven days a week, any time of the day. We aren't interested in being the coolest, just the best. |
Childlessness Falls, Family Size Grows Among Highly Educated Women
Among women in the United States, postgraduate education and motherhood are increasingly going hand-in-hand. The share of highly educated women who are remaining childless into their mid-40s has fallen significantly over the past two decades.
Today, about one-in-five women ages 40 to 44 with a master’s degree or higher (22%) have no children – down from 30% in 1994, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly released Census Bureau data. The decline is particularly dramatic among women with an M.D. or Ph.D. – fully 35% were childless in 1994, while today the share stands at 20%. Not only are highly educated women more likely to have children these days, they are also having bigger families than in the past. Among women with at least a master’s degree, six-in-ten have had two or more children, up from 51% in 1994. The share with two children has risen 4 percentage points, while the share with three or more has risen 6 percentage points.
This trend has likely been driven by demographic and societal changes. It coincides with women’s growing presence in managerial and leadership positions and suggests that an increasing share of professional women are confronting the inevitable push and pull of work-family balance. Previous Pew Research analysis has found that overall women devote fewer hours to paid work with each additional child they have. On average, a working-age woman with no children spends 27 hours per week in paid work, while a woman with three or more children spends 18 hours working. In addition, working mothers are more than three times as likely as working fathers to say that being a working parent has made it more difficult for them to advance in their career (51% vs. 16%).
Fueled in part by the increases in motherhood among highly educated women, childlessness among all women ages 40 to 44 in the U.S. is at its lowest point in a decade. In 1994, 18% of all women at the end of their childbearing years had not borne a child. That number rose to 20% by the mid-2000s before declining to 15% in 2014. At the same time, the average number of children that U.S. women have in their lifetime has remained quite stable over the past 20 years, at about two children.
The fact that completed family size has changed little since the mid-1990s may seem counterintuitive, given the amount of attention often directed toward the so-called “Baby Bust” in the post-recession U.S. It is true that analyses based on changes in annual fertility rates have shown consistent declines in childbearing since 2007, suggesting that fertility is at an all-time low. However, these analyses are capturing fertility at one point in time, as opposed to the cumulative measure of lifetime fertility used in this analysis. Part of what accounts for the low fertility indicated by annual rates is the fact that many women are putting off having children until later in life, both due to broad cultural changes (such as increasing education), and due to the Great Recession, which intensified delayed childbearing, particularly among younger women. What remains to be seen is whether these declines in annual birth rates will continue, and will translate into lower lifetime fertility for women at the end of their childbearing years. Some experts suspect that, as with past economic downturns, women may ultimately “catch up” on their fertility, though one recent analysis suggests that fertility delayed due to the Great Recession may in fact be fertility foregone.
Regardless of short-term fertility patterns and their implications, there is no denying that the longer-term trend has been toward much smaller American families. Looking back to 1976, the first year for which data are available, the average woman in her early 40s in the U.S. had given birth to three children, and 36% of women in this age range had four or more children. By 2014, the large family sizes that prevailed in the 1970s had been fully supplanted by the two-child family. Now 35% of all women ages 40 to 44 have two children, while just 12% have four or more. At the same time, one-child families have gained ground – today 18% of women at the end of their childbearing years have an only child, up from 10% in 1976. About 20% of women have three children, a number that has remained virtually unchanged.
These findings are based on a Pew Research Center analysis of civilian women near the end of their childbearing years, using data from the 1976-2014 June Supplements of the Current Population Survey. The June Supplement is typically conducted every other year, and produces a nationally representative sample of the non-institutionalized population of the U.S. While the overview and first section of this report analyzes childlessness and fertility among all women, the final section examines mothers only, focusing on trends and variations in the number of children that they have had in their lifetimes.
Other key findings:
While fertility trends among highly educated women show a clear pattern of less childlessness and bigger families, the trends among less-educated women are not as clear-cut. Childlessness is down among women lacking a high school diploma and among women with a bachelor’s degree, but otherwise family size for these two groups has changed little since 1994. And among high school graduates, the share of women ages 40 to 44 with one child has increased, but there has been no change in the share with bigger families.
The educational “gaps” in childlessness and in family size have narrowed in the past two decades, but they do persist. The more education a woman has, up to a bachelor’s degree, the less likely she is to become a mother. And among mothers, those with more education have fewer children than those with less education. For instance, just 13% of moms lacking a high school diploma have one child, while fully 26% have four or more, while among mothers with a master’s degree or more, 23% have only children and just 8% have four or more.
Fertility patterns differ significantly by race and ethnicity. Some 17% of white women ages 40 to 44 are childless, compared with 15% of black women in the same age group, 13% of Asian women and just 10% of Hispanic women.
Hispanic and black mothers ages 40 to 44 are especially likely to have large families. Fully 20% of Hispanic moms have four or more children, as do 18% of black moms. In comparison, just 11% of white mothers have four or more children, as do 10% of Asian mothers. Since 1988, there has been a dramatic decline in the share of mothers with four or more children among Hispanics, blacks and whites. |
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Most Americans want to save for retirement, but most don't know how to start. Putting money into a savings account is ideal for short-term goals and emergency funds. But there are better investment vehicles for long-term savings. One investment vehicle that I've grown to love almost as much as much as I love In-N-Out Burger (key word: “almost”) is the Roth IRA.
I know Get Rich Slowly has covered the Roth IRA a lot in the past, but new readers might not be that familiar with it. Besides, even though you might think you know everything there is to know about Roth IRAs, here are some facts that might be new to you.
1. The Roth IRA has been around the block
Most people don't know that the Roth IRA is getting close to getting its driving permit, having been around for almost 14 years. It originally started with the Tax Relief Act of 1997, named after late Senator William Roth of Delaware.
After the Roth IRA conversion event of 2010, there was a further influx of Roth IRA contributions. Much can be attributed to this based on when the Roth IRA conversion was made available in 1998, allowing savers to to convert from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. During that time, 1.4 million taxpayers converted $39.3 billion in traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs.
Related >> Read whether it's better to have a traditional IRA or Roth IRA.
2. Contributions to Roth IRA are not tax-deductible
Unlike other retirement vehicles, such as the employee-sponsored 401(k), contributions to a Roth IRA are not tax-deductible. Contributions to your Roth IRA are made with after-tax dollars. This does not offer an immediate tax benefit compared to one that is recognized at the time of distribution. When you take a qualified distribution from your Roth IRA, you will never pay taxes on that money.
This allows you to have access to your contributions at any time. That's an attractive feature for those that want to save for retirement but are worried about having to pay a penalty if they need access to the money.
While you don't get a tax deduction, you may qualify for the Roth IRA savers credit. The downside of the credit is that if your adjusted gross income exceeds $27,750 filing single for the 2017 saver's credit for a credit rate of 50 percent of your contribution, you don't qualify. For people married and filing jointly, the adjusted gross income limit is $37,000.
3. You must meet eligibility requirements to contribute to a Roth IRA
As the Roth IRA gains popularity among retirement savers, many people fail to understand that not everyone will be able to contribute to this type of account. In order to contribute to a Roth IRA, you must fall below the established income thresholds set forth by the IRS each year. The cut-off limits (otherwise known as phase-out limits) for 2017 are $118,000 to contribute up to the limit and $132,999 to contribute a reduced amount for single filers. The limit is $186,000 for married couples filing jointly to contribute up to the limit and $195,999 to contribute a reduced amount.
If your income falls beneath the threshold for your filing status for the year, you must also make contributions from taxable compensation. This means individuals cannot use rental property payments, royalties or other non-taxable compensation to make contributions to a Roth IRA.
4. You may be able to convert other retirement accounts to a Roth IRA
Since 2010, there are new conversion rules that apply to the transferring of funds from a traditional IRA or 401(k) to a Roth IRA. When you convert from a tax-deferred retirement account to a tax-free retirement account, you'll potentially see many benefits long term. It's important to remember that the IRS isn't going to forget about the taxation of this money. Whatever amount you transfer to the Roth IRA will be tacked on to your earned income (and taxed at your current rate) for the year of the conversion.
5. Benefits of Roth IRA savings can help meet other financial goals
Usually, experts recommend that retirement vehicles be used solely for retirement purposes. However, out of all the retirement accounts on the market, the Roth IRA can be used for other goals.
Since you have already paid taxes on your contributions, you are able to enjoy tax-free distributions of those contributions (but not the earnings) before you reach retirement age. As long as all distribution requirements have been met, you may access that money for other things. These include a down payment on a home or college tuition. Often times I will meet with young parents who are very ambitious about saving for the kids' college. However, they are barely saving anything for their own retirement. In these situations, I often suggest the Roth IRA as a viable substitute.
6. Roth IRA distributions don't contribute to taxable earnings
One of the most attractive features of the Roth IRA is that, when you start taking distributions, you don't have to worry about them contributing to your taxable income. This is because Roth IRA contributions grow in your account tax free since you're contributing after-tax dollars. With a traditional IRA, you make a contribution with pre-tax dollars. As a result, you end up with a deduction. A traditional IRA contribution lowers your taxable income.
This is not the case with a Roth IRA. You get no tax benefit immediately for making a contribution to your Roth retirement account. You pay taxes on your income, and then you make your contribution. However, because you have already paid taxes on the money you use, you won't be taxed on it again. Your money grows tax free. For those who think that they'll be in a higher tax bracket or that tax rates will go up by the time they retire, this can be an advantage. You pay taxes at your current, lower rate. And then when you take your distributions, you avoid paying taxes at your future higher rate.
7. There is a five-year rule for Roth IRA withdrawals
It is possible to withdraw money that you have contributed to your Roth IRA at any time, tax- and penalty-free, as long as you meet the distribution requirements. However, if you want to withdraw the earnings from your Roth IRA, it is important to realize that you must have the account for at least five years. The clock starts ticking from the first day of the tax year in which you designate your contribution. So, if you open your Roth IRA in September of 2016 and make your initial contribution, you can make withdrawals of your earnings starting January 1, 2021.
This also works if you open your Roth IRA before April 15 and designate the contribution for the previous year. For example, you can open a Roth IRA on April 10, 2017, and designate 2016 as the year for your contribution. The clock starts ticking on January 1, 2016, even though you opened your IRA in April.
The five-year rule also applies to conversions. You cannot withdraw the converted amount in your Roth IRA until five years have passed.
8. There are no required minimum distributions during the life of the Roth IRA owner
For some folks, required minimum distributions (RMDs) are a big problem with retirement accounts. This is a minimum amount that the IRS says you have to withdraw from your retirement account each year once you reach a certain age. With some accounts, like 401(k)s, this can be disheartening. Since RMD can add to taxable income, this can possibly put you in a higher tax bracket.
However, with a Roth IRA, there are no RMDs. The owner never has to withdraw money if he or she doesn't want to. It is important to note that this privilege disappears upon the death of a Roth IRA owner. Heirs to the Roth IRA must take RMDs (but the RMDs are still tax-free). Inheriting a Roth IRA is very similar to receiving the proceeds of a paid-out life insurance policy.
The bottom line for Roth IRAs
The Roth IRA is growing in popularity because it offers many benefits without several of the drawbacks associated with other retirement accounts. In addition, the Roth IRA allows for contributions for the remainder of your life. This is unlike the traditional IRA that restricts you from contributing after age 70-1/2.
A Roth IRA can be a great savings tool. Just make sure you understand the Roth IRA rules that come with it, and be careful to adhere to them.
Author: Jeff Rose Jeff Rose CFP blogs at GoodFinancialcents.com. Jeff is well known among bloggers for his various causes: The Debt Movement, The Roth IRA Movement and The Life Insurance Movement. His also wrote a book, Soldier of Finance. |
Free Google Apps Sign Up Page Removed — A Sign of New Changes to Come?
It used to be that you could go to the Google Apps front page and easily sign up for a free account. But now it is a bit different.
The Google Apps choice is not available anymore on the Google Apps home page. You can still get a free Google Apps account. But the only way to do that is by signing up for a 30-day free trial to its premium Goole Apps for Business service. What happens after 3o days? We’ve asked Google for comment.
Google Apps is the free service Google offers for companies with ten people or less. Google Apps for Business is for the larger enterprise accounts. The base price is $5 per user per month. It is estimated that about 5 million businesses and 40 million people use Google Apps.
Doing a search for Google Apps is about the only way you can find the form for getting a Google Apps account with no strings attached.
Even the Web address apps.google.con directs to a Google Apps for Business Web page.
Is this a shift in strategy for Google Apps? A move to de-emphasize free accounts? It appears that way. We’ll update when we hear back from Google.
Thanks to Scott Buscemi for the tip.
Update: A Google spokesperson said the change is part of a small trial to help the company better understand customers. It is not visible to all users who are signing up for the Google Apps trial. Customers can downgrade after the trial. Google will continue to experiment with different options in the trial flow. |
We received far more nominations for this category than any other, so there will be more choices in this poll than any other.
The bars range all over the state, and can be found in big cities, small towns and out in the country. Some are big, some small, but all share one quality: they are great local hangouts.
You can vote once in each category every day. The deadline for voting is 3 p.m. this Sunday, the 25th.
Don't forget to vote in our five other categories:
Sports bars
Dive bars
Craft beer bars
Wine/Whiskey/martini bars
Hotel or restaurant bars
The top five vote-getters in each category, plus my personal selections (which will include bars not in the polls), will comprise the 60 bars to be visited starting next week. Then the real fun -- stories, photos and videos -- begins.
If you don't see a bar in the poll, or you think a bar that finishes out of the top five needs some extra love, make sure you comment below.
And don't forget to check out my collection of NJ's funniest bar signs. If you have one of your own, post it or send it my way!
Peter Genovese may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @PeteGenovese or via The Munchmobile @NJ_Munchmobile. Find the Munchmobile on Facebook and on Instagram. |
The Australian ambassador to Croatia has been summoned after a Coalition MP was reported as passing on the best wishes of the prime minister, Tony Abbott, to a group celebrating a fascist period in the country’s history.
Hughes MP, Craig Kelly, said he was “mortified” at reports he attended the Croatian Club in Sydney last week for an event marking the anniversary of the establishment of the Independent State of Croatia (NDH) in 1941.
The NDH wanted to rid the country of Jews, Roma and Serbs and was established after the invasion of Yugoslavia overseen by Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
“On behalf of the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott who is now in Japan, I impart to you his greetings and good wishes on the occasion of the celebration of April 10, to you and all Croatians in Australia and those in Croatia,” Kelly told the gathering, according to an English translation of the report by Australian-Croatian publication Boka Cropress.
A spokesman for the Croatian embassy confirmed the Australian ambassador in the European country had been summoned by the government to explain the comments, specifically the prime minister passing on his “good wishes”.
Kelly’s office did not return phone calls on Tuesday but released a statement to the news site inserbia.info on Monday saying he was “mortified” at what had been reported and that his words had been taken out of context.
“In what I said, I certainly did not endorse the fascist state of Croatia during world war two in any way,” he said.
“In fact, to the complete contrary, the speech I gave was a strong condemnation of both fascism and communism. I specifically called fascism an evil. And the ‘congratulations’ that I gave, were to the Croatian Community for their fight AGAINST [his capitals] fascism.”
Kelly said he was personally upset at the reporting of the event and he had told the group that, because of their past experiences with “the evils” of fascism, the Croatian people had a “special understanding of the importance of freedom and democracy”.
He said he was the first speaker, leaving immediately after he spoke, but if he had known the event was to support a fascist state he would not have attended.
“Nevertheless, I sincerely apologise if any offence has been taken, as my comments were taken completely out of context, with their meaning reversed,” he said.
Kelly said he was asked to go to an event “celebrating Croatian independence” on behalf of the parliamentary secretary for social services with special responsibility for multicultural affairs and settlement services, senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, whose office has not responded to a request for comment.
Kelly was not the only politician at the event. Boka Cropress listed other attendees as the Labor state MP for Bankstown, Tania Mihailuk, the Liberal state MP for Riverstone, Kevin Conolly, Hills Shire councillor, Robyn Preston, and Penrith City councillor, Marcus Cornish.
• This article was amended on 24 April 2014. The earlier version said Tania Mihailuk was the state MP for Blacktown. |
Three young heterosexual men began using the slur “faggot” today in an incident inside the Starbucks coffee shop at 8598 Santa Monica Blvd., a major gathering spot for gay men in West Hollywood, that spilled over into a confrontation outside and drew the attention of Sheriff’s deputies. The three heterosexual men appeared to be African-American or Latino and ranged in age from about 18 to 23 according to witnesses to the altercation interviewed by WEHOville.
The incident is the latest in an apparent series of violent and near-violent encounters in and near the city’s Boystown gay neighborhood that have prompted local residents to demand more action from the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station and express concern about their safety. Previous incidents have occurred on Santa Monica Boulevard near San Vicente in the heart of the gay nightlife district. The assault of Kirk Doffing on Memorial Day weekend near Rage, the gay bar, which left him in a medically induced coma for weeks, sparked a major outcry for improvements in policing the area. In response, the Sheriff’s Station received additional funding from the city to add a four-person foot patrol in the area six nights a week, replacing a previous two-person patrol. There have also been nighttime robberies on Santa Monica Boulevard and on Palm Avenue, where an employee of a gay bar was stabbed and his companion was beaten in December. While the gay nightlife area is concentrated on Santa Monica Boulevard between San Vicente and Robertson, the Starbucks coffee shop on Santa Monica near Westmount, several blocks east, is the prime daytime social spot for gay men in West Hollywood, many of whom work from there. It is known by its gay customers as “Gaybucks” or “BGS” (Big Gay Starbucks.)
Joseph Daniels, a photographer who was present at Starbucks this morning, said the incident began a little after 11 a.m. when the men were in line waiting to order coffee and began using profane language like “faggots.” Daniels said another customer told them their behavior was rude, and the manager of Starbucks appeared and asked one of the men to leave. As he left, Daniels said, “he was screaming and pointing ‘you will die f–ing faggots’. It was very scary and unexpected.”
Daniels said Leslie Jordan, the gay actor and screenwriter, yelled at the men to leave, saying “get out of my house.” Jordan, who at 4’11” is known for his diminutive stature as well as his Southern accent, is a regular at that Starbucks. Daniels said Jordan followed the men outside objecting to their language, and he and another customer walked outside to protect Jordan. “The guy lunged at Leslie to hit him,” Daniels said of one of the men. “Then Leslie threw his drink at the guy. Then (another) guy threw his drink to hit me.”
Daniels said Sheriff’s deputies showed up quickly and spent about 45 minutes interviewing those present at the altercation. He said deputies urged the gay men not to file charges against the others, saying that if they did the men screaming “faggots” could accuse Jordan of assault for throwing his coffee at one of them and the deputies would have to arrest Jordan. Daniels said the three men then walked away, headed east on Santa Monica and making obscene gestures to the gay men and continuing to call them “faggots.”
Deputy Peter Sullivan at the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station said a report filed by deputies on the scene said “the deputies talked to all the persons. None of them were desirous of filing charges against another person.”
Daniels disputed that, saying that the gay men who were present didn’t file charges because they were warned that they might also face charges and be arrested. “He provoked it,” Daniels said of one of the three men. “He spewed hate crime words against everybody and threw a drink at Leslie. Why couldn’t he have been charged with disorderly conduct?” Others posting comments on Daniels’ Facebook page also questioned why charges weren’t filed. |
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A termination notice was issued on Wednesday, directed at a 78-year-old. After decades of silent service, the iron is out – out of Monopoly board games that is.
Hasbro, the manufacturer of the popular board game invented in the 1930s, announced that the iron, one of eight game pieces, was to be replaced by the cat, following a vote on Facebook.
The iron was the odd piece out after it received the fewest number of votes among the original pieces. The cat got the highest number of votes among five possible new tokens, beating out a robot, guitar, helicopter and diamond ring.
But the iron won’t disappear right away. It will still be included in original Monopoly games that will be sold for most of the rest of this year. |
Jahlil Okafor Is On His Way Up High-school basketball phenom Jahlil Okafor—a sure-fire NBA lottery pick—is a monster on the court. But to understand what drives him, you have to meet his dad. And know what happened to his mother.
The fact that she already had a child didn’t stop Chucky from falling for her. “She had a great personality,” he says. “She was just so playful, and brutally honest. Her soul would touch everybody in the room. I can see it all in Jahlil.”
They had met a couple of years earlier when Chucky played at what was then Westark, a junior college in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Dee lived in town. Tall (6-foot-2) and biracial (her mother was white), she had been a basketball star at nearby Roland High School in Oklahoma, but her hoop dreams had been sidetracked by two unexpected occurrences: a blown knee and a baby girl.
Jahlil’s father has a home movie to show me. It’s from April 1997, when Jahlil was a toddler. Chukwudi (pronounced Chuh-Koodie, but you can call him Chucky) and Jahlil’s mom, Dacresha Benton, or Dee, were living in Poteau, Oklahoma, enrolled at Carl Albert State College, a two-year school that had offered them both basketball scholarships.
That kind of open affection is rare for a teenage boy, so I ask Jahlil where it comes from. “It’s probably from my mom—appreciating people, not knowing if I will have them the next day.”
Then there is the other Jahlil, the one most fans don’t see. This is the one who intentionally keeps his booming bass voice at low volume off the court so that he won’t intimidate people. The one who would rather hole up in his room with Netflix or PlayStation than be out on the street, where he’s recognized more and more. The one who is shy around strangers but unleashes his gravelly cackle around his friends. The one who feels hurt when he’s attacked on Twitter (“I wonder if they would say negative stuff if they realized how nice I am,” he says). The one who fetched water for his AAU teammates while he was sidelined last summer with a twisted ankle. The one who tells his father he loves him every time they get off the phone.
That is the Jahlil who led Whitney Young to a city title last year and a top 10 national ranking while becoming the only junior named to USA Today’s high-school All-USA team. The season ended on a disappointing note, though, when his team lost in the state tournament to city rival and eventual champion Simeon, leaving Jahlil devastated. “I turned my phone off for, like, a week,” he says. “Just threw it under my bed. I didn’t feel like talking to anybody.”
That competitive fire isn’t limited to game time. “He wants to be first in just about everything,” says teammate Paul White, one of Jahlil’s closest friends. “First in running laps. First one out onto the court. First one done eating. And he’s one of the best trash-talkers I’ve ever been around. He gets in your head, down to your core. Even during practice. It’s like, ‘Oh, damn, man, I’m your teammate.’ ”
There are two Jahlil Okafors. There is the one you see on the court: all power dunks (he once broke a rim during a game), spin moves, stare downs, and various other displays of domination. “He’s a fierce competitor, with really no regard for the people in the other jersey,” says his Whitney Young coach, Tyrone Slaughter. “It’s like a war to him.”
“My deepest fear is losing someone else close to me,” he says. “That’s something I think about way more than I should. I’ll be in my room thinking, What if my dad’s not here? Or, if I’m driving: What if I lose my aunt? What if I lose my sister?”
There are, of course, no guarantees. Before he’s eligible for the NBA, Jahlil has this year of high school and at least one at Duke University, which recently won the sweepstakes for his services. Something unforeseen, such as an injury, could derail his path. Jahlil knows that. He worries about it sometimes. But that’s not what keeps him up at night, his mind racing as he lies in his bed, mulling over different scenarios.
“You feel a little anxious, a little nervous,” Jahlil says of being an NBA star in waiting. “A little pressure also, because everybody’s expecting these great things. I think about it often. It’s hard not to. But it’s also kind of exciting. With what everybody’s saying, I can’t wait for it to happen.”
A regular kid, in other words, with one notable exception: Jahlil (pronounced Jaw-Leel) is the consensus top high-school basketball prospect in the country—the latest in a recent string of loftily rated Chicago prep-school stars. (Last year it was Simeon’s Jabari Parker, now at Duke. Two years before that: Perspectives Charter’s Anthony Davis, the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NBA draft.) At 6-foot-10 and 270 pounds, Jahlil has NBA executives salivating over his rare combination of power and finesse. One league executive with 20-plus years of experience told Yahoo Sports last summer that Okafor is “the most skilled high-school center” he’s ever scouted.
“My deepest fear is losing someone else close to me. That’s something I think about way more than I should.”
It’s a future that is tantalizingly close yet conspicuously removed from his present. Because for now, Jahlil is still a senior at Chicago’s Whitney M. Young Magnet High School. Still a boy on the verge of manhood, just turning 18 on December 15. Still living with his daddy in a modest two-bedroom apartment on the northwestern edge of the city. Still tasked with doing the dishes every night and keeping the bathroom clean.
He will use part of that money to buy a house for his father, Chukwudi, a marketing rep and basketball coach. He will buy another for his “auntie mom,” Chinyere Okafor-Conley, his dad’s older sister who helped raise Jahlil after his mother died when he was nine. He will also purchase a truck for his father. A red one. “I don’t even know what kind,” says Jahlil. “I just know that ever since I was a kid, my dad has wanted a red truck.”
In 18 months, if all goes as expected, Jahlil Okafor will hear his name called as the first pick in the 2015 NBA draft. He will walk across a stage in New York City, shake hands with the commissioner, and don the cap of a team counting on him to be the cornerstone of its future. For this he will be paid handsomely, though not obscenely, not at first: something like $20 million over his first four years, limited only by the rookie salary scale.
Jahlil Okafor, a senior at Chicago’s Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, is one of the top recruits in the country. Enjoy this animated GIF of the above dunks
The 45-minute video is like an intimate time capsule: five days in the life of a young couple, never married, struggling to raise two kids while juggling the demands of being student athletes. There are scenes of a 16-month-old Jahlil crawling into bed with his mom and waking her up with a conk on the head from his bottle; of Chucky walking his son home from nursery school and stopping to look at some puppies; of Jahlil, in diapers, dunking on a rim made from a coat hanger his dad bent into a hoop and fastened to a door. “Ghetto basketball,” Chucky says on the video. “Tear the roof down, Jah-Jah.”
Jahlil is at practice this afternoon. Chucky didn’t want him here when we watched the video. He knew it would make him uncomfortable. Even for an outsider, the footage is bittersweet. Here is a couple in a tough situation, still managing to shower their kids with attention and love. It’s impossible not to be moved, especially knowing what’s to come.
We are eating dinner on the back patio of a Hooters near the O’Hare neighborhood apartment he and his father share when Jahlil tells me the story. He begins it so matter-of-factly that, at first, I think he must have told it a hundred times.
He was nine when it happened, home watching TV with his sister. His mother was resting nearby. She had been battling bronchitis for a couple of weeks.
‘[My mother] was very strict. She would stress to me being respectful of women. People always credit me for being nice to people, but that was all due to her.’ Jahlil Okafor
They were living in tiny Moffett, Oklahoma, near the Arkansas border, where Dee had grown up and where her mother still lived. Two years earlier, Chucky had moved back to Chicago, where he’d grown up, to work on his bachelor’s degree at Chicago State. Dee had a job as a hotel receptionist in Fort Smith. As a couple, they had been on and off, but by then, 2005, Dee had moved on to another relationship.
Jahlil was extremely close to his mother, who was 29 at the time. “Whenever I saw her, I would give her a big hug,” he says. “She would take me to the basketball court and I would watch her play. She was very strict. She would stress to me being respectful of women. People always credit me for being nice to people, but that was all due to her. She was also really funny, a big jokester.”
Which is why he didn’t realize right away that there was a problem that day. “I remember she started coughing and breathing real heavy, making a weird noise,” says Jahlil. “I thought she was just kidding around. I started tackling her and laughing. I walked to the kitchen and was like, ‘Mom, I’m taking your Oreos,’ because she was always real strict about her Oreos. I expected her to say, ‘Don’t do that.’ But she just kept breathing heavy.”
That’s when Jahlil knew she was in trouble. One of her lungs had collapsed. The phone in the house wasn’t working, so Jahlil and his sister ran to the neighbors to call 911. “We were screaming,” he says. “I remember the ambulance coming and them ripping her shirt open. I remember them taking her away.”
Jahlil and his sister waited at the hospital for word about their mom. “The doctor came out and said she didn’t make it. I just remember crying.”
By now Jahlil’s voice is cracking as he tells the story. “I went into her hospital room. She was lying there. I remember I touched her hair . . .”
He lowers his head and cups his face with his giant right hand. “I’m sorry. This is my first time talking this descriptive about my mother.”
The pain never really goes away, does it?
“Uh-uh,” he says.
Does he want to continue later?
“I can finish,” he says, lifting his head and wiping away tears. “I rubbed her hair. I remember it was supersoft. I kept going in and out of the room, looking at her, like 30 minutes at a time, not wanting to leave. I was there pretty much the whole night. It didn’t seem real to me. I was heartbroken.”
For years he beat himself up for not reacting sooner. “It happened right in front of me,” he says. “I’ve put myself in her shoes, thinking about what she must have been thinking: I’m suffering and he’s just looking at me, laughing.”
Has he finally been able to stop blaming himself? He’s silent for a few seconds before he answers. “Yeah. But even now I still have to think, What if I could have known right off the bat that she wasn’t playing? She would still be here.”
After his mother’s death, Jahlil moved to Chicago to live with his dad, while his sister stayed behind with their grandmother. Even when they were apart, father and son had kept a strong bond. Chucky used to call Jahlil every day after school. They always ended the conversation the same way.
“Who loves you more than your daddy?” Chucky would ask.
“Nobody,” Jahlil would say.
Chucky describes his parenting style as a cross between Cliff Huxtable and Furious Styles, the philosopher-disciplinarian from the film Boyz n the Hood. (On Chucky’s phone, Jahlil’s calls come up “The Prince,” a reference to a Styles line: “You the prince. And I’m the king.”) “He is kind of the opposite of me,” says Jahlil. “People say I’m more mellow. He does a lot of goofy things. If I’m with a bunch of my friends, he’ll come in and Dougie—you know, the dance. And at games, people know him as the crazy loud guy.”
About a year after his son arrived, Chucky moved them to Rosemont, on the outskirts of the city, far from the tough South Chicago streets of his childhood. (They later moved back into Chicago, just over the border, so that Jahlil could attend Whitney Young.) “A lot of the flaws I had in my life,” says Chucky, “those are situations I never want Jahlil to have to be in.”
Like Jahlil, Chucky lost his mother at an early age. She died from breast cancer when he was 18 months old. He was raised by his single father, a Nigerian immigrant. Chucky had been, in the words of one of his sisters, a “roughneck.” At 13, he was caught driving a car he and some other boys had stolen. Later, he hustled drugs. He bounced around to five high schools in three years, mostly because he kept getting expelled for fighting. At one point he lived in a group home for troubled kids.
And though the 6-foot-5 Chucky dreamed of playing basketball professionally and was all-city at Bowen High School his senior year, he proved to be his own worst obstacle. He was kicked off the Westark team for using a stolen credit card, kicked off at Carl Albert for getting into a fight with a neighbor, and kicked off at West Texas A&M after only one game for disobeying the coach. “I finally came to the realization that I can’t take authority,” he says.
By the time Jahlil arrived in Chicago, Chucky had gotten his life straightened out. He was working as a doorman at an Edgewater condominium and had earned a bachelor’s in curriculum and instruction at Chicago State. Later, he’d add a master’s in instructional technology from an online program at American InterContinental University. (At 38, he now works as an assistant coach at Whitney Young and as a rep for World Ventures, a travel marketing company.)
Jahlil, tall for his age, had wanted to be an NBA player for as long as he could remember, and after moving in with his dad, he began to concentrate on basketball even more. His AAU team—he continued to play on a squad in Arkansas with his friends while spending summers with his grandmother—won three age-group national championships in four years. Chucky helped him further refine his game. He bought him a pair of weighted training shoes and put him through footwork and agility drills. He had him running in the pool to improve his strength. And then there were the countless games of one-on-one.
“He would always beat me, but he was helping me,” says Jahlil. “Like, he would block my shot and tell me to use my other hand.” Explains Chucky: “My thing was, anything I had a weakness in, I didn’t want him to have. I couldn’t shoot with my left until I was in college. And you see Jahlil now: He’s got a left hand.”
It wasn’t until eighth grade that Jahlil, already 6-foot-8, finally beat his dad. “I remember him getting mad and saying I fouled him,” says Jahlil. “We were out there arguing while we were playing.” Recalls Chucky: “I came home and told my brothers, ‘Yeah, he got me. But I got beat by a pro.’ ”
When it came time to think high schools, Chucky had Whitney Young in mind from the start. Growing up, he had admired it as the place the smart kids went. But Chucky wanted to make sure his son felt comfortable there, so he arranged a meeting with Coach Slaughter.
Slaughter had never heard of Jahlil, in part because he had been playing outside the Midwest AAU circuit, so he had one of his coaches put the kid through some drills. “He was palming balls off the ground. Making every shot. Completing every drill they threw at him,” says Chucky. “I remember watching Ty’s reaction. He was just shocked.”
That wasn’t the only thing about Jahlil that made Slaughter’s jaw drop. The summer before he started at Whitney Young, Jahlil played for the coach’s AAU team. “We went to nationals in Orlando and stayed in a house,” recalls Slaughter. “That first night, Jahlil comes downstairs and grabs a mixing bowl. He takes the cereal, pours it in the mixing bowl, then pours in a half gallon of milk. I told his father, ‘I don’t know how the fuck you feed him. It’s unbelievable.’ ”
When Jahlil was in junior high, Chucky would e-mail college coaches, telling them to put his son on their radar. But he didn’t get any traction until a DePaul assistant happened to catch one of Jahlil’s eighth-grade games. He reported what he saw to the university’s head coach at the time, Tracy Webster, who invited father and son to a game. “He was like, ‘Man, I’ll sign you right now,’ ” recalls Chucky. “I didn’t take it seriously. Then the next day it’s on ESPN: ‘DePaul makes offer to eight grader.’ Everybody started taking notice after that.”
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Though Jahlil came to Whitney Young as something of a celebrity, he played behind center Thomas Hamilton Jr. as a freshman. But the next year, after Hamilton got injured, Jahlil showed what he could do, putting up a stellar 20 points and 10 rebounds a game. Last year, as a junior, he averaged 20 points and nine rebounds as he led the team to a 27–4 record and a national ranking that reached as high as No. 2.
In an era when big men like to roam the perimeter, Jahlil is a throwback: a back-to-basket center who dominates in the post. But he’s coveted not just for his sheer size and power. He is a deft passer, and with his spin moves and shot fakes, he’s drawn comparisons to Tim Duncan and Hakeem Olajuwon.
When I ask Chucky how he’s been able to keep his son grounded amid all the attention, he rebuffs the question. “Some things I don’t even want to take credit for. That’s just him. That’s just who he is. He knows right from wrong, and 96 percent of the time he’s going to do right.”
Chucky can remember being called to school only once: Jahlil was in fifth grade and got into a fight with a boy who called him a nigger. “The parental side of me had to explain to Jahlil you can’t lose your emotions like that,” says Chucky. “But in my head I was happy Jahlil smacked him.”
When you are Jahlil Okafor, there’s no shortage of suitors—college coaches who flock to your games and practices; who text and call you multiple times a week just to check in; who send you Photoshopped images of you shaking hands with the NBA commissioner (as Baylor did); who name their dog after you (as an assistant at Ohio State did).
If you were a coach making an in-home visit to the Okafors last spring, you couldn’t escape without having your photo taken doing “the look-away”—a family tradition of never staring directly at the camera. The result: unintentionally hilarious images of Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Kansas’s Bill Self, and other college royalty striking arms-crossed B-boy poses next to a grinning Chucky. To keep the mood relaxed, Chucky would also stock up on Heinekens and order in Giordano’s. “I just figured it would be cool to have Coach K in my house drinking a beer with me,” he says.
Jahlil and his father, Chucky, with Duke University coach Mike Krzyzewski (bottom photos) and coach Bill Self of the University of Kansas (top photos). Photo: Courtesy of the Okafor family
“Typical of my dad,” says Jahlil, with a roll of his eyes. “He didn’t want it to be too stressful for me. I think that was his way of showing you can enjoy it.”
With a prize prospect like Jahlil, the pressure is actually on the coaches. And any miscue can cost them. One coach begged Jahlil to save his job by coming to his school. (Big turnoff.) Another made disparaging remarks about his rivals. (Jahlil stopped returning his messages.) In perhaps the biggest stumble, one told Jahlil to pass along best wishes to his mom on Mother’s Day. (“Obviously, they don’t know anything about me,” Jahlil told his dad.)
In mid-November he settled on Duke. “It came down to it being Coach K and the brand name of Duke, being part of that legacy,” he says. He made his decision in conjunction with another top prospect, Tyus Jones, a point guard from Minnesota. The two had bonded playing on U.S. national teams together and decided to make themselves a package deal. “He’s like a brother to me,” explains Jahlil. “But also, I want to win.”
Before he heads to Durham, North Carolina, next fall, Jahlil has some unfinished business in Chicago. Last year’s state tournament loss is still fresh in his mind. He had one of his poorer outings of the year that game, managing only 13 points, while Simeon’s star, Jabari Parker, his friend and AAU teammate, outshined him, scoring 29.
That memory is one reason Jahlil has come back this season in better condition than ever. “He’s a hellacious worker,” says Slaughter. “He’s replaced a lot of baby fat with muscle.” Continued below |
The EU’s version of its "disastrous dinner" with Theresa May, which has thrown the Brexit talks into turmoil, could be true, the Home Secretary has suggested.
Amber Rudd undermined No 10’s dismissal of the account of the talks – after which the Prime Minister was accused of living in a “parallel reality” – as “Brussels gossip”.
“None of this is really surprising,” Ms Rudd said, of the horrified leaked reaction of Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission's President.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 $0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.
Instead, she criticised the leak itself, saying: “I think it’s a mistake to allow those sorts of details – if they are true – to come out from a dinner.” Asked if they were true, Ms Rudd replied: “I don’t know.”
According to accounts of last week's dinner, Ms May hinted she would try to avoid paying any exit bill, telling Mr Juncker the EU had no legal power to force Britain to pay up.
She also insisted talks about a future trade deal should start early – despite the EU making clear the expected £50bn "divorce bill" must be agreed first.
The EU side was also astonished at Ms May's suggestion that the controversy over EU citizens’ future rights could be settled next month – believing she had no grasp of its complexity.
Mr Juncker is said to have made clear to the Prime Minister that, unless she accepted the EU’s red lines, there was no point in even beginning the withdrawal talks.
His last words to the Prime Minister as he left were: “I'm leaving Downing Street 10 times more sceptical than I was before,” according to the leak.
Asked about that devastating account of the dinner, Ms Rudd told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “None of this is really surprising. We always said it’s going to be difficult, these negotiations. I’m not surprised that there is some briefing coming out from different sides of the negotiation
“What we will always do is make sure that we conduct our negotiations more discreetly, shall we say, so that we can have a freer negotiating hand.”
The comments were in stark contrast to those of Ms May, on the campaign trail in Lancashire yesterday, when she said: “From what I have seen of this account, I think it is Brussels gossip.
“Just look at what the European Commission themselves said immediately after the dinner took place, which was that the talks had been constructive.”
Keir Starmer, Labour’s Brexit spokesman, warned: “Unless we change tack quickly and adopt a more constructive approach, the weaker our negotiating hand will become.”
The morning after the dinner, Mr Juncker is believed to have telephoned Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, to tell her Ms May was living in “another galaxy” and a “parallel reality”.
A few hours later, Ms Merkel made an outspoken attack herself on Britain, saying: “Some people in the UK are suffering under illusions.”
During the interview, the Home Secretary also appeared to pour cold water on suggestions that the Conservatives’ post-Brexit immigration policy will be revealed next week.
“We will set out in the manifesto some of our strategy towards immigration,” she said, repeating that a consultation with businesses would be held over the summer.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.
At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.
Subscribe now. |
SAN FRANCISCO -- In San Francisco Bay, it's been a great week for whale watching thanks to some special visitors seldom seen in those waters.
It is an unusual sight to be sure: Humpback whales frolicking in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge.
"It's pretty dramatic, and it's delightful to have wildlife of this grandeur in San Francisco Bay," Jeff Boehm, executive director of the Bay Area's Marine Mammal Center, told CBS News.
Boehm said the migrating whales are following food into the shallower waters.
"The problem occurs when our zeal to get close to them interferes with their natural behavior," he said.
Terry Parks shot video while kitesurfing near two of the whales.
Marine biologists say humpback whales have been swimming into San Francisco Bay in unprecedented numbers during the past two weeks. KPIX
"There were a couple of times there where you can't see where they're gonna submerge, and then they come up pretty close to you," Parks said.
Over the past few days, boaters have seen whales breaching in the bay.
And while the 60,000-pound whales are considered docile, Boehm pointed out, "All of these animals are going to be unpredictable, and these humpback whales can be rather aerobatic as well."
And that can be dangerous -- as kayakers in Monterey Bay found out last fall.
Another concern for scientists is that the whales could continue to swim inland, up the Sacramento River and get stuck as a humpback named Humphrey did back in the 1980s and '90s.
"A tide can shift relatively quickly, leave the animals in water that's not navigable," Boehm said. "Also, as they move up into rivers, into fresh water, which can start over time to have effects on their skin."
Marine biologists say warmer ocean temperatures caused by El Nino are drawing in marine life that would typically only be seen in deeper waters.
How long the humpbacks will stay in the bay -- and whether it's part of a larger pattern -- is still unclear. |
Since I work on speciation, I’m often asked how many species there are on Earth. You’d think that we have a pretty good idea of this, but we don’t. Most species of viruses and bacteria—indeed, if there are such things as viral and bacterial “species”—can’t be easily seen in the field or grown in the lab, and most other species are nematodes or insects hidden in the forests of the tropics.
According to Robert May, who took up this issue without resolution in a 1988 paper in Science, biologists have named roughly 1.5 million species, with 15,000 more named each year. This, of course, is only a fraction—perhaps a small one—of all species living on earth. And, given the predominance of arthropods among all species, this effort is patchy. As May points out in a note in this week’s Science, one third of taxonomists work on vertebrates, which are only about 1% of all species, another third work on plants (around 10% of all species), and the remaining third work on the other 89% of taxa.
Estimates have varied between 5 and 50 million species on Earth, and that’s a big range. At the upper end of this range come calculations from biologist Terry Erwin, who, in a short but famous paper in 1982 in The Coleopterists Bulletin, tried to estimate the number of species of beetles in the world’s tropics. (One third of the world’s species are insects, and of these about a third are in the order Coleoptera—beetles. There’s a possibly apocryphal story about biologist J. B. S. Haldane, who was once asked what one could infer about the nature of the Creator from his creation. “An inordinate fondness for beetles,” Haldane supposedly replied).
Erwin fogged (sprayed with toxic chemicals) 19 individuals of the tropical tree Luehea seemannii in Panama, killing everything in their canopies, and carefully counted all the beetles he found. There were 1143 species represented, most of them leaf-eaters. Erwin then made some calculations. Assuming that a certain percentage of these beetles were “host-specific,” found only on that species of tree (this percentage ranged from 5% for predatory and scavenging beetles to 20% for herbivores), he calculated that this species of tree harbored 163 species of host-specific beetles.
Erwin then parlayed these data into an estimate of the total number of tropical, host-specific arthropods in the world. This involved making assumptions about not only the proportion of beetles that are host-specific, but the number of trees in the tropical forests (50,000), the proportion of arthropods that are beetles (40%), and the number of total beetle species per hectare of tropical rain forest canopy (12,448). Erwin came up with an astounding figure: thirty million species of tropical arthropods in the world! And that’s just arthopods! This suggested to many that there were far more species in the world than previously thought. Erwin later (1988) produced an even larger estimate–one hundred million species of arthropod.
To be sure, Erwin recognized that this estimate was very rough, based on untested assumptions. As he said, “I hope that someone will challenge these figures with more data.”
Well, someone has—not just with more data, but with better statistical analysis, too. As May reports in this week’s Science, Andrew Hamilton and his colleagues have, in a new paper in The American Naturalist, used new data on species numbers, and have varied the parameter estimates that Erwin saw as fixed, to come up with new estimates of the number of tropical arthropods.
I w0n’t belabor the methods, which themselves involve assumptions, but they yield estimates of arthropod species much lower than that found by Erwin. Hamilton, using probability distributions for various estimates (such as the proportion of beetle species that specialize on a certain tree), come up with a range of species numbers, each having a relative likelihood. The two separate models give a median species number of 2.5 million (90% confidence interval: 1.1-5.4 million) and and 3.7 million (c.i. 2.0-7.4 million) tropical arthropod species in toto; Erwin’s estimate of 30 million or more has a probability of less than 0.001% of being true.
Using these medians, Hamilton et al. estimate that, since only 855,000 species of arthropods have been described, 66%-77% of the world’s species are still unknown. As they say, “This represents an enormous amount of work for taxonomists that will take hundreds of years to complete at the current rate that species are described, taxonomists are trained, and funding is allocated for invertebrate taxonomy.
They leave out one consideration: at the current rate of deforestation, we won’t have any rainforest left in a hundred years, and most of those species will vanish without ever having been seen by humans.
So how many species are there on Earth? It’s still murky, but a fair back-of-the envelope estimate, including all those nematodes and the unknown parasites of living species (but not including bacteria), would involve tripling the estimate of total tropical arthropods, to make about ten million species. And that’s what I’ll tell people if they ask, making sure to add that it’s a very rough estimate.
Fig. 1. The goliath beetle, Goliathus orientalis, one of many tropical insects. Males can reach 4 inches in length and weight 3.5 oz.
_________
Erwin, T. L. 1982. Tropical forests: their richness in Coleoptera and other arthropod species. Coleopterist’s Bull. 36:74-75.
___________. 1988. The tropical rain forest canopy: the heart of biotic diversity. pp. 123-129 in E. O. Wilson and F. M. Peter, eds. Biodiversity. National Academy, Washington D. C. (Note: I haven’t read this paper).
Hamilton, A. J. Yves Basset, Kurt K. Benke, Peter S. Grimbacher, Scott E. Miller, Vojtech Novotný, G. Allan Samuelson, Nigel E. Stork, George D. Weiblen, and Jian D. L. Yen. 2010. Quantifying uncertainty in estimtion of tropical arthropod species richness. Amer. Natur. 176:90-95.
May, R. M. 1988. How many species are there on Earth? Science 241:1441-1449.
May, R. M. 2010. Tropical arthropod species, more or less? Science 329:41-42. |
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) stands behind Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Nov. 16 on Capitol Hill. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)
Incoming Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) says he’s backing a Minnesota congressman to lead the Democratic National Committee for a simple reason: because Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) likes him.
Schumer, in an interview Friday, said he’s supporting a bid by Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) to run the DNC because he comes with the support of Sanders, a key liberal voice in the Senate who also earned a spot this past week on Schumer’s new 10-senator leadership team.
Schumer is set to become the first New Yorker and first Jewish man to serve as a Senate leader and has been a staunch defender of Israel throughout his four decades in public service. But Ellison has been an outspoken critic of Israel and its relationship with Palestinians in the past.
Earlier in his career, Ellison apologized for or withdrew a number of controversial statements, including likening former president George W. Bush’s consolidation of power after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks to the rise of Adolf Hitler, to defending the leader of the Nation of Islam, to labeling his own 2012 reelection opponent a “lowlife scumbag.”
[Keith Ellison would be a bold pick for DNC chair — and a controversial one]
Some of those moves would seem to put him at odds with Schumer, his strong support for Israel and the strong support he enjoys from Jewish voters across New York.
“I’m not worried about the Israel stuff even though he and I disagree,” Schumer said Friday when asked about Ellison’s past statements.
Schumer said that Ellison, who would be the first Muslim to run the DNC, came highly recommended by Sanders. The two senators have known each other for years. Both grew up in Brooklyn and attended James Madison High School, although at different times. (That same school also graduated Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and former senator Norm Coleman (R-Minn.).)
After the Democratic presidential primaries that Sanders lost to Hillary Clinton, “Bernie said we need an organizing tool. We can’t win the wars,” Schumer said. “Our issues are right, although they should be bolder and more progressive, he would say, but we need organizing and not just during presidential campaign. So we thought maybe the [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] should do some of that, assuming Hillary was going to win. When the DNC [chairman’s job] opened up, he called me and said we need to make the DNC not a fundraising and political organization but a true organizing tool. I said, you’re exactly right.”
Whether that’s exactly how it transpired may be up for dispute, but either way, Schumer, Sanders, outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) and other top Democrats have quickly endorsed Ellison’s bid.
The DNC has yet to set a date for the chairman’s election, which is expected to happen sometime next year.
Other Democrats are also in the running, including former Vermont governor Howard Dean; Henry Munoz III, the DNC’s finance chairman; outgoing Labor Secretary Tom Perez; and Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.). Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley said this week he’s no longer going to run for the job.
Party rules currently dictate that the DNC chairman must be a full-timer. Former chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was able to hold the job on a part-time basis while serving as a Florida congresswoman because President Obama appointed her to the job and, well, presidents get to break the party rules.
Dean has cited the full-timer rule as a reason why someone like Ellison shouldn’t be picked to serve. But Schumer said Friday that Ellison shouldn’t need to step down from his House seat to lead the party.
“No, I don’t believe that. He’s a very good organizer, and I think Bernie will have a lot of say in the DNC, which I welcome, and they will find good full-time organizers,” Schumer said. “I said to [Ellison], the number one person you should hire who is the executive director should be the best organizer we can find, and he agreed.”
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly said that Schumer and Sanders attended high school together. They both attended the same high school but not at the same time. |
Steve Rennie, The Canadian Press
OTTAWA -- It's the street equivalent of a desert mirage, an elusive piece of prime parking real estate that, for some strange reason, everyone else just happened to miss.
Eventually, however, a telltale slip of paper tucked beneath a windshield wiper offers an explanation: you parked in front of a fire hydrant.
Maybe it was an honest mistake. Or maybe you thought you could slip in and out before your illegal parking job caught the attention of a passing bylaw officer. Either way, now you've been hit with a hefty fine.
And as it turns out, some hydrants seem to be more tempting -- and more costly -- than others.
In Toronto, one hydrant stands above the rest. People are fined so often for parking in front of it that on Google's Street View, a white Toyota can be seen with a yellow slip under its wiper blade as a parking-enforcement officer walks away.
Since 2008, cars that parked too close to the hydrant at 393 University Ave. have been ticketed 2,962 times. Those fines add up to $289,620 -- more than any other hydrant in the city.
So, why is this one particular hydrant such a cash cow for the city? There are a few possible explanations. It's right by the courthouse and near a major downtown intersection. The hydrant itself is in the middle of a busy sidewalk set back some distance from the street, and it would be easy enough for drivers to miss. No markings on the street make it obvious that the spot is off-limits.
Anthony Fabrizi, the city's manager of parking ticket operations, says the hydrant needs to be a certain distance from the street so pumper trucks can park there.
"There's lots of logic to the madness when you see behind the scenes," Fabrizi said.
In Toronto, the fine for parking within three metres of a fire hydrant is $100. It used to be $30 until the city hiked the fine in early 2008.
A Canadian Press analysis of Toronto's parking-ticket data found the city has collected more than $24 million since 2008 by fining people who parked too close to hydrants.
Fabrizi says all parking fines, including those from parking next to hydrants, add up to $80 million a year.
That may seem like a big number, but Fabrizi says it only represents about one per cent of the money needed to run all of the city's programs.
"The amount of revenue that parking generates is so minuscule compared to the overall revenue that it really doesn't serve a great purpose as a revenue generator."
About half the revenue from parking tickets pays for parking enforcement and operations, he added.
"Parking is a bit of a funny business in terms of budgeting," Fabrizi said.
"We have to budget in terms of firm numbers the costs associated with enforcing parking. So we know that there's about a $50-million cost ... so that is a $50-million budget that has to be paid even if no parking tickets were issued.
"Historically, we see that parking tickets and fines, once it goes through the courts, generate about $80 million a year. So the program pays for itself and then there's a little bit of a margin, about $30 million extra."
Most parking tickets in Toronto are handed out to people who let their parking meters expire or who park in no-parking areas. Tickets for parking too close to fire hydrants only accounted for 1.45 per cent of all parking infractions last year.
While the hydrant at 393 University Ave. is by far the city's golden goose, many others are also quite lucrative.
At 33 Elmhurst Ave., a hydrant lurks in the shadow of a large condo building in North York. Vehicles that parked there have been ticketed 2,253 times since 2008, with fines totalling $207,030.
A nearby federal government building may explain all the parking tickets. The Joseph Shepard building houses branches of Passport Canada, a Canadian Forces recruiting centre and several other federal departments.
If you're visiting Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery, don't park in front of the fire hydrant at 113 Merton St. This unassuming hydrant, tucked between two trees, is the city's third most-ticketed spot, with 2,165 fines handed out amounting to $212,300.
The city also tracks the province or state on the licence plates of people who get fined for parking too close to hydrants. Not surprisingly, almost every ticketed vehicle had Ontario plates. Drivers with Quebec plates were a distant second, followed by visitors from New York and Alberta.
But pity the two poor drivers with Hawaiian plates, who came a long way only to get busted for parking in front of hydrants. |
Bastian Schweinsteiger admitted it "wasn't easy" training by himself during his exile from the first team at Manchester United, but added he didn't give up because he wanted to show the club he was a player people could trust.
Schweinsteiger, 32, was bought from Bayern Munich by then-manager Louis van Gaal in 2015 and finished his United career under the Dutchman's successor Jose Mourinho.
The World Cup winner with Germany, who sat down for an exclusive interview with ESPN FC, spent a somewhat disappointing two years at Old Trafford, making 18 appearances and scoring just once.
Now with the Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer, Schweinsteiger remains upbeat when looking back on his time at Man United, even if things didn't go exactly how he had envisioned.
He said: "In my eyes it was not the right position, but in life sometimes you have this kind of situation where something is not correct and right in your way, but you have to accept it, and I accepted it.
"I said 'OK I accept it, but still want to stay here and want to train. I want to show I am a player you can trust.' And that's what I was doing at Manchester. I was then training with the first team and playing with the first team. I mean it was not easy when I was training by my own for three months."
Bastian Schweinsteiger joined Manchester United in 2015 under then-manager Louis van Gaal. AP Photo/Dave Thompson
Schweinsteiger also suggested that his dedication and professionalism was evident to Mourinho, who expressed regret about the midfielder's treatment at Old Trafford, and that it might have been someone else in the organization's "opinion" that kept him out of first-team reckoning.
The Bayern legend was also adamant that his freeze out was not fitness related.
"It was not that part. It was something different," he said. "[The decision not to play me] was maybe made by someone else without him so I think after I trained and I played and you could see me and how I behave as a professional and he has a different opinion, so it was a little bit unfortunate.
"I think [it would be different] if we would have met in a different situation."
Despite the difficulty he experienced during his time in the Premier League, Schweinsteiger said he has no regrets about the move and in many ways he still fulfilled a dream by playing there.
"It was [difficult], but I always believe in good things," he said. "And I was always dreaming about playing again for United and to help them and I was giving my best in training sessions as well. And at the end of the day, I was playing and I was scoring a goal as well, so that was the situation."
Watch Bastian Schweinsteiger in action as Chicago Fire takes on Seattle Sounders (Saturday, 9 p.m. ET; ESPN and WatchESPN) |
While there may not have been unanimity in 2016 NHL Draft rankings that ought to have had Auston Matthews as their top-ranked player, the staff at PPP didn't cast any doubt on his status within the organization.
Unanimously ranked at No. 1 by all 14 panelists in this year's Maple Leafs' Top 25 Under 25 series, Matthews has almost certainly added some predictability to this ranking for years to come -- or at least until he turns 25 or he's traded (gasp).
Ultimately, what the 2016 ranking came down to was a battle for second place between William Nylander and Mitch Marner, with the former narrowly edging out the latter.
With World Cup of Hockey pre-tournament exhibition games already well underway, Matthews' much-anticipated rookie season as the first Leafs no. 1 selection since Wendel Clark is already in motion. And it will be an unorthodox campaign, one that sees the 18-year-old miss the better part of his first training camp to instead compete against his future teammates and head coach but alongside Morgan Rielly with Team North America.
The hulking centre, who played in his first tuneup game against Team Europe in Quebec City last night -- going scoreless in a little more than 13 minutes of ice time -- will participate in at least five more games (two pre-tournament games against Team Europe and Team Czech Republic and three round-robin games against Team Finland, Team Russia and Team Sweden on September 11, 14, 18, 19 and 21 respectively). If Team North America is successful in finishing in the top half of their group, Matthews could participate in as many as four more games (a semifinal on September 24 or 25 and a best-of-three final that could run as late as October first.
For the Leafs, whose regular season starts in earnest on October 12, this could limit their top rookie and soon-to-be top centre to just one or two preseason games (the Leafs' preseason ends with an away game in Detroit on October 8, just a week after the end of the World Cup).
For Matthews, who was selected to Team North America at the World Cup over the likes of 30-goal scorer Alex Galchenyuk, expectations will be higher than perhaps ever before on a Leafs rookie. No matter how coach Mike Babcock attempts to temper expectations by insisting that Matthews will "start on the third line," Matthews will be placed with franchise-burdening responsibility from the outset and will (already has) become synonymous with the success of the team moving forward no matter how prolific he becomes as an individual.
After Buffalo Sabres rookie Jack Eichel registered 56 points in his rookie season in 2015-2016, the bar has already been set for his fellow National Training Development Program-bred compatriot.
As far as wrapping up the series goes, ultimately it's the voters and writers who make this series so great, providing insight and debate along the way. Proof of that lies in that this year, the 2016 instalment of the T25U25 was read by more people than ever before -- and it wasn't even close. As such, we thought it would be a fitting way to end the series by having our panelists put into perspective just what Matthews means to the organization.
Burtch believes Matthews will be thrust into a position among all-time greats.
In Matthews the Leafs hope they have finally found the heir to the mantle that was worn so well by the likes of Sundin, Gilmour, Sittler and Keon before him. Wandering through the wilderness seem like tradition for the franchise, but in reality, it is a sad state of affairs the once proud organization is in the process of reversing, and Matthews is a large part of that metamorphosis. True generational talent doesn't take multiple years to make an impact in the NHL. The Leafs hope Matthews can hit the ground running. The future begins now. - Burtch
Achariya is confident Matthews will be able to step in and be a top player immediately.
We have already been able to see how Matthews stacks up to NHL-caliber players at the IIHF World Championships this past May. He played for the U.S., and stood out despite the fact that the team did poorly. (IS THERE A HOCKEY CRISIS IN THE US?) Matthews played a well-rounded game with excellent hockey sense, completely unafraid to use his size and ability to back-check when necessary, and used his passing ability to stretch-pass to spring the puck. In the game against Belarus, Matthews was trusted with the second-highest ice time among forwards by the U.S. coach, and ended up scoring twice (once on the PP and once at 5x5), for a three-point game. His size, agility, and maturity on the ice will continue to allow him to play well for the U.S. (oh and the Maple Leafs) next season. - Achariya
Fulemin has no doubts about Matthews' ability so long as he can stay healthy.
If he remains healthy, Auston Matthews is going to be a 1C in the NHL. Simple as that. - Fulemin
While Seldo argues the team belongs to Matthews already, even before he has played a game.
This season Auston Matthews will take over the Toronto Maple Leafs. He'll be the focus of TV, marketing, giveaways, everything will be Matthews. Which is a plus for the other players like Nylander, Kadri, Rielly, etc.. as the pressure will be off them for the start to the season. He'll be one of the Leafs top players, and will wow people every night. Not that I thnk this means they're contenders, I wouldn't put any money on them making the playoffs, but this team will be a much better onbe to watch than last year. - Elseldo
Fifty believe Matthews' experience will help him quickly transition to the NHL game, and that could go down as one of the all-time homegrown players in an organization that has often acquired its top talent via trade or free agency.
Auston Matthews will be in a transition from rookie to future team leader, and I suspect it may take less time than some might think. Matthews has a year of professional hockey under his belt already; he has faced NHLers on the international stage and prevailed. He will do so again at the World Cup of Hockey. Off the ice, Matthews seems like an ideal candidate to handle the relentless Toronto media fishbowl. Yes, he does seem boring, dry, almost robotic in his interviews, but in this market, that might be an asset. Unlike some who have criticized Babcock’s expected decision to start Matthews in third-line minutes, I welcome the idea of easing him in. Prior to drafting Matthews, the Leafs already had a capable 1C in Kadri, and Bozak in a 2C role is fine. I suspect he will flourish in his easy minutes and work his way up before the season is over. Matthews won’t set the world on fire, at least right away. Short of generational talents like Crosby and Ovechkin, no rookie can be expected to be a top scorer in the league. John Tavares had 54 points; Steven Stamkos had 46 (albeit with early season struggles due to a bad coach mismanaging him). I’d likely peg Matthews around those numbers. I’d probably hedge my bets on anywhere from 15-20 goals and 45-50 points. What Matthews means to this organization, though, is hope. Name the last elite homegrown talent the Leafs have had. Phil Kessel was acquired via trade. Mats Sundin was acquired via trade. Doug Gilmour was acquired via comically lopsided trade. You would have to go back to Wendel Clark to find the last face of the franchise developed from within. I think Matthews will be far and beyond better than Clark, or even any of those players. The sky’s the limit. - Mike
Katya thinks Matthews is boring, and she's right (as always).
Auston Matthews is really rather boring. In interviews he's dull, almost lifeless at times, and he never says anything incendiary. He does light up occasionally when he hits a topic he enjoys talking about. He smiles suddenly, and it's shocking to see, but it works to draw you in. He is also a little boring on the ice. He does not have Patrik Laine's big, booming shot. He does not have Jack Eichel's turbo boost breakaway speed. He does not have Connor McDavid's total domination of the game, like he can see into the future ten moves ahead of everyone else. He's more like McDavid than the other two, but with Matthews it is a different kind of dominance. He commands space, not time. He runs the play. He makes the other guys on the ice do what he wants them to do, and not just his own team either. He forces the opposition into the space he wants them to be in so he can do what he wants. He wants the puck, he wants to own the ice, and he can and will appear at will in the slot in scoring position, and you won't always be sure how he got there. Maybe he teleports. He seems smaller on the ice than he is. He is smooth and agile in the offensive zone like a winger, not a big, bruiser of a centre. He likes the sweet spot at the goalie's left hand, a classic left-shooting winger location, and he can slide into place there for a pass like he's been playing wing his whole life. Winger is just a role he plays sometimes to make the other team forget about him until it's time to score, a trick he managed for ZSC while wearing the fancy gold jersey of the top scorer. So, maybe he is psychic. He is one thing for sure: the next star of the Toronto Maple Leafs. - Katya Knappe
Species puts it more simply.
He makes me feel tingly in my special area. - Species 1967
And 67 Sound is confident Matthews has already put himself in a historic position.
Auston Matthews is, quite simply, the best prospect that the Leafs have had in the expansion era. Wendel Clark, their only other #1 pick, was a debatable first overall, not a consensus elite centre. This year, I expect that with 2nd line minutes and PP time Matthews should manage 50 points. Long term, he is the heir to Mats Sundin. A big, skilled (if not physical) 1C with legitimate 40-40 potential able to match up with just about anyone short of Connor McDavid. - 67 Sounds
Regardless of what anyone thinks, it's time to put aside offseason rankings and get the show started.
He'll be okay. Just okay. - Katyaknappe |
Mystery YouGov #indyref poll finds gap closing as well but so far hasn't been published http://t.co/In2xHlmZ7s pic.twitter.com/aNmDN7vpse — Mike Smithson (@MSmithsonPB) February 4, 2014
PB reveals the mystery YouGov referendum survey
The big Scottish #IndyRef story over the past week had been the closing of the gap between those wanting independence and those opposed.
First was the ICM poll for Scotland on Sunday which was followed by TNS BMRB. Now another poll has emerged which also shows the same broad trend.
It’s from YouGov and the only information we have is from a summary PDF from the pollster featured above.
We have no idea who paid for this and why the results have not been published even though it is now a week old. Normally data doesn’t go onto YouGov’s summary tracker tables until the poll has come out officially.
In the past the No campaign – Better Together – has commssioned YouGov. Was it the client with this poll?
Whatever the numbers support the big trend that YES is making progress something that should worry those campaigning to retain Scotland in the UK.
Maybe this will all become clearer during the day but it is highly unusual for a poll like this to have, apparently, been withheld.
Mike Smithson
2004-2014: The view from OUTSIDE the Westminster bubble
Follow @MSmithsonPB |
Apache OpenOffice is a full suite of office applications: word processor, database, spreadsheet, presentation, and graphics. Each of them is full-featured and robust. Though not always matching Microsoft Office in terms of maximum bells and whistles, each application goes far beyond the basics in its class. Not bad for a free suite.
You can start designing forms for databases entry with an auto-generated form, then customize it extensively.
Apache OpenOffice is a long-standing competitor to Microsoft Office, with the roots of its code going back over ten years. It is a free, open-source product under the auspices of the well-known Apache Software Foundation, with regular updates, maintenance, and bug fixes.
Like LibreOffice and OpenOffice.org, Apache OpenOffice "forked" from Oracle OpenOffice (which grew from StarOffice) in 2010. The sidebar interface was based on Lotus Symphony, which was donated to Apache Software in 2012. Despite the multiple code inputs, Apache OpenOffice feels smooth and cohesive—important in an office suite.
The individual applications in Apache OpenOffice have a good level of integration. The menu and toolbar for each window are relevant to the current document, but you can always go to the "File" menu and create a new document of another type, which will then open in its own window. Including information from other applications, such as database rows in a Writer document, is not particularly difficult.
Sadly, faux-Victorian prose is not within editorial guidelines for reviews.
Writer offers a long list of functions: document templates, frames, mail merge, a style manager, section-based headers and footers, and much more. The sidebar docking feature introduced in Apache OpenOffice 4.0 is very useful if you have a wide monitor, as it's easy to place multiple panels so that all controls are visible and accessible.
The layout and design options are flexible, but not quite at the level of Word 2007. For example, if you select a 'banded' table style, and insert or delete rows, the banding does not automatically adjust; you must select the table and re-apply the style.
Tracking doughnut consumption is perhaps the best use for any spreadsheet.
Base provides a functional set of database design and formatting tools. Some of the interface elements, such as query creation, are not entirely intuitive. There were some oddities that are sensible in retrospect, but don't call themselves out to a user: For example, switching a text field from "single line" to "multi line with formatting" disconnected it from the underlying database field (a long text field), because formatted text requires a binary field. I'd have appreciated a warning or error message.
This points out one of the flaws with Apache OpenOffice: The documentation is sparse, and not well-aimed at non-technical users. The information on some features is barely more than the feature's name and self-evident function. The definition for the "Criteria" field of the query editor is "Specifies the criteria by which the content of the data field should be filtered," with no examples or guidelines. Writing code is more fulfilling and interesting, as an end in itself, than writing documentation, so this is a common issue with open source software.
General interface responsiveness in Apache OpenOffice is good, though there's a very slight lagginess. Generally, AOO obeys standard Windows OS conventions. The look and feel are closer to XP than to Vista or 7—and leagues away from 8, for which it's tested but not yet certified—which many will consider a feature. I experienced no redraw issues, artifacting, or other oddities.
Overall, I like Apache OpenOffice. The feature set includes what I expect in an office suite, and the developers have made a strong effort to make switching between applications feel smooth and intuitive. A Windows-only user who already has access to recent versions of Office will probably not be tempted unless they genuinely prefer open source for personal or financial reasons…but those who have no office suite, those who need a multi-platform (Windows, Mac OS, and *nix), and those who have only older version of Office will all find something worth checking out.
The strength of the individual applications is such that Apache OpenOffice is fine even if you only need a single one of the components. You won't sacrifice significant functionality. Given that it's free, it's hard to argue against at least trying it out.
Note: The Download button takes you to the developer's site, where you can download the latest version of this open-source software. |
I have written many times before that the answer to curbing crime in America is to leverage the power of psychiatry. Now, more data are in strongly supporting that idea.
A large-scale study in Sweden has shown that treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) with stimulants like Adderall or Ritalin reduced criminality by 32 percent in men and 41 percent in women.
This is likely a reliable finding, in part because the Swedish study was based on 25,656 patients with ADHD—a very impressive sample size. It is also likely reliable because, unlike the United States, Sweden does not seem to over-diagnose ADHD. Only 0.7 percent of the population are given that diagnosis. That means that the people in the study probably really had the condition and really did benefit from the medication.
ADHD is found in at least 10 percent of adult prisoners, and sometimes as many as 70 percent (depending on the study). A high percentage of juvenile offenders also merit the diagnosis, despite the fact that, sadly, only a small percentage were diagnosed with it prior to being incarcerated. ADHD medications have long been known to reduce impulsivity and aggression in those with the disorder – so the Swedish study is no surprise.
This study can be added to a number of other studies espousing the positive effects of using psychiatric medications. For example, research has shown startling reductions in sexual offenses (including child rape) when men are treated with Depo-Provera, which reduces testosterone levels. Another study saw reductions in prison terms in addicts treated with Vivitrol, a monthly injection that reduces the body’s response to opiate, like heroin. And yet another study has revealed the potential for dramatic reductions in driving under the influence in those taking Antabuse, which makes people violently ill when they drink alcohol.
So the question really becomes: Why are we not deploying psychiatric medications and psychotherapy to stop violent crime?
Were we to merely make a psychiatric evaluation a routine part of any first violent offense, as well as make psychiatric treatment a component of probation for those with ADHD, alcohol dependence, heroin dependence and pedophilia, we would save millions of victims from being assaulted, save millions of Americans a life of crime and save the United States many, many billions of dollars a year.
The data are in. And once again, we learn that guns aren’t the problem, and gun control isn’t the answer. Mental illness is the problem, and treating it is the answer. |
LITTLE ROCK � The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Texas law that imposed tough restrictions on abortion clinics, a ruling that both supporters and opponents of abortion rights said could make it more difficult to defend restrictions approved last year in Arkansas.
LITTLE ROCK � The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down a Texas law that imposed tough restrictions on abortion clinics, a ruling that both supporters and opponents of abortion rights said could make it more difficult to defend restrictions approved last year in Arkansas.
But abortion opponents said the fight is far from over and said they expect to see Arkansas lawmakers impose new restrictions on the practice next year.
In a 5-3 decision, the currently eight-member high court said Texas' 2013 law requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and that all abortion clinics meet the operating standards of surgical centers imposed an undue burden on women seeking abortions. Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas and Chief Justice John Roberts dissented.
Last year, the state Legislature and Gov. Asa Hutchinson enacted a law to require an abortion clinic that administers the abortion drug mifepristone to have a contract with a doctor who has hospital-admitting privileges and require the provider to administer the drug according to the instructions and dosage level approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland and Dr. Stephanie Ho filed a federal lawsuit challenging the law. They later dropped the portion of the suit alleging the FDA protocols were out of date after the FDA updated its protocols, but the challenge to the admitting-privileges requirement is still pending.
In March, U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker issued a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the law until the suit is resolved. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge is pursuing an appeal of that order to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis.
Rutledge was among attorneys general from 24 states who submitted a friend-of-the-court brief to the U.S. Supreme Court urging it to uphold the Texas law. In a statement Monday, she expressed concern about the impact of the decision in that case.
"Arkansas, like Texas, has a profound interest in protecting the health of all women, but today's unfortunate ruling puts that at risk," she said. "The court has issued a decision that makes it even more challenging for a state to provide commonsense health and safety regulations for abortion procedures."
Rita Sklar, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas, which is helping to represent the plaintiffs in the Arkansas case, said in a statement Monday the ruling means Arkansas' admitting-privileges requirement is more likely to be ruled unconstitutional.
"We must tell Arkansas lawmakers that, in today's ruling, the court recognized these abortion restrictions for what they are: sham laws that do nothing to protect a woman's health but do prevent her from getting the care she needs. The sham stops today," Sklar said.
Jerry Cox, president of the Christian conservative Family Council, said he did not expect the ruling to deter Arkansas legislators from enacting further abortion restrictions during next year's session.
"For example, we need to be certain the Health Department is doing the best job possible inspecting abortion facilities, and we need to be certain that the results of those inspections are made public to ensure clinics operate as responsibly as possible," Cox said in a statement.
"We also need to be certain abortion providers adequately inform women regarding abortion's risks and alternatives. And the state of Arkansas needs to do all it can do to help women with unplanned pregnancies so that their children can be adopted or cared for rather than aborted," he said.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, said in a statement, "The Supreme Court may have ruled in favor of abortion providers today, but that will not stop states like Arkansas, Texas, and others from passing laws that are supported by its people. We will never stop fighting for the innocent and one day we will overcome this great injustice in America."
U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said, "I deeply believe that Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided and that it should be � and will be � overturned someday. But before that time, we all should have been able to agree that duly elected representatives of the people can pass laws to protect women from unsafe abortion providers. That's now impossible after this decision, and it will be to the detriment of the well-being of women across the nation." |
"Lady Sarah Spencer" redirects here. For other uses, see Sarah Spencer (disambiguation)
Lady Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia McCorquodale (née Spencer; born 19 March 1955)[1] is one of the two older sisters of Diana, Princess of Wales, the other being Jane Fellowes, Baroness Fellowes.
Early life [ edit ]
Elizabeth Sarah Lavinia Spencer was born with the honorific "The Honourable"'; she acquired the courtesy title "Lady" in 1975, when her grandfather died and her father became the 8th Earl Spencer. She suffered from the eating disorder anorexia nervosa in her early twenties.[2] She was educated firstly at Riddlesworth Hall School in Norfolk and secondly at West Heath boarding school near Sevenoaks in Kent. After passing O Level exams she left West Heath to work in London.
Family [ edit ]
Sarah married Neil Edmund McCorquodale (born 4 October 1951), son of Alastair McCorquodale and Rosemary Sybil Turnor, on 17 May 1980 in Northamptonshire, England. Neil is a 2nd cousin once removed of Lady Sarah's stepmother, Raine Spencer.
Neil and Lady Sarah McCorquodale have three children:[3]
Emily Jane McCorquodale (2 July 1983); she married James T. R. Hutt on 9 June 2012. They have two children: Isabella Rosemary Hutt (18 June 2014) Henry George Thomas Hutt (25 March 2016)
George Edmund McCorquodale (17 November 1984); he married Bianca Moore, daughter of Gavin Moore, on 6 August 2016.
Celia Rose McCorquodale (1989); she married George Woodhouse on 16 June 2018 at St Andrew and St Mary's Church, Stoke Rochford, Lincolnshire, England. For her wedding, Celia wore the Spencer Tiara, which her aunt Diana had worn on her wedding day to Prince Charles.
Emily received radiation treatment for plasmacytoma in 2003.[4]
Lady Sarah was accompanied by her husband and their children to the funeral of Diana at Westminster Abbey on 6 September 1997.
Career [ edit ]
She and her family reside near Grantham, Lincolnshire where she served a one-year term as High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 2009.[5][6] She became a master of the Belvoir Hunt in May 2010.[6] Lady Sarah was also president of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, which raised £100 million for various charities.[7][8] The Fund unsuccessfully took legal action in 1998 against the Franklin Mint over the unlicensed use of Diana's image.[7] The Fund closed at the end of 2012.[9]
Relationships [ edit ]
Diana, Princess of Wales [ edit ]
In 1977, Sarah's relationship with Prince Charles led to the first meeting between Diana and her future husband.[10] She later commented on her sister's marriage saying: "I introduced them. I'm Cupid."[11] During the period in which she dated the prince, she allegedly met two reporters, James Whittaker and Nigel Nelson, at a restaurant and gave them an exclusive report on her royal connection.[12] She is said to have admitted to having been diagnosed with anorexia, having "thousands of boyfriends", a past problem involving alcohol, and that she had started keeping a scrapbook of all the press clippings about her royal romance that she intended to "show" future grandchildren. "Her head seemed to be turned by the publicity", the two reporters later said. She also declared that she would not marry Charles "if he were the dustman or the King of England".[12] When the article was released, she showed it to the prince, which made him furious[12] and he replied, "You've just done something incredibly stupid". The relationship dissolved soon after that. Some have stated the relationship between her and Diana was strained, because of her long resentment of the Prince marrying Diana and not her, though others (including Diana's biographer Andrew Morton) have said she was one of the few people Diana trusted. Later in Diana's life, she often accompanied Diana on official visits as one of her ladies-in-waiting.[13]
Upon the death of Diana on 31 August 1997, Sarah flew to Paris with her younger sister, Jane, and Prince Charles to accompany Diana's body back to England. She contributed to the readings at Diana's funeral. She was co-executor of Diana's will and was president of the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund. Sarah attended the wedding of her nephew Prince William to Catherine Middleton on 29 April 2011. It is said that William and Catherine are close to Lady Sarah, with whom they spent a weekend on the 16th anniversary of Diana's death.[14] Sarah also attended the wedding of her other nephew Prince Harry to Meghan Markle on 19 May 2018.
Other siblings [ edit ]
Sarah has shared a lifelong close relationship with her younger sister Jane. Author Anne Edwards, who wrote a best-selling biography of Diana, said Diana's two older sisters were extremely close and loyal to each other. Sarah gave her first child, Emily, the middle name of 'Jane' in a tribute to her younger sister. Her relationship with younger brother Earl Spencer has been volatile at the best of times. As the eldest and the youngest of the Spencer children, they have clashed frequently in adulthood and childhood. In recent years, possibly due to the death of their sister, the siblings appear to have settled previous differences.
Friends [ edit ]
In 2018, Sarah spoke publicly in support of George Grant, an employee of Belvoir Hunt who assaulted foxhunt monitors that she had known for 27 years. Grant along with his son and other men, assaulted the hunt monitors who were affiliated with the League Against Cruel Sports. Sarah, who served as joint master of the Belvoir Hunt, claimed that Grant's actions were out of character.[15][16]
Titles and styles [ edit ]
1955–1975: The Honourable Sarah Spencer
1975–1980: Lady Sarah Spencer
1980–present: Lady Sarah McCorquodale
Ancestry [ edit ]
References [ edit ]
Bibliography [ edit ]
Williamson, D. (1981a). "The Ancestry of Lady Diana Spencer". Genealogist's Magazine . 20 (6): 192–199.
Williamson, D. (1981b). "The Ancestry of Lady Diana Spencer". Genealogist's Magazine. 20 (8): 281–282. |
EFF Releases New Government Documents on Drones and Law Enforcement Training
EFF recently posted three new sets of documents obtained through FOI requests. Yesterday, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, EFF released the lists of private and public entities that have been granted authorization by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly drones in the United States. The lists were obtained through EFF’s lawsuit against the FAA, which seeks a variety of information on domestic drone authorization and use. The lists provide the public with the most thorough accounting to date of the organizations operating drones within our borders. Yesterday, along with EFF’s disclosure, Congressmen Ed Markey and Joe Barton sent the FAA a letter (pdf) asking the agency to disclose information similar to that sought in EFF’s FOIA suit.
A second, related release, which we blogged about previously, was obtained through a public records request to the Miami-Dade Police Department for information on it’s drone program. In response, the Miami PD released its Certificate of Authorization (COA) for its drone – the first time a COA has been made publicly available.
Finally, EFF also posted over 2,000 pages of records released in response to a FOIA request to DHS’ Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC). EFF sought information on FLETC’s Mobile Device Investigation Program, which teaches federal officials how to conduct investigations based on information obtained from cell phones and other electronic devices.
EFF Attorney Weighs in on DOJ's Unfulfilled Promise of Transparency
Earlier this week, EFF Senior Counsel David Sobel co-authored an article in the National Law Journal documenting – yet again – the Obama administration’s failure to live up to its promise of openness and transparency.
While the Obama administration continues to tout its transparency accomplishments, the authors noted that, “[a]s attorneys who each have more than 30 years' experience litigating FOIA cases in the federal courts, our assessment is decidedly less rosy.” In particular, the article faulted the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the “breadth of situations in which DOJ will fight to maintain official secrecy,” even in spite of a clear promise from Attorney General Holder to only defend FOIA withholdings when disclosure was clearly prohibited or would produce actual harm.
The article concludes:
Three years ago, we rejoiced when President Obama re-established important open-government tenets, and his new attorney general promised DOJ would vigorously enforce the law's public disclosure requirements. Unfortunately, we are still waiting to see that promise fulfilled.
You can read the full article here.
The Secrecy of Dissent Within the Government
Two items this week demonstrated the troubling issue of government secrecy ocurring at the intersection of questionable governmental policies and internal disagreement between individuals and agencies within the federal government.
The first, reported by Spencer Ackerman at Wired, concerns a secret memo written in February 2006 by a top adviser to the State Department. The memo warned that the Bush administration’s use of “cruel, inhuman or degrading” interrogation techniques amounted to a “felony war crime.” However, not only was the memo secret until this week (after a three-year wait for the State Department to respond to a FOIA request), but, according to the memo’s author, Bush administration officials determined the “memo was not considered appropriate for further discussion and that copies of [the] memo should be collected and destroyed.” Luckily a copy survived and you can read Wired’s full report, and the released memo, here.
In a second, strikingly similar example, a recently released memoir, Traitor: The Whistleblower and the American Taliban, describes the story of a Justice Department attorney who blew the whistle after her legal advice was disregarded. A book review from Secrecy News provides the background: Following the apprehension of Jon Walker Lindh—an American citizen arrested in Afghanistan for fighting American forces alongside the Taliban—Jesselyn Radack, a DOJ attorney and specialist in legal ethics, advised that Lindh not be interrogated without an attorney present. Not only was Lindh not provided an attorney during interrogation, but the DOJ “publicly denied having received any such legal advice, and even destroyed evidence to the contrary.” Steven Aftergood of Secrecy News writes:
Ms. Radack was not looking for a fight, but only to do the right thing. For her trouble, she was forced out of her Justice Department position, put under criminal investigation, fired from her subsequent job, reported to the state bar, and put on the “no fly” list.
You can read the full review here.
Some secrecy is inevitably needed so that officials within the federal government feel free to air viewpoints internally and without inhibition. Ultimately – and at least in theory – this allows lower level employees to provide candid opinions, and permits officials with decision-making authority to choose the best legal or policy analysis from the many. This, in turn, ensures sound government policies are ultimately chosen.
Secrecy in the name of honest debate is one thing, but the government’s action in both these cases demonstrates something far more troubling: the destruction of dissent. Not only does the destruction of these memos likely run afoul of government record-keeping regulations, but the suppression and destruction of the evidence of dissenting viewpoints undermines the integrity of the government’s final policy position. The need to silence dissent is a hallmark of flimsy ideas. |
The Revolt of the Spectacular Society
by
Adam Weishaupt
Published by Hyperreality Books at Smashwords
Copyright 2011 Adam Weishaupt
The right of Adam Weishaupt to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the author, except in the case of a reviewer, who may quote brief passages embodied in critical articles or in a review.
Quotations
“ A civilization which leaves so large a number of its participants unsatisfied and drives them into revolt neither has nor deserves the prospect of a lasting existence.” -- Sigmund Freud
“ I am interested in anything about revolt, disorder, chaos – especially activity that seems to have no meaning. It seems to me to be the road toward freedom... Rather than starting inside, I start outside and reach the mental through the physical.” -- Jim Morrison |
The tab queue feature lets you open links in the background without leaving the app you're on. Firefox will load your links for later viewing so you can continue using other apps without interruption.
Enable tab queuing
Tab queuing can be enabled through the Settings menu: Tap the menu button (either below the screen on some devices or at the top-right corner of the browser) and then select Settings (you may need to tap More first) . Select General . Check the box next to Tab queue .
Tab queuing can be enabled through the Settings menu: Tap the menu button (either below the screen on some devices or at the top-right corner of the browser) and then select Settings (you may need to tap More first) . Select General . Check the box next to Open multiple links .
Open tabs in the background
Suppose you want to open a link in one of your apps, tab queuing opens the link in the background without interrupting you. Here's how it works: |
Nintendo has spoken to fans through Miiverse, addressing concerns and questions regarding the Miiverse redesign. The company has also stated the mentality behind the design, aiming for a more game-centric format. Post limitations will help keep the network "on topic" and focusing on video games.
"First and foremost, Miiverse is created for gamers to talk about games - to give everyone the chance to ask questions about a game/app, for example, or if you get stuck and need help in-game. "But over time, some people have started using Miiverse for other things, such as long chats that are not strictly game-related. These posts would prevent others from enjoying their favourite communities to the fullest. In order to keep Miiverse game-centred for you, we decided to redesign Miiverse, which includes introducing the posting limitation." — Erica, Nintendo Representative on Miiverse
That said, Nintendo addressed five specific points regarding the redesign. From the Activity Feed to Drawings, here's what is about to change.
Some of you had concerns about other parts of the renewal as well. Let me clarify some of those for you:
1.) You will be able to attach screenshots to your drawings in the Drawings section.
2.) It will be possible to post the screenshots saved in your Album section into your Play Journal.
3.) We are planning to enable the posting of screenshots saved in the Album also into the “Drawings” and “Discussion” sections. This will be implemented sometime in the near future.
4.) Posts and comments made before the renewal will not be deleted and will be viewable also after the renewal.
5.) The Activity Feed will remain as it is, you just won’t be able to post in it. You can still see the posts made by your friends and the people that you are following.
Source: Miiverse |
Elite: Dangerous developer Frontier has registered a trademark for something called Elite: Deadly.
NeoGAF user "ekim" (via PCGamesN) spotted the trademark on the website of the Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), which handles trademarks in Europe. It was registered by Maguire Boss, an entity also based in Cambridge that has secured trademarks for previous Frontier games.
Deadly is one step above Dangerous in Elite's pilot ranking system. The final and top ranking is Elite.
So what is Elite: Deadly? Some have suggested it's a companion app. Others an expansion to Elite: Dangerous. Frontier declined to comment when contacted by Eurogamer. But it may relate to a previous trademark Frontier registered last year.
That was for the word "Thargoid", which is the name given to the Elite universe's insectoid race who originate from somewhere outside known space.
Thargoids first made an appearance in the original Elite game, but vanished circa Frontier. In July 2014, Frontier chief David Braben told The Average Gamer he wanted Elite: Dangerous version of the Thargoids "to be as terrifying and as alien as we can make them".
Watch this space, then. |
Imagine if 70 percent of Americans commuted to work using electric cars, but then new internal combustion engine technology came along that made driving much cheaper and could liberate another 15 percent of the population from reliance on buses. Well, it’d face some daunting obstacles. Sure, you could buy a bunch of gasoline to store in your garage to refill the vehicle at night but not everyone who owns a car has a garage. What’s more, even though on the typical day you’re just driving to and from work a big part of the appeal of homeownership is freedom. With an electric car, you and your family could just drive off to Toledo or Charleston or wherever on a moment’s notice and stop at a charging station whenever you need to power up. With a gasoline-powered care you have a range anxiety problem. Of course if lots of people already owned gasoline-fueld cars, we might have a nationwide network of gasoline depots at which it was possible to refill with all the convenience of a plug-in station. But you can’t get the chicken without the egg and you can’t get the egg without the chicken.
Which is exactly why Tesla Motors is so eager to publicize its early deployment of a handful of state-of-the-art charging stations in key coastal corridors to make the case that you can drive all up-and-down without a worry. If you can get a critical mass of early adopters excited about that limited set of existing infrastructure, you build momentum for more infrastructure and more electric cars. So John Broder’s nightmare story in The New York Times of misleading energy counts, freezing temperatures, and ending up stranded on the roadside is a disaster for Tesla. Except Tesla says they put equipment in the car to monitor driving patterns and charge levels, and according to their data Broder is just lying about what happened. Allegedly he didn’t drive the route he said he drove in the article, didn’t set the temperature where he said he sent it, didn’t charge the car as much as he said he charged it, and didn’t go the speeds he said he went. Broder fires back here. |
Video (01:21) : The players made a number of demands from University of Minnesota officials and said the team would boycott the Holiday Bowl game if they were not met.
After refusing to practice Thursday, Gophers players donned their maroon game jerseys and announced that they are boycotting all football activities — even their Dec. 27 bowl game, if need be — in protest of the University of Minnesota’s decision to suspend 10 teammates as a result of a September sexual assault allegation.
Those 10 suspended players stood directly behind seniors Drew Wolitarsky, Mitch Leidner and Duke Anyanwu — with the rest of the team arrayed behind them in support — as Wolitarsky read from a typed, two-page statement, laying out the players’ demands.
“The boycott will remain in effect until due process is followed and the suspensions for all 10 players involved are lifted,” Wolitarsky said.
Wolitarsky said the players want an apology from university President Eric Kaler and athletic director Mark Coyle, adding that the players “demand that these leaders are held accountable for their actions.”
Asked if the players were worried about losing their scholarships, Wolitarsky responded: “We’re all in this together. What are they going to do, pull 120 guys off the team? They won’t have a team if that’s the case.”
Kaler and Coyle issued a joint statement that acceded to none of the players’ demands but said, “We want to continue an open dialogue with our players and will work to do that over the coming days.”
Gallery: Photos: Gophers football players stand behind boycott Gallery: Photos: Gophers football players stand behind boycott
Gophers coach Tracy Claeys expressed support for his players, tweeting, “Have never been more proud of our kids. I respect their rights & support their effort to make a better world!”
On Tuesday, the school suspended 10 players indefinitely from all team activities, with those players facing new sanctions from the university’s office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EOAA).
According to the players’ attorney, the EOAA recommended expulsion for Ray Buford, Carlton Djam, KiAnte Hardin, Dior Johnson and Tamarion Johnson. The attorney said the EOAA recommended one-year suspensions from the university for Seth Green, Kobe McCrary, Mark Williams and Antoine Winfield Jr., and probation for Antonio Shenault.
Some of the players were directly accused by a female student in an alleged sexual assault in the early morning hours after the Gophers’ Sept. 2 season opener; the involvement of others is unclear. The school discipline comes weeks after a criminal investigation resulted in no arrests or charges. The woman’s allegations were documented through police reports and court testimony, and ultimately led to the EOAA investigation.
Wolitarsky said the team wants the players reinstated because they were punished “for things they didn’t do.” Attorney Lee Hutton, who is representing all 10 players, said he is working on their appeals.
Wolitarsky said the players were incensed after a brief meeting with Coyle following Wednesday’s practice.
“We got no answers to our questions about why these kids were suspended when they were just found [innocent] by the law,” Wolitarsky said. “He basically told us that he didn’t have answers, and that led us to believe that this is kind of unjust. He has the power to reverse this, and he won’t.”
Instead of going through their scheduled Thursday afternoon practice, the players called a meeting and invited just one staff member — linebackers coach Mike Sherels, sources told the Star Tribune.
“All these kids’ reputations are destroyed,” Leidner said. “Their names are destroyed, and it’s extremely difficult to get back, and it’s very unfair for them and that’s why we’re sticking together through this thing.”
With that unified voice, the players then invited Claeys to join their meeting. Sources told the Star Tribune that the head coach expressed reservations about the boycott at first but relented by meeting’s end.
Claeys declined further comment through a team spokesman. The Gophers were scheduled to hold five practices over the next seven days before flying to San Diego on Dec. 23, four days before the Holiday Bowl game against Washington State.
“This decision for the players to take this stance is not easy, but important to preserve the integrity of our program and ourselves,” Wolitarsky said. “We note that the Holiday Bowl Committee, Washington State and the fans are affected by that decision. To that end, we respectfully request that the Holiday Bowl Committee be patient during this time, while Mark Coyle considers his decision to suspend. We also want to request that Mark Coyle make his decision with due haste.”
A source confirmed that Northern Illinois is next in line for a bowl game and a candidate to replace Minnesota in the Holiday Bowl. The decision on whether Minnesota will play likely needs to be made in the next few days, as a potential replacement team would need time to prepare.
Mark Neville, the bowl’s executive director, issued a statement that said, “We are continuing to prepare for the [bowl game], however, we are aware of the situation at the University of Minnesota and are monitoring it closely.”
Leadership crisis
Winfield’s father, Antoine Winfield Sr., the former Vikings standout, stood to the side as the players spoke. Afterward, the elder Winfield was asked if his son will return to the U.
Gophers wide receiver Drew Wolitarsky, center, flanked by quarterback Mitch Leidner, left, and tight end Duke Anyanwu, read the statement on behalf of all the players.
“If the president and athletic director keep their jobs, my son, Antoine Winfield Jr., will not attend the University of Minnesota,” he said.
Kaler said in a letter Wednesday to university boosters that Claeys made the decision to suspend the players, with support from Coyle. Later in the evening, Coyle clarified that he made the decision in consultation with Claeys.
But two sources said Thursday that the decision was made above Claeys.
“Mark Coyle did it,” Wolitarsky said. When told of Kaler’s statement that Claeys made the decision, Wolitarsky said, “I don’t believe that.”
Kaler and Coyle’s statement said: “We understand that a lot of confusion and frustration exists as a result of this week’s suspension[s]. ... The reality is that not everyone can have all of the facts, and unfortunately the University cannot share more information due to federal laws regarding student privacy. We fully support our Gopher football players and all of our student-athletes. Situations like this are always difficult and the decision was made in consultation with and has the full support of President Eric Kaler. The decision was based on facts and is reflective of the University’s values.
“... It’s important that we continue to work together as we move through this difficult time.”
Background on allegations
According to police reports and the student’s testimony, the student, who is part of the gameday operations at TCF Bank Stadium, drank five to six shots of vodka on the night of Sept. 1 before heading out of her apartment with her roommates toward Dinkytown.
Minnesota head coach Tracy Claeys
She then went with two football players to the Radius, an off-campus apartment building. Though she said her memory was spotty, she recalled Djam in a common area asking her to go up to his apartment. She would later testify that she had no intention of having sex.
She said she felt panicked when Djam walked her into his bedroom, but later testified that he never pushed her, prevented her from leaving or said anything threatening to her.
Asked during a court hearing why she didn’t leave, she said, “I felt scared, trapped, isolated with someone I felt had power over me.”
At some point, they began having sex. The police report said “she doesn’t have a recall about how the sex acts started.”
After Djam, others followed. She told police she saw a line of men waiting to take turns.
“I was removing myself from my mind and my body to help myself from the pain and experience going on,” she testified.
She estimated there were at least a dozen men. “I was shoving people off of me,” she testified. “They kept ignoring my pleas for help. Anything I said they laughed. They tried to cheer people on.”
About an hour and a half later, she said, she was allowed to leave. She called her sister, who told her to go to the hospital immediately, where she was given a rape exam, while her mother made a report to Minneapolis police. The next day, an officer sat down with the student, who described her version of what happened.
On Sept. 8, police investigators Eric Faulconer and Matthew Wente interviewed Djam. He acknowledged having sex with the woman, but was adamant that it was consensual. As proof, he played them three separate videos, totaling about 90 seconds, taken that morning.
During an 8-second clip, the woman “appears lucid, alert, somewhat playful and fully conscious; she does not appear to be objecting to anything at this time,” Wente wrote in his report. After viewing two additional videos, he wrote “the sexual contact appears entirely consensual.”
Police later interviewed four other players, who each said the sex was consensual.
On Sept. 30, Wente sent the investigation to the Hennepin County Attorney’s office for possible prosecution. In it, he wrote about the videos, “at no time does she indicate that she is in distress or that the contact is unwelcome or nonconsensual.”
On Oct. 3 the attorney’s office announced there would be no charges.
Afterward, the alleged victim filed a restraining order against six of the players, asking that they be made to stay away from the stadium. After a judge granted the orders, the woman dropped a petition against one of the players.
Hutton, the players’ attorney, appealed, setting up a hearing where the woman testified for several hours. The hearing eventually ended in a settlement — the restraining order would be dropped, but the players still had to stay 20 feet away from the woman and have no contact with her. The two sides also agreed that neither would be able to file a lawsuit.
“I’m glad this is over,” the student read in a statement after the hearing. “This has never been about punishing anyone, I just wanted to feel safe. Because of this resolution that we came to, now I do.” |
“Motherd—k!” We’re guessing we might all be quoting one of our favorite Abraham Ford-isms after The Walking Dead’s Season 5 finale, at least according to what Abraham’s portrayer, Michael Cudlitz, hints to us about the March 29 season ender.
“It’s going to piss you off,” the actor tells Yahoo TV. “There will be tears, but also, once again, like the writers have been doing pretty consistently, it tees up a new beginning in a very, very different way.”
Cudlitz, who’s completing his first full season on The Walking Dead, also tells us what’s motivating Abraham after his D.C. dreams were dashed, why Abraham is more at ease when life is in chaos, what he thinks about that weasel Father Gabriel, and how much he revels in the lighter moments of playing one of the series’ most colorful (and we’re not just talking about the hair and beard hues) characters.
In “Spend,” right before the walkers attacked at the construction site, Abraham seemed to be having a panic attack, or maybe sensed something was going to happen. What was going on with him?
I think a little bit of everything you just mentioned. He’s very aware. He doesn’t want to be out there anymore, from a very real standpoint. None of them want to be out and unprotected. I think he’s processing everything. This is his downtime. This is something he has not had before [since the apocalypse happened], and it’s almost like idle time is not good for him, because he doesn’t want to process what he has to process. He’d rather keep moving forward. As long as he’s moving forward on whatever mission it is, there’s not that time where you’re left with yourself and your own thoughts. Now that they’re in Alexandria and the basic necessities are taken care of, there’s much more time to think. Thinking is what’s going to be the thing that rocks the boat quite a bit in Alexandria.
Is Abraham almost more relaxed in battle than he is when things are peaceful?
I think he terrifies himself, because the thing he’s good at is the thing he wishes he was not good at. The thing that he is good at is what cost him his family. It’s a constant reminder.
What do you think motivates him at this point?
I think his motivation’s changed and is changing. It obviously was the mission to D.C., and that was destroyed. Then there was a time where he was floating completely aimlessly. Now we’re into a phase where, as he said to Michonne at the cocktail party, things have worked out pretty damn good for him. He looks back and, OK, he almost killed himself. He was saved from that situation. Ultimately, he’s in a place where he sees that there’s potentially a future in Alexandria. Now the mission becomes shifting to his place in this new world. Unfortunately, his place in this new world is the same place that he had in the old world.
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There are things that he is good at… that can’t be denied. And there’s things that he probably wishes he could deny. But he is definitely in his element when doing that. He is definitely at his most relaxed. That is something that [showrunner] Scott Gimple really wanted to make sure that we got across — you see it way back even when Tara says to him, “You were smiling when you were killing those walkers,” when you meet Abraham. He’s completely unaware of how relaxed and how in his element he is, and how effortless it is once he goes into that killing machine mode. It is literally what he was built for.
Related: The ‘Walking Dead’ Brain-Dead Move of the Week: I’d Shoot a Grenade for You
As you said, Alexandria potentially could offer this safe haven, this chance to start over for everyone. Could Abraham ever imagine himself starting over, in terms of creating a new family, or is the idea of that just too painful, considering what happened to his wife and kids?
I think possibly. One thing that the show always holds on to is hope. I think that all the characters have to have hope, because if anyone’s given up or has sort of said, “This is enough,” I think you’re setting yourself up for disaster. There has to be hope for the future. Even if you think that it probably won’t happen, there has to be the possibility that it might happen. So, I think that he hopes for and he wishes that things can be different, but ultimately in his heart of hearts, and the audience’s view of what’s happening, it’s not really going to change. Nothing’s ever going to really be normal. The people who have it best right now are the children, the youngest children, because they didn’t know the world in any different way, so they will learn to adapt and be happy in this world, not knowing what they’ve lost. I think the adults have a much, much harder journey and much harder transition. |
Marburg virus disease - Uganda
On 11 November 2014, the Government of Uganda declared that Uganda was free of the Marburg virus. This declaration was made at the National Media Centre by the Minister of State for Primary Health Care, Hon. Sarah Achieng Opendi.
On 4 October 2014, WHO was notified by the Government of Uganda of a case of Marburg virus disease. The case was a male health professional that developed symptoms on 11 September. On 17 September, the patient was admitted to a district health facility in Mpigi. He was later transferred to a hospital in Kampala. On 28 September, the case passed away and was buried on 30 September in Kasese district.
A national task force with 5 sub committees (surveillance/epidemiology, case management, social mobilization, psychosocial, and coordination) oversaw the outbreak response. A total of 197 case contacts were listed and followed up for 21 days. Thirteen contacts developed Marburg-like symptoms but all tested negative for the virus. Suspected Marburg cases were managed in 4 isolation facilities in Kampala, Wakiso/Entebbe, Mpigi, and Kasese districts. Psychosocial support was provided to contacts and family members of the deceased. The public was sensitized about Marburg and viral haemorrhagic fevers.
Since there have been no active cases of Marburg for 42 days, the outbreak is considered to be contained.
Heightened surveillance activities will be maintained to identify potential outbreaks in the future. Public awareness campaigns will also continue in view of the ongoing Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa.
The response was supported by WHO, UNICEF, USAID, World Vision, Uganda Red Cross, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). |
Ringing Bells to refund Freedom 251 payments: Report Ringing Bells MD Mohit Goel has claimed that the company has refunded the money of all 30,000 customers and that it will accept cash on delivery only.
Freedom 251: Queries (FAQs) about the cheapest smartphone answered While initially there might be a lot of doubts around the Freedom 251, Ringing Bells is just clinging on to the price of device to silence critics, which by the way are growing by each passing minute.
NEW DELHI: Ringing Bells , a little-known company that ran into controversy after announcing a Rs 251 'smartphone' , today claimed it will start deliveries of the handset to customers from June 28.Deliveries will start to customers who have registered for buying the phone, Noida-based company's director Mohit Goel said."We will start shipment of Freedom251 from June 28 to customers who paid for it earlier on COD (cash-on-delivery) basis," he told .Ringing Bells began selling the handset, Freedom251, via its website in February. But the launch of the smartphone, touted to be the world's cheapest, swirled into controversy, with some calling it a ponzy scheme .Also, the website of the company crashed during two-day sale due to huge response from prospective buyers. The company claimed that around 30,000 customers had booked the phone despite the glitch.The company, however, withdrew the product and refunded the payments to customers following a close scrutiny by government agencies.The company had said about 30,000 people paid for booking the phone and over 7 crore people registered for it.Later, the company said that it would deliver the phone on cash-on-delivery mode to those who placed the order.Goel said that Ringing Bells has a foolproof plan to support the price but did not disclose it.Ringing Bells president Ashok Chaddha had explained earlier that the manufacturing cost of the phone was about Rs 2,500, which had to be recovered through a series of measures like economies of scale, innovative marketing, reduction in duties and creating an e-commerce marketplace.He had said that the company would make phones in India that would lead to 13.8% savings on duties and further save on cost by selling it online.The phone was to be manufactured in Noida and Uttaranchal."Two plants will be set up for Rs 250 crore each with a capacity of 5 lakh phones. The money will come in the form of debt and equity (1.5:1)," Chaddha had said.However, industry players had expressed doubt over the claim. Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad too had asked the Department of Electronics and IT to look into the matter.The company had also come under the scanner of Excise and Income Tax Departments amid debate over the feasibility of a 3G-enabled handset for Rs 251. |
Lesvos Greece
The Question: How do over-the-counter sleep aids like ZzzQuil help me fall asleep?
The Answer: These days there is a wide variety of OTC medications filling pharmacy shelves that are advertised as sleep aids for those struggling to drift off at the end of a long and stressful day. However, the active ingredient in many of these drugs is one that will be familiar to people with allergies: antihistamines. The only difference is often marketing, according to sleep medicine experts.
Looking at the label, one can see that the active ingredient in ZzzQuil is diphenhydramine, which is more commonly known as the active ingredient in Benadryl, according to Shalini Paruthi, M.D., a fellow of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the director of the Pediatric Sleep and Research Center at Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center. In other words, the antihistamine that has helped relieve us of sneezing and itchy, watery eyes for decades is also being used to address our disturbed sleep.
"We do know that antihistamines can certainly make people feel sleepy, and so we do find diphenhydramine in a number of over-the-counter medications that advertise as helpful for people trying to fall asleep at night," said Dr. Paruthi. "But it's important to know that when we use something like diphenhydramine to help us sleep at night, we’re actually using it for its side effect – not its treatment, which is to fight allergies."
Little long-term research exists on the risks associated with continuous use of OTC sleep aids, but Dr. Paruthi said the main concern among physicians and sleep specialists is the potential for dangerous drug interactions with other medications. But for a person in good health who does not take other prescription medications, this risk is much lower. Instead, the danger for this group is that they'll experience drowsiness that lasts longer than the amount of time they intended to sleep.
Trying an over-the-counter solution to get through a particular rough patch can be fine, said Dr. Paruthis. "After a couple of weeks, if they aren’t experiencing better sleep, that is a good time to see their physician or consult a sleep medicine expert."
In addition to diphenhydramine, the most common active ingredients in OTC sleep aids include melatonin (a synthetic version of the naturally-occurring hormone that signals to our bodies that it time for bed) and tryptophan (the component commonly associated with Thanksgiving Day turkey). Herbal remedy alternatives typically include valerian, chamomile or kava, according to Dr. Paruthi.
At the end of the day, the most important question people considering using an OTC sleep aid can ask themselves is: "Do I really need it?"
Dr. Paruthi explained that it's much better to check in with your current lifestyle habits before resulting to a chemical solution. Waking up at a consistent time, eating a balanced diet, exercising, and setting a healthy bedtime routine can often alleviate the insomnia-like symptoms so many people experience in our "constantly on" society. It's also important to rule out serious sleep conditions as the potential cause of your inability to rest. Dr. Paruthi recommends visiting a physician or a board-certified sleep specialist to test for problems like obstructive sleep apnea if insomnia is a persistent and serious problem for you. Those conditions left undiagnosed can wreak far more havoc on your health than ZzzQuil.
Have a question for Healthy Living? Get in touch here and we'll do our best to ask the experts and get back to you. |
Editor's Choice
“When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another …”
So begins the Declaration of Independence of the 13 colonies from the king and country to which they had given allegiance since the settlers first came to Jamestown and Plymouth Rock.
The declaration was signed by 56 angry old white guys who had had enough of what the Cousins were doing to them. In seceding from the mother country, these patriots put their lives, fortunes and honor on the line.
Four score and five years later, 11 states invoked the same right “to dissolve the political bands” of the Union and form a new nation. After 620,000 had perished, the issue of a state’s right to secede was settled at Appomattox. If that right had existed, it no longer did.
What are we to make, then, of petitions from 25,000 citizens of each of seven Southern states — 116,000 from Texas alone — to secede?
While no one takes this movement as seriously as men took secession in 1861, the sentiments behind it ought not to be minimized. For they bespeak a bristling hostility to the federal government and a dislike bordering on detestation of some Americans for other Americans, as deep as it was on the day Beauregard’s guns fired on Fort Sumter.
Our Pledge of Allegiance still speaks of “one nation under God, indivisible,” but that is far from the reality in the America of 2012.
The social, cultural, moral and political revolutions of the 1960s, against which Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan inveighed to win their 49-state triumphs, have now captured half of the country.
One America believes our history is a catalog of crimes against people of color, that women have an inviolable right to abortions, that condoms should be handed out to sexually active teens in schools where Darwinism should be taught as revealed truth, while Bibles, prayers and religious symbols should be permanently expelled.
The other America sees all this as unpatriotic, godless and decadent.
One America believes in equality of rights; the other demands equality of results brought about through the redistribution of income and wealth, affirmative action, racial and gender set-asides, and quotas.
One America believes in gun control; the other in gun rights.
Now that Christmas and Easter have been expunged from public schools and the public square and the popular culture has been thoroughly de-Christianized, we Americans seem to have but one holy day of obligation that brings us all together: Super Bowl Sunday.
Where one America divinizes diversity, the other seeks out our lost unity and community. Half the country pays no federal income taxes, but half depends on federal benefits.
The occasions when we come together as one, as after 9/11 and during natural disasters such as Katrina and Sandy, seem few and farther between, and the resurrected unity rarely lasts.
Could today’s America come together to build an interstate highway system or send astronauts to the moon, as we did just seven years after John Glenn first orbited the Earth?
Environmentalists would have killed Ike’s highway system and the Hoover and Grand Coulee dams, as today they seek to stop the fracking for oil and natural gas and block the Keystone XL pipeline.
As for states seceding, however, is that really a solution to national disintegration? Tens of millions with Blue State mindsets live in Red State America, and vice versa. While folks in Texas may talk of seceding from the Union, folks in Austin talk of seceding from Texas.
Yet we should take seriously what is behind this desire to separate and sever ties, for it mirrors what is happening across our civilization.
The West is decomposing.
British Tories seek to cut ties to the European Union. Scots want to leave Britain. Catalans vote to divorce from Spain, to which they have been wedded since the 15th century. Flemish talk of leaving Walloons behind in Belgium. Northern Europeans are weary of carrying their profligate southern brethren and muse about cutting Greece adrift and letting it float out into the Mediterranean.
And Americans are already seceding from one another — ethnically, culturally, politically. Middle-class folks flee high-tax California, as Third World immigrants, legal and illegal, pour in to partake of the cornucopia of social welfare benefits the Golden Land dispenses.
High-tax states like New York now send tens of thousands of pension checks to Empire State retirees in tax-free Florida. Communities of seniors are rising that look like replicas of the suburbs of the 1950s. People gravitate toward their own kind. Call it divorce, American-style.
What author William Bishop called “The Big Sort” — the sorting out of people by political beliefs — proceeds. Eighteen states have gone Democratic in six straight presidential elections. A similar number have gone Republican.
“Can we all just get along?” asked Rodney King during the Los Angeles riot of 1992. Well, if we can’t, we can at least dwell apart.
After all, it’s a big country. |
Konami is to release PES 2016's upcoming UEFA Euro 2016 DLC for free in an effort to win back the trust of fans following the blunders with last month's player transfer Data Pack, the publisher has announced.
While details on the content have yet to be revealed, all PES 2016 owners will be able to download the DLC free of charge upon its release, with a further Data Pack introducing the Maracana Stadium, new national team kits, club teams and an updated player roster set to arrive in early December.
"It has been a difficult few months for the fans in how we have been delivering content in our recent Data Packs, with some items missing that our consumers expected," said Konami's Football & Alliances Director Erik Bladinieres. "The PES Production team appreciate their fans' support and want to reward their support and bring back confidence in the Data Pack releases. With this announcement, we hope we can regain their trust."
He continued: "We strive to keep delivering quality content to our fans, for free. The content of the UEFA EURO 2016 content has yet to be defined, but all content delivered by Data Pack featuring EURO for next year's prestigious tournament will be free to all existing users."
PES 2016 launched on PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3 and PC back in September and, according to Steve, is "the best football game ever".
Konami was criticised, however, for its failure to deliver the promised player transfers in the game's first Data Pack, leading to frustration from fans upset with the game's outdated rosters.
A release window for the UEFA Euro 2016 DLC has yet to be announced.
Source: Konami |
PANCHKULA: Three assailants armed with swords and a country-made pistol broke into the house of a 26-year-old local BJP leader and bludgeoned him to death after firing at him in Saketri in the wee hours of Monday.Ashutosh Bhardwaj, the victim, had returned home after attending a wedding ceremony and was sleeping with his younger brother Rahul on the first floor when Sanjay Kumar , Tinku and Ajay Kumar scaled the boundary wall. One of them fired a shot at Ashutosh, leaving him with a stomach wound. The rest then pounced on him with swords. When Rahul tried to save him, he too was attacked. He suffered neck, head and arm injuries. The father of Ashutosh, Kishan Bharadwaj, who was sleeping on the ground floor, ran upstairs after hearing the screams of his sons. While Sanjay and Tinku managed to escape, Ajay was caught and locked inside the washroom.The police later arrested both Sanjay, brother of Saroj, and Tinku."I saw the two accused escape after climbing the side wall of our house. I tried my best to nab them but they fled on their bikes," said Kishan. He alleged the murder was plotted by Saroj Hooda, a political rival of Ashutosh and their neighbour. "I saw Saroj standing on the street and shouting at her boys to murder the whole family. She is the main mastermind behind the murder," alleged Kishan.Rahul said, "The Hooda family had earlier too fought with my brother. The son of Saroj, Arun, had also attacked me once."Police sources said Ajay was wanted by the Rohtak police in various criminal cases and was living in Haridwar. He was immediately taken into custody.ACP Jagtar Singh said old enmity was the reason behind the murder.The police have booked the three under Sections 148, 149, 323, 452 and 302 of the IPC and under Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. The police have also rounded up fiver persons, Arun Hooda, Manu Hooda, Tarun Hooda and Zorawar Hooda , all relatives of Saroj, and R D Swami, a priest at a temple in Saketri.Ashutosh had succumbed to his injuries at PGI, while Rahul was discharged after receiving first aid treatment. |
The digital currency bitcoin continued its surge on Tuesday crossing $200, more than doubling in value in just over one week. Bitcoin's value at the end of February was just over $30.
Bitcoin allows users to exchange online credits for goods and services. There are currently 10 million bitcoins in circulation but the currency is capped at 21 million coins.
Bitcoin's value rise is being ascribed to the uncertainty over other currencies, the fallout from the Cyprus crisis and the intense media speculation.
(Read More: Bitcoin Bubble: How 'Geeks' Sent Prices Parabolic)
Much of that media scrutiny has asked whether Bitcoin's rise is a bubble in the making. Warning signs are evident: the digital currency's value fell $20 last Wednesday when Mt. Gox, the largest trading platform for the currency, suffered an outage for an hour. It also dropped 10 percent in value on Monday without explanation.
David Jones, chief market strategist at IG Markets, says the rising demand for bitcoin makes it a potential safe haven given that the currency has a limited output – by 2140, all bitcoins will have been generated. "If it's something where there will always be demand, the fact that it's limited should give you security, like with gold," Jones said. "The issue is whether at this stage, where it's gone up 200 percent, there is a lot further for it to go. No one knows."
Not all Bitcoin news has been positive. Yesterday it was reported that a piece of malware on Skype was hijacking computers and forcing it to mine bitcoins. Jones said such stories did make for discomforting reading for bitcoin investors.
(Read More: Bitcoin Great for Narco-Dollar Traffickers: Pro)
"Part of bitcoin's appeal is that there is no regulation, so nobody can come in and force quantitative easing etc.," he said, "but no regulation also means someone could turn on a tap and just create more and more bitcoins. I'm not saying bitcoin's price won't go up any further, but I'm not putting my pension on it."
Jones concluded that while bit coin could indeed rise further in the next few weeks,"my guess is that in a year's time I wouldn't be surprised if we'd stopped talking about it." |
Over the near half a century that the Justice League (and its numerous incarnations) has existed, they’ve had a variety of places to call their home. Happy Harbor is both easy to remember due to the alliterative nature of the name and for being the very first place that the Justice League ever operated out of when they were through being the Justice Society—or more accurately, when the JSA became the superteam of Earth-2 at the dawn of the Silver Age of Comics. Fans of Young Justice (whether from its on screen or on page incarnations), should also recognize the name Happy Harbor as being the home base for this iconic team of legacy characters.
As each individual member of the Justice League has changed over the years and the roster has grown and shrunk, so has the scale of the threats that they were facing. Starro was a pretty formidable bad guy in the beginning. He was at the very least a big enough threat to bring the very first team together (Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter). The team did graduate to bigger and badder threats, and I think the existence of DC villains like Darkseid, Doomsday and the Dominators are reason enough why a cave by the sea was insufficient. From where I’m standing, the Hall of Justice presents a very similar set of problems. There’s a nice idea with The Hall of Justice in that it provides a very public face and interface for the public that relies on the world-saving powers of the Justice League regularly. A museum as well as a team HQ, this structure does something interesting by bringing these god-and-goddess-level heroes down to a human level. But aside from the Hall of Justice being a smart branding move, it provides little advantage over Happy Harbor. Both locations ultimately suffer from creating tunnel vision for the team’s worldview. Tragedies that happen to take place within the vicinity of the Hall of Justice are probably taken care of with increased speed and gusto. If something terrible is taking place in a more outlying area there’s a chance it will not be attended to as readily. Now, if the team we’re talking about is the Justice League of America and their domain is going to be mainly the continental United States, then either of the headquarters previously mentioned will do the job just fine. But when the Justice League has to worry about the fate of the entire world (sometimes throughout time), then there’s a need for a larger presence. In the past, the Justice League has had embassies sprinkled all over the world and that’s definitely a step in the right direction, although in order to keep them all staffed, active members of the League often have to split apart by significant geographic distances.
The middle of the Silver Age saw the introduction of the Justice League Satellite and this is the scale of headquarters that I’m talking about. If you are a long-time DC reader, then you know the Satellite Era of the Justice League has some pretty crazy adventures (and equally tragic events) that take place out in space. I think this does a good job at illustrating how widespread the danger is that these superheroes are facing on a regular basis.
In and of itself the Satellite is not perfect, however. It lacks any real ease of transportation for characters who don’t fly, are not invulnerable or can’t breathe in space. Those are some pretty significant shortcomings when you consider how important Batman and the rest of the members of the Batfamily are to any number of Justice League teams.
What this really boils down to is my love of the Justice League Watchtower. It was first introduced by Grant Morrison and Howard Porter in their kick butt JLA series. A lot of DC fans probably first met the Watchtower in the Justice League animated series that came a few years later and took a lot of notes from this same comic run. Transportation to-and-from the Watchtower was streamlined by Boom Tubes, technology was upgraded from anything they had ever possessed in the past and it was big. The Watchtower allowed for more reserve members—more members overall—so the Justice League was capable of operating at the most highly productive rate possible. The very existence of the Watchtower allows them to save as many people as possible, as often as possible.
Side note: If you want to check out the aforementioned JLA series (and you should!), you can get volume one right here.
By opening up the scale upon which the Justice League can function, we, as readers, are being told that the Justice League has all of our backs. Anywhere in the world, at any time. For those few of us who have ever gone interstellar, we can count on them too. Some critics, prone to paranoia, might want to argue that the Watchtower creates a Big Brother state where citizens of the world would be constantly watched. I would encourage those people to flip the script and consider it from this viewpoint: the Watchtower allows the Justice League to watch over and watch out for as many people who are relying on them as possible.
Some of this is a matter of geography, but it’s mostly a matter of scale—and the scale upon which our modern myths can operate.
Ashley V. Robinson writes about Rebirth for DCComics.com and covers The Flash for the #DCTV Couch Club. Look for her on Twitter at @AshleyVRobinson. |
Richie McCaw leads the All Blacks for the 100th time on Sunday. RICHARD KNOWLER was in Cardiff to hear coach Steve Hansen and McCaw sift through the memories of a remarkable career.
Steve Hansen tells an amusing anecdote about the time Richie McCaw risked being pummelled by his team-mates.
The eager young flanker had been going berserk at Canterbury trainings in the early 2000s, repeatedly ducking into rucks to steal the ball and, subsequently, annoying senior squad members.
Enough was enough, the old heads agreed. Something needed to be done.
So established forwards Todd Blackadder, Reuben Thorne, Scott Robertson and Angus Gardiner marched up to coach Hansen and demanded he tell McCaw to curb his enthusiasm or they might have to give the cheeky pup a slap.
"Toddy, Reuben, Razor and Angus Gardiner came to me at one point and said 'look if he comes into another ruck and pinches another ball we are going to snot him'," Hansen recalled ahead of McCaw's game against Wales.
"I said 'if you snot him I will be snotting the lot of you, so leave him alone. He's only a baby, just look after him and get there quicker than he is'."
Even back then, Hansen said, McCaw wanted to be the best.
But the coach was also careful to ensure the enthusiastic No 7 didn't unwittingly make enemies.
"I had to go to him quietly and say 'let them win a couple, you are starting to piss them off'," he said.
McCaw, 33, is the current immortal of New Zealand rugby and Hansen wants to ensure his milestone of leading the All Blacks in 100 tests gets the recognition it deserved.
It was Hansen, then working as Canterbury's academy manager, who saw something special in McCaw as a teenager.
The 18-year-old was playing for Otago Boys' High School against Rotorua Boys' in a national secondary schools play-off match at Lancaster Park, setting a firecracker off inside Hansen's head.
Hansen marched to Steve Tew, then the Canterbury chief executive and now NZ Rugby's chief executive, and jabbed a finger at him.
"I went into Tewie's office and said [no matter] how much he costs, just get him. This kid's special."
Tew shook his head, reminding him that Canterbury and Otago had a gentleman's agreement not to poach each other's players. But Otago made a dreadful mistake. They broke that deal and, suddenly, all bets were off.
"They pinched Sam Harding from Christ's College, so we got him [McCaw] up to Lincoln College," Hansen said.
"There was just something about him from day one."
McCaw joined the academy, was given some extra cash to make him feel appreciated, selected for Canterbury and the Crusaders and in late 2001 debuted for the All Blacks against Ireland.
The first time McCaw led his country was almost 10 years ago to the day - also against Wales at the Millennium Stadium. The All Blacks squeezed home 26-25.
When Tana Umaga retired after the 2005 season, the path was open for McCaw to take the captaincy and there has never been any question of him relinquishing the role - except, of course, after the capitulation to France in the 2007 World Cup quarterfinal in Cardiff.
That really stung McCaw, forcing himself to ask whether he wanted to continue as skipper.
"There was perhaps a point after the 2007 World Cup where I questioned I was good enough to do it, or the right person to do it, which I suppose is natural after a disappointment like that," McCaw said.
It was, he said, a fleeting moment of self-doubt. He then realised that being a leader stoked his enthusiasm: "You have to want the responsibility, want to put yourself under the pressure that comes with it."
It was during the redemption tournament of 2011, when McCaw played with a broken bone in his right foot, that Hansen's admiration for "Ricko" spiked to new levels.
"To do what he did with his foot broken just showed the courage of the man," Hansen said.
"The mental strength he had to play as well as he did and to be there, to keep the team confident.
"His ability to stay in the fight and get all the way through the tournament was massive. Even after the final - he walked with me to the media conference afterwards and he was exhausted.
"It was over, the relief was immense among all of us but I think, for himself, particularly because he felt a lot of responsibility for '07. Which wasn't because it just wasn't him who lost it, we all lost it."
McCaw isn't perfect. He still concedes the penalties for lingering too long at the back of a ruck or for poor timing when lunging for a turnover, and there has been the odd yellow card along the way.
Hansen says his captain has had to learn to be more flexible in his thinking and McCaw admits he is now more open to listening to other senior team-mates.
And he has also learned to never concede.
"One thing I know with rugby, and I always think, is that even when you are under the pump - no matter what - at some point it will change," McCaw said.
"You have to make it change but it will come back your way and you have to be good enough to take those opportunities." |
Both sides expect commissioner to back the team
In a major blow to Nashville Predators co-owner David Freeman, Chancellor Ellen Hobbs Lyle ordered him and the team he helped save to arbitration with the National Hockey League.
Freeman sued the Predators and fellow owner Tom Cigarran for $250 million in June, alleging various breaches of contract and unjust enrichment by the ownership group and inducement of breach and breach of fiduciary duty against Cigarran. He was seeking to have his original ownership stake of 48 percent restored and a pay back of guarantees he made to the city and the team's former creditors.
Last week, lawyers for Freeman, the team and the NHL argued a motion to compel arbitration in a lengthy hearing before Lyle. She had to determine whether Davidson County Chancery Court was the appropriate venue for the case. Attorneys for the team and the NHL said that Freeman is bound by the consent agreement that created the ownership group as well as the NHL's constitution and bylaws to have his case heard in arbitration by Commissioner Gary Bettman.
But Freeman's lawyers, Bone McAllester Norton attorneys Ed Yarbrough and Alex Little, argued instead that he is not an owner, but an investment partner as a beneficiary of Commodore Trust, which itself owns a stake in Predators Holdings. Further, they argued Wednesday that Bettman cannot be seen as a neutral arbitrator because his charge is to maintain the stability of the league and its member teams, which would be threatened by a large judgment in favor of Freeman.
On the other side, the league and team said Freeman meets every standard definition of an owner and that he long ago agreed to have these disputes heard by Bettman, who is uniquely qualified to settle these controversies because of his particular knowledge of the business of the NHL. That's a standard that has been upheld by courts in similar cases questioning the appropriateness of sports leagues to settle internecine disputes.
The ruling, which was filed under seal, is a significant win for the Predators, as both sides agreed during oral arguments that Bettman is likely to side with the team. |
Provides Comments on CanniMed's Poison Pill Tactic
TSX:ACB
Aurora's proposed offer currently valued at $24.00 per CanniMed share
per CanniMed share Represents a 56.9% premium to CanniMed's closing price prior to Aurora's takeover proposal announcement
Lock-up agreements already in place with CanniMed's 3 largest shareholders for 38% of CanniMed shares
CanniMed's intention to acquire Newstrike is highly conditional and oppressive to CanniMed shareholders in light of Aurora's proposed offer
VANCOUVER, Nov. 20, 2017 /CNW/ - Aurora Cannabis Inc. (the "Company" or "Aurora") (TSX: ACB) announced today that, further to its press release of November 14, 2017, it intends to make an offer (the "Offer") to purchase all of the issued and outstanding common shares (the "CanniMed Shares") of CanniMed Therapeutics Inc. ("CanniMed") (TSX: CMED) for consideration consisting of common shares of Aurora (the "Aurora Shares").
The Offer will provide holders of CanniMed Shares with 4.52586207 Aurora Shares for each CanniMed Share, subject to a maximum of $24.00 per CanniMed Share (the "Cap Price"). If the market value for 4.52586207 Aurora Shares is more than the Cap Price (based on the 20-day VWAP of Aurora Shares on the earlier of the expiry date for the Offer and the date on which the conditions to the Offer have been satisfied), then Aurora will adjust the number of Aurora Shares offered as consideration in the Offer, such that the consideration payable for each CanniMed Share is equal to the Cap Price.
The Offer Price, which would currently be equivalent to the Cap Price of $24.00 given Aurora's closing share price of $5.51 on November 17, 2017, represents a 56.9% premium over the closing price of CanniMed Shares on November 14, 2017, the last day prior to the public disclosure of Aurora's intention to pursue a combination with CanniMed.
Background to the Offer
On November 13, 2017, Aurora presented the CanniMed board of directors (the "Board") with a proposal (the "Proposal") to explore a mutually agreeable merger on the terms set forth in the Offer, and requested a response prior to 5:00 pm Pacific Time on November 17, 2017 (the "Proposal Deadline"). Although CanniMed's Board failed to respond to the Proposal prior to the Proposal Deadline, Aurora would still welcome a transaction supported by CanniMed's Board, and looks forward to engaging with CanniMed's Board to deliver significant value to CanniMed shareholders. However, at this time, the rationale for the combination is too strong to accept inaction, and thus the decision has been made to proceed to take Aurora's Offer directly to shareholders.
"While we have attempted to engage and have a constructive dialogue with CanniMed's Board and management about the strong merits of our offer, their refusal to enter into such a discussion, along with the powerful strategic rationale for the combination, leaves us no recourse at this point but to launch a formal offer for the company," said Terry Booth, CEO of Aurora. "We believe that CanniMed shareholders would benefit greatly from a combination, not only through the very significant premium we are offering for their shares, but also by participating in Aurora's continued growth, which is well above our industry peers, and is based on superior business strategy and exceptional, industry-leading execution. We already have the support from a large percentage of CanniMed shareholders, and look forward to bringing this process to a positive conclusion for the benefit of our combined shareholders."
CanniMed's Highly Conditional Intention to Acquire Newstrike Resources
CanniMed's announcement late on November 17, 2017 (the "CanniMed Press Release") of its highly conditional intention to acquire Newstrike Resources Ltd. ("Newstrike Resources" and "Newstrike Resources Offer") is extremely troubling in light of the bona fide acquisition proposal that Aurora presented to CanniMed's Board on November 13, 2017. At no point did CanniMed try to engage or otherwise entertain discussions with Aurora regarding the significant offer that had been presented to their Board for CanniMed shareholders prior to entering into the Newstrike Resources agreement.
The Newstrike Resources Offer requires CanniMed shareholders to approve the transaction. Given that 38% of CanniMed shareholders have contractually agreed to support the Aurora Offer and to vote against any proposed action by the CanniMed Board, the Newstrike Resources Offer is a highly conditional proposition with significant uncertainty.
In entering into the highly conditional agreement, CanniMed has agreed to pay a $9.5 million termination fee to Newstrike Resources should a superior proposal, such as the Aurora Offer, emerge. The termination fee, if paid, represents approximately $0.41 cash per share loss to CanniMed shareholders.
The assertion in the CanniMed Press Release that the terms of the Aurora offer "are unknown" is dubious, given that the detailed terms available to CanniMed shareholders were outlined in the proposal delivered by Aurora on November 13, 2017 to the CanniMed Board.
In light of these considerations, it is clear the Newstrike Resources Offer should be considered oppressive to CanniMed shareholders and to Aurora's Offer, which delivers significantly higher financial and strategic value to CanniMed shareholders. Aurora is reviewing its options with respect to CanniMed's Newstrike Resources Offer and will comment further in due course.
Compelling Strategic Rationale for the Aurora-CanniMed Combination
Aurora believes that the combination of the two companies is extremely compelling, in the best interest of all shareholders, and will accelerate growth and shareholder value creation for the combined entity, further extending the Company's leadership position within the global cannabis sector.
Among other things, the combined entity will have:
Over 40,000 patients - a combined total of over 40,000 active registered cannabis patients in Canada ;
a combined total of over 40,000 active registered cannabis patients in ; 5 state-of-the-art facilities - significant cultivation capacity with five state-of-the-art facilities;
significant cultivation capacity with five state-of-the-art facilities; 130,000 kg funded capacity - funded capacity of over 130,000 kilograms of annual production, with significant additional capacity planned and funded;
- funded capacity of over 130,000 kilograms of annual production, with significant additional capacity planned and funded; Expanded international presence - a strengthened international presence with operations and agreements across North America , the European Union, Australia , South Africa , and the Cayman Islands ;
- a strengthened international presence with operations and agreements across , the European Union, , , and the ; Increased export capacity - multiple EU GMP-compliant production facilities and significantly increased export capacity;
- multiple EU GMP-compliant production facilities and significantly increased export capacity; Increased oil production - high throughput oil production through Aurora's strategic extraction partner Radient Technologies Inc. to satisfy growing international demand;
- high throughput oil production through Aurora's strategic extraction partner Radient Technologies Inc. to satisfy growing international demand; Broader product portfolio - expanded existing and new, near-term product offerings, delivery mechanisms, and devices;
- expanded existing and new, near-term product offerings, delivery mechanisms, and devices; Strategic product synergies - complementary product offerings which will enable faster market penetration in new sectors for both companies;
- complementary product offerings which will enable faster market penetration in new sectors for both companies; Improved yields - enhanced production yields and product quality through cross-application of proprietary technologies and intellectual property from each of Aurora and CanniMed;
- enhanced production yields and product quality through cross-application of proprietary technologies and intellectual property from each of Aurora and CanniMed; CanvasRx - immediate ability to address demand growth constraints at CanniMed through CanvasRx's industry leading physician education and patient counselling services;
- immediate ability to address demand growth constraints at CanniMed through CanvasRx's industry leading physician education and patient counselling services; Accelerated growth through innovation - enabling CanniMed to leverage Aurora's sector leadership in execution, technology integration and innovation to accelerate development and growth potential;
- enabling CanniMed to leverage Aurora's sector leadership in execution, technology integration and innovation to accelerate development and growth potential; Genetics - expansion of both companies' portfolio of genetics;
- expansion of both companies' portfolio of genetics; eCommerce - enabling CanniMed to leverage Aurora's unparalleled e-commerce platform, including the only mobile app in Canada that enables customer purchases;
- enabling CanniMed to leverage Aurora's unparalleled e-commerce platform, including the only mobile app in that enables customer purchases; Same day delivery - expanding Aurora's same-day delivery service into additional areas across Canada ; and
- expanding Aurora's same-day delivery service into additional areas across ; and Strong cash position and balance sheet fueling rapid growth - Aurora`s sector-leading cash position and balance sheet will enable faster roll-out of initiatives for CanniMed to accelerate growth.
Reasons for CanniMed Shareholders to Support the Aurora-CanniMed Combination
Significant Premium to Market Price. The Offer, based on Aurora's closing share price of $5.51 on November 17, 2017 , will result in CanniMed shareholders receiving the Cap Price of $24.00 , which represents a 56.9% premium over the closing price of CanniMed Shares on November 14, 2017 , the last day prior to the public disclosure of Aurora's intention to pursue a combination with CanniMed.
The Offer, based on Aurora's closing share price of on , will result in CanniMed shareholders receiving the Cap Price of , which represents a 56.9% premium over the closing price of CanniMed Shares on , the last day prior to the public disclosure of Aurora's intention to pursue a combination with CanniMed. High Likelihood of Completion. Aurora believes that there is a high likelihood that more than 66 2/3% of the outstanding shares will be tendered to the Offer, and therefore the Offer will be successful, given that the Offer is already supported by 38% of CanniMed shareholders (the "Locked-Up Shareholders").
Aurora believes that there is a high likelihood that more than 66 2/3% of the outstanding shares will be tendered to the Offer, and therefore the Offer will be successful, given that the Offer is already supported by 38% of CanniMed shareholders (the "Locked-Up Shareholders"). Support of Major Shareholders. 38% of CanniMed shareholders have already agreed to tender their shares in favour of the Offer and are precluded from tendering any of their common shares in favour of any other competing acquisition proposal relating to CanniMed. The Locked-Up Shareholders include CanniMed's three largest shareholders.
38% of CanniMed shareholders have already agreed to tender their shares in favour of the Offer and are precluded from tendering any of their common shares in favour of any other competing acquisition proposal relating to CanniMed. The Locked-Up Shareholders include CanniMed's three largest shareholders. Continued Participation with an Industry Leader. Aurora has rapidly become a globally dominant cannabis company with a proven track record of exceptional shareholder value creation, with its rapid expansion driven by its agility, innovation and unparalleled execution. The Offer provides CanniMed shareholders the opportunity to continue to participate in the compelling industry growth alongside the established and successful track record of Aurora.
Aurora has rapidly become a globally dominant cannabis company with a proven track record of exceptional shareholder value creation, with its rapid expansion driven by its agility, innovation and unparalleled execution. The Offer provides CanniMed shareholders the opportunity to continue to participate in the compelling industry growth alongside the established and successful track record of Aurora. Increased Scale, Capital Markets Presence and Access to Capital. The pro forma combined company would have a market capitalization of approximately $3 billion , in addition to significantly enhanced liquidity relative to CanniMed, providing greater access to capital. Aurora has cash of more than $340 million upon closing of its two current capital initiatives, relative to only $54 million for CanniMed. Aurora's capital position provides very significant firepower to continue pursuing its aggressive global expansion and differentiation strategy.
The pro forma combined company would have a market capitalization of approximately , in addition to significantly enhanced liquidity relative to CanniMed, providing greater access to capital. Aurora has cash of more than upon closing of its two current capital initiatives, relative to only for CanniMed. Aurora's capital position provides very significant firepower to continue pursuing its aggressive global expansion and differentiation strategy. Potential for Downward Share Price Impact if Offer is Not Accepted. The Offer represents a significant premium to the market price of CanniMed shares prior to the public announcement of Aurora's interest to acquire CanniMed. Given the the agreements with the Locked-Up Shareholders, CanniMed will be unable to proceed with an alternative competing transaction to the Offer. If the Offer is not successful and no competing transaction is made, Aurora believes it is likely the trading price of CanniMed shares will decline to pre-Offer levels.
Proposed Offer Particulars
Provided Aurora does not uncover or otherwise identify information suggesting that the business, affairs, prospects or assets of CanniMed have been materially impaired, Aurora intends to commence the bid during the week of November 20, 2017 and thereafter mail a takeover bid circular to the registered holders of CanniMed Shares (in the time required under applicable Canadian securities laws). Aurora expects that the Offer, when made, will be remain open for acceptance for at least 105 calendar days from the date of the commencement of the Offer.
Aurora anticipates that the Offer will be subject to a number of customary conditions, including: (i) there being deposited under the Offer, and not withdrawn, at least 66⅔% of the outstanding CanniMed Shares (calculated on a fully diluted basis), excluding any CanniMed Shares held by Aurora; (ii) receipt of all governmental, regulatory and third party approvals that Aurora considers necessary or desirable in connection with the Offer; (iii) no material adverse change having occurred in the business, affairs, prospects or assets of CanniMed; and (iv) the minimum tender and other conditions set out in National Instrument 62-104 Take-Over Bids and Issuer Bids. In addition, Aurora may require the approval of its shareholders to issue the Aurora Shares to be distributed by it in connection with the Offer. If required, Aurora expects that it may call a meeting of its shareholders to consider a resolution to approve the issuance of Aurora Shares in connection with the Offer in early 2018 if required by the policies of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
Intention to Make an Offer
CanniMed shareholders should note that Aurora has not yet commenced the Offer and should carefully review the cautionary statements set out below in this News Release respecting the status of the Offer and the factors that may cause Aurora not to make the Offer.
Aurora may determine not to make the Offer if: (i) it identifies material adverse information concerning the business, affairs, prospects or assets of CanniMed not previously disclosed by CanniMed; (ii) CanniMed implements or attempts to implement defensive tactics (such as a shareholder rights plan, grant of an option (or similar right) to purchase material assets, material acquisitions, issuances of shares (including, a private placement), or increased indebtedness (including, incurrence of significant new liabilities) in relation to the Offer); (iii) CanniMed completes or undertakes to complete any significant transactions, including the proposed, but not yet completed, acquisition of Newstrike Resources Ltd.; or (iv) CanniMed determines to engage with Aurora to negotiate the terms of a combination transaction and Aurora and CanniMed determine to undertake that transaction utilizing a structure other than a takeover bid (a plan of arrangement, for example). Accordingly, there can be no assurance that the Offer will be made or that the final terms of the Offer will be as set out in this News Release.
If Aurora proceeds with the Offer, full details of the Offer will be included in the formal offer and take-over bid circular to be filed with securities regulatory authorities and mailed to shareholders.
This News Release does not constitute an offer to buy or an invitation to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy or invitation to sell, any of the securities of Aurora or CanniMed. Such an offer may only be made pursuant to an offer and take-over bid circular filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada.
Advisors
Aurora has retained Canaccord Genuity Corp. as its financial advisor in connection with the Offer. McMillan LLP is acting as the legal advisor to Aurora for the Offer. Laurel Hill Advisory Group has also been retained by Aurora as its information agent in connection with the Offer. Shareholders with questions regarding Aurora's Offer can contact Laurel Hill at 1-877-452-7184 (or +1-416-304-0211 – collect call for shareholders outside North America).
About Aurora
Aurora's wholly-owned subsidiary, Aurora Cannabis Enterprises Inc., is a licensed producer of medical cannabis pursuant to Health Canada's Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations ("ACMPR"). The Company operates a 55,200 square foot, state-of-the-art production facility in Mountain View County, Alberta, known as "Aurora Mountain", a second 40,000 square foot high-technology production facility known as "Aurora Vie" in Pointe-Claire, Quebec on Montreal's West Island, and is currently constructing an 800,000 square foot production facility, known as "Aurora Sky", at the Edmonton International Airport.
In addition, the Company holds approximately 9.6% of the issued shares (12.9% on a fully-diluted basis) in leading extraction technology company Radient Technologies Inc., based in Edmonton, and is in the process of completing an investment in Edmonton-based Hempco Food and Fiber for an ownership stake of up to 50.1%. Furthermore, Aurora is the cornerstone investor with a 19.9% stake in Cann Group Limited, the first Australian company licensed to conduct research on and cultivate medical cannabis. Aurora also owns Pedanios, a leading wholesale importer, exporter, and distributor of medical cannabis in the European Union, based in Germany. The Company offers further differentiation through its acquisition of BC Northern Lights Ltd. and Urban Cultivator Inc., industry leaders, respectively, in the production and sale of proprietary systems for the safe, efficient and high-yield indoor cultivation of cannabis, and in state-of-the-art indoor gardening appliances for the cultivation of organic microgreens, vegetables and herbs in home and professional kitchens. Aurora's common shares trade on the TSX under the symbol "ACB".
On behalf of the Board of Directors,
AURORA CANNABIS INC.
Terry Booth
CEO
SHAREHOLDER QUESTIONS
Questions may be directed to Aurora's Information Agent at:
Laurel Hill Advisory Group
North America Toll Free: 1-877-452-7184
Collect Calls Outside North America: 1-416-304-0211
Email: [email protected]
This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of such statements under applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "continue", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "potential", "proposed" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. These statements are only predictions. Forward looking statements in release include statements regarding the proposed terms of the business combination of Aurora with CanniMed (the "Combination"), the timing or potential for discussions regarding the Combination, the expected benefits of the Combination, and the anticipated market capitalization of the combined entity. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release, including assumptions based upon CanniMed's publicly disclosed information, and that there will be no change in the business, prospects or capitalization of CanniMed or Aurora. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law. A more complete discussion of the risks and uncertainties facing the Company appears in the Company's Annual Information Form and continuous disclosure filings, which are available at www.sedar.com.
In particular, this News Release contains forward-looking information concerning: (i) the Offer, various terms of the Offer and the anticipated timing of commencement of the Offer; (ii) expectations with respect to synergies and efficiencies that may be achieved upon a combination of the businesses of Aurora and CanniMed and other benefits of a combination of the businesses of Aurora and CanniMed; and (iii) expectations with respect to business and geographical diversification of the combined entity.
Neither TSX nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of Toronto Stock Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Cautionary Statement Respecting CanniMed Information
The information concerning CanniMed contained in this News Release has been taken from, or is based upon, publicly available information filed by CanniMed with securities regulatory authorities in Canada prior to the date of this News Release and other public sources. CanniMed has not reviewed this News Release and has not confirmed the accuracy and completeness of the CanniMed information contained herein. Neither Aurora, nor any of the officers or directors of Aurora, assumes any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of such CanniMed information or any failure by CanniMed to disclose events or facts that may have occurred, or which may affect the significance or accuracy of any such CanniMed information, but which are unknown to Aurora. Aurora has no means of verifying the accuracy or completeness of any of the CanniMed information contained in this News Release or whether there has been a failure by CanniMed to disclose events or facts that may have occurred or may affect the significance or accuracy of any such information.
Notice to U.S. Holders
The Offer will be made for the securities of a company formed outside of the United States. The Offer will be subject to disclosure requirements of Canada that are different from those of the United States. Financial statements included in the documents, if any, will be prepared in accordance with Canadian accounting standards and may not be comparable to the financial statements of United States companies.
It may be difficult for a securityholder in the United States to enforce his/her/its rights and any claim a securityholder may have arising under the U.S. federal securities laws, since the issuer is located in Canada, and some or all of its officers or directors may be residents of Canada or another country outside of the United States. A securityholder may not be able to sue a Canadian company or its officers or directors in a court in Canada or elsewhere outside of the United States for violations of U.S. securities laws. It may be difficult to compel a Canadian company and its affiliates to subject themselves to a U.S. court's judgment.
Securityholders should be aware that the issuer may purchase securities otherwise than under the Offer, such as in open market or privately negotiated purchases.
Cautionary Statement Respecting Status of the Offer
Aurora has not yet commenced the offer noted above in this news release. Upon commencement of the offer, aurora will file a takeover bid circular with various securities commissions in Canada. The takeover bid circular will contain important information about the offer and should be read in its entirety by CanniMed shareholders and others to whom the offer is addressed. After the offer is commenced, CanniMed shareholders (and others) will be able to obtain, at no charge, a copy of the offer to purchase, takeover bid circular and various associated documents when they become available on the system for electronic document analysis and retrieval (SEDAR) at www.sedar.com. This announcement is for informational purposes only and does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to purchase, otherwise acquire, subscribe for, sell, otherwise dispose of or issue, or any other solicitation of any offer to sell, otherwise dispose of, issue, purchase, otherwise acquire or subscribe for any security. The offer will not be made in, nor will deposits of securities be accepted from a person in, any jurisdiction in which the making or acceptance thereof would not be in compliance with the laws of such jurisdiction. However, Aurora may, in its sole discretion, take such action as it deems necessary to extend the offer in any such jurisdiction.
SOURCE Aurora Cannabis Inc.
For further information: Cam Battley, Executive Vice President, +1.905.864.5525, [email protected], www.auroramj.com; Marc Lakmaaker, Director, Investor Relations and Corporate Development, +1.647.269.5523, [email protected] |
LAFD Firefighters and Arson investigators were very busy through the night, extinguishing and investigating a series of eight fires in the North Hollywood and Sun Valley areas that may have been intentionally set.
The suspected arson fires broke out beginning around 3 a.m. Sunday, October 25, 2015. The fires ranged from dumpster bins that were set on fire to a burning mattress laid against an automobile to small structures near a large commercial building that were set on fire.
Fortunately, due to firefighters’ quick efforts, all fires were swiftly extinguished minimizing damage and no one was injured.
Six on-call arson investigators responded to the rash of fires, canvasing areas and combing through debris. They detained and questioned one person of interest, however, that person was released and the cause of the fires remain under active investigation. We are asking the public to assist.
Anyone with information they feel may assist in determining the cause, or any suspicious activity noted in the North Hollywood and Sun Valley areas around 3 a.m. this morning are encouraged to contact the Arson Counter/Terrorism Section at (213) 893-9850.
Anybody even contemplating starting a fire in the act of arson in L.A. better think twice. The LAFD considers the crime of arson to be one of the most egregious crimes committed in the city and we will utilize all of our resources to investigate and prosecute the responsible parties. |
Update: Evan Rapoport from HedgeCo tells us that his client list is only a "sample" and thus, LogiEnergy wasn't included on said list.
Reuters today reported that troubled business lender CIT Group was offered $1 billion by unknown hedge fund LogiEnergy. According to the report, LogiEnergy was looking to pick up a "sliver" of CIT's oil and gas debt in an effort to boost its Peak Oil fund.
But the entire deal is shrouded in deep mystery. Who is LogiEnergy? We went searching for answers and found that its main corporate website, which is buried within Google, isn't even operational. Their Peak Oil website at www.logipeakoil.com allows you to access no information without signing up. Furthermore, the designers of the Peak Oil website, HedgeCo Websites, have apparently dropped LogiEnergy from their client list and no record of the hedge fund exists on its website:
Asked about the source of the financing, logi's chief investment officer, Lorenzo Ortega, declined to comment.
But Ortega told Reuters, "We have an institutional-class investor that is interested in supporting it." The financing is contingent on CIT accepting the offer.
A spokesman for CIT declined to comment on the proposal. Analysts and energy investors said they had not previously heard of logi.
Ortega said he did not believe the debt offer was a game-changing deal for CIT.
"This is simply a hip pocket opportunity for them," he said. "Those poor guys have a much bigger problems ... CIT has a big chunk of oil and gas debt. We only want a sliver."
Who is this "institutional-class investor" that Ortega offers up to the press? Surely it would come out and announce its plans to purchase $1 billion of CIT asssets if it were serious. For now, LogiEnergy is nothing more than an apparition. |
The New York Times Co. has named Mark Thompson president and CEO, filling a vacancy created when Janet Robinson left abruptly last December.
Mark Thompson
Mr. Thompson, who will assume his post in November, has been director-general of the British Broadcasting Corp. since 2004. He has focused primarily on the BBC's ad-free TV coverage, including the just-completed London Olympics telecast, but also has responsibility over the BBC's commercial arm, the Times Co. noted. He has also overseen the BBC's extension further into digital media and platforms with efforts such as an original news site aimed at the U.S. and the BBC iPlayer, an iPad app to watch the broadcaster's programming. The BBC also began showing ads to international readers on its websites in 2007.
His background in TV and it associated digital extensions sets him apart from executives versed in newspaper publishing, said Alan Mutter, the newspaper veteran now consulting in Silicon Valley and blogging about newspapers. "Good news: He doesn't have any newspaper publishing experience," Mr. Mutter said in an email. "Bad news: He doesn't seem to have much experience in developing successful for-profit digital publishing models."
"However, he seems to understand the opportunities and challenges associated with trying to move staid and long-established news organizations from their legacies to whatever the future holds," Mr. Mutter added. "As such, he ought to be able to look at the assets and liabilities of NYTCo. with fresh eyes -- which is exactly what the company needs."
New York Times Co. Chairman Arthur Sulzberger said Mr. Thompson's work at the BBC helped extent its brand. "Our board concluded that Mark's experience and his accomplishments at the BBC made him the ideal candidate to lead the Times Co. at this moment in time when we are highly focused on growing our business through digital and global expansion," Mr. Sulzberger said in a statement.
A veteran publishing analyst, however, questioned whether The Times really had significant prospects around the globe. "This I've got to see," said Edward Atorino, an analyst covering broadcasting, business services and publishing at Benchmark Co., in an email. With The Times "barely making money" he said, "now it's going to fund 'global expansion?' Does Arthur really think the world is waiting for NYT content?"
The Times Co. has been moving to pay down debt with asset sales and to raise more revenue from readers through digital products and a pay meter on its website. Last week it said it plans to sell About.com, the reference site it bought in 2005 for $410 million, to Answers.com for $270 million. Paid digital subscriptions to NYTimes.com and sibling BostonGlobe.com, meanwhile, increased 13% in the second quarter to total 532,000 on March 18.
A Barclays analyst recently predicted that digital subscribers will surpass its print subscribers by 2014.
But the headwinds facing the news business remain powerful, exacerbated by a sluggish economy affecting advertisers. The company's news operations saw print ad revenue fall 8% in the second quarter, compared to the quarter a year earlier, as even digital-ad revenue slipped 2%.
In addition to its flagship newspaper, the Times Co. also owns the Boston Globe, Boston.com and The International Herald Tribune. |
A new web series produced by the Edmonton Police Service is already causing controversy.
More than 2,500 people watched the first episode of "The Squad" in the first day after it was posted online on Friday.
In the series’ first episode, the camera follows several Edmonton police officers as they conduct a nighttime search of the river valley trying to locate a screaming man, who is eventually arrested.
The series is intended to demystify some of the more routine tasks handled by the EPS squad and help with recruitment, said Michael James of the EPS Digital Media Unit.
"The idea was to have a balance — we want to show what our members do on a day-to-day basis but we also want it to be entertaining," he said.
But Edmonton defence lawyer Tom Engel said he was disturbed by the apparent abuse of police power he believes the episode shows — including threats of violence made against the person the police officers are trying to find.
"I think it gives the impression that [the police] are trying to avoid — that they abuse their authority," he said, adding that the EPS might end up attracting the wrong kind of people to apply to the force.
Engel is also concerned that the series violates the subject’s privacy by publishing the video online.
"There's charter breaches, there's rights to privacy breaches, there's EPS policy breaches. I mean — it's unbelievable."
"Why is the EPS trying to put out highly personal information about this individual... on youtube?" asked Engel. "Someone is probably going to watch that and know who that guy is."
"They need to have good reasons to publish that kind of information."
EPS Deputy Chief Brian Simpson says that viewers don’t need to be worried.
"We’ve run it through our legal in terms of it respecting privacy... and we’re very considerate of the legal [issues] we have to deal with," he said, adding that the EPS will only be airing footage shot in public spaces.
"Our goal here is to educate... I know we’ll get public input from it, and we’ll be very sensitive to it."
The first season of "The Squad" will include 15 episodes, with each running between two and three minutes in length. New episodes will be released every Friday. |
Nations must speed the dissemination of information to enable real-time responses and counter disabling cyber threats.
The long-standing intelligence sharing pact between the U.S., U.K., Australia, New Zealand and Canada needs to adapt more quickly to meet rapidly evolving, 21st century threats.
To modernize the “Five Eyes” arrangement, the five governments must develop a common strategy for gathering information on today’s threats, which stem from non-state actors like terrorist groups, hackers and transnational criminal syndicates — as well as from nation-state adversaries. However, to be successful, they must speed the dissemination of information to enable real-time responses, counter disabling cyber threats like the recent “Wanna Cry” ransomware attack and overcome adversaries’ use of encryption.
Furthermore, to maintain public support for robust intelligence collection in democratic political systems, each of the Five Eyes governments must strengthen and clarify the legal frameworks that govern intelligence activities and address growing privacy concerns among the citizenry of all five nations.
Under the Five Eyes arrangement, the five Anglophone countries have shared intelligence and collaborated on intelligence collection and analysis for 70 years. But the partnership — which originally focused on the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact — has been slow to adapt to rapidly evolving 21st century threats. Since 2013, Five Eyes ministerials have addressed religious radicalization, cybersecurity, and other common threats.
Last week, senior intelligence, national security, and homeland security officials from the U.S., U.K., Australia, New Zealand and Canada met in Ottawa to improve cooperation on a range of shared security threats.
This Cabinet-level meeting addressed terrorism, cybersecurity, border security, and global migration — threats that did not exist in today’s forms when the Five Eyes agreement was reached in the aftermath of World War II. Most importantly, however, the ministers agreed to improve the state of their collaboration, as well as its scope, to address 21st century obstacles to intelligence collection.
To release raw intelligence to foreign countries — even to close allies — reports must be reviewed by the agency collecting it. But actionable information must be shared in real-time to enable effective military or police responses, and such reviews could delay dissemination of intercepted phone calls, emails, and internet chats that expose terrorist plots or the movement of fighters and weapons as they unfold. To enhance collective responses to emerging and imminent threats, ministers agreed “to explore more timely and detailed information sharing on the detection of terrorist and foreign terrorist fighter movements,” according to the meeting’s communiqué.
Similarly, the ministerial addressed the increasing use of encryption by terrorists, criminals, and other adversaries to deny intelligence and law enforcement agencies access to their communications. Officials agreed to coordinate efforts to combat encryption used by terrorists for recruitment and propaganda, particularly by encouraging Internet companies to provide encrypted communications of interest.
In addition to discussing how to collaborate on shared threats, the ministers explicitly acknowledged that their efforts — most notably their engagement with communications firms — must respect their citizens’ privacy rights. Privacy and civil liberties protections differ in each of the five countries. The changing nature of communications via the Internet and the proliferation of social media for both innocent and nefarious purposes has tested the limits of our understanding of a right to privacy in an increasingly connected world. The sharing of such information between countries when their interpretations of privacy differ presents complex challenges.
As recent debates over warrantless surveillance in the U.S. have demonstrated, public suspicion of government overreach creates a political environment in which it can be difficult for intelligence agencies to justify their activities. Thus, critically, the Five Eyes ministers’ communique “affirmed that building public trust within our countries is required to move forward on national security issues. Enhanced safeguards and greater efforts to promote transparency are critical in this respect.”
Effective and independent oversight by our respective governments and by specially designated review bodies, such as the U.S. Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, can assure our respective citizens that the collection and sharing of intelligence is done in a legally sound and responsible manner. Canada, for its part, took a step to bolster intelligence oversight last week by proposing a new oversight committee that would monitor the activities of all of Canada’s intelligence agencies. Such entities need to be resourced and empowered if they are to build the trust that Five Eyes officials agreed is needed.
Maintaining, improving, and adapting this unique Five Eyes partnership to our times must be one of our highest priorities, as it is truly emblematic of Aristotle’s axiom that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The initiatives announced this week in Ottawa will improve the state of intelligence collection and dissemination in the Five Eyes countries while also bolstering public support for the critical work undertaken by these nations’ intelligence and security services. |
Homeopathy has long been a magnet for controversy, earning a devoted following among patients who insist its remedies are safe and effective, while attracting criticism from many doctors and researchers who say its treatments offer no more help than a placebo.
After problems within the industry in recent years, the Food and Drug Administration says it wants to revisit how it oversees homeopathic products, which can be manufactured and marketed without prior approval from regulators.
Should the FDA regulate homeopathic remedies such as Cold-Eeze the same way it does over-the-counter drugs such as Advil? Should it hold products such as Zicam, which contains small amounts of zinc, to the same safety and efficacy standards that it requires for Tylenol?
Hundreds of public comments have poured in to the FDA ahead of two days of hearings that begin Monday. The agency said it wants more data to “better assess the risks and benefits” of homeopathic remedies, which have become a mainstay on modern pharmacy shelves, often sold alongside over-the-counter pharmaceutical drugs. Stores such as Whole Foods feature sections of homeopathic remedies aimed at treating conditions including allergies and heartburn.
The FDA has not made any decisions about whether to change how it approaches homeopathic products, said Cynthia Schnedar, director of the Office of Compliance at the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “At this stage,” she said, “we are gathering information about whether to adjust our current enforcement policy.”
The FDA has issued nearly 40 warning letters since 2009 to companies making homeopathic products, Schnedar said.
Last month, the agency warned consumers not to rely on over-the-counter asthma products labeled as homeopathic, saying they have not been evaluated for safety and effectiveness. In 2009, the FDA warned consumers to stop using several types of Zicam cold remedies after reports of more than 130 cases of people losing their sense of smell; the company issued a recall. The following year, Hyland’s Teething Tablets were recalled after reports of reactions in some children; the tablets later were reintroduced with a new formulation.
Homeopathic medicines have had the same legal status as regular pharmaceuticals since 1938, when then-New York Sen. Royal Copeland, who was a trained homeopath, helped shepherd a landmark food and drug law through Congress.
In the 1970s, lawmakers directed the FDA to review the safety and effectiveness of over-the-counter medications. But the agency deferred reviewing homeopathic treatments at the time and last evaluated its policies in 1988. It has allowed most prescription and non-prescription homeopathic products to go to market without prior approval.
Homeopathy traces its founding back two centuries to German doctor and chemist Samuel Hahnemann — whose statue, incidentally, has been in downtown Washington, east of Scott Circle, since 1900.
A key principle underpinning the practice of homeopathy is the notion that “like cures like,” or that substances that create certain symptoms in a healthy person can help to cure diseases with similar symptoms. Homeopathic remedies, derived from plants, minerals and other substances, often are tailored to individual patients. Many treatments are diluted to the point that there is little or no active ingredient remaining. The dilution, which homeopaths believe triggers an immune response in the body, has led skeptics to claim that the practice amounts to little more than selling water and wishful thinking.
The National Institutes of Health has said that there is “little evidence to support homeopathy as an effective treatment for any specific condition,” and that “several key concepts of homeopathy are inconsistent with fundamental concepts of chemistry and physics.”
Last month, Australia’s National Health and Medical Research Council concluded that “there are no health conditions for which there is reliable evidence that homeopathy is effective.” The organization found that there were “no good-quality, well-designed studies with enough participants” to determine whether such treatments were more effective than a placebo.
Edzard Ernst, an emeritus professor at the University of Exeter in England and an outspoken homeopathy critic, said in an e-mail, “There is an appalling amount of misinformation out there, targeted at the often naive consumer.”
He said that the FDA should require homeopathic products to meet the same standards as other medications. “This is a most dangerous situation, and has to be corrected in the interest of public safety,” he said.
Given such criticisms, the FDA’s decision to revisit the issue has worried advocates of homeopathy, who fear that any broad new regulations might unfairly cripple the industry.
“Obviously, people are alarmed and wondering what the FDA is up to,” said Jennifer Jacobs, who practiced homeopathy for 30 years and is now a clinical assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Public Health. “It seems to me that they have bigger fish to fry.”
Jacobs said that homeopathic remedies have a long history of overall safety, particularly when compared with the harmful side effects caused by many conventional drugs. In addition, she said, homeopathic remedies shouldn’t be dismissed merely because science lacks a clear explanation for why they have helped patients.
“It’s foolish to think we understand everything about physics and chemistry at this point in time,” Jacobs said. “Just because we don’t understand exactly how they work doesn’t mean we won’t be able to in the future.”
Ronald Whitmont, a homeopathic doctor in New York and president of the American Institute of Homeopathy, said his organization supports the FDA’s actions to crack down on poor manufacturing practices. “There are always bad apples in the manufacturing world, and they need to be policed just like in any other industry,” he said. “We are behind the FDA. Their concern is our concern.”
But he said he hopes the hearing doesn’t turn into a debate about the legitimacy of homeopathy itself, which has a long safety record and a growing list of ardent patients nearly two centuries after it began.
“Since homeopathy has been in existence, there have been detractors who said this couldn’t possibly work,” Whitmont said. “If it doesn’t work, why is it used worldwide by millions of people? Why isn’t it going away?” |
As with other foreign policy issues, the Trump administration’s approach to Iran has been full of mixed messages. Yet amid the confusion, there has been an ominous tendency to demonize Iran and misrepresent the threat it presents. This could lead to an unnecessary and risky confrontation.
The administration’s various and conflicting responses to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal are a case in point. The deal, one of the Obama administration’s major triumphs, requires Iran to curb its nuclear activities in return for a lifting of economic sanctions. During the campaign, President Trump called it “one of the worst deals I’ve ever seen” and promised to tear it up or renegotiate it if he won the election. Last week, however, a letter from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to the House speaker, Paul Ryan, signaled Mr. Trump’s intention to stick to the deal.
The letter certified that Iran was complying with the agreement, negotiated by five world powers in addition to the United States and Iran. The International Atomic Energy Agency, which monitors the agreement with on-site inspectors and advanced technology, reached the same conclusion in its most recent report.
However, in the letter, Mr. Tillerson also stressed that “Iran remains a leading state sponsor of terror” and said the administration was reviewing whether suspending sanctions continues to advance American interests. Further jumbling the administration’s views, Mr. Tillerson told reporters on Wednesday that the deal “fails to achieve the objective of a non-nuclear Iran” and “only delays their goal of becoming a nuclear state.” On Thursday, Mr. Trump accused Iran of not fulfilling “the spirit” of the deal. Yet on Friday, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis insisted during a visit to Israel that the deal “stills stands” and that Iran “appears to be living up to their part.” That same day, Mr Trump told The Associated Press that “it’s possible that we won’t” stay in the nuclear deal, The A.P. reported on Sunday. |
PARIS: Suspended FIFA president Sepp Blatter has again accused former French president Nicolas Sarkozy of influencing the awarding of the 2022 World Cup hosting rights to Qatar rather than the United States.
Qatar controversially won the right to host the 2022 World Cup, a decision that has since sparked a series of corruption investigations surrounding FIFA and its officials.
Speaking to Friday’s edition of Britain’s Financial Times, Blatter repeated the claims he made on Wednesday to Russian news agency TASS that FIFA’s executive committee had originally agreed to award the 2018 tournament to Russia and the next World Cup to the US.
Blatter told the FT that there had been a “gentleman’s agreement” that the two World Cups in question would go to the “two superpowers” — although Moscow denies there was any such arrangement.
“It was behind the scenes. It was diplomatically arranged to go there,” said Blatter, who has found himself at the centre of a FIFA corruption storm ever since being re-elected to a fifth term in May.
However, as he stated on Wednesday, Blatter, who is set to stand down after February’s FIFA presidential election, said Sarkozy’s influence moved the goalposts -- something the French politician strongly denies.
“Just one week before the election I got a telephone call from Platini and he said, ‘I am no longer in your picture because I have been told by the head of state that we should consider ... the situation of France’. And he told me that this will affect more than one vote because he had a group of voters, “said Blatter.
Platini, the suspended UEFA chief, admitted to voting for Qatar at the election in December 2010 when the World Cups were awarded to Russia and the tiny desert kingdom, but denied doing so on the orders of Sarkozy, who was French president from 2007-2012, despite the latter having not long beforehand invited him to dinner with the future Qatari emir, Tamim ben Hamad al Thani, then the prince of Qatar.
‘GREAT POWER’
Speaking to French 24-hour news channel BFMTV on Thursday, Sarkozy also denied using his influence to affect the World Cup vote.
“There you go, once again someone who attributes great power to me,” said Sarkozy from Moscow where he was meeting with Russian president Vladimir Putin.
“That was not my aim, nor was it to manage PSG, nor to attribute the World Cup to anyone in particular,” he added ironically.
“But you thank him (Blatter) nonetheless from me. It was doubtless a reference that points to his very great friendship with Michel Platini. “Blatter told TASS on Wednesday that after the Franco-Qatari summit, “four European votes deserted the United States and the result was 14-8 (to Qatar)”.
Otherwise, according to Blatter, the United States would have won the right to host the World Cup by 12 votes to 10 following the supposedly secret ballot in 2010.
Earlier this month, both Blatter and Platini, who is a FIFA vice-president as well as running European football, were suspended by FIFA’s independent ethics committee for 90 days as part of a wide-ranging investigation into corruption at the heart of world football’s governing body.
Those suspensions are related to a 1.8 million euro ($2 million) payment made by FIFA to Platini in 2011 for consultancy work carried out several years earlier. Both parties deny there was anything untoward in the payment, for which there was no written contract, despite the inexplicable delay.
FIGO FOR INFANTINO
Meanwhile, former Portugal star Luis Figo, once a presidential candidate himself, has given his backing to UEFA general secretary Gianni Infantino, whose own candidature has been seen in many quarters as sounding the death knell of Platini’s own bid.
“His experience, competence, capacity for work and his honesty make him the best candidate for the presidency,” said Figo, who eventually pulled out of the last FIFA election in May, said of Swiss lawyer Infantino.
Banking giant Credit Suisse also revealed on Friday that it is under investigation by Swiss and US authorities over links to FIFA officials accused of bribery and corruption.
“Credit Suisse has received inquiries from these authorities regarding its banking relationships with certain individuals and entities associated with FIFA,” the bank said in a statement.
US and Swiss authorities are probing whether Credit Suisse and other institutions waved through improper transactions or failed to observe anti-money laundering regulations in dealing with the accounts of FIFA associates.
Published in Dawn, October 31st, 2015
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Deferring to Industry
Mr. Manchin, who has a thick shock of steel-gray hair and an affable Appalachian drawl, grew up in the coal mining town of Farmington. An uncle and five classmates died in the Farmington mining disaster of 1968, which killed 78 people and led to more federal regulation of West Virginia’s mines. Before entering state politics, he started a coal brokerage company, Enersystems. His memorable 2010 Senate campaign ads showed him blasting a shotgun at a climate-change bill that would have curbed pollution from coal-fired plants.
In his maiden speech on the Senate floor, Mr. Manchin called for the repeal of a Clean Water Act regulation on mountaintop mining. His Senate financial disclosures state that he made nearly $1.5 million a year in 2011 and 2012 from his coal brokerage firm. He is a current co-sponsor of a bill that would block President Obama’s efforts to regulate global-warming gases.
West Virginia’s record of deferring to industry is long and deep, reflecting its heavy economic reliance on coal, chemicals and, most recently, natural gas. The tank farm where chemicals were stored, just a mile and a half upstream from the intake of the state’s largest water provider, seems to have fallen outside the bounds of multiple state and federal antipollution laws.
Randy C. Huffman, the state cabinet secretary in charge of environmental protection, said that because the facility stored chemicals but did not produce them, his department had no responsibility for regulating it. Other states inspect storage facilities as well as production ones.
Initially, state environmental officials said inspectors had not visited the site in more than two decades. But on Thursday, the state’s Department of Environmental Protection said it had made a half-dozen visits since 2001 when the tank farm, which once stored gasoline, was sold and converted to chemical storage. Inspectors checked the air and soil quality, but apparently not the dozen or so tanks.
State officials have also said a 2008 federal law requiring the tank’s owner, Freedom Industries, to report chemicals stored on-site to the state’s Division of Homeland Security did not require emergency planning for a spill because the chemical that leaked was not legally designated “extremely hazardous.” Still, the report the company filed listed the chemical as one with “immediate (acute) hazards.”
But if the regulatory issues in this case seem opaque, the state’s overall priorities seem clear.
Groundwater in mining regions has been tainted by wastewater pumped into the ground, where it seeps into wells. In 2010, Mr. Manchin, then governor, sued the Environmental Protection Agency over tougher water pollution rules for coal mines that blasted mountain tops and dumped debris into valley watersheds. The current governor, Earl Ray Tomblin, promised the day before the spill in his State of the State address to “never back down from the E.P.A.” |
Rep. Poliquin flees retirement facility when seniors question his health care repeal vote
Maine Second-District Congressman Bruce Poliquin visited Nason Park Manor, a senior living community in Bangor, on Tuesday to hold a press conference on issues important to older Mainers. When seniors asked questions about his vote for the Republican health care repeal bill, however, he refused to answer and quickly left the facility.
“He was ignoring those questions, he wasn’t even responding to them,” said Nason Park resident Kathy Record. “Hundreds of thousands of people are going to be affected by this if it goes through. He’s really screwing people over and it’s not right.”
Record lost her own health coverage through Medicaid two years ago after Maine failed to accept federal funding made available through the Affordable Care Act to expand the program.
“I’m one of the lucky ones because I get a decent disability check and I have a part time job that’s helping me get by and I have Medicare now, but there are so many other people that don’t have that – children, mothers, parents, seniors, people with physical disabilities, mental health disabilities, they’re all disregarded.”
According to the AARP, the bill Rep. Poliquin supported would mean a 64-year-old Mainer making $25,000 a year would likely see an annual premium cost increase of $12,701.
The bill also cuts $800 billion from Medicaid, the primary source of funding for long-term care for seniors and Mainers with disabilities. It contains a nearly-equivalent tax break that predominately benefits the top two percent of income earners.
“I felt so bad, there was one lady who came in who was just crying because she has a son with disabilities and he doesn’t have health care or he’s losing it with the changes Poliquin is making happen,” said Record.
That woman was Valerie Walker, a senior and resident of Winterport who attended the event in the hopes of speaking to Poliquin about what cuts to Medicaid could mean for her son, who suffers from Klinefelter syndrome, a chromosomal condition, as well as diabetes, autism and PTSD.
“I take care of everything for him,” said Walker. “I worry about what’s going to happen to him when I’m not around, and I worry he can’t get his medicine.”
Walker attempted to ask Poliquin about health care for her son and about a veterans’ benefits issue before the press conference, but instead of answering her, Poliquin questioned whether Walker lived in the building.
“If you’re not a resident… I think this is just for residents, isn’t that correct?” Poliquin can be seen asking in a video of the exchange as he attempts to avoid speaking with Walker.
Once he was told that the room, managed by the Bangor Housing Authority, was considered a public space, Poliquin sidestepped Walker and began his press conference.
After the presentation, in which Poliquin discussed a bill to sell federal buildings in order to give a one-time boost in Social Security payments, residents and guests again attempted to ask questions. The congressman didn’t answer any and quickly left through a side door.
“He said that he would answer questions after and instead he walked out the door and he didn’t answer anything,” said Walker.
Walker, who is involved with a local Indivisible group, said she has been trying to reach Poliquin for weeks. She has visited his office and made appointments with his staff only to have them cancelled. She’s disappointed that he continues to refuse to hold a public town to discuss an issue of such importance, especially to his older constituents and those who live in rural areas.
“I know quite a few people that are going to lose insurance. I mean, when you think of Maine, I think Washington County has at least 30% of people who are on Medicaid and it’s pretty much like that in all of our counties up here and hospitals are talking about closing because if people don’t have insurance they can’t pay for the health care that they’re giving them,” said Walker.
Among those with unanswered questions was Dr. Flavain Lupinetti, a cardiac surgeon at Eastern Maine Medical Center who had hoped to confront Poliquin about the potential effect of the health care repeal bill on his practice.
“I wanted to let Congressman Poliquin know how bad his vote for the AHCA hurts my patients. It hurts the older patients the most. It hurts my younger patients. It hurts my patients who get their insurance through the exchanges or through MaineCare or through their workplace insurance,” said Lupinetti. “Maybe I have a billionaire or two that I take care of. Maybe those patients benefit from Congressman Poliquin’s actions, nobody else. Congressman Poliquin is dangerous for seniors. He’s dangerous for Maine.”
According to Record, most of Poliquin’s audience wasn’t pleased with the abortive event.
“He was just being condescending and acting like he was supportive and was trying to say what people wanted to hear even though it was not true, and that’s the message most of the residents in there got,” said Record. “We were talking about it before he showed up and we knew that when Poliquin said that he was coming to make an announcement that it was going to be bullshit.” |
A former medical center chief who was kicked off Detroit's mayoral ballot and a popular county sheriff have received the most votes in a primary race and will move on to the general election, even as a state-appointed manager holds the city's thin checkbook and a bankruptcy judge considers its future path.
Write-ins received about 52 percent of the vote in Tuesday's primary, and Mike Duggan was the top write-in candidate in the race after being forced from the ballot this summer due to a residency issue.
Detroit elections employees were working into early Wednesday morning charting the various write-in names cast Tuesday and tabulating votes for each name. With write-ins from 300 of the city's 614 precincts counted, the name "Mike Duggan" was written nearly 17,000 times. The last name "Duggan" received 76 votes, while voters wrote "Mick Duggan" 63 times.
Results are unofficial and have to go before a Wayne County Board of Canvassers. Canvassers on Wednesday will begin determining which write-in candidates receive which votes from the write-in ballots.
"All of us are sharing a dream to rebuild this city together," Duggan told supporters during a victory celebration.
Wayne County Sheriff and ex-Detroit Police Chief Benny Napoleon received about 29 percent of the vote. The top two vote-getters will face off in November.
They are seeking to succeed Mayor Dave Bing, who is not seeking re-election.
City Elections Director Daniel Baxter said about 17 percent of Detroit's registered voters made it to the polls Tuesday or cast absentee ballots.
The nonpartisan primary also featured City Council, City Clerk and other races.
"This election is about you," Napoleon told his supporters Tuesday night. "It's about the people in this community who have not had a voice."
That voice likely will be muted when the new mayor takes office in January. Bankruptcy attorney Kevyn Orr will be approaching the end of his first 12 months as the city's fiscal overseer. He took the job in March under an 18-month contract.
Uncertainty and failure have been standard operating procedure for years in once-mighty Detroit. Last month, it became the largest city in the U.S. to declare bankruptcy under the weight of massive debt brought on by crushing population decline and a history of political corruption and mismanagement.
Seeking to bring stability and turn the city around, GOP Gov. Rick Snyder appointed Orr under a Michigan law that gives emergency managers nearly unlimited power.
On July 18, Orr made the Chapter 9 bankruptcy filing in federal court. He said Detroit is insolvent, unable to pay off debt that his restructuring team says could reach $20 billion. He has stopped paying on $2.5 billion in bonds, using that money to pump up struggling and underfunded city services. He also asked city creditors and Detroit's two pension funds to accept pennies on the dollar in money owed them.
"My preference would be for the governor to dissolve the emergency manager and let the mayor represent the city in bankruptcy court," Duggan told The Associated Press last week.
As its chief executive, Duggan guided the Detroit Medical Center through its own tough money times.
Of the 14 candidates and two write-ins on Tuesday's mayoral ballot, Duggan is most best qualified candidate to guide Detroit under an emergency manager and through a bankruptcy, according to 61-year-old Leilani Thornton, who voted for him.
"He would know how to work within that system to help move the bankruptcy along faster," she said. "I saw firsthand what he did at DMC. I know he has great contacts and knows how to work with people."
For Virgie Rollins, who voted for Napoleon, the next mayor must be able to deal with the bankruptcy.
"Sheriff Napoleon can work with the federal government," she said. "He knows how to work with people there."
Napoleon has said he opposes an emergency manager in Detroit.
"My pitch to him is, `You're here to straighten out the finances. You have no municipal government experience,"' Napoleon told The AP in an earlier interview. "The emergency manager puts the budget together. The mayor should be able to set the priorities." |
Tasting The Samuel Adams Nitro Project Beers All About Beer Magazine - Volume , Issue John Holl
Nitro beers are having a moment.
Walk into a beer bar or look on shelves and you’re likely to see a nitrogenated beer on offer from American brewers, a shift after the space was long dominated by one particular Irish brewery.
Last autumn, the Boston Beer Co., maker of Samuel Adams, announced that it would join the nitro category. This week in New York City, Jim Koch—the founder of the company—unveiled the first three beers in the Nitro Project lineup: Nitro White Ale, Nitro IPA and Nitro Coffee Stout.
As I’ve written before, nitro is a reference to the type of gas used in the carbonation process. It means the difference between the creamier nitrogen beers (N 2 ) and their lively, pricklyCO 2 counterparts. A typical nitrogenated beer contains about 70 percent nitrogen and 30 percent carbon dioxide. Nitrogen is largely insoluble in liquid, which is what contributes to the thick mouthfeel. This effect is helped by a special piece of tap equipment known as a restrictor plate that forces the beer through tiny holes before it lands in the glass. That process causes the rising effect that is topped with the head. And it’s really only the bubbles on the sides of the glass that fall. Inside they are actually rising, as typically seen with a poured carbonated beverage.
Koch calls the look of the pour “drama” and “wonderful theater” and this isn’t the first time Samuel Adams has released a nitro beer.
According to Koch, the brewery released a cream stout and a brown ale in nitrogenated form in the early 1990s, and then several years ago released Sam Stout on nitro draft in select markets. With this new lineup, however, the brewery spent more than two years in development and preparation for a widespread release.
“We didn’t want to replicate the Irish dry stout,” Koch told me. The brewery wanted to create beers of its own and styles that would respond well to the nitro treatment.
“We put some equipment into the brewery in Boston to do an in-line transformation of beers, where we take a keg, degas theCO 2 and then nitrogenated it. We played with over 100 different beers,” he said noting that some worked and others did not. The brewery’s flagship, Boston Lager, when it receives the nitro treatment “blows up the flavor profile in a bad way,” he said.
Finally the brewery went with the three recipes that were best improved by nitrogen.
The lineup is available in 16-ounce cans that actually hold 15-ounces of liquid (reserving room for the nitro widget at the bottom of the can) and are available in cardboard wrapped four-packs that follow a recent trend by brewers using two prominent words on the packaging that quickly describe the beer and grab customer attention. The coffee stout is “Dark and Inviting” while the IPA is “Bright and Citrusy” and the white ale is “Creamy and Smooth.”
Do the beers live up to those descriptions? Here are the reviews:
Samuel Adams Nitro White Ale
Samuel Adams
Boston
5.5% | White Ale
A first whiff of metal quickly yields to orange peel and then juicy orange blossom. With a slight spicy bite from the coriander, the golden, almost orange colored ale has a gulpable quality thanks to the nitrogen and is smooth with a wheat softness and refreshing. Pair with mussels for a complete meal.
Samuel Adams Nitro IPA
Samuel Adams
Boston
7.5% | IPA
With six different hops and built to be 100 IBUs, the nitro downplays the assertive lupulin flavor leaving this more like a pale ale. Still, bursting with grapefruit and pine aromas, it has the dank quality often associated with West Coast IPAs. The bitterness doesn’t last long on the tongue and would likely act as a soothing companion to a dish like Nashville hot chicken.
Samuel Adams Nitro Coffee Stout
Samuel Adams
Boston
5.8% | Coffee Stout
Pours like a milkshake and releases hearty mocha aromas into the air, it mercifully lacks the acidity often associated with coffee. Instead it is pleasing like freshly ground beans, a hint of vanilla, ripened dark red stone fruit, and finishes with sweet roasted chocolate. This is all the dessert you need.
Each can opens with a woosh and a gurgle as the nitrogen is released from the widget into the beer and should immediately be poured hard into a glass. Currently the Nitro White Ale is the only beer available on draft, and as it has done in the past with other styles, the brewery released a special glass for its nitro beers, with a big dimple towards the top to capture and highlight the cascading effect, with a the lip turned outwards, to help the drinker pull the beer through the foam without spilling.
John Holl is the editor of All About Beer Magazine. Follow him on Twitter @John_Holl.
RELATED: Read more about nitro beers in the March issue of All About Beer Magazine, on newsstands soon. Click here to subscribe. |
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (CN) – A police officer made a woman take her pants off and assaulted her during a traffic stop, then ordered her to meet him again in an hour, she claims in Federal Court. She says she set up a sting with the police chief, who caught the officer in flagrante, and told him, “You stupid son of a bitch, what are you doing? Get up to the police station.”
Plaintiff T.A. claims that during an initial traffic stop, Marion, Ala. police Officer Donald Gantt did not tell her why he had stopped her and never asked for her driver’s license or proof of insurance. She says Gantt told her to take off her pants, pull up her shirt and fondle his erect penis.
He also made lewd comments, such as, “That’s a good looking p*ssy,” according to the complaint. (Spelling as in complaint.)
T.A. says she asked to talk the police chief, but Gantt refused, and told her, “If you tell anyone about what happened, you will regret it.”
The complaint continues: “Gantt then threatened [T.A.] by stating he know where she lived and that she would go to jail and receive a lot of tickets.
“Gantt then received a dispatch over the police radio. He states he had to go, but that [T.A.] was to meet him at the Marion municipal ballpark in one hour.”
T.A. claims she drove home and told her husband what had happened. He contacted Police Chief Tony Bufford. Bufford is not a party to the lawsuit.
T.A. says Bufford told her to go ahead and meet Gantt and he would be there, waiting where he could not be seen.
T.A. says she did so, and that when Gantt arrived he got out of his squad car “and immediately unzipped his pants and removed his erect penis.”
T.A. “then jumped into her car and pushed the horn to signal Chief Bufford and her husband to come to the scene,” the complaint states.
Bufford drove up in his squad car and Gantt jumped into his cruiser “and acted as if he was going to flee the scene,” the complaint states.
“Chief Bufford then stated, ‘You stupid son of a bitch, what are you doing? Get up to the police station.’ Gantt said nothing in response and left the park,” the complaint states.
By then it was after 4 a.m. T.A. says she and her husband went to the police station but only her husband went in. The next day, she says, they were called again “to provide witness statements.”
At the station, she says, she was told she would meet an “ABI agent.” (Alabama Bureau of Investigation.) But she says the “ABI agent” was actually another Marion cop. She adds, “To the best of the plaintiff’s knowledge and belief, the Alabama Bureau of Investigation has never assigned an agent to investigate the incident involving [T.A.] and Officer Gantt.”
T.A. says Chief Bufford told her Gantt “was on suspension and would be terminated,” and also “requested the silence” of her and her husband, because “he was worried about the Police Department’s reputation within the community if this news became public.” She says Bufford told her the ABI and the District Attorney would be notified and would investigate.
But she says no agent from the ABI ever contacted her or her husband, and though one person in the Perry County District Attorney’s officer contacted her, “No paralegal or investigator from the Perry County District Attorney’s Office has ever contacted [T.A.] or her husband regarding the incident with Officer Gantt.”
She says the City of Marion denied her claim for compensation, and has never apologized “or otherwise acknowledged responsibility for wrongful conduct”.
She seeks punitive damages for false arrest, assault and battery, civil rights violations and emotional distress.
She is represented by David R. Arendall of Birmingham.
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Lava Lamp Centrifuge
Would a Lava Lamp work in a high-gravity environment such as Jupiter? Would the wax still rise to the surface? Would the blobs be smaller and faster? With broad disagreement on the answers, I built a large centrifuge to find out.
[Music credit: Riverdance by Bill Whelan.]
The centrifuge is made of Meccano, spans a diameter of 3 meters, weighs about 50 kilograms and rotates at 42 RPM. At one end is the payload container which holds the lava lamp and data recorders. At the other end is a set of counterweights.
The payload container pivots freely so that it is always facing 'down'. In the middle is a 20 oz Motion Lamp from Google. Next to it is a Nexus One Android phone which runs G-Force to monitor the current gravity conditions (in the photo below the Android is not present since it was being used to take the photo). Recording both the lamp and the gravity monitor is a digital camera set to record a movie.
A set of counterweights are at the other end of the arm. These are very carefully configured to eliminate any lateral forces on the main bearing. The heaviest counterweight is a big steel cylinder borrowed from the equatorial mount of my telescope. Enclosed within the girders are two rectangular juice bottles filled with glass marbles and topped off with water. A set of steel bars lashed to the top of the girders offer the ability to fine-tune the total weight.
The turntable is a large 25 cm thrust bearing using eight roller wheels. Suspended in the middle of the turntable is a 1/4" mono audio connector. This connector can rotate 360° continuously and is wired to 120 volts AC thus allowing uninterrupted power to flow to the lava lamp at the end of the arm. The entire centrifuge is driven by one 12 volt motor in the base. The motor draws somewhere between 15 amps and 33 amps (far beyond the upper range of my multimeter).
The centrifuge is a genuinely terrifying device. The lights dim when it is switched on. A strong wind is produced as the centrifuge induces a cyclone in the room. The smell of boiling insulation emanates from the overloaded 25 amp cables. If not perfectly adjusted and lubricated, it will shred the teeth off solid brass gears in under a second. Runs were conducted from the relative safety of the next room while peeking through a crack in the door.
Despite the technical hurdles, the centrifuge performed its job well. It turns out that the accelerometers in the Nexus One are badly mis-calibrated; although 0.0 G and 1.0 G are both properly reported, what it reports as 2.0 G is actually 3.0 G (Googlers can view the resulting bug: #2485924). As one can see in the video above, the lava lamp continues to operate well at three times the force of gravity. That's slightly higher than Jupiter's gravity (2.3 G) and it is equivalent to launching in the Space Shuttle. Below are some raw source videos of the operation:
3g-floor.avi (159 MB) External view of centrifuge. 3g-payload.avi (43 MB) Watching the lava lamp and gravity monitor (first at 3 G then at 1 G as a control). 3g-side.3gp (16 MB) Side-mounted camera on payload container (a different run from the previous two videos). nasa.jpg (200 KB) On exhibit at NASA Ames. maker.avi (46 MB) Running at 2 G at Maker Faire.
Last modified: 28 July 2014 |
Every few months it seems like Fujifilm are going a bit less “film”. To the point where they should probably get ready to just drop the latter half of their name altogether. In the latest round of culls, Fujifilm have announced a few more film stocks and formats that are going to be disappearing in 2018.
Fujifilm seem hell bent on killing off their film products entirely. Well, if that’s their plan, they’re certainly doing a good job. Many film photographers have already made the switch to Kodak & Ilford films due to the doubt over Fuji’s future. Kodak’s decision to bring back Ektachrome has also aided a few choices.
March 2018
The first round of product culls begins in March. Several 3 and 5 packs of film are being killed off, although single rolls should still be available. Obviously, though, single rolls come at a greater overall cost, and who knows how long those will last?
May 2018
This is where we start to see the actual killing off of certain stocks. Large format photographers will not be happy.
It was only last year that Fujifilm killed off Superia X-Tra 400 in twin and 5 packs. Now with 3 packs gone, we’re down to just single rolls. It strikes me that, perhaps, they’re not making any more. The move from multi packs to single packs sure would be a good way to squeeze every penny out of those rolls that they can before stocks run out.
Natura 1600 3 packs also disappeared last year, and now the single packs are gone, too, suggesting that the above may also happen to Superia in another year or two.
It’s a shame, really. Fuji made some great films. They still make a few, although who knows for how much longer?
[via Albedo Media] |
It is simply stunning that 44 states are facing shortfalls either for this fiscal year, or will come up short in 2010 or 2011. This puts virtually the entire country in a difficult financial situation. It is hard to understand how the media feels that the federal government is somehow better able to get money from people than states. The federal government’s largest income source is the federal income tax; yet this is income from employees in those same states were fiscal problems are running deep. The government is also going to have a challenging time taxing someone with no job right?
The combined budget gaps for the remainder of this fiscal year and then those of 2010 and 2011 are a stunning $350 billion. This number is simply jaw dropping and Wednesday’s horrific retail sales numbers tell us that this recession is already going to be the worst since World War II and possibly since the Great Depression. First, let us take a look at the situation on a map:
Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
You’ll notice that the only state with a sizable population without a budget shortfall is Texas. The rest of the country is virtually in the same predicament. You also need to remember that many states project these figures. That is, many are probably too optimistic in their assessments. The retail numbers that came out today tell us that many states are going to be dealing with a horrible budget situation. That is why in the upcoming fiscal stimulus package there is a large portion dedicated to state relief.
Looking at the data, it looks like many states are just too optimistic and are betting on the 2nd half recovery which will not happen. This crisis runs deep and the actions taken by the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury put our U.S. dollar at risk. If there is a run on the dollar, it will leave us as a nation with very few options. State and local governments stand to receive $160 billion in federal aid with the new stimulus plan. But you have to ask where is this money coming from? Printing money.
I’ve combined the state data into a list to make it more viewable. Let us break down the problems by state for the 2009 fiscal year:
First, 4 states with the most dire housing markets those of California, Arizona, Nevada, and Florida made the top 12 on the list. In fact, the number one state and most populace state in our nation California has the most troubling housing market in the nation that won’t see a bottom for many more years. Florida has a similar makeup to California in that it went down the path of toxic mortgages that are now going to be setting on new terms at the most dire time in our fragile economy.
Even should the states receive $160 billion from the historical stimulus plan, that will only address this current fiscal year. As analyst estimate, we are expecting additional fiscal shortfalls in 2010 and 2011 which will be on par or even worse than the current situation. Is the federal government prepared to do another major fiscal program when this occurs?
States with Highest GDP and Largest Population in Worst Shape
In a previous article I discussed that 40 percent of our country’s GDP comes from 5 states. Most of the population lives in these states as well but the important thing to note is that most of these states are also running with the deepest budget problems including California and Florida. Here is a look at employment situation in these states:
What people tend to forget is that these states have large consumers. So with retail sales falling off a cliff, how is this going to impact workers across state lines that ship merchandise to these locations? We are all connected. In fact, that is why $50 trillion in global wealth has evaporated since this financial crisis started.
Here are more estimates put out with the assumption that the economy improves in the second half of 2009:
Source: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
I really don’t see the stock market popping back up and we are now off 9% in only 6 sessions. This again reinforces the notion that market volatility is supremely high in unhealthy markets. Until market volatility stabilizes, we can expect more of the same. Keep in mind that many states rely on state income taxes which many people are gearing up for in the next few months and states are going to find the following:
(a) Drop in personal state income tax revenues
(b) Capital gains falling off a cliff
(c) Continued weak sales revenue
This is going to stun states on the downside. Expect states to have a fuller picture by the end of April. In addition, many states are already exhausting unemployment insurance so instead of money coming in, it is going out. This is a recipe for a long and prolonged recession which will be more like a minor depression.
State Income Taxes
Some states have no personal income tax which on a plus side draws more employers but also puts a noose on services for their population. In challenging times these states have fewer revenue sources to draw upon. Here is a list of those states with no personal income tax:
*Source: CNN Money
Then you have states with high sales taxes and these states normally bet on good times always remaining. These states will face major gaps as we now see that retail sales falling for 6 straight months and by big drops is going to choke off another revenue stream:
So here you’ll see a state like Texas with no personal income tax but a relatively high sales tax. With retail sales faltering even more resilient states will start feeling the pinch.
The bottom line is the places to find money are running out. We will need to cut back as a nation. We simply have no choice. Sure the U.S. Treasury and Fed can run the printing presses but this will do little good. The fiscal situation of most 50 states are deeply troubling. The aggregate of the 50 states is our country. You will need to prepare for a challenging few years. Simple things you can do is stay away from debt, think twice about common mainstream investing ideas, and save money. These are simple steps. Our government is still in that spending mode even though they are asking of you to be prudent.
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President Trump told leaders of companies ranging from Lockheed Martin Corp. to Under Armour that he believes his administration can cut regulations governing companies by 75 percent or more, at a meeting on Jan. 23 at the White House. (Reuters)
On Monday morning, President Trump met with business leaders to present a plan for keeping jobs in the United States. He offered a carrot — a dramatic cut in taxes and regulations — as well as a stick — a substantial tax on companies that decide to send their factories offshore.
Whether companies follow suit will depend on how they weigh the benefits Trump is offering with the potential higher costs of keeping production in the United States. But in Trump’s statements, he claimed that the move would have no cost at all — a statement that rankled some economists.
“There will be advantages to companies that do indeed make their products here,” Trump said. “And I've always said, by the time you put them in these massive ships or airplanes and fly them and — I think it's gonna be cheaper.”
Economists disagreed. Although some said the policy could benefit some American workers by creating jobs and in turn expanding the U.S. economy, most said it would also impose a greater cost on companies, who would in turn pass those costs on to consumers. Either consumers would buy goods made in the United States, which would be more expensive because of the higher cost of American wages, or they would buy foreign goods that would be pricier because they had been subject to an additional tax.
“Companies of course have these international supply chains because it makes it cheaper for them to produce their products. So almost inevitably, if you don’t let them do that, their products will become more expensive for consumers,” said Stan Veuger, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. “For sure it’s going to increase prices.”
Just how much prices would increase if more goods are made in the United States is unclear, but it could be substantial. Research firm IHS Technology has estimated that producing an iPhone domestically might inflate its price tag to as much as $2,000. As Business Insider has pointed out, U.S.-made jeans by Levi and JCrew range from 40 to 170 percent more than foreign-made styles. The same is true of a variety of products, including shoes and solar panels.
The ultimate price increase would probably be determined by two factors, economists said. One is how much the high cost of U.S. wages would factor into the goods' final price. For some products that require a lot of human labor — such as clothing or shoes — the cost of worker wages represents a big chunk of the final price. For others, it’s less significant.
FROM LEFT: Corning chief executive Wendell Weeks, President Trump, Johnson & Johnson chief executive Alex Gorsky and Dell chief executive Michael Dell during a meeting at the White House on Jan. 23. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
The other factor is the likelihood that a worker in any given industry would be replaced by a robot. Some jobs, for example auto manufacturing, can be automated more easily. Economists like Chad Bown of the Peterson Institute for International Economics said that if companies are forced to bring facilities back to the United States, we're likely to see much more automation.
“If [manufacturers] can’t lower costs by producing in other countries, they’ll lower their costs by producing with fewer workers, figuring out ways to automate the making of their products,” Bown said.
Companies that can automate might be able to keep costs low even if they bring facilities back to the United States, Bown said. But in that case, the ultimate benefit for U.S. workers might be negligible.
For Veuger and Bown, these dynamics create a paradox at the heart of Trump's job plan. If more products are made by U.S. workers, prices will rise for American consumers. If prices don't rise for American consumers, it's because the products are being made not by American workers, but by robots.
“If we’re worried about the manufacturing blue collar worker that’s noneducated, this does nothing to help them. … So no, I don’t see any benefits. I would much prefer to directly attack the problems facing those workers,” Bown said.
Not all economists agree. William Spriggs, chief economist at the AFL-CIO, said that of course manufacturing jobs that return to American shores would be less labor intensive — but that would be a good thing, because working conditions in places like China are too inferior to U.S. standards.
“I would want it to be automated and high productivity work with high wages,” he said. Offshoring did have a substantial effect on undermining the manufacturing industry in the past two decades, and coaxing production back could help reverse that, Spriggs said.
Economists also widely disagreed with Trump’s claim that the greater cost of manufacturing in the United States would be offset by lower costs for transporting products by ship or airplane around the world. “If that were the case, then they would already be produced in the U.S.,” Veuger said. “Presumably, companies realize that they are paying transportation costs when they bring stuff in from abroad.”
While shipping costs are substantial for some heavier items like steel, for many consumer products, transportation costs make up a far smaller percentage of the final cost than worker wages. Veuger pointed to the example of the Trump apparel collection, much of which was made elsewhere and imported: “[Trump] himself imports his ties from China. Presumably if the transportation costs were such a big deal, he’d make them in Wisconsin.”
See also:
The serious contradiction in Trump’s views on the dollar
Why Trump’s trade plan could be a tax on the poor
Conservatives really are better looking, research says |
Image caption The mother of two was gang raped for months
A woman who was gang raped for eight months in Gujarat, western India, is now not only pregnant as a result, but has been ordered to face "purification tests" by her community's local courts. The BBC's Ankur Jain reports on what this gruelling ritual will entail and why it is still endured.
The shy, softly spoken 23-year-old - who cannot be named for legal reasons - was living happily with her husband and two children in Surat when she was abducted last July and repeatedly gang raped by more than five men over several months.
She is now heavily pregnant and her petition for abortion was turned down by the Gujarat High Court because she was too advanced in her pregnancy.
Now, staying in a two-room house in Devaliya village, Ranpur Taluka, Gujarat, she spends her time with her two children. Her in-laws refuse to take her back and her husband has left his parents to be with her. But she spends all her time with the children, snuggling them and holding them tight.
And while her own parents are glad to have her back, they are concerned that the baby she is soon to give birth to will affect the rest of the family.
"I have two other children both unmarried. If she delivers the baby and keeps it then no one will marry them," explained her mother. "My 14-year-old son will get cast out. The only way out is that she will have to undergo the 'chokha thavani viddhi' (purification ritual) and whatever the community decides will be final."
The role of barley seeds
Image caption Her mother wants her to undergo the ritual in order to rehabilitate the whole family
Such a ritual is limited to the villages of Gujarat's Devipujak community, to which the victim belongs.
The Devipujak group follows a strong caste and religious system and has its own community courts which decide on various matters including infidelity and rape.
It is not clear whether these hearings are condoned or condemned by the authorities, but they have never been investigated by the police.
An elder from the village, Odhabhai Devipujak, explained that a purification ritual is conducted by a tantric - a priest who practices black magic and believes in supernatural powers - and predates the existence of courts and police.
In the ritual, the tantric asks the girl several questions and then checks if she is telling the truth by taking a pinch of barley seeds from a bag and asking her to say whether the number of seeds in his hand are even-numbered or odd.
If the girl gets the answer wrong then the tantric assumes her answers have been lies.
She then has to repeat the process with a 10-kg stone on her head. She has to keep the stone on her head until the tantric is satisfied that she is telling the truth.
"Sometimes it takes months to purify as people lie initially but Goddess knows it all and finally they have to speak the truth," the elder said.
Cast out
"Once the girl is purified and passes the test no-one can point fingers or banish her and her family. But if the girl fails the test and Goddess says she is impure then she might get ostracised from the community," he said.
Image copyright AFP Image caption The Devipujak community is extremely religious
Sardarsinh Mori, a friend of the victim's family, said such tests were only carried out on women.
"Whenever a husband has doubt about his wife, or an unmarried girl is accused of an affair, to purify a woman and free her from the wrongdoings, a purification process is conducted. For men, the community courts conduct tests to check if they are telling lies but no purification is used," he explained.
The victim's husband, a cart-puller, said he would stand by her.
"I am going to be with her. I have two children and I can't marry again," he said.
The victim said part of her wanted to keep the unborn child, but her fate and the baby's was in the hands of 100-200 people taking part in the purification ritual.
"If I am wrong, the Goddess will tell them," she said. |
Oscar Pistorius repeatedly threw up into a bucket as his murder trial heard graphic evidence from the pathologist who performed the post-mortem on the body of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.
Twice the sound of Pistorius’s vomiting caused events to be temporarily suspended during state pathologist Professor Saayman's testimony, as the smell of sick spread around Pretoria's High Court.
The autopsy revealed the 29-year old model was shot in the right hip, the right elbow, and the right temple from a 9mm pistol through a locked lavatory door.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 $0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.
Prof Saayman suggested Ms Steenkamp would not have drawn breath for long after the final bullet hit her head.
The bullets that pierced her body were known as Black Talon. They are so devastating in their impact on human flesh that they were withdrawn in South Africa and later re-marketed as Ranger. The Black Talon was designed to "penetrate and then mushroom" on impact, causing extensive damage.
Prof Saayman also said that the vegetable matter food found in her stomach was likely to have been ingested within two hours of her death at 3am, which appears to contradict Pistorius’s claim that the couple went to bed at around 10pm.
He confirmed Ms Steenkamp was wearing a sleeveless black top and grey Nike shorts when she was shot.
Earlier, Judge Masipa ruled that Prof Saayman’s evidence should not be broadcast or tweeted, in accordance with the pathologist’s own wishes, as the athlete's murder trial entered its second week.
He had only been speaking for a matter of minutes when Pistorius's defence counsel Barry Roux requested court be adjourned because: "Mr Pistorius has been sick".
Both sets of lawyers had argued for the broadcast of proceedings to be suspended while the court heard what was expected to be "extremely graphic" testimony.
State prosecutor Gerrie Nel told the court that Prof Saayman had "ethical concerns" over broadcasting details of the autopsy. Mr Nel said reporting restrictions were needed to "respect the decency" of Ms Steenkamp, her family and friends.
Shape Created with Sketch. In pictures: Oscar Pistorius trial Show all 90 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. In pictures: Oscar Pistorius trial 1/90 Oscar Pistorius arrives at court Oscar Pistorius arrives at court prior to another day of cross examination during his ongoing murder trial in Pretoria 2/90 Oscar Pistorius arrives at court Oscar Pistorius is greeted by the "Support for Oscar" Facebook group members as he arrives at the Pretoria High Court 3/90 Prosecutor Gerrie Nel in court Prosecutor Gerrie Nel walks past a courtroom reconstruction of the toilet in which Reeva Steenkamp was shot and killed during Oscar Pistorius' murder trial at the high court in Pretoria 4/90 Prosecutor Gerrie Nel in court Prosecutor Gerrie Nel gestures as he explains a possible scenario into how Oscar Pistorius might have fired on girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in court in Pretoria 5/90 The door through which Reeva Steenkamp was shot used as evidence in court The door through which Reeva Steenkamp was shot used as evidence and displayed during the Oscar Pistorius murder trial at the high court in Pretoria 6/90 Oscar Pistorius leaves court Oscar Pistorius leaves the high court in Pretoria 7/90 June Steenkamp in court June Steenkamp, mother of Reeva, is comforted by unidentified relative after her dead daughter's picture was shown on screen during the trial of Oscar Pistorius at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 8/90 Aimee Pistorius and Lois Pistorius in court Sister of Oscar Pistorius, Aimee Pistorius (L) and aunt Lois Pistorius (R) listen as Oscar Pistorius testifies in court in Pretoria 9/90 Gina Myers in court Gina Myers, Reeva Steenkamp's best friend, is overcome with emotion as she listens to Oscar Pistorius' testimony in the Pretoria High Court 10/90 Aimee Pistorius cries in court Aimee Pistorius (R), sister of Oscar Pistorius, cries as she hears her brother tell his story of the events on the night he killed Reeva Steenkamp during his ongoing murder trial in Pretoria 11/90 June Steenkamp in court June Steenkamp hides her face as she listens to Oscar Pistorius' testimony in the Pretoria High Court 12/90 Arnold and Lois Pistorius cry in court Arnold and Lois Pistorius overcome with emotion as they listen to their nephew Oscar's testimony in the Pretoria High Court 13/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius reacts as he listens to evidence by a pathologist during his trial in court in Pretoria 14/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius reacts during his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 15/90 Gerrie Nel speaks in court State Prosecutor Gerrie Nel speaks as he cross-examines the pathologist during the trial of Oscar Pistorius in court in Pretoria 16/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius puts his hands to his head while he sits during his trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 17/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius reacts during his trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 18/90 Oscar Pistorius speaks with relative Oscar Pistorius speaks with a family member during his trial in Court in Pretoria 19/90 Aimee Pistorius in court Aimee, sister of Oscar Pistorius, cries as her brother takes the stand to testify at the high court in Pretoria 20/90 Carl Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius' brother Carl Pistorius reacts during Oscar's trial at the high court in Pretoria 21/90 June Steenkamp in court June Steenkamp, mother of the late Reeva Steenkamp listens to evidence by a pathologist during the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius in court in Pretoria 22/90 Arnold Pistorius and Lois Pistorius in court Uncle Arnold Pistorius and aunt Lois Pistorius look on during the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius at the high court in Pretoria 23/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius cries as he sits in the dock during his ongoing murder trial in Pretoria 24/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius sheds tears as he sits in the dock during his ongoing murder trial in Pretoria 25/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius shedding tears as he sits in the dock during his ongoing murder trial in Pretoria 26/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius sits in the dock during his murder trial at the high court in Pretoria 27/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius makes his way to the dock during his ongoing murder trial in Pretoria 28/90 Kenny Oldwage questions a witness Kenny Oldwage a member of South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius' legal team questions a state witness during the ongoing murder trial in Pretoria 29/90 Hilton Botha arrives in court Hilton Botha, former lead detective in the Oscar Pistorius murder case, arrives ahead of Pistorius's trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 30/90 A member of the African National Congress Women's League outside the court A member of the African National Congress Women's League holds a mobile phone with a picture of Reeva Steenkamp outside the high court in Pretoria 31/90 Pistorius cries during his trial Oscar Pistorius cries during his trial at the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria 32/90 Pistorius is comforted by relatives Oscar Pistorius is comforted by relatives as he sits in the dock during court proceedings at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 33/90 Pistorius is comforted by relatives Oscar Pistorius is hugged by his aunt Lois in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 34/90 Pistorius in the dock Oscar Pistorius holds his head in his hands in the dock during cross examination of a witnesses in court in Pretoria 35/90 Pistorius leaves court Oscar Pistorius is photographed as he leaves at the end of his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 36/90 Oscar Pistorius and Aimee Pistorius Oscar Pistorius with his sister Aimee Pistorius during the murder trial at the high court in Pretoria 37/90 Photographs of Pistorius taken after the shooting Pistorius from the waist up, with a tattoo visible on his back, and blood on his left arm 38/90 Photographs of Pistorius taken after the shooting Photographs of Pistorius taken soon after fatal shooting of Reeva Steenkamp were shown in court. The athlete's prosthetic legs are splattered with blood 39/90 Pistorius' watch collection with blood marks on it A photograph of Pistorius' watch collection with blood marks on it. One of the watches went missing the night police searched the house after Reeva Steenkamp was shot on Valentine's Day. 40/90 Pistorius's bedroom with the duvet on the floor A close up of Pistorius's bedroom, with the duvet on the floor. Pistorius argues he woke up to bring a fan from his balcony when he heard noises coming the bathroom 41/90 Pistorius covers his head with a notebook as he listens to forensic evidence Oscar Pistorius covers his head with a notebook as he listens to forensic evidence during his trial in court in Pretoria 42/90 Pistorius puts his hands to his head while he sits in court Oscar Pistorius puts his hands to his head as he listens to forensic evidence during his trial in court in Pretoria 43/90 Pistorius reacts while listening evidence in court Oscar Pistorius reacts during his murder trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 44/90 Pistorius places his head in his hands Oscar Pistorius places his head in his hands as he listens to the cross examination during his trial in court in Pretoria 45/90 Pistorius during his continuous trial Oscar Pistorius sits in the dock during his murder trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 46/90 Lt Col JG Vermeulen demonstrates the effect of hitting of a bathroom door Lt Col JG Vermeulen demonstrates the effect of hitting of a bathroom door with a cricket bat during the trail of Oscar Pistorius in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 47/90 Lt Col JG Vermeulen recreates a possible scenario at Oscar Pistorius home Lt Col JG Vermeulen recreates a possible scenario at Oscar Pistorius home when he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp 48/90 Pistorius's defence team questions forensic evidence Pistorius's defence team questions forensic evidence suggesting the athlete was wearing his prosthetic legs when he hit the lavatory's door with a cricket bat 49/90 State prosecutor Gerrie Nel speaks in court State prosecutor Gerrie Nel makes a point during the trial of Oscar Pistorius at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 50/90 Pistorius speaks with his legal team Oscar Pistorius speaks with a member of his legal team prior to a hearing of his trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 51/90 Pistorius sits in court Oscar Pistorius sits with hands on his head at the court dock during the ongoing murder trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 52/90 Pistorius in court during ongoing trial Oscar Pistorius sits in the dock on another day of his trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 53/90 State prosecutor Gerrie Nel in court State prosecutor Gerrie Nel takes part in Oscar Pistorius' ongoing murder trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 54/90 Pistorius arrives in court The accused arrives at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 55/90 Pistorius cries in court Oscar Pistorius cries as he listens to cross questioning about the events surrounding the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, in court during his trial in Pretoria 56/90 Pistorius cries in court Oscar Pistorius cries as he chats to his lawyer Barry Roux during his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 57/90 Pistorius on the sixth day of his trial Oscar Pistorius holds his hands to his face as he sits in the dock during day 6 of his murder trial at the High Court in Pretoria 58/90 Pistorius sits in court Oscar Pistorius is pictured with hands on his head during a hearing on the sixth day of his murder trial 59/90 Relatives of Reeva Steenkamp in court Relatives and friends of Reeva Steenkamp, Gina Meyers (C) and her mother Desiree (R) attend a hearing of Oscar Pistorius on the sixth day of his trial 60/90 Pistorius arrives in court Oscar Pistorius arrives at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 61/90 Security guard Pieter Baba testifies Security guard Pieter Baba testifies the murder trial of South African Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius at the high court of Pretoria 62/90 Pistorius family in court Aimee Pistorius, sister of Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar, rests her head on an unidentified woman's shoulder during the fifth day of his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 63/90 Oscar Pistorius listens as witness testifies Oscar Pistorius puts his hands to his head while a witness testifies and speaks about the morning of the shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp 64/90 Oscar Pistorius cries Oscar Pistorius cries while a witness testifies during the fourth day of his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 65/90 Oscar Pistorius looks at notes Oscar Pistorius looks at notes during the fourth day of his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 66/90 Oscar Pistorius on the second day of his trial Covering his ears, on empty benches, Oscar Pistoius gestures after arriving at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 67/90 Oscar Pistorius reads defense paperwork Oscar Pistorius looks at his defense team paperwork during a break on the second day of his trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 68/90 Members of the media during the trial Members of the media work during a break in proceedings on the second day of the murder trial of South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 69/90 Oscar Pistorius during trial Oscar Pistorius looks on inside the Pretoria High Court 70/90 Chief investigating officer Lieutenant General Vineshkumar Moonoo during the trial Chief investigating officer Lieutenant General Vineshkumar Moonoo gestures during the second day of the murder trial of South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 71/90 Oscar Pistorius leaves court Oscar Pistorius leaves North Gauteng High Court during the lunchtime break as he faces trial accused of the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in Pretoria 72/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 73/90 Oscar Pistorius and Barry Roux in court Oscar Pistorius and Barry Roux at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 74/90 Advocate Barry Roux speaks in court Advocate Barry Roux at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 75/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 76/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius walks at the Pretoria High Court as Reeva Steenkamp's mother looks on 77/90 June Steenkamp in court Reeva Steenkamp's mother looks on inside the Pretoria High Court 78/90 Lois, Arnold and Aimee Pistorius in court Lois, Arnold and Aimee Pistorius at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 79/90 Carl, Aimee and Lois Pistorius in court Carl, Aimee and Lois Pistorius speaking with a member of his legal team at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 80/90 Carl Pistorious in court Carl Pistorious, the brother of South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, leaves the courtroom during a lunch recess at the High Court in Pretoria 81/90 Prosecutor Gerrie Nel Prosecutor Gerrie Nel reads out the charges on the opening day of proceedings in the High Court in Pretoria 82/90 Pretoria news A newspaper vendor sells the Pretoria News as the Oscar Pistorius trail starts at North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius denies the allegation claiming he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder inside their home on Valentines Day 2013 83/90 June Steenkamp in court June Steenkamp (L), mother of the murdered Reeva Steenkamp, sits in court ahead of the trial of Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 84/90 June Steenkamp arrives in court June Steenkamp (C), the mother of Reeva Steenkamp, arrives at North Gauteng High Court for the trial of Oscar Pistorius in Pretoria 85/90 June Steenkamp arrives in court June Steenkamp (R), the mother of Reeva Steenkamp, arrives at North Gauteng High Court for the trial of Oscar Pistorius in Pretoria 86/90 Carl Pistorius arrives in court Police try to hold back the media as Carl Pistorius, the brother of Oscar Pistorius, arrives at North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 87/90 Media outside the court in Pretoria Bewildered media stand outside North Gauteng High Court as Oscar Pistrious slips into court through another door to face trial accused of the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in Pretoria 88/90 Daily News front page day after the shooting Oscar Pistorius was arrested in South Africa in the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp 89/90 Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp at the Feather Awards in 2012 in Johannesburg 90/90 Reeva Steenkamp Reeva Steenkamp who was shot dead on the Valentine's Day 2013 1/90 Oscar Pistorius arrives at court Oscar Pistorius arrives at court prior to another day of cross examination during his ongoing murder trial in Pretoria 2/90 Oscar Pistorius arrives at court Oscar Pistorius is greeted by the "Support for Oscar" Facebook group members as he arrives at the Pretoria High Court 3/90 Prosecutor Gerrie Nel in court Prosecutor Gerrie Nel walks past a courtroom reconstruction of the toilet in which Reeva Steenkamp was shot and killed during Oscar Pistorius' murder trial at the high court in Pretoria 4/90 Prosecutor Gerrie Nel in court Prosecutor Gerrie Nel gestures as he explains a possible scenario into how Oscar Pistorius might have fired on girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in court in Pretoria 5/90 The door through which Reeva Steenkamp was shot used as evidence in court The door through which Reeva Steenkamp was shot used as evidence and displayed during the Oscar Pistorius murder trial at the high court in Pretoria 6/90 Oscar Pistorius leaves court Oscar Pistorius leaves the high court in Pretoria 7/90 June Steenkamp in court June Steenkamp, mother of Reeva, is comforted by unidentified relative after her dead daughter's picture was shown on screen during the trial of Oscar Pistorius at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 8/90 Aimee Pistorius and Lois Pistorius in court Sister of Oscar Pistorius, Aimee Pistorius (L) and aunt Lois Pistorius (R) listen as Oscar Pistorius testifies in court in Pretoria 9/90 Gina Myers in court Gina Myers, Reeva Steenkamp's best friend, is overcome with emotion as she listens to Oscar Pistorius' testimony in the Pretoria High Court 10/90 Aimee Pistorius cries in court Aimee Pistorius (R), sister of Oscar Pistorius, cries as she hears her brother tell his story of the events on the night he killed Reeva Steenkamp during his ongoing murder trial in Pretoria 11/90 June Steenkamp in court June Steenkamp hides her face as she listens to Oscar Pistorius' testimony in the Pretoria High Court 12/90 Arnold and Lois Pistorius cry in court Arnold and Lois Pistorius overcome with emotion as they listen to their nephew Oscar's testimony in the Pretoria High Court 13/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius reacts as he listens to evidence by a pathologist during his trial in court in Pretoria 14/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius reacts during his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 15/90 Gerrie Nel speaks in court State Prosecutor Gerrie Nel speaks as he cross-examines the pathologist during the trial of Oscar Pistorius in court in Pretoria 16/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius puts his hands to his head while he sits during his trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 17/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius reacts during his trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 18/90 Oscar Pistorius speaks with relative Oscar Pistorius speaks with a family member during his trial in Court in Pretoria 19/90 Aimee Pistorius in court Aimee, sister of Oscar Pistorius, cries as her brother takes the stand to testify at the high court in Pretoria 20/90 Carl Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius' brother Carl Pistorius reacts during Oscar's trial at the high court in Pretoria 21/90 June Steenkamp in court June Steenkamp, mother of the late Reeva Steenkamp listens to evidence by a pathologist during the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius in court in Pretoria 22/90 Arnold Pistorius and Lois Pistorius in court Uncle Arnold Pistorius and aunt Lois Pistorius look on during the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius at the high court in Pretoria 23/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius cries as he sits in the dock during his ongoing murder trial in Pretoria 24/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius sheds tears as he sits in the dock during his ongoing murder trial in Pretoria 25/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius shedding tears as he sits in the dock during his ongoing murder trial in Pretoria 26/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius sits in the dock during his murder trial at the high court in Pretoria 27/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius makes his way to the dock during his ongoing murder trial in Pretoria 28/90 Kenny Oldwage questions a witness Kenny Oldwage a member of South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius' legal team questions a state witness during the ongoing murder trial in Pretoria 29/90 Hilton Botha arrives in court Hilton Botha, former lead detective in the Oscar Pistorius murder case, arrives ahead of Pistorius's trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 30/90 A member of the African National Congress Women's League outside the court A member of the African National Congress Women's League holds a mobile phone with a picture of Reeva Steenkamp outside the high court in Pretoria 31/90 Pistorius cries during his trial Oscar Pistorius cries during his trial at the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria 32/90 Pistorius is comforted by relatives Oscar Pistorius is comforted by relatives as he sits in the dock during court proceedings at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 33/90 Pistorius is comforted by relatives Oscar Pistorius is hugged by his aunt Lois in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 34/90 Pistorius in the dock Oscar Pistorius holds his head in his hands in the dock during cross examination of a witnesses in court in Pretoria 35/90 Pistorius leaves court Oscar Pistorius is photographed as he leaves at the end of his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 36/90 Oscar Pistorius and Aimee Pistorius Oscar Pistorius with his sister Aimee Pistorius during the murder trial at the high court in Pretoria 37/90 Photographs of Pistorius taken after the shooting Pistorius from the waist up, with a tattoo visible on his back, and blood on his left arm 38/90 Photographs of Pistorius taken after the shooting Photographs of Pistorius taken soon after fatal shooting of Reeva Steenkamp were shown in court. The athlete's prosthetic legs are splattered with blood 39/90 Pistorius' watch collection with blood marks on it A photograph of Pistorius' watch collection with blood marks on it. One of the watches went missing the night police searched the house after Reeva Steenkamp was shot on Valentine's Day. 40/90 Pistorius's bedroom with the duvet on the floor A close up of Pistorius's bedroom, with the duvet on the floor. Pistorius argues he woke up to bring a fan from his balcony when he heard noises coming the bathroom 41/90 Pistorius covers his head with a notebook as he listens to forensic evidence Oscar Pistorius covers his head with a notebook as he listens to forensic evidence during his trial in court in Pretoria 42/90 Pistorius puts his hands to his head while he sits in court Oscar Pistorius puts his hands to his head as he listens to forensic evidence during his trial in court in Pretoria 43/90 Pistorius reacts while listening evidence in court Oscar Pistorius reacts during his murder trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 44/90 Pistorius places his head in his hands Oscar Pistorius places his head in his hands as he listens to the cross examination during his trial in court in Pretoria 45/90 Pistorius during his continuous trial Oscar Pistorius sits in the dock during his murder trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 46/90 Lt Col JG Vermeulen demonstrates the effect of hitting of a bathroom door Lt Col JG Vermeulen demonstrates the effect of hitting of a bathroom door with a cricket bat during the trail of Oscar Pistorius in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 47/90 Lt Col JG Vermeulen recreates a possible scenario at Oscar Pistorius home Lt Col JG Vermeulen recreates a possible scenario at Oscar Pistorius home when he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp 48/90 Pistorius's defence team questions forensic evidence Pistorius's defence team questions forensic evidence suggesting the athlete was wearing his prosthetic legs when he hit the lavatory's door with a cricket bat 49/90 State prosecutor Gerrie Nel speaks in court State prosecutor Gerrie Nel makes a point during the trial of Oscar Pistorius at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 50/90 Pistorius speaks with his legal team Oscar Pistorius speaks with a member of his legal team prior to a hearing of his trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 51/90 Pistorius sits in court Oscar Pistorius sits with hands on his head at the court dock during the ongoing murder trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 52/90 Pistorius in court during ongoing trial Oscar Pistorius sits in the dock on another day of his trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 53/90 State prosecutor Gerrie Nel in court State prosecutor Gerrie Nel takes part in Oscar Pistorius' ongoing murder trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 54/90 Pistorius arrives in court The accused arrives at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 55/90 Pistorius cries in court Oscar Pistorius cries as he listens to cross questioning about the events surrounding the shooting death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, in court during his trial in Pretoria 56/90 Pistorius cries in court Oscar Pistorius cries as he chats to his lawyer Barry Roux during his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 57/90 Pistorius on the sixth day of his trial Oscar Pistorius holds his hands to his face as he sits in the dock during day 6 of his murder trial at the High Court in Pretoria 58/90 Pistorius sits in court Oscar Pistorius is pictured with hands on his head during a hearing on the sixth day of his murder trial 59/90 Relatives of Reeva Steenkamp in court Relatives and friends of Reeva Steenkamp, Gina Meyers (C) and her mother Desiree (R) attend a hearing of Oscar Pistorius on the sixth day of his trial 60/90 Pistorius arrives in court Oscar Pistorius arrives at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 61/90 Security guard Pieter Baba testifies Security guard Pieter Baba testifies the murder trial of South African Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius at the high court of Pretoria 62/90 Pistorius family in court Aimee Pistorius, sister of Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar, rests her head on an unidentified woman's shoulder during the fifth day of his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 63/90 Oscar Pistorius listens as witness testifies Oscar Pistorius puts his hands to his head while a witness testifies and speaks about the morning of the shooting of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp 64/90 Oscar Pistorius cries Oscar Pistorius cries while a witness testifies during the fourth day of his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 65/90 Oscar Pistorius looks at notes Oscar Pistorius looks at notes during the fourth day of his trial for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 66/90 Oscar Pistorius on the second day of his trial Covering his ears, on empty benches, Oscar Pistoius gestures after arriving at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 67/90 Oscar Pistorius reads defense paperwork Oscar Pistorius looks at his defense team paperwork during a break on the second day of his trial at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 68/90 Members of the media during the trial Members of the media work during a break in proceedings on the second day of the murder trial of South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 69/90 Oscar Pistorius during trial Oscar Pistorius looks on inside the Pretoria High Court 70/90 Chief investigating officer Lieutenant General Vineshkumar Moonoo during the trial Chief investigating officer Lieutenant General Vineshkumar Moonoo gestures during the second day of the murder trial of South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 71/90 Oscar Pistorius leaves court Oscar Pistorius leaves North Gauteng High Court during the lunchtime break as he faces trial accused of the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in Pretoria 72/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 73/90 Oscar Pistorius and Barry Roux in court Oscar Pistorius and Barry Roux at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 74/90 Advocate Barry Roux speaks in court Advocate Barry Roux at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 75/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 76/90 Oscar Pistorius in court Oscar Pistorius walks at the Pretoria High Court as Reeva Steenkamp's mother looks on 77/90 June Steenkamp in court Reeva Steenkamp's mother looks on inside the Pretoria High Court 78/90 Lois, Arnold and Aimee Pistorius in court Lois, Arnold and Aimee Pistorius at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 79/90 Carl, Aimee and Lois Pistorius in court Carl, Aimee and Lois Pistorius speaking with a member of his legal team at the Pretoria High Court in Pretoria 80/90 Carl Pistorious in court Carl Pistorious, the brother of South African Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, leaves the courtroom during a lunch recess at the High Court in Pretoria 81/90 Prosecutor Gerrie Nel Prosecutor Gerrie Nel reads out the charges on the opening day of proceedings in the High Court in Pretoria 82/90 Pretoria news A newspaper vendor sells the Pretoria News as the Oscar Pistorius trail starts at North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. Olympic and Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is accused of murdering his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius denies the allegation claiming he mistook Steenkamp for an intruder inside their home on Valentines Day 2013 83/90 June Steenkamp in court June Steenkamp (L), mother of the murdered Reeva Steenkamp, sits in court ahead of the trial of Olympic and Paralympic track star Oscar Pistorius at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 84/90 June Steenkamp arrives in court June Steenkamp (C), the mother of Reeva Steenkamp, arrives at North Gauteng High Court for the trial of Oscar Pistorius in Pretoria 85/90 June Steenkamp arrives in court June Steenkamp (R), the mother of Reeva Steenkamp, arrives at North Gauteng High Court for the trial of Oscar Pistorius in Pretoria 86/90 Carl Pistorius arrives in court Police try to hold back the media as Carl Pistorius, the brother of Oscar Pistorius, arrives at North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria 87/90 Media outside the court in Pretoria Bewildered media stand outside North Gauteng High Court as Oscar Pistrious slips into court through another door to face trial accused of the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in Pretoria 88/90 Daily News front page day after the shooting Oscar Pistorius was arrested in South Africa in the shooting of Reeva Steenkamp 89/90 Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp Oscar Pistorius and Reeva Steenkamp at the Feather Awards in 2012 in Johannesburg 90/90 Reeva Steenkamp Reeva Steenkamp who was shot dead on the Valentine's Day 2013
Prof Saayman told the court that "the graphic details have the potential to damage the dignity of the deceased", and broadcasting his testimony would "harm the rights of the remaining friends and relatives of the deceased".
"It goes against the good morals of society to make this information available, to unsuspecting members of the public, including children and other vulnerable people," he added.
Prof Saayman’s testimony will still be filmed, and the broadcasters are hopeful that its “benign parts” may be broadcast tonight or tomorrow morning. South African broadcasters fought a lengthy legal battle for the right to broadcast the murder trial.
Earlier, Pieter Baba, a security guard at the gated Silverwoods estate where Pistorius lived, insisted the athlete told him "everything is fine" in the minutes after the shooting of Ms Steenkamp.
Mr Baba said he phoned Pistorius following reports of a shooting in the early hours on Valentine's Day last year, and not the other way round, as the athlete's defence team, led by Barry Roux, had previously suggested.
During his cross-examination, Pistorius' lawyer challenged his version of events showing the court Mr Baba's police statement where he said Pistorius told him he was "OK"- instead of "everything is fine."
Mr Roux suggested he has evidence, including athlete's outgoing call records, security's incoming phone records and police documents, proving Pistorius called security first but could not speak because he was crying.
Mr Baba insisted: "I'm the one who called first."
"His call was first and your call was second," Mr Roux told the court. "'I put proof in front of you that Mr Pistorius called first."
Mr Baba stood by his testimony arguing that, if Pistorius had called him first, he "would have known something was wrong". Instead, he claims he fainted as a result of the "shock" when he arrived at Pistorius's house and saw the athlete carrying Ms Steenkamp downstairs.
On Friday, Pistorius' former girlfriend, Samantha Taylor, painted a picture of a man who "always" carried a gun with him, was often angry and unfaithful. His lawyer argued the pair were no longer a couple when Pistorius started seeing Ms Steenkamp and suggested Ms Taylor was unfaithful too.
She told the court the South African star was worried about intruders breaking into his house, but, crucially, he would usually wake her up whenever he heard suspicious noises.
Ms Taylor also recounted an incident where Pistorius allegedly fired at a traffic light after he and a friend, Darren Fresco, the same man who passed him a gun that discharged under a table a restaurant last year, were stopped for speeding, and became very angry with a police officer.
Last week, Pistorius pleaded not guilty of murdering Ms Steenkamp, claiming he shot her in a case of mistaken identity thinking she was an intruder.
Prosecutors argue he intentionally shot and killed his girlfriend following a domestic dispute. If convicted of murder he will almost certainly receive a life sentence, with a minimum term of 25 years.
The case continues.
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Hi! I’m Thomas “Peppr” Brun, Eternal fan, brewing enthusiast, and latest addition to the Numot Gaming Eternal team!
I’ve joined Eternal very early in the closed beta and have been playing the game every day since. I made my modest mark on the community by winning the second edition of Scion’s League with a home brew (which got nerfed shortly after) and by pioneering a few quirky not-quite-tier-one decks, notably Nightmare and Shimmer Party. My background before Eternal is mostly made of kitchen table Magic (peaking in the nineties with a few disastrous local tournament outings), then Scrolls and Duelyst. I’m a Johnny at heart; I enjoy weird combos and building around cards no one else plays.
But not to worry, this is not what this article is about! Today I’d like to walk you through your first few hours of playing Eternal. While doing so, we’ll be building a cheap, effective, flexible, no-nonsense deck to get your career and collection started.
Set Reviews
Time | Primal | Shadow | Fire | Justice | Elysian – Combrei | Feln – Stonescar | Rakano – Factionless
Mouse over any underlined card to see what it does.
This article is dubbed “Rakano edition”, because the deck we’re going to build uses the Fire & Justice factions, a pairing commonly referred to as “Rakano” in Eternal lingo. Note that this is certainly not the only budget deck you can use to get started; you can expect other editions of this guide to appear on this site soon!
Even is this isn’t actually your first rodeo in Eternal, I hope that the dissection of the makings of a Rakano Pants deck can be of interest to you.
Note:
For the purposes of this article, I actually went through the whole new player experience again myself to check that I wasn’t saying anything unrealistic (I used my old invite-a-friend beta key to make an alt instead of giving it to you. Sorry.). Thanks to that little experiment, I’ll be giving you reports of my own progress through each step, as a point of reference.
Taking your first steps efficiently
I strongly advise to use a custom deck to do your first few gold earning activities in Eternal, namely beating The Stranger to end the campaign (a task that can be surprisingly difficult with some of the starter decks), and doing your first Gauntlet run(s).
Turns out that at the absolute ground floor that is basic cards only (those available to you out of the starter decks), the strongest deck you can make is… not Rakano ! So much for this article’s thematic consistency, but the priority here is getting you out of the gate as smoothly as possible.
The deck I recommend to do those first few games with is the following: Baby Praxis (aka “the best basics-only deck”)
This is a relatively straightforward token aggro list, which revolves around lots of cheap creatures and wide buffs such as Unlock Potential and Rally. It is based on a once-dominant deck called Praxis Tokens, which got pushed out of the meta by consecutive nerfs to Xenan Obelisk and Unlock Potential. But the archetype is still definitely good enough to get started with. It should defeat the Stranger and beat your first gauntlet run without too much trouble.
My experience:
I defeated both the Stranger and Gauntlet on the first try in my test run. Fair warning : I was on the luckier end of the spectrum there. The Stranger can get some ridiculously good draws that the above deck will not be able to beat. Don’t let that get you down and just retry, it shouldn’t take long.
Using the free Forge run to get your Rakano deck going
Once you completed the quest to defeat one gauntlet, you’ll get access to a free run of Forge. Forge is like gauntlet, except you draft your deck out of a random selection of cards, in a fashion you will feel familiar with if you played Hearthstone’s Arena or Duelyst’s Gauntlet before. A key difference with the above is that in Eternal, you get to keep the cards you pick for your collection! Another important thing you need to know about Forge is that you will only be given choices from two factions, based on the first picks you make. This means that you can “force” the factions you need cards in. I invite you to do just that for Rakano, which also happens to be a strong faction pairing for limited formats anyway!
The makings of a solid Rakano deck (regardless of budget)
Before we actually start the Forge run, a few words about what the deck we’re aiming for looks like. There is more than one way to build a good Rakano deck. Today we’ll focus on the most common aggro archetype, commonly referred to as “pants” (due to its heavy use of weapons). It’s a relatively simple to play style of deck which is both very effective and easy to build across a wide budget range.
Without naming specific cards, and with of course a fair amount of leeway on the numbers in each category to accommodate for specifics and techs, the deck will typically break down like this:
8 to 12 one-cost units
10 to 14 two-cost units
0 to 6 three-cost units
10 to 14 one or two-cost weapons (“cheap pants”)
4 to 8 three+ cost weapons (“fancy pants”)
4 to 10 Removal spells, tricks, or relics
25 or 26 Power
As you can see, this is clearly an aggro deck, with a curve very low to the ground. It is built to make sure that you are most likely to fully utilize your mana on turns 1-4, quickly building a board of threats. Your opponent should immediately be on the back foot, and their slow draws will be punished hard. We play almost no cards that cost more than 3, so we can afford to play the minimum amount of power thanks to the mulligan rule (which guarantees you at least 2 power cards if you redraw your starting hand).
The power should include as many duals as possible (both seats and banners) as well as Diplomatic Seals when you get them, and possibly a few Monuments to taste. I personally like two copies of Emerald Monument.
In each category, there is a fair amount of leeway in what to use; the deck will function whether you have 4 copies of each best in slot rares (when there is even one) or a bunch of disparate commons, which is fortunate because we’ll have to do with the latter for a while.
The reason I’m giving you these categories and approximate numbers for them rather than simply decklists is that, while it is entirely possible to craft most of the lower rarity stuff you need early on, it’s inefficient in terms of growing a collection – so we’ll try to avoid it as much as possible.
Between the large packs, cards in chests, and limited modes letting you keep cards, Eternal gives out a whole lot of those low rarity cards. You’ll get full playsets of them very quickly! The flip side of that is that the crafting/recycling rates on them is very disadvantageous. With that in mind, I believe the best budget decks are those made out of whatever you have, rather than out of “cheap crafts”, which are actually the worst investment you can make.
We will get to crafting eventually, but only after getting as many “free” cards as possible to make a base deck out of.
Card rankings per category
OK, so now you are ready to start your first forge run to populate that future deck of yours. But what do you pick? You already know to make your first picks either Justice (green) or Fire (red), but which cards are good?
Well, here’s a handy table to answer that question!
Anything on top of each of these categories should be a priority pick. In Forge, you only get picks of similar rarity at any given time, so you don’t need to “rare-draft”; only go for higher rated stuff. The exception is you’ll sometimes be given the choice of a Legendary over rares; unless the rare is high up in this table and the legendary looks lame, I say take the legendary in that the case.
If you’re referring to this table in the context of drafting, it’s better to give some amount of priority to rares over C/Us. Common or Uncommon can be used as a tie-breaker in case you’re unsure between two picks, but should not matter that much otherwise.
My experience:
I got lucky with being given two Shogun’s Scepter, which are excellent spoils. I also secured a couple of Rakano Outlaw and Brightmace Paladin along with a few usable weapons. I did not manage to go all the way, losing game 4 to mana flood and then game 6 to a crazy series of plays by Vengeance. Still, one gold chest is good enough, especially when you’re lucky like me and it contains a Sparring Partner (another score !).
First outing on the ladder!
Congratulations on now having a semi decent deck ! It’s time for it to leave the nest now. Click that “ranked” button and battle away ! Don’t worry too much, it’s okay to lose. Maybe you’ll win some too, but even if you don’t you’ll certainly learn some things. Depending on the timing, you might find yourself in “unfair” match-ups with high ranked players rocking well tuned decks, so sweating over losses is really unnecessary. On the other hand, don’t just dismiss those losses as irrelevant either – note what’s killed you and what you maybe could have done better.
My experience:
The deck I was able to piece together for ladder looked like this: Baby’s First Rakano (example)
This ragtag pile managed a very respectable 3-2 record, losing only to a very potent Stonescar curve-out and a Party Hour deck that looked like it belonged in Masters (or possibly in Nerf-land, but that’s another topic).
First Draft
After you completed your 5 placement games and collected your reward, you should have somewhere around 4,000 gold in the bank. You need 5,000 to buy your way into Draft, which is by far the most efficient way to grow your collection and also your next objective. I advise you to grind the last few gold coins you need in Gauntlet, as it’s an easier, less stressful environment to do so than the ranked ladder. It’s an opportunity to continue practicing with your deck too.
Once that’s done, it’s time for you to discover one of the best things about Eternal: drafting! It’s a limited mode somewhat similar to Forge, but PvP, and actual packs being passed along (just like physical MtG drafting but asynchronous so you can take all the time you want) rather than 1-out-of-3 picks. Drafting is an art that is worth a whole series of guides on its own, and I’ll leave that to people more skilled at it than I am. Know that while that’s not always the best option, you can also “force” factions in draft. You can’t actually influence what cards you get passed, but you can decide to pick cards in the factions you want. That’s not always optimal for a bunch of reasons, most notably possible signals that someone up the line is already drafting the same factions, but we can choose to ignore those in the name of strategically advancing our collection. Note that Rakano is a strong choice for draft anyway, so you’re not gimping yourself much either.
Just like with forge earlier, I invite you to peruse the previous table as a guideline. Prioritize picks on top of each category. Technically it would be better to use a draft specific picking guide (and you’re welcome to do that if you have one handy) but since we’re also trying to get cards for our deck the above will do just fine. There are however two things not in that table you should look out for :
Legendaries or good rares(even off-color) : just pick those. You draft more cards than can fit in your deck, so you can afford to dedicate a pick to scoring a card you want for later.
bombs and removal : (yes, BREAD) draft is often a slower format than constructed, so relatively high cost, high impact stuff will definitely win you games. Notably: rares like Rolant’s Honor Guard Silverwing Commander Fourth-Tree Elder Renegade Valkyrie Torch Vanquish
Once your picks are done, take the best 28-29 cards out of there, add 16-17 sigils – assuming you went by the above, your curve should be low – and get out there!
*Disclaimer : the above does not make a good replacement for a proper drafting guide ! Use one of those for your next run, or ask for help on the ever helpful Discord channel.
My experience:
It took me 2 gauntlet runs to get to 5,000 gold for the draft run. Once in there, it became clear relatively early that Justice was closed in pack 1/3, but not Fire; so I focused on that. Luckily Justice was open in the other packs and I was able to score a Silverwing Familiar, which turned out to be the clear MVP of the run. Other notable picks included a Censari Brigand and no less than *three* Sword of Icaria.
The run ended at 6-3, closely missing the full 7 win run. Along with the diamond chest reward for the quest, that’s 4 packs and 7,000-something gold back in the bank ! None of the packs contained rakano-relevant rares, but one did have a Reality Warden in it, which is nice. The gold was enough to start a second draft run right away and could even fund a second Forge run too.
First Crafts
At this point, go back to your constructed deck and enrich it with the spoils of your draft run(s), still using the previous guidelines. This should make a fairly solid deck insofar as no crafting has happened yet.
You’re now sitting on about 3,500 Shiftstones just from early rewards (and drafting). On top of that, you can relatively safely destroy some of the cards you received from the campaign. Notably, Kaleb, Uncrowned Prince and Rolant, the Iron Fist are two legendaries that essentially never see constructed play, so I wouldn’t feel bad about getting rid of them for stones if you so choose. That would bring you to almost exactly 5,000 stones.
With that, now would be a good time to craft the things your deck most sorely lacks. Efficiency be damned, we postponed it long enough, go ahead and craft commons and uncommons you couldn’t find on the way if you really miss them. Do however refrain from crafting full sets, as you’re likely to open 1 or 2 soon enough. Crafting two uncommons you have zero of is definitely reasonable. Rares are fair game, as those are much slower to acquire and are fair investments, but still avoid crafting the full 4. Murphy’s Law dictates you will open a fifth as soon as you do.
For ideas on what exactly you should be crafting, refer to the next section for actual top-level lists.
My experience:
Here is my deck, with zero crafting, after 1 draft: Baby Rakano grows up so fast (example)
One of the most glaring shortcomings of this list is the lack of Crownwatch Paladins as well as the low number of Elder’s Feather and low drop weapons in general. I chose to craft some of those, plus a Valkyrie Enforcer and a Pyroknight, both all around excellent cards that see play in other decks too.
Here is what I end up with, after spending 3,200 shiftstones (no destruction necessary): Not really a baby anymore (example)
This is a list I’m confident about taking to the ladder. I expect it will bring me to Gold division without a hitch, probably even Diamond, and by then I’ll probably have enough to make a list that’s close to (if not exactly) one of the top level lists below.
The endgame : Tier 1 Rakapants
Let’s just ignore budget completely now and look for optimized lists. You’ll quickly notice they are actually very close to the budget versions! Differences will mostly be in the presence of playsets of rares (Pyroknight, Sparring Partner, Champion of Glory, Shogun’s Scepter, Valkyrie Enforcer being the most common) and sometimes a couple of copies of Deepforged Plate, the only legendary that sees play in Rakano pants.
Here is the list I personally favor for ladder play. I use this one when I’m tired of my weirdo brews getting their nerdy little heads smashed in repeatedly and I just want something that wins. It does that job admirably, and it does it fast too.
Peppr’s “Rakaface”
And here is Wafflez’s tournament list, which went 3-1 in the latest Swiss tournament, second only to our own Peter “Babam” Golightly.
You’d need to ask her about optimal tuning of the mainboard for ladder and/or budget restrictions, but I’m sure it would work great as is (or with pretty much whatever you feel like in place of the Plates).
With this, you should have all that you need to take yourself from Starter to Master – now get out there and do it!
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After kicking off the season this December in Canada, NorAm athletes headed south to start 2017. The men went to Stowe, Vt. for two giant slalom races, but they were only able to compete in one after Tuesday’s race was canceled due to fog and freezing rain.
On Monday, when the weather was fair, U.S. Ski Team athlete Nick Krause won his second NorAm of the season and his career. After coming in sixth on the first run, 0.78 seconds behind, Krause turned it up a notch to overtake the first-run leader, Canadian Phil Brown. Brown lost the race by just 0.05 seconds and his teammate Dustin Cook was in third, 0.26 seconds behind the pace.
Krause grew up skiing on the East Coast at Stratton Mountain School and Monday was his 12th FIS giant slalom, and only win, at Stowe Mountain Resort. He said that the experience he’s had at Stowe gave him an edge on the much of the competition.
“Confidence is huge on this hill. You can try and set up for every little terrain change, but at the end of the day, you just have to charge it and attack,” Krause said.
Stowe has been kind to Krause throughout his career.
“Growing up, my senior year at Stratton, I had a few breakout races here, and ever since then, I’ve always loved coming to Stowe,” he said, also noting that winning his first NorAm GS has been a goal for a long time.
Krause may have won the day, but Brown walks away from the week as the leader in the NorAm GS standings. Brown took a break from his World Cup schedule to regain confidence in his skiing, and it has worked. After failing to make five straight second runs on the World Cup circuit, Brown took his talents to Panorama in December. Since his return, he has not finished lower than second place in six consecutive slalom and giant slalom starts. He now holds the lead in the NorAm overall standings as well.
“I started in Europe doing World Cups in the beginning of the season, and it wasn’t going that well, so then we made the decision to come back to Panorama to try to find some confidence in racing and find the ability to find some freedom in my skiing and ski the way I do in training,” Brown said.
It worked well in Panorama when he won both GS races, and he said it worked on Monday as well. It has given him a good feeling heading back into the World Cup. He will fly back to Europe on Wednesday to compete in Adelboden, Switzerland, on Jan. 7-8.
Brown leads the overall standings with 440 points in front of American Kieffer Christianson with 400 points. Krause has moved into third with 358 points.
While the men were on Mt. Mansfield, the women traveled to Burke, Vt. for their series. University of Vermont Catamount Paula Moltzan took the first win of the series in giant slalom. Foreste Peterson of Dartmouth College came in second, just 0.13 seconds behind the winner, earning her first NorAm podium. Canadian Amelia Smart was in third, 0.47 seconds behind the leader.
In the second GS, Moltzan and Peterson were back on the podium in second and third, respectively, but this time, Canadian Ali Nullmeyer led them both, winning by a slim 0.07 seconds. Peterson said that the past two days were unexpected.
“I feel like the last four years of my career I’ve been very solid or steady with my results, but I have never broken the top five or four, and I feel like I’ve just kind of plateaued a little bit in my skiing,” she said, “But the start of this season something has seemed to click, and I feel like I have had a good break through in these last couple of races.”
Peterson’s breakthrough has even changed her plans for the season. She now ranks second in the NorAm giant slalom standings, and she has decided to head to Colorado for the tech series in February. No matter what happens in the NorAms, Peterson is well prepped for this year’s EISA Carnival season with Big Green.
After the two GS races, the Canadian women still hold the top three spots in the overall standings. Smart is the name to know right now. She leads with 452 points, continuing an incredible tech season. The Canadian has not finished outside the top seven in any of her seven starts, and has been on the podium in three separate disciplines. Stephanie Fleckenstein managed to stay second in the standings posting a 14th and 16th in the GS series. She has 422 points. Nullmeyer now sits in third with 410 points.
Next the women face two days of slalom at Burke on Jan. 4-5. The men stay at Stowe and will move forward with the slalom races as scheduled.
Complete men’s results can be found here. Complete women’s results can be found here. |
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The US embassy in Uganda has condemned the forced cancellation of a Pride event.
Uganda Pride, which had been expected to take place this month, was cancelled abruptly over the weekend, as LGBT activists said they had been warned they faced arrest if the event went ahead.
In an article for the Guardian, one of the event’s organisers Frank Mugisha said it had been “crushed” after threats from Uganda’s minister of ethics and integrity Simon Lokodo.
Lokodo has previously publicly threatened to arrest anyone who celebrates LGBT rights in public.
Under Uganda’s archaic penal code, “carnal knowledge against the order of nature” between two males carries a potential penalty of life imprisonment.
A harsher anti-gay law was signed into law in 2013, but it was later thrown out by the country’s Supreme Court on technical grounds.
In a statement, the US Embassy in the country slammed the Ugandan government.
The statement, released by US Ambassador Deborah R. Malac, reads: “The U.S. is disappointed with reports that the Ugandan government has forced the cancellation of LGBTI Pride Week events.
“Under Uganda’s constitution, all individuals and organisations have right to associate freely in private and in public, without fear.
“It is responsibility of the Govt to ensure that human rights of all citizens, including LGBTI citizens, are respected and protected.”
Mr Mugisha, the head of Sexual Minorities Uganda, wrote in the Guardian: “Pride 2017 was crushed. Our efforts to engage with the state fell on deaf ears.
“Lokodo threatened us with arrest, even violence, and the police were reportedly ready to surround the venues we had booked. The event was meant to begin last week, on 16 August.
“But we were left with no choice but to cancel. Our community is still traumatised by the arrests and detentions that took place last year. We couldn’t risk a repeat.”
He added: “It took the murder of my friend David Kato and the threat of the death penalty against LGBT people for the international community to take notice of our plight.
“Now it feels like the LGBT community is becoming invisible again, and not just to Ugandan society. We need the British government, the EU and the US to keep talking to the Ugandan government.
“We need the persecution of LGBT people to be on the agenda of the Commonwealth heads of government meeting next year. And we urge the EU to appoint a special representative on LGBT rights.
“The fact that we have been forced to cancel Pride Uganda is one more sign of our growing invisibility.”
Mr Lokodo has previously made shameless attempts to link gay rights activists to paedophilia and prostitution.
Justifying his homophobic campaign, he claimed: “We are aware that there are inducements, including money, being offered to young people to promote the practice.“ |
There are few certainties in politics and economics, but two of them were made clear by Grant Shapps, the former housing minister who was replaced in the recent cabinet reshuffle.
First, there are some politicians who make better chairs than portfolio ministers. And second, offering £10,000 to every "town team" requested by their local MP will have minimal influence on the long-term future vitality of our high street, with local government left to pick up and make something of the pieces.
After a significant amount of activity since the 2011 Portas review, the government's national funding legacy for no high street left behind included:
• 27 Portas pilot town teams, each receiving £100,000.
• Up to 392 other town teams (unsuccessful Portas applicants) each receiving £10,000 if their local MP makes an application before 16 September 2012.
• 100 local authorities, most with several town centres, who each received £100,000 from the high street innovation fund.
• The launch of a rather loosely-defined £1m future high street competition, for which applications need to be register by 6 December 2012.
• £1m allocated for the development of high street neighbourhood plans.
The immediate challenge for local authorities is to make sense of these overlapping and ad hoc opportunities. They must support the enthusiasm of genuine town teams to undertake productive and purposeful activity while also managing expectations.
Overall, these commitments amount to less than co-operative department store John Lewis spent refurbishing its branch in Cheadle. The risk of this type of extreme fragmentation of funding is a lot of sound and fury, signifying very little in terms of high street performance. It risks distracting local authorities with local rivalries and egos – already colourfully demonstrated by the implosion of the Margate Portas pilot team.
These short-term schemes are a huge headache given the scale of long-term challenges facing our high streets, and the policy response has been quite unhelpful. After all, government rejected the Portas recommendations for all out of town retail planning applications to be subject to special ministerial approval. They also rejected "affordability quotients" for new shopping developments, vigorous action to tackle empty retail properties, and incentives to develop the reach and scale of business improvement districts (Bids).
Local authorities ambitious to revitalise their town centres need to ensure their local plans prioritise its success. They need public, private and community-based partnerships to focus on the town centre, possibly co-funded through a Bid. They need coherent and distinctive branding that projects the qualities of places and their functions in the wider urban area.
To be fair, the government has helped town centres to find assistance from the Association of Town Centre Management. It is also encouraging town teams to network and share experience.
None of this, however, is anywhere near as important as local government's community leadership, strategic, enabling and partnership roles in town centre success. Shapps may have been able to leave high streets behind and ply his talents with coalition cabinet colleagues and the Tory faithful but it remains to be seen what route new housing minister Mark Prisk will take.
For local government, though, the hard work of town centre reinvention has just begun.
David Marlow is director of Third Life Economics and a former local government chief executive
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The number of people who can expect to have sufficient funds for retirement is inching up, but the picture for the country as whole remains worrisome.
Rene Jansa/Shutterstock Here’s hoping retirement won’t come down to this.
Those are the findings from the Employee Benefit Research Institute’s recently released 2014 Retirement Readiness Ratings. The nonprofit group, based in Washington, D.C., calculates that 56.7% of “early” baby boomers (born between 1948 and 1954), 58.5% of late boomers (born between 1955 and 1964) and 57.7% of Gen Xers (born between 1965 and 1974) will have the financial resources needed to meet their expenses in retirement.
Those figures are up 1.6 percentage points, 1.0 percentage point and 0.5 percentage point, respectively, from 2013.
A household is considered likely to run short of money – in the institute’s model – if assets can’t meet “minimum retirement expenditures.” Those are defined as a combination of expenses from the federal government’s Consumer Expenditure Survey (as a function of age and income); some health insurance and out-of-pocket health-related expenses; and possible expenses from nursing-home and home-health care.
Why the slight improvement in 2014? EBRI points to a growth in the market value of defined-contribution plans and individual retirement accounts, as well as an increase in housing values in the past year.
Looking forward, the institute points to several issues that could change some of these numbers – for the better or worse:
Retirement plans at work. Employees who have access to, and participate in, a savings plan at the office have much better odds of meeting expenses in later life. For example: Retirement-readiness values double for Gen Xers in the lowest-income quartile when comparing individuals with 20 years of eligibility in such plans vs. those with no future eligibility.
Social Security. Starting in 2033, the government will be able to pay only about 75% of the program’s costs (unless Congress acts to correct funding shortfalls). If nothing is done, retirement-readiness values for Gen Xers in the lowest income quartile, for instance, will drop to 10.3% from 20.9%.
Risk management, at or near retirement age. People nearing retirement should look for guaranteed streams of income. For instance, individuals who annuitize a portion of their defined contribution or IRA balances could mitigate the “variability in retirement income adequacy,” according to EBRI. At the same time, a “well-functioning market in long-term care insurance” could help reduce nest-egg shortfalls, particularly for middle-income households.
Also on Encore:
Making reverse mortgages less risky
Many boomers still have all-stock IRAs
Right price for investing advice could be $0
Glenn Ruffenach edits The Wall Street Journal’s guide to planning and living the new retirement. Reach him at [email protected]. |
The famous lights of the Eiffel Tower were switched off on Wednesday in a show of solidarity with the under-siege Syrian city of Aleppo.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo announced the iconic 300m-high landmark would plunged into darkness at 8pm.
The United Nations has branded what is happening in Aleppo a “meltdown of humanity” - with hundreds of thousands killed.
We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view. From 15p €0.18 $0.18 $0.27 a day, more exclusives, analysis and extras.
“This evening, at 8pm, @LaTourEiffel will be extinguished to symbolically support the city of @Paris in #Alep and all its inhabitants,” said Ms Hidalgo.
The Eiffel Tower, which usually turns its lights out between 1 and 2am, has been used as a symbol of unity before.
It was illuminated with rainbow colours after the Orlando gay club shooting that killed 49 people, with the Belgian flag colours after the Brussels bombings, and with the French tricolour after the Paris attacks last year.
Its lights were also switched off early in the aftermath of the Isis assaults of 13 November, 2015, that killed 130 people and injured many more.
Shape Created with Sketch. Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Show all 12 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War 1/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man crosses a street in Aleppo, December 12, 2009 Reuters 2/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A vendor sits inside an antique shop in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, December 12, 2009 Reuters 3/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A view shows part of Aleppo's historic citadel, overlooking Aleppo city, Syria Reuters 4/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A view shows part of Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria Reuters 5/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Visitors walk inside Aleppo's Umayyad mosque, Syria Reuters 6/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk inside the Khan al-Shounah market, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters 7/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man walks past shops in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters 8/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk along an alley in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters 9/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Visitors tour Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters 10/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A general view shows the Old City of Aleppo as seen from Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters 11/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk near Aleppo's Bab al-Faraj Clock Tower, Syria October 6, 2010 Reuters 12/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man stands inside Aleppo's historic citadel, overlooking Aleppo city, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters 1/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man crosses a street in Aleppo, December 12, 2009 Reuters 2/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A vendor sits inside an antique shop in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, December 12, 2009 Reuters 3/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A view shows part of Aleppo's historic citadel, overlooking Aleppo city, Syria Reuters 4/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A view shows part of Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria Reuters 5/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Visitors walk inside Aleppo's Umayyad mosque, Syria Reuters 6/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk inside the Khan al-Shounah market, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters 7/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man walks past shops in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters 8/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk along an alley in al-Jdeideh neighbourhood, in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria Reuters 9/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War Visitors tour Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters 10/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A general view shows the Old City of Aleppo as seen from Aleppo's historic citadel, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters 11/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War People walk near Aleppo's Bab al-Faraj Clock Tower, Syria October 6, 2010 Reuters 12/12 Aleppo before the Syrian Civil War A man stands inside Aleppo's historic citadel, overlooking Aleppo city, Syria December 11, 2009 Reuters
“This symbolic measure at a building known worldwide will aim to once again alert the international community to the need for urgent action,” said Ms Hidalgo's office, in a statement.
The UN believes pro-government forces slaughtered at least 82 civilians while closing in on taking the besieged Syrian city.
The Syrian military claim to have taken control of 98 per cent of rebel-held east Aleppo early on Monday morning.
The approximately 8,000 rebels – including al-Qaeda affiliated fighters – have been cut off from reinforcements, aid and food supplies since August.
In the House of Commons, former Chancellor George Osborne said he takes personal responsibility over Aleppo, while Labour MP Emily Thornberry said Syria, Russia and Iran’s governments were responsible for “hours of shame and disgrace”.
5 things you can do to help Aleppo
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Image caption Anne-Marie Ellement told family and friends that army colleagues bullied her following her allegations
A military policewoman killed herself following a campaign of bullying after she accused two colleagues of rape, her mother has told the BBC.
Alexandra Barritt's daughter, Cpl Anne-Marie Ellement, 30, from Bournemouth, was found hanged at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire in October.
She alleged she was raped by two men but military prosecutors did not bring charges.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) says it will investigate claims of bullying.
A spokesman said: "In the light of the allegations that have emerged...the Royal Military Police are examining whether the actions of its personnel were appropriate and in accordance with wider Army values and standards.
"Prior to Cpl Ellement's death she received extensive support from the Army, which continued up until her death.
She was very depressed [and] very fed up with the Army Alexandra Barritt, Cpl Ellement's mother
"The Army has a zero tolerance policy to bullying and harassment of its personnel."
'Losing my friends'
Ms Barritt told the BBC her daughter had been let down.
She added: "I feel the rape case was what started everything off and it should be reopened.
"She wrote to me and said she was going through hell.
"I want to see justice for Anne-Marie and I don't believe there's been justice.
"She told me she was very depressed, very fed up with the army, and wanted to come out."
Ms Ellement's dream had been to become a soldier and follow her father and grandfather into the Army, her mother said.
Image caption Alexandra Barritt said her daughter had dreamed of becoming a soldier
She joined the military police, but after making the rape allegations she said her life began to fall apart.
After an investigation the Independent Service Prosecuting Authority decided no charges should be brought.
But according to Ms Barritt, a bullying campaign began after she was posted to Bulford Camp in Wiltshire with some of that taking place on the internet.
In an email to a friend Cpl Ellement wrote: "Hardly anyone is talking to me. Like I'd make up something that is this bad, destroying my career, and losing all my friends."
She was found hanged at the camp on 9 October.
In March an inquest in Salisbury recorded a verdict of suicide.
An MoD spokesperson told the BBC that "the inappropriate use of social media was not highlighted as a significant contributory factor" during the police investigation into her death.
Ms Barritt said she hoped her daughter's death would not be in vain.
"I feel there should be more support for female soldiers who make allegations of sexual misconduct by fellow soldiers.
"She was bright, vibrant, she had a very generous, kind heart, she always put other people before herself, loved children, loved animals and had many plans for the future.
"Each member of the family is devastated because Anne-Marie was a much loved daughter, sister and aunt." |
[See more Year in Style articles]
Over the last 13 months, the youngest member of the Kardashian/Jenner clan has built a business empire for herself, with an estimated $10 million in personal earnings from sales of branded merchandise, which ranges from Kylie Lip Kits (pairs of matte liquid lipstick and lip liner that retail for $29) to Kyshadows and Kyliners (eye shadows and eye liners) in a multitude of colors and themes. She offers them exclusively on her own website in limited time frames for as long as stocks last.
Appetites are stoked to near fever pitch by video clips of Ms. Jenner applying the cosmetics or giving tutorials using them. Those clips are posted to Snapchat, with hints dropped on Twitter or Instagram as to when these products may be available. Although no one knows exactly how many followers she has, a spokesman for Snapchat said in August that Ms. Jenner was the most followed person on the platform. So when the latest batch of new stock does go live on her website, all products are sold, on average, in less than a minute. Then the process begins again.
Ms. Jenner is part of a growing cohort of both individuals and brands that have embraced the sales strategy known as the “drop.” It works like this: A seller controls the release of exclusive new items outside the traditional fashion cycle, cleverly marketing the impending arrival of the product to build demand. Pioneered almost two decades ago by the American skate wear brand Supreme, which took its cues from the Japanese street wear scene, the trend has gained particular momentum in recent years thanks to its adoption by some in the booming limited-edition sneaker industry: Kanye West’s Yeezy line with Adidas, for example, and Nike’s Air Jordans. It is also at the heart of the limited-edition designer collaborations championed by retailers like H&M and Target. Even Snapchat itself tried to jump on the bandwagon last month when it began exclusive sales of its new Spectacles glasses via randomly placed bright yellow vending machines, giving no indication of where they would crop up next. The overwhelming majority of drop customers, whatever the product, are younger than 30. |
Protests by the Black Lives Matter chapter at the College of William & Mary successfully shut down a talk by an American Civil Liberties Union representative on Wednesday.
Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, executive director of the ACLU in Virginia, was due to discuss the First Amendment, but was shouted down shortly after she began speaking.
Students holding signs lined up in front of the stage where Gastañaga was speaking, chanting “ACLU, you protect Hitler, too,” “ACLU, free speech for who?” and “the oppressed are not impressed.”
The protest was filmed and posted to the William & Mary Black Lives Matter Facebook page.
“In contrast to the ACLU, we want to reaffirm our position of zero tolerance for white supremacy no matter what form it decides to masquerade in,” the post reads.
A representative from Black Lives Matter spoke a little more than 20 minutes into the demonstration, accusing the ACLU’s of “hiding” behind the rhetoric of free speech to defend white supremacists.
This is a reference to the ACLU backing a white nationalist’s lawsuit against the city of Charlottesville, Va., where a bloody rally took place in August and resulted in a woman’s death.
William & Mary President Taylor Reveley released a statement: |
The student group Fossil Free Penn held a discussion on environmental racism as part of its weeklong engagement project called “Divestfest” Wednesday afternoon.
About a dozen students participated in the event, detailing how the negative impacts of industries disproportionately affect minorities. The speakers at the event, who will remain anonymous, hailed from two student groups on campus: Students for Justice in Palestine and the United Minorities Council.
"If we are talking about environmental justice, we have to consider intersectionality."
The message of the presentation was threefold. The first student argued that while “the impacts of climate change and fossil fuels are devastating for all communities, the effects are worse on marginalized communities,” specifically people of color and low-income communities. The second presenter discussed the eco-colonialism that occurred under the British rule of India and the millions of deaths it caused. And the third wanted to “show through the post-colonial theory how we can problematize the idea of forestation in different contexts—how we can use this to show how intersectionality can affect human rights as well as the ecosystem and how it can serve the neocolonialist propaganda.”
In discussing environmental racism, the speakers highlighted the Israel-Palestine conflict. The Jewish National Fund, an organization that plants trees in Israel, was a major subject of discussion. After asserting that the organization acted unjustly by purchasing land from Palestinians in the early 1900s in deals from which the Palestinians did not profit, the presenters looked into the symbolism of “making the desert bloom,” a phrase the students argued connected the forest environment to whiteness, evoked the notion of “a vacuum that the European savior can come nourish,” and ultimately incentivized “artificially making these areas look more like Europe.”
The students found a particular problem in the planting of pine trees in Israel and the West Bank, drawing a “connection between pine trees, forestation, and the way they further the colonialist agenda through capitalistic [sic] means of timber production.”
While pine trees are an invasive species and can be bad for certain environments, the solution is not merely to plant native trees like the olive tree.
“If we are talking about environmental justice, we have to consider intersectionality,” one of the presenters said. “We have to consider the way that different environmental agendas are being used in order to romanticize and support things that may be in violation of human rights and ancestry rights.” Additionally, the students urged the audience to “look for the complexity in the way that issues are whitewashed.”
The presentation also detailed the current water access situation in Palestine and Israel. To show the discrimination of the Israeli government, the students cited statistics that revealed a daily average water consumption per capita of 73 liters for West Bank Palestinians in comparison to 369 liters for Israelis.
The indictment of Israel continued as more statistics were given regarding the government’s distribution of water. “During negotiations [with Palestine] they decided on a set amount to give to Palestinians, but that number hasn’t been raised even though the population is increasing, temperatures are rising,” one student explained.
“During the negotiations they said they would decide on the final number in the final round of negotiations, but the final round of negotiations hasn’t happened… The question is why some groups are allowed to have pools in the middle of the desert and some aren’t.”
The students mentioned how environmental racism has occurred in the United States as well. They explained that 58% of people living near oil train tracks in Philadelphia are people of color, so “the placement of these oil trains specifically cut through minority neighborhoods.”
The presenters urged that the companies begin “thinking critically about where they are placing the train tracks… even though that might be more economically expensive.” They also talked about the placement of a landfill in Chester, PA, a city with a population that is 90% African-American, and contended that “the placement of that itself raises a lot of questions, and this is emblematic of landfill problems across the United States… as landfills tend to be placed in communities of color.”
Fossil Free Penn is a student group whose mission is convince the university to divest its endowment away from the fossil fuel industry by organizing students in a way that cannot be ignored. This week’s Divestfest program culminated in a silent protest of a Board of Trustees meeting on Friday morning at 11:00.
This article was originally published in The Statesman, a conservative student newspaper affiliated with the Leadership Institute's Campus Leadership Program. Its articles are republished on Campus Reform with permission.
Follow The Statesman on Twitter: @StatesmanofPenn |
Human mate preferences are related to many morphological traits, such as female waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), body mass index (BMI), male height or facial symmetry. People also vary in preferences for sexual dimorphism in stature (SDS = male height/female height) between themselves and a potential partner. Here, we demonstrate that women adjust their preference for SDS not only in relation to their own height but also in relation to (1) the phase of menstrual cycle during which their preferences were studied and (2) the sexual strategy (short- versus long-term) they were asked to choose. Taller males (larger SDS) were preferred more often when women were in the follicular (i.e. fertile) phase of their menstrual cycle and when the partners were chosen for short-term relationships. These effects were independent of woman's height. The results show that women in a potentially fertile phase of their menstrual cycle and when choosing a partner who might be less likely to invest in children select genes of taller males. |
YouNow embraces blockchain tech, opens PROPS Ecosystem to decentralized storage
YouNow, the global video platform that pioneered mobile live streaming, today announced a partnership with Storj Labs, the leading decentralized cloud storage provider, to further align the PROPS by YouNow ecosystem with the decentralized community. YouNow recently announced the PROPS Ecosystem, a group of media applications powered by a new cryptocurrency, PROPS. Storj will provide decentralized cloud storage services for terabytes of video files generated from YouNow’s 40 million registered users.
YouNow joins the droves of data-rich organizations engaging with alternative storage solutions to further secure valuable data. Storj, a solution that encrypts, shreds, and distributes data shards across a global network of nodes, will provide an additional layer of security for PROPS content. Storj’s vast decentralized network deters security breaches, ensuring PROPS and YouNow users are able to safely engage in an elevated live streaming and content sharing experience.
YouNow CEO Adi Sideman said, “Our partnership with Storj marks the commencement of our path to decentralize as much of the PROPS technology stack as practically makes sense, provided good performance, scalability needs and costs efficiencies are superior. We expect a long-term partnership between our mass market blockchain-powered platforms, PROPS and Storj.”
“One of the biggest benefits to decentralization is it empowers users by giving them control of the content and data they create, which is at the heart of YouNow’s mission,” said John Quinn, Storj Labs co-founder, and chief revenue officer. “YouNow is a true innovator and breakthrough pioneer in the live streaming revolution; their unique technology will take the mobile video experience to another level and we look forward to supporting them in their adoption of blockchain technology.”
Developers, including Storj’s own community, will be able to share in the launch and population of the PROPS ecosystem by building apps on PROPS. This partnership signals YouNow’s commitment to providing a secure and decentralized canvas for custom use cases by leveraging the Storj network’s inherent security benefits over legacy solutions. The first application hosted on the PROPS Ecosystem, Rize, will elevate the mobile video experience and be available for download upon Token Distribution to the public.
For more information, please visit PROPSProject.com and to learn more about Storj Labs, see storj.io.
About YouNow:
YouNow is a live social network that enables audiences and creators to connect in real time and is devoted to the unlimited potential of human creativity. The interactive entertainment platform has over 40 million registered users and 60,000 transactions per day in its digital goods economy. YouNow is committed to creating a community that is a safe place where people can meet, get together and connect. YouNow is backed by Union Square Ventures, Venrock, Ze’ev Ventures and Comcast Ventures.
About PROPS:
The PROPS Ecosystem, governed by a non-profit foundation, is built on the mission of creating a decentralized model for digital media that uses blockchain technology to fairly reward the contributors that power the network. PROPS will be hosted on the Ethereum blockchain and serve as the base utility token for applications within the ecosystem, granting users access to features and content, ability to promote content and signal status within the community, among other uses. Third party application developers, content creators, publishers, and end-users will be incentivized to participate in the Ecosystem by earning PROPS.
About Storj:
Storj Labs provides decentralized cloud storage and gives users more control over their devices and data providing an open-source cloud platform: Storj. The company aims to become the largest, most innovative, cost-effective, and high-performance cloud storage provider by utilizing spare hard drive space provided by its community members. |
At a summer school, organised a few weeks ago by the Alliance of Civilizations, which brought together over 170 young people, from 70 countries, all participants were invited to summarise the week's experience in one word. Everyone was ecstatic and used sparkling words - a once in a lifetime feeling; love; hope; unique; accomplishment; peace and the like. One participant, showing a little more reserve than the rest in that euphoric atmosphere, chose the word "possibility", a statement that has resonated quite dramatically in recent events which show how right her caution was.
The indignation that has flared up in so many countries against a provocative video, produced in murky circumstances and aimed at offending one group's religious beliefs, is legitimate and fully understandable. No believer, be they Muslim, Christian, Jewish, to mention only the religions of the Book - is ready to accept indecent attacks on matters they hold sacred. All citizens should have the right not to be gratuitously offended in their religious feelings and aspire to be protected against such indecent attacks. But as a right, it should be claimed in a lawful, peaceful way within the bounds of the law.
At the same time, while we hold this right, it is important to recognise that one person's contemptible actions do not represent an entire nation, or everyone in a particular group or of a certain faith. Here, I must emphasise the crucial responsibility that falls on political and religious leaders to speak out to their constituencies, urging them to be mindful of this fact.
Anti-islam video sparks debate on censorship
Apart from all this, what is entirely a separate matter and must be seen as such, is the legitimate manifestation of anger being instrumentalised by extremists to foment mob violence for their own political ends. In my view, the brutal killings in Benghazi had little to do with the release of the video. The perpetrators of this vicious terrorist attack have to be brought into justice as the Libyan authorities promptly pointed out. But in the same way that extremists do not represent all Libyans, the makers of the offending video don't represent America, all Americans, or all Christians. In my mind, it is necessary for those of us in the middle - the overwhelming majority - to take back the conversation from the extremes and occupy our rightful place in it.
Another concerning fact is that there seems to be a primordial angst that is all too easily exploited when events like this happen. The air is ripe, for those so inclined, to take advantage of popular sentiments, rouse people and encourage violence to strengthen their positions of power. While this brings me back to my earlier point about responsible leadership, it also highlights the need to do deep thinking about the persistent tensions between the East and the West; about the bad relations between Muslim and Western publics with both sides holding negative stereotypes of the other; and how a tremendous level of hostility and animosity is ever present that needs only the slightest prodding to explode. It is ultimately an indication about how much the Alliance of Civilizations is a timely and rightful UN initiative, but is also a painful reminder to me that our work at the Alliance is far from done.
We must redouble our efforts to bridge cultural divides, promote cross-cultural understanding, trust and mutual respect among and within societies, at all levels - international, regional, national and local - and fields of action - from education to youth and media.
In democratic societies and increasingly all over the world, people are free to voice their rights. Let's join all our voices and work together to address in an appropriate way the alarming rise of extremism, religious hatred and hate speech, all of which undermine people's expectations of a better life in dignity, freedom and security. We need to be bold and take action urgently to turn the possibility of living together in diversity, dialogue, respect and peace into reality.
Jorge Sampaio is the United Nations High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, and the former president of Portugal. |
WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Saying “Enough is enough,” Republican senators on Friday angrily accused their constituents of “intentionally and opportunistically” using recent town-hall meetings as vehicles to express themselves.
One of the angriest Republicans, Senator Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, said he was “disgusted and offended” by the “flagrant exercise of freedom of speech” he witnessed at his town hall.
“The spectacle of people standing up, asking their elected representatives questions, and expecting them to answer is the most disgraceful thing I’ve ever experienced,” Cotton said. “This will not stand.”
Cotton accused “outside agitators” of sending voters to the town halls “to cynically exploit an obscure provision in the Constitution called the First Amendment.”
“I’m not a conspiracy theorist, but isn’t it a little suspicious that, in town hall after town hall, all these voters were so well-versed in one tiny sentence in the Constitution?” he said. “It doesn’t pass the smell test.”
While Cotton said that he would consider participating in future town halls, he warned that some modifications to the town-hall format were necessary, such as banning voters from the events.
“We need to send a strong message to these people,” he said. “A town-hall meeting is not a time for everyone in town to come to a hall and meet.” |
JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is suspected of crimes involving fraud, breach of trust and bribes in two corruption cases, Israeli police revealed Thursday.
Police have been questioning Netanyahu for months over the cases but have released few details. A gag order was released Thursday night on reporting the details of talks that are underway to enlist a state witness.
The document says the cases involving Netanyahu deal with "a suspicion of committing crimes of bribery, fraud and breach of trust."
On Friday, police said Netanyahu's former chief of staff and onetime close confidant agreed to testify against him.
Trump pushes for new partnership in Middle East
The police said in a statement that Ari Harow will serve six months of community service and pay a fine of 700,000 Shekels (about $193,000) for his involvement in a separate corruption case, apparently a lighter-than-expected sentence in exchange for his testimony.
Netanyahu's office has repeatedly denied wrongdoing over the investigations, portraying the accusations as a witch hunt against him and his family by a hostile media opposed to his hard-line political views.
A statement from his office Thursday night said, "We completely reject the unfounded claims against the prime minister." It said the allegations are part of a campaign to "replace the government" and "there will be nothing, because there was nothing."
In a video posted to Facebook Friday, he refered to the news as "the inevitable scandal of the week," according to the Reuters news agency.
"I would like to tell you, citizens of Israel, that I do not heed background noises," he said. "I continue to work for you."
One investigation, dubbed "File 1000," reportedly concerns claims that Netanyahu improperly accepted lavish gifts from wealthy supporters, including Australian billionaire James Packer and Hollywood producer Arnon Milchan.
The second investigation, "File 2000," reportedly concerns Netanyahu's alleged attempts to strike a deal with publisher Arnon Mozes of the Yediot Ahronot newspaper group to promote legislation to weaken Yediot's main competitor in exchange for more favorable coverage of him by Yediot.
The U.S.-born Harow has been under investigation for the past two years for fraud and other crimes regarding the sale of his consulting company while working as chief of staff, according to media reports.
Police reportedly have a copy of a recording made by Harow of a 2014 conversation between Netanyahu and the publisher.
After eight years in office, in addition to an earlier term in the 1990s, Netanyahu has garnered an image as a cigar-puffing, cognac-drinking socialite who is as comfortable rubbing shoulders with international celebrities as he is making deals in parliament. His wife, Sara, has been accused of abusive behavior toward staff.
Scandals have long dogged the couple over their lavish tastes and opponents have portrayed both as being out of touch with the struggles of average Israelis. |
Critics call new rule to deal with Hawaii's feral cat population inhumane Copyright by KHON - All rights reserved Video
The state's Department of Land and Natural Resources says feral cats pose risks to public health and wildlife, and they're all over boat harbors and facilities.
The Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation came up with a drastic rule change that authorizes the state to destroy feral cats or dogs by any means necessary.
The Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources approved the rule change Friday that includes:
"(Page 50-51) Any dog, cat, or other domestic pet, while being a stray within a small boat harbor, may be seized by officers and employees of the department, or by any other person authorized by law, and shall be disposed of as provided in chapter 183D-65, Hawaii Revised Statutes."
That chapter specifies:
§183D-65 Posting; destruction of predators. (a) On any game management area, public hunting area, or forest reserve or other lands under the jurisdiction of the department, predators deemed harmful to wildlife by the department may be destroyed by any means deemed necessary by the department. (b) Where the predators are dogs and the methods of destruction may endanger pets or hunting dogs, all major points of entrance into the area where the predators are to be destroyed shall be posted with signs indicating that a program of predator destruction in the area is in progress. Any predator may be destroyed in a posted area without claim or penalty whether or not the predator is the property of some person.
The rule is meant to fix the issue of stray animals at boat harbors and facilities, but the wording has animal groups alarmed.
The Humane Society of the United States and the non-profit group Alley Cat Allies fear that gives the state authority to shoot and kill animals.
"I don't know if that's their plan, but these rules give them that authority, and that's a very dangerous thing," said Bryan Kortis with the Humane Society of the United States.
"We're deeply concerned that they are using the most dramatic approach that won't be effective and the majority of the people in Hawaii oppose," added John White, who represents Alley Cats Allies.
After hours of public testimony, state officials passed the rule amendment, but on one condition. It won't go into effect until January 2019, which gives the state a chance to work with animal advocates to track, neuter, and release feral cats out of boat harbors.
"At least they're not going to go out tomorrow and start shooting cats, but they haven't come up with a solution yet. Hopefully now they'll talk to us a bit and we'll try to find something that will work," said Kortis.
When asked his response to those opposing the rule change, DOBOR administrator Edward Underwood said, "We did not want to have to put down feral cats. We've worked, reached out to the humane society on several occasions, to work with us on this issue. Hopefully now this will bring them back to the table, to relocate them outside of the harbor. We're not set up to destroy animals. None of our staff wants to do that either."
"But is that a possibility?" KHON2 asked.
"Well not until 2019. Hopefully what will happen is, we get together, come up with a plan and a better area to relocate these areas where they can control the intake, and they're not in the small boat harbors," Underwood replied.
The state also passed a rule amendment where no one can feed or add to the existing cat colonies at the boat harbors, something officials say added to the feral cat problem.
The new changes now head to Gov. David Ige's desk for his signature. |
A number of recent reports in Chinese state-run media indicate that the country’s carrier-based J-15 multirole fighter jets have entered mass production.
The Shenyang J-15 (also called Flying Shark) is China’s carrier-based fighter aircraft. It was reversed engineered from a Russian Sukhoi Su-33 that China acquired from Ukraine, although it reportedly is equipped with some indigenous weapons, avionics and other features that Beijing claims greatly enhances its capabilities. The J-15 is also powered by the Chinese-built Taihang (WS-10) turbofan engine.
A J-15 prototype conducted its first flight test in August 2009. In November last year it was announced that a PLA Air Force (PLAAF) pilot conducted the first take-off and landing from China’s aircraft carrier, Liaoning, using one of the J-15 tester jets. Throughout 2013 the PLAAF has continued holding take-off and landing exercises using the J-15 aircraft.
The People’s Daily Online carried a couple of reports this week on the J-15. Most of them begin by noting that “many keen military observers” have noted that the J-15s that have appeared on CCTV as of late have been painted gray with a People’s Republic of China flag on them, in contrast to the initial five J-15s that were painted yellow and were therefore marked as being intended solely for testing and development. The reports then note that the new paint job has led these “keen military observers” to speculate that the J-15 fighters have entered mass production.
One of the reports then asks Yin Zhuo, which it identifies only as a military analyst but who is also a former Rear Admiral in the PLA Navy (PLAN), to comment on this speculation. Admiral Yin begins by affirming that there has not been an official announcement yet on whether the J-15s have entered mass production, but nonetheless judges that the “navy paint finish on the J-15 indicates that it is now in formal service.”
He is then quoted as that online speculation about whether the aircraft has entered into mass production is “logical based on the facts that J-15 is already in service, and its technology is mature enough for mass production.” The rest of the article is devoted to Admiral Yin discussing what the implications will be if the J-15s have entered mass production, including the aircraft’s service life, which he estimates at 25-30 years.
“Once mass production is under way,” the People’s Daily paraphrases Admiral Yin as saying, “the aircraft design will be fixed other than in terms of possible changes to radar and electronic communication systems, or modernization of the engine after 10 to 15 years of service. However, the profile, basic finish, and performance standards of the aircraft have been established.”
Although hardly conclusive, the reports strongly suggest that mass production of the J-15 has begun, or at least that the Communist Party wants to create that impression.
Notably, the reports coincide with the Commander of PLAN, Admiral Wu Shengli, visiting the United States. The commander of the Liaoning carrier and the pilot who first landed on the carrier last November are accompanying Admiral Wu on the trip, according to Reuters.
“We have around 36 airplanes operating on board our ship,” Captain Zhang Zheng, the Liaoning commander told reporters in Washington this week, referring to aircraft carrier. “And we are still practicing and doing tests and experiments for the equipment and systems.”
Admiral Wu, on the other hand, told reporters that the Liaoning is just for training and experimentation and after a “final evaluation” the PLAN will decide on the development of a new aircraft carrier for the service.
Meanwhile, one of the other J-15 articles that appeared on the People’s Daily website compared it favorably relative to other countries’ carrier-based aircraft. Indeed, Admiral Yin, who was also quoted in that article, is paraphrased as saying that the J-15 “reaches a similar level to the U.S. F/A-18C/D Super Hornet” and is superior in terms of its air combat capability.
However, Want China Times flags a Xinhua report that quotes Sun Cong, the J-15s designer, noting that currently the aircraft cannot launch attacks against ships and ground targets when taking off from the Liaoning. That is because the aircraft carrier utilizes a ski-jump ramp and the J-15 would be too heavy to take off if it was carrying air-to-surface missiles and bombs. Thus, until the Navy acquires a Catapult-Assisted Take-Off But Arrested-Recovery (CATOBAR) carrier, the J-15, which is a multirole fighter, will be limited primarily to air superiority operations (and ship defense).
Notably, one of the People’s Daily reports observed that the J-15’s “front wheel is suitable for catapult launch similar to the carrier-based fighter of the U.S. Navy. The catapult launch was taken into consideration at the beginning of its design.”
In that context, Admiral Wu’s comments seem very interesting indeed. |
Gone Home
Completed the game.
39.0%
Rare 60.60%
Common
Letters to Katie
Completed the game having found all 23 of Sam's journal entries.
5.7%
Very Rare 23.47%
Uncommon
Meow Meow Meow
Found Mitten's secret diary.
6.2%
Very Rare 25.47%
Uncommon
Homerunner
Completed the game in less than 1 minute with no Modifiers enabled. (From New Game in a single session only)
3.5%
Ultra Rare 19.10%
Rare
Speedreader
Completed the game having found all 24 journal entries, with no Modifiers enabled, in less than 10 minutes. (From New Game in a single session only)
2.8%
Ultra Rare 16.87%
Rare
Behind the Scenes
Activated all Commentary Nodes with the Developer Commentary Modifier enabled.
3.3%
Ultra Rare 18.45%
Rare
Nesting Instinct
Returned Christmas Duck to his rightful place.
6.7%
Very Rare 27.17%
Uncommon
Wet Bandit
Turn on every faucet in the house at once.
5.6%
Very Rare 24.92%
Uncommon
Intuitive
Guess the combination to Oscar's safe before finding the code.
14.0%
Very Rare 32.35%
Uncommon |
Jones has been retweeting her harassers, but Twitter doesn't seem to be doing anything about it.
Despite the public’s largely positive response to Ghostbusters, it seems as though some bearded internet trolls still want to make their distaste for the all-female reboot heard. One of the main targets has been Leslie Jones, the only woman of colour in the main cast, and this abuse has taken a very racist turn. For the last 24 hours, Jones has been tweeting a fraction of the racist bullshit she has been sent in the last week.
I just don’t understand pic.twitter.com/N9xWoXPttu — Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 18, 2016
Exposing I hope y’all go after them like they going after me pic.twitter.com/ojK5FdIA0H — Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 18, 2016
Yep so sad these people have mothers and sisters and aunts. So fucking sickening pic.twitter.com/fEVLEgUfGh — Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 18, 2016
Ok I have been called Apes, sent pics of their asses,even got a pic with semen on my face. I’m tryin to figure out what human means. I’m out — Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 18, 2016
Twitter I understand you got free speech I get it. But there has to be some guidelines when you let spread like that. You can see on the — Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 19, 2016
Profiles that some of these people are crazy sick. It’s not enough to freeze Acct. They should be reported. — Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 19, 2016
I don’t know how to feel. I’m numb. Actually numb. I see the words and pics and videos. Videos y’all. Meaning people took time to sprew hate — Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 19, 2016
So far, Twitter has done nothing (apparently social media platforms only react to abuse when its against white millionaires) and so fans have taken it into their own hands. Today many users are pushing the hashtag #LoveForLeslieJ to outnumber the racist trolls that are filling up her mentions. Ghostbusters director Paul Feig, has also tweeted his support.
Leslie Jones is one of the greatest people I know. Any personal attacks against her are attacks against us all. #LoveForLeslieJ @Lesdoggg — Paul Feig (@paulfeig) July 18, 2016
Stand with @Lesdoggg #loveforlesliej she is an inspiration and a legend in the making pic.twitter.com/dqotlPAETd — Margaret Cho (@margaretcho) July 18, 2016
I am proud of @Lesdoggg for being an inspiration to little black girls the same way she was inspired by those before her. #LoveforLeslieJ — T’Challa Back Girl (@MarissaRei1) July 18, 2016
You can see how much representation matters by how angry it makes the people who don’t want to see you represented. #LoveforLeslieJ — @red3blog (@red3blog) July 19, 2016
HI THERE @Lesdoggg is the epitome of talent and badassery. She makes me want to work hard so I can be as good at my own job. #LoveForLeslieJ — Anne T. Donahue (@annetdonahue) July 19, 2016
If you need a break from the relentless hate for a second, please enjoy this nice video of Leslie Jones crying when she meets Whoopi Goldberg, and remember that representation is important and internet bigots cannot take that away. |
This is a landmark year for Afghanistan. After more than a decade of war, the country is set to transition into a new era, one it hopes will be less turbulent and will offer the beleaguered nation peace, stability and growth. Over the coming year, Afghanistan is scheduled to undergo a political transition, courtesy the presidential elections due in April, and a security transition (already underway), with the full withdrawal of international combat troops by the end of this year.
While the political process is underway and is seen as more of an internal decision for the Afghan people to make, the security transition holds the key to a secure future for Afghanistan. Critical to this is the Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) with the U.S. Although the BSA has been finalized and was even cleared by a loya jirga (an assembly of elders) in Afghanistan last November, President Hamid Karzai has not been willing to sign it, much to the frustration of Washington, which warns that a “zero option” could have adverse consequences for Afghanistan’s security post 2014. With the current impasse unlikely to be broken soon, Karzai is looking at “Plan B” options. In this context, Iran and India may have a role to play. Given their strategic interests in Afghanistan as well as trends over the past months, these two countries could well offer Afghanistan a critical lifeline during a period of transition and uncertainty.
Events in recent months indicate to three clear policy strands. First, Karzai is unwilling to sign the BSA soon (at least until the April presidential elections) and is looking for bigger bargains. Second, visits by Karzai and his ministers to Iran and India in recent months are clearly aimed at shoring up support in a situation where U.S. military support may not be forthcoming. And third Karzai is now hedging his bets when it comes to direct talks with the Taliban given the absence of any clear initiative by the U.S. In all of these initiatives, India and Iran could be key players.
Take Karzai’s trips to India and Iran in December last year. Both visits came after the BSA was passed by a loya jirga and, interestingly, shortly after Iran and the U.S.-led P5+1 had signed an interim deal on the Iran nuclear issue. While in Iran, Karzai found support when President Hassan Rouhani declared, “We are concerned about the tensions arising from the presence of foreign forces in the region and believe that all foreign forces should exit the region and Afghanistan’s security should be ceded to the people of that country.” Coming from Iran at that juncture, it was a major show of support for Karzai. The two countries also agreed to sign a “pact of friendship and cooperation,” which could include aspects of political, security cooperation and economic development. This would complement a separate border and security agreement signed earlier in August.
Karzai’s visit to India immediately after this, on December 13, was aimed not only at consolidating support but also at pleading for increased military assistance. In his previous visit to New Delhi in May 2013, he had handed over a wish list of lethal and non-lethal military aid from India that included artillery guns, helicopters and armored tanks. In his December trip, he not only reiterated his requests but is reported to have asked India for a more proactive involvement in getting the Afghanistan National Security Forces (ANSF) ready to take on the Taliban post 2014. India confirmed its commitment to deepening defense and security cooperation, through enhancements in training, meeting the equipment and infrastructure needs of ANSF and opportunities for higher military education in India for Afghan officers. While emphasizing the need to sign the BSA, India refrained from putting any overt pressure on Karzai, stating that it shared his wish to have the BSA, but will not be “prescriptive, intrusive or judgmental.”
While Iran and India have always been potential alternatives for Afghanistan, it is only in the past few months that Kabul seems to have been getting traction on this option. The Iran nuclear deal has perhaps unshackled some of the constraints India may have felt seeking Iran’s support in finding an optimal solution for Afghanistan. The meeting of Indian National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon with Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif on February 1 at the Munich Conference to discuss recent developments in Afghanistan was significant. Discussion centered on India-Iran cooperation in dealing with the situation in Afghanistan, especially in the context of the rift between Washington and Karzai. Iranian President Rouhani is likely to dispatch the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Shamkhani, to Delhi soon to discuss the issue. Reports of direct talks between Karzai and the Taliban have also evoked a positive response in India, leading to the likelihood of India’s foreign minister vising Kabul in March 2014. With India as its most trusted ally and an “all-weather friend” and Iran as an immediate neighbor and part of its political and cultural history, Afghanistan is clearly working on a simultaneous plan to secure its post-2014 future, with or without a BSA with the U.S. With their strategic interests and cordial relations with Kabul, India and Iran will be critical to a peaceful transition for Afghanistan post 2014 and could well be that country’s Plan B.
Rajeev Agarwal is a Research Fellow at IDSA, New Delhi. His specializations include West Asia and Afghanistan. |
Why TVB needs to refocus on the basics
Television Broadcasts Ltd. (TVB), Hong Kong’s largest free-to-air television station, has often come under fire over falling editorial standards and quality and its apparent pro-establishment stance.
The broadcaster has failed to serve Hong Kong people well despite its dominant position in the market, critics say, accusing the station of focusing more on staying on the right side of Beijing.
Well, the critics now have some fresh ammunition to lob at the broadcaster, whose history goes back to almost 50 years.
In a major goof-up Sunday, TVB used a wrong flag to depict China in a documentary about the nation’s battle with Japan in World War Two.
In a special feature aired on the weekly show Sunday Report, TVB wrongly used the 5-stars People’s Republic of China flag to represent China during the war time between 1937 and 1945.
In reality, the flag didn’t exist at that time as it was the military force led by the Nationalists or Kuomintang that was at the frontline in the fight against Japanese troops in China during the period.
If a flag had to be depicted, it had to be that of the Republic of China — used by the Nationalists who spearheaded a victory against Japan in 1945.
The 5-stars flag was adopted as the national flag of China only in 1949 when Communist Party took the reins of power in 1949 after a long civil war.
After viewers pointed out the error and slammed the TV station for distorting history, TVB corrected the graphic and also issued an apology.
It said it was “deeply sorry” for the mistake in the special program that was aired to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War Two.
But that hasn’t stopped the public from questioning how TVB staff goofed up in the first place.
The station was perhaps too eager to show the ruling Communist Party in Beijing as the savior of China in the battle against Imperial Japan, observers remarked, suggesting a Freudian slip.
TVB was justified in airing a World War II documentary as China is preparing for a V-Day military parade in Beijing next month, but how did the editorial bosses let slip the embarrassing blunder on the flag, netizens asked.
TVB did not give an explanation but made amends quickly after internet forums were abuzz with chatter that the TV station had misinterpreted history.
Some viewers even filed formal complaints to the Office of the Communications Authority, Hong Kong’s media industry watchdog, that TVB had provided wrong information to viewers.
The regulator is said to have received more than 600 complaints on the matter.
Late Monday, TVB issued a public apology for the mistake and posted a corrected version of the graphic, with the Republic of China flag, in the relevant scene in the online archive.
The TV station indicated that the slip-up was an unintentional error, but the damage has been done.
The latest incident will only add to concerns about TVB’s editorial direction.
In recent months, the station has increasingly been accused of slanting its coverage on all aspects of news, ranging from people’s livelihood issues to political news.
The broadcaster tends to instinctively strike a pro-establishment stance and support the ruling authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing, while labeling opposition parties as a source of instability for Hong Kong.
The station is also accused of toning down controversial livelihood issues in Hong Kong, pointing out that people in the city live much better lives compared to others in most parts of the world.
Few weeks ago, TVB news ran a story on water supply issues in the developing world.
In the program, a commentary ran like this: “In Hong Kong, people are complaining about lead contamination, while more than 70 percent of the world population cannot access drinking water.”
Some viewers interpreted the comments as sending a hidden message to locals — ‘don’t complain, you are much better off than all those without clean water to drink.”
In online forums, netizens slammed TVB, saying the station appears to have taken upon itself the task of maintaining social harmony under the order of Beijing authorities.
TVB has been undergoing some changes since the 1997 handover, with mixed results.
What it needs to ensure now is to quell the public’s doubts about its professional standards, and that it will put independent journalism and strong editorial practices above everything else.
The station certainly has its task cut out.
– Contact us at [email protected]
SC/AC/RC |
The head of AMD development team graphics architectures - Kaduri Raja - has clarified the situation with the ability to create pocket graphics for smartphones, tablets and other portable devices. As is known, in 2009, AMD has sold Qualcomm's division and the development of similar purpose - platform Adreno. Since then, AMD efforts have been directed to develop graphical solutions for computer platforms and consoles. Chef Radeon Technologies Group acknowledged that the company does not see any sense to develop "pocket" GPU due to the high cost and the lack of demand.
At the same time, AMD remains open to any partnership proposals. If someone wants to finance the development of the graphics architecture for submobile devices - contact. Also, the company is willing to license the architecture for interested developers. |
Former Vissel Kobe manager Masahiro Wada is likely to succeed Ryoichi Kawakatsu as manager of second-division club Kyoto Sanga next season, informed sources told Kyodo News on Sunday.
Under the 56-year-old Kawakatsu who took the helm during the 2014 season, Kyoto has languished in the standings. With just one game remaining, the J2 club is in eighth place with a record of 14-10 with 17 draws. It is the fourth consecutive year Kyoto has failed to earn a promotion to the J. League top division.
Kyoto club president Hiroshi Imai said age will be a factor in determining Kawakatsu’s successor. The 49-year-old Wada, who managed Chonburi in the Thai Premier League this season, appears to fit the bill.
“Someone in their 40s is ideal (for the manager’s post next season),” said Imai. |
Our 1D forcing-feedback-mixing model published in January 2014 (and not paywalled, but also here) addressed the global average ocean temperature changes observed from the surface to 700 m depth, with the model extending to 2,000 m depth.
We used the 1D model to obtain a consensus-supporting climate sensitivity when traditional forcings were used (mostly anthropogenic GHGs, aerosols, and volcanoes), but a much smaller 1.3 deg. C climate sensitivity if the observed history of ENSO was included, which was shown from CERES satellite measurements to modulate the Earth’s radiative budget naturally (what we called “internal radiative forcing” of the climate system).
Abraham et al. recently published an open source paper addressing the various assumptions in our model. While we have only had a couple days to look at it, in response to multiple requests for comment I am now posting some initial reactions.
Abraham et al. take great pains to fault the validity of a simple 1D climate model to examine climate sensitivity. But as we state in our paper (and as James Hansen has even written), in the global average all that really matters for the rate of rise of temperature is (1) forcing, (2) feedback, and (3) ocean mixing. These three basic processes can be addressed in a 1D model. Advective processes (horizontal transports) vanish in the global ocean average.
They further ignore the evidence we present (our Fig. 1 in Spencer & Braswell, 2014) that a 1D model might actually be preferable from the standpoint of energy conservation, since the 3D models do not appear to conserve energy – a basic requirement in virtually any physical modelling enterprise. Some of the CMIP3 models’ deep ocean temperature changes in apparent contradiction to whether the climate system is being radiative forced from above. Since the 3D models do not include a changing geothermal heat flux, this suggests a violation of the 1st Law of Thermodynamics. (Three of the 13 models we examined cooled most of deep ocean since 1955, despite increasing energy input from above. How does that happen?)
On this point, how is it that Abraham et al. nitpick a 1D model that CAN explain the observations, but the authors do not fault the IPCC 3D models which CANNOT explain the observations, and possibly don’t even conserve energy in the deep ocean?
Regarding their specific summary points (in bold):
1. The model treats the entire Earth as ocean-covered.
Not true, and a red herring anyway. We model the observed change in ocean heat content since 1955, and it doesn’t matter if the ocean covers 20% of the globe or 100%. They incorrectly state that ignoring the 30% land mass of the Earth will bias the sensitivity estimates. This is wrong. All energy fluxes are per sq. meter, and the calculations are independent of the area covered by the ocean. We are surprised the authors (and the reviewers) did not grasp this basic point.
2. The model assigns an ocean process (El Nino cycle) which covers a limited geographic region in the Pacific Ocean as a global phenomenon…
This is irrelevant. We modeled the OBSERVED change in global average ocean heat content, including the observed GLOBAL average expression of ENSO in the upper 200 m of the GLOBAL average ocean temperature.
3. The model incorrectly simulates the upper layer of the ocean in the numerical calculation.
There are indeed different assumptions which can be made regarding how the surface temperature relates to the average temperature of the first layer, which is assumed to be 50 m thick. How these various assumptions change the final conclusion will require additional work on our part.
4. The model incorrectly insulates the ocean bottom at 2000 meters depth.
This approximation should not substantially matter for the purpose the model is being used. We stopped at 2,000 m depth because the results did not substantially depend upon it going any deeper.
5. The model leads to diffusivity values that are significantly larger than those used in the literature.
We are very surprised this is even an issue, since we took great pains to point out in our paper that the *effective* diffusivity values we used in the model are meant to represent *all* modes of vertical mixing, not just diffusivity per se. If the authors read our paper, they should know this. And why did the reviewers not catch this basic oversight? Did the reviewers even read our paper to see whether Abraham et al. were misrepresenting what it claimed? Again, the *effective* diffusivity is meant to represent all modes of vertical heat transport (this is also related to point #8, below). All the model requires is a way to distribute heat vertically, and a diffusion-type operator is one convenient method for doing that.
6. The model incorrectly uses an asymmetric diffusivity to calculate heat transfer between adjacent layers, and
7. The model contains incorrect determination of element interface diffusivity.
The authors discuss ways in which the implementation of the diffusion operator can be more accurately expressed. This might well be the case (we need to study it more). But it should not impact the final conclusions because we adjust the assumed effective diffusivities to best match the observations of how the ocean warms and cools at various depths. If there was a bias in the numerical implementation of the diffusion operator (even off by a fact of 10), then the effective diffusivity values will simply adjust until the model matches the observations. The important thing is that, as the surface warms, the extra heat is mixed downward in a fashion which matches the observations. Arguing over the numerical implementation obscures this basic fact. Finally, a better implementation of diffusivity calculation still must then be run with a variety of effective diffusivities (and climate sensitivities) until a match with the observations has been obtained, which as far as we can tell the authors did not do. The same would apply to a 3D model simulation…when one major change is implemented, other model changes are often necessary to get realistic results.
8. The model neglects advection (water flow) on heat transfer.
Again, there is no advection in the global average ocean. The authors should know this, and so should the reviewers of their paper. Our *effective* diffusivity, as we state in the paper, is meant to represent all processes that cause vertical mixing of heat in the ocean, including formation of cold deep water at high latitudes. Why did neither the authors nor the reviewers of the paper not catch this basic oversight? Again, we wonder how closely anyone read our paper.
9. The model neglects latent heat transfer between the atmosphere and the ocean surface.
Not true. As we said in our paper, processes like surface evaporation, convective heat transfer, latent heat release, while not explicitly included, are implicitly included because the atmosphere is assumed to be in convective equilibrium with the surface. Our use of 3.2 W/m2 change in OLR with a surface temperature change of 1 deg. C is the generally assumed global-average value for the effective radiating temperature of the surface-atmosphere system. This is the way in which a surface temperature change is realistically translated into a change in top-of-atmosphere OLR, without having to explicitly include latent heat transfer, atmospheric convection, temperature lapse rate, etc.
Final Comments
If our model is so far from reality, maybe Abraham et al. can tell us why the model works when we run it in the non-ENSO mode (mainly greenhouse gas, aerosol, and volcanic forcing) , yielding a climate sensitivity similar to many of the CMIP models (2.2 deg. C). If the model deficiencies are that great, shouldn’t the model lead to a biased result for this simple case? Again, they cannot obtain a “corrected” model run by changing only one thing (e.g. the numerical diffusion scheme) without sweeping the other model parameters (e.g. the effective diffusivities) to get a best match to the observations.
These are our initial reactions after only a quick look at the paper. It will take a while to examine a couple of the criticisms in more detail. For now, the only one we can see which might change our conclusions in a significant way is our assumption that surface temperature changes have the same magnitude as the average temperature change in the top (50 m) layer of the model. In reality, surface changes should be a little larger, which will change the feedback strength. It will take time to address such issues, and we are now under a new DOE contract to do climate model validation. |
An accomplished war photographer from nationalist Short Strand, who has just opened an exhibition on Orange Order parades, is encouraging nationalists to watch “the spectacle for themselves before making their minds up”.
Frankie Quinn, 48, who started his photographic career when he was 16-years, covered the Troubles before being asked to use his skill in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Palestine.
For the last three years Mr Quinn - who has published two books of peaceline photographs - worked on ‘The Orange’ capturing the action from urban and rural parades.
He said during his latest project he had “very little hassle with people more interested in my 1964 Rolleiflex camera”.
He said he wanted to get “a wider meaning” to parades that are an “alien tradition” to a nationalist from Short Strand, and which he says are “such anathema and source of tension for my community. I came into this project with as open a mind as possible and what I experienced has given me a certain respect for the spectacle, the regimental way in which the bands conduct themselves, the camaraderie and competitiveness between the bands and how the parades differ between Belfast and the rural areas, as well as a deeper understanding for me of what these parades mean to the Protestant community,” he said.
During the project, Mr Quinn said he established a “better understanding of the organisation and an admiration of their parades”.
“The Orange Order have something there that could be bottled and sold,” he said. “But there is a huge difference between the rural parades and those in Belfast.”
He said he has seen “a great change in Orange parades over the years after more contentious ones have been sorted out”. “I would recommend that anyone go and see the parades and even take a camera with you,” he said. “They have something there to draw people in and for tourism.
“Catholics can go and observe, they don’t have to take part. They can stay on the fringes and see how parades are conducted and make their own mind up. They don’t have to go to contentious parades.”
‘The Orange’ exhibition runs from June 20 to July 26 [closed from July 10 - July 20 July] in the Red Barn Gallery in Belfast. |
Gander Mountain, the St. Paul, Minnesota based outdoor retailer, is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy.
There have been no official details confirmed as company spokesman, Jess Myers, said the company has taken a “vow of silence.”
This is yet another hit on outdoor/sporting goods retailers, as we’ve now seen Sports Authority declare for bankruptcy and close 300 stores last year, and not to mention Cabela’s being acquired by Bass Pro Shops; although that deal is reaching its own snags and may be falling apart as well.
Even though Gander Mountain has taken its “vow of silence,” there is plenty to go on that suggests hard times are afoot for the outdoor retailer. If you take a look at their website, a plethora of sales and markdowns on all regular-priced items will tell you all you need to know.
What's Your Reaction? |
Jennifer Johnson defeated her husband, David, in a Ward 1 warden position race in Maine on Election Day 2013. The final tally was 127-76 for the wife, who is the Democrat of the union. Here’s the ballot.
The reason for the two running was to ratchet up interest in public affairs — and to showcase that GOP and Dems can get along.For example, despite being registered on different sides of the aisle, both are pro-choice and both believe in marriage equality. He does classify himself as a fiscal conservative, whereas she takes more of an interest in education. She has admitted both that “the empty lines on ballots make me sad” and “if we can get more young people involved in politics, that would be tremendous.”
The couple is now using the attention their race provided to kick off a food pantry in Waterville, ME, an area with a higher-than-average poverty rate.
We’ve seen the spouses-from-opposite-sides-of-the-aisle thing before, most notably here:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEQK4i_AyNE&w=600&h=315]
It’s more common than you might think for spouses to have differing viewpoints; The Today Show did a feature about one such couple around Election 2012. This couple “finds common ground in local races.” These dynamics also extend to the bedroom. As you might imagine, Reddit has tackled this topic multiple times: here, here, here, and here. As with most things in relationships, the underlying premise/idea of most of these posts is that two people can make it work, no matter how contentious on some issues, if they have core, fundamental elements in common.
And ultimately, don’t both parties sound pretty similar, especially every fourth year?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P34SUDahiA0&w=600&h=315]
The Johnsons didn’t campaign against each other, which is likely a good thing given the real reasons they were doing this (and considering that the warden role is often left unfilled). It should also be noted that Jennifer (the victor) is an active volunteer at the elementary school of her children. These are legit people, doing awesome things, in a small community in America. I love it. Ultimately, they both have the same goal: kids should be fed. |
Dunking Science: Do Cookies Really Taste Better Dipped In Tea?
Enlarge this image toggle caption Daniel M.N. Turner/NPR Daniel M.N. Turner/NPR
Brits and Americans may have split less than amicably a couple of centuries ago, but we can still find cultural common ground when it comes to life's pleasures: The Beatles, Downton Abbey and dunking cookies.
Of course, the Brits call them "biscuits" and dip primarily in tea, while we are more promiscuous and are willing to plunge our treats into coffee, hot chocolate or even milk.
But does immersing a cookie into a warm beverage really make it taste better? And if so, why?
That's what the British chef Heston Blumenthal recently set out to discover on his TV show, Heston's Fantastical Food. With the help of a high-tech gadget inserted up the nose, he found that a chocolate-covered biscuit dipped into hot black tea did indeed have more flavor than an undunked one.
Enlarge this image toggle caption Courtesy of the University of Nottingham Courtesy of the University of Nottingham
Blumenthal isn't well-known the U.S., but he's a household name in England. He writes cookbooks, stars in TV shows and runs The Fat Duck restaurant just west of London. A few years ago, The New York Times said The Fat Duck "is widely considered one of the world's finest cathedrals to modernist cuisine, the sort of restaurant where a meal could start with nitro-poached aperitifs, finish with 'the smell of the Black Forest' and take four hours in between."
The chef likes to understand the chemistry behind his food. So to solve the mystery of the tea-drenched biscuit, Blumenthal enlisted the help of food scientists at the University of Nottingham. They've developed a device, called MS-Nose, which measures the amount of flavor released in your mouth as aromas when you take a sip of cabernet, melt a chocolate bar on your tongue or chew on a cookie.
When Blumenthal hooks himself up to the device and starts chomping on a chocolate-covered digestive, the MS-Nose sends data back to a computer screen, where the levels of flavor released are plotted on a chart.
"We're measuring the biscuity flavor — known as methylbutanol to the boffins" — (that's British slang for science types) — he says during an episode of his show that aired in the U.K. last November.
Methylbutanol is a compound that gives cookies and baked goods a toasty or malty taste. When Blumenthal chews on a dry biscuit, the flavor dutifully registers on the line graph on a screen. But when he then dips the biscuit into tea and takes another bite, the "flavor line" noticeably spikes up on the chart.
"The results are astonishing!" he exclaims. The wet biscuit not only released more cookie flavor, but the aromas also burst into Blumenthal's mouth more quickly.
"Dunking makes the biscuit taste more biscuity," Blumenthal says. "That's complete evidence that dunking is better than not dunking."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Screenshot from shazzandfred/YouTube Screenshot from shazzandfred/YouTube
Shoving a tube up one's nose may seem like a funny way to measure flavor, but it makes sense when you consider that flavor is made up of both tastes and aromas, says food scientist Avinash Kant, who works with the MS-Nose at the company Flavometrix on the Nottingham campus.
Tastes, Kant explains, are detected on the tongue and include the basics, like salty, sugary, sour and bitter. The aromas, meanwhile, are sensed in the nasal passages, right between the eyes and behind the bridge of the nose.
"There are connections of passageways through your nose, ears and mouth," Kant tells The Salt. "When food interacts with your saliva in your mouth, aromas get released" and travel to your nose from the back of your throat.
That's where the flavor magic happens, Kant says. "There are thousands of aromas, all with slightly different properties. They are the primary factor that determines a food's flavor." They separate $100 Bordeaux from "Two-Buck Chuck" (which is now $2.49, FYI), Italian Parmigiano-Reggiano from string cheese, and a dunked biscuit from a dry one.
To reach your nose, Kant says, these aromas have to jump from the cookie into the air. The hotter and wetter the biscuit, the more easily the aromas can make this leap.
"Typically, the hotter the food, the faster things move," Kant says. |
CompareCamp
Ask consumers where their shiny new iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus came from and you might get "the Apple store," or "China" as an answer. But the origin story for the bigger ( and bendier) phones is a bit more complex, as you can see in the infographic below created by product-review site CompareCamp.
The graphic by author Alex Hillsberg definitely contains some facts I found surprising. I knew China was heavily involved in the production of iPhones, for example, but didn't realize that Japan came in second as the country with the largest number of Apple suppliers. And speaking of those suppliers, I also wasn't aware of the fact that companies like Samsung and Sony were so intimately involved in making the iPhone 6. Aren't they Apple's archenemies?
As with the best infographics, there's a lot of great easily digestible information here, so I'll leave it to you to have a nibble. If you too learn something new, do let us know in the comments section below. |
Image caption Entamoeba histolytica in the gut cause dysentery
A cheap drug, which is already prescribed for arthritis, could fight amoebic dysentery, according to researchers in the US.
They were testing old drugs to see if any killed the dysentery bug.
Tests on animals, published in Nature Medicine , showed that auranofin was 10 times more effective than the best drug currently available.
Further studies will be needed in humans, but researchers say it holds great promise.
Amoebic dysentery is caused by Entamoeba histolytica, which infects the bowels. It results in severe diarrhoea including bloody stools. More than 70,000 people are thought to die from the disease each year - most are in developing countries.
US researchers tested 910 drugs, some of which had already been shown to be safe for human use, on amoebas in the laboratory.
It showed that auranofin was much better than the current treatment, metronidazole, at killing Entamoeba histolytica.
Follow-up experiments showed that it was also more effective at treating mice and hamsters which had been infected with the ameoba.
In use
It has been prescribed to patients with rheumatoid arthritis since 1985.
One of the researchers, Prof James McKerrow, from the Sandler Center for Drug Discovery at the University of California, San Francisco, said: "When we're looking for new treatments for the developing world, we start with drugs that have already been approved.
This new use of an old drug represents a promising therapy for a major health threat Prof Sharon Reed, University of California, San Diego
"If we can find an approved drug that happens to kill these organisms, we've leapfrogged the development process that goes into assessing whether they are safe, which also makes them affordable throughout the world."
Prof Sharon Reed, from the University of California, San Diego, said: "Because auranofin has already been approved for use in humans, we can save years of expensive development.
"This new use of an old drug represents a promising therapy for a major health threat."
Dr Graham Clark, a reader in molecular parasitology at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said metronidazole was very effective, but it did have side effects and was not always successful.
He said: "The work presented in this paper is particularly useful as it identifies an existing drug, auranofin, that has already been tested and approved for use in humans, which seems to be at least as effective as metronidazole.
"Although auranofin has to date only been tested in animal models of amoebic disease, this means that there is now a potential alternative treatment for individual cases where metronidazole fails to cure the infection or in the event resistance to metronidazole emerge as a clinical problem in the future." |
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